Retreat to the Longboats : Al Andalus

So we have the last in our mini-campaign looking at one of the many viking raids which took place during the period of Al Andalus in 844 AD. Historically with the Norsemen having sacked Isbiliya (Seville) the ruler of Córdoba Abd ar-Rahman II called in support from neighbouring areas and with the support of one Musa ibn Musa al-Qasi the Norsemen were defeated at a significant pitched battle at Talyata. This would be a great opportunity for a battle so we’ll come back to this when lockdown is over, but skirmish games are better in the virtual world so we skipped  few days to the flight of the remaining Norsemen who made a dash for their boats. No doubt carrying their loot many were caught and captives according to the record I have read were hung from the palm trees as a warning. This escape and dash for the longboats would make a much better closing scenario for our campaign.

The Norsemen would start from three points in one corner the Arabs under Musa al-Qasi from the other two. The treasure capture at Seville would be secretly distributed across the viking units and they would attempt to get as much as possible....if any away to their boats. These scenarios when we have played them are notoriously difficult for the ‘escaping’ side so we made it slightly harder for the Arabs three of their units had wild charge so could be dragged into the difficult terrain where they could be potentially slaughtered, it also means they will be slightly harder to get moving. Anyway on to the action.....

The viking army rolls successfully and brings on every unit first turn a good start

The longboat awaits but the Arab cavalry can be seen coming on from the left

After a single shot the cavalry fail an evade test and are cut down by the quicker than expected vikings, bad start !

The rest of the norsemen are making good progress but are being attacked with arrow fire

...and then Musa al-Qasi arrives together with more heavy but impetuous cavalry

He idly charges in against the heavy viking warriors..possibly not a good idea

Meanwhile nearer the boats the arab light infantry is hoping to hold back the vikings on the left

Gradually the norsemen are whittled down and Ragnar himself decides to make a push for the boats

Once the heavy cavalry has polished off the remaining warriors

They focus their attention on Ragnar...he mustn’t get away

Despite his wounds he bravely fights on and in fact has a chance to escape but uttering an oath to Thor he heroically stands to fight to the death and join his kin in Valhalla, but his end is les dramatic shot down in the end by arrows........

Burn the boats........... and praise be the north men have been defeated.

So our little campaign has finished, a draw in the first battle and one good win each. It has been fun mixing things up with vikings vs Arabs as they give greater variety to the conflict.....at some point we will come back and do the larger battle of Talyata........perhaps I need a few more vikings ! Not surprisingly the vikings also raided the Christian territories of Leon and Castile so i might try that at some point. Historically the Arabs learnt their lesson and built a wall around the city of Seville......too late i think !

Weather has been ridiculously good here, so two more shots of the beautiful Lake District  

Mungrisedale Common

Ullswater looking due south

Not her game planned this evening and the weather remains good, so more soon 👍