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.

Clubbing it! Haggis Rampant

Yesterday we played out the last game in our current campaign season. The randomly determined scenario turned out to be A Taxing Day which at least gave the fleet of foot Islemen a chance of gaining some Glory! Or so I thought.....

Basically the game was the usual mix of frustration as troops failed their activation rolls, typically my (effete) Fierce Foot lagged behind to play no part in the scenario (again!) whilst my Bidowers and Men at Arms of Foot legged it for the loot! A plan, though not by design which did actually yield some results as I managed to pick up two loot counters. Richard, my partner in crime got another so all things considered we had done quite well, for the Scots and Iselmen that is!

The English managed to pip us to the post with an extra point of tax and I'm quite sure that the three units of Hobilars and one unit of Mounted Men at Arms helped in this regard. The game was a bit of a weird one in that there was no actual melee and only a small amount of shooting with both sides being content to grab their respective loot and run!

We came to a gentleman's agreement that although the scenario had been completed we would continue to play and get stuck into one another which at least from my perspective was ore fun than the scenario! I guess that's the wargamer in me- we just like throwing dice don't we? LOL :>)

My 28mm (Fierce?) Iselman Leaves his `15mm Hearth and Home! :>)

My Initial Deployment; Some Things Never Change:

As Per Usual, my Bidowers Lead the Attack While my (so called) Fierce Foot Lag Behind with Positive Productiveness! 

We Tax the Locals! Hurrah!

Ariel View of Nige's Cavalry Based Force Already Pegging It off the Table with his Loot!:

The Culprits!

Bye for now.

Haggis Rampant; Sausages and Mustard

Thursday gone at the club saw Mick and I, both playing the Islemen, line up against Neil's wily English with their Gascon Allies. The scenario we rolled was Sausages and Mustard which was going to be interesting as I was stuck with a slightly diminished retinue although I was lucky on the recovery rolls after the last game so I cannot complain! One of the main anxieties of playing the Iselmen, without introducing any unlikely allies I was stuck with one unit of Foot Men at Arms, Three Units of Fierce Foot and two units of Bidowers (and damn it! I'd bought the miniatures for a full Islemen retinue and I want to get them all painted up thus ruling out the prospect of me painting any more stuff for the campaign!)

The games are based upon who shows up at the club and then we decide by rolling dice who players who and what scenario it is that we play. Mick and I had to split our retinues with Mick taking charge with his leader and thus getting to choose his boast/s whilst I would not for this game. Neil fielded his usual trusty retinue including his Surfs aka Speed bumps! 

The Sausages and Mustard scenario is an interesting one as the attackers, ie Mick and I gain glory by burning the objectives by staying put at the building for one turn and rolling an 8 if a unit over 12 mini's and a nine if the unit is 6 mini's or below.

The Tempting Objectives in the Center of the Table:

                            

Mick and I funnel our Fierce Foot Forward Past the Impassable Terrain to the Left:

A birds eye view of the early moves; Neil moves forward slowly but surely moving a unit of Spearmen/Yoemen into the center of the village. I think it's fair to say that the dice were at this stage kinder to Neil than to that of Mick and I.

Neil's Mounted Men at Arms and Gascon's advance down his left flank:

Our Fierce Foot  surge forward again leaving my trusty, OK not so trusty, Bidowers behind!

Surging forward to the village and to with pyromania in mind we set about trying to start as many fires as possible, which turned out to be a total of nil!

Neil's cunningly placed unit of Yoemen prove to be too much of a tempting target for my Wild Scots/Fierce Foot and although they were in Schiltron my guys decide that they have to go and are subject to their first Wild Charge of the game only to bounce and surge backwards becoming Buggered/Battered!

My Bidowers still stay on my baseline and steadfastly refuse to move. I get the feeling that there was some kind of Late Medieval workers thing happening in the ranks!

More potential pyromania dashed as we fail to start any fires!

And again!

All the while Neil was slow,y advancing his (very scary) mounted Men at Arms supported by their Gascon Crossbowmen along his left flank unmolested, creeping ever close to threaten what, if /my Bidowers had chosen to move would have been our right flank.

Here they come!

A panoramic of the threat of the Mounted Men at Arms and Gascons as they close in

What honour have these Mounted Men at Arms who seem to have my Bidowers in their sights?

As you can see, very little!

I should add that it was at this point where I was very tempted to keep running around the Impassable Terrain closely tailed by Neil's Men at Arms for comedy value! I'm pleased to say that I avoided such temptation and not for the fist time decided that discretion was the better part of valour and started legging it off the table! Deja Vous!!

And so it was that the enthusiastic but militarily effete Islemen failed in their collective venture yet again!

A Quick Snap of the Beginning of a Siege Game in the Next Room:

Progression:

2mm (?) Regiments?:

Bye for now.

Clubbing It! Haggis Rampant and ACW

With the return of Medical Student James over the holidays we decided to abandon for one week the Haggis Rampant campaign and go for a free for all with four players a side. This effectively meant that the Scots/Islemen had for advance into a hail of missile fire and well, get shot to pieces- again! :>)

With the inevitable pincushion ahead of us the four Scots/Islemen players (Stan and my good self), with the exception of the prevaricating Dave and Mick (who cunningly used the excuse that there was a village in their way so they were unable to advance) , marched forward into the English Archers deathray.....erm I mean arrow storm with predicable results! Much fun was had by all. The highlight of the game was probably when Nige (playing the English) got fed up of Jim's (also playing the English!) very technical approach to the game charged him in the flank and rear! Basically the game was a chaotic maul with the Scots coming out much the worse off.

Apologies for the pics being all from my perspective of the game but there simply wasn't enough room for me to manoeuvre around the table to get any other views!

I also got a chance to take a peak at Shaun's ACW collection again at the club Thursday gone and was able to take a few snaps. Not sure what the scenario was or which battle was being partly played out but they do look resplendent:

Bye for now.