The Citadel of the Stars, Part VIII: Flight to Minas Tirith

Good morning gamers,

This is it - this one is for all the bananas, as they say (or is that just something I say?). This has been a fun series and we're wrapping up the intro missions from the Battle of Osgiliath starter box - we've made the scenario participants Matched Play legal, but we didn't alter the scenario victory conditions. Let's see who we have with us today . . . 

Flight to Minas Tirith (Battle of Osgiliath, p. ??)

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
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien 
• 4 9 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
• 8 15 Rangers of Gondor
• 4 2 Rangers of Gondor with spear
• Forces of Evil: The Army of Gothmog 
• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul
• 1 Morannon Orc Captain with shield
• 6 Morannon Orcs
• 6 12 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with spears
• 6 12 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll

We gave shields to all the Morannons and added a Captain for the Evil forces and upscaled the Good army to compensate . . . the have +12 models over their original numbers (~50pt handicap?). All I have to do 

The board is a 48"x48" setup:

Turn 1: Priority Good

Madril does what he usually does - declared a Heroic March (1/3M), which got us up the board really fast. Being able to respond to the enemy deployment helped a lot here, as I was able to avoid part of his response force and guarantee that I had a solid shieldwall to receive the first charge.

Nothing of interest happened in the Shoot Phase. In the Fight Phase, I suffered a lot of casualties, but Madril and his buddies wounded Peter the Troll, which is great. 

Turn 2: Priority Good

Now I'm not going to say that I tried to stack the scenario, but I measured at the start of the game and after Marching with Madril and his buddies on the first turn, I declared a second March with Madril on this turn (2/3M) and he and a HOST of his buddies were able to touch (which is all the scenario requires) the stable . . . so yeah, last round of the game! :)

Centaur did what he could with me tying guys down before he got to go. The only Might he had on that side wouldn't have been able to reach Madril and his buddies before they went.

To add insult to injury, I shot someone with my Rangers . . . lovely. :)

And the fights resulted in a lot of my guys getting killed. Gothmog lost his fight and copped a wound, but that was literally the only thing that went well for me . . . you know, except for winning on a janky double-Heroic-Move combo. :)

Conclusion 

I have to say, the scenario is actually quite stacked against Evil in this one - they have to deploy first, which means you don't know where Good is going to concentrate its forces. This meant that Centaur had a lot of ground to shield and by me not spreading out everywhere, I was able to fight only a part of his force (not just the half that was in front of me - only part of THAT force). Yes, the Troll losing his fight was regrettable on the first round, but it would still have been a tough job stopping my slew of guys rushing up that side.

The biggest change I'd make to the scenario to make it more playable is to have Good deploy first - that change alone would have made it more like the previous mission, where I was trying to escape, but Evil could have aligned better to catch me. This scenario played out a lot like the last one, but was basically a few rounds shorter . . . and that made all the difference.

We hope you enjoyed this series - and that you matched-play-only players found things to enjoy in it. :) We've got a really cool scenario series planned for next year (if I can get everything 3D printed in time!) - so stick around, enjoy the rest of the holiday season, and prepare yourselves for a first-time-ever TMAT experience next year! Until next time, Merry Christmas and happy hobbying!