Lion Rampant for EIR?

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Roman warfare is seen, usually, as a matter of big armies and big field battles or huge sieges. Truth is that battle was, possibly, an exceptional event in the life of a Roman soldier. Small warfare, on the other hand, was, probably, a more common experience. Particularly in border regions, Roman soldiers experimented raids –both as victims or perpetrators-, patrols, ambushes, desperate assaults against gods-forsaken Barbarian villages, or break-neck pursuits of Barbarian marauders. Thousands of small engagements that History have forgotten -or at least the literary sources don't mention them-, but which are the perfect excuse for a wargamer to collect and play with miniature soldiers.

I was thinking that Lion Rampant family of rules could be easily adapted to Roman experience of small war. Barbarians would be organized in warbands, while Romans would in vexilliationes. A Roman vexilliatio is commanded by a Centurion, whose goal, as in Pikeman's Lament, would be to ascend through the ranks until becoming the primus pilae in his cohors. I believe that Romans should be allowed more than one leader, though. Not as many as in The Men Who Would Be Kings, but at least one junior Centurion or an Optio. I think that would give an edge to the Romans, but not overwhelming.

Barbarians warlords, on the other hand, should be accompanied by a unit of comitatus, i.e. full-time warriors bound to their leader by links of honour, duty, and parentage. In duels any comitatensis might take the place of the warlord; the duel is then resolved as if the warlord himself is fighting, with the caveat that if he loses, he won’t be actually killed, but one of his bodyguards. If the warlord is killed, the comitatenses won’t take a leadership test, but they are obligated to charge the nearest enemy unit and fight in melee. They will continue doing so for the rest of the game, until they are completely destroyed or there are no enemies left on the table! When under this rule, comitatenses are exempt of any leadership test. A comitatus is a 6 figure unit and is recruited for free, together with the warlord. Naturally, the warlord and his comitatus can't join any other unit.

I believe that giving assymetric leadership characteristics to Romans and Barbarians should work best to represent different styles of war, while maintaining the basics of LR.

I haven't got too much further in my tweaking of the rules. Actually, I am having some troubles to decide how to distinguish between Auxiliary units and Legionary units, and the sizes of the units -6 or 12 miniatures for Romans and 8-16 for Barbarians?-, as well as deciding on the stats for the units.   

[Poiter50]

I've just finished a Scarrow & Andrews - Invader. The young Optio, Gallic born, is in Britain and is sent with 12 of his Legion Cohort to escort a puppet British King to assist in the deposing of an usurper in a supposedly quiet or conquered area. It all goes downhill for there but I think it makes some good cases for small actions with a Warlord (Optio) and some Legion (Hearthguard?) and some Auxilia (Levy or similar), perhaps some other support troops.

[has.been]

Just started reading the EIR novels of Mr Scarrow. These follow a grizzled Centurian and his young Optio.
Each chapter has a host of possible skirmish level games:-
Escorting a general, but being ambushed after bedding down by the wagon for the night;
Holding a few streets in a barbarian town against a surprise counter attack;
A drunken brawl in a seedy part of town, could even be against members of a rival cohort;
Recovering and returning with a pay-chest, hidden during a retreat at the start of the book;
Getting across country (the wargames table?)to warn the legion of an ambush, while avoiding the enemy &
(having just returned from up by Hadrian's wall) there is a lot of new information coming out of archaeology
being done in the last few years. Some of the writing found details the daily life of a unit on the Wall.
Thing such as:-
 So many on sick leave (random lower factors when an attack happens);
 Some off to Eboricum (York) to collect the unit's pay chest (thieves. ambush, broken wheel );
 A detachment sent to relieve a forward observation fort. etc etc.

Lots & lots of possibilities. 

Give it a go young sir !!!

[dbsubashi]

Wargames Illustrated had an article converting LR to the Carthaginian Wars, a couple of years ago. Might be a good starting point...
 

[Richard in Sachsen]

Are you familiar with Simon MacDowell's Comitatus rules? They're fast becoming my favorite set of rules for Late Romans/Dark Ages.

Based upon that same system is his Civitates Bellantes rules:

Civitates Bellantes is a set of rules which simulate warfare in Europe, the near East and  Mediterranean from the fourth century BC to the third century AD. The rules are suitable for games with miniature figures in all scales from 2mm to 30mm. Although primarily designed with the Macedonian and Punic wars in mind, the mechanisms can be used for the earlier Greek and Persian conflicts as well as the rise of Imperial Rome.
 
Although these rules are designed around the same principles as Comitatus, they also have unique features which capture the flavour of the period. Particular attention has been given to developing practical ways to reflect the relative strengths and weaknesses of the phalanx, the legion and their supporting arms.
 
The rules are available for £5 as a fully illustrated PDF with hyperlinks to help navigation and to clarify terms.

http://legio-wargames.com/civitates-bellantes-ancients/4537133983

The [Comitatus] rules have an excellent mechanism for the use of small unit leaders and warlords. You don't need a lot of of mini's either - if you have armies sized for Dux Bellorum or Lion's Rampant, they work well, if not perfect, for his system.

I highly suggest checking them out and seeing if they appeal to you because they seem to cover exactly what you are looking for here in house rules.

[Jericho]

There have been attempts before to adapt Lion Rampant to Roman times.
Perhaps they have some ideas you can use?

Eagle Rampant - Gallic Wars

Crepusculum Imperii

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will check them out!

Best