Can de Brioche's Coup de Main obtain the Grain for the Train?

Hugh de Puiset has dispatched two of his trusted men-at-arms, Guy de Brioche and Henri d’Eclair, to search for and requisition supplies from the village of Burnhope. Under the command of de Brioche, the foraging party consists of a group of the Bishop of Durham’s spearmen and, appearing for the first time in the campaign, a group of Bowmen, bearing the cross emblem of the Bishop. Originally, the French crossbowmen who disgraced themselves so badly at the Battle on the Char Beck were going to take part in this early morning raid, but, as they have been on garde robe cleaning duty ever since they so dishonourably scattered from the field of glory for no good reason, it was decided that the smell might just alert the villagers to their approach.

The sacks of grain the raiders are after, are stockpiled in the village grain store and will need to be loaded on the accompanying cart, led by Noll the Carter, before any irate citizens get the opportunity to intervene. With the cart loaded, de Brioche and his party will head off towards Lanchester, where the proceeds of this and many other raids are being gathered for storage in the Bishop’s bulging granaries.

The Bishop's men advanced un-hindered through the village and Noll was soon knocking on the grain store door.

The first of the Royalist forces to arrive on the scene was the group of Outlaw Archers. The random die roll put them on the south-western corner of the village, with the Bishop's Archers just a long bow shot away.

Next on the scene was Brother Gilbertus, wielding his cross and flail. Raging with fury and oblivious to his own safety, he charged from the church to engage the Bishop's spearmen, who were covering the retreat of Noll and the stolen grain.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the table, the rest of the Outlaws arrive and de Brioche's forces were in danger of being trapped and unable to get their ill gotten gains away.

At the opposite end of the village, Brother Gilbertus desperately charged into the spearmen with only the Lord Above giving any support!

The Bishop's spearmen managed to force the deranged monk back, but Gilbertus wasn't going to let a minor setback stop him from getting his hands on the stolen grain.

Suddenly, a group of angry peasants from the village, appeared round the corner to confront the spearmen, who were then forced to face up to the enemy on two fronts simultaneously.

Over on the western side of the village, a long range archery duel had broken out and the Outlaws manged to down their first victim from the Bishop's Archers.

Determined to rid themselves of the turbulent priest, the spearmen charged along the street, outnumbering him two to one and they had rear support.

With the Good Lord on his side, Brother Gilberus not only pushed the spearmen back, but also managed to inflict a nasty wound on the leader of the enemy group.

Despite the efforts of Brother Gilbertus, Noll the Carter was now heading out of the village with the sacks of grain under the protection of Henri d'Eclair. The Royalist forces needed a miracle to prevent the loot finding its ill gotten way to the Bishop's grain stores.

Sometimes, when you need a miracle... the band of Outlaws dashed from cover to confront Noll, who had only d'Eclair to keep the enemy at bay.

Desperate to save the village's grain supplies, the Armed Peasants hurled themselves at de Brioche and managed to get one draw from the melee, although their brave attempt still saw them pushed back.

Back on the western side of the village, the archery duel continued and the Bishop's men had now lost three of their gallant band to the galling fire of the Outlaws and worse... they were out of ammunition!

Having extricated themselves from the fight with Brother Gilbertus, de Brioche and the spearmen hurried to confront the Outlaws before they could wrest the grain from a very unhappy Noll.

Gilbertus, however, was not going to be ignored. He dashed headlong after the spearmen only to run straight into Henri d'Eclair. Unbelievably, Gilbertus bested d'Eclair in the tussle and managed to inflict a nasty wound upon the Frenchman.

Gilbertus was now becoming really irritating for the Royalist grain robbers and de Brioche hurled himself into the fray, once again pushing the manic man of the cloth back to give d'Eclair time to recover.

Infuriated by the meddlesome priest, d'Eclair returned to the melee and, this time, was able to get the better of Gilbertus, but could still not put him down!

At the commencement of the next turn, everything hinged on the turn of the Activation Card Deck. The Outlaw Archers had positioned themselves to unleash their final volley in the game upon a terrified Noll, but, the Gods of the Cards smiled down on the carter and, with his card turning first, he was able to scurry off the table (with his stolen grain) before the arrow storm could be delivered. With the rest of the turn still to be played out, victory had gone, by the narrowest of margins, to the Bishop and the villagers of Burnhope would go hungry.

However, fate was to bring one final twist to the game, as the Bishop's spearmen drew the bol de pory card and, with some dreadful rolling of the dice, somehow managed to fail a Bravery Test, which resulted in them routing hell for leather off the battlefield, leaving de Brioche and d'Eclair alone to face the entire Royalist force. Choosing discretion over valour, the two French men-at-arms quickly scarpered down a convenient side street, angrily pursed by the relentless Brother Gilbertus.

This was a really enjoyable game lasting about three hours altogether. Brother Gilbertus proved to be a pain in the enemy's side throughout and he proved how difficult it is to get rid of an ecclesiastical hero. As a result of the game, I have slightly adjusted the stats for the Outlaws and changed the dice roll for Fatigue Recovery. The Bishop's grain party lost five of their six archers to the Outlaw Bowmen, which was just about entirely due to the Outlaws having a more generous supply of arrows! Quite a few wounds were suffered by the unarmoured Peasants, but only d'Eclair suffered a wound amongst the heroes. All in all, this proved to be a well balanced game and I think my tinkering with the rules can finally cease!