Longtime
NHMGS member (and former president)
Kevin Smyth hosted a
great HYW Chevauchée scenario today at the
Game Matrix. There were 7 players - four French retinues (one made up
solely of several Serf units) trying to hold off three English retinues
attempting to burn villages (which they mostly did) and storming a rundown castle (which they didn't). All of the terrain and figures are Kevin's. With a keen interest in the period, this is only a fraction of his extensive collection. Kevin has been on the hunt for rules for this period for many years. Admittedly, Lion Rampant may not fit larger battles like Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, but for raids and smaller engagements the rules work quite well. ERRATA: per
Kevin's blog post - the actual outcome for the scenario/game was the Serfs winning on Victory Points, followed the French - and the English last - although by appearances, the English burned almost all of the structures less the castle to the ground. They would've accumulated more points if they had looted the villages before putting them to the torch.
 |
| The dilapidated castle in the center of the table, held by various French troops types, including Serfs. | |
 |
| The French retinue on the left flank - which was run by yours truly. There was a unit of Serfs run by my buddy Scott A. which was already inside the village in the distance. The English retinue that moved up into the village burned down the buildings, but could not wipe out the Serfs. |
|
 |
English retinue in the center of the battle moving up through a village towards the castle in the back.ground The French right had their mounted MAA destroy the only English unit in the game - a mounted MAA unit. I managed to get the only French unit destroyed - a unit of mounted Serjeants rashly attacking English foot Serjeants.The photo below has the Serfs fleeing through fields.
|
| | | | | |
|
|
|
|
Nice one Dean. Myself and a couple of friends are taking a look at these rules in the coming weeks. I've got some old Bretonnian figures laying around that I can hopefully put to good use. Cheers
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nate. These rules should be a great way to get your Bretonnians on the table again. I was just mentioning to my buddy today that folks with Bretonnians would have a blast with these rules. Warm Regards, Dean
DeleteMassive castle! With Kevin's forces (and perhaps interests) geared towards the larger battles of the HYW, what was his impression of Rampant Lion in a small scale setting? What was your impression?
ReplyDeleteJonathan: As alluded to above, the rules work best with smaller skirmish type battles. One reason for this is the 3" rule between units - both friend and foe. This precludes combat of multiple units at the same time What is neat with these rules is that there is no set order for actions - so you could possibly shoot an enemy unit with missile fire, than attack it with one another unit - and again with yet another. Of course, this is easier said than done - what with activation rolls and outcome of particularly combats. Still a great and fun set of rules. Long story short, probably better with something like Hail Caesar for larger battles. Best, Dean
DeleteBeautiful looking game Dean. I don't think I've ever seen an AAR on your blog that hasn't made me think "wow, that's impressive!".
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the nice comment, Paul. I am very fortunate to be in an area with an abundance of wonderful gamers - not only are they very nice, but have a vast array of knowledge and cool toys! Best, Dean
DeleteGreat pics Dean! Very inspiring to this period. I've also wanted to do the HYW for quite a while, and thought I would do it for Hails Caesar as a unit-based collection (so loads of work), but now with Lion Rampant I'm starting to think that this would be the best solution. You get something playable fast, and can then build the collection from there. Playing games like Agincourt in 28mm is anyway a challenge due to the amount of models/gaming table size needed, and there is a few guys at our club here playing bigger battles with LR, with two factions a side. That seems to work really well actually.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Sören
Great to hear that, Soren! I once co-hosted a Battle of Formigey game using WAB at a convention. It ran pretty well, but I now abhor (as I did then) individual casualty removal in bigger games. Hail Caesar would be the choice for larger games like that now. Still. LR is just the ticket for smaller games - something I plan to try out for other periods too. Best, Dean
DeleteThat keep packed with crossbowmen look like an ominous objective! Love the terrain too, very cool Dean.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking game Dean! Keen to try these rules out.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gent! Yest, you will love these rules - easy to pick up in a turn or two, yet with enough detail/variables to keep it very interesting!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great game Dean! I'll try these rules out eventually.
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Thanks, Christopher. I'm sure you'll enjoy them.
Delete