The horde moved across the plains kicking up a stream of dust as it passed.
The Black Axe Tribe had assured Lord Kharver that there was a henge of standing stones nearby which would give power to whoever sacrificed mortals within it's bounds.
Letting the Beastman lead the way, Lord Kharver had brought some of his own Bloodbound warriors and called in a favour with the Chaos Dwarves of Zar-Zargoza, gaining the power of a warband of the short but vicious warriors.
As they came within sight of the henge, Kharver realised that they were not alone, a ghostly hue hung in the air and several ghostly horsemen flitted away over the rocky hill.
"Form line" he ordered and the command Hornblower blasted out the dirge, redirecting the army into a battleline.
*****
Lady Arnolka whipped her skull visaged head around as the Black Horse scouts quickly flew back over the hills.
They came to a rest in front of her as her Banshee handmaidens moved between her and the scouts incase of sudden betrayal.
She had raised this army after having a vision that a Chaos force would try to take the henge, corrupting the area and denying her access to the death magic which was rich in the surrounding hills.
With a series of gestures and their strange whispering language the Black Horse communicated that the humans were nearly upon the henge and their general force disposition.
After a moment to think, Lady Arnolka spoke in her own whisper-scream voice and called up her knights and most vicious units.
With a gesture they moved forwards through the hills to take the fight to the enemy...
*****
Hello, yesterday I had the rarest opportunity to actually play a game and field the miniatures I've painted over the years!
Also it was an opportunity to introduce one of my friends to one of my favourite gaming systems, Dragon Rampant.
As it was a learning game, we played the basic pitched battle scenario in the book and dispensed with Leader traits or Glory Quests for this time, in order for him to get a grasp on the rules engine and we'll build up from there when next we play.
The "Gory Bloodbath on the Plains of Doom" is a typical "line 'em up and fight" scenario as I called it, and as the name suggests, the ruleset doesn't take things too seriously.
Our table was a little under three feet wide, so we deployed four inches on instead of the six inches as listed in the book. I think the table size was roughly four feet by three feet, so worked well and we chose to play a twenty-four point warband against each other.
The attacking forces of Lord Kharver:
From Left to Right;
'Kharver's Riders' a unit of Heavy Cavalry of three Chaos Knights, this unit contains the army leader.
'The Black Axe Tribe' a unit of Light Foot of twelve Beastman with mixed weapons, meaning they could shoot and fight equally well.
'The Jackals' a unit of Heavy Foot of six Blood Warriors with Offensive, meaning they fight equally well at defence and attack.
'The Darklings" a unit of Heavy Foot of six Chaos Dwarves at the front of the army. With Offensive and Mystical Armour (they negate wounds on a roll of a six).
The defending forces of Lady Arnolka the Everghast:
From Left to Right:
'The Black Horse' a unit of light cavalry of six Glaivewraith Stalkers.
'Klaus' Reapers' a unit of Bellicose Foot of six Grimghast Reapers with Shunt Armour and Fear.
'The Everghast Uhlans' a unit of Heavy Cavalry of three Spectral Knights.
'Lady Arnolka and Handmaiden's ' a unit of scouts of three Myrmorn Banshees.
'Mistress Kareol and the Hinzergard, a second unit of Bellicose Foot of six Bladewraith Harridans who cause Fear.
The game began with Lord Kharver having the first turn and managing to get successful orders for everything to move forwards as far as possible:
In Lady Arnolka's first turn, the Black Horse' successfully tested to 'Skirmish' and moved forwards and opened fire at the Black Axe Tribe, cutting down five of the Beastman who stood firm passing their courage test:
The Everghast Uhlans swept forwards onto the rocky hill and the rest of the Nighthaunt forces held position:
Lord Kharvers' forces reformed a ragged line in the next turn, but in the Nighthaunt turn, the Everghast Uhlans pulled a bait and switch, luring the Chaos Dwarves towards them.
Before marching off and charging the Beastman.
In the resulting combat, the Beastman were wiped out and the Undead Knights had several of their number discorporated. The unit leader then failed his courage test and melted back into the floor (he ended up on a minus on his test, automatic rout):
The end of turn three after combats had started to happen.
Lady Arnolka had tested to Skirmish, and she and her Handmaiden's moved forward and pulverised one of the Chaos Dwarves from the Darklings with their Banshee Wails (shooting attack).
Lord Kharver had charged (and been counter charged) by Mistress Kareol and the Hinzergard. A bloody combat saw two of the Harridans disappear and a Knight cut down causing the Lord to flee.
A different angle of the above:
The next turn saw the Lord Kharver rally and the two Heavy Foot units charging each closest Bellicose Foot unit, both of which successfully tested to counter-charge:
The Darklings lost the combat against Klaus' Reapers in the background. In the foreground however The Jackals and the Hinzergard caused an equal number of wounds to each other, forcing the Blood warriors to retreat three inches away, as they were the attackers who instigated the fight:
When initiative swung to the Nighthaunt next, the Black Horse moved up onto the low hill so they could see something to shoot at and Arnolka pulverised and sent fleeing the Darklings who moved away needing to be rallied.
The Hinzergard also slaughtered another knight of Lord Carver's bodyguard and sent the Chaos lord fleeing towards the rear as well.
(We forgot to test for Wild Charge at the beginning of the turn so Klaus'Reapers were left with nothing to do this turn):
A closer look at the army positions:
In a very short turn for the Chaos force, both Lord Kharver and the Darklings rallied and turned to stand their ground, whilst the Jackals' marched forwards to get into combat again:
Eyeing up potential targets:
At the start of the Nighthaunt turn, Klaus' Reapers successfully tested for Wild Charge, but the Hinzergard failed and remained in place (we remembered this turn), the resulting combat unfortunately saw the Jackals' destroy the undead unit and (fortunately for me) remain out of range of the units on the hill:
Was wasn't fortunate though was that the Darklings were in range of the hill, and after being Banshee screamed at and peppered with ranged attacks were wiped from the field:
The final turn of the game which saw the table reduced to four units on the ground saw Lord Kharver rally again!
And the Jackals' charge, be counter-charged and wipe out Klaus' Reapers which also saw half their remaining numbers killed in action:
We called the game there as in the book it states that when the field is reduced to four units, you roll a D6 and on a five plus the game continues for another turn.
After a quick scan of the field however there was no-way that my reduced forces were going to take the hill as they had castled up just to do ranged attacks on anything which came near.
Looking at the victory points condition:
Lord Kharver has killed eighteen points of enemies.
Lady Arnolka had killed fourteen points of enemies.
Meaning that Lord Kharver's force "technically" won, but looking at the above he can't hold the field, so we'll call it a draw.
Once we'd gotten the game engine going in our heads, remember it's the first time my friend has ever played and I haven't for a couple of years, the game started to flow brilliantly and he'd picked up the basics.
Most of the units I used were 'reduced model units' meaning that each model represented two or more strength points, useful as we were playing on a slightly smaller table.
Less useful was remembering the convention that a strength point is basically a wound (we come from a GW background) so that was a slight sticking point for the first few turns of the game.
Dragon Rampant, along with the other members of the family (Dux Britanniarum, Lion Rampant, The Pikeman's Lament, The Men who Would be King's and the recently released Xenos Rampant) give fast, Beer and Pretzels style game which is really what we're looking for (rare are the days we can set aside a full day for a game of Apocalypse for example).
The next time we meet up, we're going to play this again, but introduce the other parts to make the most of the rules, I may even convince him to try Xenos Rampant and drag some of his many 40k armies out of storage.
*****
With a resigned sigh, Lord Kharver kicked his destrier into motion and called on his remaining warriors to return.
It had been a costly battle, not least in terms of manpower, but in the fact that he now had to make good on his debt to Zar-Zargoza and the fact that of the warband he'd been in loaned for command, non of the chaos Dwarves would return.
Beastman bodies littered the left flank and the dwarves as well as his own knights the center.
His heavy infantry unit of Jackals' had performed heroically though, smashing several of the ghostly units, all of which had discorporated when destroyed.
Upon the rocky hill, the blue-green glow of the remaining undead forces coloured the ground, wails touching the air as what he assumed was their commander issued orders.
He realised that her power would be broken as well, as the undead relied upon the ties to death magic which were stronger the more of them there were, so he'd achieved a victory of sorts he told himself.
Now to face the Lord's of Zar-Zargoza...
*****
Until next time, have nice day...
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