As it was a Holiday in the US today, my buddy Eric and I were able to swing a day game! He had been working on some Woses for a while and I was eager to put a big ol' orc horde on the board, so off we went! We rolled for scenario and came up with Retrieval. I think this may have been the first time I've actually played that mission- fun game of fantasy Capture the Flag!
MORDOR:
ROHAN/DRUADAN:
Goroth is in the upper left of the Mordor forces. The Troll and Shagrat are front and center, while the captain and his archers are in the back. I forgot Orc bows are 18" cause I almost never take them. They should've been further forward!
Dernhelm is in the upper left of the Rohan forces. Theoden and his Guard are in the center just behind the mess of Woses moving into that central wood. On the right is Eomer and his riders.
I really rate this Mordor Troll Chieftain. PLUS he
was fun to paint!
My Eomer, Eric's riders. I really love how Eric's shields have turned out.
Woses prepare to move out! Check out Shield Mama in the middle there- she was a real hero this game.
The Orc lines start to form.
Top of turn 2. Blowguns hurt in turn 1 so I intend to keep out of 12" to at least force them to close in! I lost 3 orcs to shooting in the first turn- ouch!
Opening of turn 3. Mordor lost priority, but we call a Heroic in the upper left to get Goroth and boys stuck in on some riders. Goroth charges Dernhelm who was leading a wide flank move. If you look closely you can see a sneaky Rider looping around the left of the rock.
Goroth and boys tie up some riders.
Theoden and his Warband along with Dernhelm and theirs slam into Goroth and his boys, while the rest of the lines start to converge.
Theoden's warband doesn't fare well! Goroth massacres Eowyn leaving Merry standing in her place.
The rest of the fight on the left flank goes very poorly for Rohan. Many riders fall to the orcs due to some really abysmal dice on Eric's part.
In the heat of the moment, I didn't get another picture until the end of the following turn. Summarizing- Merry was crushed by Goroth. Reserve riders get in with Theoden and fare a bit better against orcs, though losing the +1 to strength on the charge makes killing Morannons VERY challenging. The troll plays a game with Eomer- will he barge into him or not? Eomer elects NOT to strike and the troll does just that, scoring a single wound on Eomer. Shagrat begins shagging it up vs the Woses.
Heading into the late game, this is the situation. I've forgotten to update you, dear reader, on my Orc Trackers. They've killed a handful of woses and are now moving to hopefully support the objective. Fights across the board look similar, except Theoden strikes up against Goroth who throws many an orc in the way to take wounds for him. The troll and Eomer fight again, again after the troll barges. Eomer's horse is rent asunder but he otherwise stands okay. Shagrat catapults off a heroic combat to close the distance between him and the objective. In the Orc deployment zone, a cheeky rider gets in and grabs the objective as my Orc captain moves down there to contest.
The following turn sees the Mordor orc captain call a heroic move to engage the riders in the bottom left. We're using the orange base to represent the starting place of the objective.
Theoden and his riders turn the ride on the left flank, but their losses are mounting. In fact, Rohan was broken last turn- but Theoden's Stand Fast! hits the majority of the force.
The troll finishes Eomer off, but the Wose Spear Mama is holding strong!
As we enter the final turns, the situation is as follows: Rohan is broken. Shagrat (in the upper right) is moving on the objective guarded by Two Woses (who have to pass courage). The Troll and remnants of Mordor are converging on the objective as the Orc Captain tries to take down the rider.
The Orc captain fails to finish off the Rider for the second time! He's now out of Might having called Two Heroic moves. In fact, there is only one point of might on the board with Theoden; who intends to Strike up and finish Goroth.
Shagrat storming toward the Relic.
Theoden and company try to clear the flank in the hops that they'll have time for their rider to escape with the relic and get off their board edge.
The game goes on for another turn! The Rider with the relic puts distance between him and the troll; while brave Rohirrim move to block the enemy from catching the rider.
The troll turns his attention to Theoden, engaging a Royal Guard. In the upper right, both Woses are terrified at the sight of the massive Uruk-Hai. Shagrat is just able to pick up the objective.
The game goes for another turn... Theoden's end is nigh.
Shagrat holds the objective and moves it slightly.
With that, the game comes to a close.
Mordor has Broken the enemy without being broken for 3, killed the enemy leader for 2, and moved the opponent's objective for 3.
Rohan has moved the enemy objective for 3.
The final tally is Mordor 8 to Rohan's 3.
Honorable mention to Spear Mama who was the last wose standing and killed several orcs on her own.
Thoughts: This was an interesting one. I think Eric really felt the loss of the Rohan special rule for +1 strength on a charge. Wounding Morannons on a 6 is really rough- especially since they wound back on 5s. The woses just collapsed in melee; but their blowguns are pretty decent! The path tokens are super cool and made it a lot easier for Eric to get the charges off.
I really like the 3 beefy killers in the Mordor list. The Troll Chieftain, Shagrat, and Goroth are just nasty enough to give the list a lot of bite with plenty of points left over for an absolute orc horde.
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