Petard Assult Team

Robert Burr Gave me these fellows as a Christmas Gift and I have finally gotten them finished and photographed.

The Petard team it self was fun to model I tried to give the impression of charging across a long contested nomane's land on the way to the location were they will hopefully make a breach.

My original officer form Warlord had his sword broken I did a swap arming him with a war hammer from my bits box (and the hilt of a sword so the sheath would not be empty).

Both officers look quite aggressive with their fired pistols in one hand and favored melee weapons in the other.

Dismounted cavalry armed with Grenades!  Throwing explosives to cover friends who are running with a chest of explosives seems like a bad idea to me but it would make me keep my head down if I was on the other side..

Tried not to make these guys match too closely as a forlorn hope of this sort would be made up of men form several units.

These fellows laying down covering fire with their carbines have the right idea.

One of these fellows has very heavy armor and I can't really blame him I'd want as much armor as I could reasonably carry going into assault a breach.

More fellows to join the assault these guys have pistols and swords ready to rush into any breach the Petard can make.

I'm sure these dismounted cavalry men will find a home in my army for Pikeman's Lament, Dragon Rampant and other games.  They are armed to the teeth with and weapons, pistols, grenades and carbines and will make a formidable unit.

Dragon's Lament- Playing Fantasy Pike and Shot games

Given how much my local group has enjoyed playing Dragon Rampant I suspect that my Pikeman's Lament army is going to find it self facing fantasy opponents on a regular basis.  One could simply use Pikeman's Lament troops as Frank and I did in our last game.  That said it seems to me that by mixing and matching you can probably get a game with more flavor.

Cavalry:  The fewest changes are needed here.  Troops that charge straight at their foes are Gallopers, those who seek to disrupt with shooting then strike are Trotters and those that prefer to skirmish are dragoons.

Dave's mounted Dwarves(facing my knight above)  could be classed as Gallopers, Elite Gallopers or Aggressive Gallopers depending on his preference. My knights could be counted the same way.  I would give cavalry armed with bows a 1 point up grade giving them a ranged attack of 6+/Range 12" hitting on 5+ but they would loose counter-charge (this could not be combined with Aggressive).   That said Bow armed troops might be just as effectively portrayed using the dragoon profile but there could be some special cases, like Centaurs or High Elf cavalry in a fantasy setting.

I might consider making Wolf/warg riders (especially if they have spears or javelins) trotters, since they might not want to charge a unit of armored humans or elves head on but would be quick to strike if they sensed weakness.

Dragoons and Light riders are pretty much synonymous you could bring over the sort range missile modification if you really wanted to.

Fantastical rules: Any for Gallopers and Trotters.  Dragoons are bared from Spellcaster, summoner and Cleric/Slayer.

Infantry:
Forlorn Hope works for most Elite infantry.  The fact that Pikeman's lament assumes a shooting characteristic for elite infantry actually makes it better from most points of view.  If you want to portray heavily armed Melee beast you just take aggressive and you get better "armor" and lose the ability to shoot.  You can add Any of the fantastical rules to Forlorn Hope.

I would retain Elite infantry for large Fantasy beasts. When/if my Bones III dragon ever get here I pan to use Elite Infantry+Fly+Missiles for a 10 point total to portray him.  I feel it makes sense to start the Higher Armor/Stamina for these troop types and then add a shooting ability if its warranted.

Pikemen: OK now we get to the signature unit of Pikeman's Lament.  Depending on how you build them the are a lot like either Heavy Foot or Light Foot.  The Reach of the pike is a major part of the unit profile but for me the key difference is the close order special rule  that really distinguishes them form other melee focused infantry.  To that end I would suggest you use this troop type not just for troops armed with long pointy sticks but for any fantasy combatants that are considered highly disciplined. Dwarven infantry with their tendency to form tight formation and drive into their less disciplined foes could be portrayed as Pikemen.

Use Heavy Foot with the Offensive upgrade for units like Orc/hobgoblin swordsmen, trolls, ogres and other fantasy types that just don't have the pikemans discipline.  You could use the pikeman profile if you want but I think they will work better using the DR unit Profile.

The Light Foot profile can be used with the Offensive profile for lightly armed troops like Goblins or Hobbits.  I also think there is merit to holding on to the light foot with with the mixed weapons profile.  This might be good for portraying units with uneven equipment or even local militia with training better than the typical club men.

Heavy and Light foot can also be used to portray historical troops that are not typical of Western Europe that don't really fit the Tribesmen  profile.  Janissary, Mameluke and the soldiers of the Mughal empire come to mind (from my casual reading not focused study).

The above should be eligible for any fantastical rules upgrade.

Tribesmen can replace Bellicose Foot. You might want to bring over the "Terrifically Shiny Armor" upgrade for dwarf berserkers or other hard to kill types.  They can have any Fantastical rules except Spellcaster, Summoner and Cleric/Slayer

The Shotte Profile should be used with all long range missile weapons yes bows have a greater rate of fire but Muskets have more penetration and knockdown power against armored targets call it a wash.  Use the First Volley rule for all missile troops while muskets are know for their tenancy to miss fire bows can also become broken and men may run low on arrows slowing their rate of fire.
They can have any Fantastical rule except spellcaster and cleric/slayer

Skirmishes can replace Scouts as there is little or no difference. They can have any Fantastical rules except Spellcaster, Summoner and Cleric/Slayer.

Ravenous hordes should be used for undead and other fantastical troops types of little skill.  They retain the fantastical option undead, venomous, hatred and fear.

Otherwise scratch forces for local defense should use the Clubmen profile.  Fantastical Rules are not appropriate to Clubmen

These are my thoughts for combining these two closely related games  I would appreciate your thoughts on this subject. I'll share my experiences as I get in games.

Dragon's (Pikeman's) Lament - Morning Attack

I've been eager to try Pikeman's Lament since I got it in early February.  Several of us are fans of the Lion/Dragon Rampant system as my readers know. So Frank and I got together to give the game a try. Since I don't have enough for two 17th century armies we decided Frank would use his Kroot but use unit stats from Pikeman's Lament.    Frank had Two units of Gallopers (Aggressive) one unit of Trotters, Two units of Dragoons, a unit of Commanded shot and two units of Clansmen.  I made both commanders Luitenants with two traits Frank had Careless and Commanding.

We went with the Morning Attack I used a hedge and stone wall to stand in for field works with me as the defender and Frank as the attacker. I had two units of Pike, two units of shot, two units of Trotters and a unit of Forlorn Hope.  My LT was a duelist and Inspiring. Frank piked the "I don't like the cut of his jib" committing himself to trying to kill my Forlorn Hope.  I picked "beat the butchers bill"  kill more points of troops than I loose.

Kroot clansmen come broiling out of the swamp on my flank held by the blue regiment

While Kroot Gallopers push forward with their dragoons harassing my men on the left (with the field works my Pike men proved largely safe form this limited fire.

Looking down the line of the field works as Frank threatens my flanks and my horsemen rush to meet the threat.

Thanks to some poor rolls on Franks part I make it and the first try at Caracole goes in...

The Trotters disrupt the Gallopers and throw them back though their casualties were fairly light.

First one and then...

a second unit of Kroot tribesmen hurl them selves at the Blue regiment I throw back the first but the second drives me back..

Then pursues and cuts my men down...

but the Blue regiment has just enough left in its death throws to force the Kroot back

Frank in the spirit of exploring the rules issues a challenge! my officer meet the Kroot commander and kills him hand to hand (it would have been a draw if I were not a duelist).  Franks army survives the loss of its commander.

 a turn latter the Kroot commander's unit attempts to gain revenge but at thrown back by my pikemen.

 Dragoons bast away at the Gray regiment (which includes my commander) slowly picking it apart.

 Another attempt by the Kroot beasts to over throw my pikes but they are able to they will make another effort before they finally break (tough fellows)

My commanders unit falls back under the galling fire of the Kroot Dragoons.

Fire form the Forlorn Hope Drives off the tribesmen with in our lines and the Krute troopers are withdrawn when frank rolls double 1s

The flank is secure and its time to counter attack.

Pike men see of the last unit of Kroot tribesmen... 

Then fire first from the forlorn hope and then form the pistols of the trotters strike the Kroot Trotters

The Coup de grace is administered with a cavalry charge the wipes out the winged Kroot serving as Trotters.  Frank has three units of skirmishers left and has lost more then half his army so we opt to call it a night.  The game played well the only issue we had was the fact that the game uses the same mechanics as Dragon Rampant (the variant Frank knows best) but uses different language.  Batter (DR) Vs. Wavering (TPL) they mean exactly the same thing but sound like they should mean something different.