.It was the 23rd of April in the year of Our Lord 1014. Despite reports to the contrary I, Sigtrygg Silkbeard Olafsson was not behind the walls of Dublin while the rest of my army defeated Brian Boru. Nay, knowing the bravery of my mighty huscarls and the skills of my subordinates, bravery and skill enough to defeat an upstart like Boru, I did indeed take some of my Longships and a raiding party avikingr.
Yes, we had heard of the wealth of the Ottoman and decided to pay a visit to help the Holy cause. We had heard of previous success of raids in Lebanon and decided to land there and march north overland to sink our teeth into the heart of the Ottoman. We beached our longships and admired the cedars as we marched inland and north. In the distance we saw the setting sun reflecting off the gilt roof of an unholy mosque and turned our attention to it, knowing that any wealth that was there would be better spent in the services of Our Lord, but lo, the Turk isn't as cowardly as we were led to believe, and arrayed in front of us was the local commander with a large force of mounted troops. I had a quick conference with my worthy ally Máel Mórda mac Murchada (who I call 'Mac' and if anyone can teach me to get my lips around such a complicated name I would appreciate it. It's nothing simple like Sigtrygg) and we decided making camp and giving battle on the morn would be for the best. It appears the Ottoman agreed as whilst we were prapared for a night attack, none was forthcoming. Under the setting sun Mac and I along with my two subordinates climbed to the top of a steep hill in the centre of what would be the battlefield to survey and plan.
I suggested to Mac that his brave but unarmoured warriors would be at the greatest risk to the horse archery of the Turk so between us we agreed that his men would hold the very hill we were standing on. He would move some troops up under cover of night to guarantee us the hill and I would cover his front with our skirmishing archers. I also ordered one of my subordinates to take a third of our shieldwall and place it on a low hill to our left to secure it against any fast moving turks. Whilst the mediterranean was able to be seen in the distance, there was enough space for the Ottoman cavalry to attempt to flank us so this would give a good defense against that eventuality. The two went off to do my bidding, and I sat with my last commander discussing strategy. We could see the enemy camp and it was obvious where the bulk of the battle would be fought. My subordinate suggested that we refuse our right wing with anothter third of the shieldwall behind this very steep hill, and place the Huscarls and the last of the shield wall between this hill and the low hill to our left. This echoed my own thoughs and so I gave the order. He smiled and left me alone on the hill with my bodyguard. I could see how this battle could easily go badly for us, but I had faith in my men and I looked forward to the coming test.
As dawn approached again I climbed to the top of the steep hill to see how the enemy would deploy their forces. I saw two units of light cavalry that would clearly swing around the steep hill and attack the refused flank. These brave men would have to withstand a hail of arrows and having their flank exposed to the rear of the battlefield could prove disasterous. The enemy also looked like they were going to contest the hill with a smaller force of light archers and another force of handgunners. I had heard that these men with bangsticks caused great problems to morale and so dispatched a rider to command the archers to concentrate their fire upon these men with guns. There were more cavalry that would attempt to put pressure on the rest of the shieldwall on the low hill and then I saw what I knew would be there - the Albanian mercenaries. Christians who have allied themselves with the heathen. These Knights (and I use the term extremely loosely) faced off against my brave Huscarls. This would be a fight to remember. I saw my progress of the battle in my head, and moved back down to from the hill to where I would command the battle.
I orderer a general advance with the two thirds of my shieldwall to the edge of the low hill along with the Huscarls. The archers moved forward to rain hell upon the enemy handgunners and Mac sent his warriors to the edge of the crest in support.
The enemy handgunners didn't like the rain of arrows almost broke and ran in short order. One of the Ottoman commanders stoped a total retreat by the lights by planting his standard in the ground and almost through will kept the handgunners from running back to camp. In response the enemy archers shot amazingly well killing about one in eight men however morale was high. Looking back to see the Raven banner and the Irish allies kept my men from even thinking about retreat, however they did withdraw in good order to the foot of the hill once the enemy looked like sending some cavalry to plug the hole.
General shooting from the enemy cavalry was ineffectual. Not a casualty was caused by their wayward arrows and morale remained high. My huscarls drummed their axes against their shields to inspire confidence in the shieldwall to their left and to show contempt to the Albanians.
By this stage the enemy had rounded the steep hill and were starting to ineffectually rain arrows upon the last of the Shieldwall, however I knew that their ability to withstand this assault was crucial to the success of battle. I asked Mac to move some of his warriors to threaten the enemy light horse's flank and other warriors within range of a charge against their light foot archers who had moved upon our own archers. Once in range the Irishers charged down the hill at the light foot causing them to scatter. At the same time my own archers charged the now fleeing enemy archers catching them in disorder and totally destroying their will to fight. Unfortunately total success was not realised as the enemy light horse had moved away from range of the rest of the Irish warriors, and had returned to rain more successful damage upon the shieldwall. I could see their morale starting to falter and prayed for them to stand for just a short time longer.
The Huscarls has moved into a position now where they were demanding of the enemy Albanians a charge, taunting them with hurled insults and the occasional arrow from our supporting archers. I knew this was a critical stage of the battle so I moved up to personally lead the combat if needed. The Ottoman clearly wasn't ready to attack yet as I saw the enemy Albanian mercenary general riding back and forth along the line steadying his troops. I saw the oportunity. The chance I was looking for. My shieldwall charged the enemy cavalry forcing them to retreat as half of my Huscarls wheeled around to threaten the flank of the Albanians. Now I yelled the order to prepare to receive the enemy charge. With the chink of armour the front ranks knelt down upon their shields forming a solid wall, axes at the ready. More taunts and more arrows followed and the Albanians totally lost their discipline. Charging without direct orders they opened their flank to our second unit and had their charge countered. The Huscarls met the enemy on the flank causing great confusion. The enemy general didn't know how to lead this attack turned into defense. Not a single Huscarl was hurt in the melee and in quick order we saw the Knights flee from the battlefield.
The battle was won. The proud Ottoman commander resplendant in silks and gold rode across the battlefield toward our Raven Banner ready to give supplication.
We, being generous Christians agreed to not sack the mosque in return for 3 chests of Gold and Jewels. We were entertained by the local commander that night and we returned with honour to our longships the next morning. I gave a double reward to the shieldwall refusing the right flank. Whilst they had broken in the last moments of the battle it was their bravery that allowed victory.
Yours in Christ,
Sigtrtgg
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Historical Note:
Whilst this little known battle was a total disaster for the Ottoman it must be pointed out that luck played an incredible factor on the part of the Vikings. No test was failed except for the moments in battle where Ottoman horsearchery finally found their mark on Sigtryggs refused flank. No arrows found their mark, again except for Sigtryggs refused flank. The superiority of the Ottoman horse archery failed to make an impact on the battle. The Albanians only managed to stave off an undisciplined charge for a short amount of time before charging headlong into disaster (in game terms Paul rolled snake-eyes. Quickly snatched up the dice to do a quality re-roll and before I could point out that Quality re-rolls don't count in this case he rolled another pair of snake-eyes allowing the Huscarls to intercept charge into his flank). This battle is a clear example where strategy matters not at all. Whilst Sigtrygg had a solid battle plan it was luck and only luck that awarded him the battle.
Regards
Ian, history professor of the University of Sigtrygg.
. That was luck sometimes you know the lucks just not with you.
