First Games in Wigan – Legion, Orks & Dragon Rampant
This Week in Hating Dice – Week 14
Dice Rolled, Chickens Fought, Rigs Bought
After last week’s reflection on finding my feet again, I’m happy to report that I actually made it out to play some games. Dice hit the table, models got moved (some of them even in the right direction), and for a brief moment, it felt like things were working again.
Let’s start with the one that gave me the most stress—Star Wars: Legion at Element Games.
Goldilocks Wookiees
The night before my first game in the UK Legion scene, I had what I can only describe as “list-building paralysis.” I wanted to bring something just right—strong enough to hold up in a pick-up game, not so strong that it looked try-hard, painted enough to be proud of, and compact enough to fit in one of my carry cases.
A classic Kris situation: overthinking a casual match like I was trying to win Worlds.
My first choice was my Shadow Collective army, but I realized I’d only ever dialed it in for 800-point games. I hadn’t landed on a 1,000-point version to paint before the move, so it was out.
Then I turned to my Deploy the Garrison-themed Empire list—except I’d given away the painted Stormtroopers before the move to avoid basing mismatches. Out again.
Eventually, I settled on my Wookiee Defenders list, built around Yoda and Chewbacca, supported by as many Wookiees and Fluttercraft as I could cram in. It was one of the first armies I packed for the move, which meant it hadn’t seen daylight in 2025. A quick check confirmed I could hit 10 activations and 1,000 points—no Clones required, I got to work printing out cards, and building command decks!
The Game – Order 66, But Make It Casual
At Element Games, I was paired with Simon, who brought a GAR list featuring Commander Cody, a lot of ARC Troopers, and two Saber Tanks. Thematically, it was perfect—Wookiees vs. Clones. It was Order 66 in tabletop form.
Simon outgunned me at range, but I had the edge in melee—assuming I could survive long enough to get there.
Thanks to his activation advantage and some rusty deployments on my part, Simon blasted Yoda and Chewbacca with both tanks at the end of Turn 1. Yoda was left on one wound with me having forgot that Guardian allows Chewie to trigger Backup, Oops…
Turn 2 began with a scramble to get my wounded heroes into cover. I did manage to take down a unit of ARCs and start chipping away at the second. We both positioned to score where we could and my combat Wookies got closer.
The highlight of the game for me happened at the start of Turn 3 when Yoda and Chewbacca pulled off my favorite combo: “Size Matters Sometimes,” Allowing the Enraged Chewie to Charge a Saber Tank with Yoda on his back, and the two of them took if from full health to dead in two activations.
After a few maneuvers and some more Clone Heavy Armour piling on to the helpless little Glowstick wielding Gremlin and his walking carpet of a best friend, the game ended 10–8 in Simon’s favour—a close, brutal match where my early mistakes just kept me behind. But it was exactly the kind of game I needed: intense, cinematic, and full of good vibes.
WAAAGH! Pending
Later in the week, I headed to the Wardens of the North club to do some army sorting. With Warhammer: 40,000 and Age of Sigmar both popular there, I wanted to see if I could field something without needing to buy a full new army.
First up: my Iyanden Eldar.
Unfortunately, my mostly-Wraith-based army didn’t stack up well against the current Codex. I’d stopped working on it early in 10th edition when they were a bit too powerful. Now that they’re balanced again... turns out I’m more than a few units short for a viable 2,000-point list.
Then I turned to my Beast Snagga Orks.
Surprisingly, they looked far more viable. After plugging everything into the 40K app, which I was able to use even without owning the new Codex yet, (Unironically, Thanks Games Workshop), I was only a single model short of 1,000 points—and building to 2,000 seemed not only easier, but also way more fun and on-theme. True, without the codex, I didn’t actually know what any of the models would do on the table yet, but the list fit…
…And so, the next morning, I made a trip to the Warhammer Store in Wigan, picked up the Ork Codex, and walked out with a Hunta Rig to anchor the list.
Look, I didn’t say it was a small model.
Dragon Rampant – Nurgle vs. Aztec Chickens
To cap off the week, I arranged a teaching game of Dragon Rampant at the Wigan Tabletop Games Club. I’d packed my Nurgle Daemons, thinking they’d be perfect for the system’s miniature-agnostic format and flexible army building.
Except I forgot my Plaguebearers, which meant I had no infantry.
So, I improvised.
My 24 point list ended up featuring:
6 bases of Nurglings counting as Lesser War Beasts
3 Blight Drones counting as Heavy Cavalry with Fly
A single Beast of Nurgle counting as a Greater War Beast
And my chunky boy, the Great Unclean One counting as Heavy Infantry with Offensive and Venomous
Dragon Rampant is fun. It’s the kind of system where the rules don’t get in the way of storytelling. It’s swingy, cinematic, and doesn’t take itself too seriously—unless you’re trying to navigate a village that your general is too big to fit through.
Which is exactly what happened.
My Nurglings held their own against what I can only describe as “Aztec chickens.” My drones countercharged a vulture-monster-thingy. My GUO slowly waddled around the village like a bloated kaiju while being shot to pieces.
The dice did not favour me. I couldn’t roll hits to save my life—literally. Despite massive casualties on both sides, the Aztec skirmishers stayed untouched and ended the game by dropping the Great Unclean One with a flurry of shots.
It was glorious, and the Plague Hoist will rise again, and maybe even remember to bring some foot troops next time…
The Hobby Breathes Again
This week was a reminder that sometimes you don’t need a perfect setup, a competitive list, or even all the models you thought you packed. Sometimes you just need to play.
I’m still settling into UK life. My space is limited. My time even more so. But I’m carving out moments—at Element, at Wardens, at Wigan Tabletop—and it’s working.
More games are coming. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll even win one of them.
Got any weird Dragon Rampant builds or underdog Legion lists you’ve loved? Drop by the DiceHate Discord and share them—I’m always looking for inspiration (or just someone else who’s lost to chickens
