Session report from my Mythic Bastionland campaign

A pivotal battle took place during my campaign that I’d like to share. I love how my players used trickery and deceit to steer the battle towards the outcome they found most advantageous. I’ve added some Referee notes to discuss how I’ve adjudicated certain situations. Feel free to comment below how you might have handled things differently in your game!

After three sessions of mounting tension, the Chain Knight of Vineport finally faces the Ghoul Knight of Blossomburgh in a historic battle.

Our Company has contemplated which side to support. Blossomburgh, as the Seat of Power, commands a larger force and has the protection of their walls, while Vineport fields better and fiercer warriors. After weighing their options, they decided to join the Chain Knight’s forces as double agents, prepared to betray her in favour of the Ghoul Knight.

Referee notes: That promises to be exciting! I love my players for playing dirty like that. This decision is what caused the glorious chaos of this session.
We set up the battle on a dry erase board and used index cards for the units and little wooden figurines for the commanders.

Combatants from Vineport:

• The Chain Knight (NPC) commanding one unit of Chain Guards
• The Horde Knight (NPC), eldest son of the Chain Knight, commanding one unit of Armoured Riders
• The Whip Knight (PC) commanding one unit of Chain Guards
• The Vulture Knight (PC) commanding one unit of Chain Guards
• Valor of the Ancients (NPC), youngest son of the Chain Knight, commanding the catapult and its crew
• The Owl Knight (PC), the Halo Knight (PC), and the Fanged Knight (PC) guarding the catapult

Combatants from Blossomburgh:

• The Ghoul Knight (NPC) commanding one unit of archers
• Goldenflower (NPC), youngest daughter of the Ghoul Knight, commanding one unit of archers
• two units of Blossom Wardens
• four units of militia

The plan of the Chain Knight is simple (she is a brave and fearsome warrior but no tactical genius): Charge across the bridge and batter down the gates with a ram. Let the catapult take care of the archers positioned on the ramparts of Blossomburgh.

The Chain Guards, led by the Chain Knight, quickly dispatch the militia guarding the gates and begin smashing the gate.

Referee notes: Mathematically, their plan was basically doomed. This is, however, hard to see when you are partially improvising the stats. It has been said before that balancing combat is one of the more challenging aspects of Mythic Bastionland.
The two units of archers were equipped with longbows (d8). Goldenflower, who was leading from the front, held a crossbow (2d8) and I’ve decided to give each of the units an additional +d8 for shooting from a better position. That means that each round, 6d8 damage were raining down on the Chain Guards. Even with their decent stats (VIG 13, 5 GD, 3 A) they could not withstand the rain of arrows while battering at the gate (VIG 10, A3).
In order to equalise the odds a little, I might have made the gate weaker or given the Chain Guards additional protection in form of a capped ram. But alas, a terrible plan remains a terrible plan.

Now the Company sets their plan in motion: the knights standing at the catapult convince the catapult crew that their calculations are off and that they need to aim “just a little lower”. Valor of the Ancients, a young and stern, yet impressionable man, doesn’t have the authority to contradict the supposedly more experienced knights. And so the first catapult shot lands directly in the midst of the Chain Guards instead of the archers of Blossomburgh.

Referee notes: I let one of the players roll a SPI save for that.

Thus, the first unit of Chain Guards is quickly wiped out by arrows and friendly fire. Relentlessly, the Chain Knight calls for reinforcements.

In the meantime, Valor of the Ancients has become suspicious of the knights. He has a verbal battle with them and orders his men to disregard the Company’s “advice”.

So our Company devises a more devious plan: the Owl Knight rides to meet the warband of the Horde Knight, who still wait for their moment in the back line. The Owl Knight then tries to convince him that his brother is committing treason against him.

Referee notes: Another successful SPI save...

The ploy works: the hot-headed Horde Knight rides to the catapult to confront his brother.

Meanwhile, the Chain Knight is mortally wounded by Blossomburgh’s arrow volleys. The soldiers in the warband of the Vulture Knight urge him to pull the wounded Chain Knight out of the battle.

Another treasonous act by our Company: the Vulture Knight deliberately gives the wrong command to hold the shields higher, causing the warband to expose their flanks and suffer higher losses while approaching the gates. They manage to secure the Chain Knight but have to retreat immediately due to heavy casualties. They leave their lord with the Vulture Knight.

Referee notes: Mechanically, I let the Vulture Knight roll yet another SPI save and reduced the warband’s armor by 1, effectively rendering their shields useless.

The Whip Knight sends her troops away (who comply happily since the battle is lost at this point) and together they take the Chain Knight to the gates of Blossomburgh. Seeing that the turncoat knights have come to turn in the leader of the enemy army, the Blossom Wardens open the gates to let the Whip Knight and Vulture Knight enter with their hostage.

The Horde Knight, encouraged by the lies of the Company, strikes his brother, mortally wounding him. However, once he sees that his mother has been delivered to the enemy it dawns on him that he has been betrayed. His Armoured Riders chase the Knights to the bridge leading to the city gate.

The most tense moment of our campaign ensues: three Knights (Owl Knight, Halo Knight, Fanged Knight) against a whole warband of armoured riders. They surround their three foes, cutting off their escape through the open gates of Blossomburgh.

Referee notes: Successful Stop Gambits prevented the Company from fleeing.

A fight ensues that our knights have pretty much no chance of winning due to being heavily outnumbered. However there’s still one other variable in the battle: the arrow fire of the Blossom Wardens. If they shoot at the soldiers in front of the gate, they will hit all of them, even the knights of the Company who they understand are on Blossomburgh’s side now. If not, the Horde Knight’s warband will likely have the upper hand.

Referee notes: We jointly decided to roll a luck roll to find that out.

The longbowmen of Blossomburgh decide to shoot.

The Owl Knight and Fanged Knight are mortally wounded, but so is the warband of armored riders. They disperse, leaving the Horde Knight face to face with the Halo Knight.

The Halo Knight uses the last Deny that he can muster to save his own life.

The Horde Knight, Fanged Knight, Owl Knight perish in yet another arrow volley.

This marks the end of the battle of Blossomburgh, costing the lives of two PCs. They didn’t exactly win the battle with honour, but nevertheless they secured the support of Blossomburgh with their actions.

Aftermath:

• The Chain Knight’s entire army either perished, fled, or got captured.
• The Chain Knight and her youngest son, Valor of the Ancients, are captured and imprisoned in Blossomburgh. So basically, the Chain Knight is in chains.
• The Horde Knight, oldest son of the Chain Knight, perished.
• The Owl Knight & the Fanged Knight fell in battle.
• The Company earned the favor of Blossomburgh and the Ghoul Knight.
• The Halo Knight, having earned enough Glory in the sessions leading up to the battle, is offered a seat in the council of Blossomburgh and becomes their new Marshal.

Things I’d maybe run differently next time:

• Rolling a lot of SPI saves felt repetitive. Maybe throw in a couple of luck rolls since they offer more gradual success states? E.g. roll for how likely it is for the Horde Knight to think that his brother might betray him.
• The tactics of the Chain Knight were quite dumb and destined to fail. This is obvious now but wasn’t that obvious when I’ve set up the battle. It might have made for a more interesting battle if the Chain Knight’s army fired catapult volleys at the gates without advancing in order to draw the defenders out.
• I forgot about the Horde Knight’s ability as well as the effect of the cool magical sword that I gave him. There were enough moving parts already anyways so this was entirely unnecessary.

All in all I’m very happy how the session went, definitely my favourite one in our ongoing campaign. It was my first time running mass combat in any RPG and I’m really happy about how the rules make combat tactically challenging without weighing it down with too many rules.

Were there any situations that you would have run differently? Any cool battles that happened in your campaign? Tell us in the comments below!