Gather round
all ye merry folk, strike up the band and hear the minstrels sing the tale of
the famous outlaw Robin B’stard and how he bested Bad Baron Harding in the deep
dark vale of Shirewood Forest.
This was
another playtest of my skirmish game introducing the outlaw profile. An ambush
scenario.
Baron
Harding has returned home from a successful chevauchee in France with a good
haul of rich pickings and is escorting his ill-gotten gains on mule back to his
castle home with his Retinue. The road passes through the thick Forest of
Shirewood, a dense forest well known to local outlaws and a prime place for an
ambush. To prevent being waylaid on the main road, the Baron has hired a guide
and some local peasants to lead his Retinue by one of the many lesser paths
that wend their way through the Forest.
Baron
Harding is not a modest man and word of his wealth has spread through the
county, notorious Outlaw and bane of the local gentry, Robin B’stard has heard
tell of the gold and is determined that it should be his. He gathers his Messy
Men and in small bands they patrol the Forest in eager anticipation of
acquiring the Baron’s Bounty.
The trail
skirts the edge of Shirewood. There are several areas of dense forest which are
considered Hard Going as are the two marshy areas and the Hills. As the Bad
Baron I had to get my little convoy of gold off the far edge of the table, Mark
as the good? Outlaw B’stard is out to steal it!
The Baron’s
men enter the table on the first turn.
they begin
to spread out, alert for any danger
some of them with very suspect moustaches
Moving
through the undergrowth, the Outlaws in small groups move towards the Barons
Retinue until…
It didn’t
all go one way however, Robin was unable to hit anything and then the unlucky
Outlaw walked into an arrow going the other way! Sensing a quick victory Sir
Edward charged into the marsh. I completely forgot that this hapless squire
also has the trait Nimble and so he stopped short of contact…
…and soon
resembled a pin cushion. I had quite bad luck with all my saving rolls
throughout the game, saving on 3+ Sir Edward should have lasted longer
Willamena
Scarlett, arch outlaw side kick, has caught up and joins the turkey shoot.
The portly
Friar Muck ambles over to Robin and uses his Blessings trait to heal the Outlaw
chief.
Willamena
and her band all run out of arrows as shown by the orange markers. These
plastic markers cost about a fiver for 120. I have drilled the centres and
glued in 3mm magnets which attach them selves quite nicely to the bottom of the
pennies we use for bases.
With
eight of this Retinue down, the Baron has to test his Will to Fight. It’s not a
good day for rolling dice and despite being as “Bold as a Lion”, a trait that
enables reroll of the WTF roll, the Baron fails miserably and surrenders.
“Here take the gold, much good may it do
you!”
All in all a
fun game and the Outlaws seemed to work well. The Barons men were quickly
overwhelmed but I would want to run the game again before making any drastic
changes. I think we possibly had too many areas of Hard Going on the table
making it a bit easy for the Bandits.
I wanted to
make the Outlaws quite different from the other Retainer profiles and I think I
succeeded. They are Nimble so pay no movement penalty in rough terrain and have
the Woodsman skill which means they can find cover in any terrain that is
considered to be Hard Going. They are not particularly good in melee nor are
they any better than Bow men at shooting, they are not well protected but they
are hard to shoot at and can move quickly through the Forest. The idea is that
they rely on their Heroes who are very good having multiple skills. It will be interesting to see how they cope in
different scenarios with different terrain. I should like to write a short
ladder campaign for them with maybe this scenario being the first one in a
series.