The Tax Collector- A Ruckus Scenario

 

The Tax Collector

Ruckus is very flexible as a game system and it is fairly easy to write and create new profiles, scenarios, and rules for different characters and having completed the Hundred Years War Supplement I thought it would be fun to have a go at a legendary/mythical character-Robin Hood! We chose to colour the legend in our own way and so he became Robin B’stard!

 We played a game using Robin and his band of Messy men back in March, you can read all about it here Robin the Rich which went well although the scenario favoured the Outlaws so I was keen to see how they would perform away from their woodland home.

I wrote the scenario “The Tax Collector” to be part of the Outlaws of Shirewood Forest Campaign, a narrative campaign of a series of linked scenarios telling the tale of Robin B’Stard and his Messy Men and their feud with the wicked Baron Harding of Hardingsford.

Retinues

The Messy Men

The Messy Men are a band of Outlaws led by the notorious Robin B’Stard, a Rogue Knight, turned to a life of crime and brigandage to protect the people of Shirewood from the ravages of the greedy Baron. He has three Archery Skills as well as being Skill’d at Arms.

He is ably assisted by his two Outlaw Heroes, John Small, a huge man of great strength and Will Scarlock, an excellent archer, who act as Robin’s Squires. A wandering Friar, brother Muck, provides support of another kind. Unskilled in the arts of war Muck provides spiritual comfort and is a Healer able to Restore Health to those in need.

The Outlaws are woodcrafty and skilled hunters and know their way through the wilderness, the wild and tangled paths of the Forest hold no mystery for them. They lack armour but make tricky targets, flitting from tree to tree, making the most of the land, finding cover in any patch of wild land.

All Outlaw Profiles are taken from the Ruckus core rules.

Baron Harding’s Retinue

The Baron has the best armour, Fluted Plate, and the skills Rules with an Iron Fist and Sly Knave. He is backed by his squire Jordain, who has the skills Fluted Plate and Strong as an ‘orse and Captain Azo, the leader of his guards, who has Deadly Blade and Born to ‘ang as his skills. Captain Azo is assisted by Alberic, his Seargent, who has the skills Fast hands and Stalwart

The Baron’s Retainers will consist of four crossbowmen and five men armed with spears and shields. In appropriate scenarios, the Baron and his squires may choose to ride Warhorses and he may choose to mount his spearmen on nags.

 

The Outlaws of Shirewood Forest Campaign Scenarios

1 the Tax Collector The tax collector is at work in the local village, the Baron provides protection as he goes about his business. Can the villagers safely move their wealth into the Forest with the wily Outlaws aid? Or will the Wicked Baron get his evil way?

2 Get the Gold The Outlaws ambush a train of pack animals carrying the Baron’s ill-gotten gains

3 Retribution! The Baron raids the Outlaws camp deep in the woods looking for the pesky Brigand leader

4 Stop the Drop! One of the Outlaws has been caught and is sentenced to hang, can Robin stop the hanging and recover his Messy Man?

5 The Golden Arrow! An archery competition with a fabulous prize for the winner has been announced to trap the wily Outlaw Leader, can he fool the Baron and win the day? This could be a Gambit Game for either side and used at any point in the campaign.

6 Damsel in Distress! The Baron has taken Robins betrothed prisoner and is keeping her in the Tower, can the bold Outlaws infiltrate the Keep and rescue her? This game must feature chandeliers to swing on!

The first two scenarios are at the play test stage, the others are yet to be written, but I have a good idea of what shape they will be and what is required.

The Tax Collector

We played this scenario at Bristol Wargames society with Mark Taylor (Robin B’stard /Friar Muck) and Pete Nethercott (Small John/Will) taking the part of the Outlaws and Chris May (Baron Harding/Jordain) and myself (Captain Azo and Aberic) playing the Bad Guys

The Story So Far- The Tax Collector, Gabriel Shrives, a cousin of the Earl, has arrived at the village of Stoneham to gather in the King’s revenue. He has a small detachment of soldiery under the Captain Azo of the Guard and his Squire Alberic as an escort. 

While Azo helps Shrives sort the Revenue the Alberic leads his Spear around the village looking for any tax evaders and potential trouble makers.

Unknown to Shrives the local Outlaw Chief Robin B’stard has his band of Outlaws lurking in the nearby woods, waiting for the right time to pounce and relieve the Tax Collector of his carefully calculated coinage. Robin himself, heavily disguised, has mingled with some of his men with the villagers in a daring attempt to capture the Tax collector

The village lies on the edge of the Great Shirewood Forest…

…the road to Stoneham winds through the Forest…

Robin appears by the Tax Collector and holds a knife to his throat. There was a 1:6 chance of this happening in the first turn and it did!

Azo charges Robin who, in true Hollywood tradition, shoves the hapless Tax Collector into him, foiling his attack.

  Not one to be daunted, Azo attacks again…

…only to be laid out senseless on the floor! I rolled a handful of ones in his attack…

Meanwhile, in the woods, John Small and his Outlaws are guarding the road…

...as are Wilamena (ask Mark Taylor!) Scarlock and her Messy Men

Friar Muck leads his men away from the Bad Barons’ Crossbows …

Azo’s men manage to injure Robin…

…who flees around the corner, forgetting the money!

Friar Muck uses his Blessings skill to heal Robin. To use this skill both characters have to be adjacent and do nothing else for a whole turn. 

Baron Harding and his four Mounted Men at Arms and four light cavalry enter the table! Chris has been rolling for this for four turns! They still have the length of the road to travel; can they be in time to save the Kings Taxes and foil the dastardly B’stard?

 

There should be music!

John Small and his men have been taking potshots at the Crossbows in the village but Pete now directs them to shoot at the Baron

Will(amena) joins in…

...and the Baron is peppered with arrows, most of which bounce harmlessly off his plate!

“Pay them no mind men!” the Baron resolutely canters on with the sound of arrows pinging off his armour. His horse got hit seven times or more but rolled its saving throw each time. 

in the village things have taken a nasty turn. Some villagers have turned upon the Baron’s men! This due to the Outlaws drawing and playing the Special Event Card -Ambush!

Robin and his men look joyfully on waiting for the right moment to snatch the money and run

The Baron is on his way however he is still getting hit by arrows and one of them finds a chink in his armour…he takes a wound!

 

Ohh he’s angry now!

 

At this point the Outlaws draw a second ambush card and another group of hostile peasants attack the Baron’s men! In all the excitement I forgot to get a pic of this, I was laughing too much, we all were!  Meanwhile the Baron’s trusty steed Binky has taken an arrow to the Rump and bolts off down the road. Fortunately, the baron seizes control of the animal and returns to the fray…

“Have at you …you…you…Poor PEOPLE!”

Squire Jordains’ card did not get drawn for a few turns and his orange coated light cavalry sat in the road watching the goings on 

Another horse gets “Rumped” and goes off piste!

I have never rolled as many 1’s as I did in this game, and I am renowned for rolling a lot of ones! This was my only six of the game…but it was a corker!

‘twas Alberic what rolled it and it was in a charge on Brother Muck! The dodgy cleric fails to save and is taken out of the game

He’s off again! The Baron became the target for all the Outlaws and Binky soon resembled a pincushion! The poor horse bolted at least four times, each time in a random direction!

Squire Jordain finally gets going and the lighter armed horse soon take the lead! Can they catch the slippery villain?

It was not to be! The crafty criminal evaded the charge leaving one of his minions to take the lance intended for him. Next turn Robin’s card emerged before the Squires and he simply fled the table! 

“You may have triumphed this time Robin B’stard!” (waves fist in air) “But I will have my revenge, I will get you next time!”

   “Next time maybe, you have to catch me first” calls Robin from the eaves of the forest as he flicks his blond hair so the it catches the last rays of the dying sun and the camera fades to the sunset…

   And so ends another adventure. We made a few mistakes and I learnt a lot from this game today.

One, I think the bolting horse rules may require a little refining, currently the horse bolts 12” Hilarious as it was I think this is maybe too far, 6+d6” may be better…

Two, Crossbows are not good in my game. The inability to move and shoot combined with a short range makes them pretty impotent and no match for the archers. Needs some thinking about…

Three, I think in future games I will mod or get someone else to roll my dice!

What was best about today and every time I watch people playing Ruckus is how much fun people have playing it! It’s very pleasing, indeed flattering, to hear people laugh out loud at something that I have created.

Figures for the game were provided by all the players. Thanks to all at Bristol Wargames Society for adopting my game and making me feel at home

Last Man Standing- a Spontaneous Ruckusing!

Last Man Standing

Three of us turned up for the weekly B-I-G Billhooks Night and as we were the only ones attending, decided to play a game of Ruckus. We played a ”last man standing” scenario with each of us out to get the others. The table was set up with a meeting of roads and two buildings, a farm, and a chapel. We decided that if at anytime one plyer controlled both buildings, that player would immediately win the game. Failing that, the last Retinue to fail it’s WTF test due to casualties would be the winner.

Ben Mallet had his de Lynne Retinue of nominal Lancastrians, led by Thomas de Lynne and two squires, Ralph and Edward.

 Simon Wilde had a Venetian Retinue under the wily Ser Niccolo Nelli, a distant relative of Macchievelli and his two squires Marco Polo and Massimo Stiletto, whereas I had Nominal Yorkist, Sir John de Barre and his squires Cedric and Stan.

We set up 9” in to the table, a four-foot square table is almost a bit too large for Ruckus and it would play just as well on a three-foot board.

Sir John et al

Sir Thomas

Ser Niccolo- Simon’s Retinue feature a new fangled device called a “Gonne” He had five of these devilish contraptions. 

The locals were not impressed 

Sir John and his men sneak up behind the chapel …

Sir Thomas sneaks up on the farm house…

Ser Niccolo sneaks nowhere! Banner proudly displayed the flamboyant Italian strides boldly up the road

Sir John is hampered by his squire’s card not getting drawn for the first three turns or maybe they stopped to admire the bull! 

although he eventually takes up position behind the wall and the chapel

Of all the days! The Bishop is visiting his Parish Priest! Ben rolled random movement for this hapless pair who somehow managed to stumble around in the midst of the fighting. Injuring one of them would bring the risk of excommunication upon the unfortunate sinner and a stiff WTF penalty as a result! 

The Venetian Harquebusiers line up behind the wattle fence to oppose Sir Thomas archers but  realising that they were outranged, wisely hurried up the road to join their comrades.

 the de Lynne Retinue at the other end of the paddock.  The sombre red of the de Lynne livery contrasts strongly with bright scarlet of the flamboyant Venetians 

These guys are only missing a marching band! 

Sir Johns Retinue establish themselves behind the chapel. I made a critical mistake her by being too cautious, I should have taken a risk and used sprinting to advancd and take up position behind the far wall to deny Simon the chance of using it as cover.

  As it turned out I was very good at rolling 1’s in this game so it was probably just as well that I didn’t!

"Avanti ! Con Mi!” 

Drones were deployed! Sir Thomas has advanced into the farm house, Sir John is behind the Chapel and Ser Niccolo is happily marching up the road.

SirJohn command his archers to loose and they do and three of them roll a one! Mishaps all round!

The one that didn’t cock up though, HE hit Ser Niccolo! 3+ to save .he rolls a 2! First blood, the Venetian captain is wounded!

 The lack of shooting from the de Barre faction results in the Venetians getting up to the wall unharmed. 

Ignoring his wound Ser Niccolo charges across the road and piles into Cedric..

…and kills him but not before Cedric wounds Niccolo for a second time 

The de Lynnes look on in amazement…

  “Yere….don’t shoot them Italian bastards….it just makes ‘em angry!”

having changed his bow string, Cedric’s second cousin twice removed, Ned, looks for vengeance, takes careful aim and let’s fly.

  He scores two consecutive hits. One on a Bill man who fails to save, and one on Ser Niccolo! Who falls dead upon the sward!

 Fortunately, the Bishop and his legate are on hand to administer the last rites

The Venetians are stunned…

...and then, they take action! Their boss has been killed, they are not standing for this! They quickly run away!

  In a campaign the Retinue would take a WTF test and if they pass it appoint a squire as the new captain, but in a one off game , a dead captain is game over!

and then there were two!

Sir John is taking refuge behind the chapel. He has lost nearly half of his retinue to arrows from the pesky de Lynnes and these new-fangled bullet things.

    Sir Thomas de Lynne charges Sir John.

They fight! It’s a proper old scrap too! Parry and thrust and the various other skills they each possess prevent any fatalities and when they part they each have a wound 

There is a huge disparity in numbers by now, the unfortunate de Barre faction being heavily outnumbered and one thing they really didn’t need was to be ambushed by a band of skirmishers. This  nasty little surprise came from a Special Event Card, Ambush,  drawn by Ben and just like that 5 of the beggars appeared in the farmers front garden and started shooting!

 However, Sir John also had a Special Event Card, “I Have Gold” , with which he was able to bribe one of the Ambushers who immediately shot one of his comrades. The next turn this same backstabbing double-dealing backstabber managed to kill one of his other fellows in melee! An unexpected hero who was soon taken out by another of his band!

The defiant Sir John! Wounded he glares at his enemies daring them to take him on, in this picture he is outnumbered 13:1!

Meanwhile…on the South side of the Chapel…

  De Lynne squire Sir Edward Fitzhenry comes a cropper at the hands of Stan. This was another very close fight.

At this point, out of sight , on the North side of the chapel, Sir John finally lost a melee, and his life to Sir Thomas, I didn’t get a pic! Sir John fought valiantly and well but rolled four or five ones on the trot for his hits and then his saving throws and no one can survive the Will of the Gods!

A very enjoyable game for all involved, a hard-fought action indeed.

What did we learn?

The same thing I always learn when I play my game…roll better dice!

Aggressive play pays off in Ruckus, Simon's seemingly insane sprinting got his men into key positions early in the game

I think the firearms may need a bit of a buff. Their short range seems appropriate and not being able to move and shoot feels right but the combination makes them quite weak compared to Bows.

Possible solutions.

1 Soft cover, bushes, hedges, fences etc does not cause a blocked shot roll?

2 longer range? 15”

It is something to think about…