Wednesday 3 October 2018

Battles in Middle Earth : Dragon Rampant

Having been busy over the holidays we were looking for some easy pick up games. Dragon Rampant rules are perfect for this and our Middle Earth/Lord of the Rings collections are easy to create an army list of any particular size. So what follows is two separate evenings gaming.

First up my Mordor Orcs took on a contingent of Elves, we used the scenario straight from the Lion Rampant rule book where one side is attempting to burn a number of designated objectives, whilst the other rushes forward to defend.
In this case Elves are looking to put my Mordor Orcs to the sword
Berserkers have been left to guard the loot
swords men run forward as both forces attempt to get to the centre as quickly as possible
The Mordor force as fast moving warg riders
But what is this the Elves have persuaded an ent to join their force
Warg riders chase down the flank
Thump thump.......they have an armoured troll !
The elves have wizardess with them
The elves prepare to receive the troll charge
But it changes direction and crashes into the ent.....
The elves manage to set the first objective on fire
But are ambushed when they attempt a second
Fearce fighting has reduced both forces and the Orcs have their eye on the she-elf !
But she runs for her life !
We managed to then play the same scenario the other way round, the wargs charging is as quickly as possible
The troll got his revenge on the she-elf
Before being hacked down by the elves

Two fun games but we came to the conclusion that actually burning all the objectives would be almost impossible. The dungeon then saw another Middle Earth adventure with a much larger game. Here a huge horde of Mordor Orcs were up against the well disciplined Gondorian Army. We used a slightly modified version of Dragon Rampant rules, roughly speaking we had about 60 points each.

The Gondor army, predominantly infantry with a couple of units of heavy cavalry
The Horde
 Infantry advance past the fallen head of one of the old kings of Gondor
Rangers advance past an abandoned temple
The clash of steel gets closer.........
Heavy cavalry crash in on the Left flank
The cavalry are impetuous so quickly become exhausted and worn out
Around the temple the Gondorian force use long range attacks, the cavalry in the background are redeploying 
Faramir, despite charging in looses his nerve and flees the field 🙁
The horde have brought a troll, which has been stuck in the woods but eventually it breaks free to charge
The cavalry have redeployed 
My photos seem to run out here, but the troll was eventually chased off and although it had cost them dear the Gondor army held the field just 

Another good game with quite a few troops on the table...I think we might see some more Middle Earth soon 🙂

20 comments:

  1. You have a lot of cool toys, Matt! The armored troll is my favorite.

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    1. I do have a lot of toys, a few of the figures on show in these battle aren’t mine. But if it is the pink troll he is 😀

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  2. Love the LoTR action and DR fits nicely as a rule system for the miniatures. Though some of the provided scenarios are really hard o complete. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew we might put on another big battle soon, DR are great rules but there is a maximum size they can cope with.🙂

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  3. Gnomes and Fairies! That is all! 😉

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    1. Actually trolls as well but I know you thoughts 🙂

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  4. Fantastic looking game, Matt! Figures and terrain are wonderful, and with a favorite rule set for me too. BTW, our local "Rampant" group recently announced a LotR campaign - I don't have any figures as yet, but the armored Troll looks awesome and inspiring!

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    1. Thanks Dean.......a campaign would be fun. I have the benefit of a lot of figures already so can adapt my forces quite easily

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  5. Lovely armies and fun games! I particularly like your temple!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, the temple of course is recycled from the participation game I ran a couple of years ago as it is a rough copy of the temple at Amon Hen

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  6. Splendid stuff Matt...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly....as David says it’s only fantasy but fun all the same and after all Middle Earth is almost like real history to most of us 🙂

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  7. Fine pics and report, you won't be adapting BA for this I take it ;~)

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    1. Thanks Phil, no I think BA might be a struggle with this as the shooting is fairly limited, DR works really well in my view although it is limited to overall scale and we were close to the limit here

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  8. Looks fun. I enjoyed your game at the Phoenix show a couple of years ago (probably 3)

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    1. Thanks David yes the hobbit game went down well🙂

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