8pm Vikings

After our previous attempt of the four player/two teams undertaking that is 878 Vikings: Invasions of England we were keen to go again, and last night suggested itself as a window. With Steve unable to don his bloodied Nordic tunic, Chris stepped in for him. But with Andrew due at 8pm, he, Ian and I convened a littler earlier to avail ourselves of the rules, and also play Azul.

Not that I was ever that great at Azul, but it's been a while since I played it and I was tactically somewhat inert - it became obvious from early on (I scored 2 points in the opening round) that it was a battle between Ian and Chris, with Chris doing his level best to sabotage Ian's mosaic-building. But it was to little avail, as Ian triggered the endgame and snagged a win:

Ian 47
Chris 43
Sam 33

We started setting up Vikings 878 and Andrew arrived in time for a rules refresh. Everything is pretty straightforward: except that movement thing about Leaders, who move before armies, and armies, who move after leaders, except that Leaders take armies with them and we - unlike last time - repeatedly tied ourselves in knots over whether we were playing it right. In the spirit of the Vikings however, we fudged it. 

Your hand is only ever three cards at most

The rhythm of 878 is a kind of seesawing effect of the invaders - Ian and Chris - arriving in Britain and ploughing their way across the country like a violent, out of control bachelor party. Then the Saxon defenders - Andrew and I - would serve them ripostes. There's a simple system abetted by event cards and powered by dice, of which Chris repeatedly rolled badly, and I even worse. His Beserkers were doing their best to appear level-headed, offering tactical retreats. My Thegn defenders simply ran away. Andrew and I could call on the Fyrd to help defend cities, but as the farmers, clerks and deliverypeople of yore, they often ran away as well, faced by the well-drilled Danes, and in particular, Ian's dice-rolling. Outside of a few late commands (optional retreat) and a smattering of flees (fleeing) he rolled hit after hit, battering my Thegn and Andrew's Housecarl into the ground. 

Traditional viking snacks

We rallied as best we could, and at one point in the mid-game held what looked fleetingly like a strong position, as we cut the heart from the Viking territory and reestablished ourselves around the oft-contested Birmingham area. But in every round - there's at least 5, and possibly 7 - a new Viking leader arrived on the coast, and there was a very literal sensation of fighting back the tide. Or trying to.

Oh no

If the Vikings ever control 14 city shires at the end of a round, they win. Otherwise The Treaty of Wedmore comes into play: when both sides have played at least one Treaty card in round five or later, the victory is down to whether they control 9 city shires - if they don't, the Saxons win. The problem with the treaty is, like so many treaties, you may be forced to sign it: a situation I found myself in (Andrew had had to dash off at 10pm) when my final movement card was effectively signing my own death warrant. I retook the ninth city shire, but with Chris still to play in round 6 I couldn't realistically take a tenth. Instead I tried to defend what I had, hoping Chris' card would restrict his movement. As it happened, the odds were long on me holding anywhere, but longest of all around Gloucester, where he marched (past all my military units) to kick aside the solitary Thegn there and wrap up a Viking win. Argh, as both sides may have said.

It was pretty early - only 10.30 - but I was quite tired so we wrapped it up there. Good fun chaps, thank you!