The Pictish village dozed in its early morning hangover as the Viking longship rowed up the inlet. Last night, the village chieftain had celebrated the birthday of his younger son and the spirits had flowed freely in hall. Those who still slept at the benches or were rolled up in their cloaks before the embers of the fire were roused as the fisherman burst in screaming the news of the longship. It took long moments before the chieftain, his sons and his hearth men were armed and stood outside the hall, stamping in the dampness beneath a gray sky. They could see the village's schiltron of spearmen had formed up along the walls of the church that loomed on a hill above the village. As Aymish mac Sturdhe led his warriors along the lane, they could see that one of the village elders, wiry Circinn mac Circinn, guarded the bridge leading across the river to the villagers' huts. Several javelin armed skirmishers stood with the gray haired Pict. Doubtless, Circinn had been the one who'd taken the initiative to send the spearmen up the hill to guard the church, too.
As
the longship scraped ashore, its captain, Wulfgar Wyrmsson, was the first
over the rail, followed closely by his two loyal huscarles and four other
Viking raiders. They immediately sprinted towards the chieftain's hall,
so must have been given information on the village by a captive or traitor.
Following closely behind, Conal Bloodsword led a warband composed of three
Viking raiders and two archers. One of the keener eyed archers spotted
mac Sturdhe's huntsman at the edge of a grove of trees and loosed an arrow
towards him. It flew wide, and the huntsman returned a shot that narrowly
missed the Viking, causing him to stagger back in alarm. The movement had
betrayed the huntsman, though, and Wyrmsson's carles closed in on him, swinging
their axes. The Pict archer fought bravely, forcing one carle back while
he slowly retreated. Not far away, Mac Sturdhe and his sons were at the
edge of the same wood, but they froze, unmoving, as the two Viking warbands
closed in, howling for blood. Seeing his chieftain's men about to be overwhelmed,
Circinn began to lead his skirmishers across the bridge. A long javelin
cast even splintered the shield of one of the Viking archers, knocking him
to the ground.
Mac Sturdhe's hesitation proved fatal as Wyrmsson and his carles cut down the huntsman, then followed up and slew one of the chieftain's sons. Still, the chieftain and his Hearth men stood unmoving, as Conal Bloodsword's Vikings hurled themselves upon them. More Picts were cut down by Viking swords and axes, when finally the chieftain roused his followers to group together closer and defend themselves. The Vikings were too well armored, though, and any Pictish weapons that found an opening merely glanced off. On the hill above the fray, the Pictish schiltron clambered over the church wall and began to advance cautiously down the slope to aid their cheiftain. Meanwhile, Circinn and his skirmishers closed in on and soon engaged the Viking archers.
Wyrmsson and his carles continued cutting their way through the Pictish cheiftain's men. The last of his sons fell, and soon the band was down to less than half. Mac Sturdhe fell back to the gateway of his hall, followed by his surviving hearthmen. Conall Bloodsword and his raiders pursed them and a battle raged on the steps of the cheiftain's home. Mac Sturdhe was knocked down for the second time during the battle and finally succumbed to Viking steel. His disheartened Hearth men fled. The raiders entered the hall and began sacking it, while Wyrmsson turned back to deal with the threat of the Pictish spearmen and javelinmen. He ordered his raiders uphill, and they charged the end of the spear line, gruesomely beheading one of the villagers. Several of the spearmen quailed and raced back towards the safety of the church wall, but most stood firm, killing one of the Vikings in reply.
The sole remaining Pictish leader, Circinn, cleverly marshalled his men and encircled the Viking captain. Swords struck sparks from each other and Wyrmsson was knocked off balance. However, his and Conall's men raced to his aid, and possible disaster for the Vikings was averted. When Wyrmsson regained his feet, he struck down the Pictish leader, and the village's resistance collapsed.
The
Viking raid was a playtest of a set of man-to-man skirmish rules, "Song of Blades and Heroes"
that I'd downloaded off the internet. Tom and Keith played the Vikings,
while Joel and I controlled the woebegone Picts. Each player controlled
roughly 300 points of troops, which provided a warband of from six to 11
figures. The tougher the troops in a warband, the more expensive each figure
(and consequently, the smaller the warband). Conall Bloodsword's warband
was the smallest at 6 figures (294 points), while Circinn mac Circinn's
was the largest, at 11 figures (330 points). In these rules, eachfigure,
or man, has two main statistics -- Quality and Combat Value. Quality is
the number on a d6 that the player must roll to "activate" the
figure (in our scenario, this was typically a 3 or 4, with some leaders
having a 2. Combat Value is the number a player adds to 1d6 when shooting
at or in melee with an enemy figure (also 3 or 4 in this scenario, with
some leaders having a 5). The rules also have Special Abilities to further
customize and better represent certain troop types. In this playtest, I
gave most of the Vikings "Heavy Armor," which made them more difficult
to defeat in combat. Shooting at range is a special ability which I gave
to the archers and javelin skirmishers, of course. "Leader" is
also a Special Ability in this game. I designated one leader per warband
(Keith played Wulfgar Wyrmsson, Tom was Conal Bloodsword, Joel was the doughty
Circinn mac Circinn, and I was the poor rolling and hapless Aymish mac Sturdhe.
My leader's chief fault was his inability to "activate" himself or his men. This important feature of the command and control system of the rules gives players scope for making crucial decisions. When it is his turn, the player decides how many "activations" he is attempting when moving a figure (or group of figures as those in base-to-base contact can be activated together with one roll rather than individually, if a player chooses). He can choose to attempt between one and three activations. However, if he rolls two failures on the attempt, his turn is over. In our playtest, this happened to Aymish mac Sturdhe several times. His men basically froze as the Vikings closed with them and began to cut them down. His opponent, Wyrmsson, on the other hand, was very successful on his activations. Keith often chose (and succeeded in doing) three actions per turn, where my hapless Picts were lucky to perform one per turn. The difference in a figure's quality represents their motivation, initiative and veteran status. An important note: No matter how many times a figure activates, though, it may only perform one attack.
When attacking, each figure involved rolls 1d6, adds his combat value, and adjusts it by a short list of tactical modifiers. If a figure's score is doubled, then it is dead. If it is beaten but not doubled, then it is either driven back one base or "knocked down." Figures that have been knocked down are in trouble, as further combat against them is at +2. If they are beaten while still on the ground, they are slain. I was worried the combat system might be somewhat flavorless with only four possible results (tie, push back, knock down and kill). However, the ramifications of being forced out of battleline or ganged up on by more than one figure made for interesting tactical ramifications.
The player's enjoyed the rules and it made for a fun game. In addition, players are presented with important decisions to make each turn. We did suggest a couple changes (what rules sets survives contact with wargamers unmodified, though?). The rules, as written, do not seem to allow a leader to move and act with a group. We felt that a leader should be able to marshal his troops and move with them, and will likely change this to a house rule in future games. Also, groups are limited to 2-5 figures, but we felt they should be allowed to be larger, as well. And finally, and perhaps not so easily solved, was the possibility of, with multiple actions, running around a line of troops you are facing to assault them in their flank. This happened in the game when Wyrmsson's raiders charged the schiltron, which was uphill and facing them in a nice line ("Bad Keith, bad Keith...!"). We felt that it didn't make sense for troops who are in front of an enemy warband to be able to basically run circles around them because of the sequential movement system. We're still working on the particulars of a solution for this one, which might involve a "zone of control" that, once inside, an enemy must engage frontally.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the rules and will play them again. It was
nice to finally get my Picts and Vikings out on the tabletop, and we were
all pleased with how they -- and the battlefield -- looked.