Sunday, September 5, 2021

Dragon Rampant

 Hi all,


IMG_5757
D&D dragon, I think copper(?), that Cub picked up a while back, along with some Reaper Bones kobolds

So, as occasional readers may have noted, I seem to have fallen down the Mersey-hole of late.  In addition to Pikeman's Lament, I've also come by copies of his "Rampant" games, both Lion and Dragon.  For the former, I've begun putting together some vikings (and am eagerly anticipating the soon-to-be-released viking supplement), but it's the latter that seems to have gained real traction in Monkeyland, mainly via the offspring.


IMG_5756
Puddin' moves these around the table by, I kid you not, picking them up in a handfull.  Kobolds get no respect.

Dragon Rampant uses similar core mechanics to Lion Rampant; IgoUgo, but with command friction, a broad set of generic troop types, standardized unit sizes, and a range of special rules that can be applied to distinguish units within the same troop type.  With DR, there's a much larger range of the latter (to accommodate the usual fantasy tropes), along with the option to take reduced or single model units.  As an example of the latter, when I used my GW ogre models, I ran them as heavy infantry, but with four, three-wound models per unit, rather than the usual 12 single-wound option.


IMG_5755
Dad's ogres line up for a thumping.

IMG_5753
The cub, using my FEC ghouls as a stand-in undead horde.

The Cub and played a game of it early in the summer, and he was quite taken.  The rules are simple enough to pick up quickly, but allow for massive customization of one's army.  Add in that they are figure-agnostic, and you can put together pretty much any force you can think of.  Some long-time readers might recall that I bought into the original Reaper Bones kickstarter.  Between that box of minis (which the Cub has been steadily painting over the years, especially this summer), my collection of GW AoS stuff, odds and ends of historicals (when I bought a bag of the Victrix vikings, I gifted the Cub my unpainted wargames factory vikings - he put skulls on them, and runs them as Draugir), and the minis he's started collecting on his own, and we are spoiled for choice.


IMG_5721
I think this was the first game Cub and I played - my Brets hit the table for the first time in years.

IMG_5720
It was great to get a game with them.

Where things really took off was when Cub dragooned the Puddin' into playing as well.  The latter has shown occasional interest in minis, mostly painting, but never much in play.  By her own admission, she played the first game with him to humor him ;)  It seems, however, that a game where she can simultaneously play both a fire-breathing dragon, and use both her My Little Pony figures, AND her LEGO unicorns, is right up her alley.  They played multiple games over the summer, including one where the two of them ganged up on the old man in a three-way brawl (which Puddin' won, straight up ;) ).

IMG_5719


IMG_5718

I am, needless to say, delighted by all of this.  While I don't know that Puddin' is about to make a deep dive into tabletop miniature gaming, finding a game she likes to play has been fantastic.  Finding a fantasy game that Cub likes is equally delightful; while he's always down for some 40k, and has shown a tentative interest in some historical play, his fantasy interests have been mostly limited to D&D.  As I write this, however, he's working on putting together a mixed undead force, made up of the aforementioned Draugir, some Wargames atlantic zombies he picked up, a D&D lich, and odds and ends from the Reaper box.  I'm generally cautious about "pushing" the kids into gaming; much as it's nice to share hobbies, I've always been leery of being one of "those" dads.  I have to say, though, seeing my kids enjoy something I love, getting to play a game with the two of them, has been a highlight of the summer.  Can't wait for more.

FMB

13 comments:

  1. That all sounds positive. The family that plays together etc

    I'm not keen on sudden death activation but nonetheless agreed to cohost a multiplayer 1/72 DR game at Huzzah in 2018 so did 2 armies, one including a Black Cauldron for raising the dead. My fears were justified when one player failed pretty much every first activation but at least he was almost saved by good defence rolls in melee and good use of a special scenario rule giving each player 3 'reroll' tokens each of which allows 1 immediate reroll. The players seemed to have enjoyed it and my post-con blog report says that I'd do it again and it looks like we might in 2022, if I'm allowed over the border by then!

    Here's a look at one of my OS 25mm test games http://gatheringofhosts.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-affair-of-na-dallag-naomh.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Excellent - hadn't realized you played it! I'm pretty okay with the activation process. I don't recall a game where anyone's failed that consistently, and I've found the "clutch" fails add a hell of a lot of dramatic tension to the game ;)

      Delete
  3. We also enjoy playing with our children!
    In fact 2 out of 4 really play!
    Thank you for this battle report with this rule that We do not know yet!
    :-)

    https://lempereurzoom13.blogspot.com/2021/06/parties-dba.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good job getting them to play DBA! Always enjoyed that game.

      Delete
  4. Fun gaming with excellent figures and participants, Markus!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great that you can expose the kids to gaming and that they are having fun. DR is indeed a pretty cool rule set. 😀

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds great that you've managed to get both offspring playing, I've got dragon Rampant and piles of old fantasy figures so I plan on putting something together at some point. My daughter really enjoyed beating me with a renaissance Venetian army with To the Strongest! She liked the colours ,feathers and bows of the gendarmes, closest thing to my little pony on the wargaming table(apart from the actual little pony)!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iain, you need at least one venetian on a pastel pony. Just say it was dyed in heraldic colours, or something ;)

      Delete
  7. Now if you could just get both of them painting on the backlog... ;-)

    ReplyDelete