Nightwick Abbey - Session 52 - CHAINMAIL

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 52 - 13th of Elders, 1392

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 4) 

Mayfly (Magician 4)

Cherwe (Cleric 4) 

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 3)

Mechtild (Fighter 3)

Yevegniy the Coward (Cleric 2)

vs

The Hunting Knight (Played by Huth - Nightwick Abbey's own illustrator)

Preparing for Battle

There are no downtime activities this week as we prepare for battle. Lord Eckhard of Nightwick has given each of us a palfrey (riding horse) to use and has offered Mechtild a destrier (a warhorse) if she would like to be mounted for battle. The battle, we've decided, will be fought out using original Chainmail rules. Most of us have never played with it before, so we thought it would be a neat experience, to take things back to the start of our hobby.

A company of 60 knights led by Sir Albrecht of Lychgate and Sir Baltzer the Bold arrived in Nightwick to ask Lord Eckhard for troops to aid the Bishop. Delighted to find the mercenaries already preparing for battle, they offer to join us agains the White Lady.

As we parade out of Nightwick Village, our forces stand at:

• The Corbies - led by Sir. Guant of Fatstaff, a band of 100 medium cavalry clad in gold skull helmets

• The Brown Company - led by Frock, a group of 200 light infantry.
  

• The Company of the Goose - led by St. Gunther the Goose. 200 crossbowmen serve the Goose.
  

• The Middle Sons - a company of 200 heavy infantry led by Adolphus the Lesser.

• The Crossbowmen of Nightwick (Badder's Boys) - 20 crossbowmen total

• The Knights of Lychgate - 60 heavy cavalry led by Sir Albrecht and Sir Baltzer

Marching Orders

The weather is even nice today, clearly fate is on our side. We set off with the Knights of Lychgate and the Corbies in the vanguard, the Brown Company and Middle Sons in the main, and the Gooses and Badder's Boys in the rear as we head to the village of Vollage, where the White Lady's troops have lay siege to the towns remaining inhabitants.

We notice nothing untoward until noon along the road to Vollage, however, around midday, we notice that the autumnal forest of the Witchwood appears to have advanced south right up to the road. 

Trouble in the Night

Undeterred, we continue our march. We set up camp a few miles from Vollage to avoid fighting at night. The night starts of quietly, but as Mayfly and Liminal take up the second watch, Liminal Space notices a strange fog approaching the came and sees weird witchlights in the fog. The duo hears yelling at the east side of camp.

Through the tents come several hundred red deer, screaming and tearing through tents with their antlers. There is chaos in the camp as the rest of the party come stumbling out of their tents.

Mayfly tries to rally the troops to regroup and attack the deer, but his call finds no root and the mercenaries continue their panic. Sotar tries to find the Knights of Lychgate to coordinate repelling the deer, figuring them to be more disciplined, when a huge explosion rips through the east side of camp.

It seems that Mayfly decided to solve this problem by casting Fireball on the center of a group of deer. They continue to scream, but start clearing out of the camp. It takes an hour to calm everyone down, but the troops are tired from the midnight interruption to their sleep.

Battle Plans

In the morning, we decide to wait until noon to approach Vollage so the men will not start the battle fatigued from their interrupted rest. Sir Gaunt of Fatstaff, who leads the Corbies, informs us that a scouting party has returned with news of the enemy formation.

They report around 600 pigmen are stationed around the remains of Vollage, where only the tower and tavern (The Wanton Wench) remain standing. The villagers have been holed up in the tower for safety where the pigmen have been sieging them. They are now all line up in formation across the river, clearly waiting for us to arrive.

The scouts didn't notice any cavalry or officer among the forces and we think we can throw them into discord relatively easily.

A plan is hatched - Liminal will lead some crossbowmen into the woods to shoot them, then the cavalry will charge across the river to disrupt them. Liminal will use auditory illusion to further sow discord among the pigmen.

The Battle for Vollage

And so we reach the remains of Vollage and set our plan into motion. Liminal leads Badder's Boys through the woods, his fey nature allowing him to lead them unhindered by the thick foliage. The cavalry begin to approach, when we notice that 200 of the pigmen appear to be archers, however, we outrange them with our crossbows.

As the cavalry get into position, the infantry arrive on the battlefield and set up behind them. Liminal casts auditory illusion, but isn't able to break their morale. Badder's Boys are only 1 figure in chainmail terms, so their attack does little against them as well.

Charge of the Corbies (or "It's Corbin Time!")

Seeing that our first strategy isn't working, we send the Corbies to charge across the river against the pigmen archers. The archers flee from the charge and scatter behind the tavern.

The Corbies prepare to charge.

The Wrong Type of Reinforcements

At this point, around 100 strangely dressed knights in brazen armor come charging out of the woods to the east on red deer, with the Hunting Knight, an officer of the White Lady. The new cavalry charge, forcing the Company of the Goose, Badder's Boys, and the Middle Sons to all temporarily retreat.

At the same time, twelve huge, tree-like beings (Monstrous Groans) come stumbling out of the swamp to the west. We've been caught in a pincer and it's not looking good for us.

“I did not think I would have to look at the artillery rules”

Mayfly has attached himself to the Brown Company and orders them to approach the newcomers. He casts Fireball and lands the hit perfectly, and all of the Groans are burnt to a crisp. Fun fact: for the purposes of Chainmail, Mayfly becomes a catapult when he casts Fireball.

The Knights of Lychgate charge the Hunting Knight and his troops, hitting their flank, forcing them to retreat into the woods. 

The Corbies engage the Pigmen infantry in melee next. Twenty corbies (1 figure) and forty pigmen (2 figures) are killed in the melee. Next comes our real opponent for the fight:

CHAINMAIL POST MELEE MORALE RULES (you can skip this section)

As Gygax intended

As things stand after the round of melee - the Corbies have 4 figures and lost 1 in the melee. The pigmen have 8 figures and lost 2 in the melee.

1. The Corbies had fewer causalities by 1, so they note a 1 in their favor. They roll a 4, 4 * 1 = 4.
2. The pigmen still have more surviving troops by 4 figures, so they note a 4 in their favor.
3. Corbies have morale 8 * 4 surviving figures = 32. The pigmen have morale 5 (as orcs from the Fantasy supplement) and 8 surviving figures, 5 * 8 = 40.
4. We add the numbers from the above steps for each side. Corbies get 32 + 4 = 36. Pigmen get 40 + 4 = 44. The difference between the two is 8 * 2 (because both side are under 20 figures) = 16. Looking at the difference chart - melee continues! Since the Corbies had the smaller number here, if the difference had been greater, the result would have happened to them.
   

That's how we were supposed to do it, anyway. Looking over my notes, we appear to have done the math wrong while coming to the same end result. What a fun system.

A Change in the Tide of Battle

The pigmen archers have now regrouped and are coming around the tavern. The elven knights are also regrouping and preparing to charge the Corbies.

The Middle Sons and Gooses have also regrouped and return to the battlefield. Mayfly orders the Brown Company again to draw near to the enemy calvary. He casts Fireball at them and again has a perfect hit, obliterating the unit and their leader (per Chainmail rules, Mayfly is a catapult for the purpose of casting Fireball. He had to declare the distance that he was lobbing the Fireball without measuring it. If the spell lands, it's a autokill, but there's a very real chance that it could miss completely).

Pigmen Routed, Battle Won

With the death of their leader, the remaining pigmen flee back to elven lands or are killed and routed by our forces. Each party member recieves 435xp for our efforts, though, per our earlier agreement when hiring the Corbies, they get the loot for themselves as payment, including some magical items. 

Celebrations in Nightwick

At this, we return to Nightwick village to prepare for more dungeon delving. The knights and our mercenaries go on to Lychgate to celebrate the victory and spread news of our deeds. The residents of Vollage are saved and will rebuild their town. The caravans are now able to resume and news reaches us that forces are being recruited to recruit men to go to war against Witchwood itself!

We are celebrating in Nightwick with Badder's Boys who came back with us when Aythe, Halfdan the Necromancer's daughter, approaches Mayfly. "My. Father. Wants. His. Clippings," she says in her strange, halting accent. She informs Mayfly that he has one month to fulfill his end of the deal that he made with Halfdan long ago to bring him clippings from Nightwick's Sunless Gardens or Halfdan "Will. Take. Revenge." 

This certainly sours the mood of the celebration (at least for Mayfly) but at least we know what we'll be doing Next time, in Nightwick Abbey!