Fog on the Barrow Downs

Well, it is time to return to my Lord of the Rings campaign! The scenario was more fun than some write ups have led me to believe, but that might have been because I was trying to play the Hobbits 'in character' rather than have them gang up and hunt the barrow-wights or other such nonsense. Anyhow, it was a fairly close thing with an added sense of peril knowing that any deaths could last through the rest of the campaign!

So with out further a do, here it is:

There you have it. I really thought Pippin was gone for good, but he managed to make a 50-50 die roll to pull through. All the pictures are from the game in progress, except for the last one, which was staged for the purpose of the narrative.

Hope you enjoyed it. Comments welcome as always.

The Trust of Arnor

Following on from the small skirmish near Sarn Ford, the Ringwraiths have succeeded in entering the Shire. The battle has divided the Nazgul, but also the Dunedain, and the survivors from before are rushing to the aid of their brethren, who are hoping to stall the further advance of the Ringwraiths.

Participants: 9 Dunedain and 8 Ringwraiths plus the Witch-king.



Turn 1

6 Dunedain start the game on the board, although they will receive reinforcements during the game. All the Nazgul start off the board, with 1D3 arriving each turn. On the first turn the Dunedain advance towards the centre of the board. 2 Nazgul arrive.




Turns 2 - 3

More Nazgul enter the board and make their way forward, keeping the forest between themselves and the arriving Dunedain. A lucky shot banishes one of the Nazgul, but the other continues unharmed. Meanwhile the two groups of Dunedain that started the game on the board continue to move to intercept their foes.




Turns 4-5

The Nazgul focus their efforts in an attempt to break through the Dunedain defence. In the centre of the board fighting breaks out in earnest, but the Dunedain hold. The new arrivals pursue the Nazgul round the forest, while the second group of three move across to form a second line of defence, should their brethren fall. (The little white rectangle is to remind me that that particular Dunedain has expended a point of might, avoiding a wound.)



Turns 6-7

It was at this point that I counted the Nazgul on the board and noticed I had forgotten to bring one on, clearly it had got lost... You can see it at the top left of the board. Meanwhile, two Nazgul by the smaller forest are making progress in their goal. The battle on the hill rages, with another Ringwraith falling.



Turns 8-9

The battle takes a turn in the Witch-king's favour during turn 8, as he and some Nazgul fight their way off the hill. In part this is due to Dunedain failing their courage checks to charge their fearsome foes. This leaves our heroes in a precarious position, but luck is with them and they move first in Turn 9, charging into combat and preventing the Wraiths from moving away that turn. However, this is not without cost and one Dunedain gives his life for the Shire.



Turns 10-11

Turn 10 sees one Nazgul and one Dunedain fall and the Wraiths have truly breached the Dunedain defence. Seeing that pursuit is likely to be futile, the Dunedain (bottom of pic) opt to shoot at their foes from a distance. Their shots hit, but fail to wound the foul creatures of Sauron. In the middle of the table hand to hand combat continues with more success as another Nazgul is banished.



Turns 12-13

In these turns, 4 Nazgul manage to escape off the board despite brave attempt to bring them down with archery. The remaining one moves around the small forest in the middle of the table and the Dunedain turn their attention to it.



Turns 14-15

The lone Nazgul falls to the combined efforts of the Dunedain. This gives the Good side a victory, but will it be enough to prevent the capture of the ring and the Hobbit who bears it?




Thoughts on the Scenario

This second scenario was more fun to play than the first, but I am still looking forward to getting stuck in to the 'proper' story, which starts from the next scenario. I know the Nazgul are at their weakest at this point, but they do seem to fall in combat a lot more easilly than you would expect, and they don't seem quite as terrifying as they should be. Still, the Dunedain in this scenario are all heroes in their own right, which helps. I hope the Hobbits are going to be okay!

After recovery rolls, the Ringwraiths were on the following levels of Will (out of 7, or 10 for the Witch-king): 10 (WK), 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4. The rather brief rules for linking scenarios do not give guidance for which three to select for the next scenario. I'm tempted to take one of each (i.e. 4, 5, 6), but might take the 3 with 6 Will depending on how I am feeling. It might make for a more interesting game overall.

Next project: Put some final touches to hedges for the next scenario; finish painting Frodo, Sam and Peregrin; paint Gildor.

Ruins

No gaming updates really, but I wanted to post a couple of pictures of my first attempt at scratch-building some ruins.

The walls are made from 5mm foam card, coated with ready mixed filler and with brick details added using thin card. The model is based on board cut from a ring-binder. Before the filler was applied, the edges of the walls (where the foam was exposed) were covers with masking tape.

The model was undercoated black, then dark grey, before a heavy drybrush of lighter grey was applied.

Although I am happy with the way the model turned out, I think it would have gained from different shades of grey being used to paint it. I think that the shades are to far appart and it makes the model look a bit messy. This is more evident when viewing the model first hand rather than in photos.

All in all, though, I think this is a good method for making ruins. With changes to colour, style and detailing, the same method can be used to make ruins for other periods. Also, it is a very cheap way to make models as offcuts can be used from other projects which might otherwise be discarded, as was the case with this model.

Set Up: The Hunt Begins

Finally managed to play the first scenario and edit the pictures for the report. You will be able to tell by the quality of the arrows that I really need to get some decent image editing software. I would have expected paint to allow you to rotate arrows, but it appears not, so for the time being my hand drawn ones will have to do!

The table:
The terrain for the game represents an area close to the Brandywine river, on the outskirts of the Shire. It is lightly wooded, with a couple of hills and some rough terrain, broken up by scattered bushes.

The Set Up:

The three Ringwraiths enter from the left of the table, while the Dunedain set up on and around the hill at the centre of the board.

In order for the Ringwraiths to win the scenario, they need to move at least 2 of their number off the oposite edge of the table.

The Hunt Begins: Participants

The forces are now ready for the first scenario. Here are a couple of pics:

The Witch-king and two Ringwraiths approach the border of the Shire...


... and the Dunedain emerge from the forest to stop them.


Hopefully the next post will be the skirmish itself.

Next to paint: 5 more Nazgul so I have the full complement of 8 + the Witch-king (required for scenario 2) and Frodo, Sam and Pippin in preparation for scenario 3...

Next terrain: I need to prep some more trees. If I can get hold of some extruded polystyrene I will also be making some rocky outcrops.

LotR

Currently painting up 9 Dunedain for my latest project!

I have recently been building up my collection of Lord of the Rings figures and sourcebooks. My plan is to play though the 3 campaigns matching the books/films, painting the figures and making the terrain as I go. This should be an interesting project to undertake and also make for an interesting solo gaming experience, with an interesting narrative replacing repetative one-off battles.

Scenario 1: The Hunt Begins, takes place after Sauron has discovered from Gollum that the One Ring is in the possesion of a creature called 'Baggins' in a land called 'Shire'. He has dispatched the Ringwraiths, who have found out where the Shire is and are now approaching it's borders. But the Shire is not unprotected. The Rangers of Arnor have long protected this peaceful land and will sell their lives to prevent the Nazgul from crossing into the Shire.

The scenario sees 9 Dunedain (plus reinforcements as the game goes on) trying to prevent 3 Ringwraiths from getting two of their number off the board and into the Shire. Being this far from Sauron's influence, the Ringwraiths are relatively weak, but 3 of them are still a formidable force.

When the figures are all ready I hope to post a full report on the battle.