The Tales of Shedwood - Ivanhoe's Rescue

Hi Folks

Monday night saw the shed back in action after a four week gap due to really cold weather and I was delighted to welcome Captain Blood of the Lead Adventure Forum to sample the delights of the Shed for a second time. Whilst over at Tactica he expressed an interest in the Lion Rampant rules and knowing that this was on the agenda I duly invited him over.

All told five of us braved a blustery and mildly chilly night but a great deal of fun was had and more learning's developed from our second play of this fast paced medieval rule set. I'll touch upon the 'new' house-rules at the end of this post.

Monday nights table - Trentbridge Hamlet in the Foreground

Ground view

So on with the game...

…You may recall that in our last tale the Good and Godly Knight Sir Ivanhoe was bested at combat by the sinister Sir Guy De Guisborne. Unbeknownst to Ivanhoe’s followers he did not succumb to his wounds on the battlefield but rather fell into the clutches of the scheming Sheriff of Nottingham.

 

For a full battle report of the last game head here...

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tales-of-sherwood-taxing-day.html

 

Like all power crazed maniacs the Sheriff has high hopes of a good ransom but to protect his investment he has decided to move Ivanhoe to the protection of Greystone Keep at Trentbridge.

Hearing the news of both his friend’s living status and his transfer to Greystone Keep, Robin has rounded up his men and supported by Ivanhoe’s own followers, to attempt a rescue along the Trent Bridge Road.

Greystone Keep

Ivanhoe’s is currently being escorted by the Sheriffs mounted sergeants.

Objectives:

The Sheriff Forces win if Ivanhoe can be placed inside the Keep.

Robin’s forces win if Ivanhoe can be rescued

Robin’s forces lose if Ivanhoe is killed by his own men

Ivanhoe will remain a captive as long as he is within 3 inches of a mounted Sheriff/Ally force. In the event that the force is engaged in melee Ivanhoe will be freed if the attacking force is greater in number than the defending force (horsetroops x2) at the end of the round.

Shooting at a force containing Ivanhoe is the same as a Lucky blow – ie on a double 1 he is killed. However if the entire unit is killed by bows any hits not allocated are transferred to Ivanhoe.

Ivanhoe may only move if he is attached to a unit.

Ivanhoe is unarmoured and may not participate in the game – he is still weak from his wounds

Any unit controlling Ivanhoe gets +1 to its movement orders only (ie they know they have to move either to the castle or off the board)

A weak and frail Ivanhoe

Players were issued with their Battle Sheets (resplendent with Ladybook artwork) although I apologies now for some of the errors on the sheets - must double check next time
example below

With the orders of battle issued and the troops laid out we could crack on. (Like most games I run in the shed this was already done as it allows for immediate action).

Robin and his allies (including Ivanhoes retinue now commanded by Sir Reginald de Perrins) were spread along the south side of the Trent Bridge Road. To the North lay the Keep of Greystone.

Alongside the Bridge over the river Trent lay the small hamlet of Trent Bridge.

Clearly Robin and his forces had to stop the Sheriffs convoy from crossing the board. By my initial reckoning if all orders were made the Captive could be inside Greystone Keep within 10 turns.

'Block the road' was the order cried by the Merry Men


So as the forces of Robin advanced across the table the Sheriffs escort party marched towards the bridge. For three turns they milled around waiting to cross the bridge.

The Sheriff cursed - we could of been home and dry by now - such is a villains life

The Cavalry of he Bishop of Lincoln thundered forward towards the serfs hiding behind the grazing cows.

These poor folks stood no chance and what followed was a swift bloodletting watched on by the grazing beasts.

Battle was set fast in the centre, arrows flew and hit their marks, horses screamed, men cried and cows made milk...

Meanwhilst the good knights of Sir Reginald dithered should they attack Guy de Guisborne or rally to the cries in the centre

Little John knew no other task than to march forward and confront the rash Guy - advancing closer to the castle they let rip with their clothyard missiles.

The Bishop advanced his forces into the arrows of the Merry Men - although claiming god was oin their side his holiness could not prevent the desertion of his congregation

Finally our manic Sheriff advanced only to stop again for two more turns !

Robins men were making mincemeat of the Bishops forces in the centre

And Little John was forcing Guy de Guisborne into so many unlucky die rolls

With the centre of the Sheriffs forces about to collapse the Bishops last forces formed into defensive schiltron

With the road clear the Sheriffs horsemen thundered up the road with their captive

Sir Reginald advanced with his templar chums

Sir Reginalds mounted units finally crashed through some poor serfs winter food garden and into Guys troops - dispersing them amongst the weeds

With Guys forces dispersed the mounted Templars thundered up the road clapped on by happy serfs (apart from the gardener)

Little Johns decimating the forces of Guy with withering volleys..

Sir Reginald and his Knights block the road in front of the Sheriffs men..

With his allies either routed or killed The Sheriff still felt that if he could weaken the centre he might still be able to punch through to the castle. But how to weaken them - he must kill Sir Reginald.

Not accustomed to duelling - he sadly didn't last long...the Sheriff slipped from his saddle into a pile of his own horse's s*** - looks like we need a new Sheriff in Nottingham

Robin and his remaining men cheered...wishing they could sing that tuneful hit...'I shot the Sheriff...

Sir Ivanhoe is rescued and Robins fame lives on...

What next in the Tales of Shedwood...



At the close of the evening we had a bit of a chat about the proceedings and arrived at simple some house rules & reminders...

• We must not forget the -1 extreme range penalty rule for shooting. Somehow we always remember this half way through the game. It will certainly limit archery fire.
• If the score to hit with a bow exceeds 6 to hit then the additional pips required to hit are added to the targets armour value in addition to any other modifiers.
• If a Leaders unit is routed the Leader may stay on the table - he is after all the boss. He retains the armour value of the original unit he was attached to.
• Infantry attacking cavalry was a big bone of contention. Cavalry may always counter charge or evade attacking infantry on a successful attack roll.
• One further potential addition might be to reduce Infantry armour value by one if attacked by cavalry  - these last two need to be tested.
• We have already adopted the rule for our large multiplayer games that all units may dice for orders each turn rather than a turn ending on one failed order.

Thoughts on the above are most welcome...

Until next time folks