Building The Frozen Feathers

The Frozen Feathers Tournament
York, February
(5 Prestige Points Entrance Fee Per Knight)

 The Frozen Feathers Tournament is the first special event of the year.  With the air still crisp and the ground covered in snow this tournament was created to show off ones skills with a bow & blade in harsh conditions.

 Building the Archery Butts

 On reading the rules for Steel and Steed one of the strangest types of match, it seemed to me, was the archery.   I'm not sure of the provenance of this at all.  Perhaps it's my own misconception.  The English associate archery with the common folk, Robin Hood, the yeoman archers of the Hundred Years War etc...
It occurs to me however that the Bayeux Tapestry depicts an armoured man among the archers, and that the Knightly virtues may well have run to shooting arrows in the hunt.  After all William II was killed by an arrow in a hunting "accident."

 The Rules represent shooting arrows as a dice game, but recommend using figures in some vague way to promote verisimilitude.

 Now it occurs to me that I have seen the business end of many butts.  Rifle range butts that is. In fact I passed my Pamphlet 21 course on Range Management, back in the Dark Ages.  Combining that with dice?

 My archery butts started with a 30 cm green felt square, which will eventually be divided into lanes.  This doubles as the dice rolling area, with archers at one side and mini targets at the other.
Roll off the green blaze and you miss the target.  Roll a cocked dice and your arrow hits sideways!

 Behind this are the dice tables, and after them the target.

 I mounted the target on cork, since I'm going to use map tacks as the arrows, but tacks I've adapted to look more like arrows than sales targets.

 I'm also going to need tacks for split arrows, since Robin Hood and splitting arrows seems to unduly influence these archery rules.

 A couple of Conquest Games archers with some Foreforge kit added and I'm just about ready to go.  The bag of wooden shapes from Works will be my bespoke Steel and Steed markers.

 The Frozen Feathers Tournament
Ready to shoot... 
Type of Contest
Day 1: One on One Combat on Foot Competition
Day 2: Archery Competition
Day 3: Banquet

 Type of NPC Knight
(Roll a D10 for each NPC participant)
1 or 2: Common Knight
3 to 7: Veteran Knight
8 to 10: Champion Knight

 Prizes
Prizes are awarded to those who have performed well during the tournament.  At a banquet on the last evening of the event each knight who has placed high enough shall receive an award and be given recognition for putting on an honorable showing.  Below is a list of the prizes awarded for placing in the special event. The knight who finishes first in the tournament will be awarded a blue and white feather which automatically grants them admission into next years tournament.

 1st Prize - 5 Bonus Experience Points, 15 Prestige Points, 30 Gold
2nd Prize - 3 Bonus Experience Points, 10 Prestige Points, 20 Gold
3rd Prize - 1 Bonus Experience Point, 5 Prestige Points, 10 Gold
Lord Farthingdale and Roger de Quilp take a turn with their bows.  Shooting at the bull Farthingdale misses.
And his next two shots also miss
Quilp takes his turn.  A 10 is a bullseye and the 9 is also in the centre.
Farthingdale puts his dice off the Blaise, watch out in the stands!!!  The 2 and 3 are also well wide.  Has he been drinking?
Quilp already has an arrow in the Bull, he splits it earning a favour dice and the attentions of Maid Marryme.  The other arrows fill up the black and blue zones.
Farthingdales's last shots, a 3, 2, 1.  Useless.  He breaks his bow over his knee and determines to stick to Jousting. 

Comments

  1. Doctor PeaAugust 12, 2019 at 10:49 AM

    Surely this can't be one the ancestral Quilps who are of course blind as a bat! At least he's recovered from his unhorsing😊
    You're certainly cracking on with the game - can't wait to give it a try. My rules are apparently in the post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UriahAugust 12, 2019 at 10:57 AM

      Be great to get a game of this in before I go back to Cyprus! I have the Earl of Lancaster's Regional Tournament next up after the Feathers.
      Still working on the archery butts. It will dismantle to 2 x A4 sheets on foam board. I wasn't sure at all about archery but a few games converted me.
      Still a bigger fan of that Jousting though.
      Uriah of Gelderland

      Delete

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