Lion Rampant: The hunt for Brother Alwin.

 We had a four player game today so we tried scenario 4, the Fugitive. A saxon monk, brother Alwin is on the run and hiding somewhere on the table. Six tokens were placed on the table, each of which could be Alwin. Who would find him first? and could they get him off the table. We had Nigel and Charlie both playing Normans (both of whom wish for the kudos of capturing the monk), Ian his Irish and I used my usual warband of Anglo Danes led by Wulfgar the Slayer.  The Normans wished to capture Alwin as he is a known rebel sympathiser, my Anglo Danes wished to rescue the poor monk from the Normans and the Irish will sell him to the highest bidder! I also placed a heavily laden wagon in the centre of the table which was moved randomly and also became an objective.

Each warband was randomly deployed in a corner of the table and the dice decided that Ian and I were deployed on the west and the two Norman players on the east. This helped create an alliance between the Normans so Ian and I teamed up too. 

In the first turn Ian and then I had chances to locate the errant monk but it was a group of Norman skirmishers controlled by Charlie who actually captured him. A short while later Nigel captured the wagon so very early on the Normans had both objectives

Ian's Irish and my Anglo-Danes at the bottom v Nigel's Normand and Charlies Normans at the top end. It soon turned into an all out battle. 

Charlies Normans led by Bishop Odo. Trait: may re-roll one missed attack per turn. 

Nigel's Normans led by Tallifer, trait: allowed to re-roll one failed activation per turn. 

This trait proved to be really helpful to Nigel. 

Ian's Irish, led by some unrecorded rogue: trait, Leaders unit automatically Wild Charge. Ian finds the 'Wild Charge' trait of his Irish frustrating at times and Nigel's Norman Knights dealt with them quite easily. However, the Irish did keep Nigels force engaged for the whole game. 

My Anglo-Danes led by Wulfgar the Slayer. Trait: he is only hit on a 6 in duels. 

Nigel captures the wagon. and soon moved it behind his troops.  

Charlie's skirmishes locate and capture Alwin and managed to hold onto him all game. 

The Norman's advance. 

The Irish and Anglo Danes create a defensive line. The Anglo Danes did very well but with the Irish being beaten on their left it seemed that they would be hit in their flank soon. 

Anglo Danish huscarle's chopping up Norman Knights. 

Despite doing well against Charlie's Normans I just could not break through in time to try and 'free' Alwin the Monk. 

The one remaining Norman knight has to withdraw. 

Note the standard of Wulgar approaching from the left. 

Wulgar challenged Odo to a duel and using his leadership trait defeated Odo and forced Charlie's units to test their Courage. My Anglo Danes were gradually beating the Normans  on this flank but by our last turn Ian's Irish had all but left the battle. The Normans still possessed both objectives so it was a clear Norman victory.  

This was a really enjoyable 4-player game.  Clear objectives and the varying fighting styles of the forces involved all helped make it fun.