Father and Son gaming with Lion Rampant

My Son is on Spring break this week, so we celebrated by doing some miniature gaming.

I ordered Osprey Publishing's Ronin off Amazon back in January, and opted to pick up Lion Rampant on a lark at the same time.  (The game has been making a pretty good ripple in the hobby, so in my typical late-adopter style I decided to give it whirl.)

He and I tried a few games of Ronin, but found it was not what we were looking for; the rules were a little too complex for a 9-year-old and I found them a little too bland for my tastes.  Not a bad game, but it didn't have the Japanese 'flare' I was seeking.

Then we tried out Lion Rampant.  My three word, DAT review: TARGET, CEASE FIRE!

I like these rules, and, more importantly, so does my son.  It fills his need for a fist full of dice (units either roll 12 for full strength, or 6 for <50%) and has a simple set of stats for him to read and roll.  You decide what you want a unit to do (Shoot, Attack (Charge), Move) and roll against that stat on 2D6.  If you meet the roll, you take that action, if you fail, it is your opponents turn.  You then throw your fist full of dice and count the number of dice that meet or beat your designated value.  (You have an attack value, defense value and shoot value)  There are no saving rolls, rather each unit gets an armor value that indicates the number of hits required to remove a figure from the unit.

The rules are simple and thoroughly enjoyable.  To date we have tried some games using Vikings vs. Anglo Danes, Samurai vs. Sohei, and Elves vs Skeletons.  The only modifications we have made is to accommodate my different basing/unit sizes by changes the base games unit size (either 6 or 12 models per unit) with "HITS" reflecting how many damage points the unit can withstand before things go South.  In our most recent outing, I gave each unit 2-stands.  Once one unit lost a stand it went to half strength.

The Author is the same person who wrote Dux Bellorum and has both a personal blog with links to other reviews, and an active Forum that includes plenty of variants.  This game is wonderfully simple and engaging for both a 40 something and a grade school-er, you could do worse.

Not the best review out there, but I suppose I want to get back to playing this game with my son......

Comments

  1. Very cool review and enjoy the games with your son.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Played Beastmen vs Chaos today. Such a fun game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, and it seems to be readily adaptable to a range of genre's. I like Saga, but this one is easier for the younger folk.

      Delete
  3. Also special to play with your kids. Can we get pics of the game?

    FMB

    ReplyDelete
  4. If perhaps not the most detailed review, what better recommendation is there for a game than that you can't wait to play it again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I figured it was a good endorsement. The boy loves the fist of dice approach, and his ability to out-roll me ensures a train of victories against his old man..

      Delete
  5. We gave TLR a go a few weeks back and agreed that they give a fast fun game which gives reasonable results. We will be using these again.
    Cheers, PD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great summary: Fast, Fun and Reasonable Results

      Delete
    2. You know there's not a lot wrong with hitting those 3 objectives.
      Cheers,PD

      Delete

Post a Comment