From Norse Irish to Dunlending

THE NORSE IRISH 9^TH – 13^TH CENTURY A.D.

Jim Latimer

(editors note - written before the publication of Shield Wall)

DBA

111/46 Norse-Irish846-1300 AD
DBA	No. OF FIGURES	FIGURE CODE
1x3 Ax (Gen)	1   1 1	VKF01 (Head 12T) VKF03 VKF09
5x3 Ax	10 10	VKF06 VKF05
4x2 Ps	10	ESF21
2x3 AxOR  x4Bd	10 10	ESF07 ESF11

The army above gives all the alternatives for a DBA army.  There are one or two extra figures.  This shouldn’t do any harm.  It does however give a few extra figures for each unit in the same army as a WHAB warband(See below). 

WARHAMMER ANCIENTS BATTLE

I have used the Viking list in Armies of Antiquity to “stand in” for the Norse Irish. 

UNIT/CHARACTER	No. OF FIGURES	POINTS	FIGURE CODE
General	1	200	VKF01
Standard Bearer	1	100	VKF09
Huscarls	11	154	VKF03 & ESF11
Bondir	30	210	VKF06 & VKF05 & ESF07
Thralls	10	40	ESF21
	TOTAL	704

This warband only gives 704 points, but this is quite sufficient for a decent skirmish.It is also in keeping with Irish warbands of the time that were quite small and drawn mainly from tribal (tuath) groupings.The forces were used mainly to “collect tribute”, cattle raiding being another name for this activity.

For a bigger army the list below can be used.  Again it is drawn from the Viking list in Armies of Antiquity.  Numerically it is quite a large force (152 figures) but this still only comes out as 1,540 points.

This “army” can also be divided into two DBA armies for a local feud.  (Though who would believe that Irishmen would ever fight each other)   

Historically I do not think I can justify Berserks or Ulfhednar in Irish armies.  Though these make big points for very few figures.Likewise I have also left the Archers out of the Irish army as the javelin and throwing spear was the preferred missile weapon for the Irish.

WARHAMMER ANCIENTS BATTLE

UNIT/CHARACTER	No. OF FIGURES	POINTS	FIGURE CODE
General	1		VKF01
Standard Bearer	1		VKF09
Huscarls	10 10 10	160 140 140	ESF12 ESF11 VKF02
Bondir	20 20 20 20	180 180 140 140	ESF06 ESF07 VKF05 VKF06
Thralls (With shields)	20 20	100 100	ESF21 VKF14
	TOTAL	1,540

I know the “stand in” rule in Armies of Antiquity states that the stand in army should only be taken from one list. However I would suggest adding the Huscarl rule (may combine with Bondir rather than Fyrd) and Huscarl Hatred rule from the Saxon list, but NOT the Shield Wall rule.

MIDDLE EARTH

As an aside I feel that this army could be used for a “Dunlending” army in Lord of the Rings battles.It would need some cavalry to truly qualify. I have not included cavalry as they do not fit with the DBA “Norse Irish”. Though arguably cavalry could be included as DBM allows for the Generals and Nobility to be mounted. The 16^th Century Irish cavalry figures might do alongside the Dark Ages figures