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It fits what I call the "simulative" nature of this game. For more "competitive" mechanics, see my overview of Ronin. The players have a good amount of mechanical input into the fights in that game.

Thanks to you all for your insights. I'm not going toward medieval combat right now, but I think you all have pushed me to where Dragon Rampant is now going on my to-buy list. I've got lots of fantasy figs that would thrive in a game like this.

Booksetc in the UK have this book for £6.65 now which is pretty mental.. £1 or 2 more than the price of a magazine, consequently I have ordered a copy !

http://www.booksetc.co.uk/books/view/lion-rampant-medieval-wargaming-rules-9781782006350

Cheers for the write-up Manchu !

 Manchu wrote:
Osprey will publish Dragon Rampant:

http://merseybooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/dragon-rampant-fantasy-wargaming-lion.html

It is up for pre-order on Amazon.

Thanks for the head's up. I hope they knock off a few dollars eventually.

 Manchu wrote:
Thanks for the head's up. I hope they knock off a few dollars eventually.

I'm sure they will, and they have a 'lowest price' guarantee so if you order now you pay the lowest price it hits between now and when it ships, even if it is lower than the price on the day it ships.

http://merseybooks.blogspot.com/2015/10/dragon-rampant-flies-in.html

That reminds me that I need to stop lollygagging and pre-order Dragon Rampant!

I'll be picking that up when it arrives at my FLGS.

I'm not sure what kind of army I'll build yet.

I've preordered Dragon Rampant. It'll go well with my collection of Warhammer and LotR models. I'm doing AoS Khorne as my first army.

My Lion Rampant Hussite force. Approximately 30 points in total which allows me to swap out units.

12 Sergeants x2
12 Crossbowmen with pavaises x2
6 Handgonnes x1
6 Mounted Sergeants x1

I still need to finish painting the pavaises.

How do you like the game?

I like it. I've been playing a while. I like that the rules are uncompleted without being dumb. I particularly like the one roll combat resolution.

I'm looking at starting a second force, probably Golden Horde using the plastics that are available. I'd like to have the Warhammer Empire Elector Count of Ostland as my leader figure, I've been trying to find a cheap one.

This force is built with 1st Corps (formerly Kingmaker) metal Hussites. They're really cheap, less than £1 per figure for infantry. The characters were a little more expensive, but still reasonable. Both Jan Zizka and Prokop the Great are in this force, (twice for Prokop) in the cavalry unit (and the bottom right infantry unit for foot Prokop).

Those Hussites need 100% more wagon! LOL. I really like the missile weapon heavy focus, but I bet your opponents don't.

Good looking force. I love the mixed gear and equipment to help them look a bit rag-tag and irregular.

There's no rules for war wagons in LR. I suppose I could count one as pavaises for a unit. The standard list is 50% crossbows so they're supposed to be a semi elite compact force with lots of fire-power.

Thanks for the praise. I under coated them all brown then painted odd bits of clothing as I felt fit. Then washed them (brown) and highlighted them. Painting peasants is strangely therapeutic.

Those look fantastic, have you got any closer pics?

Yes, I'd like to see more pics too!

Thanks guys. I'll try to take a few up close shots when I play at the weekend.

Pictures as promised. We ended up playing in the evening so the light wasn't great for the pictures.


Mounted Sergeants unit led by Jan Zizka.


Sergeants unit.


Croossbowmen unit.


Handgonnes unit.

They look great! Very inspiring work there. Could make for a nice SAGA/C&C warband, too, perhaps.

Lion Rampant

Interestingly, the guy who wrote the Dux Bellorum also wrote these rules. It will be interesting to see if there are some parts that carried over, or that this designer tends to like. Manchu wrote a nice overview of these rules earlier, and it inspired me to give them a closer look.

This one starts with the Designer Notes and the intent of the rules. They are also scattered through out the rules in clearly designated side bars. These rules are intended to be skirmish rules between retinues. The author cleanly points out that most decisive battles in the Middle Ages were sieges, but raiding and small scale warfare was a way of life. These rules are intended to capture that feel, be rules lite, and capture the Hollywood fun of the period. Indeed, the author mentions several movie stars as reference points in the text.

What I Liked
This game uses an interesting turn sequence. Each player goes until they fail an activation test for a unit. That means turns are variable length and you have to prioritize what absolutely needs to happen, and do that first! This reminds me of Blood Bowl turn mechanics, which are fluid and tense. However, this is a mechanic that not everyone is a fan of, as your little models soldiers may not follow orders all the time, and carefully laid plans can come unraveled quickly.

I also like the simple, flavorful, and distinctive retinue building mechanisms. You can have a wide variety of forces and historical flavors from a few pages of text. Plus, you can knock together a retinue in no time.

The mechanic for removing casualties and armor is very fluid and integrated. Each unit has an armor score. That is the number of hits that need to be inflicted to remove a single model. Pretty easy and straightforward way to model heavily armored troops vs. less well-armored troops.

Finally, I like the Boasts and Glory mechanics. Boasts let you choose some of your victory conditions for the scenario. The harder the Boast the more Glory you earn. You also win Glory for completing scenario objectives. This allows you to string together a basic campaign trying to earn Glory to find the winner in a campaign. I like campaign games.

What I Do Not Like
Well, I am not a fan of the fact that your retinue models are always 6 to 12 units strong. It seems a bit... arbitrary. I see why they did it to make sure balance existed in such a short and simple retinue creation process. However, it just doesn't feel right in some cases.

Each unit also has a control radius of 3 inches in which units can not move through. This is way bigger than a lot of other games I have played and seems like it will reduce the maneuver and tactical deployment of your models.

Meh and Other Curiosities
Two things this game carried over from Dux Bellorum are “Wild Charges” and Activation rules. Wild Charges are used by particularly impetuous troops, which in this case are your hardest models. Dux Bellorum uses similar rules. Again, if you aren't a fan of your troops disobeying orders you could find this mechanic troublesome. I have previously talked about the Activation rules.

Unlike Dux Bellorum, this game doesn't have any diagrams. It does have some photos with examples of play. However, it doesn't real need them as the rules are pretty clear cut.

Final Thoughts
Overall, this game has a lot of fun elements and are pretty easy and streamlined. It comes with a wide variety of scenarios, which add to the re-playability of these rules. It even has some basic rules for things like weather and your leader getting killed.

The emphasis is on getting models on the table and having a fun game. I can see why these rules are popular.

Nice review.
Looks like we'll be giving Dragon Rampant a try on Thursday. It will be our first experience with the "rampant" series.

The author is also working on a colonial version using Lion Rampant as a base and modified for the appropriate time frame. That should be out in late 2016. It will be called "The Men Who Would Be King".

I added a link to the OP to your overview post above -- want to make sure people see your thoughts as well!

The Dragon Rampant combat rules are basically the same as Lion Rampant. The designer says in his introduction that if you already know how to play Lion Rampant, you don't really need to read the combat section in Dragon Rampant. It is a fully standalone rulebook, though, so if like me you bought DR and not LR, you will be okay.

I'll probably buy LR on the strenght of having read the DR rules, and as someone pointed out above, these books are so cheap that you're almost stupid not to grab them.

I have those out and will be reading them for review next. I see a few minor changes to the unit structure rules just in a glance. More to come.

This honestly seems like it's pretty much everything I've been looking for in a new game and I'll be picking up both 'Lion Rampant' and 'Dragon Rampant,' soon.

Here is my summary of Dragon Rampant that i also placed in Elif's thread in Misc games:

Dragon Rampant- Osprey Publishing



I recently finished reading and reviewing the Lion Rampant rules. That game focused on medieval knights and their retinues in skirmish combat. Scenarios like cattle rustling, plundering, pillaging, and general raiding. Supposedly, such incidents were endemic during the time period and mostly ignored by history books. Instead, Siege was the decisive engagement of the day.

Anyway, the same author decided to take the Lion Rampant rules and port them over into a Fantasy setting. Therefore, many of the “What I Liked” and other such topics were covered in that Lion Rampant review. However, there are a few key differences that I want to talk a bit about.

Like all Osprey books, the game’s Intro spends some time laying out the design goals. These were mostly around allowing army building away from a single mini source, use Lion Rampant as a base, and allow flexible and fun 80’s style gaming. Did the game succeed?

What’s the Difference
There are three differences between this and Lion Rampant. The big one is the bolt-on fantasy elements. Next is leaders, and the third is the use of Strength Points.



Let’s start with the last point first. In Lion Rampant, all units are either 6 or 12 models large. There is no variation, and the number of dice rolled for attacking and defending depended on that unit size. In Dragon Rampant, there is no set Unit size. Instead, they have 6 or 12 Strength Points. That means you can have units with a differing amount of model in the unit. You can use the broad categories in the army builder to create a custom unit and add as many (or as few) models into as you have. However, the Unit strength is still either 6 or 12. As these points are reduced, so is the effectiveness of the unit. A single model of Spyro the Dragon can have 12 Strength Points, while a unit of 24 goblin archers could have 6 strength points. This system allows for maximum flexibility in list building, with few on table drawbacks that I could see.

Next, in Lion Rampant your leader was part of a unit and could be killed by a Lucky Blow. This does not seem to exist in Dragon Rampant. The Lucky Blows have been removed. The reason is the more “fantasy” nature of the game, the heroes always make it to the end. In addition, the Duel mechanic has been removed from Dragon Rampant. Other than that, Leaders work just like in Lion Rampant. They can have a unique skill and are part of a unit. However, with the use of Strength Points for units your leader could be a single model, a small retinue, or a regular size unit of troops that he happens to stand with. Heck, your leader could be a 12 Strength point pudding for all the rules care.

Finally, the big difference is the bolt-on fantasy elements. Each unit has a base points cost for the broad troop type it is. These are very similar to the ones in Lion Rampant with a few add-ons for warbeasts, magic-users, and more foot types. Again, they are pretty broad categories for maximum list flexibility. However, these base units all cost points, with the standard battle set at 24. The Bolt-on add-ons are also similarly broad and creative use of the rules to represent what you want on the table is encouraged by the author. Of course, where there are points people will quibble about the costing and what is and isn’t a good deal. Overall, it is pretty straight forward and covers most of the genre elements you would expect with a broad brush. This section will be what makes or breaks the game for most folks. I happen to think it works well based on the design goals.

One other unexpected delight is that almost all the scenarios are unique to Dragon rampant from Lion Rampant. Of course, you can easily port them over from one to the other, and again the author encourages it.



Final Thoughts
If this had been a $40 dollar rulebook, I would have been upset since the entire Battle rules section is a straight lift from Lion Rampant. However, since it was $15 dollars or so and it is a stand-alone game I am pretty pleased with it. Obviously, if you do not like the mechanics from Lion Rampant (Activation tests, Failed activation turn play over to your opponent, 3” Control Zones, Glory and Boasts etc.) than you will not like Dragon Rampant either.

I think the rules do a good job of matching up with the design goals laid out by the author. This is a pretty elegant, simple, and very flexible set of rules that is completely stand-alone from Lion Rampant. You do not need one to play the other. This looks like a great way to get a wide range of fantasy models on the table, and I can see a great time linking Frostgrave and Dragon Rampant for some epic campaigns! Now, Mr. Mersey needs to work on a fantasy game of Big battles possibly riffing off his Dux Bellorum rules? However, I know he is working on a Colonial game instead.

There's a Dragon Rampant group on Facebook. I'm constantly surprised by the variety of armies that people build for Dragon Rampant.