Barons War

[tim.w]

Lion Rampant?

Or am I missing something?

Units seem smaller for knights?

[levied troop]

I confess to being a little confused by the questions.
What size and style of game are you looking for?

Lion Rampant is certainly a useful set, units are usually 12 or 6 and yes, mounted and dismounted men at arms are the smaller sized unit.

But there’s a lot of rule sets that would work - DBM springs to mind as a similar mid to large scale rules set. I’m unfamiliar with SAGA but I believe it stretches to that period.

At the smaller skirmishy action end there’s a host of options, Fistful of Lead is useful and Footsore have a new set coming out very soon, specifically for the 1st Baron’s War, along the lines of their other sets (Test of Honor, Mortal Gods). There’s also a couple of Sharp Practice variants that would probably work.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

"I get lockdown, but I get up again."

The full five!

[tim.w]

I was wondering why the new release of a medieval skirmish when we have LR? it seems so similar, though I appreciate it might be a lot more period specific.

[Paul]

I was wondering why the new release of a medieval skirmish when we have LR? it seems so similar, though I appreciate it might be a lot more period specific.

The "Barons War" rules look interesting as they are both more flexible but also more detailed (less generic than LR).

More flexible in that there is virtual total freedom with unit and force sizes (Foot units need to have at least three figures and mounted two figures. There is no upper limit!). The blurb says around 40 figures a side, which makes it a little smaller than LR....but it looks like it will scale up to double that fairly easily (...any thoughts LT??)

It is very much a skirmish game though with some quite detailed game mechanics such as Action choices and both Attack and Defence rolls etc... Movement is IGOUGO but split by units, so the player with initiative plays a units Action first (to which the 2nd player may possibly React) then the 2nd player gets to move/shoot etc... with one of their units. I think it feels more "in period" than LR but suffers/benefits through being a bit more complex. I suspect it will be really good for small scale narrative campaigns though, so it's very much "horses for courses".

I'm looking forward to playing some games of it at some point, it would make a fun mini Ayton campaign with small forces and big treachery

[levied troop]

(...any thoughts LT??)

Another cup of tea would be nice

The two sets are aimed at different style games, hence my original question. As Paul says, the new Baron’s War rules from Footsore are aimed at small group skirmish. I figure you can expand the number of leaders you have - it feels a bit like Fistful of Lead and I’ve taken that to 7 groups a side and could probably do more (Sharp Practice easily scales up to bigger engagements) but it’s always bigger skirmishes. It would be good for small scale fighting in the streets of Lincoln and I think most of the fighting in the 1st Baron’s War was of that order.

Lion Rampant strikes me as more suitable for medium to larger sized battles - like the Angevin campaigns for John or the 2nd Baron’s War engagements at Evesham or Lewes.