Burrows and Badgers NPL - round 3 game 1 -Hillfolk v Rogues

Game 3 in the Northern Premier League was to be Ambush the camp which was as good an excuse as any to print some tents and campfire! These will do double duty as terrain for my Amerindian army in my own game Legiones Antiquitata but for now are centre table. The rogues drew 'Isolate' as a side quest which had an impact on the game while the Royalists rolled 'Test some armour' which did not affect their plan at all and was given to Lugh the mouse on the principle that he always gets hit!

As an aside the 'no use of equipment turn one' part of the rules was completely missed. As it was the Rogues did not benefit from using any equipment and had they realised they would have been even slower to try and exit. Possibly the Hillfolk might have been more aggressive turn one but I suspect not.

Since the last game both crews had enjoyed some advances most of which would be utilised in the game. A mistake on the picture below shows Bonney on 4 XP but actually she advanced last game and gained Slippery so should have zero XP shown.

Set up was as below with the Rogues ready tm hustle straight towards the NW corner. Kidd and Vane were to try and block tackle the Most dangerous Hillfolk and allow the rest of the Rogues to make an end run for the corner. At the start the plan was that Lafitte would just fly off and be followed by Morgan, Bonney and Bellamy. Kidd and Vane were to be sacrificed....Calico was to provide covering fire and try to slip off turn 4 maybe. It was a plan but not one that was followed and it had a massive flaw from the start. Lafitte had gained Slippery and did not have to fly off turn 1. He could have essentially left any time and by going Turn 1 left a bit of a hole in the Rogue team.

Terrain - Usual hill rules applied here. Green areas with large trees on counted as line of sight blocking more than 1" into and through them but essentially old growth open woods so not difficult terrain. Within the areas the bases of the trees rather than the trunks blocked LoS. Areas within low walls or hedges with scrubby trees or patches of scrub such as the area next to the beach were difficult terrain but did not block LoS. Walls were no obstacle to movement for minis on large or massive bases but were difficult for medium and small based minis. The ship merely marked the table edge and as did the rocks on the Eastern edge.

The Hillfolk realised straight away that if Pipes could just get into the corner he would essentially be a block which could only be removed by a Barge - from which he could return at the start of the next turn - or be put OOA which would be slow. It was also that rare event a game with an objective in the centre that might allow a bird like Eun to pick up turn one and fly off with to the opposite corner as it was both mathematically feasible and unlikely to be disputed as the Rogues had no interest in hanging around. This might be the first time the Hillfolk support quest was viable.

Plans

Hillfolk - as mentioned Eun the bird was to go for the central objective and hightail it to the opposite corner. Pipes was to play 'run faster' which gave Eun enough move to get to the centre and pick up the objective and also perhaps allow himself to get into the corner with luck. Lugh was to get into an 'armour testing' position straight away and hope that the armour was good as he was now Berserk due to a head wound which made him easy to hit! Fiadhaich the Wildcat and the leader Broc were the main blockers and whilst they realised They would be unable to stop Lafitte getting away they felt there was enough weaker stuff left that they could win by killing enough. Feorag was to hide behind the big boys and provide cures or Hastes as required

Rogues. - As mentioned Kidd and Vane were to be sacrificed to allow most everyone else to escape and the key element of the escape was to get Bellamy in position to cast Terror and send all the blocking crew running. This would open the road to victory. Lafitte would leave Turn one immediately denying the Hillfolk XP and pressurising them into committing their guys to a block which could be terrorised.

Pipes, Eun and Lugh in position looking towards the camp.

The battlefield with the excellent tents in the middle!

Fiadhaic, Feorag and Broc ready to go.

Turn 1

'The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley' was in full effect here. First off Pipes forgot that he was supposed to go first as one of the three moves before the defenders move. This meant that when Lugh forgot how to walk and double moved about 3" total he was well short of his armour testing position. Pipes then did remember but failed himself to get into exit blocking position and ended up getting shot at.

Feorag managed to climb the beach cliff and took up position with a focus I think.

The Rogues also had a mare as Bonney then was seduced by easy XP and decided that she would wander off searching terrain using the Rogues support quest and headed into the woods. Failed obviously.

Elsewhere in Turn 1 but not necessarily in the following order Eun did manage to land by the central objective thanks to run faster being played by Pipes. Having scooped it up he also then rolled a decent difficult terrain move putting him too far away for any of the Rogues to care.

The treasure chest on the objective exists solely to remind me that there was d6 Gp to be had from the objective. The chests are a bit coarse as i wanted them quickly so printed them up on my fdm rather than using the resin printer.

Below we see the Rogue plan taking place with Vane (top left) and Kidd (standing in front of Morgan) getting into their blocking positions with Morgan and Bellamy (Snake in a hat) behind. Lafitte ready to make his final activation flight to freedom. This really was a mistake as he would better have been used positioning himself on the corner and then his own guys could have passed through him. Calico also took a caliver shot at Pipes and did no damage whatsoever which was sad. In retrospect he should have moved and fired rather than focussing and firing as this left him behind the main group. Especially given that he should not have been able to use any equipment turn one.

But with a cheery farewell Lafitte just flew off like a numpty leaving the Rogues utterly reliant on Bellamy's spell.

End of Turn 1 positions. Plans largely intact with the exception of Bonney who has wandered off and Lugh who is moving at glacial pace.

Turn 2

Neither side really wanted initiative but the Hillfolk went with Eun as he was already committed to moving off and duly won the roll off. He move/moved toards his exit point, a tad slowly but almost certain to get there next turn and within the 12" needed to give all the Hillfolk a bonus fate point.

Having lost the initiative roll the Rogues went with Kidd anyway. He fired his pistol at Pipes and caused just 3 damage which is always infuriating as it just misses the -1 effects on the target. He then cunningly moved into base contact with both Fiadhaich and Broc as planned. Sadly this cunning plan went tits up immediately as Pipes just played 'Slippery' and ambled off to block the corner. In keeping with not following the plan at all Bonney decided to search the forest again, this time successfully and then wandered off in the opposite direction to the exit. This seemed illogical and as it turned out was in fact worse than illogical. It occurred to the rogue player that he could actually easily score the side quest Isolate and gain everybody an XP just by having Bonney follow Eun into the SW corner by the Hillfolk objectives as Eun had to leave the table anyway allowing Bonney to score Isolate. In fairness that was the case. However the quest had been misread which was not realised until later when on closer reading it was found to say "All friendly models still on the table..." When the point was to get everybody off the table this was to prove a terrible mistake.

Elsewhere in the real world of Literacy Lugh moved up waiting for someone to attack him. What does a mouse have to do to get attacked? Well very little as it happens as Calico shot at him having reloaded. This was double disaster as the shot did 6 points of damaged which tested Lughs armour for 1XP and 'Boinged' straight back at Calico. It also meant that once again Calico had not moved and was unlikely to exit. In other actions Vane had charged Feorag requiring his focus to limp into the attack but unfortunately Feorag rolled a perfect defence escaping unharmed.

In another attack on an innocent magic user Fiadhaich slipped his chains and charged Bellamy looking to cripple the snake and pin him down before he could get into position to use his Terrify spell which might scatter the defence.

Once again the gods intervened and Bellamy rolled a perfect defence and in return focussed and cast Terrify which sent Fiadhaich fleeing 9". This did stop Bellamy from moving up into a better postion however so Fiadhaich's attack was not a complete waste.

Fiadhaich runs away from Bellamy

Feorag having survived Vane's attack moved away using Slippery and attampted Haste on Broc but failed before realising she could have used Lugwort for it to automatically succeed...Doh!

Broc decided to attack the hapless KIdd whose cunning plan had failed miserably and he was put OOA after two attacks despite a reroll by Kidd. Retirement is looking increasingly likely for Kidd who seems dogged by mistake and misfortune.

Morgan charged Broc to avenge his ratty friend but Broc pulled a perfect from the bag and that was that the turn was over

Situation end of turn 2

Turn 3 - this looked to be a key turn and Bellamy and Fiadhaich both went into the initiative roll off knowing that if Bellamy won he would move up and potentially scatter the defence but if Fiadhaich won he coul move in and pin Bellamy in place. With so much at stake both found themselves using rerolls and rerolls but in the end Bellamy won by 1!

Bellamy moved as far up as possible and cast Terror. Against Broc he failed and had to use 'Lucky' to make Broc run, which he did - right off the table. NB. This was an error and both Broc and Lugh should have stopped at the table edge but it is what it is - no chance to redo!)

Unfortunately for the Rogues Morgan's parthian cut at Broc which was a perfect was answered with a perfect so Broc left unscathed. Lugh quickly followed but Pipes stood firm in the corner which was crucial.

Pipes Barged off the corner

This forced Morgan to launch a Barge against Pipes which was successful in knocking Pipes out of the way but then the Rogues cocked it up big time. Vane was now supposed to run into the corner and between the two of them make it impossible for Pipes to return to the corner by 'space blocking' using their bases to deny Pipes the space to return to the table. This was a clever idea but immediately forgotten about in the relief that Vane rolled double 6s on his 'slow' rolls. This was enough to get him off the table, so he did and the clever blocking plan was forgotten in the excitement, probably costing the Rogues the game...

The rest of the turn was less important but now realising that the key was now to kill Calico and Bellamy. Fiadhaich raced back and charged Calico getting off the charge but again failing to wound. Feorag cast Haste successfully on Fiadhaich using the ingredient this time! and then boldly moved into contact with Bellamy to delay him. Bonney continued her increasingly pointless quest as yet unaware of it's pointlessness. Eun flew right into the corner ready to amble off next turn. Finally Calico seeing his game was up unless he got away fled from Fiadhaich but took more damage and was ready for some intensive care.

The Rogues had two minis off but had buggered up their plans so badly they no longer deserved to win.

Turn 4

Pipes v Bellamy for initiative.

Another crucial roll off as all those previously exited had been able to return to the game with Pipes back in his blocking position and Morgan too close to Barge him again. In retrospect Morgan should perhaps have used 'lucky' just to despatch Pipes but at the time the 'space blocking' plan seemed more viable as it would retain 'lucky' for another opportunity. As it turned out luck was not with the Rogues as Pipes won the roll off with Bellamy all out of rerolls.On the bright side the '1' Bellamy rolled did provide a fate point which might help later... watch this space! With little other option pipes played all out attack and then launched himself at Morgan. To zero effect as Morgan rolled a perfect.

The Rogues now made another mistake as Morgan attacked the defenceless Pipes. This was an almost certain kill but to win the game it would have been better had Calico 'charge attacked' then moved off if he killed Pipes. The logic here being that even if Morgan killed Pipes Broc would simply step across and kill Calico denying a crucial exit. The chance of Calico killing Pipes were on the low side of difficult but the certaint of him being put OOA on the next activation if Morgan went now were on the high side of super likely!

And so it came to pass. Morgan rolled poorly but used Lucky to finish off Pipes and Broc casually wandered over and battered the wounded Calico before failing a charge against the nearby Bellamy. Bellamy cast terror again but this time it was more of a slight jump scare and everyone in range ignored it. He then ran but like Calico came up just short due to having to take the long way around the rock and Broc! As can be seen below He was chased by Fiadhaich who with his Haste was in with a chance of catching him but failed his final charge!!

But rerolled the charge and hit the sneaky snake for a massive 12 damage.

In other news Bonney completed Mission Incomprehensible and realised with a groan what the side quest actually said and simultaneously the impossibility of getting away through the right corner to actually help her crew. Woe, woe and thrice woe! Eun ambled off gaining XP all round for the Hillfolk and Feorag having done zero damage on the fleeing Bellamy with a free attack also failed to cast Haste twice!

Almost as a post script Lugh berserkly charged Morgan and did respectable damage! His second contribution in the game.

The heroically illiterate Bonney completes Isolate....

Situation at the end of Turn 4. There is no variable turn length in this quest so no roll was made to end the game.

Turn 5

Once again it all depended on the Rogues getting lucky which is never a good tactical situation but one we are all familiar with. Suffice to say relying on luck went badly and once again Bellamy rolled a 1. But wait what is this fate point I see befor me? Nope rerolled a 2 against Fiadhaichs 6 and the inevitable happened. Fiadhaic moved in and put Bellamy down Hard! At this Morgan decided wisely the game was up and left taking more damage from Lugh but exiting successfully.

The Rogues lost their chance to win through poor decisions. Had Bonney stayed on mission and ignored Isolate she could have used Slippery to both pin and run Hillfolk and in all liklihood gotten off. Calico essentially wasted two turns when he could have moved closer to the exit and most Heinously having come up with the space blocking plan using Vane and to then forget about it was dreadful. By turn 5 even if Bellamy had won initiative, cast terror and moved off there was still a lot of 'if' in the air as it would only work if all the remaining Hillfolk failed their roll offs against Terror. As Bellamy was now on-3 to his rolls this was the very definition of Iffy. Had just one not run they would have blocked the exit again

Still on the plus side Bonney gained an XP for Isolate....

As an aside I was unclear if Morgan's departure ended the game legally with both boss and henchman now off table or just de facto as there was little will to spend turn after turn chasing Bonney.

Aftermath

For the Hillfolk all came through the injury phase, Pipes laughing off his near death experience and going straight out wandering with the gang. Pickings from this were slim however and after upkeep the Hillfolk had 4 Gp to add to the 23gp picked up in the game. They did gain a blunderbus though which was given to Fiahaich though I doubt he will use it. The key purchase was 15 GP of materials which alongside the Labour points earned last post game enabled them to build the Secret tunnels upgrade which should help them succeed in their support quest on a more regular basis. And more Thyme to get Haste off! 13 Xp will also strengthen their position in the league table.

The Rogues were less fortunate in their injury rolls. In fact they were so unlucky Bellamy the Snake suffered a shoulder injury! That is really bad luck!

Kidd took an upper leg injury reducing his move to 6 and Calico joined Morgan with the annoying recurrant injury. On the upside they do now have a metric tonne of pension gp and can easily retire Kidd before the next outing and replace him with somebody less utterly hopeless. They did not do too shabbily during wanderings even with a reduced crew and were just able to buy a Mage's focus for Bellamy who has become the most useful member of the crew despite being the world's worst Pirate. As an aside almost unbelievably Bonney looks the most likely to advance next despite her actions, or perhaps because of her idiocy in this game. 9XP all in with a third going to Bonney!