DRAGON RAMPANT - 3 ROUND MINI CAMPAIGN - ESCAPE TO THE SOUTH

 At my local club I've been running a 3 round min-campaign using the Dragon Rampant rules called, 'Escape To The South'.  If idea interest you download the blank campaign document here.

There is also an accompanying Extra Magic Items document as well, which come into play in Round 3. 

The HWC House rule document referenced in the campaign doc is available from a link in this posting. Link

In our campaign which has 14 players in it, we are coming to the end of round 2.  The forces of 'The Black Horde' have had some success and currently leading the forces of The Greater Empire Coalition' 111 glory points to 66.

If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

RETURN TO DRAGON RAMPANT

Well after about two months of pretty much solidly playing What A Tanker! my gaming group has  returned to an old favourite of ours, Dragon Rampant by Daniel Mersey.  Whilst I was I was really rusty on the rules, a quick speed read through them and the latest version of our club House Rules (link) quickly refreshed me.

I dusted off my Orcs and here are a few pictures of them in action.  The opposition (last picture, far side of the table) had a Hydra with mystical armour that just would not die, so a defeat for my Orcs, but an entertaining game nonetheless :)

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The Mother of Dragons - Dragon Rampant Scenario On The Man Cave Blog

Check out this new Dragon Rampant scenario on 'The Man Cave' blog, it's called 'The Mother Of All Dragons' and looks quite good :)   Link

Crepusculum Imperii: Adapting Lion Rampant to the Late Roman period

I'm a big fan of Lion and Dragon Rampant and find myself quite impressed with this article written by David Sulivan on his blog about adapting the Lion Rampant rules to the Late Roman period. Link
Highly recommended :)

Dragon Rampant - Harrogate Wargames Club - House Rules

You know what it's like; you have several games using a rule system.  Not all the situations you might want/need covered are in there, so you agree with your friends an approach to take.  You then leave the system for a few weeks and when you go back to it, there is confusion over what was and wasn't agreed...  This is what my gaming group had with Dragon Rampant a few weeks back.

The simple way forward is of course to write down this stuff down, so I resolved to put pen to paper and write up a set of 'House Rules' that we could all agree on.

My efforts can be downloaded at this link (currently at version 8-4-0), and reflect our collective thinking after playing some 75+ games.  (note, the latest version can always been found here)

If you have any questions or suggestions for improvements, feel free to post them here :) 

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Monsters For Dragon Rampant

Whilst on holiday in France (more on that in a later posting) I picked up two figures suitable for use in Dragon Rampant :)   Both need basing and perhaps a bit of work on the painting.  I'll post photos later when when the work is done.
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Simba Superplay Castle

Following a link posted on one of the Facebook pages it seems that Debenhams (in the UK) are selling off cheap 'Simba Superplay Castles'. For only £21 delivered, I must confess I couldn't resist getting one :)
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Orc Warlord makes himself at home :)
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The keep.
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Currently in the process of painting one of the towers up. I'll post photos of my progress in due course. Currently intending on using it in both Lion and Dragon Rampant games.
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“Landwasters and Raven Feeders”: Official rules for Lion Rampant in the Dark Ages

Back in issue 331 (May 2015) of Wargames Illustrated magazine, Dan Mersey looked at how to raise a Warband (which seems a more suitable title for this period than the medieval ‘Retinue’; your Leader is restyled as your Warlord) for your preferred Dark Ages nation using the Lion Rampant rules, and added a list of Boasts more suited to the Dark Ages.

As that issue now seems almost impossible to find, Dan has added an article to his web site about it:  Link.

 

An intereting new feature and one that could be used be adapted to use in Dragon Rampant as well is:

New Upgrade: Holy Men & Banners

‘Holy Men & Banners’ special characters

• Available to: Any unit except for Skirmishers or Villagers; units containing your Leader may not take this upgrade.
• Cost: 1 point per unit.
• Maximum of 1 special character per unit.
• Special characters may not transfer between units.
• Replace one ordinary model in the unit with a special character. This special character moves, fights, and acts in all ways like any other model in the unit.
• Units with a special character gain +1 to all Courage tests (in the same way as, and in addition to, being within 12” of their Leader – see page 11 of the rulebook).
• Test for the death of special characters in the same way as Leader Lucky Blows.
• A player killing an opposing unit’s special character gains +1 Glory.

EAGLE RAMPANT AT THE HARROGATE WARGAMES CLUB

In the Apr 2016 edition of Wargames Illustrated is an article about a Lion Rampant variant for the Napoleonic period, called 'Eagle Rampant'.  Although currently deep in the middle of our club 13 player Dragon Rampant 'Badlands' campaign, John S suggested we take a week off to try the conversion out; so last night after our club AGM we had an eight player game on our 8ft x 6ft club table.  Each player between 3 and 4 units, points varied but most had 12.  The Eagle variant is so similar to Lion Rampant and Dragon Rampant that those familiar will be right at home with the rules from the off. 

The clean living, god fearing Brits took on the filthy frog-leg eating French (perhaps you can guess which side I was on :) ).  The objective was a baggage train stuck on a bridge.  Both sides had to try and take control of the objective. 

I started south of the river (my unit was 2 units of Line Infantry (4pts each) and 2 Skirmish units (2 pts each) along with Theo S.  Facing off against us was John E.  To the north in a defensive posture were John S and Mick with more Brit Infantry and some Cavalry facing off against Simon A, Chris J and Gavin M.

From the off lots of desperate actions broke out all over the table as the two sides clashed !  John S was rapidly overwhelmed north of the Church and Chris J and Gavin then rolled into Mick M and gave him a battering.  Theo S's troops didn't do much for a while other then take a beating from French skirmish fire (poor initiative rolls), but then my Skirmishers and a line unit reinforced him.  John E after a valiant exchange was crushed and the axis of the battle changed.  Simon A troops took a beating off Theo's and mine Skirmishers and he was out,  Mick J's and Chris's last troops also fled.  The final shots were between Gavin Theo and myself as we fought around the baggage train.  In the end Theo and I managed to hold on, but it had been 'a damn close-run thing'  :)  

Myself, I felt the game went brilliantly and was well entertaining, provoking a large amount of good natured banter.  To my mind this is a good measure by which to judge how enjoyable a game has been on a club night :)  Well done to John S for setting up a well balanced game.  We'll certainly be playing Eagle Rampant again in the future :)

Anyway, here is a selection of photos from the game.  Great looking figures (I'm sure you'd agree) by John S, Theo S and Gavin M.
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Theo's troops face off against John E.
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Early in the game look North.
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John Es column Infanty.
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Theo's Infantry.
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Theo's Leader.
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Looking south.
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Things are starting to look grim for the Brits (on the left) as weight of numbers tells.
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Mick's Brits are under some pressure.
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Remains of Chris's cavalry and Gavins Infantry take on my Line Infanty (nearest unit) and Theo's (just in sight to the right) wading through the stream.
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DRAGON RAMPANT ORC ARMY

I mentioned a few posts back that my regular gaming crowd and I had embarked on a 'Badlands' Dragon Rampant campaign.  This is the current 29 point army configuration I've settled upon and takes advantage of the Darkened Skys trait that my Warlord (Ruglud 'Bonechewer') was lucky enough to roll up at the start of the campaign. As of the date of this posting he has fought in 8 battles and has managed to survive a couple of near-death experiences by the skin of his teeth ! LOL


Configuration As Per My Last Battle
1 x Lesser Orc Shaman - Wizardling - with the strength of a Light Infantry unit + Warband Leader (5pts).
2 x Orc Crossbow  - Heavy Missile (Fearful) (2pts each)
2 x Goblin Infantry - Light Infantry (3pts each)
1 x Orc Scouts - Scouts (2 pts each) 
2 x Orc Chariots - (6pts each)

Alternative Variation (Fielded the week before)
Instead of the 2 Goblin units and Scouts take 2 x Orc Giant Wolf Rider units (Heavy Cavalry)
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From Wargaming BLOG Photos

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DRAGON RAMPANT QR SHEET

To assist smooth gameplay I have expanded upon the QR sheet within the Dragon Rampant rule book.    We’ve used this without any problem at my local club.  It can be download from the Dropbox here: Link 

ORC ARMY

One of the readers of my Blog (Hi JJ) has asked for more pictures of Orcs.  Happy to oblige here's a series of pics from Sep 2015 when I got the entire army out for a look over.  This was in preparation for seperating about a 3rd out for use with the Dragon Rampant rules gaming I was expecting in Dec 2015.  I realised that I had been a bit slack with putting the effort into getting a lot of the units up to satisfactory standard of painting and basing.  Thus proved to be a useful spur and since then I've done a lot more work on them painting wise.
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Orc Wold rider, made By Irregular.  Casting is incredibly rough.  Can't find the enthusiasm to put any paint on them.
















Warlord and the 4 wolves that pull this had gone wandering off...  (subsequently found them)
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