Bloodbath on the Plains of Doom - A Dragon Rampant battle report.

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...

The Battle of Iron Ridge - A Dragon Rampant Battle Report.

The other day I said that I was going to post up a Dragon Rampant battle report to test the rules and see how the game plays.

This is actually my first game using the system, I was going to get some practice games in at the beginning of the year and attend the Rampant day 2020 event which was being organised, but the world put paid to that idea, especially as the thing was cancelled anyway due to the pandemic.

Anyway, for those who don't remember, I did an introductory post about the game at the beginning of the year, which you can find Here.

Given that whilst lock down has been eased, we still aren't allowed to gather in groups, Dragon Rampant was one of the best games in my collection to be played solo.

To set the scene in my house:
Out came the grass mat, the plastic bonsai trees and the ruins which are Here I made a bit back, along with my completed small forces. My son had gone to sleep, the Mrs was reading downstairs and the cats were calm and sleeping of their dinner.

Time for me to get a game on!

The forces are as follows:

Stormcast Eternals:

Lord Castelland and Knight-Incantor - Heavy Infantry with Mystical Armour and Wizardling.

These have the leader trait “Brave” meaning that they were never effected by fear.They had the spells: Heal Thee!, Power Bolt and Stronger Shields.They have 6 wounds each, using the reduced model count rule.

4 Sequitors – Heavy Infantry.

They have 3 wounds each.

4 Liberators – Heavy Infantry.

They have 3 wounds each.

A Dracoth Rider – Heavy Rider with Wizardling.

He has the spells: Banish Fear! Sod-Off-Spell and Power Bolt.He has 6 wounds.

3 Aetherwings – Lesser War beasts.

They have 2 wounds each.

The Nighthaunt:

Knight of Shrouds and 2 Dreadblades – Heavy Riders with Flying and Undead.

They have the leader trait “Goader” meaning that a unit can automatically move without passing a test to do so.

They have 2 wounds each.

3 Myrmourn Banshees – Scouts with Flying and Undead.

They have 2 wounds each.

6 Grimghast Reapers – Bellicose Infantry with Undead.

They have 2 wounds each.

Banshee, Spirit Torment and 10 Chainrasps – Light Infantry with Wizardling.

They had the spells: Heal Thee! Bog Thee! And Befuddle Thee!

They have 1 wound each.

An Abyssal Horror – Lesser War beast with Flying, Flame Attack and Undead.

This has 6 wounds.

Now that the forces are laid out, let's set the scene in the game:

“Find the ruins three days march westwards from Ancestor's Fyrd, it's a small ancient hovel nestled in the lee of Iron Ridge, we thought we could find a shortcut and beat the Angus clan here to trade. All we found was death, tormented spirits rising from the ground to attack us as we moved through, there's no way traders will be coming here unless that is dealt with”

Andrius Suresteel thought about the tales of the wild eyed trader who had rode into Ancestor's Fyrd six days ago. Trade was the lifeblood of the township and needed to get through, more over, a significant Nighthaunt presence this close to the town had to be dealt with and quickly. It had taken them three days to call back the roving patrols which kept the Brayherd's to the north in check, and leaving a garrison behind, they had marched out to confront this latest threat.

“Sigmar's work is never done my friend” Arinos Swiftsoul said from atop his Dracoth mount as if sensing the unease in Andrius.

“No, it seems not, we'll push on for another hour to the top of Iron Ridge and see if we can spot anything” he replied.

“Very good lord” Arinos said and goaded the Dracoth forwards to the front of the column.

****

An hour later they had marched onto the crest and were looking down at death.
Nighthaunt were spilling from the ruins sensing the living warriors opposing them, Chainrasps, Reapers, a huge Abyssal and the Knights which were leading the horde. With a howl like a dry wind, they set forward drifting on tendrils of smoke eager to kill the living.

“Form up, spread out to cover the ridge, we have the high ground” Andruis shouted to his Stormcast warriors.

Sequitors to his left, Liberators and the Aetherwings to his right. Andruis on his Dracoth following the Sequitors seeing the Reapers and Abyssal heading towards that flank. Orine Silverheart, the forces' Knight-Incantor remained by his side, the senior command and spell caster acting as the lynchpin of the force.

Issuing orders, the Liberators moved forwards to the edge of the treeline to make the best of the room available, at the same time the Aetherwings, ever unpredictable, shrilled and flew forwards, eager to rend the enemy.

The Sequitors and Arinos however were caught out by the speed of the enemy who were charging forwards en-mass, the Abyssal flying over the ghostly troops to switch flanks.
Andrius couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn he saw more ghost shapes in the ruins who hadn't moved but couldn't see properly.

With a sudden shriek the Aetherwings swooped forwards, driving at the Abyssal and tearing with beaks and claws.

The Azyrite birds, though valiant in the attack, hadn't managed to wound the great ethereal beast at all, yet when it hit back, arcs of blood followed the weighty hit and the hawks flew for the safety of the trees on the ridge.

Meanwhile, the Sequitors and Arinos had steeled themselves and marched forwards over the crest-line, staring at the incorporeal horde approaching, readying themselves as best the could for the fight to come.
At his side, Andruis nodded with satisfaction as Orine muttered an incantation to Sigmar and unleashed a bolt of purest white Azyr lightning at the enemy leaders.

The bolt struck true and one of the Dreadblade bodyguards seemed to drop somewhat towards the ground and slowed, these creatures could certainly be wounded. The other troops were watching as a cheer sounded from the length of the ridge at the strike.

With a sudden surge of movement, the Nighthaunt force threw itself forwards.
The Grimghast Reapers fell upon the Sequitors with unholy vigour, their scythes driving one of the warriors to the floor, his armour split in two.

The unit, unsure of themselves only managed to fend off the attackers before stumbling back up the ridge where they came. A bolt of lightning leapt skywards from the ground as the fallen warrior was reclaimed to Sigmar's realm.

In the center of the line, Andruis and Orine found themselves embroiled in a fight as the Knight of shrouds and his bodyguard had charged forwards and swept their blades in wicked circles.

“I am Vornos Ravenhold, do you fear death?” it seemed to whisper and scream at the same time.
Neither of the Stormcast deigned to answer and set about themselves with stave and halberd.

Though bloodied, the Stormcast heroes held firm. Their strength smiting one of the Dreadblades and wounding the other as the Knight of Shrouds pulled the ghostly creature in front of the halberd blow meant for him.
With a sibilant hiss, he turned and led his ailing comrade back through the trees for the moment.

In the center of the Nighthaunt line, Amondrizel, leading the Chainrasps, let out a shriek which cracked stone. She aimed her scream at the Liberators unit causing them to cover their ears in pain and stumble out of rank.

At the same time, they were hit by a more powerful shrill scream. The Abyssal had opened it's jaws wider them a living thing could have and shrieked, digging a furrow through the ground and pitching one of the stalwart warriors from his feet.

Steeling themselves, the Liberator unit redressed their ranks in-time to receive the charge of the Abyssal which swooped down from the top of the nearby ruins. Spectral claw met Sigmarite shield. Ayzr forged hammer battered ethereal scale as the fight erupted.

Amazingly they managed to drive the creature off, giving praise to Sigmar as they watched it silently drift away through the ruins.

Their gaze draw down towards the fallen comrade at their feet, before he is lifted away by a bolt of lightning, reclaimed to Sigmar's forge. Steeling themselves their set their sights upon the Chainrasp horde massing in front of them.

The Grimghast Reapers charged up the hill to engage the Sequitors once again. Scythes flailing they set about the Stormcast as if they were a harvest.

Unfortunately, this particular harvest was armoured in Sigmarite and fought back. When the dust settled another of Sigmar's warriors was reclaimed, but two of the Reapers had been banished back to the lands of Shyish.

Unfortunately, their nerve didn't hold and they scrambled backup the ridge again, in-spite of the bellowed orders of Arinos.

The figures which Andrius thought he had seen at the beginning of the battle finally resolved themselves as a unit of Myrmourn Banshee's. They swept forwards and immediately began wailing at the Liberators unit. Obviously wise to this tactic now, the Liberators were unaffected and continued about their business.

Meanwhile magical spells seemed to permeate the air as Amondrizel turned uttering praise to Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Dead, seemed to reinvigorate the Knights and they reformed themselves more solidly.

Orine, casting another incantation from Sigmar, caused the Liberator's armour to begin to glow, almost white with the divine protection coming from it.

And Arinos, bounding forwards on his Dracoth, sent a searing bolt of lightning into the Grimghast Reapers, causing one of the ghosts to disintegrate entirely and causing the rest of the unit to scurry backwards to safety.

Not taking a single step backwards, the Liberators charged forwards with a mighty warcry!
They smashed into the Chainrasp line and battle was joined in earnest.

Rusted sword and spectral claw proved no match for the mightily protected Liberators who proceeded to banish six of the ghosts in a matter of moments, hisses and gasps echoing from each banishment.
Amondrizel, sensing the fight was turning, spitefully stabbed her dagger into one of the few weak points of the Liberators causing a wound, before turning and gliding away with the surviving Chainrasps following through the ruins.

Once again Vornos Ravenhold led the charge up the hill, determined to see these upstart living beings be drawn to the world of the dead. He managed to draw a bead on the Knight-Incantor and sweeping his blade in a whistling arc dealt a sever blow to her, driving her to her knees. He over extended however and being so set on killing Orine, he failed to recognise the death shriek of his remaining Dreadblade, let alone the whistle of the Halberd which had now cut through several of his physical ties to this realm. Panicked and badly out of position, the Knight of Shrouds emitted a high pitched wail and bled into the ground and returned to Nagash in Shyish.

With their main source of connection to this realm defeated, the remaining Nighthaunt all seemed to fade and little, their power somewhat diminished, until Amondrizel, the thorn in the Stormcast sides, screeched once again and focused the rest of the ghosts on the battle, only the Abyssal fled from the battle line, recovering it's wits a few moment's later.

As the Knight of Shrouds dissolved into the floor, the Liberators and Aetherwings were back on the attack.
The Aetherwings seeking out the retreating Amondrizel and Chainrasps, clawing at the ghosts which deftly avoiding the return attacks.

The Liberators carried on their forward momentum and slammed into the Myrmourn Banshee's who were lining up to attack the Lord Castellant, current;y helping the wounded Knight-Incantor back to her feet.
With another warcry to Sigmar, the Liberators set about the Banshee unit before the enemy knew what had hit them. Wiping the spectres from the realm, an echoing wail emitting from each undead banished..

Arinos had charged into the Grimghast unit again, driving his Dracoth hard. The creature swept about with it's giant claws, biting forwards as Arinos swung his sword, keeping the standard he held high.

With the turn of the Reapers once again, the Nighthaunt seemed to loose whatever passed for a heart amongst their kind and quit the field.

The Nighthaunt had been driven away, Andrius gathered about him his surviving warriors.
Though many were bloodied and Orine Silverheart was struggling to stand by herself, his forces losses were thankfully light. Two Sequitors and one Liberator had been reclaimed by Sigmar for reforging, the one Aetherwing which had fallen was lain to rest at the foot of the crest.

“We have done great work here, the trade lines from the west will resume to Ancestor's Fyrd with the new of this victory, Praise be to Sigmar!” He spoke to his warriors.

“Praise be to Sigmar!” the echoed.

“Further” Andrius continued, “Eldermnon Hammerborn, your and your Liberators have performed above and beyond that which was expected of your today. In recognition of your deeds, your shall be referred to as 'The Bulwark of the Heavens' from hence forth”.

The Liberator Prime stood straighter at this news, pride filling him. Even his wounded soldier shrugged off the help of his fellow to stand with his prime in recognition of this accolade.

Looking about him with a weary but proud eye, Andrius Suresteel met the eyes of every Stormcast present.

“We march to Ancestor's Fyrd!”

****

Well, an enjoyable couple of hours play testing the rules.

I enjoyed the randomness of activations, and the fact that if you fail an activation, then your turn automatically ends regardless of whether it is the first activation or the last. There was much luck of the drawer in the game, if some of the rolls, especially for the almost immortal Liberator unit had gone the other way, then it would have been a very different story. Likewise the Knight of Shrouds, inspite of him being the "Big Bad" couldn't seem to cut his way out of a paper bag, nevermind a fully armoured warrior!

One of the things I like the most about this game is the damage system is very well done, simple but elegant and I had that down after the third combat. I think with time and a few more playthroughs then I will get speedier at the rules and not have to cross-check as much as I did, as this is what ate up a lot of the time today.

I will definitely be playing this again in the future, and maybe organise a campaign for myself to play through.

Until next time...

- Lewis

Dragon Rampant, an introduction.

Welcome to the first “Fantasy Friday” post.

This is what will, hopefully, become a semi-regular series covering various fantasy rulesets which catch my eye, projects for fantasy wargames, and, well you get the idea.

Basically if it's anything to do with fantasy which doesn't belong on the workbench series, then it'll end up here being posted on a Friday.

That's the plan, but no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Anyway, for the first post, I want to introduce a ruleset I've liked for a while but never had chance to play:

Dragon Rampant

 

Dragon Rampant is part of the Osprey Publishing series of wargames, so it holds up well their high production standards throughout.

It is also part of what has become known as the “Rampant Series” of wargames, which includes Lion Rampant and The Pikeman's Lament, all three books written by Daniel Mersey.

All three books focus upon small, quick and decisive battles which are fun to boot.
They all utilise D6's as their rolling method, and whilst I cannot say for The Pikeman's Lament, as I have never played it, both Lion Rampant and Dragon Rampant share a core ruleset which makes transferring from one set to the other easy.

This page is taken directly from the PDF and shows clearly what is needed to play:

As the game is more warband then army focussed, but not in the Dark Ages warband sense, it is eminently achievable, especially with modern adult life straining onto hobby time and budget.
A green table cloth, a few pieces of terrain, around 50 (if you're maxing numbers) miniatures per side and a handful of D6's.

It's almost like going back to when we started with 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th edition Warhammer Fantasy!

It's nothing like Warhammer Fantasy

For one thing, it's not entirely certain your units will act the way you wish, when you wish them too.

As you can see, every statblock has a number with a “+” symbol.
That is the number you need to roll on two D6 in order to make the order.

So our heavy riders need to pass an “Movement Order Check” at 5+ on two D6.
Melee attacking is on a 5+ again and their courage is a healthy 4+.

The right hand column is where the attack and defence stats are found for when you are actually getting up close and personal with the enemy.
These attack and defence dice are a single D6, and whilst they might seem high, there are modifiers throughout the game which will help somewhat..

Strength points are the measure of the units current power. Most people play with six or twelve models in the unit as these are the two main strength totals, however they are just a measure of how much power the unit has, and when they are at half strength, you roll half the number of dice (You will always roll twelve dice whilst above half the starting strength, when you reach half strength, you will always roll six dice for attacks).

The rulebook even has a handy flowchart to help through the turn sequence:

 

If you read the little designers note on the side it explains how the game turn might not go the way you want it to, these designers notes are something I wish more games authors would add in their works.

Battered units and Wild Charges are something which becomes more relevant when the game is being played and not something I am going to into here.

The most interesting part of the rules for me though is the army creation.

Rather then an arbitrary set of units which must be adhered to, instead Dragon Rampant gives you a series of generic units profiles, with various special rules to add to them for different troop types. You can then add on what the book refers to as “Fantastical Rules” which covers things from Invisibility, to Flying to Flame Attacks and even Were-Creatures!#

There is an option for what is known as a “reduced model unit” which will still have six or twelve strength points, but has less then that number of models, think of 2 or 3 or more wound creatures from other rules and you get the idea.

The main cravats to creating an army is that you have to have a minimum of four units, and no one unit can cost more then ten points.

The unit types are as follows:

Elite Riders – nobles and other high cavalry.

Heavy Riders – more reliable heavy cavalry then the nobles.

Light Riders – scout cavalry and yeoman types.

Greater Warbeast – DRAGONS, and other big beasties.

Lesser Warbeast – packs of smaller warbeasts, or a juvenile DRAGON.

Elite Foot – best of the best infantry around.

Heavy Foot – general heavy infantry.

Light Foot – a catch all of light infantry, they can be pike armed or have the option for missiles.

Bellicose Foot – break heads first, ask questions later types.

Heavy Shooters – heavy infantry armed with missile weapons, but poor in combat.

Light Shooters – general missile type units.

Scouts – small missile armed units who can move through cover with ease.

Ravenous Hordes – zombies, peasants, anything which doesn't think much but is a nuisance.

Your army leader is included in one of the units you pick, rather then as a separate unit himself (he can be his own model by using a reduced model count unit) and he gets a Leadership Trait by rolling three D6 on a chart in the book, thing range from being luckless to being a combat monster, a master with missile attacks and others.

As an exmaple force here is my own Nighthaunt army which I made specifically for Dragon Rampant.
It's a little larger then a standard game at thirty points, a standard game is twenty-four points;

 Here's how it breaks down:

Heavy Riders unit – The Knight of Shrouds on Steed and two Dreadblade Harrows.

This unit include the army leader, and is a reduced model unit, each model has four wounds.
They have the enchanted weapons, flying and undead rules.

 

Scouts unit – Three Myrmourn Banshees.

This unit is a reduced model unit, each model has two wounds.

They have the flying and undead rules. Their ranged attack represents their Banshee Screams.

Bellicose Foot unit – six Cairn Wraiths.

This unit is a reduced model unit, each model has two wounds.

They have the enchanted weapons and undead rules.

 

Light Foot unit – Knight of Shrouds, Soulwarden and ten Chainrasps.

They have the offensive and undead rules.

Lesser Warbeast unit – Dread Abyssal.
This is a reduced model unit, the creature has six wounds.
The warbeast has the flame attack, flying and undead rules.
Like the Banshees above, I envisage the flame attack more as a spectral scream rather then an actual flame breath.

So with twenty-five models in the entire army, it really is achievable to complete a force for this game without having to wait years to get a game in.

Another thing I really like is that the order mechanic's don't guarantee that your forces will act during the turn, so it makes it much more viable for solo gaming, something of a bonus that.

Well, I hope to get some games of this in shortly once I have finished my Stormcast Eternals force to face the undead, I'll post some battle reports as I get into the swing of it, this will be especially useful as I am considering attending the “Rampant Ages Day” in April laid on by Wargames Illustrated magazine.

Until next time...

- Lewis