Captain Fouquet; Chapter 1.3 'The Fire Bird' cont...

This game was played on 13 January. 2011.
Present were; Jan, Oleg, Palle, Goeg and Rasmus!!!

The game continued when Misteline and Marmaduke returned to Misteline's apartment where they found Silas who had come looking for his two associates Tom Hurdigrip and Gerald Mosscramp. Neither man had reported back to Silas and he had become concerned as to where they were. Misteline had nothing to tell Silas as he'd not heard from the men since he set them to work. Misteline then proceded to tell Silas what had taken place in the courtyard and how Rufus had come to be imprisoned. Since there were no other witnesses to the duel between Rufus and Franco besides Bagangelo, and since Bagangelo had subsequently been challenged to a duel by Captain Fouquet, Misteline proposed a contingency plan which involved paying some one who might be seen as a credible witness to play such a part. No stranger to respectable clients with large gambling debts, Silas agreed to the merits of the idea and promised to look into it.

Having agreed on their (illegal) plan of action, the three men decided to go to Mossmoore's Restaurant and Social Rooms on Cobblemoss Court, but only after first stopping by the Gentleman's tailoring establishment Van der Viir's to pick up some respectable clothing for Marmaduke. Misteline and Marmaduke went on ahead whilst Silas stayed behind to lurk in the courtyard and see if he couldn't catch some sign of Tom or Gerald. The courtyard was deserted however, and eavsdropping only told him that in one house (the Turnbull's) there was an argument in progress, but not apparently about anything of interest. Silas joined the others and Marmaduke was kitted out in silken undergarments and a plain but well cut outfit of martial design (in black and red). Properly attired the three companions made their way to the restaurant where they ordered food. Silas and Misteline enjoyed a well prepared White Fish whilst Marmaduke tucked into mutton dressed as lamb. Musical entertainment was provided by a small ensemble playing chamber music composed by the illustrious Jacoob de Vert.

Whilst waiting for their food to be served, Silas caught sight of Mister Devar Lockmyrtle, a respectable client of his, who just so happened to be in debt to the tune of 2,000 Crowns. Lockmyrtle saw Silas approaching and to the amazment of his companion Lady Witherspoon, grew some what agitated. He readily agreed with Silas that he would come to the Lotus Flower, the very next day, and there was no need to send any one to help him. Silas returned to the table where his meal was being served. During the course of their desert, several new patrons arrived from the Sun Theatre, including an old friend of Misteline, the actor and poet Alastair Heatherwax. Alastair sat with the companions and entertained himself at their expense for a while, especially Marmaduke chewing mutton whilst looking some what out of place in his painfully new clothes.

Whilst glad times were happening in the Armorial Quarter, Rufus was transferred by armed guard to the city's most formidable (and comfortable) gaol, the Bastion. Here he met an old man named Sir Walter Heraldlamb who had been convicted of debt and corruption twenty years ago and then left in the Bastion to 'rot'. Rufus quickly learned that life in the Bastion, for those who had money could be very lenient, and Sir Walter lived in relative luxury for some one who was supposed to be rotting. Arrangements could be made for food to be brought from outside the prison, visitors were allowed, including women, even prostitutes though not at night unless the woman was a wife in which case she might live with the gentleman so long as she desired. Sir Walter had already eaten but he gave his scraps to Rufus since it was too late to get anything else to eat. It was all a far cry from Mossmoore's where the chamber music had ended and a dancer named Salomé was performing with a snake, to the accompaniment of a Gypsey band. Full of wine and good food, Misteline, Marmdaduke and Silas each departed for home.

12 Marts. 1625.

Marmaduke awoke earliest but he was too slow to see the duel between Anton Fouquet and Bagangelo. He arrived just as the smug and chuckling Captain departed the field of honour, leaving behind him his two seconds to watch the progress of the horribly disfigured artist. Marmaduke pressed closer and saw that Fouquet had made three distinct cuts to Bagangelo's face and as a surgeon attempted to help the poor man, Bagangelo was kicking and screaming in pain. One cut had opened the bridge of his nose, another had lopped off an ear and the third had cut across both lips. Feeling some what sick, Marmaduke retreated from the grisly spectacle and met Silas who had arrived on a horse, accompanied by Tom and Gerald.

Silas paid scant attention to the wounded artist, as he had become aware of Fouquet's seconds, one of whom he was sure he'd seen some where before. He turned to Gerald and told him to stay close to the man and find out who he was. Marmaduke decided to return home and tell Misteline what had taken place, but Silas remained and noticed a fancy carriage off behind some trees. The carriage had no livery, but its presence was enough to pique his interest. Sending Tom to find the debtor Lockmyrtle and bring him to the Lotus Flower he himself followed the carriage back into the city and to the house of a notable member of the Royal Court, Sir Isambard Goatroll. Not familiar with Sir Goatroll Silas was unable to see if the man who climbed from the carriage was indeed the same man, nor did he recognise the lady in fine clothes who accompanied the man. Both were welcomed to the house by the staff as though they were well known, and no one exited the house to greet them. Silas returned home.

Maramduke returned to Misteline and told him what had taken place. Half way through their conversation both heard terrible screams coming from the tower abode of Anton and Anaïs Fouquet. Looking out the window, Misteline saw Meg Plum with three of the Cutlerstub children in the courtyard all looking up at the tower. Misteline decided to go to the apothocary Nicholas Rungate again and ask him to keep an eye open for any one who might be buying the same kinds of compounds as Captain Fouquet. Rungate promised to do this, but expressed doubt that such questions would lead to credible answers since a lot of people bought charcoal and stone salt. Misteline shrugged and inquired whether Rungate might not know of an accomplished surgeon, to which the apothocary replied in the negative.

Misteline went to Milners Lane to see Doctor Hamshank and ask him if he knew of a good surgeon. Doctor Hamshank did and promised to send a message to the surgeon to go and see to Bagangelo's wounds. Misteline then returned to the Friars Gate courtyard where he met and fell into conversation with Mrs Crimpstock and Meg Plum.

Devar Lockmyrtle was shown into Silas's room, sat in a chair and offered a glass of mediocre wine. Still trembling with fear he listened as Silas put forth the proposition where by Lockmyrtle, in exchange for leniency with regards to his debt, would stand forth as a respectable and upstanding citizen and testify that he was a witness to the duel between Rufus and Franco and that the duel had been fair and straight foward. Lockmyrtle agreed.

Once Lockmyrtle had left, Silas pulled on his coat, ordered forth a fresh horse and rode to the Militia offices in the harbour quarter. Here he met with his cousin, Axelrod Underhand whom he had helped install in the position of Captain of the Harbour Militia when he himself had been promoted to Tax Collector (see previous campaign). Since Axelrod largely owed his position to Silas he allowed him to look over the files pertaining to goods imports and Silas subsequently found that Sir Isambard Goatroll was a major importer of gin.

Sometime around midday, Rufus was briefly visited by Marshal Quartermoon who asked if all was well and if Rufus was comfortable and if he shouldn't find himself a servant to do for him? Rufus replied that he wished to speak with Misteline and before leaving Quartermoon told an aide to see to it.

Mean while Misteline and Marmaduke had run into each other in the courtyard and they decided to go and see if Bagangelo had returned home yet. On the way they happened to notice a distinct and bloody hand print on the upper window of Marcus Feathergate's house. Misteline immediately sent an urchin to fetch the militia and whilst he was waiting for the authorities to arrive, the artist went to see Hilda Grimbleflax and spoke with her for a while about 'doing something' about Anaïs Fouquet who it was assumed must be very upset about the duel.

Several Militia guards arrived shortly thereafter and Misteline pointed out the hand print. At first the guards were indifferent, but Misteline persuaded them to break into the house, and (by providing a small contribution to their purses) to take him with them. Within the house they found a mass of old furniture covered in dust coverings, and clear tracks from the doors to the staircase, and upon which they saw another bloody hand print. Upstairs they found the body of Marcus Feathergate.

Feathergate had not been dead for long and whilst the Militia guards searched for lucrative evidence, Misteline examined the body. He found the cause of death had probably been a large wound to the upper head consistent in character to the wounds suffered by Molly Cutlerstub. Most of Fathergate's face was a bloody, blistered mess, with everything burned away above his nose and a sizable wound in his forehead. Judging by the state of the bed, Feathergate had lain dying for more than two days. The Militia guards were not interested in the corpse except in as much as it wore a purse containing 200 Crowns.

Misteline examines the corpse of Marcus Feathergate

Having examined the body, Misteline then turned his attention to the room, plucking papers at random from the writing desk, before noticing two wooden chests. The militia opened the larger, only to find it contained clothing and articles of everyday use whilst Misteline dropped the smaller, locked chest out of the window to Maramduke who deftly avoided the attention of the distracted Militiaman guarding the back entrance to the house. Not long after this, a some what irate Captain Shallowsack arrived and had Misteline escorted from the building.

Misteline and Marmaduke returned to Misteline's studio to examine the contents of the small wooden chest, and as they did so, they noticed a stranger in dark armoured clothing watching proceedings from the archway of Captain Fouquet's tower. Shortly after the chest had been opened, Silas, and Tom, arrived and the three companions examined the neatly stored rolls of paper which were stored inside the chest. Each roll was tied with a wax sealed ribbon and upon breaking the seal, each roll proved to be a seperate cargo manifest of materials of war. Each manifest was dated and each was listed as the cargo list of a single ship. In the early papers the ship's name was always 'Molly Carbuncle', but in later papers a second ship 'Scarlet Jane' was named. The earliest paper was dated 1602 and the last was dated 1624. Seen as a whole, the chest documented the movements of enourmous amounts of war material.

A letter then arrived from Marshal Quartermoon it read;

"Have spoken with your friend, he needs a servant"

Rufus in the meanwhile was served with a summons to a Court of Law, on noon of the 15th of Marts.

Marmaduke eventually tracked down the crest used on the seal and printed at the head of each roll of paper in a book of contemporary heraldry from Misteline's private collection of books. It belonged to a small trading house called Treadstone. Silas recalled the name vaguely from his days as the Militia captain charged with maintaining customs and excise on the River Weyr. He decided to return to Axelrod Underhand's office and left with Tom.

Misteline and Marmaduke departed to speak with the lawyer Nathaniel Pennyfork, but diverted first to hire a man servant at the market. Whilst Misteline was hiring Horace Nuvel, Maramduke noticed they were being followed by the same man in dark armoured clothing whom they had noticed lingering in the Friars Gate courtyard earlier. Maramduke attempted to watch the man clandestinely but the man realised he had been observed. He moved further away but kept Misteline and Marmaduke in sight.

As the sun was dying in the sky Silas and Tom returned to Axelrod's office only to find he was not there. Silas bluffed his way past Axelrod's secretary to gain entrance to the archive room, but Tom ruined the effort by knocking the secretary out cold. Silas found a folder marked Treadstone, but within was only a single legal document stating that all papers pertaining to the House of Treadstone had been removed on the orders of Marshal Leander Quartermoon.

Rasmus made a rare appearance

Avatar 3D

Beware, Spoilers ahead!

The lights dim and I'm sitting there with my 3d glasses wondering when to put them on, the twentieth century Fox logo begins and suddenly there it is, the 3d effect every one has been raving about and yes, okay, it looks good, even impressive. So far so good.

The film begins without any great fanfare and the first thing I'm seeing is a realistic star ship, it has a rotating habitat, drive shield, central pylon with attached fuel and cargo pods, and a couple of big sexy shuttles. We learn it takes six years of cryo sleep to get to Pandora. So far and still good.

Next we're in a base, populated by two dimensional marines and science geeks. Things are starting to crystallize into stereotypes. Mech suits walk about and the 3d effect is beginning to hurt my eyes. I've read the trick is to not look beyond the focus point but its hard because its not always clear where the focus is. The film is moving along at a crisp pace and before you know it, your in a rain forest. The hero is being chased by a giant six legged panther from hell and the 3d effect seems to work better but the eye strain is still annoying.

About an hour into the film things start to get easier but the damage is done. A low intensity head ache has bitten and is slumbering in the background, the sort that will swell to epic proportions later on. As if there were a blockage somewhere behind the eyes and pressure is building up...

I enjoyed the film, but the gaping plot holes and dodgy science were almost too much to bear. Had it not been for the 'spectacle', and I don't mean the annoying thing on my face, then the whole film would dissolve into pure absurdity.
I won't be paying to see Avatar 2 in 3d thats for sure.

First there was the morphology; all the big animals on Pandora appear to have four eyes, six limbs and breath through two holes in their chests... except for the Na'vi who are so anthropomorphic and culturally terracentric as to be ridiculous. The Na'vi have four limbs, ending in four digits (three fingers and a thumb), two eyes and they breath through their mouths. Even their teeth are set into a human style configuration unlike the double fangs of the rest of Pandora's children.

All the creatures of Avatar exist in a kind of electrochemical-biological equilibrium which means they all have long tendrils on the backs of their heads which can be connected allowing the Na'vi to exert a form of mind control over all other creatures. Quite how this neural interface is supposed to have evolved is any one's guess, but its a part of the whole nature-as-Internet idea that Cameron is pushing as the Pandora eco-system. As sci fi, this is about as plausible as your standard home made role playing game is, and that's more or less how Avatar feels; like James Cameron managed to get funding to recreate his own role playing universe... a universe apparently based on Roger Dean album covers

_

This brings us to the geography of Pandora; a world where mountains float, moored only by titanic roots, in some mythical electromagnetic energy field known as the 'flux vortex', but where water obeys the laws of gravity to fall and so do people who fall from their dragons/copters. Why are the mountains floating? Because its cool.

In the 'flux vortex', the electromagnetic energy field disrupts computers and other electrical appliances, all except for the essential avatar systems, the means by which human minds can ride inside genetically created Human-Na'vi hybrid bodies. Jake Sully, who is our hero, is an ex-marine (for those of you who don't already know) who's gotten the gig because his identical twin brother was a scientist, had trained to 'ride a Na'vi' before he met an untimely end. Jake, in his wheel chair can't afford new legs, so he seizes the opportunity to trek to the stars. Next thing you know, he's gone native and the story is the same as we've seen countless times before. Evil corporate henchmen do the dirty deed against new age tribesmen in order to seize a valuable mineral, known as Unobtanium, because it only exists in any quantity underneath Na'vi villages.

I once made a role playing game called 'The Ringworld'. It was based on an idea of how the Lord of the Rings would have been had I been writing it. No Elves, dragons or trolls for me; in the Ringworld, six limbed reptile predators would roam an alien rain forest hunting small telepathic mammalians who lived in mental symbiosis with each other and had airships, guns and primitive battleships, whilst a super rare metal called Blaczine had mythical properties which powered all manner of strange and otherworldly tech. I took my inspiration from Roger Dean album covers, Arabian architecture and Mayan mythology.

I called my planet Hykon II, but the humans in my games called it Darwin. One of the other names I'd had in mind was Pandora. I played this role playing game as a campaign with my brothers and my friend Rasmus in the mid 1990's, and again as an updated version some five years ago with my current role playing friends (including Rasmus). I also had a human presence (though mine were scientists monitoring a strange alien world as opposed to raping it), with armoured marines (though these never entered the actual games).

Watching Avatar was like a giant deja vu. Not only had I seen Pandora in my dreams, I'd already invented it in the early 1990's. I suspect that a lot of other people had similar games, but only James Cameron has managed to build up the technical ability and funding required to turn such mediocre sci fi into a multi billion dollar success story.

After the film I found I had no head ache, until I got home then it seemed to erupt and I collapsed into a brief coma. With hindsight, I enjoyed the film. The visuals were good, and the creature effects were excellent. I can't say if I'd like to see any more films in 3d. I suspect its a gimmick much like auto tuning and we'll see a lot of shitty films trying to use it as an edge to draw in more people. Avatar has the size and grandeur to carry the effect, at least once, but I doubt I'll care that its not there on the DVD, which I probably will buy, though not in a hurry.



Edited to add;

Brace yourself for the advent of 3d.

I've had a pain in and around my right eye all last evening and this morning. It was a curious effect, entertaining even, but not worth the extra cost and not worth the discomfort.

Halloween, 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween isn't really a big deal in my experience, but this year, with Freja's kindergarten celebrating it, we bought a couple of pumpkins on the way out to my Dad's and I cut my first Jack-o-lantern. We met up with (my youngest brother) Philip, who gave me his old digital camera, having acquired a shiny new one with additional bells and whistles, and together we spent a reasonably enjoyable day, inspecting my Fathers fairly successful attempts at setting the old house into order, moving a mechanical piano and engaging in arguments.

The Goon Squad

In my family, any occiasion has traditionally meant a debate, bordering on an argument, and once in a while, objects being tossed about. Its not so much physical violence, as too much testosterone, with my Dad doing his best Uncle Joe routine when ever more than one of his sons is present and needing to be put in place. Naturally none of these dog fights are about anything remotely important but this doesn't prevent every one giving their all, whilst any female members of the family who happen to be in the blast radius shake their heads in resignation and contemplate cheap flights to warmer climates.

Though I say it myself, I think my pumpkin came out rather well.
Mette took the pictures which is why there several of me and none of her.

Magnezilla & Flicka, hair not included

Its life Jim, but not as we know it!

Freja and Magne were not too happy about the day. Both of them got really cranky, especially Magne who's been ill and 'distempered' of late, but Freja did enjoy the pumpkins, which is weird as to me they are still an American cultural oddity. Actually Jack-o-lanterns appear to have originated from Ireland so there's my cultural ignorance and preconceptions showing me up.

Currently I am well and truly p'd off though so I will beg leave to be slightly grumpy. Most of my life is going really well, but since I started making some fairly decent money, I've had nothing but huge bills from social services demanding I repay obscene amounts of moneys received over the course of the last year. Perusing these letters reveals some unusual numbers to say the least. Some one some where is operating under the false pretence that I have made about three times as much as I have, which wouldn't be much of a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that the Danish social servies are entrenched by miles of telephone answering machines, vacant offices (he's on a course and won't be back for three weeks) and just plain old fashioned misdirection. In the mean time I have eight days to lodge a complaint or the matter will be considered closed. Four days have now passed and all attempts to lodge such a complain have been met with better defences than the 8th airforce faced over Berlin. Tomorrow and Friday are my last chance to avoid paying back as much money as I've received in my wages for the next two months as no way will any one be in an official office over the week end. In fact even friday is highly dubious. If I have to, I'm going to start lobing bricks through windows tomorrow so if I suddenly stop blogging in the next few weeks, its probably because I've been arrested for stating an opinion.
Rant over.
Happy thoughts.
I get paid on friday again and I intend to buy some more figures, though the last lot, ordered a month ago from BTD still haven't materialised yet...


...in the mean time, I am prepping RM6 (warning, its all wargaming babble from here), but I still have a lot of painting and assembly to do. Ever since Trace decided to rejoin Rocketman, I've been juggling my initial set up trying to make it all work. Previously the game was structured around a 3 vs 2 imbalance, with Goeg and Rasmus playing support units to Oleg's heavy tank main Bolshevik force. Facing them would be Palle and I with our Vickers Mk II's and Mk VI's and British infantry support.

Changing the games to 3 v 3 without additional armour is difficult, so now, Palle and I will be playing reduced forces (we both give an armoured Rolls Royce to Goeg who plays Rocketman and Afghan allies). This is a bit risky as Goeg is still a noob, but I can't see how else the game would work. Tracey can take Goeg's oroginal group (Olga and her Uigher bandits) and what we end up with is an equilibrium of sorts

Palle = Lt Col Sir John Napier, 1st Tank Company & British Inf Company. (2 Vickers Mk II medium tank's & 1 Mk VI light tank)
Jan = 2nd Lt Algernon ’Lefty’ Leftbridge , 2nd tank company & Sikh Rifle Company. (2 Vickers Mk II medium tank's & 1 Mk VI light tank)
Goeg = Rocketman and ’Afghan contingent’ (2 Rolls Royce armoured cars and one Vickers Mk VI light tank)

Oleg = Main Black Guard command with heavy tanks and infantry support
Rasmus = Uzbeck Bolshevik support group with light armour, anti armour guns and infantry support.
Tracey = Olga & Uigur bandits with 'technical'

I anticipate mass slaughter

Since I now have a working digital camera again, I'll be posting some more posts regarding models and figures soon.

Any way, time for some atmospheric gaming music...

RM5.1 conclusion

The players, sans Oleg who played paparazzi

It felt good to get back into the Rocketman vibe, and what better way to start than with ships? Earlier campaigns have featured gun fights on merchant ship deck plans, but RM5 takes this a step further with combined models and deck plans to further enhance the visual ambience of the game.

'Bremen on the Amazon', was rather imbalanced, and though the imbalance was a deliberate factor in the game, with two players facing three, a real problem lay in the rules for hand grenades which I had misunderstood, and which were more powerful than I'd realised. This didn't hasten the pace of the game however. I'd expected the game to take about two hours and instead it took three hours and forty minutes. As it was Goeg's first time, there was some hesitation and explanation along the way, but nothing that dragged the flow of the game down.

We began with Rocketman & his companions (Rasmus) , Captain Ortiz (Oleg) and Captain Armando (Goeg) approaching the submarine in Government patrol boat Nr 17, but their pretence at being innocent traders was blown when the U boat captain made a successful perception roll and the Germans (Palle and myself) opened fire from the conning tower. The Brazilians returned fire, with Oleg using the first of his grenades to successfully supress the Germans. This opening salvo set the tone for the rest of the game, as I'd not given the Germans any grenades (they being relaxed, caught by surprise and not having any weapons to hand but their immediate hand guns).

With the Germans in the conning tower taking grenades, the Brazilian boat could come along side almost unopposed. Once this happened, the Germans attempted to withdraw into and secure the submarine.

Rocketman lends a hand

The Bremen had five hatches which had to be secured, but the Germans failed to secure one of the rear hatches, with Captain Ortiz firing down into the hatchway to suppress the crew member who attempted to reach up and shut the hatch door. More Brazilians leapt onto the U boat and the remaining Germans took up positions inside the sub. At this point I was reminded of the opening scene of Star Wars where the Rebels wait for the Imperial Storm Troopers to breach their hull. It didn't take long for a grenade to drop down into the submarine, killing the two Germans who were directly below, and quickly followed by the macho Captain Ortiz.

On the surface, a rowing boat of six German reinforcements was approaching the submarine, and as these came onto the table, Rocketman's engineer side kick, George Macarthur, set a demolition charge to crack opn one of the forward hatches. The fire fight inside the submarine continued with more Brazilians following Capt Ortiz into the submarine.

New models included the 'leather U boat', the cardboard river boat and a new improved Rocketman, and Rocketman-in-flight

Rocketman took to the air (see image above) and George Macarthur blew open the hatch. The Germans in their rowing boat began to take fire and return it, failing to down Rocketman who was hovering in the air above the submarine. There was some contention regarding Rocketman's ability to fire a submachine gun, whilst firing, the question being whether or not the recoil from his weapon would spin him around. It probably would, but such niggling details ring hollow once you've already accepted the premise of a man wearing a rocketpack...

Gov Health Warning; Grenades in confined spaces are bad for your health

Rocketman survived intact and dropped back down in to the comming tower and the fight continued with the Germans gradually being cut to pieces. In the end it was something of a blood bath, 14-3 to the heroes.

Given this game was originally designed for three players, and had been 'adapted' in order to allow for continuity, and a new player, then it was okay. The Germans couldn't really have won, but this was as much due to accident as design. On the whole I enjoyed it imbalanced though it was.

Aging disgracefully

Takshendal

So, we finally got to playing the first Takshendal game last wednesday (and the next session is due next thursday). In the mean time I've been preparing the game and writing up the next Rocketman adventures. Below are a few images of the game taken by Oleg and there is a write up, along with more images on the Takshendal blog.



As you can see, not all the models are finished. Specifically, the interior floors are all bare wood as yet. At some point, I intend to sculpt floors as I have done with previous models, but in the mean time, I ran out of time. Six months just wasn't enough to finish all these models. What I have finished works well enough though and the first game went well. I'm trying to create a certain 'cinematic feel' to the game, and hopefully this will create a unique campaign.

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Takshendal Chapter 1

Post game write up.

The game had four players, Oleg (who took all the pictures), Tracey (the only woman in the picture), Peter (grey T shit) and Rasmus (Black T shirt) and I (Red tartan shirt) was DM. The objective of the game was simple. The pirates had to ‘cut out’ the galley Vengeance, and the marines, militia and city folk had to stop them

The game began with the pirate flotilla in their starting positions and the marines on their galley Vengeance watching them approach. Various city folk had gathered to watch and some brave few had picked up weapons and were watching from the buildings along the harbour side.
The pirates began firing arrows almost at once and the city folk were as often as not cut down before they even got to fight. Alesandrox Wormpole (Oleg), a great merchant prince of the city had arrived along with six of his retainers and these were hiding in the chandlery on their horses. As the pirates approached Alesandrox and three of his men charged out and raced for the galley, making a daring attempt at the jetty, which ultimately cost one poor horse its life as it fell into the river. Alesandrox and his men made it to the galley, but the veritable storm of arrows coming from the pirates cut the retainers down before they could even fire back. Armoured and noble in his finery, Alesandrox survived however. He joined Captain Kettlefox (Rasmus) of the marines on the afterdeck of the Vengeance and watched as the pirates drew ever closer.

The river had a fairly strong current so Captain Murder (Tracey), who spent much of the battle skulking down a stairwell, brought his flagship, Esmeralda along side Vengeance as gently as possible. Captain Melodius (Peter) brought his smaller ship Belly Dancer towards the stern where the anchor was keeping the galley in place. The galley was moored up against a strong jetty and held mostly by an anchor from its stern. A further six mooring lines to the shore had to be cut before the Vengeance was freed. The two smaller pirate boats assisted with Captain Hendrix (Tracey) heading for the bow and Captain Jaki (Peter) heading for the stern.


The pirate’s tactic was simple and straight forward. They were attempting to envelope the Vengeance and cut her free whilst pouring arrows into her Marines (who, caught by surprise, had no missiles weapons at hand with which to shoot back). It quickly became apparent however that the marines were very tough. Heavily armoured and having the protection of their warship, they proved invulnerable to the pirates arrows and whilst they had no way of returning fire, they did have some City Militia Guards on the city walls with arbalests (heavy crossbows) who could provide some cover once the Esmeralda came into effective range. By round ten, the fighting had become intense with all the buildings issuing smoke as the pirates fired incendiaries at them, most of the city folk either dead or cowering in terror and the marines, with Alesandrox Wormpole all but surrounded. A small detachment of guards from the City Militia had also arrived and were heading for the battle.


The crew of the Esmeralda were very careful as they brought themselves alongside the galley, but the sheer weight of their ship and the strong current meant that they found themselves being pushed back against the Vengeance and scraping back along her side. Neither ship was seriously damaged but the galley suffered some cosmetic injuries. The pirates quickly threw grappling hooks and some nimble souls jumped onto the Vengeance amid deck. Some of the Marines had concealed themselves below deck but these were not fast enough to prevent one pirate from severing two of the mooring lines. The marines fought well, but they were being swamped. More pirates were sneaking aboard fore and aft and trying to cut the remaining mooring lines. Arrows and quarrels were flying about all over the place, and by round 16 the Esmeralda was grappled to the Vengeance, Alesandrox had rushed to cut the grappling ropes but even as he did, a pirate, clinging to the rear of the Galley cut the aft mooring ropes as Captain Hendrix and his boat crew cut at the forward mooring ropes. The pirates threw more grappling hooks from the Esmeralda and Captain Melodius cut the anchor line. The Vengeance lurched free and began to move downstream, still attached by various lines to the Esmeralda and still fully manned by her compliment of marines, Alesandrox Wormpole and two city militia who had just managed to climb aboard as the anchor line was severed.

A young man on a horse, one of the armed city folk, attempted to bring a rope to secure the galley but he was too late. He was left on the jetty watching as the two vessels slid downstream, Captain Murder shouting orders from the afterdeck of the Esmeralda and the pirates attempting to board the galley from all directions. The game ended with victory for the pirates, though post game dice rolling determined the galley eventually beached itself on a sand bar and the pirates then torched it. Captain Murder and his forces of evil were eventually sent into retreat and Takshendal never saw their like again.

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It was a great game, even despite the time constraint of playing on a week day. Both sides had their strengths and weknesses but largely managed to over come, or play around them. The towns folk were outclassed but such is life for civilians alas. The pirates won by virtue of a straight forward plan (and a few lucky die rolls at just the right moment).

Through out the game, a large gullit made a special 'guest appearance', lurking below the galley and eating the horse which fell into the river. It looks like the word gullit, like so many other internal jokes, may be here to stay with us for a while.