FFoL: Bigger Battles - Northern Crusades

[Maniac]

I ran our first match of FFoL bigger battles Friday night using my Northern Crusaders.  We ran a mostly straight up battle with two players on the pagan side and two on the crusaders (Oesel and Livonian vs Teutonics/Riga and some English Crusaders).  The crusaders had been setting up for a tourney as a diversion while waiting for the cold to finally enable campaigning.  The Livs with their Oesel allies had mounted an early raid, with one force coming in along a side and one force coming in over a fast moving and cold stream.

Crossing the river required an easy task, and for each failure the unit would take a shock as that model stumbled and fell into the cold water.

I will say that I ignored the rule about no spears and shields, as I find it a rather 'not good' addition given the thousands of years of men fighting with shields and spears.  Additionally, I changed crossbows to +1 to wound at all ranges as forcing a reload with every shoot action seems too sever otherwise.

Some photos from the game:






Oesel clobbering a unit of foot knights:



English taking a pounding from the Livs before giving back as good as they got it:





Overall it went really well, the guys like it better than regular FFoL.  The Commander mechanic was really good, and the way shock plays out is well thought of.

Lastly I put together an events deck.  To use it you need a second deck of cards declare 1 side as red (crusaders for us) and 1 side as black (pagans for us), and I would recommend adjusting the titles to fit your period.  Each round, after dealing out cards but before the first card is played pull a card off the 'event deck' and consult the chart below:

Hearts:
A = Lost Patrol Arrives = Bring in a single 'Red' unit along a table edge and 12" away from a 'Black' unit
K = Foolish Courage = Immediately move a single 'Red' unit into base contact with a 'Black' unit if possible.  Otherwise move at the double towards the closest 'Black' unit
Q = Lucky Path =  Choose a single 'Red' unit, it may ignore terrain penalties for movement for this turn
J = Boggy Ground = The 'Black' player chooses a single 'Red' unit, it suffers two shock as troops get stuck in the mud
10 = Frighten the Superstitious = The 'Black' player must make a hard task roll to charge a commander or hero model this turn.
9 = Consumed with Faith = Choose a single 'Red' model and promote it to a hero for the rest of the game.  If this card is drawn again it has no effect
8 = Pick your targets, Independent Fire! = This turn all 'Red' units that can shoot may shoot at half dice.  The units which choose to do this gain +1 to Hit and Wound and ignore reloads
7 = Determination = Choose a single 'Red' unit and remove all shock
6 = Deus Vult = Choose a single 'Red' unit, it may re-roll all failed to hit rolls this turn in melee
5 = Made in Poland ammo = The 'Black' player chooses a single 'Red' unit, it cannot fire until it reloads
4 = Protect the camp = A 'Red' unit must immediately run for their starting zone and will continue until they leave the table.  A leader may attempt to rally them and stop the flight
3 = Weather = Roll on the Weather Chart
2 = Weather = Roll on the Weather Chart

Spades:
A = Ambush! = Bring in a single 'Black' unit along a table edge and 12" away from a 'Red' unit
K = A leader will rise = Choose a single 'Black' model and promote it to a hero for the rest of the game.  If this card is drawn again it has no effect
Q = Inter Tribal Rivalries = One of the two closest 'Black' units must target the other unit as if a foe this turn
J = I heard something over there! = A 'Red' unit must immediately move towards their starting table edge as their activation, following normal movement rules (move at the double)
10 = Bickering = The 'Red' player chooses a single 'Black' unit, it suffers two shock as troops fight amongst themselves on the best course of action
9 = Our own damn crossbows! = The 'Black' player can choose a single 'Black' unit.  For this round it equipped with crossbows in addition to its other equipment
8 = Cut -rate arrows = The next 'Black' unit to shoot must roll as follows:  1,2 = Fire as Normal  3,4 = Half the unit may fire this turn  5,6 = The unit must reload this turn  7,8 = The unit is out of ammo for the rest of the game
7 = Kill them all! = The next 'Black' unit to fight a melee adds +1 to their Hit and Wound rolls.  Keep this card until used
6 = Known terrain = Choose a 'Back' unit, as long as the terrain is passable it ignores all penalties moving through or fighting in terrain this turn
5 = Got 'em' in the eye = The next 'Black' unit to shoot at a 'Red' unit causes 1 wound in addition to any other shooting effects
4 = Weather = Roll on the weather chart
3 = Weather = Roll on the weather chart
2 = Weather = Roll on the weather chart

Weather Chart:
1 = Heavy Fog = Fog has rolled in.  Roll for each unit which can shoot and apply as directed:  1,2 = Subtract D6 inches from any shooting unit's short/long range, 3 = No Change, 4,5 = Add 1D6 to a units range up to max short/long, 6 = Roll Again
2 =  Lightning Strike! = A fire starts due to a lightning strike!  Randomly choose a piece of terrain.  Roll each turn:  1 = fire is out, 2-5 = Fire Spreads to one adjacent piece of terrain, 6 = Fire Spreads to two adjacent pieces of terrain.  Roll scatter for direction, all units caught between terrain suffer one wound roll per model.  May not reduce or alter wounds with armor
3 = Rain Squalls = Rain squalls have arrived, shooting becomes an easy task (6+).  Each turn roll to intensify (evens) or abates (odds).  Intensify increases difficulty (6+ to 8+ to no shooting) and abates decreases the difficulty (no shooting to 8+ to 6+ to rain passes)
4 = Heavy Snow = Heavy snow has arrived reducing movement.  Each turn roll to intensify (evens) or abates (odds).  Intensify causes a 1" penalty for movement for each level, abates reduces this penalty by 1".
5 = Sun breaks out = Immediately cancel all weather cards

If a Weather event is already in affect, ignore any lower numbered weather effect rolled.  If a higher number is rolled, the existing weather effect is canceled and the new weather effect takes place

[FifteensAway]

FFOL Bigger Battles allows a lot of options.

I like your event deck idea as well as the weather chart concept.  (except you left out the Princess and the Duke cards!) [Extra face cards in the 60 card decks you can buy]