Dragon Rampant: Rescue (or Capture) the Civilians!

 

    How would my Wood Elves fight as small, 6-man units of Scouts instead of 'mixed weapons' units?

We had four games of Dragon Rampant! going side by side this past Sunday for our regular game night. Most of the armies taking the field would be in their first battle (or at least the first for one of our DR! evenings). It would be the first appearance on a Sunday evening  for my Wood Elf army, who would be matched against Keith's Chaos army, also taking the field for the first time. Next to us, Mike S had created a new Greek Mythological list, which would battle Mike W's High Elves that he'd borrowed from Keith. Andy was also fielding a new army for him, a Woodland one featuring Hobbits and Ents. He would square off against Allen's Orcs. On the octagon table, Joel's Desert Goblins would face the army of the Evil Jungle Princess Salunga, yet a new iteration of Tom's beastmen.

    Sunday night's festivities with 4 games of Dragon Rampant! side by side (photo by Andy S)

I created the scenario we were playing, calling it "Rescue (or Capture) the Civilians!" It was inspired by a Lion Rampant scenario and each board featured four civilian figures. The players would want to move towards and take control of them before their opponents. Each was worth 1, 2, or 3 Glory points (DR! terminology for victory points). The civilians started roughly in the middle of the board and would move at the start of each player's turn a random direction and distance. Players would also get points for destroying or routing enemy units, of course. The civilians were meant to give them some tactical problems to consider besides the enemy army.

    Keith's Chaos Heavy Riders backed up by a Greater Warbeast Demon with spellcasting & Cunning

    Other half of Keith's center, another unit of Heavy Riders & his Chaos Lord with Elite Infantry

In our game, Keith's Chaos warriors and my Wood Elves couldn't be more different. He had only five units (none of which could shoot), while mine had nine. Here were our army's compositions:

• Chaos Warriors 
• Warlord with Elite Infantry @6AP
• Demon Lord - Greater Warbeast with Cunning and Level 2 Spellcaster @10AP  
• Chaos Knights - Elite Riders @ 6AP
• 2 units of Chaos Heavy Riders @8AP 

    Right wing of the Wood Elves with 2 units of Scouts & the Birds of the Forest, alongside the center

    Left wing of the Elves - Heavy Riders, 2 Scout units (one in trees already), & Heavy Elven Foot

• Wood Elves
• 4 units of Scouts @ 8AP
• 3 units of Heavy Foot (1 with Warlord, 2 with Level 1 Spellcasters) @14AP
• Elven Cavalry - Heavy Riders @4AP 
• Birds of the Forest - Lesser Warbeasts with Flying, Weak, and Cowardly @4AP 

    Wood Elven Cavalry trots out to face off against the much heavier Chaos elite knights in the distance

So, it was the classic Quantity vs. Quality matchup. After my first game, I had been unhappy with my infantry fielded as Light Foot with mixed weapons. Since they are wood elves, I felt they should fight more effectively in terrain, not less (Light Foot are penalized in melee when in rough terrain). So, I was trying something new with my archers field as small, 6-figure units of Scouts. I had never used Scouts before, but knew they should try to stick close to the terrain, where they were more survivable. One of my spellcasters chose Crimson magic (to be able to blast away at enemy at range), and  the other chose Magenta, chiefly to be able to enhance my Scouts shooting or my heavy foot's melee ability.

    Once the Chaos lord stopped his advance short of their range, the Scouts emerge from the trees

Keith was the attacker, so deployed first. His center was composed of his two Heavy Rider units on either side of his Elite Infantry. Behind the battle line was the big scary Demon (Greater Warbeast). He deployed his Elite Knights to the right to outflank me. The battlefield had four medium sized patches of woods, two on each half of the table. I lined two Scouts units each to occupy the woods on my left and right, while the heavy foot stretched across my center between them. The foot with the spellcasters were up front line while the warlord's foot bodyguard supported them from behind. Further to their rear were my Cavalry. The birds of the forest were on the right, positioned to support the Scouts.

    The Chaos Demon charges impetuously into a company of Heavy Elven Foot, who push him back

Keith's warband initially marched forward, but after their second move halted. They saw my Scouts infiltrating into the woods, and didn't want to move into the forest to face them OR get within their 12" of their shooting range. My army was not succeeding in its movement rolls like Keith's was, so my advance was in fits and starts. Our group plays a relatively common modified version of the activation system that the author introduced in his Rebels and Patriots rules. Rather than forfeiting your turn immediately when one unit fails to activate, you are given an opportunity to activate each unit every turn. You can still fail and do nothing (which my army did often enough in this game), but your turn doesn't immediately end with the other units not getting a chance. We feel that there is enough randomness in DR! with the shooting, combat, and magic system. You don't need to have the game thrown because one player fails his first activation for several turns in a row!

    Elven archers, cavalry, and heavy foot close in on the demon, who the Elf Warlord says must DIE!

That said, our modified system DOES make less expensive units like Scouts, Light Foot, and archers more effective than they might be otherwise. It also helps armies composed of lots of low-cost units perform better than they would be under the standard activation system. However, we figure that as long as everyone is aware of that, we are on a level playing field. In our game, Keith was having second thoughts about my four units of archers. With three of his five units counting as mounted, he felt they tilted the battle against him. So, the Chaos Lord refused to advance any further. He had snatched up three of the four civilians already and was ahead on points. In essence, he was saying, "Your move, Mr. Pointy Ears!" Knowing that I could shoot 12" but his Riders or Knights could charge no more than 10", my Scouts began to advance out of the woods and use the Skirmish ability to move and fire on the enemy. 

    2 units of Elven heavy foot march forward, ready to do battle with the hesitant forces of Chaos

My wizard tried to enchant the arrows of the Scouts to make their fire even more effective. Scouts normally hit on 5+ on each d6, or "6" if Skirmishing. The spell "Sharp Darts" would enable me to re-roll all of my misses. The Elven enchantress was doing her part. Over the course of the game, she successfully cast the spell five times. However, every time she did that, the enhanced unit of Scouts would immediately fail its Shooting action. Not once or twice, but five times in a row! Not once in the entire game did I get a chance to re-roll any of my shots. Doing some quick math, it appears that there is about a 1% chance of that occurring! I also kept track of the times my attacks scored hits but were one short of the armor level of my target (thus, no casualties). Over the course of the game, I did that 12 times. Augghh! Shades of the last outing with my Elves! 

    Demon lord slain, the Elves scent victory and advance all along the battlefield

Keith then sprang the trap that the Demon Lord had cooked up in his crafty, evil mind. He cast Transpose (which requires an 8+ on 2d6, incidentally), switching his demon's position with of one of my Scout units in the woods on the right. For some reason, I forgot the Demon Lord was his spellcaster, and we allowed it to follow up the spell with an immediate charge into the other Scout unit in that woods he'd appeared alonside (with a puff of brimstone, of course!). Of course, the Scouts failed their 7+ on 2d6 Evade roll, and the Demon Lord crashed into them. Perhaps realizing he shouldn't have been able to cast a spell AND charge, Keith rolled abominably, not wiping out the Scouts as he could have. He did win the combat, though, and scooped up the fourth and final civilian from the Scouts. Meanwhile, the Chaos Heavy Riders charged the magically misplaced Scouts out in the open. They were j-u-s-t over 2" away from the Wood Elves. These Scouts were a bit more inspired and did Evade, staying just out of reach of the cavalry. The Elven warlord saw the danger the Demon Lord presented in the midst of his battleline and immediately threw every unit he could against it. The birds of the forest charged in and caused two hits on the demon, driving him roaring out of the woods. The enchantress targeted him with magic, archers shot arrows at him. However, this was my time of the game where I was missing doing damage by one on most of my attacks. The next turn, the Demon Lord -- subject to "Wild Charge" -- crashed into one of the units of Elven heavy foot. Halberds twirled, two-handed swords sliced, and spears impaled the demon, driving him back, again. 

    Early stages of the Woodland Folk vs. Allen's Orcs & Goblins (photo by Andy)

More archery and spells failed to finish him off, though. Eventually, the Elven cavalry moved up to be in charge range. I knew I couldn't let the demon escape. Keith was up +8 points with the civilians, and was beginning to pull his battle line back towards his board edge. We needed to kill this 10-point Greater Warbeast to claim victory! The demon noticed the approaching cavalry and wild charged into them. Luckily, the cavalry counter-charged and did enough damage to finish the demon off. With the Chaos Lord disconcerted by the potential effects of Elven archery, the rest of his army continued to fall back.

    After their drubbing, Allen's Orcs may call Andy's stalwart spear, 'Nasty hobbitses!' (photo by Andy)

On the left, my two units of Scouts had damaged one of his Heavy Riders units, taking it down to one remaining strength point. It finally shook itself out of its stupor and galloped back out of their range. Keith made it clear his army was withdrawing and not coming any further forward. The elves were willing to chase them down with archery and spells, but there was nothing to prevent his forces from simply marching off the table. So, we agreed to call the game. The elves had avenged their defeat at the hands of the Bonefish Band a few weeks earlier. 

    Ents close in on Orc halberdiers, while the hobbits draw nearer in the distance (photo by Andy)

Meanwhile, the Greeks and High Elves on the battlefield next to us skirmished almost to a stalemate. They'd split the civilians between them, and only one unit was lost by the Greeks. This gave the edge to the High Elves, who eked out a victory. I believe Keith's "Shooty Elves" (as he calls them) are now 3-0 under various commanders. Keith constructed the list so that every unit shoots. The foot are mixed weapon light foot (like my Elves were in the first battle) and the heavy riders are equipped with bows, too. On the next battlefield further down, the clash between Andy's Woodland Folk and Allen's Orcs & Goblins was a slaughter. Andy said his forces destroyed or routed every unit in Allen's army!

    One of Salunga's units with control of a civilian - 'Lady Greensleeves,' I was told her name was!

There was one game still going on, though, so I drifted over to kibbitz and watch the match between Joel's borrowed Desert Goblins and Salunga, the Evil Jungle Princess. It was a bitter struggle. Tom's beastmen had six units, all of which had a spellcaster. He was having my dice rolling luck, though, and failing to cast fireballs amidst the goblins' ranks time and time again. Joel has played Keith's Desert Goblins a number of times and has gotten quite canny with them. In fact, after this weekend, he's tied for the second-most victories in our games of Dragon Rampant, having a 3-2 record. He used his savvy and pulled out a victory here, too.  

    Frustrated at the ineffectiveness of their magic spells, Tom's beastmen charge into Joel's goblins

I continue to enjoy DR! rules, and it seems they've really caught on in our group. More new armies are making it to the tabletop. Players seem intrigued by what they can create with this very open toolbox list building system. I look forward to fielding my Elves again, soon. It was great to see the army deployed on the tabletop after months of painting them up!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 210
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 166

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 71