The Companionship of the Necklace.

The Companionship of the Necklace are a non-IP infringing band of adventurers travelling across Bottom Earth in a quest to destroy the One Necklace, forged literally years ago by Big Ron in the fires of Mount Combe in the Land of Unfunny Puns.

Herein are set out their stats for Dragon Rampant as told in the Red Book of Westfebruary.

Dandruff the Wizard. (pictured above)

Light Foot with mixed weapons.

Spellcaster and Blessed Weapon (melee only: the sword Glamrock)

11 points, which breaks the rules, but he is Dandruff...

(Not sure why I went for mixed weapons. I don't like the idea of him throwing little missiles around. We have also banned him from casting Bog Thee, Dragon's Breath and Power Bolt. They are far too flashy for Bottom Earth.)

Harry Horn (Shambler the Ranger).

Elite Foot with missiles.

Blessed Weapon (melee only: the sword Annboleyn)

8 points.

Windermere, man of Pondor.

Heavy Foot.

4 points.

(Dull, but he gets Wall of Spears on account of his shield.)

Lass's Legs, Elf.

Light Missiles with Sharpshooter.

6 points.

(Predictable, that.)

Grumpy, Dwarf.

Bellicose Foot with Shiny Armour.

6 points.

Emo Binbag,

Ham Sammich,

Seedy Book, and 

Tipsy Randybuck, Schnorbbits.

Scouts.

Mystical Armour (Emo's sparkly shirt)  and Blessed Weapon (melee only: the sword Gordon.)

6 points.

The Companionship of the Necklace come in at a mighty 41 points.

I'm not sure I would ordinarily use blessed weapons, them only being useful on a 5+, rolled before the game. With three in the party though, the odds are good that The Companionship will benefit from at least one each game. Last week, Glamrock was working. Unfortunately Dandruff didn't enter melee!

A Dragon Rampant Experiment

Wondering how far the rules to Dragon Rampant could be pushed, this week's game featured the non-IP infringing Companionship of the Necklace, led by Dandruff the wizard, as they battled to escape the Chamber of the Marzipan Bull.

On a 4' square table, a number of single model units and a 4 strong unit of scouts faced a seemingly endless onslaught of full strength units, to see what would happen.

Orcs enter in an uncharacteristicly artistic manner.

The game started with the Companionship arrayed at the east end of the chamber except for the dwarf, Grumpy, who was grieving at the tomb of  Bashful, his cousin and last king of Kazoo-Comb. In game terms, Grumpy starts the game battered.

It mattered not, he soon shook it off and went on a one-dwarf killing spree courtesy of wild charges due to his Bellicose nature. First a troll fell to his axe, then several units of ravenous orcs and a unit of more bellicose orcs. He was in danger of charging out of the chamber and down the corridor!

Lass's Legs the elf also made short work of another unit with his machine gun archery.

Even Dandruff was getting in on the action. His demoralising sonorous tones taking effect on all manner of evil creatures from afar, leaving them battered and confused.

The game was working, but we felt it could be improved. The Companionship were a bit far away to offer much help to Grumpy, should he slip up, and the orcs were getting a bit congested entering the chamber.

We switched to a 3' square board and halved the size of the evil units (whilst retaining full SPs). This also gave a much more aesthetically pleasing game, with more believablely sized fights. The companionship still looked heroic without it being silly. Single models wading through units of 12 is a bit much.

This time it was Harry Horn who kicked things off, downing a troll in one gulp.

Unfortunately, the boss turned up and after a lengthy battle that could have gone either way, the elite unit to fall was the unit formerly known to the hobbits as Shambler.

He was soon avenged by Windermere, who bravely slew the hacked up Uruk who was on his last legs and probably going to expire soon anyway.

We stopped there as time was getting on. The game works well enough and we may well take it in the road. 

I'll be making up some hopefully prettier scenery, so watch this space to see if we're coming to a show near you. Possibly Exeter at the end of April.

Next time I'll be posting the stats we used. 

I'm also open to suggestions for better non-IP infringing names...

MacTavish and Mr Nesbit

Dan Mersey's latest blog post includes rules for the reduced strength unit I painted for him that I was delighted to see made it into the Dragon Rampant book.

You can read the post here: http://merseybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/dragon-rampant-mactavish-and-mr-nesbit.html?m=1

I took a few photos of the pair before I sent them back to Dan. This seems like a good time to share them.

Dragon Rampant armies

I took some photos of the army I used in the game at the end of my previous post.

The chap with the bloody hands is the leader. He counts as a unit of light missiles with the Summoner ability and counts for just over a quarter of the army points. 

The chaps on his left in armour are the elite foot and further over are the scouts. That's all I started the game with.

The rest of the army are the summonable units. The skeletons are heavy foot and the zombies at the back are ravenous hordes. At a single point, the zombies weren't expected to stay around long.

The next photo shows my first army for Dragon Rampant and shows how easy it can be to convert a Lion Rampant army.

There are two units of elite riders and a unit of heavy missiles. These are analogous to mounted men at arms and crossbows from Lion Rampant. I then took a unit of foot serjeants and replaced them with a single model to create a single model unit of heavy foot. I paid for him to be a wizard and that rounded off the army nicely.

Having played it, I would change one of the units of elite riders to something else so that everything doesn't go charging off when I don't want it to. That's just my preference though.

Maybe  I'll have some demonic imps as a unit of lesser warbeasts and a unit of scouts for some versatility in the woods and marshes of my mediaeval fantasy world The Barons' Marches.

Dragon Rampant at Firestorm Games

Last Friday I managed to have a couple of games of Dragon Rampant at Firestorm Games in Cardiff with Matt and Annie.

The first game featured Matt's fantasy dark ages chaps against Annie's chaos gnomes.

Lining up for Matt:

Led by a dwarf on a bear (single model unit of heavy riders) are a unit of scouts, and a unit of bellicose foot with shiny armour. Heavy support is provided by two single model units of elite foot in the form of two giants.

Annie's chaos gnomes:

Led by a unit of elite riders (duck riders, with a leader on a chicken), Annie also had a reduced model unit of bellicose foot (evil sheep), along with a unit of light missiles and heavy foot. More heavy support in the form of a single model unit greater warbeast (evil chaos cow-dragon). Perhaps the most unsettling thing about Annie's army is that every model has bleeding eyes. Eew!

We decided to start off table and deploy in activation. Matt won initiative and was quite successful with his activations, advancing through the ruins to his left, but on Annie's first activation of her first turn of her first game she learned a harsh lesson about the Dragon/Lion Rampant rules:

Matt was left advancing across the table simply looking for an enemy to fight!

Eventually the chaos gnomes turned up to the party and we could get down to business. 

A flanking manoeuvre by the leader on her chicken and the duck riding guard looked to divide Matts army, but he sent his scouts to face them. Is that wise? Those ducks pack a nasty peck!

In the meantime the chaos gnome archers draw first blood as they pick off a couple of the bellicose foot from extreme range. The evil sheep in their woolly jumpers move up to face the remaining berserkers across a small area of woodland.

After losing out initially, the duck-borne gnomes make headway against the scouts and advance on the rear of the barbarian leader on her bear. On the far flank, the giants prepare to make evil bloody eyes cow/dragon burgers...

A flurry of activity in the centre of the battlefield sees the bellicose foot charge the heavy foot of the chaos gnomes, and then get charged in return by the vile ovine warriors in pink and baby blue.

It does not go well for the humans.

The battle between behemoths begins with belligerence, bruises and other things beginning with b. The ground shakes. This one will go on for some time...

The evil in wool has dispensed with the bellicose berserkers, shiny armour and all. They will be avenged by a dwarf on a bear and the sheep will be missed by a small girl (with bleeding eyes) who loves them.

The view from the Firestorm blimp would seem to indicate that the battle is going in favour of the chaotic eye-bleeders, but appearances can be deceptive. Although Matt only has three models on the table, those are three single model units, and they're all still at full strength.

The leaders battle; duck charging bear. Both take wounds. 

The giants eventually manage to bring their numbers to bear and pave the way for an evil barbecue by finishing off the cow/dragon. Ominously they turn and stride back towards the dear little vile chaos gnomes.

First the ducks fall.

Then the heavy foot are finished by a much heavier foot.

Only the archers are left. With blood in their eyes, they doubt their aim and flee the field looking for easier pickings.

One foolish gnome turns to look as he runs away...

Matt wins. No mercy for a first timer here.

That will have to wait until Annie's second game when she faced my mythic Greek army.

I have no photos of the second game as I was playing. 

Annie's army was unchanged. I tried something different to anything I've used before. I wanted to field a summoner. I made him a single model unit of light missiles so that he could have a bit of ranged "magic". I chose a unit of skeletons (heavy foot with fear) and a unit of zombies (ravenous hordes with fear) as my units to be summoned. Both are undead (no feelings), which will see them fall quickly. 

To start on-table alongside my summoner I chose a unit of scouts and a unit of elite foot. I would begin the game with 13 models.

Feeling exposed at the start of the battle, I rashly summoned the zombies to act as a speed bump against the chaos cow/dragon that was thundering towards me. I honestly don't think he noticed them. 1 round; twelve destroyed zombies. In the meantime the ducks were flanking my scouts. I managed to hold them off for a while but needed the help of the skeletons, who were summoned just in time to see them off. They they clattered over to help my elite foot finish off the cow/dragon beast and the sheep.

I was left with a few of my elite foot and the lone summoner (strength 12), to deal with the gnomish heavy foot and archers. I immediately lost my heavy foot and the summoner saw the error of his ways and legged it!

A very enjoyable afternoon's gaming. It was a pleasure to see Annie's imaginative army. It has a whole backstory that she's written for it too. Apparently the chaos gnomes used to be a dangerous all-conquering army until they were turned to plastic by a curse and sold at a car boot sale to a girl who discovered a passion for wargaming...

Thanks to Matt and Annie, and to Firestorm Games for providing a superb venue.

Matt:

www.glenbrookgames.co.uk

Mattsgamepage.blogspot.com

Annie:

thedicebaglady.net

Firestorm:

www.firestormgames.co.uk

Second evening of Dragon Rampant

I cobbled together a motley bunch of undead figures tonight to play Dragon Rampant against Matt. He turned up with his newly painted Greek myth army, and very pretty they were too.

Matt's army had to transport a precious artefact across the table and off my side. All I had to do was stop him. Easy, right?

Well not with my dice it seems. My necromancer's black bolts of death failed, he couldn't summon the banshees when he wanted them and my prize wights went down under a withering hail of sling stones and javelins. The less said about my zombies the better!

A great game, as usual. Dan Mersey has done it again with another great set of rules.

Photos of tonight's game can be seen on Matt's blog;
http://mattsgamepage.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/dragon-rampant-new-greeks-face-undead.html

First games of Dragon Rampant

Played a couple of games of Dragon Rampant on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed them. Not surprising really considering the similarity to Lion Rampant.

The major change is the inclusion of magic, which Dan has seamlessly added to the rules. There are a few other differences that will make any selection a bit more interesting too, but for obvious reasons I can't write about the rules here.

Didn't manage to get any photos; my phone is still convinced it has no space despite me having a clear out! Luckily, Matt did. They can be found here:
http://mattsgamepage.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/first-games-of-dragon-rampant.html

For the latest news regarding Dragon Rampant, head over to Dan's blog at:
http://merseybooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Dragon Rampant

Unexpected excitement!

My 'contrubutor's copy' of Dragon Rampant arrived in my inbox this evening causing much delight. 

It came during my weekly game with Matt, which was an added pleasure as we both got a copy. Unfortunately, arriving on game night means that we have to wait a whole week before we play it! I suppose it gives us time to print a copy, study it and get an army together.

Lion Rampant was my favourite game from last year, and running it at Salute was probably the gaming highlight of this year so far. Having cut my teeth on fantasy gaming, you may be able to imagine how excited I am by this game.

Dan has given permission to play the game publicly and blog about it, provided we don't share the pdf, naturally.

Hopefully I can get my camera sorted in time for an illustrated write up.

Watch this space...