First game of Dragon Rampant

[Xintao]

Last night my friend Lou came over and we took Dragon Rampant out for a spin.  For those that don't know, Dragon Rampant is the Fantasy version of Lion Rampant that came out in 2014. LR is a set of medieval wargame rules, written by Daniel Mersey and published by Osprey. So now we have DR which is pretty much the same game, but with Fantasy elements thrown in, and it works!

We've played one or two games of Lion Rampant so had a vague idea how to play. Since this was a learning game, we didn't put a lot of effort into planning. I have lots of LOTR figures, so that's what we were going to use. Orcs vs Dwarves.

In Dragon Rampant, you pick a point value for your game and buy your units. The suggested game size is 24 points. Units are 6 or 12 strength points(number of figures). Though you can choose to take a reduced figure unit, but then each figure is stronger. You can also take "single or reduced model units". Basically your mighty heroes or monsters can be a single model or a few models. A good example would be a unit of trolls, 3 models each at 4 strength points. Or Conan all by himself at 12 strenght points.

You then decide the type of unit, like Heavy Foot or Elite Riders. For example Heavy Foot are 4 points a unit(12 figures). Each unit type might have upgrades or special rules. Light Riders for example get evade and skirmish, Elite Riders get Wild Charge.

After you build your Warband (4 to 10 units) you nominate a figure for Army commander, he comes for free. He just becomes part of a unit, Unless you bought him as a single warrior. Where he is on the table matters as he helps units pass morale rolls. Each unit has a leader, that is what the unit forms around and must maintain cohesion too.

Here are the Warbands we constructed for our first game.

The Orcs:
1 Heavy Riders w/Leader (Melee Warg Riders), 6 figs
1 Light Riders (Missile Warg Riders), 6 figs
1 Greater Warbeasts (Wargs), 6 figs
1 Heavy Foot w/upgrade (2 handed Choppers), 12 figs
2 Light Foot (Orcs), 12 figs each

The Dwarves:
1 Elite Foot w/leader (Dwarf Huscarls), 6 figs(2 points each)
1 Heavy Foot w/upgrade (2 handed axes), 12 figs
2 Heavy Foot (Dwarf Spears), 12 figs each
1 Light Missile (Dwarf Rangers with bows), 12 figs


The battle lines, Dwarves closest, Orcs and Wargs on the far side of the table.



The lines close up on each other.




The Dwarf leader and bodyguard slam into the Orcs on the hill.


The Wargs attack.


The Warg Riders also join the fun.


The Khazad Guard finish off the Wargs.


The Dwarf Rangers are run down.


The Khazad guard are driven back by the Orc 2 Handed warriors.

For a Full battle write up, more pics and a detailed description of how the game plays check out my blog:
http://xinslair.blogspot.com/2015/12/first-game-of-dragon-rampant.html

[beefcake]

Very nice write up. Thanks. Great scenery as well

[guitarheroandy]

Looks absolutely great!!   Really good to see LOTR models in action with these rules.

From the pics it looks like you ignored the 'no units may be closer than 3" to each other' rule. It certainly makes it look a lot more like a typical battle line which you don't get if you play it as written...

I plan to play a lot of games with these rules in 2016, using Warhammer minis and also using historical Dark Ages models (they'll work great for 'historical' or 'Bernard Cornwell-esque' Arthurian Britain, I think...) I also have LOTR models in the works but am a fair way off having enough painted to play a game.

Looking forward to hearing more of your Dragon Rampant exploits!!  

[Nord]

Nice looking report, great stuff.

Plenty of options on overcoming the non-activation thing. Some just ignore the rule completely, if a unit fails to activate just move on to the next unit. We tend to give a +1 bonus to units within 12inch of the general, for his inspiring presence. Probably other ways to do it too, rerolls etc.

[Xintao]

From the pics it looks like you ignored the 'no units may be closer than 3" to each other' rule. It certainly makes it look a lot more like a typical battle line which you don't get if you play it as written...


 

Thanks for the comments. Andy, didn't see that rule, but there it is black and white. Now that I see it I'll go back to ignoring half of it. There is no game mechanic that it breaks or over powers by letting friends stand next to each other.

[robh]

Now that I see it I'll go back to ignoring half of it. There is no game mechanic that it breaks or over powers by letting friends stand next to each other.

Does seem like a rule for rules sake rather than because it adds anything to the game. We ignored it in Lion Rampant and will do so in DR too.
Authors reasoning behind the rule:
http://duxrampant.yuku.com/topic/160/3-inch-gaps

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks for the comments. Andy, didn't see that rule, but there it is black and white. Now that I see it I'll go back to ignoring half of it. There is no game mechanic that it breaks or over powers by letting friends stand next to each other.

Great-looking game and a terrific table!

There is one mechanic that makes the 3" rule important. If a unit can't retreat its full distance because of the presence of friendly troops, it has to roll its Courage score or more on a die or take casualties. This works really well to create disorder in the ranks when units are outmanoeuvred. I recently played against an all-cavalry force (using Lion Rampant, but it's the same as far as this goes); the 3" rule gave them a de facto outflanking bonus, as my infantry units were surrounded and driven into each other ("Like at Cannae", as my opponent remarked). In our first couple of games, we forgot about the 3" rule, but it really does have a significant effect. In another recent game, a battered Ravenous Horde retreated into the face of oncoming "friendly" Bellicose Foot and was entirely destroyed as a result. It looked and felt right.

One thing from the blog: hills give +1 Armour (cover) to a side defending an uphill position (see p.25). They don't have to be rough terrain to confer this.

[Juan]

Really nice, great battle report!!!

[Humorous_Conclusion]

That's a really nice looking table.

Regarding your point about all models fighting regardless of how many are in contact, I think if that rule were lost, then basing would matter. It's a positive feature of Dragon Rampant that you can mix and match different base sizes and even include multi-based figures without effecting the rules very much. Possibly a better way to handle the defended pass, would be to treat it like defending up hill, so defenders get cover.

[Xintao]

That's a really nice looking table.

Regarding your point about all models fighting regardless of how many are in contact, I think if that rule were lost, then basing would matter. It's a positive feature of Dragon Rampant that you can mix and match different base sizes and even include multi-based figures without effecting the rules very much. Possibly a better way to handle the defended pass, would be to treat it like defending up hill, so defenders get cover.

That is a really good point I had not thought of. As I said, no house rules or tweaking till we get more games in. This was out first go, and already I see about 3 or 4 things we did wrong. Still fun though.

Thanks for the input, very constructive.

[Xintao]

Great-looking game and a terrific table!



One thing from the blog: hills give +1 Armour (cover) to a side defending an uphill position (see p.25). They don't have to be rough terrain to confer this.

Thanks!

Well shoot, there it is. I'm glad that it's in there , but sad I'm just too stupid to find it.