Vikings and Normans: the Battle of Lone Tree

[BaronVonJ]

Last night saw the Viking/Norman battle of Lone Tree. Seems the northern raiders decided to take advantage of the chaos involving the Norman conquest of Britain. The Normans, led by Guilliaume "not the Bastard", took offense to this and cut the Vikings off on their way back from a raid. Laden with loot, and little tipsy, the Norse led by Scot the Gray, decided to take a stand.

After the battlelines were drawn, the Vikings, liquored up and pissed off, moved first. Billy the Axe, on the Viking left held back, while Scot the Bald sent his men careening forward.

The Normans went next. Guillaume, in the center was wary while his knights on both flanks led by Sir Jay and Sir Gregory advanced.

The cavalry actually managed to hold some restraint at first, but then let loose, like everyone knew they would. Unfortunately, the horses were almost blown by the end of the charge, and Sir Gregory was forced to hold up short and regroup.
This gave Scot the Bald's men a chance to charge themselves. One unit of knights made their escape while two others took some knocks.

In the center, archery was exchanged. Norman accuracy was better, and one of Scot the Grey's Huscarls decided Valhalla could wait, and retreated.

On the Viking left, Billy the Axe's boys were having a hard time of it. One unit was driven off, another cut-off and surrounded. He was holding just barely. On the right, the fight with horses was tight. Scot the Bald's men were holding on, just barely. Two units were barely holding. This flank would decide the battle. The gods seemed to smile upon them. Thor granted them the will stand. But, apparently not to fight. A miserable counter attack that could have turned to tide failed. The knights routed them. It was over. The fleeing norsemen were ridden down by remaining knights. The ravens feasted well.

As usual, "Flower of Chivalry" my ruleset of choice, provided a fun, intense, sometimes frustrating, game. It was a nail biter til the end. The Normans cav is powerful but brittle. They won with only 2 stands lost to the Viking 7. Most of the Vikings losses happened in one turn.

[Engel]

Nice reading. Keep it up and post more battle report in the future.

[BaronVonJ]

Love to. Just kinda of a pain uploading pictures to Photobucket and copying and pasting, etc. Easier to just throw it on the blog. But I shall try....

[midismirnoff]

Nice report. I like the "berserker" models where do they come from?

[BaronVonJ]

All the Vikings are Foundry. Most of the Normans are Crusader with some Foundry mixed in.
-J

[OSHIROmodels]

Very colourful melee going on there  and a great use of names 

cheers

James

[Doomhippie]

It certainly looks nice! I like the Foundry Vikings, they have soemthing about them which is rather appealing to me. And the Normans look just as good. Nice little report, I enjoyed it a lot.

[midismirnoff]

All the Vikings are Foundry. Most of the Normans are Crusader with some Foundry mixed in.
-J

Thank you (damn, that's why they're so good)!

[Blackwolf]

Nice The Foundry Vikings are lovely,I have afew as well, V.fierce

[BaronVonJ]

The names, of course, come from the real players. My 10-year-old son, William Marshal, led the Normans. More Dark Ages soon to come.

[Bloodysword]

Game looks like it was alot of fun. beautiful figures.  I really enjoy your blog, I look forward to seeing the updates on Thursdays.

[Dr. Kevin Moon III esq.]

Fab looking game.

How does Flower of Chivalry play? I can't find a lot about it on the web.

[BaronVonJ]

A much under-appreciated ruleset. The whole book is packed with background info on the Middle Ages and tons of scenarios. The rules themselves are only about 4 pages plus 2 Quick Reference sheets. They were originally written for 15mm with infantry having 6 stands (using DBA sized stands). I, however, switched to one big base of 60mm square and keep track of hits on a roster (that way its less obvious how battered a unit is): Good shot here: http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/2010/08/saturday.html
Briefly, each commander gets a deck of command cards based on his level. They are ordinary playing cards ace-three. Better commanders have more 3s, worse have more 1s in their deck. A joker reshuffles the deck. The card is the number of actions each unit is capable of (subject to command distance restrictions etc.)
Actions are things like moving, shooting, melee, etc. A better commander gives his troops more flexibility (duh). But, I've lost some games to worse rated commanders.
Besides an innovative command system, there is BattleLust. Each order effects a unit's battlelust. Charging adds three, moving one. Holding subtracts. You get a unit up to 7+ and they are exhausted. No more charging, they fight weaker. Conversely, stand around the whole battle and your troops get restless. Their morale drops ("Why are we here again?").
It becomes a lovely dance of knowing when to go, and when not to. Timing becomes everything. Oh, and you're not always guaranteed your boys will do what they're supposed to. How many times have my cavalry charged when they were just supposed to advance?
My personal opinion has been expressed on my blog several times (read the battle reports): This is one of best rules sets for the Middle Ages straight up. No, not for everybody. It's great for conventions because even people who've never played pick it up quickly and its always simultaneously frustrating and fun.
PM me if you have more ?s.
-J

[matakishi]

This looks to be a good system with very manageable sized forces so it'll be quick to get into. I found a copy online so I might grab it and have a go.
Regardless of whether i get suckered into another porject or not, the report was very interesting and inspiring. Great looking figures.

[Dr. Kevin Moon III esq.]

Thanks for the rundown. It sounds interesting but I'm not sure its what I'm after.