Five Players, 10 Delvers on Rescue Mission in Moonrest

 

    Oslac the Fighter & Leof the Brute are assaulted by orcs in our big game of Four (10?) Delvers

The goal of cooperating with Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More on revamping David Bezio's fantasy skirmish rules, Four Delvers, was to see if it would work for my Sunday evening gang. Typically, we have 6-7 players, and the original rules were written with only four adventurers in mind. So, it would need some expansion to accommodate. My plan was to have each player control two Delvers, so with six of us present this past Sunday for the playtest, I would have 10 Delvers on the table. I decided not to play myself, though it is a cooperative game and no GM is really necessary. 

    Somewhere inside Moonrest are 3 shepherd boys, kidnapped by orc raiders - can you free them?

I created a dozen characters to give the players some choice. Rich and I had greatly expanded the original Fighter, Wizard, Elf, and Dwarf characters to include a Barbarian, Cleric, Thief, Brute, and others. The core of my original adventuring gang from my two solo games was chosen, so Oslac and Company would once again be exploring the abandoned city of Moonrest. The scenario was that Orc raiders had kidnapped several shepherd boys (along with some sheep, of course), and were dragging them back to their haunt in Moonrest. The adventuring party tracked them to the city, spied out where they were encamped, and concocted a plan to free the captive boys -- if they were still alive. Except this was our Sunday Evening Gaming group, and they skipped the whole "plan" stage and just lined up on the board edge they were sitting closest to and charged in!

    My group of five players for the play test: 'Plan? We don't need no stinking plan...charge!'

That might have worked as a plan, but it had one noticeable flaw. Joel and Mike S didn't have a "fighter type" among their four Delvers. Joel controlled the "halfling" Setch and the cleric, Friar Horace. Mike had the Elf Erevan and thief Cain. Their best two in melee would be the elf and cleric, with Setch and Cain being the weakest with only 1 Hit Point each. On the other side of the table, there was a bit more beef. Jenny controlled the dwarf Baldur and the ranger Minatur, Allen the barbarian Callum and wizard Malik, while Keith had Fighter Oslac and the new Brute, Leof. Lots more fighter types on this side of the table!

    The 19 orc defenders were deployed randomly throughout the 3'x3' board, including in this square

In an attempt to streamline the game process, Rich and I had made the Wound Table more deterministic. Rather than being able to take an unlimited number of Wounds after dropping to 0 Hit Points, monsters could take a maximum three, but would likely be knocked out of action on their second wound with the modifiers were had created. However, the possibility of rolling a 8-12 on 1d12 still existed, so models taking their first Wound could still be knocked out. Rich had also wanted to limit Wandering Monsters to one on-board at a time. So, my thought was that I would need to beef up the initial monsters by about 50%, with those changes. That mean 19 orc enemies were randomly deployed on the table, 7 of which had bows.

    Setch the Sidhe 'halfling' and Erevan the Elf occupy a ruined building & begin shooting orcs

The Delver's pregame scouting of the orc location led them to believe the creatures had the shepherd boys stashed somewhere inside the 10 buildings on the 3'x3' tabletop. When a Delver searched the inside of a building, they would roll a six-sided die: 1-2 they found a treasure token; 3-4 sheep, 5-6 one of the shepherd boys. Each player also received one token for a free re-roll of a die during the game. They also randomly determined their player order, resulting in Joel and Mike's weaker force coming on first. The lack of strategizing likely handicapped the players, along with what would prove to be awful die rolling. Or, should I say, their excellent rolling for the monsters? Time and again, they would roll successful "Battle" rolls against the Orcs only to have the nasty creatures make their Save rolls. I insisted they roll for the enemy, since this was meant to be a cooperative game, and I didn't want it to have to do all the rolling for the enemies.

    Minastur the ranger & Baldur the dwarf are beset by orcs, but Callum rushes to their aide

Under the rules, the Delvers and monsters alternating activating a figure until all models on the board have activated. For the Delvers, we had each player activate one of their characters in turn going around the table, then their second figure. In between, of course, a monster would activate. Since the orcs outnumbered the players, we would resolve the remaining half dozen or so at the end of each turn. The players split up, with Mike and Joel arriving on table and occupying a ruined building in the middle of their table edge. They immediately began shooting at the orcs, who quickly closed in on them or began to shoot back. Soon, four Delvers were crowded inside their little "Alamo," doing their best to fight off the attacking orcs.

    Oslac (quartered blue shield) is the toughest fighter in the game & immediately bloodies his enemies

Keith brought his two warriors in on one street, while Allen and Jenny entered in the alleyway behind the church. All were immediately swarmed by orcs when spotted. The "A.I." for the monsters has them advance relentlessly towards the Delvers unless armed with a missile weapon. In that case, once within range, they fire away. If Delvers come within 6", they fire and back off. I think the A.I worked fine. There were only a couple times when it seemed the rules had the orcs not being clever enough. This happened on Keith's front, whose Brute and Fighter blocked off a narrow street, creating a bottleneck of orcs behind those engaged with the Delvers. I solved this by having a couple of the orcs circle the buildings to attempt to fall upon their rear.

    Wounded, Malik the Wizard is stalked by orcs, but Callum bravely rushes to his aide

Only one Delver was knocked out of action. Malik, roaming about his side of the board rather freely instead of sheltering behind the fighters, was targeted by orc archers and eventually fell to the street, riddled with arrows. Several others reached 0 Hit Points and had to make rolls on the Wound table when they were hit again. More than half of the players cashed in their re-roll tokens to save their Delvers. When the wandering monster (a troll) finally showed up, this prompted the "Alamo" to be abandoned by Erevan, Setch, Horace, and Cain. This actually allowed Cain to find one of the shepherd boys when he sought refuge inside a building. Horace made up for his excellent rolling in my last solo game and struggled to heal Erevan, who was down to 0 Hit Points for the last one-third of the game or so. Joel and Mike did a great job, though, keeping their under strength force alive, though. I don't blame them for fleeing rather than facing the troll when it finally wandered over to their makeshift stronghold.

    Joel & Allen's 'Alamo' defensive position is getting crowded when joined by friar Horace & Cain

Jenny's characters, augmented by Callum the barbarian, did a good job holding off the orcs in the alley beside the church. Keith, though ringed by orcs thirsting for his Delvers' blood, slew more enemies than any of the others. I feel the Fighter is the single strongest Delver type, so was not surprised he slowly and steadily racked up the kills. However, Keith was plagued numerous times by orcs saving against his successful blows an unlikely number of times. He fully got to experience the frustration I felt might be inherent in the system.

    It took several turns, but finally a wandering troll showed up, drawn by the sounds of fighting

How did the game go? The players said it went fine. They seemed less bothered by the frustration than I felt they might be. Keith admitted it did get to him at times, but seemed philosophical about it. Bad die rolls or lucky opponents happen in wargaming. We discussed how the rules worked out for about 20 minutes after the game. Had I overestimated how many monsters would be needed with the changes to the combat system Rich and I had made? Possibly. I used 50% more than the equivalent number would call for. I felt the limit on Wandering Monsters would really hamper the monsters. I had 3-4 show up in each of my previous games, with 2-3 on the table at the same time. The troll didn't come on until turn 3 or 4, and his "Stupid" trait meant he spent one of those turns scratching his head, wondering where all those Delvers that were holed up in the ruin had gone.

    Though orcs are bloodied all around them, the ring of foes around Oslac & Leof seems not to falter

For myself, I am still not 100% sold on the mechanics. Many, many games using a Saving roll. However, when you are in control of only two characters instead of an army or large force, enemy saves seem to have a bigger impact. Time and again, Keith would roll for Oslac, have him inflict a hit or two hits on an orc, only to have it save against all. Then, the monsters would counter-attack, inflict a hit on a Delver, only to have the Delver save, too. Four rolls, but a whole lot of "no effect" going on! Like I said, I think I was more bothered by the potential frustration of this system than my five players were. Still, we got through at least 8 turns in three hours. However, the players were not near to completing their mission. There were still a good number of orcs on the table -- enough to prevent the players from breaking off a Delver or two to begin searching rooms (only four buildings were searched, finding one shepherd boy, two treasures, and some sheep). 

    Another look at medieval Moonrest before the battle begins, with orcs patrolling the alleys

We'll see, though. I reported back to Rich Brown, so I may have him take over 100% of the rules tweaking for awhile. I'm still tempted to try a variant of my Mean Streets gang warfare rules to see how they play out for a small scale medieval or fantasy skirmish. So, that will likely be the next thing I try. I'd already crunched a bunch of numbers and written a few pages of things down for a fantasy Mean Streets variant. Maybe it is time to get that on the table and compare how the two games go? Stay tuned to see what comes up!

In the meantime, my next batch of Elves is all but done. So, I will likely be posting pictures of them soon. I'm working on another medieval building, too. So, now that I am back from vacation, I should get back to posting more regularly!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 85

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 56 

Battle of the Gems - 6-player Good vs. Evil Dragon Rampant Game

    Tom's fast-moving giant lizards (Lesser Warbeasts) with 3 gems in tow charge Keith's Frogmen

I decided to create a two-sided, mutiplayer scenario for Dragon Rampant using the classic Good vs. Evil fantasy trope. However, I didn't want this to be a standard game, with one side along one table edge and their enemies on the opposite. I felt that would mostly end up being three, separate 1-on-1 matchups. How to do something different that would force each contingent on a side to make difficult choices? I came up with an idea that would intersperse each side's armies in deployment areas along the perimeter of the table. So, a Good army would be flanked by an Evil army on each side, and so on. 

    Interspersed along the table edge, 3 Evil players wage war over magical gems against 3 Evil players

Here was the storyline I created for the battle: "Long ago, the wealthy trading town of Sigilmesa was buried suddenly by the sands -- much like a desert Atlantis. All of its wealth and magic disappeared beneath the sand, along with its people. However, when the great sandstorms tear through the desert, the city's ruins are often exposed. On the surface, some of its great treasures are scattered across the sand until they are eventually buried by the shifting sands, again. The greatest of these treasures are its incredibly beautiful and magical gems. So, when news of the desert sandstorms spreads, entire armies race to be the first to arrive..."

    My map of the battle, showing deployment areas, difficult terrain, sandstorms & gem locations

I placed 14 gems in between the players' deployment areas. A unit could pick one up as part of a movement or skirmish action. They dropped them if routing off-table, retreating from melee, or if destroyed by magic or spells. A unit defeating another in melee could also pick up any gems dropped by their opponent as part of their victory.  Gems were worth 5 VPs each, and each side also scored VPs in equal to the Army Points of enemy units destroyed or routed off-table. There were also three standstorms on the table that armies would have to contend with. At the start of each side's turn, all three would move 2d6 inches, each in a random direction. If they made contact with a unit, the unfortunate troops suffered a 12d6 attack, hitting on 5+ on each dice. 

    'Good' Allen deploys his army of Human knights ready to march out & dispute possession of gems

We had six players on an 8'x4' table, so it would be close quarters and armies mixing it up almost immediately. No deployment area was within 12" of another, but whichever side went second might easily be within charge range of enemies. The armies were Orcs, Goblins, "Wheel of Time" Beastmen, Frogmen with their dinosaur allies, Human knights, and Human Steppe Tribes. Tom declared his Beastmen were more evil than Evil, so he teamed up with the orcs and goblins. So far, Tom has given his Beastmen army a complete makeover after every game as he tries out various troop types, spells, and fantastic abilities in his (to date) unsuccessful attempts to "break the system." His foray this game into hacking the system was his unit of Bellicose Foot which costs 10 army points (1/3 of his force). Tom stacked "Berserk" (re-roll 6's in melee for more chances of hits) and "Enchanted Blades" (plus 3 dice in melee) onto the already potent troop type to see how it fared.

    Evil Tom, left, and his Beastmen know they will probably wage war with Good Keith's Frogs, right

The game started off with the Steppe Tribesmen (Mike S's Avar army) suffering from terrible activation rolls. His Froggy ally, Keith, had no such trouble, though. Keith's troops raced towards the center of the board and to each side in an attempt to snatch up as many gems as possible. Allen's knights moved a bit more cautiously, eyeing the orcs on their right and goblins on their left. On the Evil half of the turn, Tom's beastmen stormed across the battlefield, too, his Lesser warbeasts snagging gems with their enhanced speed. Joel's goblins also suffered from poor movement activation rolls, but were able to announce their presence to Allen's knights with the fire of his rocket battery (heavy missiles). Mike W's orcs advanced from their side edge deployment area cautiously, as well.

    Mike S's historical Avar army simply added a couple spellcasters to become a Dragon Rampant force

It wasn't long before the sandstorms began to claim some victims. One raced through the goblin's greater warbeasts, who were then subsequently charged by a unit of knights. This saw the game's first destroyed unit. The goblin's cousins, Mike W's orc army, also was struck by more than its share of whirling sandstorms. As Keith's Frogmen closed in on the orcs, they took casualties from the scouring sands, too. The orcs closed to within missile range and began loosing arrows at any human or frogman that came close to them. The Frogs continued to spread out all over the table, grabbing magical gems. They would be aided in that goal by an oversight that Tom admitted to late in the game. By giving his lesser warbeasts "Fast," increasing their move to 14", he was able to grab quite a few gems. However, that left him with their increased Wild Charge range of many enemies. So, he would pick up gems only to hand them over to his opponents in lost melees. In one case, Tom lost 3 gems to Keith's Frogmen heavy foot in melee! 

    'That doesn't look good!' A sandstorm boils up out of the desert and heads towards Joel's goblins

At one point, I commented to Tom that his beastmen seemed to be having a frustrating evening, so far. When he wanted to close in for the kill on some of Mike's horsemen, their sorceresses would either create a magical wall between them or freeze the beastmen motionless into place. His 10-point unit? It spent the first four turns just trying to get into contact with enemy, who simply withdrew and refused to let them charge into home. I think he told me that, over the course of the battle, he charged with the 10-point unit only once. And wouldn't you know? In that battle, he rolled poorly --  getting only one "6" on 15 dice! The enemy also chose to shoot at him instead of melee, so the most expensive unit on the table ended up causing very few casualties. That seemed to be the case for a lot of the high point units, though. Joel's greater warbeasts (8 points) were the first to die, while the orc's burrowing worm didn't show up till later in the game and did not accomplish much, either.

    After the goblin's giant lizards were buffeted by a sandstorm, Allen's knights charged in for the kill

I had asked the players to send me their lists ahead of time so that I could make up unit cards. As a unit was destroyed or routed off-table, I would collect the cards. It soon became obvious to me that the "Good" side was out to an early lead. Despite the bad activation rolls of the Steppe Horsemen, their units were holding firm on their flank of the battlefield. Keith's troops were all over the board, but didn't seem to be taking many casualties, either. As usual, Allen's lost a couple of his 6-figure units of knights, as they advanced beyond the support range of their infantry archers, hand gunners, and spearmen. 

    Facing two armies, the Steppe tribesmen frequently used magical barriers to keep the enemy at bay

The players all seemed to be having a good time, though. I had cautioned them against creating armies of huge numbers of small point value units, worrying this would slow the game down. They had listened, and most armies seemed to be composed of 6 or 7 units. Most of the gems were grabbed in the first few turns. After that, they changed hands only as a result of lost combats. I hadn't been tabulating which side had the most, but my guess was that Good was ahead in that category, too. As losses began to mount, or an army's horde of gems grew, all across the table, the forces began to back away from each other. They prepared to withdraw from the battlefield. When it seemed all six armies were done engaging enemy, I asked the players if they wanted to call the game. They agreed, and so I counted up the points. 

    Frustrated beastmen prepare to finally charge into a tribal unit of light riders

First, each Evil army was in possession of only one gem each -- 15 total points. The Good armies had 11 -- for 55 points! When tabulating losses, the trend continued. In the end, the Good armies combined for a win with a 3:1 advantage in points -- a decisive victory for Good over Evil. I thanked the players for bringing their armies -- Keith, in particular, had fielded three of the armies that were on the battlefield. I believe everyone continues to enjoy the rules, so I look forward to more evenings of Dragon Rampant! Maybe next time I will get to play, too...ha, ha!

    The orc's giant sand worm tunnels up to the surface & charges into Keith's unit of bullywogs

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 73

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48

    Keith's unit of Frogmen heavy foot, also armed with short range missiles, sight in on an enemy

    Seeing they are carrying a magical gem, goblin halberdiers charge into a unit of human light riders

 

    Keith's army of frogs, dinosaurs, and such were all over the center of the table snatching gems

What If There was a 2nd Edgehill in the English Civil War?

    Battle is joined between Royalists & Parliamentarians in a hypothetical English Civil War fight

My friend Mike S and his son Jason are really getting into the English Civil War in 28mm, lately. They've been shuttling boxes and boxes of troops to the prolific Ted Bender to be painted, then Mike (being retired), bases and flocks them for his son. Last year, Jason ran ECW games at both Origins Game Fair 2025 and Advance the Colors 2025. Folks who played in them seemed to enjoy it very much. We had play tested his Battle of the Severn scenario last year, but Jason wanted to run an even bigger game for us on Sunday evening.

    I expanded the table to 12' width and threw down my 2 six-foot fleece mats for Battle of Edgehill II 

I expanded my gaming table to its full 12' width and Jason set up four commands per side. The battle was a hypothetical one, postulating the two sides actually meeting for battle rather than maneuvering and then one force dissolving. We would fight it near the well-known Battle of Edgehill (it is well known because I have actually heard of it, not being a ECW buff...ha, ha!). So, it was the 2nd Battle of Edgehill in Jason's alternative and more interesting take on history.

    My command of five units of 'Trotters' -- units of horse that primarily fire their pistol when fighting

I was given the far left cavalry wing of the Parliamentarian army (which historically dissolved without striking a blow against the reborn Royalists). I had five units of six figures -- all of a type of horse known as Trotters. Our way of fighting would be to shoot our pistols at the bigger, meaner, and nastier five units of Gallopers deployed across from us. Mike S commanded them, and his tactic would be to charge in and force the engagement at sword point, which his troops were significantly better at than mine. We were using "Pikemen's Lament" -- the English Civil War rules set in the "Rampant" system by Daniel Mersey. 

    Closeup of Jason's English Civil War figures -- one of my Trotters looking foolishly confident!

To say that we enjoy his series of rules would probably be an understatement -- as any regular reader of Lead Legionaries could tell. This is the fourth of his series we've played in in February and March alone. We've done Dragon Rampant fantasy several times this year, played an American War of Independence game with Rebels and Patriots, used the Sci-Fi Xenos Rampant rules for a Vietnam convoy ambush, and now sicked mean old Gallopers on poor hapless Trotters in Pikemen's Lament. I told the guys that if we were real gluttons for punishment, we should try to sneak in another game of Medieval Lion Rampant and Colonial The Men Who Would be Kings! Not because the rules aren't good, but because each is slightly different and it is sometimes a challenge remembering what the tweaks are for the rules set you're playing. In fact, one player apologized in an email the day after the game for "cheating" and misplaying a rule. Turned out he had actually done it right -- he as confusing the game with Xenos!

    Our enemy on the left wing -- Mike's 5 Galloper units (2 of which cheated by wearing more armor!)

To my right, my Parliamentarian partner, Allen, would be trying to hold off the assault of Jenny's "forlorn hope" and more on his gun emplacement. Allen's mission was simpler than mine -- shoot the attackers down and maintain control of his fortifications. Jenny advanced fairly boldly across the field and the two were quickly exchanging shots. Each traded deadly blows. Keith led our center, and was marching across the field to drive Tom's Royalist scum from the field. Both commanded traditional pike and shot formations that were the bulk of the infantry in this war. Jason has each pike block of 12 figures flanked on either side by two shot units, also of a dozen figures. On the far right, Mike W -- recently returned from snowbirding in Portugal -- commanded a mixed infantry and cavalry force against Joel's force or mean, nasty Gallopers.

    To my right, the gun emplacement my fellow Parliamentarian Allen had sworn to hold against Jenny

As the battle opened, I quickly began to realize my five units were undermatched against Mike's five cavalry squadrons. You may have realized that already, though, with my emphasis on how big and nasty they were and how poor and hapless we were...ha, ha! So, I began to do what any flank commander would do when he feels he's overmatched. I began to swing my forces backwards to refuse our left flank. I was hoping Mike would fail some activation rolls and that his solid line of horse would become broken up and attack me piecemeal. Lately, Mike and I have been razzing each other about whose die rolling has been worse. In our DR! games, he has been the clear winner. However, tonight was his night to make up for the last several months of below average dice rolling! Mike did not fail an activation and kept closing with my troops in a solid line. No chance of ganging up, or shooting up an overextended squadron.

    Fearing tyranny of Royalists & the deadly 'maths' in their favor, my horse swing to refuse our flank

Jason insisted that the Caracole was my Trotter's advantage. Under this rule, we can move half of our distance and shoot at the enemy. Then, for the same activation, he said, we can charge in after the shot -- essentially striking twice (but in melee we'd roll only half our normal dice). I pointed out to him that his cavalry hit on a 4+ on each of their 12d6 they would roll in melee, while we hit on only 5+. Plus, two of his units were armored and would require 4 hits on to produce a casualty, while mine needed only 3 to lose a figure. Jason countered, "But you're rolling 18 dice to his 12." I kind of felt like I was in Spinal Tap and being told, "This one goes to 11...", but I decided to gamely spring our Caracole advantage on Mike.

    We deploy our advantage, the Caracole formation, the Royalist wall of horse seems unimpressed

One other disadvantage our Trotters had, we were slower than the Gallopers. So, to get within shooting range, we had to come within their charge range. I decided to give it a go and two units trotted forward, daintily deployed their pistols as they rode around in a fancy formation giving each man a chance to shoot. One unit scored a single hit while the other scored none. Hey, I was rolling Mike's normal dice! Jason tried to talk me into charging in, but I saw another special ability he had added to the rules for my Trotters. We could roll a 7+ when charged and shoot at an enemy charging us. No thank you, we simpered daintily, and formed back into ranks ready to receive our inevitable counterthrust. 

    Royalist Tom also seems unconcerned by the massive line of pike and shot Keith is hurling at him

Mike did not disappoint and both units within range passed its activation test and crashed into my Trotters. Jason's "Stand to Receive" tweak to the rules meant we got to roll 18 dice, well...kind of. Once again, we fired with a roll of 12 (or was it 6?), and then fought in melee with 6 (or was it 12?). Either way, we did NOT cause more casualties than the mean, nasty Gallopers, despite rolling 50% more dice. Things were shaping up like I thought they might, not helped by the fact Mike was rolling very well and I was rolling very bad. Several times over the first few turns, I rolled 12 dice and scored only a single "5" or "6", causing zero casualties. The Gallopers began to steadily wear down the Trotters.

    Ack! More Royalist Gallopers! These are Joel's command on the opposite side of the battle

Meanwhile, after an initial deadly blast of fire, Jenny was beginning to win the shooting exchange, despite the bonus Allen received from his emplacement. She was able to get her forlorn hope into charge range and swarmed across the gabions, destroying one of Allen's units. His left-most gun was flanked and charged by another of her units, and things were looking grim for Allen's ability to hold his fortifications. Further down the line, Keith was advancing steadily towards Tom, but sent a unit or two to attack Jenny's troops, as well. Tom cleverly did not fire on Keith until he came within 12", not wasting his +1 initial fire on a long-range shot. This shattered Keith's line and sent him reeling back. On the far right, though, Mike W seemed to be holding his own against Joel. He had some enclosed fields to use as cover and obstacles and his shooting seemed to be wearing down Joel's Gallopers.

    My Trotter's numbers are dwindling, but we gamely Caracole on, but it still isn't working...!

There was a point, late in the game, when I looked at my left wing and didn't feel so bad. Mike and I had three units left, two having fled the field. Was I really giving as well as I was receiving? It was smoke and mirrors, as all three of my units were half strength or under, while Mike had one full-strength armored unit of Gallopers. I felt I had one chance, though. I could Caracole his weakest unit with two of my smaller ones. If he failed his morale test, his command would fall below half and all units would have to take morale checks. It was not to be, though. I failed two of three activation rolls, and could do nothing but sit there and take it on his next turn. After Mike's counterstrike, my entire command was dead or fled the field. 

    The center pike & shot blocks controlled by Keith and Tom begin to close to perhaps decide the fray

Shortly after we finished, the other opponents began to add up how things were going. As it turned out, the Parliamentarians lost three of four sectors of the battlefield. Only Mike W had stymied Joel's attack and driven him back with greater losses. We had lost decisively. Long live the King, I guess...ha, ha! After the game, I pointed out to Jason how the odds were truly stacked against the Parliamentarian Trotters. He agreed, and has a tweak in mind for next time he runs it. As with all Mersey rules, it was a fun, quick game. We all picked up the Pikemen's Lament version of the rules quickly. Jason had designed a clever, asymmetrical scenario. It should be interesting to see how it plays out again.

    The end phase of the battle on the left wing with more Royalist cavalry (left) than Parliamentarians

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 52

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48

Our 3rd Dragon Rampant Outing Visits 'Hacky Valley'

    My 'Bonefish band' of orcs, goblins, trolls & wolves closes in on a force of Mountain Dwarves

Our Sunday evening gaming group got together for another round of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition. This time, we took a visit to "Hacky Valley" -- one of the scenarios in the book. We had six players, so I set up three one-on-one tables on my 12' wide gaming table downstairs. I was faced off against Joel S, borrowing a Dwarven army this time. He's played a different army all three times, which I guess there's nothing wrong with. Some people prefer variety! On the winter valley table, Allen's Bretonnian Knights faced off against Jenny's Fantasy Vikings. And on the desert valley, Tom's reconfigured Beastman army tackled Keith's undefeated Mordor Orcs. Tom has used a vastly different list for his beastmen all three games. This one, he said, was modeled on the Wheel of Time series.

    3 tables of 'Hacky Valley' set up side by side on my 12' wide table -- each battlefield was 4'x4'

In Hacky Valley, the 4'x4' table features a central two-foot wide valley. It's flanked on either side by a one foot wide plateau, separated from the valley by impassable cliffs -- except for a ramp leading up to each escarpment in the center of the table. The goal is essentially to destroy the enemy's army and hold the valley. The scenario description adds some whimsical nonsense about pies, but I spared the group that part of the description. I also added three pieces of rough terrain to each setup, one one on each player's half of the board and one more towards the center. The battlefield was already somewhat cramped, I figured. We didn't need to make it even more constricted. I do wish the rules had added a real terrain placement system to the rules to resolve cases where an army that wants lots of terrain is facing one that wanted a more open board. Oh well, I guess we can always port in a systems like Saga's, if it really bothers us. So far, I've set up the boards each time we've played and no one has complained.

    Dwarf-Goblin Wars: my enemy's battle line with Hobbit scouts and Dwarf heavy foot on the right 

In my matchup, I was facing Joel's borrowed Mountain Dwarven army, lent by Keith (of course). Keith is really enjoying our foray into DR! and the chance to get armies that have sat on his shelves for too long into action. He's even been inspired to paint up more figures to flesh out armies where he didn't have enough to field one. Joel's army consisted of a 9-point (almost 1/3 of the army points) cannon. It was bought as Heavy Missiles with Slow, Longer range, Bodkins (6's equal two hits instead of one), and Champion (re-roll 1 missed die on each attack). Maybe there were more special abilities -- I'm going from memory here. There was another Heavy Missile crossbow unit to support it, and the army general and his Heavy Foot bodyguard was nearby, too. On both flanks up on the plateaus, Joel deployed his Hobbit Scouts. The one opposite my right was given another unit of heavy foot for support, as well. A unit of heavy foot pikes was just below, advancing towards the ramp leading to that cliffside. 

    Bonefish Band advances with my eager goblin archers leading the way all game long

I didn't want to give the cannons or crossbows much chance to do their damage. And since we alternated deploying a unit at a time for the setup, I placed my units in the central valley more on the right -- away from the cannon. We would use the woods as cover and line of sight blockers as much as possible. I deployed my goblin archers (Light Missiles, Cowardly, Weak) on the right, one up on the plateau, one just beneath it in the valley. Behind the goblins on the plateau, I deployed my large wolfpack (Lesser Warbeasts, Large - which gave 2 extra figures). My two units of armored orcs (Bellicose Foot, Armored, Cowardly) were in the center, along with the warchief and his Elite Foot and the Trolls (Greater Warbeasts). My idea was to advance on the crossbow and cannon masked by the forests, then charge through at them and destroy them in hand to hand. The goblins would concentrate on shooting the enemy on the right hand plateau, who began advancing towards us as rapidly as their dwarven and hobbit legs could carry them.

    My forces in the valley drifted to the right, as far away as possible from their very dangerous cannon

In fact, Joel advanced across the line fairly aggressively, holding back only with the cannon and crossbows. The goblin archers took the first shots and began whittling down his small unit of Hobbit scouts on the right-hand plateau. My rolling for targeting the little buggers wasn't so good, it took me three turns to get them below half strength and to fail their courage test. From that point on, we switched to the heavy foot marching resolutely behind them. I tried to keep the wolfpack, who were following the goblins, from getting within "Wild Charge" range of the dwarven foot, but Joel kept coming and eventually, the wolves would have to lope into contact.

    2 of our regulars weren't feeling well & couldn't make it, so we had only 6 armies fighting it out

Meanwhile, in the center, Joel's heavy foot dwarves were similarly pounding forward, looking to renew the bloody Dwarf-Goblin Wars. I was having trouble advancing my armored orcs, though. One of the two units actually failed to move four out of its first five attempts (only a 6+ roll on 2d6!). Still, I was able to sneak one of them up behind the central forest and within "Wild Charge" range when the dwarves got close enough to charge my goblins. This first attack of the game was successful for the orcs. They drove back the dwarves, killing a number of them. However, that put them in long range of the cannon and crossbows. Both fired a volley and drove my orcs back. The previous turn, the cannon had fired an extreme range blast at my orc warlord and his bodyguard in the forest on our side of the board. We figured we were safe under the cover of the trees (and with an armor of 4). However, Joel rolled 7 hits -- five of them sixes on 2d6. Not wanting to take 12 hits, I hurriedly consulted all of the special rules Keith had tacked onto the cannon. To my relief, I saw that Bodkins (two hits for each six rolled) does not happen at long range -- whew!). Needless to say, the warlord hurriedly abandoned the trees and scooted away to his right, to better be in range to inspire his troops with their courage rolls (definitely NOT running away from the cannon, oh no!).

    Dwarves are advancing aggressively towards us despite occasional casualties from the goblin archers

On my left, Joel's Dwarven king and his bodyguard were advancing forward stoutly, supported only be the shooting of the cannon, crossbows, and scouts up on the plateau. I figured Joel was using him as bait. Any unit that charged him would end up in line of sight and range of the dwarven and hobbit crossfire.  Still, it was his leader! So, I moved my trolls up (once again, using the central forest to obscure them from missile fire). My reluctant unit of orcs slowly ambled that direction, too. Joel seemed okay with the trolls impending charge and did nothing -- not even forming Wall of Spears for defense. On my next turn, I rolled for the wild charge of the trolls, needing only a 3+ on 2d6. SNAKE EYES?? You've got to be kidding! The trolls, who spent the entire last game pointing out the pretty birds in the trees, once again stared slack-jawed at the various birds flitting around in the branches. "Ooooh, dat one's purty!!" The orc warlord shouted at them and had his trumpeter blow several blasts on his horn to get their attention, hopping up and down and pointing at the dwarven king. Reluctantly, the trolls jogged forward on the next turn and slammed into the dwarven king's line of armored dwarves.

    'Barak Khâzad!' dwarves shout as they prepare to join battle with the Bonefish Band

My rolls were below average while Joel's were above, so he drove my six trolls back, killing one. On his turn, the cannon belched flame and the crossbows twanged and two more trolls fell. Even the plucky hobbit scouts tried to get in on the act, but their stones bounced off the trolls' armored hides. After reducing them to half strength, the dwarven king surprisingly charged the trolls. Angry at all the missiles stinging them, the trolls growled in rage and flailed away at the dwarves. This time we rolled much better, and drove the charging dwarven foot back. On my turn, the armored orcs charged in and cut down many of the dwarves. To this point, Joel's activation rolls had been superb, but his courage tests were tending to be subpar. He rolled badly enough on this roll that the king and his bodyguard fled the table. On the rest of the battlefield, my archers had been slowly riddling the ranks of his units that were falling back. Soon, a unit of hobbit scouts and another dwarven heavy foot were fleeing towards the rear, as well.

    As the dwarven foot near my goblins, armored orcs burst forth and charge into their ranks

The wolfpack and the dwarves on the plateau were locked in a death struggle. The pack would charge in, be driven back by the heavy foot in Wall of Spears, then reform and charge in again. On the third charge, both units fell below half strength and both of us rolled low enough on our courage tests that we broke. At this point, all that the dwarves had on the field were the cannon, crossbows, and scouts on his right flank. I reformed my armored orcs and they began to advance to cover behind the central forest. At this point, Joel decided the game had been decided, and said his dwarves would begin withdrawing from the field. Having suffered the brutal cannon blasts of the enemy, the orc warlord let them march off the field, unmolested. The Bonefish Band had the advantage in units, but it was not out of question that a couple wild swings on the rolls could change our fortunes. We would take the victory, and maintain possession of Hacky Valley and its apparently delicious pies!

    Pushed back by the Dwarven king's bodyguard & blasted by the cannon, my trolls stagger back

In wintry valley, Jenny and Allen's game was wrapping up at the same time. Allen had lost most of his elite knights again as a result of their sometimes unwise wild charges. Still, the Bretonnians had prevailed and driven the Vikings from the snow and iced choked version of Hacky Valley. The next day, Jenny said her courage tests were abysmal. It seemed though she was doing more casualties than Allen, but her troops were failing most of their courage tests. Discussing it, we think that perhaps Allen and Jenny were applying the modifiers wrong. Prior to this game, I had even redesigned the QRS I had created to make it more streamlined and easier to read. Still, if the way she recounted how they did it the next day was true, they were really off on the rules...haha!

    Armored orcs sprint past the trolls & crash into the dwarven king's bodyguard, breaking them

We all turned our attention to the death struggle going on between Keith's Mordor Orcs and Tom's beastmen. Tom's army had been completely retooled to try a new tactic. He had two units of Lesser Warbeasts as his strike force. He gave them the very expensive Cannibalistic trait, meaning each time they destroyed one or more enemy strength points in melee, they would regain one lost figure. The beastmen -- trollocs, I believe they're called in the novels -- would have their ranks replenished not only by the Cannibalistic ability, but also by spellcasters using Heal on them. So, he would hurl the trollocs forward. When they were driven back eventually, he would heal them up and send them charging forward into the orcs' ranks again.

    Keith's Mordor Orcs, left, square off against Tom's deadly 'Wheel of Time' army in a bitter struggle

Keith, on the other hand, had a defensive battleline of orc archers, supported by bellicose foot (like my armored orcs) and heavy foot. When Tom's warbeasts advanced within range, they would receive a snout full of arrows, then be charged by the orcs. When I started watching, both commander's tactics were working and creating a bloodbath. Each side was down to three units. Tom had one trolloc unit and two supporting spellcasters inside Light Foot. Keith had his bellicose foot, an archer unit, and a heavy foot unit. The trollocs eventually caught and destroyed the archers. When the bellicose orcs charged out for vengeance, they were finally driven below half strength. They fell back, and Keith saw the handwriting on the wall. He began to back off and withdraw from the valley. Pies weren't worth this carnage! After an exhausting struggle that saw both sides fall below half strength, Tom decided to let him go unmolested. Each had lost more than half their army, so Tom was willing to take the dearly-bought victory without following up. 

    Keith tries a gambit with a burrowing giant purple worm, but it was dispatched by Tom's beastmen

Afterwards, Tom was worried that he had "broken" the DR! system with his combination of cannibalistic and healing spells. I told him that he came a razor thin margin from losing that battle. I was watching when his Army Points fell to half or below. If he had failed his rolls on that particular set of courage tests, I think it would have broken the back of his army. His wizards would have to Rally instead of casting Heal. The battered beastmen would have lost another figure and fallen further back. I told him I thought he had come very close to defeat while I was watching. Keith apparently had designed his army to be a defensive wall. and Tom had nearly broken on it. The wall cracked first, though. They agreed it was a great game and that Tom's army, though tough, had proven it wasn't unbeatable. 

    Keith's Mordor Orcs were undefeated in their previous 2 battles coming in to face Tom's beastmen

Dragon Rampant is a fun system. We've enjoyed it all three times we've played. It's also fun to create new army lists with the wealth of fantasy abilities you can tack onto basic unit types. Although I am a long way away from having my elves painted up, I am having fun with how the Bonefish Band plays. It is an aggressive, charging army. It is enjoyable to run, and so far, I've been fortunate in my outcomes. If I can just convince my orcs to advance when I tell them to and my trolls to ignore the birds, I think they'll continue to do fine!

    Final moments of the game -- each side reduced to just 3 units and teetering towards breaking

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 95
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 34

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 2
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 24  

    On Wintry 'Hacky Valley,' Jenny & Allen square off for control of the vital mountain pass

    It was human vs. human -- Knights vs. Vikings, in this matchup in the ice and snow