Lord of the Rings Three Player Game

Another of our irregular games with my friend and his son. Not So Young N is now quite the expert on the rules with a lovely scenery collection too. I fear we have moved on from the original purpose of us giving him a chance to play the game to him indulging his father and I with a chance to natter and drink coffee whilst he canters to an easy victory. Either way its a fun few hours of rolling dice.

The Easterlings were out in force

I'd taken Wargs and Orcs. And Orcs ON Wargs.

The Easterling cavalry went after the Gondorians

My cavalry raced through the ruins

Before bumping in to some rather tough opposition.

As the Gondorians, showing a firmer grasp of tactics and the rules in general, formed a shieldwall

The Orcs were struggling to keep up. Combined arms you say? Never heard of it mate.

The heavily armoured troops meanwhile were grinding each other down.

A bold charge by the Warg riders

The Easterlings were beating the other Orcs

The remaining Orc fooot had also been wiped out, with just the Shaman leading an...ahem..."charmed" life

The Wargs unsurprisingly came off worst

The Orcs dead and my courage tests wreaking havoc the Easterlings began a march toward the Gondorians.

The Shaman ran off and tried some magic. Which didn't work.

The Easterlings were milling about.

Eventually the clash came and despite the Dragon knight wreaking havoc the Easterlings were running out of men.

The other Gondorian forces began to close the trap

Soon after this Courage tests and a few more casualties saw the Easterlings too flee the table and Gondor was triumphant!

Lord of the Rings three player

I still have some games to catch up on, but this one is striking while the iron is hot, played on Saturday just gone.

The usual suspects for our three player MESBG games. Hosted by NSYN - all scenery his work - in fact only the Easterlings were mine.

I managed to locate an "official" three-player scenario from White Dwarf. The central tower contained gold which we had to get back to our huts.

I got my Easterling archers up on a hill. From whence they proved again how useless archery is in MESBG.

My Kataphrakts charged wold riders and a succession of 6s saw them all die very quickly.

meanwhile I raced for the tower.

With two more Kataphrakts heading off to mess up the Gondorians.

The King of the Dead decided to deal with the Cave Troll personally.

I was making off with plenty of gold (blue/beads) but Gondor was doing well too. The Orcs were mostly dying.

My remaining Kataphrakt was finding it difficult to kill any Gondorians.

The Ringwraith was trying to snipe my General for bonus victory points.

Soon my gold gatherers found an angry Dead Ruler hunting them down.

Faramir too was proving resilient.

The Dead Blokes were ruthless in dealing with my forces.

In the end Gondor had the most gold, had killed most Generals, was unbroken and the clear winner.

The scenario worked well and it all looked very jolly. 

Lord of the Rings three player

Another three way game with Actually Quite Tall Now N and his dad.

I took Orcs, AQTNN had Easterlings and his Dad took Rohan.

My Wargs were soon engaging the riders of Rohan

As the Easterlings formed shieldwall

Rohan riders, gadding about

My cavalry raced off to meet the Easterling threat.

And were soon amongst them.

I had taken a Shaman. but as I have no real clue how to use magic in MESBG he's really just an expensive and not very good captain.

Still exploring the marsh.

The Warg chief cut down some riders and the foot soldiers swarmed the others.

The Kataphrakts were tougher nuts to crack.

Finally Theoden got to grips with the Easterlings.

the battle with the Wargs wore on.

I was running out of cavalry.

And Theoden too was running out of men.

Suddenly I reached break-point at my army very rapidly melted away, soon followed by the men of Rohan and the Easterlings held the field.

Good fun, if a little untaxing. I wonder if I can persuade AQTNN to give Midgard a go...?

Midgard - Battle of Tumhalad

As the release of Midgard inches ever closer James is busy pulling together material to support the launch. He's currently writing an article for one of the Wargame Magazines that centres on the Battle of Tumhalad that he staged at Partizan in May. To help with the write up we played a version of the game with slightly smaller forces on my table in the Sherwood Soldier Shack.

The background and full explanation can be found on James blog here.

James took command of the Elves and Martin and I sold our cold dark souls to Morgoth.

Glaurung commands the centre of the Orcish hosts.

Martin's newly based Orcs were on the right flank.

Elves hold a hill in the centre - if they can survive for six turns they can claim a victory.

Orcs pour out of the forest on the left.

Gwindor's force is smaller and surrounded.

As might be expected the Orcs (and trolls) simply surge forward.

Glaurung gives the elves the old Fiery Breath treatment.

Turning one into molten marshmallow.

The left flank struggled to get going.

Brave, or possibly foolhardy Warg riders placed themselves in front of the elf archers.

  

Elf light cavalry seized the opportunity to advance and harry the attackers.

As the rest of the force fanned out on the hilltop.

But the exchanges of bowfire could not last long and the Orcs began to attack.

Glaurung got up close and toasted more elves.

The Orc attack was going in a bit piecemeal.

Gwindor, perhaps unwisely led some archers on the offensive.

Glaurung's grim roasting continued.

But the mighty dragon was outstripping his support.

The light cavalry was proving a nuisance on the left flank.

And the initial Orc assault on the hill was thrown back.

Flames over it was time for Glaurung to get busy with tooth and claw.

The tragic hero Turin chose this moment to roll the dreaded Raven and he was wounded by the mighty drake.

Finally the Trolls made it to the front line.

The Elves were under heavy pressure now as Galurug punched through the centre.

But the Orc right was slowed by the annoying light cavalry.

Glaurung had smashed the elf centre apart, but at what cost?

The Orc trap is closing, but can the elves hold on?

Still more Orcs to come.

On the hill a desperate counter-charge by the elf reserve cavalry catches the dragon in the flank.

Glaurung's troops are too far away to provide much aid.

The elf lances strike home.

Glaurung roars his defiance.

But to no avail, the mighty beast is cut down.

And the top of the hill is once again in elven hands.

More significantly the Orc reputation goblet is empty!

Finally the wargs catch and crush the elf light cavalry.

And on the left the Trolls wreak havoc.

However it is too little, too late - with their reputation all gone the Orc host gives way and leaves the field of battle to the elves.

A great game that felt like it was going the Orcs way right up until Galurung overreached himself and was cut down.

Looking forward to seeing the details of the battle in the magazine later in the year.