We have all heard stories about Knights in shining armour, we remember talesof tournaments and jousting and damsels in distress being rescued. This game is all about four brave Knights setting out to rescue a kidnapped Princess, a real live damsel in distress.
The story happened long ago and far away in the Kingdom of Prosperland. The country had been ruled for many years by King Goodbody, a wise and kindly old man who had passed many good laws that had made his Kingdom one of the most comfortable and prosperous countries anywhere in the world. King Goodbody had only one child, a fairytale daughter, the beautiful Princess Comely, who would one day be Queen and rule in his place.
Princess Comely was loved by all her father's subjects; parents wanted their daughters to grow up like the Princess and some dreamed that their sons would, one day, marry her. The young man who did marry the Princess would, of course, become King in due course.
Everybody in the land was content and looking forward to living happily ever after except one nasty Knight, the dreadful Sir Blaggard, who knew that he would never capture the heart of the Princess and that the only way he could become King would be to kidnap Princess Comely and marry her by force, he would then take the throne when the old King died.
Sir Blaggard had his own private army, known as ‘The Blaggards’, made up of criminals, thugs and vandals, and lived in his castle, Castle Caitiff, in the inhospitable northern part of the Kingdom set among the treacherous mountains, forests and swamps that kept all the decent people away. Sir Blaggard and his men were feared and hated by everyone in the land, they were the only bad things in the Kingdom of Prosperland.
Sir Blaggard worked out a plan to capture the Princess, he assembled his men in the Great Hall of his castle and explained it to them. He told them that he had to abduct the Princess in order that he could marry her and then become King. He promised his men that, when he was King he would give them important jobs in his government, he gave them a slogan to chant as a sort of war cry, "Blaggards will prosper in Prosperland".
The plan was simple, the Kingdom was very peaceful and a kidnapping would not be expected. The Princess had bodyguards, but they never had any guarding to do so would not be prepared for this action. Sir Blaqgard and his men would travel quietly, in small groups, to the King's Castle without arousing the people; snatch the Princess and drag her back to Caitiff chanting their new war cry.
The kidnapping worked, the King’s army were taken by surprise and the Blaggards were halfway home before the soldiers were ready to pursue them. The King’s bodyguards followed them as quickly as they could but, by the time they reached the treacherous northern territory, Sir Blaggard had Princess Comely safely locked up, a prisoner in his castle tower. The dejected soldiers could do nothing and returned to the King to tell him that they had failed to rescue his lovely daughter.
The news quickly spread throughout the Kingdom, the people feared for their future, many of them travelled to the King's Castle to demonstrate their support. The King was devastated and very angry. He did not blame the bodyguards, perhaps he should have done but, instead, he blamed himself. He should have known that, one day, Sir Blaggard might make an attempt to take over the Kingdom and he should have realised that capturing the Princess was the most likely way that he could make it possible.
King Goodbody called together his ministers and advisors, they were all distraught and angry but were determined to rescue the Princess and restore the Kingdom to peace and tranquility. Several advisors wanted to attack Sir Blaggard at Caitiff and rid the country of him and his men for ever. This plan was rejected, the land around the castle was too difficult for an army to penetrate, there were many places where they could be ambushed, the castle would be well guarded and, if the army did get through, Sir Blaggard could flee with the Princess or even threaten to kill her as a hostage to make the army retreat.
A better plan was suggested, a small group of knights could approach the castle without being noticed, Sir Blaggard would be expecting the army, not a quiet commando style rescue attempt.
The plans began to take shape and, after a lot of discussion, it was decided that four of the most eligible young knights in the land should be chosen and, it was agreed, that the one who succeeded would be given the hand of the Princess in marriage. A magnificent state wedding would be a fitting end to this terrible episode and allow the people to get back to living happily ever after.
Organising the rescue attempt had to be kept as secret as possible to avoid warning Sir Blaggard. Messengers were sent discretely to all the eligible knights in the land inviting them to apply in person to the King to be chosen for a very important but unspecified secret mission.
A lot of good Knights applied, each one was interviewed by the King and his ministers. The qualities required were bravery, wisdom, intelligence, good looks and good manners. Choosing just four was difficult, all the knights in Prosperland, except Sir Blaggard of course, were good honourable men but, eventually, the task was completed and all the unsuccessful candidates returned home still not knowing the nature of the secret task.
The success of the rescue mission was vitally important, the knights had to be fully prepared, they must be completely fit and have as much information as possible to help them. While the knights were training in preparation for the mission, scouts were sent to Sir Blaggard's territory to draw maps of the area, find out where guards and sentries were posted and make a careful study of the terrain so that they could advise the four fearless knights on the hazards and difficulties they were likely to encounter.
The four young men chosen were deeply honoured and made solemn promises to the King to do their best to rescue Princess Comely; they promised to act honourably at all times, to use all their knightly skills and to persevere until the rescue was achieved. The King and his ministers, in return, promised that the three knights who did not get to the Princess first would be well rewarded; they would be made Special Knights and play an important part in the future ruling of the Kingdom.
The first knight chosen was Sir Splendid, he was a handsome, well educated young man from a good family, he was highly skilled in the arts of knighthood and was local champion in tournaments and jousting. What nobody realised however, was that Sir Splendid was, in fact, a woman. She believed, very strongly, that a woman was equal to, if not better than, a man. The costumes and armour worn by knights ensured that she was not questioned and exposed as an imposter. She was determined to succeed in the rescue bid and would deal with the deception if, and when, the time arose.
Two brothers were also chosen, Sir Goodly and the younger Sir Notso. The older knight was, like Sir Splendid, tall dark and handsome and very highly respected as a chivalrous knight. Unlike the imposter, Sir Splendid, he was a real, red blooded male. The younger man, Sir Notso, was very much like his brother and Sir Splendid but he had a nasty streak, which the King and his ministers, fortunately for him, did not discover; he was determined to succeed in everything he did and would, if he thought it necessary, do doubtful deeds, like assault with violence and robbery, that gave him an advantage in a difficult situation; he was indeed, not so good as he usually appeared.
The fourth and final knight chosen for the rescue attempt was Sir Plus. Sir Plus was, again, a fine and well respected knight, but he had one very selfish quality, he had his "contacts" and could always provide swords, battle-axes and other equipment when they were needed and difficult to obtain from normal suppliers. He has given his name to the modern Army Surplus Dealers. During the training period, Sir Plus slipped away from the camp one evening to organise his contacts. He arranged with them that they would set up trading posts along the approaches to Caitiff Castle so that the knights could exchange weapons and equipment if they wanted to or actually buy items that they might need, this was not a very honourable thing to do but Sir Plus was more interested in profit than honour.
As the time for the rescue attempt drew near, final preparations were made; the scouts’ information and maps were carefully checked and copies made for each knight. The King, his ministers and advisors, the scouts and the four knights travelled to the north of the Kingdom and set up a secret camp, hidden in the forest not far from Sir Blaggard's territory.
The four brave knights would set off at dawn so their final instructions were given to them after dinner the previous evening. The information packs prepared for each knight were given to them together with advice and some final instructions about conduct and behaviour. The King thought it wise to discuss the map with the knights and, as no tables were available he spread out the master copy on a board to keep it flat, this was probably the first board meeting ever held.
The chief scout explained to the knights how treacherous this northern part of the kingdom was. The region was mostly mountains and there was only one way to get to Caitiff Castle without being seen. Between the camp and the castle were the treacherous mountains with narrow rocky tracks that would lead them to the Black Bog. Progress through the bog would be slow and once the knights had passed through, they would find another rocky path through more mountains and then into the thick, dark forest that lay between them and the castle.
The knights were told that there were a lot of sentries around the castle, some of them working in pairs. They were also warned to look out for the enemy at various other places, particularly near the beginning of the two narrow mountain paths.
The castle was surrounded by a moat that would be extremely difficult to cross; there were only three possible places, one on each side and one at the back. At these points there was a grassy bank on the castle side of the water so the knights could get to the foot of the wall and then be able to climb up to the ramparts. Around the main part of the castle the walls rose straight from the moat so it would be impossible to get into a position to make the climb.
Once on the ramparts there would be more guards to deal with, Sir Blaggard's best men were there to guard the Princess and the brave knights would have to get past them to free her from the room she was locked in on top of the main tower.
King Goodbody finished the meeting with a statement that came as a shock to the four men. He told them that he was making the rescue bid into an initiative test; he said that he wanted to be sure that the man who would marry his daughter would be worthy of her. Each man would leave the camp with just one sword but there would be places along the route where they could collect extra swords, ropes and planks of wood, if they could find them. It was up to them to do their best.
The King told the men that he had been as brief as possible with the final instructions, he was aware that they would need to be fresh in the morning so he said that they should have an early night. These final brief instructions became known as a "briefing", a term often used in business these days.
The rest of the story, the outcome of the rescue attempt, is decided by playing the game. The players are the four knights. The board represents the map drawn by the scouts. The advice and final instructions given to the knights are the basis for the rules of the game.
