Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: whiskey priest on October 17, 2014, 12:56:00 PM
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Had Snicket round last night for a game of Lion Rampant. We took identical retinues and rolled a scenario from the book and a great little game. We were both really impressed and we'll be playing it again. Here are some pics.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Go6s_wz9XRE/VEDWrJgzy6I/AAAAAAAACEY/YJfpS3mRXFw/s640/blogger-image--290210594.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w6ydfw1ftOY/VEDXAdDz4cI/AAAAAAAACFI/aDnZ_EE-Kq8/s640/blogger-image--2091486884.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4CQioAf2Ai8/VEDXPdGMuRI/AAAAAAAACFo/1IK42In07QI/s640/blogger-image-919151026.jpg)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bf3FC5GKzWM/VEDXIEJbqqI/AAAAAAAACFY/5RCOYxuC4eY/s640/blogger-image-885879278.jpg)
Full report and more piccies on the blog
http://theleadpile.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/snicket-rampant-lion-rampant-aar.html
Cheers
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Thanks for sharing
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Do you really like the game ? Me not...I was very disappointed by the activation system...You failed one activation and all your army doesn't move...Very, but very hard ! My girlfriend watched me playing during 2 turns without doing anything...
The combats are strange too...You have 7 men, you roll 12 dices, you lose only one, you roll only 6 dices (and it's the same if you have one warrior remaining...)
We are not convinced for the moment, we played only two games, but I think they are other rules better than this one...
Sorry.
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Thanks for sharing the battle report, looked like a great little confrontation. I have the rules and have to admit I'm pretty impressed by them, I'm definitely looking forward to playing more. :D
Just one figure question; what manufacturer do your knights come from?
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The knights are all front rank apart from the one with the beard which is an old citadel bretonnian.
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Like the look of your board, scenery and figures - hope that you enjoyed your game.
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The knights are all front rank apart from the one with the beard which is an old citadel bretonnian.
Ah, I thought so. They look great. :D
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Very nice AAR. I bought the rules recently, but have been immersed in SAGA, and haven't had a chance to read them.
Thanks for sharing
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Great stuff. Two friends and I played a test game of Lion Rampant last night and we enjoyed ourselves. It was a learning game but it's easy to get the hang of. I prefer it to Saga as it has morale and such.
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My gaming buddies in a city nearby have taken to Lion Rampant like fat children to cakes. I picked up a copy of the rules and gave it a read. I'm...ambivalent. However, the relatively small number of models needed, I may toy around with creating a retinue for fun if they plan on playing it often.
It is definitely a loose-rules kind of thing. A lot of luck/chance/arbitrary stuff etc. I can see this being a very fast paced affair. I enjoy some of the stuff like the boast system etc. Overall, I'll be holding off judgment until I play it. The rules are so incredibly simple that it looks quite easy to bash the rules into any similar era - and use whatever models you want.
The abstract, rather simple way the game reads in the rulebook is a little odd but it seems great to avoid nit-picking rules and should be adept at hampering power gamers etc.
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Boarf...Playing Lion Rampant needs about 6-7 unities...So 40-50 figures. With this number of unities and figures, it's better playing only one division at Hail Caesar or playing with Saga...I mean choosing rules that work very well (and are more realistic) than Lion Rampant...
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Lovely looking game ! Thanks for sharing.
@craig2, I totaly understand your point and I had some issues with them while playtesting Lion Rampant, but if, as I did, started to thing more about Dan´s thoughts about what kind of game he wanted to produce It was a blast and I realy like the Lion Rampant rules, and yes it´s some times occure that you sit and watch the other player run several turns due to bad luck with activation, I offen do, but in the long run it even out.
I took the liberty to copy Dan´s Introduction to Lion Rampant to give others that don´t have the rules yet what to expect from the rules, and that is not "rules that work very well and are more realistic" as Lion Rampant work in the long run and are not realistic its Hollywood:) so if looking for a realistic medieval ruleset I would look elsewhere to.
The introduction can also be found here in the prewiew at amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Lion-Rampant-Medieval-Wargaming-Wargames/dp/1782006354)
1. INTRODUCTION TO LION RAMPANT
Welcome to Lion Rampant, a set of simple miniature wargaming rules designed for
fighting historical or Hollywood battles in the medieval period, from the rise of the
Normans to the Hundred Years' War and beyond.
This period is well suited to retinue-sized games involving a few dozen models per
side as it was a time of anarchy, feuds, and raiding. Although full-sized battles took place,
wars were often ended by siege or diplomacy but small, ferocious actions were fought
many times over throughout Europe and the Middle East. Lion Rampant also embraces
bravehearts in kilts, men in green tights, do-gooders at round tables, and (so long as you
whisper it quietly) 1970s-style fantasy wargaming. At this point, I hold my hands up and
admit that I’ve been just as influenced by movies and fiction as I have reference books.
Alongside the straightforward battle rules, Lion Rampant presents a varied
selection of scenarios and a Boasting system allowing players scope for choosing
their own victory conditions. This means that you can concentrate on playing the
scenario and enjoying yourself without getting bogged down in rules. The rules are
model scale-neutral, although many gamers choose 28mm or 20mm armies; 15mm
is more cost-effective but less heraldry-friendly.
Lion Rampant is a medieval-themed battle game rather than a detailed and
scholarly simulation of combat in a specific century; I favour abstraction and
stylization to allow quick and streamlined play, rather than rules that take into
account the different types of arrowhead available. That said, good tactics will
prevail and the scenarios prevent players from engaging in an arms race to find out
who can paint ‘the mostest knights the fastest’.
Gameplay rewards using your units in the correct tactical way: knights are great
at charging down enemies, but less useful for guarding convoys; spearmen are jacks of
all trades and masters of none; and archers are to be feared at distance but cut down
if you can get close enough. Battlefield confusion and chaos means that you might not
get to use every one of your units in every turn of the game, so start thinking about
your unit’s priorities during the game even before you’ve set the table up.
Removal of models as casualties doesn’t necessarily reflect sudden and violent
death (although if you’re that way inclined…): some warriors run away, others are
wounded, and the rest are killed. Model removal essentially tracks a unit’s morale
and current fighting ability rather than anything more literal: whether a unit is above
or below half strength is important in the game.
My design goals for Lion Rampant tell you how I designed the rules and explain
why they work as they do:
* Games about knights should be fun. The emphasis is on a playable medievalthemed
game rather than an over-detailed simulation of medieval warfare.
* Use no unusual dice, cards, or supplements… make it accessible for gamers
new to the hobby.
* Keep the rules simple, streamlined and abstracted where appropriate: don’t
make players continually thumb through the rulebook.
*Quick play and minimal record keeping to allow multiple games in a session.
* Gain period feel by differing profiles for troops; avoid complex core rules.
* Think small-scale combat: reflect skirmish warfare not huge set-piece battles.
* Let scenarios drive the game and make the victory conditions interesting and
feel like a narrative story. Give players extra goals in each scenario to allow
different ways to win.
* Offer malleable army selection: no hard and fast army lists.
* Embrace medieval caricatures: knights should be headstrong, spearmen
resolute, tribesmen fierce, and light cavalry agile. Performance is abstracted:
make sure units ‘feel’ right.
* Create a medieval miniature wargame that’s an excuse to push some
colourfully painted models around the table.
My overall goal was to design a medieval miniatures game that is easy to learn,
makes you think about how best to use your resources, and provides entertainment
as you do so: I hope you find Lion Rampant achieves this. Roll sixes and enjoy!
Best regards Michael
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I have my first game next week - I'll be using miniatures from my El Cid WAB army and probably will be fielding something approximating to a 'Stephen & Matilda' era thing. I'll be facing the same sort of force.
I liked Dan's Dux Bellorum rules. I like that he tries to do something a bit different rather than just rewriting another rule set under a different name. I thought the rules sounded fun when I read them and that's the key thing for me.
Anyway, we'll see how it plays out next week...
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I also liked Dux Bellorum so i bought these too.
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Much like other "simple" rulesets (The Song of series for example) these have the capacity to become a bit stale. The key is good scenarios and maybe some flavoursome rules added between mates.
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Much like other "simple" rulesets (The Song of series for example) these have the capacity to become a bit stale. The key is good scenarios and maybe some flavoursome rules added between mates.
I totally agree, but I also believe that statement about scenarios applies to any set of rules, as 'line up and bash the crap out of each other' gets old very quickly, no matter how good the rule set might be. Almost all my WAB stuff these days is scenario-based, for example...
At least Lion rampant has a wider variety of scenarios, unlike Dux Bellorum which, though it has some, they are a little more limited...
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I agree, I like very much the scenarios !
@Dalauppror, You're right, I must retry and consider LR as an Hollywood game...As I can't accept (and believe) that Norman Men-at-arms (1066 ones) are the same as Teutonics or Yorkist Knights...I will try it with my Game of thrones troops... :D