The Peasants are Revolting!

 

-The Peasants are Revolting-

Playtesting a solo scenario for Ruckus.

The Story so Far

Those unruly Peasants have been causing trouble again. The Kings deer herds have been noticeably smaller this season and the remains of several deer have been found in the woods. The King has asked you to lead your Retinue in a punitive raid on the local village. These Peasants must learn who is boss!

You must search each and every building in the village

There is great excitement today in the village of Dirt in the Hole, not only have the villagers been feasting on a surfeit of venison thanks to the local poachers but the traders have come to town to sell their wares

 “How much be that there then?”

    “Five groats or half a haunch of venison”

    “That’s a bit deer!”

This scenario features a lot of peasants, surprisingly, we thought it would look good and set the mood if the figures were deployed on the table at the start of the game. Then when they appear as adversaries, we could just move them into position

Look out villagers, a spear led by a squire approaches the outskirts…

…and enters one of the houses. This is a punitive operation; the Retinue must search all six buildings just to show those unruly Peasants who is the boss

…they are in for a shock though, these are no ordinairy villagers, that is the local blacksmith’s boy and he is huge

Bam! Squire down! Suddenly this mission does not look quite so easy

the Scenario Specific special rule Brave Archers results in Young Hal soon resmbling a pin cushion but the feisty peasants do for the Bill man. Without their leader the two archers become Feckless

Another one bites the dust

The first house searched was an old abandoned cottage, the Spear were attacked by a swarm of wild bees that had been nesting there!

  The next house had a stash of strong home brew and one of the Retainers, marked with orange counter, imbibed became Feckless drunk and soon began singing …noisily and out of tune

On to the next building, an old barn, what will they find here? These Perry Miniatures have been beautifully painted by Leigh Parslow

Its an old crone, Hag Agnes and her bowl of Good Enough stew! “It ain’t magic but its Good Enough!

   Hag Agnes has some special Traits that ensure she will be left alone by these intruders!

“I don’t care who you are, you ain’t coming in here with them muddy boots! Now clear orf!” Hag Agnes figure is one of the new Oathmark Human Light Infantry metal figures from North Star and very nice too

Leigh draws a Divers Alarums card and a huge Ferocious Longhorn Bull appears in the centre of the village

This unfortunate Bill man had been sprinting across the village when he Mishapped leaving him exposed to view and he catches the Bullseye!

He put up a good fight wounding the bull but paying the ultimate price. The villagers cheer the bull on, it’s turning out to be quite an exciting Market day. The Squire Rodney Plumeverte, does not appear to notice…

However, Rodney is no slouch and delivers the tercio de Muerte! 

Plumeverte joins up with the archer who survived Young Hal and they advance on the next barn…ohoh! That’s Ferg, the town drunk. The archer is overwhelmed by his Alky Breath Trait and the fumes render him Feckless drunk.

The Archer is not a nice drunk though, he gets fighting mad and takes a swing at Rodney…who knocks him out and then finishes off Ferg

Meanwhile, at the fashionable end of town, Sir Antoine Gervais knocks on the door of the only tiled house…

…it even has its own beehives

It’s the home of the village head man Arthur Six-pennies. His fellow peasants quickly scrag an unlucky archer, this poor chap had run out of arrows and was equipped to fight but could not resist the onslaught 

“Stop right there!” Arthur is a fairly tough proposition surrounded by his villagers; however, he failed his WTF test and so could not use his Rabble Rouser skill to enrage the Peasants.

The Arthur figure is the Oathmark Human Light Infantry King with a West Winds head

It’s a tough scrap Arthur scores a couple of wounds on Captain Gervais…

…but pays the ultimate price. The Kings Deer are dearly bought it seems.

This was a fun game; I was simply an observer and watched as Leigh worked his way through the scenario. The scenario was no push over and Leigh looked quite concerned at times. It took fifteen turns which did not seem over long as it went quickly with only one Player.

This game reminded me that Playtesting is an important part of game development and I altered a few things and added a rule or two. I think this would make an excellent two payer scenario and that is what I want to try next, it does seem to work well as a solo game too.

This scenario is planned to appear in an article in December’s issue of Wargames Illustrated no 444