Dragon Rampant Review

[beefcake]

Gnomes riding some sort of demonic giant flying cow. Those Rules must cover everything Good to hear you've sold a bunch already.

[3 fingers]

I've not had mine yet

[Lowtardog]

Dalauppror's pre-release copy is all good, but no, lots of people are getting theirs through the post already despite Osprey's listed release date.

Well thats a bit naughty I am waiting mine from amazon😕😯. Bit of sharp practice there really looking forward to the rules though

[Steam Flunky]

My gnomes are in it too!

That is the craziest miniature i have seen in a long time - gnomes disguising a cow as a dragon?
Are there any more pics of your gnomes out there Annie?

[Vermis]

I wasn't altogether sure about the dracoth from the AoS starter, Annie, but I think you've painted it up nicely, there.

Also: I knew that black friday preorder on the osprey site seemed too good, somehow.

[Cubs]

I've just been reading the rules in the bath. Seems to be you can include just about anything, since the 'unit' designations are pretty broad and you can then tailor stuff with a special rule to reflect what it does.

For example, a big monster, like a dragon, a balrog or a giant, could be classed as a 'Greater Warbeast' or even as a unit of 'Elite Foot', acting in slightly different ways, and then you can tweak it by giving it a special rule such as 'Flame Attack', or 'Fear', or 'Flying', whatever, and you pay points accordingly. But because no single unit is allowed to cost more than 10pts (for normal games), it can't be so powerful it skews the game massively and spoils the fun.

I've got one of old Ral Partha Jabberwock models, which is only a little bigger than a troll or something. I was thinking of making it a 'Lesser Warbeast' unit and giving it the 'Fear' special rule.

I love the idea that list building can be a really enjoyable part of the gaming experience, but without that power-gamer influence for trying to make super-armies. You can't have super-units because none of the special rules are so powerful it allows that to happen. 

[3 fingers]

I wasn't altogether sure about the dracoth from the AoS starter, Annie, but I think you've painted it up nicely, there.

Also: I knew that black friday preorder on the osprey site seemed too good, somehow.

Ditto

[beefcake]

I love the idea that list building can be a really enjoyable part of the gaming experience, but without that power-gamer influence for trying to make super-armies. You can't have super-units because none of the special rules are so powerful it allows that to happen. 

I enjoy the list building side of gaming. Nice to hear you can't make those silly deathstar units that were all but compulsory in Warhammer.

[Annie]

That is the craziest miniature i have seen in a long time - gnomes disguising a cow as a dragon?
Are there any more pics of your gnomes out there Annie?

Thanks :-D

There are more photos here, and the army book cover I painted!
http://thedicebaglady.net/chaos-gnomes/

[Momotaro]

Thanks :-D

There are more photos here, and the army book cover I painted!
http://thedicebaglady.net/chaos-gnomes/

My copy arrived this morning - I thought the unit of sheep might be yours!!!

[Mister Rab]

My copy of the rules arrived too. So far I like 'em! 

[Lowtardog]

My copy of the rules arrived too. So far I like 'em! 

Mine came yesterday too, fully agree

[Momotaro]

I'm sure this has been explained elsewhere before, but could somebody give me some insight how the reduced unit size mechanic works. If you field a unit of 3 trolls instead of 12 men, do you simply keep keep some dice marking how many man would have been removed and play like they are fighting like that number of men? (taking away a troll for every 4 men killed I guess) or is there some more complicated mechanic, do these bigger creatures keep fighting at full strength until removed and is there some associated point cost?

A unit has 12 or 6 Strength points, and fights with 12 dice.  Taking casualties removes Strength, and once the unit falls to half it's starting Strength (6 or 3 points), it fights with 6 dice.  The lost Strength points also count as a penalty to Courage rolls.

In the original Lion Rampant, units had 6 or 12 figures.  In Dragon Rampant, you can represent a unit with as few (or, the opposite, as many) figures as you like.  If you have a unit of three Trolls with 12 Strength, you should remove each troll after 4 Strength have been lost. You ALSO need to track Strength on the roster, or with spare dice, because you need to know the actual penalty for courage rolls, or when the unit falls to half Strength

Reduced units are ONLY there to make your army look better - a single hero or dragon, a spellcaster with a couple of minions, a handful of ogres facing off against a dozen men.  The range mechanics are simple - if you can hit one model in a unit, you can hit them all - so there is no game advantage to playing with fewer figures.

[Humorous_Conclusion]

My copy arrived today. I've spent most of the evening working out army lists. Though 24 points feels annoyingly tight with all the optional special rules. I may end up playing some larger games.

[3 fingers]

Well post has been still not received them, and realised I never got a shipped email.so have emailed osprey today.funny as ordered them in Black Friday sale so assumed would had them by now !