Fantasy version of Knyghte, Pyke and Sworde

Today I tabled a force from my Viking army against a Reptile army using a playtest version of the Fantasy rules Knyghte, Pyke and Sworde by Ivan Sorensen. The two forces were balanced (five units of six figures) and for this first game kept as simple as possible with all troops at the basic level and with just a Captain and two Fighters as the leaders.  I’ll be introducing more elements of the rules in each game, but this first run was to look at the missile, melee, and bravery rules.

Vikings:

Shield Troops - Viking Hirdmen 

Missile Troops - Archers

Skirmisher Troops - Slingers

Levy Troops - Bondi

Fanatic Troops - Berserkers

 

Reptiles:

Missile Troops - Snakemen Archers

Skirmisher - Reptile Archers

Charger - Big Lizards

Levy - Snakemen

Great Weapons - Tortles+Crocs

Turns 1 and 2 were spent moving and getting used to each side taking an action in turn rather than the whole army acting together.

Turn 3 though and all hell breaks loose.

 

It started with the Viking skirmishers firing before pulling back and wounding one of the Reptile Chargers. The Reptile Skirmishers follow suit but move forward and fire, knocking out two Berserkers, who therefore roll for Bravery and get a Retreat, but don’t because they are Fanatics.

 

On the right a Viking Fighter attacks and kills a Reptile Charger, causing a Bravery test as they now have two casualties, but they pass!  Next the Viking Hirdmen engage the Reptile Great Weapons, but come off badly (1 dead and 1 wounded for 1 killed Reptile) and they also get a Retreat, which they have to do.

 

A Reptile Fighter kills another Berserker.  Then the Viking Captain engages and kills the Reptile Great Weapons leader, making it two killed so they test Bravery, and they rout!  Now the Reptile Captain engages the Viking Captain, it’s a draw but the Viking is exhausted due to the previous fight and loses, and indeed is killed.  This triggers a Bravery test for any nearby troops and puts the Skirmishers to rout.  The Hirdmen were close enough to need a test but as they have already taken one this turn, do not.

The Courage rules continue to cause havoc in Turn 4.

Having rolled first activation again the remaining Viking Berserkers engage three of the Reptile Skirmishers.  The fights go in turn; Viking kills Reptile, Reptile kills Viking, Viking wound the third Reptile.  The Reptile Skirmishers must take a Bravery test and they rout!

 

The Reptile fighter now engages the Berserker leader and wins, he is only wounded, but with the kill in the previous fight, that forces Berserkers into a Bravery test and they also rout! 

 

On the other flank, a Viking Fighter engages a Reptile Charger and gets a draw, but he scores a wound while the reptile doesn’t.

 

The Reptile Captain now engages one of the retreating Viking Hirdmen but the Viking rolls a 6 and the Yuan-ti rolls two 2s, so the Viking wins!  Then as it was a critical hit and with a 4,5, and 6 on the damage dice, the Reptile Leader goes down!  The Snakemen Archers are just close enough to need a Bravery test and it’s another rout!

 

The other Viking Fighter also engages a Reptile Charger and kills it.  The Chargers test Bravery but finally the dice change their habits and the Reptiles hold.

 

The far left Reptile Fighter moves towards the Hirdmen, before four of the Viking Levy also wade in and get 2-to-1 on the remaining Reptile Chargers. Both times the Vikings get the upper hand and the Reptile fails to hit, so both Reptiles go down (one because it was already carrying a wound).  The Chargers do not test Bravery because they already have this turn.

 

The remaining actions on both sides are to reposition as they cannot get into combat.

Turn 5 and the Vikings go first for the third turn in a row.  The hardy Viking Fighter finishes off the Reptile Charger he wounded and the last Charger has to test for Bravery and gets a Retreat.

 

The Snakewoman fighter can just reach a Hirdman, and kills him.

 

The Viking Levy make a tactical move to get off the hill so the Archers can fire, and so the  Snakemen Levy can’t then reach them when they move forward.  The Archers go next and due to a number of 6s meaning additional Hail Fire rolls, end up with four hits on the Snakes resulting in 3 Kills and a Wound.  Although they are only Levy they somehow pass the Bravery test!

 

The Reptile Fighter can’t get into combat.  The remaining 4 Hirdmen take on the last 3 Snakemen, but the dice go seriously against them, two are defeated by the first snake, both wounded but one already was so is killed.  The Hirdmen have to test Bravery but pass.  The other two Snakes also win and another Viking is wounded.

 

At this point there are many more Vikings than Reptiles left on the table so that went down as a Viking victory.

So there we have it.  So I only played the basic rules, no higher grade troops or individuals, no special traits, no Powers, no Monsters, no Followers, and no Magic (all that is still yet to come) but it was fun and easy to play, with some interesting mechanics. The Bravery mechanics appeared to play a big part in the game but that was in part the fact that all the troops were at the basic level so rolling anything over a 2 was bad news.

More to come.