Battle Report: Fury of the Northman - Looting and Pillaging in Hibernia

 

Greetings faithful readers, and welcome to another Fury of the Northman battle report.  Erik Greybeard and his Victrix Vikings are once again facing off against King Ercc of the Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish.  

Mission:

The Vikings will be the attackers as they use the Loot and Pillage scenario against the Irish.  They will be attacking as Dusk Approaches as the complication. 

Forces: 

Since this will be a Loot and Pillage, the Vikings are allowed 10% more points then their Irish foes.  

Erik Greybeard's Vikings:

Nobles

- Shieldwall

- Boar's Head 

Warriors

Warriors

- Shieldwall

Militia

- Shieldwall

Skirmishers

King Ercc:

Warriors

- Heedless Charge

- Throwing Spears

Warband

- Heedless Charge

-Throwing Spears

Skirmishers

- Throwing Spears

Skirmishers

-Throwing Spears

Slingers

-Skirmishers

Slingers

- Skirmisher

Set-up:

Today we are using a 72MU by 48MU board.  1 MU is equal to 1 inch.  

Terrain is set-up per the rules found in the main Fury of the Northman rules and the objectives were set-up using the method outlined in the scenario. 

Square 1-3 is the Viking side, while side 4-6 is the Irish side of the board. 

• Square 1 = Hill
• Square 2 = Grove
• Square 3 = 2- level hill
• Square 4= Hill
• Square 5 = Hill
• Square 6 = Stone walls

Viking deployment

You can see the objectives, spread out in the form of piles of crates/chests or cattle.  They are just outside the Irish deployment zones. 

Irish deployment

I am going to break this report into three broad categories; Maneuver phase, Combat phase, and the End Phase.  I will not be detailing each move and action in detail, but try to cover key moments and decisive points of the battle in each phase.  

Maneuver Phase

Neither side was focused on subtlety or sneaking tricks.  The Irish moved up aggressively to grab their objectives, while Greybeard's Vikings pushed ahead as fast as they could.  

On the Viking side, Erik Greybeard led the attack with his nobles aiming for the center of the Irish lines and the cow on the hill.  It seemed to be only lightly protected by Skirmishers.  Once the Irish had their objectives, they took up defensive positions on hills and within their village.  They seemed content to let the Vikings come to them and were in strong positions, with good fields of fire with their slingers.  

Sensing a trap, the Viking Warriors with Shieldwall formed up.  They saw Irish Slingers lurking about the edges of a forested hill.  This slowed their advance on the Irish farming hamlet. 

Their caution was sensible, as the wily Irish popped out of cover and pelted Erik and his retinue recklessly charging across open ground.  First blood to the Irish as their slingers pelt the oncoming war chief with rocks and reduce them 1 courage.  

As we head into the 4th turn, the field looks like this: 

The Irish right has the Warriors and King Ercc ensconced in the hamlet, protecting two objectives.  The Viking militia and shieldwall oppose them.  The center has the Viking command leading the charge supported by their skirmishers, and their other warrior unit on the flank.  The Irish Slingers have stepped out to launch their attack, but they are exposed.  Behind them, the Skirmishers protect two objectives and the last Slinger unit protects an objective safely up on the top of a two-tiered hill.

Battle Phase

The Irish slingers in the center pepper Greybeard's Nobles with more sling stones.  Fed up, Greybeard and his Nobles charge forward!  However, the Irish fade back from them, leaving them disordered.  The Shieldwall followed their leaders lead, and also ends up tired and disorganized after failing to connect.  Meanwhile, the Irish try to fade away from the Viking assault.

King Ercc sees the spent Vikings ahead of him, and decides now is the time to send the invaders packing.  He charges forward heedlessly with his warriors, throwing their spears as they get stuck in!  The Irish king manages to push the Viking warriors back.  

However, the Vikings ferocity allows them to steal the initiative again, and they continue to push forward.  The Warriors on the Viking right manage to get to their objective, as the Irish skirmishers fade away from their assault.  In the center, Greybeard continues to pursue the Slingers but still can not catch them!  On the left, the Militia march into the Irish village in their shieldwall, daring the Irish to attack.      

Dusk begins to set-in, but the fighting continues to rage.   

The Irish slingers fire up-close and personal on the Viking nobles and continue to sap their courage.  However, the Nobles have gotten too close and crash into the Irish slingers this time.  They easily slaughter the Irish. Meanwhile, the Viking Warriors fight with King Ercc to a stalemate, but the Vikings are on the edge of collapse.  The other Viking warriors get to the loot the Irish were hiding, but fail to find anything of value.   

Irish skirmishers descend form the hills shouting war cries and throwing their spears.  It is too much for Erik Greybeard, and they turn to flee the battle field.  Those damned Irish seem to be everywhere, shooting and throwing spears at them!  

End Phase

The Sun was setting quickly now and it would soon be dark.  

King Ercc managed to drive off the Viking warriors he was fighting with.  However, behind him the Militia managed to loot some cattle.  

Viking skirmishers and warriors make a last ditch attack on the hill in the center, defended by Irish Skirmishers.  However, they are pushed back and the attack repelled, keeping the Irish loot safe.  

With that, the Viking straggle back into the night, their Raid complete. 

Conclusion

The Vikings managed to score and maintain 1 Loot marker for the battle!  They got to a second, but found nothing.  Routed units, the Vikings scored 4 from the Slingers, and the Irish scored 22 from the Viking units!  Wow, losing the Nobles and the Warriors was a big deal!      

Final Scores: 

Irish: 18

Vikings: -14!  

Looks like the Irish manage to win the follow-up encounter.  Their Fabian tactics worked much better in this scenario than the Cattle Raid.  If we reversed the Attacker/Defender I think the Irish would be hard pressed to prevail!   

Erik Greybeard tried to greet his warriors as they slunk back into camp that night.  They were tired, dirty, and hungry.  They grumbled muted responses to him as he hailed them.  They were discontented.  He had managed to feed them when they landed, but the lack of loot and more resistance than they expected left his men grumbling and ready to go home.  Greybeard needed to find a quick win to fill his men's bellies, pockets with gold, and some plunder to take home.  Otherwise, they might just try to settle down here with the Hibernians! 

Hope you enjoyed this battle. 

Bonus Content

I spent a bit of time clearing off some small 6mm pieces on my work desk.  I had a couple of vehicles for my Operation: Hemlock forces for a Horizon Wars-style battle in 6mm.  Plus, I can use a few of these for Aeronautica Imperialis as well.  These are all 3D printed.     

I couldn't precisely recall what colors I used for my initial forces, and therefore my Armored Bassies came-out a bit darker.  However, I recovered in time for the Hydra and Lightnings.  

The bases are just painted, nothing fancy.  I actually kept the Bassies and Hydra removable from the base so they could be lone targets or AA platforms in Aeronautica Imperialis.  I feel pretty good about the Imperial forces, but before the big battle I will need to pivot and make some Ork forces too.    

Until next time!

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Battle Report: Fury of the Northman - Cattle Raid in Hibernia

 

Hello faithful readers!   Today, we will be delving into the Fury of the Northman rules as I take my Victrix Vikings out against my Wargames Atlantic Hibernian Irish.  

Erik Greybeard had heard the tales and seen the wealthy himself.  These islands had loot, and his fellows had told him how soft the brown frocked defenders had been.  It was incredulous to hear that they were unarmed, and had all that gold sitting around!  It was too good to pass up.  

He gathered enough of his kinsmen to buy a few ships, and they had set sail.  It had been several days of wet, grey, and rainy weather but they finally found land.  The routes he had been told about were true!  His men pulled up into a cove, and found a beach to disembark on.  

The first order of business would be to find food for his men.  They were tired of the dried fish and fruit, and the barreled water.  They wanted something fresh to dine on.  He heard the bellow of a cow in the distance and his mouth watered.  His men looked expectantly up into the dark woods and rolling hills.  

Of course, the approach of his ships had been seen.  The shepherds ran back to the local village and told the chief of the newcomers.  He sent runners to the other nearby hamlets, and soon the local king had gathered the men folk to defend their lands.  King Ercc went forth to meet the invaders.   

Mission:

The Vikings will be the attackers as they go on a Cattle Raid against the Irish.  They will be attacking as Dusk Approaches as the complication. 

Forces: 

Since this will be a Cattle Raid, the Vikings are allowed 10% more points then their Irish foes.  

Erik Greybeard's Vikings:

Nobles

- Shieldwall

- Boar's Head 

Warriors

Warriors

- Shieldwall

Militia

- Shieldwall

Skirmishers

King Ercc:

Warriors

- Heedless Charge

- Throwing Spears

Warband

- Heedless Charge

-Throwing Spears

Skirmishers

- Throwing Spears

Skirmishers

-Throwing Spears

Slingers

-Skirmishers

Slingers

- Skirmisher

Set-up:

Today we are using a 72MU by 48MU board.  1 MU is equal to 1 inch.  

Per the rules for the Cattle Raid, we rolled up 4 cattle to be herded up and taken off the board.  Both players can deploy two cattle, at least 18MU in from the board edge, and 6 MU from any other cattle. 

In addition, we placed terrain per the rules.  We split the board up into a grid with 6 spaces.  We then rolled off per the chart.  

Grid 1= 1 Level Hill

Grid 2= Difficult Terrain (Field) 

Grid 3= Hedges and bushes

Grid 4 = No terrain

Grid 5= Difficult Terrain (Field) 

Grid 6= Difficult Terrain (Woods)

Both sides place their cattle.   

The Vikings choose to deploy on Grids 1-3.  The two sides take turns deploying a unit until the following deployments are set.  

Irish from left to right: 
Slingers, Warband, Warriors, Skirmishers, Slingers, Skirmishers

The Vikings from right to left:
Skirmishers, Warriors, Warriors, Nobles, Militia

Turn 1: 

As dusk approaches, both commanders gather their Ferocity Points.  Greybeard chooses to spend 4, while Ercc chooses to spend 3.  Greybeard goes first.  

Both sides rapidly rush forward to try and get their hands on the livestock.  The Viking Skirmishers spend the last Ferocity Point to move unimpeded by hill and field.  Their warriors comrades lag behind in the field.  The Irish are content to watch the rest of the Viking force move forward. 

With the baying of hounds, the Irish move forward, their skirmishers and slingers pushing out ahead.  The warriors seem content to deal with the left most cattle.  

The sun does not begin to set yet. 

Irish skirmishers move through a field

Turn 2: 

Both commanders again collect their Ferocity Points.  The Irish choose to bid 4, and the vikings bid 3.  This time the Irish go first.  

The Vikings watch as the Irish manage to leap forward and collect 2 cattle early.  The Slingers on the Irish right secure 1, and the King himself secures another.  

Irish slingers secure a cow, but can they hold it? 

Viking skirmishers secure one of the Cattle on the Irish left.  However, they are left exposed to do so, and there Warrior back-ups are lagging in the field.  Meanwhile, Greybeard and his nobles switch into the Boar's Head as they approach a cow.  The Militia and Warriors move up to support them in open order.  

Viking skirmishers secure a cow, and want to begin to escort it off the board

With the roll of a 6, the sun will begin to set! Dusk has begun! 

Turn 3: 

Both commanders again collect their Ferocity Points.  Greybeard spends 1, while King Ercc spends 3 to go first.  

The Irish slingers around the cattle open fire on Greybeard, but due to dusk they find that they no longer can get a good look at the target.  They are too far in the setting sun!  The same issue hampers the Irish slingers on the opposite side of the board when they go to Shoot at the Viking skirmishers.  

At this point, Greybeard attempts to interrupt.  However, he fails to take command and the Irish stay in control of the initiative.  

Irish warband attempt to drive off the Viking skirmishers

With that, the Irish warband commit a heedless charge into the Viking skirmishers.  The Irish warband loses two courage, and starts to waver.  They push the skirmishers back 2 MU and manage to drive off the skirmishers and secure their cattle.  However, Viking warriors are lurking nearby in the field. 

Greybeard again tries to take control, but loses to the Irish on the roll-off.  Irish skirmishers on the far right dash forward  and get between the Greybeard and his nobles and the Irish slingers with the cattle.  Meanwhile, on the opposite side, King Ercc and his warriors move up inbetween the fields.  

The Irish cede control of the initiative to the Vikings.  Eric Greybeard and his Nobles cahrge recklessly forward and clip the Irish skirmishers, as King Ercc and hoped.  The Irish are pushed back 1 MU, and turned around to flee for their lives!

Behind the Nobles, the militia Vikings grab a cow and circle around it to protect it.  The Viking Hirdmen move up to cover the gap between the fields, and form a Shield wall.  The last group of warriors struggles through the field towards their objective.  

End:

The Viking Skirmishers and a unit of Irish Skirmishers are removed from the battle as they rout.  The Irish units that see their comrades flee, pay it no heed.  Meanwhile, the warriors in the field begin to waver from seeing their skirmishers flee from the attacking Irish.  

Turn 4: Final Turn

This will be the final turn as night begins to fall.  Both King's gather their Ferocity Points, with both armies down a unit.  The gives the Irish 5 and the Vikings 4.  Eric Greybeard bids 2, and King Ercc bids 3.  The Irish will be going first again! 

The Irish slingers covering the cattle fire at the oncoming Nobles, who shrug it off by sheltering behind their shields.  King Ercc spends a Ferocity Point to rally his warband from wavering, and fallback away from the Vikings.  The rest of the Irish hold their positions, and turn control of the board back to the Vikings.  

The Viking militia fall back towards their camp with their prize, but they will not be fast enough to leave the board.  

In frustration, Eric Greybeard's Boar's Head smashes into the Irish Slingers by the cow.  The slingers do not stand a chance, and are easily routed.  The Nobles take command of the cow, but are stuck in the middle of the board. 

The vikings in the field manage to secure a third cow, but will not have enough time to get it to a board edge.  

End: 

The Irish slingers flee for their lives, and that leaves the Irish down 6 points, or about 25%.  However, no Irish units are in a position to see them flee, so no wavering checks are needed.  However, at 25% losses,  each Irish unit needs to take a Collapse Test.  The last Irish skirmisher unit flees the board in terror.  The rest hold steady.  

Conclusion: 

This one goes down to the points, as there is no clear winner!  

The Vikings eliminated 8 points worth of Units, but scored no points to cattle.  They lost a 2 point skirmisher unit, so they have a total of 6 points.  

The Irish have 2 points for destroying the Viking skirmishers, and 2 points for retaining 1 Cattle.  However, they lost 8 points of units and end the game with -4 points. 

The Vikings manage to drive away the Irish far enough, that they can get their captured cattle back to camp in the darkness.  However, behind every tree or shrub they pass, they can sense the angry eyes of the Irish on their backs.   By securing some cattle, Eric Greybeard is able to keep his men's bellies full, and the successful battle keeps their spirits high.  With the measure of the Irish defenders taken, Eric Greybeard was eager to raid further inland.  

Well, I guess King Ercc should have challenged those Viking Warriors in the field for control of the Cattle after all.  I was afraid of having to take a late game Collapse Test from a routed unit, and I ended up needing to anyway!  I am not sure challenging the cow by the field would have made a difference.  I also should have not used my skirmisher unit as a speed bump on those Nobles.  

In hindsight, I should have placed my two cows in difficult terrain, and then used my enhanced ability to skirmish to get there faster, and the terrain to help bolster my weaker armor, or to sally out of.  This would have hindered some of the Vikings biggest advantages, armor and formations.  In addition, the Dusk Approaches complication changed the dynamics of the game a lot by minimizing the effectiveness of my shooting, but also reducing the games length!  That really changed the normal rhythm and added a sense of urgency to the whole thing.  

Well, lessons learned on how to play the lighter, skirmishing focused force for next time!  

 

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As you can see, this has been a pretty busy year so far.     

     

 

           

 

On the Painting Desk- Dark Age Irish are Done (Insert Clever Title Here)

 

One of the key goals for 2022 was to order and complete painting a Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish army.  This was to act as an opposition force for my Victrix Vikings that I painted in 2021.  The idea was to use these two forces to help with the marketing and post-production work for a new game system for Viking Age warfare called Fury of the Northman.  This game is based on the Men of Bronze engine and therefore uses armies of similar size.  

In this case, the Dark Age Irish army was supposed to have about 6 units so about 60 models, and include two units of warriors, two units of slingers, and two units of skirmishers.  The focus of this force is greater mobility and firepower than my Viking force.  

In my last post, you got to see some progress on the Skirmishers and Slingers.  There, I also broke down the colors I used with my Armypainter Paints. For brushes, I used basic, big-box purchased brushes.  So, with that let's get into the pretty pictures! 

Here we have the finished Skirmisher units.  The Irish army in miniature format is famous for a few things, including Irish Wolfhounds in battle.  Personally, I think their actually use in battle is VASTLY overstated in wargaming, but it is a fun flavorful unit that makes the army distinctly Irish.  The Wargame Atlantic sprue comes with several of the "Good Boyz" so I figured I might as well use them! 

I also avoided giving the Skirmishers shields for the most part, as I figured those would limited their ability to move quickly and easily through the brush.  This is also the unit I put the most "shirtless" models in, as I also assumed the poorest members of the community would end up here in the army.  

For basing, I used a cheap acrylic paint from a big box retailer, globbed it on heavy with a cheap brush, over the hardware purchased washer, and then sprinkled it with left-over lichen/moss found at the bottom of my terrain storage box.  No need to waste it after all! 

Now, onto the Slingers and how they turned out once I based them.....

and then the other unit of slingers......

Not much to say about these guys.  They have a mix of slingers and just guys throwing rocks.  Or I guess charitably you could say they were there to re-load the slings.  I prefer to think they are just throwing the rocks.

The, the warriors....

 All the shields are hand painted, because I did not buy transfers.  I had forgotten how much I disliked painting shields, so it was a good thing only two units of warriors had them, plus a couple other here and there for unit leaders.  I base panted half Oak Brown, and the other half Leather Brown.  I then used a combination of Monster Brown, Desert Yellow, and Army Green.  The white white ones are Mummies' Robes while the red one is Rust Red.  I then used the same colors on contrasting backgrounds to make the symbols and marks.  Finally, I gave them all a Strong Tone wash.  I tried to paint them all on the sprue, and that made it a lot easier.  After cutting them out and gluing them to the warrior, I had to touch up the contact points with the shield's base color. 

Here is the warrior unit with their Chieftain to lead the force.....

Unlike the Viking army I built earlier, the Dark Age Irish do not make use of the Shieldwall.  Therefore, they will mostly be acting in dispersed, Open Order units.  They did not need to rank up as tightly.  The Chieftain I wanted to have some more vibrant colors and an all metal shield to help him stand out a bit.  

Here is the full army together....

  

I look forward to these guys hitting the table and fighting against the Viking raiders in the coming weeks and months.  I still want to add two more forces to my Dark Age armies, the first is a Anglo-Saxon army because it is iconic to the era.  The second is an Arab force because I am enamored with the historical Battle of Talyata where the Vikings and Arabs fought an engagement.  Plus, it would be a big departure from my other Dark Age armies.

Here's a preview of some Vikings vs. Dark Age Irish action!   

  You can see the rules on the Blood and Spectacles Wargame Vault page to find Fury of the Northman.   

In addition to finishing the Dark Age Irish, I also finished up painting my Corinthian War alliance fleet for Poseidon's Warriors.  It is 2 units of 5 fast trireme from Athens, and 15 cataphract triremes from Corinth.  

Next up, I need to 3D print 25 more Spartan cataphract Triremes for the opposing forces.  I look forward to launching a Corinthian War campaign using land and sea battles soon!   

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On The Painting Desk- It was a Dark Time

 

Welcome back to the Painting Desk.  

Last time we were at the Painting Deck, I was primarily building and painting up Korean War aircraft for White Star/Red Star.  Those are all done now.  I have enough aircraft for the Communists and the USAF.  I had a good time painting up the Tumbling Dice 1/600 aircraft so if I manage to finish off my other goals this year, maybe I will add on with some British Commonwealth or USN/USMC birds as well to complete my collection.  They are affordable and easy enough to paint.  

However, that will be posts for another day.  Today we will focus on the Dark Age Irish.  These are from Wargame Atlantic's Dark Age Irish range.  I used my traditional bases of metal 1 inch washers.  They went together easy, even if I felt like some of the sprue connection points were in hard to reach places.  

This army is the sample Line of Battle from my soon to be Wargame Vault released set of rules; Fury of the Northman.  This army is 60 miniatures; 20 warriors, 20 skirmishers, and 20 slingers.  The Dark Age Irish are a lighter, more mobile, and more ranged force than their Viking foes will be.  I am interested in seeing how they fare against each other.  However, before I can do that we will need to paint them up.

The first thing I tackled was the Irish Wolfhounds.  They painted up really quick, so I also started working on the Skirmishers that went with them.  This is a big change to how I approached the Vikings.  

This time I was painting by unit type rather than bulk painting the entire force.  I undercoat them all white using cheap acrylic paints, then I switched to my Armypainter paints and went to work.  I used the following: 

1. Barbarian Flesh as the primary flesh tone

2. I used a selection of Desert Yellow, Daemonic Yellow, Mummy Robes, Leather Brown, Fur Brown, Monster Brown, Leather Brown, Skeleton Bone, and Ash Grey as the primary colors.  Maybe the leader or wealthier units may have some Ultramarine Blue, Jungle Green, Matte White, or Pure Red for their tunics.

3. Weapons use Oak Brown and Skeleton Bone for hafts and Gunmetal for blades

3. Hair colors are typically Daemonic Yellow, Sunburst Orange, Fur brown, Monster Brown, and Dark Stone

4. Then I use Daemonic Yellow, various Metallics, and contrasting Browns for details like belts, buckles, sheathes, etc.  

5. Then, I typically give them a strong tone wash depending on the end result I want

I will base them with Territorial Brown from big box acrylic paints with a spattering of lichen.  I typically do that at the end of the process.  Normally, this will be where I put on the shields, but I think these skirmishers will not have them.  

I used the same basic process as I proceeded onto the next units of the army; slingers.  Now, I only had ten slinger arms and I needed two units of 10!  That could be an issue.  However, the Wargame Atlantic sprue also made use of models throwing rocks. I sprinkled these guys into the unit, and it really helps give them that "non-professional" look to them.  That gave me enough models for the two units.  

Preparing them and painting them went pretty much the same as the skirmishers.  I made use of the same color palette too.  Since they don't have shields, slingers and skirmishers go together relatively quickly compared to warrior units.  Here is what they ended up looking like.  

These units without shields can go pretty fast.  Once I have the army all painted up, I will base them.  For now, they get bare washers.  

In addition to getting started on my Dark Age Irish, I also painted a Fantasy miniature!  We had a new player join our D&D circle.  They bought a miniature for their character, but had no idea how to paint it.  I stepped in a painted it for them to help out, as they do not need to learn how to paint for one model!  This is a Reaper metal model that the player had purchased from somewhere..... 

So, that's where we are at on the Dark Age Irish.  At this rate, it won't take long to finish off the whole army.  I hope I can keep up the pace!

Check out the Blood and Spectacles Wargame Vault page to find Fury of the Northman.     

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