Lion Rampant: First Outing for the Burgundians (updated)

Andy came over last knight and my completed Burgundian retinue for Lion Rampant had its first proper outing on the table.  We played the scenario called The Messenger (I'd tried it out previously solo but with different models).

The two forces (for Chris, who asked) were as follows:

Burgundians
Guy, Sieur de Gadbois - Commander (Vulnerable)
Men At Arms - Mounted Men At Arms*
Longbowmen - Expert Archers
Coustilliers - Mounted Sergeants (no upgrades)
Skirmishers (mostly handguns) - Bidowers
Italian Mercenary Crossbows - Bidowers

Swiss
Hubert Bluntschli - Commander (Commanding)
2x Pikes - Expert Foot Serjeants*
Halberdiers - Fierce Foot
Handgunners - Bidowers
Irish Kern - Bidowers


In this game the Burgundians (played by me) had to escort a messenger from bottom right to top left in the photo below.  Andy, as the Swiss, had 6 points (a Pike unit = Expert Foot Serjeants) entering bottom left and the remainder top right.

It was't until the second turn that I could squeeze all of the Burgundians onto the table.

The messenger was entrusted to a unit of Italian mercenary crossbowmen (bidowers, on the road below).

Andy's Swiss and Irish mercenary bidowers moved across the cabbage field while his second unit of pikemen skirted it to the road ands halberdiers (Fierce Foot) headed off towards my exit point.

My Burgundian skirmishers headed onto the wooded hill covering the right of the crossroads....

... whilst my coustilliers (Mounted Serjeants) faced off the main Swiss force.  Sadly they were soon battered by incoming missile fire.

At this point (sadly unseen by the camera) a series of fortunate dice rolls by your correspondent saw Andy's pikemen on my left take heavy casualties from the shooting of my longbowmen and rout!  As a result I was now able to move the crossbowmen and the escorted messenger off to the left of the crossroads.

They had almost made it to the woods when they were pounced upon by Andy's halberdiers.  As Fierce Foot the latter weren't going to be bothered by rough ground so I decided to shoot.  Long-range shooting from my longbows and point blank from the Italians was followed by a dreadful Courage test and the Halberdiers were routed.  The messenger's road was now open!

On the other flank my Burgundian bidowers were slaughtered by Andy's pikemen despite hiding among the trees.

Whilst my Men At Arms made short work of Andy's handgunners....

The danger to me now was that my four remaining Men At Arms - exposed to the shooting a unit of bidowers and in charge range of Andy's remaining pikemen - looked very exposed.  My commander, Guy de Gadbois, had the Vulnerable trait.  This made him more likely to stop a stray pike thrust and die.  Perhaps, like Charles the Bold a few years later, he had left off his bevor for comfort's sake.  If my commander died or his unit routed, the resulting Courage tests could have scuppered my plan.


I decided to take a chance and challenged the Swiss captain to single combat.

Sad to say Captain Hubert Bluntschli, an honoured opponent, died in honourable combat while pikemen, Irish mercenaries and Burgundian knights looked on.

The resulting Courage test saw off the remaining pikemen and with Andy reduced to a single unit of Irish kern we called it a night.

I enjoyed the game and I think Andy did too despite the rash of unlucky dice rolls.  We both agreed that the game looked very pretty.  More Lion Rampant will definitely follow.