Ambush!

A Viking in the Sun scenario

I mentioned my interest in gaming the mini-campaigns in the Lion Rampant scenario book, A Viking in the Sun. I finally got around to playing one.

Naturally, I used my own rules rather than LR. Likewise, I modified the scenario a bit, so it's more like an "inspired by" version.

Set Up

Harald Hardrada is an officer of the Varangian Guard in Byzantine service. His superiors have tasked him with escorting a Byzantine envoy to Jerusalem

Harald's forces (red) include:

• a unit of Varangian Guard (with yellow marker)
• a unit of Byzantine spearmen
• a unit of archers
• a unit of Fatimid light cavalry, escorting the envoy

On the way, Harald's force gets ambushed by a bunch of bandits. They include:

• 2 units of light cavalry
• a unit of archers
• a unit of spearmen

Harald must get the envoy off the right-hand edge of the map.

The Skirmish

The bandit horse swarm the archers. One unit gets driven back, leaving some of their dead behind.

The horse try again and overwhelm the archers. Harald's Varangians turn to secure the flank. Meanwhile, the escort makes a break for the little village to the east (right).

The bandits pursue the escort.

Harald and his infantry march down the road to assist the escort, which got tangled up with the bandit spearmen.

The spears fall.

The escort reaches the village but the bandit archers begin shooting. The bandit horse units take on Harald's infantry.

The horse units lose.

The remaining bandits break and flee.

Aftermath

Harald successfully completes his escort mission. Next, he will seek the bandit leader, Hassan, and make him pay for such a brazen assault.

Stay tuned for scenario 2!

Notes

The scenario includes rules for capturing the envoy. I generally ignored those rules and decided that the envoy was attached to the Fatimid unit. If it broke, then the envoy would be captured. As it turns out, that did not happen.

I started the bandit spears in the village,  but moved them out to get them in the action. I probably should have left them in.