Dragon Rampant: Second Edition Review – A Refined Fantasy Toolbox for Hobby Veterans
Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition – Daniel Mersey’s revamped fantasy sandbox in a stunning hardback edition.
When I reviewed the original Dragon Rampant earlier this year, I praised it as a flexible, lightweight fantasy ruleset that offered hobby veterans a low-friction way to get their models on the table. It wasn’t without its quirks — from overly random leadership traits to a few dominant build options — but it scratched a unique itch.
I was sent an early review copy of Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition by Osprey Games. For balance, I also picked up a few other Osprey titles like Rebels and Patriots and A Billion Suns — just to make sure this wasn’t a one-way street.
But lets get to why you are all here, how does the new Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition compare?
After hosting and playing several games, I can confidently say: this is a smart, focused refinement that improves the experience without breaking what made the original sing. The core gameplay loop is intact, but small changes ripple outward to deliver a smoother, more rewarding tabletop experience.
Presentation & First Impressions
This edition graduates from the Osprey Blue Book format to a full-size hardcover, and the difference in quality is immediately noticeable. The layout breathes better, the art pops, and there’s more room for Daniel Mersey to flesh out examples, scenarios, and optional content.
The terrain, scenario, and army list sections are all expanded, helping both returning players and newcomers make more sense of the game’s famously open framework. It still requires some imagination and hobby initiative, but the book now gives you more of a scaffold to build from.
The Scenario section feels more fleshed out, with clearer guidance and inspiration for casual narrative play.
Gameplay: Familiar Flow, Subtle Upgrades
If you’ve played 1st Edition, your first game of 2nd will feel instantly familiar. The core mechanics remain:
Units activate on a test, fail, and your turn ends
Stats are standardized and customizable via traits
Combat is abstracted but punchy
But a few key changes help smooth over 1E’s rough edges:
1. Leadership Rerolls
Leaders now offer a once-per-turn reroll to units within 12" on a failed order (Move, Attack, Shoot, or Rally). It’s a subtle change, but goes a long way toward reducing the frustration of unlucky dice.
2. Customizable Command Traits
Gone is the random leadership table. Now, you purchase command upgrades specific to your leader’s unit. These feel thematic and interesting without becoming auto-includes.
3. Magic Gets a Makeover
Instead of unlocking a full list of spells with a costly upgrade, you now buy access to specific colours of magic (up to 4). Each school has a distinct flavour — and limitations — that prevent min-maxing while allowing more tailored caster builds.
4. 30-Point Standard Games
The recommended game size increases from 24 to 30 points, but the recommended unit count stays roughly the same. That extra breathing room lets you add more flavourful options without falling behind on activations.
The “What’s Changed?” section clearly outlines the upgrades from 1st Edition — a helpful roadmap for returning players.
Traits, Balance & Build Diversity
The old “meta gravity” around traits like Fearful and Wild Charge has shifted, not erased, but softened.
Fearful now only gives a 1-point discount (instead of 2), making it a less obvious pick.
Wild Charge remains strong, but more units on the table mean positioning matters more, and the reroll helps reduce reliance on redundant activation crutches.
List-building feels broader and more expressive thanks to:
Expanded fantastical upgrades
Leader-only upgrades
A robust appendix of suggested army lists (huge for inspiration)
It’s still an open system with shared profiles, but there’s more flavour available now without locking you into a narrow meta.
Theme, Fantasy & Immersion
Dragon Rampant has always leaned on sandbox flexibility over bespoke lore. That hasn’t changed, the scaffolding has just been made stronger. More scenarios, better examples, and more vivid art help conjure a specific tone: classic fantasy with room for interpretation.
The new schools of magic are a big win here too. Instead of just knowing “3 spells,” your wizard taps into Amber, Jade, or Magenta magic, each with its own thematic feel. It helps bring your casters — and your warband — to life.
If you’re a hobbyist with a back-catalogue of fantasy models from other games (A Song of Ice and Fire, Kings of War, Old World, etc.), this is the perfect excuse to get them on the table in a satisfying, low-prep way.
Many Fantastical Traits — like Cowardly — have been rebalanced and clarified, smoothing out common list-building gripes, with a host of new options added to the mix.
Accessibility, Replayability & Support
This edition earns high marks for usability:
The rules are clean and beginner-friendly
More examples, scenarios, and unit suggestions help lower the barrier
It’s still a DIY-friendly system, just now with better guardrails
That said, the game’s open-ended, model-agnostic nature remains a double-edged sword. For hobby veterans, it’s liberating. For newcomers, “use anything” can still feel like “use everything.” The inclusion of more sample warbands definitely helps, but the lack of boxed-set recommendations or a formal product line will always make entry a little fuzzier than it needs to be — even if that’s not really what Dragon Rampant is designed for.
It still has great replayability and is solid for casual and club play. The scenarios are stronger and more varied, and the army list tools allow for a lot of creative expression.
It’s will never be a “competitive ladder” game — and trying to force it into that role would miss the point.
From classic undead to dollar-store tigers — Dragon Rampant encourages you to use whatever models you love.
Final Thoughts & Scores
Review Score Breakdown
| Category | Score | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Core Mechanics | 4/5 | Clean, swingy, fast-paced. Not tight enough for hardcore balance seekers. |
| Theme & Flavor | 4/5 | Immersive and evocative despite its abstract shell. Great fantasy sandbox. |
| Accessibility | 5/5 | Clearer rules, more examples, and extra space all aid usability. |
| Replayability | 4/5 | Strong for casual campaigns and club nights. Mission variety is the limit. |
| Production & Support | 4/5 | Gorgeous book, but “use anything” still makes it hard for new players. |
Total: 21/25 — A marked improvement over the original, and a standout title in the fantasy skirmish space.
Pikemen clash with a Goblin Warboss on a Giant Cave Squig — a mashup of eras, kits, and imagination that Dragon Rampant handles with ease.
Dragon Rampant proves to be a gift that keeps on giving, with Second Edition taking everything that made the original great and packaging it in a more refined, higher-quality product.
It’s still a flexible, fast-playing system that rewards creativity over optimization. It doesn’t pretend to be a tightly tuned tournament engine — and trying to force it into that box still misses the point.
What’s changed is polish: cleaner rules, better examples, tighter language, and quality-of-life upgrades throughout. The result? It’s the same low-prep, high-fun skirmish game as before — just easier to teach and even more fun to play.
Whether you’re blowing the dust off old armies or converting dinosaurs into war beasts, Dragon Rampant 2E invites you to enjoy fantasy wargaming on your own terms. And maybe even share it with a few friends who haven’t rolled dice in a while.
