So the game for today was a clash between Rohirrim and the Fighting Uruk-hai. This was a scenario in the old Two Towers Edition of the SBG rules (from oh so many years ago!). Because of this, I’ve used the old ruleset in conjunction with the game - as backwards as it may seem, the rules were balanced for this -so why modify something which already works right?
The combatants for the game are as follows:
Good
6 Riders of Rohan with hand weapons and bows.
6 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears and bows.
The old ruleset armed Riders of Rohan with bows included, and Bow limits didn’t actually exist – seems unbalanced at the time, but it makes more sense scenario-wise. Plus, Rohan generally needs all the help it can get against Uruk-hai.
Evil
10 Uruk-hai with pikes.
10 Uruk-hai with shields and hand weapons.
Objective: To save at least 4 villagers trapped in a burning farmstead which the Uruk-hai were raiding. Rohan has a special rule in this scenario which allows them to ignore courage tests as they are desperately trying to save the villagers.
[h2]Layout:[/h2]
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[h2]Turn One:[/h2]
Priority is automatically handed to good, and so the riders use their first turn readying their positions – spear armed rohirrim use their full moves to advance on the farm, whereas both flanks of the rohirrim line move at half pace and ready their bows, setting their sites at the uruk shield wall currently blocking the farm. The uruk-hai cautiously ready themselves for the next turns combat phase, moving in such a way that they can absorb the impact of an initial rohan charge. The uruk-hai in reserve use their full move to hurry to the farmstead as quickly as possible to aid their fellow warriors.
During the shoot phase the rohirrim let fly with their bows on both flanks, looking for weak spots in the uruks armour. One archer manages to kill a warrior with shield on the right flank, kicking off the kill count for good!
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[h2]Turn Two:[/h2]
Rohan gains priority again, and both flanks advance at half rate, still looking for potential targets to shoot down. The spear men let out a might cry, and six rohirrim charge the main uruk-hai group, throwing their spears as they go. One uruk-hai gets impaled with the initial charge, whereas the other spears either miss or only do superficial damage. They complete their charge and the fighting begins! The uruk-hai reserves continue to hurry towards the barn, hoping that their brethren can hold up the rohirrim for long enough in order for them to thwart the rohirrims escape attempt. As all the archers were either out of range, or had targets obscured by the fighting, the fighting phase commenced.
The rohirrim’s charge had obviously caught the uruk-hai completely by surprise, and as tough as Uruk-hai warriors are, the rohirrim bowled over and killed three of them, the weight of the horses overwhelming the uruks defences, throwing them into complete disarray.
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[h2]Turn Three:[/h2]
Good win priority for a third time, and use this initiative to engage the completely broken uruk-hai line. Other rohirrim reach the farm stead and begin to start bailing out villagers – slinging three onto their horses and hoping for priority for the next turn. The uruk-hai desperately counter-charge, one hurling himself into a combat with a villager-laden rohirrim! The reinforcements continue to hurry towards the farm, slightly out of reach from the main battle! The rohirrim archers again try and let fly with their arrows, however these harmlessly bounce off the uruks tough armour.
In combat, the initial charge of the rohirrim seems to have weakened, with the second pressed charge only killing off one uruk-hai. The uruk-hai who engaged the villager-bearer easily outfights his opponent, but fails to wound the rohan horsemen. Phew!
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[h2]Turn Four:[/h2]
Priority is one again by rohan for the fourth turn in a row, allowing the rohirrim to get two more horsemen into base contact with the burning farm. Unfortunately, one villager is overcome by the flames, and dies before he can be rescued. The rest of the rohirrim charge back into combat, trying to give the villager-bearers space to flee. And the 3 rohirrim carrying villagers head off at full speed, trying to carry their charges to safety! As the uruk reserves have finally reached the fight, they use all available warriors to countercharge the rohirrim!
The rohirrim seemed gained a temporary surge of valor, taking down another two uruk warriors. Unforunately, the new uruk reinforcements overpowered four rohirrim, and sent them to their deaths.
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[h2]Turn Five:[/h2]
Evil finally gained priority this turn, and worringly turned the tables on the rohirrim, charging three rohirrim with villagers. Two rohirrim with villagers safely carried them off the board. In combat, the uruk-hai accounted for another three rohirrim, including one of the village carriers! Rohan now had to make sure that they had to try and save the remaining two villagers in order to get a win.
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[h2]Turns Six, Seven, and Eight:[/h2]
All seemed lost, as in the last turns of the game, the uruk-hai slowly rampaged through the rohirrim, killing another two rohirrim warriors, creating a potential draw. Unfortunately the final Rohirrim with a villager struggled against the Uruks for three turns, but without being able to hold his own against almost 4 uruk-hai per turn, he finally fell, handing victory to the fighting uruk-hai!
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[h2]Post Game thoughts:[/h2]
Good:
Well, the game was a blast and a half, and I really thought I had the game there around turn 3, as I had 3 villagers and all I needed to do was carry them off and I would get an instant draw. Unforunately fate decided to completely abandon me from then on, and it seemed as if all I could do was watch as the gallant rohirrim were slowly brought down one by one (or should I say in big bloody chunks of 3 or 4 at a time ><). I think I probably should of hung the warriors who were already free of combat (with the villagers) back and peppered any remaining uruk-hai with arrows, but with the mass of uruks swarming around the farm it would’ve been suicide.
Evil:
Wow. This is why I love scenario play so much! I thought I was pretty much a goner, John had basically tied up my blocking group of uruk-hai, and by turn four he had FIVE villagers ready to get the heck out of there. Luckily priority swung my way, and after getting rid of those annoying rohirrim charge bonuses I let the uruks swords do the talking! Amazingly, the uruks just got into a killing frenzy, and I never even had to test for courage! It really shows how important reserves are though, by stacking them to the busier side I made sure that I was ready for anything, and by the time they had got to the fighting, the resistance was so weak that I just made mince-meat of anything that opposed me!
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It seemed like there wasn't really enough troops, though.
