Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Battleground Weird WWII: "Landøyðan" The Raven Standard


History:  It is said that whatever army carries the Landøyðan into battle will take the field no matter the odds but those who are its bearer will die for the victory.  The Landøyðan is thought to be the actual standard of Harald Hardrada who's armies were first to use it with much success.  It is thought to have been passed from one commander to another over the years but after King Sverre's use it was thought lost, until now.  The banner was reportedly used recently by the Fins against the Soviets during their invasion in 1939.  How the Fins obtained the standard is a mystery but it is thought to have helped the brave Finish soldiers stand up and repel the Soviet juggernaut early in the war.  Whoever may have it now is uncertain but whoever it might be it will certainly imbue them with the power to overcome any foe for a grand victory.
Date Encountered:  Late 1939
Germanic Peoples:  The Landøyðan will only favor those armies of Germanic descent.  It is not known why this is but any army that bears it or captures it that is not of Germanic descent will not benefit from its power.  Germanic decent includes those who are of German, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Icelandic, Austrian, Danish, South African, Flemish or of English decent.
Supernatural Powers:  At the beginning of the battle, the Commander who possesses the standard will receive a D20+20 pool of modifiers that can be used with any dice roll during the battle.  Note that this number is the total amount possible during a battle even if it changes hands during a battle.  In addition to the modifier pool, the standard will negate any Morale or Gut Checks by any affected figure within 30", will cause the army who possesses it to fight as Fanatics and will negate any Suppression rules unless the figures are within a blast.  Note that this means they can still be hit by Pinning Fire but they are not FORCED prone by it.
Sacrificial Bearer:  The Landøyðan  must be carried into battle for it to offer the Commander the said special powers above so if no one bears the standard, all the special rules are postponed until it is taken up again.  It takes a figure a single action to bear the standard but after that the bearer can perform any actions as normal that allows them to bear it when performing them.  Once a bearer has the standard, they will roll a D4.  The score is how many turns the bearer has until they are stricken dead by the standard's powers.  Once their time is up, the bearer will fall KIA during the Supernatural Phase and the standard will have to be picked back up for its powers to continue.  There can only be one bearer at a time and they will carry it until they die or become incapacitated in which the banner can be picked up by someone else but the number rolled for the demise of the bearer continues to the next bearer.
Wargaming Piece:  It is pretty easy to convert a standard bearer from the many lines out there so lets see how yours turned out.

Makes ya think twice about Capture the Flag, huh?
Brian

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