Fall In Battle Report, The Westfold is Burning, Part 2

Here's is the 2nd part of the battle I ran at Fall In, The Westfold is Burning. Uruk-hai raiding into Rohan. First part can be found here.

As we left it, The Uruks were assaulting the walls, while the Warg riders slipped into the village across unguarded walls. Ents are arriving to kill Uruk's as payback for all the trees killed. Leading 18 Riders of Rohan, Theoden, Eomer, and Erkenbrand appear on the table edge. The Uruk players know that something important is in this village, but not sure what and the Rohan players aren't telling.

 The Uruk assault on the Warriors hiding with the cows continues. Even the presence of 2 walking trees does not deter them. That one berserker attacking the Ent is about to die.

 Uruks are going under the tower and slipping into the village. The Riders maneuver for shooting. At some point, the Uruk Archers manage to kill one of the Rohirrim in the tower, but they continue to rain arrows down on anyone passing near the tower.

 On the right side(facing the village) The Warg riders are not messing with the Pig Pen, other than some shooting as they go by.

 The Wargs Riders and Uruks are in the village. The warriors in the field with the cows move to protect their rear. Some missile fire is exchanged with the fence getting in the way of most shots.

 The troll has finally ambled over to take on an Ent, joined by several Uruk-Hai, This might be more than the Ent can handle. The Warg Riders take the fence line and defend it. Now if the Rohirrim want to attack them, the Warg Riders are defending! Casualties amoung the Rohirrim are starting to mount.

 Ignoring the Pig Pen, Warg Riders just run passed. Thrown spears from the Rohirrim have little effect.

 This was the funniest moment for me in the battle. The Uruk-Hai man the barricade against the Riders! Now The Riders have to assault the defenses of their own village. Well played sir, well played.

 Ganging up on the Ent will be more than the Ent can handle. Also around this time, Uruk-Hai try to assault the tower, but are thrown back. One Uruk survived the fight on the ladder, but plunges to his death.

 The Warg Riders are content  to trap the Rohirrim in the field, while other Warg Riders move about the village. One Warg Rider gets near the Great House and detects more Rohirrim inside. More Wargs are sent to investigate.

The next turn, out comes Éowyn and 6 Royal Bodyguard! The Uruk and Warg players now focus on killing Éowyn. But she is not some helpless farm girl that the Uruks have been killing. She will not go down easily.... The Royal Bodyguards attack!

 The Rohirrim archers have had enough of shooting and charge the fence. Lurtz is there urging his Fighting Uruk-Hai forward.

 Out in front of the village, Erkenbrand and 6 riders run down the Uruk archers. But not without cost. Funny thing here, is they kill all but 1 and start to move on to other targets, but that one Uruk fights off the Rider left to kill him for the rest of the battle.

 One down, one to go. On the left side, almost all the Rohirrim are dead. I see 2 left.

 The Ent enraged at the death of his brother Tree Herder, goes on a killing spree. 2 shots on the Troll, and Uruk-hai are being crushed.

 It's now a mad rush for Éowyn. Uruk and Warg Riders want to kill her. The Rohirrim that were hiding...er protecting the Pig Pen now charge out. The Royal Bodyguards hold off the Wargs.

 Éomer leads an assault on the barricade. Théoden leads his Bodyguard around to try to break into the village.

 The Bodyguard are not going quietly but they are small in numbers. Éowyn pulls back behind the Great House.

 Back on the left side of the village, Erkenbrand helps relieve some of the pressure on the Ent. The Troll was killed sometime in here.

 You can see the Warrior of Rohan, coming to attack the Wargs from the rear who were fighting the Royal Bodyguard.

 Théoden now comes around the back of the barricade. This was a messy fight. The Uruk-Hai are tough.

 Will they arrive in time?

 One Warg Rider chases Éowyn around the back of Great House. But she can't go too far, as there are Wargs on the other side. Nowhere left to go, she will make a stand here. Somewhere in here, The Rohirrim broke(50% casualties). The Rohan players started taking break tests, but it helped to have Erkenbrand on the table(+2 to roll). They lost some Riders and Warriors , but they did have the Royal  Bodyguard on the table who would not break.

 Uruk-hai, make it to the fight at the Great House, they start moving around the other side of the building to cut Éowyn off. The next turn the Uruk-Hai broke. With the Evil's side low morale things got ugly very fast for them. Lots of Uruks and Warg Riders fled the table.

The Evil players got 2 maybe 3 more attacks on Éowyn. The first was the Warg Rider. The Bodyguard and Éowyn manged to kill it. Then the Uruk-Hai came around the side of building. On the last turn they had one final attack on Éowyn. She had to use the last of her Might, but she won the fight and killed the Uruk-Hai.

A very climatic ending. This battle could not have gone better. We had friendly easy going players, and that really makes a differenc in convention games. As a Game Master running the game, you want the players to have a good time, and each side have a fair shot at victory.

I felt the balance of the game swing back and forth multiple times which means it was pretty balanced and dramatic. I knew the Evil players would get into the village, just too much wall, and not enough defenders. But I never saw them, then manning the walls to keep out the relief force. That was hilarious. And to have Éowyn chased around to the back of the village and be trapped was awesome. I could not have hoped for a better ending. Well played on both sides.

I highly recommend the LOTR Strategy Battle Game from Games Workshop. It is a lot of fun, and very versatile. It's a rule set that can go almost anything you want in small or large skirmish gaming, from tournament play to scenarios and campaigns. Also the figures made by GW incredible. Of course buying direct from GW can be expensive, but if you buy slowly on Ebay, you can find great deals.

Hope you enjoyed the battle report, Xin