London Chronicles - What the Ashes Conceal

After a lot of planning, my Steampunk superhero game, set in 1880 London, finally hit the table. I used SuperMission Force rules by Four Color Studio. I made very few changes to adapt the rules to Victorian London. The main alterations were to the pre-game and post- game sequences, mainly because I wanted to develop a stronger narrative around my characters.

For an introduction to this alternative London and the London Chronicles, see my earlier post.

A TALE OF SHADOW, STEAM & THE UNQUIET DEAD

LONDON, 1880. Fog thick as mourning crêpe rolls off the Thames. Somewhere in Whitechapel, in a warehouse that keeps its secrets locked behind bonded iron, a girl named Clara Ellington waits in the dark — and something far older than the men who took her waits with her.

A Tale of Shadow, Steam & the Unquiet Dead

Dramatis Personae 

THE HIDDEN SOCIETY - Charlotte Holmes, Mr Tonks, The Augmented Man and Voltaire

CHARNEL SOCIETY - Cornelia Ash, The Resurrected Man, Tobias, Emerson and Shamblers

Prologue 

Fog rolled from the Thames like funeral shrouds, and somewhere in Whitechapel, a young nurse named Clara Ellingworth waited in darkness.

Three weeks earlier, Clara had vanished. A volunteer nurse at St Mary's Hospital, she disappeared without a trace, and the Metropolitan Police showed little interest in the case. Her employer, Dr Evelyn Farrow, was less inclined to let the matter rest. Unable to get official help, she sought assistance from the Sherlock Holmes Detective Agency.

At 221B Baker Street, Charlotte Holmes listened carefully to the doctor's account before accepting the case. Accompanied by Colonel Hargreaves, she travelled to the Ellingworth family's townhouse in Holborn.
The house yielded nothing.
No sign of Clara. No sign of her captors. Only dust, silence, and the uncomfortable suspicion that someone had searched the place before them.

As they prepared to leave, however, a figure emerged from the fog.

It was Thomas Ellingworth, Clara's brother.

Gaunt and hollow-eyed, Thomas pressed a hastily written address into Hargreaves's hand: a warehouse in Cable Street. They believed Clara was held there, somewhere on the top floor.
Then Thomas disappeared back into the fog.
The investigation had suddenly become a rescue mission.

Cable Street and its Environs

The Warehouse of the Dead

The warehouse was waiting for them.

Voltaire announced their arrival in characteristic fashion: with lightning. A blast tore away the upper door, and Colonel Hargreaves plunged into a swarm of shambling dead.

Yet the Shamblers (zombies) were not the worst thing waiting inside.

The Cornelias and the Resurrected Man take on Voltaire and the Augmented Man.

The air itself folded, and from a black rift stepped Cornelia Ash—elegant, deadly, and armed with claws sharp enough to open steel. Another Cornelia soon followed, cutting through Voltaire's arm with a savage claw.

Below, Charlotte and her Symbiot took grenade fire from hidden enemies in the warehouse yard. Emerrson had struck as she tried to persuade Thomas to leave the area. The living metal shielded her from the blast, but Thomas was hurled senseless against the brickwork.
Within moments, the rescue had become a battle.

Cornelia's Gambit

As the fighting spread through the warehouse, Cornelia ignored the chaos around her. She had come for something more valuable than Clara: secret Society documents hidden within the safe.

But the Rift is a treacherous master.

When Cornelia opened the warded brass tube to place the precious documents in, a pulse of strange energy swept through the building. The Shamblers convulsed—and turned on their nearest living being - in this case, their mistress.

For the first time, Cornelia was forced to fight for more than the prize she had come to steal. Cornelia's predicament brought her guardian, the Resurrected Man, to her side. To protect Cornelia, the construct had to give up on trying to repel Augmented Man and Voltaire from the warehouse's top floor.

Then came another complication.

Inspector Crale and a squad from Division H burst through the warehouse doors, charging straight into a melee of policemen, gunfire, and hungry dead.
London, as ever, had arrived late—but noisily.

Inspector Crale and Division H Arrive. The Original photo and the AI comic version. 

Still trying to work out the best way to present this story, so here are two of the options.

Clara's Rescue

The police bought the heroes precious time.

Mr Tonks used the distraction to knock out Tobias as the police officers pushed past him, focused on the warehouse's doors and what lay beyond.

Amid the confusion, Colonel Hargreaves fought his way to the top floor and found Clara's cell standing open.

For one terrible moment, he feared they had arrived too late.

Then he saw her.

Clara Ellingworth was alive—terrified and exhausted, but alive.

Cornelia, meanwhile, had decided that discretion was the better part of villainy. Gathering her resurrected servant and the plans, she tore herself sideways through the Rift.

Charlotte managed one final shot as Cornelia appeared fleetingly on Cable Street, but the bolt merely grazed her. A heartbeat later, Cornelia and her monstrous protector had vanished into the Rift, taking the stolen documents with them.

The heroes had rescued Clara.

But they had lost their quarry.

Mr Tonks, after dispatching Tobias, climbed the warehouse's wall to find that Cornelia Ash had already departed.

What the Ashes Conceal

With the fighting over, Voltaire returned to the strongroom to see what else their enemies had left behind.

There, hidden in a barrel, he discovered several small phials of cold grey ash.

It hummed faintly in his hand.

The energy within was neither purely Rift nor purely necromantic. It was something stranger—an impossible marriage of the two.

Something or someone had created it.

Something unnatural.

And whatever that something was, it remained somewhere beyond the fog-shrouded streets of Whitechapel.

The case was far from closed.

To be continued in The Corpse Engine.

Game Notes

This was the first outing for the Hidden Society and proved an excellent test of both heroes and villains.
Voltaire and Mr Tonks were immediately effective, while Charlotte took longer to master, especially after the team split early in the game. Cornelia Ash, meanwhile, proved an excellent villain—dangerous in a fight but far more interesting when manipulating events from the shadows.

As always, the best moments were the ones I hadn't planned.

Thomas's being knocked unconscious in the opening turn forced a series of oracle rolls and created an entirely unexpected subplot. The longer the campaign runs, the more convincing these decisions become as the characters acquire their own personalities and grudges.

Most surprisingly, Colonel Hargreaves appears to have developed a soft spot for Clara since her rescue. Perhaps her military family reminds him of an old comrade.

Colonel Hargreaves removed Clara to the Diogenes Club safe medical facility, the Sanitorium, but her unstable links to the Rift remain undeveloped. The mystery surrounding her simply never developed.

Inspector Crale, although unsuccessful, remains undiscovered. Something to develop in a later chapter.

Either way, London has not heard the last of the Ellingworth case.

And some ashes are best left undisturbed.

London Chronicles - Charnel Society

The Charnel Society is a secretive and radical splinter of the Blackthorn Necromantic Society, convinced that the convergence of Rift energy and Charnel current represents not a danger but an evolutionary threshold. They operate in absolute secrecy, funded by sources that include — though the heroes don't yet know it — the Moriarty Network.

THE OPPOSITION 

Cornelia Ash

Collector of secrets, mistress of duplicates, allergic to being touched 

Daughter of Cornelius Ash, the unconventional scientist, aka Construct. She was a famous stage star, famed for her Shakespearean roles and well known to London's Bohemian community. She is also the mistress and lover of Lord Grey, and it is rumoured that it was he who exposed her to the rift energies that have changed her both physically and mentally.

Now a cold, precise woman who moves through Rift micro-tears with unsettling ease. Her primary abilities are self-duplication and teleportation— she can generate up to three copies of herself from Rift-folded space, each fully capable and independent. Distinguishing the original from the duplicates is the key to defeating her. She serves as Grey's field commander in his absence and runs the Cable Street operation.

The Resurrected Man 

A construct that does not tire, does not doubt, does not stop.

The Society's most disturbing creation, and in some ways its proof of concept. A living man who died during Babbage's Folly and was subsequently reanimated by a simultaneous application of Rift energy and Charnel current. He is not a Shambler — he thinks, reasons, and feels. He is also not entirely human. His touch can temporarily suppress the life force of living beings, and he heals damage that would kill ordinary men. He is fiercely loyal to Lord Grey, who gave him his second existence, and Cornelia Ash, whom he sees as an angel, the herald of the new beginning.

Tobias & Emerson 

The muscle, not terribly bright and a coward with very good aim. 

Two bonded men. Brothers — or close enough as makes no difference, raised together in one of London's charity orphanages after both lost their families within the same terrible year. Where one grew canny and careful, the other grew reckless and brutal. 

Their linked origin pulled them into the Rift underworld young, firstly undertaking petty work, running messages, standing lookout, doing the small, unglamorous jobs. Finally. Resurrectionists, stealing bodies and killing some innocents to meet the demand for Shamblers. One night a botched job exposed them raw Rift power when a grave held an alien body. Now, with some powers, their fates are permanently bound together.

More to Come

Further members of the Charnel Society, including Lord Morbius Grey, will be introduced as our story unfolds. Cornelia and her allies will make their debut in What the Ashes Conceal.

Cynoscephalae - The Battle

Following on from the set-up post, here's how the refight actually played out, using To the Strongest rules in my second Phalanx versus Legion recreation. 

A Slow Start

Oddly enough, the game started off very historically.

The Roman right just couldn't get going. Activation roll after activation roll failed, and the wing shuffled forward at a snail's pace towards hills that were, for now, still empty. Over on the Macedonian left, Nicanor was having exactly the trouble he had historically: getting the phalanx files into any kind of order was proving a nightmare, with battalions still trickling up from the rear and trying to sort themselves into a coherent line.

Meanwhile, on the Macedonian left, the cavalry piled straight into a fast, bruising melee that would run on for two or three rounds, both sides trading blows without either gaining the upper hand.

On the other flank, things followed the history books rather nicely. Philip, commanding his right-wing phalanx and the Agema, pushed his men down the hill and straight at the Romans. The legions counter-attacked, and the two sides settled into a grinding, prolonged melee. Only one phalanx managed to punch its way through the Roman line — and promptly discovered the classic phalanx problem: try turning a formation that dense once it's committed. It wasn't going anywhere fast.

The Roman Left attacks Philip's Right Flank

Round Four – Flamininus Commits

By round four, Flamininus decided it was time to act. Like his historical counterpart, he could see the Macedonian line fragmenting, with gaps opening up, and rode over to his right wing in person to get the attack moving.

It didn't quite go his way at first — the Macedonian attack on that flank actually faltered, and the phalanx-versus-legion slugfest in the centre ground on with neither side able to land a decisive blow. Whatever advantage the phalanx got from fighting downhill, the Romans clawed back with their knack for rallying and rotating troops through the ranks. Say what you like about the legion, it's an awkward, stubborn thing to shift.

On the left, Flamininus pushed his own right wing forward. Nicanor, meanwhile, was learning the hard way just how difficult it is to get a phalanx into any kind of formation mid-battle. A line did eventually form, but it had drifted rightward, leaving the Macedonian centre thin and exposed, held only by the mercenaries and Thracians.

On the Macedonian Left, Nicanor finds it difficult 

to form the phalanx into a battle line

The Collapse

And then it all started to unravel for Philip.

First the Thessalian cavalry quit the field, tearing open a gap between the phalanx and the guard cavalry and leaving Philip dangerously exposed to being surrounded. On the left it got worse still — the phalanx, under constant pressure before it had even properly formed up, began to lose cohesion. The Thracians broke from the centre, and the mercenaries, reading the way the odds were shifting, decided discretion was the better part of valour and made themselves scarce.

With the Macedonian line in tatters, the Romans poured into the gaps, especially on the left. Nicanor's own phalanx broke, and he was surrounded. That was that — the battle was over.

The Legion have exploited the gaps in the 

Macedonian formation and has flanked the Phalanx. 

The Verdict

All in all, the game reproduced the historical outcome pretty faithfully. Philip found himself neatly surrounded, though he could have cut his losses and escaped with the guard cavalry, and on the right the phalanx could still have managed an organised, if costly, fighting retreat rather than the rout it suffered.

Great fun to play, though it does demand a bit of discipline in managing your cards and chits — it's easy to let activation priorities get away from you. The other lesson I've taken from this one is entirely cosmetic: my general bases need to be redone to make the commanders stand out more clearly on the table. Games should look good, after all.

Next up in Legion versus Phalanx, we head east to Asia Minor for the Battle of Magnesia.

London Chronicles – Gaslight, Rift-Tech, and Supeheroes

Welcome to the dawn of my new campaign environment - London in 1880.

For a while now, I’ve been tinkering with a setting that has refused to leave my head. It’s a world where the soot of the Industrial Revolution mixes with cosmic radiation, where ancient Egyptian mysticism is treated as a corporate asset, and where the line between machine and mankind is violently blurred. A world whet the normal barrier of existence is crumbling. 

Welcome to the world of the;

London, 1880.

The British Empire stands at the height of its power — and increasingly, astride the heavens themselves. But beneath the gaslight and grandeur lies a city transformed, where Victorian ingenuity, Egyptian mysteries, and otherworldly energies interweave in ways that challenge reality itself.

Bronze automatons patrol the streets, powered by Rift energy first tapped by Charles Babbage. The Resurrected Labour — reanimated dead bound by rediscovered Egyptian rites — toil silently in the factories and docks. Airships drift above the Thames. And unbeknownst to most Londoners, their city sits at the crossing point of three ancient currents: the Abyssal force of creation, the Charnel energies that guard the border between life and death, and the elusive Enlightenment current said to grant glimpses of something transcendent.

Two revolutions have reshaped the city in a single generation — Meckmancy and Necromancy — and they are beginning, worryingly, to converge. Hybrid constructs blur the line between machine and corpse. Shamblers speak in tongues no one taught them. And ten years ago, Babbage’s own Nexus Engine tore open the sky above the Crystal Palace, killing hundreds and unleashing three days when the dead rose on their own and the spaces between buildings did not quite hold their shape.
The government called it a catastrophe. The Meckmancers called it a lesson. But in the shadows of the Cult of the Crawling Eye and the Daughters of Sekhmet, a different word is used: a warning.
This is London Chronicles — a world of steam, sorcery, and superheroes, where Victorian optimism has just discovered its limits. But who moves through this city, and what they’re willing to do about what’s coming, is a story still being written.

This is the world of the Hidden Society,  a group of special individuals who have pledged to protect the Queen, the Empire and mankind. 

Introducing: The Hidden Society

Protectors of the Empire. Guardians of London. Left to right:

Mr. Tonks
Charlotte Holmes — the Symbiotic Detective
The Augmented Man
The Voltaire
The city doesn’t know it needs them yet.

Next  -  some background on these characters - some invented, some adapted, and others stolen. Also ann introduction to the factions vying for London’s soul — and the first names you’ll need to know before Episode 1 begins.

Cynoscephalae 197BC Set - Up

The battle of Cynoscephalae was fought in Thessaly in 197 BC between a Roman-Aetolian army led by Titus Quinctius Flamininus and an Antigonid Macedonian army led by King Philip V. The battle was the decisive engagement of the Second Macedonian War. The Roman victory forced Macedon to relinquish its possessions south of Mount Olympus, including the so-called "Fetters of Greece" — the fortresses at Demetrias, Chalcis and Acrocorinth, which had given Macedon its grip on southern Greece.
This refight is the second instalment in my Legion versus Phalanx series. The first was Pydna, fought by Philip's son Perseus nearly three decades later — so I appear to be working backwards through time. For Pydna, I used Strength and Honour, my usual rules for the period, but for Cynoscephalae, I've turned to To the Strongest, which I've played many times before, mostly for the Crusader era. As with Pydna, I've adapted the historical scenario for solo play by leaning into the considerable uncertainty surrounding these ancient battles.

Legion versus Phalanx from Myth and Memory

The Battle

Cynoscephalae was an encounter battle. Both commanders were looking for a decisive engagement, but the fight itself began by accident. As so often in ancient battles, a clash between skirmishers and cavalry gradually drew in, first, the advance guards, then the main bodies of both armies.

Philip was quicker to reinforce his light troops and pushed his phalanx up onto the ridge crest, so the fighting initially took place on the Roman side of the high ground. Visibility had already been hampered by mist left over from the previous night's storm. When Philip's phalanx finally crested the ridge, he found the Roman army arrayed on the slopes below. Flamininus, watching the Macedonians push back his skirmish line, led his left wing forward in a counterattack, while his right wing — screened by elephants and light infantry — was ordered to hold its position.
This is the point at which my simulation begins: the two main battle lines facing off, with the skirmishing forces already pushed back into a supporting role. 

The Armies

As with most ancient battles, considerable uncertainty surrounds the narrative above. There is, however, broad modern agreement on the numbers involved, and most reconstructions still follow Hammond's classic account. Yet there remains sufficient uncertainty to vary the order of battle. Below is a basic order of battle used in my reconstruction. 

Macedonia

16,000 Phalangites - five units on the left and four on the right flank. 
There's a question over the phalanx's quality. Philip is reported to have conducted a wide-ranging recruitment drive ahead of the war, so it's plausible that some phalanx battalions on the Macedonian left were raw. One option is to field additional phalanx units while downgrading some to raw status. 
2,000 Agema — elite phalangites, often (misleadingly) described as peltasts; deployed on the right wing
2,000 Thracians — on the left wing, perhaps closer to the centre. They may have fought as light infantry, a warband, or thureophoroi, a loose infantry type named for the large oval shield (*thureos*) they carried, which allowed them to skirmish. I have classified the Thracians as thureophoroi.
2,000 Illyrians (Tralles) — javelin-armed light infantry
1,500 mercenaries — either light infantry or thureophoroi; I've used them as thureophoro in this refight and placed them next to the Thracians.
2,000 cavalry — good-quality Macedonian and Thessalian heavy horse. One unit is likely to have been a veteran guard unit.

Rome

4 legions — the sources are slightly confused on terminology, but the best reading is two Roman and two allied legions, divided evenly between the two wings. There's no certainty over the quality of the legions. Rome's overseas campaigns meant its citizens were spending longer under arms and growing steadily more professional, and Flamininus brought with him veterans who had served under Scipio in Africa. Much of the Roman infantry can therefore reasonably be treated as veteran, though this remains debatable.
6,000 Aetolian infantry — probably thureophoroi of uneven quality
1,200 Athamanian infantry — probably javelin-armed light troops of uneven quality.
800 Cretan archers — good quality
2,000 Roman and Italian heavy cavalry, on the left wing
400 Aetolian cavalry — they fought well in the battle, which suggests veteran heavy cavalry, though Aetolia is more usually associated with light horse. 
Elephants — an unknown number, but sufficient to cover all or part of the Roman right flank.

Command

The sources say very little about the command structure of either army. Both Philip and Flamininus were senior generals in the classic mould, detached from any single unit and free to move across the battlefield. There's no mention of a second Roman commander beyond the unnamed tribune who led the flanking charge that decided the battle. However, there must have been a senior officer on the Roman right, but that wing showed remarkably little initiative until Flamininus rode over in person and set it in motion. So the Roman army can be played with either one c general and a hero, the tribune, or a second command with an attached general can be added.
On the Macedonian side, Philip was supported by Nicanor, who was tasked with bringing the Macedonian left up from camp to the ridge. At least one more Macedonian officer likely went unmentioned in the sources, so I've added an extra commander of my own, attached to the mercenary unit.

What If?

Between the uncertain troop types and the patchy command structure, there's plenty of room for "what if" thinking. A few other points are worth considering, too.
The mist left by the previous night's storm had hindered visibility during the morning skirmishing and arguably helped trigger the battle in the first place, but it had cleared by the time the two main armies came face to face. What if it hadn't?
The sources are silent on how the overnight rain affected the ground. Where the slopes were slippery, one option is to increase activation costs for the first couple of turns. It's also unclear just how broken the terrain was: Hammond stressed the steepness of the ridge, while a more recent study (Morton) argues the ground was uneven and full of blind spots rather than genuinely rough or broken. A reasonable compromise is to scatter some rough going on both sides of the ridge, across the ground Nicanor has to cross to bring up the Macedonian left.
To reflect these uncertainties, a roll can be made on a 'What If' table before the battle commences.

The possibility of a variation can be determined with a simple d6 roll; a 1-2 means a variable is operative.
Then roll 1d10 for the variable in play. 0 = roll twice. Then throw 1d6 to see if the variable is active. If dice exceed the range, no change is made to the basic setup.

	Variable	D6	Result
1	Morning mist	1–2	Mist lingers for two full turns; all shooting halved, command activation costs +1
2	Ground conditions	1–2	Slopes are slick from the storm; +1 activation cost for both sides, turns 1–2 only
3	Macedonian left-wing phalanx quality	1–2	Two battalions raw; add one extra small phalanx unit to represent the wider levy, also raw
4	Thracian infantry (Macedonian left)	1–2	Deploy as a warband
5	Roman/Allied legion quality	1–2	Left-wing veteran (Scipio's African veterans), right-wing trained
6	Aetolian cavalry	1–2	Light cavalry, but treat as elite for this battle only
7	Roman right-wing command	1–3	Uninspired subordinate; -1 to activation rolls until Flamininus personally joins the wing
8	Extra Macedonian officer	1–4	Present, attached to the mercenary unit as described
9	Elephant numbers	1–3	Full screen — cover the whole Roman right flank

Next

Part Two will cover my refight of the battle using To the Strongest.

Diomedes and the Cyclops. Extracts from the Lost Book of Hesiod.

The Quest So Far

After leaving the valley of fantastically beautiful flowers (Episode 1), our heroes found the landscape becoming steadily harsher. The sweet fragrance of blossoms gradually gave way to the smell of damp decay, although traces of rich honey still lingered in the air. They entered an overgrown dell where the sand had become wet and muddy beneath their feet. Moss-covered rocks littered the ground, with patches of scrub providing the only cover.

The Home of Honey, Bees and Cyclops

Ahead stood three crude huts. In front of two of them towered enormous Cyclopes, shouting and waving their clubs at something only they could see in the distance. Even with their single eye, they appeared remarkably alert. 

Diomedes and his Company

Diomedes quickly formed a plan. The archers would remain at a safe distance, peppering the Cyclopes with arrows to distract them, while the swordsmen circled around the right flank. Once in position, they would overwhelm each giant through the weight of numbers.

The plan worked surprisingly well—at first.

The archers shot with remarkable accuracy, and before long, one Cyclops resembled an oversized pincushion. Yet, despite the number of arrows protruding from his body, the giant seemed barely affected. He continued hurling huge rocks towards the advancing heroes. Soon, his brother joined in, although both giants proved to be rather inaccurate.

The Harpy

Just as the warriors began to close the distance, the beating of wings echoed overhead. A harpy swooped down, attempting to snatch Xanthe's sword. Fortunately, the creature's strength was no match for the determined warrior, who threw it aside. Nevertheless, the attack served as a warning: the Cyclopes were not the only danger lurking in this strange valley.

With fresh urgency, Diomedes led his companions forward. The crashing of rocks and thunderous footsteps disturbed the enormous bees near the huts, and they swarmed angrily. One of the Cyclopes hurled a massive boulder that crashed into Diomedes' shield. For a normal man, this would have ended in death, but for a son of a god, he remained standing with a sore shoulder, his arm hanging uselessly by his side. 

Diomedes, Xanthe and Menelaus fight Ceraos. Iolaus stands back with his eye on the huts.

The Sea God Rumbles

Then another sound rolled across the valley—a deep rumble, like a team of horses galloping through crashing surf. The Cyclopes smiled, seemingly invigorated by the mysterious noise.

Had Poseidon himself come to his offspring's aid? 

The situation suddenly looked far more dangerous.

Meanwhile, the old man of the troop, Aegisthus, found himself locked in combat with the harpy as it swooped repeatedly from behind the rocks, claws slashing wildly. Aegisthus, taken by surprise, was clawed down his back, falling to the ground covered in blood. 

Then an even more terrifying sight emerged. 

Molebos - The Elder Brother Arrives.

A third Cyclops, the oldest of the brothers, appeared. 

Larger than the other two and far better armed, he carried a sword that would have required two hands for any ordinary man. As he lumbered towards the battle, the harpy wisely abandoned the fight and flew towards Atalanta and the other archers.

It proved to be a fatal mistake.

Atalanta calmly drew her bow, loosed a single arrow, and the harpy tumbled lifeless from the sky. How long could she keep her heritage secret from her friends and companions, she wondered?

Near the huts, the struggle with the remaining Cyclopes intensified. Diomedes and his companions finally brought down one of the giants, but the other fought stubbornly on, sweeping his enormous stone axe over the heads of the surrounding warriors. 

Iolaus, Honey and a Beautiful Maiden

While the fighting raged, Iolaus, always careful to be useful without being injured, quietly slipped away to investigate the huts. His first discovery was a large pot of honey. Unable to resist, he sampled it—and then another taste, and another. Surely this was the Honey of the Gods! Sensibly deciding that meddling with divine delicacies was unwise, he reluctantly put the pot down and continued searching the remaining huts. The second hut proved unrevealing, but in the last of the cyclops abodes, he found a beautiful young girl tied up, one must assume as a future delicacy.

Athena's Touch

Back at the battle, the heroes eventually surrounded and slew the second Cyclops. Unfortunately, the noise had stirred the giant bees into a furious swarm, while the last and greatest of the three brothers charged into the fray. 

The first exchanges were inconclusive. Even supported by his companions, Diomedes struggled to penetrate the giant's defences. The great Cyclops fought with terrifying skill, his immense sword forcing the heroes backwards.

Then came a moment of divine intervention.

Athena touched Diomedes with her blessing, restoring his strength completely. Filled with renewed courage, he leapt forward in a single fluid movement. His sword flashed through the air in a mighty arc.

A perfect strike (a critical hit!). 

The blade bit deep, severing the Cyclops' head from his shoulders in a single, devastating blow.

The valley fell silent.

With the giants defeated, there remained only one sensible course of action.

Run.

The giant bees were now thoroughly agitated, and there was little treasure worth dying for.

Episode Summary

This was a good game for team Diomedes, and thirty-six experience points were won. Although the downside was the knockout of Aegisthus. Thankfully, he fully recovered, just another scar to add to his story written across his body.

The characters' stories have also started to make them three-dimensional.
Aegisthus - the quite old warrior with hidden strength and willing to sacrifice himself for Diomedes.
Xanthe - the female warrior with a temper
Iolaus - is he to be trusted? Will avoid danger to seek out hidden treasure.
Atalanta - what is her mystical past, and why is she so lethal with the bow?

Game Notes

This was my second game, and I am still learning the rules. Although I enjoyed the experience, I found it frustrating that important keywords are spread across both rulebooks. A quick-reference guide or set of monster cards would make the game flow much more smoothly.

I would also strongly recommend writing as much information as possible directly onto each character sheet—not just the abilities themselves, but brief reminders of what those abilities actually do. It would save a great deal of rulebook searching during play and keep the action moving. 

Whats Next

After this adventure, the heroes will have to take a break while I find some 'Sons of Posiedon'. I have seen a couple of standalone episodes, so they may be my next stop.

The Leopard Campaign: Scenario Two – The Man in the Wagon

A Spy’s Warning

It all began with a note smuggled out of besieged Plymouth.

The message was brief but alarming. An important Royalist prisoner, Sir Edmund Vine, was to be moved from the city under heavy guard before being transported to London for interrogation. Whatever information Vine possessed, the Parliamentarians clearly considered it valuable. The note also revealed the prisoner’s route and identified the ideal ambush site—a small market square through which the wagon would pass before descending the narrow road leading to the East Gate.

The Leopard’s orders were straightforward: rescue Sir Edmund before he disappeared into Parliament’s prison system.

(For the Leopard earlier adventures - start here.)

Wood Block Cutting of the Lepoard dating from the 1650s

The Morning of 17 March 1643

Before dawn, while most of Plymouth still slept, the Leopard and his companions slipped into position amongst the alleys and buildings bordering the square. In the distance, they could already hear the rumble of wagon wheels and the steady tramp of marching feet.

The trap was set.

Springing the Ambush

As the wagon turned into the square, the Royalists melted deeper into the shadows. Surprise would be their greatest weapon.
The vehicle concealed its precious cargo beneath heavy canvas, but the escort was formidable enough. A burly sergeant led a dozen Plymouth militiamen through the early morning gloom. Once the wagon reached the market cross at the centre of the square, the Leopard struck. Musket shots echoed between the buildings, scattering several of the militia and leaving only the hard-bitten veterans to protect their prisoner. The ambush had worked. For a brief moment, the odds seemed firmly in the Royalists’ favour.
The Leopard and his men surged forward before the escort could recover.

Edgar and Billy - The Other Mission

Not everyone was focused on the rescue. Edgar and young Billy had been tasked with locating a series of intelligence caches left by Royalist agents within the city. Unfortunately, those dead drops lay dangerously close to the fighting. Worse still, shots suddenly rang out from upper windows overlooking the square.

Parliamentarian snipers.

The city authorities had anticipated just such an attack. Or perhaps someone had betrayed them.

Chaos in the Square

Isaac—rarely far from a bottle and never far from trouble—attempted to shoot the wagon driver. As the company’s best marksman, success should have been assured. Instead, the shot flew harmlessly wide.
Whether the fault lay with the musket, the weather, or the previous night’s ale remains a matter of debate. Giving up with the musket, Issac abandoned subtlety, gripping his musket like a club and charging towards the melee. He managed only a few strides before slipping spectacularly on the wet cobbles and crashing to the ground.
The square itself soon became an unexpected ally of the Royalists. One of the wagon wheels struck an uneven cobblestone, jolting the vehicle violently and forcing the driver to halt while he regained control.

The Leopard wasted no time.

His men closed in from all sides, surrounding the stalled wagon before the escort could react.
Unfortunately, the remaining defenders proved far tougher than expected.

I am running a few minutes late; my previous meeting is running over.

At their centre stood Sergeant Hopgood.

A giant of a man and a former blacksmith, Hopgood wielded his halberd with frightening skill. Again and again, he held back both the Leopard and Maarten, his sweeping blows forcing them away from the wagon. Meanwhile, Edgar and Billy searched desperately for the hidden intelligence caches while dodging musket balls fired from the surrounding buildings.

A Runaway Wagon

Eventually, the driver regained control and urged the wagon forward once more. Suddenly. James and Isaac found themselves directly in its path. James threw himself clear at the last moment and even managed to grab briefly at the wagon’s side. Isaac was less fortunate. Still suffering from the effects of the previous evening’s drinking, he reacted too slowly and was knocked sprawling by the vehicle. The unfortunate marksman was left unconscious in the mud.

Recognising the danger, Maarten broke away from his duel with Hopgood and launched himself at the moving wagon. Somehow, he managed to cling to the side before disappearing beneath the canvas cover.

Inside, a desperate struggle erupted.

At the same moment, James seized his opportunity. As the wagon slowed, he hurled himself at the driver, dragging him from his seat. The driver’s whip caught James across the face, but a well-placed thrust forced the man from the reins.
The wagon ground to a halt once more.

The Fighting around the Wagon as it stalls.

The Tide Turns

As the fighting intensified, a sea mist rolled in from Plymouth Sound. Visibility dropped dramatically, reducing friend and foe alike to shadowy figures moving through the fog. The snipers abandoned their positions and moved closer to the wagon, sensing that the battle was reaching its climax.

Yet through it all, Sergeant Hopgood remained immovable.

Time after time, he blocked the Leopard’s advance, swinging his halberd with relentless determination. Although neither man could gain a decisive advantage, Hopgood’s stubborn defence prevented the Leopard from joining the struggle around the wagon. Then faithful Edgar intervened. Creeping through the confusion, he stepped quietly behind the giant sergeant and struck him from behind.

It was not heroic. It was not gentlemanly. It was, however, extremely effective. Hopgood collapsed.

Escape from Plymouth

Rain now began to pour from the darkening skies, turning the square into a treacherous mire.
Inside the wagon, Maarten finally succeeded in freeing Sir Edmund Vane. Escorted by Billy—who had also recovered another intelligence package from a Royalist agent—the rescued prisoner was hurried into the maze of alleys beyond the square.

Church bells began to ring. Shouts echoed through the streets. The alarm had been raised.

But by then, the Leopard and his companions were already disappearing into the narrow lanes, heading towards a safe house and the secret tunnel beyond.
Only Edgar was left behind.

The Angel and the Drunk

Somehow, Edgar evaded capture and eventually staggered into Lord Hopton’s camp. Demanding a drink to ease his wounds, he claimed that a dark-haired angel had rescued him from certain capture before he awoke aboard a cart bound for Saltash.
Whether anyone believed him is another matter entirely.

Post-Game Thoughts

This proved to be an excellent scenario, with momentum swinging repeatedly between the Royalists and the Plymouth militia. At one stage, I feared I had made the rescue too easy for the Leopard. Then Sergeant Hopgood appeared and almost single-handedly turned the battle in Parliament’s favour. He was one of those wonderful emergent characters that occasionally appear in solo gaming—an NPC who unexpectedly develops a personality simply through their actions on the tabletop.
Hopgood will almost certainly make another appearance in the campaign.
Once the wagon had been stopped for the second time, however, the initiative shifted decisively towards the Royalists. From that point, the rescue became increasingly difficult for the defenders to prevent.
The one change I intend to make when running the scenario again is to introduce militia reinforcements immediately after Sir Edmund is freed. That should add a greater sense of urgency to the escape phase and create a more dramatic finish.

Campaign Reflections

The game itself was a success, but the wider campaign structure remains a work in progress.
The Snakes and Ladders campaign map has not performed as well as I had hoped. Despite additional mechanics and dice rolls, it still produces a largely linear sequence of scenarios.
Likewise, while the scenario generator consistently creates interesting ideas, it still requires considerable development before each game and struggles to create a strong narrative connection between scenarios.
These elements will need some revision before the campaign continues.
For now, however, the Leopard has secured Sir Edmund Vane and the intelligence he carries.
The question is what secrets the rescued agent knows—and where those secrets will lead our adventurers next.