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.

Challenge Final

Well the Challenge is completed.  I finished 13th in a field of 96 originally 100 but 4 were  culled for failure to paint anything in first month.  Most importantly I did blast through my goal of 1500 Points, with a final post worth 175 points.  The last post was a big unit of Pathan Tribes men for the Huzzah! Convention game.

These aren't the sort of figures I normally paint but they were a fun project and I am happy to help out the team for Huzzah!con.  I'll do a more comprehensive review of the challenge latter.

Saga Retreat: Vikings running from Anglo Saxons

 John has picked up the new Aetius & Arthur supplement and we decided to try the retreat scenario from that book. I won the roll and opted to be the defender. My men start off with a fatigue marker each.  I was playing Vikings this time and had two units of Warriors with banners.  A unit of 8 Hearthguard and a unit of 4 Berserkers.

 John's slingers run up and take the first shot but I save the few hits he managed (I used the Asgard ability to make his shot harder.

 My Berserkers try to charge John's shield wall but he picked up my fatigue marker to shorten my movement.  I fell short which was doubly bad since I had Frig ready to remove the marker once I was in combat.

 John's Gall-Gaedhil charge my Berserkers and a savage clash ensues 7 Gall-Gaedhil die as do all 4 Berserkers.

 The first clash of warriors ensues.  I killed to of John's men and lost one of my own in hind sight I should have used Thor and hopefully knocked his unit below 10 figures but I was more concerned with getting men out alive.

 Thus the main action of the day begins as my "Red Wolf" unit backs away...

 and is chased.  I keep playing it carefully fighting defensively especially as John is using side by side and saga abilities to roll giant fist fulls of dice. John does hurt my men but I manage to limit the damage.

 With one turn to go I have moved my warlord over to make sure the "Red Wolves" can escape... My other Warrior unit and Hearthguard are with in easy distance of the table edge.

John's final assault drives in several additional warriors of mine fall though the unit survives. On my side of the turn I get everyone off the board.  I won this one easily mostly because this scenario (unlike the others we have played) seems to lack something.  The defender has to make about 4 turns of movement in 6 turns and that's not difficult to do some other wrinkle is needed to make it a more interesting game

Challenge Update # 9

As we enter the home stretch of the challenge I am please with my position.  This year I won't crack the top ten but should be comfortably in the top twenty.  I submitted two regiments of Imagi-Nation troops.

The First is the Haydenburg Regiment named for one of my reenacting mentors Jim Hayden.  Jim would be please to be commemorated with a miniature regiment.

The Grand Duchy's army also grew with Regiment Dixon named for another reenacting mentor of mine.  The Regiment will function as light/irregular infantry regiment something my friend Dwight excels at.

Finally I have been truly trounced in the 15mm side duel so a command stand an "observer form the Grand Duchy of D'Argent to some other army (exactly who's is not yet know.)

Ancestry DNA and Challenge update

For Christmas my wife gave me an Ancestry DNA test.  I won't say I found many surprises though there were a couple. Irish  heritage dominates (my mother has long claimed to be 100% Irish) with the "Western Europe" chunk is the next biggest chunk this and the "Italian/Greek"is my almost certainly form my dad's French Canadian father. The "Great Britain" portion probably comes form my dad's Mother's family though some of that might be on moms side (some of those Irish folks have very English names)

The Italian Greek part was a bit of surprise though I believe Carriere is a name that originates in the south of France so Italian influences are unsurprising as is the Iberian influence.  The Scandinavian trace is something one would expect in someone who's ancestors mostly come form the British Isles  The Middle Eastern trace is interesting... I suspect its from very far back.

I've dropped one spot in the standing (Well done KeithS) but this total doesn't include anything form the bonus round so it might improve when those points are calculated. Two entries this week.

The Regiment of the Bishop Prince Paine of the Draconian Empire

The new Pikeman's Lament rule set and the challenge have finally gotten me to paint these old armored pike men painted up. They have been kicking around my dead lead box sine the early 2000s.

Drizzt Do' Urden

My last Bonus Round Entry a favorite Character form my teenage years Drizzt Do'Urden please follow the link and vote.  Thanks!

Drunken Master

I painted this fellow up as a Christmas Gift to my old college roommate Rob Burr.

Rob helped introduced me to table top war gaming and we also played a lot of D&D and he introduced me to Akira Kurasawa Films.  This Watchful Studios Miniatures seemed like one he would like so I painted it up.

The box wasn't shipped until a few week ago and I wanted to make sure He had it before I posted it.

Saga: "God will Recognize His"

This game was from last Thursday(2/23) John and I met for some Saga his Anglo-Saxons against my Norse-Gaels I've been quite busy and haven't had a chance to post these. We did the "God will Recognize His" which features "Endless War Bands" on both sides.

The objective is to come to grips with the enemy and kill as many as possible but I can't quite resist try to take the high ground. This was a mistake as it took a unit of the action.

John and I move against each other in the gap between the central hill and those on the flank.

My Hearth Guard and John's Gael-Galhaed clash on the left.. The fight was bloody and comes out slightly to my advantage.

While my Norse-Gaels warriors clash with the his shield wall.  My full group fell but they took out many of John's warriors at the same time.

My Javelins take out the last of the Gael-Galhaed and then my men and I kill John's warlord. We follow up by killing off the slingers behind him.

I then make a critical error despite taking out john's troops on the far side of the board but I forgot to mover my Warlord back and John kills him.

John brings back a large unit but at this point he decided its not worth letting me kill more men.  The game ends with John out scoring me 21 to 15 a clear victory for the Anglo-Saxons.