An On Bloody Ground Battle report.
Vikings vs. Hibernians. 2000 points a side.
We chose to use Special Objectives during this game.
Rather than rolling to choose the ground, we decided to use planned attack for this battle. We ended up with three pieces of terrain. I placed two dense copses of trees, which we gave the solid keyword, so no movement or line of sight allowed, and Dan placed an area of boggy ground that we gave the rough and difficult keywords, so a -1 movement modifier for formed or light units and no charge bonus.
Dan won the roll for deployment and chose Vanguard, which allows skirmishers to push forwards quickly and possibly block deployment for enemy units, so I made him deploy the first unit to the battlefield in the hope of reacting to where his main fighting units were placed.
The Initiative roll.
Dan won the roll and decided to keep the initiative, so he started the battle.
Dan had more skirmishing units than I’d expected and in larger numbers than he’s used before, so I knew my own meagre skirmishing units would struggle in a drawn out shooting match, so I decided that attack would be the best form of defence. If I could rout his unit of javelin men on my left flank, I would be able to move my two units around the wooded area to threaten the second unit of javelin men that was deployed in front of the unit of Bonnachts. Skirmishers aren’t much more than an irritation to formed units, but I didn’t want to have to push this unit away by charging them and then attempting a difficult redirect. My dice rolls for orders have been consistently below average, so I use them only when in dire need.
Dan moved his troops forward to refuse his left flank with the boggy ground that he’d placed. I could have pushed the Ulfhednar through it, but the extra time it would have taken them, plus the likelihood of losing troops on the way to the slingers in front of the Gasraidh was more of a chance than I wanted to take. I had an idea that his plan was to come at me fast and furious and try to punch through my smaller units.
In true Viking style and because his initial move looked so aggressive, I had all of my units form shieldwall and shift forward tentatively, whilst looking very menacing! The Ulfhednar started towards the skirmishing slingers, who I hoped would not stand in my way for too long. Those Gasraidh have thrusting spears and I was pretty sure that they’d be quite happy just sitting there tying up my mad Vikings. My small unit of Gebur slings had declared a charge against Dans far larger unit of javelin men, but I hoped that by getting the charge in, the re-rolls for my attacks might tip the balance in my favour. That did not go to plan. I still lost the combat, but to everyone surprise, my brave boys passed their test to stand fast and the combat from the charge ended. Unfortunately during the combat phase I lost again and what was left of the unit was soundly thrashed, leaving the pitiful few scatter.
Turn two.
I decided that it was too early to try to change the initiative, so Dan held on to it for turn two. Although I think it was right to not waste command points at this early stage of the battle, it became clear that this decision would allow Dan to enact his cunning plan.
His opening play was to order his Fianna to manoeuvre. They dutifully obeyed this order and moved closer to my Hirdmen, who had already dug their heels in ready for the expected charge. Fianna have the warband keyword, so if they were able to win the opening attack, their momentum would be utterly devastating as it runs in reverse to normal troops, giving them three instead of the usual one in the first round of a combat. The charge was declared and in they came!
Throwing weapons from both sides caused a couple of casualties, but nothing to worry about. Then my drug and alcohol saturated berserker yelled some rubbish about Valhalla and threw himself at the mildly concerned Hibernians. His initial charge looked impressive as he rolled his maximum three hits on the unlucky Irishmen, but that was about as much as he could manage, as it seemed he was unable to inflict even a paper cut, after failing all of his 3+ rolls to wound. I don’t know if you can get to Valhalla via the ditch that I rolled him in to after the battle!
The Fianna did not let Dan down. They crashed into my Hirdmen, killing six and pushing my boys back, which was too much for the brave lads at the back, who slunk off home. My unit was in trouble, as was the centre of my army!
The combat raged on and even with my Godi cursing them, I was pushed back. An even better round of combat for Dans boys this time and I was down to the last four Hirdmen, and momentum after the fight pushing my required leadership test to an 8+. Disaster! I failed the test and the last of the unit fell apart, leaving the Godi screaming curses as she was captured by the Fianna and their Priest, just to rub salt into the wound. The Fianna made a surge move ready to attack a second unit of Hirdmen. This might be a very quick battle, I thought.
With my battle line in dire straights, it was now or never. I had to stop this unit of blood raged Irishmen or they would very likely be my undoing. I steeled myself, considered the options and sent out the orders that I hoped would stop the rot. Dans Fianna had done incredibly well, which was not unexpected, but they were on their own and I had an opportunity to take advantage of their overconfidence.
I ordered the Hirdmen on Dans left of the Fianna to manoeuvre ready for a charge, and what do you know, they actually took notice and moved. This put them in an ideal position for the charge, but I knew they would still need help. Those axes that the Fianna were swinging at my boys would slice through them and it would be too close to call with just one unit in the fight, so I prayed to Odin and tried an order to manoeuvre on the Hirdmen that the Fianna had readied themselves to charge. I think their impending doom might have woken them up and they also passed the test and turned. Now we had a fight.
During the charge phase of the turn, I went for it. My last unit of skirmishers charged Dans javelin men on my flank, who decided to stand, which allowed them to shoot me. I should have know the outcome, but I was shocked when they caused enough casualties on my unit to cause a test, which they dutifully failed and then refused to complete the charge. Bless them.
The Ulfhednar drank down the last of their home brew and declared a charge against the Gasraidh (The slingers having moved out of their way into the bog – good move boys), who decided that they didn’t fancy their chances and so passed their test to evade, which they did as fast as they could.
My 28 man unit of Bondi decided to get stuck in, so declared a charge against the Bonnachts that were just to the left of them. This turned out to be a really exciting combat as once the two units had contacted and the initial round of combat began, there was no end to it. The Bonnachts tried very hard to hold their ground, but were pushed back once, then twice and then lost their third consecutive round of combat. This could be it for them, as even hardened warriors struggle to withstand such an onslaught. Dan was jumping for joy when they passed their break test and held their ground. He was elated! Or he was until my General ordered the Bondi to push on and fight another round of combat! This was too much for the luckless Bonnachts who were eventually overwhelmed. The Bondi surged forwards towards the Gasraidh, who were still holding the Ulfhednar off at spear point.
The main combat though would still be in the centre of my line. I had declared a multiple charge with the two units of Hirdmen onto the Fianna, who had no choice other than to stand their ground, not that I would have expected them to choose anything different.
The combat from the charge was devastating to us both. My unit that made the initial turn to attack the Fianna in the rear cut through the Irish guard unit, who had decided to vent all of their fury against my second unit, to their front. Their wrath was unpleasant to say the least as they cut through this unit with no mercy, leaving just two men and their commander standing. Even with this blood thirsty slaughter, their unit was broken almost beyond hope. They managed to stand fast, stopping my initial assault, but were cut down almost to a man during the combat phase of the turn, allowing me to rescue my Godi (the bitch was still screaming insults!) and capture the Irish Priest. He would be invited to dinner after the battle, I thought.
My victorious unit of Hirdmen surged further into the battle, filled with thoughts of their victory, whist their comrades limped to the rear of the army in the hope of surviving the battle.
With the cream of the Hibernian army gone, the tide had turned, but the fight was still continuing in other areas of the battlefield.
Dans skirmishers on both my left and right flanks were moving unchecked now and saw the mauled unit of Hirdmen limping away towards the rear of my line. Even more worrying were the second unit of Bonnachts and the Gasraidh who both still had their full compliment of troops intact.
.Turn Three.
Now’s your time boys! I wanted to keep the pressure on, so I declared that I would attempt to change the initiative. Dan had two command points left on Brian Boru and after paying the price to declare my intention, I had only a single point remaining. We rolled the dice and with a clap of thunder in the back ground, I rolled a six and I have to say that I’m not totally sure what Dan rolled because I laughed so much after seeing his face drop, that tears filled my eyes. I knew what had happened though. I had wrenched control of the initiative from this old warriors clasped hands and now had the opportunity to make him pay.
Seeing the mists clear and the moment of victory within my grasp, the Bondi were ordered to march through the centre of the battlefield and position themselves to support the Ulfhednar, who had decided that victory or death was their only choice now.
The Hirdmen that had survived the fight against the Fianna reasonably unscathed declared a charge against the skirmishing unit covering the so far untouched unit of Bonnachts. The skirmishers had no choice but to evade, but were caught with nowhere to run and were destroyed during the initial charge.
The Ulfhednar and Bondi screamed with rage and made a multiple charge against the Gasraidh, who stood firm ready to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The combat from the charge was a bloodbath. The Gasraidh had fought like wild beasts and managed to win the combat, but the Ulfhednar were not going to leave this unfinished and the Bondi were intimidated enough by them to stay in the fight.
With weight of numbers against them and fighting to both their front and rear, even the mighty Gasraidh couldn’t survive the continued assault in the combat phase and were butchered. Their commander was taken for ransom and their last troops scattered.
The skirmishing Hibernians continued to pursue the beleaguered Hirdmen trying to get back to safety and the Bonnachts now realised that they were the last combat unit in the fight. The sun was beginning to set on the day.
Turns four and five.
With the battle all but over, the remaining Viking troops attempted to complete the special orders given to them at the start of the battle. If the Bondi could manage to make it back to their lines, there would be a reward waiting for them. They focused entirely on this promise of gold for the remaining turns of the battle.
In an attempt to catch the distracted Bondi unit, which had already lost half of its number fighting against the Gasraidh, the last unit of Bonnachts were ordered to move towards them and ready themselves for a final charge, but they refused to complete the order, instead moving towards their own area of deployment. It seems they had lost the will to continue the fight and who could blame them.
Turn six.
In the vain hope of capturing the eye of their gods, the Hirdmen unit declared a charge against the Bonnachts who had already decided that their battle was over and evaded beyond the reach of their foes.
The two units of Hibernian skirmishers had remained relatively intact and were hell bent on reaping as much glory from the remnants of the enemy army as they possibly could. With their own special orders carried out, they realised that the Hirdmen limping away from them may have some special importance and so decided to send these poor souls to the corpse hall, which they did with a hail of arrows and slingshot. A sad end to a brave unit.
The Bondi had continued their march towards home and their promised reward, only to see the Hirdmen cut down by enemy missile fire, which was too much for some, who chose to make their own way home instead of sticking with their unit. This final act of cowardice by some of the battle weary Bondi would cost their unit dear, as they could no longer fulfil their orders and collect their reward. A bitter blow indeed!
And with that, the light faded and those survivors that were able, limped back to write down tall tales of the battle and their heroic part in it, unlike this true to life recounting, by Dave the Bard, who hardly ever tells a half truth or embellishes the facts...
