So It Begins, Part 8: Ride Out

 Good morning gamers,

For the astute observer, we jumped from Scenario 6 to Scenario 8 - this isn't a typo. Centaur's 3D printer was angry about the humidity in his house and wouldn't print the last bits of the Deep Citadel that we needed for the Fall Back to the Keep scenario, so we're postponing it until the air gets dryer - we'll post it when it's ready, I promise.

We're almost done and today we're back in a scenario that we've played before in Fantasy Fellowships: Ride Out. I'm not going to lie, I have been playing with the Ride Out army list a lot this year and I am feeling pretty confident about how things are going to go. Let's see if I can smash up the Uruk-Hai without mounted Dwarf heroes this time!

Ride Out (War in Rohan, p. 38)

I decided to change up the scenario participants to make the fight more balanced - there are a lot more Uruks than are normally in the scenario:

• Forces of Good: 599pt Ride Out
• Theoden with everything 
• Aragorn on Brego with armor 
• Legolas on horse with armor 
• Gamling with everything 
• 2 Riders of Rohan 
• 2 Rohan Royal Guards on horses with throwing spears 
• Forces of Evil: 594pt The Assault Upon Helm's Deep 
• 1 Uruk-Hai Uber-Captain 
• 3 Uruk-Hai Captains 
• 15 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields 
• 15 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes 
• 1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with banner 

Outnumbered 35-to-8, let's see if we can beat these guys up! The board is a 48"x48" setup, but since Centaur could start near the end of the Causeway, he did:

Turn 1: Priority Good

We advance, I shoot, nothing happens. Riveting start, I know . . .

Turn 2: Priority Evil

Evil advanced up the Causeway and I charged - this will be glorious!

Legolas killed a shield Uruk in the Shoot Phase (1/3M) - lovely start!

Aragorn called a free Heroic Combat and two- handed, won the fight after getting a 3-high by dumping all his Might (3/3M), and killed his foes.

Aragorn killed a few more guys while Theoden won his fight (1/3M), boosted to get three wounds against the Captain (3/3M), and got one of his Might points back from Gamling's banner (2/3M).

Turn 3: Priority tied, Good

The Uber-Captain called a Heroic Move (1/2M), and Gamling counter-called (1/2M). Evil went first (which is why you don't counter-called these things, guys).

Not much happened - Theoden won his fight and dealt one wound to a Captain (1/2H).

Turn 4: Priority tied, Evil

Gamling called a Heroic Move (2/2M) and a Captain counter-called (2/2M). An Uruk climbed onto the only available space and engaged one of my Riders.

In the Shoot Phase, Legolas and a Rider of Rohan both kill pikemen!

Apparently all my heroes want to be divas because Legolas needed to burn almost all his Might to win his fight (2/3M) and Aragorn had to burn his free Might point to win his. The Uruk-Hai who climbed up didn't kill anyone.

Turn 5: Priority Good

The Rohan Royal Guard near the Uruk-Hai who climbed up killed the Uruk with his throwing spears, while the rest of my men charged or blocked climbing routes. There were no kills in the Shoot Phase.

Legolas blundered again, lost his horse, and got a 1 on the Thrown Rider chart, so he's on his back (but thankfully didn't take a wound. In other news, I killed more Uruk-Hai.

Turn 6: Priority Evil

Aragorn called a free Heroic Move and Legolas got up. An Uruk snuck up behind Gamling, but was counter-charged by a Rider of Rohan.

I killed a few more Uruk-Hai, including the guy who was sneaking behind my lines. Not much else to add . . .

Turn 7: Priority Good

I am ready to be wrapped, so I blew the Horn and gave my lads Terror - it did absolutely nothing. :-)

Legolas decided he needed to contribute, so he burned his last Might point to kill two pikemen!

Aragorn called a free Heroic Combat but only killed one guy. Theoden was in a tight spot, but won and promptly failed to kill anyone. Life is good. :-)

Turn 8: Priority Evil

Aragorn called a free Heroic Move and we charged most of the remaining foes . . .

. . . and Legolas got another pikeman . . .

. . . and we killed a lot of Uruk-Hai . . .

Turn 9: Priority Good

. . . and we charged again . . . 

 . . . and we basically killed everyone (but we did lose a Rider). We called it here because there were more heroes on my side than Uruks left on the other (and most of them were prone).

Conclusion 

I know there's a general aversion to Rohan right now because of the proliferation of Wild Men of Dunland/Hill Tribesmen with Hatred, but I gotta say, this list is really fun and hits very hard - I mean, I started with eight guys and while I started with a great choke point, I only lost two guys! This list has a lot going for it and I think it should be more popular than it is.

If you enjoyed this battle report, let us know in the comments below! We'll be back next time with an adapted version of the Eomer's Return scenario - hope to see you there and until then, happy hobbying!