For about 15 odd years, I've been wargaming with almost exclusively 25mm Ancients. Starting with the Carthaginians many years ago, I have fought at the head of many Greeks, Gauls, Indians, and for the last few years, the Russ. The Indians worked well against people who had never fought them before so it was an excellent tournament army. They carried me far in two different Origins tournaments. The Russ were designed from an early Phil Harker army list and were made up substantially of close order 'B' class HI with 2HCW and shield. They also carried javelins and the weapon and morale type gave fits to every opponent I fought. With the 6th edition of WRG and the subsequent army lists, both armies were substantially weakened. I started sifting about for a new army that would be as powerful as my Russ used to be. It's true, as Phil writes in WRG6th edition, that many of us design armies to take advantage of the rules instead of developing historical armies and historical tactics. I had always been orientated towards close order troops as I believed this led to maximum shock power and shock power was what won wargames.

This had always held true with the Indians. Even I was appalled sometimes at the carnage elephants could cause if they were not softened up by archer fire. My Russ would form a beautiful 'B' class shield wall and just rumble forward. Often , both armies won but just as often they were defeated. In any event I was in a quandary as to which way to proceed. No other army list gave me the good morale troops plus solid shock power that I desired 'without another expensive figure purchase.. Then, in a campaign game with three other local gamers, I received an excellent learning experience on the effectiveness of the Vikings.

Approximately a year ago I was involved in a campaign game that was to recreate the nearly simultaneous invasion of England by Harald Hardrada in the north and William the Conqueror in the south. We maneuvered on a map of England and significant battles would be fought on the wargames table with figures. Historically this scenario led to the Battle of Hastings. Gary Comardo commanded the Normans, Terry Andrews the Vikings and Terry Gore was the English King Haroid, I Was the Earl Morcar who held power in the north of England.

Enter the Vikings

The Vikings landed before the Normans (by die roll) so I suggested to the Viking commander that instead of fighting each other we would be a force to be reckoned with if we joined forces. My Viking opponent thought this a fine idea and marched south with me to attack King Harold and try to claim the throne of England before William could invade from Normandy,

However, I had prearranged an alliance with King Harold and was expecting a small force of Harold's men to hold and give battle when we encountered them in East Anglia, We then went to the table-top miniatures battle. To make a long story short, the Viking king was somewhat dismayed when I attacked his rear after he had become engaged with the English troops. At this point, King Harold attempted to dice for arrival to bring his main group of figures onto the board. (They'd remained off board awaiting the treachery, which in the King's mind was certainly not to be taken as Gospel!) The arrival of these fresh troops would ensure that the Vikings army would be virtually annihilated. Of course Terry rolled three times and failed to come on at all! (Ed. Poor dice, what can I say?)

A sizable portion of the Viking army escaped and what was left was very, very upset with their former allies. Soon, I was to learn much at the hands of the enraged (Ed. out - raged was more like it!) Vikings.

The Vikings moved north towards York while the backstabbing Morcar busied himself with destroying a freshly landed and isolated Norman infantry force. The entire Norman cavalry force with William was off on recon and foraging. After that battle, Morcar turned north to pursue the Vikings and soon met with disaster. The two armies came to blows south of the Humbar River.

I deployed with a large forest to my front and open space to the left and left half of my front. The Vikings closed quickly and engaged me on my left center. At the same time unseen berserkers charged out of the forest causing surprise all along my front. By period six it was all over. The Vikings had inflicted less than 100 hits but my 1000 points in troops were in total rout. Some of the surprised troops became shaken and broke when charged. On the left the Vikings had gone impetuous and routed two more units.. Soon, the whole army was routing off the table, Not one single body of troops held past turn seven. The Vikings had conquered most of northern England with that short battle.

For the first time in many years of gaming I began to see the potential of loose order infantry. My Russ were rebased to become Vikings and I've used them in about ten battles to date. I only have suffered one major defeat and that at the hands of Gary Comardowhen he caught me on an open plain with no terrain at all. The swiftness and maneuverability of the wedge formed Huscarles and berserkers more than makes up for any dilttion of shock power caused by loose formation.

Lineup

The following is the makeup of the Viking army I generally employ:

1 CinC w/PAS and 5 LHI 2HCW/Sh bodyguard 230 Pts.
1 Scots-exile Ally Gen. and 2 bodyguard 87 Pts.
3 Units x 8 'A' Class berserkers 2HCW/Sh 195 Pts.
4 Units x 9 'B' class Huscarles/10 C class Bondi 436 Pts.
1 Unit 7 'B' class Scots-exile Huscarles 79 Pts.
2 Units, x 16 'G Scots-exile Spearmen (LTS) 126 Pts.
1 Unit 12 'B' class Viking Huscarle, OR
1 Unit 18 'C' class Bondi with Bow/JIS/SH 123 Pts

1250 Pts.

The most important part of any game with this army is te setting up of terrain. The battle can be won or lost based largely on this. I always try for forest pieces, maximum size. This provides cover for covering flanks and launching, surprise attacks and ambushes from. Forests will help limit the advantage an opponent may gain by carrying an archer superiority, also. Place your first pieces to the right and left of the center two feet but just beyond your deployment area. A die roll of 3,4,5 or 6 will keep these woods for you.

Generally, I place all six pieces in these areas if I can to maximize the amount I keep. I avoid hills simply because the odds are against your keeping them. Unless your terrain dice are unusually cruel you should always get two or three nice woods to operate around. The close order Scots-exiles spearmen are excellent for guarding an exposed flank from harassment by enemy cavalry. Although not massive in numbers, the Viking bowmen are very effective as you may arm them with javelins and shield as well. The LHI Viking Huscarles with axe and fighting in wedge are capable of standing up to anyone.

Key

The key to using Vikings is to use them historically. Viking attacks really were as swift and as fierce as humanly possible. I designate at least J of the army as the major attack group and use it to dominate -'C-he vital parts of the board. This is usually a successful tactic. There is usually a central clear or lightly terrained area that will hold your main objective; the core of the enemy power. The right of this attack group, should be berserkers who will invariably become impetuous with the magical Raven PAS advancing behind them. The rest of the attack group will be Huscarles who will generally follow suit. Impetuous troops can wheel up to 45 degrees without causing disorder so there is plenty of leeway to aim your attack.

I always force-march at least one or two units to press home my attack and gain footholds on key terrain features. Sometimes I use the option of mounting a few of the unit and then force-marching them. Deployment is 811 in and they get a 12" move on the first period. Second period melees are not uncommon.

Attempt to engage four or five enemy units as soon as possible, Don't be afraid to countercharge cavalry after you go impetuous. If facing a Pike unit try to hit it on the end figures and you'll still have a good shot. If you can, get two wedges on end figures of a unit, you'll almost always rout it. The spearmen and remaining troops should be in close contact with the attack force to reinforce, guard the flanks and rear, boost morale and dominate any forest squares.

My General figures always end up in combat, although usually on the flank of an enemy unit. Being small and mobile bodies the Generals are excellent to throw in during the second period of melee swinging the battle to your side. Always attempt to get a couple of units under cover from period one so they can cause surprise later. If these units emerge from cover within 1011 they can sometimes cause a chain reaction of bad morale on the enemy.

Demoralizing the enemy is fundamental. You have to try and time a number of demoralizing events to occur in the same period or two because the Vikings will probably have fewer units than many other armies and that may hurt in a protracted twelve period battle. The PAS Raven banner can cause some near "die to the last man" scenarios. I've had Tight man berserker units fight to one or two figures in the past.

All in all I've had a great deal of pleasure from the Vikings. They are a swift, potent attacking army that cause many routs, win or lose. Much to my surprise, I've won more than lost with these soldiers and had a great time doing it. In the next issue of SAGA, I will describe how to recreate a Viking naval battle in both 25mm and 15mm scale using WRG rules.