Escape from the Crusader city with Lion Rampant

Lion Rampant is a light ruleset that aims to recreate the clashes between retinues during the medieval period. The system is highly flexible and the scenarios included in the book allow recreating many different settings with few adaptations. 

We played a scenario set during the beginning of the Crusaders States. A Crusader city has just been conquered by a large Seljuk force. A group of citizens has taken shelter at a fortress, and as the walls fall, decide to try to cross the city to reach the docks, where some ships, owned by the Maritime Republic of Genoa, are still at bay. We adapted the Scenario "The Convoy" from Lion Rampant, each token representing a bunch of civilians. Due to the urban setting, we decided to use the "reduced models" optional rule from Dragon Rampant to avoid cluttering too many models in small spaces, so we halved the miniatures needed for each unit. The Crusaders started on the NE deployment zone, while the Seljuks entered from the NW and SE deployment zone. The exit zone was the ship at the SW deployment zone.

I won't write up a detailed after-action record here, but overall the game was quite balanced, and until the last two turns all sides had a chance to win it.  The Seljuk player resulted less effective in causing casualties and the Crusaders were good at protecting the foot serjeants' units carrying the civilians, allowing all the three groups to escape safely.

We had great fun, and the reduced models rule worked great. I suggest using it in an urban setting. It is also a great gateway, allowing new players to start playing with a few models. The second edition of Lion Rampant is going to be published in the next few months I hope it will implement this option.

This scenario was actually a playtest for an incoming project, keep following the blog for more details!

And now, some pictures! Crusaders are Normans from Conquest Games, Seljuks from Gripping Beast, and buildings and the ship from CleverPaper.

New books

Hi all,  quite a long without writing on my blog...well, life gets in the hobby.

Two big news: I got two cats, Pepe and Sally, which keep me busy (and full of fur), and I moved (always in Verona). Some weeks ago I got my new bookcase, so I decided to purchase more books to fill it! Here the picture of the last three the mailman delivered to me.

 As you can see different themes (I hope I will review the books someday):

• East Africa 1940-1941 (Land Campaign) by Mark Sobisnky: a detailed book about an often forgotten WW2 campaign. Even if the Italian Army, cut away from the homeland, was doomed, his men's toughness and courage give the Commonwealth army a worthy opponent. Plenty of wargaming opportunities, especially for infantry-based rules. A friend of mine suggested Crossfire, I think I will give it a go when I will finish painting an Italian Army for this theatre.
  I also suggest as reading: La caduta dell’impero fascista. La guerra in Africa orientale italiana 1940-1941 by Andrea Santangelo (in Italian only).
• A Gentleman's War or Glossy Coats and Tin Bayonets by Foley and Whiteman. I came through this on a Facebook group. The reviews were funny. I think it is a modern version of Well's Little Wars. I will try them to play Italian Risorgimento, along with Micheal Leck's Rebels and Patriots.
• La marca nelle Crociate by Danilo Riponti (Italian). Is a collection of essays about Treviso (a town in northern Italy - Veneto) families in the X-XIII century and their involvement in Crusaders in Holy Land. The interests in Crusades pre-dates this year, thanks to prof. Raccagni involving my club (Band of Butei) in playtesting  Lion Rampant: The Crusader States. I am trying to figure out a retinue for Lion Rampant which can be used both in Italy and in Holy Land, set at the beginning of the Communal Age, around 1150 AD. More will follow about this too (I hope).

It is all for now, feel free to comment on the blog or on Facebook if you read any of these books or have further suggestions!

Since I know you are curious about the cats:
Pepe on the left (male), Sally on the right (female)

My first article on WSS!

 

At the end of this difficult 2020, a piece of good news: I published my first article for the popular wargame magazine Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy.

The article, which I wrote in collaboration with Gianluca Raccagni, the author of the recently published Lion Rampant: The Crusader States (electronic and printed sale), features a scenario for the popular Lion Rampant rules.

The scenario is set during the Albigensian Crusade in 13th century France, and it is named THERE WILL BE FLYING STONES.

Since it was chosen as a digital article for WSS 112, you can freely download it from here. Let me know your thoughts about it!

And happy 2021 to you all!

Gaming the Crusader - Pillaging the Village

Our playtesting for Lion Rampant: Gaming the Crusader goes on (see the previous post) Yesterday we were in Lazise (a beatiful village on the shores of Lake Garda) for Lazise Gioca, a rather new convention (3rd edition) of boardgaming and wargaming.

Again, I cannot tell you very much about the scenario, but it involves a village, its villagers and some raiders. The scenario is meant to be played by four players, which allowed us to let several people have a taste of the rules during the day.

We had a lot of fun, people trying the game had a lot of fun and rules were very easily learned, as usual. Lion Rampant confirms a great potential as gateway game.

And now, enjoy the pictures!

Gaming the Crusades - first playtest

Recently our club "Band of Butei" joined the group "Gaming the Crusades" (their Facebook page and their website) to offer some help developing an expansion for Lion Rampant, called "Lion Rampant: the Crusades", which aim to cover the period from the First Crusade to the Fall of Acre in the Near East, offering historically detailed scenarios, specific army list and special rules to involve the players and the readers in the epic story of the Crusades.

Last week we had our first playest. We cannot reveal much about it to avoid spoilers, but at the current state is based on the Lion Rampant scenario "The Messenger". We had a Syrian Principate (Islamic) retinue trying to avoid an Knights Hospitaller ambush. Or at least their leader. But they failed.

Anyway what we can do is post some pictures of our game and assure you this project is worth the waiting! Enjoy!