Ceidonians vs Pyrates

I played another game with the Ceidonians the other day. This time they were facing the Pyrates.

The Pyrates have a ton of warband, which is good news for the Ceidonian knights and behemoth, but also have an airboat, some shooter and artillery, so are not necessarily a pushover.

I switched the Ceidonians to five knights, two spears, two hordes, the behemoth and the hero. The Ceidonians defended.

The Pyrates massed their warband on the one flank for a flanking move through the hordes and into the wood. The Ceidonians responded by switching the behemoth and hero to that flank, as well as swinging the knights across (risking fire from the Pyrates' cannon)

The Pyrates crashed into the hordes.

Some of them had been diverted by the Ceidonian knights in the centre, though.

The Ceidonians' knight-wedge was pushed back by a band of cut-throats, and then destroyed by fire from the cannon.

There was action everywhere now.

The Ceidonians lost a knightto warband! This was not going well.

On the other flank their knights were obliged to charge some Pyrate musketeers,

The results were inevitable.

The Ceidonians started to get their act together, taking out one band of Pyrate warband.

The giant accounted for some more, before teaming up with the hero to take out another group.

The Pyrate musketeers shot down some of the Ceidonian spearmen, but it wasn't enough. The Pyrates lost 13-10

 

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.

More Ceidonians

I added a couple of elements to my Ceidonian generic human medieval HOTT army the other day. They were bits that I had laying around on my painting table that just needed repainting to match the army's colour scheme. 

On the left is a hero element, representing the Duke's son - the kind of person who's always off on a quest to prove himself or find a beautiful princess to marry. He's accompanied by a couple of faithful retainers. On the right is an Irregular Miniatures giant, which was originally part of my Narnian army until I found a better figure to use, and has been languishing, unloved, since then. It's not a great figure, but it gives me another behemoth element for the army, and he does look rather natty in his Ceidonian livery.

New elements in an army mean that I need to try them out, so I set up what is actually my first HOTT game of 2023. The first army to hand were the Knights of Simba. The Ceidonians fielded their new hero and behemoth, along with four knights (one of which was the general) and four spears. The Knights of Simba defended, attempted to add a few areas of bad going for their warband to operate in and only got to place one. To add insult to injury the Ceidonians got it in their deployment area.

The Ceidonians, looking as resplendent as ever.

The Ceidonians had their knights in the centre, with the hero and behemoth, whilst the spears simply covered the flanks. The Knights of Simba originally had their ape-men allies on their left, but switched some of them to the right flank in order to prevent themselves being overlapped there. The other ape-man advanced rapidly, looking to rush through the bad going and descend on teh Ceidonian rear.

The Ceidonians sent some knights after the ape-men on their right. Meanwhile the centres of each army approached each other.

With nothing to lose the ape-men charged the knights - and destroyed them!

They kept up the attack, smashing into the Ceidonian spears on that flank, but were repulsed.

Meanwhile the knights of both armies had smashed into each other in the centre.

The Knights of Simba found their general matched by the fearsome Ceidonian giant. However they also managed to overlap the Ceidonian hero.

They key part of the fight was right in the centre, though, where the Duke of Ceidonia was unexpectedly slain in the first attack!

The Knights of Simba failed to kill the Ceidonian hero, and their general actually drove the giant back. With two elements lost, including their general, and the Knights of Simba having taken no loss, the Ceidonians routed. The Knights of Simba won 4g-0

I set up a second game. In this the Ceidonians defended. They deployed to take advantage of a ridge in their deployment area, whilst the Knights of Simba had ape-men in the rough-going on each flank and their knights massed in two ranks in the centre, ready to advance and expand.

With the Knights of Simba bunched up the Ceidonians opted to try and hit them hard before they could deploy, and surged forward with their knights.

But the Knights of Simba deployed more quickly than anticipated and, whilst the situation on their left was shaky, matched the main Ceidonian attack.

The Ceidonian hero held their right flank against Simba's general ...

... although he was soon supported by some knights.

Simba's general once again defied the combat odds, seeing off the flanking knights and driving the hero to destruction against the Ceidonian giant.

Simba was achieving success elsewhere, and the Ceidonian position was now looking very shaky.

The giant was backed up to the hill, but was then able to use his upslope position to destroy the Simba general. 

Unfortunately the Duke of Ceidonia found himself isolated and attacked, and was also killed.

This gave The Knights of Simba another win, despite the loss of their general. The score this time was 10g-4g

So, as seems to be the way with these things, the new elements did not lead the army to glorious victory. But I'm sure that they will one day.

The Summer Games Of 2023 - Part Three

Part One - HERE

Part Two - HERE

Round five of the campaign saw all three schools in with a chance of winning. Primus was well-positioned, with 12 Prestige - a single win, plus surviving two bouts would be enough for the 15 Prestige needed for victory. Secundus had a tougher job; with only 10 Prestige they needed to secure two wins, one of which needed to be by an inexperienced gladiator against one with a skill. Tertius also had 10 Prestige, but could pick up 2 Prestige if Herminia fought and survived, since she would then be freed. 

The editor played to the relative positions of the schools. He required Primus to put forward a medium gladiator, and Primus went with the experienced Prudes. Tertius and Secundus both had a free choice. Naturally Tertius put Herminia forward; she could score 4 Prestige for him if she fought and won. Meanwhile Secundus chose the the inexperienced murmillo Grumio.

The pairings ended up as follows: Grumio was matched by Primus's veles, Baccibus. Tertius sent the inexperienced Mongo to face Prudes. And Herminia found herself up against the novice veles Xerxes.

Round 5 - Bout 1 - Grumio (Murmillo) vs Baccibus (Veles)

Neither gladiator in this fight was skilled, so the winner would just get 2 Prestige. 

It proved to be a long bout. As befitted a veles, Baccibus fled, trying to keep space between himself and the slower Grumio. Grumio pressed forward aggressively, however. Early on Baccibus struck what seemed to be a dangerous blow, but Grumio avoided danger thanks to the cheers of the crowd spurring him on.

Baccibus threw javelin after javelin, and whilst he scored no wounds he did eventually cause Grumio to stumble. As Grumio struggled to his feet, Baccibus darted in and wounded him.

Grumio then went on the offensive, and drove Baccibus across the arena. At one stage he knocked down the veles, who survived only through their agility. Baccibus managed to down Grumio again, but fumbled the killing blow and was then driven back as Grumio got up and counter-attacked.

Grumio was content for a while to adopt a static defensive posture, deflecting Baccibus' throws.

Finally, though, he saw an opening, and lunged forward, only to fall to a skillful strike from the veles.

Baccibus picked up 2 prestige for Primus for defeating Grumio. The highly entertained crowd spared Grumio, who earned 1 Prestige for Secundus. However Secundus now couldn't win in this round.

Round 5 - Bout 2 - Prudes (Hoplomachus) vs Mongo (Murmillo)

Primus's second bout of the day would see him reach 15 Prestige so long as Prudes survived the fight. Mongo could earn 3 Prestige for Tertius by defeating the hoplomachus. If Herminia could win her fight then the combined Prestige would edge his school ahead that of Primus.

So there was everything to play for here. Mongo needed to win and, preferably, with enough crowd support that Prudes would not be spared.

It started well for Mongo. Prudes backed off and immediately threw his spear, but Mongo deflected it. 

Mongo closed in and hit Prudes with a mighty shield-rush, but the wily and lucky hoplomachus used Mongo's momentum against him and sent him sprawling onto the sand. He then stabbed the murmillo before he could get up and again as he struggled to his feet.

Surprisingly Mongo rallied from this and launched his own series of attacks that even saw Prudes downed at one point. 

But it wasn't enough. Mongo was slowed by his injuries and once Prudes recovered his momentum he finished off the murmillo fairly easily.

Mongo was spared by the crowd and earned 1 Prestige for Tertius. Primus earned 2 Prestige for his win, putting his school on 16 Prestige.

Round 5 - Bout 3 - Herminia (Dimachaerus) vs Verxes (Veles)

The campaign was decided. With 16 Prestige, no-one could catch him in this round. If Xerxes won this bout then he would push Secundus to 13 Prestige. A win for Herminia would see Tertius gain 4 Prestige, giving him a total of 15, and even Herminia surviving a loss would put Tertius on 14. Secundus could get second-place if Xerxes could defeat Herminia and if she didn't survive the bout ...

Xerxes played safe - he backed off and threw javelins, hoping that one would get past Herminia's defences. She deflected them with crowd-pleasing parries.

Xerxes changed tactics and tried a hit and run approach. Herminia managed to pin him in place as he tried to dart past her, and knock him down, but he was still fresh enough to get up and out of danger before she could exploit her advantage.

Xerxes reverted to evasion and javelin throws, whilst Herminia was frustrated trying to close.

She eventually managed to get in close and wounded the veles. This would slow him down. 

To his credit Xerxes continued to put up an incredible fight. Herminia was constantly forced to come up with creative counters to his admittedly increasingly desperate attacks. But eventually his wounds wore him down and her skill told; she knocked him down and finished him.

Herminia's fourth win in five bouts sent the crowd into a frenzy, one of the results of which was that they were in no mood to grant mercy to the heroic Xerxes. This meant that Secundus got no Prestige for the fight (a real injustice). Herminia, however, picked up 2 Prestige for her win and, since this was her fifth bout, the wooden sword of freedom, for another 2 Prestige.

So the final positions were:

Primus - 16 Prestige (Six wins and four losses with missio)

Baccibus (Veles) - 2 Bouts
Velox (Sagittarius) - 3 Bouts, +1 Attack
Prudes (Hoplomachus) - 3 Bouts, +1 Attack
Bellerefons (Murmillo) - 2 Bouts, +1 Defence

Secundus - 11 Prestige (Four wins, three losses with missio)

Xerxes (Veles) - 0 Bouts
Thalia (Retiarius - 0 Bouts
Verus (Hoplomachus) - 3 Bouts, +1 Defence
Grumio (Murmillo) - 2 Bouts
Andromache (Barbarian) - 0 Bouts
Victor (Crupellarius) - 2 Bouts, +1 Attack

Tertius - 15 Prestige (Five wins, three losses with missio and one Rudis)

Culex (Veles) - 0 Bouts
Tetraites (Thraex) - 2 Bouts, +1 Speed
Herminia (Dimachaerus) - 5 Bouts, +1 Attack, Freedom
Atrox (Murmillo) - 0 Bouts
Mongo (Murmillo) - 1 Bout
Bato (Veles) - 0 Bouts

So Primus won a close victory, mostly through not only winning a majority of bouts, but by not losing a single gladiator to the vagaries of the crowd. Here are Primus's winners:

Star of the campaign, though, was Herminia who won four of her five bouts and accounted for 10 out of Tertius's 15 Prestige.

And finally, the gladiators who didn't make it, three from the school of Secundus (who was very unlucky in that respect) and two from that of Tertius.

All of my new gladiators got at least one outing (although it was one very final outing in the case of two of them).

And I found some more the other day; another seven are based and waiting for an undercoat.