Medieval May ~ Lion Rampant Battle Reports

 A few few days back at our last club meeting we celebrated the start of Medieval May with a couple of games of Lion Rampant. My friend Mike and I brought out our Imaginations Medieval forces and fought for glory, reputation and renown.

Game 1

The first stouch was just a basic clash. My Hemmingaetic League (modestly named after myself) and Mike's Knights of Noirebrûler (that's Blackburn to us uneducated peasants).

Above: Bishop Eisenwurst leads the forces of the H League, whilst below: some pathetic knight leads the Noirebrûler scum. We rolled our Leader Qualities. Mike rolled Strong (Re-roll one failed To Hit dice). I rolled Sly for Eisenwurst (he can get out of challenge because he's a slimy turd).

Early on The Noirebrûler knights charged. Earlier some arrows were let loose and the Noirebrûler archers hitting my foot sergeants hard (6 sixes on 12 dice!). However, this charge didn't go to plan and my knights won the fight.

On the flank I sent my mounted sergeants through some woods to come up on Mike's archers. They were on a hill this improved their armour rating and helped them hold their ground. As a result my heavy cavalry retreated and became Battered.

A band of halberdiers attacked my crossbowmen. The crossbows had already taken a couple of shots and worn down the heavy infantry. From experience I paid the cost for parvises and this proved to be a good choice because they managed to stand their ground and inflict losses on the halberdiers causing them to retreat. The Noirebrûlereans then failed their Courage Test and fled the field. Hooray!

This lead the way for my spearmen to advance. In fact both of our spearmen advanced and looked at each other with trepidation. I don't think they got into combat with each other. I'm not certain but I seem to remember both sides just staring each other down.

"Who you lookin' at?

'Who us? 

'Yeah you lot...

Nuffink. We're just standin' around."

There was another clash of armoured knights in the centre with the Bishop's men coming out on top. Only the Leader of the Noirebrûlereans remained and he was forced to retreat.

The brave Knight of Noirebrûler then failed his Courage Test and was last seen fleeing the field followed by his archers and leaving is spearmen to their fate.

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Game 2

This time we used one of the scenarios in the 2nd Edition Book. The one with and objective in the centre. The objective we decided on was decided, whereupon a mystical voice cried out:

"He who pulleth this sword

from this stone and anvil shall

be the true King of Medieval May!"

We both swapped out our forces. I opted to get rid of the heavy mounted sergeants (4pts) and also ditched the pavisers for my crossbows (2pts). Instead I took a unit of Foot Knights (6pts). We rolled our Leader Qualities: This time around Mike rolled whatever it is that makes him only able to be hit on a roll of 6 when in a Challenge. My commander Freidrich von Flintenstein rolled a 2 (Forgettable but with a fine moustache!)

Above: Freidrich von Flintenstein the Forgettable looks toward the holy relic of True Kingship.

We both jockeyed for position and this time those scheming  Noirebrûlereans sent a band of mounted archers around my flank. I didn't realise, at first that they were archers so I drew up my spearmen into a Schiltron formation thinking they were going to charge.

In the centre my foot knights approached the holy relic but stopped in reverend awe as they gazed upon its majesty (either that or they failed their Activation).

The Noirebrûlerean Knights didn't waste any time and charged as soon as they could thinking to quash von Flintenstein and his holy warriors and drive them from the field.

The Hemingsaetic knights counter-charged but got the worst of the fight and were forced to retreat from the onslaught of their enemies. At least they passed their Courage Test so they did not become Battered.

Meanwhile, the foot knights got over their reverence and slogged up the hill to the monument only to find Noirebrûlerean spearmen trudging up the opposite slope. This was going to come down to swords and stout hearts!

In the centre von Flintenstein the Forgettable led his knights into the fight again and evened the odds against their foe. This gave the Hemmingseatic spearmen the chance to charge home and try their luck. 

The Noirebrûler knights failed to counter charge and the fight was a draw (both losing one figure) so the spearmen retreated Battered and, for the remainder to the battle stood around whilst enemy archers slowly picked them off at short range. But they had further weakened the enemy knights.

The archers on the flank were doing little but were witling away at the schiltron which prompted them to break formation and advance on the horsemen.

In the woods beside the shrine a group of vagabonds lurked. The looked mysteriously like that Robin the Hood fellow you may have heard about. They were causing a nuisance so I diverted my crossbowmen to deal with them (seen advancing in the distance).

Yet another clash of knights in the centre brought victory for von Flintenstein's holy warriors but because the sole remaining Noirebrûlerean knight (the commander) retreated they were forced to charge the spearmen on the hill (due to the Wild Charge rule). Not surprisingly they were forced to retreat with the loss of another man.

Seeing the riders retreat back down the slope the foot knights charged home and defeated the spearmen who then failed their Courage Test and fled leaving the knights in possession of the sword in the stone.

Again Wild Charge took precedence and the armoured knights clashed again. This time the last of von Flintensteins men were killed leaving only the two leaders facing each other.

Not wanting to face the Hemmingsaetic spearmen Mike's horse archers made a last minute dash around the flank to be met with a hail of crossbow bolts (which were ineffectual anyway).

The Noirebrûler commander decided to issue a challenge seeing that he had the advantage of me having to roll 6's to hit him. He would be hitting my chap on 5's and 6's.

We rolled 3 dice each.

Freidrich the Forgettable was hit once.

But he hit the Noirebrûlerean twice (I rolled two 6's) and the foe was worsted.

In celebration the Fredrich von Flintenstein the Forgettable charged into the enemy archers laying several of them low and scattering the rest! 

'Twas a glorious victory for the forces of the Hemmingsaetic League.

"O frabjous day. Callooh! Calhay!"

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Conclusion:

It was a good start to Medieval May. Both Mike and I started medieval when Lion Rampant first came out. The idea being to build large forces for Hail Caesar but to start with LR so that we could get some troops done quickly, get them on the table and have some games. We're using the same plan for Medieval May (a concept new to our club).We've started with LR and we'll conclude the final meeting in May with a big Hail Caesar bash. This coming weekend it's a moderate HC game followed the next week by some Lion and Dragon rampant action.

One Delivery... And Then Another...

 A package arrived yesterday. It was soft a squishy, like a pillow. What could be within?

It was a mat from Geek Villain. I can't remember what inspired me to order this but I did and it arrived (from the UK to Australia) within a couple of weeks.

It's very nice and very well made. It's the 6' x 4' "Autumn" design. It's fleece and has a really nice feel with a very clean print. I chose this one because I like the non-uniform look with those sandy/bare earth patches that break up the grass pattern.

It's a bit larger than 6x4 with a few inches overhang on the long edge and a small overhang on the short edges. One reason I wanted a fleece mat is so that I can place hills underneath to get that seamless effect as well at the prospect of placing small pieces of cottonwool (or whatever) to take away some of that that golf course flatness we all know and love.

There were creases in it (see pic above) from being folded and packed but the creases were almost undiscernible once it was laid out on the table.

As I said it has a really nice pattern with little patches of printed shrubbery.

I'm very happy with this purchase and there is only one thing better than this mat that I can think of. And that is...

A second mat!

Yes I ordered a matching pair so I can use them on either 6' x 12' or a 6' x 8' table.

And a second delivery arrived just this morning.

Two days in a row. 

What could this one be?

I tried to pick this up whilst I was in the UK recently but I was just out of time to get it. I think it was released the day I left for Greece so I had to wait until I got home to order it. When I did go to order it I discovered that the average price in Australia is about $60.00 which is one of the reasons I wanted to get it in the UK. However, I ordered it from Book Depositary instead and it cost $41.00. How is that possible?

Anyway; it looks nice and I'll delve into it this evening to see what goodies await within...

Nice artwork, that's for sure!

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.