Good morning gamers,
This is a huge milestone for me - I have labored long and hard this year to make some Minas Tirith walls for THIS scenario (and so I can say I have them) and now I finally get to use them! We'll be looking at the two wizard-and-friend scenarios today - let's get into it!
Atop the Walls
This is a small board and a TON of models - there are actually five siege towers (I have two that Centaur printed for me and templates for where the other three are) and there are a ton of Orcs! The objective for me is simple: kill 30 guys before Gandalf goes down. Let's see how Gandalf and Bifur fair!
Turn 1: Priority Good
On the first turn, Centaur called a Heroic Move with one of his Orc Captains (1/2M) and I counter-called a Heroic Move with Bifur's free Move (not a waste of Might points - but only because it's free). Thankfully, I got to go first and I put Bifur squarely near the center of the wall and Gandalf followed him and cast a Sorcerous Blast (1/6W + free Will) against an Orc on the central siege tower. Since the Orc was standing in base-contact with two Orcs, I lined up the Blast to go directly between the two models so he'd bump into both of the other Orcs at the same time. I got the spell off and killed two of the Orcs:
The rest of the charges went off as you see - I'm trying my hardest to keep the Orcs from getting a foothold:
In the Shoot Phase, I managed to kill an Orc spearman with one of my bows:
In the Fight Phase, there were FOUR Heroic Combats that were called - both of the Orc Captains, Zagdush, and Irolas all declared Combats and Irolas got to go first - he won his fight but only killed one Orc:
The Evil Heroic Combats had very mixed results - Zagdush won and killed both of his foes, but had to boost a wounding roll (2/3M), one of the Captains (the one that's out of Might) lost his fight to a shielding model, and the other Captain won his fight, but failed to wound:
The rest of the fights went as you see (sorry for the sideways shot) - the board is pretty congested and the Orcs are dying:
Kill Count: Mordor 4, Minas Tirith 5/28. Let's see how the next round goes!
Turn 2: Priority Good
With only 2 Might points left on the Evil side, I was feeling pretty good getting priority again. Gandalf cast Sorcerous Blast again (2/6W + free), but go snake-eyes for the cast . . . boooo . . . One of the Orcs in the picture below has a black die with a 6 on it next to him - he actually performed a jump test to get off the siege ramp and get to a safe spot on the wall (and by getting a 6, he was able to charge):
This round had three Heroic Combats - one from the Orc Captain (2/2M), one from Beregond (1/1M), and one from Bifur (1/2M). As you can see below, the Orc Captain lost his Combat, Beregond lost his Combat, and Bifur killed a guy and went on to fight again. The rest of the fights went as you see below:
The rest of the moves looked like this - the Orcs had another guy get a 6 for a jump test (see the green die) and he's pressing hard into the very congested wall:
In the Fight Phase, I called another Heroic Combat with Irolas (2/3M) and Zagdush called a Heroic Strike to get a higher Fight Value against Gandalf. I wasn't that worried about dying, so I didn't call a Strike with Gandalf (with their Fight Values being so close, it could be a wasted Might point). Irolas's combat was won, but he couldn't wound his foe and the other fights went as you see below. Zagdush got the higher Fight Value, rolled horribly, suffered a wound, and failed his Fate roll (1/2H, 1/1F):
Kill Count: Mordor 15, Minas Tirith 8/28. Half-way - let's do this thing!
Turn 4: Priority Good
With priority back under my belt (and no Might left on the Evil side), I charged where I wanted. Gandalf got off another Sorcerous Blast (4/6W + free Will) and killed one Orc. You can see Centaur's hand in the picture - the Orc he's holding tried to do what all the "cool Orcs" were doing and jump from the ramp onto the walls . . . and got a 1 . . . and died. :)
In the Fight Phase, Bifur took a wound (1/2H) and the remaining Orc Captain suffered 1 wound, but saved it with Fate (1/1F). Zagdush proved to be no match for Gandalf and died:
Kill Count: Mordor 22, Minas Tirith 11/28.
Turn 5: Priority Evil
With the kill count SO close to victory, I called a Heroic Move with Bifur for free (this guy was SUCH a good investment!), but had to call another Heroic Move with Gandalf because Bifur was out of position. While Bifur charged some of the archers on the siege tower, I got Gandalf into some fights (triggering his 12" banner for the scenario yet again). Gandalf cast a fifth Sorcerous Blast (5/6W + free, 3/3M) and killed 2 Orcs, knocking one prone (and leaving him vulnerable to killing by other guys jumping on the center siege tower):
In the Fight Phase, I killed a bunch of Orcs and passed the 30 mark - victory! But Gandalf was engaged with a bunch of Orcs and (of course) decided to get a 3-high on his dueling roll! With 10 dice To Wound, Centaur was looking for 6s and got . . . no wounds. Hooray - victory for Good!
Kill Count: Mordor 30, Minas Tirith 12/28.
Post game
That was really close - boy did I think I was going to pull a draw there at the end! The game was fun, though I do feel like my walls made the playing area tighter than it needed to be. I could have moved down the stairs, I guess, but I rather liked the tight quarters. The recovery rolls were easy - Bifur only spent 1 Might point and Gandalf can't have more than 1M/1W/1F in the next scenario, so I just needed to recover 1M with him. Let's see how they do in the next one . . .
Denethor's Madness
As I said in the deep-dive post, you can play the scenarios in this section in basically any order, so we're going to skip the Ride of the Rohirrim. This game is played on a 24"x24" board with a 6" corridor leading to the tomb of kings. Denethor and a prone Faramir await Gandalf and Bifur on Shadowfax and Beregond, but I can't shoot or make Strikes against Denethor or his guards. There's nothing in the rules about magical powers, so here we go!
Turn 1: Priority Good
I was able to charge on the first turn with Beregond, while Bifur dismounted and was charged by another Citadel Guard. The remaining Citadel Guards made a perimeter around Faramir:
Bifur lost his fight and suffered a wound (1/2H) - not a great start . . .
Turn 2: Priority tied, Evil
With no Might on the other side of the table I quite happily called a free Heroic Move with Bifur, who tied down his foe from the last round. Gandalf lined up a Sorcerous Blast on two of the Citadel Guards (1/1W, 1/1M), but got no kills. Beregond moved up to support.
Evil responded and got a second guy into Gandalf and tagged Beregond:
Bifur lost his fight against and took another wound! Fortunately for me, he passed his Fate Save (1/1F). Gandalf lost as well and took a wound (1/3H) - come on, guys!
Turn 3: Priority Good
Bifur escalated his fight to win (1/2M) and Gandalf knocked his foes over as well - it's now or never, guys!
Turn 4: Priority Evil
I got to move first thanks to the free Heroic Move with Bifur and that let Beregond charge Denethor after Bifur pulled Faramir off the pure. Gandalf charged two guards:
One Citadel Guard reacted and charged Bifur - let's win this, people!
And they did - mostly. Denethor beat Beregond but didn't wound him, but both of the other guys won their fights:
Turn 5: Priority tied, Good
Bifur was a good friend and started dragging the limp body of Faramir towards the corner. Beregond tied down the nearest Citadel Guard, while Gandalf rammed into more models:
In the Fight Phase, Beregond failed his Fate and died (1/1F, 1/1H) - that's sad . . . in other news, Gandalf won and knocked more than half the Evil models . . . that's good for us!
Turn 6: Priority Evil
Another lost priority roll, another free Heroic Move with Bifur - Faramir is dragged towards the corner and Gandalf follows:
In the only ensuing fight, Gandalf got a 5-high against five dice and the Gondorians got a . . . 4-high! With the gap we have from the pyre, we'll win!
Turn 7: Priority Evil
Bifur further extended his lead with another free Heroic Move - Gandalf is holding everyone down:
Evil retaliates, but can't get Denethor into any fights:
Aaaaaand Gandalf lost, but wasn't wounded! We've got a big lead on the Gondorians - time for some fun. . .
Turn 8: Priority Good
Bifur and Gandalf race into the frey, knowing it isn't a big deal if both are hurt:
And disaster strikes - Bifur escalated the dueling roll, lost on the roll-off, and died. Nearby, Gandalf lost, was trapped, and died as well (1/1F). Sheesh guys . . .
Post game
This was a 17 minute game, was loads of fun, and I wouldn't mind playing it again. I didn't need to make recovery rolls because we won and had a rest point .
Conclusion
That was fun - next time, we will be checking in with Bofur, Dwalin, Gloin, and Nori on the Pelennor. We'll see you next time, and until then, happy hobbying!
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