VIK14 Tempsford (917 AD)

Details
Written by: Mark McG
Category: Norse invasions of England
Hits: 1595
Victory Results:
 100 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  0 %
Total plays 1 - Last reported by Riclev on 2024-12-12 09:18:45

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In 917, the group of Danes who had previously been based in Huntingdon relocated to Tempsford in Bedfordshire, together with other Danes from East Anglia. They built and fortified a new burh there, to serve as a forward base for attacks on English territory. Later that year, after launching an unsuccessful attack on Bedford, they were attacked by an English army from the territories of King Edward the Elder, as part of his widespread offensive which in that year overwhelmed the Danish territories in East Anglia and south-eastern Mercia. The burh was stormed and a Danish king, probably that of East Anglia, was killed, along with the Jarls Toglos and Manna and many of their followers, while the rest were captured.

BRIEFING
SAXONS (Use Tan blocks)
• Leader: King Edward the Elder
• 5 Command Cards
• 4 Inspired Action tokens
• Move First Move First

VIKINGS (Use Purple Blocks)
• Leader: Guthrum II
• 6 Command Cards
• 3 Inspired Action tokens


Victory
6 Banners
Saxons get 1 banner for each city gate removed by storm

SPECIAL RULES
*The River is impassable.
*Auxilia units Battleback with 1 extra die.
*Saxons use the Byzantine Inspired Actions
*Vikings use all Inspired Actions
*Replace the Mounted Charge Command card text to read
Boar’s Snout
Select one foot unit and up to two adjacent foot units. Each unit can move one extra hex and battle.
When battling, add 1 die to each supported unit. Ordered units may not engage in Ranged Combat.

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Discuss this article in the forums (5 replies).
Posts in discussion: VIK14 Tempsford (917 AD)
Mark-McG replied the topic:
#987
3 months 4 days ago

We did have one rules question.  The rules state that if a unit is assaulted on a gate hex and is either eliminated or forced to retreat the attacker can take ground and storm the gate.  But what happens if the defender evades?  The rules state that there is no taking of ground after an evasion, so does the gate remain intact?  We played that it did, not out of any conviction that this was correct, but to give the Vikings more of a chance.
That is correct, if the unit evades, there is no Momentum advance. This makes the gates held by the Bow units more difficult to storm.

The scenario is a tough one for the Vikings, and not an easy one to balance as a scenario.. If you were to make it a 3 banner scenario, I'd suggest the Saxon's score no banners for stormed gates. 
The Saxon objective is to take the burh, and kill the Vikings. They can probably always do so, the cost is the main difference in terms of "Viking victory".

 
Riclev replied the topic:
#986
3 months 4 days ago
There are many good scenarios in the Norse Invasions series, but this isn't one of them.  On the basis of admittedly only one play the Vikings don't have a snowball's chance in hell.  The gates are inevitably going to be successfully stormed giving the Saxons 3 banners. Anything defending them will eventually be obliterated by missile fire, the Saxons being under no time pressure, so probably better not to defend them at all - hence they will be stormed.  Then, either the Vikings cower in the town to be shot to pieces, or they can sally forth and be overwhelmed by the Saxon numerical superiority (keeping in mind that auxilia roll as many dice in defence as the mediums do in attack albeit they don't hit on the first sword).  The suggestion to locate 3 camps in the town might balance the VPs for the stormed gates, but in that case one might just as well remove those banner awards and make it a 3-banner scenario.

We did have one rules question.  The rules state that if a unit is assaulted on a gate hex and is either eliminated or forced to retreat the attacker can take ground and storm the gate.  But what happens if the defender evades?  The rules state that there is no taking of ground after an evasion, so does the gate remain intact?  We played that it did, not out of any conviction that this was correct, but to give the Vikings more of a chance.
Mark-McG replied the topic:
#936
10 months 1 week ago
Alternative Victory Banner Special Rule
Put 3 Camp hexes along the riverfront hexes inside the burh worth a banner a piece. Vikings start with 3 banners.

 
Mark-McG replied the topic:
#767
2 years 2 months ago
I encourage you to give scenario design a try. I generally find that picking a period or theatre and reading up on it focuses on how the armies performed and their strengths,weaknesses and tactics. At the other end of the medieval spectrum, War of the Roses would be a good arena for development of new armies and scenarios.

I don't know if you are familiar with BattleLore, a C&C medieval/fantasy game published around 2006, but it was full of ideas and innovations for the medieval period. Mainly it dealt with the 100 years war period, but could easily cover a range of situations, from fantasy, fiction to historical. Overall I prefer the C&C Medieval implementation as a more polished product, but BattleLore is a source of inspiration, and a fun game. 
Northdevon replied the topic:
#765
2 years 2 months ago
As a brit it is great to see Viking/Saxon battles as supplememnts to the main game. If I were twice as clever as I am then there are maybe one or two I could try and post myself. Many thanks again.
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