The Turin Tavern Brawl

Savoy 1536 by Alexandre Dumas

Chapter II
The Riot at the Duke's Gauntlet

At noon the bells of Turin rang merrily above the marketplace, yet beneath their cheerful clamour darker notes were sounding. Merchants argued over bread, soldiers drank too deeply, and whispered insults passed between men who served different masters. Outside the coaching inn known as the Duke's Gauntlet, Don Alonso de Córdoba prepared to depart the city. His horses were harnessed, his servants mounted, and his hand already rested upon the coach door when a cloaked rider emerged from the crowd. At the sight of that black figure, several old enemies turned pale; for Count Enrico di Castellamonte, long believed dead, had come to claim a reckoning...

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The Market Place Riot card came out but...  I don't have a market place terrain base.  The action will therefore take place at the Duke's Gauntlet, a coaching in within Turin adjacent to the market.

Still in play:

The Exile

A dispossessed nobleman returned in disguise to punish those who betrayed him.
Motivation: Revenge, secret justice.
Notables Henchman plus 5–6 swordsmen.

Count Enrico di Castellamonte
Il Cavaliere Nero" (The Black Knight)

"The Count of Castellamonte Lives."

CAPTAIN  Cost 6
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5. Fated (1). Command.  Rapier, pistol

Italian sword school.

Carlo di Benevento
Major-Domo and Henchman
"My lord, this is a terrible idea. Shall I saddle the horses?"

Henchman Cost 4

Experience 5. Fight 6/6. Shoot 6/7. Resolve 5

Brawler, daggers, rapier, pistol.  Italian sword school.

The Count's oldest companion.
Once a soldier in the Castellamonte household guard, Carlo followed Enrico into exile and remained with him through imprisonment, poverty, and wandering.
"Will we be wanting the spare pistols m'Lud."

• Pietro Malvasia – ruined gambler turned duelist, rescued by the Count.  @3.  Exp 5.  F6/6  S7/7.  Res 5. Sword
• Marco Malvasia – Former soldier for the Milanese.  Follows his brother.  @3.  Exp 5.  F6/6  S7/7.  Res 5. Sword
• Marcello Aleramo – a monk who abandoned the cloth, expert with daggers.@3.  Exp 5.  F6/6  S7/7.  Res 5. Daggers
• Sofia Lancia – the Count’s foster-daughter, fencing prodigy.  @3.  Exp 5.  F5/6  S7/7.  Res 5. Sword
• Baldassare “the Moor” – former smuggler, silent bodyguard, master of the stiletto.  @3.  Exp 5.  F6/6  S7/7.  Res 5. Sword

Hapsburg Agents!

The Spanish Interest

Agents of Habsburg Spain, operating from nearby Milan.
Motivation: Secure Savoy as a pawn in the Franco-Spanish struggle.
Notables (5–6):

• Don Alonso de Córdoba – proud hidalgo, master of rapier and dagger. Blade  2 Panache
  Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
  Cost 6. Special; Fencing School, Command, Fate Command.  Rapier, pistol

Captain Vigo Alatriste  – veteran of Flanders, dour and ruthless.  Legend  3 Panache  

• Experience 6. Fight 5/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
  Cost 7. Special; Spanish Fencing School, Command, Fate, Rapier dagger, pistol
• Father Ignacio de la Cruz – Jesuit confessor with hidden blades.
• Hernando “El Zurdo” – left-handed duelist, flamboyant. Swordsmen 1 Panache Experience 4. Fight 6/7. Shoot 6/7. Resolve 5. Cost 4. Special; Fencing School, Brawer/Marksman. Sword pistol.
• Rodrigo Martínez – sly fixer and smuggler.
• Gaspar Morales – heavy bruiser with a cudgel.
• Diego Herrera – veteran of Flanders, silent and deadly but smells like a dying goat.

Bit of an issue, I don't have a market place.  The action will take place at the Duke's Gauntlet, a coaching in within Turin adjacent to the market.

Legends.        3 Panache  
Experience 6. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Cost 7. Special; Fencing School, Command, Fate

Blades            2 Panache
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Cost 6. Special; Fencing School, Command, Fate

Swordsmen  1 Panache
Experience 4. Fight 6/7.   Shoot 6/7. Resolve 5
Cost 4. Special; Fencing School, Brawer/Marksman

Rakes
Experience 3. Fight 7/7.   Shoot 7/7. Resolve 5
Cost 3. Special: 

Bravos
Experience 5. Fight 7/7.   Shoot 7/7. Resolve 5
Cost 2. Special;

Civilians/Crowds

Experience 5. Fight 8/7.   Shoot 8/7. Resolve 5

Cost 5. Special; counts as one figure.

  

The Spanish have provoked a riot within Turin itself, seeking to weaken the Duke.

Don Alonso de Córdoba is about to mount his coach to leave the city.  The Exiled Count appears.  He believes the Don had a hand in the plot that imprisoned him.

The Count throws out the Rivals Challenge.  The Don laughs and accepts.

But this is no duel.  A sword melee breaks out.

Wildcard

Du Recci is staying at the inn.  Any chance the Flashing Blade won't get involved?

François, the Chevalier de Recci,  Le Chevalier Tempête – "The Tempestuous Knight"– “The Flashing Blade,” dashing, fearless, impossibly gallant. @6 EXP 5. F 5/6. S 6/6. Res 5,  Fated (1). Command.  French School Rapier, pistol.

"You've got to fight for what you want, For all that you believe."

The Game

The Spanish surround the Don Alonso de Córdoba's coach

The Count and his men charge in.

Once again the Count is mighty!

The Flashing Blade joins in.  Of course he does.  He skewers the first Spaniard he sees.

A Spaniard fires at the Blade.  Its a roll of three ones!  The arquebus explodes.

The Don's coach bolts, the coachman whips the horses up and the guard fires his arquebus but hits nothing.

And the Spaniards escape.

Reaction rolls. 

The Blade is apparently very keen on the Count.

The Count probably dislikes the Blade

and considers him to be an idiot.

A fair assessment.

And I'll be changing scales to 28mm soon, although these Blue Moon 15mm are handy.

Savoy 1636 QRS

My back‑of‑a‑postcard, ultra‑compressed Port Royal Skirmish QRS  for the "Three Musketeers Style" Savoy game— the version l can genuinely hold in my head during play.  

It differs slightly from Port Royal, combat can be more simultaneous.

I've left my notes below.

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⚓ Savoy: The Tiny QRS

🎲 Turn Flow

- Bid Initiative: Bid 0–3 Fortune → Roll 3d10 (7+ = successes).  

- Alternate Activations: Each model gets 2 actions (1 if Fatigue 2+).  

- Reactions: Only if Fatigue ≤2 and you have LOS.

---

💰 Fortune

- Start with 6 +1 per 5 Infamy difference.  

- Spend to:  

  - Boost Initiative  

  - Gain an extra action (max 3 total)  

  - Re‑roll a test (not Damage or Initiative)

Use Panache

---

🏃 Actions (2 per activation)

- Move 4" (‑1" per extra Move)  

- Shoot (not Engaged)  

- Fight  

- Charge = Move + free Fight  

- Reload  

- Rally (remove Fatigue)  

- Conceal  

- Interact (Plunder etc.)  

- Prone/Stand

Free Actions don’t count toward the 2.

---

⚔️ Combat

Attack Sequence

1. Declare target + weapon  

2. Apply modifiers  

3. Roll 3d10 (7+ = successes, crit = +1 success)  

4. Difference in successes = Damage dice

Damage Test

- TN 10 – weapon damage – target Fatigue  

- Fail = Fatigue + possible death  

- Each hit = a Fatigue Test

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😵 Fatigue

- Fatigue Test = Resolve  

- At Fatigue 3 = Shaken  

  - No reactions  

  - Only Move / Rally / Prone / Stand  

  - Drop Plunder  

  - +2 penalty to all tests

---

⚠️ Threat & Engagement

- Threat Zone = 1"  

- Engaged = within 1" of enemy  

- Leaving engagement → enemy gets a free Reaction

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🪙 Plunder

- Interact to pick up  

- Carrying = ‑1 action and +2 penalty to Experience Tests  

- Dropped if: Shaken, Reload, use 2‑handed weapon, or die

---

🏴‍☠️ Strike Test (Morale)

- End of Turn 2 (if doubled) or Turn 4 (if losing)  

- Add +1 per casualty, +1 if >50% losses, +1 per enemy objective  

- Use Officer’s Resolve  

- Fail = you lose  

- Pass = may choose to concede

--

🧭 Terrain (super short)

- Rough = ‑1" Move  

- Cover = harder to shoot  

- Dense = both Concealed; no LOS through big pieces  

- Dangerous = Experience Test or Damage  

- Impassable = Fail test = dead

Legends.        3 Panache  
Experience 6. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Cost 7. Special; Fencing School, Command, Fate

Blades            2 Panache
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Cost 6. Special; Fencing School, Command, Fate

Swordsmen  1 Panache
Experience 4. Fight 6/7.   Shoot 6/7. Resolve 5
Cost 4. Special; Fencing School, Brawer/Marksman

Rakes
Experience 3. Fight 7/7.   Shoot 7/7. Resolve 5
Cost 3. Special;

Bravos
Experience 5. Fight 7/7.   Shoot 7/7. Resolve 5
Cost 2. Special;

Civilians/Crowds

Experience 5. Fight 8/7.   Shoot 8/7. Resolve 5

Cost 5. Special; counts as one figure.

* Special

1. Hard charger
2. Quick
3. Battle hardened
4. Ball and shot
5. Unwavering
6. Brawler
7. Ruthless
8. Fencing school
9. Lightning blade
10. Character options

Character options

1. Command
2. Fate
3. Superior Intelligence
4. Lead by example
5. Tactician
6. Resilient

Possessions

Fathers rapier

Heavy Purse

Familial gold ring

A lady's token

A salve for wounds

A dapper hat

School of Fencing On a natural 10

Italian, "Pronti" jump forwards and lunge,  Bolognese school. 

English, "fendente" A mighty blow using the edge, head to the knee.  Dardi school 

French, des Academies du Roi, "balestre". The crossbow, a sideways jump to change the rhythm followed by a cut with the edge. 

German school, "The cross ". A powerful, diagonally descending blow 

Self taught, the Micah Clarke option, slash and kick him backwards. 

Spanish school, the Don Juan a parry and slash to the face.  

Damage roll
1   Parry & Riposte roll

2   Pinked step back
3   The cheek step back

4   A cut to the ear, sidestep
5   A step back

6   Arm = weapon dropped
7   Leg skewered & pinned
8   Head = eyes. Falls.
9   Chest, skewered Falls 

10 Into the chitterlings. Falls

The crowd

On a mass template with 3 figures minimum.  Crowds direct the action and swarm towards a good fight unless a firelock is discharged.

5 types of crowd

Nobles parading their status

Dodgy Rakes and Poncy Bravos

Merchants selling cloth

Peasants and farmers selling carrots.

Smuggler types selling knock off gear.

The Factions

Spanish Hapsburgers/Milanese

French, Duke of Lyon

Prince's Guard

The Watch

Smugglers

Road Agents

The Count of Monte Crispo, Merchant house

The Capuleti Merchant house

The Venetian 

The Genoese

The Duke of Guide

Redbeard the Ottoman Pirate

A lunatic band of upper-class youths disturbing the peace of the streets.

Poncy bravos

The Beggars guild

The corrupt Magistrate 

Savoy, the opening chapter

From  Dumas' lost novel, Savoy 1630

"On a night when the wind came prowling down from the Alps like a starving wolf, and the bells of trembled faintly through the snow-laden dark, a solitary horseman descended the road from the fortress of Exilles. He wore black from spur to collar — not the proud velvet black of a courtier, nor the sober cloth of a priest, but that severe and dreadful black which seems less a colour than a sentence pronounced upon the world. 

The peasants who glimpsed him crossing themselves beside their dying hearths swore later that his face was pale as candle-wax, and that one white hand, emerging from his cloak as he gathered the reins, bore the scar of an iron manacle. Yet neither the winter storm, nor the wolves upon the ridges, nor even the patrols of the Duke of Savoy delayed him; for the rider had escaped from a prison where men entered only to vanish from memory, and he carried beneath his cloak not gold, nor jewels, nor letters of state — but vengeance."

Game One

The deck

First card, the Exile 

The protagonist is revealed, a ruined noble, seeking revenge.

Second card, a mask Card.  Let's keep that for a possible escape.

Oh dear, seems the Guard are out.  Word of the Exile's return has reached someone's ears

The antagonist... the Bishop of Savoy. 
His guards are looking for the Exile. 
My first revenge target is revealed

And a scenario card.

The Bishop is apparently attending a Ducal hunt.  

The Exile intervenes.  

An ambush followed by the use of the escape card!

Hope that wild boar doesn't show up!

The Exile

Count Enrico di Castellamonte
Il Cavaliere Nero" (The Black Knight)
Ties neatly to Turin and Savoy.
Grand and is suitably Dumas-esque.
"The Count of Castellamonte Lives."

CAPTAIN  Cost 6
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Special » Command. » Fate (1)

Carlo di Benevento
Major-Domo and Henchman
"My lord, this is a terrible idea. Shall I saddle the horses?"

Henchman Cost 4

Experience 5. Fight 6/6. Shoot 6/7. Resolve 5

Special » Brawler

The Count's oldest companion.
Once a soldier in the Castellamonte household guard, Carlo followed Enrico into exile and remained with him through imprisonment, poverty, and wandering.
"Will we be wanting the spare pistols m'Lud."

vs.

His Excellency

His Eminence, Archbishop Filiberto Milliet de Faverges, Prince of the Church and Shepherd of Savoy, Lion of Turin.

Archbishop of Turin, Adviser to Duke Victor Amadeus, Keeper of dangerous secrets,
Patron of spies, confessors, and inquisitors
Publicly pious, privately ruthless
Rumour claims that every confession in Savoy eventually reaches his ears.
His personal guard are the Bishop's Men faction.

Captain Sebastiano Ferrante

Captain of the Archbishop's Guard

CAPTAIN  Cost 6
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Special » Command. » Fate (1)

A younger son of a ruined Savoyard noble family, Ferrante rose through the Church's service rather than the Duke's army. He commands the Archbishop's personal guard and acts as messenger, spy, investigator, and executioner when necessary.

"God forgives. I merely deliver His judgment."

Count Enrico and Carlo his manservant travel the back roads into Savoy. 

But the Archbishop's Guard are waiting.

The charge and riposte, a hit plus a critical x2 for the Count

And that is followed by a thunderous four more hits.  The Count is Mighty.

Carlo not so much 

The Count takes a man down.  He faces a second Guard 

But the Count is of the Italian school, they are both injured.

Carlos holds Captain Ferrante.  He even gets a hit.
The Count downs the second Guard too.

Strike test.  Ferrante fails.  That boy can run!

But the Count was clearly betrayed.  He continues on to Turin.

No boar, but loads of blood.  Port Royal worked well.

Characters for Savoy 1636

My Characters for Savoy 1636 are coming together.  The first retinues for the "novel" will be the exiled noble and the Archbishop's Guard.

I'm using Port Royal as the rules, with some adaptation for "firelocks."

The novel (Wargame) is revealed through a series of card draws.

The Exile

Count Enrico di Castellamonte
Il Cavaliere Nero" (The Black Knight)
Ties neatly to Turin and Savoy.
Grand and is suitably Dumas-esque.
"The Count of Castellamonte Lives."

CAPTAIN  Cost 6
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Special » Command. » Fate (1)

Carlo di Benevento
Major-Domo and Henchman
"My lord, this is a terrible idea. Shall I saddle the horses?"

Henchman Cost 4

Experience 5. Fight 6/6. Shoot 6/7. Resolve 5

Special » Brawler

The Count's oldest companion.
Once a soldier in the Castellamonte household guard, Carlo followed Enrico into exile and remained with him through imprisonment, poverty, and wandering.
"Will we be wanting the spare pistols m'Lud."

vs.

(Expect Vincent Price in this role!" 

His Eminence, Archbishop Filiberto Milliet de Faverges, Prince of the Church and Shepherd of Savoy, Lion of Turin.

Archbishop of Turin, Adviser to Duke Victor Amadeus, Keeper of dangerous secrets,
Patron of spies, confessors, and inquisitors
Publicly pious, privately ruthless
Rumour claims that every confession in Savoy eventually reaches his ears.
His personal guard are the Bishop's Men faction.

Captain Sebastiano Ferrante

Captain of the Archbishop's Guard

CAPTAIN  Cost 6
Experience 5. Fight 6/6.   Shoot 6/6. Resolve 5
Special » Command. » Fate (1)

A younger son of a ruined Savoyard noble family, Ferrante rose through the Church's service rather than the Duke's army. He commands the Archbishop's personal guard and acts as messenger, spy, investigator, and executioner when necessary.

"God forgives. I merely deliver His judgment."

The Night Attack

Act II — Resistance

Reprisals begin.
Fyrd gather.
Scottish influence stirs unrest.

Scenarios

1. Night assault on timber fort
2. Cattle raid interception
3. Hostage rescue or punitive expedition

The Night attack

Robert Fitz-Ivo and his men defend the old fort at Allerdale.

The Game

Night attack.  The Cumbrians close up to the wall in deployment.

First spear group goes in, and the Normans push them off.

The second do better, killing a knight.  They scale the wall.

Getting a bit desperate.  The Normans have work to do.

The Knights beat back another two attacks, but are losing men.

One of the attacking units goes to half strength and loses half its dice 

And critically the knights also go to half strength.  

Only a matter of time.  Robert Fitz-Ivo mounts and leaves in a hurry.  It's a win for the Cumbrians. Unrest goes to -4.

He's going to have to explain to his dad why he lost both his Retinue and the castle!