The Citadel of the Stars, Part VI: Hunter or Hunted

Good morning gamers,

We're continuing through our custom campaign in Osgiliath and playing through the third scenario from the Battle of Osgiliath starter set: Hunter or Hunted. The scenario victory conditions are . . . a little weird, but could also be really fun. As we have been doing, we're adjusting the participants so the game will have street-legal lists for the new edition.

Hunter or Hunted (Battle of Osgiliath, p. 6)

We've decided to use the following models in today's game:

• Forces of Good: Garrison of Ithilien
• Faramir, Captain of Ithilien 
• Madril, Ranger of Ithilien
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 8 Rangers of Gondor
• 4 Rangers of Gondor with spear
• Forces of Evil: The Legions of Mordor
• 2 Morannon Orc Captains with shields
• 4 3 Morannon Orcs
• 4 3 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 4 3 Morannon Orcs with spears
• 4 3 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll

In order to win this game, Good needs to kill the Troll and Evil needs to kill Faramir . . . needless to say, I intend to be a coward and hide with my bows drawn and shoot for as long as I can.

The board is a 48"x48" setup that is similar to the setup last time - the Orcs begin with Peter the Troll in the center of the board and Faramir and six Rangers within 12" of the Troll (everyone else is awaiting their arrival):

Turn 1: Priority Good

I maneuvered my archers around so they would have plenty of firing lanes, no matter what the Troll did - and took advantage of the rocky ground near me thanks to the Mountain Dwellers rule from the army bonus. Peter the Troll came towards Faramir.

In the Shoot Phase, we all shot at the Troll and we scored one wound from a Ranger - one fourth of the way there! (1/4H)

Turn 2: Priority Evil

Peter had to choose whether to keep pressing towards Faramir's larger contingent or to crush a smaller group - he opted for the latter. Some Orcs are appearing on the bottom of the board. I maneuvered my archers some more and brought on my reinforcements behind Faramir.

Another round of shooting, another wound from a random Ranger! (2/4H)

Turn 3: Priority Evil

Peter got into BOTH of my Rangers (oops) and the Orcs are closing in now. My two Rangers have been given up for dead, so I'm consolidating my boys for the next phase of the game.

In a stunning turn of events, though, my Rangers beat Peter's 4-high in the subsequent duel, so they shoved him back, but didn't deal any additional wounds.

Turn 4: Priority tied, Good

Getting priority this round was huge - my Rangers fled from Peter towards the Orcs, which meant Peter couldn't charge anyone. The Orcs charged my Rangers and Peter tried to hide, but I have shots I can take with both Faramir and Madril this turn.

Now here's a thing that anyone with heroes that have 3 Might and ranged weapons should remember: if your target's Defense value is high enough that you need a 6 followed by a 4, 5, or 6 on another die (in this case, my S2 bows need a 6/4+ to wound the D7 Troll) and you use Might to boost your first wounding roll, the Might points also boost the second roll. With 3 Might on both Faramir and Madril, I think I can get the final two wounds in. Burning 3 Might on both heroes, I got the required wounds with both Faramir and Madril . . . as did one random Ranger!

We played through the Fight Phase and in a turn of events that will surprise no one, my Rangers died. Sorry, guys, but we won!

Conclusion 

I don't know how I feel about having all the Rangers on the board at the start against the Troll - the original participants don't include Faramir and Madril, so the Might-burning thing isn't possible normally, but there are also MORE Rangers than we had in this game. I don't know what the answer is, but hopefully you enjoyed it and learned something about skirmish lists.

Let us know what you thought below - and my apologies to the 114 views that didn't have the write-up when this launched! We'll be back in Gondor At War in two weeks and until then, happy hobbying!