Ivar Sveinson Raids Again

The vikings wade through the estuary to the village

By May of that year, Ivar Sveinson and his valiant crew once more did set sail. A small coastal village was their target, rumoured to hold great treasures in the fine church. Boldly did they stride ashore that day......

After the embarassing incident with the sheep flock, Ivar Sveinson was determined to win back the regard of his men, not to mention some much needed coin. In a turn of good fortune, the noble thought lost in the previous raid turned up a few days later, a bit muddy and tired but none the worse for his ordeal (when I rolled a replacement I ended up with exactly the same attributes, so I decided he must have survived after all). The scenario we rolled up this time was a raid on a village, the vikings searching for loot in the buildings, the Saxons trying to thwart them. This time I was more fortunate in my initial positioning, I was able to take two turns of movement on to the board. The village was in the half way point, so even with the boggy ground of the river estuary slowing me down, I was near to the objective very early on, the Saxons huffing and puffing to reach me.

Both the church and the nearest hovel are empty!

Swiftly they did search the church, but the cunning Saxons had obviously been forewarned, as it was empty of their treasures. Ivar set his men to searching the other buildings, bravely holding the enemy back.........

To loot a building a group simply roll a dice and if it turns up a 6, that means there's loot. On the other hand, if a 1 is rolled, that means the building is empty. Of course, my first two searches I rolled 1's, but this is not as bad as it seems as it means I could move on and search another building. Ivar and his hearthguard moved into the centre of the village to block any Saxon intervention, while the search moved on to the small hut on the hill.

Ivar and his men hold off the Saxons while the treasure is looted

A horn sounded out. Treasure had been found! Ivar and his men crashed into the Saxons to give his men time to transport their loot back to the ship.

Finally the treasure was unearthed, the devious Saxons had hidden it in the rafters of their grain store. The vikings set off with their loot back to the ship, while Ivar and his men attempted to hold off the Saxon chase by blocking the pursuit routes. On the far side of the village, beyond the church, more vikings and Saxons clashed. I had the run of the dice and pushed the Saxons back beyond the cross on the far hill. Meanwhile, Ivar rushed up the hill into the Saxon shieldwall. I had held back a Carpe Diem fate card and was able to play three cards in this one combat, hurling axes into the Saxons and causing considerable shock before crashing home and inflicting even more casualties, with very little damage received in return. The Saxons scattered from this savage onslaught. Their treasure lost, scattered in defeat, they withdrew and the vikings were able to saunter back to the ships, victory songs chanted all the way.

The Saxons had suffered moderate losses and would need two months to recover their numbers. The vikings had suffered very light losses and consequently made a second uncontested raid in the following month of June. In total they gained four chests of coin and even gained a couple more warriors in their band, obviously word was getting around of the rich pickings available. Ivar had finally won back the respect of his men and was building a good amount of coin to further his ambitions. His personal fortune was now five chests of coin, technically enough to be declared a warlord and start to conquer British lands. In the next game Ivar has the choice of declaring a battle and possibly winning land, or to continue with raids to build up more cash. What will the Coward decide?