Ranulf de Gernon and Clifford the Butcher square off again !

[matiec]

Another opportunity to fight our Lion Rampant Retinues Ranulf de Gernon and Clifford the Butcher. This time we rolled up the fugitive scenario. in the first run we modified the activation roll to avoid the frustrating sight of one side standing around doing nothing. It work fairly well but it was noticeable that the missile troops were more powerful in this game. By some chance Clifford the defender in the first scenario found the fugitive early on and although the Normans were almost able to wipe out his whole retinue the were able to get away with the fugitive (a monk in our game).

We re-set the battlefield and swopped attackers so we could try the same scenarios but with the official rules where if you fail an activation it is the end of your turn. This seemed to give a more tactical battle as the troops came together in a more irregular line with missile troops lagging behind due to failed tests. Ranulf found the monk after a real struggle after four attempts. and was just able to get away as Clifford's bidowers were clearly shooting blunted arrows !

The final learning point from these two very enjoyable battles was it is hard to control your leader when he is in a wild charge unit and you have rolled Great Leader Skill at the  start. He basically just runs off until the unit and himself are completely spent. I am going to paint up a new ranulf figure on foot so he can go in with the trusty sarjeants sometimes.

These were just a couple of the photos, a slightly more detailed report and more pictures are on my blog http://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/where there is also a link to Clifford's home blog.

[Atheling]

Nice set up 

Oh, and you're got another follower so please keep posting up Late Med Bat Reps 

Darrell.

[Captain Blood]

Well I'm no purist, but I must say C11th Normans vs late C15th WoTR is an interesting mash-up

Reminds me a little of my origins with WRG 5th edition ancients... 'Of course I can fight my 3000BC Sumerians against your 1000AD Byzantines... ' 

As long as you enjoyed the game, that's the main thing. Glad to see you modified the activation stall rule. How are you liking Lion Rampant?

[Nord]

Ha ha, yep, you noticed the slight time warp. We managed to choose factions from just about the start and end points of the medieval era. Oh well, it's only toy soldiers.

One thing we noticed from the rules mod is that it makes you less careful in activating your missile troops. If you fail a shoot activation, just move on to the next unit. So by ignoring the rulebook fail-end-turn mechanism, you  might be making missile troops slightly more powerful than intended. You have to really think hard about shooting your xbows if a fail ends your turn. Maybe these rules guys do know what they are doing?

[Miantanomo]

A gorgeous, set piece battle with beautiful painted miniatures. What else could you ask for?

[matiec]

We played the scenario through twice once with the modified rules and once with the official rules, both were quite close battles and enjoyable. As for the time warp, it is indeed a situation which makes me feel 'uncomfortable' but I do have some plans as yet I unstarted to develop my retinue to have a much later feel. I was keen though to get the Normans up and running so they can take on the Saxons and Danes (saga). They will also probably be crusading later in the year. Thanks for your comments.

[rampantlion]

Great looking figs and table!  BTW, who made the church model?

Allen

[matiec]

Thanks for the positive feedback, Church is my own construction, pretty rough and ready really when you look too close, it is part of a range of scenery I have made out of foam board, I like flexibility so it has more than one use and they find there way on to the battlefield, anything from medieval through to fantasy. I can put some more pictures on my blog if you are interested ? M