Chaos amidst the Canals: Venetian gang warfare in Chevauchee.
The year is 1575, and the city of canals is gripped by a horrible plague. Chaos rules the streets as frightened refugees make for the mainland, while the embattled militia attempt to restore order.
Wracked by plague, many noble families retreat to nearby city-states, while others submerge themselves in hedonism, for death could take them tomorrow.
One particular noble, Corrado DiPazi has drawn the ire of another noble, who has taken advantage of the chaos to settle his debt. One night, as he left a brothel called the Unicorn in a seedier part of the city, he was ambushed by assassins drawn from unemployed mercenaries and local thugs.
On the game table, Corrado is represented as a retainer with light armour, a rapier and a wheel lock pistol. He is accompanied by his bodyguard (another retainer) armed with a hand-and-a-half sword and a sword breaker. Three household servants (levy figures) carrying rapiers and main-gauche daggers round out the party.
The assassins are led by an out-of-work Stradiot cavalryman (a retainer), a swarthy fellow from the Balkans brandishing a wickedly curved dagger and a light crossbow. A pair of local thugs wielding iron-shod cudgels and three rogues with stilettos and heavy cloaks bulk out the assassin's party.
I mocked up a section of Venetian alleyways and canals in a Roll20 room. The objective of the assassins was to kill Corrado and escape, while Corrado and his coterie had to defend themselves.
The battle descended into a series of bloody one-on-one duels. The highlights include the duke's bodyguard fending off three different assassins on a bridge before being tackled to the ground and butchered. the duke himself tossing an assassin into the canal before being mortally wounded by a crossbow bolt.
