The Nottingham |Cheese Riot of 1766-The Game

After looking at the loot the town scenario I decided the table would represent the market place with 7 cheese piles to be looted. Each cheese pile was protected by two townsfolk. The players control three teams of looters each made up of two women and a “rude boy” as they were described historically. I would control the townsfolk and other random events as a GM. Players score victory points for achieving any of the following.

1 point for each cheese removed from the table or rival player looters taken out of action.

2 points for taking the mayor or a Dragoon out of action.

2 points for going for the meat stand and beating the butcher and taking the meat. There was a meat riot a few years later so I thought I’d acknowledge that incident with this rule.

A looted cheese can be carried off the board or rolled off to score.

Cheese is rolled 3D6 inches away us 2 for boys and 3 for women. They can also be rolled at a character as a weapon as they were against the mayor. If the range roll reaches the target they are knocked down on a 4+ missing a turn. On a further roll of 5+ they are out of the game.

In 1766 we had an earlier version of the cost of living crises after a poor wheat harvest put the price of food up. In Nottingham during the annual Goose Fair tons of cheese was being sold in large wheels at twice the price they had been a week earlier in other parts of the country. Disgusted by the prices the mainly women and “rude boys” of Nottingham went on the rampage stealing cheese and looting shops. Because the cheese came in large wheels it was easy to just roll them away. The mayor attempted to restore order and for his efforts was knocked down by a rolling cheese into the mud. The crowd then attacked boats on the river Trent loaded up with cheese and warehouses were looted. The Dragoons were called in and a man was shot dead although he was defending his cheese and was shot by accident. A number of young lads were dragged before the Magistrates who at this time used to perform trials in private homes and pubs. On this occasion it was in a coffee shop. The mob out side began throwing stones at the windows and fearing more violence those arrested where released. This incident is talked about a lot in the museum that I work and we thought it would be interesting to recreate it as a miniature game at a staff social. So I got to work thinking what the best way of adapting the story to the tabletop.