Guards of Traitor’s Toll

 

I am delighted that I got to work with Graham on this, and it started with playtesting and building up figures and scenery before the game was released.  This project appealed to me because it wouldn’t be a town without a civilian population and that’s a great excuse for new stuff hahahaha.

I used Blog posts to detail how things were going in the early days, this page was reserved for figures and terrain, but now that the game has been released I will also add details of games as I play them.

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This first section then is about stuff I did during the playtesting phase, before the game was released.

First up a bunch of metal figures from Gripping Beast, starting with a Bear Tamer and his very tame (almost teddybear like) brown bear.  Below is a set of traders and their trade goods based for scatter.

Then there’s a couple of ponies and a nice little hand cart.

In my 5LB campaign, Gunnar is set a series of quests by the local Monastery, so it seems like the clergy will be in this town too.  These are Asgard 3D prints.

I was also inspired to use my Alchemist lab and Blacksmith forge in the town so these finally got based up, with the lovely little portable forge based separately.  The bases are thinly rolled Sculpey polymer clay, textured with a special roller, baked and painted.  The metal figures are on  Renedra bases with two part putty round the built in stands, and a bit of sculpting before they set and were painted.

Next up, Gripping Beast Hexenjagers as the Night Watch of this dangerous town.

And this pony cart is the last of the batch of Gripping Beast stuff

Scenery plays a huge part, so here’s a couple of scratch built archways

Then some more things for ‘scatter’, this time some metal sculpts from Midlam Miniatures

I need a lot of civilian characters for this game, so next up were more metal figures, also from Midlam.  The game uses a mechanism where you select a figure based on what they are holding, so these really work.

I scratch made five buildings from polystyrene packing, XPS foam, foam board, thin cardboard, lolly sticks, matchsticks, and stick on mirrors - town house, a church, a tavern, a building with a front balcony, and a building with side balconies

Forgot I hadn’t copied these over from the post about them, really enjoyed painting these 3D prints, and I have ravens and cats popping up around the town.  These are Vesna designs.

I have also added more Merchants, some Rogues, and some casualty markers.  All 3D prints, Duncan “Shadow” Louca designs this time.

Another bit of ‘scenery’, the town likes to remind travellers what will happen if they don’t pay the tolls!  3D print off Amazon, wife had to make the nooses as my banana fingers were not up to it!

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At this point the game is now launched and Graham sent me a set (thanks!) so now for the ‘official’ miniatures.  

First up the Guards.  The solo rules have a quick start setup where you have a Captain, two Guards with missile weapons, and a further seven Guards with melee weapons.

The game has details for four different patrons all with their own colour scheme and these work for Lady Merron and are identified by the quartered design of blue and white.

In game terms an open hand is more use than multiple weapons or a shield. 

There is also an option for a guard to have some kind of animal patrolling with them, and since the 0200 Hours kit has these lovely guard dogs it just had to be done.

Also on the guards sprue is a goose, and there’s a plot card that ties in, so…

Some of the plots need specific figures.  I keep these in reserve, when the Plot comes up, I identify then as per the rules but then replace the selected figure with this one so I don’t have to keep remembering who they are.

Loving the mix of parts on the sprues, lots of fun putting figures together to fill in gaps in the identification of civilians that turn into suspects, some special characters from the missions, plus a few like the executioner and the blacksmith that just go nicely with terrain already pictured above.

In the end I made these last two just for fun as I had the animals from the Otherworld familiars set.

And here’s the full set of figures:

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This third section is for game reports as I play my first official games, which will of course be solo  and played through in order (but skipping the Training Mission). 

So here we go, first I worked up the full squad of a Captain, Sergeant, two Missile armed, and six others to match the figures I made and painted. I drew five trait cards randomly and used them to modify the most obvious. The Roughnecks are ready to go on patrol for our Lady Merron.

Mission 1 - Patrol Duty

I picked the Gang of Pickpockets Major Plot and got the table set up with a large central area on purpose.

The archways are the guardhouse entrances, the signposts are the other side-street markers, there are two on each side). A guard will start at each side-street, with the Captain, Sergeant, and two missile troops ready to reinforce them.

With nothing to do yet, the first Guard moves were towards the 3 clue tokens on the table and a successful investigation of one triggered shouts from the middle of the town square, where three geese had gotten loose.

But no sooner had Guards started heading in to round them up than they were alerted to a gang of three pickpockets working the same area!

This had the so far inefficient Guards wandering over the square chasing geese and hunting pickpockets, with Turn 1 ending at 4 Discontent and no Gold.

Spike tried to grab a goose but it dodged from his grasp, just before shouts of someone else being robbed, and apparently not by one of the pickpockets.

Then there was more enraged shouting as some hapless novice wizard fired off an ice storm, thankfully down an empty alleyway.  Doc was on hand and tried to apprehend them, but frankly he’s more of a thinker than a do-er and bungled it.

Gopher and Chubs both managed to spot pickpockets but by now they were really annoying the townsfolk.

Turn 2 ended with 7 Discontent and still no Gold.

Time to call in the Reserves!  First Barrett goes for a pickpocket, who dodges her, but then Gopher follows up and knocks him to the ground, then Jules gets in on the act and our suspect starts to bleed!

Doc tries again to subdue the rogue wizard, but he really is hopeless, I think he’s going to need some help!

Then some lowlife takes the opportunity of the Guards smacking around the pickpocket to stab an unsuspecting monk!

Meanwhile geese and suspects are wandering about and Basher spots the remaining pickpocket.  Turn 3 ends with another 2 Discontent in play, but still no Gold.

Turn 3 starts with Gopher finally getting his man, but frankly with two other Guards and the suspect on the ground bleeding, it would have needed a shockingly bad roll not to! In addition he’s learnt how to Bash suspects.

This left Barrett free to take a shot at the miscreant stabber, getting a clean shot the suspect failed to dodge, and he’s bleeding.  So Sergeant Jules, goes in with her sword and as she has been drilled in the ability to lunge she gets a critical hit and cuts him down, which is fine because the townsfolk are not going to be unhappy given he stabbed a monk!  However, the Landlord of the Vulgar Unicorn saw the part that Barrett played and will be her Ally going forward.

In another part of the Square, Basher tries to apprehend another pickpocket, but can’t quite seize him. Chuck comes over to try with Basher assisting, as the locals look on a refuse to help.  He gets a hand on him but the wily thief dodges away.

Remember the three geese that started this all?  Well one wanders into the path of our illustrious Captain Rico, who grabs it up with no trouble at all, I guess that’s why he is the Captain?  

Doc tries yet again to seize the wizard and nearly does but they dodge out his grasp, never fear though as help is arriving.  Harrison was already moving in but a barked order from Rico spurs him on and he grabs the hapless wizard and throws her to the ground.

The turn ends but things are looking up with just 5 Discontent now and 3 Gold.

It’s about now that the third pickpocket manages to steal from someone else causing the townsfolk more discontent.  Basher has a go at the one he has trapped between him and Chuck, they dodge his attempt but that just leaved them open to Chuck who bashes him with his mace, putting him on the ground and bleeding.  All the nearby civilians make themselves scarce.

Doc is assisted by Harrison and gets hands on the wizard who fails to dodge this time, but then fails to subdue her so again Harrison has to wade in and make good on the arrest.

Meanwhile back outside the church, the monk has been patched up, the dead culprit taken away and the pickpocket escorted back to the guardhouse, so all seems quiet.  Until that is some fool starts yelling about a monster in the sewers!

Barrett heads for the fool and seizes but fails to subdue.  At which point a cart blocks the gatehouse exit, at least the suspect won’t be able to get away!

Back to the centre of the action and Captain Rico orders Chuck to “stop messing around and arrest that pickpocket already!”, which he just manages to do [six dice and he only gets 3 Swords] and he successfully subdues him.

Two down, but one still at large, and Spike manages to spot her in the crowd, just before the turn ends.  This was Turn 4 and the Guards stand at 7 Discontent and 4 Gold.

Barrett makes another attempt to seize the suspect causing the disturbance near the blocked gateway, but the dodge his attempt, leaving Gopher to also have a go.  He grabs her easily and renders her subdued and bleeding thanks to his new Bash skill.

Down the other end of the square, Chuck is escorting away the second pickpocket and the novice wizard.  On his way out he meets Sergeant Jules, who owing to the blocked gateway has had to walk back from the guardhouse to the other end of square.  She immediately tries to emulate her Captain and grab a goose wander by, but doesn’t have the knack apparently.

At this point a very loud wailing is heard, it seems a small child is stuck in a building!  The nearest Guard is Harrison but before he can do anything the nearby citizens voice their discontent, and one of them gives him a piece of her mind [ Spoiler alert - this is the first “Secret” coming into play].

While this is going on, two other things are happening.  Firstly the miscreant that stole something very early on sneaks away out of the Square, the cards have now failed that task. Secondly Spike with the aid of Basher tried to arrest the third pickpocket but they dodged the attempt.

Right, back to the poor trapped little girl.  Harrison is having none of this, he barges past the enraged civilian, thankfully not knocking her to the ground, and attempts to kick in the door of the house.  He fails the first attempt but feels energised by the threat to the little girl [he rolled three Crowns] and is successful on his next attempt.  Hurrah, the urchin is saved! It also seems that Harrison has learnt how to make Veiled Threats in the process, heaven knows what he said to that woman!  

I guess that Jester nearby heard him though as he starts shouting about injustice in the city something about “Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! I'm being repressed!” As he blunders into Captain Rico who decides he can worry about arresting him later and make things easier by a good lunge with his sword and draws blood.

Then he tries to arrest him [Captains get two actions, one can be to order someone else but they can use it themselves like now] but actual just knocks him to the ground.  Turn 5 ends at 6 Discontent and 6 Gold.

Harrison emboldened by the rescue of the wee waif, joins Spike and Basher and arrests the third and final pickpocket!

This in turn gives Spike the idea to check out the clue marker near the well, upon which he realises the snake charmer is acting as a draw for a cutpurse, but Basher is attentive and the Snake Charmer packs up for the day.

Doc then uncovers the third and final clue, and spots The Seer wandering in the crowd, she’ll trade for help knowing what is going to happen next if you barter with her.  That’s the last of the Plots, time for the Guards to clear up the Square of remaining problems.

Captain Rico deals with the not so funny Jester, managing to subdue him without further bloodshed.  Sergeant Jules grabs one goose and Chuck returns back from Escort duty to grab the other.

At the other end of the square, Barrett moves on the cart and that exit is thankfully clear again.

That’s it, all done!  Final tally is 12 Gold and just the 1 Discontent from the thief that got away.  With 8 Advances and all that Discontentment cleared, Lady Merron grants a further 4 Gold as our Patron [we failed the third task as only one Dangerous suspect was in play].  That’s a “Solid Victory” for The Roughnecks, and they all came back without injuries.

Mission 2 - The Body

Just another day in Traitor’s Toll?  Well yes and no.  I’d like to say it’s not every day that a dead body shows up, but …

Jules is first on the scene and thankfully heads directly towards the body, but a shout immediately goes up from some enraged noble who has just been robbed!  Basher, Gopher, and Chuck all wander into the market square.  Then there’s another shout, in broad daylight some miscreant has stabbed the pie seller! Both Chubs and Spike then also wander on before the turn ends. That’s 5 Discontent piled up and no guards anywhere near the original victim or potential witnesses yet.

Round 2 starts with Basher almost bumping into the cutpurse, without noticing him. Jules doesn’t do much better, she moves on the miscreant that stabbed the pie seller, who defends so well he stabs her causing a wound, and then flees! 

At which point the crowd notices a small child stuck in one of the houses!  Thankfully Chubs is nearby and breaks down the door, one crisis averted at least, plus he’s rewarded with a potion of healing!

Gopher has a clear view of a witness and moves in, but Chuck and Spike are still wandering about a bit aimlessly.  The round ends at 6 Discontent, but at least the rest of the squad now turns up.

Round 3 Harrison enters and immediately shoots at the miscreant, who fails to dodge, and it wounds him. Captain Rico is with him and orders him to shoot again, which cuts him down!  Harrison uses some language to express his delight that doesn’t really go with his High-born background! 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the square, Gopher manages to question one of the witnesses (the druidess), who sadly doesn’t know anything.  Jules then questions the jester, who likewise knows nothing useful.

Basher has meanwhile spotted the cutpurse, and when Doc and Barrett enter the marketplace they head towards him, forcing him to flee north away from them all. At which point the noble he robbed starts a disturbance, yelling about a monster in the sewers! Then all hell breaks loose as a sniper appears on a balcony and immediately cuts down Basher!  At which point the round ends!  Discontent is at 7, and only 1 Gold has been earned so far, and we are no closer to learning what happened to the dead monk!

Round 4 Nobody cares about trying to arrest the sniper, the Roughnecks just want to avenge Basher.  This starts with Barrett taking a shot that he dodges.  Rico tries an order again and Barrett does draw blood with her second shot.  The Harrison takes a shot with his crossbow and the sniper is down.

The ranting nobleman is still at it, so Rico moves in to arrest him, and a critical seize roll, followed by 9 swords leads to the fastest arrest I’ve ever seen!  I guess that’s why he’s the Captain!

Jules approaches the last witness gingerly, just her luck if this bruiser is the culprit. However, far from it, he’s not and he tells her something important about who is [it’s a secret though, so I can’t tell you!].  Gopher investigates the body.  Spike checks out the blood trail.

Meanwhile there’s another incident as someone gets mugged and the mugger turns to flee [that’s the last random plot for this game]. The round ends down to 5 Discontent and with 6 Gold.

Round 5 Jules is following the blood trail, when Rico realises the next drop is right in front of him,  and standing over it is the culprit, caught red-handed!

The woman attacks the Captain, he defends himself, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and ends the conflict!  Game over.  If you want to know what that was all about you’ll have to play it yourself! Hahahahahaha.

5 Discontent still in play, but 11 Gold amassed, so a minor victory.  However, with Basher pulling through without any lingering effect, Rico becoming a “Natural Leader” and Jules receiving a Master-forged Blade, the Roughnecks go back to the garrison happy!

Mission 3 - Contraband

The Roughnecks have been tasked with searching the Trade District for contraband, 

It starts simply enough, with four of the guards reaching the area and no suspects emerging before the round ends.  The next round starts with Sergeant Jules going to investigate some crates but then a number of bystanders grab up crates and start off towards exits! 

Spike then successfully investigates some barrels and locates some of the valuables, but then there’s another commotion and shouts from one of the buildings that there has been a burglary!

The rest of the guards are all moving around and both Chuck and Gopher also investigate some crates but incur the discontent of the owners as neither finds anything untoward.

By the end of round 2, out of 8 crates that need searching 3 have been checking (1 find) and 3 are on the move. The Roughnecks have 1 Gold but 5 Discontent have piled up!

The first smuggler starts away so Spike heads over to intercept. Doc manages to spot the burglar.  Though then a merchant starts loudly complaining, so that will need dealing with too, and Chubbs heads for that. The next smuggler is a bit hemmed in so ends up heading towards the centre of the area, a possibly luck break, and Gopher is hot on his heals but a bit too enthusiastic and knocks over a poor woman in his way. Meanwhile the rest of the Roughnecks arrive from the Guardhouse, and the last thing of note is Jules failing to investigates her pile of crates … again! The Discontent is mounting, that’s 7 now!

The smuggler Spike is pursuing is still trying to get away, but Spike catches up to him. Spike fails to subdue the suspect, so Harrison has a go with Spikes help, and knocks the suspect to the ground. Barrett is right behind Harrison and also wades in, with all that help and the suspect already on the ground, the arrest is made. The crate he was carrying contains a thing they were looking for! However, the two nearest civilians then unveil weapons and go for poor Barrett! The first misses, but the second wounds her and she drops the crate.  With 3 guards there and the 2 badguys, this is likely to get messy!

Meanwhile, Chubbs manages to placate the annoyed merchant, Gopher tries to seize another smuggler but they dodge him, Doc fails to seize the burglar, the third smuggler is on the move, and Jules finally investigates the crates but finds nothing and just gains more discontent for the team! Captain Rico tries to arrest the Smuggler, but he dodges, so he tries again and achieves an arrest.  Discontent remains at 7, Gold is up to 4.

Things then take a surprising turn as Harrison shoots his crossbow at the heavy that hurt Barrett, and the target not only dodges out of the way, but grabs up the crate and heads for the exit!  Barrett quickly shoots him herself, causing a wound and he drops the crate. The other heavy then goes over and picks up the crate, but still can’t quite get to the exit.  Spike rushes over and stabs at him with his spear but they got too far away for the other two guards to help and he misses!

The other two smugglers are heading for an exit too and another group of guards gang up on one. Gopher can’t get close enough to subdue, but does support Doc who knocks the smuggler to the ground and then they both support Captain Rico who easily makes the arrest and then checks the crate, avoids the trap, and renders it safe. One more contraband crate to find out of two possibilities.

While the rest of the guards start heading towards these two hotspots as best they can, one of the town’s itinerant performs starts on about oppression and injustice!  Stirring up fresh Discontent but at least it is down to 6 now, with 6 Gold and 3 prisoners.

Barrett shoots at the fleeing heavy with the crate near the main gate, they have to stop him getting away! She’s an excellent shot but he dodges out of the way. Harrison’s crossbow shot does hit though so the crate is on the ground again, and he’s made sure he can support Spike who manage a second wound to the suspect. Meanwhile Jules, who has been particularly ineffective so far, hustles over to attack the other heavy which he dodges, but has the desired effect of distracting him from trying to grab the crate.

Gophers heads off with two arrested culprits, leaving Rico and Doc free to take on the remaining smuggler. The double act works well, Doc forces the smuggler to dodge, Rico wounds her, then arrests her, turning up the final contraband!

Basher decides to ‘have a word’ with the agitated performer, using his ‘hook and trip’ trick to send her tumbling and making it easy for Chubs to the arrest her.

The round ends with 12 Gold and only 2 Discontent, it’s all about that all important crate and the two heavies now.

Barrett needs to stay by the prisoner so shoots at the nearest heavy, who fails to dodge, and the arrow on top of two wounds cuts him down! Not quite what she had in mind, and the locals will complain that “he hadn’t hurt anyone” but she doesn’t feel any remorse.  Spike stabs at the other, and he dodges, then Jules runs him through with her sword. Nobody is shedding any tears this time though as he hurt Barrett early on!

It’s all over! Three smugglers and two other miscreants in gaol, two smugglers in the morgue. 17 Gold to offset 5 Discontent, that’s a solid victory for the Roughnecks!