Bitter Defeat for the Bonefish Band

    The Yellow Watcher (my Wendigo fig) observes the advance of our foes -- Allen's army of orcs

There's a saying, "Quantity has a Quality all its own." That certainly seems to be true in Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition, fantasy rules. This past Sunday, we had eight players gather to fight out four 1-on-1 games using the Yellow Watcher scenario from the book. The armies used included dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, humans, and fire giants. Several of the armies chose fewer higher-point value units, while others went with more troops, but lower value ones. All of the "mighty few" went down to defeat, though, to forces that had more standard, less "tricked out" units. 

    Early stages of my game as the Bonefish Band rushes towards Allen and his slower moving orcs

DR! lets you add special or fantasy abilities to your troops, and this time, a few of the players went wild doing that. I created unit reference cards for most of the armies used that night, so it gave me insight into how they were purchased. Some of the abilities I had never even seen before on the tabletop in our four previous evenings of DR! For example, the Dwarven player gave three of his units "Spell Resistant." However, he was matched up against Joel S's goblins army which did not take any magic users. Another army had a leader with something called "Divine Leadership." That let all of his units within 12" receive the ability Spell Resistant. Once again, if the opponent doesn't have Spellcasters those are wasted points. 

    On the icy board, Joel's Goblins would prove the maxim that Quantity has a Quality all of its own!

Instead, I prefer special abilities or fantastical ones that improve a unit's statistics or how they perform certain basic actions -- not ones countering specific foes. In fact, I tend to take more negative fantasy abilities that reduce the cost of the units for my Bonefish Band. For example, I use "Cowardly" for all of my orc and goblin units. That means if they are called upon to retreat, they fall back a full move instead of a half move. For my archers, that's probably a good thing -- get away from that enemy that just beat you in melee! I also use "Armored" for my orc units of Bellicose Foot. That means it takes three hits to remove a figure instead of two. I find that makes them a bit more survivable, because they are almost always in the thick of the fighting.

    Joel's opponent, Andy, went with the Quality strategy & just five high-point-value units of dwarves

I also make my Goblin Archers "Weak", in addition to Cowardly, meaning they roll one less die in shooting or melee. Another positive ability that I like for smaller, mounted units is "Large," which adds +2 Strength Points. I give it to my Wolfpack, which normally is only 6 SPs. With this, they are a more survivable (I hope) 8 SPs. All of the negative modifiers allow me to field seven units in the Bonefish Band -- one unit of trolls (Greater Warbeasts), one wolfpack (Lesser Warbeasts), two armored orcs (Bellicose Foot), two goblin archer (Light Missiles), and the leader's bodyguard of Elite Foot. The warband can pack quite a punch and has a lot of Quantity, in addition to its Quality.

    Jenny's Viking berserkers charge towards the Yellow Watcher on her table -- a manticore

In the scenario we were playing, there was a temple in the center of each board occupied by a monster called the Yellow Watcher. He was immune to ranged attacks and spells. His unblinking, malevolent gaze would force any unit that moved into contact with him to retreat after fighting its melee. Inscrutably, he would do no damage back to those that contacted the temple and attacked him, but would simply force the unsettled warriors back. Players received 1 victory point for each SP loss inflicted on the Yellow Watcher. The Watcher is Armor 3, so three hits in melee = 1 SP lost. The person who inflicts the 12th and final hit to kill the Watcher receives 2 bonus points. In addition, players received victory points equal to each enemy unit they destroyed or forced to flee off the table. 

    Mike S likes to play a new army every time -- here he faces Jenny's Vikings with 'Barbarians'

My version of Yellow Watcher scenario is slightly modified from the one in the rule book, which does NOT award points for destroying enemy units. To tell the truth, I am not that impressed with the 12 scenarios in the rule book. I love the rules themselves, but feel that too many of the scenarios give an uneven chance for victory. In the rules' version of the Yellow Watcher scenario, you are not rewarded for defeating your enemy. Allen ended up crushing me in the battle. However, I inflicted 11 of the 12 SPs the Watcher lost. I would have won handily even though Allen did not lose a unit and mine were fleeing from the battlefield. I also dislike scenarios which can be won by simply moving faster than the enemy to a certain place, or occupying a spot on the board. If the scenario rules grant your opponent victory despite the fact you destroyed nearly every unit in their enemy, and suffered few losses yourself, there's something wrong with it. The Yellow Watcher (as written in the rules) is one of those, in my opinion.  

    Another borrowed army, Mike W's High Elves -- 6 units, all of them armed with bows & 12" range

After explaining the my version of the Yellow Watcher to the other players, we deployed our troops and began our individual games. Like several other scenarios, this one rewards you for moving quickly and getting to the temple first to inflict maximum damage on the Watcher. The temple counts as rough terrain, so rewards those that have the "Ranger" special ability and fight well in it. That was three units for me -- my two units of armored orcs and my trolls. When they fought the Watcher, they'd roll 12 dice and inflict hits on 3+ on each die (averaging 3 hits per unit attacking). The scenario rules were rewarding my Bonefish Band not for me being a clever tactician, but because I just happened to have the best troop types to best kill the Watcher. Andy had given all five of his Dwarven units "Slow," so he was penalized by the scenario. Plus, it is important to note that in DR! you are supposed to create your army list before selecting a scenario. Without my modifications to the scenario, the games would have been won or lost in the first few turns. Victory would have gone to the army that just happened to show up with the best (or fastest) troops.  

    Remember that maxim about Quantity vs. Quality? Here Elves overwhelm outnumbered fire giants

Similarly, a few games back we have played a "king of the hill" style scenario (The Grand Old Duke of Orc). We used the rules "as written" for victory points . The side that moved slowest or failed a bunch of move actions early lost on every table. The one that seized the hill quickly, with faster-moving troops or used magic to teleported them onto the hill, won every game. In my opinion, another rules set that has the same problem with gimmicky scenarios is Saga Dark Age skirmish rules. You can win games even if you suffer hugely lopsided losses, or are eliminated entirely. To me, that's just wrong. In the end, we are playing battle games. Two armies meet on the tabletop, they fight, and one wins and forces the other to retreat off the table. They are the winner. Now, I don't mind clever battlefield conditions or circumstances in a scenario. Two thumbs up for presenting interesting tactical challenges. Two thumbs down to gimmicky scenarios which can be won or loss simply by moving troops around on the tabletop or exploiting a unit's special ability -- or worse -- by simply recruiting an army list composed of troops who do the special action the scenario requires. In Saga, there are some tournaments that refuse to release their scenarios ahead of time so players can't do that. There are howls from some players who clamor for the scenarios to be released ahead of time so they can tailor their armies to best fulfill the victory conditions.  

    Goblins riding giant lizards wasn't on the Dwarves' dance card -- slipping & falling on ice was!

Enough ranting already? Ha, ha -- okay, I think so too! So, the match ups for the evening were:

• Andy S's Dwarves vs. Joel S's Goblins on the icy board.
• The Bonefish Band vs. Allen S's Orcs on the grasslands board.
• Keith's Fire Giants vs. Mike W's High Elves on the arid plains board. 
• Jenny's Vikings vs. Mike S's Barbarians on the octagon-shaped board.

    Allen's core of his battle line - 4 units of orc heavy foot, seeing the tabletop for the first time in years!

In my game, I deployed my two armored orc units front and center of my battle line. They would move quickly to the temple and charge repeatedly until the Watcher was dead. Each was flanked by a unit of goblin archers, who would fire on Allen's units moving up, hopefully inflicting some losses and slowing them down. On the left, opposite a small forest, my trolls were lined up. The plan was to use the forest as cover to advance towards Allen's orcs and then come crashing out of the trees, scattering them with their overwhelming charge. On the right, the wolfpack circled wide to the edge of the battlefield, avoiding the archery range of his orcs. They would hopefully pass through a woods and fall upon the archers and eat them for lunch. The general and his bodyguard of elite infantry stayed behind the orcs in the center, trying to be within leadership range to positively affect my units' morale when they had to take Courage tests. That was the plan, and the warlord of the Bonefish Band felt it was a good one!

    Our opening gambit was simple - armored orcs would charge & charge the Watcher till he was dead!

On the opposite side of the battlefield, Allen deployed his orc archers on either flank. In the middle, was a mass of four units of heavy infantry -- two of spear counting as Pikes, and thus more deadly to my trolls and wolves. Behind that slow-moving block of infantry was his general and body guard of orcs riding on war-boars. I gave Allen the chance to move them to the front, as  they were his fastest moving unit and could get to the temple quickest. He deferred. I warned him the Watcher may be dead already by the time his heavy foot arrived. He seemed unconcerned -- perhaps he knew something about his troops that I didn't? After all, this was the first time they'd see light of battle on the tabletop in years and years. I created the list he was using, though, as Allen doesn't own the DR! rules, yet. So, secret knowledge was unlikely.

    The wolfpack opens the hostilities with the rival orc tribe with a savage charge into some archers

On my first turn, I moved up all of my units except the trolls, who are avid bird watchers. They often lose turns during games to point out pretty birds to each other (i.e., fail their role to activate to Move). Allen had a couple units not move, as well. On turn 2, I charged both of my armored orcs into the Watcher, inflicting 5 SPs damage (slightly under average, as they hit on 3+ on each d6). Allen's battle line marched closer, but still could not charge the temple. On turn 3, my armored orcs surged forward again, inflicting 6 more SPs. We left only a crumb of 1 SP for Allen's orcs (plus the bonus 2 points for killing it, admittedly). Crucially, though, at the beginning of the turn, the wolves began within movement range of the both a unit of orc archers and orc spear. We rolled and had to Wild Charge into one of them. I chose the archers, and the Wolfpack savaged them, inflicting 4 hits. Surprisingly, they caused two casualties back (an average roll would have been one). The archers passed their Courage test, though. In a sign of things to come, the Wolfpack failed their morale and became Battered. I did not realize it then, but I'm pretty sure this was my high water mark for the game!

    Allen finishes off the Watcher's 1 SP left - did the evil being spit out a curse upon my dice on dying?

After Allen's orcs finished off the Watcher, the real battle began in earnest. One of my armored orcs charged his heavy foot. At this point, I realized that in creating Allen's list with four units of heavy foot, I had given my band a very tough bone to gnaw on. Heavy foot LOVE other units charging them. They inflict hits on 4+ on 1d6 when defending, but only 5+ when attacking. And what do my orcs, wolves, and trolls love to do? Charge the enemy, of course! Still, the orcs and trolls hit one better than Allen's heavy foot. So, we should win these encounters, right? Unfortunately for me, Allen's dice were hot that night! He consistently inflicted above average casualties. What's worse, he almost always passed his resulting Courage tests after receiving losses. My troops, on the other hand, failed nearly every Courage test they rolled. In addition, my goblin archers decided that once the Watcher was dead, the battle was over. The two units proceeded to fail nearly every activation roll to shoot from turn 3 on. In case you're curious, they needed to roll a 6+ on 2d6 to shoot. That's more than an 83% chance of success! My honest estimation is that over the next five turns, I failed to shoot with both units at least four times each. Do I want to do that math? Nahhh...I won't be able to get to sleep tonight if I know how unlikely this occurrence was!!

    Bird watching completed for the moment, the trolls are in position to pounce on an orc unit

Things began to unravel quickly after that for my -- to this point -- undefeated Bonefish Band. The trolls charged into a unit that had been softened up by one of the armored orc charges. Allen rolled crazy high and killed two of the six trolls. He passed his Courage test, but my bird-watching bullies failed their test and ran back into the woods to resume their safer, bird-watching activity. The wolfpack had already routed off board in the early stages of the battle after being charged by an orc spear unit. The trolls soon followed, as did one of my armored orc units. I have never seen two dice roll so many totals of four or less! I even switched dice at one point, but that provided no reprieve. This was simply Allen and his orc's night. They could do no wrong. They hit back harder than they should when charged, passed their morale rolls like grizzled veterans, and activated time after time. Meanwhile, the Bonefish Band bumbled their way through the game, not activating, and failing Courage tests repeatedly. Their was only one possible outcome -- bitter defeat!

    High Elves garrison the burnt out forest against the advance of Keith's outnumbered fire giants

As lopsided as my game seemed to feel, some of the other games were just as bad or worse. Keith's five units of fire giants were mowed down by an Elven army of six units -- all of whom could shoot out to 12". Keith had chosen the high point value unit route when creating his army list. Plus, two of his five units were chariots, which could not enter rough terrain. Sportingly, Keith pointed this out to Mike W, who needed no further encouragement, and occupied as much terrain with his archers as he could turning them into impenetrable fire bases. In a mirror of my game, Keith had created the army list that Mike W was using to destroy him -- like Allen did to me!

    In a battle of 'cute-ness,' Andy's impossibly pink warpigs charge brightly-colored lizards

On the icy plains, Andy's Dwarves had a miserable outing. They failed to activate time and again. On one turn, none of his five units activated. I should stop to explain an important point here. Under the Dragon Rampant rules as written, if one of your units fails to activate, your turn is over. The remaining units do not get a chance to act and play flips back to your opponent. You are allowed ONE re-roll of a failure, though, if the failing unit was within 12" of your leader's model (and he's not Battered). Instead, we play a popular variant were every unit gets a chance to activate. One failure does not end your turn. This is the same as author Daniel Mersey's Rebels and Patriots rules (which he also wrote after Dragon Rampant came out). 

    Keith also enjoys fielding new armies - the fire giants being his 3rd so far in our games of DR!

As Andy and I proved that evening, you can still roll badly and have a significant number of your troops do nothing. I feel the system we use also works better for multiplayer games. Imagine one player who fails his first roll and his turn is over. He has to sit around and wait for 15-20 minutes while the rest of his side move and the opponents also take their turn. And then, it is his side's turn again. He fails his first activation roll and his turn is over, again. We feel that type of mechanic is simply too frustrating. Plus, too many scenarios in DR! hinge on you getting to an objective or occupying something first. Losing a game because you rolled one or two first-unit failures/turnovers and did nothing for those turns does not produce a satisfying contest. I stress again -- at least that's the way we feel! Many others play the DR! rules as written and also enjoy the game.

    Early stages of the Elf-Giant clash - the High Elf cavalry galloping to beat the giants to the temple

Anyway, Andy's Dwarves, who had only five units vs. Joel's seven of goblins, was crushed on the icy plains. A handful of Andy's points were tied up in special abilities that worked only against specific units that Joel did not field. He also fielded a "Greater Warbeast Slayer" unit -- guess what else Joel's army did not have? A Greater Warbeast! Meanwhile, on the octagon table, Mike S managed to lose the Barbarians vs. Vikings (is that redundant?) match up by failing his Courage tests regularly, like I did. Or at least that's what I heard. They were two tables away from me and I was too busy trying to salvage the game tactically from my treacherous dice to watch their game much. Interestingly, none of the four games were close matches. All were absolute smack downs! 

    The Watcher and his one remaining SP for Allen to snatch up (with the bonus +2 for slaying him)

I also found it fascinating that it was an evening of upsets, of sorts, if you went by previous records in games of DR! The losers (Keith, Andy, Mike S, and myself) had a combined 8-4 record going into the evening. That night's winners (Mike W, Joel, Jenny, and Allen) had a combined 4-8 record. Honestly, I am happy to see that happen. I quit playing Saga, for the most part, because it is a "grognard game," in my opinion. It has such a high learning curve that frequent players have a huge advantage over intermittent or occasional ones. I'm glad DR! is not like that. The tactics are simple enough to grasp. There is no slate of  army-unique abilities to master. Use your troops reasonably, don't roll awfully, don't make obvious mistakes, and you should do well in DR!

 

    Another look at Keith's High Elves that he kindly lent to Mike W to crush him with...!

Still, the Bonefish Band is not happy about their first defeat. There would be a lot of finger-pointing on the bitter march home from Yellow Watcher's temple. Tactically, the only thing I feel I need to take from this defeat is that I need to use my fragile, "glass hammer" Wolfpack better. I thought by spending two points and making them Large would be give them a good enough chance of survival. It was not. So far, I've been unwisely sending them unsupported on wide flank runs. Maybe they should be a second line, instead? To unleash on the enemy once they have been "Battered" by the orcs or trolls? We shall see -- hopefully soon! I'm really enjoying our games of DR! and look forward to playing again. You see, I have the taste of this defeat to wash from my mouth...! 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 105

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59