Trying Out Guards of Traitor's Toll Part 2

 Kirstie came over with her copy of Guards of Traitor' Toll, to run through the training scenario with me. We had three guards each, Kirstie had Bill, Ben and Weed (blue and white), while I had Andy, Pandy and Looby-Loo (red and yellow).

As this was my first experience of the game, I was a bit distracted so I forgot to take any pictures during the middle part of the game.

Initially Bill, Ben and Weed entered from the east and south edges, Andy, Pandy and Looby-Loo came on from the north and west. Word came through that smugglers had hidden contraband in a barrel, somewhere in the market square. We needed to locate the contraband before the smugglers could retrieve it. Each group of guards identified suspicious barrels and split up, each heading towards the closest barrel to investigate it.

Andy and Pandy move up on a suspicious barrel. Weed can be seen in the top right-hand corner, as he moves forward to investigate a possible contraband cache.

Looby-Loo spots another likely barrel. He seems to be surrounded by suspicious looking characters, a rough looking bloke in a dusty clock, a wannabe ninja/assassin type , and why's the guy in the blue shirt holding a knife behind his back?

Looby-Loo wandered down the street to check out the barrel. Started to look through it, but was distracted by the ruffty-tuffty ranger-type asking for recommendations for the local taverns (he failed his search roll!).

In the meantime Andy, Bill and Weed all moved up to their respective barrels but found them to be empty. The contraband had to be in Looby-Loo's barrel, if he ever found it!

Mingling with the crowd was one of the smugglers, who spotted Weed, rooting through the barrel. Enraged that the guards might find their loot, he drew his knife and rushed towards the unaware guardsman, stabbing him in the chest. Weed staggered back, shocked, but fortunately the blade did not pierce his armour. (We had drawn another plot token, which revealed a Violent Suspect).

Weed clumsily flailed out at his assailant, but missed him. Ben could see the fracas, so rushed to the assistance of his colleague, but stumbled on the cobbles and failed to reach him this turn. 

The commotion drew the attention of another smuggler, who decided that discretion was the better option and ran off through the crowd. (Another plot token, this time a Fleeing Suspect. Unfortunately he was within 6" of an exit point and promptly ran off the table before any guard could catch him).

Hearing the noise, Andy and Pandy moved through the crowd, when a sudden gap allowed Andy a view of the ongoing fight. Looby-Loo continued his discussion regarding the merits of the local ales with his new friend.

I activated Andy first in the next turn, who rushed forward in his eagerness to assist a fellow guardsman, or in his eagerness for a good ruck! He slashed at the smuggler with his sword wounding the villain.

A third smuggler also decided to get out of town and tried to sidle past Pandy through the crowd (our final plot token, this time a Sneaking Suspect). But he did not escape Pandy's eagle eye and the guard spotted the rascal. Moving swiftly, Pandy stunned the suspect by striking him on the head with the pommel of his sword. 

"Hold it Sonny, you're nicked" Pandy cried, kicking the fallen suspect in the ribs for good measure.

This action drew approving comments from onlookers in the crowd, who were always happy to see their taxes being put to good use.

Hearing the shouts from the crowd, Looby-Loo paused momentarily, but then continued with his praise for the One-Eyed Badger's dark stout.

Back at the fight, the smuggler stabbed Weed again, once more the guard was saved by the quality of his mail shirt. He struck back at the villain, but missed and embedded his sword in the nearby barrel. As Weed struggled to pull his blade free, he had to duck as a wild swing from Ben's axe missed the offender by a good hand's width and almost brained him!

Loudly yelling his despair at the lack of street fighting skills possessed by the younger guardsmen today, Andy lunged at the suspect, catching him under the armpit, sliding the blade through his rib cage and his left lung, before the point of his sword emerged from his back. Pushing on the man's chest, Andy deftly pulled his blade free, allow the suspect to drop to the floor, coughing blood, drawing a brief round of applause from the nearby stall holder and his customers.

Finally finishing his discussion on ale and arranging to meet his new friend at the One-Eyed Badger after his shift, Looby-Loo finally turned his attention to the barrel and discover the cache of contraband.

Game over!

Andy, Pandy and Looby-Loo had acquired 6 Gold coins from their successful endeavours, whilst Bill, Ben and Weed had gained nothing. Unfortunately we had also accrued 7 points of Discontent in the  course of the day (mainly due to Looby-Loo failing 4 consecutive search rolls), so we ended up sharing 1 point of Discontent.

It was great fun and I really liked how the progression of the game lent itself to storytelling.

I shall certainly be continuing to play Guards of Traitor's Toll in the future.