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Battle Troll

Prologue 3

TheWorldOfTheVikings 4

It’sTimeToHackAndSlay! 5CardSequence 7

Movement 8

MissileCombat 9

HandToHandFighting 11

Damage,Violence,HorribleWounds,Etc. 16

OptionalRules 18TheAccidentChart 18

HeroAttributes 20

WeaponAttributes 21

Berserkers 21

NamedWeapons 21

Dueling 22

TradingWoundsForKarls 22

Courage 22

Ships,BoatsAndFloatingThings 23

Grappling 24

MythologicalElements 24

Treasure! 24

Scenarios 25TheLymeKnoll 25

TheAmbushOfKjartan 27

TheShieling 29

TheIceFloe 30

TheFarmOnHisingIsland 31

ADuelOfHonor 32

Smyrnadalasaga 32

TheDwellersOnTheSandSpit 36

WritingYourOwnScenarios 42

Campaigns 43NarrativeCampaigns 43

YourStartingHero 43

SettingupYourCampaignBackground 46

GainingReputation 48

CharacterSurvival 49

GainingProperty 51

YearlyEvents 51

Treasure 52

Lawsuits 52

HandToHandCombatExample 54

TheSagas 56

NorseNames 57

IcelandicLaw 58

Figures&Scenery 60Figures 60

Scenery 61

Epilogue 61

QuickReferenceSheets 73

Contents

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Prologue

PrologueTowards the end of the Eighth Century the annals of

the Christian kingdoms of Europe begin to tell of savage raiding by wild heathen men from the north. Over the next three hundred years these warriors, known as the Vikings, burst out of their Scandinavian homelands to reach the gates of Constantinople, to trade for Arab sil-ver, to settle the far western lands of Iceland, Greenland and the legendary Vinland the Good. In so doing they cast down kingdoms and raised their own.

This game isn’t really about that. It isn’t about kings and fleets and envoys and armies. It’s about poorly be-haved men with touchy tempers and big axes, and how their bad manners as tourists are matched by an astonishing inability to get along with the neigh-bors. It’s about blood-feuds, and raids, and quarrels, and blood-feuds, and stealing other people’s stuff and taking one another to the rowdiest courts in the world, and blood-feuds, and being exiled to the far-flung reaches of the world and behaving just as badly there, and sailing about in longships, and lurking around the fjords for a chance of pirating. It’s about visiting other lands, and meeting interesting people, and hacking them about with ironmongery before taking the more attractive younger members off into slavery, and looting churches because that’s where the gold and silver are kept. It’s about you and me and Onund the dog-faced and his foster father Sven and that fellow who looks after the cows going over to see the farmer across the river to tell him exactly what we think of him.

These are not what you’d call nice people.

The warfare we are going to look at in this game is that of small groups of men, from single combats to gather-ings of a few dozen men. It’s about individuals who see themselves, and are viewed by their culture, as heroes. We don’t have to agree with them on this. The rules permit simple “fight” games, with scope to expand into broader game-cycles (what we tend to call “campaigns”, though this isn’t always an accurate description) which demand more characterization and more rules about the wider Norse culture. As such it has aspects of the Role-Playing Game, though mercifully not the endless charts

and pointless personal attributes (roll 3D6 against your indigestion factor to prevent belching...) that bedevil that genre. The rules are as simple as I can reasonably make them while capturing a sense of the spirit of these people and their world. I have deliberately taken the Icelandic sagas as my model for “how things work”, accepting that precise accuracy backed by archaeologi-cal evidence and comparative research (yawn) may not accord with the devil-may-care leaping about reflected in the sagas. You don’t have to agree with me on this. Perhaps we should arm wrestle...

Personal combat in the Norse sagas is notable for its combination of grim humor, gymnastic violence and a

graphic interest in the details of wounds, especially those with fatal consequences. Blows result in smashed shields or heads; limbs fly off with astonishing regularity, to the wry amuse-ment of the saga-teller and the considerable chagrin of their erstwhile owners, whose life ex-pectancy has suddenly dropped considerably. Minor wounds

are seldom mentioned, except in terms of multiple ac-cumulation; it is with Great Men, Great Deeds and, of course, Great Blows that the sagas are concerned. This set of rules presents some basic mechanisms for mod-eling this sort of combat, where pithy taunts and well planned insults play their part alongside acts of the most grievous bodily harm. This is not a complete skirmish system, as if such a thing were possible, but simply a vi-cariously amusing look at these appallingly bloodthirsty times, conducted in the warmth and comfort of our own homes. I’ve added some scenarios and other material that may be of some interest to budding saga men. If something isn’t covered by the rules, make up your own.

“They weren’t exactly the world’s brightest people.”

–Robert Griffith on the Vikings

“Let’s strike with a sword-flashTo shatter the shield:To batter the bladeTill the enemy bleeds...”

- Egil’s Saga

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The World Of The Vikings - Those Rootin’ Tootin’ Norse

SagasThe world of the sagas is very much the “Wild West” of the Viking experience, a world of proud and irascible

stockbreeders, quarrels over land rights and turbulent single men who are good with weapons. In many ways this is the easiest way for a modern reader to look at the family sagas, connecting them with the Code of the West that we all know from western novels and movies. Here are some similarities:

The feud is common to both cultures, including range wars over land use.

Hunts for outlaws in wilderness hideouts.

Wandering killers who bully respectable citizens and seek out notable warriors to duel with.

The kind of family relationships in which the words “you killed ma paw” are the hallmark of things. Everyone supports their kinfolk against outsiders, which makes it complicated when your uncle just carved up your brother-in-law, whose cousin is your foster-son...

Landscapes where hostile wilderness (deserts and badlands versus glaciers and volcanic wastelands) make those scarce areas of pleasant pasturelands worth killing for.

Rules of daily conduct that apply to friends, neighbors and people like yourself, that are in complete abeyance when dealing with outsiders (Indians and Mexicans or foreigners in general and especially the subjects of Viking raids)

A respect for law as an idea, but a very rough and ready attitude to its application.

Differences, aside from the obvious, include:

Law in the Viking world was very formal, with much respect given to men who were gifted lawyers. There’s no simply “hangin’ the horse thief ” without proper notification and legal process, even if the deed is already done.

No law enforcement personnel outside the royal household warriors of the Scandinavian kings. Justice is in the hands of posses and vigilantes, but, again, they are subject to formal law rather than simple frontier justice.

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Game Mechanics

Game Requirements You will need —

At least two, and up to several, dozen toy soldiers, individually mounted, of your chosen scale. Starting with four or six per side is sensible. I presently use 28mm figures, but have used 15mm figures as well: halve all distances with small scale figures. Those wonderful 40mm plastic Elastolin figures would be good, as would 54mm ones if you can find some that represent Vikings.

Some kind of battlefield, which can be as small as a postcard or as large as Greenland, and as simple or as detailed as you like.

A deck of cards—either our special Battle Troll deck or regular playing cards. Several six-sided dice (“D6”) and a ruler.

Record cards, if you feel inclined to use such things.

The Protagonists: Heroes And Karls Each player takes the role of a selected character,

whom we will dub a “Hero”; these individuals and their actions form the chief subject of the game. Other men will also appear. Most of these are little more than axe-fodder to the heroes, and are known as “Karls”. They have their own rules for combat, which depict them as (in decreasing order of complexity and respect) second-ary cast members; spear-carriers and just plain extras. However, there is an intermediate group of special inter-est; close kinsmen of the hero or others who are treated with at least a modicum of respect as the game goes on; some, indeed, may become heroes in their own right.

We call these “Huskarls”. They are almost heroes. As a rough guide, a player may operate half a dozen secondary characters as well as the hero; more if we keep the rules for the karls especially simple (see the section on “Karls in Com-bat”).

There may be other peo-ple around as well—women, children, thralls (slaves), cattle, ponies, etc. These don’t fight (generally), but run away and hide when the weapons come out.

Note—while women rarely fought in the Icelandic sa-gas, we allow anyone, regardless of gender, to be a hero or huskarl. If a woman is a fighter and a hero or huskarl in her own right, she counts as a man for the purposes of wergild.

Arms And EquipmentOur hero will be equipped with weapons and armor

according to the situation. An Icelandic farmer would have sword (if wealthy, dagger if less so) at all times, and probably a spear, axe and shield if there was any chance of meeting trouble. He might carry a bow if hunting. A leather jerkin or cap is everyday apparel. He would not wear a mail shirt to herd sheep, or a spangenhelm helmet to visit his sister. Those things would be only for when actual battle, or at least serious intimidation, were expected. Many of the saga characters go on Viking raids, or serve in the retinues of kings, in which case the

It’s Time To Hack And Slay!

“Had I thought you might live forever” she said, “I’d have raised you in my wool-basket. But lifetimes are shaped by what will be, not by where you are.”

- Orkneyingasaga

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Battle Troll

full panoply of mail shirt, helmet and weapons would be employed, but a man who showed up to discuss his neighbor’s livestock straying onto his pasture in full Va-rangian Guards kit would probably have a few insulting poems made up about him (probably win the argument with his neighbor, though...). Karls will be much less likely to have armor of any kind, but most men of any position will have shield, axe or spear, a knife, and some protective clothing. The lowest rank of man—shepherds, servants, humble begging types—may have clubs or rude spears, but not much else. Generally speaking, we won’t worry much about specific weapons. Probably one in three or four would be an archer or dedicated javelin-man, while most others would have the odd javelin to throw prior to the main fisticuffs. I usually allow them one javelin each.

ReputationReputation is the central

element in the Viking heroic ethos. One’s good name is more important than life itself, and death preferable to humiliation. This being said, it is acceptable to give in when the circumstances permit without it being totally shameful. Characters gain Reputation Points (RPs) for bold acts of speech and successful acts of violence. They may lose them when shamed in combat, or embarrassed as the result of an accident.

If you’re playing a one-off game (rather than one of the scenarios below, or a campaign), then the heroes should start with 10 Reputation Points.

Winning The GameThe scenarios below have rather obvious goals for the

heroes—usually either to kill their opponent, or simply to survive. But a casual killing or mere survival is not something sagas are made of—one needs to do it with style! You need to make people talk about you (and not in a bad way).

Heroes gain reputation for killing other heroes and huskarls (but definitely not karls) based on their op-ponent’s Reputation. You gain 1/10 the reputation of the hero for killing him or giving him a Grave Wound; you gain twice that if you kill him with a Great Blow.

If your hero is killed or suffers a Grave Wound, he loses 1D6 RP (as being dead

is deleterious to your reputation). But if he is killed by a Great Blow, then he gains 1D6 RP (just like modern movie audiences, the Vikings liked over-the-top special effects).

Other changes to your reputation may come as the result of the Jest combat maneuver, or from the Accident table.

The winner of the game is the Hero who has the great-est positive Reputation Change. If all the heroes lose reputation or stay the same, then the game is a draw.

Example: Halli and Thorsten (and their men) are fight-ing Ingvar and Sigmund (and theirs). Halli manages to kill Ingvar and a huskarl, but suffers several embar-rassing moments due to the accident chart. He ends up with -1 RP. Thorsten kills several karls, but doesn’t suf-fer any embarrassment; he has +0 RP. Ingvar kills a couple huskarls, but is killed by Halli. He loses 1 RP. Sigmund kills a few karls and one huskarl, but doesn’t suffer embarrassment. He gains +1 RP, and ends up winning the game (and the hearts of the audience).

“Saksi set up this stone in memory of his comrade Asjorn TokissonHe fled not at UppsalaBut kept on fighting while he could hold weapon”

- inscribed on a standing stone, Sjorup, Skane

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Game Mechanics

Card SequenCeEach player—for fights in sagas often feature more

than two active parties—has seven cards in the Action Deck. Three of these say “All move”, three are marked “One Hero Move” and one is “Noncombatants”.

All players’ cards are shuffled together into a single deck, along with one “End Turn” card.

The game turn is not precisely related to any real time scale, Norsemen having no watches. When a card is drawn, some or all members of the band can move a few paces, shoot an arrow or throw a spear, say a few really memorable words, or smack somebody hard with a sharp iron implement of destruction... A turn until the “End Turn” card is pulled.

Action CardsEach Action card allows figure(s) in one player’s band to take an action.

An “All Move” cards allows all figures in the band to act, no matter where they are on the field.

A “One Hero Move” allows one group of friends—which must be led by a Hero or Huskarl and each figure within 2” of another member of the group— to act. That way a figure can attack with supporters or they can row a small boat. So, effectively, it’s a small unit move.

The actions allowed are:

Shoot: with bow, javelins or throw your axe. Or yell insults at them, using the Jest combat option.

Attack: hit somebody hard—with swords, axes, or just your fists.

Move: walk or run. You can also attack, or throw weapons (though not necessarily well).

Movement can be combined with shooting (thrown weapons only) or attacking, but attacking may not be combined with shooting.

NoncombatantsThe “Noncombatants” card controls civilians, animals

and other non-fighters. When this card is drawn for a player, he may make one action for each non-fighter figure in play. They won’t attack a real fighter, but they can run away, close and lock gates, etc.

Animals will usually run away from loud noises and the smell of blood, but you can use a “Noncombatants” card to send the cattle in a useful direction.

If there are no “civilians” in the fight, the “Noncom-batants” card can be left out of the deck, or function as another “One Hero” card.

End Turn The “End Turn” card indicates the end of the game

turn, and all action cards cards—used and unused—are shuffled back into the deck. This means nobody can guarantee that all their cards will emerge from the deck in a given turn. An optional rule for those who think there aren’t enough random acts of buffoonery already: the player who immediately follows the End Turn card (thus starting the new turn) has to roll on the accident chart; his hero has somehow been chosen by the Gods for special attention.

Hold Cards If you don’t want to act right now, you can take the

draw card into your hand as a Hold Card. You can hold up to two cards, to play when you need.

You use a Hold Card to interrupt another player’s ac-tion with one action of your own. If he has a Hold Card, he can interrupt your inter-rupt, if you play a second Hold Card, you trump him and still go first!

When all Hold cards are played, each player gets to do an action for each card he played - so in the run of interruptions above, you would get to do one action, then he gets to do one, then you again, and finally he gets his first (interrupted) action!

If you don’t have our Battle Troll cards, each player uses seven cards from one suit of an ordi-nary card deck: the Ace, Two and Three for “One Hero Move” cards; the Jack, Queen and King for “All Move”; and the Ten as “Noncombatants”. One Joker serves as an “End Turn” card. You may want to pull the 4-8 of a Red and a Black suit for Attack and Defence cards as well.

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