Tony F reports on the club’s first encounter with an alien ruleset.
The club has played a lot of Daniel Mersey’s Rampant rules, both the original Lion and the fantasy Dragon spinoff. So there was a lot of interest when a sci-fi variant, Xenos Rampant was announced. We wanted to see how well the game engine would translate to the new setting with (presumably) more emphasis on shooting than close combat. And to be fair, not everyone thought it would work.
Recently, four of us managed to finally get ourselves organised and gave the rules a try (yes, we know that the book came out months ago – the wheels sometimes turn slowly in Maidstone). Eric and Mike had 30mm armies derived from WH40K forces, while Marcus had a 15mm force of mainly Khurasan miniatures and I cobbled together a force in the same scale from my Hammer’s Slammers armies (you can see those in the header photo).
Mike and Eric ran each other very close in their game, with just a handful of figures left on table at the end (although I’m not sure who actually won!) – sadly I didn’t get any photos. Marcus on the other hand had some dreadful luck with the dice and got a bit of a thumping.
My command team (Brigade Models’ power armour) prepare to unleash all sorts of pain into Marcus’ tank (GZG).
We then switched round and I took on Mike, while Eric switched to a 15mm force of Brigade Models miniatures. Mike and I fought a very tight game, I just prevailed but with very little of my force left on the table.
Mike’s heavy infantry (Khurasan) prepare to close asasult
While my infantry (Brigade) dig in on the hill.
Infantry heavy weapon takes aim
Halftrack and supporting infantry take shelter
Marcus’ luck improved a little but he still went down to Eric eventually.
Overview – Eric’s tank takes a pot shop at Marcus’ ornithopter
Eric’s Rapier tank and infantry (all Brigade Models)
More of Eric’c CDSU infantry
Closeup of Marcus’ ornithopter (Khurasan Miniatures)
So our conclusions? We felt the game worked well, there are plenty of options to customise units to give your army a unique feel. The familiar game mechanics helped for those who have played other games in the series.
All of our games were 24 points, and we managed two each with plenty of time to spare. Units, especially vehicles, are relatively expensive so none of our forces had more than 5-6 units, and the game ran pretty quickly. So we felt that 36 point games would be perfectly manageable. One thing we found odd was the limit of only one vehicle – none of us could see an obvious reason for this.
We’ve penciled in another session for later in the year, some sort of mini-campaign or tournament. These will be 36 point games, and we’ll ignore the one vehicle rule so expect to see a bit more heavy armour. We seem to have won over a couple of previous refuseniks to give the game a go, so look out for another report in a few months, along with plenty of work-in-progress reports as people build up their armies.
Marcus fesses up to his Stargrave woes and how he’s gone about recruiting a new crew.
I’ve had some problems playing Stargrave. It’s not the game. I am sure it isn’t perfect, but we love playing it at the club. It’s not even my club-mates, who keep shooting me. It’s my crew. Well, that’s not fair. I do like my crew. But they look quite…similar. Too similar. And it hasn’t helped that I used the original Stargrave roster from the book, downloading it from the Osprey site. In the middle of a game I would find myself shuffling and flipping over sheets trying to work out which character was being fired at, or acting, and not exactly sure which one I was looking out without checking.
The concept of that crew was something like the Bynars from Star Trek: The Next Generation (the episode 1.15 “11001001”) with an added dose of psionics. The crew comprised some small Copplestone Grey’s, the brains, and the mean looking, vat-grown “Big Greys”, which were from the now defunct Griffin Miniatures. I had never managed to get around to using these before. It took me long enough to get around to painting the mean Greys, although I really like them.
The Old Crew. Left to Right: 101, or is that 110..?
I might use them in Xenos Rampant in the future, although we have been using 15mm figures for that so far. But I digress.
In an effort to solve the problems in my personal organizational abilities I needed two things:
Firstly, a one page roster so that all that stats were right in front of me. I had tried looking at creating roster cards, but they just didn’t seem to work for me. I wanted everything, the whole crew, on one side of A4. Fortunately club members, noticing my travails, kindly offered me a selection.
(Editor’s note: If you print this roster, make sure you open the “More Settings” option in the print preview screen and have “Fit to Printable Area” selected.)
Secondly, I needed to recruit a new crew. A more individual crew of characters.
And it really isn’t that hard to stat a crew up, at least not if you can be decisive about it! In a nutshell, recruit a Captain and First Mate from the various specialities (akin to schools of magic in Frostgrave) available and spend 400 Cr. on recruiting the rest of your eight crew.
The specialities I referred to are “abilities”. The Captain chooses five, with three of four from the characters background e.g. psionics as i referred to for my first crew, or veteran. There is quite a range with new backgrounds being added in the inevitable supplements to the core rules. It makes for an interesting comparison with Five Parsecs from Home, which regular readers of the blog will know I have also been playing solo (I should really complete another episode soon!) However, in Five Parsecs the choice of crew characteristics is all based on random rolls reminiscent of the old school Traveller RPG. It’s much more about the whole crew even if the Captain is the first among equals. In Stargrave it is very much about the Captain and a little about the First Mate. In truth, everyone else is disposable to a greater or lesser extent. The First Mate chooses four abilities, with two or three from their background. Previously I chose two Psionicists, but this time I chose a Cyborg Captain and a Veteran First Mate.
Why did I make this choice? I am not entirely sure. I was looking through the core rules on character creation with the intent of choosing a new crew but the process became influenced by the models I had available or fancied using and the narrative that began to create in my head. I think that is a good thing!
I initially had the idea that I would use figures from a Kick-Starter project that I had received: Star-Schlock. This at least started out rooted in influences of the pulpy Sci-Fi TV of the 80’s. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century crossed with Star Trek and maybe a dose of Star Wars and 80’s Flash Gordon, in particular.
Gillian Grey and Willard White
Some similarity occurred to me between the Star Trek: TNG era and Buck Rogers slightly more campy second season. Something akin to the rescued Borg Seven Of Nine in Star Trek Voyager. I had the idea of using some unused cyborg miniatures which I had from the old Scotia Grendel Urban War range, the VOID Syntha biomechs, making them a kind of Star Trek Borg analogue.
I had already started painting some of these after a long time in the lead pile. I was intending to put them to use in Spy-Fi games as some kind of, well, Fembot for want of a better word. Yeah Baby!
Then I hit a problem.
A diminutive “White Rat” with Willard
It was only when I compared the completed Syntha miniatures to the Star Schlock figures I noticed a considerable size discrepancy! That was pretty much the deal breaker although at this point I realized that I was in some danger of repeating the same folly using some Star Schlock rank and file figures; a lack of clear characterisation.
Repeating the same problem. Do they look a bit similar?
I was now fixed on using the Syntha as Borg analogues but the sizing discrepancy made me think about using at least some more old school miniatures. Hence a look at EM-4’s range of early Grenadier sculpts. It was a chance to pick up some older, characterful miniatures that I had regularly seen pictures of, or seen new versions of older sculpts, but had never quite managed to add to my collection. Since i was basing this crew around the escaped cyborgs I wanted a crew that at least in part were themed around interconnection, robotics and coordinated firepower. At least that was the plan.
The White Rat and the Black Rat – They escaped a lab based programme where they were literally lab rats, sent out to do some exotic missions at the behest of the ailing Authority, until those orders ceased.
The Black Rat
Also known as Six of Seven, Black Rat is to be my captain. She had somehow managed to escape some Authority “black-ops” experiment as government broke down. She has very little knowledge of her origins, but is on a quest to know more.
I chose to give her:
Camouflage (she is wearing a stealth suit)
Target lock (allowing her or another member of the crew to automatically hit the target of a grenade/grenade launcher attack, even if not in line of sight.)
An energy shield (absorbing some shooting damage)
Control robot (interface with a robot and take control)
Drone. I am rather partial to using drones, not that they have done me much good so far. (Draw line of sight from the drone)
She also has a carbine (2 spaces), a pistol, light armour, a deck for hacking and a filter mask.
Harriet “Harry” Barber
I originally had a figure in a beret picked out for this role, but Harry has grown on me. I first saw the figure many years ago. It normally has a truncheon and I think is supposed to be a “space police” figure. I removed the truncheon and added a small pouch in its place. In my mind there is a similarity to Glynis Barber in the 80’s series “Dempsey and Makepeace” where her character was called Harriet Makepeace. She is some kind of ex-security figure (the kind of security that doesn’t use a truncheon or wear a uniform) who along the way helped the Black Rat escape from her captors.
Fortune. (She is a bit of a Han Solo and you might call her lucky, or perhaps it is her roguish charm?)
Armoury (Harry has a way with weapons and can field power armour without the upkeep cost or increase the damage on one standard firearm)
Remote Firing (Can select a robot in the crew to make a +3 line of sight shooting attack)
Repair Robot (Yes, Harry is good with robots too)
Harry also has a filter mask (always handy), light armour, a carbine taking up two spaces and picks for breaking into physical objects.
Harriet “Harry” Barber
Moving on to the Standard and Specialist figures, these are much easier to select as they are very much modular, “plug in” selections.
The “White Rat” (Three of Seven) – Commando
Naturally, also being a cyborg and a comrade of Six (or part of the same hive mind), the White Rat needed to pack a bit of a punch. They were specialist operatives after all.
Ratchet the Robot
Picked up from some abandoned facility and reprogrammed by Harriet, Ratchet is an armoured trooper. Thanks to Harry’s Armoury skill she can offset the upkeep cost. Originally I costed out Ratchet as a grenadier, making that rather large gun a grenade launcher of some kind. I changed to admittedly costly power armour as a result of choosing the armoury skill for the First Mate.
Ratchet the Robot
Troopers (3)
There have been various iterations of this crew, but they always seemed to revolve around having three troopers. These are Viridian, (with the green skin and yellow jacket), Sal Buco (long green coat and pistol) and Cy An (Blue skinned alien). At the outset they all have a carbine, heavy armour and a knife. Yes, I know Sal appears to have a pistol. Does anyone remember the pistols in the original “Man From Uncle”? Well Sal has picked up something like one of those. He can attach an extended barrel, long magazine and collapsible stock. Hey presto: a carbine. Originally Sal was going to be a simple recruit, but I had another idea…
Sal and Cy
Hacker – Zero One
A nod to my old crew. Zero One now stands out in a crowd. It is my hacker equipped with a pistol, light armour, a deck for hacking (of course) and a knife.
Viridian and Zero
Recruits (2)
Finally, my two recruits. Originally I was going to fit in a guard dog, but the dog cost 10 credits and frankly can do less. I am not a min/maxer, but when you want to fit in certain options the free figures give more flexibility. And a bit of colour. These miniatures came from the Hydra “Retro Ray-Gun” range. It is a nice range although the figures tend to be a little larger overall. But these two are I think teenagers. I painted them up with no clear objective for using them. I watched Firefly again recently and it occurred to me that these two, the “Citrus Kids” could be analogues to Simon and River Tam (except he isn’t a doctor and she isn’t a psychic killing machine). That points to the one thing which might be slightly dissatisfying with the rules. As I pointed out earlier, if you aren’t a Captain or First Mate, there isn’t going to be much progression, beyond adding a better bit of kit. That said, I don’t think that is what this game is for and is why I like a bit of solo Five Parsecs.
Recruits have a pistol, light armour and a knife.
Recruits – The Citrus Kids
So that is the crew of the “Dirty Rat”. I’m looking forward to seeing how they do in an outing at the club mysteriously entitled “Oubliette”, very soon. I am sure there will be a report.
Tony F reports on the further adventures of Frodo and the rest of the Hobbits as he and Phil, along with guests Jon and Andy, play through the Quest of the Ringbearer. You can read his report of the first two scenarios here.
Scenario 3 – Buckleberry Ferry “Two steps on the water”
Scenario three saw the Hobbits attempting to cross the Brandywine at the Buckleberry Ferry. They had to race three ringwraiths to the ferry to cross the river. The game went encouragingly well for the Good side initially, with one wraith despatched in short order (we were discovering that at this point in the Quest they were, if not feeble, then certainly not as frightening as we expected in combat, even to hobbits).
But then our game took a rather odd twist. In a move probably not foreseen by the scenario writer, Andy had one of the ringwraiths jump on the ferry before the hobbits reached it and take it to the other bank, leaving them stranded. The four hobbits managed to gang up and take down the remaining wraith on their side of the river, but we were left with a bit of a standoff. The hobbits were on the wrong side of the river, with the vital ferry on the other bank guarded by the single remaining ringwraith. Their only option would be to swim, but the swimming rules and the hobbits’ fear of water meant doing that would probably allow the wraith to pick them off one at a time as they emerged. So in the end we called it a draw, as neither side could see a way ahead.
The hobbits find themselves on the wrong side of the Brandywine facing a lone ringwraith – but with no way across apart from swimming…
Scenario 4 – The Old Forest “See those trees, bend in the wind, I feel they’ve got a lot more sense than me”
The final scenario of our first session was a bit unusual, with the hobbits trying to cross the Old Forest in the face of – er – nothing. Just trees. Instead of orcs or wraiths, the trees of the Old Forest came alive and tried to hem them in and trap them – the trees couldn’t kill the hobbits, merely capture them.
Our game ended quite quickly, with all four hobbits rapidly overwhelmed, and hoping desperately for rescue. In hindsight, the scenario setup wasn’t particularly specific about how many trees should be placed on table, and we we may have overdone it, leaving the hobbits little chance of getting to safety – Jon and I barely made it halfway across the table.
So this one went evil’s way, leaving the score at
Good 2-1 Evil
The Quest will resume at the club’s Christmas meeting, where we hope to get through another 3-4 scenarios.
As we near the end of our Wars of the Roses campaign we find ourselves at the Battle of Tewkesbury. As with the other games in the campaign we looked for anything of historical note. For Tewkesbury we decided the Lancastrian player would set up the terrain to represent the fact that the ground was of their choosing.
This was a standard 800 point battle with Stephen commanding the Lancastrians left with Charlotte acting as second in command on the right. Assisting me with the Yorkists, Tony F made a return to the field facing Charlottes forces while I took the field opposite Stephen.
This was the battlefield as setup by the Lancastrians. They formed their battles between two sets of walled fields with some marshland just in front to further impede movement. Their right was made up of a mix of archers and billmen, but on the left Stephen had formed up no less than four units of mounted men at arms, and two units of dismounted men at arms in the centre.
The Lancastrian right flank was protected by some archers, while on the left were two units of hand gunners using the walls as a fortified position.
Seeing the Lancastrian deployment, I took some bold choices with how the Yorkists would deploy.
I placed my mounted men at arms in the middle of the field since no Lancastrian flank was on offer. I also felt there was no point trying to face the mass mounted Lancastrian units. I was convinced Stephen had placed those there to perform a mass charge against my forces. I wanted to provoke the Lancastrians into moving rather than wait until my Yorkist forces had advanced between the two walled areas.
Fearing the Lancastrian mounted units I was determined not to leave my infantry behind the advancing archers. So used my commanders to keep the units moving. Although I had some men at arms and retinue billmen, the second line should it be needed were only militia billmen.
But the Lancastrian cavalry didn’t move and it was clear that they were waiting for the Yorkists to advance past the hand gunners in their protected position or to spend time trying to dislodge them.
Trying again to goad the Lancastrians out of position I advanced my mounted men at arms to within charge range, and suggested to Tony he should do the same out on our left flank.
Still no reaction from the Lancastrians cavalry, so I had no choice but to advance my archers and use a few bonus dice to get a speculative flight of arrows in against the mounted units.
And in a result that shocked everyone the archers volley managed to destroy the flower of Lancastrian nobility!
That got the Lancastrians moving but only piecemeal. Stephen sent a lone unit against some advancing men at arms, who managed to blunt the charge and hold up the cavalry.
But the Yorkists didn’t have it all their own way. Tony’s mounted men at arms suffered at the hands of the Lancastrian archers placed behind the marshland. Tony decided the best counter to the loss of the knights was to advance his archers and billmen and take the fight to the enemy, but took some early casualties from the Lancastrian archers.
With my cavalry in the middle of the field still threatening to charge, Stephen decided to advance both his units of dismounted knights. The activation dice where in my favour and although Stephen had stacked the bonus dice onto his men at arms, it was my cavalry unit that got to charge first, however they failed to destroy the men at arms and got bogged down into melee.
Having managed to destroy the first mounted unit sent against the Yorkist right flank, Stephen sent another into the fight, this time he also managed to get off a volley from the hand gunners but to no effect.
The clash in the centre of the field reached a climax with the destruction of the Yorkist cavalry but not before managing to take one of the Lancastrians dismounted men at arms with them.
Over on the Yorkist left flank, despite the Lancastrian archers favourable position behind the marsh, the rest of the Lancastrian line was starting to take casualties with Tony’s archers punching holes in their ranks.
On came the last of the Lancastrian mounted men at arms, but despite giving his cavalry a bonus dice the Yorkist men at arms again refused to budge and the two sides were locked in battle.
At this point the loses for the Lancastrians pushed them over their first morale check. The test saw a number of key Lancastrian units quit the field adding to their misery.
Over on the Lancastrian right flank Tony was still on the offensive. Having dispatched most of the enemy archers he was advancing his men at arms into the fray.
With one last desperate charge Stephen sent his billmen in against my archers. These were actually my Militia archers and I gave them all the dice I could spare for the fight. The militia took the most damage but it wasn’t quite enough to destroy either of the units.
The final stroke came when my men at arms finally got the better of the last Lancastrian cavalry which pushed them over their break point and handed victory to the Yorkists.
The Lancastrians were left scratching their heads at the end of the battle, asking for clues as to what went wrong. The difference in losses suggested a rout, despite their forces having started in a defensive position.
Maybe the Lancastrians can take heart while marching towards the Yorkists greatest defeat on the fields of Bosworth.
Yorkist Loses 2 Units of Mounted Men at Arms (8 points)
2 Units of Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit of Spearmen (4 points) Total loses 18 points (Army break point 46)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Dismounted Men at Arms (8 points)
6 Units of Longbows (18 points)
4 Units of Mounted Men at Arms (16 points) Total loses 42 points (Army break point 40)
Andy completes the write up of the Crusades mini campaign.
First off, I must apologise to my fellow gamers, it has taken me far too long to complete this report.
Stephen and I continued the Five Battles Campaign from Lion Rampant Version 2. This time we were joined by two other members, joining Stephen with the Ayyubid Egyptians was club treasurer Mark, and joining me with the Frankish Settlers was new member Charlotte.
Photo credits: Charlotte, Stephen and Andy.
To recap the first day, we played three games, with my Pullani (Frankish Settlers) forces winning each battle. I had 3 victories and 23 Glory, Stephen had 3 defeats and -1 Glory. You can read about these games in a previous blog entry here.
The second day would comprise two more battles, the final battle using double size armies
When planning these games, we had prepared five warbands with differing points values for the five battles, and had assigned each warband to a battle before the campaign started. Stephen had used his larger warbands in the battles on the first day of the campaign, so would be at a disadvantage in the first game of day two.
Having won the final battle on day one, I got to choose the first battle on day two; I chose “The Road” and the die roll resulted in “The Convoy” scenario with Charlotte and I as the attacker (see part 1 for the battles that make up the campaign).
In this scenario the attacker has three convoy tokens that must be conveyed from one corner of the table to the opposite corner. For our game these comprised of a cart, a group of pious monks and a group of civilians. Each token had to be assigned to a unit, although more than one token could be assigned to the same unit. Escorting units were restricted to a maximum move of 6”. The convoy tokens have no effect in the game, other than marking the escorting units.
Stephen and Mark’s forces (Ayyubid Egyptian) comprised:
1 x Mounted Mamluks (Heavy Cavalry with Bows) Leader Blessed (Once per game, reroll any one full set of dice by any player) @ 7 points
3 x Mounted Turcomen (Wild Turk Light Cavalry) @ 4 points each
1 x Foot Ghilmen (Light Infantry with Javelins) @ 4 points
1 x Ahdath (Skirmishers) @ 2 points Total 25 points
Andy and Charlotte’s force (Frankish Settlers (Pullani))
1 x Knights (Elite Cavalry, Motivated), Leader Strongbow (Once per turn, unit within 12” automatically passes shoot activation) @ 8 points
2 x Sergeants (Heavy Cavalry) @ 4 points each
1 x Foot Sergeants (Heavy Infantry) @ 4 points
1 x Foot Yeomen (Light Infantry) @ 3 points
1 x Crossbowmen @ 4 points
2 x Skirmishers @ 2 points each Total 31 points
The scenario requires the attacker to deploy the units escorting the convoy tokens first in one corner of the table. The defender then deploys their forces, placing at least 4 points of units in each of the other three corners of the table.
We deployed our Foot Sergeants with the Monks and Civilians, and the Foot Yeomen with the Cart in the south east corner of the table, along with a unit of Skirmishers. We couldn’t fit anything else into the deployment area, so our remaining units would have to enter the table as a Move activation.
Andy’s convoy and escorts deploy (Andy)
Stephen and Mark deployed their main force of the Mamluks and two units of Mounted Turcomen in the North East corner.
Stephen’s main contingent (Andy)
In order to satisfy the requirements to deploy at least 4 points in each of the other two corners they deployed a unit of Mounted Turcomen in the South West corner
Stephen’s flanking force (Andy)
And their Ghilmen and Ahdath in a village in the North West corner (our exit point).
Stephen’s blocking force (Andy)
Prior to the first turn of the game the units escorting the convoy are allowed to attempt one move activation as a “head start”. Our Yeomen succeeded in their attempt and moved forward with the cart, but the Foot Sergeants refused to budge.
Our first turn was more successful, the first unit of Skirmishers and both escorting units succeeded in their moves, and we also managed to bring on both units of Mounted Sergeants, one on each flank. Our Crossbows and our Knights also made it onto the board. We deliberately kept our Leader’s Knights close behind the Crossbows to maximise the use of the leader’s Strongbow ability. The only unit that failed to come on was the second unit of Skirmishers.
Andy’s contingent advances, well, some of it! (Andy)
Stephen and Mark brought their Mamluks and Turcomen forward from the North East corner, to get in a position where they could block our path to the North West corner.
Stephen’s main force advance (Stephen)
In the North West corner, the Ghilmen found a wall to hide behind and the Ahdath occupied a building.
Stephen’s Ahdath occupy a building (Stephen)
I think Stephen wanted to use his only infantry units to block our exit from the table, but it did mean that in the early stages of the battle he would only have four units totalling 19 points to try and slow down our force of 31 points, or 24 points if you exclude the units escorting the convoy.
In our next couple of turns Charlotte and I concentrated on getting our units forwards, and didn’t advance the convoy escorts. We had a unit of Mounted Sergeants on each flank, with both the Crossbows and Skirmishers near to the Leader’s unit. Actually, looking at the photos I think we forgot to deploy the second unit of skirmishers!
Andy’s force spreads out (Andy)Stephen’s main force continued to advance ahead of us, with one unit of Turcomen lagging behind, and the lone unit of Turcomen advancing towards our left flank getting close enough to shoot at our Mounted Sergeants and inflicting a casualty.
On our Northwestern flank one of Stephen’s Turcomen units engaged our Mounted Sergeants, but with the help of our skirmisher’s shooting honours were even with both units being reduced to half strength.
Stephens main force skirmishes with Andy’s right flank, casualties on both sides. (Andy)
Meanwhile Stephen’s Mamluks came within range of our Crossbows, and with our Leader’s Strongbow ability guaranteeing a shooting activation each turn our quarrels took out a couple of figures, the Mamluks eventually came to blows with our left flank Mounted Sergeants, both sides taking casualties and falling to half strength but his Leader didn’t succumb to any lucky blows!
Stephen’s leader’s unit, or what’s left of it, and a unit of Turcomen (Andy)Remnants of Andy’s Left Flank face off against Stephen’s leader (Charlotte)
Meanwhile our convoy stayed back near the hill guarded by the Crossbows and Knights.
Stephen’s Turcomen closed on our Crossbows, and managed to kill one of them, but the Crossbows stayed firm and their return fire decimated the Turcomen.
Stephen’s Mamluks charged our Mounted Sergeants again, but this time his luck ran out and his leader fell.
One of the units of Turcomen got close enough to the Yeomen to shoot at them and caused a casualty, but they passed their Courage test.
Our Crossbowmen continued to shoot at anything that came within range, guaranteed by the Leader’s Strongbow ability and both the Mamluks and Turcomen were practically wiped out, only a couple of figures were left, allowing the convoy and escorts to advance off the hill.
The convoy advances, slowly (Charlotte)
The only functioning units Stephen and Mark had left were the Ghilmen and Ahdath in the village blocking the Pulanni’s exit. Although our Mounted Sergeants had been sorely damaged, our Crossbows and Skirmishers had only taken a few casualties and it was apparent that eventually we could position our Crossbows where they could shoot at the Ghilmen and Ahdath every turn from outside the range of their bows and javelins, and even with the benefit of cover they would eventually be whittled down, allowing us to escort the Convoy off the table.
So, at this point Stephen and Mark conceded the game.
Stephen and Mark made three boasts: “They will Cower before me” (3 Glory, failed). “They will Tremble before me” (2Glory, failed) and “My Arrows are Deadlier Than my Spears” (2 Glory, success). The failed Boasts cost 1 Glory each, so that made a total of zero Glory for the Ayyubids.
The Pullani only made two boasts, “They will Tremble before me” (2Glory, failed), and “I will Destroy more than I Lose” (2 Glory, success), making a total of 1 Glory to add to the 2 glory points per Convoy marker escorted off table. That gave the Pullani an additional 7 Glory.
After the fourth battle the Pullani had 4 victories and 30 Glory, the Ayyubid Egyptians had 4 defeats and -1 Glory.
The final battle.
From the outset of the campaign, we had agreed that the final battle would be a major clash using the Bloodbath scenario, and that each side would bring 50 points, split into two contingents, each with a leader. The two contingents did not have to have equal points.
On the Ayyubid Egyptian side the two contingents were:
Emir Mark al-Harris.
1 x Mounted Mamluks (Heavy Cavalry with Bows) Leader @ 6 points
2 x Mounted Turcomen (Wild Turk Light Cavalry) @ 4 points each
2 x Foot Ghilmen (Light Infantry with Javelins) @ 4 points
1 x Ahdath (Skirmishers) @ 2 points Total 24 points
Emir Stephen a’t-Ucker
1 x Mounted Mamluks (Heavy Cavalry with Bows) Leader @ 8 points
Skills: Blessed (+2 points) and Strongbow (+1 points)
2 x Mounted Turcomen (Wild Turk Light Cavalry) @ 4 points each
1 x Hashishin (Warrior Infantry, Assassin) @ 5 points
2 x Ahdath (Skirmishers) @ 2 points each Total 25 points
Notice the sudden appearance of the Strongbow skill in both contingents?
The Pullani contingents were:
Count Andrew:
1 x Knights (Elite Cavalry, Motivated), Leader @ 9 points
Skills: Commanding (+2 points)
1 x Sergeants (Heavy Cavalry) @ 4 points each
1 x Foot Sergeants (Heavy Infantry) @ 4 points
1 x Archers @ 4 points
1 x Holy Characters @ 2 points
1 x Skirmishers @ 2 points Total 25 points
Holy Characters are a unit type from the Crusader States supplement, they are similar to Skirmishers, but with only a 6” move, no shooting capability and lacking all the Skirmisher’s special rules, they do however allow, once a turn, a partial re-roll of dice for units within 6”. Re-roll 2 dice if 12 were rolled, otherwise re-roll 1 die.
Countess Charlotte:
1 x Knights (Elite Cavalry, Motivated), Leader @ 8 points
Skills: Strongbow (+1 point)
1 x Sergeants (Heavy Cavalry) @ 4 points each
1 x Foot Sergeants (Heavy Infantry) @ 4 points
1 x Foot Yeomen (Light Infantry) @ 3 points
1 x Crossbowmen @ 4 points
1 x Skirmishers @ 2 points Total 25 points
Summary of Leader skills
Strongbow: Once per turn, one unit within 12” of Leader’s model automatically passes a shoot activation)
Commanding: Each turn may re-roll one failed Move, Attack or Shoot activation withing 12” of Leader’s model.
Insipid: The Leader does not give the usual +1 modifier to Courage tests to unis within 12” of Leader’s model
Blessed: Once per game, re-roll any one set of dice, rolled by any player.
Stephen included his Hashishin in his contingent again, this time their dastardly plan failed and the Assassin sent after Count Andrew met a grisly end.
There would be no subtlety about the final battle, no scenario objectives other than defeating the enemy.
On the Christian side Andy deployed his contingent on the right flank. Archers on the left of his front line, then the Foot Sergeants, Skirmishers on the hill and Mounted Sergeants on the right flank.
Andy’s Knights and Holy Characters (the monks) were kept in reserve.
Andy’s contingent, the monks are the Holy Characters (Andy)
Charlotte deployed on the left flank, she kept her Knights and Mounted Sergeants in the centre of her deployment, with the Foot Yeomen on her left and Foot Sergeants on her right. Her Skirmishers and Crossbows were deployed in front of her cavalry, both within 12” of her Leader, to make best use of her Strongbow ability.
Charlotte’s contingent (Andy)
Opposing us Stephen deployed opposite Charlotte, and Mark deployed opposite Andy. We didn’t take many pictures of the Ayyubid deployment, but here’s a close-up of Stephen’s Turcomen and Hashishin Ahdath,
Stephen’s Turcomen and Ahdath in the village (Stephen)
Mark wasted no time advancing his cavalry towards Andy’s troops, lots of mounted archers approaching!
Mark’s cavalry approach Andy’s troops (Charlotte)
The exchange of arrows was fairly one sided, with two of Mark’s attacking units taking casualties with no loss to Andy’s forces.
Andy & Mark’s contingents, latter has taken some casualties. (Andy)
On the other side of the battle, Stephen advanced his Ahdath and a unit of Turcomen towards a village, with his Leader’s Mamluks supporting them, while his Hashishin and other Turcomen unit failed to advance. Charlotte’s crossbows and Yeomen also entered the outskirts of the village, with the Knights and Sergeants following up.
Charlotte’s and Stephen’s contingents (Andy)
Back on the Christian right flank, Andy and Mark’s troops came to blows, Mark’s cavalry charged Andy’s Archers, and after the latter took 4 casualties, they failed a courage test with a very low roll and routed from the field. The same fate befell Andy’s Skirmishers.
Andy then committed his cavalry; the Knights drove off one of Mark’s Turcomen units and then charged Mark’s Leader’s unit. After a couple of rounds of combat Mark’s leader fell dead as his unit was wiped out, meanwhile Andy’s Mounted Sergeants forced back Mark’s other Turcomen unit.
Andy’s Holy Characters took the hill previously occupied by his Skirmishers, a touch of religious frenzy perhaps?
Andy’s contingent, his Archers and Skirmishers have routed, but the Ayyubids have also suffered losses (Andy)
On the other side of the battlefield, Charlotte’s and Stephen’s troops exchanged missiles, both Charlotte’s Crossbowmen and Skirmishers took a beating, being reduced to half strength and failing their courage tests and becoming battered, but one of Stephen’s Turcomen fled the field. One of Stephen’s Ahdath also fell to half strength, but were made of sterner stuff and passed their courage test. Each side also suffered slight losses to their mounted troops.
Charlotte’s crossbow and skirmishers reduced to half strength and battered. One of Stephen’s Ahdath reduced to half strength. (Andy)
Their battle continued, Charlotte’s missile troops rallied, but didn’t seem keen to get back into the fray. Her Yeomen drove off one of Stephen’s Turcomen units. Stephen had advanced his Hashishin, and Charlotte’s Knights charged them and battered them sending them falling back, however this left her Knights exposed to Stehen’s Mamluks and Turcomen.
Charlotte’s Knights advance as the skirmishers flee. (Andy)
Stephen’s Hashishin recovered their composure, but Stephen decided it was time for his leader to show his mettle, and brought his Mamluks forward to face Charlotte’s Knights, supported by a unit of Turcomen.
Stephen’s contingent commit against Charlotte (Stephen)
Charlotte brought her skirmishers back to support her Knights, taking up residence in some bad going and just in range of one of Stephen’s Ahdath, who took more casualties from the skirmishers and fled the field. Charlotte’s skirmishers then turned their attention to the Mamluks.
The final clash (Andy)
Finally, the Mamluks and the Knights came to blows, and eventually wiped each other out. Fortunately, Charlotte’s units all passed their subsequent courage test forced by the loss of the leader.
On the other flank, Andy’s Mounted Sergeants and Mark’s Turcomen came to blows, the Turcomen winning this battle and the Sergeants fled the field.
Andy’s Knights however made short work of the Mark’s other Turcomen unit, routing it.
By now both Mark and Stephen had lost their leaders and just over half their original points value, so were both forced to take Courage tests on their remaining units (although Andy was also close to that point as well). Several of their damaged units failed the courage tests and became battered.
At this point, with several battered units and both of their leaders now dead or having fled the field, Mark and Stephen conceded the final battle.
Totting up the losses the Ayyubids had lost 28 points of troops, 14 each for Mark and Stephen, while the Pullani had lost 18 points, 10 points of Andy’s contingent and 8 points of Charlotte’s.
This gave the Pullani 5 Glory for the victory, now on to the boasts.
Stephen’s boasts were: “They Will Tremble before me” (2 Glory, success). “My Arrows are Deadlier Than My Spears” (2 Glory, success) and “I shall Slay Their Leader” (3 Glory, failed). The successful boasts gave Stephen 4 Glory, but he lost one for the failed boast making a total of 3 Glory
Mark’s Boasts were: “We Shall Avenge Them” (2) (success), “My Arrows are Deadlier Than My Spears” (2) (failed) and “They Will Tremble before me” (2 Glory, failed). The successful boast gave Mark 2 Glory, but he lost one for each of the failed boast making a total of 0 Glory
The final battle gave a total of 3 Glory for the Ayyubids.
Andy made two boasts, “They will Tremble before me” (2Glory, success), and “I will Destroy more than I Lose” (2 Glory, failed), giving Andy a total of 1 Glory
Charlotte made only one boast, “I will make them run” (1 Glory, failed), so she ended up on -1 Glory
The final Glory tally for the Pullani was 5 for the victory, 1 for Andy’s boasts and -1 for Charlotte’s boasts, a net gain of 5 Glory
After the final battle the Pullani had 5 victories and 35 Glory, the Ayyubid Egyptians had 5 defeats and 2 Glory.
A conclusive campaign win for the Pullani!
Stephen wants revenge and has already issued a challenge, the same 5 battles campaign, but this time set during the Norman Conquest of England! We have put these in the diary for later in the year.
Boasts
For those not familiar with Lion Rampant, Boasts are additional objectives you can set for yourself in addition to the scenario objectives. The Boasts we used in these battles, and their success criteria and Glory value are as follows (failing to achieve a boasts costs 1 Glory, irrespective of its positive Glory value).
Boast
Criteria
Glory
I shall slay your Leader
Your Leader must kill the enemy Leader in a Challenge or Attack. Routing the enemy Leader does not count as a success. If the enemy Leader refuses your challenge and survives the game, you succeed but score only 1 Glory
3
I will destroy more units than I lose
Your Warband must rout/kill more enemy units than you lose (the actual number of models destroyed and their points value is not relevant).
2
My arrows are deadlier than my spears
Your Warband must rout/kill more individual models with Shooting than Attacks (put casualties in two separate piles!)
2
They will tremble before me!
At least two enemy units on the table must be Battered at any one time.
2
We Shall Avenge Them
Secretly choose one enemy unit, you must rout of kill it during the battle
2
I will make them run
One of your units must be the first to fail a Courage test
Our 2024 Open Day is just over a month away and there has been lots of progress on this years games. The Open Day is on the 22th June this year. We’re open to the public from 11am – 4pm on the day.
This is a great day to come and see the society in action and maybe throw some dice at one of the various games we will have on the day.
This year we have a good selection of games, which might just be the incentive you need to either get back into the hobby or to find a new home for your own armies and games.
We will have a game of Barons War complete with scratchbuilt castle.
There will be a game of Project Z for some post-apocalypse fun!
The Elephants will be on the rampage in a battle between Romans and Carthaginians
The Soviet/Afghan war will also be covered this year
Along with a big World War 2 battle somewhere in Europe
And last but not least the magical treefolk will be fighting their ancient enemy the rock warriors in an entirely scratchbuilt fantasy game.
Details of where the club meets and location of the Open Day can be found on our About the Society page.
In the year AD1058 there was a Norse invasion of England. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle doesn’t have much to say about it, just ‘In this year came a pirate host from Norway; it is tedious to tell how it all happened.’
And that’s it.
So Eric and myself decided to refight this tedious invasion using Saga.
I created a matrix of games from The Book of Battles, the game moves on to the next fight depending on who wins each encounter. If you also fancy giving this a go then below is a copy of the matrix. You can work out what to do – who is attacking and defending should be apparent from the previous game and what works best to create a story.
Game Matrix
Eric had Vikings led by Sigvald Ironhand, and I had Anglo-Danes (the English) led by Edward Oswaldsson. We used Warlord Experience from The Book of Battles to have games with a bit of depth and also to help create a narrative flow.
Sigvald and his raiders
First game was Feasting & Pillaging. Three objectives were laid out (loot from the nearby church) with the Vikings trying to steal as much as they could and the English trying to take it away from them. We went with 6 points each. The English had three points of hearthguard, two points of warriors, and one of levy. The Vikings had two points of hearthguard, two of warriors, and two of levy.
Edward and his hearthguard
The English hearthguard massed on their right flank, with the levy and the warriors on the left intending to use some woods as cover. This was because the Vikings had put their bow-armed levy in the middle meaning that a lot of missile fire would meet anyone there. I think Sigvald was being a bit cautious to start with since his raiders didn’t make the most of their moves – coming forward only slowly. Meanwhile, Edward knew that speed was of the essence and so started double-timing his troops, huffing and puffing as they went, to try and secure the church valuables.
Vikings skulk behind the stones
The Vikings advanced through an area of standing stones (clearly this site had been of religious significance for centuries), which also slowed their advance. This allowed the English hearthguard to capture one of the objectives. However, in the centre the English warriors realised that if they were to stop the Vikings then they would have to expose themselves to some bowfire if they were to secure one of the objectives. So they made a dash for it! The bowfire came but no casualties were taken. The Vikings hadn’t been idle though. Their warriors came forward and they managed to capture the last of the objectives.
Vikings with the vestments
The English levy, hiding in the woods, were within striking distance of the Viking thieves. But they had a dilemma – they could stay where they were and loose their slings or they could rush out of the woods and charge the Vikings. If they were going to stop the Vikings then a flurry of sling bullets was unlikely to take them all out – clearly they were going to have to get stuck in!
Anglo-Dane levy make a charge
They made a valiant attempt. The Vikings took casualties but they also gave them out. The English levy lost this exchange and were pushed back. This gave the Vikings the chance to make off with the treasure. On the left Sigvald had moved his Vikings through the stones and saw Edward ordering his hearthguard to make off with the loot. Another unit of English hearthguard had moved to shield the laden hearthguard and took a round of bowfire on the chin. Ouch! Down went three hearthguard.
Go on lads, I’m right behind you
And that was it – game over. The English had managed to get two of the objectives off the table, whilst the Vikings were in control of just one. Victory points came out at 36 to the English and 32 to the Vikings. Edward gained 3 experience points and took the level 1 Exploration ability. Sigvald gained 2 experience points which wasn’t enough to gain any abilities.
So checking the game matrix we see that, with an Anglo-Dane win, we move on to the Ambush scenario. The Vikings, having only partial success with their raid on the church of St Hildaburga, are now trying to flee the scene. The English are going to see if they can cut them off, finish the job, and take back what’s been stolen (which includes some slaves!)
Viking slave traders
We had 4 points each in this game. The English took two points of hearthguard, one of warriors, and one of levy. The Vikings had one point of hearthguard, two points of warriors, and one point of levy. In this scenario all units start off-table and you have to choose when and where to bring them on. There are three units of baggage moving across the table and the aim is to capture the baggage.
The English went first and brought on about half their units. They came on roughly in the middle, the thought being that by the time they got to the road so would the baggage. Sigvald’s Vikings did similar. I then made my first mistake – I brought the rest of my units (mainly hearthguard) on at the far edge of the table. My thoughts were they could block the baggage if anything made its way through. Turned out this wouldn’t happen – both the Vikings and English would intercept the baggage in the middle, this meant I had put one of my units out of the game because they were too far away.
Viking hirdmen advancing
Eric had learnt something from the previous game – sometimes it pays to double move a unit and take the fatigue. Especially in the games we’d played so far, where speed and movement were important. So that’s what he did and soon took control of one of the baggage items. In the middle my levies stepped on to the road to block another of the baggage items. This is where I made another mistake. Because I decided to pull them back (still don’t know why) rather than leave them where they were so they could start peppering the Vikings with their slings. Thus taking another of my units out of the game!
Then something bad happened that was out of my control – I rolled my Saga dice and the result meant I would be unable to activate my warriors (sorry, can’t remember what symbol I needed). I had one of the helmets so went for the Activation Pool, rolled them, and…they all came up the same as well! This meant that I could not move the warriors who I intended to charge the Vikings carrying the baggage. I did move up the hearthguard and Edward though.
And on Eric’s turn he did what any man of honour would do – sent in Sigvald so we had a warlord versus warlord scrap!
Trial by combat
This did not go well. Sigvald had 12 combat dice and Edward was on 10. That’s even enough and with the warlord’s ability to turn hits into fatigue I expected us both to come out of this alive but with a few cuts.
But no.
Edward got two hits on Sigvald. But Sigvald got ten hits on Edward, of which eight went through!
That’s a dead warlord.
At the end of the game it was 21 Victory Points to the English and 34 to the Vikings. A convincing win. Edward gained 2 experience points and Sigvald gained 3 and took the level 1 Tenacity ability.
Seems quiet enough for the time being
So we move on to our last game – Guard The Loot.
The Vikings, having escaped the English ambush, are now nearly home and dry. All they need to do is get their plunder aboard the boats and off they go.
The rules of this scenario mean that each player places 3 objective markers. At the end of the game you get Victory Points based on how many you control – those placed by your opponent are worth more than ones placed by yourself.
We had 5 points each. The English (now led by Edward’s son, Gyrth Edwardson) had three points of hearthguard, one of warriors, and one of levy. The Vikings had two points of hearthguard, two of warriors, and one of levy.
I made a slight mistake in my deployment. There were six objectives on the table but I only had five units. This meant it would be impossible for me to control all six objectives, but if I’m honest, I reckon that would be hard to achieve anyway. So not that bad.
We’d set up with a river running across the table with a bridge in the middle. This was slightly on my side. Normally you roll for how passable the river is at the beginning of the game but we decided we’d roll for it when a unit reaches the river. We decided we’d roll separately for the river either side of the bridge.
Vikings secure control of the booze
Both the Vikings and English soon gained control of two objectives each. The Viking warriors found some crates in the woods and Sigvald and his hearthguard found some more near a hill. The English levies took control of some cargo beside the river but rather than cross to another piece of loot just the other side of the river they chose to stay where they were so they could shoot at any Vikings that tried to claim it. Edward and his hearthguard soon took control of some barrels. The fight was going to be for the remaining loot. I had placed one of the loot tokens on the bridge which, being on my side of the table, meant I should be able to grab it. However, due to the scores I knew I had to push it and gain as much loot as possible and, ideally, the ones Eric had placed (worth more Victory Points) if I was to win the day.
So what do we do now
I pushed a unit of hearthguard and warriors toward the bridge. The intention was that the hearthguard would cross over where they could make a grab for one of the other pieces of loot and the warriors would come up to control the loot on the bridge. With Edward controlling one piece of loot I decided the other unit of hearthguard would cross the river to ultimately attack the Vikings with the loot in the woods. I let Eric roll for the river. Impassable! Yup, a steep, slippery, bank and deep, fast-flowing, rapids made it impassable. So I made the decision to double-time them to the bridge where I could launch an attack on the Viking side of the river. Meanwhile Eric moved a unit of hearthguard to control the loot by the river. The English levies opened up with their slings but…nothing!
Here we go! Here we go!
Now things hotted up! The first unit of English hearthguard crossed the bridge and made for the Vikings in the woods. Eric did the brave thing and backed up. And the Viking levies opened up with their bows. I used the Shieldwall ability to raise armour to 6 and thought that would be enough to stop the arrows. But no – three casualties caused! I then moved the warriors on the bridge along the banks of the river (and behind a hill to protect them from any arrows) so I could contest control of the loot there. This meant Eric only had control of two loot tokens whilst I had control of three, and the possibility of taking control of a fourth. Would that be enough to win the day?
Give us back our barrels
On the last turn Eric decided to go for it. Realising the difficult position he was in it was clearly an all or nothing situation. He counter-attacked on the bridge, meaning the English lost control of the loot token there, and then he brought up a unit of hearthguard to charge the warriors who were threatening control of the loot by the river. In this fight it went the Viking way – no Viking losses but two dead English warriors. This meant the warriors had to withdraw and therefore the Vikings would regain control of that loot token.
And that was the end of the game. The Vikings had just managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat – they had three loot tokens worth 9 Victory Points and the English had control of just two loot tokens worth 6 Victory Points. A close one.
But final Victory points for the day came to 63 for the English and 75 for the Vikings. A narrow Viking win. They had got away with some loot but not as much as they could have.
Battle number ten in our campaign took us to the all important battle of Barnet. One of the main features of the battle (apart from the treacherous Earl of Warwick) was the fog that plagued both sides on the day. To represent this we rolled a 1D3 at the start with the result indicating the affect of the fog. The result was that all ranged weapons for the battle were reduced by 2 DU. This meant the longbows went from 5 DU to 3DU making any archery exchange very close indeed. We normally have a couple of guest commanders for our battles but this time it was just myself commanding the Yorkists and Stephen with his Lancastrians. But we stuck to the armies being divided up into two commands each.
Battle of Barnet
Both sides deployed in fairly typical fashion but the make up of the armies was quite different this time. For the Yorkists my main force was quite strong with men at arms, bills, longbows, mercenary pikemen and mounted men at arms. I had 16 units under this command. The remaining 8 units of the second command were mainly militia units of bills, longbows and some currours. I intentionally kept this command weak as a feint with the hope that the Lancastrians would still commit enough of their stronger units against it.
On the Lancastrian side Stephen did not bring any cavalry which surprised me, but did bring some guns and units of Irish Kerns. He brought a good mix of militia and retinue units, and a unit of Gallowglass (dismounted men at arms for game purposes). Stephen had brought twice as many command units as I had which would prove to be a problem for me and divided his commands evenly with 13 units in each.
Deployment was typical but I left some space in the middle to bring up some infantry should I need it later in the battle. Probably by accident but very similar to the last battle we had both placed our strongest flanks facing the enemies weakest.
With the fog causing problems both sides advanced their archers in the centre for a quick exchange of arrows. Despite using many bonus dice this didn’t really achieve much.
Along with my two generals I had brought a captain who would have the sole responsibility of commanding the mounted men at arms on the Yorkist right flank. I knew I wanted to get the cavalry moving and threatening the Lancastrian left flank as soon as I could, hoping the enemy could not ignore them.
In the centre and the Lancastrians suddenly changed everything with some superb archery, making a unit of Yorkist longbows the first casualties of the day. This led me to spur on my infantry in the centre to make good use of the road and fill the gap.
Out on the Yorkist left flank I needed to goad the Lancastrians into believing my weaker units were a threat and so I boldly moved up the Currours to attempt a similar manoeuvre to my men at arms over on the right. Knowing the threat the cavalry posed Stephen surprised me by using a few bonus dice to have his Kerns charge in, thus depriving my cavalry of their impact bonus. Even worse was to come when the Kerns managed to survive a melee against both units of Currours!
Seeing the disaster over on the left flank I resolved to make up for it with my mounted men at arms. The Lancastrians had moved up some archers, so I had to get the charge in. But again the Lancastrians held firm and the cavalry became bogged down.
To try and maintain pressure on the Lancastrian right I decided to move up my militia longbows but the exchange of arrows proved ineffective. This was then met with an advance from the Lancastrian longbows.
Back to the centre my bold move to fill the gap paid off with the billmen routing some of the troublesome archers. But the Lancastrians had brought up their men at arms ready to join the fight.
With the Yorkist left flank plan having failed and the same happening on the right, I decided to bring in extra support and managed to overwhelm the archers and again threaten the Lancastrian right.
In the centre the last of the Lancastrian archers had been destroyed but this left the billmen facing the elite of the Lancastrian army alone. Acting just as bold the Lancastrian men at arms soon got the better of the Yorkist billmen.
The centre was now becoming the main focus of the battle with both armies bolstering their ranks.
It was at this point the disaster on the Yorkist left had reached a turning point with the Irish Kerns managing to rout some of the currours.
This was added to with the Yorkist militia longbows being nearly destroyed. I had hoped my smaller left flank would have occupied the Lancastrians for longer. The units had played their role and held up the left flank of the Lancastrians, but with casualties being fairly even on both sides at this point I had to rethink my strategy.
Focusing back to the Yorkist right I was lucky enough to get some good activation rolls and went on the offensive with my surviving longbow units.
The centre then became a bloody ground, the Lancastrian men at arms faired poorly and were defeated by the Yorkist billmen, but the Lancastrian Gallowglasses made up for it with a valiant defence, even after I managed to support the bills with some spearmen. I also decided it was now or never to get my mercenary pikemen into the fight.
With further success on the Yorkist right the mounted men at arms charged through the Lancastrian guns and onto some waiting billmen. The Yorkist archers also managed to destroy the last of the opposing archers pushing the Lancastrians to their first morale check.
Spurred on by the Lancastrians dropping morale I pushed more billmen forward, although the loss of the second unit of currours and militia longbows on the Yorkist left flank put my army close to the first morale check.
But the battle continued and the Lancastrian Gallowglasses still held firm making for a nervous time. But in the Yorkist favour was that the Lancastrian right flank was too far away to get involved in the battle in the centre.
The following turn was the last with yet another disappointing show from the Lancastrian men at arms who were dispatched but the pikemen for no loss to themselves. And the Gallowglasses finally fell pushing the Lancastrians to their breaking point.
And so the Battle of Barnet ended with a Yorkist victory, to make the day worse the Lancastrians also lost the Earl of Essex and the Duke of Exeter.
Time to reassemble the armies and march to Tewkesbury.
Yorkist Loses 2 Units of Currours (8 points)
4 Units of Longbows (12 points)
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit of Billmen (4 points) Total loses 30 points (Army break point 47)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Dismounted Men at Arms (8 points)
3 Units of Billmen (12 points)
4 Units of Longbows (12 points)
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit Gallowglass (4 points)
1 Unit Guns (2 points)
1 Unit Irish Kerns (3 points) Total loses 47 points (Army break point 45)
The Maidstone Wargames Society is pleased to announce our show game for 2024.
The Luftwaffe approach the south coast of Britain and their first set of targets, the radar stations.
We present the Summer of 77, a world war two Battle of Britain participation game. Why 1977? I hear you cry. Our show game is based on a simple game that appeared in the 1977 summer edition of Warlord magazine and is the brainchild of society member Phil who has turned it into a full scale 3D landscape.
Fully detailed landscape of the English countryside, towns and villages. Not to mention those all important airfields and radar stations!
The game has already made a successful appearance at this years Cavalier show in Tonbridge and will make its next appearance at Salute 51 on the 13th April, we are table GJ05 on the show plan. If you’re at the show come and try your hand at thwarting the Luftwaffe. You can also find out all about the game including how it was constructed on our show game page Summer of 77.
Spitfires prepare to scramble to meet the incoming German fighters and bombers.
Andy rounds up a busy weekend for the Society. Photos by Andy unless stated otherwise, header photo by Stephen.
Last weekend saw both a Society meeting and our annual trip to the Cavalier Wargames show run by Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society.
Only three games at the meeting on Saturday, perhaps due to some members only being able to get out on one of the days.
First up, David ran a Napoleonic Corps game using General d’Armee rules and figures from his collection. This was a popular game with half a dozen members partaking.
Eric ran a Judge Dredd RPG, only a couple of photos of this one I’m afraid.
Judge Dredd RPGJudge Dredd Bar room Brawl
Finally on Saturday Andy and Stephen finished off their Lion Rampant Five Battles campaign, joined this time by Treasurer Mark and new member Charlotte.
Game one.
This was a Convoy mission, the Christians had to escort three “baggage” markers diagonally across the table, a cart, some monks and some civilians. The Muslim forces had to stop them.
Much reduced cavalry face off (Charlotte)Andy’s convoy and escorts (Charlotte)Egyptian Light Cavalry (Charlotte)
Game 2. This was to be our “Big Battle”, with two commands on each side. Here the objective was simply to defeat the opposition.
Andy’s warbandAndy’s Warband (Charlotte)Charlotte’s and Stephen’s warbandsStephen’s view point (Stephen)
We will post a write up of the final games in the campaign in the near future.
CAVALIER
On Sunday half a dozen or so members travelled to Tonbridge for Cavalier.
The Society’s game for this year was masterminded and built by Phil, and was a 3D representation of a map game published in the 1977 Warlord Comic Summer Special portraying a Luftwaffe raid on Southern England during the Battle of Britain.
Phil’s board, 560 individually marked squares!Airfields and ammunition dumps are three of the targets for the LuftwaffeA close up of the townA copy of the original game can just be seen at the bottom of the photo
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