Hodgepodge Lodge: Dragon Rampant- Order of the Stick vs Xykon

My son and I recently played our first full game of Dragon Rampant. We had played out several turns previously using my Dwarf and Orc armies in order to get a feel for the rules, but we had yet to play a full game. I felt at the time that the mass of miniatures were a bit daunting for my son, so we looked for alternatives to make the armies more manageable. I decided to use paper miniatures, mostly 6 figs per unit, on movement trays roughly 3.5" x 2.5".

Hobgoblin Heavy Foot and Goblin Light Foot with Short Ranged missiles from Xykon's army.

City Guard Light Missiles and Heavy Foot from the Order of the Stick's army.

For this game we decided to base our armies on the D&D based web comic Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew. We both LOVE the comic (though I have to censor the language and content at times), so this idea had instant buy-in from my son. We found that Burlew also makes paper miniatures, but while looking for images of them online, we also discovered Derek Weller's iheartprintandplay with D&D miniatures done in the same style as the Order of the Stick (Weller lists Burlew as one of his inspirations). These fit our current budget better for our first game (they are free), but we will probably still pick up some of Burlew's minis in the future because they are so cool. I found a suitable image to make my own Order of the Stick characters, and then based the figs using bases made by David Okum for his game Darkfast Dungeons.

The Order of the Stick (L to R) Vaarsuvius the Wizard, Belkar the Ranger, Elan the Bard, Haley the Rogue, Durkon the Cleric and their Leader Roy the Fighter. Played by my son, of course.

The Order of the Stick's army consists of City Guard Archers (Light Missiles), War Wolves (Lesser Warbeast), The Order of the Stick (Elite Foot with wizardling), and City Guardsmen (Heavy Foot).

Lord Xykon the Litch (C), his lackey Red Cloak (L) and a random Goblin caster (R). Played by me.

Xykon's army consists of Goblin Scouts, Goblin Infantry (Light Foot with Short range Missiles), Xykon (Heavy Foot with Spellcaster), a Troll (Heavy Foot), and Hobgoblins (Heavy Foot).

The battlefield, Order of the Stick on the left, Xykon on the right.

Xykon goes first moving his Troll and Goblin Scouts up one flank and the Goblin Infantry up the other. The Hobgoglins were ordered up the center but they failed to activate.

The Order of the Stick moved their main units forward, while sending the War Wolves up the flank to threaten the Goblin Scouts.

On their next turn the War Wolves made a Wild Charge at the Goblin Scouts. The Scouts at first evaded and sent their missiles flying at the oncoming wolves, but the beasts were too quick and too tough. They crashed into the Scouts, killing half of them instantly and sending the other half running off the battle field (They completely failed their Courage test and routed off the table).

The battlefield after a few turns. The War Wolves threaten Xykon's flank, City Guard Archers are picking off Goblin Infantry and heavier units move up the center.

The Troll, bogged down in rough going, is hit by spells from the Order of the Stick and takes minor damage. The the War Wolves charge in and cause a few more Strength Points of damage. The Troll then rolls a spectacularly bad Courage test and flees the battle (they rolled a 3, minus the 3 points of damage for a 0 total).

The City Guardsmen join the archers in decimating the Goblin Infantry. The Goblins lose heart and flee the battle.

Xykon is left with only his unit and the Hobgoblins to face the entire enemy army. First he sends a fireball at the War Wolves, which injures them enough to make them flee the battle.

Next he sends his Hobgoblins against the City Guardsmen, but they trade blows then retreat.

The Order of the Stick charges in and decimates the Hobgoblins.

Xykon is left alone facing the bulk of the Enemy army. He casts another fireball at the City Guardsmen, who become battered and start retreating. Eventually they retreat off the battlefield.

Xykon and the Order of the Stick trade spells and missiles. The City Guard Archers also send their arrows into the mix. Little by little, Xykon is whittled down.