Bróðir of Man was a Norse Gael warlord who lived in the 11th Century. As the name suggests, Bróðir is associated with the Isle of Man. However, his claim to fame is the alleged slaying of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. What is interesting is that following a series of omens, Bróðir and his brother Óspak fell out and ended up fighting on opposite sides during the battle (on diagonally opposite flanks). According to folklore, Bróðir's chainmail protected him against all blows until he was repelled by Wolf the Quarrelsome. Bróðir fled the scene and hid in a wood. As can be imagined this led to his men becoming demoralised and they were slain to a man. Some tales suggest that as he fled the battle, Bróðir came upon the elderly Brian Boru who was sat in his tent. Norse and Irish accounts of what happened next differ, but Brian ended up dead.
In SAGA, Bróðir is represented as a Hero of the Viking Age and has a number of special abilities (SAGA The Ravens Shadow, pg. 15). In summary, he generates 3 SAGA dice, has magical chainmail that gives him an armour of 6 that cannot be reduced below 5 by any means (in both shooting and melee). But his warband may only consist of Hearthguards ("murderous foreign Danes").
I've therefore decided to play Bróðir alongside three units of Hearthguard. One 12 man unit will be armed with hand weapons, whilst the other two units of four will wield Dane axes. If you know the Norse Gael battleboard, you'll have a pretty good idea how I intend to use them!
Finally, Bróðir's Sorcerous Divinations introduce further excitement. Using 'divination tokens' both players will randomly determine the game turn when Bróðir is especially difficult to kill (cancelling all hits on a 2) and the game turn when he meets his fate (all hits are doubled). Hopefully in my game next week against Anthony's Normans, Bróðir won't meet the same fate as his real life counterpart....
"Wolf the Quarrelsome cut open his belly, and led him round and round the trunk of a tree, and so wound all his entrails out of him"
Nice!
Excellent! I shall look forward to hearing how he fares!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gordon. Thought you might appreciate the rock in the background as well. It's a piece of repainted aquarium scenery.
DeleteBeautiful figures, great details on them!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Phil!
DeleteDude this looks like fun and a quick to paint up warband!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Kevin
Thanks Kevin. Fortunately I already had the Hearthguard painted. Dane axes from Norse Gaels and hand weapons from Vikings, but yes it would be quick to get on the table from scratch. Don't know how well he'll play though. Normally, warlords are kept out of harms way but I intend to put Bróðir at the front right in the thick of it!
DeleteWhat a nasty piece of work he is :-) ! Mind you, might having only 3 units in the warband be a problem in some scenarios?
ReplyDeleteCould be. Not sure he's suitable for tournaments, but I quite like the idea of playing various Heros to give a bit of variety to the warbands we play. I rather suspect Brodin will be a 'get stuck in' sort of chap! If nothing else we should have some fun with him, even if he does die a glorious death at the appointed time!
DeleteBróðir's hearthguard proved murderous indeed!
ReplyDelete