Lion Rampant - the final battle

Saracens:  28 Glory Points
Crusaders: 32 Glory Points

The Scenario

For our final game we decided on a Battle Royal - a variation on the Bloodbath scenario, with three 20 point retinues per side. For the Crusaders it was Knights Hospitaller, Teutonic knights and the English. The Saracens fielded a large force of mounted and infantry, pretty much all the figures we had. The scenario was simple (destroy the enemy) so we threw in a few Boasts to liven things up and a Princess to be rescued and returned to her father.

The deployment

The wargames gods were cruel to the Saracens as they were forced to deploy all three of their retinues before the enemy. This enabled the Crusaders to deploy their best defence forces (the English) against the massed Arab cavalry attack on the Saracen left.

Teutonics and Hospitellers hold the centre / left

The English on the right 

The Saracen centre and right 

The Saracen centre 



The Saracen cavalry massed on their left

Long-shot from the Saracen left 

Long-shot from the Saracen right

As its a large game it is perhaps best described by zone rather than strict chronology.

 The Saracen right

On this flank Stuart the Elder's Hospitallers made their first outing against the Younger's Saracen's. Things started badly for the Arabs with the horse archers failing to evade and being destroyed. A unit of Saracen heavy cavalry also feel victim, until a well-timed flank-charge ended the knights run and saw the Grandmaster struck-down leading the attack. 

Tally ho



Knights press forward

Some bad dice meant the Hospitaller infantry was late to the fight and made limited progress. It was advantage Crusaders though as they had done the most damage.

The Saracen Left 

The Arab force on this flank was entirely mounted with 2 units of horse archers and about 5 of heavy cavalry. Usually this would be a powerful force but they were up against the English in a good defence position.

Glamping Saracen style

 

Saracens advance

The English holding firm

The Saracens break through 

The Arabs were eventually able to wear-down the English and dispose of a couple of units including one of the longbow men. The Saracens were well-placed to turn the flank.

The Centre

If the flanks had been decisive then the centre was much more sew-saw. The battle began with a strong Saracen advance seizing both the wood and the farm in the centre. The Arab skirmishers managed to rescue the Princess and spirit her away to safety. The Saracen archers also won the archery duel with the Teutonic crossbow men and forced them back. So far so good for the Saracens.    

Capture the farm

 

The Saracens rescue the princess 

However as we all know things are never straight forward in Lion Rampant and a couple of bad turns can decide the outcome. The first Saracen misadventure was that the Fierce Foot found the Teutonic foot knights an irresistible target and both charged head-long into the fray. Bad move - they were quickly dispatched for minimal casualties.

At this point the centre suddenly began to look weak. Infantry had to be diverted to the Saracen right to counter the Hospitaller advance, leaving it short-handed as the Teutonic mounted knights rumble forward through a couple of units.        

With loses mounting fast in the centre only a unit of Saracen spearmen stood farm in the farm. With hedgehog formation and cover they had a  might 5 Armour and were pretty-much untouchable.



Propping-up the Saracen right

With the game all but lost Saracen commanders issued a challenge to single combat to the Teutonic leader. Amazing he managed to win the combat rolling 2 sixes! Even that was not enough though as the Saracens had lost too many points to have any hope of winning.

The End

So dear reader that is the end of the battle and of the campaign. The Crusaders won the final battle and claimed the campaign with a last-gasp victory after being behind for much of the time.

Overall a fun campaign and a fun set of rules once we learned not to take them seriously. The big plusses were the small  / colourful armies and the ability to fit 2 or 3 games into an evening.  The introduction of the flanking rules and allowing a reroll if your first go failed helped the play too.

So now its on to our next campaign - Montrose's fight to secure Scotland for the King


      



Sword and Spear Ancients - our first game

This week we tested a new set of ancients rules - Sword and Spear by Mark Lewis. This is part of the on-going quest to find a set that  is suitable for club nights. Since you should define your terms for me Suitable is:

• Plausible outcomes where reasonable tactics are rewarded.
• Simple and fun with limited scope for arguments (we're gamers so NONE = impossible!)
• Good for multiple players per side with everyone involved most of the time.
• Visually attractive.
• Fast enough to resolve a decent sized game in 3 hours.
• Not needing rebasing.

The Rules

The core of the rules is the activation system, which has something in common with Bolt Action. One dice is placed in a bag for each unit, different colours for each side. Seven dice at a time are drawn, rolled, and used to activate units. Units have an activation score and meeting or exceeding the score allows different actions. You can place multiple dice against a unit to increase combat power, movement, or morale. You can also use dice to counter enemy actions.  The turn is over when all the dice have been used.

So an interesting twist on "friction command" with less randomness than games like Lion Rampant as you should always move a good proportion of your army each turn. The plus is that it forces you to make choices all the time. The fact each mini-turn has a mix of both sides dice means you are involved throughout and there is some subtlety in use of your dice.

The down-side is its "friction command" at the end of the day. So if you don't like that, find it gamey, or want to have full control of your troops then it will not appeal to you.

The Game  

As we had the figures available from our recent Lion Rampant games we decided to pit our Early Crusaders verses Turks. We played with 450 point armies on an 8'*4' table with a couple of players a side. Since it was a practice game we just lined-up with infantry in the centre and mounted on the wings

The Crusader right - lots of doughty spearmen and crossbows

The Crusader left - Teutonic Knights subbing as Brother knights 



Turkish right - the elite cavalry 

Turkish left - the average / poor stuff

Turkish infantry - not much expected from them ;-) 

Overview

Due to the points difference the Turks had 18 dice to the Crusaders 12. The Crusaders also had quite a few units (spearmen and crossbows) who looked like they would do better on the defensive. So the Turks attacked and the infidels wisely sat back.   

Turks advance on their left

The one exception was that the Brother Knights pushed forward in search of prey. In S&S they are "Impact" troops which makes them deadly if they charge. Use of the initiative dice meant that one unit was charged and flanked - bad news for them. The other though as able to get up a head of steam an smashed two units of Turks.

Brother Knights rumble into action

 On their left however the Turks saw-off some mounted sergeants and flanked the enemy position.


Turks do well on the left

At this point the Turks noticed they had some potent "Impact" infantry lurking at the back and so pushed forward with the centre. By now most units were committed and it was about careful use of the dice to try and win some victories.  

A general melee ensues!

By finishing time the Turks had reached a soft army break-point (1/3 points lost) but the Crusaders were not far behind. Another 30mins and we'd have seen a result.

The Verdict

An interesting set of rules that did force you to constantly make choices and keep both sides engaged throughout as you had to counter enemy activation dice placement. The attraction is the friction command system, so if you don't like that approach, then Sword and Spear will likely not appeal.

We've decided to play a second game with the same armies so we can focus on the tactics not learning the game / armies.

So how does it do against my checklist?

Plausible outcomes  - TBD after a further game

Simple and fun - YES

Good for multiple  - YES

Visually attractive.- YES

Fast enough to resolve a decent sized game - TBD.

Not needing rebasing - YES

Saracens:  28 Glory Points
Crusaders: 28 Glory Points

This weeks two games were "Sausages with Mustard" and "Blood Bath". The Teutonic knights were rested this week as Richard fielded his medieval Scottish for the first time.

Sausages with Mustard - Crusader win (3/1)

In this scenario four caches of supplies are being guarded in the middle of the table by some medieval Scottish. The Saracens attacked from the western table edge, with the remaining Scottish trying to reach them.    

The scots advance, having secured the biscuits!

Scots archers guarding the supplies 

The Saracens made the early running advancing strongly aided by their greater mobility. The infantry zero'ed-in on the archers guarding the supplies while the cavalry flanked the position.

The Saracen centre

As the two sets of archers settled down for a dual ultimately won by the Arabs, there Scots spearmen ground-forward. On the Scots left their cavalry found themselves outnumbered and were soundly beaten. In the centre the Arab horse archers took a heavy toll on the Scots isles-men and managed to rout them.


The cavalry clash

The Isles-men suffer

Arabs close-in for the kill

At this point it looked pretty bad for the Scots. They had lost several units and the Saracens were swarming all over the supply caches. One caches went up in flames but a second refused to light due to damp tinder.

Wargaming is a funny thing though and with the game seeming lost the Scottish staged a come-back as their spearmen finally made it to the conflict zone. They pushed forward relentlessly and ground-down the now depleted Arabs. The Saracens hit army break point with only one cache on fire.

Scots spearmen arrive 

The Saracens crumble

The Scottish are a fairly dour but effective bunch with a solid core of Foot Sergeants and a few more attacking units mixed-in. Their big plus is most of the units are 12 figures so they are pretty resilient. 

Blood Bath - Crusader win (5/0) 

Probably the simplest of the scenarios in the book - just try to kill as many of the enemy as you can and hope to reduce them to half strength. Seeing a chance to adopt their favoured defensive tactics the English formed shallow arc across the table. Very reminiscent of the  Hundred Years War. Fearing an archery duel they could nt win the Arabs advanced smartly all across their front as they attempted to close rapidly with the English.

Agincourt or what

The Saracens attack the flanks

Saracen infantry in the centre

The Saracens launched a fierce attack along the front which met with somewhat unexpected success, chewing-up several of the English units.

The English line - thin brown-ish line in this case



Its all gone wrong for the English 

As with the previous game it seemed pretty bad for the Crusaders but it was another tortoise and hare contest. The two units English foot knights are a very tough nut to crack and they account for almost half the English army points. So despite their strong start the Arabs found themselves slowly whittled away to leave the English the winners. 


The English foot knights hold firm

Once again the English showed that when the scenario allows them to defend they are tough to beat.

Bolt Action - soviet heavy weapons

After a bit if a surge I've now completed my final soviets for Bolt Action. Last off the painting table are the heavy weapons teams. I've used Plastic Soldier Company figures again - one box of heavy weapons and one of early AT guns.

So this gives me; 2*Maxim MMGs, 2*60mm mortars, 2*82mm mortars, and 2*45mm AT guns. The AT guns actually come with three different barrels; M1937 45mm, M1942 45mm (long barrel) and the M1943 76mm infantry gun. I went with the long-45mm version.

Under Bolt Action you are limited on the support weapons, so I have enough for two platoons.

Maxim MMG

Commissar and helper

Mortars

The completed weapons teams 

AT guns in cover

 

 

My favourites are the AT guns, not least because you get some additional bits to decorate the base such as shell casings. So a couple of additional shots of those two. I hope PSC get around to producing some additional artillery in 28mm and perhaps expanding the range to include Germans.

 

M1942 45mm AT guns

Reverse view

So there we have it - the soviets are now completed. I can now return my attentions to completing my Ancients armies which have been languishing for a few months.

 

 

 

 



 



 

Bolt Action - our first game

Now that we've managed to paint a enough figures we decided that this weeks game would be Bolt Action. As it was our first game we opted for smallish forces  (750 points) and no fancy stuff like vehicles or off-table artillery.

The Germans fielded an elite unit of Veteran Fallschirmjäger consisting of 2 * 10man squads supported by an MG42 and a light mortar. This gave 6 activation dice 

The Soviets had a larger, but lower quality, force of regulars and inexperienced troops. They fielded 3*10man squads, an SMG squad, an MMG, a medium mortar and a sniper team. This gave 8 activation dice

We opted for a very simple scenario with both sides trying to capture a  small farm complex and eliminate the enemy.

The Game

The two sides adopted slightly different strategies. The Germans focused most of their troops to their left and centre, using the MG42 to hold their right flank. The more numerous Soviets  place a rifle squad on each flank with the third rifle squad ad the SMGs in the centre to take the farm.

Deployment overview 

The German deployment

The early game saw the Soviets advance in the centre and on their left, using the cover to gain a flanking position. On the soviet right the inexperienced rifle squad went to ground (Going Down in the rules) under mortar fire. Casualties were light but their advance was stalled.


Soviets advance on their left

Soviet SMG squad takes the house

On the Soviet left fire from a rifle squad, the MMG, and mortar all began to take a toll on the German central rifle squad. As hits gradually built they became bogged-down and wavering.

The German left  

Soviet snipers go to work

As the game progressed the Soviet left made further progress, destroying the MG42 and flanking the Germans in the centre.

The Soviet left

 In the centre the Soviet SMG squad grabbed the farm and with support from the MMG and sniper began to ware-down the second German rifle squad.

Tussle for the farm in the centre

After about 2 hours play we concluded that the Germans position was untenable and declared the Soviets the winners.

The Verdict 

Overall an enjoyable game and the core mechanics worked well. Activation of units is done by drawing a dice of the appropriate colour from a bag and then using it to indicate what the chosen unit will do e.g. Rally Shoot, Move etc. So activation order is somewhat randomised but every unit will get a go. Depending how suppressed they are they might not do anything other than  go to ground though.

With a new set of rules you are never sure if any funnies are problems, bad tactics, or us just getting it wrong and not reading the rules properly. So the major things to look at for next time are:

1. How does line of sight work over hedges? We treated more than 1 as cover but should LOS stop at the first hedge?

2. Direct fire artillery was very hit and miss, mostly miss. The rules don't allow for accidently hitting other targets and chances of causing kills seemed pretty low. Perhaps we were nt doing it right or perhaps artillery is weak to encourage movement?

3.  Veterans are tough to hit and kill. Not a criticism as it felt right. Hard cover though did nt seem to offer much more protection than soft.

4. Are we doing suppression right? The classic tactics of a base of fire to pin the element down and manoeuvre to a flanked did nt quite seem to work as the pinning was not hugely effective.  

5. The potential for double-entendre was off the chart with units Going Down and people rummaging in their sacks (for activations dice) all over the place. Kenneth Williams would have a field day.