Harald Hardrada and he´s Varangians

I have just finished painting the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada and some of he´s Hirdmen and former Varangian guards. All minis from Gripping Beast.

Here are some pictures of he´s Varangian guards.

Here a group picture of harald and the whole happy hird;)

WI 300 in da house :)

I´m a lucky man and got my copy of the Wargames Illustrated 25th anniversary issue 300.

300 !!! pages of wargaming godies, it will be a late night;)

As a subscriber I got the "Retro" limited edition, but unfortunally it was some damaged by rought handling by the postman, supouse he was jealous....

Saxon Tents by Renedra

Here comes some pictures of the finished Saxon tens by Renedra

I throw in a picture of my old Viking tent to, It´s a 15mm tent from Baueda. I hope Rendera will make some nice Viking tents to...

Put up the Camp...

As some of you might remember i got some of the Saxons Tents from Rendera at my Birthday back in August. As we at the moment play very much dark age games I thought it was time to get the ready for the gaming table...

As usual with the Rendera tents you get 2 of a closed one and 2 that have the "door" open.

They need some very easy esemble, as the end of the tent ridge are loose and so 2 tent poles for the ones with open "door"

I mounted them on 2mm MDF 110x50mm.

By the way...You don´t get a painted viking archer if you buy the tent, he´s just there for size comparison;)

Work in progress...

Dux Britanniarum AAR Vikings vs. Anglo-Saxons

I and Jonas have started a small Dux Britanniarum Campaign using our Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, to get a feel for the campaign rules. We decided to set the Campaign in Northumberland and the area of the first Viking raids in 793 AD.

Jonas are playing the Anglo-Saxons and we used the British starter army for them.

He´s Warlord was Aethelbald the Cruel a man of just 22 springs that had worked he´s way up much due to he´s tremendes constitution.

He´was  always followed by he´s Champion Ealdwulf an old and experienced warrior and of course two of he´s childhod friends Leofric and Hacca.

By King Aella the Generous they was assigned to protect the northern coast from the  Savage barbarians that attacked Lindisfarne last summer.

I would use my Vikings and run them as a Saxon Starter army.

My Warlord was Gutorm the Coward, of course no one dared to say it to he´s face as he was King Gudmunds second son. Gutorm didn´t even want to get out for a viking but as he was a man that liked other mens wifes he´s father thought it was best that he left home for a while...

To protect he´s son the old King Gudmund sent some of he´s best men. The old Champion Styrbjörn to make all the fighting, Sigvard and Ragnar was sent to lead the men, now they was out for some easy plunder...

We decided to start our campaign using the sea raid scenario from the TooFatLardies Summer Special 2012, after all the Vikings did arrive by boat...

The Viking 2nd in command, Sigvard and Ragnar, had decided that the Kings son Gutorm needed a easy prey for he´s first raid. So the aim for the attack was a small churche by the coast...

After the terrible attacks last summer , King Aella the Generous had posted small forces of warriors alog the coast. One of therse was posted close to the church, under command of Athelbalds 2nd in command Leofric.

As the two Viking ship run up on the beach close to the Church, the clergyman Brother Bede posted him self out side he´s church praying for a miracle to occur...

In the Anglo-Saxon shore camp there was much activety as the men gathered themself to deffend the church amd throw the invaders back in to the sea...

The Vikings ruched ashore, two groups of Hirdmen was ordered to meet the approaching Saxons... The rest of the Vikings was on there way to the church...

The Saxons that had guarded the coast moved swift close to the disembarking Vikings, Leofric didn´t get them in Shieldwall just yet...

By the coast the Saxon leader Leofric got he´s men to form a shieldwall to better be able to withstand the feirce Viking attack to come...

Gutorm the Coward commanded he´s men from the back...they was ordered to move as quicley as possible to the church, but was some hampered by the field and the forest.

PRAISE THE LORD !!! Brother Bede called out, then by a mere miracle Aethelbald the Cruel with he´s Thegns and a large group of gathered Fyrd arrived.

What was expected as a easy and quick raid, just had gone bad for Gutorm the Coward and he´s warband, only beccause The old Champion Styrbjörn told him what to do Gutorm didn´t run back to the ships... 

The Vikings formed a battle line to meet the approaching Saxons...

By the coast Sigvard and the Viking hirdmen charged the Saxon Shieldwall... a fierce battle started with several casualtys on both sides, but the Saxons stod firm...

By the coast the difference in warrior status started to show...the Saxon Fyrd started to be puched back, still maintaining the Shieldwall but suffering hard of the chock from the Viking Hirdmens heavy attacks...

By the forest the Viking luck wasn´t that good...although confront inferior enemys they recived heavy losses and soon two of the three groups was on the run for the ships... at that moment Gutorm the Coward to was intimidated and ordered a general retreat for he´s men, BACK TO THE SHIPS !!!

The battered Saxons let the Vikings embarke theirs ships and get away, glad that they managed to save the Church from the flames. 

Brothe Bede praised the lord for this greate Miracle and prommised to join Aethelbalds retinue for the comming month and care for the wounded men. Aethelbalds lost 9 men during the fight and it would take him a month to renew he´s warband, by the loot from the fallen Vikings he got a Thief´s Hord of plunder.

Gutorm had lost 13 men during the combat, he didn´t realy care as he´s father would send more warriors, but he was glad that he had survived he´s first real fight. 

Now he would rest and find some nice womens to comfort him while he was awaiting 2 month for the reinforcements to arrive and the wounded men to heal, then he would be back...

This was our 3rd Dux Britanniarum game, took a little long time, but that was probably due to two players on each side that had to discuss every decision...

Rules wise we start to get a good grip of them and it was nice to try out the campaign rules to, they realy give a good flavour and story to the fighting, looking forward to continue the campaing.

Swedish Crusader Ledung

I have now finished the first 7 minis for my Swedish Crusader force, some Swedish Ledung Warriors under firm command of a Knight from the House of Oxenstierna.

The institution known as leiðangr (Old Norse), leidang (Norwegian), leding, (Danish), ledung (Swedish), expeditio (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a public levy of free farmers typical for medieval Scandinavians. It was a form of conscription to organise coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defence of the realm. In Anglo-Saxon England, a different system was used to achieve similar ends, and was known as the fyrd.

The leiðangr was established in the medieval era, and not the Viking Age. It has been considered the maritime version of the Germanic system of hundreds which was described as early as 98 A.D. by Tacitus as the centeni. Since Tacitus also said the Suiones had a powerful fleet, it might have been based on the leidang. 

However, since all our sources on the leidang are medieval (the earliest, the Older Law of the Gulating, is 11th century at the absolute earliest, and might well be 12th century) this is highly uncertain. Before the establishment of the leidang, the defence of the realm was probably based on voluntary contribution to a defence-fleet. With the rise of the monarchies, the contribution became a duty.

The leiðangr was a system organising a coastal fleet with the aim of defence, coerced trade, plunderings, and aggressive wars. Normally, the fleet levy was on expeditions for two or three summer months. All free men were obliged to take part in or contribute to the leiðangr. 

All of the leiðangr was called to arms when invading forces threatened the land. In the expeditions only a fraction of the ships were taking part, but as expeditions often were profitable, many magnates and chieftains tried to join with their people as often as possible.

The lands were divided into districts, ship's crews, "skipreiða" (Old Norse), "skipæn" (Danish) or "roslag" (Swedish). The farmers of the district had to build and equip a rowed sailing ship. The size of the ships was defined as a standardized number of oars, initially forty oars, later the standardized size of 24 was increased.

In Norway, there were 279 such districts in 1277, in Denmark two-three times as many. The head of a district was called "styrimaðr" or "styræsmand", steersman, and he functioned as captain of the ship. The smallest unit was the crew of peasants who had to arm and provide for one oarsman ("hafnæ" in Danish, "manngerð" in Old Norse). 

According to the Law of the Swedish region Uppland, the hundreds of Uppland provided as many as four ships each, those of Västmanland two ships and those of Roslagen one ship.

The older laws regulating the leiðangr (the Norwegian "Older Law of the Gulating" dates to the 11th or 12th century) require every man to, as a minimum, arm himself with an axe or a sword in addition to spear and shield, and for every rowbench (typically of two men) to have a bow and 24 arrows. 

Later 12th-13th century changes to this law code list more extensive equipment for the more affluent freemen, with helmet, mail hauberk, shield, spear and sword being what the well-to-do farmer or burgher must bring to war. 

In 12th-13th century sources detailing the 11th century, jarls are mentioned as the chieftain of the leiðangr, in the 12th century the bishop could also be head of the fleet levy, although typically nobles led levies in the 12th to 14th centuries.

Dux Bellorum AAR Saxon vs. Late Romans

Here comes a AAR of our latest Dux Bellorum game. This time the Saxons invaders try to sack a small village fortunate defended by a Late Roman field army.

We used ordinary 32 points armys, made up from my Late Roman and Saxon collection, mounted om trays with a front of 80mm and we played on a 180x120cm table.

OOB

Saxon Warriors
1x Foot Companions with Leader
2x Foot Nobles
5x Foot Warriors
2x Foot Skirmishers one with Sling and one with Javelins

Late Romans
1x Mounted Companions with Leader
1x Cataphracts
1x Ordinary Raiders
4x Ordinary Shieldwall
1x Archers
1x Mounted Skirmishers with javelins
1x Foot Skirmishers with Bow

The Saxon objective was to capture the village by having a uncontested unit in the village wich would force the Romans to roll extra Moral tests. The game would last for a maximum of 12 turns.

In the early montning the Romans deplyed a small force of three units in the village and splited there cavalry on the two flanks. The Saxons placed there skirmishers in the middle and divided the Nobles within the Ordinary Warriors to get them moving more easily. 

No one saw any villagers or livestock...Zzzzzz....Zzzzzzz...

As the combat begun at the fields outside the vilages the newly awakened livestock and villagers emerged from the houses and started to run all around not certain of what to do...

The Roman Commander order all he´s cavalry on the both flanks to start moving, all acording he´s cunning plan... Eager to win a swift victory he sets it all on one card and charges forward with he´s Companions and some Riders, thinking he will easy defeat three units of Saxons...

The Saxon commander order a general advance of all he´s troops.

In the heart of battle the Chronicler forgot to dokument the Battle...Sorry... 

Here we see the center of the acction as the Roman cavalry have dissengaged after the first unsuccessfull charge, trying to make one more, this time causing more damage...

On the Roman right flank the Cataphracts had a hard time fighting it out with two Saxon units...

In the Center the remaining Saxons had reached the Village and the Romans in shieldwall just outside...a fierce battle started...

The saxon puched back the defender of the Village, that lost the advantage of the deffensive wall... The Roman shieldwall just outside the vilage also had a realy hard time...

The Roman Riders and a unit of Saxons on the left flank was defeated, but still the Roman Commander and he´s Companions fought on, seeing in vain how the village they were set to protect was overvhelmed with barbarians...

By midday the Saxons had claimed the village, slaughtering the last of the heroic defenders. It was a hard blow to the Roman moral and the remaining parts of the army chose to retreat of flee as cowards as the saxon put it...

This was a nice game! As we still learning the rules and had 2 players on each side it probably tock a little longer than it should, but we had a realy nice time and some good beer:)

Brown Swedish Crusaders?

Some more pictures of my first Swedish Crusaders now in Brown and with a movement tray:)

The minis are based on 20mm bases, the tray are 80x50mm

Archers in the back row to give some missile support.

Swedish Crusaders

Here are a first VIP pictures of some Swedish Crusaders.

The minis are a mix...

Back row: 

• 2 viking archers from Artizan, oen with a heas swap (GB plastic saxon head)

Front row:

• Knight from Curteys mini with a GB axe. 
• Medieval spearmen from Curteys mini with a Warhammer head and GB Shield,.
• The last 3 are plastic GB viking/saxons with shield from Curteys/GB and GB the last one got the head with warhatt from the Curteys medieval spearmen...hope you got i all :)

Baltic Crusades 13th century

Back in 2010 I got a questions from Bishop Lord , that was planing a 10mm Medieval Scandinavian army, about some reference information. The question got me thinking of a Baltic Crusades project of my own...but I newer got around untill now...I hope;)

My first thoughts was to mak a 15mm Early Medeval Swedish army, using all my vikings, focus around the Swedish crusade to Balticum in 1240 and the Battle at Neva...

BUT 15mm are not my main scale at the moment...so I have decided to go with 28mm.

The Battle at Neva was fought between the Swedish Crusading force (including Bishop Thomas of Finland) under command of Birger Jarl (might have been Birger Jarl? At least in my version) and The Russians under command of the Novgorod Prince Alexander Yaroslavich (to become Alexander Nevsky after this victory.) Read more here.

The Swedish force I will start to make will be composed of some Noblemen and their Hird (the only pro soldiers in the army), they was probably mounted i.e knights, I plan to mix some armoured knights with a lot of less armoured followers, Probably not more than 2 units, like 1 for Birger Jarl and one for the Bishop Thomas.

The Infantry by the time was the Swedish Ledunge, freemen that was oblige to serve for the King/Jarl a set number of days each year. They will have quite outdate equipment (round shield was still often used) mixed with the latest, and led by some dismounted noblemen… So I will use a mix of vikings, normans and other back dated minis as well as some more up to date minis with iron hatts and some dismounted knights as commanders. I also plan to mix in one or two bow/x-bow men in the back of the units.

Lastly I will make some skirmish units…one with Bow and one with X-Bow or a mix…most of the missile armed men fought in the back of the Shieldwall, so just a few skirmishers for the Swedes.

There are not many books in English about Sweden in this period but Ospery have 2 that can give some more info if you are intereste in the period.

Osprey - Men At Arms 436 The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500

Osprey - Men At Arms 396 Medieval Scandinavian Armies (1) 1100-1300

Both books have the Swedish David Lindholm as authour he are a MA of University of Lund in Sweden where he studied medieval archaeology, history and ethnology. He is also a specialist of medieval weaponry and warfare, and I think he have made a good work with these books.

There are also the Osprey book about the Battle of Lake Peipis 1242 that gives god information about the setting, the Russians and olso mention some about the Battle at Neva 1240

Osprey - Campaign 46 Lake Peipus 1242