Lion Rampant Crusading……..

We have arrived back in the North where the temperature is tolerable, after a week on holiday in what turned out to be the hottest June week on record. I’m sure other British followers will have suffered similar. Although the heat meant I had to cancel a planned trip to a couple of battlefields we did manage to see a little bit of history.

But first up before we headed into the SW furnace I squeezed in a game of Lion Rampant. Looking for a quick pick up scenario for ply in. Couple of hours we went ‘Crusading’ we had the Christians escorting their baggage train across the desert only to be ambushed by Saladin and his Moorish forces.

The Christian objective is to get the three baggage items escorted by their infantry diagonally across the table. The dry river will be difficult ground. Those with a keen eye will note the similarity of the basic table to the previous Greek/Italian battle ! As to be expected the Arab forces are generally more mobile but more lightly armed.

In the initially couple of turns Saladin gets the better of the dice and is able to move the majority of his force into blocking positions. The scenario requires the Arabs to deploy split in half. The Christian heavy cavalry stubbornly refuse to activate !

This means the infantry carrying the baggage start to more forward unprotected.

The light Arab cavalry armed with bows and javelins sweep into  attack, skirmishing when they need to keep out of range. For several turns the Arabs continue to get the better of it gradually wearing down the Christian forces who are forced back to use the small building as some cover.

Eventually though the Christian’s start to get some better dice and are able to bring their heavy cavalry forward.

Now it is the turn of the lighter Arab forces to be pushed back but they are constricted by the dry river bed

The Christian King and his bodyguard charge in against Saladin who although not killed is forced to flee.

The game is up with the Arab forces accepting defeat as they now don’t have enough troops to prevent the Christian baggage from getting off the table (eventually), a fun game whoch swung significantly as at first the Christian’s almost threw in the towel when they were seemingly pinned into the corner, but things changed around a it turned into a good win 👍

Just a couple of shots from the holiday with a historical theme, we were staying just south of the Forest of Dean, almost in the epicentre of the heatwave !

St Briavels Castle, started in early 12th Century but extended by Edward 1st with the twin towered gatehouse, used as a centre for the production of Crossbow bolts with iron from the Forest of Dean and now a Youth Hostel.

Chepstow Castle , which I had been to before, a wonderful Norman keep which has been encircled and the castle enlarged several times since.

The last remaining medieval gate into Chepstow, there is a little bit of wall still extant which you can see as well

We visited Coleford several times the scene of a small ECW battle in 1643 commemorated by a nice plaque in the main square.

Whilst the rest of the party were shopping in thrift shops I visited the tourist information where they had a small diorama of the battle. Apparently built by one of the Town councillors who is apparently a wargamer, using Warlord Epic figures which were nice to see.

Goodrich Castle, a *** castle overlooking the river wye.

Besieged and taken in 1646 by Colonel John Birch using ‘Roaring Meg’ an example of which is on show at the castle.

Finally in one of my short cycle trips around the area I came across this pillbox over looking the Seven Estuary/River near Lydney Harbour. I always find these WW2 reminders fascinating when you come across them.

Well that’s it for now, more to come soon as I have several games scheduled over the next week or so.

Thanks as always for following along ❤️

Matt

Ambush in the Welsh Borders

After the Napoleonic battle last week I quickly packed up for a game the following day. Loosely based on a recent scenario in WSS I setup a Dark age encounter. The Normans have pushed their control across most of the British isles building fortified buildings and castles as they go. In 1069 they are on the welsh border their occupation as much about intimidation as the collection of tax. The local Norman Lord has been on a 2 day march to collect Taxes from the local population. But the Welsh are not happy and a raiding party has been sent to take back the extorted money. Using Lion Rampant both sides have about points.

The Normans have the choice to split their force between those entering along the white arrow carrying the stash and a force left behind in the fortified house. The Welsh will randomly arrive from the two green corners. The Norman’s must escort the loot to the keep.

A unit of mounted knights and spearmen await the arrival of the escorting party who can be seen way off in the distance

The Lady of the castle awaits her lord and presumably some new sparkly jewellery ?

Welsh lightly armed spearmen rush in to block the road

The welsh have some light cavalry armed with (unlimited) javelins 😀

The escorting party begins to move along the road but more welsh appear from their right

More welsh light cavalry begin to harass the group so a unit of knights are sent to chase them off

Closer to the castle, knights charge across the stream to try and engage more welsh cavalry

By the church more javelins are used to stall the advance of the escort

The welsh also try to charge the castle but are blocked at the gate in a stand off

A cavalry skirmish at one of the river crossings

Infantry are now in place to block the road

Having chased off the welsh light horsemen the Norman knights are weakened and tired the Welsh commander takes the opportunity to charge in a try and finish them off

The other knights swing around the back of the welsh ! Ouch 

A stand off at the gate neither side wishing to charge in

The Norman bodyguard drive forward to open the road

They butcher the lightly armed welsh who will only stand on a roll of double six ….yeah 😀 they stand

The Normans charge to clear the gate way but are beaten back to they resume shouting at each other instead

Finally the Normans think the path is open enough to start moving the loot (which is carried on the pack horse) but the Norman archers are at risk from the welsh bodyguard.

To protect them the Norman Lord charges in…..

But he is then charged himself by the welsh lord 

…and cut down, luckily for the Normans despite the loss of their Lord the Norman force remains in the field

The Norman bodyguard is now clearing the way, although they are being closely chased by the welsh bodyguard

Things are now tight and the last welsh unit moves to block the road

But they are then charged in the back from the castle and cleared out the way. The Norma’s are now desperate to get to safety but are in danger of being cut off by the welsh cavalry

The Norman’s rush for the gates passing the loot over only to then be cut down from behind

A final volley of javelins from the welsh and although they hit home the Normans pass their final activation to get the loot to safety. A very tight win for the Normans as they only have two units on the table at the end, the archers and the unit who stayed for much of the battle within the stockade.

Phew a wonderfully close game that was great fun, each activation became key towards the end. FairPlay to the Normans they didn’t give up and squeezed a victory right at the end.

A few new purchases this week, and some painting but the only thing completed are these rubble piles from eBay shown here with a 15mm Stug for scale.

A trip back to Edinburgh for my Fathers funeral, we took the opportunity to stop in the lovely town of Jedburgh where we visited the small Mary Queen of Scots Museum in a house she once stayed in.

Some interesting history and some nice paintings as part of the audio tour.

Worth a trip if you are passing and it is free 👍

Thanks as always hopefully another game soon

Matt 😀

An Al Andalusian Skirmish and French Army command

Back at battleground I was introduced (and played through the Uboat scenario) to a Wargamer from Canada visiting the UK. Turns out Jon from Edmonton was staying close to Penrith sorting out family stuff. So before he returned we sorted out a visit to the dungeon mainly for a chat but also to roll some dice. I called up some Arab forces for a small Lion Rampant skirmish (ideal for a lighthearted game and a chat).

I didn’t take too many photos (as we were chatting away) but it was a fun game😀

Two different but equal forces, Jon’s mercenary Christian cavalry come charging across the battlefield (this already feels worryingly familiar)

My infantry take a battering, in the distance my right wing has started to collapse so we go in with the ‘duel’ this first occasion ends in a draw

A couple of turns later and the Mercenary cavalry are still causing me problems, my infantry is battered back the only answer is to offer up another duel and try and squeeze an undeserved win ?

No such luck my commander goes down in the duel as the enemy begins to surround my remaining forces. Good fun and hopefully Jon will return for a rematch sometime in the new year.

Not too much painting this week although I am working on some more French Dragoons, I did manage to finish off my French Corps/Army command base. For use in SoN or larger Napoleonic battles. A random mix of Perry figures from my box painted in suitably flamboyant colours. As you can’t see all the figures from any angle I took the liberty of taking shots from different angles.

This is the largest command base I now have in any collection I think !

and you don’t get to use pink very often 🙂 the uniforms/colours are ‘pretty’ much authentic 

I now need to do some more British command stands !

Thanks as usual I hope to complete the dragoons this week and then might try and start on some limbers unless I get distracted.

Matt 🫣