Last night we played our 2nd game of Dragon Rampant. Also being somewhat neck deep in playing Frostgrave, we decided to play on a Frosty battlefield. My friend Lou didn't know what we were playing so didn't bring any armies, I had to supply both sides. My biggest collection is my LOTR's figures so that's what we went with. I took Orcs and Lou took Elves backed up by Rohan.
I was in the mood for a big battle so we went with 36 points.
My Orc Army:
1 Nazgul (Elite Riders, with Level Headed and Fear)
6 Warg Riders (Heavy Riders)
6 Warg Bows (Light Riders)
6 Wargs (Lesser Warbeasts)
12 Orcs w/melee weapons (Light Foot)
12 Orcs w/melee weapons (Light Foot)
12 Orcs w/bows (Light Missile)
12 Orcs w/bows (Light Missile)
Elves/ Rohan
6 Rohan Cav w/melee weapons (Elite Riders)
6 Rohan Cav w/bows (Light Riders)
1 Ent (Lesser Warbeasts)
1 Ent (Lesser Warbeasts)
12 Elven Bowmen (Light Missile)
12 Elven Bowmen (Light Missile)
12 Elven Spear w/ General (Elite Foot)
12 Elven Spear ( Heavy Foot)
The Setup:
I wanted to do a scenario, but we had already setup the battle so we just dove into a head to head fight, winner take all. Didn't use Quests as I haven't read that section yet, and we needed to get started if we wanted to finish. Orcs Defender and Elves/Men Attacker
Here's how the action played out.
View from my side of the table, as most shots will be. Orcs foreground, Elves/Rohan back edge.
My set up left to right is Foot/Foot/Bow/Bow/Warg/Warg Riders/Nazgul/Bow on Wargs
View from the bad guys side....er Elves and Men. Lou split his forces into 2 groups. Group 1, on his left, Elite Riders/ Rohan Bow/ Elf Bow foot/ Ent
Group 2 on his right, Elf Foot Bow/ Elf Elite Spear/ Elf Heavy Spear/ Ent.
This allows him to avoid my Bow heavy center, but it isolates his 2 groups from each other.
Length way shot of the table. Orcs left, Elves/Men right.
The Elves were the attacker, they go first, but right out of the gate he blew his first activation roll. I got all mine off,
All my units advanced cautiously except the far left Orc Spear unit. I'd left the Treehuggers come to me.
Static Elf line, Slow advance from the nasty orcs.
The Elves advance up the hill separating us.
Stompy comes up looking for Wargs to Squish.
My Warg Bow kill one Rohan Bow and they fail their moral and flee.
The Elite Rohan riders come up, and are met with Bows and multiple charges including my Nazgul.
Considering what I threw at them, they did well. Loses 2 too bowfire and 2 charges. As well as handing out beating of their own.
The Wargs charged out of the woods and chewed up the Ent, sending him back to the Elves.
On my left, the Elves were not making a lot of headway. The 2nd Ent moves forward as my try to surround him on 2 sides.
These orcs cower behind the wall afraid of the nasty elveses!!!
Back on the right side, we went back and forth for control of the hill. Those damn Elite Riders were tough. I was pushing him back, but nobody was fleeing off the table.
My Nazgul takes a wound. My Heavy Riders Rally after retreating.
On the left, the Ent charges the Orc Light foot. 2 wounds to both sides, but the attacker has to back off.
The Ent would try again and be beaten off with 2 more wounds, but not flee. The Elves are now coming up to my Orc Foot. 12 dice is a lot of shots.
The Ent charges in again, my Wargs send him retreating with 1 Wound left.
The Elves and Rohan Horse shoot at my Wargs, killing 2.
Failed my turn 6 activation.
On the left, the Elves kill 1 Orc.
The Ent Rallies
The Elves and the Ent push forward towards the Orcs
This is how we had to end on the 6th Turn, it was getting late. My Bow Wargs didn't cause enough damage to hurt the 2 Remaining Elite Riders. My Nazgul charged the Rohan Bow, killing one, but failing to cause a flee.
The last action on the left on turn 6 saw the Elves fail to charge the Orcs and my Bows in the center shot at, but didn't cause any wounds to the Elves advancing up the rode.
Summary of the Battle: I was pretty hot with the dice, I caused a lot of damage on the right flank, but failed to drive a single unit off the table, and my attack was loosing strength as units became beat up. On the right I was just doing a holding action and it was working, but with a turn or two with good activation's those units would be in trouble. Also the Elves had started to shifted some his strength to the center. No clear winner. There was still a lot of fight left in both armies.
Summary of the Rules: I like these rules. I think they are elegant and play well. I love the activations. I love the rules to create units. That said, I think they could use some house rules. We already ditched "3 inches between friendly units". I just don't understand that rule. For 1000's years of warfare man WANTS to stand next to friends in battle. I think the General should have some kind of command ability to influence activation roles. There are a whole bunch of different ways that could be implemented. I think there needs to be more "Fantastical abilities". I think the list is kind of short.
Even with those concerns a fun rule set that I recommend. I need to read the scenario and quest section to see how that can alter a game. Too many games, not enough time. I really need that winning lottery ticket.
Xin
