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.

Bayou Wars - The Convoy

As I stated in my previous post, "Bayou Wars- Battle at Plancenoit," the theme for our regional convention was "Epic Battles - 1215, 1415, 1615, and 1815."  My second game of the convention was based around events in the 1415 Agincourt campaign.  As you will recall the English army was short of supplies so I developed a game based on the "Convoy" scenario from the Lion Rampant rules where an English force is attempting to get some supplies to the main army and the French are trying to stop them.

Each side had three 12-point balanced retinues, plus the English had one additional unit whose sole task was to escort the six laden pack animals.  Each retinue had a mounted sergeants unit (6 figures), a foot sergeants unit (12 figures), and a foot missile unit (12 figures).  The entire English command entered from one corner of the battlefield and had to make it diagonally across the battlefield to the opposite corner.  The three French retinues each entered at one of the other corners with the task of intercepting the English and capturing the pack animals.

I only took three photos since I was trying to keep the game going smoothly and quickly.

 

One of the English commanders tries to move his troops.  The English initially had problems motivating their troops but eventually got out to engage the French.

The hand of one of the French commanders is moving his foot sergeants forward.  This French commander had the worst luck with the dice (as usual for him) and lost all three of his units.  This allowed the English to start ganging up on the other two French commanders.

As their archers trail behind, another French retinue moves quickly past an unusual visitor.



The English were finally able to destroy almost all of the French units and kill two of the three French commanders with the third falling back since he couldn't rally himself.  So Henry got some supplies, fed his troops, and went on to glory at a place called Agincourt.

All of the troops are vintage medieval figures from a number of manufacturers, most gone in the mists of time.  I've had some of these guys for over 30 years.

I've played several games now with the Lion Rampant rules and have had a good time with them.  Although they are easy to learn, the tactical tricks to using each of the different types always makes the games very interesting, and sometimes frustrating.

The Convoy, France, October 1415

On Memorial Day, the Jackson Gamers gathered to help me play test a scenario for a game at our regional convention, Bayou Wars, next month.  I'll be using the Lion Rampant rules to run a medieval Agincourt-era game.

The scenario is called "The Convoy" and revolves around an English foraging party trying to get supplies to Henry's hungry army.  Needless to say, the French don't want that to happen.

The two sides were equal, each with three players controlling a retinue of three units - one mounted serjeants, one foot serjeants, and one missile armed.  The English started in one corner of the battlefield and had to exit with as many supply animals as possible in the opposite corner.  The French started in the other three corners (including the English exit corner).

The English players were Sir Alex, Sir Phillip, and Sir Rick while the French players were Sieur Russ, Sieur Ed, and Sieur Sean.  Lord Sterling got there a little late and acted as a kibitzer and purveyor of guidance and wisdom.

The English army deploys and begins to advance.  Each of the three archer units were guarding supply animals.

Sieur Russ looks to one of his other French commanders for advice.

Sieur Ed is thinking hard about how they could defeat the English.

While the English forces continue their movement, an unusual visitor appears.

Later in the battle, Sire Ed (left) challenges Sire Alex (right).  A battered Sir Phillip looks on (far right).   Blows are exchanged ...

But Sieur Ed falls to Sir Alex's swift sword.



The battle ended not long after the above challenge combat.  The English weren't able to make much head-way, getting bogged down trying to first defeat Sieur Russ' retinue and the fending off the mounted serjeants of Sieur Ed and Sieur Sean.

There are a number of changes I'll be making in the scenario, the largest allowing the English to start deeper into the battlefield.  We'll see how it goes next month at Bayou Wars.

Lion Rampant Game

It is been some time since we played this game using the newly released Lion Rampant rules.  Finally I have some time to make the game report.

Six of us gathered on February 21 at my church's Fellowship Hall.  The Duke of Bentwood and his allied vassals were attempting to put down an uprising of several of his discontented vassals.  The scenario we used was the first one in the rule set, called "Bloodbath" which was a straightforward fight between the two sides.  Each player had a 24-point retinue.  For the most part, the figures are all vintage Miniature Figurines, Scruby, Ral Partha, and other 1970s and 1980s manufacturers.

Bentwood - Alex K. (Bentwood Castle guard), Jay S. (Lord Sterling) (Kilgarren Castle guard), and Phil Y (Cove Hold guard).

Rebels - Bill H. (Teutobergerwald), Ed S. (Men of Haven and the Dale), and Sean P (High Tor Keep).

I think I'll just let the pictures speak for them selves.  Unless otherwise indicated, the photos were taken by me.  Please click on them for a larger image.

The Bentwood commanders - Alex, Jay, and Phil - deploy their retinues.

Two of the rebel commanders - Sean and Bill - deploy their retinues.  I initially commanded the third rebel retinue (on the far end) until Ed arrived.

Phil smiles as he hopes Ed's retinue is falling into his trap.  The Doctor observes the advance of Ed's mounted sergeants.

One of Ed's foot sergeant unis advances.  Led by "Boudicea" (blue cloak), this mixed figure unit acquitted itself fairly well in the battle.  [photo by Ed]

 

Sean's foot retinue advances in the center.  In the distant, Alex's right flank retinue is visible.

Another view of the center and left of the rebels as they attack the Duke's forces.  Sean's retinue is laid out with a two expert foot yeomen units and a foot sergeant unit in the first line (right to left)  and a foot archer unit and expert foot sergeant unit in the second line (right to left).  Beyond Sean's left are several of Bill's Teutobergerwald units.  Opposite them are units of Alex's right flank and Jay's center of the Duke's army.  [photo by Ed]

 

Ed's mounted sergeants run into the very accurate bolts of Phil's crossbowmen.  The pointed oval marker behind the two  mounted sergeants left alive denotes that they are battered.  See previous post for how I made these.

Bill's left flank Teutobergerwald retinue advances against Alex's forces.

Bill's Teutobergerwald foot sergeants have tangled with Alex's "blue" mounted men-at-arms.  Bill's unit was in schiltron formation which gives it an advantage in defense, especially against mounted troops.  Both sides lost one man, but Alex's mounted unit had to retire from the action since they didn't break Bill's schiltron.  The gold rings around selected figures indicate the individual unit "commander."  [photo by Ed]

A closer view of Bill's Teutobergerwald schiltron.  These are vintage Miniature Figurines figures.  [photo by Ed]

 

Sean's and Bill's rebels start to mix it up with Alex's and Jay's "loyalists."

Bill's mounted men-at-arms move over a hill and discover Alex's foot sergeants who immediately form a schiltron against them.

One of Alex's mounted men-at-arms units moves around a hedge to get at the rebels.

While Alex's "blue" mounted men-at-arms are re-grouping, his "red" mounted men-at-arms units are attacking one of Bill's mounted men-at-arms units.  In the distance by the hedge, one of Jay's mounted men-at-arms units (light blue) is attacking a unit of Sean's retinue. 

And Jay's "light blue" mounted men-at-arms slam home against Sean's expert foot sergeants with their great battle axes, while one of Bill's Teutobergerwald foot sergeant units looks on.



At the end of the fight (which lasted 6 turns, if I remember correctly), the losses were:

Duchy of Bentwood (15 units) - 4 destroyed, 4 battered, 7 still in fight

Rebels (15 units) - 7 destroyed, 2 battered, 6 still in fight.

So the Duke of Bentwood can claim this as a victory but the rebels will be continuing the fight against him.

Cove Hold Household Men-at-Arms

The county of Cove Hold is one of the domains of my imaginary medieval country of the Duchy of Bentwood.  The count is a loyal supporter of the Duke and maintains both a household guard and a county guard troop.  The household guard has been raised already as were three of the six county guard.  The other three county guard were completed tonight.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I bring you the green clad Cove Hold household guard and county guard.

The Count of Cove Hold (center) with his household guard

The county guard of Cove Hold



The household guard are a mix of Miniature Figurines and Ral Partha figures, while the county guard are old Heritage figures on a mix of Heritage and Ral Partha horses.

Both of these mounted men-at-arms troops are part of the larger Cove Hold retinue (for the Lion Rampant rules) which will be featured on future postings.

Mounted Men-at-Arms (Medieval)

I just completed nine mounted men-at-arms (knights) for my 25mm medieval forces.  These knights can be used for either the venerable Rules by Ral or the newer Lion Rampant rules.

The first batch are three knights are to round out several units.  The other six are a new unit.  Please click on the pictures for larger images.

Two Miniature Figurine mounted knights flank a Teutonic knight from an unknown manufacturer.  Both banners are hand-painted over a pre-printed banner.

A unit of six knights, all from the same unknown manufacturer, will be led by the guy in the bright yellow outfit and the duck on his helmet (le Baron de Canard).

EDIT:  Thanks to Nic and Daryl on The Miniatures Page, it appears that the "Teutonic" knight and the six in the second picture are probably all Essex figures.

I have three more knights to paint to bring another unit up to strength, then its on to some venerable 25mm Scruby Napoleonic French infantry to start getting ready for a play test in May of the scenario I'll be using at our regional convention, Bayou Wars, whose theme is "1215(Rochester/Manga Carter)/1415 (Agincourt)/1615(Osaka)/1815(Waterloo)."  My scenario will involve the Prussian pursuit of Grouchy's wing after the fighting at Wavre, as I have it planned now.  I'm also seriously thinking about a 1415-ish game, probably using Lion Rampant rules, involving actions either before or after Agincourt.

Lion Rampant Battered Markers

We had our first Lion Rampant game today (report to be forthcoming).  To get ready for the game, I wanted some nice looking "battered" markers for my units.  Through the generosity of several wargamers who sent me a varied collection of shields and weapons, I constructed my markers.

I recall seeing pointed oblong wooden pieces at my local Ace Hardware store.  As unusual the friendly sales associate knew exactly what I meant and pointed me to the wood joining biscuits.

These wooden biscuits are used to join two flat pieces of wood but the make excellent bases for various markers.  I spray painted them flat brown, glued on green flock, and then attached the shields and weapons that I had painted.  After a good spraying with a maximum hold hair spray, I glued small washers to the underside to give them some weight. 

Voila!

Markers just placed in front of a unit of 25mm knights (mounted men-at-arms).

Close-up of the finished products.



I think they will work very well not only for Lion Rampant but for any medieval game where one needs to show a unit that has lost cohesion.

Again thanks to my much appreciated benefactors!