The saga of the unhelpful neighbours (sit rep saga)

Norse Gaels and Irish clash over land rights

View from raiders point of view

David and I opted to play the saga of the unhelpful neighbours.  The battle pitches David’s Irish attacking my Norse gaels.  The Irish wanting to sack one of two farmstead defended by the Norse Gaels, which one did not matter only that they sacked at least one of them. The twist is that some of the defenders are locked into defended the different farmsteads on the battlefield.  On paper it seemed an easy match for the attacker in that he could isolate and overwhelm a section of the defender's force which could not fully engage. Then again some of the defenders begin hardcover and are unlikely to be that easy to remove.

Raiders close on the farm

The defender consisted of two units of four javelin armed warriors, two units of eight dane axe armed warriors one unit of eight javelin armed warriors and a unit of eight Hearthguard armed with dane axes.  The Attacker consisted of three units of eight  javelin armed warriors one unit of eight warhounds, two units of four javelin armed hearth guard.

Irish raiders split around a lone Gael axe man (on the right) 

It does not go well for the warhounds

Each farmstead was garrisoned by a unit of warriors with dane axes and a small unit of warriors with javelins. The remaining warriors, hearthguard and Warlord formed a reserve deployed in the centre waiting to see where the greatest threat was.  Predictably the attackers opted to hit just one farmstead with their entire force.

The Gaels Warlord leads his warriors against the Irish war hounds dogs

The first half of the battle was relatively quiet with the Irish marching on the farmstead while the Gaels reserve moved to reinforce the expected focal point of the battle.

As the Irish drew close to the farmstead the Gaels armed with Dane axes charged out of the farmstead and hit a small unit of hearthguard in the middle on the Irish line. Between Howling axes and death dance all of the hearthguard were slain and the warriors were reduced to a single very tired, very lonely warrior. But the unit had done its job with a break in the Irish battle line and attacking units gathering fatigue due to a friendly unit being destroyed in close proximity  The Gaels hearthguard moved in to re-garrison the farmstead.  The Gael’s warlord lead his warriors and attacked the Irish warhounds that were trying to screen the advance on the farmstead. The warlord with friends wiped out the entire pack of hounds losing two warriors in the exchange.  The Irish line was begin to break up but there was still a lot of fighters within assault range of the farmstead.

Raiders attack the farmstead

In one for the Sagas the Irish warband split apart and moved around the lone exhausted Gael Axeman preferring to concentrate on the farmstead rather than take down a stray warrior. Still it looked impressive for the warriors give the lone axeman a wide passage. Instead the Irish showered the farmstead defenders with javelins hoping to thin out the ranks before a final assault. The attack had no impact. In response another unit of Gaels attacked out of the farmstead. They were repelled but the attackers racked up more fatigue.  The Gaels relief force force back more Irish warriors and the warlord occupied the farmstead.

The relief party faces off against the raiders

The ultimate assault on the farmstead started with the irish trying to push back the relieving warriors column to isolate one side on the farmstead. The relieving warriors were outnumber but were able to hold their ground denying the approach to the Irish.  On the other flank another unit Irish warriors hit the Gaels hearthguard holding the farmstead.  The fatigue in the attackers was starting to show and the unit was wiped out to the man by the Hearthguard’s dane axes.

With neither flank making and progress the Irish called off the attack and fell back. Leaving the farmstead intact with just three of the original twelve defenders left  

Raiders assault the Gaels warriors hoping to isolate the farsmtead

All in all a surprisingly good game in the post game banter er discussed several alternative ways to re-fight the battle should the attacker mount up and move at speed against a farmstead or should they instead split their attack and hit both farmstead with roughly equal forces to double their chance on taking one of them.

Clash of spears

Bloody struggle as the relief party hods steady against the raiders 

Thanks to David for donating his pictures from the game
That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.