More shenanigans at Piddling Parva (Lion Rampant 2E)

 "THE VIKINGS ARE COMING!"

The feared cry rang out as the church bells tolled their urgent warning.

Lady Meghain du Court summoned her retinue as fast as she could. The urgency of the situation told her that she only had time for her fastest troops and that the heavy infantry would not be able to keep up, if she were to meet the Norse raiding party in the open moors east of the village. She leapt into the saddle and led the charge. Three troops of knights, her retinue archers and some local villagers with bows would have to suffice. They raced off, with the archers holding onto the knights' stirrup leathers to help them keep up.

Meanwhile, Hroerekr ur Dölunum, jarl of Ferjaby, was leading his doughty warriors towards the village and the wealth of the local monastery. He cursed as he got a clear view of the village and saw the advancing knights.

"By Odin's hairy bollocks, we've a fight on our hands," he roared, "Form up my heroes and we shall send them to Hel, before we feast in their village! TO VALHALLA!"

The Forces

For this game of Lion Rampant, the defenders are a standard Norman from the lists in the book, with the crossbowmen replaced by archers because those are the figures I have. The whole retinue comprises:

• 3 Elite Cavalry units
• 1 Archer unit
• 1 Skirmisher unit

The attackers are a standard Norse army:

• 2 Elite Infantry units
• 2 Heavy Infantry units
• 1 Archer unit

The Norse list allows you to choose between Berserkers and Archers, but I have "views" about who and what Berserkers were, so I am not going to field them this time. I also have a feeling that the Norse archers should really be a couple of units of skirmishers, but that is a pleasure to save for another time.

The Game

Deployment of both forces focused on the terrain on the Norse left flank with the Norse warband securing their right flank between woods and hills with a unit of Heavy Infantry. The plan would be to refuse that flank, while advancing on the other and in the centre. The Norman force formed up with the archers interspersed between their cavalry. They planned to advance slowly and whittle the Norse down a bit before the knights charged.

Storming Normans at the top of the photo. Vicious Vikings at the bottom.

The two forces faced each other across a shallow valley.

"Let them take only as much land as they are tall!" Lady Meghain cried to her followers, "They shall keep that part of the land they are buried in and no more!"

She took her father's bagpipes from the saddle in front of her and began to play a rousing march. The skirling of the pipes rang out across the dale and the adrenaline pumped all the harder in her followers' veins. They truly appreciated that she had a better ear for music than her father had.

The Norsemen hammered their weapons on their shields and advanced with gruff bellows and insults. Well, except for those that could only do one thing at a time. The heavy infantry on the Norse right took some time to get moving, but were soon on the go.

As they advanced, the arrow storm began. A warrior beside Hroerekr fell with an arrow through his throat. First blood to the Norman archers. Not to be outdone, the knights rushed forward too, but it was the archers that scored second blood, while the Norse archers returned the favour, killing two Norman archers.

Lady Meghain's knights bore down on Hroerek's personal bodyguard, their hooves thundering across the sward. The rumbling of their advance could be felt in the bones of the men on foot.

"Who is this that dares oppose me?" bellowed Hroerekr, " I challenge you to holmgang! You shall dine in Hel this night, or I shall feast in Valhalla!"

The bagpipe playing stopped as Lady Meghain replied.

"I am Lady Meghain du Court and you shall grovel in the dirt before me, foul blackguard! This is my land and I shall defend it with all that I am. Though I have only the body of a woman, I have the heart of a lion, the wings of a dragon and my father's lance, which I have often bloodied in such as you!"

The two leaders approached each other and squared off. Their bodyguards stood back respectfully and gave them space.

"Die, foul Norseman!"

Lady Meghain wasted no time in attacking. With a speed and fury that Hroerekr did not expect, she was upon him, showing no sign of fear. He swung his mighty axe at her as she approached. They traded several blows and then suddenly Lady Meghain's lance found its opening and the Norse leader's lifeblood nourished Norman soil.

"Revenge!" cried Hroerek's bodyguard. They charged and in the furious melee that ensued, Norman knights and Norse champions died. But in the end, Lady Meghain was the one standing with one of her bodyguard beside her. The Norsemen lay still.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Norman archers and skirmishers were slaying Norsemen, and other vicious hand to hand combats were being fought. The archers and skirmishers were carrying the day, as the melees were mostly inconclusive. The Norse archers were nowhere to be seen. They had been cut down in their droves and had retreated into the lee of a hill to regroup. However, as the last of the Norse champions died, taking with him enough Norman knights that he would have a story to tell in the halls of the gods, the Norse archers decided that enough was enough. They ran for their boats.

Others of the Norse free men decided the same thing. Battered, wounded and facing an unrelenting storm of arrows that not even all their shields could protect them from, they turned and fled.

A single unit of Norse warriors remained. They hesitated as the skirmishers continued to shower them with arrows, but when they saw Lady Meghain charging across the battlefield, they decided enough was enough and fled. Five ships of doughty Norse warriors had set out on this journey. Only a single ship returned.

Conclusion

I think I got most of the rules right this time. Now to work on tactics.

This game saw more units failing their activations than the previous one. The Norse warband had a couple of turns where no one moved at all, even with the leader's reroll, for example, and many turns saw only about half the troops on each side moving.

It was also my first time trying a duel. I just felt that a Norse jarl would have insisted on it. I gave the Norman leader a 50% chance of accepting. She did, and then she scored 3 hits to the Norseman's 2 hits, thus beating him. I guess Hroerekr wins either way though; taking Norman treasure or heading to Valhalla.

The loss of their leader did not seem to dismay the Norse warband much at all. Both elite infantry units fought to the very last warrior, aiming to join their leader in Valhalla presumably. The rest seemed ambivalent. They ran at the last, but mainly because the Norman arrows were particularly well-aimed.

All in all, another good fun game. I really enjoyed the chaos of the activation rolls, and the need to pick and choose where I would act first. I just need to make sure that I give my side the better dice next time!

Assault on Piddling Parva (Lion Rampant 2E)

 Sir Rodrigo de la Valle had been insulted by Sir Stefan du Court. It mattered not what the insult actually was, because it would shortly be erased, although rumour said that it had to do with Sir Rodrigo's sister and some bagpipes. Sir Rodrigo ground his teeth in annoyance at the thought of the insult and considered with satisfaction how the village of Piddling Parva in Sir Stefan's demesne would soon pay the price, and how all the grain stored there would soon be stored in his own granaries.

Even before the early morning mist had started to lift, Sir Rodrigo was riding into position.The ground was not good for deploying his whole retinue easily. It was too hilly, but he chose to place his skirmishers in position to harass Sir Stefan's retinue, if they dared even to crawl from their beds this morning. One group would occupy woods in the centre of his line. The other would take a hill on the left flank. His own bodyguard would take the open ground between them. On his right flank, his heavy infantry occupied the large hill there and his retinue knights took the ground between them and the wooded hill.

As the mist lifted further, Sir Rodrigo could see Sir Stefan's troops deploying in their usual lackadaisical manner, many still rubbing sleep from their eyes. They would be easy meat for his own disciplined and battle-hardened troops, even though they had the defensive advantage. I mean, they were such a slovenly lot, how could things fare differently? He ordered the advance.

Sir Rodrigo has deployed at the bottom of the photo. Sir Stefan has deployed at the top

Both armies are exactly the same in this scrap to keep things simple for me. Each army has:

• 2 Elite Cavalry units
• 2 Heavy Infantry units
• 2 Skirmish units

I diced for terrain type and location, and got rather more than anticipated. It makes sense though. As the attacker, Sir Rodrigo deployed first and I chose where the deploy the troops myself. Sir Stefan's deployment was semi-randomised. I knew I wanted his skirmishers to occupy bad going or defensive terrain and diced to see which terrain features they would aim for. The result was that they would occupy the field on the right and the woods on the left. I also chose to deploy one unit of his heavy infantry to defend the walls in front of the village because it made narrative sense. The remaining heavy troops had their locations diced for.

It seems like Sir Stefan intends to attack on his right flank, clear the hill of skirmishers with his cavalry and try to fall on Sir Rodrigo's flank, while the remainder of his troops fight defensively with their flanks anchored on terrain features.

Sir Rodrigo also intends to attack in strength on his own right flank. His infantry are tasked with taking the field and then the village while the rest of his troops provide support. I wonder how these plans will fare when contact with the enemy is made.

Like a well-oiled machine, Sir Rodrigo's troops advanced to their initial positions. But then he reined up as he saw Sir Stefan.

"Look at the coward all the way over there on the other side of the village. He clearly dare not face me!"

He blew a raspberry at Sir Stefan.

"Your mother smells of elderberries!"

Sir Stefan, hearing the cries across the field, even as his own troops moved out to occupy the positions he had assigned them also reined up. He listened carefully to the insults and chose his own words carefully.

"I taught your sister to play the bagpipes!" he cried. As if to back up this point, he lifted the bagpipes that lay athwart his saddle and began to play. A dissonant droning wailed across the battlefield and the peasants of Piddling Parva fled their homes to regroup out of earshot of the horrendous caterwauling.

Around the two leaders, their personal bodyguards chuntered and muttered at the insults, but neither unit moved forward as this important prelude to the business of the day was undertaken.

I am greatly amused by the fact that everyone else passed their tests to move, but not the two leaders' units. I suspect both leaders of preferring to let the spear fodder take the brunt of the fighting.

Sir Rodrigo's troops advanced steadily forward and the skirmishers were soon in position. Sir Stefan's troops also advanced, although in a clearly much less disciplined manner. His knights on the right pushed forward as fast as they could. They could see pitiful peasant skirmishers ahead gladly crushed them under hoof when they reached the hill the peasants were arrayed on.

Sir Rodrigo charged, but the other knights' blood was up and they countercharged, pushing Sir Rodrigo back. Casualties were even on both sides this time, but Sir Rodrigo was determined that this not always be the case.

The knights charged and countercharged in turn, and each lance was driven back in turn until Sir Stefan's cowardly cavalry were crushed by the remnants of Sir Rodrigo's own brave, stouthearted knights.

On the other flank, Sir Rodrigo's infantry was advancing but his knights had charged ahead to engage the unearthly, soul-shattering cacophany that was Sir Stefan's attempt at playing the bagpipes. The two units clashed and then clashed again. Sir Stefan's knights were cut down until all that remained was Sir Stefan himself. His unwashed, pitiful excuse for infantry climbed over the fence to aid him, charging forwards towards Sir Rodrigo's knights.

However, it was too late. Even as they rushed towards the fray, Sir Rodrigo's knights charged at Sir Stefan. He was thrown to the floor, and the sound of deflating bagpipes signalled his end. This seemed to encourage the rest of his troops who redoubled their efforts. Sir Stefan's skirmishers on both flanks were scoring hits on their foes and soon Sir Rodrigo's left flank skirmish unit was no more, while his infantry were whittled down on the right flank by skirmish fire. Annoyed beyond all endurance, Sir Rodrigo charged the skirmishers facing him.

"Blast them," he cursed, "They are naught but smelly peasants and should know their place."

His horse trampled two of them underfoot, but it was to no avail for he too was cut down, his horse tripped by bow fire and the last thing he saw was a poniard being thrust through the eye slit of his helmet by one of those self-same smelly peasants.

By now though, there were few combatants left. The remaining two knights took charge and directed the late Sir Rodrigo's remaining infantry unit and skirmish unit against the lesser of the two enemy skirmish units, even as the other one sought to close to bowfire range. However, both had second thoughts upon seeing what faced them. The late Sir Rodrigo's men let them go. They were exhausted and had wounded friends to help. They also knew that the pub in Piddling Parva sold good real ale. They could plunder the battlefield and get properly drunk tonight.

That was fun. I bought the 1st edition of Lion Rampant when it first came out, and prepared a couple of 6mm forces for it. I always thought it would be fun to play, but we never seemed to get around to it.  Maybe one day I shall put together a proper travel kit with the 6mm figures, Anyway, I have managed to play the game solo now, but using the 2nd edition rules. The hardback book has much more appeal and is easier for me to engage with than the digital rules, which has contributed to me learning and trying the rules. I got things wrong along the way but I shall know better for next time.

As this was a practice game, I was not too worried about tactical finesse here and just pushed figures into contact. Then I rolled dice and removed figures. Combat was less bloody than anticipated, and the real killer was the Courage tests that saw units being whittled down slowly until they ran away. Well, except for the knights who all stood firm and died like knights.

Sir Stefan's skirmishers really played a blinder. They scored some amazing rolls and killed way more knights and heavy infantry than they should have. I also had one turn where none of Sir Rodrigo's troops moved at all, although it turned out that most units managed to activate on most turns. The leader's reroll came into its own here, except on that one turn.

The rules include a simple five game mini-campaign, that will be worth trying at a later date. It would be simple enough to assign character traits to the leaders on each side and then use a Yes/No oracle based on simple odds for how they respond to the way the battle develops. The game should also function well using Programmed Wargames Scenarios.

As I noted before, this was a fun game and not too onerous for solo play. The chaos of the activations works well, and I like rules where you do not necessarily get to activate all your troops. I shall definitely aim to play Lion Rampant again, and I rather look forward to getting Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition when that comes out later this year.