Blood Eagle Bloodbath

I tested out my new copy of Blood Eagle today. It's very similar to IHMN with the right amount of Dark Ages spin. The book is beautifully designed by Millsy, the text is nicely spaced out and easy to read. I do have 1 grumble, it needs a QRS and the rules are short enough to do this easily. Instead I had to bounce between pages as I was assembling my warbands.
I chose 2 very simple warbands, Viking and Saxon with very few special traits. Although I have a copy of IHMN I've never actually played in anger.
The Vikings lead by Auden the Proud. They feature a berserker, a couple of heavily armed warriors, a swift warrior with 2 weapon skill and a bowmen

The were up against a more poorly armed but numerous Saxon band under Godwin

Godwin has 2 Hearthguards, 2 archers, 3 spear armed warriors and a fast fighter, all with higher armour values than the Saxons except Godwin.

The fight was to over a narrow pass in a wooded road, 1st test so keep it simple.

Both sides advanced with the Saxon Archers looping through the woods at the bottom and Egbert and Eric advancing through the woods to face each other at the top. The rest of the troops headed for the pass to slaughter each other.

The first melee was between the Saxon spearmen and Ragnar and Loki. The fighting was brief and bloody. Ragnar easily dodges Swain's attack and dispatches him. Loki kills Sbert but Sowain  runs him though. Brutal and bloody

Some very dodgy photography intervened but anecdotal reports from the survivors said that Eric took out Egbert after a significant duel. The Saxon archers released several hopeless volleys with Sven returning fire and killing Athelstan. Eric crossed over and easily killed the other archer.

In the centre Godwin and his hearthguard advanced to the gap to face Helga and Ragnar. Godwin killed Ragnar. Auden advanced and finished off Godwin ending the battle.

My impressions of the rules are good. Although the battle was simple and I only used basic traits I found the effect "realistic". Armour is very important and don't split the stats +2 is much better that 2x+1.

Will try more complicated rules next time but as I've got the week off tomorrow will be VBCW (or gardening).