Saturday, September 7, 2013

15mm Peter Laing Medieval Battle

      As mentioned in my last post, I have been reading some old rules for fighting ancient battles. I was reading one set that combined the board games, Battle Cry and Lionheart.  I started thinking of other rules I have used. I wanted to use Heroscape dice, that uses both attack and defense dice. One drawback is there is no "retreat" using these dice. I decided to use regular dice, using 6's as hits, and 5's as retreats.  Heavy troops would throw the defense dice for saves, one for every figure.  Medium figures would get one "defense" dice for every two figures.

     I also decided to use my Peter Laing Medieval figures for a trial game. I've had them for quite a while and have been wanting to use them. Most of the rules sets needed more figures than I have painted. However, as this was to be a simple practice game, I figured they would do.

   The scenario is simple. A local Baron has decided that he needs not answer to any man, even his King.  The King gathers an army to show that there can be but one ruler.


At the top, the Barons army from left; 2 units of peasant infantry, one unit of  peasant archers, 2 units of mounted knights with the Baron, 1 unit of foot men at arms, another unit of peasant archers, and one more of peasant infantry.
   At the bottom, the Kings army; from left; 1 unit peasant infantry,1 unit men at arms, 2 units Mounted knights with the King,  1 unit of men at arms, 1 unit of regular archers, 1 of peasant infantry.

The Kings standard.

The Barons standard.

The Kings Knights quickly close with the Barons knights, leaving the footmen behind.

At this point of the battle the Barons army had thrown back the Kings knights, who also lost one of their number to the peasant archers.

What's worse, the Barons knights wipe out one of the kings knights unit.

Even after such losses, the Kings forces push back the Barons knights.

It looks as though the King will carry the day.  

At the top of the page several peasant units are fighting their own battle, with the Barons forces getting the better of the engagement. One of the Barons units of knights is down to one man; the Baron joins this unit  and leads it forward. 

The peasant archers manage to bring down one of the knights.

Spurred on by the Baron, the Kings knights lose another man.

In the next move, the last of the Kings knight is eliminated and the Barons forces break through on all fronts.

Even the peasants on the Barons left have carried the day.

One unit of the Barons peasants break though and come face to face with the King himself. However, the King realizes the day is lost and withdraws what's left of his army.

This game was only to test a few ideas for a simple game that I might use on occasion when I bring out my Peter Laing   ancients and medieval figures.  A plain flat board with no features, I expected a rather boring game. It actually turned out fun and with a little work it could provide a game that would be fun for a few games. The peasants at first seemed as though they would play no part in the battle. In the end, as shown in the last photo, they ended up in the thick of it.

8 comments:

  1. John - I love the painting on your Knights!
    Do you remember the simple 1:1 medieval rules that appeared in a Military Modelling Manual many years ago? They would probably work really well for this sort of game. If you don't have the article, I can send you a copy.
    Also, I will let you know what was in that batch of Medieval figures I bought recently
    Ian

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  2. Ian,
    The Knights were in a couple of lots I bought when I first started buying Peter Laing figures. My original plan was to strip them down. Luckily I never did that, as I doubt my paint job could improve on these figures. I am thinking of showing some of the figures off in a later posting
    .
    I never got any copies of Military Modeling Manual. I would love to see the rules you mentioned.

    A few months ago someone in the USA was selling a large PL Medieval army. I think you had contacted him as you mentioned that he also had a PL Dark Ages army to sell. Did you ever do anything about those figures? I am now kicking myself for not bidding on the figures.

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  3. John - I thought I had already dropped you a note. I bought quite a large lot of unpainted Mounted Medieval Knights recently - I will dig out the list and re-send, as I acquired them mainly for the general "pool" rather than letting them go outside of our group. I don't remember the Dark Ages figures though - but that may be age and short-term memory!!
    Ian

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  4. Ian,
    The lot I was talking about was several months ago. It was a large painted Medieval army. My understanding was that the seller also had a Peter Laing Dark Ages army that he was going to sell, too. However, the Medieval army went with not bids and he didn't relist it. I was disappointed as I was hoping he might lower the price or try to sell the Dark Ages army instead.

    I remember the lot of Mounted knights you bought. You mention a list and how you bought them for a general pool. It would be nice if somehow a list of figures that people would be willing to trade or what have you could be set up. For the most part I have small quantities of different periods, but I still have probably a couple of thousand figures!

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  5. Good idea - I will circulate all the others I am in contact with and offer to host the list. In the meanwhile, these are the medievals - they cost me 23pence per figure, including postage.
    M901 Mounted Knight (lance, caparison) 10
    M902 Charging Knight (lance, caparison) 3
    M903 Charging Knight (sword) Medieval 28
    M904 Mounted Knight (mace, caparison) 13
    M905 Mounted Knight (war hammer) 8
    Ian

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  6. Ian,
    I glad to see you got that lot. I remember seeing it on Ebay. You can't beat the price you paid either.

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  7. Caught my attention, are they the same rules used as in your "rules" blog? Looks like some modifications were added for savings throws.
    Maybe you could post a snippet of the rules, I'd like to give em a try.
    Thanks

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  8. To be honest I'm not sure about the rules. I didn't write the rules down. Normally I don't like using saving rolls, as it adds another level of dice rolling. In the end it seems that the rules might be along the lines of No Brain Wargame.

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