Military Modelling – May 1981

“Viking Saga” Teaser #15

Baron's mounted 10 Regular

troops (spear armed
medium cavalry)
B. Main fishing village 20 barbarians
male locals(armed
60% spear-40% bow)
Mounted locals from 5 barbarians
the main village
(spear armed)
C. Northern village male 10 barbarians
in two by the River Fingle. To the west of the locals (spear armed)
North west village
D. male locals (spear 10 barbarians
armed)
Bishop's men-at-arms
E. 10 regular
(spear armed)
South west village
F. male locals(bow and 6 barbarians
spear armed)
Blue Force -

C.S. Grant
offers Viking raids
of the 9th century
Introduction
Let me start by giving credit where it is due.
This excellent idea for a Teaser comes from
Glasgow Wargamers Club who put on a
display wargame called "Viking Raid" at the
Scottish Association of Wargamers meeting
"Fiery Cross '78". The sight of the table with
the longships in the bay, the lusty warriors river we have a couple of small hamlets and Reinforcements off the Table
leaping ashore and the villagers and cattle the Abbey in which resides the Bishop. To the Unknown to either side the following
running in all directions was a great advert- east of the river is the Fort of the local Baron reinforcements will arrive at the given
isement for wargaming. It is therefore with the who controls the area; in particular the entry point, the specified number of
kind permission of those responsible that I moderately prosperous fishing village near periods after a warning beacon has been
use this as a basis for this month's Teaser. the mouth of the River Fingle. Two warning lit. Blue force will, of course, realise that
The Viking has long been a figure of romance beacons are prepared. They are on the south the beacons are likely to produce some
which catches the imagination. I well east tip of land and by the Abbey. The areas such response.
remember the film The Vikings and the above suitable for landing a longboat are shaded Referenc period
display apart, a Viking raid therefore has and numbered one to four; each can take e after the unit
considerable appeal as a basis for a game. three longboats except number three which Point beacon is lit
Where the display by the Glasgow can only take one because of local fishing G. 4. 5 horsemen
Wargamers Club differed from the usual ideas craft. There are a number of other small
15 men-at-
was that, not only did the Vikings have to land villages, woods and farms in the area. The H. 8.
arms
and create mayhem, but they had to get a River Fingle is crossed by two sturdy bridges
G. 10. 15 villagers
certain level of booty back to their longboats and is otherwise impassable.
J. 11. 10 villagers
and get away. Indeed, a very realistic H. 12. 10 villagers
problem, if somewhat complex as a game. I Forces
J. 14. 10 villagers
will not waste further time with preamble but
get straight down to the business of the Blue Force - Local Forces on the Table
Map A shows the locations of the relevant Red Force - From the Viking Longboats
battle. The Viking longboat force consists of
local forces.
six ships each with 20 fighting men. This
Terrain A. Baron's men-at-arms 20 Regular
number of men does not include 5 men
The terrain is shown in map A. To the south (spear armed medium
per ship who must remain with the ship to
and east lies the open sea, to the north and infantry)
guard it.
west is the area of South Umbria, in particular The terrain map shows the Parish of
the Parish of Fingle Farm. This parish is split Fingle

“Viking Saga” Teaser #15
Farm.
The object of the raid is to remove in
various forms the booty (which, for propriety's
sake, excludes womenfolk). Map B shows
some of major areas of desirables, while
other more general items are noted here.
In general, every house excluding those
specifically mentioned, such as the Bishop's
Church and the Grain Store, has sufficient
food, drink and valuables to require two
Vikings to transport it to the ship. Carrying
any commodity halves the move distance.
The quantity of booty loaded onto the ship is
measured in value units (VU’s) and, in the
case of the contents of a house, it is 2 VU’s.
The following table shows the distribution of
commodities and their value in VU’s.
This gives a total possible VU’s of 326
Well, you might think after all that you will
need a computer to run the game. I think that
is something of an exaggeration, but a score
keeper in addition to the umpire will be a
bonus. Presently I will indicate how even the
presence of a score keeper can be dispensed
with by a fairly simple system.
Having distributed the potential booty, I
think we will leave this area for the moment
and return to it later.
The opening scenario
We will now look at the start of the game.
Firstly, on land the villagers, nobles and
notables rest peacefully in their beds
unsuspecting. During the night the Vikings
move close in towards the coast and,
knowing the area from a previous "day trip",
they make their plans. At this stage, the
commander of the Vikings is given an
accurate map showing the coast line, river
and bridges, main village C, Bishop's Church
and Baron's Fort only. In addition, it shows
the landing areas as marked. He now makes
his plan and manoeuvres into the appropriate
position 18 inches (2 periods) off the coast.
The fleet may be split among any number of
landing areas as required. Each ship load of
20 men includes a commander plus a second
in command.
Period one is first light and the ships may
move in towards the landing area by 12
inches. The villagers begin to rise but there is
no visible movement. At the end of the period,
the alarm bell is sounded in the Fort or
Bishop's Abbey, whichever overlooks the
landing area. Villagers and soldiers may
move on period 2 but horsemen take one
period to mount. In period 2 the long ships
run in the six inches to the beach and the
Vikings are disgorged up to 2 inches on either
side of the boats.
The battle
Battle may now commence with both Viking
and locals giving their all. The "home side"
will, of course, be trying to stem the tide of the
invaders and at the same time rescue what
goodies they can. Only livestock (L) and
treasure/religious artefacts can actually be
moved to safety by the locals and a wagon
happens to be on site at the Fort and at the
Abbey which may help.
Any Viking carrying booty back to the ship
who is forced to fight drops whatever he is
carrying. The victor is free to pick up these
goods and do with them as he will. If
members of either side herding a flock have
to fight, the flock is liable to panic and to run
in any direction (a circumstance which can be
controlled by the umpire.) There are, of
course, other circumstances which may arise
but we may leave these to the umpire's
discretion to resolve.
Umpire assistance
With the comings and goings, the umpire
(and his assistant) are going to have quite a
lot to keep track of. To help in this task I
suggest a couple of aids. The first is to use
Military Modelling – May 1981
coloured counters or markers to represent
the various value units. For example,
yellow for grain, green for fish, red for
drink and so on. If each type of booty has
a different colour it will be easy to check
what one has and where it is. These
counters should be pre-positioned in the
appropriate houses. Once a commodity
has been taken, the counters go on or
under the figure carrying it. If it is dropped,
it is taken from under the figure and placed
next to it. By moving the counter to the
appropriate longboat and placing them in
the ship a count of the total haul easily can
be made. The second aid, in conjunction
with this, is to have a chart printed out and
pinned to the wall showing the colour code
and value unit of each commodity for
reference. With these preparations all is
set for the battle.
Winning the game
The factors which will decide the result
of the game depend largely on the players'
preference. Taking the total VU’s as 326, it
could be said that the raid has succeeded
if the Vikings get away with 150 VU’s
though after playing once this may require
some adjustment. The game would be
drawn if the raiders get between 100 and
149 VU’s and lost if they get less. I think
that to lose a longboat would be a grave
blow and would be worth a penalty of 50
VU’s. Casualties must also have a bearing
on the battle and should the raiders fall
below 50% of their strength they should
drop everything and head for the ships.
Well, that seems to round it off;
personally, I can't wait to fight it - I hope
you feel the same.
MM