The Sacking of Seville : 844 Al Andalus

The second instalment of our Viking raid in 844. Having made it ashore (for those with a good geographical knowledge will know that Seville or Isbiliya as it was known then it actually not on the sea but inland on a river the Guadalquivir) the vikings pillaged the local area before turning their attention to the city of Seville. According to the history the city wasnt at the time walled, something the Arabs rectified soon after they had chased the vikings away. So an ideal opportunity for our second scenario.

The viking force is similar to the previous battle there are slightly more unarmoured warriors as they get used to the heat, Ragnar also has some berserkers at his disposal. The defending force is now made up of more regular troops, city guard and units of archers hopefully these will be tougher than the villagers.

The City of Seville awaits the onslaught, the citadel in the background is the start point for all the Arab forces who will have to get through the gatehouse as quickly as possible. The objective for the vikings is to sack the city. Each of the 8 individual buildings can be sacked and on a roll of a D6 will either require more time, burn or contain loot. The vikings will get one point for burning, 3 for loot and the Arabs 2 points for any buildings saved.

The vikings rush on and immediately set one of my new tents on fire !!!

Isa ibn Shuhayd leads his defending force out of the citadel, no cavalry as it just doesnt work in the city.

A second tent is ransacked and loot discovered (it would be helpful if the vikings had failed a search roll here !)

Moving past the burning tent the vikings spread out 

The Arabs are slower to move and this may be costly

Another building is being search, another test past and more loot !!!!

The open ground around the city watering hole sees a lot of combat

Ragnar Wolfsbane holds back with his berserkers 

Ibn Shuhayd once again must use his own personal courage to hold back the marauders, he charges in successfully holding Ragnar’s bodyguard back

Too late the Arab realise they are focussing too much on their right and buildings are being sacked on the left

The remaining bodyguard are finished off.......put to the sword or captured to be hung from the palm trees (this is what they did with those they captured) 

But there are too many vikings on the right......

The archers do have some effect pushing the berserkers back

But it is too late and the battle haas reached a critical stage the Arabs must keep four buildings intact to hold the city. Then more loot is found and finally the small mosque is put to the torch.

At this point we called a halt to the battle, the vikings had won the city is in flames. Three buildings had provided loot/pillage to keep Ragnar happy.

A lone viking holds back ibn Shuhayd.

The game played well for a virtual game and although the vikings won some of this was good dice rolling, when it came to searching they never failed a search activation and only once failed to find something to set the building on fire. Historically they stayed in the Area for some weeks, they never took the citadel itself and then lost a significant battle at Talyata. This requires a bigger game for another day.....however we will compete this mini campaign with the vikings attempting to get back to their boats with their loot.

As has become regular in lockdown I will share another cycling shot, i had another day off work on friday and took out the mountain bike (lockdown being slightly relaxed in England) although breezy I took the Roman Road up to High Raise. This is a tough 15mile round trip but despite the cloud the views and sense of open space were rewarding and refreshing. (It is a pano shot should you wish to look closer)

Another ACW skirmish game planned for this evening I’ve done some more painting and even made some more terrain. Thanks for popping by 🙂