First game of Lion Rampant

Today we tried-out our first game of Lion Rampant. We've decided to do a campaign based around the Crusades so we picked Arabs vs Teutonic Knights for our first game.

The Teutonic's
A small but tough force

Heavy metal - German style

Mounted Men at Arms x 2
Foot Met at Arms x 1
Foot Sergeants x 2
Crossbowmen x 1
Bidowers x 1

The Arabs
A larger and well balanced force

The Black Guards

Mounted Sargent's x 3
Foot sergeants x 2
Bows x 1
Fierce Foot x 1

The Game

We opted for the Bloodbath scenario - line um up and go for it. The activation system means not everyone moves each turn but both sides tried to lurch forward into combat.

Teutonic Knights rumble forward

The Arab horse

 One the left flank the Knights found themselves surrounded by 3 Arab horse. Although eventually destroyed they managed to reduce the Arabs to half strength. In the right the Knights were lured into charging Arab spears - they bounced off, several times, before being beaten. It looked bleak for the Teutonic's but their foot proved tough and the Arab horse was reluctant to charge them. 

Foot knights attack

The Bidowers proved to be able snipers weakening the Arabs before the foot knights attacked 

In the end we ruled the Arabs the slight winners  - the loss of the costly mounted knights was probably the deciding factor

Reflections

The rules were quick and easy to learn with very few factors to absorb. All the subtlety is in the activator charts and special abilities. We've clearly a bit to learn on that score.

Archers are powerful but do die rapidly if contacted, Spearmen are stubborn and pretty cavalry proof, and knights are tough but can become isolated.

The main point of debate was the lack of flanks or rears for units. For those of us used to more linear games it was a little odd and means manoeuvring for tactical advantage is really about who fights who. We will try out other scenarios though as it may be less apparent there.