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Heavy fighting also on the main road where La Nouë is still trying to advance but he must also protect his Englishman, cart, and Spanish prisoner. The four mounted Ligueurs are now using caracole tactic to threaten his rearguard… but their leader is killed.
La Nouë is lucky: two musket shots kill (at random in the enemy group) two Spanish officers! The other Spanish soldiers hesitate, but are still encouraged by their flag-bearer and drummer.
The surviving brigands, loudly encouraged by Ligueurs and by a woman in red clothing, advance …slowly. The three remaining mounted Ligueurs come behind them.
La Nouë tries his luck once more. He manages to kill more Spaniards and to take their flag. The brigands look at each other, hesitating. The woman in red avoids musket fire and retreats.
It will not be enough. His enemies are disorganised but La Nouë understands it’s a great risk to stay on the road. He decides to go to the village where he will be more safe. He takes the Spanish flag as trophy.
Near the village, some Ligueurs fire at his troop, from too far. Defenders of the village also threaten to fire because of the Spanish flag in his cart, he has to explain.
A fanatic monk hidden in a field, who was invoking divine wrath against the Royalists, runs to escape bovine wrath.
Jenovefa Kloar receives praises from the local officer for her help. On this side of the village the path to Quintin seems open. She takes with her an enemy flag. She notices that the last house belongs to a rich merchant who did not look happy when the attack was repulsed.
She decides to search the house, ignoring the objections of the owner (and the astonishment of the GM). She finds a chest with good money in it, and says that this …voluntary… contribution will help her to pay a ransom for her uncle. In doing so she risks to stain her newly earned reputation! …But she is lucky, it appears that most villagers dislike this merchant and will not speak for him, and he is afraid to be considered a League supporter so he will not complain much.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/These mounted men are Ligueurs ! They shoot at villagers with arquebus and pistol!
The little group of travellers is accepted in the village, and runs to help the local people against this attack.
The mounted Ligueurs see they cannot pass. One of them goes back to the main road…
…where La Nouë, still following the last brigands, suddenly sees other men on foot on each side of a small wood.
Spaniards block the road, and Ligueurs walk towards the village!
La Nouë tries to continue his way to Quintin, avoiding the Spaniards. But they are threatening, and the remaining brigands (who are loosely their allies) have reached the wood, and the Ligueur cavalry is back from the village.
La Nouë sends a pikeman to negociate, he would free his prisoner if they allow him to pass on the road. They hesitate, then refuse. Shots are exchanged but there are not many musketeers on each side.
The Ligueurs on foot, coming through the fields, try to attack the village.
The group of newcomers enters the fight to help the villagers.
Now that the villagers know it we can tell who are these people. The woman who leads them has thrown her gown away and is fighting in male clothes. Her name is Jenovefa Kloar (Breton for: Geneviève de Clohars). She wants to save her uncle, an old Protestant soldier captured by Ligueurs some time ago. She was not able to free him in the previous adventure and wants to ask the help of a Royalist chief, Yves de Liscouët who now is captain of Quintin; an officer in the village says he is in this town. She is accompanied by some fighters, friends of her family.
Hard fighting, casualties on both sides!
…eventually the Ligueurs flag falls on the ground, its bearer killed.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/At the same time, a young lady and two men, with weapons, arrive in the village. She explains that she is the niece of Loeiz Kloar and looking for him.
La Noë raises barricades on his left side, two Spanish scouts are already approaching there.
And he places three musketeers on the bastion.
The Spaniards do not outnumber the Royalists but are confident in their pikes, also they know that Ligue soldiers are not far. They attack… but suffer heavy casualties from the shots at short range. Then their chief is killed, another officer jumps the low wall but is captured.
Um, in fact the GM did not expect them to win, but had not planned that the attack would end so fast.
François de la Noë is ready to run after the surviving Spaniards.
Then, another small group of armed men appears. They are English and Welsh soldiers, who seem lost in the countryside. With them is an English merchant who is very interested when he hears that there is cloth for sale, he immediately walks to the village with a halberdman for escort. La Noë invites the others to join him to chase the Spaniards.
Then, one of the mounted Royalists who was riding around a small forest sees Ligueurs near a small hut. They run away by the same road as the Spaniards.
There are two small groups of Ligueurs, some look like soldiers, others wear shirts as brigands… A woman in red clothes (who had been seen in previous adventures) is leading them.
The Royalists and the English, in two groups, advance on the side. The surviving Spaniards are already far, they take a shallop (probably intended to carry cloth) on the river bank.
One of the men in shirt seems to be the prisoner, Loeiz Kloar.
The English merchant buys bundles of cloth to the merchant, and a cart to carry it. This trade could continue in the future. The merchant is a devout Catholic but makes no difficulty to trade with a Protestant (also he feared that the Royalists would blame him for his previous trade with the Spaniards).
Hot pursuit on the road… Obviously the Royalists and English on foot will not catch the Ligueurs who walk as fast as them.
…but the two Royalist cavalrymen and the English one use a caracole tactic, they come close to shoot their pistol or caliver at short range, then stop to reload, they do it again and again, all the way long.
The Ligue arquebusiers cannot stop to reload but must keep running and cannot fire back.
However, the first group of Ligueurs and their chiefs, manage to go away with their prisoner.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/when the lowest level of representation is the infantry battalion, there are no separate companies
Have been thinking about this recently. Although our games are on a different (perhaps, um, a bit oniric?) level, 1:1 but small squads may move and act as battalions (a heresy but we like the overall effect).
Pics from a recent game, one unit has deployed as skirmishers, another unit stands behind in close order. The player could have taken only some skirmishers from an unit if he had only needed a screen of skirmishers, but in this case he wanted firepower against an enemy unit firing from a forest edge.
this is complicated by the fact that in a pinch, pretty much any Napoleonic infantry soldier might find themselves in the skirmish line.
Yes, others than light infantry or voltigeurs can also do it, we consider they are not as effective.
We were also influenced by these short, simple videos:
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I never glue trees or building to terrain boards. I always base them separately
Using the rigid insulation foam for tiles allows me to pin my terrain
Yes and yes. I put very thin nails under most trees to pin them in the boards. Some other trees on bases, and the houses and fields, are also placed on the boards where needed for each game.
can you show me (with pictures) how to store your tiles?
I just need a wall. 😉 😉 😉
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/If I’m not mistaken the platoon you describe first is from mid-1916. I believe in late 1917 the number of fusils-mitrailleurs and lance-grenades increased. At the end everyone was very probably trained to use any of these infantry weapons if needed and available.
Also, in any time in modern history the French tendancy to not apply regulations has often been as strong as the will of the French administration to write more regulations 😉 and there certainly was a large ammount of “système D” (that means people must “se débrouiller” or in slang “se démerder”) and of the fictional “article 22” (a favourite of my grandfather) “Article 22: on se démerde comme on peut”.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Meanwhile, there is also a panic around the lake. Creatures appeared in the water, they come ashore, and they begin to destroy angrily the shops and tents! The traders and fishermen (including the three Kobolds) run away as fast as they can.
The mercenaries at the tower shoot a few arrows; then they understand that these creatures are Lizardmen trying to collect the eggs that were on sale to bring them back in the water.
So the mysterious “turtle eggs“ that some traders were cooking and selling to travellers were, in fact, eggs of Lizardmen.A Dwarf on guard duty above Karadog’s mine blows his horn.
This time it’s a group of Half-Orcqs approaching with threatening gestures.
At the same moment (perhaps on purpose) a group of Orcqs, accompanied by an armoured Ogre, advances towards the Dwarves of Thorgrim.
Some Goblins who were not far watch all this but do not interfere.
The Half-Orcqs arrive near the mine. The Dwarves (not in number, as some of them are still exploring the nearest mountain) shut themselves in.
The unexpected arrival of Hans Stahlarm and his soldiers changes the situation.
The Half-Orcqs recoil to avoid contact with the human infantry, while Stahlarm and another mounted warrior charge them from behind, and the Dwarves come out of the mine to take part in the fight.
In the other skirmish the Dwarves of Throgrim, with the help of some of Mitheglas’ mercenaries, have killed or routed the Orcqs. Only an Ogre in heavy armour, who seems drugged, is still fighting.
Having surrounded him, but lacking staff weapons to kill him easily, Thorgrim and Mitheglas (who have finally understood that in this campaign it’s no use to send their own warriors to death if it can be avoided) decide to recoil and let him go.
The Half-Orcqs are surrounded too, and surrender. Stahlarm tells them to lay down their weapons, they will work in the mine for the Dwarves. Karadog then accepts to swear allegiance to the human King (although it’s almost symbolic).
Far from there, the Halfling traveller has eaten his third breakfast of rat farci, and mounts his pony to continue his journey; and the merchants visit all possible customers near the first mountain.
The Half-Orcq prisoners are led towards the mine; then a Goblin wolf rider comes peacefully towards Stahlarm and asks to talk with him.
Another Goblin arrives to talk to Thorgrim and to Mitheglas. The Goblins say that they apologise for the incident with the uncontrolled dragon (Kiki). They swear that their attack against the Royal mercenaries three weeks ago (in the previous game) was caused by the unexpected arrival of Mitheglas and Thorgrim north of the mountain, but that they want peace with the kingdom and with the Dwarves. They invite everyone to a feast.
Stahlarm, Mitheglas, and the two Dwarf chiefs, are cautious about a possible trap, but they accept, thinking that it could help them to settle there eventually.
Goblin musicians (including a violonist) and a Troll with a large drum play music on a rocky outcrop. The howdah dragon that appeared in a previous battle is there too, peacefully carrying beer barrels in its tower.
Everything goes well; although some strange people are seen near the event (an unknown warrior, a Death cleric, a witch, two Shadow Elves…)
The Goblins say again that they want to live in peace; then, they ask who represents the King. Stahlarm immediately answers that’s him. The Goblins offer him a gift for the King: a very young, but already quite big, three-horned dragon. It seems very friendly. They say it will grow big if well-fed with plants and bushes. Stahlarm gives this job to a man he had recruited near the lake.
Then Thorgrim and his Dwarves continue their journey with the Bishop; the Dwarves want to visit the farthest mountain, the Bishop is still looking for the holy place where saint Nainain met the spirit who inspired his faith. Some Goblins up the pass seem unhappy but let them go through.
On the other side of the mountain they find a deep volcanic crater which seems full of unnatural darkness. They cautiously come near. Stahlarm, who took another path, joins them. The Bishop, with help of the other magic-users, tries to dispel the mysterious darkness. They fail a few times, but, still trying, they succeed: the darkness disappears and they see all the stars of the sky reflecting inside the crater.
A small temple appears, nearly the same as the other temple in the village of St-Nainain. The Bishop and two faithful Dwarves walk up the path. A kind of ethereal ghost is in their way but the Bishop dispels it with ease, it was perhaps a last illusion.
In the small temple they find an ape-shaped creature who shouts they must go away; and who adds in a desperate tone that he is the spirit Humandwarf who inspired saint Nainain to found his religion, but that nobody believes in him any more, that even the adepts and the Bishop do not really believe and that they pray without conviction, this lack of belief has rejected him in this unholy shape for eternity.
Hearing this, the characters – including chief Thorgrim – say that, yes, they believe in him! and they begin to sing the holy name of saint Nainain on top of their voices (we sadly regret not to have filmed the players, who actually did this near the gaming table!)
After a short moment, the spirit regains power, and changes himself in an animated statue of the saint.There is a small treasure in the temple, money that the saint had left there at the end of his life, made of donations of people and of King’s subsidies.
Unusually for a RPG no one tries to take it, it would obviously be bad politics.
Even Stahlarm who is always looking for treasure does not touch it; he even adds a small donation from his own purse…
…and then he tells the Bishop that, obviously, the god who lives in the temple will have to pay housing tax and property tax as everyone else.Some days later, people will hear that a man who had disappeared some weeks before (before the previous game where some characters were already looking for him), probably a royal spy, had been found alive in a mountain cave and is now free. He was prisoner of the Goblins who had captured him when he entered their territory and had been uneasy to release him by fear of creating a new incident. Some people say that Mitheglas found him, others say it’s an unknown Halfling who found him. Mitheglas and Stalharm say they will not blame the Goblins for this.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/
