The Loose Association of Wargamers

One of my pals dropped by tonight. Over a dram of single malt Lowland whisky, he presented me with what he described as a '6 point Lion Rampant force'.

They are Tumbling Dice metals - a Leader, Mounted Knights, men-at-arms on foot, a bunch of mailed spearmen, an archer & a crossbow unit. https://tumblingdiceuk.com/collections/ ... -crusaders
He said they were a gift due to me for my hospitality of the years - which includes my wife filling him with Italian food & me with fine wines and uisge beatha on many occasions.

A nice gesture, of course but his hidden agenda is he has been waffling about Lion Rampant for about a year & been painting his own force & needs an opponent. The sly animal.

My problem is I literally know nothing about the medieval period. I've never gamed it, read much or painted a single figure.
TD describes them as from the Crusade Period @1250 & as Frankish (the knights have barded horses, wear open faced helmets & mail with some plate & carry heaters(?). The infantry carry kite-shaped shields. They're 25mm (1/72)

Where do I go to find out about painting colours? Heraldry? What do you use for heraldic devices & shield patterns?
I will have to buy a set of the rules, of course. Any tips about them?

The nerve of my pal -giving me these figures!! (once I clear the backlog I'm looking forward to this unexpected mini-project).

donald

He didn't paint them for you? The rascal.

But anyway, welcome to the world of ImagiNations. Paint your little men just exactly how you want. Create your own coat of arms, colours, banners and emblems. Scoff at history, and a pox on those who say it ain't so.

Pleased to be of help. No charge.

Iain

A six point force sounds a little strange!
In LR units are organised in sixes (Cavalry or Skirmishers) or twelves (other infantry). You can use less figures per unit so long as you keep track of the actual unit strength, so you could halve the figure numbers and give each guy two "wounds".
Unit points values start at 2, 3, 4 or 6 and there are several add ons that some units can have which may increase or decrease their value.
Standard army size is 24pts, but games from 12 to 36 seem to work fine with no modifications!
The rules can be used pretty much to cover everything from the period where it was common to poke your enemy with a pointy stick.
I would hold off buying the rules for now as LR2 is out in July.
LR2 has exactly the same core rules as the original book. There is no making current armies "illegal".
What it really does is to remove some of the High Medieval specific terms, such as "Bidower" and replace them with something more generic so that the timescales of the rules can be pushed out without the terms sounding too anachronistic.
LR2 has been pushed outward in time to pretty much cover from the the end of Roman rule in Britain to the end of the Wars of the Roses.
There are special rules for specific periods and I think there is going to be more emphasis on Campaigns.
It's going to be a much more "lavish" book than the Osprey Blue book original, so worth the wait, although I do lament the loss of the less generic terminology

Prior to that Edinburgh University History and games Lab has published a supplement for the Crusader States which might tie in with your figures quite nicely and which is fully compatible with LR and LR2

ochoin wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 1:00 pm donald

When I got going on my Barons War project this is the site I used for an initial reference. Plenty to get you started on heraldry here. Also, the BW Facebook group has a lot of posts these days about the Crusading forces, as they’ve just done a KS for their Crusading knightly orders. These two should offer some good ideas as you get started.
Plenty of other places to look, no doubt, so feel free to disregard

Paul wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 2:35 pm A six point force sounds a little strange!

Oh, like SAGA! I have 40 figures.
I see I'll need more figures.
The TD packs come as 4 mounted or 8 foot: a bit awkward for LR then.

I have a mounted king & 2 nobles on foot
4 mounted serjeants/knights (what's the difference? So more needed regardless)
16 spearmen - a unit of 12 figures?
8 heavy infantry (Foot Serjeants?)-Need 4 more.
8 archers & 8 Crossbowmen (can I have a combined unit of 12 figures?)

So much to learn.

donald

ochoin wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 9:00 pm
I have a mounted king & 2 nobles on foot
4 mounted serjeants/knights (what's the difference? So more needed regardless)
16 spearmen - a unit of 12 figures?
8 heavy infantry (Foot Serjeants?)-Need 4 more.
8 archers & 8 Crossbowmen (can I have a combined unit of 12 figures?)

So much to learn.

donald

Your could use them in half sized units
Then you could do
Elite Mounted (3 Figs)6pts
3 Units of Heavy foot (6 figs each) 12pts
1 Units of skirmishers (Archers 3 figs ) 2pts
1 Unit crossbows (6 figs) 4pts

Otherwise yes more figures needed for a standard 24pt force

The basis of the rules is very simple (else we couldn't have used them for two LAW events ) so after one game you'll probably never need the book for the main rules again!

As you can probably imagine, Donald, I believe I have some TD knightly stuff somewhere. Would you like me to check?

E

Essex Boy wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 10:04 pm As you can probably imagine, Donald, I believe I have some TD knightly stuff somewhere. Would you like me to check?

E

Yes, please.

donald

Essex Boy wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 2:30 pm He didn't paint them for you? The rascal.

But anyway, welcome to the world of ImagiNations. Paint your little men just exactly how you want. Create your own coat of arms, colours, banners and emblems. Scoff at history, and a pox on those who say it ain't so.

Pleased to be of help. No charge.

Iain

May Epona, my Lady of horses have mercy on my soul, but I agree with EB!

Have a look at a few manufacturers sites - footsore, first corps, front rank etc where they have some painted examples and look for designs and colours that catch your eye and copy what you like

Citadel six do some transfers for 15 and 28mm - painting beasties is too hard I reckon

Have a look at Darrell's site as well for inspiration