A Bloody Affair ~ Lion Rampant

Greetings folks, after not playing Lion Rampant for quite some time I played a couple of games at NWA last night against Lorne G. I think Lorne's troops were Franks (I may be wrong) but mine were,most definitely, Normans.

My Normans are pretty limited & consisted of a unit of mounted men-at-arms, foot men-at-arms, foot sergeants, mounted sergeants and crossbows. My opponent had more units but they tended to be of lesser quality.

We rolled for a random scenario: "Hold on Tight" - In which a central piece of terrain is fought over, the first player to hold it for 5 turns (non-consecutive) is the winner. We selected a low hill and by the time one of us managed to accumulate 5 turns/points there were very few troops left on the table.

I don't know the name of Lorne's commander. He had a red shield & cape, so I shall name him: Woger... Woger the Wed. Would he be a match for the brave Norman Comes Richarde la Tête? (That's Richard "Dick" Head to us common folk)

We rolled for our Leader Skills: Woger the Wed rolled Great Leader! (his unit could move/attack/shoot/ & rally without having to roll any dice). Richarde la Tête rolled: Commanding (re-roll one move/attack/shoot per turn).

Opening Proceedings...

So, the protagonists deployed and set out to win this valuable piece of ground in the center of the table.

Richarde and his knights are deployed on the far left behind his trusty crossbowmen.

"Advance, men and the hill will be ours!"

The Frankish array looks like a tough nut to crack.

Woger the Wed, in the Frankish center with a troop of mounted sergeants.

The first couple of turns involved both of us trying to get our troops moving into position. As is usual with Lion Rampant, this can be difficult if the dice are against you. Initially the dice were with Richarde la Tête and not really favoring Woger. But things balanced out in short order.

The first casualty was inflicted on a unit of Frankish yeomen, who lost one of their number to a well placed crossbow bolt. Some of Woger's bidowers on the Norman right moved into some woods and took aim the a unit of foot sergeants to no effect.

The Fight Begins...

After the initial maneuvering and desultory missile fire the first unit to gain the hill were my brave foot knights (after having to trudge through some woods which they mistakenly thought they could just waltz through easily).

At the same time the Norman infantry assaulted the skirmishers who were shooting from the woods. They only killed one but that was enough to drive them back.

On the other side of the table a second group of bidowers moved into another wood with the idea of luring my impetuous knight into charging them with their Wild Charge rule. This called for a detour because Count Richarde isn't a total meat-head. 

Said Count Richarde: "This way men, through this other wood where we shall 

become bogged down and stuck for a couple of turns."

Note: Count Richarde has Papal; Banner - for when times get tough!

And so, Woger the Wed reacted to all of this Norman chicanery and told his cowardly archers to unleash a volley at the brave knights on the hill. Who, when poor of Otto took an arrow in the eye bravely ran back down the hill to safety.

More arrows flew from the skirmishers which killed one of my mounted sergeants. To which they said: "Enough of this merde. Thou has giveneth us a gutfull." ... So they charged into the cowardly archers and drove them back but lost another two men in the process. Maybe those archers were not so cowardly after all.

The Norman infantry tried to charge the biddowers in the woods again but were themselves, driven back by a well aimed volley as the bidowers evaded.

Back in the center, the Norman foot knights once again advanced to take possession of the all-important hill.

Only to be driven off once again (bravely I might add) by Woger and his mounted sergeants. This time another two of their fellows fell and made their way to their heavenly rest.

The Dual...

Finally Richarde la Tête, brave knight of Normandy, emerged from the woods and lead his men towards Woger the Wed. (He, of somewhat dubious ancestry.)

"Come thee forth and meeteth me in mortal combat," cried the Wed one named Woger. And Richarde, seeing that his troops were somewhat disturbed by his hesitation, replied: "Oh buggereth thee with a broomstick."

And so, charging up the hill to meet the Wed Woger, a duel was fought. 

And bravely, with great courage and skill, did Richarde get cut to pieces like a well cured sausage.

"Alas! Alakaday! Richard's gone and got his head cut off and our re-roll has gone with him," cried his men. And many courage tests did follow.

In vengeance for the loss of their re-roll, the the Norman foot knights did charge back up the hill, killing Woger's remaining companions and driving him off.

"There he is," said the crossbowmen lets shoot him down. And they tried but they all missed.

The End is Nigh...

Woger the Wed, he of  somewhat dubious ancestry, fell back and took shelter with some mounted sergeants. These very same troops charge the hill and attacked the foot knights, killing two of them but were reduced to half their numbers and were themselves throw back off the hill.

Frankish yeomen now assaulted Sir Bonzo de Baguette, the last remaining foot knight and cut him down. But at least he took some of them with him. Woger the Wed once again rode forth and shouted: "The hill is mine, again!"

Meanwhile, while all this was happening, my mounted sergeants were charging everyone in sight and did a pretty good job of driving off the archers and yeomen, whilst my mounted men-at-arms did bugger-all except sit there and get shot.

So the brave sergeants, did bravely ride forth, up the hill and bravely did they plunge their lances into Woger's back in a brave show of the bravest bravery.

So endeth Woger the Wed.

And, in the next turn, these guys too.

I don't remember what happened to my Mounted knights. I think they had enough and ran away (bravely). My mounted sergeants took one too many shots from the bidowers and also fled the field.

In the final turns my foot sergeants (who had been trying to fight the bidowers) took the hill and gained the last remaining points needed to win the game. The only troops left were these, my crossbows and those pesky bidowers.

T'was a bloody affair.

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It was a really good game. Thank you to my opponent, Lorne.
The tables turned and turned again and it was only in the last couple of turns that victory was determined. Alas neither of our heroes lived to tell their tale.

We had time for another bout but that's another story.