IT'S TIME TO HACK AND SLAY ---- GAME REQUIREMENTS: You will need at least two, and up to several dozen toy soldiers, individually mounted, of your chosen scale. I presently use 25mm figures, but have used 15s as well halve all distances with small scale figures. Those wonderful 40mm plastic Elastolin figures would be good, as would 54mms if you can find some that represent vikings. Mount them on bases for stability. Some kind of battlefield, which can be as small as a postcard or as large as Greenland, as simple or as detailed as you like. Either the 1, 2 and 3 cards from each suit of a deck of cards, plus one joker, or a number of index cards, each inscribed with the name of a character or faction in the scenario, and a joker. There can be one, two or three cards per character or faction, as you like - the more cards per participant, the less predictable the sequence. Several six sided dice, and something to measure with. Record cards if you feel inclined to use such things. Two sets of 'Combat Cards', one marked 'Attack' and one 'Defence', for each player. We'll come back to this last point. THE CONDUCT OF THE GAME: Each player takes the role of a selected character, who we will dub a 'Hero'; these individuals and their actions form the chief subject of the game. Other men will also appear. Most of these are little more than axe-fodder to the heroes, and are known as 'Karls'. They have their own rules for combat, which depict them as (in decreasing order of complexity and respect) as secondary cast members, spear-carriers and just plain extras. However, there may be an intermediate group of special interest, such as close kinsmen of the hero, or others who are treated with at least a modicum of respect as the game goes on; some, indeed, may become heroes in their own right. We'll call these 'Huskarls'; they are heroes, but, as 'non-player characters' as our fantasy brethren term it, they select combat cards at random rather than by player choice. As a rough guide, a player may operate half a dozen secondary characters as well as the hero, more if we keep the rules for the karls especially simple (see 'especially simple rules'). Our hero will be equipped with weapons and armour according to the situation. An Icelandic farmer would have sword (if wealthy, dagger if less so) at all times, and probably a spear, axe and shield if there was any chance of meeting trouble. He might use a bow for hunting. He might wear a leather jerkin or cap as everyday apparel. He would not wear a mail Fl-.irt to herd sheep, or a spangenhelm helmet to visit his sister. Those things would be only for when actual battle, or at least serious intimidation, were expected. Many of the saga characters go on viking raids, or serve in the retinues of kings, in which case the full panoply of mailshirt, helmet and weapons would be employed, but a man who showed up to discuss his neighbour's livestock straying onto his pasture in full Varangian Guards kit would probably have a few insulting poems made up about him (probably win the argument with his neighbour, though --- ) Karls will be much less likely to have armour of any kind, but most men of any position will have shield, axe or spear, a knife, and some protective clothing. The lowest rank of man - shepherds, servants, humble begging types - may have clubs, rude spears, but not much else. Generally speaking, we won't worry much about specific weapons. Probably one in three or four would be an archer or javelinman, while most others would have the odd javelin to throw prior to the main fisticuffs. I usually allow them one each. To begin the game, set up the figures in a 'starting position'. This may be part of a planned scenario of considerable exactitude and historical research, or simply "You lot stand at that end of the meadow!" Each faction - for fights in sagas often feature more than two active parties has 1-3 cards, depending on the scenario and number of players. The cycle of cards is not precisely related to any real time scale, Norsemen having no watches. When a card is drawn, any and all members of the band can move a few paces, shoot an arrow or throw a spear, say a few really memorable words, or smack somebody hard with a sharp iron thingy -- The joker card indicates the end of the cycle, and all cards used and unused are shuffled again. This means nobody can guarantee that all their cards will emerge from the deck in a given cycle. Additionally, an optional rule for those who think there aren't enough random acts of buffoonery already: the player who immediately follows the joker has to roll on the accident chart as if his hero has somehow been chosen by the Gods for special attention. REPUTATION "'Had I thought you might live for ever' she said, 'Id have raised you in my woolbasket. But lifetimes are shaped by what will be, not by where you are.'" --Orkneyingasaga Reputation is the central element in the Viking heroic ethos. Pride in one's good name is more important than life itself, and death preferable to humiliation. This being said,it's acceptable to give in when the circumstances permit without it being totally shameful. Characters gains Reputation Points (RPs) for bold acts of speech, and successful acts of violence. They may lose them when Shamed in combat, or when something embarrassing happens to them as a result of an accident. MOVEMENT '--there was a head-on meeting at the river, where Odd's men sprang from their horses and guarded the crossing, so that Thord's party could make no headway' --Hen-Thorir "--the Skraelings were all yelling aloud, so Karlsefni and his men took red shields and held them out against them. The skraelings ran from their boats and they clashed together and fought." --Eirik the Red So how do we move these little fellows around? I'm not much bothered by groundscale at this level, so let's assume it is literal for the scale of the figures and simply move in inches: 2 D6 at a walk, 3 D6 at a run. Roll for each group, rather than each individual in it. You can only run in a straight line, and can throw a spear but not fire a bow or a sling while running. If 2 '1's are rolled when walking or running, our gallant hero falls over at the 2" point of his move! (and roll on the Accident Table) His friends, of course, gather round and chortle (lose 1 reputation point!) Deduct one die for turning around / getting up / drawing a weapon etc, or for crossing rough ground. Be reasonable about this. On reaching a stream or river, roll for depth; D6 x feet, -2 for small streams. Up to 1 foot deep costs nothing for our doughty warriors to cross, 2' costs 1d6 movement, 3' takes the whole move, 4' takes two turns, beyond this is for strong swimmers without weapons and armour only. Go up- or downstream 12" and check the depth there. Horsemen can move at 3 D6 walking, 4 at a trot, 5 at a gallop, speeding up and slowing down one gait per turn, though heroes can leap into the saddle and off again at a gallop (lose 1 D6). Nobody else can. Norsemen do not fight on horseback in the sagas, and, since the horses are only rough mountain ponies, get no advantages over men on foot if they insist on doing so. Rough terrain loses 1 D6 for these sure-footed mounts; crossing water is as for men on foot, but 'one grade better', i.e. 2' deep costs nothing, 3' costs 1d6 etc. Egil is moving at a run through rough country. He rolls 6, 5 and 4. He loses the high die for the broken country. 4 + 5 = 9, as you quite possibly knew, so Egil and his followers move 9", though his archer cannot fire this turn because he is running. MISSILE COMBAT 'Einar shot an arrow at Jarl Eirik, which hit the tiller-end just above the jarl's head so hard that it entered the wood up to the arrow-shaft." --Olaf Trygvesson's Saga Missile use plays a fairly minor role in saga combat, though some characters such as Gunnar of Hlidarend in Njal's Saga - are noted for skill at archery. A character can have a bow or three javelins beside his main melee weapon, a karl only one of each. A figure may take an aimed shot with a bow by halting to aim on his first card and shooting on the next. Other shots are 'hurried', but bow shots are more effective from the halt than walking (not running). Javelins, rocks, spears, axes etc can be flung while walking and even running. Roll a D6 per shot, one per turn. Weapon RANGE IN INCHES (Die scores needed to hit) 1-4 4.1-12 12.1-24 24.1-48 Bow (aimed) 1+ 2+ 3+ 4+ Bow (hurried) 2+ 3+ 4+ 5+ Javelin 2+ 3+ 5+ - spear,rock 2+ 4+ - - flung sword/ axe 3+ 4+ 6 - MODIFIERS: Karl shooting / shooter walking / target in light cover -1 from die roll Shooter running / target in hard cover -2 Heroes and huskarls who find themselves the targets with shields may deflect a missile by rolling a D6: 4-6 if from the front or shielded left side, 5-6 from the right or rear. On a roll of 1 the missile passes straight through the shield, giving 1 RP to the shooter, and a nasty wound to the recipient. Men without shields can knock a missile out of the air with their own spear, sword or axe for a 6. An archer who rolls a natural '1' breaks his bowstring; it takes a turn to restring and, if he is the famous Gunnar, he won't have another and will need to beg a length of his wife's hair ---- roll again, on a '1' there's no spare string. EXAMPLE: Egil's archer, a karl, stops to fire a hurried shot on his next turn. The 1 target is Thidrandi, a huskarl, standing 14" away. The archer needs a '5' to hit 1 for karl shooting) and gets a'6'. Thidrandi raises his shield, but rolls a '2' and fails to stop the arrow. He must now go to the damage chart to see what happens. HITS: If the victim is a heroic type (or we are treating the karls as actual human beings), roll on the 'Damage Table', adding 1 to the die roll for arrows /stones etc, 2 for javelins and 3 for spears, axes, swords, anvils etc. Probably 4 for anvils --to keep it simple here's an optional rule: If the victim is a mere karl, don't worry about the weapon type. roll 1 D6: 1,2 = no effect; 3,4 = fall back 3"; 5,6 = dead, or as close as we care about. EXAMPLE: Thridrandi has been hit by an arrow. This counts as 1, to the die roll. He rolls to see where he has been hit - a 2, the shoulder - and rolls for damage, a'S', modified to V for the arrow ( a more powerful missile would have increased this). Not good for Thidrandi --- except that he had the good sense to wear a thick: leather jerkin, which deducts '1'. Still, the total is '5', which means a slight wound. An archer who is attacked while using his bow counts as unarmed until he has a chance to draw his own sidearm. HAND TO HAND FIGHTING "Berg-Onund began to find the shield heavy to carry, and tried to draw his sword, but before he could pull it half way out of the scabbard, Egil had run him through. Onund staggered at the blow, and Egil tugged his sword out sharply, then struck at Onund, nearly slicing off his head." --Egil's Saga Hand-to-hand fighting is very much the central activity in Saga warfare. Our heroes may move swiftly and shoot superbly, but it's the sword-swinging limb-lopping that keeps the audience listening to the story. So, in BattleTroll, we spend a good deal more time and effort on close combat than on anything else. The melee sequence is as follows: It's not as difficult as it sounds - 1) Select cards for attack 2) Compare the cards to see how many dice you get. Add any extra dice. 3) Roll the dice, looking for the highest numbers. 4) If permitted, make Re-Rolls of own worst dice or demand opponent re-roll his best. 5) If a hit is scored, note the difference between attacker's best die and defender's. 6) Add this score to that of 1D6. This tells you how hard you hit. High is good. 7) Roll to see where you hit him. 8) Modify the score by any armour or shield that may lessen the blow. 9) Read off what the wound grade is. 10) Victim makes groans of pain, notes wounds if he can't remember details of such things. 11) Winner notes his gain in RPs, crows about it in pathetic display of bravado. Close combat occurs when two figures meet hand to hand. The initiating player picks a card from his "Attack Deck", the defender one from his "Defence Deck". The Attack cards are: 1) SWING; a good strong swipe at the foe. Often risky. 2) CUT or JAB; a dependable attack, without much risk of disaster. 3) LUNGE; a fierce thrust. 4) JEST; no armed attack at all, but a pithy insult to taunt the enemy. 5) !#%&!!!; accidentally failing to make any attack, and possibly making a fool of yourself in the process. Not usually a deliberate choice. 1) PARRY; the safest way of fending off an assault, with shield or with weapon. 2) COUNTER-BLOW; hitting the other fellow before he strikes you! Risky! 3) LEAP ASIDE; dodge that blow and show off your agility. 4) JUMP BACK; see him swing at thin air! 5) !*&!H8&!; accidentally failing to offer any defence at all. Usually not a deliberate choice. COMPARE OPTIONS ACCORDING TO THE TABLE BELOW: ATTACK DEFENCE PARRY C/BLOW L/ASIDE J/BACK #A&!l SWING 2/1 1/2 3/1 (AA) 1/3 (AA) 4 / 1 (AD) CUT 1/1 2/1 2/1 1/2 3/1 LUNGE 1/2 3/1 1/2(AA) 2/1 (AD) 4 / 1 (AD) JEST N s N 1/3 Nss Nsss Ns %$#@! Nd Nd 1/4 Nds Nds Nd What does this mean? The first number is the number of dice the attacker gets; the second refers to the defender. Each rolls and chooses their highest die; these are then compared. If the attacker wins by one point, the defender falls back 1-3" (player choice). If the attacker wins by 2 or more points, he has inflicted a hit. Take that difference in die rolls and add it to a second die roll -- A man who, like Kjartan at the end of his last fight, simply refuses to defend himself, gets no die roll. The opponent will hit him for a roll of 2+, and add that score to the second die roll. EXTRA DICE! Modify the number of dice as follows - Berserker +1 Terrain advantage + 1 (uphill, behind a wall etc) Hero / Huskarl vs karl + 1 Each supporting figure (up to three) + 1 But wait! There's more! '(AA)' means an accident may occur to the attacker, if he fails to hit. '(AD)' means an accident may occur to the defender, if he loses the roll. 'N' means that the attacker has no intended strike. On 'Counterblow' he rolls to save himself from the defender's assault, but will inflict a hit if he should win; luck, surely? Is' means that the opponent is shamed by this taunt, and loses a Reputation Point. ss means lose two RPs, and sss means three. I& is pretty much the opposite, standing for 'duhh!' or 'doofus' or something like that. Lose an RP yourself for being an idiot. Sometimes there is a combination of these. Work it out for yourself. RE-ROLLS: If the opponent has lost his shield, or is slightly wounded, you can demand he roll one die again, no doubt hoping for a lower result. If he has lost his weapon, or is wounded, you can demand he re-roll twice. In theory, a man with several wounds who has lost both shield and weapon could be made to reroll an incredible number of times, but if he rolls 6 after 6 after 6, you'll never touch him. Remember a re-roll can be better or worse that the initial roll, and that you are stuck with the consequences. If you have two wounded men facing one another with a number of re-rolls, subtract one from the other; if you have a fighter with six re-rolls against him (it's possible, especially with a man whose armour has protected him against a series of blows) against a man with three rerolls against him, you could be rolling all day until all the scores were '1's. Count the fellow with six as having three, the man with three as having none. Does that make sense? A tied die roll means no hit except when the attacker makes a cut, thrust or swing and the defender makes a counterblow. In this case they, er, smite one another and both inflict wounds - add half the score they rolled (odds up) to the second die roll to improve the chances of both gallant Norsemen sending their opponent to Valhalla. If you outnumber your opponent, get an extra die for extra men, up to three. Characters in the sagas are incredibly agile, and cannot be surprised from behind. I know this isn't your experience of real life. MULTIPLE FIGHTS Quite often you'll have several figures on one side contending against a group of bold foemen on the other. The attackers may, on their turn, set up their men in the most advantageous way against the enemy, picking on one unlucky figure while wholly ignoring another opponent. It will have to wait for the defender's turn before he has a chance to even up the fight. However, friendly figures in base-to-base contact are considered mutually supporting, and must be taken on together; they must either be attacked by separate opponents, or the unengaged warrior will counts as an extra die for his partner. A figure who is attacked by enemies must continue the fight against all of them on his own turn unless A) he has been pushed back on the last turn , and so has become separated from the combat - in which case he can throw himself in wherever he wants; B) he is reinforced by his own side, with fresh men to take on those who were picking on him so unfairly last round of combat, or C) is pushing forward so that men ganging up on him from the rear are left a step behind, What he can't do is wantonly dodge out of the way of several perfectly agile vikings who have just attacked him in favour of jumping on some solitary figure (an aged karl with a bad leg and stomach ache, no doubt) three inches away. Basically, if you are in a fight, you are in a fight. I suppose you could run away... I don't think I need to tell you that heroes always take on the highest ranking foeman he can reasonably reach. They fight, with the karls as support not the other way round. I suppose an elderly character might have a bodyguard to fight in his place, but let's not make this a usual thing. A little common sense and a reasonable spirit of give and take should prevail in deciding who fights who. You know what I mean. DAMAGE, VIOLENCE, HORRIBLE WOUNDS etc "Hrolf struck at Orn, but as he tried to ward off the blow with his shield, the sword sliced through, and the point ripped open the whole of his belly so that his guts poured out --- still Hrolf managed to turn on Ulf and thrust at him with the sword. the mail-coat failed, and the sword went right through him." --Gongu-Hrolf's Saga Roll twice when a blow is landed: once to see where the blow lands, and once to see how hard. For this, add a D6 to the difference between attack and defence die rolls: Area 3 4 5 6 7 a 9+ 1) HEAD stunned s/wound wound g/wound killed killed G/Blow 2) SHOULDER scratch s/wound s/wound wound g/wound killed G/Blow 3) BODY scratch s/wound s/wound wound g/wound killed G/Blow 4) RT ARM scratch s/wound s/wound wound g/wound Great Blow Great Blow 5) LT ARM scratch s/wound s/wound wound g/wound Great Blow Great Blow 6) LEGS scratch s/wound s/wound wound g/wound Great Blow Great Blow Thus, if you win a melee by a roll of 6 to 1, creating a difference of five, and roll a four or more, somebody's body parts are going to fly messily through the air -- Stunned: Lose a die from next combat phase, while groggy. Scratch: Pah! Slight Wound: opponent can demand you re-roll one die in melee. Attacker gets 1 RP. Wound: opponent can demand you re-roll two dice in melee. Attacker gets 2 RPs. Grave Wound: this puts you down on the ground and out of the fight. Good luck! Attacker gets 3 RPs. Killed. Off to Valhalla. Attacker gets 4 RPs. Great Blow. Horribly violent blow. You have ten seconds to gain RPs according to umpire discretion by making a good dying speech. A quick one, you understand. Attacker gets 6 RPs for this praiseworthy deed. If the victim has a friendly karl within 1", the karl dies too as the spear spits him / axe takes his head off whatever fits the bill --- Obviously, you get more prestige for hacking up men of consequence rather than some grimy goat boy, so halve the RPs for damaged Karls. ARMOUR & WEAPONS "He was well armed; had a fine helmet, and ring armour, a red shield; a superb sword in his belt; and in his hand a gold-mounted spear, the shaft of it so thick that it was a handful to grasp." --Arnliote Gelline in St Olaf's Saga ARMOUR may offer some protection. Deduct 1 from the die total for quilt or leather, 2 for mail, scale or other metal armour. A byrnie would cover body and shoulders, with arm protection for a long sleeved item. Helmets protect the head, obviously. A die roll of W on the damage chart smashes the helmet or armour in addition to any wounds inflicted, so it's no use from now on. SHIELDS protect the left arm (4 from die roll) from hits, and also - when the defensive choice was 'parry' - the body and legs (-2). In any other defence, the gynastics involve preclude proper use of the shield. If the attacker's damage die roll is a'6', the defender's shield is smashed, whether or not a blow is landed on the defender himself. In Viking duels up to three shield may be used. Obviously most people aren't wandering around with a whole stack of shields on an everyday basis. BROKEN WEAPONS: If the attacker's best die roll is a '1', he breaks his sword, axe, whatever (1-2 if it's a spear, if you like) and will have to find something else to fight with next turn. Be like Egil Skallagrimsson, and carry two named swords in case you break one - flash git! DROPPING WEAPONS: Men who receive a slight wound will drop their weapons for a roll of 6, or 3+ if it's a right arm hit. For a wound, it's 5-6, 2+ for right arm hurt. They will spend their next attack turn looking for it, or a sidearm, counting as 'lost weapon' if attacked, and will make no attack themselves. On a roll of 1-2, they can't retrieve it (or find their sidearm is a dinner knife) and count as 'lost weapon) until they can remedy the situation without somebody trying to kill them. Otherwise, they are once again Girded for War. DOUBLE-HANDED WEAPONS: Very dangerous! Always a big Viking favourite. The problem is that you can't use a shield while wielding them. Therefore, a warrior with such a weapon can add +2 to his attacks, but cannot count as using a shield while defending, parrying with the blade and handle of his axe or sword. KARLS IN COMBAT If the game is a small one, with less than perhaps half a dozen per side, you can treat the karls as fully fledged human beings. The key things here are that A) if fighting a hero or huskarl, he concedes one extra die to his social better, and B) they choose their attack and defence options not by careful selection as per out heroes, but by a random draw from the deck. This means that they pick the questionable #$!!&,! choice every so often.(This applies to our 'assistant heroes', the Huskarls as well - they fight as heroes but you can't control what they do in a fight!) Also karls shoot worse and don't always do what you'd like. They can, however, get reputation points and move up towards hero status, or at least 'loyal retainer' level. If, however, you've got a couple of dozen of these ugly, poorly groomed types cluttering the place up - or just want a faster game which keeps the focus on the heroes - let's simplify things. 1) In combat with a hero, any hit that lands on a karl effectively puts them out of the game. We don't care about their wounds, reputations, or wives and children, do we now? 2) In fighting one another, face them off one to one, with extras going as 2-1 or 31 where appropriate. The attack and defence cards are drawn at random and the results of this going directly to a simple casualty chart. When one side outnumbers the other pick two or three cards as needed, and choose the best. ATTACK DEFENCE PARRY C/BLOW L/ASIDE J/BACK %$#@! SWING DF AF DK AF DK CUT N DF DF AF DK LUNGE AF DK AF DF DK JEST N AK N N N %$#@! N AK N N N WHICH MEANS --- AF : attacker falls back 3" AK: attacker is killed DF: defender falls back 3" DK: defender is killed N: nothing happens that we care to remember. MASS COMBATS: BOLD WARBANDS AND SHIELD WALLS For even quicker results - at a cost in personality - make up a few dice from plain wooden cubes, marked AF, AK, DF, DK, N, N. The attacker would roll one (or more, if outnumbering the putative victim, selecting the most advantageous) and that would be the result.. Dead simple. Even simpler: roll a D6 per figure on either side; 5 pushes a man back, 6 kills him. This works best in the 'shieldwall' situation where we might have dozens of karls in tight formation pushing and shoving. If one side inflicts more losses (counting 'kills' as worth 2 snd'push backs'as one) than the other, the losers fall back 3" and the winners follow them up. If it inflicts double the losses, it falls back 6" and all the loser's 'push backs' are considered killed or captured. If it trebles the loser's score, the loser routs from the board, losing it's 'push backs', standards etc. If - as you'd expect - our heroes and huskarls are fighting their counterparts on the other side, count the RPs they gain in the fight towards their side's total. If their side should fall back, they will retire also, but in the case of a rout will be expected to fight a gallant last stand in heroic fashion. Maybe D6 karls will rally alongside them. Maybe not. Your choice. WINNING THE GAME: At the end of the affray, total the RP scores of each hero, (and those of the karls if we are permitting them to improve their status). Add 1d6 to anyone who remains unscathed despite having defeated at least one foeman (but not for anyone who has avoided the fight!) As an option, allow each player to award 5 RPs, divided anyway he likes, to other characters for their efforts. Dead heroes count too, though deduct 1d6 since death is something of a drawback in life. The character with the highest score is declared the winner and is entitled to his very own saga. More Battle Troll Battle Troll: Viking Warfare in Sagas: Introduction Battle Troll: Basic Rules Battle Troll: Optional Rules Battle Troll: Appendix 1: Hand to Hand Combat Example Battle Troll: Appendix 2: Norse Names Battle Troll: Appendix 3: Saga Categories Battle Troll: Appendix 4: Icelandic Law Battle Troll: Appendix 5: Figures, Books, and Scenery Battle Troll: Raven's Tale Scenarios Back to MWAN #99 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