Merry Christmas Song of Arthur Party

At the besieged castle of King Leondegrance, the stout hearted knights of the Lions' Den did throw their mettle into the fray. 

Gathering for our annual Christmas party and game, we put another chapter into the growing tales in our Song of Arthur and Merlin campaign.

Stand table-side with us and raise your tankard to fellowship and good cheer.

Once more into the breach.

Consult the pooping elf from the shelf.

Is it fame, fortune, or magic?

Merry Christmas Friends

Thanks for your readership and following our adventures in 2014.

The Fall Tourney at Lincoln Castle

The Song of Arthur and Merlin Campaign rolls on.  Welcome dear reader to the continuing tales of the stalwart knights of the Lion's Den.  It gladdens my heart overly much to recount the joyous celebration of mine birthday with fellow gamers of long standing.  Harken unto the digital pixels of an evening of feasting and merriment.  Marvel at the tales of a great tourney held on the green lawn before Lincoln Castle - home to the aged Aeron of Lindsey.

The King's retinue from Salisbury begins to arrive at Lincoln Castle and the Duchy of Duke Aeron of Lindsey.  The jousting list has been prepared in anticipation of mighty deeds of arms.  The herald accounts for the following warband retinue and the attending lord that appertain there unto. Lord Terry and his warband of Sir Morhault, Sir Lanvil, and Sir Robin the Stout Hearted doth arrive and assign a pavillion of silk tents unto and take their pleasure in the fine green space before the castle walls.  Lord Jon Haworth arrived anon and his retinue did contain the infamous knight of the red lance, Sir Timor of Catterick - Warden of the Northern Marches, Sir Dwailyn the Imp, and Sir Elan.  The herald spake unto them thuswise, "welcome noble lords and kinds sirs.  The peace of Arthur and the realm dictates that all sportsmanship and conduct will be as becomes a gentle belted knight of Britain."  And after awhile did lord Bill arrive with his knights and esquires Sir Bradwen and Sir Rhun.  And in the late afternoon did arrive Lord Kenneth of  the Greenwood, and his knights and esquires three in all, Sir Kenneth the Paladin, Sir Connor - son of Aeron, and Sir Cadlew a lesser son of Duke Aeron.  And after a pace did arrive Lord Nick and his retinue of knights and esquires two in number, Sir Osric Wulfhere, and Guy Galardoun.  And finally Lord Ted made his appearance on the road into Lincoln castle with his retinue of Baron Schleich, Sir Arnold Von Wald.  And the herald did great each and all in turn as they arrived and each was assigned a place of honor appertaining to their worth under the walls of castle Lincoln and the peace of Arthur.

And during that time of year the calendar marked this time the Feast of All Souls and in a short space of time the birthday celebration of Duke Aeron of Lindsey.  In preparation for these events the duchy prepared a grand feast.  The herald announced to the assembled retinue of guests from Salisbury and the King that there would be a parade of helms and that each knight that would bare arms in the lists should prepare himself in all martial array and proceed in the march on the lists to be judged by the assembled court of the duke and his family and close friends.  And in that event there was a multitude of banners and silk and crests divinely wrought in all manner of beasts and heraldry.  And the gamemaster of the Song of Arthur and Merlin did require all players to roll 3D6 and he spake thuswise to the assembly, "count your successes and take one chivalry for each success.  I will record these successes and your place at the Feast of All Souls will be determined thuswise and appertain to your seat of honor and participation in further gentle festivities within the grand hall."

The parade of helms and the royal court of the Duke of Lindsey.

The Feast of All Souls in the grand hall.  This festivity and gentle adventure was likewise full of chivalry and the ability to affect the social standing of your knight.  We did a series of toasts to long dead RPG characters that we had played in the past.  These characters that we had brought to life through imagination and game nights were celebrated and toasted in their turn by all players.  This was good for quite a few stories and toasts to old friends.  The game master did require that each player would roll 3D6 and count the successes and report out that score for chivalry appertaining there unto and the quality of the story on the court and lords and ladies.

The feast also included a madrigal dance.  Each knight was invited to this event as his score dictated by the parade of helms.  The ladies of Lincoln held sway in this event and their vote of quality and attention to the knight would bring fabulous honor and awards in special skills and magical items.

Lady Millicent was a very gregarious demoiselle and courted quite a few of the knights attention. 

The following morning the populace gathered at the tourney fields for a grand joust and test of arms.

The four rounds of the event listing the starting  combats and all of the tilts to up to the winner there of.

Sir Timor of Catterick, Warden of the Northern March and known also as The Red Lancer.

Jousting Rules Variant for Song of Arthur and Merlin

Song of Arthur and Merlin Jousting Rules Variant  By Kenneth Van Pelt

“So each knight saluted the other, and thereupon each took such a stand as should cast the encounter immediately beneath where those three fair demoiselles looked down from the balcony. Then each knight dressed his spear and his shield, and, having made ready for the encounter, each sat for a small space entirely prepared.”

• ·         The participating knights are placed as demonstrated on the list facing each other and ready to move toward each other in traditional jousting fashion.  Now in SAM and SoBH the mechanic is move counter move based on a success throw of a set of D6.  In a joust both participants are acting in unison or in synchronous order.  To model that with the already in place mechanic of SAM we salute and require each knight to throw 3D6, (the full set of SAM success die.)  For each success the knight may advance one move increment down the rail.  

“Then each shouted to his war-horse, and drave spur into its flank, and launched forth with wonderful speed to the assault. So they met in the very midst of the course with a force so vehement that the noise thereof was wonderfully appalling for to hear. “

• ·         3 rolled successes will leave you at mid-point on the rail.  Any failures and you will be caught closer to your start point by a more successful knight opposing you.  From beyond the midpoint you get to add +1 to your combat score for each full section you have moved past midpoint and closer to your opponents start point!

“And each knight smote the other in the very centre of his defences. And, lo! the spear of Sir Geraint burst into small pieces, even to the truncheon thereof; but the spear of King Arthur held, and Sir Geraint was cast so violently backward that both he and his horse were overthrown into the dust with a tumult like to a monstrous roaring of thunder.”

• ·         We assume that a contact will occur when the two knight figures pass in the same segment* of the rail. At this occurrence we roll a combat roll with and if there are any leftover successes to use for combat.  ALL special abilities are in play.  Passing blow especially.  If you don't have enough successes to make an attack then you simply defend or if both are out of successes than it is a pass by.  In our joust if you are beaten by an even roll you are unhorsed and defeated.  If you are beaten by an odd roll you are recoiled and remain in the saddle however the opponent has "broken" a lance on your shield and scores 1 point.  The knights continue to the end of the list and pass again.  Three broken lances are equal to a win or "unhorsing" of the opponent.

“And when Sir Geraint had recovered his footing, he was, for awhile, so astonished that he wist not where he stood, for never had he been so overthrown in all of his life before.  Then Sir Geraint knew not what to say, being altogether abashed with shame and vexation at his overthrow."   Howard Pyle, King Arthur and His Knights

Song of Arthur and Merlin

Welcome dear reader to another session report for the great Ganesha Games title:

Song of Arthur and Merlin by Daniel Mersey

Part 1

The Joust:

As we recall, the knights of Camelot have been journeying northward to the realm of Duke Aeron of Lindsey on a progress ordered by Arthur to receive and exchange gifts of fealty from the Duke and his fief.  The event of a king's entourage will of course call for feasting and a tournament.  In preparations the duke's men have started clearing and refreshing the list at Lincoln castle.  Join us now table side for images of the jousting game as played in the Lion's Den using the mechanics of Song of Blades and references to how we did it back in the day.  Our rules are not as written in Song of Arthur and Merlin.  We have resurrected our old format and will demonstrate here for you now...

The knights are characters from SAM with all stats and specials intact and in use.

The jousting field or list is prepared from a terrain feature that is six increments long.  We used the medium move distance when constructing our jousting rails.  See the image and click for a closeup view.

The participating knights are placed as demonstrated on the list facing each other and ready to move toward each other in traditional jousting fashion.  Now in SAM and SoBH the mechanic is move counter move based on a success throw of a set of D6.  What we actually feel is different in a joust is the Rochambeau mechanic of "ready, steady, shoot," in that both participants are acting in unison or in synchronous order.  To model that with the already in place mechanic of SAM we salute and require each knight to throw 3D6, (the full set of SAM success die.)  For each success the knight may advance one move increment down the rail.   

So as you can see in our demonstration joust, 3 rolled successes will leave you at mid-point on the rail.  Any failures and you will be caught closer to your start point by a more successful knight opposing you.  From beyond the midpoint you get to add +1 to your combat score for each full section you have moved past midpoint and closer to your opponents start point!

We assume that a contact will occur when the two knight figures pass in the same segment of the rail. At this occurrence we roll a combat roll with and if there are any left over successes to use for combat.  ALL special abilities are in play.  Passing blow especially.  If you don't have enough successes to make an attack then you simply defend or if both are out of successes than it is a pass by.

In the combat roll.

In our joust if you are beaten by an even roll you are unhorsed and defeated.  If you are beaten by an odd roll you are recoiled and remain in the saddle however the opponent has "broken" a lance on your shield and scores 1 point.  The knights continue to the end of the list and pass again.  Three broken lances are equal to a win or "unhorsing" of the opponent.

With this format we play-tested our old jousting rules from Pendragon and within the new rules set of Song of Arthur and Merlin we experienced unhorsing, ties, wiffs, and broken lances.  Some of the knights had to make several passes before the contest was decided.  The +1 per increment of rail past midpoint was fun and key.  If you get "up" on your opponent and hit him close to his end of the list it is really demoralizing.  We allowed passing blow and that was sometimes very significant.  We discussed Assassin skill and our group is really wrestling with this in Arthurian background but we decided that an assassin in a joust isn't trying to kill someone ....

Will take a break for now and continue this post in a bit.

Part 2  Blood Feuds and an Ambush

The entourage is traveling by many roads  and the knights are free to roam and experience adventure as it presents itself.

The rumor of a knight bearing an evil red lance has circulated.

A kidnapping has occurred.

And of course Mordred's men dog the column and present sorites for blood at nearly every crossroad.

When we rolled up our scenario for each table the first two games produced a Blood Feud and an Ambush.

Here is is Terry's warband advancing into an ambush.  The ambush can be seen below.  We used rune stones to ID each location for the real and dummy markers for Jon Mark's warband.

Rune stone location markers some of which represent the ambushing warriors below.

Jon Mark's warband footmen.

Across the room we see Mordred's men in Ted's war-band.  Secundus the berserk has had a long standing feud with Bishop Kenneth the pure.  Kenneth, a paladin by discipline, has brought his warband into the battle to kill Secundus.

An ambush revealed. Some of Terry's knights move through rough terrain and expose the hiding places of Jon Mark's foot knights.

The advance of Sir Morholt, Sir Lanvil, and Brave Sir Robin.

Back to the blood feud.  Bishop Kenneth is unhorsed by the berserk and looks as if he was knocked dead from his horse.  The only saving grace was his fortitude and Tough skill.  So back in the saddle he returns to fight and kill Secundus.

I liked the use of rune stones for ID markers.  They were expedient and I have had them for a long time and never really used them in wargaming.  Now I have a valid use for them.

Second scenario of the evening created a "Kill The Monster" and "Rescue a Kidnap Victim" set of games.

Here we see the berserk as an object of a massive hunt and kill game.

And on the other table we have a kidnap victim that ends up being saved and rescued.

Dwaylin the Dwarf unhorses and kills nephew Connor.  Bishop Kenneth's nephew.

Kenneth and two mounted men-at-arms confront the Knight of the Red Lance!!  He is an Assassin and quite deadly in hand to hand combat.

Great night of gaming.

Thanks for looking in on the post.

Up next in this story arc will be the joust in Lincoln and then the Christmas Feast in Camelot.