The Sealed Temple, first raid ....

The Sealed Temple:

Opponents:
Team from Pigg’s Hollow vs. Local Defenders

Scenario:
Rumors of items of great power in a small, sealed temple on the border of Poitain and Zingara attract a team of adventurers .... However, the locals, driven by traditions of horrible curses, move to intercept them:
Terrain: A ruined plaza surrounded by overgrown ruins on plateau above local village:
In the middle of the plaza, there are the remains of a small, old temple which has been bricked over and a large well which is spring fed and still a good source of water. The Temple consists of small flat topped main building which faces onto a small courtyard. The gate is flanked by two smaller outbuildings.

Pigg’s Hollow:
Two Knights: Sir Eustace and Sir Fingerholden;
Two squires: Bob and Andy
The knights’ war dogs, and two clerics (along for their medical skills, and just in case).
1st Squad: Swordsmen A,B,C and Crossbowmen D,E,F
2nd Squad: Swordsmen G, H, I and X-bow J,K,L

Locals:
Men at Arms:
Brown team, three seargents and four men;
Grey team: two sergeants and four men;
Peasants:
headman, six shield men, and six slingers.

Monsters in the Temple:
Saved for a later game, I’m afraid ....

Rules: Home Brew ...

The game began very well for the Pigg’s Hollow team, which was able to approach the temple without being observed. Then only the Men at Arms activated for the locals! I assumed then that it would be a cake walk for the Pigg’s Hollow guys ... but there was a Howard / Lovecraft surprise in the Temple which I figured would even things out quite a bit.

Well, Sir Eustace, Bob, their dog and a cleric took the 1st squad into the temple and clambered up on the roof (hoping to find an easy place to break in) while the rest of the gang gathered around the well and filled up canteens.
At this juncture, the local men-at-arms shamble out of the woods (having climbed the steep slope in full gear). Sir Fingerholden puts his swordsmen in front of the x-bows while the cleric runs for the temple with 1st squad’s water jugs.
Then things seemed to go sour for Pigg’s men. To shorten the story, in the words of Admiral Halsey, their x-bows “couldn’t hit a bull in the butt with a base fiddle.”
Sir Eustace and his fellows scramble up on the Temple too, and sort themselves out with the 1st squad. Bob tries to hold the gateway, but the Greys shove him back and eventually strike him down. The Browns have brought ladders and hope to swarm up on the side of the temple while the Greys clamber up from the court yard.
Sir Fingerholden and his dog actually manage to keep the Browns from getting up in a topsy turvy fight. Indeed, one of his x-bowmen actually manages to hit a couple of the Brown sergeants! Sir Eustace tries to rescue Bob, but the push of the Greys prevents him from getting down into the courtyard. However, in the confined space of the little courtyard, the rest of the Piggs manage to eventually beat the Greys down, though Andy is also felled.
After a couple of turns, the Greys are overcome in the courtyard, and the Browns, seeing this and having had three of their men down, including their sergeant, decide to pick up the fallen and retreat.
(In my home rules, suffering a hit can either cause you to miss your attack next turn, to be knocked back, down, and / or out ... there are recovery rolls too, so both sides roll on each fight).
Finally the x-bow men score, and the Browns are forced to leave two bodies.

At this point, having 10 bodies to loot, with poor Bob dead and Andy out, and two swordsmen and a x-bowman injured, the Piggmen decide to withdraw before the villagers attack with the aid the remnants of the Browns.
The Temple and its ?treasure? remain intact, and its demon is undisturbed ....
yet.
:)
A