The Saga of Sven Arriksson : Raid the Church

Looking for an element of surprise Sven Arriksson has landed a small number of his men upstream of the village, whilst he plans to make a show by attacking directly inland. His objective is the small Christian Church at Saillouth where he suspects not only will there be the Christian treasures, gold etc, but also the womenfolk of the village. His plans are to settle and he wants strong Saxon slaves to work the land !

Luckily the villagers are used to raids of this sort and they keep a close watch on any new boats in the Solway. The alarm has been raised and all the villagers not able to fight have hidden in the church. Boerwald of the Marsh has taken command of the meagre defence forces and has called for more men from the next village. What they don't know is which direction the raiding Norsemen will come from.......but they stand ready to fight for their lives and their village.

Father Wulfwig can be seen hurrying from the church he is reputed to have the ability to bless or curse at will......a skill which is likely to be tested to the full if the Vikings arrive. Other villagers have taken up defensive positions as they can expect an attack from any direction.

 

Sven has split his forces landing directly from the coast with Torsten Ulfsson, Thorgest, Brondulf and Bjornulf the berserker wrapped in his usual bear skin !

 

From the far side of the village more Vikings come into sight, the villagers now realise the attack will come from both directions....their only hope is to kill as many of the raiders before they get into the church.

 

Things immediately go badly for the Saxons with Hardwin cut down at the edge of the village. Ragnvald another Viking berserker has already made it to the Church door so Boerwald and Wigred the archer attempt to hold him back.

 

Within a few minutes a huge melee has formed by the church door whilst two small skirmishes are still taking place at the edge of the village with individuals attempting to hold their opponent back from joining the main fight. Suddenly Boerwald finds himself surrounded and in danger of being overwhelmed.

 

Boerwald struggles to hold back the three berserkers and Sven, whilst Wigred falls to a spear to the stomach. Cuthwig the second Saxon archer valiantly blocks the door to the church.

 

Finally Boerwald kills Sigvaldi and help is at hand with Bilfrith now running to help. Father Wulfwig is dancing about chanting blessings to keep Boerwald alive !

 

The battle continues, Father Wulfwig has now moved to block the door, but is hacked down by Ragnvald's double handed axe.

 

Numbers are thinning out and finally Boerwald has knocked Sven to the ground, but he is only wounded and jumps back up surprising Boerwald catching him from below !

 

Boerwald is down wounded by the Viking trickery........

 

Only Alebert now remain to hold the door, but he makes the Vikings pay dearly ..... eventually he too is overcome by Sven and his two remaining berserkers.

 

So the first battle in the campaign goes to Sven whose objective was to hold the church. Using the Blood Eagle campaign "survivors roll". The two Saxon Archers Cuthwig and Wigred and also unfortunately Father Wulfwig were actually killed. The rest of Boerwald's village survived to fight another day slinking away into the marshes to lick their wounds and wonder what fate their women folk could expect. For Sven only Brondulf succumbed to his wounds after the battle. Both Sven and Boerwald have gained an additional hero point for the next battle, where the Vikings will attempt to make off with their spoils.