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Patrice
ParticipantThanks. 🙂
Man, those poor villagers got a bad deal all around.
That often happens to NPCs… It could have been different if the village chief had not been killed, then Kynwyl could not have negociated with the Franks so easily.
But what of the old woman???
She probably is still near the village, nobody attacked her, the British did not understand at once what she was doing and afterwards they were too far to do something about her. I suppose she will continue to live there, to heal villagers when necessary, etc.
Hey guys this give ideas for next scenarios in the same village, perhaps with more interest in what some individual villagers are doing, and relatives or heirs of the former chief coming to ask questions (Kynwyl did not ask about his family), and traders or other raiders (Visigoths or Saxons)… Lots of inspiration there…
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ParticipantAnother troop, all on foot, has been approaching since a while and appears at the end of the valley.
They are Frankish warriors led by a chief called Sigmer. Since years he has seen the Roman Empire collapsing, he was at the Catalaunian Fields, now he would like to own some lands and a workforce and to optimize their production in his own ways. He marched West, there already were too many Visigoths in the South-West, so he arrives here.
Meanwhile, the civilian villagers and their cattle hurry (as fast as they can, which is slow).
While watching the situation, Kynwyl talks with a local warrior who tells hims that a Holy man called Pelo had lived in the area and made many miracles till he was killed by raiders and buried somewhere. Kynwyl is very interested by this, a few relics of this Holy man would increase awareness of all his efforts. He would like to have a look at the place where Pelo lived, but it’s outside the village and there is no time for this now.
The British decide to avoid the first wall, and walk uphill (still with their cart) in the direction of the fort.
There they see that they cannot climb inside the fort without losing too much time. The remaining Gaulish warriors fight them but are defeated, Arvandus is killed.
The British catch the cattle which were not yet inside the fort, and bring them to the lower part of the village. Seeing the Franks approaching, they decide to leave the place with their booty.
The British are going away, and the Franks have entered the other part of the village. Kynwyl the monk understands that he must think fast. With most of the village warriors killed there is no point in fighting the Franks if it can be avoided. Although he doesn’t like the pagan Franks, he sees no other way than talking with them. He says to the Frankish chief that he will happily welcome them in the village and recognise him as village chief (which he has no power to do, but never mind, as the religious authority he takes responsability) if the Franks settle peacefully and let him build an oratory near the village. The Franks are happy with this, and Kynwyl hopes that with time they will convert to Christianity. The remaining villagers are not happy at all, but Kynwyl tells them that there is obviously no other choice and that anyway it’s not a democracy here.
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ParticipantInteresting! 🙂
…more pictures?
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ParticipantWell, anyway, that’s how a carabinier’s cuirass looks like authentically after a good battle (Musée de l’Armée, Paris):
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ParticipantNice ships and battle!
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ParticipantIf I need a hit location in an RPG I use one of Koplow’s Hit Location D12’s but frankly I’m rarely sure it matters where the hit is unless you need to factor in armour. I tend to assume armour is much the same all over
This.
Real people keep moving all the time (unless tied to a tree as St. Sebastian martyrdom) so at different moments different body parts could be more exposed, you cannot include everything in a chart; for exemple an archer would expose his left arm when shooting, does it make a difference, it would never end.
I use a location D12 when a player (or other important) character is wounded in skirmish.
From a roleplaying aspect your character can end up with some lifelong injuries or disabilities, which is great for hardcore RPGers
You can have this with a simple roll after the character is healed, a small probability that he/she keeps a disability where he or she has been wounded.
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ParticipantVery interesting thread.
I would be very unhappy to be in such a vehicle without knowing if the river bottom is hard enough.
The Romans built paved fords for safe crossing…
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ParticipantThanks. 🙂
It’s not too difficult to make, all these AARs are translations, or adapted translations, of the AARs in French — but which are sometimes more chaotic as players often interfere to say what they have seen or understood during action. In this case:
https://www.anargader.net/t3359-argad-ou-est-jean-breut-i-want-my-cannon#31282
I was the GM in this game (not always the case) so I had the character sheets at hand to start with …although the objectives are often broad enough to let players do unpredictable things on the gaming table.
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ParticipantVery good!
The coulour of stones may depend on the area. In some places (as where I live) you could have stones of slightly different colours, some may be blue-ish, others red-ish, or almost yellow… It would not do good to exaggerate this, but some slight shades can help.
As somebody who has had to do a bit of walling, remember the stones aren’t normally as big as a vehicle wheel
For scale, think of them as averaging about the size of a head of a figure at that scale
Yes.
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ParticipantSLATFATF – So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
Thanks for improving my English.
For a few seconds I wondered if it could have something to do with Sir Falstaff. I should have remembered that Shakespeare does not often give clues to understand modern English.
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ParticipantAttach flags and use a pin to join two half together, the photo’s explain it better. The finales can be removed and you only have to make one flag, however it probably takes just as long to make as the two flag method . Though on the plus side I can swap regiments around
Interesting idea. I’ve been doing that for flags on large devices (boat, fort…) but not thought about doing it on figures. It certainly makes sense when you have 2-3 figures on a same base (as in your picture).
what is a flag or standard doing anywhere near a skirmish? How can any competent commander allow such as monstrous dereliction of security occur? Other than “into a ‘camp’ environment” I can’t see it happening.
Good point. It’s true it should not happen in large, proper, Napoleonic style (does this mean that the Sharpe series are not serious? OMG) but you could imagine situations in the Peninsular or the retreat from Moscow. I was also thinking about small actions or ambushes in less conventional fights, as could happen in the Wars of Religion, or TYW, FIW, AWI, RCW, SCW etc. the kind of imaginary skirmish I most often play. Supposed to be 1:1 but at the same time you may have two or three squads of infantry from different units, a few cavalrymen and perhaps a gun, for each player, so it also has the taste of larger encounters and having (and waving) a flag is appreciated.
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ParticipantIn 28mm games I move the trees when they are in the way (except large individual trees which are there for some reason). Not the 28mm buildings which all are a terrain feature on their own at this scale.
…But in a small scale as 6mm I would move the houses too. My own approach is as realistic as possible in the perception of things – but this does not mean that terrain cannot be changed. After all, the soldiers walking or crawling there have no clear perception of the overall shape and map of the village etc. and if they have they forget it fast if they are in combat, so it does not bother me that some terrain features appear in a different place five minutes after an unit entered the place – I say to myself they would not remember it exactly, fog of war or whatever, so my very personal idea of narrative realism is satisfied. 🙂
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ParticipantNice, and very inspiring!
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ParticipantI have a friend who uses a material which NEVER wraps for basing rather small terrain elements: roof slates!
I would not do it, it’s …quite heavy… But he knows how to work with these and he can find some when he needs them, he is a professional stonemason.
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ParticipantWith a wooden frame all around it.
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ParticipantI’m not familiar at all with the wars of Ozz but this question is always interesting.
Some French cavalry general (I don’t find the link now) said that when charged and ridden over: Austrians surrender and every man says he is Czech; Russians lie down and then rise again to shoot at you.
French Revolution cannot satisfactorily be described in 3 words
I’ve been taught since childhood that these three words are Liberty Equality & Fraternity …but sometimes I doubt of it. 😉
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ParticipantVery interesting ideas, thanks. 🙂
We’ve been using a different system (that could be complementary) in medieval or 16th-17th-18th C. games: small groups of travellers, merchants etc. arrive at some place, or happen to travel near; most are perfectly honest, some are enemies in disguise or bandits etc. it is already written, secretly, by the game master / referee (if any) or by an opponent.
You are right it could also be randomly rolled on the spot.
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ParticipantThree young women were waiting inside a house, one of them was fair-haired, the second was dark-haired, the third one was red-haired; and the female warriors choosed one of the noble riders who was with Galanan and they sent him into the house; and when he was tired and had to come out they choosed the other noble rider; and after him the noble Galanan himself had to enter and to give his best; and all that time the bard was looking at the window so he could sing it later in the halls of the Pictish kings.
There was a feast near the cauldron tree, and the villagers shared drinks with everyone. On the morrow Galanan awoke, and ate breakfast, and mounted his horse, and went north, and his druid, and his bard, and his warriors with him, and the cart where Lachlann was asleep, and the female healer, and his cousins, and four female warriors that the village did lend to him. And they felt something strange in their heads, not being accustomed to the drinks they had in the previous evening; and they rode and walked in all directions at random, unable to stay on their path and to head north.
Only the four female warriors from the village did not seem worried. So told them Galanan “Walk forward, and we shall follow you,” and so they did. Also, Galanan and the two noble riders who had been in the house with the maidens noticed that their swords were blunt in their sheaths, and the druid said they should find a stone hard enough to sharpen them; and there was a standing stone fallen near the path, and it was the stone that was needed, and on this stone they sharpened their swords. And sometimes later they arrived in a forest where there was a small hut and an old woman living there.
A cauldron was on a fire near the hut, and Galanan looked at the cauldron, and Galanan looked at the druid, and the druid looked at Galanan, and the druid looked at the cauldron, and the druid said “No, too small for it,” and Galanan said “Oh…! Ewe sh*te.”
The old woman gave them a potion to drink, that eased their troubles. She wanted to be paid, and that one of the young female cousins of Galanan should stay to work with her till their return. And she said that the magical cauldron was farther north and that they would see something unusual.
Then Galanan mounted his horse again and went north, and his druid, and his bard, and his warriors with him, and the cart where Lachlann was asleep, and the female healer, and his cousins but one, and the four female warriors.
And far away they did see a magical hill, an ancient grave of some great warrior of the past.
They came near, and wanted to enter.
The druid tried to open the door, but open not did the door. The bard also tried, and succeeded, and said the bard “This story will be told by bards anyway.”
A cauldron and other pots and funeral thingies were along the wall. Galanan looked at these objects, and Galanan looked at the druid, and the druid looked at Galanan, and the druid looked at the cauldron and at all the other things, and the druid said “No, still can’t be it”, and Galanan said “Oh…! Ram sh*te.”
They made a brief ceremony and they prayed the deceased soul of that grave to pardon them for having disturbed him or her; then Galanan mounted his horse and went north, and his druid, and his bard, and his warriors with him, and the cart where Lachlann was asleep, and the female healer, and his cousins but one, and the four female warriors.
They came in sight of a large hill, and went near to it. There a giant was standing, fair his hair, and staring at them he was.
Galanan told the giant they were coming in peace, and the giant told Galanan to go away. Galanan told the giant he was looking for a magical cauldron to save his son, and the giant pointed at skulls on stakes behind him and he told Galanan that this was the destiny of anyone who came to steal his treasures. Galanan told the giant he could not leave before his quest was fulfilled, and the giant told Galanan to do something not polite.
Galanan, and his warriors with him, and the female warriors with them, went forward to fight the giant.
They surrounded the giant, and the giant killed a warrior and received two blows of spears. “Ouch!” said he, that had never met with a wound before. Another time Galanan asked the giant to let him follow his quest, and promised they would not steal anything.
The giant then agreed, and he let them walk up the hill. There they saw the wives of the giant and a large silver vat.
Galanan looked at the vat, and Galanan looked at the druid, and the druid looked at Galanan and he knew where he had to look at, so the druid looked at the vat, and looked again and again, and the druid said “This is the cauldron,” and Galanan said nothing.
When the cauldron was full with water they took Lachlann from the cart and they bathed him in the water. The druid, the bard, and the healer, joined their might to heal Lachlann, and it was not long till he rose up living.
Then they brought to the cauldron, one after the other, two warriors who had been wounded in the fights, one of them was saved, the other was not. Galanan asked the giant how they could thank him. The giant said he wanted nothing but they must swear not to tell a thing about this place. Galanan noticed that the giant had some golden objects and seemed to like gold, so he gave him the cross taken from the monks and he told him it had been won in battle and its bearer killed, which was quite true. The giant was happy.
So the great Galanan, son of Talorc, went back to his house by the same path, and his son, and his druid, and his bard, and his warriors with him, and the cart and the female healer, and his cousins, and all the way his heart was full of joy and also his mind was full of hope that nobody should ever talk to him about fe**ing old cauldrons again.
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ParticipantGalanan and his two noble riders went forward and they threw showers of spears at the Scots.
The Scots who were guarding the captives ran from them, and went to take refuge in bushes, and Galanan followed them and killed some of them.
The Scots who were still alive implored Galanan to let them go. Galanan raised his arm and he pointed at some far hills in the west, and said he: “Go to these hills, and look for me if I be there.” And the Scots obeyed to him, and when they reached the faraway hills they looked for Galanan to see if he was there, and obviously he was not there because he continued his travel to the north, and his druid, and his bard, and his warriors with him, and the cart where Lachlann was asleep, and the female healer, and his cousins freed from captivity.
Farther on the path were high mountains, and warriors were standing on the high passes. Galanan rode to the mountain, and his druid along him, to reassure these people and he told them he was coming in peace, but they refused to hear him.
The warriors of Galanan were ready to climb the path to attack, but the warriors came running down the path, and some of them were naked. The bows and crossbow did not stop them, the swords and spears I do not say.
Having killed these men, Galanan, and his druid, and his bard, and his warriors with him, and the cart where Lachlann was asleep, and the female healer, and his cousins, went over the mountain, and from there they could see a village in the nearby valley, similar to other villages in the south but they thought it was a different world.
Female warriors were in this village, not were they threatening nor hateful. It was a village of women, and these women told Galanan that men were accepted in there only to give new blood to their race and otherwise the men were sent to the mountains because there was no need of them.
In the middle of the village a holy cauldron was hung in a tree, and Galanan stared at the cauldron, happy to fulfill his quest.
And Galanan looked at the druid, and the druid was staring at the female warriors.
And again Galanan looked at the druid, and again the druid was still staring at the female warriors.
And again Galanan looked at the druid, and the druid noticed that Galanan was looking at him, so the druid looked at Galanan, and Galanan looked at the cauldron, so the druid looked at the cauldron, and the druid said “No, doesn’t look like it,” and Galanan said “Oh…! Sheep sh*te.”
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ParticipantAs all good (orc) artillery crew know, you can never have too many bolts to hand. You don’t want to be heading off to the wagon half way through a battle
Yeees, good point.
I had a second look at them and yes it makes sense. And if the enemy comes too close they could probably throw these bolts by hand, as pilum – angon, or use them as short spear or goedendag in melee.
Um, now I think I need them…
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ParticipantI reroll the crocked (I think I’ve learnt a new word today) ones, and also those falling off table; not the others which behave correctly.
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ParticipantThanks 🙂
I can appreciate how much time in planning and setup is required, and having a lot of different miniatures at your disposal certainly helps as well!
Yes there is work required. Although, we run RPG-esque games quite often, so many tricks and ideas are already there or just need to be adapted from our other historical periods.
There were not many miniatures involved in this game, and the oldest ones had not seen the light since many many years (that’s why some bases need improvement) it happens when we want to explore a historical context we did not often play before.
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ParticipantAnd then… a small Spanish vanguard appears at the other end of the dyke. La Fontenelle, although technically an allied, apparently does not want to meet them. He abandons the cart which cannot turn round on the narrow dyke and walks back with his men and his prisoner, but not to the village, they follow the bank of the pond (they can be seen in the background). The Spanish walk around the cart and enter the village.
The woman in red has joined La Fontenelle’s group obviously trying to leave the place as fast as possible.
Seeing this, Antonin the League officer follows his instinct (and is gaining confidence with the Spanish approach). With some soldiers on foot behind him, he rides towards La Fontenelle to stop him and to ask a few questions.
La Fontenelle protests and say they are on the same side, and that he his going away with his own belongings and a prisoner. Antonin has more men and more firearms, and thinks that stealing from thieves is a good thing. He says he’ll keep the prisoner, and also the three small chests, and that the thieves carrying them will follow him too. He lets the furious La Fontenelle go away alone with sword and horse.
Antonin does not let the red woman go. She says her name is Katell Ruz (that means Red Cathy in Breton, probably not her true name). He thinks they are on the same side but he does not take any risk and he confiscates her arquebus. (A smiley die says that) she is unhappy of this and she slaps him.
`
He then asks the prisoner who he his. The man answers in English “my name is Robert Davidson, I’m a master gunner, je souis maître canonnier…” (with the GM accent…) So this man is a highly qualified English technician, La Fontenelle wanted to ransom him (that’s why he did not want the Spanish to see him, they could have killed him).The attacking Englishmen are too far to hear these discussions but ask themselves what is going on.
Far from there, near the poorest houses, some peasants are interested by the load of the mule left behind by the English.
The Royalists think it’s time to go back to where they came from.
The English decide to go back too. Two Spanish cavalrymen charge some of them…
…One of the Spanish riders is shot before contact, the other one rides over a caliverman. The survivors of both sides disengage, the English continue to retreat without haste, the Spanish vanguard follows them but not fast.
Antonin returns to the village, this time with his troop. Having cautiously avoided melee contact all the time he had not many casualties, and with a few of the fanatics still alive and the three thieves pressed into his service he now has more men than before!
He has accomplished his mission, and as ever he does not forget his own interests (…some players have a great imagination for this and may surprise the GM, who cannot plan in advance all possibilities and ideas and must follow as well as possible).
He sends one of his men to the retreating English to ask them if they want to buy the prisoner! It appears that this man is highly considered and needed (recovering him was a secondary mission for the English). After some discussion they accept to pay 200 livres for him.
In the thieves’ chests he finds some jewels, precious things, and coins, probably stolen from nearby manors. He gives the coins to the village priest for charity and to pray for him, he keeps the rest which is more than 200 livres value also.
He then invites Katell Ruz to the village inn. She says (it was quite obvious) that she works for the League on important secret matters. He politely asks her if she wants to spend the night with him, but (a smiley die says that) the answer is no. He does not insist and gives her her arquebus back.—
Conception details, for inspiration:
Two weeks before the event I didn’t know how many players could be present, if any, and if they would be new gamers or not. So I decided to go for an easy scenario to run, with very small and uneven forces (the rules are not really intended for traditional battle on equal terms).
First part of game: two groups of attackers advance towards the village, outnumbering a group of defenders which can use optional rules for ambush (which basically are that the ambushed cannot shoot back or strike back in the game turn when the ambush happens; in a skirmish between small groups it has some effect).
Second part of game: defenders reinforcements or allies arrive from the other side of the gaming table, the situation is reversed.
This could have allowed to cut the game duration in two halves; and also to accept different numbers of players. There was only one player, so he handled the defending group (and the GM the attackers). With two players it could have been the contrary. In such cases, with one or two players “against” the GM, players are given some good advantages over their GM-run NPC opponents as in good old RPGs. If more players they would have been on opposite sides, so even with unequal forces an overall balance would be more important. Small squads could also have been handled by passers-by, even for a short time, but visitors were more interested in looking at the terrain and discussing details or history than actually trying to play.
Note also that the importance that some NPCs take in the game often depends on the players themselves: if the players ignore them they stay …almost ignored, or idle; if players develop an interest towards them the GM gives them more reality and motivations on the spot and it can be more interesting and funny than the main tactical situation (as happened in the second part of this game).http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
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ParticipantAntonin (the PC Ligueur officer) rides fast to the village to understand what the villagers think (he knew they are generally on his side), he calls them to resist to the “huguenots”, and asks a local merchant for informations. The merchant has not much to say; but there is a small group of bad-looking individuals in the street, probably bandits; their leader is a very young man, his name is La Fontenelle (an historical character) a brigand who supports the League for his own interests only. Antonin asks for his help, La Fontenelle accepts to send one of his men, with an arquebus, at the other end of the village to fight the enemies, but seems more interested in gathering some chests and a prisoner he kept in a house.
Antonin rides back to his troop, which slowly continues to recoil. Four Catholic fanatics (left of picture) arrive, holding a large cross and a League standard …and singing religious songs (a funny time as the GM is expected to act it). They seem difficult to control (if they had arrived earlier it could have hampered the ambushes) so Antonin encourages them to attack the enemy on their own.
Antonin notices a women in red clothes, holding an arquebus, who arrived with the fanatics and now seems to be sneaking alone behind his troop. He has met her before (in another game) he knows she seems to support the League but takes part in mysterious affairs. The woman runs across a field, heading towards the dyke.
…perhaps she has seen La Fontenelle who, with three of his men, a cart, and a prisoner, is trying to get away from the village before the English arrive.
At the other end of the village, some Englishmen who were advancing receive an arquebus shot from a window.
Three of them begin to smash the door of the house (an action which “takes some time” in the rules). The longbowman stays to watch around and, not seeing any enemy in the street at this moment, practices target shooting at a catholic statue he thinks is idolatry.
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ParticipantI’m not sure I want to use terrain containing snot, however dilute…
Good point. A good wash of javel water, then cleaning, and priming, should do. But it’s true that some players could be suspicious.
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Participant, as their ballista doesn’t seem able to move
Mugludd MightyArm and Boneface McStrong disagree, you weak manling.
Oh yes you are right… Thinking about it, given the very aggressive fighting ways of the Orcs, it would make sense that the ballista would be carried with the first waves of assault. Either on their shoulders, as you say, or a small cart could be fitted underneath on easy terrain.
…And …AAaaargh damn ! Now I think I suddenly understand why in our last (historical) Dark Ages game a player (always very cunning) who had taken a fort with a ballista in it later asked for a large wheelbarrow from the nearby village… And I had thought it was just to make a joke! He certainly plans to use it in next games. Not sure it will be large enough though.
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ParticipantThanks for all the links, I didn’t know these Orcish ballista crews.
Strange the Forlorn Hope ones want to carry the bolts on their back, as their ballista doesn’t seem able to move …but they are Orcs 😉 and anyway they can be useful too.
I have a very old Citadel or early GW Orc, and a Gob too, with cannonballs but they are certainly not available anywhere.
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ParticipantInteresting thread as people not only answer the question, but also wish to mention why. It gives a broad view of personal tastes and also of the evolution of fashions. 🙂
My first 28mm (small) army very long ago were HYW based by 2-3-4 on collective bases for some old rules (“Charges antiques et médiévales” and “La Flèche et l’épée”) …which I never played with them (although I did play these rules with 15mm figures which I never rebased).
So some time later I felt frustrated that these 28mm guys could not run alone freely on the battlefields, so I rebased them on individual 20mm cardboard square bases, as I used after that for all my newer historical and fantasy figures (except the large fantasy monsters of course). The cavalry following the same process, from collective bases to 2,5cm x 5cm bases.
Some years ago I thought that square bases were not really necessary for skirmish, so I began to base my new figures on 20mm washers. And many older figures which needed improvement (because they had been painted with Humbrol long ago, etc.) were also rebased similar. Only some regular infantry which often is in close order stay on 20mm square bases (and some new napoleonics have been granted 15mm x 20mm bases to give a better impression).
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Participantlooks cold in that room
Yes …and we look quite ridiculous with extra layers of clothing! 😉 😉
The friend who owns this house decided to turn the garage into a wargaming room, and installed a permanent structure to support large terrain tiles; which is appreciated, as so many public events (where large gaming surfaces are available) have been cancelled.
However, thermal isolation still needs improvement (at least for winter)…
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ParticipantThat is truly a complex plot, but realistic in that each person has totally different motivations that are all their own.
Yes there was good work from the GM (not me) and also it works well when players are accustomed to seize any opportunity for a good story even about things which were not planned.
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ParticipantThe small vanguard of Tegwen’s troop arrives near the Angles… and receive arrows which kill two of his cavalry. Tegwen hesitates. Seeing this, Drustan asks to negociate, he will leave the fort to the Angles if they let him go with his men. Lot of fun as the GM insists that the characters can’t speak the same language so the players must use only a few basic words, and gestures, to talk. Aelfric is happy to accept. Drustan and the remains of his troop leave the fort and walk inland, near the forest.
Meanwhile, Marwena (in chainmail, and Gwennin in light blue dress) do not seem interested in the fightings, they have left the main road.
…and enter the forest. Galanan can see them and would like to ambush them, but he is too busy near the village.
They want to meet an old witch who lives there. After fighting an angry bear roaming there, Marwena meets the witch.
The witch says that Gwennin must rub herself to the three standing stones, as do all women in the area when they want a child. But Gwennin already did such things, before converting to Christianity (in a previous game) it did not work then and she doubts it would work better now.
Drustan, passing near the wood, comes and asks what’s going on. Gwennin tells him and asks him if he knows a better remedy than rubbing herself to a stone? Drustan says “Yes!” and is willing to help. It’s not exactly what Lady Marwena had intended, but after applying twice the remedy (hence the two red hearts) the smiley die says that everyone is quite happy.
Fightings continue at the stream near the village, with heavy casualties on both of the small troops.
While their foot warriors are fighting there, the mounted Picts have entered the village. Some of them already are near the houses in the background:
They take some sheep, a few prisoners (four women and a monk) who did not run fast enough, and discover barrels of mead in a house. The warrior who found them fails a test and gets drunk; his friends put the barrels on a cart and him on top.
However this cart is too large to cross the small bridge and must be abandoned. Sad about this mead, the two Pictish warriors who have taken the sheep discuss traditional recipes for the fermentation of ram liquor (which a player in a previous game pretended is a renowned local product).
So at the end of the day:
Aelfric and his Angles have the tower. Tegwen negociates with them, pretending to own the village (which is not true, but with the whole country falling apart he sees his interest). He gives them the land between the stream and the forest (which he has no right to, but nobody will challenge it) and himself will run the village. Aelfric pushes his luck and politely asks for more, and as they are supposed not to speak the same language it’s good fun again:
Aelfric, pointing at everything he sees in the village: – “Pigs! Pigs!”
Tegwen: — “What? Oh, yes, you can have the pigs.”
Aelfric: — “Hens! Hens!”
Tegwen — “Yes, the hens too, if you want them.”
Aelfric: — “Wheelbarrow!”
Tegwen: — “You need the wheelbarrow?! Oh, I can see that you are fascinated by this beautiful creation of advanced technology. You can have it, too.”
Aelfric: — “Your daughter! Marry!”
Tegwen: — “Uh… You want to marry my daughter…?” (he takes at random one of the female villagers who escaped the Picts, and brings her forward) “Yes, yes, I agree, she is very happy!”Galanan the Pict has taken some plunder, but with heavy casualties and one casualty was his son. He will continue to oppose Gwennin.
Drustan failed to defend the tower but still has warriors with him and is in good terms with Tegwen, they will certainly cooperate in the area.
Marwena expects that Gwennin will have a child, as they wanted, even if she pretends not to know all details.
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ParticipantAt the other end of the valley, Lady Marwena with her daughter-in-law and a small escort is travelling through the village.
After some random time, Tegwen map Gaius and a rescue troop come at full speed along the same road which leads to the coast. Tegwen’s men seem to despise the villagers and are reluctant to stop to talk with them, they have no time.
Walls of fog prevent them from seeing another troop coming towards them… Galanan’s Picts riding to the sky!
When he can see them, Tegwen understands that these Picts are not friendly. Half his troop is already far on the road, he stops his rearguard to face this new threat. Galanan, who had expected him to leave the village soon, is not happy either, he must now fight these soldiers if he wants to take booty.
Picts on foot attack on the left, while mounted Pictish noblemen cross the small stream on the right.
Meanwhile, the third Angle ship had arrived and Aelfric’s troop now clearly outnumbers the defenders of the fort.
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ParticipantMost of the games I play are organised for an afternoon (roughly 14:00 to 18:00 or 19:00, set up and packing time not included) but in some public events I also run demo games intended for 2 hours.
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ParticipantI can well believe it. Most of the animal breeds (and vegetables too, etc.) became much larger in the 18th and 19th century.
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ParticipantLooks like a good game, and a well-thought terrain disposal, nice village.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
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ParticipantHi,
Two new complements for Argad ruleset have been translated into English:
– “Archery Tables” (4 pages) a compilation of charts and rules for different sorts of bows and crossbows. These charts are otherwise scattered in different documents, having them together will help game organisers and GMs to have a better overview of the rules system.
http://argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/archery-tables-en.pdf
– “Ogres & Ogresses” (4 pages) suggestions and reference sheets for these creatures. Since the first edition of Argad in 1996 all humanoids used only D6s in the fantasy games (as humans in the historical games) with too many modifiers, it was not very practical. Improvements using D4, D8, D10 etc. instead are being rewritten and tested, this is the first document about it. The rules are not linked to any peculiar fantasy world, these suggestions are for inspiration more than compulsory.
http://argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/ogres-en.pdf
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Patrice
ParticipantThanks guys. 🙂
I really like the diplomacy section before the start as a build-up to the more traditional action.
We try to have diplomacy in every game, but it also depends on the time to prepare it, and you never know how the players will act and react to each other.
I meant to reply, sorry. Thanks for taking the time to post.
Oh, you’re not compelled to reply to every thread. 😉
Especially as you had PCs on both sides. Pretty bad day for the French though, losing both knights and their ship, that’s got to be expensive. Was there really a chance that the French Knight would have survived to talk peace?
The French player had very bad dice rolls most of the time… The French knight could have escaped the assassination (die rolls) I actually thought the NPC assassin would be captured inside the room. That would have slightly changed the situation the following morning, as GM I would have stated that the French knight and the English knight started their discussion in the inn and forbade any fighting near the village. The skirmish would probably have developped farther on the edges, but anyway Quimerc’h had decided to ambush him on his way back to the ship (to make sure to earn the Navarrese reward) and this player is often effective in planning and doing such deeds…
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ParticipantThanks for this article and info… and for this picture!
I have somewhere two or three Chineses with such matchlocks (Foundry I think) and I never painted them because I thought they were too obsolete for the 1920s warlords era… Now I’ll look for them and I’ll paint them and they will join a group of brigands or whatever. 🙂
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ParticipantNo more diplomacy, now they all need a good old-fashioned skirmish! At sunrise the pro-French Breton troop walks near the village to take position on the road.
Cosquer’s troop, which was also hidden but on the other side of the aber, comes in view and enters the village.
Quimerc’h joins his men who take position on the other side of the field they were in. Foot soldiers exchange arrows and xbow bolts without much results (the pro-French wall of pavises is too strong, and most of the pro-English have cover).
Marie Keranster wisely orders the villagers and peasants to leave the village without interfering and to hide their belongings in the countryside.
All the newcomers now begin to ask who owns the tower near the village (strangely enough no one asked before)… People say it belongs to an old esquire, hard drinker and without money, who loosely supports the pro-English side. Cosquer borrows a horse in the village and quickly rides to the tower, and tries to convince the old man to take side. The esquire is reluctant to agree, he has one crossbowman in his tower, after some discussion he tells him to shoot at the French, the first bolt misses voluntarily, the next one kills an enemy. Some pro-French soldiers then walk to the tower but one of them is killed by a stone dropped from the top, the others go back.
The mounted knights charge against each other in two different places. Very bad luck for the pro-French knights who are defeated (including by mounted sergeants that’s very bad dice rolls indeed).
Seing their knights defeated, the pro-French slowly recoil out of the place.
Meanwhile, the Navarrese ship has sailed away. The French ship sails later, Quimerc’h then runs to the ship which brought him, now he wants to fight the French on sea. Some of his men brought on sticks two beehives they took in a field.
The pro-English ship and the French ship come close to each other, the first arrows are devastating for the French, then the men of Quimerc’h throw the beehives, one falls into the sea, the other one on the French ship, but it’s almost not necessary the French captain surrenders.
Explanation and results:
— The Navarrese (NPC) had prepared two different ways to block the peace meeting: the reward promised to Quimerc’h, and an assassin they sent from their ship (unknown to Quimerc’h). The NPC assassin was lucky (secret rolls by the GM and perception rolls failed by Troussequin). If he had been captured he only spoke in Basque.
(This scenario was very, very loosely inspired by real events: a project of peace was actually discussed in 1353-54, the king of Navarre was really upset about it, he had the Connetable of France Charles de la Cerda murdered in a brawl in an inn in Normandy in 1354).
— Cosquer and Quimerc’h succeeded in defeating the pro-French troop. Quimerc’h was eager to attack to make clear that the peace discussions had failed. He will be secretly rewarded by the king of Navarre, if only because this skirmish where pro-French knights died makes almost impossible an effective murder enquiry in the village.
— Guy de Troussequin, who stayed on foot because he had no warhorse with him, retreated with the pro-French infantry and is safe. At least he has hope that local merchants will order wine from his domain later.
— Marie Keranster the inkeeper hears that her house is now nicknamed “The Red Inn” (in Breton: An Davarn Ruz) because of this murder …but it could as well attract more visitors. And she now has an address to order wine from Poitou, trade continues even in war time.Pictures above : Jean-Jacques, Nicolas.
The story and more pictures from the Bastard de Quimerc’h’s (player) point of view (in French):
https://euthanasor-wargamesetmodelisme.blogspot.com/2021/11/pourparlers-pourparlers-pour-faire.htmlThe story and more pictures from Guy De Troussequin’s (player) point of view (in French):
https://www.anargader.net/t3200-heurs-et-malheurs-du-sieur-troussequin#29852
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JeudHistoire/permalink/2910099005967687/The story from the GM point of view, in French:
https://www.anargader.net/t3202-an-davarn-ruz-l-auberge-rouge#29870http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Patrice
Participant“Magic has faded in the background and been replaced with black powder.”
Interesting point about the possibility of powerful magic, and black powder, in a same medieval fantasy world…
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