En Garde: Rathbone and the Fat Knight

The Fat Knight has been out on the Great North Road attempting to rob travellers, again...  Rumour has it that he has never actually been successful in this, but he has annoyed his cousin, the Countess of Alnwick.  As the North Country's foremost Aristocratic Lesbian Vampire, Countess Ingrid has sent one of her henchmen, the duelist Rathbone, to capture the Knight, and deliver him to Alnwick Castle.

The Countess wants a quiet, and probably fatal word with the Knight...

The Bishop's Guard have also decided to take Sir Huge into custody.  Captain Cushing, that clever tactician, has decided to wait until the knight has lost his drinking competition with the Priest, and arrest him when he finally falls unconscious.

The door of the Inn bursts open and Rathbone's men enter, probably soaking wet since according to the scenario dice a rain storm is lashing down outside.

At table A is the Bishops Guard, Captain Cushing, Corporal Nym, the swordsman Bardolph and Solomon Whitemoore.

The Knight and his henchman "The Ancient Pistol," (almost certainly a comedic name referencing his age withered ... equipment) are seated at table B conducting a drinking competition with Father Dick Emery, a Catholic Priest.
Emery is awful, but you have to like him!

Entering through the door at point C Rathbone has Fang and Snare, as well as Feeble.  

Civilians inside the Inn are Mistress Quickly, Doll Tearsheet, Bubbles McGurk and Jim the keg boy. (Jim is employed to carry kegs around the Inn)

The Scenario
Capture
Both sides will attempt to take control of the knight.  

SET-UP
• Forces: Both sides are of equal points value.
• Terrain:  For this scenario the KnIghtfield should be in the exact centre of the board, however the use of the Inn skews this,  so he is located against the far wall.
• Weather: Not inside the Inn, but outside it is tipping it down.  No slow match can be lit outside the Inn. 
• Time of Day: Early evening 
• Deployment: Edge deployment.

VICTORY
Both sides are attempting to take control of the objective, which counts as a (very) heavy 
object. To count as having control, a model must be in base-to-base 
contact with the knight, not be Engaged and to have subdued him.  
If one side controls the objective at the end of the game (or has been able to remove it from the board), it gains an additional 5 Victory Points.

GAME LENGTH
The game lasts for 8 turns.

Turn 1.  Rathbone wins priority.  He will be first to move and choose the order of all fights this turn.  Rathbone's men enter the Inn.  The Bishop's men reposition and draw pistols.  Solomon aims at Feeble (he has a feud with the Feeble boys)  Cushing aims at Rathbone..  

Turn 2.  Cushing wins priority.
He fires his pistol at Rathbone, at +1 for his aim.  He rolls 5+2 plus a shoot score of 2 and the turn aiming at +1 (11).  Rathbone has - 6 as the target.  The final hit score is 5, a grievous wound, almost a kill.
Rathbone moves the short distance to contact Ancient Pistol, but he is at -2 from now on.
Solomon shoots next, but misses Feeble


Fang and Nym move alternately from each side to join the combat.

Rathbone chooses 3 Attack counters and two defence from the comabt pool.  Fang chooses 1 attack.
Pistol chooses 2 Attack, Nym chooses 1 Attack 1 Defence.
Initiative, Pistol is using a pistol as his weapon which is fast +5 to initiative.  It's one of the few weapon stats I use, apart for a +2 on a dagger attack.   He rolls 6 (+5) and adds his character initiative of +1 for a mighty 12.  Nym rolls 6 (+1) Rathbone rolls 3 (+2), Fang rolls 1 and has no modifier as a level 1.  The order of attacks will be Pistol, Nym, Rathbone, Fang.

All of this takes seconds to do, but needs a lot of explaining!


Pistol shoots as his close combat attack.  3+4 (plus his FIGHT score of 2)  9.   Rathbone defends and rolls the double.  Double 6 means he gains an extra attack counter.  Pistol's attack fails miserably.
Nym strikes at Rathbone too.  3+4 plus his fight score of +2.  9.
Rathbone draws a defence counter and parrys with a 10, miss.

Rathbone now attacks pistol with a sword cut.  1+5 plus his fight score of +5. -2 for that wound (9)
Pistol defends with a single dice roll of 5 Fight +2  (7)   A light wound.
Finally Fang gets to attack, with a sword thrust at Nym.  He rolls 1+5, plus his fight score of 1 (7)  Nym parrys with a defence counter 2+5 +2 (9)  The attack misses.

The Combat initiative has come back round to Pistol.  He fires his left hand gun into Rathbone's chest at point blank range.  6+4+3 -1 (12)   Rathbone defends 4  +5 -2 (7)  With a second grievous wound Rathbone falls to the floor (to be replaced by one of my army men casualties!)

Mistress Quickly's pet pig!

It is the end of the turn and since Rathbone's men have lost their leader they must roll morale.  2d6, looking to roll lower than a 7 they roll a 7.  
Rathbones men are wavering. 





 Turn 3

The Bishop's men win priority.

Near the table at the far side of the room Cushing reloads.  Snare moves to engage Pistol.  Bardolph joins the fight.  Feeble short moves towards Whitemoore, and takes an action to recover the plot point from the table. 

A quick roll on the plot point table reveals that it is a moment of epiphany.  A puzzled Feeble points at the fat knight and delivers the classic line, "But I know this man!"  Perhaps Sir Huge owes the Feeble family money.  He owes everyone else!

The Plot Point "But I know this man!"

Whitemoore reloads.
Snare challenges Bardolph and moves into contact with him as a duel between the two begins.
The fat knight fails his cowardice roll (that being one of his attributes)  He slinks towards the door at his lumbering slow 4" move speed.  Perhaps he has recognised Feeble too!
The priest meanwhile has opened the trapdoor, and vanishes down the Priest hole.

Lastly Bubbles McGurk draws her daggers and approaches Feeble from the rear...

Fang chooses one attack from the Combat Pool.  Nym chooses 1 Attack 1 Defence. Pistol chooses 1 Attack 1 Defence
Pistol wins initiative and attempts to club  Fang with the now empty guns.  2+3+2 (-2 for the weapon, -1 for his wound) 4
Fang rolls 6 +1 and the attack fails.

Nym attacks Fang with 1+3+2 (6)  Fang defends with 4+1 (5)  The difference of 1 is a stunned result for Fang.  But his opponents are out of attack counters and he has survived the combat.

Snare and Bardolph duel.  They are rivals for the affections of the prostitute Doll Tearsheet.  Each take an attack counter.  Bardolph wins priority.  He rolls 4+5 and his fight score of +1 for a 10.  Snare rolls 2 +1 a 3, he is run through and killed outright.

Rathbone's men roll morale.  They are already wavering so this is mandatory at the end of the turn.  The dice roll of is over 7, and has additional modifiers that take it up to 9.  The warband goes from wavering to routing.


In the confusion the Fat Knight slips out of the door and escapes into the rain.


Game pretty much over.  The Bishop's Guard earn 7 Victory Points for Rathbone (Level 5) and Snare (Level 1) plus a single point for the two routing level 1 figures.

Bardolph is promoted to level 2 (For 5 points)  His fight with Snare was the winning point of the game. 

My three taster games have set the scene, and established some of the key characters for my Hammer in the North solo campaign, although I still need to source a few additional figures.  I`m liking this 54mm scale.