This week Charlie took on the role of scenario creator with a game inspired by last week's encounter battle won easily by the Normans. It was Charlie's Normans against a combined Anglo Danish and Viking force although sadly Ian (Ianberht) was ill and missed the game so I controlled both the Anglo Danish and Vikings forces with Charlie in charge of his Normans.
I set the table up as described in the map that Charlie drew. A few quick dice throws soon decided which side deployed where and who was the attacker. I had to deploy the Anglo Danes in the lower deployment zone whilst half of Charlie's Norman force then deployed in the upper deployment area. The other halves of our forces were in reserve and it was going to be dependent upon the draw of a card as to where they came on. 
We also used my random cards to vary the quality of our leaders.
Sir Robert de Baskerville was leading the Normans this week and this is his deployment.
Lord Ianberht was back to lead the Anglo Danes despite the Normans calling for the Pope to
ex-communicate him for being so troublesome.
The Viking allies turned up before the Norman re-enforcements.
The Vikings, led by Svend this week happily entered the table close to my right flank.
(however I forgot that units moving in column still get one move even if the order roll is failed and the new Viking leader proved to be not very good at throwing for orders).
Charlie moved his Normans quickly across the board to threaten the Anglo Danes.
Ianberht held his troops secure atop the hill.
The view of the Normans approaching the Anglo Danish resolute on their hill.
Then, Ianberht threw caution to the wind and with a wild yell of 'Ut, Ut followed by a few Godemite!' the Anglo Danes charged down the hill at the Normans before they could form their proper battle line. With my order dice allowing me the two moves I needed my guys crashed into the Norman infantry destroying an archer unit and forcing a unit of heavy infantry to withdraw.
At the left end of the Anglo Danish line one unit of Ceorls were defeated which helped spin the battle line around a tad.
With the archers gone my Housecarls swept on into a unit of Norman knights , nearly catching them in the flank but they turned to face the rampaging Housecarls and got battered as the Housecarls swung their huge dane axes to great effect.
It took two rounds of melee to defeat the Norman knights and the Norman commander Sir Robert de Baskerville was killed in the melee. His son was quick to take over command but he was a lesser man.
My Thegns were pushed back onto the hill (content to Rally up there). Happily the Anglo Danes caused enough damage to the Baskerville's Norman division that it broke and fled the battlefield.
Slowly the Viking allies were starting to feed into the battle.
At the top of the picture you can see the Norman reserve moving in column fast down the road .
Charlies mounted units from his reserve arrive and try to sneak past a unit of Vikings who by now were mostly in position. My viking bondi archers hit the Norman knights with bow fire, killing two and forcing them back in disorder
With the combined Anglo Danish and Viking force only one unit down and a few points of damage rallied off they adopted a strong defensive position with most units also having support.
Thegn Ianberht looked on in wonder as the remaining outnumbered Norman units decided to withdraw leaving the Anglo Danish/Viking alliance victorious.
With a huge roar of victory the cry of 'Ut, Ut' was taken up again. Lord Inaberht who had fought in almost every fight was declared 'man of the match'.
Thanks to Charlie for devising a hugely entertaining scenario which did seem to backfire on him a bit with his reserve entering the table at the furthest point away from the action.
Hopefully we can fight a third and deciding battle in this series of games soon.
Finally, here are a few photos of my latest unit for my Macedonians, the Silver Shields.
It took me a whole month to paint these. They are mainly Wargames Foundry with a few Crusader Miniatures. The standard bearer is from WIP Games and Miniatures.
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