Bitter Tribal Warfare in the North of Britain

Steapa, at bottom right, encourages his Saxon warriors to exact revenge on their Viking foes across the field

I have always been fascinated by the history of Britain during the Dark Ages. Long ago, I painted up 28mm Vikings, Picts, Saxons, Britons, and Irish for use in skirmish games. I've used them with Song of Blades and Heroes rules, Saga, and most recently with Tribal rules from Mana Press. Enough of our Sunday evening gaming group enjoyed them to say they were interested in playing them more often.

In the center, Keith (left) and Joel count up their winning card exchanges to determine which unit won that clash

I pitched the idea to them of a series of games, with players controlling the same faction in a series of battles. We would keep track of Honor Points -- Tribal's ways of judging victory -- over the course of the games. Our forces (and leaders) would get more skilled, and hopefully a storyline would develop. I didn't want to necessarily call it a campaign, because there would be no map and no control of territory, or anything like that. Neither would it be a League, in which players are free to play multiple factions for the sole purpose of one-on-one competition. Ostensibly, the player's forces would remain the same faction.

The Townsfolk of Camelon rally to defend their fields from a horde of inebriated Norse-Irish

Since nearly all of my 28mm Ancient/Medieval stuff is for Dark Ages Britain, I encouraged the others who own figures for it (Keith and Mike S) to also field armies from the north of Britain. That accomplished, I've decided to give it a bit more of a framework. The factions would be from an area known as Gryme's Dyke, formerly the Antonine Wall -- an earth barrier constructed by the Romans before they pulled back to the location of Hadrian's Wall. Thus, in the Dark Ages, this could be the haunt of Picts, Dal Riatan Irish, Britons, as well as invading Saxons and Vikings. Our six players involved in the games so far represented the following factions:

• Caithill's Norse-Irish (Keith)
• Steapa's Saxons (Me)
• Picts (Allen)
• Vikings (Mike W)
• Vikings (Mike S)
• Local Townsfolk (Joel)

A band of Franciscan friars rally to the defense of the townsfolk, ready to use their staffs on the godless heathens!

 For our second set of games, we decided to use three of the four scenarios from the Tribal rulebook (#1 Revenge, #2 Raid, #4 Destruction). I used the order of Honor Points earned from the first game to let players choose their spot on the battlefields (attacker or defender on which designated battlefield). I skipped over myself and took the remaining spot.

The drunken Irish approach the stalwart monks, none too steady on their feet (judging by the cards they'd draw!)

Destruction featured five of my 28mm Acheson Creations Dark Ages buildings that Allen's Picts would be attempting to defend from an invading force of Vikings (Mike W). The attacker's goal would be to have a unit or figure spend an activation card adjacent to a building, which would represent setting them alight. Allen's placed his Pictish defenders in a forward defense, forcing the Vikings to go through them to get there. The drawback of his strategy was that, with half his forces not arriving till he end of turn 3, he would be outnumbered by the Norsemen. As it turned out, the Vikings did win the battle 13-7 in Honor, but managed to fire only one of the buildings.

The ending stages of the game sees the Irish force scattered and being mopped up by the Townsfolk

Since the games were being held on St. Patrick's Day, Caithill's Norse-Irish were full of enthusiasm to go out and raid the outskirts of the town of Camelon, near Gryme's Dyke. The battlefield represented one Dark Age hut and three fenced pastures with horses and pigs. The Irish goal would be to spend an activation card either in, or adjacent to, each of the structures to represent stealing animals or supplies. Led by a local group of monks, the townsfolk of Camelon were ready when the raucous (inebriated from celebrating St. Patrick's Day?) Irish arrived. The Irish would have to attack and drive them away from their herds to attain any loot. Keith was certainly missing the luck of the Irish that night and was soundly thrashed by the stalwart countryfolk and well-fed monks who guarded the pastures, 15-3. The Norse-Irish fled in disgrace.

In the far game, Jarl Mike W (left) grinds down Allen's Picts, while in the middle Keith (left) and Joel count their dead. At bottom right, Jarl Mike S patiently shuffles his deck and waits for me to finish taking pictures!

The final game pitted my Saxons (named after the Last Kingdom's character Steapa) seeking to avenge a wrong done to use by the Vikings of Mike S. Perhaps a band of Viking young men had stolen into our territory and perpetrated an atrocity on our Saxon womenfolk. I was to secretly designate one of Mike's units as the ones marked out for our revenge. I chose his one unit of hand weapons (figuring he would think I would pick one of his leaders). I deployed my three units of Saxon warriors across my front, each of them backed by a character -- my chieftain in the middle, and heroes on either end.

At top, Jarl Mike S's Vikings (including the Ravers just to the left of the monastery beehive huts) charge into my Saxons

I noted that Mike deployed the ravers we wanted vengeance against opposite my right. I then began to refuse my left flank with my unit of spears, and crept the other units over to the right so they would all be able to gang up on hand weapon unit. The characters also stalked forward to be within movement range. As it turned out, Mike attacked first, driving off one of my units with those very same ravers. They then followed up their success against my hero with the fearsome skill. Mike's early luck with cards ran dry, and my hero pulled a number of high black cards. With each wound dealing an extra, my hero cut down the over-confident (dare I say "cocky"?) ravers in one turn of combat.

Another look at the Raid battlefield with its pastures

Each of us had our successes and failures elsewhere on the battlefield. However, I had the upper hand in numbers and a clear lead in Honor. I could have attacked and possibly destroyed another damaged unit or two, but decided that honor had been satisfied. I offered Mike a chance to withdraw, and he took it. Steapa was successful in his second battle, as we revenged ourselves upon the Vikings, 16-7.

After weeks of games, here are the "campaign" Honor Point (renamed Legend Points) won by each faction:

1. 27 Steapa's Saxons (Mike D, 2-0)
2. 23 Townsfolk of Camelon (Joel, 1-1)
3. 22 Vikings (Jarl Mike W, 2-0)
4. 15 Picts (Allen, 0-2)
5. 15 Vikings (Jarl Mike S, 0-2)
6. 14 Caithill's Norse Irish (Keith, 1-1)

 With the next set of games, we're going to introduce a new feature to the games: Card pools. These are drawn at the start of each game and can be substituted for a card that has been played by the player or his opponent. I am planning on each player beginning with one card in the pool, earning an additional one with each victory. So, for next time, here's the card pools:

• 3 - Steapa's Saxons
• 3 - Jarl Mike W's Vikings
• 2 - Townsfolk of Camelon
• 2 - Caithill's Norse-Irish 
• 1 - Allen's Picts
• 1 - Jarl Mike S's Vikings

And finally, the Honor Points in each player's pool are also accumulated as Experience Points. Unlike the Legend Points, which simply accumulate and "rank" players, Experience Points are meant to be spent. Players can spend 15 points to purchase a permanent skill for one of his units or characters. Alternately, the can save them up to purchase a two point skill for 60 points. Purchased Skills will be "free" in future games -- over and above the normal Honor Pool which they can spend on Skills. However, this free skill cannot be changed from game to game, but is a permanent feature of the faction's armed forces.

Obviously, the current Experience Point pool is equal to the Legend Points: 27 (Mike D), 23 (Joel), 22 (Mike W), 15 (Allen), 15 (Mike S), 14 (Keith). After two games, five of the six players can purchase a permanent, 1-point Skill if they desire. Or they can wait and save it up for a 2-pointer! We will see how all these campaign additions affect the game as we progress. I, for one, certainly enjoy the scenarios better than a straight up battle. Tactical objectives always make a game more interesting! I am looking forward to the next time that bloody warfare resumes far to the north of the old Roman wall in the land of Gryme's Dyke!