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....

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.

The defence of Sakertstalle....

Continued from the post ....  http://saxons-and-vikings.blogspot.com/2023/02/olaf-sigurdsens-raid-survivors-sail-home.html

---oXo---

After a couple of days, Torsten Halvorsen and his men had crossed the hills into the low country now they were back in their own lands.  As they neared the settlement of Sakertstalle they were met by the village headman - who asked for their help to defend the village against a band of marauders that were in the area ...

the settlement of Sakertstalle ...

---oXo---

The next day, the man watching the approaches to the village through the marsh could see the Marauders in the distance..he raised the alarm...

Halverson and his men moved into position, to help defend the settlement perimeter...

The marauders started their advance through the marsh ....

the men defending the entrance to the settlement readied themselves ...

In came the attackers, their charge held they were beaten back but they came in again ...

As the defenders held the entrance to the village from the marsh more marauders had come round the side of the village and had got across the fencing but were still being held back ...

At the other end of the village more marauders were coming in from the woods...

The defenders fell back to form a defensive shield wall

Meanwhile some marauders had broken through on one side...

Halvorsen seeing the danger managed to set up a defensive line a bit further back ... also more marauders had crossed the fence and threatened to encircle those at the other end of the village...

They just managed to fall back and join the rest forming into a semi-circle......

In charged the marauders .....

the fighting continued apace ...

the defenders formation started to buckle...

but they held on, pushed back some attackers and filled in any gaps 

Then the marauders leader, who had join the fray sensing victory, was killed. What remained of his men ran away leaving Halvorsen and the defenders weary but victorious !

---oXo---

Game Information

1. Played with my basic Saxons v Vikings rules

2. Settlement Defenders

• Torsten Halvorsen: armoured with shield,  +2 on Combat and Saving throws
• Halvorsen's thirteen:  +1 on Combat and Saving throws
• 1 archer un-armoured,  
• 5 armoured + shield, spear/sword/axe
• 6 un-armoured + shield, spear/sword/axe
• 1 un-armoured + short knives
• Villagers (9) : mix of weapons - sword or pitchfork/flail/staff.
• plus Bjorn the Beserker: un-armoured and +2 on Combat and Saving throws

3. The Marauders:

• Leader : armoured with shield and +1 on Combat and Saving Throws
• The rest (49): un-armoured with shield, spear/sword/axe.  (includes two archers)

4. The final body count...

• 4 villagers died defending the village
• 4 of Halvorsen's men were wounded one later died from his wounds the others would recover.
• the Marauders - their leader and 38 of them were killed, the rest ran for their lives ...