Following the success of my Battle of Clontarf game at RECON '98, I decided that it would also be fun to setup another Medieval scenario for HURRICON '98. I chose the Battle of Dublin in 1171 even though it was somewhat outside the Dark Ages period that had been my focus. The Battle of Dublin caught my eye because it involved not only Irish and Norse-Viking components, but also included Norman invaders (recently invited to Ireland by one of the feuding Irish factions). It seemed that there would be a wealth of opportunity for multiple player participation. Once again I chose "Hauberk" as the ruleset to be used, especially because of its simplicity, ease of learning, and similarity to its progenitor, "Chainmail", an older and fairly well-known system. The Battle of Dublin began with the angry, exiled, former ruler of Dublin, Haskulf Thorgilsson (Dwight Jones), returning to claim his throne. Accompanying him was John the Mad (Wayne Carver), notorious shield-biter, berserker, and leader of a band of mercenary Vikings from the Isle of Man, the Orkneys and the Hebrides Isles. Together, they landed their forces on the "Steine", the waterfront/port area of the town of Dublin, and formed up their shieldwalls to brace for the expected attack. Assembling in the town to meet them, Norman Knight Sir Miles deCogan (Joe Duke) immediately attacked in an obvious attempt to drive the Norse back to their ships. The shieldwall barely held under the onslaught of the mounted Norman knights. The tides of the battle ebbed and flowed with no quarter asked or given. Brave warriors slew each other in desperate struggle. Eventually, despite reinforcement by Sir Maurice Fitzgerald and his retinue, deCogan and his followers were surrounded and slain to the last man. Their brave and reckless courage had served to slow the inevitable advance of the grim-visaged Vikings into Dublin town. Whilst this all was happening, Sir Richard FitzGilbert, known as "Strongbow" (Jim Duke), holding Dublin Castle, decided to position most of his Welsh longbowmen on the walls so as to create a "killing ground" between castle and town. This clever tactic later proved successful at keeping the Vikings at bay. Strongbow also had earlier sent Sir Robert FitzStephen (Henry Smith) and his retinue to recon and attack the assembling Irish host at their encampment at Castleknock. It was the right move at the right time for Rory O'Conner, High King of the Irish (Steve N. last name illegible) was in the process of assembling his great war host. Rory was already joined by Tiernan O'Rourke, King of Meath (Dave Daly) and together they awaited the arrival of other ally kings and supporters. Closest to them and marching to Castleknock was O'Carrol of Oriel (Dave Schaub) and his warband. It was O'Carrol that first surprised FitzStephen's forces and boldly engaged them in battle. FitzStephen was caught as his men had been crossing the Liffey River bridge, on their way to surprise-attack Rory's camp. Even though they were ambushed, the Normans wheeled and charged to the attack. Out-numbered, out-archered, and under-armored, O'Carrol's men were hard-pressed! Alas, despite a valiant and aggressive attack upon the Normans, this Irish force was decimated. But , while selling their lives gloriously, they did manage to hold up the Norman's advance upon Castleknock encampment so that Rory and Tiernan could take the field against the marauder. At this point, upon hearing reports of the ambush of his field force, Strongbow decided to send Sir Raymond leGros and his retinue across the Liffey to back up and reinforce FitzStephen. Also at this time, from the area around the former battle site at Clontarf, arrived MacDonlevy, King of Ulidia (Pat Matthews) and his warband. Moving forward united, the three kings (Rory, Tiernan, and MacDonlevy) sought to engage the Normans, who having routed O'Carrol's men, now turned their attention to their original mission. But woe to the Irish! The thunderous onslaught of the mounted Norman Knights could not be countered. Irish ranks broke and fled. Some warbands held and suffered the fury of the mounted warriors supported by their infantry. The Battle see-sawed, and at times it looked as if the Irish could actually snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But the Norman infantry were thrown into the fray. The devastating fire of the Welsh longbowmen in Norman service raked the ranks of the Irish. By mid-day, most of the Irish war host under Rory and Tiernan had broke and run, fleeing through the woods back towards their encampment. Too spent to pursue the fleeing Irish, the Normans were forced to turn their attention to their right flank where MacDonlevy was now advancing, reinforced by another Irish chieftain King Murtagh of Leinster (Jeff Walenta). Now weary and much bloodied by their brave Irish opponents, the forces under FitzStephen, dutifully turned to their task and prepared to continue the battle. While the battle went on across the Liffey, another Irish sub-king, Donnell O'Brien (Paul Lipori) was on the move. Sweeping dangerously close and within bow shot of Dublin Castle, O'Brien's warriors helped route the last of the Norman forces attempting to hold Dublin town. But this was not accomplished before the Irish suffered heavy casualties as they passed through Strongbow's "zone of death" beneath the walls of Dublin Castle. The Norse-Vikings and their newfound Irish allies held Dublin town but could advance no further for fear of the devastating impact of the Welsh archers and the Norman mounted knights. A stalemate had been achieved. Unable to take Dublin Castle, Haskulf, John the Mad and O'Brien decided to make the most of their predicament and agreed to be "bought-off" by the Normans. Receiving news that O'Brien had been bought-off and had left the field, and that Haskulf and the Norse were preparing to sail off into the sunset, Rory O'Conner, High King of th Irish was faced with a difficult situation. Even though his forces had rallied back upon his camp along with the warbands under O'Rourke, he knew it was only a matter of time before Fresh Norman reinforcements would arrive from Dublin now that the Vikings had left. Yes, MacDonlevy and Murtagh were holding the field on their flank, but they too would be hard-pressed to bear up under further Norman charges. Rory made the only decision that made sense: Rather than risk the total annihilation of the forces of his own and his ally-kings, he would withdraw the field to fight another day! Under present circumstances, how could his men possible defeat their opponents? His Irish had no mounted knights, the Irish bowmen could not hope to match the range and penetration power of the Welsh longbow, and his men, for the most part, were lightly armored if they wore armor at all. The Normans were professionally armed and equipped as the army of conquest they had been for several generations. Rory conceded that it would certainly take a different strategy to defeat these Norman invaders and purge them from his Ireland. In retrospect, I found this to be a most interesting scenario and was particularly struck by the fact that the Norman players coordinated their actions, and the Irish Kings worked an alliance. There was none of the usual back-stabbing or turn-coating, with players on each side in cooperation, working towards a common goal. The gamers involved in Dublin 1171 were a great group of guys. Everyone showed good sportsmanship and there was quite a bit of camaraderie. I believe a good time was had by all. The players very intelligently adapted to the ruleset and took the initiative to adjudicate their moves and combats. I am certainly looking forward to running another Dark Ages or Medieval game scenario at our next HMGS South convention, RECON '99. Back to MWAN #97 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com