Lion Rampant with fantasy figures (Orcs vs Dwarves added 12/3, pg2)

[m4jumbo]

First game of Lion Rampant with fantasy figures.

We played the Bloodbath scenario from the rule book which is basically a "destroy the enemy" type scenario and recommended for a learning game.  In Bloodbath, there is no turn limit, the game goes until a turn begins with 5 or fewer units left on the table.  When this happens, a die is rolled at the start of the turn and if the score is higher than the number of units remaining, that is the final turn.

Apart from victory points gained thought achieving the scenario goals, each commander can also make up to 3 boasts to accomplish during the game for additional points.  Certain boasts have different points values from 1 to 3 that are gained by accomplishing the boasts, but failure to achieve them results in -1 victory points for each failure.

For this initial game, I probably went too aggressive on my boast choices and chose the maximum of 3.  My boasts were to Strike the First Blow (Declare the game's first attack, 1 point), Strike a Mighty Blow (Destroy two enemy units in one turn, 2 points) and Cleave Them in Half (Rout/Kill 12 points worth of units in one turn, 3 points.)  Matt's boasts also included Strike the First Blow, as well as I Will Make Them Run (Opponent must test and fail the first Courage test of the game.)

I had previously put together several army lists using some of my available figures so that when we were able to play we wouldn't have spend time putting armies together.   With that already done, we each chose an army list and readied ourselves for battle.  For narrative purposes, my Barbarian type horde were obviously raiding the civilized lands for loot and plunder with Matt's army marching out to stop me.


The battlefield, a small collection of farming huts, crop fields and woods.






The armies:
My Barbarian horde.


Matt's Troops of the Realm.


Deployment pictures.   You'll notice the space between each unit in the deployment and throughout the battle.  We used the rules as stated in the book where a 3" gap must be maintained between all units, friend or foe, except when units are in combat.  We did decide after the game that our preference would be to ignore this 3" rule for friendly units and just apply it to enemy units to ease play and suit our play style better.




The Fierce Foot (my newly painted SAGA Vikings) deploy in the field to take advantage of their ability to move normally through rough terrain.




The battle begins.  The Fierce Foot move quickly forward through the rough terrain and around the farmstead.  Unfortunately they were apparently distracted by the potential loot around the farm because they failed to activate for several turns to move out of this position.  Must have been some good water in that well.




The Foot Men at Arms move forward but the Mounted Men at Arms 7+ roll needed to move meant they stayed put for several turns.


Bidowers advance, looking for targets.




The Barbarian army's right flank advances together.


While the Troops of the Realm advance is more uncoordinated due to failed command rolls.

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The Fierce Foot continue to muck about around the well.  Stupid gits.






Mounted Serjeants charge into the Foot Men at Arms and only cause one casualty while taking two.  The resilience of the Foot Men at Arms would prove to play a decisive roll in the battle.


Mounted Men at Arms with the army Commander continue to observe the battle from the sidelines as they fail command rolls to move.


Foot Yeomen (Yeowomen?) advance in the face of bow fire from the Archers.




Failing a courage check due to a casualty, the Foot Men at Arms retreat.


Sensing weakness, the second Mounted Serjeants charge the Foot Men at Arms but cause no casualties and retreat from the combat.




Trying to keep the pressure on, the Barbarian Commander and his Mounted Serjeants charge the stubborn Foot Men at Arms.  Once again the Foot Men at Arms prove too tough to crack and send the Mounted Serjeants packing as they fail their courage check and become Battered.






In the process, the Foot Men at Arms also becomes Battered and must retreat.

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Foot Yeomen charge into the Battered Commander's unit and eliminate all but the Commander himself.




Finally the Commander of the Troops of the Realm and his Mounted Men at Arms pass a Move roll to charge into combat and wipe out the mounted barbarians.




The unit takes two casualties but remain above half strength so they still will attack with the full strength 12 dice.




Having drunk their fill of tasty well water at last, the Fierce Foot begin to move and join the battle.


Skirmishing Mounted Yeomen harass the enemy with bow fire.






Bidowers pepper the charging Foot Yeomen as they move in and the casualties drive back the Yeomen and cause them to be Battered.

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The Barbarian units maneuver away from the powerful Mounted Men at Arms.


The Fierce Foot seek protection in the rough terrain and behind the stone wall.


Having second thoughts about the wisdom of leaving the safety of the well, things don't look good for the Fierce Foot as the Troops of the Realm close in on them.


Finally joining the fight, the Fierce Foot battle the Foot Serjeants.  As a result of the clash, both units are battered and route from the battlefield.






The Bidowers constantly harass the Mounted Men at Arms, in the process causing another casualty and bringing the unit down to half strength which drops it's attack dice to 6.   Sill a threat even at half attack dice, the Mounted Men at Arms charge the pesky Bidowers, batter them and drive them from the battle.






Of the once mighty Barbarian horde, only the Mounted Yeomen remain.  The raid has cost dearly and the skirmishers turn their mounts and make their escape.




The victors!  Or what remains of them.  The troops of the realm have turned back the raiders, but at a heavy cost.


On Victory points for destroying the enemy, Matt had obviously won the battle, but what about our boasts?  Well those didn't go so well for either of us.  I accomplished the only boast of the game  by declaring the first Attack of the battle, but nothing for either of us beyond that.

Although my poor Barbarians received a bit of thrashing, it was an interesting and enjoyable first run through of the Lion Rampant rules.  We had a few first impressions of the rules.

The command rolls for different types of actions definitely gave these rules a different feel and flow from others we have played and will take some time to master the tactics of using the troops effectively. 

Once units become Battered, it can be very difficult for them to get back into the battle.  More often than not the Battered units slowly dissolved before routing from the battlefield. 

As mentioned earlier, we will ignore the 3" gap required between friendly units and only apply this to enemy units that are not in combat.

We will be giving Lion Rampant some more play and are looking forward to the upcoming release of Dragon Rampant, the fantasy version of Lion Rampant.

[Hitman]

Great looking table, figures and game. AAR was nicely done as well. Nice to see some of the MWM terrain being used that I sold you years ago. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[wulfgar22]

Epic! Great figs and AAR!

[Elbows]

Phenomenal table.  We actually did the same thing about...a month ago.  During our random gaming Saturday everyone brought a box of fantasy figures and we just did Lion Rampant - I think we had four people per side, each with a 12 point retinue or some such.  It ended up being pretty fun.

[Fugazi]

... can you see the bottle of beer in the background of one of the pictures?
This alone indicates the fun aspect of this rules system! 

[Charlie_]

Great stuff!

I really like your collection of trees... Where are they from?

[majorsmith]

Great stuff!

[jon_1066]

There one problem with losing the 3" rule for friendlies.  What happens if a unit defeats an opposition unit in close combat and ends up still within 3" of a second opposition unit?

Great write up, pictures and figures by the way!

[Gibby]

Awesome stuff. Can't wait for Dragon Rampant!

[Golgotha]

Great looking game I must get into Lion/Dragon Rampant.
 

[Elbows]

Great looking game I must get into Lion/Dragon Rampant.
 

This is kind of the shining point to Lion Rampant/Dragon rampant...there is nothing to "get into".  You just buy the book and roll with whatever miniatures you have on hand.  There's no real investment (unless of course you have zero miniatures). 

[m4jumbo]

Thanks for all the comments.  There is always a place for beer along with a fun game. 

Great stuff!

I really like your collection of trees... Where are they from?

The trees are all Woodland Scenic trees of various sorts.  Actually some of the smaller trees on the templates have been with me since the late seventies where they started out as trees on an HO railroad layout we had as kids.  They have seen a lot of mileage since then and held up pretty well considering.