Wednesday, January 11, 2017

15 days to release... Troop types and Unit sizes


24 point Company of Swedish Gallopers

The count down continues, some happy few have already got there copies of the Pikeman´s Lament, but for the ones that havent I thought I would present the Troop Types we have choosen to include and also the Size of the Units, so you can plan your Company a bit ahead.

As you surely know the Pikeman´s Lament have its base in Lion Rampant and we ofcourse have keept the generic way of describing the Troop Types, which mean that you as a player might need to interpit the historical performance of your troops and decide wich Troop type will depict them best. For example a Historical unit of Dragoons might be deployed in the Pikeman´s Lament as Dragoons, nothing strange about that, BUT you might as well depict them as a unit of Commanded Shot, their horses are of table and take no part in the game.

One more eample might be the Danish Horse during the Scanian War that probably would be fielded as Gallopers BUT during the Battle óf Lund 1676 several of the Danish Horse units used the outdated caracole technique and should be fielded as Trotters. So a bit of research might be good:)

You may bring any of the following units to march behind your Company colours:

Horse 


  • Gallopers @ 4 points per unit (6 minis per unit) - Gallopers represent most cavalry in the Pike and Shot period. The Galloper is trained in the Swedish tactic of holding fire and charging the enemy at the gallop, aggressively attacking using their swords.

  • Trotters @ 4 points per unit  (6 minis per unit) - Trotters are Horse units trained in the Dutch tactic of engaging enemies at the trot, using the caracole doctrine with pistols, harquebuses or carbines to disrupt their enemies before charging in.

  • Dragoons @ 4 points per unit  (6 minis per unit, might be a mix of foot and mounted/horseholders) - Dragoons are most often infantry or scouts mounted on horses, relying on firepower and speed of movement on the battlefield.


 Foot and Guns 

  • Forlorn Hope @ 6 points per unit  (6 minis per unit) - A Forlorn Hope is an ad hoc group, most often made up of musketeers, formed into an advance unit used to hold or assault a forward position.

  • Pike @ 4 points per unit (12 minis per unit) - Pike form a solid backbone for many Companies, being difficult to grind down and able to carry out most orders efficiently.

  • Shot @ 4 points per unit (12 minis per unit) - Shot represents all manner of musket-armed units drawn up into bodies of troops as opposed to free-roaming Commanded Shot or Dragoons.

  • Commanded Shot @ 2 points per unit  (6 minis per unit) -  In The Pikeman’s Lament, Commanded Shot represents musketeers temporarily attached to other units, usually Horse, to provide firepower.

  • Clubmen @ 1 point per unit (12 minis per unit) - Pike and Shot warfare sometimes spawned a movement of disgruntled country folk who banded together to protect their homes against marauding soldiers of both sides. Due to their lack of weapons they were referred to as Clubmen during the English Civil War.

  • Clansmen @ 3 points per unit (12 minis per unit) -  Clansmen are most commonly natives fighting in their traditional manner. These troops are more frequent in Companies from the fringes of Europe (such as Ireland and the Scottish Highlands), and may be renamed Tribesmen in the Colonies of Africa, America, and so forth.

  • Regimental Gun @ 4 point per unit  (1 gun + 6 minis per unit) -  Regimental Guns in The Pikeman’s Lament represent small artillery pieces that might have accompanied infantry units to add short-range grapeshot fire support.


Your Company consists of 24 points of units and must be formed of at least 3 units and no more than 10 units. You may only include one Regimental Gun in your Company. You will of course also have 1 Officer model that is an integral part of one unit and may not join other units during play, but may change units between missions. You may choose which unit the Officer will join before set-up of each game. Many troop types have optional upgrades – and in some cases downgrades.




8 comments:

  1. Very nice explanation with beautiful examples. I love your model of a Forlorn Hope.

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  2. Outstanding, thanks Michael. This is really helpful as my rules have not arrived just yet :-)

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  3. Excellent, thanks for the information, really looking forward to the release of these!

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  4. Forlorn Hope with uruk_hai_bomb - realy fearsome.
    Where did them get it? ;)

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  5. Great info there, look forward to getting my copy. I have been toying with the idea of a late 17th century project but could not invisage doing both sides any time in the near future with my current workload, these numbers make it a viable project.

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