It is a cold dark morning, one that forewarns of that death and bloodshed. Lines upon lines of extremely well equipped battle scarred Roman troops in textbook formations advance forward under the command of their seasoned veteran commanders.
The Vikings hastily form up for battle in their regular disorganized manner with pretty much no uniform central command authority making great noises, jeering all the time. Their haphazardly formed battle lines and sick sense of clothing doesn't help either
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Keep in mind that the Viking mentality was one of adventuresome and a get rich quickly philosophy whereas the immaculately trained and extremely well led Romans are a totally professional war machine whose soldiers are amongst the most elite and battle tested in the world. The Vikings had to have pretty much no qualifications to battle except for being aged generally between 18 to 50 and being physically strong.
The Viking hordes charge with their trademark ferocity under the cover of their archers who along with their meagre guard are getting destroyed by Roman onagers and eventually get driven away by the the small Roman cavalry units supported by auxiliary units.
The poorly armoured frontline Vikings in the meantime are being peppered by Roman archer/slinger fire and getting holes punched in them by the trebuchets with take down tactically important figures. By the time they get close enough the Romans devastate them with their pilas opening very wide gaps at operationally important vulnerable areas. As the Vikings smash into the centre of th Roman line, the Romans partly by force of Viking vivaciousness and partly by their own plans retreat from the centre at a moderate pace. In the meantime the Romans have all their artillery concentrate on the flanks where the puny Roman archer/slinger force is concentrating their fire in co-ordination with the best cohorts who through achieving local superiority of numbers overwhelm their opponents and utterly destroy them.
That done, the Romans throw in their reserves at the centre to halt the Viking advance dead in it's tracks which will have inflicted massive losses by then but will have been unable to break through thanks to Roman discipline and superior equipment which would act as force multipliers. The other cohorts which hadn't been pushed back and had defeated their enemies roll around and outflank the Vikings even as they leave a small space open for them to escape who will eventually be slaughtered by the cavalry units.
The end. Romans win.
