The hills have Dwarves, a Dragon Rampant AAR

[Skrapwelder]

Friday Mr Black Cavalier and I were finally able to arrange a game of Dragon Rampant with one another. We opted for 24 point forces with an additional 6 points to be used only for Fantastical options.
We laid out some terrain and rolled the Death Chase scenario, the object being for one force to make its way down the length of the table while being attacked from the flanks. I lost the toss and BC elected to receive.

The rules are a treat. They play quickly and give good representation of the various forces you can have in play without getting too complex.

Force compositions

Elves:
Elite Foot Command unit
Wizard/Summoner classed as Light Foot
Heavy Foot
Light Foot with mixed weapons
Lesser Warbeasts held back for Summoning.

Dwarves:
Elite Foot Command Unit
Heavy Foot
Bellicose Foot
Heavy Cavalry
Some kind of Exploding Construct
Hobbit Scouts
Hobbit Swarm




Dwarves to the left of us, Dwarves to the right of us. The lay of the land: We're using one of the Cigar Box battle mats that conforms well to hills placed underneath. They photograph nicely from above but lose some of their illusory quality when shot at a low angle. Still very nice.


On the Elven right flank were the Dwarf Commander, the Heavy Foot, Scouts and in the rear a horde of hobbits.
The left flank had the Constructs, which advanced quickly, Berserkers (Bellicose foot) and the Heavy cavalry.


The Elves advanced up the center of the valley. Heavy infantry in the center, lights on the right. The Wizard and Elite foot went left up a hill to scout out a possible flanking run for the entire force.


The Elite Foot on the hill were first to make contact.  The Exploders got close enough to charge. The Wizard battered them with a spell and the Elites followed up, making good use of the Ranger talent and wiping out the constructs.


The Wizard the summoned the Spirit Stags (Lesser Warbeasts) which came on the board with several choice targets to choose from when it came time to check for Wild Charge. The first charge into the Bellicose foot went well enough and then after that it evolved into a bit of a skirmish with the Stags trading off between attacking the Berserks and the Dwarf Cavalry. Both sides were hesitant about passing their Wild Charges, but when they did it was always exciting. In the end, the Stags took out the Dwarf Cavalry and were then defeated by the Dwarf Berserks.


The Dwarf Leader and his Heavy foot executed a nice one-two punch on the Elven Heavies, driving them back up the hill in a battered state they never overcame. The disappeared from the board after a couple of turns. Things looked grim for the Elves.


The Elven Lights sought cover in the woods and then attempted a flanking feint against the Dwarf Heavies. A bolt from the Wizard took the Dwarven leader down. This put the Dwarves at half their original force size which made their Rally rolls just a bit tougher.


The Dwarven Berserks were badly mauled in their fight with the Elven warbeasts. After several failed spell casting attempts they were finally dispatched by the Wizard. The Elite foot moved up to start making a run down the left flank in an attempt to get off the field.

After destroying the Elven Lights the Dwarf Heavy Foot was able to work its way around the woods and take the high ground against the Elven Elites. The Elves managed to cut them down and were making eyes on the remaining Hobbit units when we called the game.

The Dwarves held the advantage for the better part of the game and I spent most of the night on the defensive and did not expect the sudden turn in my favor at the end. I credit the good balance of the rules with helping create this kind of tension in a game.

I'm hoping we can get enough of our group interested in DR to run a small campaign

Thanks for looking.

[Black Cavalier]

My Constructs were Light Foot with the Exploding rule.  My Dwarf King also had the Venomous rule to represent a magic weapon.  & that weapon was well worth it.  Any 6s rolled to hit with it count for an extra wound, & it caused about 8-10 of them  Quite surprising with my usual dice rolling.

I was surprised how useful the Ranger rule (ignore difficult terrain in melee) was for the Elite foot.  It allowed my Dwarf King to wade into the woods & take out cowering elf archers with no affect to his melee abilities.  & later, it allowed the King to do the same against the elf spear on a hill.  The King, with this Ranger rule, & good melee stats, was probably my most effective & important unit.

Even though we each had only 2 units left, the final point total was my 3 points of halflings vs 16 points of elves (Skrapwelder's wizard was 10 points by itself).  So I figure after the last dwarf unit died, the hobbits quickly realized they needed to find new source of food & surrendered to the elves.

[wulfgar22]

Great stuff! I love these rules...simple but tactical. They also scale up or down so easily...the games I've played have been with mainly Single and Reduced Model Units which gives the game an almost rpg-like feel.

[Sunjester]

Very nice figures and a great write up. Who makes the elves?

Just one point for Black Cavalier, the Venomous rule in DR is a misprint, it should say that 6's inflict 2 HITS, not strength points. Dan has clarified this here http://duxrampant.yuku.com/topic/544/Need-clarification-on-Venomous#.VstNGpyLTcs and it will be on an errata sheet he is preparing. Sorry!

I must admit I played it the same way you did the first time I used the rule and thought it was a relatively cheap upgrade for a devastating effect! Then I read the above thread........

[Skrapwelder]

I think he just stated it wrong because we were counting the 6's as 2 hits not 2 Strength Points. I would have remember a goring like that. 

[jon_1066]

Great battle report - love those stags.