New unit: Viking Spearman (2nd August 2005)

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Really? I always thought the vikings were raiders, but it sounds like they could have built an empire if they wanted to.

 

[Righteous Fist]

I really like this unit, I am going to use it under the name of Jomsviking after the mercenaries by that name and upgrade to Berserk.

 

[Left]

It could maybe moonlight as Varangian Guard too.

But I have no idea about what the Varangian Guard looked like.

 

[Righteous Fist]

Here's a picture of the Varangian Guard.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Really? I always thought the vikings were raiders, but it sounds like they could have built an empire if they wanted to.

Canute did; he ruled modern Denmark, Norway and England, plus bits of modern Sweden and Germany.

It didn't last long, however; Viking Age Scandinavians did not have the organizational skills to keep large empires together.

 

[Aion]

Great unit!

 

[Ares de Borg]

WHOA!

Vikings used spears, OF COURSE they did! It was even one of the most common weapons due to the cheap price (less metal).

For Reference, see:

HEATH, Ian: The Vikings. Oxford 1985
NICOLLE, David: Medieval Warfare Source Book. London 1985
PRESTWICH, Michael: Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages. New Haven 1996
WISE, Terence: Saxon, Viking And Norman. Oxford 1979

... and a million other History Books.

Excavations have brought unnumbered spearheads to light, they all were used by vikings.

 

[Kyriakos]

I will definately use this as the varangian guard! Thank you

 

[The Last Conformist]

Didn't the Varangian guard us axes? Those in that pic doesn't seem to have any?

 

[Bjornlo]

Didn't the Varangian guard us axes? Those in that pic doesn't seem to have any?

Those in the image are probably reinactors (or possibly just actors). Since the image wasn't attributed, we can't be sure. They dress up in semi-realistic garb and have semi-authentic arms and so on. But naturally there were no cameras 1100 years ago, so it is only an approximation at best. The degree of authenticity varies greatly from so-so to just bad. A local group pretending to be danish vikings decided that their version of danes would have a herd of weiner dogs (dachshunds) lead their charge into battle. I some how managed to keep from falling over with laughter.
Vikings were opportunists. They used most weapons. The weapons they used varied depending on what they were trying to accomplish. In the case of the VG, these were swedish vikings living in what is now Russia. So their gear would have been a mish-mash of Swedish-Viking, Local(Russian/ukaranian) and whatever the found on their travels that struck them as cool.
Traditional viking weapons are: heavy sword, heavy axe, thrown (hand) axe. As I said previously they occasionally used other weapons such as spears, polearms (long axes) and so on. Spears, such as pictured, would have been a-typical of 90% of the vikings. Since spears and bows were predominately used by famers and others "non-viking" norse. Hunters, and so on. The norse were big on everyone in the village is a fighter, so there would have been (as has been mentioned) groups of farmers (bondir) with spears, hoes, pitchforks and other add-hoc weapons that the main (elite) fighting groups would distain.

@Ares: that cartoon killed me.

 

[Mithadan]

I love your taste in units, zulu. Thank-you very much indeed!

 

[tjedge1]

The Vikings would have been one of the toughest empires in the world if their governemtn structure could have evolved into something more than what was necessary for controlling small regions. Greatest warriors of their times. Best explorers too. IMHO.

EDIT: Oh yeah, almost forgot. Excellent unit ZUlu and I think it will go into the Mystara expansion to replace some current graphix or make a new unit.