Presenting a Swashbuckling battle on a "
Medieval"
Urban themed
Pedion city setup at the local Club. A feast for the eyes, the 4'x3' board accommodated a fight of the famous Musketeers vs. the Cardinal's Guard!
This time we will deviate from our usual "production" blog post, to share this incredible spectacle. Games like this are actually the reason I started
Pedion, and why our Battlefields exist: beautiful, diorama-like games, setup in 5-10 minutes, carried at your local club in any regular gameday, and all carried away in 3 boxes. All other scenery and miniatures well enhanced, to a mind blowing result. And at the same time, we enjoyed a solid, full gaming experience, where scenics were not "in the way" of the game. In case you like the Urban tiles, you can still pre-order them for a few days more
at the eshop
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| Rue Richelieu |
Battle Info
We set the fight in Toulouse of 1627, with Luis XIII visiting for the inspection of the first miles of Canal en Languedoc - destined to eventually connect Toulouse (and its river Garonne) with the Mediterranean. But the canal waters "hide" the mismanagement and misappropriation of funds by Cardinal's Richelieu people!
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| Toulouse, Spring 1627 - River Garonne and the start of Canal Royal en Languedoc |
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| Outskirts and the use of our Slope Elevation system to create an uphill street |
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| Their Majesties (and the Cardinal) admire the Canal works |
Musketeers Porthos and d'Artagnan lead a continent of their fellows, to inform Their Majesties, as they exit from the morning Mass held in the Basilica of Saint-Sernin. But the ever-present Cardinal was informed by Lady de Winter, and sends Count Rochefort with plans to stop them!
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| Porthos and d'Artagnan lead a unit of Musketeers and Servants to find the King (NW corner placement) |
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| Lady de Winter and Count de Rochefort lead the Guard and their thugs to stop the coming Musketeers (SW corner placement) |
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| Rochefort leads Halberdeirs and Matchlock carrying thugs to take position on the west end of the main road, Rue Richelieu |
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| The main Cardinal's Guard makes sure their master is ok before trying to cut the Musketeers from the southern access. The Cardinal orders Captain Marcheaux to stop the troublemakers! |
The Game
The Skirmish was between two warbands, Musketeers vs Cardinal's Guard, with the main purpose of one routing the other. We used the *EXCELLENT* rules of "En Garde" from Osprey Publishing/ Osprey Games which capture the single-miniature swordfights' spirit admirably!
Many of the terrific images have some battle info on their descriptions. But needless to say, the Musketeers once more foiled the plans of the Cardinal and his lackeys and carried the day!
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| The Musketeers see the coming Guards and choose to cross into Rue Richelieu. The waiting thugs open fire, but to no effect. |
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| Porthos takes position next to the bridge, waiting for captain Marcheaux to come to him |
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| d'Artagnan joins the fight on the street, to help his soldiers |
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| The Cardinal's Guard storms the bridge |
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| More Thugs come up a side alley and daring swordfight occurs! |
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| The 4th Musketeer lives up to his legend - thugs fall to his swordsmanship, among them Lay de Winter herself (the rascal, striking at women!) |
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| Rochefort starts to get anxious, as more Musketeers come his way |
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| Porthos shows that his fame as the most powerful warrior is not understated: he single-handedly brings down Marcheaux and his horse! |
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| On the Nwest end we have the final showdown: d'Artagnan vs Rochefort. The two duel like there is no tomorrow, but in the end, Rochefort has suffered a Grievous wound to a simple Stun for the Musketeer. The count knows when he is beaten and flees, vowing revenge!!! |
You want more detailed info (and photos)? Check out corresponding facebook post!
What we used
The terrain is of course the pre-painted urban wargaming tiles from Pedion, as well as our new lines of Bridges, Walls and Trees - just check http://pedion.ecwid.com to get yours!
Miniatures are from the collections of George Panopoulos and Panos Mountis, originating mostly from the "Musketeers" line of Redoubt Enterprises with additions from the Renaissance lines from Warlord Games. They were beautifully painted by Fedros Dimitriou, Andreas Panagopoulos, George Manis and Thodoros Galanis.
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| Le Carrefour |
Buildings are mostly from the David Graffam excellent papercraft line, along with 3D UMBUM kits. Several details, like the market stand and the wooden pier were created by George Manis and Andreas Voyadzis .
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| Le Pont |
Panos Mountis starred as d'Artagnan and Andreas Voyadzis as Porthos, against the machinations of George Panopoulos as the Cardinal and Fedros Dimitriou as Rochefort.
I hope you like what you saw - I can only stress how great it was for us!
Good gaming,
George
P.S. (Historical) - The works for Royal Canal en Languedoc commenced about 50 years later, destined to become Canal du Midi - but why let this stand in the way of fun ;)
