A Viking in the Sun - Part 1

On my old blog, I started a Viking in the Sun campaign, but never got far with it. I decided to rectify the situation using a mix of Dominion and 3x3 rules. I used a 3x3 grid but for the most part used Dominion of the Spear combat rules.

Ambush

Harald Hardrada leads a (red) force escorting a Byzantine ambassador. He gets waylaid by bandits.

• Harald has a company of elite Varangians (gold marker), heavy infantry, 2 squadrons of knights, and some archers. Probably should have made the knights armored. Oh well.
• The bandits have 2 bands of horse archers, 1 of cavalry, 2 archers, and some spears,

Harald must clear a path to the town before him. 

• The town is off the board in the bandit reserve area. 
• Because my mat is only 4 squares deep, Harald's reserve area is off the mat.

The bandit leader Hassan springs his ambush.

Harald destroys the spears in front of him but his flanks fall to hails of arrows.

Then bandit archers rout the Varangians. Harald must retreat with the ambassador.

• I assumed that the ambassador was with Harald and the Varangians. The loss of the Varangians meant game over.
• I gave units a chance to retreat instead of getting destroyed but Harald's losses kept failing the roll.

Disputed Shrine

Licking his wounds, Harald is spoiling for an opportunity to pay back the bandit leader Hassan. Harald learns that Hassan has seized a local shrine and is forcing pilgrims to pay an entry tax. Harald leaps into action.

I kind of messed this one up. I thought the bandit's back row was the reserve area, but it was really part of the board. This meant that the bandit troops weren't in the best formation. Ah, fog of war.

Harald crests a hill and sees the shrine below him.

Bandit archery takes out some of Harald's knights.

Harald attacks the shrine and routs the spearmen holding it. Meanwhile, knights from Harald's reserve wipe out the enemy archers.

Then the knights overrun more archers.

Looks like I'm missing a photo.

After the knights and bandit cavalry fight to a standstill, Harald's Varangians sally against some horse archers. The horse rout, leaving Harald in command of the shrine.

Aftermath

Harald has evened the score. Both leaders prepare for the climatic finale.

Stay tuned to find out what happens next!