BGiME #7: Repel the Marauders! Part 2

This scenario was run a second time two weeks ago. A friend and I play miniature wargames every Tuesday night at a FLGS and I thought it time to brush the dust off my Lord of the Rings SBG models and get caught up with this blog. I’ve proposed that the first game night of each month be dedicated to the SBG and Dave readily agreed. That should keep me up to date on my painting, building, and working my way through this series.

While the models used in this game are the same as the previous one, you’ll notice the terrain has enjoyed a slight upgrade. The buildings are my Rohan-style houses I built a few months back. We’ll cover those more in a future discussion about "Battle Games in Middle-earth."

The Warriors of Rohan rush to man the walls around their village.

The Uruk-hai slowly advance across the Riddermark.

The scent of man-flesh hangs heavy in the air, driving the servants of the White Hand forward!

A high view of the battle about to commence.

"They are upon us, men!"

The Uruk-hai have scaled the fences!

Battle rages along the length of the walls.

Rohan holds back some of the Uruk-hai, but for how long?

Pikeman surge forward to push back the Men of Rohan.

The battle reaches a fevered pitch!

Rohan begins to falter.

Two Uruk-hai engage a single Warrior of Rohan.

The melee swirls around the verge of the village as Rohan is overwhelmed.

The last Man of Rohan perishes under Uruk-hai numbers.

The battle begins anew!

The Servants of the White Hand spread their forces about the village boundary.

Archers conceal themselves behind the rocks.

An early hole in Rohan's defenses is discovered!

A solitary Uruk-hai holds his own...briefly.

The hole is closed and the Uruk-hai are pushed back!

As Rohan begins to fail, I discover I didn't take more photos.

Rohan lost both matches this time around. In retrospect, I'm to blame. I failed to refresh myself with this issue of BGiME and was using the rules for Courage and broken forces, something that hadn't been introduced to the readers of the magazine yet. So instead of Rohan being able to fight to the last man without issue, I was having them make Courage tests to remain on the field after they had been "broken" (lost more than 50% of their force). That might have made a difference in the battles.

Even without the Courage rules in play, this scenario is a tough one for Rohan. The Uruk-hai are one of the meanest forces in the original SBG. They are heavily armored, have high Fight score, and are strong, making them tough opponents. Without cavalry to back them up or similarly armored or better fighters on Rohan's side, the odds were stacked against the forces of Good. It will be interesting to see how Rohan fares in a few issues when they gain Heroes to help them and horses to ride. Stay tuned for that in upcoming posts.

Next up: making walls and fences.

BGiME #7: Repel the Marauders! Part 1

A horde of Uruk-hai bears down upon a Rohan settlement. Can its brave defenders hold them off long enough for the rest of the village to flee? That is the premise of this scenario, designed to recreate one of the many minor skirmishes that occurred in Rohan leading up to the Battle of Helm’s Deep. It also puts the newly-learned rules for defending barriers to good use. How does Rohan fare against the Uruk-hai? Let’s find out:

I’ve played through this scenario four times at two different occasions. Once was a couple of years back when I was organizing a short-lived SBG group, and the second was just a couple weeks ago. These images are from the first pair of games:

The start of the battle. Uruk-hai are positioned behind the hill, while Rohan holds the wall.

The Uruk-hai advance!

"They can't hit me if they can't see me!"

The heavy Uruk-hai armor shrugs off Rohan's arrows as they clamber over the hill.

"Hold the wall, men!"

"I smell man-flesh!"

The battle is joined. Rohan holds for now, but the Uruk-hai seek to climb and unprotected fence.

"These crossbows are pretty sweet!"

A view from the ruins.

Uruk-hai breech!

"Fight for your lives!"

"I can pick those men off from here. I don't mind if I shoot a few friendlies if I miss. I'm Evil, after all!"

I'm going on hazy memory here, but I believe Rohan won one battle and lost the other. This is a tough fight for Good. The Uruk-hai have stronger armor and a higher Fight value. Only the walls keep this from being an utter cake-walk for Evil. Once the Uruk-hai breech the walls, Good has a rough time holding them off. I think Good only won because the players running Evil in that game made some inexperienced decisions, allowing my partner and I to capitalize on their mistakes and squeeze out a win.

The second and more recent play of this scenario will be covered in the next post.