Some time ago now, my friend Chris descended upon our realms here in North Carolina once more to darken the skies with crossbow bolts and cause the ground to rumble with the clattering of a thousand dice. He brought with him a very lovely force of 15mm Renaissance figures painted up as a the retained men of a noble house within the Kingdom of Wallonce in his Western Marches setting. We played two games of Dragons Rampant during his visit, this first game he squared up against our other friend Chris (I know, it gets confusing), who brought a sizeable force of very spooky skeletons to plague the realms of men with. As this was in October of last year, I'm a little hazy on the exact disposition of forces and a direct play by play, but I'm going to attempt to catalog the tenor of the game as best as I can below
The Game Size was 24pts and they were playing the "Into the Valley of Certain Death" Scenario, which sees both armies attempting to move off the opposing table edge, through the enemy army and a table filled with dangerous terrain.
The Retinue of Lord Hollowell of Wallonce
Painted by Chris H.
Lord Hollowell [Elite Foot]
-Goader
Pikemen Militia [Light Foot]
Halberdier Militia [Light Foot]
Crossbow Militia [Heavy Missiles]
Alchemist's Company [Scouts w/ 'Spellcaster']
Painted by Chris Mc.
The Bone Lich Mull'Occm [Light Foot w/ Undead]
4x Skeleton Warriors [Light Foot w/ Undead]
Skeleton Archers [Light Missiles w/ Undead]
Wraiths [Lesser Warbeasts w/ Undead]
An overview of the table before deployment, the forest stands, and the giant mushrooms are all counted as dangerous terrain for the purposes of this scenario, no doubt the evil magic tainting the Wraithwood has seeped deep into the roots of the trees, and encouraged them to new heights of arboreal malice.
A view of the Walloncian line, the ranged arquebuses and crossbows deployed to the right, and the pikes and halberdiers on the left, both wings using the hostile terrain to their advantage, encouraging the undead host to march through a hail of bolts and bullets across dangerous and rough terrain to get to grips with them
The undead, however, have the numbers to weather the fire, and the Wraiths have the 'ranger' ability allowing them to cross through terrain features without distress (after all, who best to traverse the Wraithwood but the Wraiths themselves)
multiple Regiments of Skeleton Warriors move to engage the Walloncian Pikes along the left flank, but several units falter in the rough terrain or fail to organize well enough to charge just yet. Resulting in several Undead units strung out in dangerous terrain, with only one unit making it into close quarters with the Humans on the left.
The Wraiths on the Right have better luck, crashing into the Alchemist's Company and causing some casualties. If the Wraiths can continue to roll up into the Crossbows, it could prove disastrous for the Humans, by taking away their ranged advantage.
Lord Hollowell and his retainers survey the battle, waiting for the most opportune moment to commit to the fight in earnest.
The Undead were repulsed from the Pikemen and lost a scattering of other units to the restless spirits of the trees. Walloncian strength of arms was holding the line firm for the moment.
Taking decisive action in the center, the Halberdier Militia charged into the entangled Skeleton Warrior units. They made some good progress in causing damage to the skeletons, but not as much as they would have hoped, and were rewarded for their bravery with a hail of arrow fire from the Skeleton Archers, which did a brutal number on the unit, and broke the spirit of the rest, causing them to flee. The Pikes slew another depleted unit of Skeletons but were overwhelmed at last by the last of the Undead's reserve, collapsing the entirety of the Walloncian left.
The Right faired little better, with the Alchemist's Company being slain or fleeing from the Wraith's attack. The Crossbows finished off the battered unit of Wraiths, but they too found themselves overrun by the last of a damaged Skeleton Warriors unit.
Lord Hollowell stands alone. defiant in the face of the Wraithwood's evil
While things might appear grim for the Men of Wallonce, a unit of Elite Foot with a leader is a daunting prospect in Dragons Rampant, and Chris H. did a lot to whittle down the threats on the table with his foot and missiles, before ever engaging with the Elite Foot. Essentially the Humans have a very powerful, heavily armored unit, capable of moving and performing actions reliably, versus the remaining undead force which is comprised primarily of light archers and lightly damaged light foot.
The Archers open fire onto Lord Hollowells Retinue, but struggle to score damage against their Armor 4, despite getting a fair number of hits.
The last of the Skeleton Warriors, move to charge the Humans, but fail to activate sadly, leading to Lord Hollowell's forces engaging and destroying the last of the Skeletal Warriors
With the dedicated melee infantry gone, the game was largely decided. The Skeleton Archers fired off a parting volley into the retinue, effecting no casualties, and vanished into the dark eaves of the Wraithwood, no doubt taking the word of the defeat to their Dark Masters
The Banner of Lord Hollowell stands tall on the battlefield, and the first rays of sunlight break over the gray cast clouds, lightening the heaviness in the air and returning some life to the haunted trees and dead grass. The Dark Magic of the Wraithwood has been repulsed for now but at a considerable human cost, no great reveille will be held this night, merely a stoic toast that those that fell did not do so in vain.
Minor Walloncian Victory.
