MANGLED MONGOLS: A LION RAMPANT II BATREP

 

Action in progress during our Lion Rampant II game.

Greetings regular readers and accidental visitors (appreciations to the former, apologies to the latter). This is a belated battle report on a game of Lion Rampant II that we played in December. As usual, in this post you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

Ralph, our gracious host, had been hosting Lion Rampant I games and wanted to playtest Lion Rampant II ahead of running it for our club in an upcoming game night. 

Ralph is known for his excellent terrain, and this game was no exception. The scenario was set in a town somewhere in Hungary, replete with townsfolk here and there, wagons, etc, and of course his lovely collection of buildings, some scratch built. 

Unfortunately, the horizon east of town was lined with baddies (Mongols), who were having a day out, in other words, coming to and destroy the place (as Mongols do).

A close up view of the Mongol left (Byron).  Ralph's figures are as splendid as his terrain. The Mongols had two warbands, each consisting of veteran light cavalry plus heavy cavalry.  

I usually play Mongols, but for this scrum I was among the heroic defenders of the innocent townsfolk. My lot (on the left) were Hungarians consisting of one unit of insane knights (aka, elite, wild charging, cavalry), one unit of turcopoles (ie, heavy cavalry with bows), and one unit of archers. I was paired with Ralph, who had a warband of Germans consisting of a unit of crazy German knights (same as mine), one unit of brudders (heavy cav with lances), and one unit of crossbows. We started back in the town and had to come up to meet the Mongols.  One interesting aspect of this scenario was that point values were assigned to the buildings, which the Mongols were aware of and we were not. So the Mongols had to burn a certain number of buildings to equal a certain number of points. Given that different buildings had different values, they could do this several ways. As the defenders,  on the other hand, we only knew that we had to stop the Mongols and limit the damage that they inflicted. 

The Mongol khans, Mike (left) and Byron (right) open the ball. I would be matched vs Mike and Ralph's Germans would collide with Byron's lads. 

Byron's horde surges forward (top of the table), while Mike's horde hangs back. He only got one unit moving (the fellow in the center approaching the town gate) and then failed his activation, ending his turn. General Dice was not with the Mongols this day.

Nevertheless, bold as ever, in the next turn, Mike pushes on with his lead unit. As 'er ladyship looks on in horror, Mike's tape measure snakes through the town gate, forewarning the arrival of the horrid steppe warriors in the very heart of town, with only Brother Bother and his crucifix standing between them and the church, which they would soon have burning (the church, that is: Brother Bother was assumed dead, but much later found alive under the open tap of a tun of wine in the burned church's cellar, singing nonsense verses about a little goblin. People said it was a miracle...but I digress). 

Meanwhile, I got my lot moving to get into a blocking position forward of the hill to the left side of the town, taking advantage of the head start provided by Mike's lagging Mongols.  

On the other side of town, Ralph gets his Teutons moving, with his knights riding out ahead. His plan was to collide with the Mongols head on with his cavalry, giving his crossbows time to come up and set up a fire zone. 

Things on my side of the town: My turcopoles trade shots with Mike's Mongol light cavalry, getting the better of the exchange (did I mention that General Dice was not with Mike this day?). My Hungarian knights come forward and the bows get established on the hill. 

The Hungarian knights wild charge into what's left of Mike's Mongol light horse: "poof!" they go (the Mongols, that is). Then the knights careen into Mike's Monogol heavy horse, who also get plastered (did I mention that General Dice was not with Mike this day?). 

Meanwhile, in the town, after getting blasted by the crossbows, Ralph's Krauts (I mean German Knights) flattened Mike's lead Mongols who had burned the church (serves 'em right!). The knights then continued on to clobber Byron's nearest Mongol light horse--who had failed an evade roll. It was then that we discovered a rule that we were not aware of. Failing to evade meant that the Mongol light horse's armor was reduced to 1 (!): "poof!" went Byron's first unit of light horse. The German knights then dispatched Byron's other Mongol light horse (did we mention that General Dice was not with Byron, either, this day?).  Having killed two units, the German knights were down several figures, but couldn't help themselves and wild charged into Byron's one remaining unit, his Heavy cavalry--and the Krauts pushed them back, too (I won't mention General Dice again...)

...and then, they wild charged again, hitting Byron's heavy horse while it was still battered (failed to rally in time; I promised to not mention General Dice again). Good thing, too, because the German knights were now down to two figures. They would lose one more in this fight, and have only the warband leader left. But that would suffice since they had dispatched Byron's last unit, which had failed its morale and routed (General Dice...). 

The town was saved, except for the burned church, and the Mongols were sent packing--this time. It was a good learning game that familiarized us with Lion Rampant II and Ralph's game night game will be all the better for it. Most of all, it was a good way to end a week on a Friday evening playing with lovely toy soldiers on a well laid table with good friends (and true to promise, I won't mention that General Dice was on our side). 

Excelsior!