Never Mind the Ruckus! A local War for Local People

 

It is seven months since Never Mind the Ruckus first put a figure to the table and it is pretty much a finished product that just requires polishing. I have written ten scenarios which have been play tested to some extent but all would benefit from more. It felt like time to play the first campaign

Jordan and I decided to play a campaign set in our local area, Kingswood, which five hundred and fifty years ago was five miles East of Bristol and was a huge forest that stretched West from Castle Green in central Bristol to the banks of the Severn, North nearly to Worcester and South way down into Somerset. In the 18th century Kingswood was described in parliament as “The last great wilderness” its unlikely that it was any tamer in the 15^th! 

The campaign would involve border disputes and the right to claim rents from certain manors. In the 15^th Century, the area was as hilly as it is today, very Rural, heavily forested and consisted of small villages and hamlets spread far and wide. There were few major roads, little law and order and Brigands and Footpads formed gangs that waylaid travellers and robbed the locals. A perfect setting for our campaign!

We wrote out our Retinue sheets and each drew a Skill for our Captains. In the campaign version the Heroes all have Skill’d at Arms but have to earn any other Skills through gaining Valour Points, which they do by injuring and killing enemies and through meeting certain scenario specific conditions. The Captains start with one Skill, the Squires have none, although they all have Skill’d at Arms. We both drew Friends at Court as our Captains Skill and so could replace a Retainer with a Squire.

Jordan has his knight Sir Henry Graves with his Squires John Hamlin, Matthew Hunter and the fearsome Bertrand le Chance

I had local lord Sir John de Barre of Barrs Court who also drew Friends at Court and has Barton Fields, Edmund Payne, and Bill Squires as his squires.

   We decided to play through the scenarios in the order they appear in the rules and make any adjustments we find necessary as we play. This campaign will be a solid test of the rules and I hope we find and correct lots of holes and mistakes.

There had always been friction between Sir John de Barre and Sir Henry Graves, their manors were quite small and shared boundaries that had never really been settled. The right to hunt in Kings Chase and Shirewood Forest had never been firmly established and both claimed rent from the villages of Mangotsfield and Pucklechurch. Both men are of a fiery nature each believing his claims to be the right true word and the current uneasy peace is unlikely to last. 

Scenario 1 Make Way! The trouble really began when they met each other one sunny Sunday morning on the old roman road that crosses Oldland Common while they were each going to Mass. The lane is narrow as it passes through Five Elms farm and there is no room for two Retinues to easily pass on the road. Neither of these proud, headstrong men were prepared to give precedence to the other and so blows were passed and arrows took flight. 

Through great good fortune Sir Henry easily won this small skirmish and at the end Sir John’s squire, Edmund Payne, his sisters second eldest, lay in the dust bleeding from a wound that would not heal, troubling him until the end of his days, which were sorrowful and not many in number as this tale will surely show.

Sir John had sustained a nasty leg wound from Sir Henry himself in the last moments of the fight, a wound that was slow to heal and reduced Sir John’s mobility leaving him at risk of injury should he try to sprint, leap, or climb! Needless to say, this did nothing to ease his temper and the skirmish certainly did not settle the dispute.

This scenario is a short brutal fight with neither Lord allowed to leave the road. It was over in three turns and we felt that it worked well, does not need any changes, and might serve as an introductory game to Ruckus.

Scenario 2 Get off my Land! Sir Henry was happy to have shown this intruder who was boss and would probably have left the matter there however, Sir John was not a man to bear a slight and when Sir Henry was paying a visit to the hamlet of Wick to check on his tenants, he was surprised to find Sir John already there claiming rents!

  This was a much bloodier affair than the previous fight and did not go well for the hapless Sir John. Erstwhile faithful retainer Norbert was unable to resist the promise of gold that that the Treachery card produced and joined Sir Henry’s Retinue forthwith.

Edmund Payne took a sword to the throat that stretched him out on the pale earth and sent him to join the heavenly host and Sir John, fumbling his stroke, was taken to the floor, and pinned by Sir Henry himself while the rest of the Barrs Court household succumbed to arrow and billhook or simply ran away. Sir John was swiftly taken prisoner by his sworn enemy!

We learnt a lot from this game and made several adjustments to the rules and a few minor changes to the scenario. We added a rule that if a Retainer takes out a Hero in melee, they are immediately awarded a Skill and changed the movement gambits rule to make them less risky to perform. This game confirmed for me that the decision to resolve melee in one turn was the right choice.

The after-game sequence brought skills galore to Sir Henry’s faction and nothing for Sir John’s men. Sir Henry gained a new harness of Fluted Plate and the Born to ‘ang skill, making him very hard to kill!

Game three scenario 8 The Rescue! Sir Henry led the dejected Sir John away unaware that Sir John’s cousin Baldwin and his Squire Dickon Codsock on a visit to his relative had met up with the Barrs Court Household and were following in close pursuit. Wearied by the fight Sir Henry decided to camp by the road side and complete the journey in the morning. His men tie Sir John’s hands and stoke up a campfire. Soon the men are gazing into the cheery blaze and swapping tales of the day’s adventures and discussing how they would spend the ransom that Sir Henry will collect on de Barre.

The dejected de Barre is well guarded by his enemies.

A passing owl, looking down, could see the four Spears of the de Barre Retinue sneaking up on Sir Henry’s camp.

Cousin Baldwin with Sergeant Symes and Morian Dykes approach from the South

Bill Squires has Dick and Falchion Chives with him

Barton Fields has Jack Straw and Morry Dinge and is approaching from the South

Dickon Codsack is the nearest to Sir Henry’s camp, just out od sight, he is waiting for the others to come up. The plan is a quick volley of arrows and charge in as a mob from all sides, overwhelm the opposition and free Sir John.

There are scenario specific rules for spotting at night and each turn we roll to see if the Moon appears which will increase the visibility and make spotting easier

“Who bis thee then?” growls a voice from the dark. A band of four locals, possibly poachers, certainly Brigands, appear-it’s the Ambush Special Event Card!

“A rescue! A Rescue!” cries de Barre! The thugs, seeing their liege lord tied up, immediately attack Matthew Hunter.

One of the Brigands strikes Matthew Hunter with a powerful blow from his quarter staff wounding him.  The enraged Squire soon makes short work of him and the Brigands are easily dealt with but not before they kill one of Graves Retainers.

  Jordan plays Special Event “a short shower of heavy rain” which meansno shooting for three turns! This might change the de Barre gang’s plans!

The attack of the Poachers is a useful diversion however and Bill Squires charges in. A vicious melee takes pace, Bill and his opponent Bertrand the Bastard wound each other. 

Bill is dealt a crushing blow from Bertrand and falls unconscious to the floor

Dickon Codsack charges into Bertrand who with a powerful blow and the Point Break Skill wounds Codsack and breaks his armour, reducing his saving throw to 4+

  Dickon rallies, strikes back and against the odds, takes Bertrand out. Incorrigible Tom One-Thumb salutes the enemy!

It’s a short-lived victory however as Sir Henry Graves charges in and takes Dickon down

  However, Barton Fields has arrived, can he rescue Sir John?

Both sides are down two squires and several Retainers. Cousin Baldwin is closing in and every melee is a close-fought, tense affair. Still fettered and reduced to one attack De Barre makes his move charging into one of Graves’ archers and knocking him down.

Graves’ Squire John Hamlin, charges into Barton Fields who takes him out in a short brutal fight.

  Things are looking grim for Sir Henry; he has lost all his Heroes whereas de Barre has Barton Fields and Cousin Baldwin

  However, de Barre has no Bills left, no support in melee, and Sir Henry has three!

Jordan has used a Bill to support the attack of his other Bill against Barton Fields effectively equalising the odds

 Trapped in the corner de Barre is fighting for his life! He has not freed himself and so, his hands tied, is limited to one attack. He elects to Fend gaining an extra dice.

Bones! Snake Eyes! Dooblo Uno!

  Fortunately, I have drawn a Reroll Bonus card…

…d’Oh!

  Luckily, Sir Henry rolled an untypically poor hand and so de Barre takes only one wound.

Barton has gained 7 Valour Points in the game and is sure to gain a Skill, however, the brave Squire can not defeat these two determined Bills and falls at last

Sir John, still tied, makes a break for it, Sir Henry charges Baldwin and both sides having been reduced to less than 50% roll for their Will to Fight.

  Sir Henry rolls well, Sir John rolls poorly and his remaining men quit the field, leaving their Lord still a captive. The Rescue has failed  

We both rolled for Fate and Fortune in the After Game process. Jordan gained Tower of Strength for Matthew Hunter which gives him an additional dice when Fending. Tom One Thumb, Sir Henry’s impertinent archer gained “That’s a Big ‘Un” the legendary 180lb longbow! John Hamlin suffered an arm wound.

Barton Fields chose to be trained by a Military Order where he learnt the Skills Deadly Blade and Sly Knave. Bill Squires gained Battle Fury which allows him to ignore the effects of wounds. Dickon Codsack picked up a wound that Never Healed.

And what of Sir John? He has no option but to pay the Ransom losing 10 Prestige. There is no currency in Ruckus, he loses Prestige from having to pay a Ransom.

We completely forgot to “Redress the Balance” at the beginning of the game which due to Jordan having a higher Tally Ho! score would have meant de Barre taking a couple of mercenaries to even the score.  Would this have made any difference to the outcome? Maybe

This game was always going to be a challenge! It’s a tricky scenario to write I wasn’t convinced that I had got it right. As it turns out it went better than I expected with less problems than I had anticipated and we had a very close, very exciting, enjoyable game.

However, it was a slow start, with the Defender, Sir Henry, having little to do as my Retinue crept up on them. The Night rules which worked so well with the Bridge scenario did not quite cut it here.

 There are some changes that I think the game would benefit from and we shall try them next time we play it. One idea is to have sentries posted some way out from the camp. These could be Retainers who operate on a d6 table much as they do when Feckless. Maybe one Squire could lead a patrol or “do the rounds” regularly checking up on them. The other idea is an ambush to free the prisoner which is growing on me and will certainly get written as a scenario anyway.

Several ideas occurred to me while playing this game. One idea is to have scenario cards for each scenario which have a key to describe the Special Events for each game. Players could keep this in easy reach.

And so, onto the next scenario Robin the Rich. I wrote this for a band of Outlaws, it should hopefully work for a Retinue ambush with minimal alteration. Sir John wants his Gold back!