'Halfdan & the Vikings'

I've collected together a small set of  connected games together called 'Halfdan & the Vikings'; these are set somewhere is Anglo-Saxon England. 

The associated blog posts are all together and are available to read through as a PDF,  link is as follows...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gbznuUHx8GDuGxBRxQrasHkvjusA5dqL/view?usp=sharing

Through the 'Dragons Teeth'...

 Torsten Halvorsen and his warband are past the half way mark on their cross country journey back to their home; the next obstacle in their way is the rocky hill known as the 'Dragons Teeth' and the unpredictable wild men of the hills ...

---oXo---

Torsten Halvorsen leads his little warband onwards....

They approach hilly ground with rocky outcrops know as the 'Dragons Teeth'

A warrior in a wolf's skin watches them approach ....

They slow down their pace as they near the rocks, keeping their wits about them...

Some wild men of the hills have gathered and are watching Halvorsen and his band of warriors..

The wild men charge in catching Halvorsen's warband by surprise... in the initial onslaught Bob the Beserker is killed ....

The fighting continues, the wild men have the advantage...

more men go down on both sides, Halvorsen and his warband are starting to beat back their attackers..

Both sides fall back to regroup and take a breather... a couple of Halvorsen's warband look for another way through the rocks...

The wild men attack again as Halvorsen's warband edge along between the rocks...

Halvorsen's warband hold off the attack....

But the wild men keep coming .....

In sight of the way out of the rocks Ingrid cuts down a wild man blocking their path.....

They hurry down the hill to safety .....

A tough encounter for  Torsten Halvorsen and his warband; 

they started with 13 and are now down to 8. 

The journey home will continue....

Trouble At Egershavn

While the King is away on one of his adventures, the Queen and her son are on their way to Egershavn by ship. The Queen has a small escort including a couple of the palace guard and two of her female hearthguard, also with her is Beornwulf the Bold and his dog Enar (recently returned from Angleland).

Nogbad, the Kings uncle, has something in mind (he is always planning something nefarious)..

---oXo---

All is apparently quiet at Egerhavn....

Something is going on though, Nogbad the Bad is informed by one of his cronies that all is in place ....

The Queen and her son, with escort, have arrived and are on their way up to the small settlement... the Queen has come to visit the shrine of St Walpurga at the church.

A couple of Nogbad's men watch from the edge of a wood...

The commander of the ship guard senses something, or maybe unhappy about the amount of unprotected ground between the ship and the settlement moves forward slightly ....

and then takes two men to the halfway point between the ship and the settlement....

The Queen and her escort nears the entrance to the settlement... her son runs on slightly ahead with Beornwulf's dog... Beornwulf catches a glimpse of something on the edge of the wood, he checks he is close to the little prince and looks cautiously ahead.....

Nogbad's band of miscreants are in position ready to make their move ....

Enar the dog snarls and barks,  Beornwulf warns the others to be cautious...

The attackers spring their trap and are moving in on them ....

Beornwulf picks up the young prince and gets him over the wattle fence near to his mother, the others stand ready..

The Queen, prince and escort fall back towards the boat as their attackers move in on them; Beornwulf stays behind to hold off some them as best he can... ....

Beornwulf forces one back back, while his dog savages another....

The Queen and the prince run as fast as they can can back to the ship as their escort fights the attackers..

The attackers press home as the escort gives ground;  Beornwulf cuts down one man and then crosses sword with another ...

The Queen and the prince reach the safety of the ship...

The escort has had to give more ground and fighting is hard ....

The attackers keep up the pressure, but their numbers are dwindling ....

The attackers fail, those who are left standing make a run for it....

The remaining escort return to the ship, which moves out into the river to start the journey home

 

Nogbad's scheme to kidnap the prince has failed....

Some vikings painted ...

 Saved from a job lot of old figures heading for the melting-pot of doom; four rather characterful viking figures... 

a nice addition to the collection.

15 years of of the Nothelm Chronicle....

 15 Years Anniversary

Realised recently that this blog has been going for 15 years (2008 - 2023). 

Thought I better do the anniversary post before the year end !

I've tidied up the rules being used (now at version 6) - mostly to correct spelling errors etc, plus added a play sheet of just the core rules. Latest version here ...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eUwaYq6zuEm15q_HLzbCCAYlWFKOxWSD/view?usp=sharing

Lots of great games have been played and much fun had ....

One of the many battles fought ...

Longships working their way inland ...

Noggin the Nog's flying boat ...

Fighting The Grendelkin...

Torsten Halvorsen and his men arrived in Dagelfjord, here they were asked to help the inhabitants eradicate Grendel's spawn (the Grendelkin) who were raiding nearby villages, killing indiscriminately and stealing food and livestock.

---oXo---

Halvorsen's thirteen and warriors from Dagelfjord march towards the Grendelkin's territory....

Their approach is spotted by one of the Grendelkin...

The lookout returns to the others and they move at haste towards their target...

Halvorsen's party reaches the boundary marker to the Grendelkin's territory ...

they cross the stream cautiously ....

Both sides are now in sight of each other .....

Halvorsen tries to get his men organised,  .....

But the wolves are on them before they are ready ....

they manage to deal with some of the wolves ....

before the Grendelkin come charging in at them ....

a couple of the vikings go down

The vikings are only just holding their own against the Grendelkin, even when fighting them two to one..

Ingrid, the female warrior from Dagelfjord, comes up against a frightening Grendelkin with a scorpion-like tail. She ducks and weaves and blocks with her shield ...

and then strikes it repeatedly with her axe - killing it....

The vikings take heart now, as they know the Grendelkin can be killed ...

they wade in trying to take on each one with two or more men, pushing them back ...

they soon kill more of the Grendelkin,... Ingrid and Bjorn the berserker take on the Grendelkin's leader...

Bjorn is injured but Ingrid continues the fight, more men come to help ....

the Grendelkin give ground fighting furiously ....  Bjorn the Beserker returns to the fight

But is wounded again and goes down. Out-numbered three to one the last of the Grendelkin eventually succumb.....

All the Grendelkin are dead !

The took no chances of any of the Grendelkin recovering; all were decapitated. The Grendelkin leader's head was impaled on a spear to be taken as a trophy. A fire was started and their bodies and the rest of the heads burnt.  

The returned to Daglefjord and  here was munch celebrating in the great hall that evening; the exploits of the day were told and retold, especially those of Ingrid..

---oXo---

Notes:

1) Summary of Game result...

• Halvorsen's and his men (13):    5 down:    2 dead, 2 badly wounded who recovered  (one of which was Bjorn the berserker), 1 lightly wounded.
• The Dagelfjord Locals (10) : 2 down: 1 dead, 1 badly wounded who recovered
• The Grendelkin (10) : 10 all dead; of their 8 wolves, 7 injured in the fight: 4 dead and 3 recovered.

2) Torsten Halvorsen had lost two of his men, before leaving Ingrid and another local warrior joined their party to continue with them on their journey home to act as guides for the country ahead.