Ó Súilleabháin's lament: The Pikeman's Lament AAR

Chris Craft and I played a 24-point per side game of The Pikeman's Lament today. We used my 28mm English and Irish from Timeline Miniatures. I truly love this range of figures. They're the old Graven Images/Monolith Designs Border Reivers figures that were sculpted by Jim Bowen and sold to Timeline after Jim died. I have a pile of them, which I painted a few years back for The Irish Project back in '17. I've managed to game with them several times, though too few in my opinion. Luckily, I have enough to put on large games supplying the figures for both sides—and I still have more to paint.

We played The River Crossing scenario from The Pikeman's Lament rules, only we ran the river straight across the middle rather than cantered corner to corner. I had fun setting up the board. I've amassed a pretty impressive amount of terrain over the years.

I also took the opportunity to deploy some of the new hedgerows I've been working on.

Chris took the hated English and I took the Irish. Chris' army was pretty straightforward:

   2 x Pikes
   4 x Shot

I went a little more diverse:

   1 x Aggressive Forlorn Hope
   1 x Aggressive Gallopers
   2 x Shot
   3 x Commanded Shot

I had a slight advantage in shooting, although the Commanded Shot can be brittle with only 6 figures. My thinking was that the advantage of moving freely through the rough terrain would help. It didn't. My real hope was that my aggressive melee units would pack the punch I needed.

The river between us and the brambles lining the banks were all rough terrain with just one bridge in the middle. Chris deployed with his two Pike units aimed straight at the bridge supported by his Shot.

I kept my two Shot opposite the bridge, supported by my Forlorn Hope (gallowglas) and the Gallopers. I put the Commanded Shot (kern) out on my flanks.

On Turn 1, Chris rolled the Holy Grail of 6-6+6 for his first activation. He took another 4-point Pike unit. I hoped I might get the same luck, but I settled for at least not getting the unHoly Grail of 1-1+1 and losing 4 points of troops.

A lot of our shooting was less deadly than it might have been because we shot a lot at each other while in cover or across the stream, which we counted as cover with all the brambles 'n' such obscuring the target.

Chris came on the first turn making a beeline over the bridge with two Pike units. I responded by shooting—or trying to shoot.

My left Shot unit started banging away at the lead Pike unit getting a few hits. My right Shot unit kept flubbing its activation rolls. We used the alternative activation that allows a player to attempt to activate all units in a turn rather than the standard one fail and done method.

Chris moved his third Pike unit, the reinforcements he got from his lucky 6-6+6 activation roll, against my kern (Commanded Shot) on the left. He also ran one of his Shot units up in support.

The action at the bridge see-sawed. After getting just the head of the column over, Chris' Pikes got sent back after taking shot and failing morale. After rallying, Chris pushed the pikes back over and got sent back again.

All the while, my Shot, which has been targeting Chris' Pikes, has been taking fire from Chris' Shot and taking casualties. After several failed activation attempts, my right Shot unit finally gets into action. I couldn't pass my activation, but I managed to hang tough on every morale check.

I moved up my gallowglas—commanded by himself, The Ó Súilleabháin—to get within striking range of the Pikes, but then I shot the Pikes and sent them scurrying out of my charge range.

On my left, Chris was pressing with his Pikes. I'd managed to cause one Shot unit to rout away, but had lost one of the two kern units I had there. Chris charged his Pikes across the river into my kern, but since we were fighting in rough terrain, the advantage was mine. He got repulsed with loss, but I took some damage as well.

He charged once again with similar result. I finally managed to get a shot at him that made his Pikes go away after a badly failed moraled test.

After a few more turns of sparring, I finally got the chance to strike in with my gallowglas, The Ó Súilleabháin at their head. Chris' Pikes were much diminished now and the charge broke them.

With his lead Pike unit gone, Chris formed his second one, commanded by his officer, in Close Order awaiting my onslaught. Rather than strike in with my gallowglass, I sent in my horsemen.

The result was predictable. I got bounced with loss, but I managed to inflict some loss on him. I charged in again and again got bounced with loss. We were chewing each other up pretty equally, except that I had fewer men to lose. I did, however, manage to pass all my morale tests.

With my horse battered down to a lone survivor, I sent the gallowglas against Chris' now much-battered last Pike unit. At the same time, I sent my last horsemen against Chris' Shot unit.

This finally did the trick and the unit went down, with Chris' officer. My last horseman did enough damage to cause Chris' Shot unit to waver from which it never recovered until it finally broke from a failed rally test.

The Ó Súilleabháin was now alone, his gallant gallowglas dead around him. He dodged every lucky blow. My only other unit was a half-strength Shot unit.

In the ensuing turns—we'd rolled for end of game, but it didn't—I got my Shot unit over the river, wisely avoiding the bridge where I wouldn't benefit from cover. Chris had two diminished, but still above half-strength, Shot units. He used these to dispatch The Ó Súilleabháin. No foe could beat him hand-to-hand; his end came from an enemy far away.

My last battered unit of Irish Shot grimly held its ground across the bloody river, giving the honor of the day to the Irish—no Englishmen had made it across and lived. But like Doughty Douglas at Otterburn, a dead man won the fight and The Ó Súilleabháin's favorite piper played his lament as the sun set.