Tonight, the Norman knights finally had a reason to celebrate, while the artisans immediately began to work at what is now known as the Tipping Tapestry – a little known work of some talent that depicts the heroic victory over the Danish raiders at the village of Little Tipping.
But let’s start at the beginning: After their defeat at the bridge, a shaken Norman 3rd army moved to protect the castle. The Vikings, however, seem to have been contend to show that battles at bridges are not one of the Norman strengths and refrained from pressing on. They moved instead to the banks of the river, where they could see the red and white sails of the Viking flotilla approaching – the Viking 1st army had embarked on the ships and was sailing up the river to strike in the Norman heartland.
The most dramatic things, however, were happening in the south. The Norman 1st army had tried to shadow the Vikings there, but a forced march by the raiders brought those right to the peaceful village of Little Tipping, whose woolly-minded inhabitants where clamouring for help in a most pitiful manner. Their pleas were heard by the Norman 2nd army, which managed to move in right in time and confront the Vikings at the village.
The Battle of Little Tipping started with an advantage for the defenders: The Normans had a fresh 5 point force, while the Vikings, though battle hardened veterans, were down to 4 points. The Normans positioned their force with a strong right flank, leaving the levies to provide cover on the left. The Vikings reacted to this deployment by strengthening their left side.
The battle started with some Norman shooting which, however, left little impression on the Vikings. Then the mounted warriors moved forward to attack their Viking counterparts, which stood a bit exposed. They managed to kill half of them before retreating (the famous fake flight!). This seems to have made the Vikings pretty angry, as they charged headlong into the Norman knights – the sole Viking to survive the melee fled and managed to survive almost till the end. The Vikings now moved all their troops in position to attack the Norman right flank; however, this led to them being fed piecemeal into the maw of the Norman line. Next victim was the Viking hearthguard, which was done with by the knights on the left.
This left the Viking levies, a lone warrior and behind them the much feared Berserkers. In a heroic charge, a conrois of knights moved in to clear away the warrior (using the Stamping ability), then immediately continued to attack the Berserkers.
Using the Terrified ability, they managed to kill three of them. Now, however, they stood exposed, and in the next turn a combined attack by the Warlord and the last Berserker made short shrift of those brave knights. Fortunately, their charge will forever be immortalised in the Tipping Tapestry!
Now it was only a matter of time, and after some shooting the Norman Warlord led a last attack which routed the Viking levies. Finally the Normans could celebrate a victory.
And what a victory! The aftermath had us roll the saving throws for each of the points lost. I lost two, and didn’t succeed in saving any. However, K. also didn’t manage to save a single point, which meant she lost her whole army. Little Tipping is save from Viking attacks. At least for a while, because at the river, there is stirring in the Danish camp…
The Raft 