Lion Rampant: Medieval Wargaming Rules (Osprey Wargames)

Lion Rampant is everything that wargame rules should be: short, simple, well-presented, fun, and inexpensive. Daniel Mersey is an experienced rules writer and this latest set from him is a winner. I've played several games now and the rules have become a big hit with our local gaming group. The price is amazingly low for what you get—and it's a complete package. You don't have to buy supplements, special dice, etc. that just rack up the cost of getting started. Although it's offered as a skirmish set of rules, it easily works for small battles if you just up the representative scale from 1:1 to 1:10, 1:20, etc. Paint about 40 figures and you have a force to play. Army lists allow a lot of variation, so you can create pretty much any Medieval force that suits you. Lion Rampant has a very classic wargame feel to it and is an excellent set of rules. It can also be tinkered with and easily adapted to periods outside the Middle Ages.

A good miniature book for small scale pure medieval war gaming. The combat system is solid and the scenarios varied and interesting. The game offers a method for players presenting their own winning goals without shifting the scenario goal(s). This would be a great system for small kingdom campaigns and offers great ideas for various national groups. The small size of the units means gamers can get into the game without investing a huge amount of money and time. This is not an in depth simulation nor does it give major differences in weapons and armor. Pretty much one man-at-arms is going to be as good as another. And Serfs lose in straight up combat. While there are unique leader character traits that can make leaders more interesting, the 11 random options will not give a huge variety in your commanders. Still, this is a useful addition to a war gamer's library and a good option for someone wanting to try out miniature dark ages war gaming without committing an arm and a leg.

Great game system. Easy to learn and easy to play while still maintaining a subtle feel in the different units. I like it and so does my 12 year old son.

This is a nice, easy to learn set of rules for playing games with miniature toy soldiers on a table top,or other playing surface. I have been playing various historical wargames for more than 40 years now, and I have to say that I have become enamored with Lion Rampant.

Although it is not overly-complex, and may seem simplistic in some ways, it still gives a feel for warfare in the Medieval period, and it requires only a modicum of expense to assemble a force with which to play. Units are divided into either mounted or foot, and these two categories have 3-4 subcategories. But regardless, with a single exception, all mounted units consist of 6miniatures, and all foot consist of 12miniatures.

Most retinues(what your force is referred to by the rules) consist of 1-3 mounted units and 3-4 foot units. A list of sample retinues covering a wide-range of potential armies and time periods is included in the back of the book. In addition to the rules themselves, several samplescenarios for games are included in the book.

The book itself, though paperback, is the same size and style as all the other Osprey books, meaning it is lavishly illustrated with color plates and well-edited.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It certainly isn't the top-of-the-line most historically accurate set of rules for the medieval period. HOWEVER, it is easy to learn, quite enjoyable, excellent for those on a budget, and gives a great bit of flavour for the period. Not just that, but it serves as an excellent introductory set of rules to bring someone into historical gaming.

For those with miniatures from other periods, such as ancients or dark ages, there are numerous sites online that offer army lists and rules mods for Lion Rampant that will allow you to easily play battles from those periods, including large, multi-player games.

Simply put, a fantastic set of mid-sized miniature war game rules for medieval battles. Dan Mersey did a great job building an interesting game with simple, streamlined game mechanisms based on the familiar D6, capturing the nuances of different troop types in a clean and sensible manner, accounting for morale (which all good war game rules need in my opinion), and adding some chrome where appropriate (Leaders can duel, there are a small number of special troop abilities, etc.). The army lists are great, and the book is chock-full of scenarios which is terrific. And to top it all off, Osprey does their usual superb job of mixing great artwork and photos together with a clean layout, which makes this a really nice book to read through. A+

Lion Rampant is an easy to learn set of rules for small unit Dark Ages and Medieval miniature warfare. Six mounted figures and 12 (usually, sometimes 6) figures per unit. It uses 6 sided dice and all the various actions are simple to follow. You can sit down and play through a game without having to be taught the rules by an "experienced" player.

It fills a space I need filled. Small units, historical rather than fantasy, fast playing.

But really...so basic any experienced minis gamer could write these rules in an afternoon if you just wanted a pick up and play game with no real effort.

Its not a horrible game by any stretch...but I'm not really sure why anything here is worth paying for. I mean, historical minis have a long history of wargamers writing up their own rule sets...and many of those are far better than this and available for free on the internet.

Lion Rampant is a miniatures rules set by Daniel Mersey, distributed by Osprey Wargames designed to simulate medieval battles. (The game is designed to be flexible in terms of ears and locations; so, what exactly is "medieval" is left up to the potential players.

This is a fun game that is a great introduction to the hoary hobby of miniature collection, painting, and battles. The rules are lavishly illustrated and include many four-color printed pictures and is printed on high quality, glossy paper.

The game does not associate with with any particular miniatures company or line of products. This leaves it up to the players to find suitable miniatures for the game ranging from fancy, painted miniatures to stock board squares. The rules do suggest that if you are going to use miniatures then the 15mm, 20mm, and 28mm sizes work well with the scale described in the rules.

To play, you just need regular six-sided dice, a measuring tape, and some miniatures (or something that approximates miniatures).

The author says that he intends for the game to be fun. To that end, he makes it easy to set up and play.

There are only eleven unit types defined in the rules. Each type of unit is worth a number of points, the more capable, the more points. For example, serfs, the weakest unit, are worth one point, while the highly capable mounted men at arms units are six points each.

To play a game, the players agree on a point total for their armies, say 24 points, and then, using the miniatures available to them the players can construct armies based on the units in the book. In this case, you could choose 24 serf units, just four mounted men at arms units, or something in-between. There are other units worth 2,3, or four points too. One unit is designated as the leader that gives a +1 bonus to courage tests and is allowed to issue challenges to the other leaders in the game. (More on this below.)

The book has suggested armies based on time frame and location including a fantasy army.

The players can agree to terrain effects too if they desire including things like higher elevations to give advantages to those attacking from the heights and obstacles like walls to add cover bonuses.

The turns consist of four phases: attacker activation, defender activation, additional activations, and end of the turn. Activations can be any of the following: issue a challenge (leaders only), rally battered units, activate wile charges, and order activations. Each unit can only attempt one of these activations per turn.

As was true with medieval units, morale is an important factor in Lion Rampant. When a unit takes casualties, loses its leader, or any of the conditions laid out in the rules, the unit has a chance to become battered. A battered unit has to make a rally test each turn. If it succeeds in the rally test, all is well, and the unit is no longer battered. If the unit fails the test then it has to lose one of its miniatures. (Eventually, this leads to the unit being eliminated.)

Some units have a wild attack characteristic. If a unit has this characteristic and the conditions for a wild charge are met, the player owning the unit rolls a wild charge activation test. (Each unit has a different value that must be rolled for this to be successful.)

Most units will use ordered activations that consist of four potential actions: move, shoot, attack, or skirmish (only some units).

Those actions are as they sound.

There are twelve pre-generated scenarios in the rules ranging from the luridly described "bloodbath" to the more placid "gentle stroll." Each scenario has its own way of earning "glory points" and end conditions. At the end of any game, the player with the most glory points wins. Ties are possible.

Note, that I did not say that this is a two-player game. Though the rules are written as though it is a two player game, you can always add more factions and players to enjoy the melee.

All in all, this is a well written, enjoyable introduction to miniatures wargaming that is both affordable and fun. I highly recommend it.

Great wargaming rules! Simple but with a terrific level of depth and authenticity. Easy to learn, playable for long afternoons or short 30 min match ups.

These rules are great fun and appropriate for children as well as adults. I play with my eight year old but halve the unit sizes. It does not play quite as well but it means he can tie me sometimes.The rules are clearly written, but in an engaging and conversational tone. This is not a serious game, but is quite fun for casual play and a great way to use a handful of models when you don't have time for a bigger game of some sort.

My one objection is the rules for battered units are hard to find, but a critical part of the game.

I highly recommend these for anyone who is looking for medieval skirmish rules.