Untold Goose Tale - a tale of Robin Hood

“Ah, ‘tis you. Come in!  It’s a raw night out there, so shut the door and come join me.  We’ve a fire in the grate, a flagon of the goodwife’s best ale, and one of the landlord’s famous meat pies fresh from the oven (just don’t ask where the meat’s from, we don’t want a visit from the King’s Foresters).  I was just about to tell all another tale of the famous Robin Hood, and his outlaw band.  A tale of foul play over fowl…

It was a winter’s night much like this one, and Little John and Will Scarlet (in disguise of course) were taking an ale or two in a house at the foot of the castle rock in old Nottingham. Christmas was on the way and the Yule logs had been cut, and thoughts were turning, as they do at this time of year, to feasting and merriment.

Now it happened that one of the Sheriff’s men was also in that night, and well into his cups already. Telling all who would listen how his master had heard that farmer Oswald had the finest geese in the county, and how the Sheriff was partial to goose and had declared that he would have those geese on his table come what may.  Now that farm rightly belonged to Sir William, as fair a landlord as you’d find in those parts, but the Sheriff claimed it should be his, and had caused poor Sir William much grief over it.

“Well”, say Little John to Will, “this does sound a most fine chance to tweak the Sheriff’s nose!” And so, bearing a fresh flagon of ale over to the Sheriff’s man, they set about finding out all they can, before returning to Sherwood and Robin, to lay their plans…”

This Untold Tale was originally intended as a pre Christmas game, but we weren’t quite ready in time.  The Sheriff’s men had to try and drive the geese off their table edge, while the outlaws had to get them into the woods.  This could be done by chasing the geese or physical picking them up (although the geese would fight back).  The geese would also move randomly every turn, and we added some goose specific random event cards (such as ‘feather up nose’, ‘slip on goose poo’ and ‘very angry goose’).  The Not So Little Miniature (NSLM) took the outlaws, and I was the Sheriff’s men.

Some of the geese headed straight for the pond, as if they knew something was up!

Both leaders initially hung back as their fellows tried to round up the awkward fowl.

While a herd of sheep held up a frustrated Guy of Gisborne.

First goose to the outlaws, driven off into Sherwood.

A fair old skirmish develops in the middle centre over a group of geese

Tuck distracts one of the Sheriff’s men, “can I talk to you about our saviour, Jesus Christ?”

One of the soldiers about to get his goose

Until the traitorous bird runs to Little John.  A frustrated Sheriff decides to take matters into his own hands.

Having lost his goose, the soldier decides an outlaw head is the next best thing.  It doesn’t end well for him…

Gisborne has more success, cutting down a (not so) Merry Man.

But meanwhile, Friar Tuck saves another goose from the Sheriff’s table.

Gisborne corners Robin himself, and a frantic duel ensues.  Although on paper the better swordsman, luck is on the hero’s side and he manages to defeat the overconfident knight!

Is that another goose in the hands of the outlaws?

With most of his men defeated or captured, his Christmas feast now looking gooseless, and losing to a smelly outlaw, the Sheriff plays the only card he can!

A resounding victory for Robin Hood and the Merry Men!

All in all, we had a great time.  Rosa enjoyed it, and really got into character, as well as getting involved in ideas on how to tweak and refine the game.  For example, rather than rolling the same result in a fight resulting in a draw, she decided that the drawn dice should be rolled off again until we get a result -  which feels much more like a back and forth duel and far more appropriate. 

It look as if the next game will involve some sort of trade for the captured Gisborne.  Watch this space for another tale…

There’s something loose in the woods!

Grrrrr!

After looking into  40k second edition, and painting a few old models, I decided to give it a go.  Given I was using very few models I fudged a few things to my taste, like allowing individual models to go on overwatch rather than the whole squad.

Kurt’s company, a mixed human and squat mercenary force, have been hired by a harassed Imperial Governor to investigate attacks on the scattered human settlements of Barker’s World. Reports have just come in of an attack on a truck resupplying a nearby outpost and a squad has been despatched to investigate.

From left to right: Cap, Spots, Blondie, Two-Tone, and Mustard.

As the squad approaches the buildings they can’t escape the feeling they’re being watched.

[as they near the buildings, they trigger to Termagants to deploy]

On point, Mustard spots something moving to the left.  

He hunkers down on overwatch in the cover of the container while Blondie and Two Tone go to investigate.

Moving around one of the prefabs, Blondie finds himself face to face with a termagant and instinctively despatches it with his bolt pistol - only to be charged by another one leaping from the bushes; although it strikes him, his flak armour absorbs the blow.

Surprise!

Blam!!!

As if a signal has been given, more Termagants appear from behind the other prefab, triggering a hurried snapshot from Mustard, which misses. 

Joined by Cap and Spots, a desultory firefight ensues, which is ended by a well placed frag grenade from Cap, despatching one Termagant and causing the other two to flee.

On the left, things aren’t going so well for the squats, as one Termagant slays Blondie and follows up into Two Tone, and the other two manoeuvre around to the squat’s rear.

Cap’s flak armour and pack shrug off a cheeky shot from a Termagant behind him. Alerted to the threat, he returns fire. 

His and Spots’ combined firepower finish off another Termagant, while Two Tone wrestles down a finishes off the one attacking him.  The remaining Termagant on the left flees back into the safety of the jungle.

With one group of aliens dealt with, and the other hiding behind the furthest prefab, things are looking pretty good for the squats - until an almighty crashing and splintering of wood announces something monstrous emerging from the jungle behind them.

Rargh!

The plucky Squats turn to face this new threat and unleash everything they have on it but, to their shock, nothing even scratches it.

Charging forward, swinging man sized swords crackling with energy, the creature smashes Mustard to the ground. But, undeterred, the hardy squats fight back; weight of numbers prevails and they manage to drag the monster to the ground and finish it off.

Finally, the remaining two Termagants rally and charge the squats but, their blood up, the short hairy ones make short work of the aliens.

And so it’s all over.  The Squats have lost two of their own, but decisively defeated their ambushers, and have evidence to take back to the governor of what’s out there.

Ok, so narratively that was more of a Rogue Trader game, but huge fun.  Second edition really for mostly feel like a tidied up version of RT - only one movement phase, BS influencing blast weapons etc.  I really don’t get the close combat changes though.  It feels more complicated (though that could just be new to me) and one sided - there’s no chance for both sides to cause wounds.  I think I may just resort back to RT combat (if it’s good enough for Old World…).

Robin Hood and Little John Walking Through the Forest…

…Laughing back and forth at what the other has to say

Reminiscing this and that and having such a good time

Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly what a day!

A second outing for the Untold Tales of Robin Hood.  Our two fine heroes are walking in Sherwood when they spy two of the Sheriff’s Foresters and a soldier heading towards them.

It was all over pretty quickly thanks to Robin’s keen eye.  Poor Little John didn’t get the chance to hit anyone with a big stick!

Bragging rights to anyone who can identify the version of Robin Hood that provided the title of this blog and the first few lines.

The Untold Tales of Robin Hood

For a little while, in the background, I’ve been working on a set of rules for Robin Hood themed games. Specifically to play with the Not So Little Miniature.

It’s a simple system, aimed at being fast and simple, to tell fun stories rather than provide a simulation.  It’s also unashamedly biased towards the ‘Good Guys’.  Essentially it involves opposed dice rolls - with better characters rolling more dice and picking the highest results.  To add some extra flavour, there will be special cards that can be played to influence the game.  More on them another time,  but they have titles like ‘trick shot’, ‘Feat of strength’ - and ‘don’t just stand there, get them!’).

Our first outing saw Robin Hood walking through the forest when he finds his way across a river blocked by a giant of a man…

“Now stand back,” quoth Robin, “and let the better man cross first.”

“Nay,” answered the stranger, “then stand back thine own self, for the better man, I wot, am I.”

Robin managed to get the first blow in, and the two yeomen traded stout blows, pushing each other back and forth but, in the end…

Then Robin grew mad with anger, and smote with all his might at the other; but the stranger warded the blow, and once again thwacked Robin, and this time so fairly that he fell heels over head into the water, as the queen pin falls in a game of bowls.

So our game ended in the traditional way, with Robin taking a plunge in the river.  We swapped characters after the first game, ending up with the same result; which was good as it meant we both had a chance to win.

All the captions above are quotes from Howard Pyle’s retelling of the Robin Hood tales, which very much set up our modern image of the noble outlaw.

Models are Medieval Mayhem and Footsore Miniatures.