Last night Eric Orth and Brandon (playing Mordor plus allies) teamed up against me (Eric R) and Josh (playing Rohan and allies) in a 2000 pt per team WOTR game - a lot of models. The battle was a straight-up Field of Swords pitched battle where victory was determined by points for banners captured and troops and generals killed. Both sides set up half their points, and had half come in Turn 3 as reinforcements, possibly on a flank.
The Rohirrim began the game with Rohan bowmen and Outriders on the left flank, then in the middle Minas Tirith warriors captained by Gandalf and Haldir, Minas Tirith archers, and Rohan militia; general Theoden led a large formation of Riders on the right flank. They faced a tightly compressed mishmash of evil troops massed on the left side of the field: providing a missile screen in front were two formations of Isengard Uruk Hai pikemen and some orcs with two-hand weapons; behind them lurked 3 Mordor Trolls grouped together, a big formation of Morannon Orcs, and a big formation of Easterling warriors. Gothmog commanded. (see attached photos)
The first two turns the two lines slowly approached each other, with the Good forces peppering the screening troops with arrows on the left and Theoden's Riders sweeping toward the enemy's flank on the right (turn 1 photo leaves out the Rohan archers in the woods on the left).
- Turn 1 (Midturn)
The movement of the 3 trolls and big evil infantry formations was hampered by the slow progress of the leaderless screen troops. Gandalf transfixing one of them for a turn didn't help. Then reinforcements arrived and the battle heated up in a hurry: Evil arrived first, with a Nazgul on Fell Beast supporting the left, while on the right a large formation of wargs, some Orc Tracker archers, a company of super tough Isengard uruk Beserkers, and 3 (!) more Mordor trolls all moved into position to flank Theoden's cavalry. But the Good reinforcements soon arrived on the right board edge - Rohan Royal Guard, Sons of Eorl, and a formation of Riders, all mounted, led by Eomer and Erkenbrand - in perfect position to flank the enemy flankers! (see end turn 3 photo).
- Turn 3 (End)
On the left, with most of the orc screening troops now shot away, Haldir (counseled wisely by Gandalf for extra Might) commenced to use his Epic Shot at the now exposed and in-range Mordor Trolls. One by one, they died, one each turns 4 through 6, crippling the Mordor left flank. The Nazgul fled Gandalf's magic, redeploying slowly toward the right, where things were going just as badly: Royal Guard and Sons of Eorl charged and slaughtered the Wargs, one Mordor Troll (Eomer using Epic Strike against him), and most of the company of Beserkers. Back on the left the Easterlings managed to engage Haldir's Minas Tirith Warriors and slowly began to grind them down, but Haldir slew their Dragon Knight champion and Rohan shooting added some casualties.
Gothmog had left the formation to try to speed the Morannon orcs into position, but they still moved too slowly. (see Turn 5 photo)
- Turn 5 (mid turn)
By the end of turn six of eight (at 2 am) things looked grim for Mordor. On the left flank the Easterlings looked to be surrounded; on the right the Nazgul's magic had slowed the progress of the elite Rohirrim, but there was no doubt they would win that part of the field eventually, especially since the two remaining trolls over that way both had 2 wounds. Gandalf now rode at Theoden's side, making it extremely unlikely that the Rohan general would be slain. Orth conceded the game. Good led 6 victory points to 2.
It was a great game of WOTR - at least from where I was sitting! The superior mobility of the Rohirrim really paid off, as Theoden's Riders were able to threaten the enemy and then quickly withdraw to safety when the evil reinforcements appeared right on his flank; in contrast, the flanked Mordor troops were trapped by all the elite cav reinforcements, and from the beginning Orth had fits trying to get all his infantry to move where they needed to go. Orth also suffered from insufficient leaders (for "at the double" moves) and Might for much of the game, while the Good forces had plentiful leaders and Gandalf to top them up with Might through Renewal/Counseling. (Full disclosure: I was probably illegally using Counselor during the game b/c of the ambiguity about Epic actions vs. abilities; but since I could have been using Epic Renewal instead with almost the same effect, the illegal advantage gained was minor).
But, all that aside, luck was very much with Good on this night. Good usually won Priority rolls; there was only a 1 in 6 chance the Rohan reinforcements to come in at exactly the right place, and they did; Orth missed multiple important "At the Double" rolls; and Josh and I rolled hot dice for Haldir's Epic Shots - "6" was rolled every time either on the number of auto hits or on the "Hard To Kill" table for the result, meaning a dead troll all 3 times. (Dang, since we are ruling Epic Strike can't be used in duels, Epic Shot has got to be best epic action going, at least if the enemy brings monsters...) And then Haldir up and kills the Easterling Dragon Knight in a duel where the bad guy had a +2 going in to the duel! Yup, the dice gods favored the Rohirrim that night. Theoden returned to Meduseld a proud and victorious king.
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