Nortung: a Dark Ages campaign day.

A small but select group of gamers (some even travelling from foreign climes: Fife and Glasgow) gathered at the South East Scotland Wargames Club last Sunday (26th March 2006) for Nortung, a rampage through the Dark Ages.

The event was set up as a mini-campaign with every player taking part in three games - each game having an affect on the next. All terrain was randomly fixed prior to play. Two army lists, one small 500pt scouting force and a much larger 1500pt main body, were drawn up from just threeWarhammer Historical supplements pertinent to the period: Shieldwall (Vikings, English, Scots, Norman, etc.); El Cid (Christian Spanish, Almoravids, Almohads, etc.); Byzantium, Beyond the Golden Gate (Early, Middle and Late Byzantine, Sassanid Persians, Rus, Steppe Nomads, etc.)

Players were semi-randomly paired up for their first battle: a limited-turn skirmish affair simulating a scouting action in advance of the main body. The winner of this encounter took forward a positive `event' to the second battle.

Points gained (or not in far too many cases) from the scouting clash were used to determine the combatants for the next battle, the coming together of the larger main bodies. This was a standard Pitched battle, though slightly extended to give a more definite result.

After a break for food and some realigning of tables, players were paired up for a two-on-two battle. This was based on their accumulated points score. Each player brought his two army lists together into one force for a mega 4000pt game. The points leader for each pair became overall general, deciding strategy etc. All points gained from this battle were shared equally between allied generals, and then all points were tallied up.

After some eight hours of gaming, drinking, blethering and good- natured ribbing, we finally came to the prize-giving ceremony for the top three players. Our congratulations (and envy) go to them.

The results:

1. Tim Dagnell (El Cid, Christian Spanish)
2. Chris Stone (Shieldwall, Northumbrian Saxons)
3. Andy Thomson (Shieldwall, Northumbrian Saxons)
4. Julian Evans (Shieldwall, Scots
5. Jack Glanville (Shieldwall, Scots)
6. Olivier Lepreux (Shieldwall, Breton)
7. Darrell Hindley (Byzantium, Italo-Norman)
8. Andrew Cairns (El Cid, Almoravids)
9. Dave Imrie (Byzantium, Justinian Roman)
10. Ross Edmonds (Byzantium, Justinian Roman)
11. John Glass (Shieldwall, Mercian Saxons)
12. David Glass (Shieldwall, Normans)

We would like to pass on our thanks to the Royal Navy and Marine Association and Club in allowing us to host this event. We would also like to thank all those who came along and made the day such a great success. Finally, we are indebted to the sponsors of this event for their superb generosity; it ensured that all those taking part went home with something other than just fond memories of a great day playing at soldiers. We are now planning our next campaign day for later in the year.

John Glass

Note: The main Sponsors of the event were Warhammer Historical, Gripping Beast and Little Big Man Transfers. Other prizes were donated by Perry Miniatures, Magister Militum, Old Glory, Dixons Miniatures, A&A Miniatures, and Newline Designs.