Lion Rampant - Bad day for the Mongols

[mikos khan]

This last Friday we decided to finally try a game of Lion Rampant (because I wanted to use my newly painted Mongols).  We had an odd number of players so we decided to make it a 3 way contest between the Mongols, crusaders and a (time lost) force of Vikings.  I faced off with the Vikings to my front and the Crusaders to my right but since the Crusaders had a sizable force of foot missile troops I decided to hit the Vikings first while the crusaders were still out of range.  I sent my light cavalry around a thicket to my left and they were able to cause some havoc to the Viking rear by destroying a couple of their units with bow fire.  While that was going on I decided to send my elite heavy cavalry after a unit of Huscarls that was hiding in the rough terrain of a turnip field.  This proved to be a bad move on my part since I hadn't read the rules thoroughly enough and missed the part where rough terrain largely negates the advantages of cavalry.  That being the case my cavalry was wiped out by the huscarls (although it took a few turns) but we did have a cool looking duel between the opposing leaders.  While the fight in the turnip field was going on the Crusaders had closed within foot bow range and they badly shot up my other two cavalry units so I prudently decided to stage a "fighting withdrawal" from the board.  This left the crusaders and Vikings to fight it out and the Huscarls charged the crusader crossbow unit - routing it in a single turn.  However, they in turn were charged and destroyed by a supporting unit of knights.  Unfortunately, the knights failed their wild charge roll against a second unit of huscarls and charged into the same turnip field where my elite cavalry had met it's doom and suffered the same fate.  At this point we called the game for the crusaders and went out for pizza. 

[mikos khan]

Mongols and Vikings

[mikos khan]

Leader duel.

[mikos khan]

The Mongol - Viking fight continues

[mikos khan]

The endgame

[LouieN]

A fun encounter

[has.been]

It does sound like a fun game, well done.

[leadfool]

My Huscarls may never look at vegetables the same way again.    That field (rough terrain) saved them from being run over by heavy cavalry and knights.  No doubt it was my taunting that caused the charges.

The rules allow for the making of "Boasts."  I risked a lot and made said a total of 6 boasts, worth 7 points.  I accomplished 5 of them for 6 victory points.  The one I fail was about not having a unit destroyed to missile fire.  Mikos Khans' light cavalry ended that one. 

These are a good set of rules.  We did opt for the command control increase where a unit that fails only stops that unit from activating not the entire side.