Lion Rampant Second Edition Short Cuts

I've been reading through the Lion Rampant Second Edition rule book this morning, in order to plan my 15mm War of the Roses project, when I stumbled across the expanded section on reduced size warbands (p101/104). In the original rules there was a brief paragraph on using half sized, twelve point forces but the new version goes into a bit more detail, with three different approaches suggested. These include half sized units, the twelve point retinue angle and a new system using strength points. I realised that with two more 28mm men at arms, I could field four or five half sized units, giving me a decent sized retinue for the Hundred Years War, without the need to assemble and paint another sixteen plus figures. I'll have a think about this but it would be a good way to double up my forces for Lion Rampant and Ecorcheurs! in addition to the War of the Roses 15mm stuff?

Ravenfeast Anglo Saxon Skirmish

I had a look at these free, simple small scale skirmish rules last year, designed for Viking era scenarios but flexible enough to be adapted for other things. I'd like to explore this further as it is ideal for solo skirmish wargaming with a minimal footprint and small number of figures, but I'm not so keen on the Viking bit. The plan is to shift the action back to the mid-Saxon period of the early 8th to early 9th century, using the 18mm Wiglaf Miniatures range of figures, individually based for skirmish scenarios. I've ordered a few packs that will potentially give me one or even two Anglo Saxon raiding parties, one Mercian and the other West Saxon, with the option to get some Welsh at a later date. It all fits in very well with my medieval focus for this year's wargaming, even if it's very much an early medieval project!

Ecorcheurs! English Retinue Ready to Paint

I wrapped up the assembly of the Perry Agincourt box set figures today, with four spear armed 'soldiers', six longbowmen and the last three men at arms. I added a banner holder to the latter, as one features in the rule book scenarios, but I'm a bit dubious about having a banner bearer in a tiddly skirmish game, so a fourth men at arms was also included as a potential substitute. This gives me a retinue of twenty two figures in total but I'm going to add a couple more spearmen to make it up to twenty four. I can then start on the actual painting stage of the project at some point later this week.

Ecorcheurs! English Retinue Update

After a bit of a holiday hiatus I've got back to the workbench this afternoon and have added four longbowmen and two soldiers to the English Retinue. They need some fettling and filling here and there but otherwise are ready for painting. I used some spear arms from the Perry Miniatures French infantry set for the 'soldiers' after trying and failing to glue polearm parts to the English archers bodies. I have two more of these to assemble then a couple more longbowmen and two or three men at arms, which will give me enough figures for the example retinue in the Ecorcheurs! rule book, albeit in the early 1400's.

Peter Pig War of the Roses Reinforcements

We've been away in Devon for a few days visiting things and catching up with the relatives, so nothing has been happening at the workbench. However, the reinforcement packs of figures for my 15mm War of the Roses Lion Rampant project have arrived in my absence. These are the 'new' additions to the existing range, designed to add some variety to the poses. I have to say that these are some of the best figures I've seen from Peter Pig, especially the character packs and the fighting infantry, which are brilliant. I can now move forward with this project as I have a good range of figures to choose from when assembling two retinues, avoiding duplication as much as possible. Brilliant!

Winter Terrain for Ecorcheurs!

One of the obstacles to any project is terrain, especially in 28mm skirmish where you need quite a lot, but I'm planning to re-use some existing winter terrain to keep this down to manageable proportions. I have a small collection of winter terrain from previous Bolt Action and What a Tanker! games that I can use for the Hundred Years War Ecorcheurs! project and can also add some more medieval stuff later on. This is what I originally planned to do for Lion Rampant in 28mm, with the War of the Roses, as winter terrain just looks right for the period. I think this will work well and avoids me having to start from scratch.

15mm War of the Roses with Midgard

The 15mm War of the Roses project slated for later this year is built around Lion Rampant, which is an obvious choice for a small battle, semi-skirmish theme, but I'm also thinking of doubling up using the Midgard rules from Reisswitz Press. I originally assumed these were early medieval, fantasy oriented rules but it was suggested that they would work well for the later medieval period by Dex McHenry, all round good bloke that he is.

I've looked into this further and he's got a very good point, especially as the author has already used the rules for exactly that, with sample army lists available to download for Mortimer's Cross. The advantage of Midgard is that it requires fewer figures than Lion Rampant, with two units of longbowmen in the latter being three units in the former, assuming eight figures per unit, although I could also just stick with the standard twelve figure units for visual effect.

https://mogsymakes.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/wars-of-the-roses-for-midgard-heroic-battles-force-13-14.pdf

This would allow me to build a couple of Lion Rampant retinues while, at the same time, building respectable armies for Midgard. I really need to take a closer look at the rules now, so will order a copy and start some number crunching. All I would need are some movement trays or sabot bases to be able to use the same figures for either set of rules, giving me the opportunity to scale up the 15mm games from semi-skirmishes to small battles.

Thanks Dex!

Medieval Naval Wargaming

I'm away in Devon for a few days which might explain the lack of activity at the workbench. Not to waste any time, I've been contemplating the potential for some medieval naval wargaming later this year, to complement my 28mm Hundred Years War and 15mm War of the Roses activities. I've looked at this before, focussing on Long Face Games Lord of the Seas rules and Ganesha Games Galleys and Galleons, the former for fleet level battles and the latter for tactical ship to ship actions.

Unfortunately, there aren't many options for miniatures, aside from some medieval cogs in 1/1200th scale from Reiver, Ral Partha and Navwar, or some STL files for 1/2400th scale multiple ship bases from Long Face Games. I'd like to use 1/1200th scale for visual impact but that would limit the scope to tactical, rather than fleet level actions like Sluys or La Rochelle. I need to give this some further thought but there may well be scope for the latter if I can find a way to print those STL bases at an affordable cost?

Ecorcheurs! Hundred Years War Historical Background

Once upon a time, in the last century no less, I studied medieval history and archaeology to postgraduate masters level, not that it's been of much use since. This might explain why I'm currently exploring some historical contextual background for my Ecorcheurs! Hundred Years War project, especially as it was my third year depth study for my first degree. 

I currently have two potential options, one in the 1420's and the other the 1440's but both with a personal connection of sorts.

As I grew up in Cornwall I thought it might be nifty to make the retinue part of Sir John Cornwall's military forces during the siege of Meaux in the winter of 1421-1422. During the siege his seventeen year old son, also named John, was tragically decapitated by a stone cannon ball. Not a nice way to go but at least he wouldn't have known what hit him!

Prior to this I thought he would be a good candidate for a retinue commander tasked with patrols, raids and counter sorties during the siege. As this occured in the deep mid winter, it would also make good use of my existing winter terrain, saving me some time and effort while allowing for some further terrain scratch building, which I really enjoy.

The second option is to focus on the retinue of Sir Thomas Hoo in Lord Talbot's forces during the expedition into France under Richard Duke of York. He served as bailiff and Captain of Mantes in 1440 and 1441, at which time one of his retained men at arms was James Jaquemin, an apparent name sake of yours truly and possibly a very distant ancestor, although that is a long shot to say the least! 

Allez Les Bleus!

In Cardiff for the rugby today and it's absolutely heaving with French supporters, including the other half and the offspring. With some time to kill I popped into Waterstones and blew a book voucher on this new paperback on the Agincourt campaign, perfect for the holiday reading this week. A bit ironic really. Allez Les Bleus!