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Greetings,

Someone once said to me, “It is a bit sad that the most common miniature sports games out there are focused on American Football when Jousting is a thing.” This got me thinking....

Tournament: Pageantry and Pain is a game designed to be played with a small retinue of Knights and Squires. In Medieval Europe, the Tournament was the height of sport! Nobleman and lords would compete to attract the best Knights and put on the best show for their peers and peasants. Tournaments were popular year round, and a regular Tournament Circuit was created between the 11th and 14th Centuries. Therefore, this game focuses on Retinues of nobles travelling to compete in Tournaments for the season.



The base mechanics are very similar to The Games: Blood and Spectacle. The main driver of the action is use of a Model’s Combat Pool to attack and defend. The player allocates dice from the pool and then uses opposed success test to determine the results. In addition, there is a strong campaign element where one off events are built upon to grow and manage a retinue over the course of a season.

The primary design goals were:
1. Both players actively engaged at all times
2. Player have multiple, relevant decisions
3. Stand-alone and Campaign play options
4. Utilize The Games: blood and Spectacle rules whenever relevant
5. More than just Jousting
6. Customizable retinues
7. Model and scale agnostic

You can find the rules for Tournament: Pageantry and Pain here: https://app.box.com/s/vnizg9k3m8qdqn6i6tym24kemxg8au2i

Each retinue must have the following; A Mounted Knight, a Foot knight, and a Foot Squire. There is the option to add various skill levels of models, type of Retinue member, geographic differences, and equipment load-outs. Most retinues start out with only 5 to 7 models, so you and a buddy could easily split the cost of a few blisters and have two Lord’s Retinues in which to play.

To start my own Retinues for playing and testing, I have found a set of old WHF Brettonian Knights of the Realm. I think they came with the 4th edition boxset. These would be my Mounted Knights to start a few retinues. Once, long ago I started painting these with my daughter to play Full Tilt a jousting game published in a White dwarf many moons ago. We never finished.




This will be an open log, so feel free to add any of your own efforts at building Liege Lord retinues for Tournaments: Pageantry and Pain. This log will catalogue the progress of my little band of merry men, but the more the merrier. Next, I will need a couple of foot knights and a couple of foot Squires (probably with Bows or Javelins). Does anyone want to recommend me some figures?









P.S.- For those interested you can find my progress on The Games: Blood and Spectacle here:
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?395299-The-Games-Blood-and-Spectacle-Gladiators-in-28mm" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?395299-The-Games-Blood-and-Spectacle-Gladiators-in-28mm

So, I had a chance to doodle around with two of my knights.

I present you Sir Guillaume from Aquitaine (in green) and the Chavelier Xavier de Troyes (in red).



I still need to do more work on them, but they are starting to take shape for a turn at the tilts or Quintain.

I went to the Tournament: Pageantry and Pain rules to stat up Sir Guillaume and Xavier, Chevalier de Troyes. I want the two of them to be on different Lord’s Retinue. Each retinue needs a minimum of a Mounted Knight, Foot Knight, and a Foot squire. These two will be mounted Knights. The retinue begins with 500 coins to spend.



Sir Guillaume
The first step is to choose the skill of the Knight. These categories range from lowly page boys up to the Monastic Orders. However, only Paupers, Second Sons, Veterans, or Monastic orders can be knights. Page boys and squires may not be mounted knights.

Paupers have lower start Initiative than Second Sons, but Veterans have a higher Combat Pool, while Monastic Orders have a higher Ferocity than veterans. Of course, as you go up in stats, so does your cost. I only have 500 Coins to start with. Sir Guillaume will be a veteran Knight which will give him solid base stats.

If I choose, I can use the optional upgrade rules based on the Knights region of origin. Guillaume is a name from Southern France, so I spend the coin to make him from Occitania. This allows a +1 Ferocity to Fear. It adds a bit of flavor as Sir Guillaume hails from Aquitaine in Southern France.

Now, I need to provide equipment for Sir Guillaume. As the Mounted knight, the first step is to buy his mount! I can choose anywhere from a carthorse nag to a charger stallion. However, I decide to use a nice Palfrey for riding. Palfrey’s have a Movement of 6 inches and allow a +1 Initiative while mounted. This will help me off-set my armor penalties and perhaps allow me to attack first.

Sir Guillaume’s model is clearly wearing Plate with a Large Shield and Caparison for his mount. That racks up a lot of coin, but matches the model. However, he is well protected from injury. The plate mail armor reduces his Initiative and M while on foot. The large Shield will give a +1 Combat Pool and provide a parry so is well worth the cost.

I choose to arm Sir Guillaume with a lance and a sword. When using the sword, the knight may parry and gains +1 Combat pool. The lance is needed for jousting events.

This brings Sir Guillaume to a total cost of 150 Coins out of my 500. Oh dear! However, Sir Guillaume will be the backbone of my retinue. His final stats are:

Movement: 5 (6 while mounted)
Combat Pool: 4 (+1 for shield, +1 when attacking with sword, 1 Parry from Shield, 1 when using sword)
Initiative: 3 (2 in Plate on foot, 3 Mounted)
Pain: 2
Ferocity: 3 (+1 for fear tests)
Armor: 4+ (3+ Mounted)
Equipment: Plate, Large Shield, Sword, Lance (-2 armor save when charging), palfrey, Caparison

Overall, Sir Guillaume is a hard case! I have 350 Coins to buy the rest of my retinue, and I need a Foot Knight and a Foot Squire.