"Lion Rampant ROCKS!!!!" Topic

Played our first game of Lion Rampant last night. Sorry no pictures maybe my friend John will post some he took.

We did a 24 point Normans against Vikings with four players splitting up the two retinues. In a nutshell we had a blast. Lots of laughs but the game mechanics are simply sublime and brilliant. The Normans ended up with an "Insipid" leader while the Vikings gained "Lionheart" for their leader. Despite this the Normans eventually carried the day because of successful "Boasts" and bad luck on the part of the Viking side.

I love the way the game flowed back and forth and kept everyone engaged. You do not wait long for your turn to come around. It was a hit with our game group and we are talking of running it as a convention game in the future.

Thanks for the review. I will definitely check out the game.

Ron

I haven't played a game yet, but I am quite impressed by the ebb and flow of the rules.

The author prides a wonderful simple flow chart in the book in regards activation of units. While not all failed activations will cause a phase to pass to the other player most do and that creates friction in the game. There was one point during the game where both sides would successfully activate one unit then fail the next passing the turn back to the other side only to have that side either only successfully activate a unit then fail on the next. Different unit types have different stats and difficulty to perform a task whether it is moving, shooting, or attacking. Hand to hand combat is simultaneous and knowing what tactical decision to make is critical.

It just goes to support my theory. Games don't have to be especially complex to be fun. Simpler with supporting material is a far better way to go. This game is a very simple and approachable set with scenarios and army lists.

One of the players last night has already found a complete list set for the War of the Roses and even has great rules that brings early gunpowder into the game.

Hey Kallman! I want to join in the fun! I've got the rules, plus some Normans/early Crusaders who are itching for a fight! I hope you group will still be playing this game, once I get out your way. These rules look really good, much more exciting than Dux Bellorum.

I saw somewhere…maybe on Dan's site, a breakdown of howto form an army from a box or two of hard plastic figures. Basically an army could be built for about $40 USD-$50. Not bad, especially in the age where figure prices are going sky-high.

I think I've seen the WotR lists somewhere too. BGG maybe?

I'm looking forward to Perry miniatures releasing their HYW foot with archers and men-at-arms.

Is this available in the US yet?

Yes.

I saw a variant for Dark Age figures for this set, somewhere.

I agree with Who asked this joker, you can pretty much build a Retinue with a couple of plastic box sets from say Fireforge or Perry. You are talking about 40-60 figures per side depending on how you design your force. That is even affordable when you are considering metal figures.

Doesn't Lions Rampant treat all knights the same as all other knights and continue on with that principle throughout?

I just picked up 30 assorted medievals off EBay for a tenner. Just waiting for the rules to arrive!!

That's right, Optional: troops are selected from a range of standardised types that are unvarying across the entire medieval era.

I think the presumption is that a little abstraction is acceptable in what's intended to be an historically 'light' game; it's only important to differentiate their major distinguishing characteristics relative to their contemporaries, in the interests of simplicity and speed of preparation.

The rules do have some tweaks to troop types -- knights with better discipline, archers with better bows or training, foot with pointier sticks.

The game looks ideal for convention gaming.

I got my set this morning and they look great – using multi basred troops is no problem at all. What do people think of units having to stay 3in apart?

I had my first game yesterday, socalwarhammer was kind enough to walk and talk me through it, I didn't have the rules yet. I get home and in the mailbox they sit! Now I can actually read them,yeah!

The rule about units staying 3 inches apart did stand out as different from other games I've played, mashrewba.

But I have not played yet, so I'm not sure if I have any strong feelings about it.

How about you?

The 3 inch rule has both pro's and con's. Scrillerm you'll more than likely see it in your first game or two, it can work against you and for you. Now that I understand it better,I do like it!

gonna have my first game next week so i was re-reading the rules (took all of 10 mins) and i stumbled upon something.

if my armor 4 unit of foot men at arms is behind a wall and receives cover, it should make them armor 5 yes? but the rules only go up to armor 4.

i'm assuming that armor 5 just means 5 hits before a casualty. any thoughts?

and buildings are kinda undefined.

6 figure units get 12 dice to shoot/fight as well as 12 figure units -because they are knights etc. Is this the same for Bidowers who are also in 6 man units.
I could see this working in shooting as they are specialist but what about close combat?

yes, if contacted, the Bidowers roll 12 dice in combat. I'm actually prtty sure ALL units that are over half strength roll 12 dice in combat, but what changes are the values needed to score hits. I don't have the book in front of me, but I would wager that Bidowers have really poor attack and defense values and probably low armor.

Played the game last afternoon at a gaming convention – great fun:-)

I had my first game last night. Pledged to wipe the floor with the enemy's banner, but lost my leader in a challenge during the heat of the battle. Not long before my units started to loose their courage and left the battlefield. I must say I like the simplicity of the rules, yet enough options given and tactical requirements needed to fill a good lengthy game without referring back to the rulebook all the time.
With regards to units, we used our Saga Vikings and Saxons. I will field my WHF Brettonians next time (they haven't seen daylight in ages) which will lend themselves perfectly fine to this game. So no big investment needed to get started nd the rules are very reasonably priced as well.