Lion Rampant

We played a three-a-side game of Lion Rampant last night, using 25mm figures from a mix of sources and, it has to be said, historical eras (albeit ones within the Lion Rampant remit).

We used the new rules which aren't, it has to be said, hugely different from the old ones in terms of core changes. Yes, there's a lot of options brought in from other sets, or that have been common practice in some groups, but you can add those or not as you wish. Actual changes seem to be light. I kind of like that.

I did like that you now buy abilities for your leaders as part of the warband cost, and there are negative cost abilities that can be used to tweak how your warband is set up. I always find that you have odd points to spend here and there in Dragon Rampant, so this would be an interesting idea to import. To be fair, randomised leaders, who may be good or bad, are fun, but it's sometimes nice to have control.

All leaders can now allow one unit per turn an activation reroll if they in command radius. This should help satisfy those people who hate the Rampant activation system.

Anyway, since we had three novice players and one very new player as part of the six we kept things simple - each warband had some knights, some heavy foot, some archers and some foot knights. We just did a straight head-to-head fight, with three warbands per side. At the end of the day it was about getting people used to mechanisms.

The result was, as you'd expect, chaos. But it was fun. I didn't really keep track of the flow of the game and, at the end, we didn't even pay much attention to who'd won. Stuart and I, who were facing each other, had both used boasts that had left us happy to remain static, although my static posture was, to some extent, dictated by my terrible movement activation rolls (even with the reroll). Caesar and Peter slaughtered each other in the middle, whilst Dave and John hacked away at each other over a hill on the other flank.

Here's some pictures.

Initial setup.

My warband. I was going to try a flanking move, but it never came off.

Peter's warband takes position on a hill.

My archers have a lengthy ciggie break in the shadow of a wood.

Chaos on the other flank.

Action in the centre.

Caesar's leader falls to a lot of arrows.

Our one leader duel. John's leader turned up in a frock, but despite looking fabulous got killed.

I did rather like the new Lion Rampant, and may consider getting it since I never got a copy of the first edition. I don't know if there are plans to update Dragon Rampant, but I suspect that a lot of stuff can be ported across relatively easily.