Fjord Serpents - Vikings at War!

 

Last night at the Wollongong Wargamers we had our inaugural game of Fjord Serpents.

This was the culmination of several weeks of feverish painting and hoovering up the excellent and entertaining 'how to' vids on YouTube.

In particular Jarl Keegan did an amazing job in painting up his entire starter set right down to all the crew figures! This allowed us to get six ships on the table, one each. Jarl's Keegan, Caesar and Mark were the aggressive, thieving Norsemen:

Whereas Jarls Daniel, Alan and I were the friendly, honest Danes!

We were playing the Salvage Run mission where the winner has to grab at least half the loot scattered on the wreck in the centre of the board and outlying large skerries and make off the board with it.

Fjord Serpents has many layers of complexity and period detail that you can add in - you can even try to enlist the help of the Norse Gods! However for this first game we eschewed even the Faction and Leader enhancements, keeping only the varied sailing qualities of the ship types - there was still a lot to think about, a good deal of tactical richness. But other than that we based both fleets on the recommended Jarl default fleets:  

It all started out so well!

But then the glint of gold led Mark to cast all caution to the winds and drive straight into the wreck! Ignoring the damage to his hull he immediately started loading up with the loot. Caesar moved up to protect his flank.

Alan was enraged by this naked greed and moved fast to ram the closest Norse ship:

Meanwhile on our left I attempted to squeeze my Karvi between an outlying skerry and Keegan's Karvi, whilst on our right Daniel liberated the loot on the far skerry:

Whilst Alan and Caesar where engaged in a furious exchange of javelins, arrows and axe to axe shieldwalls across the strakes, Mark just kept grabbing all the gold off the wreck!

Beware the trickery of the Norsemen! Keegan manoeuvered to force me onto the rocks! I took damage both from his collision and from the unforgiving rocks. Meanwhile, laden down with more gold than his ship could carry, Mark left the wreck, attempting to leave all the havoc behind him!

Fortunately our farsighted Daniel had sailed deep into Mark's rear in an attempt to cut off his sneaky retreat. 

Meanwhile the combat between Keegan and I on the left...

and Caesar and Alan in the centre continued its bloody course...with many a brave Viking being selected by the Valkyries to join the ranks of the Einherjar in Valhalla... 

The combat between Keegan and I was sadly interrupted by my ship being pounded to matchwood on the rocks. All its gallant crew drowned and were thus harvested by Ran to dwell with her in Hlesey, the Hall of the sea-god Aegir. Daniel's ship didn't quite have the legs to foil Mark's getaway, so he was now a very rich Jarl indeed! A terrific saga with many more to come I hope!

Lord Howe Island - a little military and naval history

 

Lord Howe Island, 600KM off the coast of New South Wales, is well known as a remote and idyllic haven for bush walkers and nature lovers.

Together with the adjacent Admiralty Islands, it is a beautiful part of the world.

But it has an eventful maritime and military history, faithfully told by the excellent museum. 

Judging by the island's war memorial, and other plaques around the place, the islander took a full share of the sacrifices made during World War One.

I think this trophy is a German Spandau HMG

Fortunately most came home again:

No doubt with wounds and sickness, not all visible:

But sadly it wasn't quite the 'War to end all wars' and the tiny island braced itself for another period of service and sacrifice:

Islander Service continued in the post-War era:

I found this naval radar of interest in its second career assisting the Island's met station:

Tragically in 1948 an RAAF Catalina crashed into Malabar ridge. 

Large items of wreckage remain strewn around the valley below, but some items are on display in the museum:

The Royal Australian Engineers build the island's airstrip, allowing regular flights to replace the seaplane service:

And bringing us into the 21st century, my old ship HMS Nottingham got overly familiar with nearby Wolf Rock. Counter intuitively, the CO, who had only just landed on seconds after impact, after racing to the bridge, ordered the engines to 'full ahead', holding her hull into the rock thus reducing the sea's entry into the torn bows.

This allowed the courageous and skilled Damage Control parties to shore up and isolate the flooded forrad compartments, keeping her afloat.

Just to clarify, this was long after my stint on the Notty - It wasn't me, I wasn't there, and You can't prove it Chief!