Pining for the Fjords

Gary finally finished painting up his 28mm DBA Viking Army and was looking for a rematch after our last Noman-Viking beat-down.

I gotta say Gary just blows me away… he first got into playing miniatures games a couple years back when he moved to town and couldn’t find anyone to play board wargames with. With NO experience in modeling or painting he bought and painted a full German Infantry company for Flames of War – as good as any 15mm I ever painted!? …and in a relatively short period of time.

This summer, since we were really getting into the Hordes of the Things and DBA, he picked himself up Viking DBA Army and since September – never having painted any 28mm figures before - has painted it all up and it looks GREAT! Gary should be an inspiration to you all!

Anyway, he showed up wanting to have another try against the Normans – this time with his OWN army! Rick and Jackson also showed up and Rick won the die roll to lay the first beating down on Gary’s new shiny Vikings!

Gary at least got to defend so he got to set up some terrain that he hoped would at least provide a bit of a speed bump for the Normans on their way to deal him his doom…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Here are Gary’s snazzy new Vikings ready to defend their Scandinavian homelands against the Normans, who… I guess… were returning to their ancestral homelands to spread the word of god to the heathen barbarians, or something…


The Normans deployment


The Norman Knights – galloping along the coast – breathing in some fresh sea air before dealing death and destruction to their distant relations.


The Commander of Gary’s army was pretty cool under pressure and rolled a whole lot of sixes for PIP rolls, so they had no trouble maneuvering in line through the swamps and forests.


Another shot of the pretty Viking battle line.


The Normans were perhaps a bit cocky and tumbled towards the Vikings in slow motion… but what are you going to do when 2/3 of your army fights any of your opponent’s at even odds – but QUICK-KILLS them all… I mean their doom is pretty much sealed before the first roll of the dice, right…?


More fancy parade-ground maneuvers by the Vikings…


Fancy snaking about of the Normans…


Dum de dum…. GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!

Ah, here we go…


CRUNCH! The Normans knights crash into the Viking shield wall – shields are splintered, skulls crushed, and...


WHAT THE…!?

First pair up – the far ones +3 on +3, the Norman Knights just have to roll higher and the Viking Blade are dead. Gary rolls a five, Rick rolls a one; Eight to four the Normans go down hard! The next stand of Knights in line now find themselves overlapped on both sides, reducing their factor to +1… ah well.. they still got that quick-kill, right? Doesn’t matter when the damn Vikings keep doubling you – BAM! a second stand of Norman Knights goes down…!!


Um… beginners luck or something… maybe it was all the shiny finish on their coats of mail and helmets… the Normans were blinded by it or something…


Well, once more boldly into the breach, chaps…


BLAM! The entire line of Norman Knights is again thrown back – with one less stand! Normans are now down THREE stands of Knights!?


Some more maneuvering over on the flanks… I think there was even some arrows fired… and in goes the horsies again!

Half a league, half a league, half a league onward…?


Well the Norman knight finally took down two stands of Viking Blade, but it just wasn’t enough as the Vikings took down yet another stand of Norman knights!?

GAME OVER!

WELL! We’ll never say Normans versus Vikings are a forgone conclusion again – at least not when Gary is commanding the Vikings!

Jackson was next to have a go at the Vikings with the Normans, and once again the Vikings were defending some remote fjord against the invading tide of Normans…


… and here we join the game already in progress, the main opposing battle lines line up across from one antoher with a nasty swamp between them…

“Um… General…? You don’t really want us to ride through that swamp do you…?”


“GAH, you bunch of whiners! Do I have to do everything MYSELF!?”

The Norman General peels off the end of the line and rides around the swamp…


…and single-handedly attacks the right of the Vikings line.


BLAM! Now HE read the play book! Down go some Vikings.


… and then turned to roll up the line…


BLAM! Down goes number two!


… and up the line he goes!


There was some other maneuvering going on, but everywhere else it just looked all bad for the Normans having to move through bad going and fight their way out against Blades standing in the open… “The General seems to be doing okay…. Let’s just stand and watch for a bit”


Why roll up the line when you can just nip over and beat down the Viking General and end it right then and there…?


Why indeed…?

And that was that… Okay, Normans versus Vikings IS still going to be a tough row to hoe for the Vikings… but not TOTALLY impossible…

Thanks to Rick and Jackson and especially Gary for coming out to play tonight… hopefully by next week we’ll have some Anglo-Danish or Irish to add to the mix!