Olaf Sigurdsen's Raid - Defend the Camp ...

 continued from the previous post ...

The viking camp, repairs to the longship had been made ....

They had also made a small watch tower to keep an eye for any approaching saxons...

The saxons come into view...

and move across the valley toward the next low ridge ....

The alarm horn is blown.....

the vikings move to defend the camp .... 

The outnumbered vikings on lookout duty, make their way back to the camp as the saxons draw nearer...

The vikings get into position ...

the saxons move down from the hill towards the camp ....

and waste little time in starting their attack .....

The vikings hold off the attack, but the saxons return to the fray ...

The saxons break through by the penned sheep ....

The vikings hold the saxons back at the camp entrances. However some of the saxons have jumped the wattle fence but are well met by the vikings.

The saxons finally push their way into the camp; the viking longship edges away from the river bank...

Some of the viking fall back and form up in front of the longship, while others fight on desperately..

The vikings that can get onto the longship do so, as it moves a little further from the river bank... one more viking tries to reach the ship ...

but is shot down by saxon archers, the saxons deal with remaining vikings in the camp ...

Olaf Sigurdsen, defended himself for some time swinging his mighty axe, but was overwhelmed and killed ..  the saxons had won the day (and got most of their sheep back..)

The longship slid downstream, the hull repair holding, it moved down the estuary out to sea and set sail for home .... the raid that promised so much was over...

Olaf Sigurdsen's Raid - Those Darned Sheep ...

 continued from the previous post...

The men were getting tried keeping the sheep going in the right direction...as they moved down a steep hill, some of the men stumbled - some of the sheep in the lead made a break for it..

Two small groups of sheep headed off away, some men followed trying to catch them ....

They chased them ....

One group got away....

The sheep proved difficult to keep together as they crossed the rough ground ...

The other wayward group were caught up with on the hill and then easily moved downhill towards the camp ...

As they headed rounded the edge of the hill another group got away....

and then moved back towards the rest as the men chased them ....

It looked like they had the sheep under control....

The sheep decided otherwise and three more lagging behind made a break for it ....

The rest were taken towards the camp without incident...

Four men chased the breakaway group, but the sheep got further away as the vikings tired ....

The sheep came to a halt on the next hill.... the saxons who had been tracking the vikings emerged out of a small clump of trees loosing a few arrows at the vikings ...

One of the vikings was killed, the rest ran off towards the camp with arrows whizzing past them ...

At the viking camp the sheep have been penned up ....

Extra sentries were posted nearer the camp after the little encounter with the saxons. A saxon watches from a small clump of trees...

The saxon leaves and heads back to report the location of the viking camp.....

to be continued

Olaf Sigurdsen's Raid - waiting ....

continued from the previous post...

The men at the camp next to the river estuary await the return of Olaf Sigurdsen and the foraging party...

On a hill nearby, two men watch and wait... in the distance they can see something ...

In while the they can see the foraging party herding some sheep....

to be continued

---oXo---

Table setup for a solo game to herd the sheep back to the viking camp.

Olaf Sigurdsen's Raid - looking for food ...

Olaf Sigurdsen made it across the sea to Angleland, but his boat is no longer seaworthy and taking water. They take the ship up some way up an estuary and beach it on the sandy edged river bank for repairs. Short on food, Olaf Sigurdsen with some of his men move inland in search of sustenance...

---oXo---

From a hill they spot a small flock of sheep grazing, they move down into the valley ....

They slowly work their way round to get in position, without being seen by the shepherd ...

The shepherd sees a sheep stuck in some soft ground being mobbed by some large birds and goes to its rescue....

Some of vikings make their move ... "hey leave my sheep alone" shouts the shepherd...

The vikings close in, an archer shoots the shepherd.....

The shepherd's dogs attack the nearest vikings ....

One dog kills a viking, the other is not so fortunate....

The remaining dog is dealt with quickly and the vikings round up the sheep and move off. A small group of local hunters arrive on the scene, but are not close enough to intervene...

The vikings head off towards their ship with the sheep....

a couple of the hunters follow them while others go to the nearest village to raise the alarm...

Will Olaf and his men get back to the ship with all the sheep ? Will the the locals catch up with them ?

to be continued .....

---oXo---

Game Notes:

1. Sheep movements were randomised while grazing ... they very kindly moved towards the vikings; as the vikings had a good number of men herding the sheep wasn't too difficult.  If the sheep had moved in other directions collecting them together would have take time.

2. Other arrivals for the locals were based on event cards. The local hunters turned up a couple of moves too late to affect the outcome, however they could have arrived earlier making it more difficult for the vikings.