The Scots at Northallerton – Lion Rampant

 

I cannot recall ever seeing the Scots array at Northallerton on the table top. It has always interested me because of its diverse components.  George Shipway featured the battle in his lively novel Knight in Anarchy. In it he repeats an old Tudor lie but you cannot have everything.

When Steve Shaw of Feudal Castings released a suitable range of 15mm figures I was in like a flash.  These are they, arranged according to Lion Rampant v2.

Here are my Fearsome Warrior Galwegians.  One Chronicler credits the men of Galway as using long spears. I could have done that. However, a Mr Walsh devoted some serious time to researching Galwegian armament.  He concluded that it was Axes, Swords and Javelins for those warriors. Having read the evidence I’ve gone with that.  The Galwegians led the attack and broke the Anglo-Norman first line.  Others did less well. Northallerton was not a Scots victory.

As you can see the Galwegians are wearing a lot of black.  Black wool was common in Galway and it makes them stand out.  Here are the LRv2 Stat’s.  You can see they are an expensive unit.

The troop type is “Warriors”.

Models per unit	12	points	6
Attack	5+	Attack Value	3+
Move	6+	Defence Value	6+
Shoot	-	Shoot Value	-
Courage	4+	Maximum Move	8”
Armour	2	Special Rules	Flexible, Wild Charge, Counter Charge Against  Infantry, Fearsome.

In our period Normans had accrued to the Scots Throne. We need a unit of them too.  King David (Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim)  or his son Henry will be there. The Leader unit then. These Knights are from Gladiator, Josef Ochmann sculpts.  As 15mm ranges go the Gladiator Feudal range is rather special.  Get them while you can. Fighting 15s who retail them intends to retire in October '25.

Interestingly, some of those Normans were actually Bretons. They could converse easily enough with the Cumbrians. The root of both the Breton and Cumbric language being Brythonic.

The troop type is “Elite Cavalry”.

Models per unit	6	points	6
Attack	5+	Attack Value	3+
Move	7+	Defence Value	5+
Shoot	-	Shoot Value	-
Courage	3+	Maximum Move	10”
Armour	4	Special Rules	Wild Charge, Counter Charge

The bulk of the "Warband" is comprised of spearmen, long spears is the consensus. I think the Light Infantry LRv2 category suits them better than Heavy Infantry.

I'm using two variants, first a Veteran unit representing the Cumbrians. King David had fought and politicked his way to the throne. He was a Cumbrian. 

The troop type is “Light Infantry”.

Models per unit	12	points	5
Attack	6+	Attack Value	5+
Move	5+	Defence Value	4+
Shoot	6+	Shoot Value
Courage	4+	Maximum Move	8”
Armour	2	Special Rules	Wall of Spears

A similar unit but less enamoured with King David.

Models per unit	12	points	3
Attack	6+	Attack Value	5+
Move	5+	Defence Value	4+
Shoot	-	Shoot Value	-
Courage	4+	Maximum Move	8”
Armour	2	Special Rules	Wall of Spears

Our final two units are of Skirmishers.  They both look like this.

Models per unit	6	points	2
Attack	7+	Attack Value	6
Move	5+	Defence Value	4+
Shoot	7+	Shoot Value	5+/12 range
Courage	5+	Maximum Move	8”
Armour	1	Special Rules	Skirmish, Hard to Target, Evade, Fast

I have a variant of this "Warband" with Bloodthirsty Galwegians, one unit of Skirmishers and the Aggressive Skill for King David.

I already have the figures for other in period LRv2 Warbands.  We will see them as they come. I'll start with Bishop Thurstan's Anglo-Normans for Northallerton. There are some interesting choices to be made there.

For the future we will see North and South Welsh "Warbands" and the same for Moray and The Isles. Almost all comprised of Steve Shaw castings. I can also put together an Irish "Warband" with variants and a few more too.  

A little Later and I can do both sides at Otterburn also with Steve Shaw figures .

For me LRv2 is proving to be the catalyst for getting old collections back on the table top.

Chariots Rampant? Evolution

 

The classic chariot was a powerful mobile missile platform. Its Composite Bow outranged the Self Bows of foot archers. 

Imagine standing in the battle line hoping the chariots didn't come for you. 

No one could cope with it and chariot technology was adopted far and wide.  What next?

Someone, somewhere, decided that a chariot with an added close fighter should be able to catch a classic chariot and spear its archer.  

This seemed to have worked. It was likely pioneered by the Hittites. And then?

Four horse chariots appeared with 4, or 3, crewmen only one of which was an archer. The chariot was now able to multi task, missilery and close fighting. No one seems to have thought that increased missilery would adequately protect the chariot against immediate threats. Otherwise we would have 3, or 2, archers and a driver.

Chariots had started off as all-purpose weapons dominating the battlefield with missilery. Now chariots were optimised for seeing off other chariots. The odds presumably being 50/50 on success. Dominance depended upon having more chariots than the other side.

Chariots were expensive, food and lodgings for the crew, ditto the horses. Likewise for trainers and technicians. Five of the latter per chariot seem to have been required.  More chariots meant more expenditure. An Arms Race in fact.

Then came the Sea Peoples and Cavalry and the great days of the chariot were over.

All the same it is quite an evolutionary journey. We need to differentiate between classic chariots and multi- purpose chariots because they did different things. I have not thought yet about how to do this with LRv2. It should be simple enough.

What of the Mycenaean Chariot? No use at all for missilery; it only carried a heavily armoured close fighter. It was very good for tackling other chariots . Maybe that was what it was for. Did the opponents joust? Of course not. 

Rather, you come up alongside and spear the other lad. Better still, if you can cut across behind the foe you can safely spear him in the back. Think dog fight.

If no chariot foes presented the Dendra armoured warrior could dismount, having preserved his energy, and spear a few lesser protected fellows. 

On this page you see my chariot collection so far. I now have enough to test some game concepts.

Chariots Rampant? Nemesis

According to Drews, a noted Scholar of the Bronze Age, chariots finally met their match with the Sea Peoples. Swift moving, well protected, warriors armed with sword and javelin mobbed the chariots.  Immobilizing them by spearing the horses and then cutting down the crew. Think Sherden, shield, armour, helmet, sword and javelin.  Lots of Sherden.

Of course the chariots could just ride off to safety. If they did, the Sea People were still there, advancing towards the nearest city. Sacking cities was the quick road to wealth and renown. They knew how to do it too.  

Why didn’t the Chariot Warriors just shoot them down?  I’m sure they did. But, there were lots of Sea People and they didn’t fear chariots.  Nor did they stand still relying on their armour.  Instead they attacked.  Seeking to get within javelin range.  A dramatic table top challenge then. 

Below, the Sherden.  Out of Sardinia they say. A lovely place to visit.

Can Lion Rampant v2 cope with this?  I think it might well. This will involve a bit of slight of hand. Here is my LRv2 profile for the Sea People Warriors.  The troop type is “Warriors” with added javelins.  Hopefully not too much violence to Dan's concept.

Models per unit	12	points	7
Attack	5+	Attack Value	3+
Move	6+	Defence Value	4+
Shoot	6+	Shoot Value	5+ Range 6”
Courage	4+	Maximum Move	8”
Armour	3	Special Rules	Javelins, Flexible, Wild Charge, Counter Charge versus infantry, Fast.

 

Expensive fellows but they stormed a world. If fielding them I could move to a 30 point "Warband" for both sides. I might also give their Chariot opponents an additional 2 points for each Chariot Unit. To compensate for their Fearsome factor not working on the Sea People.  It could buy them an extra unit.

For the sake of variety I have opted to make the Peleset Veteran Heavy infantry.  This is bit more than a whim.  

The Peleset seem to have been city people and part of the chariot culture.  They gave their name to Palestine. Here are the stat's.

Models per unit	12	points	7
Attack	6+	Attack Value	4+
Move	5+	Defence Value	4+
Shoot	6+	Shoot Value	5+ Range 6”
Courage	4+	Maximum Move	6”
Armour	3	Special Rules	Javelins, Veteran

Next we have the Teresh. 

Lots of theories about where they came from.  The one that currently holds my attention is that they were Cretans. I have been there too and loved it. Same stat's as the Sherden.

Models per unit	12	points	7
Attack	5+	Attack Value	3+
Move	6+	Defence Value	4+
Shoot	6+	Shoot Value	5+ Range 6”
Courage	4+	Maximum Move	8”
Armour	3	Special Rules	Javelins, Flexible, Wild Charge, Counter Charge versus infantry, Fast.

 

On this page you see various ethnicities of the Sea People Alliance. Mostly the figures are from Gladiator with a few Chariot Miniatures and Essex.  

As you might guess I'm very interested in trying out my Sea Peoples, replete with Drews's ideas on their tactics, against a Chariot Army. 

One more thing looms large.  Will we be able to replicate Chariot Warfare with LRv2?  That is where we are going next.  It is game time.

I'm going to use 3 units of Sea People and a veteran unit of Libyan Archers.