Back to Lion Rampant

 I have always enjoyed playing Lion Rampant and some of its spin-off variants so eagerly snapped up version 2 of the rules but then only played it once. Today was the day to put that right. Friend Ian and I have a slow grow 28mm project aiming at large battles in the Dark Ages (or Early Medieval Period for the purists out there) but Lion Rampant provides the ideal set of rules for some decent sized skirmish action whilst our armies grow. 

I opted to use some of my Anglo Danish figures whilst Ian used his Irish and it seemed to make sense to play scenario 1:Bloodbath to help teach Ian the rules (and see how well I remembered them!).  I called my Leader Wulfgar but left him to forge his own surname in battle but randomly throwing for a leader skill I threw a double 6 and got 'Great Leader' with it's very useful automatic activation rule. Ian named his leader Dermot and gained 'Rash-Wild Charge' as a Leader skill for the leaders unit. 

For 'Boasts' we decided to throw a d3 each giving me 3pts of boasts to Ian's 2. I chose..

'I shall strike the first blow 'and 'They will tremble before me' whilst Ian chose 'I shall burn their homes'.

Irish to the left, Anglo Danes to the right. 

As the Attackers Wulfgar and his men took the first turn. 

Irish deployment.

Anglo Danish deployment.

We found the required 3" gap between units rule a little restrictive on both deployment and movement but we opted to play the rules as they are for our first game. 

As the warband's advance they pause for a photo shoot with the rulebook. 

Irish light cavalry and skirmish archers try to get around the Anglo Danish flank. 

Irish chieftain Dermot advances his unit into contact with the hut to try and set it alight. 

 It took him three turns, but 2 glory points earned. 

The Irish start to adopt a defensive position.

At the top the Irish seem to be arcing around the Anglo Danes. Wulfgar had put most of his units into 'Shieldwall' anticipating the Irish 'Wild Charge'.

Irish units hiding behind the hut (with their damp matches). 

Best way to get the Irish out from behind their defences was to advance to within their Wild Charge range but in Shieldwall-note the shield marker. Shieldwall proved to be a very effective formation to adopt against the Irish warrior units.

Irish light cavalry become involved in a 'stand-off' with an Anglo Danish 'shieldwall'. 

Dermot finally gets the hut alight and now decides to try and get involved in the melee which seemed to be going my way.  Dermot's elite infantry were very tough in melee but with two Irish units 'battered' in the same turn I earned my 2 glory points.

Dermot challenged Wulfgar to single combat but did not live to regret it. 

Both sides were losing units but the Anglo Danes seemed to have the upperhand. 

Over on the left wing my skirmishers tried to tease the Irish warriors into an advance but failed their evade roll, got caught in melee which they lost and had to retreat. 

At this point we finished the game with Wulfgar, now known as 'Wulfgar the Slayer' and his Anglo Danish warband victorious, but only just. 

It was great to be playing Lion Rampant again. We got a few things wrong but will correct those come the next game which will be very soon. We also think we will be much quicker working through the game next time.