Defending the Erlking's Realm

Today at my club I played my first game of Dragon Rampant and got to put a whole bunch of the fantasy figures I've recently been painting onto the table. This is not my first game of the various "Rampant" series of games, I've played Lion Rampant since if first came out and even devised my own Shieldwall Rampant variation for Dark Ages games. But this was my first game of DR and I really enjoyed it.

There have been tensions on the borderlands. Dwarfs have been seen prowling, probably sniffing around for gold and gems hidden beneath the ground. And not just any ground... The Erlking's ground! 

So these greedy little runts were seen off by the faerie folk with secret arrows and fae magics. But now a dwarven warlord has marched his warband across the Erlking's borders and they must be stopped. The Erlking has sent some of his folk to stop them lead by the wily Rosy Knight...

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My opponent today was Andrew. I haven't played against him before but he refereed & ran some of us through a game of Sharp Practice late last year. We played a simple set 'em up and fight scenario. Nothing grand. It was mainly to get use to the game and see what worked and what didn't.

My forces were: 

The Rosy Knight and Blueflame - Greater Warbeast

A Bog Troll - Elite foot (the goblins are just there to represent his Strength Points).

Hellebore the Fairy & the Daoine Sidhe - Wizardling, Light Foot with Invisibility,

Faun Spearmen - Heavy Infantry

Faun Bows - Scouts, and

Centaurs - Heavy Riders.

The Dwarves were mainly Heavy Foot - Elite Foot - Heavy Missiles. The leader and elites had some magical weapon and armour upgrades too.

Let the Battle Commence:

Both sides stood ready across an open field. The fae folk, arrayed in all the colour of their diverse races, stood and watched the dark, silent lines of the dwarves. 

Dwarven trumpets sounded and orders were shouted but nothing happened (failed activation roll). Then the dragon roared a challenge and the Erlking's folk moved toward their enemy. 

Still the Dwarves remained as still as the very stones of the earth as the forest folk moved towards their silent ranks. (Two more failed activation rolls saw Andrew doing nothing for 3 consecutive turns). 

But, just as the the Rosy Knight moved forward to unleash the attack a brazen, darven horn rang out only to be followed by a roar from their infernal thunder-sticks. The insidious weapons sorely wounded the dragon Blueflame (8 hits and the loss of 2 Strength Points!). The percussion of the mighty blast and the cloud of dirty smoke caused by the accursed weapons caused a lull in the battle as both sides regained their senses. (We both made successive failed activation rolls two or three times each).

Finally the dragon roared in again and let loose a blast of fiery blue flame at the dwarves killing some of their number, whilst the fauns and the Bog Troll moved towards their enemies The sidhe moved forward and Hellebore the wizardling fairy cast a fog of Dragon's Breath over the dwarven shooters to thwart the aim of their deadly weapons.

On the left the faun scouts had moved quickly and peppered a band of heavy dwarven foot to little effect as they waited for the centaurs to ready their charge.

And the centaurs were as good as their word and they charged into the dwarves, killing several of them, driving them back and causing them to become Battered. 

In the center the dwarven warlord had given his troops the order to advance and so they did. This was a critical juncture of the battle and The Rosy Knight failed the first activation of the round which left the whole of the center vulnerable to the advancing dwarves. 

Dwarven foot charged into the fauns and drove them back in good order with some losses which made them vulnerable to a second unit of dwarf missiles perched on a hill on the dwarf lord's left. They took more casualties and became battered. They were not doing well. The bog troll, likewise was shot by these hilltop runts and took some minor damage.

On the left, the centaurs and dwarves continued their fight with the centaurs routing the darven foot from the table. But they themselves were fought down to a single rider who failed a courage test and left the battlefield shortly afterwards.

Unfortunately Blueflame & the Rosy Knight got caught flatfooted by some dwarf infantry. As a warbeast, the dragon is ferocious in attack but vulnerable if charged itself. Repeated charges by the dwarves saw the dragon reduced again and again until it only had one Strength Point remaining.

Hellebore the fairy managed to cast a Bog Thee spell on the dwarf warlord slowing his movement so that he couldn't get into the fight. On the right the elite dwarven foot and the troll began to slug it out. 

The dragon managed to get clear of the dwarven foot but that left the faun spearmen in the way of their axes and they were hit again, worn down and then failed a courage test (with a -7 to their roll) and fled the field.

The troll was pushed back and then pushed back again. Some dwarves died under it's might blows but eventually it too had had enough and lumbered from the field.

That left the Army of the Erlking with a severely wounded dragon, the faun scouts and the Daoine Sidhe. Whilst these troops were unscathed they were not strong enough to mount any sort of offensive action so they had no other choise but to leave the field to the dwarven invaders.

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Conclusion:

It was a good game. A lot of fun with a very narrative feel to it. Many dice rolls went awry for both of us. For my opponent. most of his bad rolls took place at the start. Unfortunately for me, most of my bad rolling took place towards the end. Oh well.

As is usual, I try not to write a turn by turn type of battle report. I make up most of this narrative stuff as I'm writing, although I do name all of my troops to give them some sort of context. This game took about 20 odd turns or more. Some turns were long, some short and some very short. Either way, I was more than happy because I got to put a whole bunch of my new figures on the table and play a game with them. Win or lose I'm not worried as long as it looks good, we have a good game and I get plenty of good photos to post here on the blog.