Lion Rampant - First Game
This report should start with
Newspaper titles like: „Daniel Mersey and Osprey Publishing are responsible for the deaths of two
Czech kings. Latest researches indicates that Ottakarus II Premyslin on
the Battle of Marchfeld and, John, King of Bohemia
and Duke of Luxemburg at Crecy died because they follow rules of the
wargaming game Lion Rampant written by Daniel Mersey and published by
Osprey Publishing…“ It has to be said that situation on the table was closely reminiscent to the deaths of Jan and Premysl Otakar II.
“Let it never be the case that a Bohemian king runs from a fight!” |
During CSE 2015 Spring finaly
came the time when me and my bro played first Lion Rampant game, which
we presented to the majoriry of the Czech non-warhammer gamers. We have
purchased the ruleset with joy, but we dont
have any historical miniatures yet, therefore most of the
question/answer was:
Q:„Are you playing Warhammer?“ with scowl /Warhammer is not liked on CSE/
A „No, we are playing Lions Rampant“ with growing anger
Q „Whats that?“ curiously
A: „Very cool minimalistic historical wargame“ happily
By the way, do you know what is coat of arms of Kingdom of Bohemia?
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My Lizzardmens consists of
Temple Guard (Foot Man-At-Arms), Saurus Warriors (Foot Serjeants), Cold
One Riders (Mounted Man-At-Arms), four units of Skinks (Bidowers). 42
models, 7 units, General in Cold One Riders. Jiron
used army of Orcs and Gobling, 42 models to divided into 6 units of
Black Orcs (Foot Man-At-Arms), Forest Goblin Spider Riders (Mounted
Serjeants), First Goblin Wolf Riders (Mounted Yeoman), 2xNight Goblins
Spearmans (Foot Yeomans) a Night Goblin Archers (Archers).
As mission we chose the Bloodbath (destroy more units than oponent).
Also end in this mission occur when you roll on your d6 dice more, than
you have units on table (starting with 5).
Orcs General (Intothegroinkicker
was his name, believe me in czech it sounds great) boasted that he
slays my general Skullcrusher (3 glory), meanwhile by cold one veteran
boasted morale of the troops that my army destroys
more units that those greenskins (2 glory). We have decided that for
the first game we will choose only one boast each. Also our generals
choosed their skill – mine was Vulnerable, Jirons was Insipid. And that
the winds of war started to blow.
Jiron won the Attacker/Defender
roll, he decided that the Black Orcs move first, and he fails utterly.
His black orcs interested more in animosity between green skins that
cold blod lizzards in front of them. So my Skullcrusher
general yelled order for his cold one riders, but those were relay
stupid – the cold ones, not riders) and decided that they will not move
(wink for warhammer fans here).
So Initiative goes for OnG, and
they moved. Well actualy only spider riders moved. Other still dont like
spiders so they let them go. On my side now, Cold Ones finnaly moved
and unit of bidower skinks moved as well. When
even the Black Guard moved, it was pretty clear that they will be a
duel.
The most funny part of the game,
and also the most heroic. Oponents roll three dices and the one who has
more 5+ wins and slays his oponent – not the gamer of course, the
general. I have one 5+, Jiron none, so his black
orc roared for the last time, and Jiron roared as well as his boast
glory points was lost…
The rest of the game concluded
pretty normally we have ben even able to have each full activation round
(all units followed the orders). My dice rolls slighty better than
Jirons, and I realy enjoyed Evade rules with Skinks.
At the end it means that I slaughtered units of Black Orcs and Wolf
Riders, so I forced Jiron to roll for the endgame, what he done
instantly on the first possible outcome. BTW Daniel if you read this,
this endgame option have to have some cool name. I have
lost only one unit of skinks and almost whole unit of Riders, only
General stays on. Lucky for me. It means that I have get 5 glory for
destroying more units (2:1) and 2 glory for fullfilled boast (actually
they have had a very goof beer from Policka brewery
in Brno). Jiron lost -1 glory as he was not fullfilled the boast, so he
sipped his dark beer later on only. In total 7:-1 for Lizzies.
Actualy we have realized during
the game that we missed some rules. But we returned back to them as soon
as possible. And in the beginning I mispaced orders and move stats.
Also we forget that units are not locked in
combat and that they have to move from themselves 3 inches. For the
first game our tactic was straightforward, we just tried to get the
rules to be automatic. What is interesting, that if Jiron just killed
one more Cold One, the game will be a draw and supplemental
glory /boasts/ will decide the winner, which is pretty dynamic. Even
though I will win the mission objective, still the oponent can beat me
as he has smaller objectives to reach.
There are some rules questions.
Vulnerable – it means that lucky hits are done on double 1, double 2 and double 3?
At the end, I have to say, that
the game was lively. Even with rule-searching the game was played within
40 minutes. Strange rules paper-wise (end turn on activation failure)
makes the game fast and furious when played.
This chaotic activation makes the game more lively and realistic at the
end. As I mentioned before, there si clear reminiscent to the battle of
Crecy, and death of our King there, just because some idiots follows
the rules for activation and moved earlier
again English lines that the support. And Our king was forced to do as
well not to lose his face – even though he already lost sight years
before. And it almost realy cost us dearly, because during the attack,
crown prince Charles the fourth, beloved Father
of the Country for czechs, and later Roman Emperor was grievely wounded
during this ill-fated attempt to test of horse is faster than arrow.
For the matter, my cold ones behaved the same way. Instead of full
control, you have to accept that there is bloody
chaos on the field and no walkie-talkie. Ottokar II Premyslid should
tell you…
Ottokar II of Bohemia |
Ending the game for random dice
roll is time saving action, and it has to be houseruled if you don’t
agree with it. And its game balance as well, so you will re-think to
take 2 Mounted Man-At-Arms and 2 Foor Man-At-Arms,
because it should be endgame in turn one.
What to say here. Where can I
get plastic historical miniatures for King Ottokar II Iron and Golded
King, Zavis from Falkenstein and knights of my country? Lion Rampant
FTW.autor: Dalcor
Nice to see you enjoyed the rules.
OdpovědětVymazatI think the important word in the rules is 'score' (or dice total).
Lucky blow score is normally 2 (1+1)
Vulnerable: Killed by lucky blows on a score of 2 or 3 (i.e. 1+1 or 2+1)
Fireforge produce some nice and cheap historical medieval plastic which you could use for your army.
This is a new forum dedicated to the rules which the author posts on quite regularly if you have any rules questions.
http://duxrampant.yuku.com/
Regards,
Matt
Hello Matt,
OdpovědětVymazatThank you for your comment, and sorry for late answer, seems I did not setup comments notification well.
I am already registered at the forume and I like it. Actualy we have finnaly decided to explore Dark Ages period, but definetely Fireforge are option for some other ideas we have about Lion/Dragon Rampant. Cheers Dalcor