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Saturday, April 22, 2023

Fantasy Fellowships: The Erebor Reunion, Part 3a

Good morning gamers,

Today we're kicking off Part 3 of our Fantasy Fellowship campaign where my "Erebor Reunion" Fellowship is playing its last game with (almost) all of its members - Dori will have his last mission (as the Boromir character doesn't get to go on) and such an array of heroes will not be seen again in this campaign until we get to the Black Gate (and even then, Bilbo/Maggot will be apart from the rest). If you've been following my conversion series for the Champions of Erebor, this is the first post where you'll get to see those models in action!

Mission #1: Ambush at Amon Hen

Okay, so my thought going into this was simple: Gloin and Dwalin are two of our best fighters and they start WAY out of position. So, what we want to do is move towards them with Bilbo/Nori as much as we can and THEN advance towards the boats. If we can use Heroic Combats between these guys to get some extra movement for them (and Bilbo), we can do this. 

I'm also going to lean heavily into a few pieces of war gear that we picked up in Lothlorien: Nori will be using his new dagger (which gives him the Elven-made keyword, allows him to Feint if he Strikes well above his opponent's Fight Value, and deals D3 wounds for every unsaved wound - perfect for clearing out Uruk-Hai Captains). Bifur will be using his "nice shiny dagger" whenever he's not spear-supporting someone with his boar spear (since the rerolling all failed To Wounds is often better than two-handing) and Bofur FINALLY has a one-handed weapon that he can use (which is also often better than two-handing - though I'll probably two-hand if I'm only fighting one shield-armed guy so I have the option to Piercing Strike up to S5). Finally, if Gloin gets in a tight spot, I've got three full rerolls for him thanks to the three locks of hair he got from Galadriel. The other items are unlikely to see much use (I like the Light of Earendil, but I plan to have the Ring on the whole mission, so I can't use it).

Okay, let's get stuck in!


Our initial deployment looked like this - I plan to slide Nori and Bilbo to the left to meet up with Dwalin and Gloin and have Bifur, Bofur, and Dori clear a path for them. Maggot is off to the right to be able to support both Dori and Bilbo with the dogs.


On Turn 1, Dori, Bifur, and Bofur got locked in straight away, while Maggot and the dogs played a lot more conservatively. Nori and Bilbo drifted to the side a bit and Bilbo followed Frodo's example in the book and slipped the Ring on. Dwalin and Gloin are booking it.


The Uruk-Hai bows shot at Dwalin and Gloin and did nothing. Lurtz called a Strike against Dori, got to F8, Feinted down to F5, and won on a roll-off. Dori took 3 wounds and died . . . uh oh. Elsewhere, Nori won but didn't kill anyone (off day, I guess), Bilbo won by spending his Might point (1/1M) but didn't kill anyone either.


On Turn 2, evil got priority so Bifur called a free Heroic Move. Bilbo got a 1 on his Ring test, so I won't be controlling him. Two of the dogs and Maggot rushed to Bifur and Bofur to help them out, while Grip ran up to take some pressure off Nori and Bilbo. Gloin and Dwalin wish the other had March. Lurtz decided that the fighting up top was more important to deal with, so he started walking towards the King's Seat.


My boys were on fire in the Fight Phase, with both Bifur and Bofur breaking in those new elven daggers. Bifur called a Heroic Strike (1/2M) and kills two guys, Bofur wins his fight (1/2M) and kills two guys, Maggot won his fight (1/1M) but didn't kill anyone. Wolf was wounded by an Uruk. Elsewhere, Nori beat back the Uruk-Hai Captain (Cap: 1/2M) but once again didn't kill anyone. Bilbo won but didn't kill anyone.


On Turn 3, I won priority and Bilbo rolled a 2 for the Ring test - great. The Captain chargeed Bilbo (1/1W), while Grip and Nori are charged by other Uruks. Dwalin and Gloin make it to the bottom of the hill, so far unscathed by arrows. Bifur and Bofur are facing 2-3 Uruks each, but at least Maggot has good odds.


Two new Uruks arrive - it's indicative that it took 3 rounds for new reinforcements to arrive.


In the Fight Phase, Bifur called a Heroic Strike (2/2M) and Nori called a Heroic Combat and killed the guy that tied him down. He charged the Captain, giving Bilbo a one-on-one match up (with the higher Fight Value, thanks to having the Ring on).


The fights went pretty well overall - Nori botched his wounding roll again, though he took out the Fate point and the last Might point on the Captain (2/2M, 1/1F). Grip died (sad), but Maggot and Fang killed their Uruk (because that's what Maggot does) and both Bifur and Bofur (2/2M) won their fights (Bifur killing no one, Bofur killing one guy). 


On Turn 4, we won priority and we got locked in! I had some rough choices ahead of me, but it started with Bilbo actually passing his Ring test and walking 4" down the slope. Nori tied up the Captain, only to be ganged up on by everyone nearby. Dwalin and Gloin slammed into 2 archers each, with only one archer being brave enough to make the match-up harder - the rest all decided Nori would be an easier target. Bifur and Bofur each grabbed two guys, careful to stay out of range of Lurtz (who decided that tackling all three of the F5+ fighters would be worse than just beating up the F3-4 guys). Maggot and Fang hid behind some trees (to stay out of range of Lurtz, of course). The Uruks got one new guy (appearing behind the other two).


In the Fight phase, both Dwalin and Gloin called Heroic Combats. I resolved Dwalin's first and he had to burn a second Might point to kill his two guys (because he's Dwalin and that's what he does - not all of us can be Maggot, 2/3M). By charging two guys, I was able to break the fights off the way I wanted them and Gloin only had to fight one guy.


Unsurprisingly, Gloin's combat went off (1/3M) and he pulled the Captain out of the fight with Nori, giving both Nori and Gloin the Fight Value advantage.


On the whole, the fights went very well - Bifur killed 2 guys, Bofur lost but wasn't wounded, Nori killed two guys, Gloin killed the Captain, and Dwalin diced up his two guys. The hill is mostly cleared and we just have to keep Bilbo safe from the guys coming up the slope!


On Turn 5, we won priority again and I retained control of Bilbo. Then I did something that made me sad: I charged Lurtz with Fang. I drifted Maggot away from the action so Lurtz couldn't Heroic Combat into him and he was later charged by an Uruk-Hai on the slope (gotta leave him in range of A guy, or else he won't kill anyone, right?). Bifur tied down someone nearby while Bofur tied down both of the guys from the previous turn (adding one more to the fight later - this could be bad). Dwalin (since he was in the rear) tagged the last guy at the top of the hill, while Nori, Gloin, and Bilbo tagged one guy each on the hill. The Uruks got SIX new guys. 


In the Fight phase, Dwalin wasn't having any of this fighting-in-the-back nonsense, so he called a Heroic Combat (he's out of Might), blessedly got a 6 on the dueling roll with double-axes (and Piercing Strike), and easily dispatched the guy he was fighting (only needing a 3+ is pretty great). Because he had nothing else to do, he joined Gloin in what was shaping up to be the most one-sided fight of the game.


Lurtz also called a Heroic Combat (2/3M) and also unsurprisingly, he dispatched Fang (though he needed to burn his last Might point to win the duel). He charged into Bifur, in part because that was the only guy he COULD charge, but also because scenario objectives are on the line here. This just got bad - one trapped guy, one that's out-diced and out-Fight-Valued.


And this is when Bifur and Bofur decided to put their names in for Bravest Companion: both of them won their fights and Bofur managed to kill one of the three guys he was fighting. Lurtz got like a 4-high to Bifur's 5-high and since Lurtz was out of Might, he lost. Bifur took a swing at Lurtz but didn't do anything during the wounding roll.


On Turn 6, both sides had a rebuilding turn: I had control of Bilbo but lost priority, so Bifur called a Heroic Move and I brought my boys together. Bilbo and Maggot met up a safe distance away from the enemy, while Bifur and Bofur drifted together and prepared for another round of fighting. My big guys were coming down the slope and the Uruks got a whopping TEN Uruk-Hai as reinforcements . . . the lines are shaping up pretty clearly - but at least we can see the boat!


In the Fight phase, things went both well and not well: Bofur won his fight and killed both his foes, but Bifur couldn't trust to luck in a second fight against Lurtz and went down. In a very shrewd tactical move, I didn't use his Fate point because I would have been wounded anyway. Since he's paralyzed, I can't use his free Heroic Move next turn, so hopefully I just have to get Priority . . .


On Turns 7-8, the pictures get sparse - here's the movement on Turn 7: I won priority, kept control of Bilbo, and slammed into the enemy with all three of my hitters. Maggot, Gloin, and Dwalin all ganged up on Lurtz (okay, THIS is now the most one-sided fight of the game), while Nori tied down a random grunt. Bofur started in base contact with Bifur, so he revived him and fought one guy. Bifur stood up and fought another guy. The rest of the Uruks raced up to reinforce, a few bypassing the fights to try to cut Bilbo off from the boats. Bilbo is two turns away from reaching the boats, so he makes a bee-line towards them.


Here's some fighting - I think on Turn 8 - as you can see, Lurtz is long dead (Maggot dealt 2 Wounds, Gloin finished him off, Dwalin was mad he didn't get to roll), and Nori, Gloin, Dwalin, and Bofur are doing what they do best. Bifur lost and got paralyzed again on Turn 7, so Maggot had to revive him on Turn 8.


On Turn 9, Evil won priority, we Heroic Moved with Bifur, Bilbo got to the boat, and we charged in with everyone we had. Not much to say here, except that we know we're going to win!


And my boys didn't die - they didn't do amazing things, but they also didn't die. Bofur killed a guy, Maggot lost but didn't die (1/2H), Nori won but couldn't wound anyone (dude, just dude . . .), Gloin killed a guy, and Dwalin lost his fight but didn't die (1/2H). All in all, Mr. Bilbo has been safely guided to the boats (and did it just like Frodo does in the book: with the Ring on the whole time).

The recoveries were pretty good - Bravest Companion went to Dwalin (because he didn't mess up until the end . . . and he needed the boost the most) and the Fool of a Took went to Dori (because . . . well, you saw what happened - is this much of a surprise!?!?!?!?!). Everyone else got more or less what they needed (Bifur and Bofur are both down 1 Might each - and Gloin would have been down 1 Might, but I used the reroll for winning the mission and he got both Might points back):


Takeaways from Part 3a

So, Defense 8 really saved my bacon from all that archery! I've said it before when we were in Moria and I'll say it again: D8 isn't very common in Fantasy Fellowships and needing to get that additional 4+ changes EVERYTHING. In the next few missions, I'll be fighting S4 guys (Warg Riders and *gulp* more Uruk-Hai), so the D8 won't be helping me much more than it would if I were "only" D7, but it's still nice to have high Defense.

Not having March on either my Legolas or Gimli character really bit - though it probably would have only saved me one turn of walking since I'm so slow. Still, a little extra speed would have been nice (or just starting closer - seriously, why do they have to start so far away?).

One thing that surprised me was how hard it was to knock out the Hobbit characters - only Bifur ever got to 0 Wounds and he got revived on the very next turn each time. In order to run off with guys, you really need to overwhelm them AND block out anyone nearby. It's a tough ask, if you ask me - but I'm not complaining.

Conclusion

In two weeks, we'll be back with more as Bifur and Bofur get captured by Ugluk's band and rescued by Eomer and Gloin, Dwalin, and Nori make their way across the plains of Rohan to challenge some Warg Riders - hopefully you're enjoying this series and planning your own journey through Fantasy Fellowships! Until next time, happy hobbying!

2 comments:

  1. Great read. Very much enjoying your Fellowship’s journey.

    ReplyDelete