Monday, October 27, 2014

Lion Rampant – First Game


Sunday evening I threw down a quick game of Lion Rampant for the kids – just to try it out…

As it was a quick game we didn’t really come up with any sort of background or names or anything – expect more of that next time!

SCENARIO

We played the standard “Bloodbath” scenario – go kill your enemy – kill the mostest, the fastest.

FORCES

The Girl’s Retinue
Foot Men-at-Arms 6 points
Expert Foot Serjeants – 6 points
Archers – 4 points
Mounted Serjeants with Crossbow – 4 points


The Boy’s Retinue
2x Expert Foot Serjeants – 6 points
Archers – 4 points
Crossbow – 4 points


THE GAME

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


All set up and ready to go – The Boy’s forces are to the left, The Girl’s to the right.


The Boy’s forces


The Girl’s forces


Turn One


The Girl, being the “attacker”, went first. The Serjeants (mounted and foot) all managed to move forward. The Men-at-Arms failed their activation and ended the turn (so the Archers didn’t move in the first turn either.

The Boy managed to move his two units of Expert Serjeants and the Archers, but the Crossbowmen just didn’t see the point of getting a move on as the enemy were clearly coming to them!


Turn Two


The Girl has managed to get all her forces moving ahead this turn and The Boy has gotten his two units of Serjeants moving….

Then he shot with his archers!


First casualty of the game is one of the Girl’s Mounted Crossbowmen! They passed their courage test and stood firm in the face of… um… arrows…



The boys crossbowmen again decided to sharpen their bolts or grease their levers or something because they were just NOT getting a move on.


Turn Three


The Girl’s foot all surged forward – angered by the loss of their fellow mounted serjeant! Then the mounted crossbow fired… well… not back at the archers (because they were out of range, and to move closer would have put them in a position where they would be essentially surrounded on three sides), but at the foot serjeants creeping up on their left.

They caused two casualties!


The Serjeants failed their courage test and very nearly fled of the table!

At the beginning of The Boy’s turn the Serjeants rallied!


The Boy then retaliated by having his archer rain down more arrows on the mounted Serjeants – taking out a second one! Again, their courage held.


The Other Serjeants advanced and, I think the Crossbowmen may have begrudgingly shuffled forward (I didn’t make a note of it, but they don’t seem quite so close to the table edge here…)


Turn Four


The Girl’s foot Serjeants charged in against The Boy’s Serjeants (which included his leader!). Huzzah!


Both sides lost two. The Girl’s Serjeants failed courage and ran away.

The Girl then moved up her foot Men-at-Arms, but the Mounted Serjeants (with the crossbows) failed to activate ending her turn before the Archers could do anything…



The Boy took advantage of the fleeing, battered enemy Serjeants and followed them up! Neither side caused any casualties… so… The Boy’s Serjeants retreated… which seemed a little odd (as The Girl’s Serjeants were already “battered”)… but that’s how it worked out.

The Boy’s archers shot at the Mounted Serjeants again, but this time caused no casualties.

The Crossbow were up to their usual shenanigans (“No sense in tiring ourselves out boys… they’ll come to us!”)


Turn Five

The Girl failed to rally her foot Serjeants so they lost another member of their unit…


The foot Men-at-Arms charged into contact with the enemy Serjeants!


They slew three of the enemy Serjeants, but the Serjeants sold themselves dearly and took two Men-at-Arms with them!


So the Serjeants fled from the Men-at-Arms.

This time it was The Girl’s Archers turn to fail to activate, leaving the mounted Serjeants stranded in the open wondering what to do.

The boy moved his Serjeants away from the Men-at-Arms – thinking his luck wouldn’t hold out against them… the Archers them failed to activate and no one else did anything for the rest of the turn…!?

I guess everyone was awed by the ferocity of the clashes in the middle of the field and just stood looking on…


Turn Six


The Girl rallied the foot Serjeants and moved the Men-at-Arms towards the lightly armoured Crossbowmen (as the Serjeants didn’t seem interested in defending them!?). Her Archers, however, failed to activate AGAIN!? That’s three turns in a row that neither her archers nor Mounted Serjeants were able to activate!? Wow…

The Boy managed to motivate his Archers to shoot on the mounted Serjeants, causing another casualty, but not ablt to make them lose courage. Then the Crossbowmen failed to shoot at the Men-at-Arms and so neither of the Serjeants got a go.


Turn Seven

The Girls started the turn of with failing to move her Men-at-Arms (and thus everyone else!)


The Boy managed to get his archers to shoot on the Mounted Serjeants, causing yet another casualty!?


This time they decided to pack up their crossbows and get out of there!


The Crossbowmen FINALLY activated this turn!! They shot on the foot Men-at-Arms and caused… one casualty… Well it was enough to bring them to half strength.


Seeing that they were now at a considerable advantage, The Boy sent his foot Serjeants (with his leader) back into combat with the enemy Men-at-Arms! 


Two of them were cut down! The remaining one super failed courage - the Girl Rolled 3, +1 for leader being there (the only one left) but –5 for the fallen members of the unit. Negative numbers means the unit routs off the table or surrenders – we figured as there was only the one left facing six Serjeants, she probably surrendered herself to be ransomed…

But them the Serjeants also failed their courage test (having lost one of their own) – not enough to rout off the table – but enough to be “battered” and retreat from the fight…?

At the loss of the leader the Girl’s foot Sergeants also lost courage and retreated.



As it was past bedtime and things were looking poorly for the Girl’s retinue we called it a night.

We all thought it was a pretty fun game – we’ll definitely play some more of this – perhaps in the new year when our study of world history brings us to the middle ages. As I had mentioned in the previous post the kids each have a few boxes of Hät plastic 28mm Andalusians and Almoravids (and I’ve been eyeing up some Crusader Miniatures and Perry Miniatures for some possible additions to my own Retinues in the new year…)

It wasn't a terribly bloody game. The Boy lost only 8 Sergeants - out of a force of 48 - and not all of them would be dead. The Girl suffered a little worse - losing the 5 Men-at-Arms, 3 Serjeants, and 4 Mounted Serjeants. Most of those Men-at-Arms were probably just knocked down and couldn't get up for the weight of their armour (lying on the ground yelling "come back 'ere, I'll bit your leg off!")!

They seemed to have the WORST luck with the activations, I wonder how much more damage they could have caused had they actually been able to MOVE more of their troops into range/contact. The Girl's archers did NOTHING the whole game - except move twice - in seven turns!? The Boys second unit of Serjeants took two casualties from the mounted (crossbow-armed) Serjeants. Speaking of them, they looked promising at the beginning - galloping ahead, shooting down a few Serjeants... but then sat doing nothing for the rest of the game - taking the occasional casualty. My kids have played a fair bit of DBA/HOTT and Song of Blades and Heroes, so they are well used to having troops just not do stuff, and, though a bit frustrated, took it all in stride- we have fun making up reasons for why they don't do stuff... but when multiple units don't do stuff for over half the game... I guess everyone was just "shocked and awed" by the violence going on in the middle of the field..?

For all that the game flowed fairly smoothly. The seven turns might have taken an hour and a half, but it sure didn't feel like it. And for a game that I had only just finished reading it though once - I had to look up rules a minimal amount of times. Everything seemed pretty straightforward. 


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Not sure… We’re busy working on finishing up Hallowe’en costumes this week. Next week I’m hoping to get in some sort of game with the Ancient/Mythical Greeks – probably using Song of Blades and Heroes.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Lion Rampant Retinue(s)

As I mentioned in the Previous Post I’ve been a little distracted by the new Lion Rampant rules from Osprey Publishing.

I’ve spent the better part of the last week’s hobby time organized, planning, re-basing, and repainting a bunch of figures to put together some sort of Retinue so we can try these rules out. A number of the figures I’m using are some of the oldest figures I have that still have their original paint on them (I have a few older figures – but I’ve mostly stripped and repainted them in recent years…)! They were the retinue of Baron Philippe du Lapin – one of the first miniature armies I put together (and the last of the Warhammer armies I put together). The force was mostly made up of old Wargames Foundry (Hundred Years War, Barons war – mail ordered from England in the pre-internet days) and Citadel Historical miniatures (War of the Roses) – with a few gen-u-ine Games Workshop Bretonians, as they became available. Other figures have worked their way into this force – some Front Rank Figures War of the Roses Billmen and some Axemen of some sort from Old Glory… There’s even a few I modeled and cast myself (see if you can spot them!).

Most of them were re-based a number of years back to form part of a generic medieval human DBA/HOTT army. As it was never a complete army and I have plenty of other armies I could use for Humans in HOTT (all the Dark Ages
 DBA armies
) I figured I could make better use of these as the core of a couple of Retinues for Lion Rampant.

Here’s what I’ve put together so far…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


The entire Retinue so far. This reprents about 42 points worth of troops – Retinues are generally to be built around 24 – so I have almost enough for two full forces… unfortunately these have mostly been painted all the same colour (as they were to be one force originally).

I’m hoping over the weekend we can find some way to split them up and get them on the table to try out the rules – I do have more stuff I can paint up to make a second complete retinue (in different colours!) if (when!) we really get into this!


Foot Men-at-Arms – The hard hitting core of the foot element of this retinue - 6 points

The chap up front with the Bunny Rampants on the shirld is one of the oldest figures I own – one that I repainted a few years back – after scraping of layers of old acrylics and older Testors paints. I think it may have been made by a company called Heritage…? He was used for many D&D characters over the years. The four immediately behind him are Wargames Foundry (with original 23 year old paint – for the most part – I touched one up a bit this week and the others could do with a little love), and the woman in the back was, I think, an old Citadel Miniature (ebay purchase a few years back – stripped off paint from previous owner and repainted).


Expert Foot Serjeants – Regular Serkeants have spears and shields – as these guys have two-handed-choppy-choppy weapons they get classified as “Expert” – 6 points

Recently painted additions that I got in a trade a few years back and never got around to doing much with. They were also earmarked for use in a DBA/HOTT army, but as I never got to painting them, they didn’t need to be re-based. The figures are from Front Rank Figures



MORE Expert Foot Serjeants – 6 points

A mix of Hundred Years War Billmen and other Medieval two-handed sword and axemen from Wargames Foundry. I’ve had them for 23 years – mostly in original paint – though a few have been touched up over the years.


Mounted Serjeants with Crossbow upgrade – 4 points

Old Citadel Historical War or the Roses figures – these were likely part of my earlier Empire Army (and were originally painted with purple and green colours). Some I repainted earlier, some I re-based and re-painted this week).


Crossbowmen – 4 pints

More of the Wargames Foundry I’ve had for 23 years. Mostly original colours – though a few were recently touched up or entirely re-painted.


Archer Unit #1 –  4 points

A mix of Wargames Foundry (Hundred Years War, Barons war) and gen-u-ine Games Workshop - it’s hard to tell which are which – they were both sculpted by the perrys and I think, at one point, some of the same figures were available from both the foundry and GW…


Archer Unit #2 – 4 points

As above…


Bidowers – light skirmishing scouts and woodsmen -  2 points

More of the 23 year old Wargames Foundry. Original paint jobs – these were part of a unit of scouts. Bidowers seem to have pretty much the same function…


STILL MORE Expert Foot Serjeants – 6 points

These are the Old Glory figures. I’m not entirely sure what range they came from. I got them in a trade a few years back, painted and based them for HOTT, and re-based them this week. This will be the core of my new opposing force retinue… Those dastardly black-hearted souls from a across the river that are constantly raiding and harrying the lands of Baron du Lapin…


Without even BUYING any new figures I should also be able to put together (by painting up figures I already have kicking around) another retinue to oppose good ol’ Baron Philippe. I should have enough to build

2x Mounted Men-at-Arms – some Old Glory Crusader-types – I think… (one of these will join this force and include the good Baron) @ 6 points
1x Expert Foot Serjeants – more of the Front Rank Figures billmen. – 6 points
1x Crossbow (with Pavises upgrade) – a batch of old Citadel War of the Roses figures a friend passed on to me – 6 points
1x Bow – Spare Old Glory Welsh Archers I have kicking around – 4 points

I also have a bunch of Old glory Medieval Irish Spear and Axe men I should sort out and make into units (probably two more)…? Could be another 8-12 points…?

The kids also have a bunch of Hät plastic 28mm Almoravids and Andalusians that I picked up for them to make DBA/HOTT armies, but I have a feeling they’d rather paint them up individually and use them for something more like this…


In Other News…


I finally finished up the Graphic Novel Book Shelf… I had hoped I’d be able to get all my comics on this unit and have space left over for the inevitable books I will acquire in the future. Alas… I have gathered up all the books from the previous shelves and boxes and stacks about the house and spent a good chunk of time organizing them all onto this shelf only to find the shelf almost full and I still have these boxes on the floor to get on there somewhere!?!?


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hopefully a game report featuring these forces! 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Great War Gun and Medieval Foot


A couple of productive evenings have led to a few more items rolling off the workbench this week…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Another entry (and possibly my last) for the Lead Adventure Forum Great War Painting Club - as it seems to be wrapping up (it may actually be all over by Xmas!)


The gun and crew are from Wargames Foundry.


They will be joining my Fourth Canadian Division’s artillery (not that the artillery will likely ever be put on the table…).



I have been trying to keep my painting and gaming thematically related to the history I’ve been reading about with the kids. We’ve finally gotten to the Greeks so I’ve been wanting to get back to painting hoplites (and I have painted a few!) and palying some games with those (perhaps even bust out Of Gods and Mortals) but I recently picked up Lion Rampant and have been somewhat distracted by it.  I’ve planning and trying to organize a few forces to try it out. This has required painting up a few things and rebasing a bunch more – mostly old Citadel historicals and Wargames Foundry figures I bought about 25 years ago that were in some of my original Warhammer armies – I later rebased them for DBA/HOTT thinking I’d put together some generic medieval/fantasy human armies… but I got to thinking I’ll probably not get to that any time soon so I’ve re-re-based them individually so they can be used for skirmishy gaming with A Song of Blades and Heroes (or Song of Arthur and Merlin?) and Lion Rampant.

I should probably just set it aside for now and know we’ll get to it next summer/fall when we get to medieval times in the reading… In the meantime here are a few figures I painted up to finish a unit of “Foot Serjeants”…


These lads are (I think) from Front Rank Figures War of the Roses line (I got them in a trade a few years back).



And here they are with the rest of their unit (that I painted previously).

I have a half dozen other units I should have ready shortly to try out a game – more on that shortly.


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

A few more Medieval types THEN (hopefully) I’ll get back to the Hoplites (and Amazons and Greek Gods and mythical beasties!)

Monday, October 20, 2014

Greek Warriors, Roman Auxiliaries


Just a few items rolling off the workbench this week. I’ve been busy with other projects… I'm back to the ancients at least - though I've been a little distracted this past weekend with other miniature possibilities - more on that shortly.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Two Greek warriors from Black Tree Design.


Four Roman Auxiliaries also from Black Tree Design.

Speaking of other projects… some of them involved painting…


These are some new bookshelves I built upstairs for my graphic novel collection (I am a bit of a comic geek…). I have to build some bookshelves for the kids next (which won’t be quite as big as these) and after that I’ll be building another set in the basement war room for all my military history books (they’ll be even BIGGER than these!!)

(I have a few books…)


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I am just finishing up the basing on a Great War Gun team I’ve been trying to finish up for the Lead Adventure Forum Great War Painting Club. Hopefully have those up in the next day or so… 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Another Odd Assortment


I just can’t seem to get focused on any one project and go with it. Here’s what I’ve managed to finish up over the last few weeks…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Our  first Mutants and Death Ray Guns game got me briefly motivated to paint up a few old Grenadier post-apocalyptic figures…

I need more “survivors” that AREN’T armed with guns!


I also finished reading Fear and Faith and started reading Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters which briefly motivated me to finish up this Hasslefree Miniatures knock off of Willow.

(I haven’t finished reading Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters as I was distracted by the arrival of Ted Rall’s new book…)

I am thinking I would like to run a few horror games for Halloween.


On that spooky Halloween theme… a Reaper Bones cheap and easy bat swarm.


More Reaper Bones – FIRE!


A few Black Tree Design Ancient Greeks (because that’s what the kids and I are reading about in our survey of world history… Hopefully there will be more of these over the next two months or so…).


Battle Honors Great War British infantryman because… y’know… 100th anniversary and all that.... (and the Lead Adventure Great War Painting Club


Brigade Games Great War Indian Infantryman. Ditto.


Great War Miniatures Great War French cavalry officer.

I have at least been getting in some boardgaming lately – a LOT of boardgaming!


WE finished up reading about ancient Mesopotamia for the time being with a chapeter on NebuchadnezzarII and the hanging gardens he built for his Persian wife Amytis, so we busted out Hanging Gardens.


I also read Shadow Over Innsmouth with the kids – so we busted out Innsmouth Escape - which I’ve had for a few years but was waiting for the stars to be right to play…. (I asked Amanda and the kids to do their best Deep One impression for the photo – Amanda kind of really nailed the Innsmouth look there… almost worries me a little…).

I also recently picked up Cthuhu: Hastur La Vista Baby. The game is set in Kingsport, so I’m trying to think of which Lovecraft tales were set there that I could read with the kids before we crack this one… Any ideas?


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Ugh… who knows… at the rate I’m painitng it will be a couple weeks before I post any freshly painted figures… perhaps there will be a game report in the meantime.