Greetings…
So the chaps came round after work on Friday… And were all pretty excited by the look of the table..Hurrah!
I had decided to just use all the figures I had and the let people choose which side the wanted..I did wonder if things would be a bit unbalanced… but as the idea was to introduce some newcomers to the game I put that worry aside and got on with things…
Adam and Israel chose the Romans…. Their mission was to defend the Temple, The Villa and the Fields..
Alessandro and Steven were the Sassanids… Their mission was to try and burn/destroy the Temple,The Villa and the fields.
After we had divided up the forces… I decided to try out a card based activation… each person had a card suit and when it came up they could try and activate a unit.. It did end up a bit chaotic… but it was still fun.
I of course completely forgot to take a lot of photos… I was to busy enjoying myself 😁
Here are some pictures that I hope give a flavour of the game/action…
We are a move or so into the game here… Steven’s Asvaran move steady towards the Roman defenders and Nellie starts to make her presence felt…
I had chosen to give the Sassanids Asvaran as they had a bow option… as it happened they never shot an arrow in anger… next time I will probably just class them as Cataphracts.
This is what young people call normal dice throwing… sigh!
Things start to get “hot”…
Nellie sees off a unit of Roman Auxilia… And the Equites don’t look that enamoured by the presence of a big smelly elephant.
This where some Sassanid Light Horse surprised everyone and saw off some Auxilia …
These guys spent a lot of time looking cool but doing nothing…
This appears to have been a “thing” with the Sassanids…
“All you need is six’s”…. Sometimes the young don’t have all the luck.
Things aren’t looking good for Rome here…
These archers look cool… and they knew it… so they stayed there for the whole of the game.😁
After causing an outrageous amount of panic Nellie was eventually chased off after a concerted use of arrows, pointy sticks and bad Latin…
I think the Romans focused so much on Nellie that they left nothing to defend themselves from the rest of the Sassanid force…she certainly proved her worth.
The final moments of the game… the Romans are running out of units and are getting pressure from all sides…
So… How did it go?
It went well… a bit hectic at times…but a lot of fun.
The Romans decided to defend the buildings and fields rather than spread themselves out… this eventually led them to being hemmed into one corner with nowhere to go… the Sassanids took there time getting going…some rare poor activation dice… but once they got going they were like a steam roller…
Nellie scared the sh*t out of everyone 😂.
The guys picked up the rules really fast…
Any rule changes for the second edition didn’t do anything that reduced the gaming experience… in fact the layout of the book made it much easier to play through the game.
What would I change?…
The activation… it didn’t need to be so random… rather than each unit activating I would have each sub- commander activating their warband and then moving on to the next after they had finished their moves…
What did I learn…
I feared that the forces might be a bit unbalanced… but in the end it could have gone either way…
I neeeed more toys…
More Elephants, More Cataphracts , More Legionarii, More Archers…and …
Camels…. Armoured, Light and Cataphract… I dug these chaps out of their box and they are now high up in the painting queue…
Will we/I do it again… yes of course I/we will.
The army lists came from the I Live With Cats Blog…
There are a lot of good “Rampant” army lists here and it is also a very entertaining blog.
The Terrain and Toys are all from my collection and are all painted by ….Me 😁
All the best. Aly
Great stuff Aly, all the figures and scenery look fantastic.i have played the Rampant rules but it was only a few times, several years ago, so I don't really remember a lot about them, to be honest...but seems like they provided you with an entertaining evening.
ReplyDeleteThank you Keith…
DeleteThe Rampant rules are designed to be an easy and fun game… which is what this was .
We will definitely be doing it again.
All the best. Aly
Never thought of using Lion Rampant for other periods. Might have to dig the rules out again and have a look into that. Great looking game and yes you obviously need more units!
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of excellent army lists to be found on line that cover most periods…
DeleteIt is well worth exploring…
All the best. Aly
Fine looking game, Aly, and a successful conclusion. As long as everyone has fun, all is well. Your figures and villa look fab.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jonathan…
DeleteIt was a most enjoyable evening…
All the best. Aly
Splendid stuff, sounded and looked really good fun. I have some left over Roman archers and cataphracts if you want them I can bring them to Partizan for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil …
DeleteIt was a hoot…
Yes of course I can find a place for some unwanted Roman toys 😁…
All the best. Aly
I will sort them out for you and let you know what there is.
DeleteThank you…😁
DeleteAly, what a great looking game and it appears the lion Rampant adaption has worked well.
ReplyDeleteThank you Graham…
DeleteOne of the things I like about Lion Rampant is that most of the adaptations work really well… the game engine is very robust and doesn’t break easily.
All the best. Aly
An enthralling battle, fought with miniatures that are a feast for the eyes. In fact, the Romans were forced to defend a little defensible ground, as often happened those raids along the border. And the Sassanids had Nellie! Luckily they weren't all that active… Wasn't there the option to include civilian miniatures in "Lion Rampant"? Have you considered tying this game into upcoming encounters in a mini-campaign?
ReplyDeleteThank you …
DeleteIt did indeed reflect the desperate nature of the Roman defences during the 3rd Century…
There aren’t any options for civilians in the the game but I would like to find a way to add them … even if it is just for a bit of background colour….
Once everyone gets a hang of the rules I think we will probably try out a mini campaign …
All the best. Aly
A wonderful looking game, reported with real enthusiasm for the hobby. Nice to see some varied dice throws too falling to players, the mass of 5s & 6s would make anyone's day!
ReplyDeleteThank you David…
DeleteIt was indeed a very enjoyable game and filled with youthful enthusiasm…
I didn’t think that there were that many six’s left in the world 😂
All the best. Aly
Excellent looking game, Romans and elephants you can't go wrong ,surely? I liked lion Rampant when we played it, sounds like tons of fun!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
It was a lot of fun Iain…
DeleteYes Romans and Elephants… all we need now is Camels.
All the best. Aly
Too busy enjoying yourself eh? Must be doing something right.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to unit activation I think I prefer the 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' approach where every unit gets a chance to activate - having nothing activate because you fail on the first unit always seems a bit harsh. Even better, TMWWBK allows some troop types to have some types of actions as 'free' activations.
I know playing with toy soldiers and having fun… whatever next.
DeleteThe way it worked every unit got a chance to activate but because it was on the draw of a card it was a bit disjointed…
I do like Men Who Would Be Kings and I intend to do something for the rules… I’m thinking Russian Civil War.
All the best. Aly
Not the 'A World Aflame' set of Osprey rules for the interwar period?
DeleteI forgot that I have that… I may have to give it a look.
DeleteHello Aly! It's great you found time for a game with friends, and it definitely looks like fun!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Jan
Thank you Jan…
DeleteIt was indeed a lot of fun…
Nice looking game Aly. I hope the first dice roll didn't cause you too much damage!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark…
DeleteFortunately I was onl umpiring so I didn’t receive that dice based smack in the teeth…😁
All the best. Aly
Excellent game Aly, thank you for sharing. Quinn
ReplyDeleteThank you Quinn.
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Well now that is a splendid looking game, marred only by the lack of armoured camels!
ReplyDeleteThank you David…
DeleteFear not they are undercoated and waiting for paint…
All the best. Aly
I missed this one Aly what a lovely looking game 👍
ReplyDeleteThank you Matt…
DeleteAll the best. Aly