Fistful of Lead: Robin Hood! Bloodbath in Kingslea

We played a very 'Merry Saturday Afternoon's Game of Fistful of Lead', full of carnage & bloodshed and set in the hitherto peaceful village of Kingslea. 

Robin Hood & his Merry Men vs. The Sheriff of Nottingham.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. We had originally planned a four player game, but had two players drop out. Feeling a little dejected & deflated I called my mate C_ and sounded him out about postponing the game till next week.

Unbeknownst to me, my mate C_  had set up a grand spread at his place, laying out his table with some pretty speccy terrain and some beautifully painted 'extras'. Once he sent me the text & photos of his set up, I have to say, I jumped at the chance to get over to his place and have a game.

I just can't resist a good table...plus I'd already had some shore-leave from my family commitments so I wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

On to the scenario. The Sheriff has decreed that there will be new taxes from the population, and the Sheriff's men have come to collect. 

They also have a very important mission. To find Maid Marian. She has been colluding with Robin Hood and had started to spread seditious rumours amongst the peasant folk. 

'She must be reprimanded!'

Robin Hood and his Merry Men had to stop the Sheriff & his Men from collecting those taxes and carting off Maid Marian.

The Sheriff's men started close to village crossroads, and the player - C_ - had the job of locating all of the hidden loot, as well as Maid Marian herself. Everything of course was allocated VPs. Men killed, gold collected, Maid Marian saved or caught...

C_ , always the master hand, had beautifully painted up some lovely villagers that would add a lot of colour and atmosphere to the drama. I've only ever seen these kind of peripheral pieces in gaming magazines and online in blogs from overseas. Never actually in the flesh so to speak, and they certainly upped the ante in terms of the gaming atmosphere.

Similarly, his medieval buildings that can be seen in these photos and those bits of terrain added another layer of bling. Great terrain just makes pushing around toy soldiers that much more merrier - pun intended.

All I brought to the table were my recent Perry War of the Roses figures and my collection of Robin Hood Figures. Oh, and I brought a piece of terrain as well - the forge I'd recently slapped together, it can be seen tucked away in the village. I also had the rules, and all the cards, bits and bobs for tracking wounds & shock.

And so it was that the afternoon's blood bath began...this wasn't to be a PG fit-for-televison Robin Hood game, more of a Quentin Tarrantino gangland style do-or-die show down. Brace yourself people, because there will be blood.

The Sheriff had four units:

•  A Yeoman Unit of Spearmen / Halberdiers.
• A unit of Heavy Armoured Knights
• A small band of Mercenaries
• The Sheriff himself, mounted and heavily armoured

The Merry Men had five units:

• Robin Hood - rolling D12s for ranged & close combat, and with the 'Master swordsman' trait
• Little John - rolling D12s for Close combat and with 'Heavy blow' for wounding, as well as being a tank that could minimise wounds for being 'large'
• Friar Tuck - for all your medic and inspirational (rallying) needs 
• A light infantry unit of archers
• A second light infantry unit of brawlers

On turn One of this Ten Turn game, The sheriff and his body guard, a unit of Heavy Knights, arrived in the town square to impress upon the locals the seriousness of the decree.

'Pay up, give Maid Marian up or face the wrath of The Sheriff!

While all of this hullabaloo was going on, two units of Merry Men waited in the orchards and forests outside the town..biding their time and waiting for an opportunity to strike hard and fast.

The unit of Archers in the Woods were going to earn their keep on this very bloody day of days.

At this early stage of the game, just as the 'Ye Olde Official Taxation Decree' was being read, my unit of Merry Men Light Infantry (with a random friar along for the ride) sauntered out into the middle of the street to taunt The Sheriff...

The Sheriff's Heavy Knights weren't having any of it, so they pushed aside some of the local riff-raff in order to meet the trouble head on. They had Armour bonus to protect them from wounds, and were all wielding two handed weapons that would most probably inflict some devastating wounds...

Predictably, the first tussle between those Knights would push back the Merry Men, but it wasn't to be as one sided...the Knights lost a man, and the Merry Men had blood to spare...

Meanwhile, The Sheriff and his band of Mercenaries had started to search amongst the buildings and the forge in search of the extra levies that the locals had hidden. There was even a small bag of coin hidden  beneath the bridge to the North...   

Sensing the commotion in the town, the Merry Men's Bow Unit burst from cover and sent a flurry of arrows towards those Heavy Knights in the street. The first shots were woefully inaccurate, but the second volley was devastating.

Truly devastating. Two of those Knights fell down dead in the street. There was only one member of that group left...and he was in shock. 

It was all going a little pear shaped for the Sheriff's men.

To be fair to C_, he took this in his stride, he just had one of those freakishly bad save rolls in which my freakishly good volley of shooting rolls was followed by his freakishly bad saving rolls...in any case, it was a very cool cinematic moment.

While this tussle on the West side of the village was ongoing, I had brought my three heroes - Robin, Little John, and Friar Tuck - out from their hiding spaces to the south of the village.

Robin headed straight for the bell tower. I intended to use his superior archery skills to harass and kill from the position. 

Little John headed to the Eastside of the village to engage with the Yeomen.

The portly and slightly drunk Friar Tuck would join Little John soon enough, but the first brawl between these fellas would see some truly epic carnage from the big fella. He cracked those Yeomen good & proper and pushed them back. The Friar joined in too, but took a little shock & a wound.

Robin had a crack at these guys as well from the position, and soon enough The Sheriff was heading his way.

The villagers were just sitting back, watching the drama unfold.

The last remaining Heavy Knight by this stage had also fled to the upper story of the Tavern...with the few remaining Light Infantry of the Merry Men in hot pursuit.

The Sheriff's last remaining Knight wasn't to go down without a fight however. The bloodlust kicked in and he took out two of these Merry Men in the melee. The tussle lasted a fair few rolls as I recall.

And what of the Sheriff's Mercenary unit? By this stage they had been efficiently mopped up a few VPs from the surrounding buildings...they still hadn't found Maid Marian however.

The few Mercenaries were eventually engaged from range by the Merry Men's Archers, at this stage they had moved into a good firing position at the West side of the village. They used their range to good effect and took out the Mercenaries.

On the East side, the Friar and Little John were fending off repeated thrusts from those determined Yeomen. They had both sustained a few wounds in the melee, and the good Friar had to use his dwindling supply of brandy to fortify Little John's wounds...and his own I might add.

The Sheriff arrived at the church, dismounted and climbed the Bell Tower to engage Robin. He had sustained a bit of shock from Robin's arrows, but was otherwise in good order. Robin on the other hand, had broken his bow, and had used a turn to fix it.

Robin had a good reason to be in that Tower.

Maid Marian was hiding there, and I used a ACE card as a Joker...revealing her and enabling her to scuttle down the stairs to relative safety. MM could only activate on a Joker. It was nice little moment that took C a little by surprise, but honestly, that Tower was just too good a place NOT to hide...it was just so cinematic and a very fitting place for a show down between the Sheriff & Robin Hood.

Little John by this stage had drawn his last breath and the tide of Yeomen had started to swell over the protective wall that he and Friar Tuck had built on that side of the street. 

All that stood between the Yeomen and Maid Marian - in her splendid blue dress - was poor old Friar Tuck. He'd healed himself and was valiantly fending off this Yeomen.

Meanwhile in the Tower, the two principle antagonists were slashing away at each other. Robin had the all the skill but the Sheriff had the Armour.

Robin died! 

He just couldn't get enough decent hits through the Sheriff's armour. A somewhat fitting turn of events, as C_s Knights had succumbed quite easily earlier in the game.

Down the village, the Sheriff's men had also inflicted a few prized scalps - a bunch of Merry Men had fallen by this stage, and Little John toast, Friar tuck was only just hanging in there.

He was swinging his sword and swigging brandy madly.

I had managed to move my last remaining Infantry unit - the Archers - up to the base of the church in an attempt to rescue Maid Marian before the Sheriff could seize her.

But I was too late! The Sheriff scuppered down the stairs and seized her.

Poor old Friar Tuck has died as well by this stage of the game. You can see him here in the foreground...dead.

Those Yeomen - cheap fodder that they were - certainly had earned their keep.

Incidentally, we were so engrossed in the game that we kind of lost track of the turns...it was possibly turn 10 or even 11 by this stage...the scenario was originally slated as a Ten turn game. So technically C_ probably won the game here...but it was really on such a knife edge that were weren't even thinking about it. we were playing to a cinematic conclusion. 

There was a bit more drama to unfold. Drawing a Joker, I activated Maid Marian. She could attempt to escape on a task roll of 8, and roll 8 she did! she scampered past the last remaining Merry Men to the far side of the street.

A brief and bloody melee ensued and this time, the odds weren't with the Sheriff. The Yeomen tried to fend them off, but were taken down. Perhaps it was a bloodlust brought on by the death of their leader...because those Merry Men just slaughtered the Sheriff.

There were only three not so Merry Men left..but thankfully they had saved Maid Marian.

So there you go. It was a great afternoon of gaming. 

There was a lot good chat & laughter. I don't think I've ever had a bad game of Fistful of Lead. It's the kind of game that works well with a certain kind of gamer. If you're a power gamer or a win-at-all-costs-count-every-inch kind of gamer...it's not for you.

Still I do love this game.

All the best.