“But It Is All Fantasy.” Not!

I already see it now: “fuddy duddy,” “curmudgeon,” “unimaginative”, and “old geezer,” are probably some of the colorful terms I will be seeing in the comments section for this post. I consider myself, primarily, a historical wargamer. Nothing gets me to the game table faster than the sight of beautifully painted Ancients miniatures. I have been a history enthusiast since I was in junior high many, many moons ago. But before I fell in love with history, my passion was reading fantasy and light sci-fi (heavy on adventure, light on the science) novels.

A few times a year, I step outside my historical bubble and indulge in fantasy or sci-fi gaming. I have found myself most recently intrigued and a bit befuddled by this Dragon Rampant game. For those unfamiliar with Dragon Rampant, it is Osprey's high fantasy battle rule set. Since Osprey does not offer a figure range for Dragon Ramoant, you can theoretically appropriate figures from other miniature ranges, including Ral Partha, GW, Mantic, and the Bones range from Reaper, and use them for your forces. 

The rule book provides some sample armies for tried-and-true forces such as orcs, lizardmen, the undead, and several variations of human armies. The true thrust of the rule set though is to have fun and be creative. Unit sizes are representative, not set in stone. Thus, you could have one Tom Mier knight and make him an individual leader figure, or you can use him to represent, what would usually be six, elite or heavy foot men.

Since you can use any figure range you like, and you can represent your units as creatively as possible, a Dragon Rampant tournament can showcase armies that range from standard, to creative, to downright absurd. One guy used plastic zoo animals, the kind you find in a bag in the Wal-Mart toy section. One fellow made a rock army. He used smooth stones and pebbles of various heights and sizes and painted angry faces on them and attached the stones to wooden Litko bases. The Dragon Rampant book shows an army of sheep dressed in knit sweaters. Shades of Hott.

For some folks, fantasy is another word for “anything goes.” If I can imagine it (a literal rock army), it should be able to hit the game table. These folks would say, “What's the point of having a fantasy tournament if you are going to limit how I choose to represent my armies? If I want to field Christmas elves instead of Tolkein elves, as long as I can make a list for them, that is my business.” 

Now this is where I will take some flak, but let me explain. There is a thin line between creativity and absurdity, and Dragon Rampant, with its representative units invites chaos into fantasy, and I am not talking about Nurglings. Call me old-fashioned, but for me, high fantasy, as we know it, has its basis in canon works, from such authors as Tolkein, Moorcock, Howard, McCaffrey, Martin, Jordan, and yes, even Games Workshop. These are the men and women that, for lack of a better term, created and/or built upon the fantasy tropes we know and love: dragons, elves, dwarves, goblins, skeletons wielding swords, paladins, balrogs etc. 

The high fantasy world is expansive and allows those who want to play in the proverbial sand box the opportunity to be creative. Are your dragons inspired by Western art or Eastern art? Are your elves the noble race devised by Tolkein or the dark trickster figures of early English mythology? Is your undead army comprised of skeletons, zombie shamblers, or a mix of the two?

In my humble, perhaps, old-fashioned opinion, there is plenty of room to be creative with the established races of the high fantasy world without reinventing the wheel until it it looks like some torture device that dark elves would approve of. I think in some ways, Dragon Rampant, for better and worse, invites “dumping ground” armies. What do I have lying around the house that I have no other use for? Pokemon figs your kid brother grew out of three days after receiving them, now elite foot. Tardis Christmas ornament you say? Check your glasses, sir, that's a spell caster. 

The rules invite a level of laziness, confusion, and just pure stupidity that is apt to be exploited by the less mature gamer. The game rewards the non-painters in the hobby. After all, do you really need to paint those tentacle puppet fingers you glued to a foam board base, if they have already been dyed red? Game play can also be furiously confusing if you literally don't know what you are looking at. In a traditional army of men, typically the most well-armored unit on the table will be elite or heavy foot. Easy peasy, but in an army of hedges, how do you easily remember which unit is which? If I can not look across the table and have a pretty good idea what I am looking at, I have to ask, which adds another level of annoyance to Dragon Rampant games. Is that grouping of small Christmas lights on the lazer cut wooden base light foot or bellicose foot? I can't remember. Which one is the greater warbeast, the giraffe or the rhino? 

I never know what I am going to see in a Dragon Rampant game, and that's not always a good thing. Oh for the sanity of Granbretan. Yep Granbretan, dig out your Moorcock, kids and see some real fantasy!