Finally got to play a competitive game of The Silver Bayonet. Did a three player version of the Revenant scenario from the rule book. Rather than a ruined barn, we set it in a ruined village to give a bit more interesting terrain. We had three teams, French, Prussian and Russian. Each was a few points over the 100 basic unit cost because we wanted to try a few of the different character types.
There were five clue markers scattered around the center of the ruined village, one of which was an important artifact that had to be found and taken off the board. Each clue marker was guarded by a revenant. Again, hoping to try a few different monsters, we said that any double on an initiative roll would produce a monster.
The
Prussian team, run by my friend Dave, consisted of a Swordsman, Officer,
Occultist, Light Cavalryman, Doctor, Rifleman and 2 Infantrymen.
I
ran the French team which consisted of an Officer, Supernatural Investigator,
Occultist, Heavy Cavalryman, Vivandiere, Grenadier, and 2 Infantrymen.
The Russian team, run by Dave’s son James, was composed of an Officer (who had the Combat Rider attribute), Champion of Faith, Werebear, Light Cavalryman, Rifleman, and 2 Infantrymen.
I
got the first turn initiative and had the French enter from the bottom of the
table. I intended to push place my
infantrymen in the walled orchard on the hill over looking the village while
the rest of the unit pushed into the center of the village and investigate as
many clue markers as possible.
The
Prussians entered from the left side of the table and advanced under the cover
of the ruins there.
The
Russians clustered at one end of the right side of the board in order to push
down one of the roads to the village.
The Prussians got first blood when their Light Cavalryman charged up to a revenant. It took a couple of rounds to finally kill the monster but allowed one of his infantryman to garner the first clue which proved to be another revenant that entered from a random board edge, the Russian side as it turned out. I should note that we each had mounted figures in this battle and their advantage against foot figures proved very useful. None of our mounted figures ever dismounted during this battle.
The Russians pushed down the road, attracting a revenant that attracted quite a few shots from the Russians.
It
finally took melee attacks, particularly from the mounted Cossack (Light
Cavalryman) to put the creature down.
The Werebear sadly failed repeatedly to change into his bear form.
My
initials moves into the village went well, being slowed only by the rocky terrain.
My
Heavy Cavalryman charged in and crushed a revenant with one blow.
The Prussians and French began exchanging fire from cover. Unfortunately, I had the worse of this and one of my French infantrymen was killed.
The
Russian fire down the road kept the Prussians stymied on that flank.
This
fire also killed the gallant Prussian cavalryman.
The
dynamics of the game changed completely when a Russian infantryman reached the
nearest clue marker and, as luck would have it, discovered the artifact. They had a clear line of retreat off the
board.
I
rushed my French to stop them. Dave and
I also declared a cease-fire against each other until after we had wrested the
artifact away from James’ Russians, an unlikely possibility at this stage.
My
Heavy Cavalryman engaged the artifact-bearing infantryman, wounding him but not
enough to kill him. The infantryman
managed to wound my cuirassier.
The Russian officer charged to the rescue and bested my Heavy Cavalryman.
It
was at this point that the first random monster of the game showed up, a
fearsome Black Dog. As it showed up directly behind my French troops, it proved
quite a distraction.
In
the meantime, the Russian officer sacrificed himself drawing the fire from my Investigator
and Vivandiere but successfully screening his retreating infantryman who,
within a couple of moves exited the board and gave the win to the Russians.
Despite
having lost at this point, Dave and I agreed to play another turn to see if we
could defeat the Black Dog which, through the judicious use of our Occultists
enchange spell we were able to do. The
Prussian Swordsman having the final honors for killing the beast.
We all agreed that we really liked the system. We discovered that the cavalrymen were very useful, given the terrain. We also thought the Fate dice was a great dynamic and we all pretty much exhausted our pools in what proved to be a relatively short game. The one thing we thought that could use improvement was special weapon selection; since most of these were limited in effect to specific monsters, a greater variety of effects would be helpful to make them more worthwhile. This is especially so for the Supernatural Veteran attribute which only provides an extra special weapon and so seems of limited use for the cost. But overall we thought it provide a great game with a lot of interesting tactical options.
