The Age of Chivalry, Lion Rampant, 28mm

Lindsay bought a couple of new mats this week, and so for this medieval romp I suggested she use the green one. They bizarrely describe it as “forest green”, but frankly it looks more like undried pot – hence the name of the battlefield – the field of “weed”. In this multi-player grand skirmish set in the later Hundred Years War there were three players a side.. Sean and I had the French, and were allied with Thomas with his Burgundians. Facing us were Gyles and Shane with their English, and Lindsay with her Flemish contingent. This was a straightforward encounter game. Thomas’ Burgundians were on our right, while Sean with his fellow French contingent was to my right. Facing me across the weed field was Lindsay with her Flemings, flanked on her left by her left by Shane and on her right by Gyles. Both of them had English contingents. Everyone had 24 points of figures, which equates to about 4-6 units. The game was played out on a 6×4 foot table, and terrain was limited to a village, some woods and low hills, and of course the funky mat. Both sides began by advancing cautiously towards the enemy. Now, in our last Lion Rampant game, my bombard managed to fire once, then failed to reload for the rest of the game. After all, you need a “10” or more on 2D12 to do it. This time though, the crew had clearly done some training, and so the bombard crew managed to reload an impressive four times during the course of the game.  wanted to target Gyles’ men-at-arms, but they were tucked away at the back. So, I fired at Lindsay’s Flemish light cavalry instead, until a better target appeared. On my left Sean was having real trouble activating his units – again – and so I rushed my wild foot – highlanders forwards, supported by my own mounted sergeants. After getting peppered by Gyles light mounted archers I had to make a “wild charge”, and landed up getting charged in turn by mounted-men-at-arms. That, of course, was the last of the highlanders! Over  on my right young Thomas wasn’t having much luck either. His cavalry led the way, racing ahead of the plodding Burgundian pikes and crossbows. That brought them in range of Shane’s two units of veteran English longbowmen. Actually, looking at the picture above I can’t see how they did it – shooting over the heads of the dismounted men-at-arms. Still, they did, and so Thomas’ cavalry were shot to bits. The few survivors were battered, and pulled back out of range. The rest were simply slaughtered! Strangely, Lindsay didn’t really advance very far. She seemed content to pepper me from afar using her crossbowmen, and screen her other troops with her mounted yeomen – or light cavalry. This nibbling away was a bit annoying, but it didn’t really change the game very much. By now though, Glyes on the English right had reached the hedged lane in the centre of the battlefield, and advanced over it to bring the fight to Sean. At last though, Sean’s troops intervened, and saw off Gyles’ own wild troops – a unit of Welshmen. The English mounted men-at-arms had been seen off by the bombard, but the dismounted ones led by the force commander Thomas, Lord Camoys charged and routed my veteran spearmen who had advanced to hold the line between the hedge and a small boggy pond. My own dismounted French men-at-arms were nearby, pretending to ignore the Flemish archers. That meant they were on hand to plug the gap, and so they charged at Lord Camoys. My own commander, Jean de Camembert  led them into the fray. Unfortunately this noble bit of chivalry didn’t work. Both sides hacked away at each other, lost some men, then fell back. At least though, it stopped the rot in the centre. By then we’d pretty much given up on the poor old Burgundians, who now lost their pike block to those pesky English longbowmen That left them with just one unit left – a block of crossbowmen, sheltering behind their pavises. Things were looking up on the left though, as Sean’s mounted men-at-arms led by his leader Jean le Batarde d’Orleans cleared the English from the small village of Marie-Jeanne. over in the centre though, the Flemings were still standing around, while on their left the English longbowmen had run out of targets. It was clear our army was being whittled away, so I did a quick stock take. Thomas only had one unit of Burgundian crossbowmen left in the game, while I had my knights, a unit of battered spearmen, and my bombard, whose crew had now lost the knack of reloading. Sean still had his mounted knights, and a unit of crossbowmen though.The Anglo-Flemish army wasn’t in much better shape though, Gyles had his battered dismounted knights, a unit of foot archers and his mounted archers. Lindsay had her light horse, her crossbowmen and her dismounted knights, while Shane’s archers and men-at-arms were completely untouched, the swines. So, with all other options running out – I challenged Lord Camoys to a duel! Actually, we had three duels, the first two ending in draws. We pulled back, sipped some brandy, and went in again … and again. On the third round though, Jean de Camembert managed to wound Thomas, Lord Camoys, and take him prisoner. The English morale fell, which, although it didn’t win the game, bought us enough time to slink off the table! In the end, at least on paper he game was a draw. Still, it was pretty clear that the Anglo-Flemings had really won the day. Next time, mon ami, we’ll do better, bien sur!

Tags: Lion Rampant