THE JOUST

The joust is a contest between two Knights who charge at each other three times with lances. The Knight who knocks his opponent from his horse, or breaks more lances by striking his opponent wins the joust.

To prepare for the joust set up the tilt in the centre of your playing area with suitable awnings, tents, and pavilions on either side. Each player lines up his team at one end of the tilt and prepares for the contest (as shown). Put the numbered counters in a different cup for each team, red for one team and blue for the other. Each number corresponds to a contender on the tourney roll. At the start of each joust select which two opponents will fight each other by taking a random pair of numbers from the cups.

At the end of each joust, the numbers of the unhorsed contenders are discarded. The number of each winning Knight is put aside to indicate that he goes through to the next contest: the tableaux de bataille.

The Warhammer rules are used to determine if Knights hit, wound and save in the usual fashion.

A lance is deemed to break if you score a successful hit and make a successful roll to wound, even if the wound is saved. In other words the lance is broken on striking his shield, helm or armour and making a successful roll to wound. Striking a crest in the same way counts the same as two broken lances. Keep a tally of the number of lances your Knight breaks. The Knight who breaks more lances than his opponent is the winner.

In the event of a draw continue to make more passes until one Knight wins by unhorsing his opponent or by breaking his lance.

The team that wins the most individual jousts wins the day, but all Knights who won their individual jousts go through to the following day’s event: the tableaux de bataille.

1. Get Ready

A joust normally has three passes as described above. At the start of each pass put the two Knights facing each other approximately 12" apart at either end of the tourney field and on opposite sides of the tilt. Each contender presents his shielded side to his opponent.

2. Choose Jousting Ploys

At the start of each pass while the contenders stand ready to charge, each player chooses one of five jousting ploy cards which can be found below or downloaded from the downloads section. When both players have chosen their cards they are revealed simultaneously and the contenders charge. A battle cry at this moment would be appropriate!

3. Charge!

Both contenders charge simultaneously at full gallop. Move the models so that they meet at the middle of the tilt. Since both Knights charge together and both are only using blunted ‘courtesy lances’ the usual strength bonuses for charging with a lance are disregarded (unless the joust is fought a l’outrance of course!). Each contender makes only one strike (that is one attack) with his lance. Further attacks on the Knight’s profile are ignored, there is only time for a single attack during each pass.

4. Who strikes first

The choice of jousting ploy determines whether or not a contender strikes first unless a Knightly Virtue automatically gives the Knight the first strike. The jousting ploys are marked with a number indicating the order of striking, the lower number always strikes before the higher. If both Knights are entitled to strike at the same time, dice to see who strikes first.

5. Warhorses

Warhorses do not fight because they are separated by the tilt. Not only are the mounts prevented from biting and kicking at each other, but the contenders gain no benefit to their armour saving throw for their horses’ barding. This means that a Knight saves on 4+.

6. Wounds

All Tournament Knights start with two wounds. When a Knight suffers his first wound, roll a dice to see if he is unhorsed. On a score of 1, 2 or 3 he is unhorsed and suffers a second wound as he falls from the saddle at full gallop. The Knight will therefore be seriously injured and automatically knocked out of the tourney. If a Knight suffers a single wound he may continue in the tourney, but any Knight that suffers a second wound is automatically unhorsed and out of the tournament.

A Knight who suffers a single wound, but who wins his joust, goes through to the next day’s event, the tableaux de bataille. (A good time to shout of victory!) His wound is recovered automatically in time for the following day’s combat.

7. Next Pass

If both contenders are still in the saddle they ride around the end of the hoarding ready to charge again in the next turn. Any Knight who has broken his lance is handed a new one.

JOUSTING PLOYS

As the two Knights charge at each other, each must use his skill and judgement to strike his opponent. Each Knight can choose to aim at his opponent’s shield, helm, helmet crest, to swipe his lance across his opponent’s front, or he might decide to dodge his enemy’s lance instead. These tactics are called ploys and each team has its own set of cards with the ploys printed on them. Each Knight secretly chooses a jousting ploy and once they have done so the ploys are revealed. The effect of each ploy is described on the card but the most important thing about them is that they establish which Knight strikes first. Each ploy has a number, and the Knight with the lower number strikes first. If both make the same ploy roll a dice to decide which strikes first.

Of all the ploys the most difficult is to strike the opponent’s crest from his helm. This requires great skill and is consequently worth the equivalent of two broken lances! The dodge is the simplest ploy, and not a very honourable one, in which the Knight tries to dodge aside rather than strike with his lance. Although this means he cannot strike himself, he might do this during the final pass of a joust if he is already leading the score in broken lances, thus denying his opponent the chance to catch up.

JOUSTING PLOYS

1. Aim for Shield
You aim your lance at your opponent’s shield to put maximum force behind the strike. You automatically strike before an opponent using any other ploy.

2. Aim for Helm
You aim your lance at your opponent’s helm. This is hard to hit, but even a glancing blow can wound or unhorse your opponent so you count +1 Strength. To represent the difficulty of hitting, you strike after an opponent aiming for Shield, but before an opponent attempting to Swipe or hit your crest.

3. Aim for Crest
You can only use this ploy once in the joust. The lance is aimed at your opponent’s crest. This is difficult to hit, and will never wound or unhorse your opponent. Nevertheless it is a great slight upon his honour and counts as two lance breaks! To represent the difficulty of hitting, you strike after an opponent aiming for Shield or Helm, but before an opponent attempting to Swipe. You count -1 to hit and if you score a hit the crest is knocked off on a further roll of 4, 5 or 6.

4. Swipe
This ploy is acceptable, but not considered to be very honourable! You swipe with the lance across your opponent’s front to knock him from his saddle. It is not difficult to hit with this ploy, but is rather slow and not very skillful. To represent this, you strike after an opponent aiming for Shield, Helm or Crest, but you always count +1 to hit.

5. Dodge
This is a defensive ploy greatly lacking in honour. You give up your own chance to strike in order to dodge your opponent’s lance. This means that you do not strike at all, but your opponent suffers -2 to hit (if he is entitled to an automatic hit this is modified to 3+ to hit). If both contenders opt for this ploy, then neither will strike at all.