Battle of  Pelennor Fields

On the 16-Dec-06 the Lord of the Rings group from NWA played the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. This scenario along with a battle report featured in issue 302 of White Dwarf magazine.

The group was keen to play this scenario for two reasons. It would make a spectacular sight having three Mumakil and a horde of Rohirrim charging about in front of Minas Tirith. Also, in the magazine battle report, the Evil side almost never won priority which meant that the poor Mumakil never got to trample lots of men and horses. We were hoping to see a much closer contest this time around.

The group finished setting up just before lunch and started turn 1 afterwards. The forces were -

EVIL: Murray- Orcs, David- Mumakil

GOOD: John- Theoden and Eomer, Travis- Eowyn and Gamling, Danny- Knights of Minas Tirith

Turn1: The game began with the Rohirrim breaking into two groups.

Theoden, Eomer, the bulk of the Royal Guard, some Riders of Rohan and some Knights of Dol Amroth spread out upon the left. They rode forward in anticipation of the arrival of the three Mumakil in a few turns. The Royal Guard were placed with this group since they would not have to take a courage test in order to charge a Mumak.

Gamling with the royal banner, Eowyn with Merry the Hobbit, some Royal Guard and the rest of the Riders of Rohan made up the right wing. They headed directly towards the main gate of Minas Tirith in an attempt to break through the Orcs and release the besieged Knights of Minas Tirith. The Orcs in front of the gate jostled for position then pulled back into a tighter block as they saw the oncoming horsemen.

Turn 2: The turn started with the Good side taking priority, although this was not yet important. The left wing of horsemen continued forward.

The right wing closed towards the gate. Since they wheeled to the right the innermost section moved less than half a move and so were able to loose their bows. The Orcs laughed heartily as despite the rain of arrows only 1 Orc was wounded.

Turn 3: The Orcs continued to fine tune their setup. Which probably meant they just pushed and jostled each other about. The Rohirrim were just out of range of charging, so instead they decided to only ride forward half a move and let fly another volley of arrows.

This time they killed 2 Orcs. Once again Robin Hood was not amongst them. The Evil side laughed heartily at their inaccuracy.

Turn 4: This turn saw the first combats of the game. Both sides did damage. Eowyn, Gamling and a Captain of Rohan under the command of Travis had the assignment to break through to the gate.

In the exchange of blows, Eowyn and Merry killed 1 Orc each. Their comrades in arms were not as successful. In total, the Orcs lost 6 and the Rohirrim lost 3.

Turn 5: Saw the three Mumakil arrive. This made a spectacular sight. Unfortunately Jeremy had not had time to complete the painting of his Mumak. John came to the rescue, however, with a conveniently sized resin elephant from a junk shop and some quickly scratch built platforms from plastic card and tubing. Florist wire was used within the plastic tubing to attach it to the platforms more strongly than just gluing.

The fight for the gate was grim. The Captain of Rohan bravely charged the Orc captain Pushdug in an attempt to inspire his troops. The clash was fierce, but the Captain of Rohan was no match for the experienced Pushdug, taking 2 wounds. Luckily he passed his fate roll so he could fight again next round.

The Haradrim arrows were again deadly; killing 3 Riders of Rohan and dismounting 2 more.

Above. The death toll rises at the gate.

Turn 6: Saw two Mumakil move forward to threaten the left wing of the horse lords.

The fight for the wall was going well for the Orcs. The Good side had no more Riders to fill the gaps. Eowyn and Merry seemed to be the only ones on the Good side causing casualties.

The Haradrim atop the Mumak near the gate loosed a mass of arrows at Gamling but failed to wound him. By removing Gamling, the reroll from the banner and the regeneration of Might points for Eowyn and Merry would tilt the fight heavily in favour of the Orcs.

The death count over the Pelennor Fields was high this turn. Evil took the honours with 11 kills to 5. To further improve boasting rights for the Evil side, two of the Good casualties were Rohan Royal Guard.

Turn 7: The fight for the gate continued. The men pressed closely but the Orcs refused to let them break through, scared of the "tin cans" that would be released if that occurred.

.A raucous cheer went up from the Orcs as the badly wounded Captain of Rohan was slain by the Orc captain.

The banner of Rohan carried proudly by Gamling came in handy restoring the Might points of Eowyn and Merry each turn, much to the chagrin of the Evil side (Nasssty magiks it wasss, preciousss!).

All three Mumakil were charged so they were unable to trample. The Haradrim archers perched atop the Mumakil felled some stray riders and dismounted others. The Knights of Minas Tirith were yet to be seen behind the Orc shield wall.

A few more casualties on both sides, but nothing significant.

Turn 8: Charge! Evil won priority. The Mumakil get their first good trample for the game and it was devastating. It was from the Good side's call the trample happened.

When Good called a heroic move they had to decide whether or not to charge the Orcs and get the charge bonus or instead to pin the Mumak in place and stop the great beast trampling.

Good decided to pin the Mumak, but the Rohan who could charge were too scared to do so. All failed their courage tests.

Two Mumakil were pinned but the one near the gate was not. The trampling Mumak managed to squash 16 men, 12 Orcs and … Gamling!

The banner was lost. Eowyn and Merry had their Might factory taken away. At a critical time too, since they were virtually trapped against a corner of the fortress walls.

Turn 9: After being wounded several times last turn, one Mumak stampeded. It nearly got away with it as it passed all but one Courage test. Unfortunately for the Evil side it was close enough to crash into another Mumak, causing 2 wounds on one and a single wound on the other. Not dead yet, but a few more wounds in the fight phase to bring the Mumak reaper ever closer.

The battle for the gate went well for the Evil side with the force of Travis almost wiped. Only 3 Royal Guard, 2 Riders of Rohan and Merry were left. Eowyn had died at the hands of many Orcs. She lay dead having failed to force her way through to the foot of the gates.

Turn 10: Good needed to take Courage tests. The battle for the gate was lost. The Good side had 2 of the 3 Mumakil wounded and almost dead. Merry died at the hands of more Orcs then Eowyn did.

Theoden and Eomer with their sortie wounded and killed the first Mumak. The Good side were overjoyed. One down, two to go.

Turn 11: The two Mumakil again crashed together causing further damage. Good then charged in but could not get Theoden or Eomer to wound the Mumak. It was all the Royal Guard that was doing the job.

Almost all of Travis' forces die this turn at the hands of the Orcs (Murray) and the Mumak (David).

The only good news for Rohan was that the second Mumak only had 2 wounds left.

Turn 12: Evil won priority. Good had no Might left. All the Good side had left was Theoden, Eomer and three Royal Guard. And two of these were about to get surrounded as all that was left from the Rohan right wing.

The Mumak out in the field charged Theoden. Things were looking grim for the Good side. But somehow the mighty beast was stopped in its tracks by the King of Rohan. Eomer charged the beast in defence of his King as did the remaining mounted Royal Guard. This fight was going to be critical.

The Evil side laughed wickedly . . . but with two strong stokes from Theoden and Eomer, the massive beast fell. The ground shook and made the Orcs stop, but not in time to save the surrounded Royal Guard near the gate.

After a quick head count the Good side found that they had killed enough to win, but only just in time.

Afterwards: Unfortunately Danny did not get to use his Knights of Minas Tirith. Maybe the Knights were too busy arguing amongst themselves in the courtyard or even having tea? Who knows, but in the end Good claimed victory by the skin of their teeth.

The Rohirrim were almost all dead. The Orcs still held the gate. But in the end both sides had fun playing this massive game.

FROM THE ASHES OF DEFEAT, VICTORY CAN BE CLAIMED. But only if you are really lucky, or called Theoden. Not that he has any left to boss about.

Battle report by Travis Stephenson. Edited by John Shaw.