Spanish Fury Actions Example The Cast of Characters Huguenots Colonel Lavardin, Gaspar (Disciplined) Gaspar was the son of a baker and until some catholic mercenaries burned his parent s bakery (with them inside) he never dreamt he d ever leave his village. Even though he s not particularly religious he fights on the Huguenot side and the soldiers under his command are known for their discipline and hand-to-hand combat skills. Captain Le Troquer, Aleron (Bookish) Aleron is the fourth son of a minor branch of the French nobility. His name means Knight but he lacks the military prowess of those armor clad heroes of his childhood. He s led a relatively easy life with little physical activity. Reading and the appreciation of sculpture are his real passions. Putting his life at risk is not something he willingly does. He leads a company of arquebusiers. Captain Borquin, Bertrand (Hero) No one is sure where Betrand grew up; some say he was left on the cathedral steps at Nantes and was raised by the catholic clergy. His free spirit surely must have clashed with the structured life the brothers tried to impose on him. This may explain is dislike for all things religious. No matter where he comes from everyone agrees that he s a born fighter, womanizer, and good natured rascal. The men under his command are proud of their captain and his love of a good fight rubs off on them. He leads a company of pike men. Captain Noullens, Fanchon (blank) Fanchon is a competent leader of men but so far hasn t done anything to distinguish himself. He can be counted on to do what he s told without being overly enthusiastic or pessimistic. He leads a company of arquebusiers. Catholics Colonel St. Criq, Kaarle (Tough) Kaarle means strong & masculine and in St. Criq s case it applies. He s one of the toughest and meanest men in the army. Men under his command rightly fear him and do what they re told. Captain Le Rescamer, Michel (Bookish) Michel means who is like god and his men joke that he s more like an angel than god. Maybe angel is too strong a description. Possibly a cherub is more fitting. A small, pink, helpless cherub that falls off his horse, constantly gets lost, and is afraid of spiders. This paragon of manliness leads a company of light lancers.
Captain Audeguil, Cretien (Canny) Cretien started his career as a thief living in a mountain hideout. It didn t take long to figure out there was more money to be made leading men and having them rob the Huguenots than him doing it himself. His early profession gave him the skills to outsmart most of his opponents, set ambushes, surprise foes, and slip away when the going gets tough. He leads a company of musketeers. The Scenario The Huguenot raiding party has just taken a herd of sheep from a local farmer. The village militia, led by the inflamed farmer, are pursuing the raiders when they meet a group of soldiers at a crossroads. After some tense moments between the two groups; the robbed farmer points out that these soldiers are all riding horses and the men that took his sheep were all on foot. The commander of soldiers, Colonel St. Criq, explains that they are on their way to join the catholic garrison at Bergerac and if militia do what he tells them they may be able to catch the thieves before they make it back to camp. He sends the town militia after the Huguenots with orders to pursue the enemy but not to actually catch them. With luck, the militia will keep the Huguenots looking over their shoulder and they ll walk right into the ambush he s planning on setting for them. St. Criq then mounts up his men and with one of the villagers acting as a guide races down a different road to try to try and get ahead of his opponents. The catholic troops find a perfect place for an ambush alongside the road with a stone wall and trees for cover. Captain Audeguil leaves a few men with his horses and hides rest of the musketeers behind a stone wall. Captain Le Rescamer wants to place his lancers in support of the musketeers and proposes a spot in the next village. Colonel St. Criq, disgusted by the ineptitude (or cowardice) of Le Rescamer, orders him to hide his men in some trees close to the road. The wise colonel also decides to stay close to the lancers so that the good captain doesn t just sit in the trees the whole time and watch. The Huguenots are hurrying up the road, trying to keep the sheep moving, and guarding against any attack from the village militia pursuing them. Arquebusier companies are at the front and back of the column with the pike men and sheep in the middle. The pike men are using their pikes as shepherd s staffs and are doing their best keep the sheep from wandering off.
The picture to the right is the situation at the start of the scenario. Rich is playing the Catholic side (ambushers) and John the Huguenots (on the road).
Both players roll to see who has the advantage for the 1st turn of the game. Rich rolls a 5 and adds +1 for having a canny leader and John rolls a 2. Rich has the advantage and decides to launch an ambush on the arquebusiers with his musketeer unit. The ambushers must be within short range to launch a shooting ambush. Their range is 12" so short range is ½ that distance or 6". The distance between the units is 5 and 1/8" and they launch their ambush. (John tells Rich that if he had won the advantage he would have activated the lead arquebusiers and tried to detect the hidden musketeers. Rich reminds him that a unit must be within 4" to detect an ambush and since they are more than 5" apart they would automatically fail. If they had the CANNY ability they would have been able to try and detect ambushers within 8" provided John had rolled a 5 or 6 on 1D6. John decides it would be a good idea to read the rules again from cover to cover before their next game.)
The arquebusiers get a terror marker for being ambushed and take an immediate FEAR morale test. Their card has a "7" for the FEAR morale value. The unit has a -1 morale modifier for having 1 terror marker, and a 2nd -1 for being in loose order. John rolls 2 dice and needs to get a 5 or less to pass the test (base 7-2 modifiers = 5). He rolls a 4 and scoffs at Rich's feeble ambush attempt. A firefight now develops between the 2 units. The rules don't specifically state that the ambushed unit would turn to face the attackers but John and Rich agree that makes the most sense since the unit passed its FEAR test. They also remain in loose formation. Catholic Musketeer Shooting Five (5) squadrons x 5 shooting value = 25, +25% formed body, +1 to die roll for EXPERT unit, +1 to die roll for shooter lining a fence (Rich assumes a stone wall gives the same bonus as a fence) TOTAL: 31 factors and +2 to the die roll. Rich rolls a 3 on the 25-35 column and +2 to the dice to give a "Lose Sqdr'n" result. One Huguenot squadron is removed but since shooting is simultaneous it will still be included in determining the total fire value for Huguenot company. Huguenot Arquebusier Shooting Four (4) squadrons (5 squadrons - 1 terror marker = 4) x 4 shooting value = 16, +1 to die roll for EXPERT unit, -1 column for target behind cover TOTAL: 16 factors, +1 to the die roll, and -1 column. John rolls a 4 on the 4-8 column adds +1 to the dice to give a "-" result. Shooting Table 4-8 9-16 17-24 25-35 36+ 1 - - - 2 - - - Retire 3 - - - Retire Terror 4 - - Retire Terror Lose Sqdr n 5 - Retire Terror Lose Sqdr n Lose Sqdr n 6 Retire Terror* Lose Sqdr n* Lose Sqdr n* Lose Sqdr n*
The Lost Squadron result on the Huguenot unit also requires John to perform a SERIOUS morale test. The arquebusier card has an "8" for the SERIOUS morale value. The unit has a -1 morale modifier for having 1 terror marker and a 2nd -1 for being in loose order. John rolls 2 dice and needs to get a 6 or less to pass the test (base 8-2 modifiers = 6). He rolls a 10 and the unit retires. The 4 surviving squadrons move 3" directly away from the musketeers. This ends the musketeer's turn. John decides to move his pike unit. They spend their whole turn turning to flank, forming a line, and going from a loose to a formed formation. What about the sheep John asks? Do his pike men have to move around them? Also, now that the "shepherds" are busy what do the sheep do? A quick check of the rules says that "Herds that are moved through or fought over by companies are scattered and removed from play." This doesn't quite feel right for this scenario so the gamers decide to ignore the rules. Rich proposes that each sheep stand move 2D6 in a random direction and stop if they run into a squadron of soldiers. John points out that it's possible a sheep stand can move 12" in a turn which is 3" faster than a light lance cavalry unit. Rich forget to tell John these are genetically altered greyhound sheep but he still can't convince his opponent. They eventually agree on 1D6 inches in a random direction and stopping if they run into a squadron of soldiers.
Rich now activates his other unit, the light lancers. Because Rescamer is a BOOKISH leader, Rich would normally have to roll a 1D6 to see if the lancers activate (they fail on a 6). However, since Colonel St. Criq is also attached, his characteristics override Rescamer's. Rich wants the lancers to charge from ambush the unprepared arquebusier unit bringing up the rear. John's been reading over the Ambush rules section and notes that is says ambushes may be launched during an enemy's turn after an enemy unit moves closer to the ambushing unit. It doesn't say anything about launching it during your turn. John decides to allow it since it doesn't say you can't either. Rich measures the distance and finds that the units are 5 ¼" apart but he also has to cross 2 ¾" of light woods. Movement is doubled in light woods. So does the charge reach the enemy troops? The light lancer's formed movement rate is 6" plus an additional 2" for charging from ambush = 8" total. The movement required to reach the enemy is 5 ½" (2 ¾" doubled for light woods) + 2 ½" (open terrain) = 8" exactly!!! The charging horsemen don't need to take a CHARGE morale test because they are attacking from ambush.
The Huguenot arquebusiers get 1 terror marker for being charged and have to take a FEAR morale test. John decides this would be a good time to draw a Wheel of Fortune card. Rich shuffles up the deck and his opponent randomly selects KING SAUL. No good. This card is only useful when leaders are fighting single combat. If he had drawn MANLY then he would have been able to add two to the morale number of his company. Just like the previous ambush FEAR test, the unit needs to roll a 5 or less on 2D6. John picks up the dice and rolls a 3! Rich just shakes his head as John gets ready to shoot at the approaching lancers. Huguenot Arquebusier Shooting Three (3) squadrons (4 squadrons - 1 terror marker = 3) x 4 shooting value = 12, +1 to die roll for EXPERT unit. TOTAL: 12 factors, +1 to the die roll. John rolls a 1 on the 17-24 column adds +1 to the dice to give a "-" result. Now, it's on the Hand-to-Hand combat. Huguenot Arquebusier HTH Value Three (3) squadrons (4 squadrons - 1 terror marker = 3) x 1 fighting value = 3, times ½ for being charged in the flank. TOTAL: 1.5 Catholic Light Lancer HTH Value Three (3) squadrons x 4 = 12, +25% formed body. TOTAL: 15 The odds are 15 1.5 or 10:1.
Hand-To-Hand Table Advantage 3:2 2:1 3:1 4:1+ 1 S/Terror S/Terror S/Hmlt d! S/Hmlt d! S/Hmlt d! 2 Stand Off Stand Off Locked Locked Locked 3 Locked Locked Locked W/Terror W/Terror 4 Locked Locked W/Terror W/Terror Lose Sqdr n 5 Locked W/Terror W/Terror Lose Sqdr n Defeated 6 W/Terror W/Terror Lose Sqdr n Defeated Defeated Rich rolls a 5 on the 4:1+ column and gets a Defeated result. Defeated means the weaker side loses two squadrons and the survivors rout. The two surviving Huguenot squadrons rout 6 away from the horsemen. Since the unit routed as a result of HTH combat, the lancers have to pursue and do so in loose order. The light lancer loose order movement rate is 9 so they catch the arquebusier squadrons and take them prisoner. To finish up this activation, each officer involved has to take a leader casualty check. Roll 2D6 for each leader and on a 10 or more the leader is out of the game. It doesn t mean he s dead. He could simply be injured or unconscious. Any leader that was attached to a unit that routed adds 3 to his die roll. Catholic Leader Casualty Checks Captain Rescamer: 12 (dice roll). To no one s surprise, Rescamer hit his head on a tree limb during the charge through the woods and fell off his horse. He s lying unconscious at the base of a tree. In a few hours he ll wake up and wonder where everyone went. A new leader is randomly selected to replace him. Colonel St. Criq: 8 (dice roll). This TOUGH (his leader characteristic) guy has a few cuts and bruises but is otherwise O.K. Huguenot Leader Casualty Checks Captain Nouellens: 7 (dice roll) +3 (attached to a routed unit) = 10. Nouellens took a lance through the back while running away and is removed from play. A new leader is randomly selected to replace him. So what will the new leaders first action be? To raise his hands and surrender along with the other survivors. Colonel Lavardin: 4 (dice roll) +3 (attached to a routed unit) = 7. The colonel is fine.
This is the final positions of all the units at the end of turn 1. John realizes that his pike unit is in a real bind. He needs to turn them to face the lancers but this means presenting their backs to the musketeers. If he holds position to fend off the horsemen he'll slowly be shot to pieces from the rear. His only option is to retreat into some heavy terrain where the horsemen can't follow and the musketeers can't shoot at them. When darkness arrives they may be able to slip away and make it back to camp. PRISONERS