A Knight to remember

 Before lockdown we'd played a fair few skirmish games using Fistful of Lead in a variety of periods. Tim bravely took the plunge in trying to run a game remotely - the challenge being that it is a playing card driven system, where the players each allocate cards to their figures/units.

Anyway, the solution was fairly simple - every player had their own deck of cards, and Tim came up with a method to resolve clashes  when two (or more) players all had the card. This is a more common occurrence than might be thought as aces are wild, and some of the cards have 'special powers' which let you remove wounds, fight better etc.

The scenario was  medieval one. The hand of a fair lady was up for marriage, the groom would be whichever brave knight managed to return the favour secreted in the disused chapel below. 

The favour is on the tomb of the reclining lady.

John got to play the lord (busy kneeling in prayer), while Pete was the executioner - both keeping an eye out for infractions of the Code of Chivalrie. As you can see, we were playing this with Tims 54mm medieval figures. The bride to be was inside the tent.

A rather fuzzy shot of my knight, Sir Martin of Nether Edge and my two trusty retainers.

Sir John. What a great figure.

The Friar.

The inevitable lute player.

Pete the Executioner.

Sir Martin of Nether Edge. Huzzah! Not sure about the shield technique, but at least I've got a great big sword. The shield gave an additional armour bonus, and the sword an attack bonus in combat, and I'm already in full plate. Knights also get to roll a D12 in combat (normal types roll a D10 - this makes a big difference).  

Sir Mark. Not sure I'd go into battle a heart on my shield.

Sir Simon. Simons axe gives him a big damage bonus, if he manages to hit anyone with it. He doesn't have a shield however. He can always swap the axe for his sword.

Sir Tom. He looks a bit scary and has by far the biggest shield of all.

Sir Jerry in very fine Milanese plate. Sir Jerry was present on body but less so in spirit as real life Jerry was otherwise engaged.

Each of the brave knights was accompanied by a couple of retainers, an archer and a footman in light armour with some sort of hand-hand weapon (mine had a big axe).

Our parties were scattered around the chapel. Sir John watched form his tent over on the far side. My chaps are in the wood in the far corner.

Mark and I headed for the chapel from different directions while out arches traded shots. Tom and Simon meanwhile headed directly for each other! (in the foreground).

Tom, Simon and their retinues met in a clash of steel outside. Meanwhile Mark and I engaged in a little sword play in the chapel. My axeman went to go and see off Marks archer after he wounded my bowman. Very unfairly Marks spearman attacked me after I pushed Mark back, soI lopped his head off(!).  That was a bit of a surprise. An opposed dice throw of D12 vs D10 in close combat was fairly weighted towards the knight, especially given their added bonus of their heavy armour.

Marks archer ran away from my axeman while my wounded archer sorted himself out. Meanwhile Mark and I duelled back and forth. Outside Simon and Tom were knocking lumps off each other (all the red wound markers can just be seen).

I managed to push Mark back and rather than follow up, I took the opportunity to move forward and grab the favour. My archer mvoed up to cover the rear exit (with Marks dead spearman lying in it) and my axeman headed back into the chapel having seen off Marks archer. I was hoping to parry Marks comeback so I could make my way back to the tent.

Outside, Sir Tom finally felled Sir Simon. Unfortunately, Mark beat me and forced me back into the far side of the chapel, but luckily I wasn't wounded. My axeman however now appeared in the door behind Mark.... 

Things went a bit bloody at this point. Sir Tom decided to go and fight Sir Jerry who had been creeping up behind him, and knocked him to the ground. Mark felled my axeman with one blow, but as he was distracted, I managed to wound him and made my escape, ooops, calm and unhurried exit. Marks archer fired some ineffective arrows but I was away home free.

Sir Tom appeared to be the only survivor in the foreground as Jerrys retainers field before his fury. However I made it unscathed back to Sir John while my archer kept Marks archer busy.

I was deemed to have behaved in a chivalrous manner and worthy or marriage, but disaster! When I presented myself to the Fair Lady she was not there!! Some scurvy knave called Robin Banks had abducted her and carried her off into the forest.

Well, the rescue mission will have to wait until the next instalment.

That was great fun, a real hoot in fact, and FFoL worked fine remotely so I imagine we shall return to see what happens next.