Rubbish scenery for the blasted heath

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"

"When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won."

"That will be ere the set of sun."

A combination of virus quarantine and an energetic five year old in the house (now that schools have closed) forced me into the garden to attempt to reclaim it from brambles (I like to think of it as a wildlife garden).  Inevitably, the gamer in me looked at the rubbish created and thought, "I could do something with that".

I'd been thinking for a bit that the trees in my scenery collection in particular look a bit too neat and manicured and I'd been wondering how to create a more 'blasted heath' feel.

These were made using some twigs from cutting back some dead plants, mounted in milliput on two pence coins, covered in PVA and sand before painting.  Really quick and I'm far more pleased with the result than I probably should be!

They'll be rubbish as cover, but I think will look pretty good on the tabletop.

Five Leagues 2 & 3 - Too Late to Turn Back

With most able bodied man in the town either working to till the now safer fields, or guarding the pilgrims and merchants passing through, it would be slim pickings for the party to recruit [village event: “Not even the Dregs”, the party can’t recruit hangers on], although having all escaped their first encounter unscathed, this didn’t look like a problem.

Robert, frustrated at failing to even best some common brigand, went to work practising his sword skills again in the Inn’s yard [William gained +1XP, enough to raise his Combat Skill by +1]. The rest spent time seeking information from the villagers but, other than a polite conversation with a Pilgrim [Town Action: “Interact”], all was quiet, even when they ventured out in the countryside around the town.

Bored, Robert sought out the a card game, winning against a wandering player [Village Event: “Wandering Card Player”] and gaining 3 Marks. Meanwhile a conversation with one of the peasant’s that Geoffrey had helped on their first day, hinted at suspicions about a nearby hamlet that something was ‘not quite right’. Whether this was a sign of some vile corruption, or just the natural rivalry of rural folk, the party set out to investigate.

After a brief, polite encounter with a travelling entertainer, the party reached the small hamlet of Westerham. A collection of barely half a dozen buildings and fields, all was unnaturally quiet. Occasionally a face would peer from a window, only to pull back out of sight when noticed.

“Not the friendliest of places is it?” observed Will.

“People of Westerham!” Geoffrey boomed, “We have come to help, come forth from your homes!”

If anything, the silence deepened.

“Damn this for a waste of time” cursed William, “If they don’t want our help, we should head back”. Turning on his heel, the knight started to stride back along the track towards Winterbourne.

A robed figure stepped out, blocking their path, a huge two handed hammer held aloft. “Halt strangers! You dare to defile the land of the Lady with your presence, the holy scriptures decree that you must be punished for your insolence in treading on her holy soil!”. Half a dozen other dishevelled figures in ragged white robes, armed with assorted axes, clubs and flails rushed to take position either side of their spokesman.

"You shall not pass!"

“I don’t think they like us”, Will muttered.

“This is the only way back to Winterbourne before nightfall” observed Thomas.

“Such Heresy cannot go unanswered” said Geoffrey.

As the ragged cultists let out blood curdling screams and surged forwards, William drew his long sword from its scabbard, “It seems we’re settled then. We must go through them.”

[The party rolled up a ‘Dark Secrets’ encounter, with them being attacked by 8 cultists led by a ‘sergeant’ (+1 toughness), starting 12” apart. I rolled up ‘village outskirts’ as the location and ‘Bitter Fight’ as the conditions. This is where the rules threw up one of those odd circumstances I really like in Ivan’s games, with two of the cultists rolling ‘Wimp’ and ‘Cautious’ as traits. This might look at odds with ‘bitter fight’, but I rather liked the idea that some of the cultists might be less ‘enthusiastic’ than their comrades, present under pressure rather than conviction].

William led the counter charge against the wild villagers, while Will and Jocelyn shot arrows into them from behind the shelter of a dry stone wall. The cult leader’s massive hammer, no doubt a fine ritual object and wonderful for intimidating villagers, proved an unwieldy liability against a real swordsman, and Robert cut him down with a single blow, just as Geoffrey laid another cultist low with his own, more practical weapon. 

Robert and Geoffery push through the cultists

Making the most of their momentum, Robert and Geoffrey pushed forward, another ragged worshipper falling to the monk’s hammer as Robert drove another pair back, one of whom then refused to re-engage [that was the one with the ‘cautious trait’, who would not fight anyone with a higher combat skill’]. The party’s followers now joined the fray, at first making little headway until Guy cut another cultist down.

Guy takes another one down

At that, the tide turned definitively against the cultists, as first Will put an arrow through one, then Robert effortlessly felled another that had the temerity to counterattack. Thomas finished the last one, although not before he had overcome Finan.

Finan is down, but Thomas gets vengeance

Robert surrounded by the fallen

Surveying the carnage around them, the party found 3 Marks and some medicinal herbs on the corpses. Thomas checked on Finan, finding that he was out cold, but otherwise unharmed. Slowly, the villagers emerged from their homes, some came up to the party, expressing their gratitude, while others wept over the bodies of husbands and brothers.

“Sort of takes the fun out of it doesn’t it” said Will.

Thomas looked pitying at the weeping villagers, “They made their choice Will. If only they had given more thought to the consequences, but that’s how evil works once it has its claws into you”.

On returning to Winterbourne, it turned out that there had been a Bounty of 4 Marks on the head of the Cult leader. The Dark Shadows Threat level dropped by 1.
All the heroes gained an extra experience point [Bitter Fight], resulting in Geoffrey gaining +1 Will, Thomas +1 Combat Skill, and Will +1 Agility. In addition, Jocelyn gained the ‘Scrounging’ skill (hanging around Will too much…) and Oswald the ‘Scouting’ skill.

Five Leagues Turns 1 & 2 - "A Strange Land"

The town of Winterborne came into view as the party came over the hilltop. A decent enough size for the borderlands - around three to four score houses and hovels clustered around a market square, church and an Inn. In places the town was protected by a ditch and palisade fence, and outside stretched fields and pasture, at least as far as a dense forest on the far horizon. Down the track a pair of labourers stopped trying to lever rocks out of the field and watched the newcomers.

“Well, that doesn’t look too bad” said Will.

“You’re more of a fool than I took you for then” sneered Robert “Ditch isn’t deep enough and there are so many gaps in that fence you could march a decent sized army straight in”.

“Lets hope it doesn’t come to that then” said Thomas. “Look at the fields beyond. See how they’re overgrown? No one’s tending anything within bow shot of those woods. There’s trouble here”.

Geoffrey meanwhile, had already started strolling towards the labourers in the fields, “Looks like hard work lads, need a hand?”, taking in the former monk’s stocky build, and the ease with which he shouldered his hammer, they welcomed him over.

Thomas sighed, “We’ll not see him for a while now. We should head into town and see about some lodgings. And maybe find out what’s ailing this place…”.


Our story starts in the town of Winterborne with the following threats:

Outlaws 6
Border Troubles 2
Dark Secrets 4

As expected, Geoffrey did spend the day labouring - clearing fields, fixing fences and delivering at least one lamb. All of which helped to ingratiate the band to the locals [Village Event: Supportive Locals] as well as securing a coin or two [+3 Marks due to Geoffrey’s Farming skill]. While Thomas foraged for Healing Herbs, Robert Fitzwilliam quickly found a card game, gaining another two Marks.

Settled into the Town’s small Inn, the band went exploring beyond the town’s pallisade, but came across nothing but a disinterested pilgrim on their way to the shrine of the lady, in the hills.

Returning to town, Geoffrey and Thomas paid a courtesy visit to the Town’s priest, but found only an old man of somewhat addled wits. While Robert practised his sword skills in the Inn’s courtyard, Will sought to engage a passing Merchant in conversation, to find out what he could tell them, but the merchant wasn’t interested in talking [Village event was ‘Supportive Locals’ again, so I had three town actions, not that it did much good].

Getting nowhere in Town, the band explored the road north, following rumours of Brigands harassing travellers…

The band trudged along the path on the edge of the woods, little more than a worn track across the thin grass. Robert was complaining about it being a fool’s errand, and while Will was wondering if the Inn would have run out of pies by the time they returned, when Thomas shouted a warning “In the woods to the right! Half a dozen or more men!”. The band barely had time to draw weapons and string their bows before seven armed men emerged from the shadows of the woods.

“Form a line!” bellowed Robert, “Archers to the right!, Wait for them to come to us!” [The party were being attacked by 7 Brigands, led by a Sergeant and with one archer].

The Archers (dum de dum de dum de dum...)

The leader is in the middle, with the big chopper and the feathered hat

Used to facing poorly armed farmer and pilgrims, the Brigand’s confidence was high and they charged straight at the party’s ragged line, their archer loosing a couple of arrows but to no effect before running out [rolled a 1 on his first turn]. One Brigand immediately dropped, felled by a well placed bolt from Jocelyn, “Beginner’s Luck” grumbled Will, who’s first arrow went wide. His second found its mark though, putting another outlaw out of the fight.

"wait for it..." 

"wait for it..."

“Now!” yelled Robert, as he, Geoffrey, Thomas, Oswald, Finan and Guy counter charged. With a clash of steel on steel and wood, the two sides met. Robert crossed swords repeatedly with the Brigand’s leader, stunning him and pushing him back, but could not land a telling blow even when Geoffrey came to join him. Thomas had no greater luck, being pushed back by his opponent’s blows, but Guy and Oswald both managed to overcome their opponents.

The dice show the characters acting in the 'quick' phase

As Robert and Geoffrey struggled with the leader, Jocelyn put a bolt into another Brigand. This proved too much for the enemy archer, who fled.

Outnumbered and alone, the Brigand leader decided that retreat looked the best option. Turning to hurl one final insult, but it was not to be, instead falling to the ground, gurgling around the arrow that Will had put through his throat. “What?” he said, looking at the others “it was just going to be something about how we’d ‘not heard the last of him’ or something”.

Will makes it clear what he thinks of the Brigand's leader

Searching the bodies afterwards, it was Thomas who made the grisly discovery just inside the edge of the woods. The butchered bodies of a group of pilgrims [this explained why their archer had run out of arrows so quickly]. “Poor souls” said Geoffrey, before whispering a blessing over the bodies. “Unarmed” said Thomas “and barely a coin between them. This was poorly done.”

Unable to carry the bodies with them, Geoffrey oversaw a hasty burial, marking the graves so that they could later be found. Recalling the tale back in town, the town Aldermen decided to start providing makeshift armed escorts to the pilgrims passing through [rolled ‘Victims’ and ‘Evidence’ for the loot rolls, resulting in the Outlaw threat being reduced by three]

The party escape unscathed from their first encounter, and with +2XP each. For his stellar performance, Jocelyn gained a skill, ‘Deft’(+1” to ‘dash’ moves and reduced penalties for obstacles).

I like the combat system in Five Leagues.  Combats are played out in a series of exchanges, which gives a nice feel of the fight going backwards and forwards.  I'm less sure about fighting multiple opponents - it feels like a rule designed for a slightly different activation system.  By moving one model at a time it resulted in the bizarre spectacle of the Brigand leader gradually retreating as one character after another ran up to him, until he'd moved too far away for anyone to reach him.  Next time I might move everyone into combat first, then play them out.

Sometimes the random tables really come up trumps as well.  During the game it seemed a bit random that the Brigand Archer ran out of arrows right at the start, but then came the Loot rolls.  'Victims' provided a perfect reason, he'd run out because he'd already used them in an earlier raid.  Then the next loot roll being 'evidence' fitted perfectly - the victims then became the evidence that led to the authorities taking the threat more seriously.

I've already played out the next encounter, and will get it written up soon.

Five Leagues Warband

I've finally started on the Five Leagues from the Borderland Campaign - the write up of the first couple of turns will follow shortly.  Before I get to that though, lets meet the players in our little story: the former Monk Gregory, mysterious ranger Thomas, the somewhat arrogant knight Robert, and Will the probably not-so-former outlaw ...

Gregory of Fincott

As a youth, Geoffrey was quick to anger and handy with his fists. Most would have expected to see him at the end of the hangman’s noose before his 20’s. However the Abbot of Fincott persuaded the magistrate to hand him to the church instead. Against all expectations, Gregory thrived on the discipline and hard work in the fields of the monastic life. This changed when the monastery was sacked in a border raid . Gregory took up the mattock that had previously driven in fence posts and turned it on the attackers, then swore to bring brigands and thieves to justice - whether before the laws or God wouldn’t matter.

When not exacting divine retribution, Gregory is good natured and tends to see the best in everyone, and gets on well with the rest of the party. He trusts Thomas’ advice, and Robert’s sword. He sees something of himself in will, a lost soul to be encouraged and saved.

Background: Religious Order
Character Class: Monk
Motivation: Revenge

Skills: Farming, medicine

Thomas the Walker

Whilst able to get along with pretty much anyone, he avoids giving away much about himself or his background. He is clearly educated (he can even read!) but seems able to get along with lords and ladies or the lowest labourer.

Thomas was the first to join Geoffrey's crusade, recognising that without help Geoffrey would likely come to an ignoble end. He occasionally finds himself on the role of peace maker between will and Robert.

Background: Drifter
Character Class: Traveller
Motivation: Adventure
Skills: Tracking

Robert Fitzwilliam

Robert is the youngest son of a well-connected baron. With little hope of inheriting, he trained in the martial skills from a young age, and sought to make his name and fortune in tourneys and on the battlefield. Unfortunately a combination of gambling debts and women led to him being ‘advised’ to put some distance between himself and his family and the court for a while.

He joined group in the hope that doing good alongside a man of the church might help to restore his good name, and increase his renown.

Robert respects Geoffrey as a man of the church, regardless of his lowly origins. He is contemptuous of will, viewing him as little more than a common thief. Thomas confuses him, a man who at times acts and dresses like commoner, but whose education and demeanour suggest nobility.

Background: Military Brat
Character Class: Soldier
Motivation: Glory
Skills: Gambling

Will

Brought up in poverty, his father was a poacher and taught him the longbow from a young age. A brief conscription in the King in the South’s army persuaded him that he would prefer his fate in his own hands. For a brief time he ran with a group of outlaws, but a disagreement over splitting the loot led to a parting of the ways, and Will heading for the anonymity of the borderlands. He joined Gregory’s crusade on the assumption he would be safer in a group than on his own, but his focus is definitely on his own survival.

Generally easygoing, he gets along fine with Thomas, and likes Gregory, albeit he is somewhat bemused by his attempts to 'save' his soul. He is well aware of Robert’s contempt for him, but finds it quite amusing and takes great delight in winding him up.

Background: Gang
Character Class: Petty Criminal
Motivation: Survival
Skills: Scrounging

Followers

Rounding out the band, we have our four followers (Five Leagues bands start as four 'heroes' and four 'followers', who have a chance to advance to hero status, if they survive).

Oswald - a militia man from south of the borderlands looking for a more exciting life
Finan - a wanderer
Guy - a former soldier who followed Robert into exile
Jocelyn - a hopeful youth looking for adventure (armed with a light crossbow, which I'm counting as a 'self-bow' under the rules)


One thing that 'Five Leagues' doesn't have, but 'Five Parsecs' does, is detailed tables to roll on for your heroes backgrounds. As a bit of inspiration I decided to use the Five Parsec's ones and just apply something suitably mediaeval-ish equivalent (so 'Religious Cult' and 'Agitator' became a Monk from a Holy Order) . Rather than roll for each character, I made enough rolls for all and then assembled them into characters that inspired choices on models and theme of the campaign.

First couple of turns will be written up shortly. Plus, I have at least one more 'Five Parsecs' campaign turn to play out some time soon.