Steel and Steed, the Lumley Castle Jousting Finals

The Earl has presided over the foot Combats with a certain tolerance.  It is after all the Joust that holds the most prestige.

Fans of the sport may care to peruse Uriah of Gelderland's Guide to Good Jousting, a page of our Steel and Steed blog.

In the foot Combats Sir Elliot the Bastard of Alnwick twice over pushed his opponent down, and proceeded to beat them severely.  Lord Farthingdale is still suffering a -1 Str as a result of his injuries.

Winning the Joust however is a matter of artistry and accuracy.  Sir Elliot may struggle here, not least against the Champion Sire du Quincy and the veteran Sir Micheal.  Even poor Farthingdale has proven himself to be focussed on his jousting.  This could go to any of them...

The Joust
Lord Farthingdale of Waldridge
Vs
The Sire de Quincy, Lord of the Grange Villas.

Sir Micheal of Shraner Castle
Vs
Elliot, the Bastard of Alnwick.

In the first round  of Jousting Sir Roger Quilp, Lord of Belmont was unhorsed and severely injured, earning Lord Farthingdale prestige from the crowd and the favour of Lady Brunhild, now wrapped around his great helm.

Sir James Coxpole had briefly attracted the Lady, breaking his Lance on The Sire du Quincy, but was unfortunately then beaten by Quincy in the remainder of the match, (Quincy being a Champion and far more  skilled opponent.)

The Heroes of the Joust line up before the Earl...

And it's the Bastard vs Sir Michael of Shraner Castle 

Sir Micheal breaks his lance on the Bastard.  2 points

The third pass, Sir Michael again breaks his lance.  The Bastard fails his Stability test and but Sir Micheal 's thrust technique is not strong enough to put him out.  Inevitably however the Veteran wins on points

Lord Farthingdale actually has a higher dice pool than Champion Quincy.  A clean pass, one point. 

Lord Farthingdale breaks his lance, two points.  He fails to unhorse the Champion.

The final pass, Lord Farthingdale gains another point.  Four points to three, Farthingdale wins the match.  Well played Sir! 

Lord Farthingdale, he of the unusual heraldic badge, faces the Knight Micheal of Shraner Castle in the final.

The first pass, Lord Micheal is past the midway point. He re rolls one JST dice and rolls a critical 10... He breaks his lance against Sir Hugh de Farthingdale,  who rolls a stability test of...2, and is thrown from his horse.

Worse, the Str test of 9 that the veteran produces injures Lord F.   A roll of 5 and the Knight of the Rampant Phallus is concussed.  Hello?  Hello?  Lady Brunhild will be disappointed.

Our Winner!  As Lord Farthingdale wonders what happened Sir Micheal gathers the fruits of VICTORY, and the favour of Lady Brunhild.

The Champion, Sir Micheal of Shraner Castle
1st Prize - 3 Bonus Experience Points, 10 Prestige Points, 20 Gold

and the favour of Lady Brunhild of Alnwick awards an additional 5 Prestige Points and a sore back.
Just where is Shraner Castle anyway?

Lord Farthingdale of Waldridge

2nd Prize - 2 Bonus Experience Points, 5 Prestige Points, 10 Gold  (injured 1 month out)

The Sire de Quincy, Lord of the Grange Villas.

3rd Prize - 1 Bonus Experience Point, 3 Prestige Points, 5 Gold

Steel and Steed, the Foot Combat finals.

Earl Percy of Northumberland has enjoyed watching the Tourney at Lumley.   The event has two parts, a one on one Foot combat in the Ring, and a Jousting event at the river Meadows below the castle.  Both first rounds are over, and four Knights have been eliminated from each.

The Second rounds look like this:

Foot Combat:
Conrad the Chaste of the Bishop's Men
Vs
Elliot, Bastard of Alnwick
And
Lord Farthingdale of Waldridge,
Vs
The Savage McGurk, of Sacriston and the Isles

The Joust
Lord Farthingdale
Vs
The Sire de Quincy

Sir Micheal of Shraner Castle
Vs
Elliot, the Bastard of Alnwick.

In the Joust Sir Roger Quilp, Lord of Belmont was severely injured, but since he had already been eliminated from the foot combats after a vicious beating by The McGurk, there is no need to give a pass to any opponent in this round.

Note that almost all of my foot figures are from my Norman army and are therefore sword armed.  By the time of the next Tourney I will have a larger variety available.

In a similar vein I actually only have four mounted Knights suitable for the mid 12th Century, and some Norman Knights were pressed into service for Round One.

One other thing to note is that there is a mix of skills and experience among these combatants.  Lord Quincy is obviously a Champion, and Sir Micheal of Shraner a veteran.  All of the others are less skilled novices.  For most of these I used generic NPC stats, however my own character, Lord Farthingdale, was generated with a focus on his Jousting skills and only incredible luck saw him pass Round One on Foot.   In the Joust he unhorsed the unfortunate Quilp, with the crowd standing and stamping its appreciation.  He has therefore attracted the favour of Lady Brunhild of Alnwick.
Put it this way, the Tournament will only be over after she sings!

Sir Micheal and the Bastard face off in the ring, only it's a square!

The Bastard is optimised for foot combat.  He wins initiative, rolling two dice!

He knocks Michael down.

No sense of Chivalry here, as the Bastard gets stuck into the prone Knight two more hits. Sir Micheal is out and the Bastard proceeds to the final.

Lord Farthingdale, really a jouster, vs the Savage McGurk, a man optimised for pub crawls.  I have a bad feeling about this...

 But it's Farthingdale who gets the initiative.  

Game on as they get down to it.  Really even as it goes.

In fact it's a mutual battering around the ring.  Lord F inches ahead.

A fluke last critical hit.  Both are at two vitality remaining.  Farthingdale scrapes a victory.

The Foot combat final.  Farthingdale Vs the Bastard of Alnwick.  Lord F wins initiative.

First round sees two critical hits.  Farthingdale is put down.

Once again the Bastard goes in and gives the fallen man a kicking.  Three more hits.  Lord F surrenders the bout and retires injured.

Winner of the Foot Combats Elliot, Bastard of Alnwick.  His reputation grows.

Sir Elliot of Alnwick

1st Prize - 3 Bonus Experience Points, 10 Prestige Points, 20 Gold

Lord Farthingdale of Waldridge,

2nd Prize - 2 Bonus Experience Points, 5 Prestige Points, 10 Gold

The Savage McGurk, Sacriston and the Isles (decided on points and crowd entertainment)

3rd Prize - 1 Bonus Experience Point, 3 Prestige Points, 5 Gold

Steel and Steed, Learning to Joust

When I was building my group of Knights for Steel and Steed my plan for my own character,  Lord Farthingdale, was to focus on his Jousting skills.  He invested his initial skills points in additional accuracy in the joust.  He also went for a palfrey, as a trade off for speed and stability against power, and a standard weight lance.

His initial joust would be in the Lumley Tourney against Roger Quilp, Lord of Belmont.  Learning to joust was an interesting experience  Having played Sons of Mars I had very little issue with the first round of foot combats earlier in the tournaments.  Well the best way to learn was to get the lances out and the horses on the tiltway.   We will rock you time I think...

Well it's not a packed crowd, and nobody seems to be sitting on a cushion except me.  Well at my age...

Initiative for the first pass.  Quilp adds his AGL and gets off the grid like a silver arrow.

I used index cards to generate my Knights.  Roger of Quilp is a standard sort of fellow, with his focus on Foot fighting and the sword.  Much like the actual Quilp, putting him on a horse seems cruel.  Then again my horse is carrying a Full Scale Farthingdale.

The pass.  I turn over the hidden strategy to find out the focus of the pass.  Here I go for a blind solo draw, even though technically I'm playing one of them.  Quilp is well past the half way point and gains an advantage.

Quilp tries a thrust with the lance.  Farthingdale goes standard.  Farthingdale wins a clean hit on that nine.  One point to me I think!  They canter back to the start and turn for the second pass.

For the second pass Farthingdale spurs the palfrey and is off down the lists first.

This time it's Lord Farthingdale past the half way point.  Quilp goes "standard," while Farthingdale uses "accuracy."  Adding an extra Jst dice he loses Str as a result, and it matters here because he rolls a 10.

With Lord Farthingdale's natural 10 his lance shatters with the force and he gains two points.  It's critical.  Quilp fails his stability roll in excellent style.

Farthingdale's strike is pretty deadly, although he is -1 Str, but recovers that for being over half way down the tilt yard, so a roll of 9 is enough and Quilp is unseated.

Needing a 6 to shrug it off and get back on the horse Quilp fails.  It's bad news and he must roll on the Joust Injury table.

Quilp has his hipbone shattered and he's out of the Tournament.

Pretty fast and furious gaming once I got the hang of it...
Good fun.

And... just in case my fellow Petains doubted me, the Farthingdale Arms are Sable Phallus, Rampant, Sable Chief, Or.

The Royal college of arms would point out that the rear surcoat emblem of the Knight differs, being Sable, Phallus Active, Rampant, Or.

Need to paint that sword though.  Bit of an afterthought.

Steel and Steed, the Lumley Castle Tourney

1st Regional Tournament, The New Years Tournament, Lumley Castle.

Host, the Earl of Northumberland.

Type of Contest

The Ring: One on One Combat on Foot

The River Wear Meadows Tilt Field: Jousting 

Knights:

5 Common Knights

2 Veteran Knights

1 Champion.

One of the Earl's Veteran Knights is on standby in case of injuries or accidents.

Prizes are awarded to those who have performed well during the tournament. 

At a banquet on the last evening of the event each knight who has placed high enough shall receive an award and be given recognition for putting on an honorable showing. 

1st Prize - 3 Bonus Experience Points, 10 Prestige Points, 20 Gold

and the favour of Lady Brunhild of Alnwick.  Be afraid...

2nd Prize - 2 Bonus Experience Points, 5 Prestige Points, 10 Gold

3rd Prize - 1 Bonus Experience Point, 3 Prestige Points, 5 Gold

Round One, Match One

Hugh de Farthingdale, Lord Waldridge

The Sire de Quincy, Lord of the Grange Villas

Round One, Match Two
Roger of Quilp, Lord Belmount

The McGurk of Upper Sacriston and the Isles
Round One, Match Three

Lord Micheal of Shraner Castle

Conrad the Chaste, of the Bishop's Men
Round One, Match Four

Lord Elliot, the Bastard of Alnwick

Sir James Coxpole of Prodhoe

Alan of The Dales, poor knight and stand-by substitute

The face off.  Quincy is a "Champion" whilst the Lord of Waldridge is just a novice Feudal Knight.

Farthingdale backs off, forcing the Sire to come to him.

Farthingdale charges in.  Two dice against four of the champions,  but a 10 and 9 is two hits.  Quincy's armour saves one.

Sustained,  three dice versus six, but the novice wins again.

The Sire de Quincy's turn, he continues sustained, and what the heck is a roll of three ones and three twos? But Farthingdale's luck is from the devil.  His own three rolls win...

Sustained, and Farthingdale survives again.  Quincy is down to two vitality.

Farthingdale withdraws and uses a counter charge.   Two dice vs 3.  No good options against a champion.  But he wins and Quincy submits.  One of the most unexpected outcomes I've ever gamed I think.

Round One, Match Two
Roger of Quilp, Lord Belmount

The McGurk of Upper Sacriston and the Isles

Quilp and the McGurk square off in the ring.

The Savage McGurk beats Quilp into submission.

Round One, Match Three
Lord Micheal of Shraner Castle Vs Chaste Conrad of the Bishop's Men.
Two Veteran Knights drawn against each other

And Lord Conrad Wins

Round One, Match Four

Lord Elliot, the Bastard of Alnwick vs

Sir James Coxpole of Prodhoe.  

Despite Sir James superior use of dice, factors and tactics, Sir Elliot beats him senseless in five turns.  Still not sure how I lost that one.

The Second Round will be:
Round Two, Match One

Hugh de Farthingdale, Lord Waldridge

Vs

The McGurk of Upper Sacriston and the Isles
Round Two, Match Two

Conrad the Chaste, of the Bishop's Men
Vs

Lord Elliot, the Bastard of Alnwick