Lion Rampant: Defending the Indefensible.

 Today we had a 3 player game of Lion Rampant with Ian and Nigel controlling retinues of 20pts each on one side as the attackers. I controlled the defenders as 2 retinues of 20pts each (as Charlie was poorly and unable to play). I had to put some of my troops in a central position defending a stone cross my Lord had constructed on land disputed with the rival Lord (Ian). Ian and Nigel needed to get into the table centre and topple the cross, I had to defend it. 

My retinues at the bottom with some of the troops deployed centrally to defend the cross. 

Most of the opposing retinues.

The defenders of the cross. The disadvantage for these troops was being out of command range that can help with activation throws. 

My Lord John de Lacy and his men about to advance. 

My mounted sergeants head off to protect my flank. 

Ian's scouts were the first unit to rout, shot to pieces by my crossbowmen bravely defending the fence. 

Ian sent his lord Luca de Caggiano around the other flank with a unit of mounted sejeants in support. 

After a couple of rounds of fierce fighting and missile fire only Sir Luca was left of Ian's cavalry although my troops were battered too. 

Sir John de Lacy, my Lord, moves towards the centre to defend his cross. 

A unit of skirmishing bowmen kill Sir Luca, causing all of Ian's remaing troops to take a courasge test and off they all ran. 

My lesser Lord Richard de Bolton, moves around the chapel towards the cross to add to it's defence. 

In the centre my knights wild charged into a variety of units causing mayhem to the opposition and also to themselves. 

My foot sergeants chase off Ian's last unit, some crossbowmen. 

Now things got so exciting that I forgot all about photographs. 

It was looking favourable for my remaining troops but I had not factored in how deadly Robin Hood (Nigel) and his deadly bowmen were. 

Over the next few turns Robin Hood and his merrymen and also a unit of skirmishers picked off my remaining troops unit by unit. My throws for activation in these last few turns were awful whilst suddenly Nigels dice were on fire. 

So with a narrow, hard fought win Robin Hood and his merrymen dance around the cross before toppling it. This was a very exciting game that could have gone either way. So much fun that we play again next week. 

Lion Rampant: the Taxman Cometh.

 For this week's game of Lion Rampant we chose 'the Taxman Cometh', scenario. Ian took control of two 16pt forces to contest the tax tokens against Charlie and I, each with a 16pt force. We were using our Barons War figures again.

My Warband led Sir John de Lacy with Charlie's Warband in the background led by Sir Richard de Bolton as we deploy. 

Ian's Lord's warband near to us, Robin Hood at the far side. 

We threw for different Leader skills and Charlie got 'Inspired' which was very useful for the extra unit activations he got. 

The table just before turn 1. There are 6 mdf tokens of varying value to represent the tax collected. The players need to find them and collect them, whoever collects the most tax by the end is the winner. 

Happily all of my warband obeyed orders and moved forwards. 

Charlie's peasants rushed into the first building to find a tax token (worth 1pt). 

My cavalry opt to go around the side of the house to try and clash with Ian's knights, plus they picked up a tax token in the marsh. 

Ian's peasants celebrate their tax find in the cottage.  

Robin Hood's missile heavy force take up a central position.

My knights dice for a wild charge and decided that was a good idea. 

But they charge Ian's skirmishers and wipe them out. 

The two units of knights did clash and both survived but at below half strength. 

Then Ian threw his Mounted Sergeants in and after a couple of rounds of melee with them and another against his knights my knights including Sir John de Lacy were routed. 

My mounted Sergeants were also involved but were also routed. 

The death of de Lacy.

His tax token was gleefully picked up by Ian's knights. 

Elsewhere , Charlie's units had claimed 3 tokens and were in a good central position. 

Charlie also managed to activate his crossbow unit to shoot and rout Robin Hood and his not so merry men . By now Charlie still had 3 tokens and Ian controlled the other 3. However, Charlie's tokens  worth 5 units of tax but Ian's totalled 6. With Ian's units in a good position to withdraw with their tax and Charlie too far away to stand any real chance of catching them, a narrow victory was declared for Ian. 

All three of us agreed that this was a really enjoyable game. I can't play for a couple of weeks but when we next play it will be Lion Rampant again, perhaps trying slightly larger warbands.  

Orcs v Elves, Kings of War.

 MisterC came up for our long anticipated game of Kings of War today. With our wives heading off for a walk MisterC and I set up. He had brought his Orc army along to face my Elves. As I had set the table up MisterC chose table edge and quick dice throws decided that I would start deployment first and then take first turn. 

Deployment, elves to the left, orcs to the right. 

We were playing scenario 4: Dominate, a fight to control the centre of the board. 

A close up of MisterC's new unit of orcs (the red ones) and his Orc Wardrum which was to have quite an impact on the game. 

First moves, my elves move their missile troops forward to shoot at the advancing Gore riders. Elf shooting was good and we caused enough damage to Rout them but the nearby Orc Krudger used his 'Inspiring' rule to force a re-throw which saved them. The elves also shot at the far troop of Moraxes and should have routed them as well but the Inspiring re-throw also saved them. 

Note the Drakon Riders who used their fly and nimble to get around the flank of the trolls and lead them on quite a dance. 

Taking cover in the woods 0n the left, some Orc Skulks shoot at my Kindred Elf Archers and scored an incredible five 6's with their 8 attacks. Thankfully this resulted in just 3 damage which the elves were able to shrug off. 

Why is my Magic user standing out in the open, someone could charge him...?

Meanwhile the elf Kindred Archers entered the woods on the left and rout the Orc Skulks.

Whoops, Eritas the Scribe gets eaten by Gore riders. That was very careless of me as he had been using his Lightning Bolt to great effect. 

Orc Sandwich as I try and get as many elf units attacking just two orc ax units, some getting the extra attacks for flank and rear attacks. I was hoping to control the table centre by the end of this turn but sadly for me, one of the orc units survived. Damned wardrum helping them survive. (Good use of that by MisterC). 

My Silverbreeze Cavalry bravely charge into the flank of the Gore Riders who survive then turn and squish my poor cavalry troop. I think a certain Wardrum or Inspiring character helped the Gore Riders again. 

At this point my Elves seemed to have the upperhand. The trolls were stranded out wide having no effect on the game and we were winning the big central clash. 

If you look closely you may spot Elf Prince, Cadvan Dunmail finally entering the fray. 

The orc Moraxes routed my Elf Kindred archers in the wood so my Drakon Rides flew over and routed them in return, things still going well for the elves. 

With that damned Orc Wardrum saving the remaining Orc unit again MisterC was able to move some of his characters into the melee and his Godspeaker, Baragh (magic user) started blasting elves with his Fireball spell. 

Oh no, my Tree Shamblers and then the Drakon Riders get routed and suddenly things are not going well for the elves. The orc warlord Huglik the Vile alongside Vesp the Orc flager had ganged up on the Drakons to see them off. 

Finally with just 2 characters and my bolt thrower left and the Orc trolls largely untouched and in control of the table centre my remaining few elves withdrew to fight another day. MisterC was certainly in control of the table centre. 

This was a classic and most enjoyable game of Kings of War. After 3 turns MisterC and his Orcs were looking doomed, by the end of turn 5 it was the elves who were running off leaving what few Orcs were left to enjoy a narrow but deserved victory. 

This is how wargaming should be, great fun with a good mate. 

I think next time I play Orcs I will have an Orc Wardrum kill squad in my army. 

Lion Rampant set during the Barons War

 We played a game of Lion Rampant today using our Barons War figures. We had tried a few games of the  Barons War rules but have decided that they are not for us, too many tokens and fussy rules that slow the game down. We prefer the subtle fast playing simplicity of Lion Rampant, each to their own!

Ian (Lord Gwiddell de Lombare) and Nigel (Robin Hood) each had a 16pt warband on one side with Charlie (Sir Richard de Bolton) and myself (Sir John de Lacy) with 16pts each on the other side. We played scenario 6 'a gentle stroll' which meant that Charlie and I had to start in one corner and try and survive and move off the diagonally opposite corner of the tabel with Ian and Nigel on a split deployment trying to prevent that. 

Sir John de Lacy deployed at the back with Sir Richard de Bolton leading the march across the board, all part of a cunning plan. Of course that plan was abandoned once the game was a turn or two old. 

Lord Gwiddell de Lombare deploys his troops. 

Robin Hood and his not so Merry Men, Robin is in the blurred unit at the front. 

Robin's skirmish unit was soon battered by bowfire from Charlie's and mine missile troops. 

Two more of Robins units/men, cowering behind the woods but heading for the centre of the board; no doubt part of a nefarious plan to ambush our troops. .

I seem to have not taken photos of the route of Robin Hood. He was lurking near the hill, bottom right but he was also suffering heavy casualties from missile fire and was soon battered and eventually routed from the table. Nigel's 'Courage Test' dice throws were truly awful today. Robin Hood was going to be badly missed by his remaining men. 

Sir John de Lacy took a couple of turns to get moving but here he is aiming for the blurred enemy cavalry on the left of the photo. 

Charlie and I get our troops close to the centre of the table. 

A view from behind mine and Charlie's units, Ian's knights are lurking top right whilst Nigel's last unit is near the chapel and is about to be routed.

Ian's mounted knights charge Charlie's foot knights, although Ian won both units survived. 

Sir John de Lacy also charged Lord Gwiddell's knights and his mounted Serjeants in some great rounds of melee where I eventually came out on top. 

With Sir John de Lacy and Sir Richard de Bolton now holding the centre and with Robin Hoods force totally destroyed the remaning few men of Lord Gwiddell de Lombare took to their heels and ran, game over, solid victory for Charlie and I. This was a fun game to play, full of twists and turns. We intend to play Lion Rampant again next week.