Raid Gone Wrong Scenario

In anticipation of completing a Scots warband from gripping beast, I decided to write a scenario for their first outing. The Scots were the inhabitants of what is now northern Scotland and were notorious for raiding the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria to the South. This scenario represents such a raid.

The Scots set out from their homeland in pursuit of sheep, horses and ale. They know all three can be found at an isolated farm near the border. Since they are not expecting any resistance, the warlord commands that they leave their shields at home and travel light (in actuality I did not receive the shields with the soldier and am waiting on them to arrive). Little do the raiders know, a traitor to their lord has gone to the local Saxon thegn and warned him of the pending attack. The thegn immediately marches on the farm with his household soldiers and whatever villagers he can gather. Time will tell if he arrives in time to save the farm!

The battle will be played using LOTR SBG rules as per usual, although it should be relatively easy to modify for other game systems. The table set up appears below. It is based on a standard 4'x6' table. Notice the small paddock with horses, the wagon of ale, and the six stands of sheep that are placed on the table. To be successful, the Scots must transport a total of 4 of these objectives off of their side of the map, any less and the Saxons have been deemed to have defended their land successfully.

Place the stand of horses in the small paddock by the barn. Place at least two stands of sheep in the large paddock. Scatter the remaining sheep around the table. Place the wagon of ale touching the cottage. To represent the land of southern Scotland, there should be rolling hills and few trees, but this can be left up to the combatants. The three Saxon shepherds can be placed wherever the Saxon commander chooses. All terrain and objectives should be placed before the Saxon table edge is decided. 

The Scots have a Warlord, 8 household troops and 16 warriors. All of the Scots enter the table at the North edge on their first turn. As they have no shields, their defense values are one lower than they would usually be. Having less weight to carry means an initial burst of speed however. To represent this, the Scots get 1D6 free moves before the Saxons enter the table. To capture an item of loot, at least one soldier must contact it. When a soldier is in contact with it, they can proceed to move it at one half their normal speed (3" per turn as opposed to 6").

The Saxons have a Warlord, 10 household guards, and 25 soldiers of the fyrd. They also have three shepherds with slings watching over the flocks of sheep. The Saxons enter the table on a random edge determined by a D6. On a 1-2 they enter on from the South, opposite the Scots, on a 3-4 they enter the East table edge and on a 5-6 they enter the West table edge. The Saxons start with only their lord and household troops on the table. To represent the men struggling to keep up with the lord rushing towards the farm, roll a D6 at the start of each turn and place that number of fyrd on the Saxon table edge. Any Saxon can move the loot at 3" per turn when in contact with it. The Saxons can move loot off of their table edge to ensure the Scots do not capture it, or just see the Scots off of the field before they meet their objective.