A Return to the Crusades

Over the last couple of weeks the Shed has taken on a distinctive Middle Eastern flavour, providing an opportunity to set up my desert boards and wheel out the Crusader and Saracen armies I painted the best part of two years ago.

The photos in this post come from some of the recent games

I think all Wargamers go through phases in their developments of new genres and I am no exception. I originally set out to create the two Crusading factions with a view of playing a multitude of games including Lion rampant, Crescent and Cross and Hail Caesar. In fact these forces have only ever visited the table about three times in their life and in every case we have used the Lion Rampant ruleset. I have decided that whilst I am painting up my Napoleonic’s we will give these boys a bit more airtime.

So two weeks ago Mark and I convened to play for the first time Crescent & Cross – these are the Crusading rules based on the successful Saga series brought to the wargames fraternity by Studio Tomahawk. Indeed I think I bought this ruleset over two years ago and having had a cursory glance through the beautiful rulebook we’d never actually played.

The rules are effectively the same as Saga in terms of combat, movement and force design. Of course what makes the Saga rules so very different are the use of custom dice and the battle boards. The two factions are represented by three forces on each side. The layout of the boards are somewhat different to the original saga boards but the mechanics are very similar. I don’t intend to put together a full review of these but rather how we coped with the introduction of the new forces.

In our first game Mark took on the Crusading force (chock full of charging knight abilities and governed by the key attributes of chivalry) whilst I took on the unpronounceable M.... faction (best described as suicidal fanatics). It became apparent in our first game that our force choice and composition did not best match the abilities of the board. For example I would have been much better off have smaller units to throw themselves against their Christian foes.

Suffice to say that the Infidel got crushed in the first game whereas the second game (Crusaders versus Saracens) appeared to be much more balanced. In the end the Crusaders won a second time round (a large part down to Mark learning the capabilities of his board).

I think it’s fair to say that saga is a firm favourite in the Shed especially when there is only two of us – this is in part down to the fact we have played sufficient times to understand the intricacies of the original boards. It’s going to take time to get used to the C&C boards but we will persevere.

Our second Crusades game was played on Monday night – this time it was a much bigger affair using Lion Rampant rules with circa 70 points aside. I have already mentioned in previous posts that we have chosen to drop the rule that a failed activation causes the whole army to miss out on orders. Each unit still has to roll for activation (attack, move, shoot) but the game now moves much quicker and a sixty point plus game can easily be fought in a couple of hours with two aside.

Alastair bought along his son on Monday so it seemed only right that as a family they should take on myself and Mark. This father/son combo played the Crusaders – they had over 18 units on the table – predominantly Knights, men at arms and armoured spears. Their forces were augmented with a sprinkling of crossbows, archers and bidowers.

By contrast the Saracens had 27 units on the table with the majority being lightly armed and far more missile troops – this was telling.

A combination of numerous missile troops, some great attack rolls and some really poor ( and I mean poor) morale checks on the Crusading side gave the Saracens a crushing victory. The Crusaders lost or had routed over 70% of the forces for possibly less than 20% of the Saracen force. 

If anything volumes of missile armed troops (couple with skirmishing ability) continuously saps the Crusader strength and once courage/morale throws go awry there is little they can do to force a fight on their more lightly armed opponents. I am still in two minds as to whether these rules are biased in favour of archery but in our particular game they did force a decisive decision. I now know that the Crusaders themselves knew they had a deficit in this area of force composition and employed their own mounted skirmishers so maybe next time we will give them some of these versatile troops.   

Third Crusade Battle - Lion Rampant

Hi Folks

If you have been following the blog you will know that over the past 12 months I have been building and painting two large armies for some big battles of the Third Crusade.



Last night I scrapped the idea I was working on for my Pulp Campaign finale (that's now next week) and chucked down an open desert board and all the figures I have painted for this genre. All told there were close to 600 x 28mm minis on the table including 150+ cavalry figures. It looked awesome.

I was so engrossed in the game I took few pictures but hopefully the few that are here will provide the sense of splendour.



We used the Lion Rampant rules for this game with each side fielding 92 points aside.

To begin with I thought we might be biting off more than we could chew but I had no worries, the game was done and dusted in two and a half hours. It was brutal.

The winner would be the first team to break the opposition by destroying more than half their units on the table. In the end both sides came very close with the Saracens scoring a marginal victory.



From my perspective Lion Rampant worked brilliantly for this large fast paced game...with no terrain to hide behind it really was a straightforward pitched battle. Once again we dropped the rule that a failed activation prevented other troops from performing actions.



Probably like history the Crusaders were outgunned in the archery stakes but more than made up for it in the heavy armour - bow it takes a lot of arrows to bring down armoured knights.

Morale failures were key in this game with many of the crusader units fleeing after a few hits  poor dice rolls.

In the coming weeks we are going to replay this battle using Hail Caesar to see how the two sets compare.

A few more pictures....

 

Until next time

Oasis Denial - A Lion Rampant Battle

Monday Nights Action Report from the Shed sees a second game of Lion Rampant in the time of the Crusades. This was a hastily put together scenario with the following background.

A strong force of Christians are pursuing a Saracen Warband in the deserts of Syria. Water is running out and their only hope of salvation is to capture the Oasis. The Sarcen commanders know of their foes predicament and will do their utmost to deny this valuable resource.

With four players attending (Mark, John and Stephen plus myself) we split the forces evenly, with both sides supporting 48 points of troops.

The Saracens would be predominantly lightly armoured, mounted and bow armed whereas the Crusaders would dominate on the infantry front and well armoured. This would be an interesting experience to see how two matched sides in points but vastly different force compositions performed.

The Forces

Saracens

Each Saracen force contained

1 x Mounted Sergeants with Bows
3 x Mounted Yeoman with Bows
1 x Spear Armed Yeoman infantry
1 x Archer Unit Infantry

Crusaders  

Each Crusader Force Contained
1 x Mounted Men at Arms
1 x Mounted Sergeants
1 x Archer or Crossbow unit
1 x Bidowers Unit
2 x Foot Sergeants

Each Side was formed along a long table edge, with the Oasis positioned on the Saracen table edge between the two forces

The Saracen horse mass outside the Oasis

Awaiting the advance of the armoured crusaders

The target Oasis to the centre left of the table

The Crusaders advance into a hail of Saracen arrows...

With the cavalry advancing rapidly the Saracen light horse fall back

On they push...

Crashing into the light cavalry

Mounted battles erupt across the field - the lightly armoured Saracens quaking in their boots, and cursing their poor luck to be here that day

The Saracens throw in their own mounted knights - just to be repulsed as quickly as they arrive

The Crusaders push up on their right flank - demolishing the Saracen forces

With the Oasis in site armoured foot march forward.

A final desperate charge from the Saracens comes to no avail..

The Christians have reached the edge of the Oasis...

All across the front they push forward

More cavalry action (over 100 horse figures on the table)

Finally the Crusaders force their way into the Oasis

So the end result - a crushing victory for the Crusaders. A combination of really poor Saracen dice rolls and the superior Crusader armour put the Christians in front.

A fun game and we will certainly return to the Holy Land in the new future

Until next time

Monks in Flight - A Lion Rampant AAR

Hi Folks

Last night was quite possibly one of the most fun games I have played in the shed for a long time. All credit to my fellow gamers...the infamous Legatus of Legatus Wargames fame and Alastair of a wargaming gallimaufry.

Both these guys will almost certainly have posts up on their excellent blogs so do check them out.

It was only when putting together this post I realised that all three of us run wargames blogs (yes I know Legatus runs several blogs some of which ask you if you are 18+ ).

So here is the thought for the day...what do you call a group of bloggers in a shed...I'll try and think of an answer by the end of the post.

So back to last nights proceedings. It was a game set in the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades using the Lion Rampant rules.

The Table (west to east)

The table (east to west)

The Background.

Over the last few weeks a group of rather fanatical monks have been stoking up the anti Islamic sentiment in an area near one of the local Crusader castles under the Jurisdiction of Sir Guillarme Vin A Grett. Despite being told not stir the religious pot of hatred they continued their sermons unabated.

This clearly caused offence to the local Saracen Warlords - El Salsa Cele Ray and Sultana Ray Sun who have decided that these monks must be sent to their maker forthwith. Realising that the death of a dozen Monks in his lands to the infidels might prove problematic with his future church relationships Sir Guillarme decides to get them off his land pronto.

He has arranged a boat to pick them up outside the fishing village of El Del Bay and has provided a sizeable escort to ensure their departure.

The boat awaiting the monks in the bay...yes I know its a longboat but I have NOT built a Cog yet

Objective: The Crusades must escort the monks to the seashore. Provided at least one monk reaches the boat the Crusaders win.

The Saracens must kill all the monks  - however killing them with missile fire is not appropriate. Their blood must be spilled on the sand with a sharp blade.

Some apologies....

1. The photos appear quite dark. I am experimenting with a new lens ring flash which does not appear to have worked.
2. The Crusaders bases are all covered in static grass - these are from my Robin Hood Games as the planned Crusader Army is still being planned.
3. The infantry are all on movement trays - these need to be painted and although unsightly greatly speed up play

The Forces

For a Lion Rampant Game we had a lot of troops on the table - please don't ask the points value as I did not work it out. War is never fair !

Crusaders

1 x Mounted Men at Arms
2 x Mounted Seargeants
1 x Turcopoles (mounted Yeoman Mercenaries)
1 x Crossbows
1 x Bidowers with Bows
3 x Foot Infantry - Yeoman
1 x Serfs (Monks)

Saracens

1 x Mounted Seargeants with Bows
4 x Mounted Yeoman with Bows
1 x Archers
4 x Yeoman Infantry

House Rules

The following is contentious but we dropped the failed activation rule - ie if a unit fails its activation the rest of the force must forfeit their turn. We don't like this as it slows down the game.

The monks would activate with a +1 to move and could move 8 inches per turn


The Report

The Crusader convoy started to march up the board towards the fishing village. The Monks firmly protected in the middle.

Saracens watch from the cliffs in the distance...

As the convoy advances failed activations cause the vanguard to break from the main body...spear armed yeoman advance towards the Oasis

The Saracen horns sound the charge and the Horse advance to within bowshot range...

At the front of the line the heavy Crusader Horse rush towards the village

Their advance checked by the Saracens riding out to meet them...

Back in the rear the Crusaders ready themselves for the Saracen onslaught...

Battle commences at the rear of the line - archery and skirmish orders ruling the day

The heavy bolts of the Christian Crossbows soon decimate the Saracen Infantry

To block the advance the Saracens position their heavy cavalry across the village road flanked by their light infantry and archers

Light Saracen horse begin to harry the advancing knights (with not much affect)

More mounted missile troops enter the fray

The rear attacks are starting to cause casualties on both sides

The Crusaders horse charge towards the village and cut down by a host of arrows

Infantry support advances

Driving off the light Saracen horse...

The heavies of both sides clash with the mailed Europeans taking the upper hand

The Monks (top right) continue their march towards the sea protected by cohorts of infantry

An Archery duel opens up between the Saracen bows and the Crusader skirmishers - numbers count and the bidowers bite the desert dust

More Christian Horse pile into the dusty village

The remants of the Saracen army hide behind the village walls hoping to drive back the invaders

With foot support in abundance the Crusaders quickly force back the Saracens

A last Saracen unit is all that stands between the Monks and their flight...alas they fall to the mailed fist of the Crusaders

The Monks (and Nuns) reach safety...

All great fun !!

At the beginning of this post I asked the question 'what do you call a group of bloggers...?'

Shedson's response was ....SAD !!

My response to that was ...get on with you homework !

The best I can think of is a Roll of Bloggers...

Until next time...