Dragon Rampant – Skirmish Fantasy with freedom to dream.

I started playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle with 4th edition, and while I stopped playing during 7th due to the slide towards rather unbalanced army books, and skipped 8th due to the many problems it had, I really enjoyed 6th and had hoped to return to a new, more balanced edition.

I was actually looking forward to Age of Sigmar, right up until I read the rules. I even tried to rewrite them to make them better, but gave up when I realised I was putting more effort into fixing them than GW had into writing them. I don’t owe GW my money or my time. If they can’t be bothered to create a good product that people want to buy and play, then that is up to them.

So I have a Dwarf, Brettonnian and Goblin army. I’m no longer tied to a games system. The problem I had with 8th was the necessity for giant units of grunts to gain steadfast. I saw battles that consisted of 1 unit of 120 goblins, and then just aracknok spiders and heroes.

I want a game where it is practical to paint an army to completion in a reasonable amount of time, where it is easy to transport, and where I can have some fun with the modelling, and the game is good, balanced and fun to play.

With the death of Warhammer Fantasy, and with the problems Age of Sigmar has, I am open to trying new things. I know Kings of War is doing very well now. I know Frostgrave has taken off like a rocket, and I have bought into that as well.

 I now strongly believe that the future for fantasy gaming is armies used for multiple systems, and that for the rank and flank games armies will split from being tied to rules + models from one manufacturer.

The big fish in the rank and flank pond, Games Workshop, is gone and the community is splitting in many different directions. With no ‘standard’ game, fantasy gamers will find pick up play and club play much harder to get, which explains why Age of Sigmar has obliterated fantasy gaming where I am. Some people were really enthusiastic and gave it a try. They aren’t enthusiastic anymore.

So that is where I am coming from and my biases.

So what about Dragon Rampant? Osprey Publishing have emerged recently as a rules powerhouse for skirmish gaming, with Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen Cityand Bolt Action: World War II Wargames Rules being published by them. They have been quick to provide niche products for different historical eras, and Lion Rampant Medieval Wargaming Rules (Osprey Wargames 8) was produced to cover the War of the Roses/100 Years War era. It was very well received, and because it includes points values and freedom to create your own army lists, players could tailor it to different historical periods. Some players started using it to play fantasy games.

The Review

The book itself is a high quality product of the sort you would expect from a major publisher. There are a nine pieces of art including the cover, and all other pictures are photographs of miniatures.

GW aren’t present, most likely for legal reasons, but Mirliton, Mantic, Grenadier, Reaper, Perry Miniatures, Minifigs, Wargames Factory, EM4, Standard Games, Copplestone, Demonworld, Fireforge, Artizan and Vendel are, with the Mantic and Copplestone models looking like photos from the manufacturer.

It gives you an idea of the range of manufacturers available, and demonstrates 15mm multibasing with Copplestone and Demonworld.

The rules are 14 pages. The additional fantasy specific rules are another seven. The rest is building your warband, example army lists and scenarios. The rules set is tight. The only question I had after reading it was whether scouts rolled 12 attack dice, and they do, they are so cheap because they die to a stiff breeze and the unit has 6 strength points.

So how does the game work?

You create a warband using the design rules. I’ll give an example below of a 30 point warband.

Giant Undead Construct – Greater Warbeast, Ponderous, Venomous, Undead – 10 points Necromancer – Heavy Foot + Spellcaster – 8 points
Armoured Skeletons – Heavy Foot, Undead – 4 points
Skeleton Warriors – Light Foot, Undead – 3 points
Skeleton Archers – Light Missiles, Undead – 4 points
Zombies – Ravenous Horde, Undead – 1 point

So what models would you need? A big undead monster, a necromancer (though you could include a couple of bodyguards), 6 armoured skeletons, 12 skeleton warriors, 12 archers and 12 zombies. 44 models, not that many to paint. The big monster also makes a nice centrepiece unit.

A 24 point Dwarf Warband might go like this.

Dwarf Thane – Elite Foot – 6 points
Dwarf Elite Guard – Elite Foot – 6 points
Dwarf Warriors – Heavy Foot – 4 points
Dwarf Crossbowmen – Heavy Missiles – 4 points
Dwarf Rangers with bows – Scouts – 2 points

So what models for this force? A Dwarf lord, 6 heavily armoured dwarves, 12 warriors, 12 crossbows, 6 scouts. 37 models in 4 units plus a character. Again, not that much to paint.

Hopefully you are getting the idea of just how much freedom you get in creating your force. The game works by giving your unit’s orders to activate them, and you activate your units until you fail, and then your opponent takes their turn. This means the order in which you activate your units becomes very important, and like Blood Bowl, risk management is an important part of the game. You roll for activation on 2d6, and units have different scores to beat to do different things. A unit of elite foot will attack or move on a 5+, but a ravening horde will attack on a 7+ and move on a 6+. This means you may not activate all your units in a turn, and the zombies included in the undead force above may just chill for much of the game. It also means play flows well.

The rules have units of 6 or 12 strength points. Once a unit is reduced to half its strength points it rolls half as many dice to attack and defend. Strength points can be represented through models or with markers like dice. In the examples above the Giant Undead Construct would have 6 strength points and be one model, while the skeleton warriors would have 12 strength points and be 12 models. You can have a unit of 3 trolls have 12 strength points and be bellicose infantry (good for attacking, not for much else). Remove a troll for every 4 strength points lost.

Units have armour between 1 and 4, and based on the number of hits caused during combat you start to lose strength points. If you are armour 2 and take 5 hits you lose two strength points (3 if you are undead, but undead don’t take courage tests).

Morale is important and Courage tests are normally how units are destroyed. Once you start taking heavy casualties in a unit you stack up minuses to your courage, making you more likely to break and less likely to rally. Once a standard 12 strength point infantry unit has lost 8 strength points, it isn’t going to pass a Courage test on anything less than box cars.

This mechanic means that elite infantry and cavalry can still rally when reduced to 1 or 2 strength points, as elite riders have courage 3+ and will rally on a 7 or better even when reduced to 2 strength points. Elite units all have better armour, and are less vulnerable to being chipped away by missile fire. An Elite Riders or Greater warbeast simply shrugs off three hits from missile fire with no casualties, whereas Light or Heavy foot would lose a strength point and have to take a courage test. But Elite Riders are 6 points whereas light foot are 3.

Lore? There isn't any. Add your own. Play games in the Chaos wastes, the world of Dragon Age or any environment you care to create. With a solid set of rules you can play competitively (and actually try to win) and the game is fair. In the Undead list I created you have a lot of eggs in one basket with the Necromancer and Construct, and other players might be fielding three units of Elite Riders, or four units of heavy infantry and a unit of scouts for the same price, and if you go elite heavy that can cause you problems against an opponent who has taken scouts, and light infantry, and can lose units and keep going.

In terms of balance the only addition I would make is restricting the Summoner, which you pay 3 points for anyway, to summoning only units bought as part of the army already or Ravenous Hordes with the Undead rule (ie zombies). There are advantages to it, as you can use it to 'drop pod' in units during the game, but restricting the 'free' units to ravenous hordes prevents free units of Elite Riders or Giant Warbeasts popping up.

Dragon Rampant is the sort of game I was looking for from Age of Sigmar. The rules are simple but there is depth to them, it is well balanced and plays quickly, and army selection is meaningful, because you have to make choices and trade offs.

Is it worth £11.38 for Dragon Rampant - Fantasy Wargaming Rules (Osprey Wargames)or half that on Kindle? Absolutely it is.