1. Edington Re-Fought (Saxons vs Vikings)

Inspired by the arrival of my Slingshots, I set about doing a quick refight of Edington (Saxons vs Vikings) as done for a range of other rule sets in one of the issues.

The armies came out as:

Vikings

1 Subgeneral
2 Huscarles
1 Berserkers
5 Bondi (front rankers HI)
1 Skirmisher

Saxons

1 General
2 Nobles
6 Fyrd
3 Peasants
1 Skirmisher

The points were more or less even, using the revised point system (about 270 each). I limited each army to a single commander, to limit CCC in a realistic way for this era, and made Alfred a General to give him a bit more clout.

The armies deployed on an 7 unit front, plus the skirmishers were posted on the hill and spent the game shooting at each other, having a private little war of their own.

Both armies had their Huscarles/Nobles facing off in the centre, flanked by Bondi /Fyrd.

The Vikings had their Berserkers in front of the Huscarles, aimed at BOTH Saxon Noble units. The Saxons had 1 Fyrd and the 3 peasant units in a reserve line.

The battle began with the Berserkers smashing into the Saxon Nobles, bouncing off and heading for the rear (what was left of them, anyway), and promptly rallying behind the Huscarles.

Then the 2 lines met. The Vikings got the upper hand on both extreme flanks, while in the centre both commanders pushed back the enemy facing them (ie Alfred with the right hand Noble unit and the Viking leader with the right hand Huscarle unit both pushed back the enemy facing them), with the losing Saxon Nobles routing - the defeated Berserkers had made a nasty dent in this unit already!

Now the second line of Saxons came into play, a Peasant unit going in to shore up each of the extreme flanks while a unit of Fyrd and another of Peasants charged against the victorious Huscarles, routing them, thanks to the God of Dice!

The battle on the flanks between the Bondi and the Fyrd and Peasants now degenerated into a slow grinding match, in which the Vikings slowly gained the advantage, but the battle was decided in the centre.

Alfred's winning streak was cut short by the Berserkers who charged to the aid of their comrades, their combined efforts breaking Alfred's Nobles.

These 2 units now squared off against the 2 Saxon units that had beaten the other unit of Huscarles - a battered Fyrd unit and some peasants. Bolstered by the arrival of Alfred, the Saxons managed to destroy the remainder of the berserkers, but they were no match for the Huscarle meat-grinder, the few surviors fleeing, Alfred being killed in the rout. (I used my house rule that leaders that are with units that rout from melee automatically take hits, and this was Alfred's second rout!)

A very entertaining game which showed that VB can do a very good job of representing this style of warfare, which many other systems struggle with.

John Hills