"Opponents for Vikings...." Topic

Besides civilians and themselves, who are some good fun opponents for Viking raids?

Anglo-saxons?

MORE VIKINGS!

Anglo-Saxons, Frankish, Normans, Byzantines (they got all the way to Constantinople), Spanish and Portuguese. I stayed in a place in the Algarve (south Portugal) years ago and the museum in a walled town had a Viking helmet, left behind by raiders.

Slavs, after all the Russ were vikings living in Russia, The kingdom of Novgorod was their main foothold.

Irish, Scots, Picts, anyone they met down the Volga.

Don't forget the MONKS!

Carolingians. Probably the most effective adversaries. Because of the problems they had with them the Vikings turned theyr attention to England.

When you say "Spanish or Portuguese" that mostly means Muslims, since during the period that Vikings were a menace the Christian enclaves were reduced to mostly the mountainous north….

Dont forget Scots, Irish and Welsh!

Skraelings

American Indians, Native Icelanders…

I come from a town in Ireland that was built on the Shannon river which flowed into Lough Ree. In the ninth century the central position of the lake meant it held trmendous strategic importance to the Vikings (since they preferred to move on water rather than over land) I've pasted a little description of the era:

In the ninth century the Vikings had a fleet on Lough Ree and one of the most notorious Vikings of this period was the dreaded Turgesius who was on Lough Ree in 834. The following year he was captured by Maelsechlainn and drowned by him in Lough Owel outside Mullingar.

From 931-937 there appears to have been a continuous Viking presence on Lough Ree. One of the most ferocious Vikings in occupation at that time was Olafr Ceancaireach (Olaf the scabby-head) who landed in Lough Ree in 936 having moved his longships overland following a raiding expedition on Lough Erne. Olafr Ceancaireach was a Viking who had made his way from Limerick. In 937 he came into conflict on Lough Ree with Olafr Gothfrithsson a Dublin based Viking king and was taken prisoner and brought to Dublin.

So as you can see even in this brief history of my locality Viking vs Viking is more than acceptable.

Personally I'd love to stage a campaign with an Irish hero like the Irish King Maelseachlainn mentioned above…

Here's some info on him (I thought my spelling was bad…)

to serve Mael began his righn by clearing out a group of Irish malfactors in Cavan near Loch Ranor who were called the 'sons of death'[baid] of the Luigne and Gailenga who were ravaging the countryside in the manner of the gallaib who were insigating them.
Mael distroyed them.

Before Mael had become High King he had successfully inticed Tuirgeis the Norse war lord into his possession and drowned him in Lake Owel in Meath.
This alone ingratiated him to the Irish population.

In 845 Cearball m Dongaille Lord Dungaile of Osraige had sucessfully killed 1200 more Danes at Ath Cliath at the Carn of Branuit.
The foreigners had plundered Imlech Iubair.

In 846 Mael won a battle over the Gallore at Forach in Meath where he killed 700 of the enemy.

Here's the LINK if you want more info:
link

A much more famous Irish Adversary would be Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig (or Brian Boru as he's better known…there was talk of Mel Gibson making a movie about him if I remember correctly) He's best remembered as uniting the various Irish Kings (over 150) to better resist the foreign invaders.

Here's a LINK

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Boru

Some inspiring images of Brian Boru (look a little too fantasy for my taste though):

This year is the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf of course and this is a Link to a Wargame Scenario

link

Hope this helps

So much choice – Mongols (they destroyed the Rus capital of Kiev), Finns, Moorish Sicily & various Italian kingdoms, any European country with a coast, or the various Mediterranean islands. Moorish North Africa & Spain.

Mel Gibson as Brian Boru, no, God wouldn't punish us like that.

"Mel Gibson as Brian Boru, no, God wouldn't punish us like that."

LoL …I think it was about directing it…but maybe it was just rumours or my memory playing tricks :~)

Mongols are a stretch for an opponent of the "Vikings". The Mongol invasion took place in the 13th Century so more of a descendants of the Viking's, opponent.

Although, I suppose nothing says skirmishes couldn't have happened much earlier along the river route to Byzantium.

What rules are most popular for this era…I'm a little tempted to try it out myself

SAGA is popular for skirmishes.
There are a host of others for larger battles.

Thanks looks very interesting…after reading this I think I'm hooked

TMP link

Bretons.

There even was a period in the 860s when a Breton king allied with Danish Viking established on the river Loire (south of Brittany) and gained support of a revolted son of the Frankish king, to fight against other Franks who allied with other Vikings established on the river Seine…

I am a big fan of SAGA. It has elements of "gaminess" as you have to wrap you head around some of the battleboard effects, but it is easy to pick up, hard to master and has lots of options for distinct forces

Reminds me of this:
(fast forward to about 1:40)

link

:)

I concur with SAGA being a very fun game. A bit pricey but what isn't…

Pig Wars would serve and is neither as pricey or gamey as SAGA.

I'd been wanting to try a game of Battle Troll… how does that compare to Pig Wars? (I'd assumed Pig Wars was more historical while being more 'beer and pretzels' as well). Battle Troll appears to be more like a TFL game, with card draws and such.

I like both Pig Wars and Battle Troll (I also like Saga). Pig Wars can handle convention type games with eaach of six players having 15-20 figures. Battle Troll is more a 6-8 figures per player game. Pig Wars is concerned with what weapons your figure carries and how he is equipped. Battle Troll uses a deck of cards to see who takes action next--it can be a hero on one side, a unit, or all the figures on that side. Pig Wars is more a traditional IGO-UGGO game.
Grelber

Viking/Rus raids also hit the Persian principalities along the southern Caspian Sea.

Where can one get Battle Troll nowadays?

One can – and, I think should (!) – get Battle-Troll in its much expanded form from Pulp Action Library, via the good folk at Wargames Vault:

link

I'd get the card deck as well rather than print off from the PDF (which comes with the book)

Grelber's description of BT sounds about right – it's a small band, scenario based game about ugly men with bad tempers and big axes. It's more personalised and comedic than most 'bigger skirmish' games, and is more about shaming your opponent and boosting your own reputation than about tactical issue or armour types.

Pig vs Troll vs Saga ?

Saw great vids on youtube about Saga but the others how do they compare?

I don't have a video, but if you come round to my house, you can have a beer :)

I'm pretty sure that Saga and Battle-Troll don't have much in common in terms of 'what it's all about' and game mechanics. One's about battles on open fields using an interesting board system, the other is a small-scale, semi-RPG game in which you quarrel with the neighbours using a paper/rock/scissors type of card play.

If you have a Saga force, you'll have both sides for Battle-Troll. Occasionally you'll need an angry fishwife or a one-legged old geezer.

LoL… Forget the video if you have beer :)

Anyone know where I can find angry fishwives and one-legged old geezer minis ;)

Old Glory's "revolting peasants" and "revolting women and children" (iirc, it's been years) contain humorous "fish wives" and geezers and the like….

You could also pit your Vikings (and their Arabian friend) against bearskin-wearing Neanderthals, if you're a fan of a certain Antonio Banderas movie.