More Dragon Rampant: The Sacred Mole of Ukkert

 So this week for our last game of 2025 the dice decided that this week we would play 'the Sacred Mole of Ukkert scenario. Ian and the goblins were the attackers trying to escape from the cavern entrance with the Sacred Mole. This meant that my dwarves were the defenders rushing to regain the Sacred Mole from the goblins. 

Legends tell that the dwarven caverns were once inhabited by dragons. 

In time this legend diminished and so did the dragons. 

The goblins raid the dwarven halls and escape with the Sacred Mole in the treasure chest carried by the goblin wolf riders. 

The dwarven host musters to rescue the Sacred mole. 

With some good activations the goblin host rush to escape. 

Likewise, the dwarves scramble into position to try and block the goblins escape route. 

Dwarven scouts take up position in the woods. 

The ogre line dancing team race across the board toward the fast moving goblin wolf riders. 

Dwarf wizards take cover in a ruin, a cowardly ploy to enhance their 'armour'. 

The wizards could also reach most of the dwarven units for spell casting purposes. 

Little did the ogres realise but danger was looming. 

The goblin allied giant gets enveloped in sorcerous mists (Dragon's Breath spell) which prevented my dwarven scouts from firing at it.

Then the giant 'wild charges' the ogres and a bloody melee ensues. 

After a few turns of melee the ogres were routed.   

We had both chosen the same colour of magic so more Dragon's Breath comes into play.

My dwarven crossbow troops finally get to shoot and route a unit of goblin warriors with their first shot.   

Then my dwarven scouts shoot at the newly arrived Goblin archers and rout them with just one shot too. 

This took the goblin losses to half their army point total. 

The dwarven axe troops are tough in melee but both they and the giant were turned 'berserk' by a spell (the red gems indicate this). Both sides inflict damage then score very badly on their courage tests and rout. 

Trolls charge the dwarven wizards who amaze us both by winning the melee and the trolls withdrew. Hit by dwarven crossbow next turn the trolls were destroyed. The goblin leader, with only his own unit and the goblin wolf riders left, drop the chest containing the Sacred Mole and run for it. The dwarves eagerly scamper over to reclaim their treasure. 

At last, after 3 goblin victories my dwarves get a win. This was a fun game helped by my dwarves actually doing well with their activations for most of this game which enabled me to co-ordinate their tactics. 

'The Barons War' and the 'Paint what you got challenge 2025/26'.

Long time gaming friend ‘Mister C’ has persuaded me to enter into the ‘Paint What you Got Challenge 2025-2026 run by Dave Stone of ‘Wargames Terrain Workshop’ fame where you have to paint up some of the many figures, terrain etc… that you already have over a 2 month period. With the main aim being to reduce your lead and plastic mountain it seems a good way to reduce my rather large unpainted mountain of figures.. The challenge starts today Dec 26th and finishes on Feb 28th.  

My local group of gamers have decided upon the ‘Barons War’ rules as a project for 2026. First job was to see what I already had in my collection that could be of use and came up with the following…  

Not sure if these medieval houses are quite right for the period but will use them anyway. 

The chapel is a Norman one so should be fine.  

A few peasant types with their livestock which should prove to be very useful. 

This batch of figures are from Wargames Foundry, a blister pack called 'Eadric the Wild'. Eadric was a Saxon rebel fighting against Norman oppression but these figures seem quite suitable for the Barons War too. The two figures on the right are a Friar Tuck figure that came free with a Wargames Illustrated magazine many years ago and the other priest is a Sub Romano figure from Westwind but to me he seems to fit in? 

Next job was to search through my library to see what suitable reading matter I had. I have just finished reading the Marc Morris book and it is a great read. Marc Morris is one of my favourite historians to read but the McLynn book also looks good. I also have the book on William Marshall but can't seem to find it at the moment.

 Friend Ian and I have marched ahead by already painting up some of the official Barons War figures over the last couple of months and mine are pictured below. 

Peasant levy with spears, hand weapons and bow, all in groups of 6 figures. 

I will tend to work in batches of six figures as this will make the figures useable in a wide range of rulesets. 

Six mounted Serjeants. I really enjoyed painting these figures and the banner was easy to do being a simple design. 

Six dismounted knights plus a couple of 3d printed tables I had in my collection. 

All shields and heraldry are hand painted. I am not too far away from having enough figures for a game but I need some Foot searjants so... 

Heavily prompted by me, my daughters bought me the Barons War Foot Serjeants boxed set of plastic figures for Christmas. You can see by this photo that I have already started to glue some of these wonderful figures together and my main aim for the challenge is to assemble and paint all 24 of these figures within the allotted time and hopefully add an extra terrain piece or two as well. 

The Barons Wars boxed sets of plastic figures are very well sculpted, animated and detailed. They also come with plenty of head and weapon variants so that you do end up with a plentiful supply of spares. This is very useful as most figures within the different boxed sets can interchange and use heads and arms from other sets. 

This is my figure to represent a dismounted John de Lacy owned Clitheroe castle at this time. We are keeping our first retinues local and as Clitheroe castle is only about half an hours drive away he seemed a good choice. He also has nice colourful heraldry which is quite easy to paint. There will be a mounted version of him soon.  

There is also a wonderful looking range of metal figures for the Barons war from Footsore Miniatures. However, when I bought the one in this photo (left side figure) to be the leader of my Retinue (a blister pack of a mounted and foot version of the same figure which is a great idea) he seemed quite small by comparison to the plastic figures?

Note my use of a brown spray undercoat. When painting the shields and surcoats I would first paint them white so that colours like yellow and red come out nice and bright.

So, I now need to assemble all 24 of my Barons wars Foot Serjeants and paint them by Feb 28th. By the time all these are painted I will be ready to play the Barons War rules so the challenge is on.

'Into the Jaws of Certain Death', Dragon Rampant scenario 10

 Also known as the 'Valley of Death,' scenario 10 'Into the Jaws of Certain Death' was our randomly selected scenario for today. Of course we added a few tweaks of our own such as each force deploying in two parts on opposing sides of the table but at one end with the equally split enemy force at the other end. I had fashioned escape ways/exit points from some of my cork and stone scenery. We also made our own random encounters for all dangerous terrain including some random encounters with some wild beastie's. As suggested in the scenario outline we put plenty of scenery down on the table which certainly had an effect on the game. 

Ian wanted to try using a giant (A Ghost Miniatures giant I think?) today so this fine chap lined up in the Goblin warband.

The Conquest goblin and Conquest dwarf are for scale only in this photo.

Medusa also came along to be a part of the fun. 

Goblins deployed at the bottom of this photo and the dwarves at the top. 

All of the scenery was potentially 'dangerous terrain'. 

It seemed a good idea to try and combine my forces so I sent my dwarves some Ogres (Conquest Miniatures) marching over towards their dwarven allies. 

I then failed all activations for the next four turns whilst Ian was running his troops around all over the place. 

Ian's trolls risk crossing some potentially dangerous terrain but luckily escaped having suffered just 1 point of damage. 

Ian was able to combine his goblin forces quite quickly. He also had some faster moving troops than most of mine which helped. 

Goblin wolf riders on the prowl around the table centre. 

Troll chieftain as 'king of the Castle!'

The goblin chieftain risks crossing some rough terrain only to be caught by some giant maggots (lesser warbeasts). The wounds the goblin chieftain suffered were to be important later in the game. 

Some goblin warriors (Hinchliffe Miniatures) make a break for their escape door/exit point between the cork 'rock' faces. First glory points to Ian. 

The dwarf chieftain always carries a cask of beer with him. 

Here he moves his unit cautiously past the medusa. 

The goblin friendly giant had a great melee with the dwarf axemen but the giant won the battle in the end. Things were not going well for the dwarves. 

The nasty little goblin mage teleported my dwarf chieftain into a wood where he was attacked by more maggots. The dwarf chieftain and his guard wiped out the maggots. Shortly later we realised that the teleport spell only works on your own units-whoops, but never mind. 

Then with the game approaching the important part of the battle I forgot to take any more photo's. The goblin chieftain was killed but all of his units survived their courage test. With most goblin units now heading for their escape route I managed to fail another four turns of activation meaning I had some units that still had not moved all game. This allowed Ian to get most of his troops where he wanted them (by both moving and teleporting). The ogres killed the wolf riders but my dwarf chieftain was slain and thus lost his cask of beer for the third game in a row. The dwarf wizard used his magic to improve the shooting and melee capabilities of some of the dwarves but it was too little too late. 

Ian used his teleport spell very well to help some of his units get close to their exit point. With 'glory' being scored for each unit any of us could get to exit the board, after a most enjoyable game the final result was 10 v 6 to the Goblins. So for the third time Ian and the goblins had claimed victory. 

Next week the dwarves and goblins battle it out for the Sacred Mole of Ukkert!

More Dragon Rampant with my old school fantasy figures.

Dragon Rampant: The Yellow Watcher.

Ian and I had another game of Dragon Rampant today. This time we upped the points to 36pts a side which allowed us to try using spellcasters. We randomly chose the scenario and came up with 'The Yellow Watcher'. We swapped the yellow watcher in a glade for an owlbear in a stone circle. We opted to put 12 white gaming gems in the stone circle to represent the Owlbears 12 strength points (often referring to them as eggs!). With players grabbing an 'egg' each time they took a strength point from the owlbear it would become a race to the centre of the board. 

The owlbear poses in it's stone circle before the battle with a couple of dwarf spellcasters. 

There was just time for the dwarf spellcasters to return home for a swift half. 

Dwarven house was scratchbuilt by me a year or two ago. 

The dwarf spellcasters did quite well during the game boosting either my attacks or my defensive abilities.Well worth taking asa troop option! 

Ian and the goblins to the left, myself and the dwarves to the right. Owlbear in the stone circle in the centre. 

We rolled randomly for Leader traits, Ian diced first and earned a trait of no use in this scenario but then my poor dwarf leader rolled and became 'cowardly' which meant that his unit could not issue any 'attack' orders for the whole game. This meant that the toughest unit on the board could not attack anyone. Ian wisely opted to just avoid fighting this unit and chose to shoot it to weaken it instead. 

A close up of the owlbear with her eggs/strength points. The owlbear is an Asgard Miniatures figure I think from the 1970/80's?

Hinchliffe Goblin wolf riders racing to the centre of the board. 

Asgard trolls advancing behind a Ral Partha goblin chariot. 

A unit of Conquest Miniatures dwarf axemen race for the centre only to be beaten there by the faster moving goblin chariot and goblin light infantry. 

Despite a few turns of awful dice throwing the goblin chariot and goblin light infantry delight in picking off a few strength points/eggs before the dwarves even reached the stone circle.  

We used red gaming gems to denote a spell had been cast on a unit. Here the goblin spellcasters had placed an 'Utter Chaos' spell on my dwarves forcing them to use a d12 for activations rather then 2xd6. It caused a bit of chaos to be sure with a few activation failures being thrown on the d12. 

The trolls helping the goblins proved to be tougher than the Conquest Miniatures ogres helping the dwarves... at this point.

Once the dwarf axemen reached the stone circle they did manage to grab 4 strength points/eggs including the final point that slew the owlbear but Ian already had 8 and technically took the win then. We decided to fight on as the game had only been going for about an hour by then. 

The ogres rallied to then eventually defeat and rout the trolls only then to be squished by the goblin chariot. 

(You can see that I like to write names on the bases of all my old school figures; just like I used to back in the 1970/80's). 

The fighting was proving to be very close but suddenly over a couple of very exciting rounds my warband fell apart leaving only my dwarf leader's unit left and they were quickly surrounded by the remaining goblins. Thus Ian won the game again! 

This game was so much fun and the spellcasters certainly had an effect on the game. I think I made a mistake with my deployment but will keep what I did wrong secret until after next week's game when my dwarves will sek their revenge.