Both of these men had a price. Anglo-Saxon and Norse law set a cash value on a human life — the wergild, literally "man-payment" — owed to the dead man's kin by whoever killed him, and if he could not raise it, his own family were expected to find it for him. A ceorl, an ordinary freeman, was reckoned at two hundred shillings. A nobleman at twelve hundred. A bishop or an ealdorman came to eight thousand thrymsas, and a king to thirty thousand. None of that arithmetic existed to price people for its own sake; it existed to stop the alternative. Where there was no payment there was a feud, and a feud meant this same scene repeating down the generations. Which is the hard joke buried in the title. The law was built precisely so that contests would not be decided like this — and on a battlefield, the one place where the price list stopped applying, they were decided like this anyway.

W. Britain give you the moment rather than the aftermath: the Viking braced over his shield with the sword already up, the Saxon on his back with one arm raised, his kite shield fallen flat on the grass beside him and his quilted coat offering what protection it can. Two pieces, and the second figure is what makes it a scene instead of a pose. It pairs directly with "Overwhelmed" Viking Striking Downed Saxon, the companion set, and with "Leofric" Saxon Casualty Falling — three pieces that give a diorama the thing most toy soldier displays leave out, which is consequence. Put "Bestanden" Saxon Defending with Sword and Shield a few inches away, still on his feet, and the line reads properly.

Model: 62115 / W. Britain / 1/30 scale / matte finish / 2 piece set