[The new Baron Gammertingen goes to war.]
Player Characters:
Lasairfhiona [pronounced “Lah-sah-reena”] – human female Medicine Woman (4th-level Shaman)
Ysgwyn [pronounced “ees-win”] – elf female Theurgist-Swordmaster (3rd-level Elven Spellsword)
Ignis – human male Commissary (4th-level Venturer)
Vladimir – dwarf male Dwarven Repriser (3rd-level Dwarven Fury)
Non-Player Characters:
Gabriel – human female Forester (3rd-level Explorer), Lasairfhiona’s bodyguard
Heinrike – human female Gammertingen Scout, head of the Scouts unit
Marcus – human male Slayer (4th-level Assassin)
Wulf-Klaus – human male noble, Baron of Gammertingen
Missed the Session:
Vojtěch – human male “Theurgist” (really a Spiritualist, a 3rd-level Warlock)
Friday, June 10, 1650 AD
Wulf-Klaus, 6th Baron of Gammertingen, spent most of the day saying good-bye to his guests as they returned home from his coronation. This led to a great deal of traffic in and out of the town walls, something he used as cover for moving his few troops out of town to join up with the mercenary army Ignis had in Feldhausen. The troops were replaced in town by servants dressed up to appear as soldiers to keep any spies from reporting that Gammertingen was undefended and ripe for attack. This was a gamble, but Wulf-Klaus felt he needed to deal with the enemy army encamped in the norther plateau of his barony on his terms, not theirs, and soonest.
Ignis lead strike groups of mercenaries out of Feldhausen to attack enemy blockades set up inside the eastern and northeastern borders of the barony. He even made a quick stop in the walled village of Steinhilber to deliver a missive from the new baron to the Mayor of Steinhilber. The mayor was polite and provided some supplies to Ignis’ strike team, but held a more wait-and-see attitude.
By the end of the day, Wulf-Klaus had moved a platoon of veteran musketeers, a platoon of dragoons, and a half-platoon of Gammertingen Scouts out of Gammertingen town and to the village of Feldhausen. The baron himself left with the dragoons, leaving Vojtěch in charge of Gammertingen town, with orders to hold the town until the baron returned. The steward, Bernhardt Hoffman, was not pleased with this, feeling he should have been left in charge. The Captain of the Guard, Hildebrant Lang, understood the need and only regretted not being able to serve at the baron’s side.
Saturday, June 11, 1650 AD
Early in the morning Wulf-Klaus and Ignis divided up the mercenaries into platoons and then grouped all the platoons into two divisions. The baron commanded the first division, containing the 1st Scouts, the 1st Dragoons on foot (which Wulf-Klaus attached himself to), and the half platoon of mercenary armored pikemen. Ignis commanded the second division, which consisted of the 1st Veteran Musketeers (which Ignis attached himself to), a platoon and a half of arquebusiers, a platoon of mixed weapons musketeers (flintlocks and matchlocks), and a platoon of pikemen. [Named units are House troops, the rest are the mercenaries Ignis hired in Justingen.] Yswyn and Vladimir decided they would operate independently and Lasairfhiona attached herself to the mercenary pike unit as lieutenant.
The Scouts located the enemy army camp site a couple hours northwest of Feldhausen and reported they were packing up their camp in preparation to marching! Wulf-Klaus and Ignis got their smaller army in gear and started marching northwest towards the enemy. Lasairfhiona sent her spirit animal, Wren, flying ahead to keep track of the enemy army. The enemy army appeared to be aware of the baron’s forces and was moving south/southeast to meet them!
Shortly after Noon, the two armies met. The enemy commander set his command unit, Division I, (a platoon of Dragoons organized as two units of cavalry and a platoon of veteran harquebusiers) on a low hill for better visibility. His right flank, Division II, (two platoons each of pike and musketeers) was anchored next to a hill, while his left flank, Division IV, (also two platoons each of pike and musketeers) had a lot of room to attempt a sweep around the baron’s right. Several of the baron’s compatriots (the player characters) noticed that the center of the enemy army, Division III, (three platoons of harquebusiers backed by a single unit of pike) seemed to be equipped with different gear than the other three divisions. They also appeared to be calling out back and forth in Italian, not German. This suggested they were condottieri.
Everyone on the baron’s side, from the individual troops to the general himself, immediately noticed that the enemy army was four times the size of the baron’s army.
To balance the sides a little, Marcus used a stone of controlling earth elementals in his possession to summon a 12-foot tall earth elemental to take to the field (and plied it with 20 gp worth of rare earths to hopefully keep it from murdering him if he lost control of it). The earth elemental was placed in the first division as a separate unit and Marcus was attached to the Scouts. This bolstered the morale of the baron’s troops somewhat, but the fight ahead still looked to be dangerous. The baron’s army then placed itself between two copses of trees, the first division on the left flank and the second division holding the center/right. Out on the far left, Yswyn and Vladimir took position with a plan to use a series of small rises to cover their approach on the enemy’s right flank. They planned on sprinting until they got within attack range and then charging into the flanks of each enemy unit, killing as they went.
Wulf-Klaus initiated the conflict by marching his left flank forward behind the slowly charging earth elemental. The enemy right advanced and fired on the elemental, their bullets ricocheting off its rocky exterior harmlessly [earth elementals are immune to non-magical attacks]. Suddenly the earth elemental was a much bigger threat!
Ignis then used his cube of force to lob a fireball at one of the two mounted dragoon units screening the enemy commander, killing several enemy dragoons and causing the rest to flee the field! [Magic attacks cause an automatic Shock Roll on the target and this unit rolled miserably low, routing immediately.] The baron’s mercenary forces gave a cheer as their “boss” lived up to his reputation as walking artillery. The second division marched forward to close with the enemy.
The enemy general, wielding the only magic weapon on his side, recognized the earth elemental and Ignis as the threats to his army they were. He ordered his remaining mounted dragoons to charge the unit containing the wizard while he and the harquebusiers advanced to confront the earth elemental. The condottieri advanced as well, angling slightly to the right to shield their paycheck…er, general from hostile gunfire. The enemy left advanced forward unopposed.
Wulf-Klaus had Marcus send the earth elemental to attack the musketeers. It shambled forward and slammed into one of the musketeer units. With a unit of pikemen backing them up and their general advancing to support them, the unit stood up to the assault. Meanwhile, the scouts and armored pike under the baron’s command readied to counter-attack any attacks the enemy might make on them.
The condottieri advanced further in the center, but with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. Rather than charge to attack, they readied for a counter-attack. This noticeably frustrated the enemy general who could be heard yelling at the condottiere leader to push forward. The Italians did not seem keen on the idea, keeping a wary eye on the earth elemental to their right.
Ignis ordered his division to attack the unit of mounted dragoons attempting to kill him. The mercenaries took to the task with gusto and cut down most of the cavalry platoon, with only a few stragglers routing off the field. Ignis then fired a second fireball at one of the readied condottieri harquebus units, but the Italians held firm.
Out on the baron’s far left flank, Vladimir and Yswyn were finally in position to charge the enemy – or at least Yswyn was. She paused in her advance to wait on Vladimir so they could charge together and hit the flank of a platoon of enemy musketeers [her initiative was much higher than his, so she held action until his initiative]. Unfortunately, this pause allowed the enemy leader to engage the earth elemental in combat, freeing the Division II musketeers and their supporting pikemen to move around the elemental. In doing so, the platoon of musketeers going around on their right caught sight of the two adventurers and called out for pike support. Both the musketeers and their supporting pike then readied for some form of attack from the adventurers. When Yswyn and Vladimir finally advanced, the pikemen were ready and cut Yswyn down. Vladimir was able to close, but not successfully attack the pikemen. Standing over the bloody remains of his elf companion and staring down an entire platoon of enemy pikemen, Vladimir prepared to sell his life dearly.
Wulf-Klaus, noticing that his companions were likely to die if he did nothing, ordered the earth elemental be turned to attack the threatening pikemen. This became a fortuitous mistake. When the earth elemental turned to attack the pikemen, the enemy general took advantage of the opening and cut down the elemental. As the enemy army started to cheer, Wulf-Klaus ordered his entire division to volley fire at the suddenly exposed harquebus unit containing the enemy general [both platoons with ranged weapons double-fired on the enemy command unit, something they could not due while he was in melee combat]. After a hail of fire from the Gammertingen Scouts and the 1st Dragoons, the enemy harquebusiers first fled and then were shot down to a man!
The condottieri troops advanced toward the baron’s troops, attempting to eliminate him in revenge for the death of the enemy general (and to maybe still get paid by the general’s backers). Their attack failed to kill enough of the dragoons with the baron to matter. Over on the enemy left, Division IV finally reached the edge of firing range on Ignis’ division. Rather than charge in, they readied for a counter-attack. If Ignis ignored them or advanced on the enemy center, they would charge into his unprotected flank.
Not wanting to send his own troops into readied opponents, Ignis instead had his division concentrate fire on the condottieri platoons, including him making another fireball attack. This was more than the Italians could stand their lead platoon broke.
At the same time, Division II attempted to advance on Vladimir. The Dwarven Fury let loose his rage, counter-attacking the musketeers and forcing them to flee. The supporting pikemen attacked Vladimir next but their attacks were deflected by the protective runes tattooed on his body [they rolled a 12 to hit and needed a 13 or better]. Vladimir held firm, refusing to yield Yswyn’s body to his enemies.
With apparent victory snatched from their grasp and their leader now dead, the enemy army’s morale sank. Most of their units routed or fled immediately. The two platoons that held decided they did not want to face the entire baronial army on their own and ceded the field of battle to the baron, raising the white flag of surrender.
The baron accepted their surrender, letting those in flight leave rather than chase them down, but taking captive those who stayed on the field. He sent forces to secure the body of the enemy general and the enemy baggage train before anyone could make off with it. The baggage train was quickly searched by Marcus for the general’s correspondence. Once that correspondence was secured, Wulf-Klaus allowed his troops, mercenary and House, to loot the rest of the baggage train. There was much cheering for his generosity. [He did take a share of the enemy payroll for later use – he’s generous but not dumb.]
As soon as the battle concluded, Lasairfhiona separated from the unit she was attached to and ran over to provide healing for Yswyn. What she found was a bloody mess that was dimly recognizable as Yswyn [Yswyn’s player rolled low on the Mortality Table]. She and Vladimir bound the remains for transportation back to town to see if the baron would pay to have her brought back to life or just for her funeral. Lasairfhiona then attended to healing the surprisingly few wounded troops in the baron’s army.
Once the enemy baggage train was thoroughly looted, the entire army marched back to their camp at Feldhausen, morale high. There the army settled in for a serious celebration. Messengers were sent back to Gammertingen town and the other villages in the barony to announce the victory. A separate message from Wulf-Klaus asked Vojtěch to contact the Lutheran Church in Trochtelfingen and request a prelate be sent with utmost haste to Feldhausen for a “diplomatic miracle”. [This was a coded request for someone capable of casting Restore Life and Limb to avoid starting a diplomatic dispute.]
After a couple of hours of celebration with the troops, Wulf-Klaus, Marcus, and Ignis settled down with the enemy general’s correspondence to find out who was behind the campaign against Gammertingen. They quickly discovered that the enemy general was actually Leopold Friedrich Zollern, distant nephew to Prince Meinrad von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen! Further, the correspondence suggested that Leopold, albeit indirectly, was being supplied by the prince and the German troops under his command were Zollern house troops, not hired mercenaries. This provoked a debate between the three men. Marcus was quite willing to go have a short, sharp conversation with the prince, but advised mending fences and strengthening claims, not getting into a bloody mess over who killed whom first. Wulf-Klaus wanted Marcus to have a pointed discussion with the prince, but agreed he might be able to get concessions or leverage in exchange for keeping the matter quiet. Ignis, ever the venturer, agreed that making a deal would be better than making vengeance. The three continued discussing options until very late in the evening.
Sunday, June 12, 1650 AD
Carl Dominik Bruhn, a prelate of the Lutheran Church, arrived in Feldhausen. Once the political niceties were explained [and a generous donation made to the church], the prelate performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn. The rite healed her body, but her soul failed to return. The prelate announced he would try again the next morning.
Wulf-Klaus sent the 1st Dragoons and the 1st Musketeers back to Gammertingen town to secure it in case Leopold’s troops reformed and attempted an attack on the town. He wanted to avoid besieging his own home if he could help it.
The Gammertingen Scouts were sent north to see if any remnants of Leopold’s army remained in the barony. Several hours later, they returned and reported that groups of condottieri were spotted marching east, flying white flags. They appeared to be leaving the barony now that their employer was dead. There were no sightings of Leopold’s German troops, but signs indicated they had fled west into County Zollern, ruled by a different branch of the Zollern family than County Sigmaringen and possibly friendly. Wulf-Klaus decided to send a letter of complaint to Prince Eitel Frederick II of County Zollern by way of the baron’s allies in Wurttemberg, suggesting he might waive claims for restitution if the prince turned over the troops. He didn't expect either to happen, but maybe rattling the cash-strapped prince's chains would encourage him to apply some family pressure on his cousin.
Monday, June 13, 1650 AD
After another donation by Wulf-Klaus, the prelate again performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn. Despite promising signs, her soul again failed to return to the Earthly realm. The prelate announced he would try again the next morning.
Wulf-Klaus put the mercenaries back to work finishing the defensive works for Feldhausen. He spent the rest of the day with his “privy council” [the player characters], discussing where else defensive works might be needed, the order that they would be built, and the reconstruction of Kettenacker.
Tuesday, June 13, 1650 AD
After yet another donation by Wulf-Klaus, the prelate again performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn. This time her soul returned, but she was blind. The prelate, secretly relieved that the rite had finally worked (the mercenaries were starting to mutter about him), announced that he could cure the blindness with a final performance of the rite the next morning. Wulf-Klaus agreed to this and readied another donation. He wasn’t too glum about this as the coins were coming from Leopold’s coffers, not his.
Micha and Sigi were summoned from Gammertingen town to “help with Yswyn’s recovery.” She appreciated this and spent the rest of the day enjoying the young men.
The earthworks for defending Feldhausen were completed.
Tuesday, June 13, 1650 AD
After a final donation by Wulf-Klaus, the prelate again performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn, restoring her sight and a body made whole. She will require two weeks of bed rest to fully recover but planed to spend most of that time with Micha and Sigi, so she was content.
Wulf-Klaus returned to Gammertingen along with most of his privy council, leaving only Ignis to manage the mercenary army. Ignis’s orders were to travel north to Steinhilber, secure it (and remind the citizens who they owe loyalty to), and then march south along the trade road to flush out any lingering enemy troops or bandits. What happens after that will depend upon what new threats (if any) arise.
End of Session
End of Miniseries
[So the big battle happened and the PCs did make a difference. I learned that level 3 and 4 characters are not quite high enough to act as independent units by themselves – Yswyn learned that the hard way when attacked by a pike unit. She only had 15 hit points and took 40 from a single hit. Ouch! While the PCs were competent enough to be lieutenants for platoons, they needed a few more levels to go out solo. The rules indicated this, but I fudged a bit to allow the players the opportunity to shine. I’ll know better next time.]
[The mass combat rules for ACKS, Domains at War, work well. There were some rules that I kept needing but were hard to find, so a cheat sheet with the relevant parts would have been handy. This was exacerbated by switching between the Guns at War supplement and the main rules, which doesn’t cover gunpowder weapons. A unified rulebook for the gunpowder material containing the base rules or at least many more cross references so I could quickly go from one book to the other would be very appreciated. I’d prefer a complete gunpowder rulebook.]
[Units making a Shock Roll seem to break easier than I would have expected, especially as they often had a -4 on the roll due to being 50% or more damaged (-2) and being disordered because of taking damage (-2). On the other hand, the entire battle wrapped up in a timely fashion, especially once the players took out the enemy general and forced a Morale Check on the entire enemy army.]
[This is the conclusion of 1650: The Miniseries. My players very much enjoyed the campaign setting, but some had issue with the low power level. If I had to do it again, I think I would raise the starting experience points so the average character level would be 5 and not 3. Maybe also grant larger chunks of experience between session so by the time of the big battle, they could act as independent units and take a hit or two.]
[The players seem interested in continuing but on the fence about staying with ACKS. We are going to meet in March to play boardgames and talk it out. I might resume with a different game system (HERO System is a possibility) or jump time forward and raise everyone’s experience points. I plan on continuing with Gammertingen as an Imagi-nation no matter what, so there will be more posts here on the blog no matter what we decide. The initial posting schedule will be slow until I can get with my brain trust to work out how I want things to progress. I want to get to a minimum posting frequency of one post per two weeks.]
1650: The Miniseries
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3, Part 1
Session 3, Part 2
Player Characters:
Lasairfhiona [pronounced “Lah-sah-reena”] – human female Medicine Woman (4th-level Shaman)
Ysgwyn [pronounced “ees-win”] – elf female Theurgist-Swordmaster (3rd-level Elven Spellsword)
Ignis – human male Commissary (4th-level Venturer)
Vladimir – dwarf male Dwarven Repriser (3rd-level Dwarven Fury)
Non-Player Characters:
Gabriel – human female Forester (3rd-level Explorer), Lasairfhiona’s bodyguard
Heinrike – human female Gammertingen Scout, head of the Scouts unit
Marcus – human male Slayer (4th-level Assassin)
Wulf-Klaus – human male noble, Baron of Gammertingen
Missed the Session:
Vojtěch – human male “Theurgist” (really a Spiritualist, a 3rd-level Warlock)
Friday, June 10, 1650 AD
Wulf-Klaus, 6th Baron of Gammertingen, spent most of the day saying good-bye to his guests as they returned home from his coronation. This led to a great deal of traffic in and out of the town walls, something he used as cover for moving his few troops out of town to join up with the mercenary army Ignis had in Feldhausen. The troops were replaced in town by servants dressed up to appear as soldiers to keep any spies from reporting that Gammertingen was undefended and ripe for attack. This was a gamble, but Wulf-Klaus felt he needed to deal with the enemy army encamped in the norther plateau of his barony on his terms, not theirs, and soonest.
Ignis lead strike groups of mercenaries out of Feldhausen to attack enemy blockades set up inside the eastern and northeastern borders of the barony. He even made a quick stop in the walled village of Steinhilber to deliver a missive from the new baron to the Mayor of Steinhilber. The mayor was polite and provided some supplies to Ignis’ strike team, but held a more wait-and-see attitude.
By the end of the day, Wulf-Klaus had moved a platoon of veteran musketeers, a platoon of dragoons, and a half-platoon of Gammertingen Scouts out of Gammertingen town and to the village of Feldhausen. The baron himself left with the dragoons, leaving Vojtěch in charge of Gammertingen town, with orders to hold the town until the baron returned. The steward, Bernhardt Hoffman, was not pleased with this, feeling he should have been left in charge. The Captain of the Guard, Hildebrant Lang, understood the need and only regretted not being able to serve at the baron’s side.
Saturday, June 11, 1650 AD
Early in the morning Wulf-Klaus and Ignis divided up the mercenaries into platoons and then grouped all the platoons into two divisions. The baron commanded the first division, containing the 1st Scouts, the 1st Dragoons on foot (which Wulf-Klaus attached himself to), and the half platoon of mercenary armored pikemen. Ignis commanded the second division, which consisted of the 1st Veteran Musketeers (which Ignis attached himself to), a platoon and a half of arquebusiers, a platoon of mixed weapons musketeers (flintlocks and matchlocks), and a platoon of pikemen. [Named units are House troops, the rest are the mercenaries Ignis hired in Justingen.] Yswyn and Vladimir decided they would operate independently and Lasairfhiona attached herself to the mercenary pike unit as lieutenant.
The Scouts located the enemy army camp site a couple hours northwest of Feldhausen and reported they were packing up their camp in preparation to marching! Wulf-Klaus and Ignis got their smaller army in gear and started marching northwest towards the enemy. Lasairfhiona sent her spirit animal, Wren, flying ahead to keep track of the enemy army. The enemy army appeared to be aware of the baron’s forces and was moving south/southeast to meet them!
Shortly after Noon, the two armies met. The enemy commander set his command unit, Division I, (a platoon of Dragoons organized as two units of cavalry and a platoon of veteran harquebusiers) on a low hill for better visibility. His right flank, Division II, (two platoons each of pike and musketeers) was anchored next to a hill, while his left flank, Division IV, (also two platoons each of pike and musketeers) had a lot of room to attempt a sweep around the baron’s right. Several of the baron’s compatriots (the player characters) noticed that the center of the enemy army, Division III, (three platoons of harquebusiers backed by a single unit of pike) seemed to be equipped with different gear than the other three divisions. They also appeared to be calling out back and forth in Italian, not German. This suggested they were condottieri.
Everyone on the baron’s side, from the individual troops to the general himself, immediately noticed that the enemy army was four times the size of the baron’s army.
To balance the sides a little, Marcus used a stone of controlling earth elementals in his possession to summon a 12-foot tall earth elemental to take to the field (and plied it with 20 gp worth of rare earths to hopefully keep it from murdering him if he lost control of it). The earth elemental was placed in the first division as a separate unit and Marcus was attached to the Scouts. This bolstered the morale of the baron’s troops somewhat, but the fight ahead still looked to be dangerous. The baron’s army then placed itself between two copses of trees, the first division on the left flank and the second division holding the center/right. Out on the far left, Yswyn and Vladimir took position with a plan to use a series of small rises to cover their approach on the enemy’s right flank. They planned on sprinting until they got within attack range and then charging into the flanks of each enemy unit, killing as they went.
Wulf-Klaus initiated the conflict by marching his left flank forward behind the slowly charging earth elemental. The enemy right advanced and fired on the elemental, their bullets ricocheting off its rocky exterior harmlessly [earth elementals are immune to non-magical attacks]. Suddenly the earth elemental was a much bigger threat!
Ignis then used his cube of force to lob a fireball at one of the two mounted dragoon units screening the enemy commander, killing several enemy dragoons and causing the rest to flee the field! [Magic attacks cause an automatic Shock Roll on the target and this unit rolled miserably low, routing immediately.] The baron’s mercenary forces gave a cheer as their “boss” lived up to his reputation as walking artillery. The second division marched forward to close with the enemy.
The enemy general, wielding the only magic weapon on his side, recognized the earth elemental and Ignis as the threats to his army they were. He ordered his remaining mounted dragoons to charge the unit containing the wizard while he and the harquebusiers advanced to confront the earth elemental. The condottieri advanced as well, angling slightly to the right to shield their paycheck…er, general from hostile gunfire. The enemy left advanced forward unopposed.
Wulf-Klaus had Marcus send the earth elemental to attack the musketeers. It shambled forward and slammed into one of the musketeer units. With a unit of pikemen backing them up and their general advancing to support them, the unit stood up to the assault. Meanwhile, the scouts and armored pike under the baron’s command readied to counter-attack any attacks the enemy might make on them.
The condottieri advanced further in the center, but with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. Rather than charge to attack, they readied for a counter-attack. This noticeably frustrated the enemy general who could be heard yelling at the condottiere leader to push forward. The Italians did not seem keen on the idea, keeping a wary eye on the earth elemental to their right.
Ignis ordered his division to attack the unit of mounted dragoons attempting to kill him. The mercenaries took to the task with gusto and cut down most of the cavalry platoon, with only a few stragglers routing off the field. Ignis then fired a second fireball at one of the readied condottieri harquebus units, but the Italians held firm.
Out on the baron’s far left flank, Vladimir and Yswyn were finally in position to charge the enemy – or at least Yswyn was. She paused in her advance to wait on Vladimir so they could charge together and hit the flank of a platoon of enemy musketeers [her initiative was much higher than his, so she held action until his initiative]. Unfortunately, this pause allowed the enemy leader to engage the earth elemental in combat, freeing the Division II musketeers and their supporting pikemen to move around the elemental. In doing so, the platoon of musketeers going around on their right caught sight of the two adventurers and called out for pike support. Both the musketeers and their supporting pike then readied for some form of attack from the adventurers. When Yswyn and Vladimir finally advanced, the pikemen were ready and cut Yswyn down. Vladimir was able to close, but not successfully attack the pikemen. Standing over the bloody remains of his elf companion and staring down an entire platoon of enemy pikemen, Vladimir prepared to sell his life dearly.
Wulf-Klaus, noticing that his companions were likely to die if he did nothing, ordered the earth elemental be turned to attack the threatening pikemen. This became a fortuitous mistake. When the earth elemental turned to attack the pikemen, the enemy general took advantage of the opening and cut down the elemental. As the enemy army started to cheer, Wulf-Klaus ordered his entire division to volley fire at the suddenly exposed harquebus unit containing the enemy general [both platoons with ranged weapons double-fired on the enemy command unit, something they could not due while he was in melee combat]. After a hail of fire from the Gammertingen Scouts and the 1st Dragoons, the enemy harquebusiers first fled and then were shot down to a man!
The condottieri troops advanced toward the baron’s troops, attempting to eliminate him in revenge for the death of the enemy general (and to maybe still get paid by the general’s backers). Their attack failed to kill enough of the dragoons with the baron to matter. Over on the enemy left, Division IV finally reached the edge of firing range on Ignis’ division. Rather than charge in, they readied for a counter-attack. If Ignis ignored them or advanced on the enemy center, they would charge into his unprotected flank.
Not wanting to send his own troops into readied opponents, Ignis instead had his division concentrate fire on the condottieri platoons, including him making another fireball attack. This was more than the Italians could stand their lead platoon broke.
At the same time, Division II attempted to advance on Vladimir. The Dwarven Fury let loose his rage, counter-attacking the musketeers and forcing them to flee. The supporting pikemen attacked Vladimir next but their attacks were deflected by the protective runes tattooed on his body [they rolled a 12 to hit and needed a 13 or better]. Vladimir held firm, refusing to yield Yswyn’s body to his enemies.
With apparent victory snatched from their grasp and their leader now dead, the enemy army’s morale sank. Most of their units routed or fled immediately. The two platoons that held decided they did not want to face the entire baronial army on their own and ceded the field of battle to the baron, raising the white flag of surrender.
The baron accepted their surrender, letting those in flight leave rather than chase them down, but taking captive those who stayed on the field. He sent forces to secure the body of the enemy general and the enemy baggage train before anyone could make off with it. The baggage train was quickly searched by Marcus for the general’s correspondence. Once that correspondence was secured, Wulf-Klaus allowed his troops, mercenary and House, to loot the rest of the baggage train. There was much cheering for his generosity. [He did take a share of the enemy payroll for later use – he’s generous but not dumb.]
As soon as the battle concluded, Lasairfhiona separated from the unit she was attached to and ran over to provide healing for Yswyn. What she found was a bloody mess that was dimly recognizable as Yswyn [Yswyn’s player rolled low on the Mortality Table]. She and Vladimir bound the remains for transportation back to town to see if the baron would pay to have her brought back to life or just for her funeral. Lasairfhiona then attended to healing the surprisingly few wounded troops in the baron’s army.
Once the enemy baggage train was thoroughly looted, the entire army marched back to their camp at Feldhausen, morale high. There the army settled in for a serious celebration. Messengers were sent back to Gammertingen town and the other villages in the barony to announce the victory. A separate message from Wulf-Klaus asked Vojtěch to contact the Lutheran Church in Trochtelfingen and request a prelate be sent with utmost haste to Feldhausen for a “diplomatic miracle”. [This was a coded request for someone capable of casting Restore Life and Limb to avoid starting a diplomatic dispute.]
After a couple of hours of celebration with the troops, Wulf-Klaus, Marcus, and Ignis settled down with the enemy general’s correspondence to find out who was behind the campaign against Gammertingen. They quickly discovered that the enemy general was actually Leopold Friedrich Zollern, distant nephew to Prince Meinrad von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen! Further, the correspondence suggested that Leopold, albeit indirectly, was being supplied by the prince and the German troops under his command were Zollern house troops, not hired mercenaries. This provoked a debate between the three men. Marcus was quite willing to go have a short, sharp conversation with the prince, but advised mending fences and strengthening claims, not getting into a bloody mess over who killed whom first. Wulf-Klaus wanted Marcus to have a pointed discussion with the prince, but agreed he might be able to get concessions or leverage in exchange for keeping the matter quiet. Ignis, ever the venturer, agreed that making a deal would be better than making vengeance. The three continued discussing options until very late in the evening.
Sunday, June 12, 1650 AD
Carl Dominik Bruhn, a prelate of the Lutheran Church, arrived in Feldhausen. Once the political niceties were explained [and a generous donation made to the church], the prelate performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn. The rite healed her body, but her soul failed to return. The prelate announced he would try again the next morning.
Wulf-Klaus sent the 1st Dragoons and the 1st Musketeers back to Gammertingen town to secure it in case Leopold’s troops reformed and attempted an attack on the town. He wanted to avoid besieging his own home if he could help it.
The Gammertingen Scouts were sent north to see if any remnants of Leopold’s army remained in the barony. Several hours later, they returned and reported that groups of condottieri were spotted marching east, flying white flags. They appeared to be leaving the barony now that their employer was dead. There were no sightings of Leopold’s German troops, but signs indicated they had fled west into County Zollern, ruled by a different branch of the Zollern family than County Sigmaringen and possibly friendly. Wulf-Klaus decided to send a letter of complaint to Prince Eitel Frederick II of County Zollern by way of the baron’s allies in Wurttemberg, suggesting he might waive claims for restitution if the prince turned over the troops. He didn't expect either to happen, but maybe rattling the cash-strapped prince's chains would encourage him to apply some family pressure on his cousin.
Monday, June 13, 1650 AD
After another donation by Wulf-Klaus, the prelate again performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn. Despite promising signs, her soul again failed to return to the Earthly realm. The prelate announced he would try again the next morning.
Wulf-Klaus put the mercenaries back to work finishing the defensive works for Feldhausen. He spent the rest of the day with his “privy council” [the player characters], discussing where else defensive works might be needed, the order that they would be built, and the reconstruction of Kettenacker.
Tuesday, June 13, 1650 AD
After yet another donation by Wulf-Klaus, the prelate again performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn. This time her soul returned, but she was blind. The prelate, secretly relieved that the rite had finally worked (the mercenaries were starting to mutter about him), announced that he could cure the blindness with a final performance of the rite the next morning. Wulf-Klaus agreed to this and readied another donation. He wasn’t too glum about this as the coins were coming from Leopold’s coffers, not his.
Micha and Sigi were summoned from Gammertingen town to “help with Yswyn’s recovery.” She appreciated this and spent the rest of the day enjoying the young men.
The earthworks for defending Feldhausen were completed.
Tuesday, June 13, 1650 AD
After a final donation by Wulf-Klaus, the prelate again performed the rite of Restore Life and Limb on Yswyn, restoring her sight and a body made whole. She will require two weeks of bed rest to fully recover but planed to spend most of that time with Micha and Sigi, so she was content.
Wulf-Klaus returned to Gammertingen along with most of his privy council, leaving only Ignis to manage the mercenary army. Ignis’s orders were to travel north to Steinhilber, secure it (and remind the citizens who they owe loyalty to), and then march south along the trade road to flush out any lingering enemy troops or bandits. What happens after that will depend upon what new threats (if any) arise.
End of Session
End of Miniseries
[So the big battle happened and the PCs did make a difference. I learned that level 3 and 4 characters are not quite high enough to act as independent units by themselves – Yswyn learned that the hard way when attacked by a pike unit. She only had 15 hit points and took 40 from a single hit. Ouch! While the PCs were competent enough to be lieutenants for platoons, they needed a few more levels to go out solo. The rules indicated this, but I fudged a bit to allow the players the opportunity to shine. I’ll know better next time.]
[The mass combat rules for ACKS, Domains at War, work well. There were some rules that I kept needing but were hard to find, so a cheat sheet with the relevant parts would have been handy. This was exacerbated by switching between the Guns at War supplement and the main rules, which doesn’t cover gunpowder weapons. A unified rulebook for the gunpowder material containing the base rules or at least many more cross references so I could quickly go from one book to the other would be very appreciated. I’d prefer a complete gunpowder rulebook.]
[Units making a Shock Roll seem to break easier than I would have expected, especially as they often had a -4 on the roll due to being 50% or more damaged (-2) and being disordered because of taking damage (-2). On the other hand, the entire battle wrapped up in a timely fashion, especially once the players took out the enemy general and forced a Morale Check on the entire enemy army.]
[This is the conclusion of 1650: The Miniseries. My players very much enjoyed the campaign setting, but some had issue with the low power level. If I had to do it again, I think I would raise the starting experience points so the average character level would be 5 and not 3. Maybe also grant larger chunks of experience between session so by the time of the big battle, they could act as independent units and take a hit or two.]
[The players seem interested in continuing but on the fence about staying with ACKS. We are going to meet in March to play boardgames and talk it out. I might resume with a different game system (HERO System is a possibility) or jump time forward and raise everyone’s experience points. I plan on continuing with Gammertingen as an Imagi-nation no matter what, so there will be more posts here on the blog no matter what we decide. The initial posting schedule will be slow until I can get with my brain trust to work out how I want things to progress. I want to get to a minimum posting frequency of one post per two weeks.]
1650: The Miniseries
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3, Part 1
Session 3, Part 2
