And so here we are again, Andy and I facing each other down
in what has become a personal vendetta for the Uruk Hai of Isengard. Following
our last battle in the empty plains close to Dunland it became clear to Gandalf
that Saruman had chosen to side with the Enemy in the coming war. Therefore
rather than risk the ring falling in to his clutches, Gandalf enlists the aid
of Eomer and his small force in rescuing Frodo and the ring.
Racing up the North-South road and passing through Tharbad
Gandalf learns that Saruman is now taking a personal hand in the recovery of
the ring and is leading his marauding band of Uruk Hai personally.
Obviously this bears no relation to the actual story;
however we’re working on the assumption that after Gandalf discovered the truth
about Bilbo’s ring in his search of the Minas Tirith archives he journey’s back
to the shire via Rohan where he encounters Eomer. After he explains how King
Théoden’s court has changed and the actions of Grima and his band Gandalf
rightly realises that Saruman has betrayed them (he’s quite bright is our
Gandalf). So no wizard battle at Orthanc but rather a race against time to
prevent the capture of the ring before Frodo has chance to set off on his
journey.
Board Layout
The board was laid out to represent the beginnings of
civilisation near Bree with a smallholding in the north east, scattered trees
and two small woods in the south east and south west and two hills on the south
edge and northwest. We were playing a pitched battle so both split our forces
equally with Andy deploying his first half 18” in, then alternating deployment
12” in.
Deployment and Forces
I took the same force as last time however Andy decided to
counter Gandalf with Saruman, therefore dropped his Shaman, Uruk Captain,
Berserkers and Crossbows. As we were playing a pitched battle we set up pretty
much as a battle line, however Andy’s troll was forward of his line and Eomer
and a couple of Cavalry were to the left of my line as a mobile reserve (with
Gandalf supporting).
Opening Turns
Andy won the priority first and advanced his damn troll
straight towards my Rohan Warriors. With a low Fight and Strength value my warriors
would have a problem doing anything with the beast however I endeavoured to
take it down. And therein lay my first mistake as I should have just sidelined
the darn thing through clever use of control zones and one on one fights.
So instead I focused a blizzard of bow fire and throwing
spears at it causing no damage whatsoever. Meanwhile Andy moved his Uruks up my
left flank whilst Saruman supported the main attack in the centre. I dithered a
little and placed my warriors and Gamling in poor positions in the middle which
Andy took advantage of quite early on, pushing me back with his Troll and
following up with Uruks so as to block my movement.
 |
| Ignore the damn thing Ste, don't feed it troops |
Mid-game
I managed to get Eomer into combat on the left flank however
by this time Andy had outmanoeuvred me and pushed hard up the centre, and in a
very clever use of Might points had called a couple of Heroic Combats that saw
Lurtz carve a path from the rear to threaten Gamling in my front line. I say from
the rear because I did manage to spot an opportunity to trap said Troll after
Andy left a gap between it and his supporting Uruks. Hence the rather clever
Heroic Combat that allowed Andy to smash down a warrior with Lurtz and then
move forward freeing up the Troll to fall back should it not win the fight.
Meanwhile Eomer slew his opponent on the left however his
fellow riders could only wave their rubber swords around in a feeble imitation
of combat. Andy then won the next priority and plunged as many Uruks as he
could into combat across my battle line. I responded by throwing anything I
could into my left flank to try and rescue Eomer and had everyone else
shielding to try and slow down the Uruk onslaught.
Meanwhile Gandalf and Saruman had a wizard duel, throwing Will
points around like confetti as they tried to drag warriors around, sorcerous
blast each other and just generally be a pain.
It’s the End!
 |
| Bloody Troll |
I finally come to the realisation that my centre is
crumbling and I can’t use Eomer as the surgical implement I intended as he’s
getting sidelined quite nicely by Andy so I redirect him from the left to the
rear of Andy’s battle line and use command to get him into combat. Hopefully I’ll
be able to call a Heroic Combat, slaughter the Uruk and then charge headlong
into Saruman. Unfortunately Andy has already spotted my cunning plan and moves
his only unengaged model into Eomers way. And so I have the only bit of dice
luck in the game so far and hurl a desperate throwing spear from one of my
warriors at the standard bearer and slay him!
Woohoo!
So on to combat and as Andyhas priority he decides the order
of combats and promptly butchers nearly everything I have in contact. Even
worse we’ve run out of time and can’t resolve the Eomer/Uruk blood feud nor get
to the sorcerous duel we were hoping with Saruman and Gandalf.
Stand out moments in the game:
- Casting immobilise on the Troll only to have it win the combat against Gamling and 4 warriors!
- Saruman casting sorcerous blast on Gandalf, he then resisting it with his will and returning the favour, to then have Saruman resist it (proper wizards duel!)
- Lurzt using a Heroic Combat to free up the trapped Troll (damn him!).
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