Gondor Campaign - Turns 1 & 2: The Battle of South Ithilien

This post covers the first two turns of our Gondor Campaign.  The campaign starts where Faramir meets Frodo in Ithilien and decides to set him free so along with Sam and Gollum they can attempt to infiltrate into Mordor to destroy the One Ring.  Meanwhile Sauron's forces are gathering, but first must secure the crossings of the Anduin at Cair Andros and Osgiliath.  The Evil forces have moved out of Mordor and are moving towards Gondor.

Turn 1

The Good side gets priority for the first turn.  Faramir, learning that Sauron's forces are on the move decides to leave South Ithilien with the Rangers of Ithilien and move back into Osgiliath to reinforce the garrison there.  He also calls for the Rangers of Gondor in North Ithilien to pull back to Osgiliath as well.  The Dark Marshal moves out his garrison from Minas Morgul and divides his forces into North and South Ithilien, leaving Shagrat's Tower Guard in Cirith Ungol.  In Barad Dur, the Shadow Lord moves his forces into Dagorlad as a host of Easterlings move out of South Rhun and into the Ash Mountains

Turn 2

Evil wins priority for Turn 2 and decides to wait for more forces to arrive before attempting to take Osgiliath.  The Shadow Lord moves into North Ithilien poised to take Cair Andros or maybe help the forces from Minas Morgul assault Osgiliath.  But seeing that The Dark Marshal has split his forces, Faramir decides to launch a pre-emptive strike, hoping to take as many orc formations as possible and possibly kill the Dark Marshal.

Here are the forces in South Ithilien:

Evil; 1,160 points

The Dark Marshal

Gothmog

4 x Co Mordor Orc Warband w/shields; Captain, Banner, Orc Drummer

4 x Co Mordor Orc Warband w/shields; Captain, Banner Bearer, Taskmasker

4 x Co Mordor Orc Warband w/two-handed weapons; Captain, Banner Bearer

4 x Co Mordor Orc Warband w/two-handed weapons; Captain, Banner Bearer

1 x Siege Bow Battery

1 x Siege Bow Battery
 

Good: 1,045 points

 

Faramir

2 x Guards of the Fountain Court; Captain

2 x Rangers of Ithilien w/Madril & Damrod

4 x Co Minas Tirith Warriors w/Captain & Banner Bearer

4 x Co Minas Tirith Warriors w/Captain & Banner Bearer

2 x Co Minas Archers

2 x Co Minas Archers

2 x Co Osgiliath Veterans

Evil set up first since they are the defender.  The forces of Mordor decided to hold back hiding behind wood and difficult terrain, but putting the two siege ballistae up on a hill to rain down shots from the high ground.  On the first turn, the Gondor shooting attacks were unable to reach the orc formations and the Dark Marshal as a Winged Nazgul was able to fly back and forth casting magic. 

 

On the second turn, Faramir decided to move out of the defensive terrain they were in and get close enough to the evil force to be in range of shooting attacks.  The plan failed as the two siege ballistae on the hilltop were able to fire 48" out and pummel the formations of Minas Tirith warriors.  The Winged Nazgul conducted swooping attacks over the formations in the open and since he had Spirit Grasp was successful against the Courage 3 of the Minas Tirith Warriors.

The Rangers of Ithilein attempted to get into a position to shoot at the Winged Nazgul but after successive swooping attacks, could not get their target within their 24" range.  The two formations of Minas Tirith Warriors were able to charge at two of the orc formations, but the Winged Nazgul was already behind them and charged into their rear.  One brave captain of Minas Tirth attempted a Heroic Duel against Gothmog, but with his Master of Battle special rule, also called a Heroic Duel and after a roll off was able to call his first, killing the captain and much of the formation along with him.

Boromir retreated to the formation of Guard of the Fountain Court, but they were caught in a swoop attack by the Winged Nazgul and then the following turn were charged their rear leaving half of the of the last company remaining, forcing them to flee the field along with Faramir due to Hope is Lost!

The Good forces were down to 30% original strength by the end of turn 6, making the battle an Evil victory.  The remaining Gondor forces retreated back into Osgiliath having suffered terrible loses.  Evil won prioty for Turn 3 and have the opportunity to follow up on their victory. 

Gondor Campaign

So having successfully completed the Rohan Campiagn, (well at least successful for Isengard) we decided to change theaters and gear up for a Gondor Campaign.  The campaign essentially starts when the forces of Minas Morgul strike out at Osigiliath to secure a crossing of the Anduin as Sauron's minions gather for an assault on Minas  Tirith.  This time we decided to go for twelve turns as opposed to eight as this campaign is much larger than the Rohan Campaign and covers more space and more armies.  The original idea was just to center around Osgilath, Minas Tirith/Pelennor Fields, and then leave open the possibility for an assault on the Black Gate, but the Gondor theater was much more than that.  The final version of the campaign includes the Corsairs of Umbar being able to raid along the coast allowing the possibility of a second front to open up if that is what the Evil players choses.  We also included the Easterlings and a few Variags of Khand so we had to increase the number of Fiefdom and Rohan formations to make some sort of balance.  We might have bitten off more than we could chew with the final army lists, but it has allowed us to set goals to get through our painting backlog.

Much of the concepts from the Rohan Campaign will be the same.  Each side starts out with a small amount of forces and gradually gets reinforcements until half way through the campaign, where they have exhausted all resources and must fight to death with what they have.  The armies were again based on what I personally believed they would have from going through the books and then reading countless articles and opinions on theoretical composition of the armies.  I had to make this fit the models that Games Workshop produced making it representative of the armies.  This works best for these map styles campaigns since just giving a force a points value wouldn't work.  If you just use points, then the armies of the Fiefdoms would be 1,000 points of Knights of Minas Tirith and Mordor would be all Mordor Uruk-hai.  Instead, each army consists of common formations of Mordor and Morannon orcs and Warriors of Minas Tirith with only one of each of the legendary and rare formations.  The army list was also limited to what our group owned collectively since most of the miniatures are too expensive for mass battles games nowadays or out of production.  I also threw in Frodo and Sam being led around the map by Gollum.

We also wanted to incorporate skirmishes, field battles and sieges.  Like the Rohan Campaign, we plan to use Strategy Battle Game for skirmishes and War of the Ring for field battles.  I determined the cut off for what would be a skirmish and what would be a field battle was 700 points on a side.  My experience is 700 points is about as large of a game of SBG that is playable and 700 points of War of the Ring is probably the minimum for a playable game.  For sieges, we would use the same cut off between War of the Ring and Strategy Battle Game, but used the SBG siege rules modified for War of the Ring.  Because of the size and magnitude of the campaign, most games would be War of the Ring.

The object of the campaign is for Evil to control Minas Tirith and for the Good side to take Barad Dur or destroy the One Ring by the end of Turn 12.  If neither side achieved their objective, the result would be a draw and Middle Earth would be left in the same uncertain situation it was in before the War of the Ring.  In keeping with the narrative, Evil was given the additional objective of capturing and holding Osgiliath along with Minas Tirith.  This way Evil just didn't bypass Osgiliath as it was the key strategic crossing point to get the armies of Minas Morgul and the Southrons across the Anduin.  I also made it that it would be next to impossible for Good to defeat the armies of Evil and just walk into Mordor and take Barad Dur, leaving their hope for victory in Frodo getting to Mount Doom and destroying the ring.

The way Frodo and the ring will work is that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum will start out in South Ithilien with Faramir and his rangers.  From then on, the three will move as one formation and their movement will be kept hidden from the Evil side.  Their location will be revealed to the Evil players at the end of turns 4, 8, and 12, so Evil can try and guess what area they are in.  To record where they are, we just use a sealed envelope for each turn.  The trio has the ability to perform a "reaction" move out of an area in the event an Evil force moves into it.  They have the opportunity to fight a skirmish along with any other Good forces in the area that turn, but are not allowed to take part in a field battle and instead must perform a reaction move.  But every time Frodo makes a reaction move he is -1 Courage for the rest of the campaign.  If Frodo is unable to perform a reaction move because all the adjacent areas have an Evil force in them, Frodo is trapped and either fights a skirmish if possible or surrenders the ring.   If he surrenders the ring, Sauron appears in Barad Dur the following turn.  This way, the Evil player must decide how many formations it wants to dedicate to hunt for the ring and how many they want to dedicate to taking Minas Tirith. If Frodo makes it to Gorgoroth, he is attacked by Gollum and essentially the Taming of Sméagol scenario from from The Two Towers SBG Journey Book plays out.  If Sam and Frodo defeat Gollum, Frodo makes a Courage test minus any modifiers for making a reaction move earlier in the campaign, and if passes he destroys the ring.   If he fails or Gollum defeats Sam and Frodo, again Sauron would appear at Barad Dur the beginning of the next turn.  So Evil doesn't necessarily win if Sauron gets the ring, but now he is a playable Legendary formation in full form and the forces of Good have to kill him outright.

Modified campaign map from War of he Ring boardgame.

Again we will  be using the map from the War of the Ring board game.  The map isn't perfect, but it is better than actually drawing a map of Middle Earth using a CAD program.  I then came up with a tactical map for each area that shows what terrain will be on the board when we play the battles and on what section of the board each side will enter on.  One issue that arose is that I had the area of Osgiliath to be a city map board, but the strategic map went all the way to Druadan Forest which would mean the only way to cross the Anduin would be at Osgiliath.  I wanted to include Cair Andros in the campaign as it was the other avenue of approach for Mordor to attack Minas Tirith, and was the route Aragorn led the forces of the West to the Black gate.  So I divided Osgiliath into two areas, the southern one being the city of Osgiliath and the northern one to represent the island of Cair Andros.

Tactical map terrain layout for South Ithilien

South Ithilien on the tabletop.

The objectives of the campaign are difficult for both sides and both Good and Evil are presented with challenges that they must overcome if they want to win the campaign.  I will be updating the blog with monthly battle reports as the campaign progresses.

NOVA OPEN 2015 - Lord of the Rings Events

Rohan Campaign Turns 7 & 8 - At the Gates of Edoras

Having defeated the defenders of Helms Deep, Saruman set his eyes on the Rohan capital of Edoras.  Gandalf, Théoden, and Aragorn were all his prisoner and only Deorwine, Captain of the Royal Guard, was left to garrison Edoras.  Having won priority in Turn 7, Saruman and his army moved into Westemnet, almost guaranteeing that he would reach Edoras by Turn 8.  Treebeard and his three remaining huorns moved into the Folde so they could come to Deorwine's defense.

With no battle being fought in Turn 7, priority was rolled for Turn 8, the final turn in the campaign.  The Evil side again won priority and moved the Isengard army into Edoras.  Deorwine stood on the the ramparts of Edoras and looked out at the mass army of uruk-hai before him.  With only two companies of Royal Guard, Deorwine surrendered Edoras to Saruman without a fight.  Treebeard seeing this, moved into Eastemnet so he could save the huorns and return to Fangorn to go into a long tree slumber.  There will be no dawn for man.

Thus concludes our War of the Ring "mini-campaign".  Our goal was to see how a campaign system would work using both War of the Ring and Strategy Battle Game systems with fixed army lists and scheduled reinforcements.  Points wise, the total numbers of formations and Epic Heroes combined were almost even, with a slight nod to the Good side, since they had so many Epic Heroes compared to the number of their formations.  This actually was an advantage for the Evil side, since with only three Epic Heroes to the Good side's nine, the Evil point values were in formations of orcs and uruk-hai which would ultimately wear down the Rohan army.  Even with formation killing heroes such as Gimli and Aragorn, they quickly used up their Might on Epic or Heroic actions in battles and were not enough to take down the larger number of Evil formations by the end of a gaming session.

The one advantage that the Good had was in their cavalry superiority, but they used their formations piece-meal, and never massed all of their cavalry formations into one area to be used as a counterattack.  The forces of Good did very well in the First Battle of the Fords of Isen even though they were forced to fight a battle regardless since Evil had priority the first campaign turn. But following up on their success, the Good side chose to send Erkendbrand's Riders, two formations of Outriders and keep Elfhelm's Riders in the Fords of Isen to fight the whole of the Isengard army in Turn 3.  If the Good side kept what formations they had in Turn 2 at the Fords of Isen and moved all the infantry formations into Helms Deep and kept all the cavalry formations in either Eastemnet or Edoras, they could have been able to counter-strike at the Isengard army along with the ents and then follow through all the way to Isengard.

The Good side also could have placed just one formation of Oathsworn Militia in Edoras along with Eowyn to meet the requirement of having to keep one formation and one Epic Hero in the capital.  This would have put all of the best infantry formations and Epic Heroes at Helms Deep in order to wear down the Isengard army on the walls and hope to last eight game turns forcing Isengard to withdraw.  The next turn, Isengard would most assuredly try and assault Helms Deep again and the Good could have had all of their cavalry and ents arrive as reinforcements to fight an already depleted Isengard army.  If the Good side had been successful in this and taken the Isengard army down to 30 percent, Isengard would have no choice but to retreat to Orthanc and hope to prevent a Good victory.  But as in any wargame, much came down to die rolls.  The Evil side were able to capitalize when they won priority and send two formations of uruk-hai into Westemnet twice and pin the ents into a SBG skirmish battle not allowing them to move out of the area. 

If I had to change anything, I would have probably given Isengard a Troll Captain and two Isengard Trolls instead of so many uruk-hai formations.  I know I have criticized GW's Isengard Troll since Tolkien makes not mention of them in his writings, but the campaign came down to who could kill more companies than the other side, and trading 350 points of uruk companies for three trolls could have changed the dynamics.  Isengard having trolls in this regard makes the game more balanced.

But the campaign was overall balanced, the Good side won two battles, lost three and two were a draw, and the evil side won three, lost two and two were a draw.  The game did come down to the final turn, and it was the fact that Isengard had an overwhelming number of companies at the end of the campaign being the reason the Good side decided not even to fight a battle on Turn 8 and concede.

The next mini-campaign will be a Mordor-Gondor campaign, following Mordor's invasion of Gondor in order to take Minas Tirith which we will do some time in the Fall.

Rohan Campaign Turn 6 - Back to Helm's Deep

 

Saruman crossed the Isen with his host from Orthanc.  His forces reeling from their defeat in Westemnet told that the ents were moving to reinforce Helms Deep.  Saruman knew if he could delay their advance, the remaining forces at Helms Deep would be helpless.  Having won the initiative, he sent two companies of Uruk-hai with pikes to pin the ents in Westemnet so he could lead the rest of his army into Helms Deep.

The ents were few in number having suffered heavy loses from the battle last turn.  Treebeard had only five huorns and one other ent to face the two companies of Uruk-hai.  Since this was a skirmish, the Uruks were able to increase their attacks on the ents with the length of their pikes.  Although many Uruks fell, they were able to kill the remaining ent and three huorns forcing Treebeard to retreat into Eastemnet.

The Uruk-hai use their pikes to increase their attacks against the huorns.

The defeat of the ents allowed Saruman to assault the fortress of the Hornburg at Helms Deep unimpeded.  He lead a formation of Uruk-hai crossbows along with Vrasku's Talons and Thrydan Wolfsbane and his Dunlending archers close enough to the walls to rain shooting attacks on the Rohan defenders.

Knowing this could be their final hour, Gandalf deployed with a formation of dismounted Rohan Outriders to cause as many casualties as they could with shooting attacks as well as use Immobilize spells against the Uruk-hai ram.  Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas fielded as The Three Hunters so they could both use shooting attacks against the approaching Uruks, as well as charge into close combat if the fortress was breached.  Eomer and Theodred fielded with Erkenbrand's Riders and the remaining formation of Oathsworn Militia while Théoden held The Keep with a company of Oathsworn Bowmen.

Isengard prepares to assault The Hornburg.

Although the dismounted Outriders were able to cause some casualties, Saruman casted Bolts of Fire onto their formation ultimately destroying them.  With no formation protecting the gates.  Saurman sent four formations of Uruk-hai warriors to take their ladders to the Deeping Wall, and with no one standing in their way, were able to move along the walls to take the gate.  The ram ultimately smashed the gate and the Uruks piled into the fortress.

The ram finally is able to smash the gate.

Theodred and Erkenbrand moved to the gate to prevent the Uruks from reaching The Keep, but ultimately were defeated in close combat.  The Three Hunters attempted to hit the Uruks in the flank, but both Legolas and Gimli were killed leaving Aragorn to face the Uruks alone. 

With Legolas dead, only two hunters remain to fight a formation of Uruk-hai warriors. Soon Gimli would also fall.

Eomer moved his last company into The Keep to help Theoden.  But Saruman moved into the fortress and cast a Tremor spell against The Keep, killing all those inside.  Helms Deep had fallen and all the remaining survivors surrendered and were taken prisoner.

The ram smashes The Keep door as Saruman casts a Tremor spell.

Now that he was in possession of Helms Deep, all Saruman needed to do was take Edoras and Rohan would be his.

Rohan Campaign Turn 5 - Westemnet

Isengard moves into position to prevent the ents from reaching Helms Deep.

The ents moved out of Fangorn after defeating Saurons wargs who were sent to stop their advance.  Treebeard knew that the defenders of Helms Deep would not last unless he led the army of ents and huorns to their aid.  But as they moved through the open plains of Westemnet, they saw on the horizon a mass of Uruk-hai with two massive assault ballistae ready to rain down on them.  The ents had their chance to crush Saruman's siege weapons, thus negating their advantage if they were brought to bear on the Hornburg or Edoras.  So the ents and huorns slowly moved across the plain with no woods to conceal their force or protect them.  This fight was to the death. 

The Fangorn army moved along the Rohan plains with no woods or forests to protect them.

But Thrydan Wolfsbane and Vrasku had their orders from Saruman; destroy the ents.  Vrasku and Thrydan stayed behind with their shooting attacks and hurled fiery arrows against the ents and huorns causing many of the them to burn to the ground.  The wargs swarmed around the left flank to try and catch the slow moving huorns, gnashing them with their claws and fangs.  But seeing this, the ents charged the wargs pulled them apart with their thorny arms destroying them and halting the charge.

The Uruk-hai beserkers moved forward on the right flank hacking at the huorns with their two-handed weapons cutting several of them down.  But the beserkers were no match for Beechbone and the ents as they destroyed both of their companies.  See that Beechbone was wounded, Thrydan directed his Dunlending archers to fire their flaming arrows at him setting him ablaze as he fell.

Quickbeem raced forward as fast as he could to take out the Isengard ballistae.  But shot after shot fell upon him slowing down his advance.  He was joined by Treebeard and the two of them pushed forward only to be stopped by an Uruk-hai formation with pikes.  Pushing aside the pikes, the two ents tore through the formation and reaching a ballista, broke it into to pieces.  Another ent was able to reach the other ballista destroying it, thus taking out all of Saurman's artillery.  But the same fate was to befall this ent as poor Beechbone as Vrasku's Talons held their position and fired their flaming crossbows into the ent who soon was engulphed in flames.

But evil know no morals and the Uruk-hai sappers moved into position.  Quickbeem knew that he had to destroy this company of sappers by sacrificing himself to the demolition charge or else if it moves too far, it could destroy most of the Fangorn army.  But having passed their Courage test, the sappers were the ones to take their ones lives and detonated the demolition charges causing Strength 10 hits to all within 12".  The blast was titanic, killing Quickbeem and several other ents and huorns in the process.  But somehow, Treebeard had survived and seeing that the disordered Uruks also had been damaged by the blast, moved forward crushing an entire company breaking the Isengard army.

The Uruk-hai sappers move into position to detonate their demolition charges.

Saruman's plan almost worked, but the Isengard army fled the field, despite the damage done by the demolition charge.  Isengard had lost all of their ballistae, all of the remaining wargs, and all the beserkers.  Fangorn had won the battle, but at a terrible price.  Beechone and Quickbeem were dead, along with two ents and nine huorns.

Treebeard now had to reach Helms Deep in order to stop Saruman from taking the Hornburg, but fate was about to turn on the side of Good.

Rohan Campaign Turn 4 - Helm's Deep

The forces of Isengard prepare to assault The Hornburg.

Saruman looked into his palantir and knew that he must act fast.  He had to take the fortress at Helms Deep in order to break the resolve of Rohan and then march on Edoras.  But he knew something had awoken in Fangorn.  He dispatched his wargs to the forest to scout out what he had feared.  The wargs found an army of ents and a moving forest of huorns.  The wargs harassed the ents and knew they could out run them.  A company of wargs were killed, but that was just enough time to delay them so they would not be able to help the defenders at Helms Deep.

Treebeard leads the ents against the elusive wargs.

Meanwhile, Aragorn had found his way to the Hornburg, only to see that the Rohan army led by Theodred and Eomer had been defeated at the Fords of Isen and decided to retreat to the safely behind the fortress walls.  They knew that the fortress would give them the best chance against the Isengard host.  But King Théoden was not going to sit aside while a force of evil invaded his land.  He convinced Gandalf to ride with him to Helms Deep and if this was to be their end, to make it such an end worthy of song.  Théoden took four companies of the Kings Guard, while Gandalf rode with two companies of Royal knights.  Along with an eored of six companies of Rohan Riders, they hoped to smash Saruman's force in the flanks as they besieged the Hornburg.

Defenders of Helms Deep.

But the Uruks instructions were clear, not to wait for reinforcements and assault the fortress.  Vrasku's Talons led the Isengard army up to the walls firing their crossbows against the Rohan warriors who returned fire from upon the ramparts.  Four formations with ladders were sent to the left flank to occupy the Rohan warriors upon the Deeping Wall.  The assault ballistae pounded at the fortress gate, hoping to smash it by the time the fighting Uruk-hai made it up the causeway.  But as dawn broke, something happened that no one expected.  Thedoen appeared and charged at the Uruk-hai flank.  Surprised by the quickness of the steeds, the Uruks sent a phalanx of pikes over to protect their left so they could continue the assault on the fortress.  But they didn't arrive before Gandalf cast his Blinding Light on a formation of Uruk -hai who were crushed under the cavalry charge.  But the Uruks were many and the entire formation of Rohan Riders perished from the pikes wielded by the Uruk Hai phalanx.



Gandalf rides forth with Rohan Knights.

Meanwhile at the fortress, arrows were shot back and forth, stifling the Isengard advance.  An assault ballista was able to raise one of the enormous ladders, only to be pushed down by the Rohan defenders.  Seeing that Théoden had arrived to stop the advancing ladders on the Deeping Wall, Aragorn moved his formation with Epic Journey to the other side of the fortress who then began to reign down throwing weapons upon the Uruks.

Isengard brings ladders up to the fortress walls.

But the tide was turning for Théoden.  He made the mistake of dividing up his Royal Knights into smaller formations who were not able to mass against the fighting Uruk-hai.  His loyal bodyguard Hama fought a Heroic Duel that was directed against the King by an Uruk-hai captain, only to perish underneath the evil blade.  Losing riders fast, the King's sister-daughter Eowyn revealed herself amongst the riders and died in an Epic Sacrifice so that other could live.  But with their companies gone, there was little Théoden and Gandalf could do, but retreat from the field hoping that the defenders of Helms Deep could defeat such reckless hate.

 

The assault ballista tried again and again to hit fortress gate, but only caused minimal damage.  The Uruk-hai ram then tried to smash the gate, but the Uruks slipped and fell as they tried to charge up the causeway.  Ultimately, the Hornburg was too strong for them this day and the Uruks, now dimished in number were forced to lift the siege and retreat back to the Fords of Isen.

 

The ram tries to smash the fortress gates.

Victory ultimately lay with Rohan as they had prevented Isengard from taking Helms Deep.  But at what cost?  The Kings Guard were destroyed along with an entire eored of Rohan Riders.  Their only hope now lay with the ents who have moved out of Fangorn into Westemnet.  But having learned of this, enough was enough.  With his last horde of Uruk-hai now equipt for war, Saruman would lead them personally out of Isengard and crush Rohan once and for all!