Dragon Rampant

After many months of talking about Dragon Rampant with the core crew, I finally got the chance to give it a go. Dellon had given us a brief over view of the game during the early Fall to explain how it was different from other rank and flank games we played. I was excited to play Dragon Rampant which led me to kitbashing an army of Goblins, Trolls and Orcs. I had the option to use my Skaven for this game but I really wanted a project that would connect my Cauldron warband with a larger force.

Using the Dragon Rampant Second Edition rule book, Dellon helped me put together my first army list for our game. What I really enjoyed about Dragon Rampant was how flexible assigning a stat block is to a unit. There isn't just a Troll state block to use, you can choose how you want to run them. They can be elite units, they can be brutes, they could just be a rank and file melee unit. Then after a stat block is selected, you can choose a key word to add special abilities to the units. Most of the time this increases the cost of the unit, but some reduce the unit by penalizing an ability. 

The Shellborn Knights

The first unit we stated out was the Snail Knights. Even though they are snails, they move quickly as a calvary unit. To reduce the cost of the unit, they received the Slowness ability to reduce the speed by 1 inch. Additionally,  they are Venomous (Which I forgot to use during the game). 

The BogTooth Bashers

Next the Trolls were added. These are the brutes of the army with high strength and courage. They had way more abilities than my other units. They had Ranger, Wildchange, Counter Charge on Foot, Fleet Footed and Cannibalistic. 

The Blackfen Quiver 

Since the game was going to be focussing on one army storming the castle of another, I need to add more range units. A hoard of goblins with bows was selected to help protect the walls of the castle. They simply had the Sharp Shooter ability which did come in handy during the game. 

The Bog Breath Wyrm

I bought this awesome metal Reaper cannon to add to this army. I really liked the dragon design and what goblins don''t love explosions. Having a cannon to defend a castle is a must. Turned out the Cannon was over powered for the point value we were playing for our armies, but hey it was fun to use. 

I plan to do a future blog post to go into the lore of the army that I wrote for each unit. Stay tuned for that in 2026!

The Game

To get started,  Dellon and I placed the models on our side of the board. I was defending the castle while Dellon was invading. Turned out we did not add too many line of sight blockers for Dellon's army to hide behind and my cannon blasted through a unit of warriors. After a few rounds, the game play loop was easy to learn. I did forget to use most of my special abilities, but it helped to learn the game loop and add the abilities in for the next game. 

My poor Shellborn Knights did not stand a chance against the giant. They were quickly smashed to bits after charging out of the castle to defend their territory. My Trolls also didn't last long against the archers across the table. I did not have good luck with my melee warriors as they were quickly destroyed by Dellon's army. My range units faired much better! The cannon knocked out a unit of warriors in a few turns as they marched towards the castle walls. Once units actually got into the range of my archers, they managed to take some warriors out too. In the end, Dellon's elite unit did make it through the gates of the castle. Quickly they slaughtered my archers and only the cannon remained. Luckily, the cannon blasted the away the last enemy and the castle remained in the hands of the Drowned Maw Marauders. 

After my first game, I definitely want to play more! Looking forward to my next game using more of my custom kit bashed units.