This bank holiday weekend saw son number two wanting to play another battle in Middle Earth. We read up on the rules for Might and Will to go along with Fate that we already knew about. We chose our miniatures and then we rolled out the scenery (I managed to find a few more items in some boxes in the garage), set up the table and then randomly rolled to see which scenario that we would play.
10. Tame the Beast
The table was set up and the troll placed as if he was coming out of the barn which was as near to the table centre as made sense. As the troll moved first, we measured up and found that the Gondor troops were closest, so it headed off in their direction with the intent of mayhem (the troll is controlled by a limited set of AI instructions - I rolled the dice against Gondor, my son against the orcs)...
The forces of Gondor led by Damril...
The orcs led by Ushnar...
The troll...
The early evening dusk added to the gloom of the weighty rain clouds skudding overhead. Damril, wanting to find shelter for the night for his patrol, remembered a small watch tower just over the next few hills. He ordered his men forward on the promise of a warm fire and shelter from the imminent downpour. Unfortunately, upon entering the environs of the tower he spotted an orc warband skulking their way through a set of ruins on the other side of the hamlet.
Suddenly, the door of the central barn was flung open and a small hill troll (statted as a cave troll) stepped outside finishing what looked like the last part of a stringy joint of meat. Something must have caught its attention as it stopped and sniffed the air. Unfortunately for Damril, he and his men were upwind from the beast and it had caught their scent. With a roar of rage, the troll charged towards them.
On the other side of the settlement, Ushnar was also getting ready to camp for the night. He had heard rumours of a troll in the area, so was a little more cautious approaching the village. He spotted the troll at the same time as he spotted the men of Gondor. Seeing that the troll had charged towards the men he barked out his command to follow the troll, pepper it with arrows from a distance and then close with it once the little band of men had weakened it with their efforts so that it would be easier to take down.
As the troll began its charge towards the Gondorians, their two archers who were slightly apart from the main force, launched a few arrows at the beast. At the same time, the orcs also let off a volley of arrows, one of which managed to find a weak spot in its tough hide. The troll charged on regardless, seemingly not feeling the arrow that had pierced its hide, or possibly thinking that it had been one of the Gondorian arrows that had caused it harm.
Damril called for his men to be steady and to await the charge of the beast. They met it with shields, spears and swords, but the troll was more than a match for the brave warriors. It focused on Damril as its main source of hatred but was unable to strike a telling blow in its frenzied state (the first of many sets of very low rolls). Perhaps the arrow sticking from its hide was causing it to be a little more clumsy and slower than normal?
Damril and his steadfast warband attacked the troll supported by a couple of doughty archers...
Ushnar and his rabble tracked the troll from a little distance, supported by a constant barrage of shafts from his own archers...
The very poor rolling by me as the troll attacking Damril kept failing to wound (it needed just a 4+ to wound)...
The orcs drew ever closer to the fight as the Gondor warriors fought on trying to bring down the troll...
The troll still could not harm the warriors of Minas Tirith - even though it tried its luck against the other swordsman this time (we changed up the wounds remaining dice for the troll from white to red at this point to make it stand out a little more)...
And again...
Finally, the Gondorian archers got a shot in through its thick hide as Damril and his men were forced ever backwards, but the troll's persistence against the swordsman paid off and he was beaten down by the troll's heavy club...
Meanwhile, the orcs were very sneaky and proceeded to take down the two Gondorian archers and, again, the troll failed to harm Damril in any way...
With half of the Gondor patrol down, the two remaining spearmen deserted their leader and skipped off the board to a safer locale, taking their downed brethren with them. The orcs decided to gang up on the troll, but were unable to approach the fearsome beast (all failed their Courage rolls). That was OK though as the troll took the fight to them and again showed its prowess by rolling yet another bunch of ones and twos..
Damril, seeing his opportunity, passed his Courage test and hit the troll from the rear, killing it outright and winning the scenario for Gondor...
Damril roared defiance in the face of the orc rabble and, after seeing him single handedly drop the troll, they ran pell-mell away from the victorious lieutenant of Gondor. The men of Minas Tirith held the field at the end of the battle and were able to tend their wounds in the safety of the watch tower. Ushnar and his warband had to settle for shelter beneath a copse of trees several miles away.
The final move of the game was a very clever piece of gaming by my son. We had not needed to use Fate or Will during the game so far but we both had a point of Might to use. I did not find any opportunity to use it, but as a final thought before Damril left the field to the orcs, he decided to attack the troll. He passed his Courage test, won the fight and rolled a 5 to wound the troll (he was tempted to use his Might to help with Courage and Fight if necessary, but didn't need it). This would ordinarily have been a miss, but remembering how Might worked, he added the point and slew the beast. Well played him!
These two warbands are going to be what we will use going forwards when playing LotR Strategy Battle Game. We still did not use the full rules and only statted up the lieutenant. We will get two sergeants statted up by the time of the next game. Anyway, we made a note of the Experience...
- Orcs - Archer wounded troll, 2H-axe killed Gondor archer, Ushnar killed Gondor archer
- Gondor - Archer wounded troll, Damril killed troll
and Influence...
- Orcs - Taking part (2)
- Gondor - Taking part (2), Winning the Scenario (2)
gained by each warband and will print out a roster sheet for each warband to include these. For three of his four Influence points, littlun rolled an additional warrior with Spear and Shield.
In this battle, I used the orcs that I painted up for him recently. My son used his second hand Gondor warriors that still need to be repainted. He has given me instructions for how he wants them painted - we managed to get to Games Workshop over the weekend to purchase some more undercoat spray paint, a couple of paint brushes and the colour he wants his troops' tunics painted.
Unfortunately/fortunately, I will not be able to paint much over the next few weeks as I was (fortunately) able to secure a few weeks' of temporary work. Hopefully I can do a little, at least on his battle company.
