English Retinue Lion Rampant Extras

I've been busy with work the last few days so not much has moved on the work bench front, apart from a six point Lion Rampant units of six elite infantry Men at Arms, bringing the force up to a respectable twenty two points. I am still planning to add ten more longbowmen to round out the retinue but, in practical terms, it's more or less complete. I can also use these for Ecorcheurs! which is an added bonus. This weekend I'm hoping to get started on painting at least one unit...although it's going to be tricky to squeeze in some time due to family commitments.

Algy Club Game

Next week I'm running a club multiplayer game of Algy that I had to postpone from a couple of weeks ago due to illness. This will be the Biggles and the Black Ravens scenario, featuring No.55 Squadron Airco DH4 bombers against the Fokker DVII scouts of Jasta 18. For this game I'm going to ignore the restriction on tricky and hard manoeuvres for bombers, as the DH4 was renowned for it's manoeuvrability, especially when not loaded with bombs as these had already been dropped in the historical action. I may also pack a formation move / fire card for the RAF, just in case someone wants to try to reformate, even though the scenario prohibits this based on actual events. Hopefully, I've thought of everything that might crop up, but you never know when multiplayer games are in full swing!

Jumping the Gun

One of the Lion Rampant scenarios I've always wanted to play is 'Defending the Indefensible', which features an objective to be defended or attacked, depending on which side you are on. The suggestion in the rules is a siege weapon of some sort, so a trebuchet seemed like a very good idea, although a bombard might be more appropriate for the Hundred Years War. Any excuse to field an impressive bit of kit!

I did some burning about and found this 3D printed model of a trebuchet from Parabellum Miniatures, for a very reasonable price tag. I'm not a massive fan of 3D printed stuff but this looks really good, if it survives the UK postal system? The idea will be to model this on a base to act as both a scenic feature in the mini-campaign I'm planning to run, but also as an objective for the aforementioned scenario. 

It's a bit extravagant but why not?

Lion Rampant Heavy Infantry Spearmen

I've just finished assembly of the extra six figures required to field a full four point unit of heavy infantry spearmen for the English Retinue. These use the English archer bodies and heads with arms from the French infantry box set. I also included a leader figure which uses the opposite, armed with a sword and buckler and equipped with a mail coif, no doubt looted from the enemy. I just need to spray undercoat the extra figures before I crack on with the ten additional longbowmen, which I'm hoping to get sorted by the end of the week.

Lion Rampant English Retinue Expansion

You can never have enough longbows!

I've decided to double up and expand the Ecorcheurs! English Retinue to a full 24 point retinue for Lion Rampant, as it only requires an additional twelve to sixteen figures. The first thing to do is to add six additional heavy infantry spearmen, using longbowmen bodies and arms from the French infantry set, to create a twelve strong unit. After that, it's either six more elite infantry men at arms in full harness or ten more longbowmen, the latter to build a second six point unit of veteran archers. Either way I'll be two points short of the full two dozen but I'll make up the difference with a special leadership bonus of +2 points. All this will take longer to prepare and then paint but I'm not in a rush, so will be painting one unit at a time. It will be good to get back to some 28mm painting after years off doing other things!

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!