The VikINg League

The Civil War - part Four: Supremacy


As more and more of Eikland's territory fell under the control of the White Falcon during the early years of the 1520's, the rebellion turned into a mere struggle for survival.

The early offensive against Markland proved to be very succesfull as the scatered Marklandic troops were no match for Liulfur's men.

With two thirds of Eikland under control, ànd Markland, one decisive battle could end the war.
In August, such an oppurtunity would arrise.


Markland offered preliminary peace, which Liulfur accepted.

Although Fljótland and Eikland were defeated too, they wouldn't just give up.
One year on in the war, in 1522, Eikland was almost completely occupied as was the Fljótland capital.

In October, victory was complete and all in all came much earlier than anticipated.

The jarls would be restored, apart maybe from Eikland ...

(all the jarls will be reinstalled and restored to former glory. Two options for Eikland: Reinstall a new jarl or incorporate them.)

Kami said:

Powerful - The engine of a toyota Aygo was more powerful than that revolt.

... Maybe it is time moving away from the feudal structure of the past and start making Vinland a real kingdom!

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I tried the whole thing playing as eikland, it was virtually impossible. Very, very disappointing.

I've changed a bit to the whole event series

I won't play the whole thing again, a bit sick of ot, after testing things over and over, missing a bit of play.

I modified a few things for Eikland to give them a slight chance, they get some money (part of the problem was that they had a loan at the start of the civil war, which made them very vulnerable) so they can hire mercenaries.

I tried it again as Eikland this time ...
Anyone fancies a bit of alternative history?

The Civil War - An Alternative (Eikland) point of view

In February 1520, 10000 patriotic recruits were ready to rise against the false Prince. They headed south to attack a 7000 all-cavalry army. Vinland has about 50000 soldiers. 5 to 1 so it seems.
On the upside, they have a stability of -2.


Magnus IX is a brilliant military leader and wins the first few confrontations. Unfortunately, the north of Eikland is being besieged and by May (already!) Vinland managed to capture our capital.


In September 1520, Magnus had slaughtered about 12000 Vinlandic soldiers, whilst looting the Vinlandic countryside.
In the meantime Liuilfur was closing in from the south and planning an attack against Magnus, who wisely chose not to meet the 30000 warriors at Liulfur's disposal.
Liulfur had to stop the persuit because the stability in the country had his -3 and rebels were popping up everywhere.


Avoiding big confrontations, but concentrating troops to tackle small Vinlandic stacks helped Eikland dragging the war for years.
Vestmanna chose to concentrate on the Skrælings and made a seperate peace with Vinland. How cowardly.

9000 Aztecs appeared in Shawnee in May 1525. Magnus paid 200 ducats tribute to them to stay neutral in this whole affair. The Aztecs accepted.

By June 1526, it was clear that there were simply too much internal problems to cope with during wartime for Liulfur and he started to urge on a cease-fire.
Fljótland and Markland, tha latter had been mostly occupied in 1523 and had completely recovered, were now engaged actively in the war.
Vinland was completely drained.


Magnus ordered the recruitment of men, capable of siege, and headed north. He battled rebels, and used small infantry detachments to siege every important settlements.


In August 1530 Fljótland signed a seperate peace with Vinland, which was a shame. They held at least 5 important provinces of Vinland. The kept two in the agreement.

Still, problems were insurmountable for Liulfur, as he saw his army deteriorating under his nose, Magnus organised the conquest of the Vinlandic heartland. After being struck by an arrow Magnus IX died. Hs son Olav took over. He was by gar not such a great leader as his father had been, but the hardest part was over.


In October 1532 Vinborg surrendered and by March 1533 both Vestr and Ostr Vinland were conquered


When word got out, Liulfur was deserted by his own army, and had to flee. Olav IV, son of Magnus IX of Eikland would become Prince of Vinland and the Viking League, overlord Eikland and Vinland, Grænland, Markland, Fljótland and Vestmanna. Elections would be held every eight years, by the 47 heads of the noble families..

Eikland and Vinland were now together named Vinland, ruled by one Prince, who had his capital in Eikbær, Eikland.

The following years would be necessary to rid the continent of that pest that had feasted on the Viking Civil War, like a pack of wild dogs, those no good skrælings.

(This is virtually the same result , only the government, thsi is Noble republic, if Liulfur wins, he could get rid of elections, and rule like a monarch, what do you choose?)

DOn't forget that If we choose Path B, Eikland changes it's tag to VIN ...

I sense a bit of mixed feelings,
we feel sympathetic to Eikland.
I'm going to stick with Vinland, mainly because of two reasons. One is the huge fleet and naval tradition-and slider. It's just too Vikingish to throw away. Two is something I'm saving for the next update.
Other than that it wouldn't make much difference.

Racil said:

Did you annex eikland or give it to a new loyal noble?
I dont see why there should be such a powerfull jarldom in the middle of vinland, it does not border any skräling nations. Annexing it would upset the other jarldoms though as it would be a threat to them if vinland grew to strong.
But why not spliting it between your loyal nobles?
The great lakes already creates natural borders spliting the jarldom in three.

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It was swallowed as a whole, and since the war, most jarls are as sweet as nice housetrained golden retrievers.
Splitting up is a great idea!. Although, Markland gets the most, since it has no means of expansion elsewhere, whereas Vestmanna gets a lot of territory on the eastern border, and Fljótland is slowly colonising Canada.

Funerals and Maniacs

By 1523, Liulfur was totally in control, and after defeating the jarls, started turning into a vengefull megalomaniac.

At the start of the war, oversees allies Iceland refused to choose sides. Iceland was unlucky to see the most dangerous man win the war, and was relying heavily on Sweden's Gustav II's guarantees that it would attack any agressor of Iceland.
Liulfur had 75 ships (55 war ships) at his disposal and dropped 6000 men near Reykjavik. By an odd turn of events, the antagonists Magnus of Iceland and Liulfur of Vinland would only meet once and both woud die at the occasion. King Magnus of Iceland was killed in the first real confrontation with his adversary and was succeeded by his nephew Olav. Liulfur's son Logmar was also at the battle of Reykjavik. After his father died, he wisely left command to veteran general Njall Arnesson. Arnesson saw to it that Olav could not recover, and the army would stay sieging during the winter, being supplied from Greenland. Many died and only after reinforcements in August, both Reykjavik and Akureyri fell at the break of winter 1524. Logmar decided that Olav had suffered enough, and let him keep all territories. Olav did have to swear allegiance to the Viking league, paying tribute like any other jarl.

Gustav II of Sweden never sent any ship to relieve Reykjavik, for it was occupied by taking control over the remains of what had been Norway.

Logmar and Gustav II understood that they would better work together, now that they both have what they want. An alliance between Sweden and the Viking League would be drafted thirty years later by both their sons.

The fleet returned to Vinborg with the victorious Logmar, at the side of Liulfur's coffin. At the state funeral, Logmar was crowned King of Vinland and Eikland by the local nobles of Vinborg; overlord of Markland, Fljótland, Vestmanna and Iceland and overlord of the Viking League. The assuption of the title of king was not contested in Vinland. Jarls had their own thoughts about it when they heard it, but they dared not speak of it.

In the next decade the army was reorganised and set to its main duty, crushing the skrælings. The price of freedom was high, and those that couldn't deliver the proper amount of gold or silver, were incorporated. Logmar simply carried out the megalomane views of his father, but made himself popular with the jarls, as he donated parts of former Eikland to Fljótland and Markland, and Vestmanna received more land, and less skræling neighbours.
Pomo paid 575 ducats, Soshone paid 1800 ducats and gave up many territories, only to be annexed a few years later, when they couldn't pay the collectors anymore. Cherokee paid 425 ducats. Tonkawa and Tonkawa could not or would not cooperate, thus was annexed and had to pay extra taxes making up for the extra effort of Vinland's troops.
Tarasca, Aztec neighbours was annexed during a war helping out the Aztec Empire, actually mowing the lawn in front of the Aztec feet.
Ute was a different story. They were considered dangerous, or at least a nuisance, but they had converted to christianity. Logmar considered this to be just a charade, and encouraged by the jarl of Vestmanna declared war anyway. This brought in the Ute allies of the Aztec Empire.

(map coming later, after Aztec War)