Lion Rampant AAR - late Romans vs Germanics

Introduction

Rome is in turmoil.  Barbarians threaten every border and the battered legions are called home.  In Germania, Folliculus Pilosus gathers his forces and rushes to heed the call.  As they march, a German force under Lowenbrau the Frothy lies in wait.  Will Folliculus manage to lead his troops to safety?

The Romans must reach the opposite table edge, or defeat the Germanics en route to open the way for their escape.  The Germanic objective is simple: destroy as much of the Roman force as possible.

Roman Forces

Leader = Folliculus Pilosus @ 2 pts with Commanding Skill ;2 units of Heavy Infantry with Javelins (Darts) @ 5 pts each; 1 unit of Archers and Slingers @ 4 pts.  TOTAL 16 pts

Germanic Forces

Leader = Lowenbrau the Frothy @ 2 pts with Aggressive and Impulsive Skills ;1 unit of Veteran Heavy Infantry @ 6 pts; 2 units of Light Infantry @ 3 pts each; ; 1 unit of Skirmishers @ 2 pts.  TOTAL 16 pts

Note that I'm using 2/3rd sized units of 8 rather than 12 and 4 rather than 6 miniatures per unit.  

Turn One

Turn One starting positions

Being the attacker, the Germanics move first.  They manage to get three of their four units moving forwards, but the light infantry on their right flank fail their activation and are left behind.  A similar thing happens to the Romans, with Legio Flavum lagging behind Legio Rubrum led by Folliculus. 

Folliculus leads the troops forwards

Turn Two

Turn Two starting positions

This time the Germans that failed to activate move up as do Lowenbrau's Heavy Infantry.  However, the Skirmishers fail their activation roll and control passes to the Romans.  Seeing that the Germans are in range, the Archers/Slingers unit tries a Shoot order but they fail their roll and that's their turn over.  The Romans aren’t making much progress towards their objective of crossing the table.

Turn Three

Turn Three starting positions

For the attacking Germans, the two units on opposite flanks move up.  The Skirmishes make a Skirmish move but only score one hit which does nothing. And the Heavy Infantry fail to activate so stay where they are.

The German Skirmishers skirmishing

This time the Roman Archers/Slingers pass their Shoot order test, and unleash on the German Heavy Infantry.  With 5 hits against Armour 3 that causes a casualty.  Lowenbrau is safe and the Germans pass their Courage test.  But it’s first blood to Rome.  

The Roman missile troops let fly.

Buoyed by their success, the remaining Roman units pass their activations and advance.

Turn Four

Turn 4 starting positions

Lowenbrau steps forward and challenges Folliculus.  Not wanting to risk his forces morale, the Roman accepts and the two leaders exchange blows.  Both land a blow each, the duel is a draw and honour is satisfied as they return to their units, who can't do anything further this turn. 

Folliculus (left) and Lowenbrau duel

However, the battle must go on and the  German Skirmishers Shoot and inflict a casualty on the Legio Rubrum.  Folliculus is unharmed and the unit’s Courage holds.

The two German Light Infantry units move up through the trees again, with one unit directly threatening the leading Romans.

Legio Flavum are confronted by the Germanics

Roman Legio Flavum moves to counter the Germans trying to outflank the lead Romans.  The Archers and Slingers Shoot at the German Heavy Infantry, but this time don’t hit enough times to inflict any casualties.

Turn Five

Turn Five starting positions

The right flank German Light Infantry unit steams into the Legio Flavum . When the dice are rolled they've only scored 2 hits, but the Romans have scored 11 hits! And that's why light troops shouldn’t attack heavies. The Germans take 5 casualties, but their Courage holds and they retreat in good order.

The battlelines meet

The German Skirmishers once again Shoot at the leading Romans.  This time they hit enough times to inflict a casualty.  Folliculus continues to live a charmed life and the unit holds steady.

The left flank German light infantry unit intends to Attack the leading Romans, but perhaps seeing what has happened to their comrades has cooled them off and they fail the required roll.

The final German move this turn sees Lowenbrau and his Heavy Infantry advance on the Romans.

The only way is through, and Folliculus leads his men in an Attack on Lowenbrau and his warriors.  In the ensuing melee, the Germans score 4 hits against 2, enough to inflict a casualty on the Romans. Although Folliculus is still ok, the attrition his unit has suffered tells and they fail their Courage test, retreating and taking a Battered marker.

Legio Rubrum try to smash their way through

Legio Flavum pursue the retreating Germans they mauled so badly in the last round, and hit again.  In a desperate flurry of blows each side lose a man.  But it’s the final straw for the Germans, they rout and flee.

Legio Flavum triumph

The last unit to Activate are the Roman Archers and Slingers.  They target the Germans appearing through the trees to their right and take two of them down with some smart shooting.  The Germans' nerve just about hold.

Turn Six

Turn Six starting positions

Having lost one unit, Lowenbrau knows he must try and break the Romans.  He leads his warriors in another attack on Folliculus and the Legio Rubrum.  Using his Aggressive Leader Skill to pass the Attack test they surge forwards.  The Germans hit 6 times causing 2 casualties, the Romans replying with 3 hits to down one German.  Folliculus' unit fails it’s Courage roll and as it already has a Battered marker, loses another figure.  They’re down to 2 now.

The Romans are driven back.

The German momentum ends there as the Light Infantry fail to activate.  

Over to the Romans, and fresh from crushing one German unit, Legio Flavum crash through the trees to hit Lowenbrau and his warriors.  Proving once again that Heavy Infantry are deadly in defence, the Germans lose a man but take down 2 attacking Romans.  But something has happened in the carnage as the Germans roll 3, which adjusted for 3 casualties taken so far reduces the roll to 0 and they rout.  The Romans also fail their test, but retreat taking a Battered token. 

Legio Flavum to the rescue

With the Germans having lost two units and their leader leaving the field, the Romans are deemed to have won.  The remaining Germanics leave the field and Folliculus can lead his battered units to fight another day in the defence of Rome.

Conclusion

This was my first game using Lion Rampant and I really enjoyed it.  I'd played The Men Who Would Be Kings a couple of times and Pikeman Rampant (a mass up of the two sets), but felt a bit underwhelmed.  That may have been because they were learning games and I didn't have a real scenario to frame the games, so they felt a bit dull.  Not so this time.

The figures are from my 28mm late-Roman collection.  They're all Victrix and from a number of different sets.  I took great pains to make sure that each is unique.  After all that effort in building them a couple of years ago, this is only the second time they've been on the table, which is plain daft.  I'd played a game with Warlords of Eherwon (AAR here) back in 2024, which worked well enough.  However, I think that Lion Rampant works better, and I'm now thinking about adding some cavalry.

I think that's exactly what a good game should do - enthuse you to want to add to your forces and play again.  I'll be playing Lion Rampant again soon with the late 15th C. Fall of Granada forces that I've been working on recently so keep checking back.