Poole in flames first playthrough.

 

Many, many, many thanks to Matt's Wednesday group for their enthusiastic support.  Matt & Barry played the game.  Taught me a lot, fleshed out the rules.  Proved it could work! Plus Alana's scholarly much needed proofreading. 

Invaders assemble!

Poole goes about its business.  Hordes placed.

The local leaders.

The process of gathering and arming the locals begin.

The raiders land.  Some go far, some not.

Levy longbow vs retinue crossbow.  The longbow throw them back.

A hasty defence line.

The archers are pushed back and the barricade wrecked.

A unit of javelins make it into the town.  These will do most of the burning.

 

Baiter and the lower part of Poole is in the hands of the raiders.  Billmen in the, um, sty.

Archers put up a brave fight in front of the church, but gets pushed back.  Billmen move in on the flank.

By the Wool Hall the archers are swamped.

The local leader sets up a line between houses.

The sneaking javelin set fire to one house and attempt the next.

The raiders break into the Wool Hall and start looting.

The locals are hard pressed by the church, start losing units.

Those pesky javelins hide out.

Billmen relieve the pressure with applied acupuncture.

Leader vs leader over the wall.

Pushed back over the wall.

Meanstwile, the relief force arrives on the hill, invaders group to meet it.

French also turn up late & advance to attack the archers.

Overview.

In the centre the billmen are forced to retreat to a burnt house by crossbows.  This central section screamed St Albans.

The main force is now under heavy attack.

Here come the retinue crossbow.

Spearmen engage and kill the archers, but find themselves trapped and get - squashed.

 

Another charge by the billmen, on this flank the Catalans are hemmed in.

The javelins are now being shot at.

The local centre is pushed back, leaving their archers in peril.  The javelins feel a bit -- exposed.

They set fire to their refuge (ungrateful-) As the archers get flanked.

The locals charge to save the archers,

Sorry, didn't get good pictures of this.  The relief force was split by the French, who forced the archers off table,  & met by a force large enough to contain then flank them.

Back at the church the billmen are doing a good job.

The javelins are contacted, retreat towards the church.

The fight in that lane goes on!

The archers advance and take cover.

Leader vs leader fight again, in the open.

Billmen attack the javelins.

Perfidity! Oh! Calamity! Spearmen from the centre command attack the locals from behind!  The priest is dead!

The central leader is hard pressed, the archers have been driven off by crossbows, the'll never live that down-.

Overview.

The bill face off the Catalan commander, longbows behind.

Still the centre holds out until that leader is killed as well.

The relief force is still holding on- 

Longbow vs javelin and crossbow.

The last billmen are destroyed in the centre.

By the church the billmen give ground.

The retinue crossbow actually start shooting.

Desperate fighting by the church- 

The archers retreat to a house, but are forced to fight on 2 fronts.

The billmen are contacted on their flank and have enimies to their rear!

The billmen are pushed back and the church is threatened.

BUT, tides wait for no man and the invaders, having burnt most of Poole, ransacked the Wool Hall now retire.

So ends our first trial!  

I learned a lot.

Took a lot longer than expected.