Minigame: JOUSTING

(I love making Mord Minigames, but this one was inspired by the recent discussion of Bret on Bret tournements. Tell me what you think.)

MORDHEIM MINI - GAMES

JOUSTING!

Maaaaaaany years ago, I started an article for Warhammer Quest, exploring the many alternatives to merely 'rolling dice' when determining whether a model passed a specific test. For example, for gambling, I theorized a player tossing dice up in the air and catching them on the back of their hand, like a game of Knucklebones. A drinking contest involved stacking D6s. Likewise, the following mini-games include slight variations on the traditional dice throw, in the hope that it might liven things up a little. These games can be systematically played after each game, in a rigid tournament format.... or they can be a simple way to kill time while waiting for your third opponent to show up to the game. Enjoy!

PICKING A KNIGHT
Each joust consists of picking at least one knight to participate. It CAN be a knight that was taken out of action in the last game, but it CANNOT be a knight who has rolled any injury that makes him "Miss the Next Game". A jousting game does NOT count as a full game, and thus any knight that is misses a joust due to injury still misses his next game as normal.


LANCE - AT - RING JOUSTING
This is a game that involves your knights lancing down the field in an attempt to grab three rings that are positioned down the list. Each round essentially consists of three Weapon Skill tests, but with a twist...

Draw a dart board on an 8.5x11" sheet of paper. The dart board should be about 8" in diameter (so it fits on the sheet.) The board should have 4 rings within it. From the outside in, they are marked: 3; 4; 5; 6. The board is placed flat on a table, with a tape measure measuring 3' directly above the table. Each player takes turn holding a pencil 3' above the table (with their index finger and thumb no closer than 3'), and dropping it on the board. Based on which ring it lands in, is the knight's 'weapon skill roll'. Then, see if the knight hits the target, as if he was attempting to hit a target with a Weapon Skill of 5. The player drops the pencil 3 times, and then passes the pencil to the next 'jousting' player.

(Ex. A player has his Ws 4 Knight joust at three rings. He drops the pencil three times. The first results in a 3, the second in a 4, and the third in a 5. The first is not considered a hit [a Ws 4 attacker needs a 4 or better to hit a Ws 5 defender), but the second two hit.)

Any pencil drops that fail to hit the dart board automatically miss.

SCORING
Based on how the player rolled, they will receive a certain number of points for each ring.

Missed the board / failed to hit - MISS! No points for that ring.
Rolled the minimum roll to hit - A TOUCH! One Point for the ring (ex. a knight needing a 4+ to hit, 'rolls' a 4.)
Rolled +1 one the minimum roll to hit - KNOCKED TO THE GROUND! Two points for the ring. (ex. a knight needing a 4+ to hit, 'rolls' a 5.)
A Bullseye / roll of 6 - SKEWERED! Three points for the ring.

If playing with two or three players, each player may pick two separate knights, who each get one chance of ring jousting. If playing with four or more players, each player only gets one knight to joust.

Of course, if you have a real dart board handy, go ahead use THAT!



JOUST OF PEACE - BRETONNIAN STYLE
A two person game that is relatively safe, as it is a jousting style using blunted lances, passing left shoulder over left shoulder, striking the opponent's shielded side.

For each Knight, add up their Weapon Skill with their Strength (don't include weapon bonuses, but add the skills Unstoppable Charge and Mighty Blow.) If the knight does NOT own their own Warhorse, subtract -1 from their total (because they are forced the inconvenience and humiliation of using a borrowed steed!) This is their 'Joust Value'.

Whichever knight has the higher initiative rolls SECOND.

The first player takes rolls a 2D6. If the result is equal or less than his Joust Value, he has scored a Hit. A roll of 2 always hits, a roll of 12 always fails (for more details on Hits, see below). Leave both of the first player's dice on the table, exactly where they landed.

The second player then rolls his two dice (make sure they are distinctive from the first players!) Like a game of marbles, if the second player's dice knock over or change the result of the first player's dice, then the altered result stands! For the sake of fairness, the first player must keep his throws on the board and within 4' of the table edge. The second player cannot bring his hand within 2' of his opponent's dice (meaning, he has to throw from 2' away.) The second player may roll each of his two dice separately.

Compare the dice rolls on the chart below. The players play for 6 passes, alternating which player rolls first.

ROLL RESULT (if more than one of the following applies, they do NOT stack... apply only the highest applicable result)

12, or less than your Joust Value - MISS! No points for your knight

A Hit (Equal or less than your Joust Total) - A TOUCH! One point for your Knight (Ex. If you have a Joust Value of 7, and you rolled a 7.)

A Hit that rolls 3 less than your Joust Value, or lesser still - A BROKEN LANCE! Three points for your knight. (Ex. If you have a Joust Value of 8, and you rolled a 5.)

A Hit that rolls a double - A SHATTERED LANCE! 5 points for your knight. (Ex. If you have a Joust Value of 8, and you rolled a double 2.)

Both knights Hit, and have the same Number - TIP TO TIP STRIKE - 5 points to both side. This overrides your opponent's roll, unless he rolled a natural 2 (see below.) (Ex: You have a Joust Value of 6, your opponent has a Joust Value of 8. You both roll a total of 6, which meansboth of you Hit, and your lances touched! Five points for both sides!)

A Natural 2 - UNHORSED! Your knight receives 10 points. The unhorsed knight must make an Armor Save (include body armor and shield; mount bonus and barding are added to all knights, even on borrowed mounts or mounts that don't have barding normally.) Apply modifiers for the model's natural Strength and skills (mighty blow) but not for lances (jousters wear extra armor to compensate for the lance's strength). If the Knight passes the armor save, he may continue jousting. If he fails the armor save, he must stop jousting, and the points are tallied up. The knight does not need to roll for injury if he fails.

After joust passes have been made, the jouster with the highest points wins.


VARIATIONS ON JOUST
- You may pick your favorite variation, or choose randomly.

JOUST OF PEACE - EMPIRE STYLE
A more refined style than the Bretonnian, with special addiotal armor plates, specially designed to make the blows catch more easily.

The exact same as Bretonnian Style, except all knights have +1 added to their Joust Value. Also, the shield is not included in the armor save.

JOUST OF PEACE - NORTHERN TILEAN STYLE
The Northern Tileans ride in a style more old fashioned; they pass each other on their RIGHT sides, meaning they hit at a more direct angle, and with less protection! Savage!
Same as Bretonnian style, except for the following differences:
~A Knight is Unhorsed on a 2 or 3. See the rules above for Unhorsing.
~After every 'Broken lance' or 'Shattered lance', the opposing hero has to take a Toughness test (apply Resilient as normal... a 1 always passes, a 6 always fails.) If the toughness test fails, roll for armor, (same rules as Bretonnian armor, except no shield.)
~If the hero fails an armor test due to a failed Toughness test (for a Shattered or Broken Lance) or for an Unhorsing, roll twice on the Serious Injury chart for the hero, and choose whichever result is higher. The knight may not joust any further.

JOUST OF WAR
A serious affair, using sharpened lances instead of blunted ones. Not for the faint of heart, commonly ending in tragedy.

Pick one of the above styles (Bretonnian, Empire, or Northern Tilean). Whenever an Armor Save is failed, roll on the Serious Injury chart - no rerolls are accepted. Once a hero has failed an Armor test, he can no longer joust.

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More to come: I'll try to add more games and come up with a reward system, but I can do that later.

The other joust games I can think of are Baston, Quintain, and Heart of the Tartar. Any other good ones? Or non-dice ways of presenting them?

Are these the same rules from the White Dwarf many many years ago?

WD 215 has the rules.

The white dwarf one had you draw cards for where you targetted the opponent ... like shield, helmet, plume, swipe or duck ... each one being more or less honourable depending on how difficult it is (Swiping and Ducking is easy, but unhonourable, knocking off your opponents plume is hard and gets you good marks).

Thats what I remember from it anyway.

I remember reading the game years ago, but decided not to use it for several reasons:

~ waste my time looking for it
~ to try a non-dice, non-luck activity
~ the card system has no allowance for stats... as much as I didn't want to make it another roll-off, I thought the stats of the knights should have SOME effect on the game itself.

Are these Warhammer Quest rules of yours up somewhere? I am intrigued!

NO, it was a "stand alone" game from WD 215.

I will see if I can make them available to all by the weekened.

DaBank: I've read them too, but it was a long time ago, so I know which one you're talking about.

Horatio: I don't think I have THOSE rules posted anywhere. The only WQ rules I have up were some of the Professions I came up with (some of which, upon reflection, were pretty terrible). Oh, and a some locations to visit in the Settlement (Fast Food, the Salon, Haunted Mansion, etc). I can try to find the rules, though I'm not sure I have the document.

Jousting: I'll actucally have a Vaulting game ready in just a little bit... I can't seem to find the name of an actual joust game that requires them to leap over things, though I've seen it done before. Any ideas?