BGiME #9: Burn the Village! Part 1

The scenario in issue #9 is played across two issues as a battle report recounting the outcome of the battle as fought by two Games Workshop employees. To reflect this, I’ll discuss the scenario in two parts. The first is a recap of the battle wherein my friend and regular opponent, Dave, played the forces of Good while I commanded Evil. For the issue #10 coverage, I’ll discuss how the game turned out when it was my turn to command the Good warriors of Middle-earth.

“Burn the Village!” features a small Rohan hamlet facing off against a horde of Uruk-hai. The Rohirrim are outnumbered and facing heavily-armored enemies. Their only hope is the timely arrival of the Three Hunters—Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli—who are passing nearby in pursuit of the captured hobbits when Rohan is attacked. If the Rohirrim can light a signal beacon calling for aid, the three heroes rush to lend their assistance—hopefully before the troops of the White Hand burn down the village’s two buildings!

Mechanically, once Good lights the signal beacon, the Rohan player rolls 1d6 for each of the three heroes on subsequent turns. If the roll is 4+, that hero arrives on the table side with the beacon and can charge immediately into battle.

Likewise, in order for the Uruk-hai to burn down a building, one or more of their models must be in base contact with the structure and not be involved in combat. Additionally, no Good model can also be in contact with the building and not be engaged in battle. If these conditions are met, each applicable Evil model rolls 1d6 and on a result of “6” the building catches fire and is destroyed.

In the first game, Dave set most of the Rohan warriors up behind the village’s walls, giving him the benefit of defending an obstacle in the forthcoming fight ("In the way" rolls, single combats, etc. as explained in issue #7). I had only four archers and arrayed them on either side of the path from the village to the beacon. It was my hope to kill any Rohan troops running to the beacon before they could light it. Dave countered by sending two troops off towards the beacon, while I moved the rest of my forces towards the village from three sides.

The walls worked in the favor of Rohan at the beginning, stalling my efforts to get inside the village and kill enough of the Rohirrim so that I could set the buildings alight unimpeded. Eventually, however, one or two Rohan Warriors were slain despite the walls’ protection and I sent Uruk-hai leaping inside the perimeter. Once the levy broke, the tide of the White Hand overwhelmed the Rohan forces inside.

Dave had terrible luck with reinforcements. He managed to get the signal beacon lit by the end of Turn 3, but failed every reinforcement roll (three each round!) to get the Good heroes onto the board and help turn the tide of battle. He might have gotten Gimli onto the board near the end of the game (it's been awhile since we played this battle and my memory is spotty), but the dwarf’s short legs didn’t get him anywhere near the fight before I surrounded the Rohan houses with multiple models and burned them to the ground. Score one victory for Evil!

Next, it would be me turn to command Rohan. Could I do any better? We’ll find out when coverage of Battle Games in Middle-earth #10 occurs shortly!

The forces are arranged for battle

The Uruk-hai approach as Dave measures out the movement of the Rohan warrior headed towards the signal beacon.

Uruk-hai supported by pikemen approach the village wall while Rohan prepares to receive them.

The battle is joined!

Uruk-hai have breached the village's defenses!

The signal fire is lit! Help must come to Rohan!

Rohan falls back to defend the village's building from the flames of Saruman's troops.

Surrounded!

The forces of Rohan have been slain and the buildings are burned. Victory for Evil!

BGiME #9: Constructing a Warning Beacon

This is a cool piece of terrain that was fun to build. The warning beacon has a lot of character and its presence in one's inventory of tabletop decor suggests many potential game ideas. It could summon reinforcements as it does in this issue's battle scenario. It could be an objective to be protected for X number of turns while a model frantically kindle the beacon. It could even be a pyre upon which a hapless model is to be burned alive unless he or she is rescued. All of these are intriguing uses of the terrain piece to liven up any tabletop battle.

The piece was easy to construct using materials I already had on hand. I built it along with some Rohan houses that also made an appearance in this issue's scenario. I'll post separate images of those when I cover the next issue. Please forgive the unattractive backdrop for this series of photos. I took them without much thought of posting them online and snapped them merely to brag to a friend about what I'd accomplished.

 

BGiME #9: Painting the Uruk-hai Captain

From a painting point of view, I really enjoy the various Uruk-hai models. They can be quickly painted and deployed on the gaming table, and they're fearsome looking minis. If I was prone to playing Evil, I'd probably go with an Isengard force.

The Uruk-hai Captain was a fast paint and ready to lead his forces against Rohan in a day. There's nothing complicated about the figure and, being largely armored, was mostly drybrushed metallics. He then received a coat of Dark Flesh and was good to go. Taste the man-flesh, of Captain of Evil!

Battle Games in Middle-earth #9 Overview

There’s been a lot happening on the Middle-earth scene of late. Games Workshop is releasing their new Middle-earth Battle Companies supplement (bearing the new Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game logo!) imminently. Amazon has announced they’re developing a new series based on the years prior to the Lord of the Rings. I’ve become a huge fan of the “Exploring The Lord of the Rings” podcast, and my local gaming group is starting a new The One Ring campaign next month. So, with Middle-earth excitement waxing strongly, let’s delve back into this on-going series, shall we?

Battle Games in Middle-earth #9 starts off with the usual “Guide to Middle-earth” section, and it’s a short one. It’s also more meta than in previous issues. Little detail is given to Middle-earth and the chapter instead explains that issue #9 will feature its first Battle Report. In this issue and in #10, a game between two players will be covered in some detail, describing how events occurred during the game and the strategy behind the players’ actions. That scenario, included in this issue, features a band of Uruk-hai assaulting a Rohan village. Unlike the similar scenario in issue #7, this time, the Rohirrim have a chance of receiving some powerful reinforcements in the guise of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli—assuming they can hold out that long. We’ll see how that plays out later.

“Playing the Game”continues the trend begun in the previous issue by detailing the various melee (or mêlée as the European-based publication prints it) weapons encountered on the battlefields of Middle-earth. These include hand weapons, two-handed weapons, spears, pikes, and shields. Rules for each are also provided, bringing a new level of complexity and tactics to your table. Two-handed weapons, for example, subtract 1 from their rolls during the Fight phase to determine who wins a battle, but add 1 to all rolls to wound opponents if the wielder wins the fight. Spears and pikes allow friendly models to support allies, giving them an additional attack die, but they’re not considered to be part of the melee when determining certain factors such as who can be struck by enemies. Shields are great for defense and a model can actively employ a shield to survive a fight, effectively doubling his dice to determine the winner, but the model cannot cause wounds if it wins.

The “Battle Game” section includes the scenario “Burn the Village!” As described above, this scenario pits twelve Warriors of Rohan against a score of Uruk-hai and their Captain. Normally, as we saw in a previous issue, the Rohirrim would be hard-pressed to win. Luckily, this battle includes a rule that allows the Warrior of Rohan to call for reinforcements. If they manage to light a warning beacon, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, en route to Isengard to save Merry and Pippin, see the fire and rush to the aid of Rohan. That is, if the Good player rolls 4 or higher on the turn after the warning beacon is set alight. Can the Warriors of Rohan survive long enough for the three hunters to save them or will the Uruk-hai burn down their village and win the battle? We’ll see how that went on our table in an upcoming post.

Also tacked on to the “Battle Game” chapter is the first half of the Battle Report. This after-action report describes Turns 1 through 4 of a game between BGiMe writers Mark Latham and Darron Bowley. Rohan is holding during these early turns and has managed to light the beacon, calling Aragorn to their aid. But the tide might be turning as a force of Uruk-hai leaps over the village walls and engages the Warriors in the heart of the settlement. We’ll see how the forces of Good fare next issue when the Battle Report concludes.

“Painting Workshop” covers two topics. The first is an overview/refresher course of the various painting techniques we’ve learned in the previous issues. Dry-brushing, silver edging, washes, using multiple layers to achieve flat colors, mixing paints, black lining, and basing are all discussed one final time. This reiteration of techniques will prove handy with this issue’s model, as it uses most of them to achieve its quality paint job.

The second half of the chapter is the usual step-by-step instruction for painting issue #9’s included model, a metal Uruk-hai Captain. Uruk-hai are great models to paint as they are simple to do and can be knocked out rather swiftly. Which is good, because we have a lot of Uruk-hai to field in this issue’s Battle Game! With the Uruk-hai Captain in our collection, we’ve got a strong nucleus for an Isengard army: 10 infantry, Lurtz to lead them, and now a Captain to assist. Next issue will have more Uruk-hai, bringing our Evil collection up to 20 Uruk-hai Warriors and two Heroes to lead them. That’s not bad for ten issues of gaming goodness from our local news merchant! 

The issue’s final section, “Modelling Workshop” describes how to build a great piece of terrain: the Rohan warning beacon.” While unlikely to get a lot of regular use, the piece is cool looking and has a lot of character. It’ll likely come in handy down the road once Gondor calls for aid, but in the meanwhile, it gives your table a wonderful decoration that’s outside the normal hedges, trees, and walls. I’m sure I can also think of some new scenarios both in the SBG and other miniature wargames to give me more excuses to use it.

As usual, the issue’s back cover provides a glimpse into the future. In two weeks—in the original print run, I mean—we can expect another sprue of plastic Uruk-hai, the rules for Courage (long overdue in my opinion!), and the conclusion to the “Burn the Village” scenario and Battle Report. It also marks our making it out of the single-digit issues. It only took two-and-a-half years, but it looks like we’re going to do it.

But first, we’ll take a look at how to paint up an Uruk-hai Captain. See you soon!