Ears of Tin

I have a mind to try and run a series of games based on a song I played the other night. Jethro Tull – Ears of Tin, this is the verse that struck a chord.

“Now the sun breaks through rain as I climb Glen Shiel
on the trail of those old cattlemen who drove their bargain’s south again.
And in the eyes of those five sisters of Kintail
there's a wink of seduction from the mainland”.

The old trail referred to ran from the Isle of Skye to the cattle markets at Crieff or Falkirk. It went via the narrows at Kyle Rhea where they swam the cattle across the straights to the mainland, a distance of about 400 metres.

The straights from the south.

The straights from the mainland.

This must have been an incredibly dangerous thing to do because unless the tide is at a stand, it runs through the narrows like a freight train on Speed. Not that I’ve ever taken Speed but at Springs (the strongest tide) the water runs at 8 knots, something like 9 to 10 miles an hour.

Modern day swimming the cattle.

This Crofter used to swim 150 yards with his cattle until he was 70, he’s just a softie now at 80 and rows across.

I imagine the Drovers would arrive at Kyle Rhea and probably pay a local man to advise or guide them across, there would almost certainly be a ferry just as there is today and from what I’ve read they used to tie the cattle together to make the crossing, although how that worked I can’t imagine.

The Five Sisters from the Ratagan Pass.

Anyway the trail probably follows the later Military road to Ratagan and Shiel Bridge before “climbing up Glen Shiel on the trail of those old cattlemen”. On the way up the Glen on the north side are the Five Sisters of Kintail, the last peak of the range although not one of the Sisters is Sgurr nan Spainteach named for the Spanish troops who fought there in 1719 alongside Jacobite forces in the first uprising.

The Drove Roads of Scotland

A modern map of Glen Shiel.

Then at the head of the Glen there were various tracks to get to Crieff, none of them easy, in later years they joined military roads and the cattle were shod like horses to protect their hooves although the shoe was in two parts unlike the horseshoe. The trail is slightly over 200 miles long and used to take several weeks, they would probably walk about 12 miles a day allowing the cattle to graze and if possible add weight before arriving at the market.

AI Artists impression of crieff Cattle market around 1580.

AI again. 

It sounds like it was a wild place, Drovers would billet themselves in someone’s house, by force if they had to, The American wild west seems quite tame in comparison.

As far as I’m aware the first Michamas Market in Crieff was first held in 1632 but because I recently finished painting 16 Border Reivers, giving me a total of just over 40 hard fighting men I’m setting my games in the late 1500’s or so. Also I’m assuming I’ll meet refined Scots who are keeping up with fashion further south.

The cattle trade really took off after the joining of the two kingdoms when presumably it became safer to drive them south through the Borders. However I’m assuming there was a market at least 40 years before then to supply the big Scottish towns and so this will allow my story to happen.

OK that’s the history lesson done with.

What I’m looking to do is run a series of say 6 games to take place along the route. There will be 3 Drovers and a dog and I only have 4 Highland cattle and 2 calves so a tiny herd. I mean to keep the games small to try and ensure I can keep the momentum going both with the games and writing about them.

Anyway these are the ideas that the Gentlemen of Much Piddling have come up with so far:-

a) Rustling - An attack on the herd to steal some or all of the cattle by vagabonds and ruffians unknown. Their aim is to take the cattle. How - Creep into the camp and drive the cattle off quietly. If successful may lead to a chase to recover the cattle if not will become a general brawl.

b) Murder - while staying overnight at one of the Droving Inns they are attacked by the Inn Keeper and his associates. Their aim is to kill and rob the Drovers and then take their cattle. How - Surprise attack while they are asleep if successful game over, if not will become a general brawl.

c) Increasing the Herd – On the way to the market our drovers see an opportunity to increase the size of their herd by stealing someone else’s cattle. Their aim is to steal cattle and get away without being discovered. How – ditto Rustling.

d) Kidnap – The dog owner has been bragging about his dog and everyone in the Inn knows what a good cattle dog she is. A good cattle dog is worth more than you’d imagine and she is kidnapped. The Drovers aim is to recover the dog. How – not sure, probably clue finding and tracking, if successful, recovery raid, if not?

e) Fodder – The grazing on the trail has been poor, they need fodder to feed the cattle and they’ve no money. They’re going to have to steal it without being discovered. How – ditto ‘C’ but the evidence will have been eaten in a couple of days.

f) Alexander “Sawney” Bean – The cannibal clan, probably just a myth but it’s too good not to include, although I can’t quite work out how to make a game that is not just a straight fight for survival, I’d like something a bit more quirky. The Clan reputedly lived in a cave on the sea shore and with children and grand children ran to over 40 mouths to feed. How - ?

So those are my 6 scenario ideas one or two seem a bit weak to me and I wonder if anyone can suggest other, possibly better ideas, or indeed how I can incorporate Sawney as a game. I’ll play these games solo and I’m quite happy if there’s no fighting and no one dies provided there is some challenge in the scenario.

 Reba, Dashing Dougie Douglas, Mad Wullie Snapcase, The Vagabond.

Oh - you may be wondering who will be daft enough to undertake this journey, well basically Mad Wullie Snapcase, the Vagabond, Dashing Dougie Douglas and his dog Reba have decided to try and make an honest living because reiving hasn’t gone too well for them.

It’s been a long couple of days.

Reaching a certain time in life when a man questions whether he can still do the things he remembers he used to do as a young man, they had decided to go on one last cattle rustling raid.

The final straw was being cut off and having to fight their way home.

This was a plan conceived over a few jugs of their local Poteen and maybe the drink had something to do with it not being a perfect plan. The weather turned foul, they got lost but in the end rustled 29 sheep and no cattle. This would have been an excellent result except the weather continued foul and they lost all the sheep except one on the journey home.

The Armstrong’s.

OK not such an auspicious raid but unfortunately it didn’t end there. The sheep they had rustled belonged to a branch of the Armstrong family and I don’t suppose I need to say much more.

The Armstrong’s searching the Masterless Mens village.

As one of the strongest families in the Borders they were not going to let bygones be bygones but by the time they arrived, the evidence had disappeared (been eaten) they were convincing liars and Mad Wullie Snapcase, Dashing Dougie Douglas and the Vagabond lived to tell the tale.

Well they didn’t tell anyone, in case the Armstrong’s got wind of it.

Tithe village

Eighteen months or so after this debacle the same trio received news that the Baby Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells was collecting his rents in person and it seemed for some obscure reason that it would be a good idea to rob him. It wasn’t and they were taken prisoner and incarcerated in Berwick Gaol.

The Bishop travels in style.

The Reivers attack but were outclassed by the softie southern powder puffs.

Wee Jock McClue escapes.

The gaol cart heading south.

Only the other day, news arrived in Lost Dale that the trio were being sent to Bath to stand trial and be hanged. Apparently the baby eating Bishop of Bath and Wells will be the Judge and so the trial is just a formality and the judgement a certainty.

Subsistence crofting.

A barley field, for the finer things in life.

                                                                       A bucolic scene.

Or is it an ambush site.

I’m rather hoping that some of the remaining members of their lost men will carry out a rescue.

Anyway if they do and it’s successful, well then, I can get on with the droving, if not successful then I’ve wasted a lot of good drinking thinking time.

And yours as well…….sorry.

So any ideas you might have, will be gratefully received and appreciated.

All the best and Cheers

The Shell Clan meet the Neanderthals

The Shell Clan are on the move again. Well they’re always on the move, one way or another but at this time of the year they are heading north. The days are getting longer and this year there was no arguing about staying put, not after the last time. The kid has been given a name but more often than not she is referred to as ‘The Sacrifice’ she doesn’t like it but if you remember it was better than the alternative which was to be sacrificed.

Going north wasn’t always easy, there was the great waste to cross, and this usually took 5 moons and was only possible with careful navigation by a few landmarks. They have arrived at the second one of these, a large dead tree. The tree was the most important of all the landmarks because it signified water. Without this they would die and so they were always relieved to see the Tree.

The Sacrifice or Sura as she will be called from now on has practiced daily with her sling but is still useless. She carries two stones, Rock 1 and Rock 2, on the off chance she can get close to any game to pelt it.

Tohana maintains they should have eaten her long ago but Luana and Ayah had insisted they would make her a valuable member of the clan….given time. 

Kee’Ak the other male member of the tribe kept his thoughts to himself. If asked he would have probably replied that she was all skin and bone, she wouldn’t even make a good stew and as they didn’t have cooking pots on this journey there was no point in worrying about it.

After the tree they saw the haze of green, there was the water, and around it the vegetation and hopefully even some prey. The Clan could carry food for 5 Moons but it was always nice to supplement the tough dry meat for some fresh juicy stuff.

“There they are” muttered Tohana, “food on the hoof” and he looked hungrily at the small horse clustered around the water grazing peacefully. “That would be fast food” Ayah replied taking out her sling and a fine round river pebble.

Just then the herd galloped away from the water, the Shell Clan smelled trouble, the only thing that would drive the horse away was a hunter. Hunters were always competition and usually dangerous competition as well.

Bi-peds; the worst sort of trouble. Vicious, mean and dangerous Bi-peds would kill you just for the fun of it, then suck the marrow from your bones before eating the rest of you. The Shell Clan knew all about Bi-peds, after all, they were Bi-peds and these three looked like they had plenty of marrow to suck on.

There was no need to discuss their plan of attack, the Clan were well versed in what worked and what did not work. The two females ambled wide around the flanks of the prey and the males waited. There was a short argument about the kids role but both females refused to take her and she was instructed to stay behind the men and keep out of the way.

The Kid failed her activation and the prey predated towards her.

As they drew closer the females of the Clan realised these Bi-peds were different to any they had encountered before. Their faces were different and they looked powerful, big boned with strong muscles and well crafted weapons.

We’ll eat well tonight thought Ayah as she started to swing her sling in well practiced moves.

She watched the smooth river pebble fly straight and true, hitting the big male on the side of the head and he went down like a sack of potatoes. Not that Ayah thought that, she didn’t know what a sack of potatoes was but the simile is apt.

Ayah is a master with her long ranged weapon; well anyone throwing a 6 to wound followed by a second 6 to kill has to be extremely competent.

This didn’t have the effect she hoped for and the large juvenile predates towards her, that club he’s carrying looks deadly and if he gets close she only has a small flint knife to defend herself with.

Luanna pelts the Female of the small family, causing a wound and she backs away.

Ayah has two choices, she can howl at the juvenile to try and frighten him away but in these sorts of situations her howl often comes out as a croak, something the others make fun about later, so she pelts the juvenile with another stone.

She doesn’t hit him but he flees in terror at the sound of the pebble swishing past his ear. This isn’t something he’s encountered before and Ayah with her sling is a pretty scary thing.

Ignoring her instructions the Kid runs forward, howling like a Banshee, she holds Rock 1 ready to throw when she judges she can hit the Hominoid.

This doesn’t have the effect her tiny mind envisaged. I believe she thought this would grant her kudos with the Clan and maybe they would see she could contribute to their survival. Also maybe she thought they might stop calling her the Kid or worse “The Sacrifice” and give her a real name, something like Sura Giant Killer, or Sura the Fearless. It was not to be, the Hominoid advanced….fast. The Kid threw her stone but shaking with fear doesn’t improve your aim and she missed. The Hominoid didn’t and stabbed Sura in the arm, wounding her and she cried out in pain.

In spite of the fact that Tohana maintains they should eat the Kid and be done with it, he has developed a strange liking for her and roars at the female Hominoid. This has the effect of saving Sura as the Hominoid races forward to attack Tohana.

Tohana hits and wounds the Bi-ped and she retreats.

Never one to let a meal get away Tohana moves after her and strikes again, she feels the full weight of his axe and dies immediately.

Kee’Ak lopes forward in support of Tohana but the death of its family causes the juvenile to predate forward towards Kee’Ak, revenge might be on his mind.

The resulting exchange of blows is ineffective but the noise of the battle attracts three more of the hominids. They are too late to save the Juvenile as Kee’Ak stabs him twice and kills him with the second blow.

Ayah lopes forward and the nearest Hominoid attacks, then the Hominid roars but it’s going to take more than that to make her back down, Having failed 2 activations it’s 50/50 on the last. She is lucky and pelts it with another river pebble, wounding it which causes it to back off.

Luana has also loped forward and then slows to a skulk, weighing the chances of making a hit with her sling she decides she needs to be closer before wasting a fine round pebble on a risky shot.

Tohana raises his club and advances on the spear carrying Hominid, it rushes forwards and stabs him with the pointy end. Not to be out done Tohana hits the Hominid with his club, wounding it, then he deflects the return stab as Sura fails her activation and the Hominid roars in pain.

A close up of the titanic fight taking place between Tohana and the spear wielding Hominid. Their blood stains the dry earth and they are both tiring fast.

Ayah slings another river stone at the Hominid she has already wounded and kills it. I said she was good. She then pelts the one farthest away from her, this just makes it mad and it moves to attack.

Luna sees the danger and slings a stone at it, misses but the club wielding Bi-ped changes direction and charges at her. That’s not what I wanted she thinks but is able to send another stone in it’s direction, this hit’s and wounds but doesn’t stop it’s charge, it cracks her a wicked blow with the club.

Wounded though he is,Tohana is still able to deliver a killing blow, gaining some respite to get his breath back, he sees Luana is hard pressed and without thinking he rushes at her opponent.

With one mighty blow he crushes its skull and the fighting is over, the only sound to be heard is Kee’Ak saying in a very stern voice to Sura “Don’t you ever attack something 3 times your size ever again, or you will be in real trouble”. It seems Tohana isn’t the only one who has a fondness for the bold young girl, maybe they won’t eat her after all.

Well that went well, this is the first time the Shell Clan has met the Neanderthals and I wanted to use all the 6 figures I’d painted but 6 to 4, 5 if you count Sura is a bit of a tall order so I split them into 2 families of 3. The slings give the Clan an edge which they took full advantage of but after this fight 3 of them are wounded, this will require some dice rolling to see if they survive without some serious impediment for the future.

Well it’s a dangerous world on a Palaeo Diet.

Cheers

Warriors of Athena - The Sacrifice of Promiskuous

The Odyssey - The Sacrifice of Promiskuous.

The Mad Lord Snapcase ventured north recently and we managed to cram in 7 games in effectively 3 days. One of these games was the Sacrifice of Promiskuous.

He’s gone overboard from the Argo after buying the new rules, Warriors of Athena, by Joe McCullough the guy who wrote the Frostgrave rules as well as some others.

We played a couple of games of Luke Warm Grave back in ’17 when the three of us first met. None of us had anything suitable for scenery in a winter wonderland and so we used this very temple as the centre piece of two games that Dougers created and umpired.

I remember them very fondly, partly because of the amount I had to drink and partly because I won both games, or at least that’s my vague memory of how it went.

I’ve since bought the Frostgrave rules and played 3 solo scenarios, all which I’ve posted somewhere on the blog. I didn’t enjoy the solo games and wasn’t happy about the use of D20’s to resolve combat and magic, it’s just too random for my taste, but I know that there’s a lot of people very happy with the rules.

Anyway to cut a long story short, as far as I can see these new rules use the same combat mechanisms and D20’s to resolve combat and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this game. This needs some thinking about but I’ll not be buying the rules because the basic set doesn’t include a Bestiary, so as far as I’m aware. to play a game you have to buy 2 books, total somewhere around £50.00.

If I’m wrong about this please let me know but on the basis of our game I’m going to have another shot at using the Frostgrave rules and see if they work for me this time, although I wonder if it’s a rule set best played in company.

The Mad Lords scenario gave us a cracking game, very nicely judged in terms of difficulty and lots of fun.

The books on the table are clue markers, we had to read all three of them to reveal the fair Promiskuous who would then appear, ready to either be sacrificed or rescued, it was to be a cooperative game so we obviously intended the latter.

Somewhere along the way there was a treasure token and the most deserving Hero would find it.

Unfortunately I can’t remember how I found it, only that I did.

These flying creatures are supposed to be bees, I don’t remember bees in the Odyssey but it’s a while since I read it and as neither of us had any we went with giant mosquitoes.

The chap in the green tunic is my companion Neoptolemos and a jolly brave sole he was, the bees aren’t particularly powerful but can give you a nasty sting. The white bull that we sacrificed before setting out on our quest must have been viewed favourably on Mount Olympus because Neoptolemos had very little trouble defeating this bee.

Similarly the Mad Lords companion in the blue tunic, Prothus killed this one as well.

The upright strong limbed fellow in the background leading the charge is me, Alitis. I had various attributes such as Creature Killer, Mystic Energy, Sprint, all of which we forgot to use in the game.

The slinger, trying to keep up is Lysimanchos one of the Mad Lords Companions but you don’t need to remember his name.

Because he was killed by a bee, well I did say they had a nasty sting.

In the far distance you can see I’ve already claimed one clue marker on the way to the temple and am hoping to get another in the centre of the temple.

You can probably just make out two of the bees about to dive in to attack me. With the first two falling so easily I’d got a little cocky so then when the slinger got killed I was wondering if I’d just made a huge mistake.

The Mad Lord had said we were Hero’s so I charged on like a hero but I noticed the chapess with the white hair and a black stripe, who is his Hero, or maybe Heroine, I don’t know if they have them anymore, was hanging back a little. She’s called Thrafsiperiptosi which is a bit of a mouthful; I preferred it when she was Xena Warrior Princess. Any how she and the Createn Archer who is my other companion Harpaios were both laying down a field of fire to keep the bees at bay.

That’s when my man in green saw them. Giant crabs and there’s no lotion or cure for them.

“Archers” he shouted, “over here” and pointed as if they might not notice Giant Crabs coming their way.

There’s a saying about discretion and valour.

“To me” I shouted and without further ado he ran forward, admittedly this was away from the greatest danger but we had bees to fight, I’d already claimed the second clue marker and the treasure token had been revealed as a gem stone in the skull of a dinosaur.

The very skull that’s just appeared, in case you missed it.

Snakes, why did it have to be snakes.

Various things happened on the turn of a card and I think the deck was stacked against us.

We were too busy fighting bees to worry about snakes and then they disappeared.

We killed the bees and the Cretan joined us, he’s probably extracting the jewel from the skull, I can’t remember. This is a fine shot of my command, me waving a huge sword and battle axe like a true Greek warrior on a Hero’s Quest and some cannon fodder.

You might wonder what is happening I’ve retreated halfway down the steps and am waving my weapons like a maniac. Xena has climbed a short column and is pretending to be a statue.

Her remaining companion has been told to guard the base of the column….with his life if necessary.

This is the explanation, monsters will go towards the nearest enemy (us) that are in sight so we’re drawing them to us. The snakes are climbing the far steps, we decided they couldn’t climb the walls of the temple but had to go up the steps.

The final book (clue) is on the far side of them.

I had a clever and cunning plan to get this.

Xena is armed with a bow and doesn’t like snakes. She reasoned that if they can’t climb the temple walls, then they can’t climb her column.

And here they come, my weapon waving has attracted them in our direction and if you look carefully to the left of the temple you can see my companion in the green tunic making his way along the left hand side.

If he keeps out of sight and we survive the snake attack he should get the book and we’re home free.

That’s when the Amazons turned up, two of them, they came in from the two corners, Green Tunic has a tricky decision to make, go for the book or retreat.

Retreat is the safe option but he’s a Companion to a Hero so naturally he ran to the book.

By this time we had disposed of the snakes and I’m moving forward to the centre of the temple to support Green Tunic, you know the thing…...’Come on man’, run faster, or ‘They’re all around you, throw the prize to me’. That sort of support.

Collecting the book created a distortion in the space time continuum and Promiskuous ported in from wherever she had been hanging out, right next to me, The Hero and my other Companion the Cretan.

Promiskuous was a sight for sore eyes and no mistake, we’d gone through hell to rescue her. All she said was “Cut these ropes quickly I have an appointment with my hairdresser and I can’t go in these clothes". So we cut the ropes holding her to the upright posts and started to make our way off the far end of the board, to safety and the Hairdresser.

Xena is still on her column, I’m sure she was doing something useful, probably shooting arrows, or is that firing arrows, anyway she’s still not moved forward to support her fellow Hero.

And I need a little support, one of the Amazons is climbing the stairs and the other is getting close. These gal’s ain’t no bees, and they have a very nasty sting.

Xena and her remaining Companion have finally move forward. I’ve sent my Cretan back to stiffen their resolve a little and they’re forming a defensive line.

Green tunic and I join them in time for the first Amazon to attack us.

It says in the rules, they’ll attack the nearest enemy, that would be you I hear the Mad Lord say.

Then it all got a little confused, dice were rolled, Amazons died, I survived. My Companions survived and by heck so did the Mad Lord.

That’s when the final danger arrived, a pair of Shades. I believe these are dead people and not sun glasses as I was hoping when he read the last card.

However it must have turned out alright because we killed them all and walked off the far end of the table to tumultuous applause.

In retrospect, I don't remember the fight with the Shades, so we might have just run away. Hummm.

As I said at the beginning, it was a great scenario, almost every turn something bad arrived but they were usually far enough away to give us time to react, plan and overcome. When the Slinger got killed, early on, in hand to bee combat, we realised that shooting is a much safer option and when the Mad Lord pointed out that I had a sling, something I’d overlooked, well then, my strategy changed completely.

It may sound as if all the glory, taking all the clues, finding the jewel and rescuing Promiskuous were done by the Hero Alitis but Xena aided in a support role, mainly from on top of her column and you shouldn’t overlook that. ;)

Should the Mad Lord read this, it was an outstanding game and if I might have taken a few liberties with the truth you have to realise, it’s because I’m a Hero and that’s my job.

Cheers