Lion Rampant - Medieval Wargaming Rules (Osprey Wargames)

[Captain_Hook]

I have played a lot of historical gaming, but I'm not very familiar with gaming the medieval period. I was pre-ordering the Osprey pirate rules, and did an impulse purchase of 'Lion Rampant'. Has anyone heard any scuttle butt on these rules? I'm a bit of a rules collector (horder?).

[Ray Earle]

It's been fairly quiet on the rumour front for these rules.

I'm sure smith will be along presently to let us have a rundown of the rules.

[guitarheroandy]

Same author as Dux Bellorum (Arthurian rules by Osprey) so likely to be similar in style. Here's a link to his blog with  a recent article about the rules...

http://merseybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/lion-rampant-unit-types-and-building.html

[Captain_Hook]

Thanks for the links. I was hoping that it would be more of a skirmish set of rules. I am lookiing forward to checking them out. Not sure if I want to invest the time in painting 100+ figures for another set of rules. 

[Juan]

This rulebook sound really well for big skirmish games. There is a lot of information in this blog: http://dalauppror.blogspot.com.es/.

[Smith]

Dan Mersey's blog is definitely the place to go for info about the rules.

My friend and I are currently using them for LOTR games, using half-sized units (i.e. 6 as a base, rather than 12, and 3 instead of 6 for elites).

Depending on your force (there are 40 in the book), your army will number between about 24 and 60 models.

I'd call that a large skirmish, personally – not Mordheim-style level, but definitely not too far off.

It's worth noting that the game is based around 24-point size retinues (which give the army sizes above), but work just as well with 12-point retinues if you prefer.

[Timbor]

Sounds exciting.  Will these rulesets cover blackpowder weapons as well?  I am not sure how late in the medieval period the rules mean to cover.

[Smith]

Not explicitly, no. You could, of course, represent a cannon as the equivalent of a unit of Crossbowmen, for example, but if you're looking for units of handgunners, this probably isn't the game for you!

[Dalauppror]

Thanks Juan for promoting my blog.

You find 3 AAR here, all the 3 latest games we played have we been using the Basic 24 point armys, like my Swedish Crusaders in the last game that was composed of:

Swedish Crusader Hoast
1x6 Mounted Retinue @6pts
1x6 Mounted Serjents @4pts
3x12 Foot yeomen with javelins (Ledung) @4pts each
1x6 Skirmish Archers @2pts
Total: 24pts, 42 foot and 12 mounted minis and 3 sledges to protect from the pagans...



Best regards Michael

[Timbor]

Not explicitly, no. You could, of course, represent a cannon as the equivalent of a unit of Crossbowmen, for example, but if you're looking for units of handgunners, this probably isn't the game for you!

Could you make handgunners like a unit of expert crossbows?

I would imagine these rules could be applied easily enough to wargaming in the Game of Thrones setting as well, which is pretty cool.

[Ahistorian]

When the Perry Agincourt-Orleans plastics come out, I will be all over this! I really liked DB and have wanted to do the 13-14th centuries for a while.

[Smith]

Could you make handgunners like a unit of expert crossbows?

I would imagine these rules could be applied easily enough to wargaming in the Game of Thrones setting as well, which is pretty cool.

That was my first thought, except it's not an option in the rules. Still, it's not too hard to figure out – 'Expert' costs 2pts for a unit, and increases 'Shoot' by 2 (for a ranged unit – a melee unit has improved 'Attack'). I don't know how balanced it would be, but that seems fair to me. In the game, Archers have a slightly better basic chance of hitting than Crossbowmen (a stat rationalized by balancing hitting power against rate of fire) – and Expert Archers a much better chance. 'Expert' Crossbowmen would sit in-between the two – better than regular Archers, worse than expert ones.

My LOTR army for Lion Rampant is all over the place in terms of 'counts as...' and 'stands in for...' – but that suits me just fine. I know some gamers are less keen on that attitude, though.

Funny you should mention GOT – that was pretty much how I pitched it to our Commissioning Board: "...oh, and also, you could use it for GOT...". 

I might go GOT myself once LOTR is done and dusted... but I think I'll hold out for the Agincourt plastics, rather than going WOTR as most people have been. Not cos I'm independently minded or anything – just because the costume better fits my own image of the world!

[Timbor]

Well, since GOT is fantasy, you can always mix and match the two.  I am going to get a few WOTR stuff, plus some fireforge stuff, plus some GW bret stuff... 

Looking forward to further updates.

[Smith]

Who are you, and what are you doing in my bits box?! 

[UbiqueMatt]

In an earlier draft of the rules there was actually an optional rule for handgonnes (sic) but it appears they didn't make it into the version version. Possibly lack of space or because the rules are more intended to represent skirmishes before the gunpowder became common on the battlefield(?).

I'm sure if you ask the author, Dan Mersey, nicely he'll probably send you a copy of the stats and special rules for handgonnes once the rules are released in September.