Lion Rampant Arthur Campaign Forces

Here are my two proposed starter forces for my upcoming (???) campaign. It was a tough decision as to exactly what units went in to each force and trying to create balance.

Arthur's force is a fast, hard hitting but small force. In Lion Rampant terms ...

... two groups of mounted sergeants and one group of mounted yeomen.  This means two charging groups and one skirmishing missile unit. 

One of the mounted sergeants. 

The second mounted sergeants unit ... with Arthur proudly waving his magic sword Caliburnus (yep, the sword name from Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'History' of Britain.) 

Good on attack but not on defence. Low model counts in all units may also be a weakness. High movement will be obvious advantage hopefully enabling the Britons to concentrate their attacks on portions of the Saxon forces and cut them off from objectives.

For the Saxons ... 

The Saxon all foot force consists of two units of spear armed foot yeomen, one group of charging fierce foot and one unit of skirmishing bidowers. 

Above stands the fierce foot ... aggressive warriors all. 

The skirmishers or bidowers. 

For the Saxons to defend against Arthur's mounted troops the foot yeomen need to form schiltron (which will be called shieldwall in this campaign and allow units to move at half speed once formed.)  However, this will slow their movement. The fierce foot and bidowers movement in rough terrain will provide an advantage. 

Hopefully this will create some interesting match ups with both groups able to attack and counter the other in varied ways ... well thats the plan anyway. 

The choice of the mounted Britons also aligns with some of the theorising about a post Roman Arthur against the more 'barbaric' Saxons. While this is fertile ground for dramtic gameplay and the imagination it appears to have very little to do with history ... but my entire 'Mythic Britain' project aims to dwell in that space of legend. 

Lion Rampant Campaign - The Rise and Fall of Arthur

Thoughts of Dark Age wargaming are never too far from my mind.

There are few more evocative eras than the Dark Age period of attack and counter across a ravaged near-mythical landscape of brave heroes, prophets and legend. Among these strife torn times one rears out to entice people and gamers of later ages.

As Gildas wrote of 6th century Britain:
"... all the husbandmen routed together with the bishops, priests and people, whilst the sword gleamed and the flames crackled around them on every side. Lamentable to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers tumbled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies covered with livid clots of coagulated blood looking as though they had been squeezed together in a press, and with no chance of being buried save in the ruins of their houses, or in the ravening bellies of wild beasts and birds ..."

With such things in mind I propose to begin an Arthurian campaign using the Lion Rampant rules.

This will use the campaign suggestions from the Lion Rampant rules but also what little I have read about the Age of Sigmar Narrative Play rules. Long I have been interested in warband style narrative campaigns ... since I purchased the 'Lost and the Damned' GW chaos book so many moons ago.

In any case ... here is the concept ... a 12 point (that's half normal points) starter warband for Saxon and Arthurian Britons. Glory points will be amassed for each game - 2 to the winner, 1 if a tie or 1 to the loser/defeated. Other glory points may be distributed for narrative reasons as the campaign progresses. I don't intend to use the glory points from Lion Rampant at this stage.

Glory points may be used between battles to enhance each warband. 

- One point may be used to add an additional unit to the roster. This unit may be swapped in to the warband to better meet the demands of each scenario.

- Two points may be used to upgrade a unit. There are quite a few upgrades listed in the Lion Rampant rules. (Maybe this should be just a single point???) 

- The cost of the unit - see Lion Rampant lists - may be paid in glory points to buy a new unit for the warband. This will be either 3 or 4 points ... I can't envisage too the accumulation of 6 points at the moment for the campaign. (Again, this may change as no plan survives contact.) 

Other glory points may be decided by players as the campaign advances. In addition, leader characteristics from the Lion Rampant book can be assigned based on in-game performance and decisions by players. 

Units will be returned to their original strength for the beginning of each battle as reserves arrive from friendly lands or strongholds. Leaders will also return - unless the narrative is modified by the players - due to a variety of miraculous escapades. 

Options for upgrading a leader - also 1 point. Once spent this leader (who'll now need a name) can modify a single dice roll each turn by +1. But, if the unit is destroyed then the leader dies. 

So the plan is for the following games ... 

#1 Scenario F - Arthur emerges for a first strike burning Saxon supplies. 

#2 Scenario D - Arthur's offensive - striking Saxon's returning from a raid. 

#3 Scenario C - Arthur attempts to rescue the raving Merlin from a wood deep in Saxon territory. 

#4 Scenario J - Arthur corners Saxon raiders deep with Briton lands. 

#5 Scenario I - Arthur strikes to prevent Saxon taxation of dominated lands. 

#6 Scenario K - Saxon warlord Aelle attacks the over-extended Arthur. 

#7 Scenario B - Aelle attempts to block Arthur's escape across a vital bridge. 

#8 Scenario A - Arthur confronts Aelle in pitched battle. 

#9 Scenario K - The victor of #8 must avoid being crushed by the resurgent defenders. 

#10 Scenario L - Aella faces Arthur in a battle only one can survive. 

Dark Age Cavalry

As I paint through any remaining miniatures in the house I hit six Dark Age Heavy Cavalry from a Gripping Beast box. I've been meaning to paint these for some time. And now - as I really can't leave the house - I have no excuse.

Gripping Beast create wonderful miniatures and I can't say I've done them justice as my painting was a little rushed. I envisage these to be Saxon cavalry from around the 7th to 8th C. I'd like to use the Dux Bellorum rules a little more to recreate the inter-kingdom warfare of this period. Cavalry will make those battles a little more dynamic as with big blobs of infantry things can be a little stale.

Victorious Arthur Cornered

This Tuesday witnessed a return to Lion Rampant and Arthurian conflict. This week 'Hammer and Anvil' was played with the previously victorious Arthur cornered by Saxon forces. Arthur was charged with cutting a way to victory and survival. Here perfidious British lords bartered coin for their national (i know the word is ridiculous in this context) loyalty and invested cavalry forces to defeat Arthur - the probable leader of  Briton.

Arthur amassed his forces along the eastern edge of the table. Knowing he was pursued he gave orders for each unit to escape to the SW or NW corners of the table. 

His stolid spear line were probably the most in doubt of reaching safety. They would hopefully buy the time the others needed. 

The Saxons spread some of their forces in the centre to lure the Britons forward. Other were ranged along the western battlefield edge. More followed directly behind Arthur. 

Arthur ordered his men forward but with a harsh gale impeding his warriors ability to hear his commands - the Brtions had scarcely moved before the Saxons were upon them. 

The Saxons forces on just turn 2 were breathing down the necks of  Arthur's warband. The trap was sprung ... would anyone escape? (Note: The Saxon forces are closest to the table edge. Really forces in this period were extremely similar thus making it hard to discern differences on the tabletop.) 

Fortunately the same command problems dogged the Saxons. Arthur may yet survive?

British cavalry rode out trying to flank the Saxons while peppering them with javelins. 

The Saxon thegns held firm in the centre. They knew their role ... the lure Arthur into the trap. 

The spearmen prepared for a clash of arms and a hail of missiles. They formed shieldwall and plodded onward at a much reduced rate. 

British archers tried to reduce Saxon numbers but to little avail. The British were losing too many units to hope for escape. If only Arthur could flee ... hope may spring again. 

Arthur rode forth eager to cut his way out. 

Germanic fierce foot in British pay descended from rough terrain to drive off Saxon skirmishers and inflict heavy casualties on the Saxons. 

Despite their losses, the Saxons had units in important positions blocking the way to safety. 

British cavalry alone were able to ride to safety ... including Arthur. The Saxon forces had been driven off from the centre of the table. Only two groups of fierce foot inhabited rough ground which guarded the approaches to the SW and NW corners. A hail of javelins would bring one such unit down and open a line of advance to safety. But only two cavalry forces could outpace the Saxon bowmen and ride away from this perfidious trap. 

While the hero survived, the British forces - like the Saxons - were devastated. They would have to hope that a core of comitatus would be enough to remake their victorious warband. The Saxons would be emboldened - despite losing all their noblemen and leaders in the fray. In the proceeding months of British rebuilding more forces would arrive from over the waves. 

Perhaps a jealous British king might step forward to command not just his forces but those of the invaders as well ... Arthur's position of dux may yet be challenged in his moment of weakness. 

But Arthur and his core of warriors were not defeated ... 

Lion Rampant and the Great Heathen Host 865 AD

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? 

The charge of Arthur .... Lion Rampant in 550AD.

Not too recently i completed by Mythic Britain project. Since that time several Lion Rampant games have occurred with Arthur carrying all before him.

This game was the 'defend the indefensible' scenario. The British light cavalry proved devastating to the saxon fierce foot. 

It was their speed that decided the day as well as the bludgeoning force of Arthur's mounted men. 

Losses were acrued but not enough to decide the day for the Saxons. The Brits were able to assault the fierce foot before the Saxon heavy foot could be injected decisively. 

Note my scratch built burial mound centre piece, which i am very pleased with, with Merlin watching on atop.

Here the armoured wedge crashes violently into the Saxon tribesmen. 

I stil; haven't completely balanced the forces but the Saxons have not yet used the full force of their many units in unison to attack a given point. 

But the battle for Britain is far from decided ...