This week's game saw a return to Lion Rampant and a very large game at that. I had almost doubled the points (from 24 to 46) for each army. I enjoy setting up my dark age terrain and figures. This was part of my 'Britain of my Mind' project and (terrain especially) represents more of a dark age fantasy of misty moors and rocky tors. I find this setting very evocative.
The Saxons had more Foot Yeomen (we called them Fyrd) while the Vikings had a mix of Foot Sergeants (some armed with 2HW) and some fierce foot (representing raiders from Dublin.) Many of the units on both sides had a shieldwall rule - basically the schiltron rule but able to move at half move while in such a formation. I haven't yet found the right rules to appropriately house rule the Dark Ages as yet ... shieldwall is good but the defender still has a large advantage as Foot Yeomen and Sergeants in Lion Rampant fight at a better defensive factor than when attacking. This led to (especially later in the game) both sides being unwilling to attack.
Here the Saxons - led by Thegn Micko were certainly the aggressor on the evening - assaulting the Viking. They have almost reach the gate of their camp. This attack would eventually fade in ferocity as units were depleted of points then some became battered others lost. The Saxon right flank failed activation tests and only pressed too late in the game.
This photo is just to show how unkind the flash can be to my figures. The top image is much better.
Blows were dealt on each side. Once those casualties mount things become very hard in Lion Rampant. Courage tests are failed and once at half way the unit becomes almost useless - its combat dice are halved.
(Note: I don't remove casualties but instead mark this with the read numbers. Also, I have yet to create shieldwall tokens so I used the blue markers shown above - I think they were made for ... ACW 'Couldn't Hit and Elephant' rules ... I need to dust those off one day ...)
Here the rather inactive Saxon right tromps forward in a slovenly and disjointed manner. They marched into the teeth of two bidower units whose shooting took a consistent toll on the Saxons. By the time they contacted the enemy, casualties significantly weakened them leading to courage test failures. Once battered they were east prey to the Vikings.
A good game was had - many perished but England has not yet fallen. The Vikings were victorious but significantly bloodied. Alfred will need to rally his men ... perhaps even head to a marsh and take up cooking?
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