Scenario and Campaign Update: Haresburg Held!

Ducks Defeated! Haresburg Held! In a very closely fought battle, the Mallardian raiders were thrown out of the Hopsland border city. The Defenders held their own and inflicted savage casualties on the Duck forces, though the latter did take substantial booty with them. Will this reversal of Duck fortunes be reflected across the frontier or is this just a local set back? Only time will tell...

In the quiet pre dawn at Haresburg...

Unwanted Guests on the doorstep

Dwarf Bezerkers lead the forlorn hope

And enter the killing ground at the gatehouse. Even those glorious red beards could not save them...

2 burned objectives later...

The Rabbit relief force rides forth!

Followed by the Duck extraction team

In the end the raiding force burned 2 of the 4 objectives but were wiped out on return.  Their relief force did make contact though and some made it off the table despite the heavy horse units trying o block heir escape. It came down to the wire, but the defenders where up by 1 VP at game end to claim a pyrrhic victory, but a Victory nonetheless!


Here is the scenario:

Hopping Mad at Haresburg

An escalating Dragon Rampant scenario for 4 players.

Situation: The Mallardian Spring Offensive has caught the enemy off guard, capturing much of the frontier zone.  The Army of the One True Duck is now encroaching upon the Hoplandian homeland and outlying towns.  But with supplies of fresh underwear and Oil of Uhlan dwindling, Prince Arr l’Orange is having trouble controlling his adventurous

Royal Army of the One True Duck.

Phase 1 
While the Army bypassed South of the walled town of Haresburg, a number of Troll Mercenaries in Duck employment decided to boost their pay with additional loot, and a number of the Army’s units joined them to destroy effigies of the false Rabbit God.  The Hoplandian garrison must now defend the town, while the Duck forces seek to loot (and burn, obviously - there must always be burning) four objectives around the town.

Phase 2
Meanwhile, Prince Arr l’Orange is furious at the unauthorised fun and decreed that anyone participating in the pillage should leave the town within the hour. However, his delivery of this order through interpretive dance was not well received so he personally leads a body of his horsemen to cease the mayhem and hang the ringleaders (and confiscate the loot, naturally).

Simultaneously, the Commander of the Rabbit army’s flank guard ses the smoke haze above the walled town and rides to investigate and destroy any raiders in the area.

Table setup
The table represents the approaches to, and parts of the walled town of Haresburg. The table to played lengthwise, split into two halves by a curtain wall. The southern approaches to the town should be cleared with scattered areas of light cover, crop fields and hedges but no major obstacles. Place a road leading to the curtain wall gatehouse.

The town wall runs East-West across the width of the table and has two access points to the city; the gatehouse, and a 6-8inch breached section of the wall (its been undermined by all those warrens). The gate is open (traitors…) and is clear terrain to move through, while the wall breach counts as
rough terrain (so both parties attack and defend on 5+ and with armour 2).Inside Haresburg there should be a number of buildings setup along street lines; moderately crowded but with enough space to manoeuvre units. Designate four objectives inside the town in separate and prominent buildings (Guild Hall, Church etc)

Forces– two initial and two relief forces. Each operates independently and has a warlord. Once one or more relief force arrives, player sequence is determined by random card draw.

Attackers: Royal Army of the One True Duck
Phase 1 - Duck Raiders. 36 points. To simulate their unexpected approach to the city, they can deploy up to 12 inches from the Haresburg city wall.

Phase 2 - Duck relief force. 24 points, all mounted forces (including warbeasts). Enter via Special Rule in the SE corner of the table

Defenders: Scions of the White Rabbit
Phase 1 - Rabbit Garrison Defenders. 24 points. One unit may start at the city wall. The remainder deploy on the northern edge inside Haresburg. May take up to one war machine (heavy missile with weighty projectiles)

Phase 2 - Rabbit relief force. 32 points, all mounted forces (including warbeasts). Enter via Special Rule on the SW corner of the table

Objectives
This is a game of two halves with changing objectives and shifting initiative.

The initial Duck force is trying destroy the 4 objectives (see special rules on how to set an objective alight). The initial Rabbit force is to defend the town and prevent this.

The aim of the Rabbit relief force is to prevent more of the town being destroyed and stop the Ducks from escaping. The Duck relief force is to stop the unsanctioned attack and aid the escape of the remaining Duck forces.

Special Rules

Setting alight an Objective. A unit can capture objective but setting it alight through the following procedure (taken from Lion Rampant)
- A unit must start its activation in contact with the objective
- instead of move, attack etc, the activation is to “Fire the Building!” and is successful on a 8+ if above full strength and 9+ if below half strength . Commander rerolls do not apply
- If successful: the fire catches, cannot be extinguished and objective becomes impassable.
- If unsuccessful: the unit enjoyably spends its turn drinking wine, eating some cheese and catching some rays.
More than one unit can attempt to fire the same obstacle in a turn.

Stop the looting!
The Duck looters will cease if the Duck relief force can place one of its units into contact with one of the initial Duck raider units. The Prince’s cease and desist order will then be relayed and all Duck raiders can then begin to withdraw from the table.

Arrival of the Relief Forces
Once an objective has been set alight, each player rolls separately each turn to see if their relief force arrives. This occurs on 9+ on two dice for the first turn, 7+ the second, 4+ on the third and then automatically. Entry points are detailed in the Forces section.

To move onto the board, each unit must successfully make a move activation. This means that they cant charge directly into combat from off table. If a unit fails this activation test, it will automatically enter on the relief force’s next turn.

Victory Conditions
Score Glory as follows (plus any boasts)

Attackers (Royal Army of the One True Duck);
3 points per objective burned
3 points if the relief force manage to cease the destruction.
1 point per unit to escape.
2 points per enemy leader slain

Defenders (Scions of the White Rabbit);
2 points per objective unharmed.
3 points if they stop the Duck Force from leaving.
1 point per enemy unit destroyed.
2 points per enemy leader slain

Note: This scenario is factually based; during Henry VIII’s march to Therouanne in his 1513 campaign, Landsknechts in his pay attacked and looted the city of Ardres (which was paying Henry protection money) and were followed by some of the English in Henry's army. The Hapsburg Netherlands Garrison held out as best they could, until a furious Henry personally led a body of heavy cavalry to the city, hung the ringleaders and restored order.

Adapted from a battle report and description at:
https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/battle-report-raid-on-ardes.html

Many thanks Stuart!