On the Isle of Sceapige (1) - The Vikings land

Sven Erikson has taken both his boats downstream and intends to land on the Isle of Sceapige, to make a base of operations.

The men form the first Viking boat come ashore; the larger ship carrying most of the wounded men from the battle of Cyddingastun draws up on the beach a little higher up..

The Vikings move through the woods to the farmland beyond ...

They encounter no resistance at the first hamlet they pass through ...

Its a different story at the next hamlet, they have slpit into two groups one to deal with some men in the hamlet and the other to move onward to Medham (the nearest larger settlement) ...

Having cleared the second hamlet they move on to catch up with the other group ...

The men of Medham prepare to defend themselves ...

 The Vikings attack ...

The battle is hard fought and the Vikings are beaten off ..

The Vikings retire back to the hamlets they passed through to regroup; meanwhile Medham is abandoned - one group with the wounded leaves by boat  to go up the coast to the main settlement on the island.

The rest of saxons go along the coast ...

---oXo---

to be continued ...

Dead and wounded ..

Some dead men to use represent casualties, various spare figures altered and suitably equipped and stuck on to bases (bases are poker chips) - need a lick of paint though !

The Isle of Sceapige ...

The residents of this small island of the coast carry on with their daily business, unaware that the Vikings are on their way !

In Anglo-Saxon Sceapige = sheep; so the Isle of Sheep (like modern day Isle of Sheppey). My pirate island modules modules for my 'Adventures in the Indies' project are here re-used to represent part of the island.

The Battle of Cyddingastun ....

The Vikings organise themselves ...

Then they advance, the Saxon shield wall seems unperturbed

Both sides exchange javelins, spears and archery ...

The Viking centre charges forward with their axemen in the front row ...

The rest of the Vikings pile in and the battle hots up ...

The Vikings have cut their way through the sheild wall in a number of places and are moving to attack Thegn Rodor and his retinue ....

Thegn Rodor orders his reserve of amoured men to fill the gaps and push the vikings back; Rodor has to fight off a mad viking axeman - he is wounded in the arm as the axe splits his shield but with one blow of his mighty sword arm he cuts of the viking's head.

Slash and cut and splitting of helms and shields continues. As the numbers of men left standing falls theViking find themselves hard pressed ....

The Viking right has been mostly cut down but the Saxons are exhausted ...

The Vikings fall back, the Saxons reform their sheild wall ...

Sven Erikson rallies his men ...

The Viking retire back to their boats, the Saxons hold their ground, a few men move forward - some archers

With the light fading; Thegn Rodor and the Saxons are satisified with watching the Vikings leave and busy themselves dispatching the enemy wounded.

Sven Erikson moves his boats back down the river out into the estuary, he has decided to head for a small island off the coast to make a base of operations there and allow time for his men to recover.

---oXo---

Some notes:
1. A great little solo game - had loads of fun playing
2. The rules I used were designed for smaller numbers of figures and one-on-one fighting, so lots of dice throwing.
3. I had Vikings fall back after losing 50%+ of their strength, close run thing though - the last round of melee went badly for the them and they fell below the limit.
4. start and finish numbers : Saxons 98 down to 61 (37 casualties); Vikings 77 down to 35 (42 casualties).

The Vikings have landed ...

Sven Erikson and his kinsmen are ashore ...

The vikings leave their ships and stream through the deserted settlement of Cyddingastun ...

As they move into the open farmland beyond the settlement, on the nearby hill they catch sight of  perhaps a glint of steel - a few men - then a large of array of saxons assembling - they watch as a shield wall forms ....

Thegn Rodor (a tall strong warrior) watches the vikings to assess what they will do next ...

The men in the shield wall wait for an expected onslaught of the vikings ....

---oxo---

to be continued ....

Enkaland Saga ...

The viking Enkaland Saga chronicles the voyages, adventures and battles involving Sven Eriksonand his kinsmen, this stories from this saga interweave with those of the Nothelm chronicle.

 

Among other things Sven is obsessed with the search for the Whorled Cup ( a jeweled golden chalice) and its associated treasure ....

 He is also after revenge for the death of his cousin Sigismund Voralsen at the hand of the saxon dogs of england - it appears that Sven Erikson's ship is being made ready ...

A spot of TLC ...

The vikings have arrived, well a box of them. My wargame partner in this enterprise left the box here to save the little fellas 'to and fro' transit damage. I felt like seeing what all his vikings and saxons I look like set out for a pitched battle, a few of the viking figures had some problems like loose weapons and bent spears - so some repairs have been made - with one spearmen converted to carry a standard.