The Raid -Another Ruckus Scenario

 

The Raid

The Hundred Years War campaign continues…

We decided to play the Raid from the main rule set next as it fits quite nicely with the campaign and it has not yet been play-tested.

The Story So Far A Retinue launches a Raid into enemy territory, taking as much of value as they can and burning and pillaging as they go. The Alarum has been raised and the local Captain is on his way!

The Set-Up A rural setting. The table should be liberally strewn with small walled and fenced fields, animal pens, sties, eel ponds, orchards and maybe a Farm House or a few scattered cottages representing prime farmland. 9 objective markers are placed evenly across the board, one in the centre and the others at least 12” or so apart and surrounding the central marker in a circle or a box shape

Each animal is an objective marker and represents the Booty! A deck of cards, the Booty Deck, is prepared with 6 black cards representing Booty in the form of ducks, sheep, honey, a complacent Longhorn Bull and other movable assets and three red cards representing Resistance from the locals, Angry Peasants, a local village head man, a furious Longhorn Bull bull…

Rob’s English enter the table

“Look! A cow!”

   “Shoot it!”

   “No, you fool, tis Booty!”

Rob is trying a slightly different set up with two men at arms and fewer archers.

 Enter Gui Seigneur de Roche Guyon and his Gendarmes, Bernards de Mantes Jolies is having a nice lie down after his nasty fall from his horse in the last encounter. The unstoppable Gui has become even more monstrous Prowess 4 Health 4 he has since added Berserk Rage

Enter the crossbows…the Laurel and Hardy team of the Ruckus world, they are totally inept and may need a buff of some kind, in a game where points are used for game balance, these guys would be very cheap…something to think about

The Spears, not quite as useless as the crossbows, I suspect they might do better with shields, once they deploy Pavise they are stationary.  They would probably come into their own with dismounted men at arms to support

A brave sight as they thunder through the little hamlet 

Oxford feels drawn to the sheep…

Imminent arrow storm!

“Can I shoot it now?”

“And how will we get it home? Drive it with a stick!”

Long Legs the Archer has two skills Odds Bodkins which means he can pick targets at long range rather than randomising his hits and Strong in t’Arm which increases his range…verily he is a medieval sniper! Luckily I got the Special event "Hic!" and played it on him! This character has been heavily imbibing of the local fermented produce and becomes Feckless even when in command 5,6 = pick a fight with the nearest character -friend or foe! 

While the riff-raff secures the farm, Gui leads his gendarmes to look for a fight

the bigger picture. Two volleys of arrows hit the Gendarmes. Laurens and Ponset’s horses are hit and they both bolt

When Ruckus horses bolt they do so spectacularly and in a random direction, Laurens horse takes him straight to de Vere

Ponset’s horse carries him off into another hail of arrows that brings him down and takes him out of the game

Meanwhile the Earl takes out Laurens

Gui takes out a squire but picks up a Wound, he takes two more before he triumphed in the melee, a tough fighter this Englishman!

Gui’s charges a billman and takes him down, his Berserk Rage kicks in and he charges Oxford

The Doughty Earl takes him down!

Here’s Denis. He became Feckless very early in the game and spent three turns counting his toes before deciding to catch up with the others and join in the fray

By this time the English had snatched three booties and removed them from the table. Raid is a real snatch and run game, but as you get more Booty so the Retinue gets smaller 

 

The hapless crossbows deploy their pavises...well...it gives them something to do

The Spear men burst out of the Farmhouse, Jehan fails a Mishap for sprinting and becomes winded denoted by the purple counter

“Look boys! Target practice!”  Spearman Perrin soon resembles a pin cushion

And to add to their grief Rob plays an ambush card and the angry family that had been hiding in the farm house emerge to ladle out the laldy! Sergeant Cardin is soon Wounded and when he is taken out of the game the French have lost half the force. They roll their Will to Fight test and roll 4, they rout from the table leaving the English victorious!

This was a good fun game; Lady Luck redressed the balance of the previous two games and sat solidly at Robs’ end of the table! The scenario played well I thought. Rob took a magnificent, complacent longhorn bull, a small flock of sheep, a quack of ducks and a hive of honey to earn 11 Prestige Points. I retained some pigs and cluck of chickens so scored 4 Prestige Points. As Rob won the game he scored a total of 21 PP and I scored a total of 9.

This seemed to work well enough. The idea is to play the scenario again with the French as the Raider. After three games in the campaign, Rob is leading 31 PP to my 29.

Every game is a learning experience and although the main rules are pretty much finished , I made few tweaks to the campaign rules, the rules for Steeds and the Hundred Year War supplement 

Ruckus-A great Day in Nottingham

 

It is always a pleasure to visit WI tower, where there is an enthusiasm for the hobby that is both contagious and inspiring. I was there for a meeting to discuss the progress of Ruckus  with WI Project Manager James Griffiths and Editor Dan Faulcenbridge and we very quickly got to talking about timelines, contents and development plans.

I was surprised and delighted when the Callan boys turned up shortly after the meeting had started and of course we played a game! Andy, a sworn Lancastrian, took Horrible Sir Henry Holland’s Retinue and Ian played with part time Yorkist Sir John de Barre. We played “Lost in the Fog” as I wanted to show off one of the more unusual scenarios but retrospectively was not my wisest decision. The initial random deployment unfortunately produced a situation where the spears of each Retinue were adjacent to each other and opposite their opponents. This combined with reduced archery due to heavy Fog and then a rainstorm that lasted three turns resulted in a some very cagey manoeuvring and it was not until turn ten that the first shots were exchanged.

By this time all the spears had joined up and both Retinues climbed the rocky ridge at the centre of the table where a mass melee occurred which Ian won convincingly, killing both enemy Squires and five Retainers. A luckless Sir Henry Holland, decided discretion was the better part of valour and quit the field of battle

 

Undoubted hero of the day was Ian’s Squire, Garret Skinpole, who took out both Lancastrian Squires and three Retainers and whose name for some reason caused revulsion in James who decided we should none of us mention his name again which, of course, resulted in him being mentioned in every following sentence. Oh, the wit of wargamers, it was very amusing, but I guess you had to be there to appreciate it’s subtlety

I suspect I should have chosen the introductory scenario “Get Off My Land!” which would have forced the Retinues to deploy as Spears and be more aggressive as they have to take and hold three objectives across the table.

And so, to business…

We established a timeline which may be subject to change.

In December’s issue will probably be a Designers Notes article which has already been written describing the thought processes behind the creation of Ruckus and an introduction to the game.

February 24’s issue, or thereabouts, will feature a selection of stl’s of the Ruckus figures and so will each issue following this one for a few issues. This or a subsequent issue will also carry an article on the game that Mark and I played at WI on our previous visit.

May 24 The Big One! This issue will contain the free game of Ruckus in a much-edited form. The current game has about 18,000 words, this one will weigh in at less than half of that. In order to get it down to that size, we will have to lose most of the scenarios, the Steeds Chapter, and the Campaign rules. The stl’s with this issue will bring the total number up to enough to provide for two Retinues.

There are also plans to produce Ruckus terrain, objectives, counters, and cards. We discussed the possibility of a deck of 52 Individual skill cards as well as Character and Retainer cards all of which will have pictures and profiles on!

  For each stl there will eventually be a metal figure too. Quite an incredible package

  It is quite humbling and flattering that they are investing so heavily in my game! I am actually a little overwhelmed and keep expecting to wake up from a dream.

Left-Project manager James demonstrating his great technical skills to get an overhead shot.

We also discussed the name which was always going to be a decision between Mayhem and Ruckus. A bit of Market Research by searching Board Game Geek and Wargames Vault revealed 333 games with Mayhem in the title and only 12 with Ruckus. Both Dan and James while accepting that Ruckus is not a contemporary word felt that it was better to use a distinctive title and one that is less likely to get confused with other games and so the game will be called…

Never Mind the Billhooks here’s Ruckus! (Ruckus to be in a font four times the size of the rest)

Tag line “The Billhooks Skirmish Game”

I would like the cover art for the title to be in the style of the old 2000 AD comics with Ruckus leaping off the page!

With man’s blood paint the ground, gules

 Morale Test Markers for Billhooks

March is here and while Spring has not yet sprung Billhooks Bash 2 looms ever nearer. In preparation for this happy event, I have been reviewing the troops. While I have a fairly complete force, able to represent either Lancaster or the House of York, one thing that I am seriously deficient in, and every Billhooker needs, are some markers to indicate when a company has to test its morale at the end of the turn.

Time to remedy this situation! A quick visit to Perry Miniatures website and the purchase of WR32 “Wars of the Roses dead and wounded” and AO 31 and 32 “Agincourt wounded” and “wounded Men at Arms”. The Agincourt boys lend a slightly anachronistic element to be sure but I doubt it will be too obvious when they are face down in the mud.

Lord Shiner I like the pose and animation of this pair. I think the Retainer is trying to encourage his Lord “Not far now, mate, soon get a steak on that eye”

  The Knight has lost vambrace and pauldron from his left arm. The points hang loose and blood is seeping through his arming doublet.

  First time I have used Citadels Blood for the Blood God and I think it’s definitely a case of less is more.

Face down and out! Finished in a surcoat of Murray! Citadel’s Khorne Red mixed with foundry Terracotta

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap metal

  I use Army Painter for my armour. Gun Metal washed with a mix of Citadel Nuln Oil and Agrax 50/50, then highlighted with Plate Metal and then a final delicate highlight of Shining Steel

  I use Vallejo Flat Earth for the soil, washed with Agrax and highlighted with progressively lighter mixes of Khaki.

  I pick out few stones in bone and some in light grey. All the vegetation is from Gamers Grass

 

“You will have someone’s eye out!”

   I am calling this guy Harold. He wears a typical livery for the time, Argent and Azure, white and blue, particoloured in pale, he’s probably Somersets man. The blue is a woady, cheap dye, mixed from Citadels the Fang and lightened with Fenrisian and Russ Grey. Washed and glazed with Blue ink.  

   I never use pure white; this was a build up from Citadel AdmInistratum Grey to Army Painter Golem Grey

  The arrow is an addition, cut from the plentiful supply of arrows that come with Perry Infantry sets.

 

 

Fallen on his blade?

    This guy is wearing the typical linen jack of the time. For this I use a range of different “bone” paints from various companies as well as various light browns, yellow browns and cork colours. They all get a wash of Sepia and various glazes to try and introduce some variety and create stains etc

    The weapon is a spare from Claymore Castings lovely billmen (more about them in a later post)

Over Here…Oh!

   The white and red livery is suitable for Walter Deveraux, Yorkist, or Henry Holland, Lancastrian or at the local level might be used by William Berkely. I have four companies in this livery!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pin Cushion

   I got a bit carried away with the arrows on this one but I think he gets the point

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PTSD?

I think this one is sad! Is he injured or just overcome by all the horror?

“I told you to wear your helmet”

   This is the only figure I have in the murrey and blue livery of Sir William Hastings

 

 

That’s a bloody big chopper…sorry that’s a big bloody chopper!

   The white and red livery again! Maybe someone told this guy the pollaxe was sharp enough to shave with and he tried to find out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if this would hurt more going in or being pulled out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It just slipped through his fingers sir!”

   This figure was slightly miscast in that it had no fingers on its left hand. I made the fingers from 0.8 mm plast-rod, sanded into tapers.

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t have a camera so use my smart phone to take pics. I am always trying to perfect my photo taking technique and I think with this set of pics I have succeeded in moving up a notch. This, in part at least, is due to is an excellent device available here tripod

A small tripod that cost £9 and has a blue tooth device which enables you to take pics without touching the phone thus eliminating any operator shake, avoiding blurry pics and maintaining a nice clear focus.