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.
