Haggis Rampant; It's War! Part One.

With many raids etc under our belt in the Haggis Rampant campaign we could feel the tensions rise as we moved inexorably towards a state of war! This in practical terms meant getting (almost) all our toys on the table and fighting it out with no aim other then to destroy the enemy, in our case the English! Our umpire decided that we had to roll 3+ on a D6 for a unit to make it to the battlefield. On the Scottish side most of us managed to get the majority of our troops onto the table, not so for the English! Hurrah! It was also decided that we were only able to take one unit of Bidowers per retinue as they were a troop type, whilst typical in raids, they were a scarcity on the battlefield. A good move in the authors opinion as I can see them being very disruptive in a mass retinue game and would probably have had an effect out of all proportion to their points value. This is one of the strengths of the Lion Rampant rules, they are very easily adaptable to any situation/scenario as they are a Hollywood as opposed to deadly accurate simulation of Late Medieval warfare in style.

I was getting a little jaded with my Fierce Foot as they seem to be a one shot wonder when it comes to combat so I decided to replace two of these units with Foot Serjeants as this would give them an extra armour point and the Schiltron special rule for tactical purposes. Re Tactical purposes; this can loosely be translated as they now stand a chance against the numerous English mounted troops! 

My retinue had in fact taken a remarkable transformation and now consisted of the following:

Foot Men at Arms (Ferocious plus Vulnerable leader)

Foot Men at Arms (Ferocious)

Foot Serjeants (Schiltron)

Foot Serjeants (Schiltron)

Scots Archers (Pooh!)

I should also apologise for not getting many pics of the English army in action. with so many retinues involved the game was fast and furious and it wasn't possible to run around the table taking pics as much as I would normally have done.

The game thus far: The Scots.....

Mikes lighter Islemen 'dig in' on the heavily wooded area of the Scots flank. A great area for him to defend as Mike had stuck with his Islemen  (kudos) and they are ideal for such terrain.

As the Scots could deploy up to half way up the table I opted for  a simpler plan and deployed my troops behind a big hill in the centre of the table ready to pop up and invite charges from our English protagonists, hopefully to repel them in a glorious manner!

On the Scots right flank Dave and Richard, having an abundance of cavalry types including two units of Mounted Men at Arms were able to deploy in a more aggressive stance with their Mounted Men at Arms and Serjeants (Hobilars) screened by their Serjeants in Schiltron. 

My troops awaiting for their opportunity for glory (some might say they were hiding from the English Archery!)

A great pic of Dave and Richard's deployment.

Over all view as the English attempt to cope with much of their force not turning up to do the job and a few activation rolls going pear shaped.

Mike holds off Jim's English by using the hit and run tactics so typical of the Islemen.

Dave and Richard move their Mounted troops forward to face the English

My Foot Men at Arms march to the crest of the hill sustaining withering fire from a couple of units of English archers but hold their ground. They even see off a charge from some Mounted Serjeants! 

Dave and Richard's Schitron's hold- well, just about hold!

My Men at Arms wave their pointy instruments of death at the English archers!

And push back the English Mounted Men at Arms!! (This was fist for me and gave me much joy!). Unfortunately my Vulnerable leader was injured and [sadly!] survived the battle! 

My Men at Arms boldly fight on as they are charged by the English foot Men at Arms. Then collapse into ignominious defeat!

The Scots hold grimly on on the right flank..... 

As it neared 10:30 (ie Pub time!) that was the end of week one of our first massed retinue game. It was left on a bit of a knifes edge so will be a lot of fun to come back to this Thursday. 

Bye for now.