The Grey League of Morris - Finished at Last!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Looking like the Grey League are getting the upper hand.

Good to see you back at this.

[Doug ex-em4]

Looking like the Grey League are getting the upper hand.

Good to see you back at this.

Thanks, m'lord….


It’s  the Cultists to go first.  The Assault team leader clambers back over the hedge and sprints up the road towards the Inn. The Peculiari Cultum In Secundo Gradu (his title is more impressive than his abilities which are meagre) is ahead of him. 



Meanwhile, Martin Bellator engages the drive on the lorry and moves on to the road to await the Summus who has gone to fetch John Bellator and Ephraim, their captive from the Inn.



Ephraim has been allowed to keep his accordion and has been keeping John entertained with a medley of his favourite tunes. He has been allowed considerable freedom by his captors but John has taken the precaution of tying the prisoners ankles together, just in case. With the Summus yelling at him to "get a move on" he makes a meal of untying the knots - it takes him a Full Action and leaves no opportunity for him and the prisoner to move this Turn.



Over to the combined Morris/Scarecrow side. Agent Staffordshire takes a flying leap at the low stone wall with the intention of taking a shot at the lorry. He misjudged his jump and takes a tumble. He manages to jump straight back up with no harm done but that completes his turn. Herefordshire runs to the road and spots a cultist running up it towards him. He scores 2 Hits but they’re ineffective. In return, the cultist shoots and misses. The Scarecrows lumber off in the vague direction of the lorry but Farmer Grundy yells, to no one in particular, "that’s Ephraim's accordion I can hear....! I’m coming for you, cousin. Hang on...!”





 Dashing into the Inn, he runs headlong into the Summus. Taken by surprise, the Summus is unable to use any of his powers it’s not his turn> so can only fight back or attempt to Dodge. He is not built for brawling. He decides to Dodge. He is surprisingly agile for a sixteen stone man but nevertheless takes a shrewd blow and his Health is reduced.




Recovery. The Summus is the only one carrying an injury. He fails his roll.[/size]

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

More good stuff, keep it coming.   

[Doug ex-em4]

TURN 8
The Morris/Scarecrow side (hereinafter called "The Morris"side) goes first and, immediately, the Initiative passes to the other side...! <this is caused by a "Surprise Twist" card being drawn> So the Cultists get to have their turn first, except, they don’t...! <the final card is drawn by the Assault Team leader and he gets "Quirk of Fate" which cancels any immediately any effects caused by previously drawn cards. So the Initiative returns ato the Morris side>.
The Summus did not successfully Dodge from the enraged onslaught of Farmer Grundy so he is forced to receive that worthy's Attack again. Farmer Grundy is fighting mad and gets 3 Hits. The Summus fails to block any. He saves 2 with his Health roll but the 1 failure reduces his Health level by one; he’s teetering on the brink and is locked in combat.


THE END


 Agent Shropshire attempts to Dodge away from the Primus Genus but fails although once again, he is able to take a couple of Hits without suffering any injury.


Of the scarecrows, Turnip Treader and Wheat Wanderer lurch down the road, past the lorry and head towards the members of the Assault Team who are approaching from the north. Cornstalker, their Leader, clambers over the low wall and follows. Barley Blunderer finds the wall too taxing an obstacle and fails to get over it. Agent Staffordshire moves up to the lorry and looses off a fusillade of shots. All miss. Martin Bellator, the driver, returns the fire and scores a Hit but it is ineffective.



Agent Herefordshire vaults the wall with ease and moves alongside the lorry. End of Morris side turn.

First up in the cultists turn is the Primus Genus and he’s going at poor old Agent Shropshire again who, again, fails to Dodge and again, suffers no injury. Boring....The Peculiari Cultum In Secundo Gradu gallops up the road to take on Wheat Wanderer (cultists aren’t fazed by wandering scarecrows - far from it). Too late, Peculiari realises that Wheat Wanderer is altogether more capable in a fight than he is. Luckily, although he loses the Brawl, he suffers no injury. The Throppetus Princeps Impetum (Assault Team leader) follows the Primus up the road and directs a curse at Agent Staffordshire. Apart from being aware of a slight undefinable unpleasantness, Staffordshire is unaffected.  The Princeps Impetum follows up more prosaically by opening fire. Staffordshire returns the compliment with the result that The Princeps takes a hit which he fails to save and thus is reduced in Health. Staffordshire is unhurt.

 Meanwhile, in the inn, Bellator John is in a quandary. On his Leader's orders, he untied Ephraim. Then Farmer Grundy burst in and started lashing out at the Leader. Ephraim took advantage and escaped from John’s custody. John decides he must regain control of Ephraim. Having been captured by the cult, dragged across the Wild Moorlands, escaped, re-captured, driven at more than 15mph in a steam lorry and then incarcerated in an inn with his ankles tied but no offer of alcohol, Ephraim has reached the limit of his legendary patience. With controlled fury, he wallops John with his accordion and drops him unconscious with one blow. Meanwhile, the Leader is still engaged, much against his will, in a fight with Farmer Grundy. Unable to use any of his dark powers, he is no match for the enraged Farmer and soon measures his length at the feet of that stalwart yeoman. Finally, Martin Bellator, sitting in the cab of the lorry waiting for his Leader to reappear, takes a shot at Staffordshire who returns fire. The result is a hit on Staffordshire and he takes damage - Health reduced again.
Recovery phase. The only injured characters are the two cult leaders and Staffordshire. He rolls first but fails to recover; still injured, therefore but not down. Next, the Assault Leader and he also fails to improve his Health. Finally. The Summus who is down. He succeeds and staggers to his feet again, to meet the baleful stare of Farmer Grundy.
End of turn



TURN 9

Cultists to start. Primus Genus is first and he’s continuing his struggle with Agent Shropshire who, again, fails to Dodge but this time receives an injury, reducing his Health.

 Peculiari Cultum in Secundo is still fighting Wheat Wanderer. Against the odds, he causes damage without suffering himself. Wheat Wanderer, however, being an animated scarecrow, shrugs off a mere single Hit. The Princeps Impetum charges with a wild yell straight at Agent Staffordshire, who Dodges with ease. Finally, the Summus Bellator, having failed to subdue Farmer Grundy with a Dark Presence curse, decides to put his own safety above securing Ephesians and flees from the wrath of Farmer Grundy through the inn’s back door.


 End of cultists turn.

Now it’s the Morris turn. Agent Shropshire has had enough of trying to Dodge away from his formidable opponent so decides on an all-or-nothing attack. Sadly for him, it’s nothing. No damage to his opponent but a painful blow to him - he’s Down...!


Next, the scarecrows and Barley Blunderer manages to get over the low wall and lumber towards the lorry. Wheat Warrior continues his battle with his improbably named opponent but fails to land a blow. The Peculiari Cultum, realising he’s taken on something quite tough, Dodges away from the fight. However, he’s not in the clear yet. Turnip Treader stomps past his comrade and bashes into the Peculiari. This time the savage straw man makes no mistake and the Peculiari is Down...!



Cornstalker, the Leader of the scarecrows, goes in hard against the Princeps Impetum but despite energetic flailing on both sides, no harm is done. However Agent Staffordshire, seeing the Princeps is visibly tiring after two bouts of combat this turn, returns to face the opponent he only a few minutes ago Dodged from. The Princeps, in turn, successfully Dodges; he hopes to buy time to regain his energy. However, seeing his discomfort, Agent Herefordshire abandons his plan of leaping into the back of the lorry and charges straight at him - the two main leaders in a hand-to-hand, knock-'em-down and drag-‘em-out struggle.

Farmer Grundy, leaving a slightly bemused Ehphraim to enjoy his freedom, pursues The Summus and catches him in the inn courtyard. The Summus fails to Dodge and is whacked mightily by the Farmer - Once; Twice; Thrice....! And amazingly, suffers no injury.



Recovery. Staffordshire returns to full Health. Shropshire fails and joins his companion Gloucestershire-  Out. The Princeps returns to full Health. The Peculiari recovers and stands up and the Summus also regains a level of Health. The cultists are looking strong again after a turn which may have seen them lose several members. However, they have lost there hostage, Ephraim. Will they fight on and try to regain him? Or have they had enough?

TURN 10

Whether the cultists want to fight on or not is irrelevant- the Morris side does and it’s their turn to go first. Barley Blunderer goes first and draws a card which means that every character must draw one before taking their turn. Oh 'eck- this is going to cause chaos.Staffordshire goes next and shoots at Martin in the lorry who returns fire. No hits are taken. Herefordshire goes next and renews his battle with the Primus. He scores a hit and the Primus is injured...! Can the scarecrows capitalise on this with fresh attacks? Turnip Treader goes next but can’t move...! <card effect>. Is the Primus going to escape from further attacks? Not if Cornstalker has any say in the matter. Lurching into an unsteady run, he assaults the enemy leader. The Primus staggers back as a telling blow lands whereas Cornstalker is un affected. Now it’s Barley Blunderer. Shrugging aside a card Peril, he joins the melee round the Primus. No injuries on either side but the Primus is exhausted. If attacked now, the best he can do is Dodge. But can anyone or thing reach him? Responding to a yell from Herefordshire, Wheat Wanderer ignores the Peculiari and heads for the Primus. Crash...! He barges the battered cultist. He hits and the Primus fails to Dodge and is hammered to the ground...!



Finally, Farmer Grundy attempts to attack the Summus but before he can, the ethereal calm that affected everyone earlier strikes again. End of Morris turn.

Martin kicks off for the cultists and his mandatory card sees him fail a Peril and subsequent Health check. After all his valiant work on the lorry he’s Down, Out and rather awkwardly blocking access to the lorry driving seat. Next is Peculiari and the malign effect of the drawn cards continues. He also fails a Peril and Health check and is Down. The Primus Genus draws a card which prevents him from moving. Will this torture never end...? The only one left to move is the Summus. He at least gets a No Effect card.

Recovery. All the surviving Morris side are at full Health. The Peculiari is successful and gets up but that success is vastly overshadowed by the failure of the Princeps who stays Down and is now Out. When The Summus also fails to recover any Health, it’s obvious that the joint cultist teams cannot win. They have the Primus in good shape, the Peculiari just about upright and not very powerful even at full strength and a weakened Summus. And that’s it. They’ve lost Ephraim and the lorry. It’s time to.....
Run Away.....!

Meanwhile, unnoticed by everyone, a free and relaxed Ephraim leaves the Inn by the front door and plays a merry jig on his accordion. The work of the Grey League of Morris is, for today at least, done.

[marianas_gamer]

Bravo! I have been entertained 

[Doug ex-em4]

Bravo! I have been entertained 

Bless you for having got this far. It got so I couldn’t remember what was happening so kudos to you for sticking with it! Thanks.

Doug

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Hooray, a real ripping yarn!   

Great fun, great story and I feel we may see these characters again in a new epic about the English countryside?

incarcerated in an inn with his ankles tied but no offer of alcohol

This is obviously against the Geneva Convention, and possibly constitutes a war crime.

[Doug ex-em4]

Hooray, a real ripping yarn!   

Great fun, great story and I feel we may see these characters again in a new epic about the English countryside?

Hopefully that will be the case although greater events are looming which will likely shatter the bucolic peace of Borsetshire even more than the shenanigans of Grey Morris and cultists.

This is obviously against the Geneva Convention, and possibly constitutes a war crime.

Yes, the League of Nations takes a dim view of such things usually but in this case, no action is anticipated. Why? All I’m saying is, do you really think that the League is not an offshoot of International Cultism? Best not to go further.

Doug

[Vagabond]

Some 16 months have passed since the start of the story and almost half of that time has been taken up with a game of epic proportions.  This is what happens when people go into lockdown in a very serious way.

The idea of a quick game at the club on a Friday night pales into insignificance compared to a Doug ex EM4 extravaganza. Well done for finishing, you must be exhausted with the concerted effort expended in November. To get the full flavour of the story I had to start back on page 1, although the main reason was my failing memory.

Congratulations to the Grey League, fueled by their own distillation of Wobble Juice they deserve a well earned pint of Old Peculiar in the Tap Room of the Green Man.

[Doug ex-em4]

Some 16 months have passed since the start of the story and almost half of that time has been taken up with a game of epic proportions.  This is what happens when people go into lockdown in a very serious way.

The idea of a quick game at the club on a Friday night pales into insignificance compared to a Doug ex EM4 extravaganza. Well done for finishing, you must be exhausted with the concerted effort expended in November. To get the full flavour of the story I had to start back on page 1, although the main reason was my failing memory.

Congratulations to the Grey League, fueled by their own distillation of Wobble Juice they deserve a well earned pint of Old Peculiar in the Tap Room of the Green Man.

Thanks Old Bean. You know what it’s like - you’ve played a solo game, taken the photos and done the AAR and then lose interest. But there’s a little voice telling you to get the damn thing on LAF and sooner or later, often with teeth clenched hard, you grimly work through it to the final, triumphal (or not) conclusion.That’s when you feel justified in moving on to something different.

Doug

[robh]

That has been a great read. Well done on both getting the games done and posting them here.
Wonderful to see full picture AARs on the forum. Thanks Doug

[Doug ex-em4]

That has been a great read. Well done on both getting the games done and posting them here.
Wonderful to see full picture AARs on the forum. Thanks Doug

Thanks, Rob. The game was completed in autumn 2020 but preparing for a house move, making a house move, settling in after a house move and waiting to get a shed built all contributed to a gaming vacuum. Allied to bone idleness and you have an AAR over a year in abeyance.

Doug

[Doug ex-em4]

As the men and woman of the Grey League gather to assess the days events, tend to their wounds and prepare to return to their secret base, events in the wider world threaten to engulf Borsetshire as the rivals in the ongoing civil war cast covetous eyes over this so far untroubled county.…..

The continuing story of country folk will likely next appear on the Inter Wars board as armies (well platoons, at least) gather on the borders of Borsetshire……

Doug

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

The continuing story of country folk will likely next appear on the Inter Wars board as armies (well platoons, at least) gather on the borders of Borsetshire……

Looking forward to that!