SAGA

1st game of Saga.
3 way 4 point battle.  2 Viking warbands and 1 Anglo Dane.

 Initial set up.

Set up in a triangle fashion, the Viking lord Magnus, the viking lord Halfdan and the Angle Garreth faced each other.
Perhaps intimidated by the unit of levy archers (he needent have worried), Halfdan set out against the Anglo Danes first.

Blows were traded but the Angles came out slightly better in the exchange.

The lord Magnus views the carnage, wondering who to engage.

The decision is made for him as Halfdan sends a unit of hearthguard against a similar unit of Magnus hearthguard.  Halfdan kills all 4 while losing 2.

Lord Halfdan goes down in personal combat with Lord Garreth.

A unit of Halfdan's warriors battles Lord Magnus and his hearthguard.

Magnus sends his hearthguard in to kill Earl Garreth.

The numbers have dwindled to almost nothing by the last turn.  Lord Magnus is the last warlord standing.  But this scenario is decided kill points.  When the are calculated,  Halfdan comes in first.  The skalds will sing of his pyrrhic victory for weeks to come!

The seige of Northwik, November 869 A.D.

Ireland had been a tough nut to crack, and the Vikings left to find a softer target.  They turned their attention to East Anglia.  They had been here a few years back, and the weak king had paid them to leave.  This time they came to stay.  Ivar set his sights on the city of Norwich.   He tasked Clovis with seizing the Eastern gate.

Originally a Roman town, the city had a stout stone wall.  Clovis used suprise and a ruse to grab the gatehouse.

The Anglians reacted swiftly, sending forces to block the gate.

A great shoving match ensued, Clovis men trying to get in and the Angles trying to push them back.

Suddenly the Angles broke and ran.  The Vikings had entered the city through the North.  Clovis had been a distraction, tying up the defenders while the viking ships sailed upriver and flanked them.

The Angles surrendered to Ivar and his brothers.   This time there would be a Norse King.  For his service Clovis was granted land and a manorhouse.  He spent the winter pacifying his new holdings. 
While he was here, his old companion Hakkon tracked him down.  He had returned from the North lands.

The Incident at Black Pool, summer 869 A D

Clovis and company wintered in North Umbria into 869.  In the summer he travelled with Ivar to Ireland.  The vikings planned to raid the Irish country,  but the sons of Erin had united and their army kept the norsemen bottled up in their port of Dublin.
Ivar devised a plan to fracture the Irish alliance.  He sent Clovis to the north to attack Irish holds to draw off their forces.

Clovis target was an Irish hold called Blackpool.

Clvis led the charge through the front door.

Candice secured the family as hostages.

The raid was a success.  The Irish lord reurned and negotiations begun to ransom the family. Clovis stalled for time, his mission was to keep these men away from the main Irish force.  But his scouts returned with dire news- the Irish were stalling for time too- they had sent a flanking force across upriver and they were preparing to fall upon Clovis company in the night.
The irish sorcerers had also summoned some foul magic air from the village well and it had put one of the camp folloers into an eternal sleep before Clovis discovered it.
The company abandoned the village beore the trap was sprung.  They returned to Dublin on their ships, giving the hostages to Ivar.

Invasion of Mercia, summer 868 AD

Hired by Queen Giselle, the Northern Rose company travelled into Mercia to meet Ivar the Boneless.  Along the way they stopped at a Mercian lord's estate to aquire supplies...

Along their travelling,  Clovis aquired a pair of unsual Swedes.  Mouse and Bear.

The raid was almost a total success, but the noble family was able to escape out an unwatched back door.

The company travelled to Nottingham, where they met Ivar the Boneless.  His brothers were trapped in the fort of Nottingham by a combined Saxon/Mercian army.  Ivar didn't have the stregth to break in and his brothers didnt have the strength to break out.

Clovis, being a Christian man, was able to go to the Saxons and negotiate.   He met with one of the Saxon princes, Alfred, and negotiated a sum of silver that the Vikings would be paid to leave Mercia.

While this was going on Sven bull neck arrived and set an ambush for Clovis, but it failed.  Clovis learned of Sven's secret lair, where the captives of the Woden Ric were held.  Clovis felt his presence was needed with the army, so he tased Hakkon, Mouse and Bear with the rescue.   They were successful,  and retrned with Hakkon's mother and the priest Bodo.

It was learned from Bodo that he was not a priest, but an Austurian prince, sent to negotiate an alliance with Wessex and other Anglish kingdoms against the vikings.  He had been the target of the raid on the Woden Ric.  The players had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Clovis decided to hedge his bets, and let Bodo free to go to Wessex, but he stayed in service of Jarl Ivar and travelled north with the Norsemen army.

Hakkon now realized it was a fool's errand to find his mother's cure in Anglia, and decided to take her home.  He said his good byes and left the Northern Rose company, for now.

The Mooreshed Treasure

It became known to Clovis that his son , Pipin, had not been killed in the ambush on his family, but had been hidden by one of the monks and then sent to a monastery in North Umbria, where he spent the last 4 years in hiding.  When Clovis learned of this he sent his neice and some soldiers to recover him.

But other things were afoot in North Umbria.  A band of mercenaries attacked the monastery , but were drivin off by the Northern Rose Co.

Their leaders were tracked down and captured.  Eventually they told of the source of the conspiracy.

It led to some haunted lands and a giant wolf, which was slain with the help of a sacred sword.

Butchery in Seal Bay

 The village of Doccinga has called upon Clovis and his company of the Northern Rose for aid.  Viking ships have been spotted off the coast,  and they fear they are soon to be the target of a raid.
The vikings are located in a nearby bay where they are setting up a longphort.
Clovis immediately plans an assault.

 After sniping the two sentries, the Northern Rose company advances on the enemy camp in battle line.

 The Viking raiders are roused from their tents. They do not have time to don their armor but they form a hasty shield wall.

 They send a runner down the beach to get reinforcements.   However, Candice has taken up a concealed position in the reeds and takes him down with several arrows to the back and finally the face as he turns to see his attacker.

 Clovis company lets loose two volleys of javelins and arrows, inflicting some light wounds.

 According to premade plan, after shooting twice the skirmishers fall back from the shield wall.

 The two shield walls crash together.

 Small gaps are made on each side.  Clovis attempts to flank the line.

 For a moment he finds himself dangerously outnumbered,  but his companions, including the brave Sergeant Bagge, leap to his side.

The enemy captain, Red Dragon, singles Clovis out for personal combat.
Not being prone to fits of honour, Clovis keeps him engaged while Kongrave runs up behind and puts a Dane Axe through Red's leg.
The crippled enemy captain yields.

Although the King's man Asperg and Bagge are seriously wounded, there are no fatalities in the Northern Rose company.   Red and two others are hastily led away before the other ships can figure out what has transpired.
Now to interrogate the captain and find out their true intentions...