VIKING RAID ON A MONASTERY

We played a game the other night where Vikings raided a monastery. The figures were all 28mm and the rules we used were our own which work really well and we have had a lot of fun using for several years. The object of the raid was to capture Monks. During the Viking era there was a thriving trade between Vikings and the Venetians for young literate males. The Venetians would geld the unfortunate young men and sell them on to the Byzantines and Abassid Empire who would employ them as eunuchs. Never ones to pass up a business opportunity the Vikings raided monasteries with the intention of capturing young monks, who of course were literate, and selling them. It does give you an added appreciation for why the Church never had anything nice to say about the Vikings. There were 10 Monks in our Monastery and 20 defenders. There were 30 Vikings who were split into two warbands coming from opposite ends of the table. The image above is of the monastery and its guardian sheep.

 One of the Viking warbands with the leader of the raid out the front.

 A group of Vikings move in on the defenders.

The defenders are determined to defend the monks. 

Some women can be seen behind the line.

 The second band of Vikings crosses the bridge as they rush towards the monastery.

 The Viking chieftain breaks the defenders line as his warriors rush up.

Their line broken the defenders withdraw to block a narrow passage. There they hold their ground repelling several Viking attacks and killing many Vikings.

 

A big fight starts outside the church. The Monks have all fled inside the church where they are no doubt praying for the heathen to be overcome. 

 The defenders outside the church fight back holding their ground against repeated Viking attacks.

The brave group of defenders continue to hold the narrow gap, but as their losses mount they cannot continue to do so.

 Finally the defenders of the church are down to their last few men.

The Vikings burst into the church!

The monks fight back and actually kill two Vikings 

but the relentless heathen keep assaulting them.

The last few monks fight heroically winning several rounds despite them not being the equals of the Vikings in hand to hand combat. Eventually though they are either all killed or captured. The game ended with the Vikings capturing 5 of the original 10 monks. The others had been killed in the fighting. The Vikings lost a tad more than half their men including their chieftain who fell fighting against four defenders (at least he will enjoy Valhalla). It was a very expensive raid for the Vikings - you can only hope that they get a good price for the monks!