Playing Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, Battle Companies. Game 2

My Friend Lou and I started a Battle Companies campaign. If your not familiar with it, BC allows you to play out linked battles, grow your warband over time, using the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game rules.

"An expansion for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, this 80-page hardback allows you to assemble a small warband and, over the course of many linked games, watch as its members gain experience, learn skills and become battle-hardened." 

I went with a Lothlorien force and Lou chose Uruk-Hai. I had 3 Galadhrim Warriors and 3 Wood Elves, 2 of which had bows. Lou had 7 scouts 2 of which had bow.

 We had one battle already that I won, but can't find the pics to do a Battle Report. So this is our 2nd battle. Each of us had small upgrades to our Warriors. 

We rolled on the Scenario chart and came up with - Rescue. One side sets up 3 figures in the center of the table (Defender) and the other side sets up 6 inches away (Attacker). The Attacker has to kill a specific model. The Defender has to reduce the other side to 50%. The balance of the Defenders forces come on at the end of turn one. Lou was the Defender and I was the Attacker. 

 Overall Board

 Ready for action

 Here we go.

  I get priority as per the scenario. I charge 2 guys into my target with support.

 Lou responded by adding 2 guys into the fight to peal off the support. I won all 3 combats, but only killed one, not my target.

 Next round he flees towards his reinforcements

 I pursue.

 I catch up but the Uruk-Hai quickly bring up support.

 My Target is on the right, out of combat. I gang up on one guy.

 His support comes up and again splits off my support. I lose badly, 2 dead.

 My Archers pick off one of his Archers.

 I retreat back towards my Archers so I don't get ganged up on.

 We pull back again, so I can get some shooting in, but no luck.

 If I lose priority he will be on me.

 And I lose priority, so we clash. My target is off the left, he doesn't want to risk him in combat.

 I kill one.

 He has priority again, our lines get mixed. He commits his guy I need to kill to the fray.

 No one dies and we are back at it. 4 individual combats.

 If I lose 1 guy I go below 50% which is his victory condition. If his one Uruk dies that I have to kill, that is my victory condition. So we are all in!

I lose one, and fail to kill my target(lower right Uruk) and so I lose the game! 

It was a fun game back and forth. After the game you figure out advances and effects of wounds. I rolled very badly on the "recovery" chart. The effect is Lost in Battle, meaning I left a man behind. So the next battle I play with my warband is Secure the Area, with my wounded guy in the middle of the board. So I'm down a guy going in, and have to rescue him. 

Some of the Recovery effects add character to the game. The Uruk-Hai's leader has a leg wound so he is minus one move. My Galadhrim Archer who is lost had got a free might point in shooting in the first battle, so he is the last guy I want to lose. 

We are gonna try to get some more guys in the campaign so we can mix up the armies. Failing that we will just start new Warbands and randomly roll to see who fights that night. 

Cheers, Xin

Uruk-Hai, Ogres and Saxon's

I have been on a painting tear lately. In the last week I got 3 different genre's done. Plus I upgraded my photography set up and had a nice photo shoot. Lets go right to the pics.

My Uruk-Hai Battering Ram. I added 2 guys to this model. This is a project that has sat about 95% completed on my table for about 8 months. I finally put the finishing touches on it.

 Since I added the new Rohan back drop to my photo stage, I dragged out some other figures to set up a little scene. The other Uruk-Hai and Rohirrim were already painted

My friends pointed out that the battering ram might be a little over kill. But look at that door, its got metal studs and stuff. It's tough I'm telling ya.

This is my favorite Warhammer Ogre. The Jes Goodwin Ogres are the best. He has sat unpainted in my basement for about 15 years. Back in the day my Empire Army always went to war with a unit of these guys.

I will have to dig out my other ogres and play some Oldhammer.

I think these are Gripping Beast. They were given to me. So I painted them up and they will be my Saxon Hearthguard.

I hate doing shields. I'm terrible at it.

These are Gripping Beast Monks. Very quick to paint up. What are they doing in Rohan?

Hmm, need to figure out how to manually set the White Balance on my phone camera. Depending where you aim the picture it changes the color saturation.

Seems the Saxon Hearthguard don't like Monks.

Painting will have to take a back seat for awhile. The convention Fall In is coming up, and we are going to be running The Battle of Marengo. We are building a table like we did for Stones River. It's a long process. I will be posting pics of the building process once we make some headway.

Xin

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