Lion/Dragon Rampant Tournament Game Day at Gig Harbor

Just got back from playing three games of Lion Rampant at a tournament hosted by Pat L. (aka Socal Warhammer). As mentioned in the previous post this was a cleverly designed format with five total games, the first two being Lion Rampant, the third being the players' choice of either Lion or Dragon Rampant, and the final two being Dragon Rampant. This allowed the player to have three (or five) total games to count for the results. I chose to stick with Lion Rampant for the first three games as I knew I would not be playing the last two games of Dragon Rampant. I ended up tied for second place with my first two games being ties and winning my third game - each game having 2 Glory points. I used the Boast of killing more using my bows than with spears. Not too difficult as four of my five units were bow armed. I left after the third game and the remaining folks are probably finishing up their last game about now. As usual, I took a lot of pictures, but over half of them were too blurry.

Bruce M.'s "Ever Victorious" Samurai retinue. For the record, Bruce is the owner/proprietor of Company B.

From my first game against David S.'s (I Live with Cats) El Cid retinue. My unit of archers stupidly failing to take the high ground before David's cavalry got into Attack range.

I managed to get my archers on top of the hill to accept the Attack so I could at least get a +1 to my Armour in the first round. Would've been smarter to have fired on the cavalry prior to their Attack though.

My Ferocious Foot monks taking on some Spanish foot.

My second game against Bryan S.'s all-cavalry unit - most with missiles. I managed to roll 7's for Leadership skill in my last two games; giving me the Commanding trait which allowed one re-roll per turn for a failed activation of units within 12" of the leader - as well as the leader's unit.

A Dragon Rampant game in the third round.

My third and last game against Scott A.'s 13th C. retinue of two Mounted MAA units, two Foot Serjeants and one unit of Crossbows. I luckily was able to kill off half of his retinue for the win.

Most of the standings at the end of game three. The scoring was calculated by wins/losses/ties and the amount of Glory points achieved (or lost). As you can see, Bruce not only won all three of his Lion Rampant games, but also won an incredible amount of Glory points. I should note,
the reason there were so many ties is that we had an hour and a half for each game and if a clear victory wasn't achieved (i.e. killed off over half of the enemy, etc.) it was declared a tie. Players also had to choose between 1 and 3 Boasts, each with up to 3 Glory points each. Boasts not achieved had those Glory points subtracted from the score.

Another Dragon Rampant game during the third round with Bryan S.'s Penguin warband.

Yet another third round Dragon Rampant game. Although I did want to use my recently painted Oni in a Dragon Rampant game, I didn't want to stay for the last two games. Maybe they'll get on the table in the near future.

Well it was another great event with a good bunch of gamer buds using a fun set of rules. Thanks for stopping by and best wishes to all.

Early Samurai Lion Rampant "Retinue" & Dragon Rampant Warband

I'm committed to attend a Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant "tournament" game day this coming Saturday. Seeing how I like "shooty" armies, I'm planning to use my old Early Samurai figures which haven't seen the gaming table for quite some time. These are mostly TAG figures which I had painted many years ago and used a lot when I was playing WAB. I'm really looking forward to using them again with Lion/Dragon Rampant.

The 24 point "retinue" pictured above consists of two units of Mounted Serjeants with bows; a unit of Fierce Foot (the Sohei monks); and two units of Archers - one rated as Expert. Four of the five units are shooters - which allows them to attrite the enemy without coming into close contact - I hope!

The second picture shows some of the earlier figures along with the recently painted Oni as a 30 point Dragon Rampant warband - namely the "Men of the Far East." This warband is composed of two Heavy Rider units with mounted missiles; an Elite Foot unit with missiles; a unit of Heavy Foot rated as Offensive (the monks); and finally the Oni as a Lesser Warbeast with Spore attack. The monks are Kingsford minis and quite nicely sculpted.

There will be a total of five games for the tournament. The way the host, Socal Warhammer, has it set up is two Lion Rampant games in morning/early afternoon. A third game being the gamer's choice of either another Lion Rampant game or switching to Dragon Rampant. The last two games will be Dragon Rampant. This way the gamer can chose either three games of of either ruleset for a final three game score. I'll likely play three games of Lion Rampant as I don't plan on staying the night to finish the last two games. Until then, best wishes to all!

Battle of Bosworth Field Set Up

Some staged shots of what I had intended to host at next year's Enfilade convention - Battle of Bosworth using Lion Rampant. However, the set up (trying to stay historical) seems a bit boring - not really enough natural terrain features for the rules, IMO. I'm thinking of switching to the Battle of Tewkesbury. This would have a bit more terrain, as well as hidden movement of some cavalry. More to follow.

The view atop Ambion Hill with Richard III's forces. The lone Earl of Northumberland figure represents his retinue - which did not take part in the battle.

The view from Henry Tudor's right - with the forces of Lord Stanley to the left of the marshy area where Richard would meet his fate.

Richard's army from the left.

Henry Tudor's forces with mercenary crossbowmen on his left flank.

Richard's forces from the right flank.

I'm pretty sure the scenario would play out, but it would be mostly a head to head scrum. Possibly a special rule to activate Lord Stanley's forces would make it a little bit more interesting. Anyway, I hope to re-set the table for a Tewkesbury scenario. BTW, I gave up trying to stay totally historical with the banners and standards. The noble households were switching sides or dying out far too often.

Lion Rampant Game Day

Just got back from a nice Lion Rampant game day hosted by Pat L. (aka SocalWarhammer). It was held in a quaint library in Gig Harbor, WA. A nice turn out with about 10 or 12 players. I managed to get my Hundred Years War English retinue killed off in two games. I tried to be slick and have a "heavy-hitting" retinue of one Mounted MAA and two Foot MAA units and only one missile firing unit of Mounted Yeomen. Well, that was a recipe for disaster against my first opponent's crossbow and bow heavy Early French retinue. My second game pitted me against bow-armed mounted Mongols. One of my Foot MAA units did kill off a couple of the French in combat - well, if I recall it correctly, I think it was mostly due to his units failing their Courage tests repeatedly. Oh, well I'll take 'em as I can get 'em. Here are a few images of the games. Sorry for the lack of clarity using my cell phone.

My Mounted MAA making the second greatest error in warfare - getting too close and Wild Charging enemy in Rough Terrain; the greatest error being starting a land war in Asia, of course.

My retinue intact at the start of the game. It didn't last long against missile heavy opponents.

My buddy Ron's crossbow blocks.

A nice Middle Eastern set up.

Dark Age scenario

Another Dark Age - Medieval set up.

A Steppe Russian vs. Mongols game.

My buddy Mikey G's awesomely painted Mongols - he also painted the Russians.

My second game had me teaming up with my earlier opponent with his potent crossbow French retinue against a combined Mongol-Russian army.

My Foot MAA waiting to come to close combat with the Mounted Mongol archers - it never happened as the enemy wore them down with bow fire

My buddy Mikey G.'s Russians advancing headlong into the French Crossbowmen. They'll pay a heavy price for their audacity; as did my English!

We're planning to host a, hopefully, larger Lion Rampant game day next March. If I use my HYW English again, they will drop the mounted troops and be replaced with two units of Expert Archers. Not only making the retinue better performing (I hope), but actually more historically correct in composition. On the painting front, I went ahead and ordered a box of Perry European Mercenaries, and just started on them.

Fix Bayonets! Game Day

Spent the day at historic Fort Steilacoom near Puget Sound at the annual game day. Although games and attendance were a bit lighter than previous years a good time was had by all. I ran the First Battle of St Albans game using Lion Rampant in the morning session. The six players were great and enjoyed themselves. However, the object to capture King Henry VI was not achieved even though we played for about 3 hours. What I plan to do when I run it again at Enfilade! next year is to start the attackers a bit closer, as well as having less rough terrain for movement.

The Duke of York moving up along Sopwell Lane.

The Earl of Warwick leading a somewhat overly cautious advance between Sopwell and Shropshire Lanes.

View looking towards St Albans

The venue is the building on the left of the sign.

The building is Quarters 2, which is was Lieutenant Colonel Silas Casey's.

The historical marker for the fort.

Napoleon Cannon at the fort, which according to the placards were used in the American Civil War.

American Rampant using Men Who Would Be Kings by Kevin S.

A cool game run by the host of the event, Lawrence B. The game was based on
Puget Sound Indian War 1855-56 using Brother Against Brother rules. I ran a "squad" of Natives - twice - once before and once after I got them killed off.

First Nation guys lurking in the woods with US troops in skirmish line.

Canadian reinforcements.

Scott P's ACW game using Regimental Fire and Fury.

A WW1 Naval game run in the two periods - I think my buddy Damond ran it.

There were several other games going on in the two (morning and afternoon period), but I failed to get pictures of them, as I was busy running a game in the first period, and played in the Puget Sound game in the afternoon. Finally, there was a Bring & Buy, and I managed to pick up a book for a $5 donation to the preservation of the fort  - see below :)

Amazing what you can find in someone else's "trash."

Achilles Rampant or a Feeble Attempt at Reviving this Blog

Thanks to my recent (last Memorial Day weekend) attendance at our annual historical gaming con, Enfilade!, my interest in historical gaming has been re-kindled. As mentioned in my previous post, I ran my old Siege of Haengju game in four gaming periods. It was four more games than I had participated in for the previous 12 months. I ended up really enjoying GMing the games and started to think about what to host for next year's con. Having sold off over half of my collection, I thought I'd use my remaining figures - and thought it'd be great to pull out my Trojan War figures for a version of Lion Rampant. I drafted a set of rules that would be convention friendly and formed up "retinues" - I think calling them warbands are more appropriate for this period. To get in the mood, I took these staged shots.

Obviously total disregard of the 3" between units rule.

The "trees" are recent conversions from "flowers" I picked up from Michael's.

6 warbands - I find that 6 players are optimal for convention games.

I modified the rules to allow 2" minimum distance between units, as well as limiting dice to 6 for full strength units and 3 dice for under half-strength. I envisioned this to make the game a little less deadly and allow the game to be played a bit longer as the gaming periods are 4 hours each. Also, as I don't plan on adding more figures to this collection, I fudged the number of some of the skirmisher units - basically giving them full strength at whatever they start the game with. Since I had an odd number of chariots (15), one has a unit of Chariot Runners with it. Oh, and there are several 3-figure Hero units - a sort of take on the adaption of the rules with Dragon Rampant. Here are the draft rules:

Before I could get a play test in, I decided to run the First St. Albans game for the con next year. The only problem is I sold off my War of the Roses figures last year. Just this morning I placed a rather large (for me anyway) order from the Perry Bros. I will have close to 200 figures to paint up - once I order some paint that is, as I threw away all of the few bottles of Vallejo I had thinking I'd never paint again. More to follow. And a sincere thank you for visiting my resurrected blog.

Lion Rampant Retinue - Somewhat English HYW

A 24pt Lion Rampant retinue using only 24 figures. I like the compactness of the force, and hopefully the Mounted Yeomen with bows, classed as Expert, will provide enough fire support. The Mounted and Foot MAA's should be quite formidable opponents in Attacks.

Of course a true HYW English force would have a good number of Longbowmen. Anyway, these figures were all painted awhile ago, but I don't think they were pictured as a group before - at least not as a LR retinue.

Battle of Ichi-no-Tani using Lion Rampant

Here's the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani using Lion Rampant. I slightly modified the rules a bit by making all units 6-figures, and also upping the Armour save to 2 from 1 for the Bidower classed Chugen/Ashigaru. Mounted and foot Samurai were classed as Serjeants and armed with bows; the foot Samurai were upgraded to Expert. Warrior Monks were also classed as Serjeants and given the Fleet Footed special rule.  In the actual historical battle, the Taira forces were decimated, yet a remnant managed to make it out to sea. Another deviation from history had Minamoto Yoshitsune, the hero of the actual battle, killed off in this game.

Pre-game set up showing the nomimal placement of troops. The Victory Conditions for the Taira were either getting at least 50% of their troops off table using the watercraft beached along the shore - or killing at least 50% of the attacking Minamoto forces. The Minamoto's Victory Condition was simple - kill off at least 50% of the Taira.

Minamoto Yoshitsune and his loyal companion, Benkei lead the Minamoto cavalry. Their descent from the sheer cliffs behind the Taira camp is still remembered as a legendary feat.

Fleet footed warrior monks allied with the Minamoto break through into the Taira stronghold from thick forests. The surprised lower classed Chugen will soon be decimated, even with their increased Armour save of 2.

On the opposite side of the Taira camp, Minamoto Yoshitsune counter attacks Taira foot samurai - their red banner bearing the clan's butterfly crest. This engagement was more evenly matched with equal amounts of casualties. Both units passed their Courage tests and had the attacking Taira retreating to lick their wounds.

Minamoto foot samurai having attacked and successfully breaking a portion of the Taira barricade are ready to move in.

Another unit of Minamoto cavalry counter attacks Taira foot samurai in the center of the Taira stronghold. Again, another evenly matched fight, with the Taira retreating back as a result.

Now it is the Minamoto cavalry's turn to attack the Taira, who are now backed up against the wall of their fortress. The Taira foot samurai held their own and made the Minamoto attackers retreat after this round of combat. Note the Taira chugen bowmen along the walls. This unit was allowed to fire half their shooting dice on either side from the main gate. They also had a special rule to dismount from the wall and form into a unit on their next turn.

Sohei warrior monks having turned the Taira right flank within the stronghold move towards the main gate. The chugen bowmen have jumped over their walled enclosure and will form up as a unit in their next turn - hoping to reach the boats.

Minamoto and Taira foot samurai in combat. Both sides again fairly evenly matched. The attacking Taira retreating towards the shoreline after the combat would be fortuitous for them. By now, over 50% of the Taira had been killed. However, we decided to continue playing on until until all were killed or if any could make it to their watercraft and out to sea.

The remnants of the Taira - the chugen bow unit and half of a samurai unit - successfully reach their boats and subsequently make it out to sea out of bow range of the Minamoto.

Remaining Minamoto forces rally outside the now deserted Taira stronghold. Their leaders Yoshitsune and Benkei having been killed within the compound make it a bitter sweet victory.

A nice use of the rules with a semi-historical conclusion. Although the Taira lost the game due to over half of their forces being killed off - the Minamoto lost their leader which would likely have dire effects in a campaign setting. I must add that the Taira had two or three failed activation rolls in a row which really hindered their deployment and tactics. As far as comparing the use of Lion Rampant and WAB for this scenario - I would say both work, but I recall the WAB game having a bit more flavor. That is, one of the games had the Minamoto commandeering a Taira boat and setting fire to the Taira flagship.