Shipwreck

 

BACKGROUND 

After the withdrawal of the fog, the island became more bountiful. The repairs completed, many wanted to tardy there, but the air, which had been perfectly still, yielded to a strong, steady wind. The captain argued that they had no idea where they were, and therefore which direction to take, but his objections were scuttled by the appearance of not one, but two albatros, riding the wind westwards. For the superstitious sailors there could be no more obvious omen. 

A handful of men and women nonetheless asked to remain behind, which fate Erenthal accorded. They rode the westward wind for twenty days. They were in sight of shore when it failed. Crew and passengers could only watch in silent horror a sudden and oncoming roiling storm, which struck them with impossible violence...

Erenthal struggled to his knees, his wings heavy and the bitter salt setting his mouth afire. Their ship was no more. The stern half had washed up gutted, with crates and sacks scattered across the beach or still bobbing in the waves. Glancing about, the Prince saw his close companions stirring groggily. Many of the sailors had perished, their Captain among them, and there was no sign of the other exiles Rakza had brought down to the vessel. They had been below decks when the hurricane struck. As his confusion lifted, Erenthal realised that he could hear strangers' voices. They were argumentatative, and definitely unfriendly..

 

AIM

Erenthal and his companions, groggy from their near-drowning, must protect as much as their equipment and provisions as possible from locals looking for easy pickings, both ordinary civilians and wreckers. If they can get a message to the closest law enforcement agents, it might help their case...

TERRAIN

Set up on a 36" by 36" table. One edge should be taken up by the a beach, which might be represented by a shoreline, some dunes, or simply some dense rock scatter.  Some scattered wooden beams could represent the debris from the shipwreck.

Beyond the beach, set up whatever terrain you like.  The spot that will, in future centuries, become known as "King's Landing" is close to the north-eastern extremity of the Forest of Nar, so the area could be wooded.  Then again, who knows what it looked like 800 years ago ?

Once terrain has been set up, place eight crates at the water's edge (or roughly 4" from the table edge, if you have no shoreline).  To determine their exact position, roll a D20, multiply it by two, and set up that many inches from the left corner.

It is never possible to leave the playing surface by the table edge that represents the beach. 

SIDE QUESTS

Roll one Side Quest for this scenario.

BANDS AND DEPLOYMENT ZONES

Erenthal and his companions are the Defender. Place Erenthal at the centre of the water-line.  Take half of his companions at random.  Place the first D10" to the left of Erenthal, the following companion another D10" left, and so on.  Repeat this process with the reminaing half, this time moving away from Erenthal to the right.

They will be helped, in a manner of speaking, by the Civilians come to pick over the wreckage.  Place ten village-dwellers (anthropomorphs, of course) : roll a D10 deviation dice and double the result for their exact position from the centre of the table.  Civilians are equipped with improvised weapons and thus count as Unarmed.  They have the basic profile and skills for their species, and no others.

The Bandits are the Attackers, create a band worth 300 pennies for them. They set up within 8" of the halfway point of either of the two lateral table edges, ie those perpendicular to the beach.

No objectives are placed for this quest.

 

SPECIAL RULES AND RANDOM EVENTS

The Civilians

The Civilians are controlled by Erenthal, activating after all other models on the table.

At least as many Civilians as the current turn number, must make two Move Actions, at maximum speed, towards the closest crate that is not currently being transported.  If necessary, they will leave combat to achieve this. 

If for any reason that is not possible, all Civilians are immediately removed from the tabletop : they consider that the bounty left to garner is no longer worth the risk. 

Civilians will not voluntarily move into contact with a non-Civilian model, although they may choose to Attack if already in contact. 

Should a Civilian model enter into contact with a non-transported crate, immediately remove both from the tabletop. 

Ground within 6" of a Civilian model is considered Difficult Terrain for all non-Civilian models. 

A Near Drowning

Erenthal and his companions suffer from the effects of the shipwreck.  All begin the quest as "Stunned".

At the beginning of each Activation, they can attempt to remove this condition by a Fortitude test, whose Difficulty is equal to 8, less the current turn number.  

If the model has Swim, they may reroll this test each time they take it.

If they are wearing Light Armour, they must reroll this test any time they succeed it. 

If they are wearing Heavy or Very Heavy Armour, they can only succeed at the test by making a Perfect Roll. 

 

Crates

The eight washed-up crates contain the company's surviving possessions...and each would make a good catch for the beach-combers. 

As has been mentioned above, if a Civilian comes into contact with a non-transported crate, both are simply removed from the tabletop.

If a Defender or an Attacker does so, he or she may Interact with the crate, and make a Fortitude Test, Difficulty 3.  If the model is already carrying one or more crates, each crate already carried increases Difficulty by 3.

If successful, the crate is now transported on the model's back.  The Result can be used to make a free Move Action that distance in inches. 

A model carrying one or more crates treats all terrain as Difficult, and also suffers -1 to all die rolls for each crate carried.

If a model reaches a new wound benchmark (4/7/10/13), or Falls, the crates are dropped.  They bounce or roll away a short distance, use a D4 deviation dice for each.  If a model wishes, it may freely drop all crates in this way, or use an Interact Action to set them all down carefully, ie. in contact with the model.

If an Attacker leaves a table edge with a crate, he can, contrary to the normal rules, return as if he had involuntarily left the playing surface.  The crate, handed off to croneys, does not return !

If a Defender leaves a table edge with a crate, both are removed from the game. 

 

STARTING THE GAME

Use the normal Initiative rules.

ENDING THE GAME

The game has Variable Length.

For each Defending model that has left the tabletop without a crate, the die roll to determine game end, may be re-rolled once.  

Only the Attacker can rout in this game, voluntarily or otherwise.

REWARDS

Experience 

+1 : Survived

+1 : Escaped from the playing surface with at least one crate

Treasure 

There is no treasure as such in this quest...but each crate taken off-board either by a Civilian or by an Attacker means that the company has lost precious possessions. 

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POST-BATTLE PHASE

Ignore Steps 4 and 6 to 9 after this Quest.

AFTER ACTION REPORT...