FDWC Lion Rampant Campaign or How I learned to stop being a hermit and play some games.

So, a long time ago (July 2018) I wrote a blog post about turning my SAGA army into a Lion Rampant force, and now, it turns out is when I put it into practice.

Recently, a Lion Rampant Campaign was announced at the club, headed up by venerable campaign master and all around excellent gamesmaster John E, so I had no hesitation in signing up (despite not being able to make most club meetings at the moment between work and commuting) because I figured I could try and get some games in at other venues.

The Campaign is called The Rutland Chronicles, set in the 1200's and using 42pt rosters from the Early Plantagenet period.

So, first things first, I had planned on painting up the Crusader Teutonics as an Age of Crusades army for SAGA and expanding it for Lion Rampant, but, I still haven't assembled any of them, so I turned my attention to what I already had painted for my SAGA Normans, and set about thrashing out an army roster.

The Planned Roster

A - Knights (Mounted Men at Arms) @ 6pts
B - Town Militia (Foot Yeomen) with Mobile Schiltron x2 @ 4pts each
C - Mercenary Spearmen (Foot Sergeants) with Mobile Schiltron x2 @ 5pts each
D - Archers x2 @ 4pts each
E - Crossbowmen @ 4pts
F - Bidowers @ 2pts
G - Fierce Foot @4pts

As you can see, there is still a lot to be built, primed and assembled, although I cunningly fitted in as much of the Footsore Vikings I had planned to paint, just to cut down on 'extra' models to add to the list, but I was still adding 8 Town Militia, 12 Archers and 12 Crossbowmen.  Handily, the 3pts of Viking Warriors for SAGA translated straight over to both the Mercenary Spearmen units, and the 3 units of Hearthguard (including Berserkers) made up the Fierce Foot.  Finally, half the Viking Levy with bows would cover my Bidowers, meaning that I only had the Warlord/Bannerman and 6 Archers from the 7pts of SAGA to paint afterwards.  Result.

Still, that is a lot of painting just to play games, so with John's permission (and the promise of making it plausible in my campaign backstory) I fudged my roster a little for the beginning stages of the campaign.

The "Less painting required" option.

A - Knights (Mounted Men at Arms) @ 6pts
B - Town Militia (Foot Yeomen) with Mobile Schiltron x2 @ 4pts each
C - Archers x2 @ 4pts each
D - Crossbowmen @ 4pts
E - Bidowers x2 @ 2pts each
F - Fierce Foot x3 @4pts each


I managed to pull together a lot more painted figures for this version.  I dropped the 2 units of Merc Spearmen for another 2 units of Fierce Foot and a second unit of Bidowers.  The Fierce Foot are made up of the Foundry Vikings I painted up for my Jomsvikings last year, along with the 3 units of Berserkers for Age of Magic, and a unit of Viking Levy with bows ably stands in as both my Bidower units.  Finally, I replaced the 8 Town Militia I still had to paint with my Norman Hearthguard so they are now fully painted units, and the posh guys with armour that I'll hide at the back can die first.  I still have a unit of Archers and Crossbowmen to paint to have the roster fully painted, but 24 models is a bit easier than 74.

So, roster sorted (background permitting) it was time to get playing.  John very kindly offered to break me into playing by hosting a mid-week game in his shed, so off I set to Linlithgow, suitably suited and booted, to learn how to play.  After a welcome lunch (breakfast?) of soup and sandwiches (bearing in mind I was just off a nightshift and hadn't slept) Allan, Rob, John and myself braved the 20ft of rain to go to war.

Ready for War

We were playing Scenario I: A Taxing Afternoon, with John and Rob commanding the Abbot's forces out on tax collection duty, with my own force playing the part of the Attackers, ably assisted in moving far away units and offering sage advice by Allan.  If memory serves, the Abbot's forces were made up of...  2 units of mounted Serjeants, 2 units of spearmen of some description, crossbowmen, and 2 units of Bidowers.  Prior to the game, Rob and myself had both rolled Rash as Leader Traits, giving his Mounted Serjeants Wild Charge, and making my own automatically successful.  Way to feel stereotyped, huh?

Move aside peasants, the big boys are here.

The first few turns of the game saw the Abbot's forces move up the table, securing 2 or 3 objectives, and sending the Bidowers far out, and flanking hard with one unit of Mounted Serjeants, whilst the other (the Leader) stayed pretty central.  My own moves saw one unit of Fierce Foot securing a 3pt objective, whilst my Knights and Bidowers advanced up the centre of the table.  More Fierce Foot moved up my right flank, securing another objective, and more importantly, standing knee deep in cow muck behind a wall to avoid the Mounted Serjeants bearing down on them.

My own Spearmen were charged, and driven back by the Mounted Sergeants, and the Fierce Foot decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and cowered behind the wall (probably thigh deep now...) whilst the Spearmen formed up to take another charge.  In the centre, my Knights obliterated a unit of Bidowers that had had the temerity to take shots at them rather than fleeing to the safety of a nearby coo shed.  My left flank saw the Fierce Foot mow down the other unit of Bidowers, with another unit hanging back, not committing to battle, but not making off with their plunder either.

The fight on the right ended up with my Fierce Foot scrambling over the wall, destroying the mounted Serjeants, and losing 4 models in the process, before failing a courage roll and being wiped out.  Cow muck obviously not providing good traction for lauping o'er dykes.

On the left, a stalemate ensued, the Abbot's spearmen facing the choice of advancing towards my Fierce Foot in order to tempt them back into the fields for another scrap, or backing away and letting them escape with their stolen taxes.

In the centre, both mounted units clashed, with the Abbot's Men being driven back and thouroughly battered, the game then centred around a few brief and bloody rounds of combat, with only minimal movement happening elsewhere.  My Knights finally rode down the Mounted Serjeants, along with the Crossbowmen, and a unit of Spearmen, leaving only a single unit of the Abbot's men rushing home with a lot less taxes than they had expected to collect.  I had managed to pull back a few units off the table, and my Bidowers had advanced up to take the final objective, the game ending with me holding 10/11 objective points.  All that was left was to enjoy a celebratory Caramel Wafer and pack up.

Casualties - from what I remember.

Knights - lost 3 models.
Fierce Foot - wiped out
Fierce Foot - lost 1 model.
Spearmen - lost 4? models


So, yeah, my first game played in absolutely ages, and definitely a lot of fun.  There is an element of frustration at the failed activation checks, especially when it seems the other force passes all theirs, but I guess it balances out over time.  The Fierce Foot were a good choice for raiding fields, but I can see them easily being pulled out of position, and it makes escaping with loot a much harder prospect.  As for Lord Martin of Cheux, well, what an entrance, nothing like riding out and giving the men of the cloth an extremely bloody nose...

Raiding and Theiving?  Us? 

The History of Lord Martin of Cheux

Brave, stoic, honourable - all words no God fearing man would ever attribute to the amoral hedonist Lord Martin of Cheux.  4th in line to the Cheux fortune, Jean spent most of his wayward youth pursuing the pleasures of the flesh, under the guise of being a student of the arts, and was expelled from more than one establishment for drunken antics and various other indiscretions.  An accomplished swordsman, more by necessity than design, he is most commonly to be found surrounded by his closest confidantes, including his cousin, who call themselves Les Chevaliers sans Pantalons for reasons best not gone into in polite society.  Jean, after finally returning home from his studies (read, nowhere else would admit him due to his reputation) has spent his time around the inns and brothels of Cheux, falling in with a band of Scandinavian types, attracted to his free spending and drunken and baudy antics.  After one fateful night when Jean decided to host a quiet soiree at Cheux Manor, after retiring for the evening with more than one painted damsel, the very drunk, very hairy, and very reckless Scandinavians made mischief by racing the Cheux carriages around the Manor resulting in untold damages to both the carriages, horses and prized vinyards.

Jean was uncerimoniously ejected from the Manor the very next morning, with the ultimatum to restore some honour to the family name, or never darken their doorstep again.  Dejected, and somewhat unused to the lack of funds, he, alongside Les Chevaliers fell in with the Scandinavians, who planned to move on to England, and figured Jean would be entertaining enough to have along on the journey.

Having arrived in Ufford, England Jean has become interested in some petty border skirmishes happening around the Great Forest of Rutland, and has taken up residence much to the delight of the Scandinavians with a view to involving himself in the disputes.  Currently he has spoken to no one, not even the other members of Les Chevaliers, as to his designs, and they are currently engaged in speculation as to whether he intends to bring his family name honour and return home in good graces, or is petulantly looking to raise merry hell as an agent of chaos in a fight that he has no reason to be involved with.



That's it for now then, my Army Roster, first game, and character back story.  I'm going to get the last few units painted up as soon as possible, and I need to speak to John about my plans for the Fierce Foot as I know he has some concerns about them taking over.


Cheers,

John