Mustering the Troops

 

It has been over a month since I've posted anything, which is not really unusual.  Various non-gaming related events have "interfered" with my gaming activities.  But I have been working on several gaming items.  One being obtaining a copy of the 2nd edition of Dan Mersey's "Lion Rampant" medieval rules.  After reading through the rules and digesting the changes, I said, "Self, we need to have a medieval game."  So I dug out my vintage 25mm Medieval troops and started planning.

After updating my "retinue" list (now a "warband" list) from our last games back in 2015, I planned on what I needed to do to bring some of the units up to date.  Many of my units have gone from washers (infantry) and rectangular metal bases (cavalry) to hexagonal bases, but not all.  I did that to differentiate my Medieval units from those of Lord Sterling who has the Kingdom of Parallelogram and the Kingdom of Circumference.  I decided in the Duchy of Hexagonal, although I called it the Duchy of Bentwood.

Please click on a picture for a larger image.

So here are the first eight Warbands (each of 24 points), first the forces loyal to Duke William Worthington:

From the left - Bentwood Castle, Castle Kilgarren, Cove Hold, and Southern Hold.  Since I took this picture I've substituted some units for others, but the basic composition remains the same.

Bentwood Castle (Duke William) -- two elite cavalry (AKA knight) units, two heavy infantry units, and one Archer unit.

Castle Kilgarren (Sir Robert Hastings, Constable) -- one elite cavalry unit, one heavy cavalry unit, two veteran heavy infantry units, and one skirmisher unit.

Cove Hold (Count Leslie Dumfries) -- one elite cavalry unit, two heavy cavalry units, one veteran heavy infantry unit, and one crossbow unit.

Southern Hold (Baron Hugh Guisby) -- one elite cavalry unit, two heavy cavalry units, one veteran heavy infantry unit, and one archer unit

Against them are arrayed the rebellious alliance:

From the left - the Teutobergerwald Abbey, Free City of Haven and Men of the Dale, High Tor Keep, and High Reaches Castle.  Again a couple of units have been substituted since the pictures was taken.

Teutobergerwald Abbey (Lord Abbot Heinrich von Kurland) -- two elite cavalry units, two heavy infantry units, and one crossbow unit.

Free City of Haven (Walter, Hereditary Manager of the Free City) and Men of the Dale -- one heavy cavalry unit, one veteran heavy infantry unit, two light infantry units, and one veteran archer unit (the Men of the Dale).

High Tor Keep (Baron Stephen de Bleu) -- two elite infantry units, two light infantry units, and one archer unit.

High Reaches Castle (Freiherr Uwe von Strenger) -- one elite cavalry unit, one heavy cavalry units, two heavy infantry units, and one veteran archer unit.

With these warbands, I designed a small game for our Thursday "Old Guys" Group.  It pitted three loyal warbands against three rebel warbands using the "Bloodbath" scenario from the rule book.  Each warband was 'balanced' with one heavy cavalry unit, one heavy infantry unit, and one missile unit.  It was an interesting game with all the players either getting introduced or re-introduced to the rules.

The Warband from the Free City of Haven was successful in repulsing the Warband of Cove Hold from taking a rolling hill on one end of the battlefield.  The Cove Hold heavy cavalry and heavy infantry were singularly unsuccessful in driving the Havenites from the hill and suffered tremendous casualties.

An overview of the entire battlefield towards the end of the action.  There was much bloodshed, several leaders were killed in challenge duels, and the rebels persevered over the loyalists.

I have a larger game scheduled for my wargaming group on Saturday.