Love is a Battlefield

Last night I got to play a little skirmish to relax after getting everything unpacked and the girls to bed.

The field: Baron Mordain’s right-hand man, Felstadt (Formerly Reginald II’s right-hand man), is escorting Lady Eleanor from her father’s Manor near Latchwell to Bleudingle. The Baron and Lady are to be wed and he would very much like her opinion on some matters of decoration and of state. This wedding announcement has infuriated Sir Eagan of Latchwell (Son of Sir Percy, may he Rest In Peace), who sees himself as jilted by the Lady Eleanor—even though they only danced together once at an affair of state and she was utterly repulsed by his self-inflation. Sir Eagan has hired local bandits to ambush the Lady and her escort that he might steal her away for himself!

The lady and her retinue. Felstadt is the old Penny-mounted axeman by the Lady’s side. 

I decided that if a black face-card was drawn, then Eagan himself would appear with 1d6 soldiers in his personal retinue. Turn 2, he arrives with FIVE soldiers alongside him. So now, Felstadt and his four men must defend against a fortified force more than twice their number! At this point, I got so enthralled in what was going to happen that I forgot to take pictures for several turns.

By turn 5, both of the infantrymen in Eleanor’s retinue are slain by the bandit archers—one before he ever gets the chance to move! Felstadt, on the other hand, survives volley after volley, and finally closes in on the wall that hides the enemy archers. Felstadt’s marksmen are able to kill a few bandits, and one is pictured above taking cover behind the ox cart.

Felstadt and his archers slay the infantry that oppose them through a series of VERY lucky rolls, the kind that might force a morale check from their enemies! Face cards haven’t been pulled for Sir Eagan in a while, so he is slowed in his advance (once again in favor of the Lady and her protectors). Eagan’s men advance to try and shore up their own defense and pull for a final strike!

The final strike never comes, however, only the slow advance of the ox and cart to effectively halt any enemy  moving on the bottom half of the field.

Then to add injury to insult, Sir Eagan is struck by an arrow! The archers of Bleudingle finally hit a gap in his plate, wounding him!

Then, the fact that Eagan’s forces are at 1/3 of their size means a morale roll must happen…which fails! Even with Sir Eagan’s character trait to help (Drunk: -1 Mounted Movement, +1 to Morale rolls), he still cannot rally his troops. The Latchwellian knight and his remaining men must make a retreat as quick as they can. 

On the next turn, a black face card is drawn, allowing Sir Eagan to fall back…only to be shot down while he fled like a deer in the wood!

The remaining cards drawn were mostly black, seeing the last infantrymen and two bandits flee the field. They failed the rally roll to at least go get Eagan, so he was left for dead by his men. The Lady Eleanor and Felstadt resume their journey to Bleudingle, with Sir Eagan’s limp body (corpse?) in tow. If he survives his wounds, who knows what trials he will face?