The time has finally come to put the forces to the test. I took pictures of the first clash of orcish and Gondorian troops in Ithilien 2901. The assault ont he beacon is the attempt of the orcs to destroy Gondor's alarm system and thus surprising the defenders in that area. I took a lot of pics and will guide you through the battle. Let us have a look at the battlefield.
The Gondorian camp overlooks a small deep through which a small creek is merrily running towards the Anduin. I imagine the camp to be in the foothills of the Ephel Duath. Here any attempts of an invasion can be spotted in which case the beacon on the right flank will be lit to warn troops and farmers living further away from the mountains of the coming danger.
Here a picture of the creek. which devides the battlefield into two parts. There is a rope bridge hanging over the deep to connect the two parts of the Gondorian camp. On each flank a steep path leads up to the plateau of the camp. I ruled that for the normal Gondorian soldiers in their heavy armour everything counted as difficult terrain (half moves only), while the rangers could move freely. The orcs could only move 5" rather than 6" but had no further problems.
On the right flank we have the beacon, in the left camp is the supply of weapons for the defenders. I created a simple score systhem to determine the outcome of the battle. Each end of the bridge is worth 1 victory point, each captain killed 1 VP, to break the opposing army (kill at least half the men) 1 VP, lighting the beacon 3 VP for Gondor. I further decided that should the left part of the camp be lost to Gondor they could no longer use their bows and arrows, as the supply of arrows was kept there. This forces the Gondorian troops to split up.
Here is the right camp with the beacon (notice that the weapon counter originally was here as well. I moved it afterwards to the other flank):
Here the two forces: Gondor had 10 warriors and 6 Rangers. The captain is a tough leader with the name of Belegnor.
And here the orcs: 30 orcs, some with spears, bows and heavy axes, most with a sword and shield. They are lead by the Uruk captain Rotgut (okay, that name sounds very warhammerish...), the captain Buruk (carrying the drums) and a normal uruk carrying the banner.
For those who like point values the forces were worth 182 and 323 points respectively.
Here two pics of the Gondorian setup. It is a cold night and the men are huddling around the tents, preparing food and trying to stay out of the cold. That way Gondor couldn't just set up the troops at the best possible location but actually had to move the minitures to reach defence position. The only exception were two guards at the ends of the bridge.
We pick up our tale just as the drums of the orcs in the mountains fell silent...
Uneasily the men looked at each other and at the distant mountains. Captain Belegnor rose slowly still holding the steaming cup of tea when the cry of the bridge guard was heard in the sudden silence: "Orcs! There are orcs in the deep!"
"To arms!" shouted Belegnor and grabbed Armandil's arm. "See that the beacon is lit. Make sure news of the attack is spread. Join us once the fire burns!" Quicly the men took up positions guarding the steep paths to the plateau. Below them on both banks of the river a horde of orcs moved like ants forward through the trees.
Yet hardly had the soldiers reached their positions when the first wave of orcs crashed into them lead by a fearsome black orc whose furystaggered even the seasoned Gondorians. Yet the defenders held and arrows rained down on the dark shapes and here and there a scream proved the defenders skills while the dark bolts of the hidden orcish archers clattered harmlessly on the rocks and stones of the hill.I won't bore you with the details as such. I used the GW LotR rules and the solid Gondorian armor was worth every nickel, so to speak. The orcs had a lot of problems actually wounding the Gondorians. Thank Sauron for the two uruk captains who at least managed to inflict some damage. And slowly pushed the defenders up the path.
A word on the shooting. As the attack is supposed to take place at night I ruled that the human archers are not allowed to pick their target. Rather they have to shoot at the closest target or at least at the closest unobscured target. In turn 2 that was actually Rotgut who lost one of his two lifepoints during the first shooting phase.
The fight was a confusing melee of hacking and stabbing. The discipline of Gondor's finest was laudable and time and again the horde was thrown back. Belegnor encouraged his men directing defenders to where the pressure was the highest and joining the fight when his men stumbled backwards. But endless seemed the horde and while the men of the right camp held their line, desaster struck on the other side of the river.
With a mighty roar another black orc hewed down defenders right and left and up jumped the orcs, reaching the plateau and falling on the lightly armored rangers who, while fighting valiantly, were soon swepped away in a tide of steel and blood. The left side of the camp was overrun and soon one bow after the other fell silent, the archers having spent all their arrows.
The fight threatened to be lost for the men of Gondor. " Armandil! The beacon! Light the beacon!" Belegnor shouted above the clash of steel but then fell silent as the huge shadow of Rotgut, the orcish leader, fell on him...
But why wasn't the beacon lit?
Armandil was close to desperation as he tried time and again to light the wood. Yet everytime he struck a flame it failed to catch on to the logs. The cold wind seemed to mock him as the flame was blown out yet once again.The rules for lighting the beacon are simple. Each round one model may have one try. In the first round you need to roll a 1, each round thereafter this number is increased by one. Finally, in his 5th attempt, Armandil managed to roll something less than a 6...
With his men falling around him, Belegnor was gripped by a terrible fury and in a hail of blows that split the black orcs mail he vanquished the dark uruk and kicked his lifeless body over the edge of the deep. But to his left and right he percieved his men falling backwards, some hewn down by the overwhelming number of enemies.
"To me, soldiers!" he cried. "Don't fear death nor darkness. Remember your oaths to Gondor!" And though the defenders were still pushed back the line held.Belegnor managed to slay Rotgut. Even the nearby battle banner of the orcs was no help. In fact, it proved rather uneffective in this battle. Maybe it was too dark to be seen...
The dark banner bearer now swept forward and at last the line of defenders crumbled. Woe to the two lone soldiers on the rope bridge. With no way out they prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. "This was a good fight." said one. "Aye, that it was." replied the other and then they fell silent forever.
Sorry, out of focus snapshot.
Beregnor felled the banner bearer with a sweep of his sword and saw Armandil join the fight. A grim smile played around his lips but he was too tired to say anything. And just then the pressure of the enemy seemd to subside as if his power was spent as well.
The beacon's flames shone brightly in the night and its light could be seen many miles away. The men of Gondor had fullfilled their task and now quietly slipped away, when the orcs fell back to prepare the next assault. Thus ends our tale of the battle for the beacon. In the end Belegnor, Armandil and one other soldier managed to escape. All other fell. A terrible price to pay, but overall a success for Gondor. The managed to light the beacon, killed one captain and broke the enemies strength for a total of 5 VP. The orcs overran the bridge and broke Gondor's army for a total of 3 VP. Only one uruk captain and 10 orcs remained after the fight.
Most successful figure was Belegnor, who held his men in line for a long time, killed both Rotgut and the uruk banner carrier and survived. Armandil was a little slow to light the beacon - it could be argued that he really took his time to join the fight but that would be completely against the spirit of the game.
Most useless? Hm, I'd say the orc archers. In the whole game they only managed to hit once and that was one of their own in melee. 7 models throwing dice and doing nothing. Oh, one ran away and deserted. Charming fellows. To be fair, they had a hard time hitting anything because first of all orcs only hit on a 5 and 6 and second all their potential targets were at least partly behind cover (effectively giving them a 50% chance not to be hit even if the orcs rolled a hit).
Anyway, that's my little report for now. I hope you enjoy it. There's more to come...
31 July 2012, 12:33:19 PM
