I’ve been fairly radio silent this month–it’s not due to a lack of progress, more due to a busy work and school schedule draining my will to write. I’ll have some lighter posts coming but the first thing to really inspire me to write is my plans for Midgard. Now, like all my plans the upfront caveat is simple: I accomplish maybe 1 in 5 of my little wargaming schemes. This one is a little farther along but goodness knows if it will ever really see the light of day.

I want to refight the Battle of Clontarf.

This is, legendarily, the battle in which the Irish defeated the vikings and drove them out of Ireland for good. Realistically, it seems more to be a civil war in which a Viking descended king fought his father-in-law and lost, allowing High King Brian Boru to nearly ascend to the true throne of Ireland. Or at least he would have if he didn’t die immediately after the battle. Spoilers, I guess.

The battle is told both in Njal’s Saga and Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib (The War of the Irish with the Foreigners). There are variances between them but the general theme remains the same. Brian Boru’s son, Murchad mac Briain, leads an army against the Norse-Gaelic King of Dublin, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, who employs Vikings in his forces. In reality, Brian’s forces also featured some Viking mercenaries. Brian’s forces win, driving the Vikings into the sea and defeating Sigtrygg, who retreats from the battle with his life. Brian is then killed after the battle as he prayed in his tent. One Brodir of Mann is credited with the kill and then, in my favorite version, is captured by Ulf (Wolf) the Quarrelsome who cuts open his stomach, ties his entrails to a tree, and makes him march around the tree until he dies. Very Viking–except Ulf is Irish aligned.

The stories tell little about how the armies are formed, only that the Vikings wear chainmail and the Irish have larger numbers and carry spears that they throw. It is believed the Irish had around 5,000 men and the Vikings had around 7,000 (which directly contradicts my previous statement–the fun of history). Both sides lost around 75% or more of their forces. It was deeply bloody.

The various heroes are tracked in accounts of the battle. We know the following about who slays who:

• Máel Mórda mac Murchada, King of Leinster, Norse-Gael aligned
  • died in single combat with Conaing mac Donncuan, King of Desmond (Brian Boru’s nephew)
• Sigurd the Stout of Orkney, Norse-Gael aligned
  • Killed by Murchad Mac Brian (Brian’s son, leader of the army)
• Brodir of Mann, Norse-Gael aligned
  • Kills Brian Boru but dies to Ulf the Quarrelsome
• Murchad Mac Briain, Irish aligned
  • Son of Brian Boru
  • Slays 100 men while dual wielding swords, killing 50 with his left hand and 50 with his right
  • Dies valiantly in battle
• Conaing mac Donncuan, King of Desmond, Irish aligned Scotsman
  • Dies in a duel with Mael Morda, who he also kills
• The battle starts with a duel in which both men kill each other
  • Plait, “the bravest knight of all the foreigners” represents the Vikings
  • Domnall mac Eimín, Scotsman, represents the Irish (may have descended from Vikings)
  • They die with their swords through each other’s heart and their opponent’s hair gripped in their hand

Midgard is the exact right ruleset for this. The infantry forces don’t really matter and the heroes are super important. This is the exact space Midgard wants to exist in. Victory conditions are simple: earn reputation by slaying heroes and winning duels. Bonuses for duels. Cut the battle after a set number of turns. The landscape will be the area north of Dublin, with the river Tolka to the South and the sea to the East.

(Curtesy of Wikipedia)

As for the miniatures, I already own Viking and Irish armies big enough for Midgard, but I’m going to double them so I can field this as a 2v2 battle with each player controlling two leaders. I’m using Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish and classic Victrix Vikings as my main bodies for the armies. I’ll be grabbing some heroic figures from Footsore Miniatures. I’m almost done with my Templars and I’ll be immediately turning around to paint my Irish right after.

That is of course… if I don’t decide to paint the new 3150 Battletech force in my head (urban camo!) or my Dropfleet forces that finally came in. With a trip to Canada for Christmas interrupting me for two weeks we’ll see how far this actually gets. I’ve grabbed a copy of Brian Boru and the Battle of Contarf by Sean Duffy to read and hopefully keep myself engaged. I think this would make a perfect small event game and after running it once as a historical battle I’d love to rerun it with mythological elements, like Valkyries or Faeries, to see how the game plays with light fantasy.

Midgard has captured my imagination in a way I’m really enjoying. If I had more time I would actually put some effort into running it alongside Chain of Command as my main club games. It would easy in terms of board setup and the game is relatively easy to understand and play while delivering a good time. Plus, it’s just a great excuse to paint any random historical army you want and even paint a few additional monsters to go with it. I love games like this–deep enough to enjoy, with enough freedom to let you excuse your random hobby project. It’s a great sweet spot. I hope to make this game one of my reviews next year.

“Hope is not a strategy” would be what my old mentor would say to that. He… probably didn’t mean it in reference to how I spend my time painting toy soldiers but he still had a good point.