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

Patriots Drive British from Redoubts in Revolutionary War Battle

    Patriot center crosse the causeway and whittles down the British forces defending the center redoubt

We have been playing Rebels and Patriots from Daniel Mersey's "Rampant" series of games off and on for a year or so, now. It is fast-moving and the mechanics are easy to pick up. Like all games in the series, though, there are tweaks for each rules set. That's actually the hardest part to remember when switching from Dragon Rampant to Rebels and Patriots to Xenos Rampant, for example.  

    Left side of the battlefield, with Mike S's French force pushing aggressively towards Joel's troops

A good example of the minor differences would be testing morale after being shot at. In Rebels and Patriots, if your unit removes any figures due to shooting or melee, you test morale. You modify your 2d6 roll by -1 per casualty received on that particular shot. In Dragon Rampant (and Lion Rampant), you do the same, but modify it by -1 per casualty received throughout the entire game. They're cumulative -- not just from that shot. And in Xenos Rampant, any hits on a unit -- even if they're not enough to overcome the armor level (three hits are needed to cause a casualty against an Armor 3 unit, for example) -- cause a morale test. It is a more modern concept of reacting to being under fire even if you don't take any significant casualties. 

    Allen on left keeps an eye on the Patriots in the center, while Jason watches Tom's encircling move

So, this time I created a document for us that organized the main differences between Rebels and Patriots and Dragon Rampant (the other Mersey set we had played most recently). It was a two-sided sheet of paper and I think it did a nice job of making the game go easier. So, on to the game! Keith had set up a scenario which was inspired by the Patriot siege and assault on Savannah, Georgia. He had set up three redoubts on hills, manned by British or Loyalist troops. Our job, as the Patriots, was to push them out of the fortifications and have a clear path to the enemy board edge.  We had significantly more troops, but not to the 2-to-1 level recommended by the scenario that inspired him.

    Tom's Georgia militia begin their looping way through the swamp, hoping to strike the redoubt's rear

I commanded the Patriot center with decent quality Continental troops, with Mike S as the French on my left and Tom as the Georgia militia on my right.  Keith had given Allen, my opponent in the center, two units of mortars on his baseline. They could fire over his own lines out to 36". However, he also gave them a minimum range, which I believe was 18", coinciding with a raised causeway running from one side edge to the other across the center of the table. So, there would be a beaten zone my center would have to advance through. I hesitated whether to put my line infantry in Close Order, which improves their activation chances and also morale tests, but would allow Allen to hit my guys with his artillery on a 4-6 on each d6 rolled instead of 5-6. I hedged my bets, and kept the unit directly in front of the mortars in normal formation while the two line units to its left formed Close Order.

    Jason's redoubt on the left - bristling with artillery and two units of Loyalist infantry

In the Rampant games, the player rolls to activate each unit. If it fails, it does nothing. Unlike the other games in the series, one failure does not end your turn in Rebels and Patriots. My activation dice were abysmal. All units require a 6+ on 2d6 to activate. They gain +1 if in Close Order and another +1 if their commander is within 12". So, assuming I kept my commander nearby, I would activate on a 4+ with my line infantry in Close Order, and 5+ with the unit marching towards the guns. The number of failures I rolled for those units was mind boggling. I enjoy the rules, but my least favorite part of this set is its "blunder table." If you roll a "double one" or "double six" on your activation roll, you have to roll on the table. Most of the results are random, fluke happenings, such as a unit rolling double 6's charging towards the enemy a full move. That happened twice in the center -- to units of artillery! Are the gunners actually going to leave their guns and go storming across the table attempting to close with the enemy? Really?? The other problem I have with it is probability. If the game were simply a two players, each with a single 24-point Company, perhaps the double 1's and double 6's wouldn't happen as much. However, I had six units. Rolling a double one or double six on 2d6 is a 1 in 18 chance. That meant every three turns, statistically, these should happen. Now multiply that by three players per side. In our game, just between my right wing commander Tom and I, we rolled them five times over the course of the game. WAY too often, I feel! 

    Allen's two units of British infantry in the redoubt, one in the gap with cavalry, & mortars in the rear

I am trying to convince Keith and the other players to leave out this rule in future games, but so far have been unsuccessful. Otherwise, it provides a fast-paced and fun game. My command's halting advance across the center seemed logical, with them being under constant bombardment. The artillery fire caused a slow attrition, usually just one figure per shot. Keith had given me very large units in anticipation of the casualties from bombardment. The defending British had much smaller units -- all only six figures strong. So, as my medium and light battery began to pick off the enemy, his two British units manning the redoubt were slowly withering away. I also like the shooting system in Rebels and Patriots. You typically roll 12 dice, needing a certain score (often 5-6) to hit on each 1d6. The number of casualties that are removed per hit scored depends on cover or distance. On one one glorious roll, I hit nine times. However, my target were more than 12" away (which increases casualties from one per two hits rolled to 1:3), and they were in hard cover, which increased that from 1:3 to 1:5. So, even though I had a bizarre roll, I stilled did only one casualty as excess are removed. I like that! It keeps a system with lot of dice rolling from being overly affected by outlier die rolls.

British redoubt on our left -- more lightly defended because Joel lacked the troops Allen had

In the center and our left, the greater Patriot numbers (and clever tactics, of course) began to tell. Mike S quickly routed Joel from his redoubt and drove his command from the field. Unfortunately for Joel, he had the smallest command of the three British ones and Mike had our best-rated troops. It took a lot of hammering away at Allen's troops to make headway. However, late in the game, we had whittled their numbers down to below half strength, where it appeared they would be unable to hold back our advance anymore. The struggle on our right seemed much more evenly matched, though. I didn't watch it closely, but heard something about Tom's troops getting lost in the swamps. I did see they ended up executing an encircling movement all the way behind Jason's redoubt, firing on their rear. Still, it was looking like a close-run struggle.

    Patriot center is approaching the causeway with their light artillery opening fire on the redoubt

I thought the Rebels and Patriots system did a nice job of replicating the grinding assault on a redoubt. In my attempts to whittle down Allen's troops behind his fortifications, I needed a good roll on 12d6 to inflict a casualty. A completely average roll missed that by one hit. I also liked how Keith's rule for indirect mortar bombardment gave us another defensive modifier. It meant Allen similarly needed a good roll to cause casualties against my advancing troops. My poor activation dice rolling (and below average morale checks) meant things swung in his balance for a bit. If I had normal 12-figure sized units, the British could likely have driven us off. It was a good game, all around!

    The join between the South Carolina rifles on the left followed by my third large unit of Continentals

As we were discussing the game afterward, we all agreed that units survive casualties better than expected. Not so fast, though! We actually forgot a very important rule. When a unit falls to half strength, it is supposed to immediately receive what is called a permanent disorder marker. If that is in addition to testing for the hits it just received, then potentially that could make a big difference. I'll have to ask on the Facebook group for the rules to see what the timing of that disorder marker should be. All in all, Rebels and Patriots continues to provide for fun and fast games that feel like the period. 

    Vive le France! The French infantry have swept the British from the redoubt on the left & occupy it

    Tom's Georgia militia firing on the rear and sides of Jason's redoubt -- the encirclement worked!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 95
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 29

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 17

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

    Dam appears broken and French & Patriot troops flood their way through the depleted British lines

Xenos Down! Crashed Alien Spacecraft Holds Dangers & Treasures

    Multiple factions advance & investigate the smoking sections of the downed alien spacecraft

When the strange alien craft entered orbit around Tatooine, it failed to answer communication from the Imperial Star Destroyers. Fearing a Rebel Alliance trick, they fired on it and sent it plummeting into the atmosphere, disabled. However, just before impact, thrusters fired, slowing the ship's fall. The craft broke up into a number of sections on impact with the desert sands, though. Remarkably, long-range scans showed signs of power still operating on the ruined craft, though. Even more tantalizing were sensors picking up what appeared to be lifeforms moving amidst the wreckage.

    Table setup with the 9 spacecraft sections & six smoke clouds obscuring the center of the board

Immediately, word got out and a number of speeders raced across the desert to investigate. Only the Empire and their Corporate Security partners had official clearance to approach. The Rebels, though, could not pass up the chance to perhaps beat the Stormtroopers there, and scavenge alien technology that might be useful in the rebellion. Two other craft that refused to answer imperial commands to break off course could belong to any of the various criminal syndicates, and perhaps even the mercenaries of the Bronze Legion. As the half dozen speeders neared the wreckage, clouds of smoke and haze thickened and visibility dropped rapidly...

    My 6 players bring their squads onto the hexagonal battle mat I created to represent Tatooine

"Xenos Down!" would be the fifth scenario of our Star Wars skirmish campaign using Space Weirdos rules. Each of the six players controlled a faction along the political spectrum from the Empire to Corporate Security to Mercenaries to Rebel Alliance. We played on my four foot wide hexagonal board, with each of the six factions entering near the center of their own hex side. In the center were nine sections of crashed spacecraft that I had recently built, along with a scattering of glowing pieces of alien technology I had also just made. The factions would receive victory points for having those under their control, as well as knocking figures of the opposing factions out of action.

    Rebel Alliance leader Ylena takes aim from atop one of my canyon rocks from Diabolical Terrain

My Canyon Rocks and Desert Rock Formations from Diabolical Terrain broke up the battlefield, as well as smaller outcrops of rocky areas that gave cover. Six large areas of smoke (also recently created) would drift across the battlefield randomly as the game progressed. These blocked line of sight entirely, while the entire tabletop itself was considered smoky and would reduce firing. The greater the distance, the more negative modifiers the haze would produce. Also, each turn, two alien creatures would emerge from randomly determined pieces of wreckage. They had no ability to shoot, but would charge any of the player's forces and attack with their horrible claws and teeth. Think of the alien xenomorphs from the Alien movies and you have a good idea of their nastiness and danger.

    Criminal Syndicate members, Trumonkar & a battle droid, advance towards valuable alien tech

Still, the lure of possibly valuable alien technology lured in all six factions. There was some degree of cooperation among the various looters, but there was also firing between them almost immediately. In particular, Darth Pylor and his Stormtroopers opened up on the nearby local rebels and Rebel Alliance operatives. The animosity between the Bronze Legion and Foxhurst's Criminal Syndicate flared to life again, despite the peaceful ransoming and prisoner exchange they'd managed last scenario (TIE Fighters Strafing the Streets of Mos Eisley). Essentially, each faction wanted to claim a certain number of the alien tech tokens as their own, but this was disputed aggressively by their neighbors. Even if a player's figure had already spent two actions to disconnect it from the spacecraft and was actively moving it towards their area, they were often fired upon by their neighbors who sought to poach their find.

    But what lurks within the smoky center of the board? A very angry alien emerges, looking for prey!

Cooperation most often happened when aliens emerged and charged from the wreckage. The Corporate Security troopers often fired on the beasts even if it was a Rebel they were racing towards. The Rebels returned the favor occasionally, as well. Still, Darth Pylor was known to use the force to pick up an alien and deposit it next to a group of rebels to let them deal with it! Foxhurst used the Force to snatch alien tech from the grasp of the Rebel Alliance, too. When an alien did manage to contact a player's figure, it often knocked it out of action. I maximized the alien's stats for speed and melee ability (Prowess) under the Space Weirdos rules. They had only average defensive abilities, though, and were eventually dealt with one by one. At game's end, there were still three aliens prowling the battlefield, with players dodging around to ensure another faction's figure was the closest to it and would receive its wrath. Apparently, being fired upon by a Star Destroyer and crashing onto the surface of Tattooine made them a little angry!

    Taking what cover they can, Toms Local Rebels advance towards the smoking spacecraft

The players said they had a great time. There was lots of laughs as aliens appeared next to opponent's figures (usually Tom's Local Rebels!). Or when a figure took refuge from enemy fire in one of the smoke circles only to have it drift away from them at the end of the turn, leaving them out in the open, exposed. Players did a good job of either reviving their out of action figures with medical kits or carrying them to safety off the field. Only the disabled hulk of the Criminal Syndicate's battle droid was left in the center of the table when players began to retreat off the table. Most factions had taken one or more pieces of alien technology off the table, with the Mercenaries securing three.

    One of the aliens emerges from the wreckage & prepares to charge Rebel Leader Zimeon

Space Weirdos rules works well, even with such a large group (counting the aliens, we really had seven factions playing). The rotating activation system with Initiative re-rolled every turn keeps everyone involved. The command points that allow players to respond during an opponent's turn (Dodge out of sight, interrupt and fire from Overwatch, or get First Strike in a melee) means players can act even when it is not their turn. The system of opposed pairs of dice rolls to resolve combat keeps players in the game, too. Time seemed to fly by and when I announced that it was 9pm and we'd been playing for three hours, everyone was surprised.

    Bronze Legion trooper and leader being stalked by one of the aliens on the others side of the smoke

By that time, most factions had one or more figures withdraw off the table edge with alien technology or carrying injured friends. Their other figures were beginning to edge away from the center and contemplating leaving, too. We called the game a short time later, and I had everyone count up their victory points and write them down on the back of their leader's card. Since it is a campaign, I am allowing players to improve the stats of their squad in a limited way after each game. Rather than track victory points and spend them on particular advances, each faction can improve one of the five stats of one of their figures one level after each game. I know this seems a tad artificial, but it keeps all squads progressing at a relatively similar level. I have seen campaigns become one-sided when the victors get tougher faster than the losers, which allows them to win more often, and improve even more than their opponents. Eventually, the campaign games break down, with one or more sides seem fated to win while the others to lose. I am trying to avoid this with a more equal situation, yet still allowing character improvement. I mean, haven't we all heard that Defeat often teaches more lessons than Victory?

    'Look out, sir - there is one behind you!' An alien charges & makes contact with the Legion captain

The players said they're having fun with the games, so I will keep running the skirmishes for them. I just need to keep thinking of more, hopefully interesting scenarios to toss at them! Apparently, Xenos Down was a success, and now it's time to get creative and devise the next challenge to throw at the Empire, Rebels, Mercenaries, and Criminals! The Bronze Legion mercenaries handily won the scenario, scoring a dozen victory points (3 alien tech pieces, 3 aliens knocked out of action). That puts them in the lead for the campaign, now, ahead of the Rebel Alliance (2nd) and Local Rebels (3rd).

    Local Rebel leader Zimeon is taken out of action by an alien, while his crew rushes to his rescue

As far as my Acquired vs. Painted totals below, I decided to count the nine spaceship sections and six smoke clouds as "Terrain." The eight alien tech pieces are "Scatter." By the way, I HAVE been purchasing things, and will hopefully do an update soon to show them off. Weirdly, just as I was typing that sentence, the mailman arrived with one of the packages...! Stay tuned to see what it was...!

    All across the battlefield, aliens charge while players attempt to secure the glittering alien tech pieces

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 24

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 17

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 24 

Imperial leader Darth Pylor shelters behind a canyon rock while the aliens prowl, looking for foes    

SCENARIO VICTORY POINTS 

CAMPAIGN TOTAL VICTORY POINTS 

King of the Hill with Dragon Rampant (2nd Game)

    My 'Bonefish Band' advances to seize the central hill before Mike S's Undead army can do so

Everyone had enough fun last week in our initial game of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition, that they were willing to play it again this Sunday. We changed venues to Keith's Man Cave (or Orcafinn's Basement). That chopped off a couple feet in table width, so we picked a "king of the hill" type scenario from the book to focus the action on each narrower 2.5' wide by 4.5' deep area. The armies were also reduced from 36AP to 30AP. Most players tinkered with their previous lists and brought the same army as last week. Andy changed to Undead, though, as did the opponent for my Bonefish Band -- Mike S. Joel was using his own orc figures rescued from storage, while his brother Allen did the same with his medieval knights. 

    Once again, we had 8 players fighting across the tabletop in four different matchups

A large hill was placed in the center of each pair of opposing armies, along with a few other pieces. In the scenario, you received 1 victory point for each turn that you had more units than your opponent touching the central hill. So, there was incentive to advance forward and seize it first and force your opponent to try to knock you off. I deployed my two units of goblin archers in front, as usual, with the armored orcs on either side of them. The second line was composed of my wolfpack on the left, commander and his elite bodyguard in the center, and trolls on the right. Four of my seven units are subject to "wild charge," which means if they are in range of an enemy unit at the start of the turn, they will most likely charge (usually 5+ on 2d6). I had pre-measured and knew that even my speedy wolfpack couldn't reach the hill on turn 1. 

    My necromancer opponent, Mike, suffered from poor rolls to activate his troops - especially at first

Mike's Undead army had a Level 4 wizard, which allowed him to choose from four "colors" of spells. That meant he had a possibility of getting a unit there on turn one, but his spellcaster failed his roll to cast Teleport. If he had hurled a unit forward magically, and then had the unit advance onto the hill, he could have stolen a march. However, Mike's activation rolls were absolutely abysmal early on, and continued to be subpar most of the game. Three of his four units failed to do anything on turn 1, and at least 2-3 did nothing on turn 2, as well. This allowed my faster-moving armored orcs to barely make it to the hill on turn 2, while he had none. His goblin warg riders (Why are they in an Undead army? Oh yeah...more bones to gnaw on...ha, ha!) barely nicked the edge of the hill, wisely staying behind its crest out of sight of my goblin archers. On turn 2, the Bonefish Band was up 1-0 in VPs.

    Armored orcs of the Bonefish Band have begun to seize the hill, while the rest of my army moves up

On turn 3, I had three of my four wild charging units in range of enemy. The trolls were just out of range, as I'd given them the fantasy ability "Slow" this game, reducing their move from 10" to 8". This seemed more troll-like, and took care of one of those six points I had to give up to field my army. My rolls took a brief hiatus, too, with both units of armored orcs staying put and failing to charge (rolled less than a "5" on 2d6...twice!). However, the wolfpack went howling in against one of his units of armored skeletons. Mike's combat rolls were not suffering from the same malaise his activation and spellcasting ones were, though. Each of us took two casualties, and my wolves were driven off by his band of skeletons. Under the rules, "Undead" troops round up on melee casualties but do not do so on missile hits. However, they do not suffer becoming "battered" from failing morale checks. Only if they fail checks badly enough (score of "0" or less), though, do they melt away and are removed from the board. 

    While some goblins linger in the rear, the army firmly controls the hill & faces down the enemy

Much to my surprise, Mike did not charge my orc "Bellicose Foot" who are actually much less effective when being charged as opposed to when initiating it. Instead, his heavy foot units formed "Wall of Spears" and awaited my charges next turn. That surrendered control of the hill to me for another turn. We were up 2-0, now. On the following turn, the armored orcs went pounding in against the skeleton bands opposite them. We won both fights, and pushed the skeletons further away from the hill. The wolves followed up against last turn's opponent. Once again, the skeleton heavy foot proved deadly in defense, and my pack was down to two models. They failed their courage test and loped to the rear. Frustratingly, the trolls -- my stars of the battle last game -- continued to sit there and not activate to move forward. We joked that they were checking out the "pretty birds" in the forest next to them ("Ooh, lookee, Bill! Ain't it pretty?"). The goblin archers and my commander's bodyguard took possession of the hill with the departure of the orcs.

    On the other battelfield, Joel's orcs struggle to find a winning combination against Jenny's Vikings 

Mike cleverly tried a gambit to get kill my army commander on his turn. He magically swapped positions of the bodyguard and the armored orcs who had charged off the hill last turn. I actually didn't mind. Elite foot is very tough on defense while Bellicose foot is more vulnerable. He charged in and surprisingly killed two of the six bodyguards. The commander and his hand-picked orcs savaged the enemy in return, though, and the magical force binding the skeletons together dissipated and their bones fell to the ground. Mike's warg riders (Light Riders) were unable to cause any casualties with their shooting as the armor of my elites and orcs were too high. Once again, the Bonefish Band retained possession of the hill and we were up 3-0, now.

    Chances of pushing the Bonefish Band off the hill diminish by the turn for Mike's Undead

In addition to rolling poorly to activate his troops, Mike was not doing much better on his Courage tests. His damaged units of skeletons began to score 0 or less and disappear from the board. Meanwhile, my wolfpack was the only unit in danger of being eliminated, though the number of casualties the orcs were suffering had begun to mount. The goblin archers were unable to really play an effective role in the battle. One unit did occupy the hill, though, while the other kept failing to activate and also struggled to find a shooting lane around the central hill. Although the orcs earned a victory point for turn 4, we also saw both of our units of armored orcs barreling for the rear. 

    Tom, at bottom, cleverly tweaked his Bog People army & aggressively attacked Andy's Undead 

Once your units have suffered enough casualties, it gets hard to pass Courage tests. Units suffer a -1 to their Courage test roll per figure they've lost. So, it is hard to get your badly damaged troops to stand in DR! I really like the game's morale mechanics. A unit may get lucky and pass one check after taking grievous casualties, but eventually it is going to fail. And once they're battered, each time they fail again after that, they take an additional casualty (which increase the chance they won't pass on subsequent turns). So many other rules sets see troops battling to the last man. Dragon Rampant definitely does not. Troops fail morale and run from battle, just like in the fantasy novels and movies!

    Tom's beastmen and wizards advance up the hill against Andy's 'Tomb Kings' army

Mike had one final magical gambit left to play and did seize control of the hill for one turn. However, his warg riders (who had been teleported forward by the necromancer) were surrounded by four or more of my units. One by one, they chased the traitorous goblins and their wolf mounts off the hill and towards the edge of his board. We eventually earned our fifth VP token and the game ended. The Bonefish Band was firmly in control of the hill and had 4-5 units remaining while the Undead were down to just two unts.

In the other games, my Lizard Wizard opponent from last game, Tom, was also facing Undead (controlled by Andy). Tom had reworked his army after our game and came up with a surprising tweak. He added four Level 1 spellcasters to his army. This proved amazingly useful as he could teleport units onto their central hill or otherwise used magic to put his troops in advantageous positions. Andy was unable to mount a concerted push towards the central hill. It appeared that Tom's Bog People had possession of it most of the game, much like my Bonefish Band did. Tom and Andy's game was the first to finish. It appeared that the Lizard Wizards gave the Undead a good drubbing. Andy admitted he didn't really pay attention to the scenario objectives, which put him behind the eight ball early. 

    Mike S's Undead finally get underway and advance towards the hill ready to contest it with my orcs

Keith was using a retooled version of his orcs and goblins in a rematch against Allen. I tried to get him to switch up and play a different opponent. He insisted that since he was using his new "old" army and it wouldn't be a replay of last week. Allen was fielding his old Warhammer Brettonian army rescued from storage. I'd helped him create a list which featured three units of Elite Riders (knights) as the bulk of his force. He also had a unit of spearmen, archers, and insisted on a wizard, as well. Allen sent his mounted troops forward to seize the hill first, but Keith cleverly used the knight's impetuousness to their disadvantage. He forced him into charging a solid block of pikemen and a unit of foot located in the woods. Any successes Allen did have were pounced upon by Keith's waiting giant lizards (Greater Warbeasts). 

When Allen had lost all three of his knight units, the handwriting was on the wall. Keith was able to mop up the rest of his army and seize control of the hill, forcing an end to the game. Perhaps when I built Allen's list for him, I should have given him more foot units. He insisted on the wizard, though, which I think hurt him. I still feel spellcasters in DR! are under-powered and potentially not worth the points. Allen could have used some more foot units to screen off his own knights off from the enemy. That way, he could spring his wild charges only when he was ready. We are learning the game, though. For a simple "big skirmish" game, there are a lot of tactical nuance in these rules.

    Although Mike is smiling, his dice rolls aren't giving him much to be happy about early on...!

It wasn't a good night to be a Sams brother, apparently. Allen's brother Joel was also playing an old rescued Warhammer army, this one of orcs and goblins. This one had far fewer painted miniatures, though. So, I struggled to build it up to 30AP list using the troops he had on hand. I did give him two units of orc "mixed weapons" -- spear and bow combined into one unit, though. I was curious how they would work out. Joel said he liked how they performed. His opponent, Jenny, leading her Vikings, admitted they savaged her units with bowfire once or twice. However, Jenny quickly took control of the hill with her two units of heavy riders and never really relinquished it. Joel's army had seven units, but four of them were missile troops. He probably lacked enough attack troops to charge in and drive the Vikings off the hill. 

The Vikings were able to triumph and suddenly we looked around and saw all four games were done -- only two hours or so after we'd started! Dragon Rampant plays very quickly. I had suggested the king of the hill scenario in the rulebook to Keith, but perhaps we should have just done a straight up like last week, instead? At least a couple of the players didn't really wrap their heads around the fact they had to advance quickly and contest the hill. And Mike's failed activations early on meant he couldn't get his admittedly slower troops moving to seize the objective in time. All of those games ended up being lopsided in score. I think I will recommend us to play a more straight up battle next time.

    Zooming in on Jenny & Joel's battle, as the Vikings advance toward the hill in strength

 I was happy with how my tweaked Bonefish Band performed. I needed to give up six army points to get down to 30AP. I started by giving both goblin archers the fantasy trait "Weak." That means they'd roll one less die in attacks or shooting than normal -- not a big disadvantage, I figured, for -1AP each. I also removed "Large" from the goblin  units, as well (two more points back).  I added "Cowardly" to both armored orc units (-1AP each), meaning they'd retreat a full move instead of a half move. Since Bellicose Foot is vulnerable to counter-attack, I reasoned this might actually be an advantage! The final tweak was adding the "Brutal" fantasy trait to my commander. Andy had done that for his orc commander last week and it made a lot of sense. I paid for that point by giving the trolls the "Slow" fantasy trait, as mentioned before. These minor changes allowed me to keep the same seven units that I felt performed so well in the last game. That's one of the things I like about the rules. There is a nice tool kit in them to create the fantasy army you want to represent.

Probably the coolest part was that everyone played their own army with their own miniatures this time. Getting us to that point with DR! certainly didn't take long! Apparently, I was the only player who had to paint their 28mm fantasy army from scratch for DR! Everyone else was using figures they already had, including Saga armies old Warhammer armies, or even figures from role-playing. Now that my orcs are nearly painted, I am seriously considering buying figures for a new army. Perhaps Elves? I could field them as Light Foot (who are very effective troops in DR!) and give them the Mixed Weapons rule which allows them to shoot. That seems very Lord of the Rings-like to me. So, who knows? Perhaps soon you will see pictures of new 28mm miniatures I bought...haha!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 15

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 4