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Author Topic: Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)  (Read 3462 times)

Offline Patrice

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Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)
« on: August 09, 2014, 08:52:14 AM »
An adventure we played last Sunday at the Harvest Festival in my village !

Context: the War of Succession of Brittany in the 1340s (at the beginning of the HYW, some Bretons were allied with the French, others allied with the English).

There were two players, and one organizer (me, also playing the NPC till a player took control of them). Rules: « Argad ! »
Some terrain features are in progress since we banned our old green cloth  :`

The game table was 3m x 1.80m. On the right the village of Kernevez; in the far background a forest on a hill; far on the left the small farm of Ker Uhel. The small river can only be crossed at fords.



The – still peaceful – village of Kernevez:



The faraway farm:



The local lords are allied with the French. A petty nobleman "Yeun le Pieu" has been ordered to protect the area against enemy raids. He enters the table with a small troop:





Far from there, an Anglo-Breton troop led by "Gleievec" (a squire of the opposite Breton party) also enters the table:



Some peasants and two crossbowmen appear in a small wood, they shoot (without success) at Gleievec's mounted sergeants. Then they run away in the wood when Gleievec's men come nearer:



But we can see a civilian walking behind the men of Gleievec. Who is he?



His name is Jehan le Fol, an old alchemist; we remember that, in a previous adventure, he was carried away by pro-English Bretons
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=56939.msg676665#msg676665
because he was supposed to know some recipe to ameliorate black powder.
But (off game) he had no success in that; so, for this new adventure today, he had managed to convince the pro-English Breton chiefs that he needed to speak with an apothecary who knew more things. Gleievec has orders to escort him to the farm of Ker Uhel for this secret meeting, and to bring him back safely.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2014, 09:23:12 PM by Patrice »

Offline Patrice

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Re: Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2014, 08:54:24 AM »
Le Pieu doesn't know all this, his orders are only to protect the area against enemies of the French; suddenly, as his troop begins to cross the nearest ford to go to the village, a white smoke rises, something is burning in a wood on the hill!
(and this fire has certainly not been caused by the WH40K fights that we can see on another table in the background!  :D )



Le Pieu does not change his plans so easily (he's a good tactician!) but he sends some billmen to his right to see what is burning in the woods.





They find four deserters burning a small house. The soldiers threaten these bandits, who accept to join Le Pieu's troop (where they will be closely watched).

Still far from all this, Gleievec advances in the valley, not listening to a group of peasants who shout abuses from a hill:





Gleievec and Le Pieu are still peaceful, they send messengers to each others to negociate (it still is the beginning of the war and nobles are still polite). Le Pieu says that Gleievec can travel safely if he pays a toll! Gleievec accepts.

Gleievec reaches the ford near the small farm of Ker Uhel. Then Le Pieu asks for a second toll if they cross the ford, and groups his spearmen in a menacing formation!



On the other side of the ford, two NPC characters are waiting for the alchemist: the apothecary (that the alchemist said he wanted to meet) …and the nephew of the alchemist! (who, in the previous adventure, went away on a French ship). This nephew also failed to ameliorate black powder and his French masters think badly of him, so he had secretly arranged to meet his uncle to talk about family affairs. The apothecary and the nephew now see that Le Pieu's troop is near and think that if he catches them he will question them to know what they are doing there, so they decide to follow Gleievec to safety.

Arrows begin to fly! Le Pieu's spearmen form a "pavise wall", almost invulnerable at this range:





« Last Edit: August 09, 2014, 05:52:40 PM by Patrice »

Offline Patrice

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Re: Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2014, 08:57:10 AM »
Near the village of Kernevez, an unexpected group of Welshmen (of the English army) has just entered the table (in the field at the bottom of picture)!





Le Pieu calls the group of armed peasants and tell them to approach the field with some of his own men, walking along the houses for protection...



…then to attack. The Welsh shoot at them, some peasants fall, the monk who was leading them falls. Instead of breaking their morale it makes them furious and they run into the field with some of Le Pieu's soldiers. Close melee fightings in the small field:



The Welsh are outnumbered, a few survivors run away.

At the same time, Gleievec is going back to his table edge, trying to get out of the valley. Le Pieu and his spearmen follow him far on his left, but they are too heavy to walk fast:



Gleievec now thinks that his troop will go away safely. On this picture we can see two surviving Welshmen (holding a standard of St-Georges) joining him; on the right, pro-French billmen and peasants crossing a ford to chase them; on the other side, behind the small wood, Le Pieu and his spearmen. Three English longbowmen have been ordered by Gleievec to act as a rearguard to prevent Le Pieu to come closer.





Le Pieu sees that he cannot catch the enemy troop before they reach the table edge, so he decides to attack this small rearguard alone!



He charges three times…



…the three longbowmen choose to run rather than shoot: they all die.

Both players have fulfilled their mission.

About the NPC forces:  there was:
– Four deserters without allegiance (they were forced to join Le Pieu's  troop; two of them died in the following fights, and when the skirmish was over Le Pieu said that he hangs the other two!)
– Eight Welshmen. Gleievec had been told (by his English allies off-table before the game) that a Welsh interpreter had been killed and as a result a group of Welshmen was lost because they didn't understand what they were told (two of their survivors joined Gleievec, one other ran off table).
– About 20 peasants, including two crossbowmen, who wanted to fight against the English (after their first attempt to ambush Gleievec, they joined Le Pieu's troop).


« Last Edit: August 09, 2014, 09:04:47 AM by Patrice »

Offline OSHIROmodels

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Re: Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2014, 10:13:31 AM »
Nice looking game  :)

cheers

James
cheers

James

https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/

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Offline Atheling

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Re: Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2014, 10:35:55 AM »
He-he.... love the idea for the game and it looks as though you had a lot of fun playing the game too.....

 8) 8) 8)

Darrell.

Offline Captain Blood

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Re: Return of the Alchemist (HYW skirmish AAR)
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2014, 11:40:19 AM »
Looking tres joli Patrice.

 

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