At our last meeting my good gaming buddy and I played a Lions Rampant scenario, which comes from a small campaign I have written about the peasant rebellion in Vendsyssel (in northern Jutland) in 1441. The campaign includes two Hail Caesar scenarios and this Lions Rampant scenario.
After having beating a royal army sent out from Alborghus, the nearest major royal castle (first Hail Caesar scenario), the rebels began to pillage the Vendsyssel region. Many manors were burned including Aagaard. In the case of Aagaard, we are fortunate that the manor has been excavated by archaeologists, and thus we have a good picture of what the manor looked like. The model I have built is based on these excavation plans. Aagaard was owned by Niels Pedersen Gyldenstjerne and he was the largest landowner in that part of Denmark. It is therefore logical that the rebels directed their anger against him and his holdings.
I have for convenience decided to define the banks of the courtyard as obstacles where each side can be defended by one unit. Instead of measuring distances in the manor, it costs one move order to redeploy inside the courtyard and two move orders to move up to the stone house. It costs a further move order to destroy the bridge over to the stone house. If the bridge is still intact units can freely move up to the stone house. If the bridge is destroyed units must climb the steep sides of the stone house bank. The first attempt requires a move order of +9, the next +8, the next + 7, and so on. There may be one unit in the stone house, and this unit can only be attacked once the gateway is destroyed. The gateway has 4 in armour and two hits. Fighting in the stone house gives 1+ in armour to the defender.
The defence consists of two Yeomen units with mixed weapons, one archer unit, and one bidower unit. Their leader is Lion Hearted and the defenders have 2 rerolls that can be used for anything they want.
Defenders can deploy across the whole board.
The attackers have eight Yeomen units that deploy at the board edge in front of the castle. Their leader is commanding. He has the “I shall slay your leader” and “I shall challenge their leader to a duel” boasts. Destroyed rebel units are recycled in the turn after they are destroyed and reappear at the board edge in front of the castle.
The defender gets 2 victory points for each destroyed attacker unit. The attacker can burn down the three buildings in the courtyard and each is worth 4 victory points. However, setting fire to a building requires a +8 order. Capturing the stone house gives the attacker 6 victory points.
Here’s how it went when we played it out last time.
1: Deployment. The defenders have thrown out some archers and bidowers to harass the rebels as they approach the manor.
2: The rebels reach the manor, but not without taking casualties on the way. Multiple units have become battered.
3: The first units charge the valiant defenders. We see the archers have wisely retreated into the courtyard.
4: The defenders hold and more rebel units become battered and start to retreat.
5: The attack has ground more or less to a halt, as most of the rebel units are heading home. As we use multibased miniatures, casualties are marked with small red markers as well as the removal of a base once the unit has taken half casualties.
6: Niels Pedersen Gyldenstjerne decides to head for the safety of the stone house!
7: as a second wave of rebel appear outside the manor gates.
8: The second wave attack is well on the way and without their lord and his retinue the defence looks very weak indeed.
9: The last remnants of the first attackers decide to stay in the fight by passing a very difficult courage test.
10: They join in as the courtyard is stormed, the last defenders killed and all of the buildings put to the torch.
11: Two yeomen units still defiantly defend the stone house and they have managed to destroy the bridge.
12: The rebels start the tough climb up the stone house banks under heavy fire from the defenders.
13: Finally the door is broken down and the last defenders and Niels Pedersen Gyldenstjerne killed.
Sadly it was a little too late as the rebels had sustained too many casualties to win. This actually happened while they were attacking the stone house, but we were having too much fun to stop, so we just played to the end. Niels Pedersen Gyldenstjerne was not actually at Aagaard when it was burned, but he participated in the battle of St. Jørgensbjerg along with the King Christopher of Bavaria when the rebellion was finally put down and their leader Henrik Reventlow executed.
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