Lion Rampant 1/72 game. 'Sausages & Mustard' scenario.

After our brief lock down & Covid restrictions were lifted in Darwin recently, our local games club opened up again. A good thing too, as there were a fair amount of people there playing the usual array of D&D, Warhammer, Mini-games & board games.

I organised to meet my work mate - another M_ - and we played through the 'Sausages & Mustard' scenario from the Lion Rampant blue book.

The scenario is essentially a "burnin' & lootin' " style scenario in which the defender is caught on the hop, leaving only a small rear guard element to defend a village. The attacker has to loot & scoot as they say...in this sense, burn the village down and get the hell out of dodge before the defenders arrive.

As usual I got to the club a little early to set up a map. Here's the map set up before we chose sides and determined attacker and defender roles.

There was a bridge to cross for the attacker, but also two crossings at the southern edge of the table.

M_ was feeling pretty game, it was his first time playing LR and he chose to attack. To be fair, I think he just liked my Zvezda figures. 

I started with one unit - my Foot Yeoman - in location, guarding the bridge. The bridge was to be a crucial location in the game. The rest of my retinue would start off table, but I figured my Yeoman would be a sacrificial 'speed bump' that would slow M_.

M_'s first turn started horribly for him. He tried to activate his crossbowmen and failed. My first turn started well in comparison, I was able to active every unit in my retinue, and was able to move them on to the board toward the village. That turn helped me dig my toe-nails into the defence.

M_ had a much better second turn, bringing on his entire retinue, but the element of surprise was lost. Still, his ranged units - especially his crossbowmen - would bleed me white throughout the battle. 

I decided that a forward defensive posture would be better than a 'dope a rope' defence...I tried to move aggressively across the bridge with my Foot Yeoman. By this stage M_ had moved his light Archer unit to the small hill over looking the village. He managed to score a kill on my Foot Yeoman, spooking them back with a battered status. 

By this stage, M_ had also moved his Foot Yeoman to the Western side of the bridge. I did manage to rally my green Yeoman lads, and they would be sent back again & again into the meat grinder defence of the bridge until eventually the carnage became too much.

M_ managed to duck and weave a little with his Foot Yeoman, pushing back my green troops after some give-and-take. He slid that unit off the bridge and gave more room for his Foot Sarjeants to continue the assault.

M- then used his Foot Yeoman to attack the tower by the bridge...burning it to the ground. My only unit close to them were my archers - too brittle to engage in close hand combat...they did manage to harass and inflict some wounds on those French units taking the bridge.

By this stage, at the southern edge of the table, M- had moved his Crossbowmen and Foot Men-at-Arms into a hard hitting flank attack. Those Crossbowmen set themselves up quite nicely with a good field of fire...and they really managed to slot some of my Foot-Men-at-Arms as they trundled their way into position.

There was a tough heavy-weight slog at the southern end of the table, as M- managed to ford the river...only to meet my Men-at-Arms face to face.

There was some hard fighting here, with both sides inflicting fatalities. Unfortunately my unit here had been worn down by M_s crossbowmen as they moved into position, and they couldn't hold out forever. Eventually their losses added up and they routed. My lazy Fierce Foot unit slid around to try to plug the gap, briefly stunning M_'s leadership unit back to the ford...but not for long...those 'Fierce' troops were to be slaughtered on the next turn.

There was some turn of fortune for my troops at the bridge. My Mounted Men-At-Arms took the risk and ran towards the bridge, right under the nose of those bloody Crossbowmen, but this time, fortune favoured the brave, as M_ failed to rouse his Crossbowmen. My Mounted Knights finally earned their keep. They smashed their way into the ranks of M_'s Foot Sarjeants, causing several casualties and pushing them back. In return, through the course of the next two turns, those Mounted troops of mine would also suffer several deaths, but still hold the bridge.

I managed to beat back the assault at the bridge, wiping out M-'s Foot Sarjeants. My Archers even managed to get some pay-back on M_'s Foot Yeoman, inflicting a few more losses and causing them to flee (and drown across the river). 

Still, by this stage, I'd lost all but two of my units, and so it was time to concede defeat. There was no way my meagre forces could have continued...

The French command units would enter the village, they wold ransack and cause havoc.

The game lasted about two hours....we probably played a few things wrong, but we both really had a good time, goofing around and such. And typically, there were some curious onlookers asking about the game.