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