Somewhere in 9th Century Ireland

We pooled our collections and ran a six-player Irish vs. viking Lion Rampant game at Guardian Games (very roughly based on the battle of Clontarf in 1014, if only in that it involved Irish and vikings).  Each side had about 18-20 points of units and a little over 100 figures. The 3" proximity rule for friendly units was reduced to 1" but retained for enemy units.  The first side to slay or route over half of the opposing sides' figures was the winner.  Each player had the 'commanding' rule for their leader, and could re-roll one missed activation per turn if the unit was within 12".  I believe all players were able to move all their units in their turn except the miserably unlucky Irish right, which stood rock-solid still for two consecutive turns.

The game involved next-to-none ranged weaponry (the vikings has one bow unit classed as mixed-weapons yeomen) and one mounted unit (the Irish had some mounted sergeants), Othrewise it was loads of shieldwall warriors (foot sergeants) with a few fierce foot and some expert warriors mixed in. Leader units were reduced model foot men at arms.

For a game that consisted exclusively of medium infantry with little else, it was surprising how much tactical planning the players (myself included) put into play, while in the end everything just ended up being sloppy melee which accelerated towards the end as both sides came in striking distance of hitting the breakpoint of the other side.

The Irish carried the day in the end when a relatively healthy Viking warrior unit broke and routed. However the winning blow was dealt by the aforementioned Irish right which was finally advancing into melee, so there you go, see? It all works out in the end. Total play time was about two hours.