After Henri the Red was mortally wounded, Bishop Luitpolt the Fat, promised Rolund a riches in gold for keeping his Vikings under control, so Rolund left the fiefdom in peace. But the bishop never paid, as they do, so Rolund vowed to come back and sack the Bishoprics town called Fetthausen.
Word was sent to Henri II, son of Henri the Red, and the town got prepared for battle, men and mouse. Problem only that the Bishops money went into building a church rather then finishing an urgently needed town wall. But then the shield walls of the enemy already appeared on the hills of the surrounding fields. This is where our battle starts (28mm, Hail Caesar), my peasant army and the infantry of Henri and some help of Mikes milites, vs Barts Norman and viking army that grows ever more terrifyingly larger, Alisdair helped out as Barts Duke and led his men over the river.
The 6 units of Henris II Milites would come in at turn (1d6+1).
It was as always a lopsided affair. We tried our best to hold the barbarians at bay, but soon the hordes washed of the river and Luitpolt the truchsess of the bishop got killed in the early cavalry fights. Then the Vikings swarmed towards the wall and attacked straight away. Minutes later the bowmen of the town lay dead at the (tiny) wall of Fetthausen. Our outer flank was soon collapsing, we send the peasant before the horses of the on-charging milites to save the armoured soldiers ... it worked!!, soon Rolund would be stuck in a house-to-house fight, haha! ... but then some elite berserker Viking mob jumped over the wall and massacred the bishops soldier retinue in no time. Unfortunately Luitpolt was with them and did not survive.
That left us leaderless and chaos soon replaced discipline ... but then in the distance, some of the guards could see riders ... something glittering far away – but they/it vanished again, leaving the town to its own, surely brutish fate... (which of course we cannot display as it would offend rightfully everybodys taste).
What happened to the milites that were promised to rescue Fetthausen? What will happen to Rolund‘s men after the looting of the town? How quick can Vikings be awaken and battle ready after some drunken night? ... we will see in the next episode ....
All events, of course, are truthfully told according to the gods and church codex in this oecommenical and inclusive saga of the Markgraf.
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| Initial set up |
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| Rolfs Viking dogs decending the hill |
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| Rolfs retinue |
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| The Bowmen of Fetthausen |
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| and their peasant army |
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| The first clash of Milites on horseback |
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| Mike tries to hold the flank against the Norman wave that is pushing over the river |
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| The shieldwall of the Bishops knights on the gap where the townwall still is just "work in progress" |
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| Bishop Luitpolt, der Fette, hiding behind his 'Dienstmannen‘ |
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| The brave bowmen watching the Vikings approach |
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| ... the Norse men at the "Furt" |
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| Luidolf‘s, der Picklige, last stand ... |
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| Luidolf, the bishops military provost is no more ... |
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| and the Vikings are at the "wall" ... |
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| ... and now inside the town!!! Rette sich wer kann! |
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| leaderless on the outer flank the peasants hurry together ... |
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| while the knights retreat to town |
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| there the unbelievable happens the bishop and his knights get killed! |
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| while the peasant flank gets ridden down ... |
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| there the gate guards pointing towards something in the distance ...? |