Hello again.
We had a wee game of Lion Rampant again today, this time following up on the (partial) victory of the Danish raiders. We reasoned that after his succes in harrowing the scenic countryside of the beautiful Margraviate of Brandenburg, Herr Bugge was ordered to lead the van on the march through the northern marches.
In an attempt to slow the oncoming danes, the (yet unnamed) garrison commander have been ordered to bring down the rickety bridge over the Stepenitz River. Hopefully this would allow the germans to muster more milita and mercenaries to defend their cities and castles against the maraudering danes.
The danish vanguard under herr Bugge on the other hand had to hold the bridge and chase off any german saboteurs!
The scenario we played was 'Hold Tight', placing the bridge in the middle of the table over a river, which we decided would be impassable due to the heavy summer rains endured over the past months. The bridge was suitably small and puny enough to only hold a single unit at a time, so no foot serjeants could form a schiltrom on it.
Again, due to the smallish table we did away with the 3"-rule.
Here's the battlefield as it stood before the retinues were deployed:
Both sides choose a 20-point retinue, and mine looked like this:
I went for a single unit of knechts (with my general), two units of Bidowers (the elite mercenary Friisians from my last game and a unit of mercenary handgonnes), a unit of foot knechts and my trusty foot serjeants.
AWOL, my opponent, went for a single unit of foot MAA's, a unit of Crossbowmen, two units of Foot Serjeants and a single unit of Bidowers.
Herr Bugge deployed his Bidowers to the flanks, the foot knechts in the van, flanked by the foot serjeants. His own unit of knechts were placed in reserve on the road, holding back.
The germans went for a long thin line to cover their complete front, missile units to the flanks and a strong center of serjeants and foot knechts.
As the battle commenced the local farmers came out to have a gander...
...and the local friar stood by the roadside, ready to bless the german soldiers as they marched by
Both armies began their reckless advance toward the objective: the bridge over the river Stepenitz
The first unit to reach the bridge was the danish foot knechts, who held on for a single turn under a withering hail of crossbow bolts, killing several of them! They then proceeded to charge off against the oncoming german foot serjeants, who had taken up position at the german side of the bridge.
The combat was short and brutal, the knechts giving as good as they were getting against the stubborn germans!
In the end, the danish plan of taking the fight to the german side of the river failed, leaving only a single knecht to face the entire german retinue on the bridge. Fortunatly, the friisians in the safety of the wood on the riverbank, provided good cover, keeping any germans from engaging the knecht or even trying to cross the bridge! They even sent the victorious unit of foot serjeants running for the cover of the church with several well-placed arrows.
Meanwhile, the rest of the danish retinue moved up to support the lone knecht on the bridge
In a display of bravado and overconfidence, the knecht charged the foot serjeants! However, the germans were not as cowed as they appeared, and quickly overwhelmed him. They then proceeded to march onto the bridge and started to dismantle it, only to be chased away by the danish foot serjeants. These were in turn routed by a hail of crossbowbolts.
The danish cavalry under herr Bugge thundered into view, getting ready to settle things once and for all. The peasants had already wasted enough of his time here and he would have no more of it!
Upon reaching the bridge, he was challenged by the garrison commander, his old foe. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to set things straight and wash away the stain on this honour, herr Bugge accepted the challenge. He then proceeded to tramble the poor garrison commander into the dirt, leaving him to be taken to the rear by his men!
Once he was done with the german leader, herr Bugge ordered a wild charge on the remaining foot knechts.
Sorely underestimating the resolve of the germans, herr Bugge and his knechts were thrown back with casualties, leaving the bridge for the germans
Undaunted, herr Bugge charged again, hoping to throw the germans into the frothing waters of the Stepenitz!
...Only to be thrown back again, but without losses. However, the handgonnes now had a clear shot at the foot knechts, tearing them apart in a shower of flying lead and black smoke.
The bridge was now unoccupied and the handgonnes ventured out of their cover in the woods to secure it, followed by the friisians, hoping that their display of fire and smoke would give the germans pause. That was not the case, however, and the german bowmen threw them back to the other shore.
The friisians, on the other hand, pelted the remaining disintergrating unit german foot serjeants with arrows and bolts, before placing themselves on the bridge (which by now was more or less choked with the dead and dying remains of both retinues!). They were joined by herr Bugge and his surviving knechts.
The remaining german forces tried their best to muster what courage they could, but could not rally themselves. The crossbowmen lost heart at the sight of the seemingly invincible danish knechts and their friisian allies, refusing to obey the orders to fire one last time. The bridge was in the hands of the danes, and the remains of the german army sneaked off into the Brandenburger woodlands, leaving the crossing intact.
Victory for King Valdemar! Another great game of Lion Rampant, and a very closely fought one too. The game really hung in the balance until the last turn, everything depending on whether or not the crossbowmen had had enough slaughter for one day or really wanted to hang onto the bridge. We decided that they were probably mercenaries, who hadn't got their pay for the week and confronted by the pile of corpses in the river and on the bridge, who can really blame them?
This game went a lot more smooth, and we hardly had to look anything up, which was nice. The rules are easy to remember, no cross referencing tables and yet enough depth to provide us with a challenging and engaging game. So far we both remain very big fans of the system.
The next time we fight the scenario out, we agreed that it would be better if the bridge was not the only crossing on the board. It's not impassable in the rules (those were rules we made up ourselves), but we also think that just making the river rough terrain might be a bit too easy. I think we'll come up with sort of a test to see if your unit gets across unscathed, penalties applied to MAA's of course! Otherwise we could play it on the lenght of the table, using two crossings instead of one, or a single bridge for the objective and two small crossings to either side. The possibilities are many, but we'll figure something out.
The victorious danes cross the Stepenitz:
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April 27, 2024, 09:21:41 PM
October 10, 2007, 10:46:21 AM