Olaf Sigurdsen's Raid - the survivors sail home...

 After the battle at the river side camp the longship with the Viking survivors on board made its way down-river...only nine of them left, just enough to crew the ship... 

downstream they went, as the river widened, some of them got some oars out to help with the steering...

A little later, they spotted some men waving and shouting at them from the river bank ... it was Torsten Halvorsen and the hunting party that had gone downstream... 

They made their way over to them and got them on board (now they were thirteen in number ..)

As they left the estuary they were able to set sail and start the voyage home ....

the repairs to the longship made while encamped were holding....

---oXo---

... After crossing the sea and in sight of their homeland, the sky darkened and a tumultuous storm commenced. The ship was driven before the wind, in vain they tried to get down the sail but to no avail there was a sharp crack as the mast snapped. They hurriedly cut the rigging ropes and got the debris over the side ... the coast was nearer and they were being driven towards it... they steered the ship as best they could but .... rocks tore through the underside of the hull as they were washed up onto a beach ........

The next morning, they picked over the ship for anything of use ...

The men elected Torsten Halvorsen as their leader, they set off into the hinterland ..

.. it would be a long walk home...

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 main foraging party; they were also waiting for the return of Torsten Halvorsen and a smaller foraging party who had followed the course of the river downstream .

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

In while the they could see the main foraging party led by Olaf Sigurdsen, herding some sheep....

to be continued

---oXo---

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

Halfdan and the Vikings ....

Halfdan after his failed attempt to kill Lady Hilda had been imprisoned. While Lord Wilfred prevaricated over the punishment for his son, Halfdan planned his escape ...

---oXo---

Early one morning Halfdan with assistance from a loyal supporter escaped from his room and made it over the pallisade; the supporter covering his escape was cut down by one of Lady Hilda's hearth-guard.  Halfdan ran full pace to the wood, with arrows whizzing past him - two of his friends were waiting there - they vanished into the woods... 

---oXo---

Within a couple of days, Halfdan and his men were raising funds, by stripping churches off their finery, the last church they raided was St Walpurga's at Charbury Minster.

The next day Halfdan met with some viking raiders at Nollerton, to buy their support ..... (with the promise of a bigger payoff and more plunder)

---oXo---

Meanwhile Thegn Rodor and his men were searching for the vikings ...

The news of Halfdan's treacherous agreement with the vikings reaches Lord Wilfred and Lady Hilda

Word is sent to the monks of Wuduceastre, outraged by the desecration of churches they send a party of armed monks join the forces assembling to deal with the threat posed by Halfdan..

Within a couple of days Lord Wilfred and Lady Hilda have mustered some of the local fyrd and with their hearth-guards set off to deal with the threat from Halfdan and the Vikings....