Lion Rampant: The Wolves Return...

... or, with all 3 of our group's Scott's showing up for last night's game, "the Scottening!".

The Vikings were back. Mostly because I haven't painted any other Dark Age troops, also just because I love these miniatures.

We played a variant of the "Tax Collector" scenario in the Lion Rampant book. We had one of the objectives in the Bailey. WE had 6 players controlling 12-15 points of troops.
The Vikings had a hard time getting started despite the house rule of always getting Move at least one unit. It didn't help one of our side didn't know you rolled 2d6 instead of 1. How did he think he'd get those Bidowers shooting on a 7+?
The Norman heavies crashed across the stream and bashed into a couple of unprepared Viking units.

They didn't last long. The first two Norman units to be destroyed (along with their leaders) were said heavies. On the other side, the Berserkers had a poor showing.
The Normans were able to secure some tax tokens, but the Vikings surged forward finally and moved forward looting and burning.
It was a rough day for Leaders. Snake eyes were rolled 3 times for Lucky hits. All in all a great game. Still my favorite rules for the period. Now I just need to paint some Scots, Welsh, Saxons....

Lion Rampant: Burn those Boats Pt2

Last week seemed like such a close game, we decided to keep it set up and finish, Miraculously, the dragons (cats) that live in or castle let them survive.
When we last left our battle, the Normans were getting the worst of it. Even though they out numbered the Viking invaders, a rash of failed activations and poor dice rolling had kept them on their side of the board, and beaten back at every flank. One lone cavalry unit had managed to flank the the Vikings on their left, and were in threatening to burn one of the boats.

Until the Berserkers attacked. They were in wild charge range of the Norman cavalry. The Normans failed their own counter charge roll and took the charge at a stand still. It was a slaughter for both sides. The Berserkers went to Valhalla but took all the horsemen with them.
The Vikings pressed forward across the line.
Then, the brilliant Norman commander, who had failed rolling all last game, and was on course to repeat, came up with a plan.
He gave all his troops to his subordinates.
Sure enough, they performed brilliantly. The best unit on the table, a Norman Mounted Men-at-Arms unit cut a swath through the vikings like butter. Crossbowmen, filled the sky with arrows. It all looked like the tide had turned. And it had.

The tide was going out, and the Vikings started loading up the ships. One of units stayed behind, formed shieldwall and single-handedly held up the Normans while their brothers escaped. The Valkyries delivered them personally to Odin's side.

Dark Age Lion Rampant: all that rebasing pays off

With their dull coat still drying, my 300+ Vikings and Normans made the precarious journey 40 minutes south to christen one of our Basement Generals new game rooms.
It was an honor and a privilege to be the first to bloody Nick's new game room.
The Viking horde was quickly bearing down on a small Norman village. The local lord was tasked with trying to save all the livestock, treasure and important personages before they fell into the pagan's hands.
Vikings got the first move and everyone was able to move the close to 200 miniatures forward.
The Normans, failed miserably to motivate their troops.

By the end, the Normans were able to finally get moving. Several leader challenges later, only one Viking commander was alive. On my flank, my leader and his Norman counterpart fought 3 times before he finally won.
It ended up being a Norman victory, but I didn't care. Everything looked great, the beer flowed freely and new war room got broken in.

Lion Rampant (or is it Raven?)

Had another great game of Lion Rampant using my battle hardened Dark Age troops. While not specifically designed for Dark Ages, the rules handle about any small scale, pre gunpowder period. Although there those on the LR forum doing just that!
We had 4 new players trying it. They picked up the rules within a couple turns. It was quick, it was bloody, and a lot of fun.

Guy de Fountanbleu got word that yet another Viking raiding party had washed ashore and was pillaging their way across his lands, led by none other than Hrothgar the Red Handed and Scotti the Hairless.
Guy called up his servants and retainers led by Sir Gregory the Cautious and rode to met the invaders.
By the time Guy got his men on the field, Hrothgar had most of his men near the helpless village. He immediately lost several men from his household guard from arrows launched from Viking bidowers in the trees. But luckily, Gregory had men in the village formed up in shieldwall. They sent two Viking bands to Valhalla.

Hrothgar and Guy called each other out for a challenge, but the fight inconclusive. Guy refused to dismount and "fight like a man".
But, for as many Vikings as Gregory killed, Guy was losing too.
As night fell (you play this scenario until 5 bands are left on the table), it appeared to be a draw.
A great game. As many miniatures I own for the period, I see much painting in my future.

Saturday AAR

The Baroness took a much deserved grand tour of the Kingdom this past Saturday which left me some time to paint and try out some games I've been wanting to try for awhile. I enjoy my problem of 6-8 regular players, but it doesn't allow for those smaller 1 v 1 games. So, with the help of Essjam, I tried Dux Bellorum and Richard III.

The Normans and their LPs

I gave a one read thru review a while back. The Early Dark ages or time of historic Arthur, has always been a favorite of mine. I've had, over the years several rule sets, but none felt quite right. Glutter of Ravens came close but still wasn't right for me. When I read Dux Bellorum was a refined version of Glutter, I knew the $12 purchase was worth it.

The forces face off. LPs have been assigned.

I don't actually have any Romano-Brit troops, so I pushed the limits of the rules to a Norman v Viking contest. You build forces using a small but effective troop list. Horses aren't very prevalent for the DB period, so a Norman force cost a lot, only giving me 10 stands of troops. In DB, a stand is a unit of around 50-ish men. It also uses basewidths as measurement. My 60mm x 60mm bases with 6-8 men looked just right. This isn't a army we're talking about, but a warband of a local warlord.

Red dice indicate Cohesion loss. Long term I would definitely use markers to limit battlefield clutter.

You purchase Leadership points for your forces. For this test, both sides got 8. LPs are the heart of the system and add tons of tactical depth, I'm sure me and my opponent only began to understand with our one play.
LPs are used to help move your troops, strengthen their attacks, reduce casualties, pre-empt movement, and bolster morale. You've only got so many each turn, and lots of troops. You lose LPs everytime you take losses. How to use them becomes the heart of the game.
The Vikings were the Aggressors. A normal game turn is: Place LPs, Simultaneous shooting, then move and fight.

The battle breaks up. I also used tags to list stats on each base. This isn't necessary in a real game, but thought it would save looking up stuff this first game.

Moves are further broken down to: Skirmishers first, Mounted second then your foot troops, with Aggressors always going first. My all foot Vikings limited my options to the end.
The game started with the Normans getting a pesky skirmish unit in the woods to my flank. Shooting has a hard time killing off units, but it can definitely weaken them. My troops were a mix of highly trained shieldwall (ok attack but tough on defense) and warriors (great on attack, not so much on defense and penchant for uncontrolled charges). The Warriors uncontrolled charges allowed me to attack without having to worry about Bravery Tests, which have to made to move troops around. Once the Normans got close, I just set them loose.
The fighting part became what Dark Age battles are, a shoving match. Terrain limited the abilities of the Norman horse to get around my flank, but they were tough and ended up breaking the flank they hit after 3-4 turns.
It was close. We finished within a few stands of each other with the Normans eeking out a victory. It took but an hour to play.
Can't wait to try these as a campaign. Speaking of which, yes I have read Dux Britainiarium. Like most of the Lardies rules, I liked the ideas presented, but found the actual play clunky and not to my taste. That being said, the campaign system could be lifted and use the combat from Bellorum.

We then played Richard III. I have a large Wars of the Roses collection, so a Columbia Games block game about the period was right down my alley.
I played the Lancastrians and Scott the invading forces of York. There are 3 game turns, each split into 7 sub turns. By end of round 2 I was dethroned and playing the Usurper, and in the end lost by 2 points. Again, a great game with lots of depth I barely scratched.
And on a final note, "Hey we made 200 Followers!" Welcome to the new guys and tahnks to the old, for sticking around.

Northman vs Norman

It was time for a Dark Age slugfest. I used the same rules (Flower of Chivalry) we use for our "Campaign for the Kingdom". They still work well for 11th century.
A large group of marauding vikings led by Horst the Wily, are stirring up trouble. They've managed to secure some Breton mercenaries and are burning they way across the countryside. The local lord Duc' d'Lindsey, has mustered the troops and moved out to stop them.

The Lord orders his troops

Lord d'Lindsey was feeling spry that morning and was rated as "Brilliant" (more 3 action cards in his deck). Meanwhile Horst was a bit in his cups, as thus, "Plodding".

The Viking horde

The Norman lines

Battle for the hilltop.

A class of Normans

The lines reform, then break.

As the battle started, both sides began a slow crawl towards each other. All except the viking right flank. There, Gregor the Obviously Mad, charged forward. By the time he met the Norman cavalry division, his men were exhausted. They held a small hill top, but would suffer.
On the Viking left, Guilliame the Old led the Breton mercenaries. He waded into the fray with gusto, wiping out 4 units off the bat.
With the victory conditions set at 9 units, it looked good for the Northmen. They had taken out 7 Norman units for a loss of only 4 of their own. Two more meant victory.
But, that is where things changed. Thor abandoned his followers. Within a few scant turns it was tied 8 a piece. Horst's command hadn't lost a unit. The center was tight, but in the end, the Normans snatched away the victory. The vikings fled for their ships empty handed.
As usual, FoC provided a great game. Lots of twists and turns, and always different from game before. I think I'll have to try it at RECRUITS some day. NOw, I'm painting some Dark Age stuff to try this with Hail Caesar and compare.

More Vikings for Saga

Inaar Redhand gets some rank and file (Thegns) for his warband.

These gents are Crusader. Nabbed them just before Old Glory stopped carrying them. Fun and easy to paint. Fit in with the Foundry Vikings (which I like a little more) and are probably a little more historically accurate than their Foundry brothers.

Got a few more archers and some Beserkers and I'll have one warband done. Now, just need someone to fight.

Holiday painting

Here's what I painted over the Thanksgiving break:

Inarr Redhand and his bodyguard, for SAGA.

reverse

Inarr's Hirsir

15mm Bugbears from Splintered Light, a pleasure to paint.

Some troops and tanks for Robofire! or another SciFi rules set

Tanks are Mechwarrior repaints

Finally, Dystopian Wars Prussian flyers.

Weird how I kept getting progressively smaller, huh?