Feudal Longships

Back when the world was sane, and the post game pub discussion was still a thing, the committee of the Marshal Petain Gentlemen's Club discussed the Crusades and a 28mm Lion Rampant variant.

For medieval gaming in particular the Secretary however mooted the point that Longships had provided an effective game, and volunteered the treasurer to look into this  The Club President sagely agreed and supported the motion.

It's a great idea, but it needed to be tested on the table top.  To do this I intend to look at extending the core Longships mechanisms into the Feudal period.

Feudal Longships has become a bit of a project for me.  Initially I went 6mm, but to be honest it looks wrong.  The rectangular formations just don't look Medieval.  A rebase into clumps may be needed.  

For these 6mm troops I am using element bases, and used the ships I built last year, but longer term my plan would be to use 15mm figures.  I am looking at the following troop type categories updated for Feudal forces.

Feudal Armies

General  This base represents the leader of the whole force.

Captain.  A unit commander.  This will usually be a Knight or Mercenary Soldier.

Cavalry Captain.  In Armoured units this will be a Mounted Knight or Ghulam with helmet and probably chain mail. They will have a side arm (sword) and shield, and be armed with a lance. In Turkoman units it will be an unarmoured mounted archer.

Dismounted Knights. A common practice to stiffen foot formations.  Only one unit will have dismounted knights.  With helmets and chain  mail, side arm (sword) and shield.  Their main weapon will be an axe, large sword or spear.  A foot unit containing any dismounted Knights always counts as superior

Armoured Foot.  Well equipped with helmets and chain mail, side arm (sword) and shield.  Their main weapon  will be a spear. 

Mounted Knights.  These  men  have helmets and chain mail. They will have a side arm (sword) and shield.  Their main weapon  will be a spear.  The horses will be  battle trained. 

Spearmen.  These men often represent the majority of a force. They will have a substantial  shield, spear and often a sword or dagger too.  They might have a helmet and probably padded armour rather than mail. 

Unarmoured Cavalry.  Turkoman or similar cavalry will have a bow as their main armament, but also a shield, sword and possibly Spear.  They might have a helmet, but  definitely no body armour.  The horses will be unarmoured. 

Levy.  These  men are new to arms, or are of poorer motivation and ability.  They may have a substantial shield and a spear, but probably no helmet.  Their side arm might be a poor sword, club, tool or a dagger.  Young levy may well progress into fine fighting men given  experience and guidance.  These man are still a step up from armed  peasants.

Skirmisher.  Archers or lightly armed figures.

Peasants.  Perhaps given a weapon or providing their own farm implements, they are not keen and wear no armour.

Champion.  Treated as berserkers, count as any other armoured base when not in berserker mode.

Plunder-Gift from  God.
A figure which  might be a princess, holy person a sacred relic or big treasure chest.

Plunder Locals.
Peasants  and townsfolk will be un-armed and relatively docile (surly  of course, and under dressed).  There should be a mixture of old, young and gender.  Very old and infirm  folk will not be present as they are not worth capturing.

Plunder Livestock.
Cows, pigs, chickens and horses are all acceptable.   Each base should only be  one  animal type.

Plunder-Loot.  Boxes, bags and barrels. 

Plunder-Ships.  A ship with the  mast down.  Possibly covered in sheeting or under repair.  The ship  could be a warship or fishing vessel.

Casualty base.  A casualty bases is with a dead or wounded figures upon it.

Feudal Army Lists

  1 to 3 units may be cavalry.

  Units may have a mixture of troop bases but cavalry may not be mixed  with infantry.

  No more than 4 levy bases per unit.

  There are no levy cavalry bases.

  No more than 4 armoured bases per unit.

  All units, except Knights, must have a minimum of 3 unarmoured bases.

  No more than 2 skirmisher units. These may be foot or mounted.

Cavalry

Cavalry have an adjustment made to the dice scores needed for movement actions.

Movement into an open scenery square 1 easier (1 is always a fail).

Movement into a scenery square is 1 harder (6 is always a success).

  Cost = more expensive.  Unit size 6 to 8 bases.  Can all be of the  same type or a mixture of types.

  Cannot form  shieldwall.

  Only Feudal Cavalry can charge in conrois with couched lances, because they are trained.

  Cavalry can form march or battle line.

  Knghts or Armoured Cavalry have no shooting ability, except for Horse archers or Turcoploles ... two squares

  Cost for shooting is the  same as per infantry and shooting ratio is still 1 shot per 4 bases or part thereof.

  Cavalry can  dismount and become their infantry equivalent.  The horses are taken from the  table  and the  cavalry cannot remount unless they score a 6 as an action.

  Mounted cavalry cannot search but can carry plunder.

  Opponents fighting cavalry never  claim the +3D6 for “opponent not in shieldwall” because the horse is a danger to the opponent.

  If cavalry  achieve a gaining ground result in the  first turn   of a fight they may attempt to instantly rout the opponent by successfully scoring a 6 on 1D6 rolled for that purpose.

  If cavalry  achieve a hacking through result in the   first turn of a fight they may attempt to instantly rout the opponent by successfully scoring a 5,6 on 1D6  rolled for that purpose.

  Cavalry that lose  a round of fighting  must withdraw.

  Infantry can only assault cavalry if the  infantry have only moved 1 square before the assault attempt.

My first experiment in 6mm.  Eight bases to a unit (2 x 4 actually)

Although this is a 6mm game.  I kept a roster of units to indicate their make up.   Mostly this was quite straightforward.

The Feudal Knights advance

The lines close

The Knights get stuck in.

It's a roll over.  The Knights  gain ground and break through.

My skirmishers seem to have heavenly protection.

And I stop the game there with the raider's centre smashed, but with me feeling frustrated.  It needs terrain to test its effectiveness but I'm not sure it looks Medieval at all.  

Back to Scottorum Malleus I think.