The Blood Runtz faced off against the high elf raiding party (yes those evil elves are always raiding the peaceful land of the orcs.) our first game of Dragon Rampant. Two lists hit the table, one from some extended rules from the Facebook group that had a Warhammer Fantasy Battle High Elf list and abilities, and the Blood Runtz built straight from the book. 30 points to a side so we could play a little with our hero units. The lists we’re close in style.
Elves, hero elite calvary with commanding, 1 heavy cavalry, 1 spearmen unit, 1 swordmaster unit, and 1 set of archers.
The orcs, hero Grazmack the Courageless elite calvary with inpidis, 1 heavy cav, 1 sword and shield infantry, 1 big weapons infantry, and archers.
Turn 1 through 3 was pretty easy going, working on maneuvering to each of our best advantage points. The orcs pushed the left flank and elves right flank while both masses went down the middle. We both made a slight error on the movement range of cav and therefore first turn they moved only 6 inches. After that, we were more inline to their normal movement. The elves had a little trouble inspiring their troops to become active at first.
Turn three was the first blood as the elves let their arrows fly and hit some sword and shield orcs.
Grazmack the Courageless was in a constant state of combat with his bodyguards, but finally met his end to the sword masters on a counter charge.
The orcs left flank attack got scattered from elven bow fire and the sound of the horns from the death of Grazmack.
The center mass had a tough time holding firm, the Blood Runtz quickly lost there will fight, the sword and shields unit went running. The great weapons held off the elven champion, just long enough for them to fire a few rounds of arrows.
The left flank of calvary regained there order and swept around rushing the elven nights and then slaughtered by the elven champion.
The archers finally became surrounded but refused to flee, they made their last attempt firing at the only elven knight left, while being charged by the swordmasters. Doom fell to them as the few members retreat off the field.
For the first game of Dragon Rampant, it went pretty smooth, a little confusion on courage tests with battered rules and rally rules. But combat was quick but not overly deadly or lethal. Ranges we thought were a bit short, to begin with, but once in play, I found that morale is fatal. This is because unlike other games courage gets tested when you lose a strength point, while most games your courage or moral isn’t tested until you lose over half of your unit. Thom felt the game might be a little to beer and pretzels, but I believe the jury is still out, we plan to run another game soon.
One busy dad struggling to keep up with gaming! I am a Graphic Designer, Video Editor, and Cartoonist, and an avid tabletop level painter. I love skirmish games and 15mm larger army games. Current armies: 8th Army (15mm&28mm), Nids, Catachans, Dwarves and Orcs (Dragons Rampant), Cold War Russians, Royalist & Parlament ECW. Everything is in a state of WIP!
