In the midst of this vigorous and almost uninterrupted struggle with the Saxons, he covered the frontier by garrisons at the proper points, and marched over the Pyrenees into Spain at the head of all the forces that he could muster. All the towns and castles that he attacked surrendered and up to the time of his homeward march he sustained no loss whatever; but on his return through the Pyrenees he had cause to rue the treachery of the Gascons. That region is well adapted for ambuscades by reason of the thick forests that cover it; and as the army was advancing in the long line of march necessitated by the narrowness of the road, the Gascons, who lay in ambush on the top of a very high mountain, attacked the rear of the baggage train and the rear guard in charge of it, and hurled them down to the very bottom of the valley [at Roncevalles, later celebrated in the Song of Roland]. Chapter 8, Spanish Expedition, from the Life of Charlemagne, by Einhard

Alternate Rules: Medieval by Rick Barber

Disclaimer: These rules are offered "as is," without scenarios, without support. To enjoy them fully, use them as a starting point for creating your own version of this setting. The images used above are © 2000 by Ed Allen, and are used by kind permission. It is our hope that players interested in boardgames will also be interested in miniatures gaming (see Ed's Hobby Hovel for a great introduction).

Introduction The following are the house rules I've come up with for using the figures and dice from the Lionheart boardgame (Parker Brothers) on the boards from Battle Cry. With 92 nicely molded 28mm (Warhammer size) figures and the same sort of dice you found in Battle Cry, this allows you to cheaply add a whole different era of combat to the great game you already have. I'd recommend that anyone who enjoys Battle Cry run to their nearest KB Toy Outlet, where they have this game for sale for the princely sum of $9.99!

Basic Unit Stats and Capabilities
King/Knight Move 3 and Battle. Roll 2 dice per figure (King rolls 4). Takes 2 hits to kill each figure.
Infantry, Peasants, Mercenaries Move 2 and Battle. Roll 1 die per Figure on stand (maximum of 10!).
Archers Move 2 (may move 1 and Battle, unless moving out of contact). Roll 1 die per figure on stand.
Heavy Infantry Move 1 (always) and may freely turn before moving. Takes 2 hits to kill each figure.

Additional Unit Notes
Archers Fire to a range of (3) within firing arc (see the Facing rules below). Range of (4) if on hill firing at lower ground. If any unit moves adjacent to an Archer unit, that Archer gets DEFENSIVE FIRE (with the dice being the number of figures on the stand, rounded up) before the moving unit Battles. This is true even if the Archer is not the target of the attack. Archers always use the Arrow icons when rolling for hits, even against an adjacent enemy. If playing a scenario using Longbow-armed Archers, they use the Axe icons when rolling for hits on non-adjacent enemy units.
Stakes If desired for the scenario, each Archer unit can set up 2 hexsides of stakes. These may be placed at the start of the scenario, or may be placed as a move by the Archer unit later (roll 1 die, with an Arrow icon needed for success). Stakes prevent Charges, and allow Archers to roll Axes for hits against any troops facing them through the staked hexsides.
The King The figure of the King represents both the monarch himself and his personal unit of bodyguards, usually the fiercest and most loyal troops in the Army. As such, the King gets to roll 4 dice in Combat. The King never Routs, and any unit directly supported by the King may ignore the first 2 Panic results rolled against it in any combat. (Hint: if you have more than one Lionheart set, it's recommended that you add an additional Knight figure to the King's stand. This figure gets the normal 2 dice in Combat (total of 6!) but more importantly adds a bit of defensive depth to His Majesty.

Command Rules
Dice for Command While it's certainly possible to play Lionheart using the Battle Cry cards, here's a suggestion for another way to run the game. In the below, all dice rolls are scored as follows: Axe = 0, Arrow = 1, Panic = 2.
Initiative Instead of simply alternating who activates a unit, each player rolls 1 die, scored as above, with the winner getting to go. Tie rolls go to the player who didn't go in the previous turn, which should tend to keep things even.
Number of Moves Once it's your turn to activate, roll 2 dice to see how many units you may move. The result will be anything from 0 to 4, but the average will be 2.

Movement Rules
Turning All turns (up to 180) count as 1 space off of a unit's movement.
Facing All units (including Heavy infantry) must face hex spines, rather than hexsides, and have 2 front, 2 flank and 2 rear hexside facings. Units may only Move/ Battle through their Front hexsides, but may receive combat through their Front or Flank hexsides at no penalty. Any Melee attack made into the Rear hexsides of a target unit gives the Attacker half again his normal dice, rounded up.

Battle Rules
Panic & Rout

• If an attack causes at least 1 casualty (figure removed), any Panic results rolled are applied to the Defender as a PUSHBACK (Fall back 1 space per Panic Result with the same facing).
• If all non-casualty rolls are Panics, the Defender ROUTS (turns 180 and move 2 spaces).
• In either case, the Attacker may follow up into the vacated space and any units in Support of that Attacker may advance as well.
• If NO casualties are inflicted by the attack, any Panic results rolled count as pushbacks against the Attacker! If ALL of the Attacker's dice come up as Panics, the Attacker routs.

• If a Cavalry unit is the target of a Charge, or is adjacent to both a charging enemy unit and its declared target, it may declare a COUNTERCHARGE. Roll 1 die: if the Arrow icon comes up the Countercharge is successful (1/3 chance). If the unit is, or is supported by the King, the Countercharge is successful if the Axe icon comes up (1/2 chance).
• If successful, the Countercharging unit must now be the target of the Charge (if it wasn't already) and both sides now get 1 simultaneous round of combat with the Charge bonus to their dice. After any casualties are removed, the difference in Panic results are applied to the unit that received the most (ignore if a tie). However, if one side fails to roll any Hits while its opponent succeeds, all Panic results would apply to it!
• In the event of a multiple combat (2 or more units charging 1) it is resolved as 1 large combat, with the owner of the single unit deciding how to split up his dice against his opponent's units. In the unlikely event that the single unit manages to roll more Panic results than all his attackers (and bully for him!) the resulting Pushback or Rout is applied to all of his Attackers!

Notes
Bloody Dice You'll notice that this game is pretty bloody with the dice provided. I'm experimenting with a bit slower-paced game by putting a small dot on one each of the Arrow and Axe icons on all the dice, and counting those faces as misses. Either that or require 2 and 3 hits respectively to kill Infantry or Knights/Heavy Infantry, though then keeping track of those odd hits is a pain.