Moving south from
the lands of the Norse Gael we entered the territory of an Irish chieftain
called Finn Mac Blatha. For two days we continued south looting and burning
Irish hamlets for little reward beyond a couple of red haired beauties captured
and given over to my warriors for sport.
Toward mid-day of
the third day our path was blocked by an Irish warband led by Finn Mac Blatha
himself and intent on doing us harm.
The ground was open
except for a small bog on our left rear and a large field of winter barley on
the Irish left rear. I thought Mac Blatha had chosen poor ground to make his
stand against me and I smiled.
Mac Blatha deployed
his warband behind a thin screen of levy archers. On his far left were two
units of eight warriors deployed one behind the other with their flank secured
on the cropfield. In the centre stood Mac Blatha supported by two champions
with six Hearthguard immediately to his right. Out on his right wing was
another unit of eight warriors. I saw none of the much vaunted war dogs the
Irish peasants had boasted of!
I deployed my
shieldwall opposite the Irish centre with eight warriors on the left and two
units of six Hearthguard on the right. I stood with the berserkers behind the
shieldwall. My archers were placed further out on my right opposite the left
wing of the Irish.
Mac Blatha spoke to
his warriors calling them to red war against us and I saw him bestow an arm
rings on one of his Hearthguard.
Not to be outdone I
in turn awarded an arm ring to the leader of the Hearthguard unit that formed
the right of my shieldwall. My men banged weapons on shields and screamed their
war cries at the enemy.
The Irish moved
first and ordered their archers forward to shoot us. I called to Odin for
protection and he answered with a sudden mist that hid us from view. One of the
enemy champions moved to support the warriors on the Irish left.
From the start there
was Irish magic at work and for much of the fight the enemy levy were obscured
by a mist that prevented my archers from shooting them. Fortunately, the Irish
chieftain had made a mistake and my archers had sight on one of the warrior
units deployed beyond their levy screen. By personal command I pushed my
archers forward and further right before unleashing two volleys on the exposed
enemy warriors and killing two.
Stung by the archery
Mac Blatha ordered the remaining six warriors forward and hurled javelins at my
levy but Asgard protected them from harm. The enemy warriors remained unbowed
and launched themselves into melee with my archers. For the loss of two of their
own my doughty archers killed two enemies and pushed them back. The Irish
champion moved further forward in support of the warriors.
Invoking Ragnarok my
archers shot down one more Irish warrior before I sent my right hand
Hearthguard charging across the field and into the remaining three warriors.
Two enemies fell for no loss and the Hearthguard continued the attack into the
Irish champion. My men were tired but their leader dedicated his arm ring to
Thor who answered by refreshing them with renewed vitality. The Irish champion
fell in a welter of axe, sword and spear blows while my brothers remained
unharmed. Loki snatched the last Irish warrior screaming from this world!
Mac Blatha was not
done yet and after shooting down four of my archers with his levy sent the
second warrior unit on his left forward against my triumphant Hearthguard
killing one with javelins.
In response my
Hearthguard attacked the warriors and after a hard fight that cost us three
brave men slaughtered all the enemy warriors.
I pushed forward
with my shieldwall and Berserkers.
At this moment the
Gods deserted us and three of my Hearthguard fell to Irish archery. The battle
hung in the balance.
The red mist
descended as I lead my three Hearthguard in a final charge against the enemy
archers calling on Frigg, Ullr and Thor we chopped down most of the enemy for
no loss and the Irish abandoned the field to us. Thanks be to Odin.
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