In Defence of Eastham ....

Viking raiders, led by Ivar Erisksen, have been spotted moving towards Eastham and the nearby abbey of St Wulfstan - the local fyrd has been summoned and Thegn Rodor and his best men are on their way to join them ...

---oXo---

As the locals make for the safety of Eastham, two mounted scouts try to get some idea of the number of Viking raiders and ride off swiftly to inform Thegn Rodor...

The settlement at Eastham .....

The Vikings are on the move .....

Some local fyrd arrive near Eastham ....

Another group of the local fyrd arrive on the other side of Eastham, as the locals from the nearby farms reach safety

The local fyrd form up in front of Eastham as Thegn Rodor arrives with more men ...

Thegn Rodor reinforces his right flank with some archers and armoured men, keeping the rest of the men he bought with him as a small reserve. A group of armed locals take position behind the left flank....

The Vikings charge the Saxon shield wall ...

some vikings attempt to turn the flank ....

but are met by the armed locals who keep them back ...

The Vikings are getting the best of the Saxons ....

The Saxons fight back holding off the Vikings and thinning them out in places ....

as a gap forms in the Viking battle line, some of the Saxons come to support the locals on the left flank while others with support from Thegn Rodor's reserve attack the Vikings in the centre ....

The Vikings have had enough and disengage, falling back

they are soon in full retreat .....

A victory for the Saxons - the settlement of Eastham is safe and the Vikings are beaten

Beornwulf returns to Angleland - trouble at St Withibirgas

Beornwulf the Bold, his lady Iliana and their dog Wulf had returned to Angleland (from the Northlands). They landed on the southern coast and moved northwest towards Wudeceastre and the lands of his cousin Thegn Rodor.

After a couple of days journey they joined with a small band of pilgrims on their way to the abbey of St Withibirgas, the pilgrim group included Lady Aelfrith and her escort.

---oXo---

Another days travel brought them in sight of the Abbey

Also approaching the abbey was a small group of vikings ...

As the vikings started to cross the stream, they were seen by monks and also Beornwulf who was at the head of the pilgrim band...

The pilgirm band reached the abbey and there was an uneasy confrontation with the vikings

There was a glint of steel as a viking started to draw his word; Beornwulf shouted 'to arms' and charged at the nearest group of vikings along with Iliana and some of the pilgrim band. Lady Aelfrith was escorted away and the rest of her armed retinue attacked the vikings by the abbey.

Some of the vikings were pushed back toward stream by Beornwulf those with him, Aelfrith's retinue held a viking charge in front of the abbey

The vikings by the abbey lose ground and some of the number as they are pushed back;  Beornwulf, Iliana, Wulf and the others have lost ground but are fighting well (a couple of the lightly armed pilgrims have been killed)...

Aelfrith's retinue have cut down many vikings, Beornwulf and rest have the better of the other vikings; the vikings start to break off....

The remaining vikings flee, Wulf the dog barks at them as they run ....

Through the Islets of Langerhuns.....

Sven Eriksen continues his search for clues to the location of the Whorled cup and associated fabulous treasure..   Having collected six of the seven clues, he was unable to find the location of the seventh - however after months of research reading old manuscripts his scholars found an obscure reference in the works of Geraldus Nombrensis that the reliquary of St Agapanthus held in the Abbey at  Langerhuns contains the clue.

Desparate to find the 7th clue, Sven decided to voyage to Langerhuns and obtain the reliquary. On arrival he found the way though by water to the Abbey to shallow and narrow for his longship to get by all the narrow channels between the small islets, luckily he had two smaller vessels with him that were able to get through. 

---oXo---

The locals near the Abbey have been told of vikings in the area, a small boat sets out to see if they can find out where they are and if possible pick off a few of them with their bows.....

a monk living on one of the islets prays for deliverance from the viking marauders ...

Eriksen boards the bigger of the two smaller longships and start off to find their way through to the abbey

 As they get about halfway towards the abbey,  a small boat approaches and  a couple of bowmen open fire ...

the other boat gets fired on by an archer from the shore and loses a man...

The archers on the small boat hit one of the men in Eriksens longboat ...

the longboat rams into the little boat knocking them aside and two of the men in it over the side into the water ...

The two longboats reach the shoreline near the abbey, the warriors on the two longboats disembark to find themselves confronted by locals and some armed monks....

Eriksen leads his men forward and charges the group in his way, breaking through them with ease ...

Eriksen then directs his men to attack the monks defending the hurdle fence, as they charge in the warriors from the other longboat are not faring well and have been held back by the locals 

Eriksen's attack on the hurdle fence fails and he falls back to regroup, his other party of warriors is being forced back towards the shore ...

Eriksen makes another attack on the hurdle fence, to try and dislodge the monks ...

A couple of his men get across the fence, while a couple of archers pick off one or two of the monks...

The monks can't hold any longer and run away ..... Erisksen moves towards the abbey...

The locals have forced the other group of warriors back to their longship ...

As his men mop up and get ready do a bit of pillaging,  Eriksen inspects the reliquary of St Agapanthus ....

The flying boat ...(at the dockside ...)

The wings finished on the flying boat; plastic palm leaves layered and gaps filled with PVA; painted to somewhat resemble large feathers

 at the dockside , being prepared for its first 'voyage'

Krossholar

A rival lord has captured Krossholar, the location of the tomb of Jarl Ragnarsen's father.  Ragnarsen leads his mean to re-take the settlement. His forces approach via the more dangerous route through the forest .....

---oXo---

Ragnarsen and his men pause before they enter the forest ...

 as they move forward a giant snake is disturbed ...

one man is killed and the snake given some space moves away... as they slowly work their way through the forest some of the men are attacked by wolves ...

 other encounter bears ...

 Ragnarsen fells one of the bear with his axe .... the others are fended off ...

as they come to the edge of the forest, more trouble with wolves and another snake ...

 Ragnarsen and his men are now in sight of Krossholar, they have been spotted ...

they waste no time and charge through the archers into a thin shield wall of defenders.....

The defenders shield wall gives way, some of the defenders run for it while others fight to hold off the onslaught

they make a good fight of and just hold Ragnarsens men back.....

but Ragnarsen's men outflank and surround the 'die-hard' defending warriors - the rest of defenders have lost heart....

the remaining defenders run away....Krossholar is retaken.... Ragnarsen checks his fathers tomb is intact as his men finish mopping up and clearing the settlement...

[
Played through a solo game, trying out some new animal appearance rules (for the large snakes) - 

a useful handy link https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/viking_town_names.php
]