The Blackbarrow Chronicles is an ongoing series of report on fantasy games played on my
Village of Blackbarrow Table, which has been a decade long project that’s finally come fully realized as its own
little 28mm old school fantasy microverse in my basement.
Picking right up where we left off, on Sunday we rolled
the dice and played “The Gauntlet” out.
I wont rehash the preview much here, so please read that, for the Scenario setup and background.
I’ll start with the teams and there statistics and a
quick shot the Bandits who were missing from the preview, I will go over
various rules as we re- hash how this all played out.
Initiative –
Initiative was rolled with several key players
failing, those passed were ordered by
their Dexterity stat ties were broke by the amount their roll passed by. The
Sheriff and his men act in unison at their specified points , if forced into combat they are added to the
bottom of the order based on their Dexterity stat.
Reynard
Riff
Scorpa
Hugo
Gwayne and Wynn
Henfrey -driving the Ox Cart
Thrum
Black Mott
Treeble
Rob Roy
Zilchus
Weapons
Crossbows- may
shoot only once a turn as your attack action, may be reloaded as your move action
Ignore 2 Armor Points on Hit, damage is per class.
Reach Weapons ,
Halberds , Spears, etc. may attack “nearby figures” not in base contact,
figures with reach weapons cannot be charged.
Aiming- sacrifice
move action for a single ranged attack at +2 to hit
Racial Traits-
Half Giant- 1d12/1d10 , Knockdown, Slow
Knockdown- STR test on charge when engaged with smaller based figures or be knocked down.
Knocked down figures take normal damage, and are the Prone (Vulnerable)
Slow- Disadvantaged on DEX tests,
Bandit Gang, L-R Scopra, Riff, Rob Roy, Treeble, Black Mott (front) |
DEPLOYMENT
The bandits are deployed throughout the town waiting to strike, the Merchants
guild gathers and leaves from its side entrance
Hiding in the Shadows literally. |
Merchants Guild Team Start |
Rob Roy and Treeble plan on sneaking up from the rear |
Sheriff is looking on waiting to screw this whole thing up. |
The Castellan and some of his troops eagerly look on. |
TURN 1
Reynard- Moves 4
inches under porch, casts Shield upon himself, rolling an "18" for Intelligence Test, keep the spell
in his memory. And giving him an additional 6 armor points
Riff- inches forward to edge of shadows
Scorpa- Inches forward to edge of shadows
Hugo- Moves 6 inches
Gwanye and Wynn - - Moves 6 inches
Ox Cart- - Moves 6 inches
Thrum- Run about 8 inches to middle of road guarding
rears of the group.
Black Mott- Bandits attack!!! Mott the Assassin striking
from concealment in Bushes at the Inn, fires a poison crossbow bolt at Hugo from the
merchants guild leading the team, his
high dexterity stat gives him an easy base to hit of “5” plus this counts as
sneak attack, (surprise attack -2) he
chooses not to aim which sacrifice his move action so he can reload, he doesn’t
really need to hitting Hugo on a “3” or
better. He rolls a “15” hitting him for 9 points of damage (Assassin Sneak
Attack Damage 2d6 + level , in this case 2) The crossbow bolt ignoring 2 Armor
points it eats up 2 of his 4 points getting through for 7 damage, Hugo now must
make a poison save or take another D6 damage….his CON is a “9” he needs a 12
and rolls a “12” the poison didn’t take but he has a sucking chest wound. Black Mott Reloads as his move action.
Black Mott, Assassin Hidden set up at game start. |
Treeble- Easily
the dumbest of the Bandits decides to take a Crossbow shot at Thrum standing in
the middle of the road, the 9 foot tall 500 pound behemoth is an easy target Treebles base is a “8” he choose to Aim -2,
Range is about 10 inches so no penalty, and being on 40mm base as a large
target give him an extra -1 , he needs a “5” and Rolls a “12” Treeble is a D8
with the Crossbow but it’s a “3” tearing
off some of the Barbarian shoulder Armor
(AP 6 drops down to 3)
Firing arrows at the Thrum maybe not the best idea in retrospect should have taken out the easy men at arms. |
Rob Roy- alerting Thrum to their presence Rob Roy follows
suit with a flurry of Arrows as a Ranger he can shoot three times but cannot
Aim , he fires three quick arrows, the first two barely missing but the third
hitting home, as Ranger Rob Roy get a D10 against the usual suspects (Giantkin,
Goblins, etc) he rolls another “3”
removing the remains of Thrums light armor.
Zilchus- quickly moves to as near to the wounded Hugo is,
Zilchus is easily “nearby” and casts Cure Light Wounds on him giving him back 4
Hp..Zilchus passes his WIS check to retain the spell with a “15”
Usage Die checks for Bandit Quivers- all pass on the D10.
The Sheriff and his Men now take 1 of their 2 turns here the other
being at the top of turn 4.
The three guardsmen move out in the road to stop Thrum
from advancing on Rob Roy and Treeble
“hold it there bigun, we aren’t starting a brawl in the
streets here today, besides you are not even wounded!",
Guard Intervening, bottom of Turn 1 |
The Sheriff and Scower move and block Gwayne and Wynn
from advancing, stopping them in their tracks hoping to delay them back from
the rest.
Caravan on the move, the Sheriff steps in. |
End Turn
Reynard- moves about 3 inches trying to stay near the
rear corner of the moving wagon, He can
easily see Black Mott in the bushed ahead and lets loose some magic
missiles which hit home blowing through
mott’s leather armor and wounding him for 5 damage (9 total) Reynard
rolls a “13’ on his INT check to retain the spell
Riff and Scorpa
choose to DELAY their actions
DELAY : you may
pass on your initial turn choosing to go later in the order but you must pass a
DEX test to activate..otherwise your turn is lost.
Hugo- Energized by Zilchus’s Healing spell he follows the
Guildmasters orders to march ahead carrying his chest..he moves another 6
inches.
Gwayne and Wynn choose to also DELAY thanks to the
Sheriff they can get around the Ox Cart and need to wait for it to move.
Henfrey in the Ox Cart moves 6 inches.
Gwayne and Wynn now try to move but Wynn FAILS his DEX test so they are stuck,
thanks to the damn Sheriff!..
Delayed, and no purposely. |
Scorpa decide to activate and easily passes his DEX test
with a “12” , he rolls a 15 on his attack hitting with the poisoned Crossbow Bolt on poor
Henfrey, the wagon counting as soft cover didn’t help him Henfrey whiloses his
Armor gets knocked down to 5 hp, he does make the poison save also rolling a “12”
or he be in worse trouble. Scorpa
Reloads
Riff – decides to
activate passes his DEX test easy with a 17….HE Runs to the next alley over cut
off the Merchants.. (Move 12 inches)
sticking all these old building of mine together works and small alley ridden section of the village here the bandits and strike when ready and avoid being seen. |
Thrum is quite annoyed at his situation with the Guard, I
think about having him he barrels them over with non lethal or improvised
damage as per the “the black hack” but don’t
want a 5 on 1, so I have him run around them which has room but not the range,
so he uses a throwing axe, Thrums low DEX make it a challenge but the dice
comes up high with a “19” and Treeble takes a big 10 damage, He did have much
armor to begin with.., Thrum can Throw a second Axe and he does at Rob Roy but Rob Roy easily dodges it, (I
miss with a “2”)
Black Mott- Now is only 4 inches from the wounded Hugo
walking down the street and melee attack would be easy but could get him
attacked by at least 3 Merchants before he goes again, he decides to move up 6
inches but some market table and fire the Crossbow again and this time he Hit
Hugo with a “20”! This isn’t a sneak
attack but its double damage and I roll on the crit chart, the low roll does
nothing extra but the double damage on the d6 rolls of “5” makes its 10 damage,
blowing past his armor leaving Hugo with 1 Hp
but of course he now has to save versus poison , failing this time
taking another 4 damage putting him OUT OF ACTION.
Black Mott probably should have waited till he could have shot, then moved. taking out Hugo with the chest was key but he paid dearly for it. |
Rob Roy, -Not an idiot, Rob Roy isn’t going to stay there
to engage in melee with Thrum, once the reason Rob Roy has been caught is his
handy CLOAK OF INVISIBILTY, which operates with a D4 Usage Die every 24 hours
(meaning as long as he doesn’t roll a 1 or 2 on the D4 after a use, he can keep
using it)
Rob Roy goes invisible and scoots away from Treeble 6
inches..
the clear marker is showing the Invisibility Cloak is in effect, If that had burned out after one use which was a 50% chance I think we would have had a different ending. |
(I put a treasure chest marker on the board) the move is
too far for him to do anything else unfortunately.
Zilchus saved his own team, getting that smaller chest in Cart and hopping on board! |
Usage Die, Mott pass, Rob Roy’s Cloak pass, Scorpa Pass,
Treeble Fail, drops to D8.
End Turn
TURN 3
Reynard- Reynard doesn’t
need to move far to get eyes on Black Mott,
he does and lets the Assassin have another round of Magic Missiles in the
face.. the resulting 9 damage is enough to put Black Mott down and we have our
first bandit go OUT OF ACTION.
Unfortunately for Reynard he flubs the INT Test with a “2” so he loses his last 1st level
spell slot, he can only cast his level
two memorized spell at this point Web…until he can rest for 8 hours (see page
13 of TBH for an explanation on Spellcasting)
Fun with Photo editing tools variations on my favorite filter with some home made spell effects. Reynard throwing out the Magic Missiles that take the Assassin out. |
Riff – DELAYS
Scorpa- Shoots
Crossbow at Zilchus whose standing over
the fallen Hugo and his Chest, lining
him with an aimed shot to offset the
fact he will be disadvantage for the close range, base to hit is “8” this is a
Sneak attack as Zilchus has his back to him so he only needs a 6 he decides to
aim to drop it to a 4. We roll 2 D20, we get a “12” and a “1” FUMBLE!,
the result is weapon dropped, Scorpa fumbles his crossbow in the excitement
and has no move action to pick it up
Vintage Citadel AD&D thief waiting to move on the cart, one the few figures I use regularly that I have had since the 1980's! |
Gwanye and Wynn, move 6 inches
The Ox Cart moves
6 inches
Thrum-, cant charge Treeble because of the terrain but
easily gets to him within 6 and unleashes his fury, his base hit in melee is
only a “3+” and we rolls 19,18 and 2! The
resulting 19 damage puts Treeble very much OUT OF ACTION. Thrum probably would have thrown him in the
River, except for the fact this guy is worth a bounty…
This was so brutal, poor dummy didnt stand a chance |
Rob Roy, Invisible moves 12 inches closer to the chests..
Zilchus, is now standing directly behind the cart . He use
his action to pick up the smaller chest that Hugo was carrying and put it the
cart , for his movement he gets in the
cart from Henfrey allowing them to fight from the cart.
Longview of Zilchus and Henfrey in the Cart, Henfrey gets killed right after. |
Usage die,
Scorpa Fails, D8..
TURN 4
The Sheriff and his men get to make their big move,
Sheriff and Scower are a couple inches away from Gwayne
and Wynn
They decide to just beat them senseless and take the
chest to “protect” it..
The Sheriff is a 5th level warrior with 5
attacks even the D6 no lethal damage, he pummels Gwanye OoA after three hits
Scower gets 3 misses but lands a critical on Wyn which
leaves OoA and Bleeding.
Rob Roy invisible waiting to steal the chest. |
Reynard DELAYS
Riff attacks Henfrey in the Cart as.. rolls a 4 Miss
Scorpa Does the same the Cart has two chests with it
taking it over would be huge , for Scorpa coming up behind this is a sneak
attack, he rolls with Advantage we keep a 16, he rolls 8 damage Henfrey only
had 5 he also fails the poison save OoA,
Zilchus is the lone Merchant standing..
Scorpa and Riff trying to take the cart. |
Renyard Acts..passes his DEX test to do so with a 14, He goes ahead and “Webs” the whole area
around the Sherriff, Scower and the Chest hoping to tie them up..
Rob Roy- who is right there becomes visible steps up and
grabs the chest, he has to save versus the “webs” and does easily with a 17, he
grabs a check but it’s a large one so his move with the chest is reduced to
half.
No Usage Dies to check
Turn End
TURN 5
Reynard
He’s not sure what to do, Rob Roy has a Chest- but IF he can stop Scorpa and Riff going after the
Cart Two chests will most likely escape, He pulls out his Sleep Scroll and casts
it on Scorpa and Riff
We rolls 3D6 (1 per level) for Max HD it effects we get 6
which enough for both, they get WIS test
to save Scorpa fails and falls asleep for 3 turns, Riff Passes on the nose with a 10…..
Riff continues chasing the cart its getting close to the
bridge and if he cant start hurting Zilchus now he wont be able to stop him
alone, he attacks no disadvantaged, and
misses a (4)
Thrum
Decides to charge the guards and get through, non lethal
damage, he could charge all three of them
and use his size difference to
knock them down…he cant charge the Halberd guy, but he can the other two. He moves into base contact as a charge, and attacks both hitting easily due to the
size difference they have to make a STR test or be knocked down, Prone figures
are Vulnerable and any damage caused is at an advantage for the attacker…and
the knockdown itself is its own damage roll… Guard with the Club fails..he’s
knockeddown talking 10 damage right off the bat, then on the Vulnerable Damage from the attack, I roll a 12 and 1, we take
the 12 which becomes a 14 with the charge..and the GUARD IS OoA, the other
Guard with the Sword, makes his STR test stays standing and takes 10 damage
with the +2 leaving him at 12 hp and no Armor.
Zilchus, attacks Riff but misses with a “7” he then moves
the cart ahead another 6 inches. This give Riff a free strike for leaving
combat, but Riff disadvantaged from the Spell also misses..
The Sheriff -Standing in the Web, tries to break free and
does easily with STR test
And moves towards his men fighting Thrum.
Scower- isn’t even close thou and is stuck in the web
Reynards Casting of Web, if only its tied up the Sheriff or Rob Roy. |
Guard with Sword attacks Thrum missing with a 2
Guard with Halberd attacks Thurm hits with a 14, doing
only 3 damage..
USAGE DIE, Rob Roys Cloak D4 fails..so Rob Roy cannot
turn invisible again after this.
Turn End.
TURN 6
Reynard- Nothing he can do about Rob Roy, since he cant
see him, he Delays hoping there is something he can do..
Rob Roy escaping with what turns out to be a decoy chest , we dont know that at this time thou.. |
Riff- realizes he cant stop Zilchus even with a Critical….he
Flees in order not to get caught.
Reynard tries to act to get close to sleeping Scorpa to
try to capture both for the bounty
But fails his DEX Test..oof..
(OoA figures down are captured or killed depending if the
game ends they are within 6 inches of only
an rival faction
Thrum seeing the battle is over and Sheriff about to
engage stands down,
We don’t see many CHA tests so I have him make one to see
if he can end this battle with Sheriff peacefully or be forced keep fighting and face arrest himself …Thrum needs a “9”
rolls an ‘11” - ..success!
Thrum hasnt killed any guards yet and the cart is across the Bridge time to Stand Down. |
Zilchus -Reaches the Bridge, it will actually take
another turn to get completely within the Safe Zone but the Bandits are down or
have retreated
He's made with two chests all by himself. |
Combat Ends.
We Roll a D3 to see which chest contained the Castellans Gold.
1- Hugo’s Chest
2 -The Ox Cart Chest
3- Gwayne and Wynns Chest (which Rob Roy Stole_
I roll a “2” soi
Zilchus has prevailed a delivered as promised but at what cost,
The Castellan is pleased.
OUT OF ACTION ROLLS
Merchants
Hugo, has to pass poison save to even make the OoA check
roll, fails DEAD
Henfrey- Same
Fails DEAD
Gwayne rolls “4” Cracked
Bones- OK
Wynn- Rolls “5” Fat
Head- OK
(these are temporary effects more suited toi multiple battle scenario)
Bandits
Treeble – Rolls 1, DEAD
Black Mott, Rolls 6- KO’d – OK
Scorpa _ OoA due
to Sleep Spell OK
Both Assassins Black Mott and Scorpa are Captured- to the Castle Dungeon
Team Experience
Surviving the Battle, +1
Not being knocked out of Action +1
Getting the Gold to Castle or Stealing it +3
Individual Experience
Each enemy put Out of Action +1
Stole a chest (bandits only) +1
Team Bonus Goal +2
xp
Merchants – Rob Roy
Bandits- Steal all 3 Chests
Gold 500 Gp to
winning team (Split Merchants/ Mercenaries)
Gold 100 to losing team (Bandits)
Bounty’s paid on Bandits
- Treeble, Black Mott, Scorpa 150
gp (Mercenaries)
Merchants with Mercenaries
Zilchus XP +5
Gwayne +4
Wynn +4
Thrum +7 XP
Reynard +7 Xp
Bandits (Lowlander gang)
Rob Roy + 3 XP
Black Mott + 2 XP
Scorpa +2 Xp
Riff +2 Xp
Sheriff and Scower + 2xp
Guards + 1xp
Final Thoughts
Well this was a fun one, trying to figure the Sheriff and his men in was a challenge as I didnt want full 1 vs 1 vs 1 , it didnt make sense to have the streets totally empty and its alos a pain to weave a bunch of civilians into a skirmish like this, so we were happy with how it worked out.
Obviously Thrum and Reynard did all the work and mission ended up more a "guard duty" mission for them than a actual mission for the Merchants Guild considering they got slaughtered pretty bad but still won.
The Black Hack (TBH) basics seem to work pretty well here as combat mechanic, I am definitely flying in ALOT of my favorite house rules from various miniatures games to make this work and TBH is very rules light when it comes to this sort of thing and in a miniatures game its the opposite.
There a couple of wonky thing I am going to have to dial back as the Characters get more powerful
the 1 attack per level thing is going to get stupid fast , it was already borderline with the Sheriff with 5 attacks!, Ill probably cap it a three (one every two levels up to level 6 for warrior types. we will see how it goes
Moving ahead- Episode 4 a bunch of rookies from at the Wayside Inn, get goaded into going to explore whats going on at the Fellcross Ruins, Strange Lights, Missing Guardsmen, etc..
its heroes vs monsters scenario, Episode 5, will be first good old fashioned Dungeon Crawl
so keep on dropping by!