Skellies on the Run!

This weekend summer decided to quit making outdoor life miserably hot here in Savannah. We've had highs in the mid-70s and evening lows in the low 60's. In short, freaking amazing weather. To take advantage of that I set up a game table on the back patio Saturday evening for a bit of Dragon Rampant in the dark!

Two sawhorses, two 2x4 sheets of plywood. Boom. Hey! There's the dining room I normally play in!

This was the debut of my Splintered Light 15mm Dwarf army. Left to right, here are some warriors, rangers and slayers.

Berserkers and Sorceress. The Dwarf Queen's retinue was not included in this photo shoot for some reason.

My wife used her Undead army, this time composed of Spectres, Nightmares, Skeletons, a Coven of Witches and the Bone Griffons.

My bride and her horde.

 Early on, she failed a lot of movement actions, allowing me to get my forces spread across the breadth of the battlefield. Now I just had to play "goalie" and stop some bad dreams from crossing the table!

Here's a picture of the Retinue. The Nightmares charged into them and lost three of their number, thanks in part to the Runecaster's "Sharper Blades" spell she'd cast on the Dwarf elite. The retinue only lost one of their number, their Mystical Armor proving its worth. Of course I managed to flub the courage test anyway (snake eyes) and the merry band fell back. 

On my next turn, the Retinue rallied then I failed my first action attempt. This gave the Spectres the opportunity to slip past my forces and off the board. Three VPs for the undead!

On the other side of the battlefield, the Griffons had also made a quick run past my troops. The skeletal beastmen and witches were also making great progress while I struggled to get any kind of momentum. 

The witches look like shepherds driving their flock of skellies!

The Nightmares and Retinue have another go. This time things worked out a little better of the girls with sharp sticks.

The Dwarf Rangers loose a volley at the Witches, causing a couple of wounds! Hurrah us!

The Dwarves are suffering though. The Griffons and Skeletons are off the battlefield and the Witches are mere steps from escaping. Slayers and Warriors close in as quickly as their little legs can carry them.

The Retinue finally dispatch the Nightmares! Hurrah, I'm finally on the scoreboard.

In some last-game drama, my Slayers attacked the Witches, causing them to fall back into the woods. The Witches passed a courage test (0+) at -10 on 2d6 and did not panic. My Slayers on the other hand failed their test and fled off the table. Oh goody.

The following turn the Witches waltz off the battlefield. Undead win, 10-2. Bah!

Regardless of the score, it was a darn entertaining game. There were big swings of fortune. In the early going I was able to get my troops into position while my wife's troops stalled. Then she got on a run of success while I ground to a halt.

Overall, I like the composition of the Dwarf army I put together and am glad to have another characterful warband. Not bad for $20.

I hope the weather stays tolerable on weekend for a while. I could go for another outdoor game or two. That was lovely! By the way, the wind had it's way with our trees and once or twice our stat cards got blown away. The table did get attacked by a black gum tree seed pod once. It was quite startling and sent dice and glass beads flying but the damage was superficial.