The Preacher’s Welcome

[Jubal]

The Preacher’s Welcome

The Delgon priest came to the small township, his band of trained bodyguards scouting the land around. The villages of this area had been cowed by the sight of his bodyguards, and had listened quietly as he delivered the message of the Enarii to all who would hear it (and some who would not). He felt proud that the word of the Enarii had been spread, and now was returning to the central small town in order to again try and discuss his holy message with their elders.

However, all was not well…

“Get gone from here!” A voice, with the clipped accent of the central Empire, barked harshly from the other side of the little settlement’s centre. The knights had finally tracked them down.

“Villagers, listen to me!” the priest cried out. “Do not feel you need to listen to this knight. The Gods are on my side, and if you deny them their wrath and the wrath of the Delgon will surely be upon you!”

“Don’t listen to the traitor! Support your Emperor! Onward, knights!”

Trapped in the middle, what could the villagers do?

Delgon
1 Priest
1 Acolyte
4 Bodyguards
4 Derakeers

Fubarnii
1 Knight Captain
4 Knights

Villagers
4 Militia
3 Slingers

Setup
Place a few buildings in the middle of the board, with the militia and slingers huddled in the centre. The Fubarnii and Delgon set up on opposite sides of the board – the Delgon player chooses their start area first, the Fubarnii must set up opposite them.

Gameplay: The Fubarnii must kill the Priest to win, the Delgon must kill the Knight Captain.

My Will! - When they have an elite within command range of one of the militia or slingers, either player may expend an activation counter to attempt to “convert” the villager to support their cause. They then make a 3CS “attack” against them; if this is successful the troop is converted and fights for their cause – or at least, does so until the opposing leader pulls a similar move. The acolyte may use lesser authority to attempt conversion, but may only make a 1CS attack to do this. While under their control they may use and activate a troop as normal. Until converted, the “village” troops do nothing and fight for neither side.

[Carcharoth]

That's a nice looking little scenario! I like the idea of converting the locals to the cause and the rules look nice and neat.
I'd possibly suggest slightly more detail on deployment of the villagers (should they be in a single mass, or distributed over a slightly larger area? Possibly the players should take turn placing them. When placing a villager they could choose whether to place them separately or next to another villager as a group - when converting models you try to convert all models in a group).
Nice idea to expand activation counters to convert the villagers.

[TheGremlin]

I'm a big fan of the concept and execution of this scenario.

However, maybe if the command ranges overlap, the other player can also expend an activation in order turn the three CS attack into a combat between the elites, with 3CS each. If both are wounded, the villager does nothing, but if there is a winner, the villager is controlled by that player, just like you outline.

I worry it is too hard to influence the villagers though.

I wonder what the psychological effects attacking a villager would have on the others: Would they be cowed into following, or be more likely to join the other side?