Good morning gamers,
We're doing a scenario today that really should be in Fantasy Fellowships and yet isn't: the Causeway. In Fantasy Fellowships, there's a Helm's Deep scenario with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in it, a scenario with Aragorn and Legolas in it, and one with Gandalf in it. This makes the Gimli less valuable in the campaign and this scenario features him and Aragorn . . . so I am 1) very happy we're getting to it, and b) absolutely terrified that the Uruk-Hai are going to tear through my heroes. :-)
The Causeway (War in Rohan, p. 34)
We're using the actual scenario participants in this scenario:
- Forces of Good: The Fellowship
- Aragorn - Strider with armor
- Gimli, Son of Gloin
- Forces of Evil: Mostly The Assault Upon Helm's Deep
- 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
- 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
This scenario requires at least 10 Evil models to get through the gate (which has 1 Wound and D8) or to kill both Aragorn and Gimli. If one hero dies but the other lives (and 10 models don't get off the board), then it's a draw. If both heroes survive and fewer than 10 models get off the board, Good wins
To help Evil out a bit, Uruk-Hai Warrior models get to come back when they die - that means there are gonna be TONS of dice coming for me!
The board is a 12"x12" setup, but we're just playing on the causeway ramp today- everything else is just for appearance. My heroes set up within 2" of the gate and the Uruks set up beyond 3" of my guys:
Turn 1: Priority Good
The Move Phase and the Shoot Phase were uneventful - we're fighting, okay?
In the Fight Phase, Aragorn called a Heroic Combat, won his fight on a 4+, and then proceeded to fail all of his trapped wounding rolls. BOOO!!! He moved back an infinitesimal amount. Gimli won his fight (1/3M) and managed to kill . . . 1 guy.
Turn 2: Priority tied, Evil
I didn't mind my positioning, so the Uruk-Hai advanced . . . the board hasn't really changed.
The fights went pretty well for me - Aragorn won his fight while two-handing (free + 1/3M) and killed two guys while Gimli won his fight and killed one guy. To be honest, it occurred to me right after this round that two-handing isn't the name of the game in this scenario - all of the dead guys come back. Instead, I need to hold out for 12 turns, so fighting normally would have been a better plan.
Turn 3: Priority Good
We're back in the fights, but note that the Uruks are trying to sneak through us - we're going to try to stop that.
Aragorn called a Heroic Combat and got three 1s for his dueling roll! He suffered a single wound, which frankly I find surprising. Gimli also lost his fight (2-high!), but suffered no wounds.
Turn 4: Priority tied, Good
Here's a shot with a view of the gate we're trying to protect - we're actually making it down the causeway!
This round, my boys are on fire and kill a few guys - so happy with their performance, but Gimli did have to burn a Might point to win his fight (2/3M).
Turn 5: Priority Good
I did a tactical retreat, trying to thin out the herd a bit while forcing the new pike reserves to not get immediately into the fight. I will have to make that ground back again, but I think my guys can do it.
Well, I didn't lose any fights this time and even killed some people, but Gimli did have to burn his last Might point to win his fight (3/3M). I'm dependent on him just rolling well - we'll see how it goes!
Turn 6: Priority Evil
We're locked in and haven't gained a lot of ground - time to win both fights!
As you can see, we both won and killed a few guys - I would have preferred to kill a few more, but as we reach the halfway point, I'm just happy I don't have a gaping hole in my lines!
Turn 7: Priority Evil
Aragorn called a Heroic Move and we're locked back in. We've got mostly pikes in our fights, so hopefully we can make short work of them.
As you can see, we killed four guys - just what we needed!
Turn 8-9: Priority Evil, tied-Good
So, I have no idea where all the pictures went or why I didn't take them, but here's the skinny for these three rounds: Aragorn called a Heroic Move on Turn 8 and then proceeded to LOSE his fight AND suffered 4 wounds. Thankfully, he passed all three of his Fate Saves, but it completely drained him of Might (3/3F, 3/3M). Gimli lost his fight on Turn 8 as well (4-high), but once again, the hardened mail of the Dwarves held out and he suffered no wounds. Turn 9 involved some fighting and killing - nothing of interest happened.
Turn 10: Priority Good
So we find ourselves on the pen-penultimate turn of the game with a completely solid gate and two heroes alive and barely kicking. Gimli leads off this round with a throwing-axe kill, which is great!
And THEN . . . Aragorn promptly loses his fight and dies . . . also, Gimli killed someone else. The good news for me is that there are like 2 Uruk-Hai within charging distance of that door - and Gimli can tag them.
Turn 11-12: Priority Good, Good
Lost some photos again - sorry gang! Gimli did his best to tie down models as they raced for the door - this is a Turn 11 shot and as you can see, there's no one actually touching it. That means that next turn, they can try to break it, but they can't get in it - so we've secured a draw (because Aragorn died). Against that sea of foes, Gimli LOST and then suffered 3 Wounds and managed to pass all three Fate points - thanks, GW, for giving Gimli and extra Fate point this edition! (3/3F)
At the end of Turn 12, Gimli was in a very bad position and 6 Uruks got to the door to break it in. They proceed to do so, but Gimli wins his fight and the game ends in a draw with me not being tabled!
Conclusion
I have long felt that the best grunts in the game for grinding through heroes are Uruk-Hai Warriors. While shieldwall this edition can be helpful, it's really the weight of pikes (and banners if you can get them) that make the dream work. Eventually, those big heroes are going to get charged, they won't get a 6-high, they might be able to fix their not-6 with Might points (see what I did there?), but eventually the gas will be out of the tank and then S4 dice by the bucket load will come raining down on them. It's efficient, but it can take a long time. In this case, after 12 rounds of railing against Gimli (and they won a few of those), they still didn't break him. It turns out that wounding D8 models is hard - but wounding D6 models (even those with free Might points) is a lot easier. So . . . field Uruk-Hai, my friends!
Hopefully you enjoyed this - we're wrapping up this series pretty soon and hope that you tune in for the next one in a few weeks time! Until then, happy hobbying!
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