Fantasy Fellowships Part II: The Long Dark of Moria

We continue with the Fantasy Fellowships as they leave Rivendell to begin their quest. They will face a warg attack in the night, before venturing through Moria to Lothlorien.

CJ

Scenario 4- Wargs in the Night

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid, Grima, Saruman, Bard, Legolas, Dwalin, Tauriel and Bill the Pony.

Evil- Wild warg chieftain and 18 wild wargs.

As the wargs rush towards the Fellowship, Legolas opens fire, wounding the Warg chieftain twice and killing a warg. As they get close, Saruman blasts another warg into the chief causing a third wound, which is saved by fate. The chief manages to pounce on Dori, but Dwalin calls a heroic combat and pulls it off and slaying it.

Grima is quickly pulled to the floor and mauled, but the rest fight on, slowly being spread out and wounds are being taken. Dori, despite being tired, manages to leap in and save Bard from four wargs. The Fellowship is getting exhausted and Tauriel finds herself isolated and also dragged down and savaged. Eventually, the bloodshed ends as the wargs have had enough and flee back into the night after 20 turns. Bard, working with Alfrid and Bill has gone through a total of 11 might with 1 still in the chamber…

Kills

Bilbo- 5                 Bard- 20

Dori- 16                Legolas- 9

Alfrid- 0                Dwalin- 14

Grima- 0                Tauriel- 15

Saruman- 16          Bill- 1

Bravest companion- Saruman    Fool- Legolas

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Bilbo, Grima and Dwalin are fully replenished.

Dori- 1m, Alfrid- 2 will, Saruman- 5 will, 2f, 1 wound, Bard- 2m, Legolas- 1w and Tauriel- 1m.

Scenario 5- Balin's Tomb

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid, Grima, Saruman, Bard, Legolas, Dwalin and Tauriel.

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

The goblins burst into the tomb and the Fellowship decides that the best form of defence is attack. They rush forward and Dwalin takes a wound as does Bard. Saruman blasts a bow that’s climbed up onto the platform into another, killing both. Tauriel loses her second combat and is overwhelmed by goblins and Grima is brought down by a captain.

Saruman sees that this approach is not working as he hoped and he calls them all to retreat to the rear of the tomb. Bard launches a furious attack on the captain standing over Grima’s downed form, and with three vicious blows, hacks it to pieces. Saruman casts terrifying aura and makes himself ‘spooky’.

With a great crash, the troll thunders in through the door, but contributes nothing to the fight as Saruman manages to compel it away from the surviving fellowship on most of his attempts. Dwalin is hit by a goblin arrow but fate spares him. The fellowship is now against the rear wall and Alfrid is downed by a goblin. Bilbo is almost caught but thankfully, the goblins’ strikes all miss him.

In the two last combats, Legolas and Saruman both lose, and the wizard is laid low. But Legolas doesn’t take any wounds. With four of them injured, its a very narrow victory.

Kills

Bilbo- 1                   Bard- 9

Dori- 7                     Legolas- 3

Alfrid- 1                  Dwalin- 11

Grima- 0                 Tauriel- 1

Saruman- 4               

Bravest companion- Saruman

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Bilbo and Grima fully restored.

Dori- 1m, Alfrid- 2 will, 0f, Saruman- 1m, 4 will, 2f and 2 wounds, Bard- 1m, 2 wounds, Legolas- 0m, 2f, 2 wounds, Dwalin- 1m, 1f, 2 wounds and Tauriel- 0m, 2 will, 0f, 1 wound.

Scenario 6- Escape from Dwarrowdelf

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid, Grima, Saruman, Bard, Legolas, Dwalin and Tauriel.

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

The Fellowship starts by rushing down the stairs, well all except Legolas, who starts firing his bow from his vantage point. A piece of rubble falls and knocks a hole into the walkway about a third of the way along, right before the running Fellowship.

Goblins climb up behind Legolas to attack but Bard stays to help him out just as Dwalin and Tauriel, at the front hit the goblin roadblock. Tauriel quickly draws her daggers and makes short work of a Captain. The Cave troll is blasted by Saruman and takes a wound from Dwalin, which wins the next fight but fails to kill him. The turn after this, Tauriel manages to finish off the troll with some further cuts and slashes. Dori adds salt into the wound as he slams the second Captain from the walkway with his flail.

Just as things are looking up, another piece of rubble smashes a hole in the walkway near to the escape. Bilbo, Tauriel and Saruman clear the gap and escape. But Grima slips and grabs Alfrid in panic, both fall over the side. Luckily, caught by Bard and Legolas before being lost, those two and Dori also escape towards the Bridge of Khazad-Dum.

Kills

Bilbo- 2                  Bard- 6

Dori- 1                     Legolas- 9

Alfrid- 0                  Dwalin- 1

Grima- 0                 Tauriel- 2

Saruman- 6              

Bravest companion- Legolas    Fool- Grima

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Bilbo, Dori, Grima and Bard fully recover.

Alfrid- 0 will, 0f, Saruman- 4 will, 2f, Legolas- 1m, 2f, Dwalin- 1m, 1 wound and Tauriel- 0m, 0f.

Scenario 7- The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid, Grima, Saruman, Bard, Legolas, Dwalin and Tauriel.

Evil- The Balrog, 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

Hearing the booming footsteps of their pursuer, the Fellowship runs for the Bridge. Legolas opens fire. But the Balrog arrives quickly and starts closing the gap as the heroes hit a wall of goblins. Alfrid is quickly brought down by them. They start to hack their way through goblins quickly and desperately, making their way onto the bridge. As they start to cross, an arrow strikes Grima in the thigh and he is dragged away by his friends.

Tauriel slays a Captain and clears the bridge along with Legolas and Bilbo. But the Balrog is very close now. Dwalin manages to cut down the second captain but is isolated on the wrong side of the bridge. He is caught by it and beaten in combat, being flung across the chasm and hobbling away, but the Balrog had heroic combatted off of him and grabbed Bard. The leader of Laketown is hurled into Dori on the bridge.

Dori is then grabbed and also hurled aside onto the far side of the chasm as Bard gets up and runs to safety. Saruman gets priority and with a great cry of magical words shatters the bridge beneath him and the Balrog, but not before it had fought him and caused 2 wounds.

The Fellowship has no time to grieve for their wizard as the goblin archers fire at then ceaselessly. Dori is their target, on 1w and 1f. But amazingly manages to run all the way down the chasm’s edge, taking arrow after arrow but avoiding a killing blow. He escapes with Bilbo, Bard, Legolas and Tauriel.            

Kills

Bilbo- 0                   Bard- 1

Dori- 3                     Legolas- 2

Alfrid- 0                  Dwalin- 5

Grima- 0                 Tauriel- 4

Saruman- 1  

Bravest companion- Saruman    Fool- Bard

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

All fully restored at Lothlorien and receive Galadriel’s gifts.

Kieran

Scenario 4- Wargs in the Night

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod, Aldor, Galadriel, Aragorn, Haldir, Gwaihir, Theodred

Evil- Wild warg chieftain and 18 wild wargs

The fellowship begin by banding tightly together as the wargs begin to circle. Using his ability to fly and cover long distances quickly, Gwaihir heads off to meet the wargs on the right flank head on as the heroes with bows knock their arrows. Aldor takes down a warg and, not wanting to be outdone, Haldir removed 2 from the table. Damrod fails to follow suit. 

The next turn, the wargs crash into the fellowship ranks, the Chieftain targeted the unfortunate Damrod. Gwaihir lines up a perfect hurl and kills 4 wargs in the combat phase as the rest of the fellowship sees Damrod knocked out of the fight by the warg chieftain. In return, Aragorn and Theodred start to build their tally. As the turns progress, Aragorn charges the warg chieftain and beheads him whilst Theodred uses Sam's free Heroic Combat to slingshot around the warg pack. 

With Evil Might removed, Aragorn's Mighty Hero allows the fellowship to dictate the pace as Gwaihir intercepts wargs added to the battle before they can surround the rest of the group. Disaster strikes as the remaining wargs surround and take out both Aldor and Theodred. Galadriel is spending most turns using her spells to restore the fate of her companions as Haldir continues to protect the Lady of Lothlorien. Gwaihir returns to the fray and the fellowship huddle together for 17 turns before the wargs relent. Battered, bruised but not broken, the group make their way into Moria.

Kills

Frodo- 1             Aragorn- 26

Sam- 3                Haldir- 9

Damrod- 0          Gwaihir- 24 

Aldor- 9              Theodred- 17

Galadriel- 2        

Bravest companion- Gwaihir    Fool- Damrod

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Sam, Damrod and Aldor fully recover.

Frodo- 1m, 2 will and 2 fate, Galadriel- 2m, 3 will, 1 fate, Aragorn- 2m, Haldir- 1m, 0f, Gwaihir- 2m, 2 wounds and Theodred- 1m, 1 will, 0f.

Scenario 5- Balin's Tomb

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod, Aldor, Galadriel, Aragorn, Haldir, Gwaihir and Theodred

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

As the goblins push through the door, Theodred, Aragorn and Gwaihir rush forward to face the enemy, leaving their companions to move towards a trap door the group noticed. Damrod and Aldor find the mark with their arrows as Haldir is distracted by the mass of bodies sprinting towards him. One more round of shooting allows the ranged threats in the group to pick up maximum kills each as Haldir finds his range. 

As the lines meet, Gwaihir Heroic Combats in order to remove 5 goblins from the battle whilst Aragorn takes advantage of the gaps made to beat and kill a goblin captain. Haldir proceeds to kill one goblin for successful combat but the two goblins he moves into beat him back and cause 2 wounds, removing him from the fight! As the cave troll arrives, he finds the group has retreated back towards the centre-right of the tomb. As Aldor and Damrod fall, the group only have a few more turns to survive. 

After already cutting through swathes of goblins, including the other captain, Gwaihir decides to pick on someone almost his own size as he charges and cuts down the surprised cave troll. With their force leaderless and troll-less, the goblins struggle to achieve much as Galadriel spends a few turns restoring Fate points before the evil force retreats.

Kills

Frodo- 0               Aragorn- 11 

Sam- 1                  Haldir- 3

Damrod- 2            Gwaihir- 18 

Aldor- 3                Theodred- 14

Galadriel- 0 

Bravest companion- Theodred    Fool- Haldir

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Sam and Aldor fully recover.

Frodo- 2 will, 2f, Damrod- 0f, Galadriel- 2m, 4 will, 2f, Aragorn- 2m, 2 wounds, Haldir- 0m, 0f, 1 wound, Gwaihir- 2m, 2f, 2 wounds and Theodred- 1m, 1 will, 1f.

Scenario 6- Escape from Dwarrowdelf

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod, Aldor, Galadriel, Aragorn, Haldir, Gwaihir and Theodred

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

Sprinting across the narrow pathway, the fellowship are pushed forward swiftly by Aragorn's regular marches as Gwaihir rushes forward to push through the goblin massing at the exit. With the group half way to the exit, apart from Gwaihir, who charges into the goblin horde. Disaster strikes as Theodred has to spend his only Might point to avoid falling into a chasm only to fail his next jump and find himself tumbling into darkness (luckily Gwaihir can fly after him!). Expecting to smash through the goblins, Gwaihir is surprised to be pushed back and takes a wound. As the fellowship line up behind their giant eagle friend, he charges again but loses once again, this time brought low by lowly goblins. Gwaihir retreats in order to save Theodred. With the monstrous friend absent, the duo of Haldir and Aragorn are the group's final hope. Luckily, the duo call a couple of Combats which are successful and a gap to the exit is made. Galadriel, Aldor, Damrod, Sam and the ringbearer squeeze through as Haldir and Aragorn distract the goblins. This sacrifice costs Haldir dearly but the fellowship succeed, just.

Kills

Frodo- 0               Aragorn- 6

Sam- 0                  Haldir- 8

Damrod- 2             Gwaihir- 4 

Aldor- 0                Theodred- 0

Galadriel- 0

Bravest companion-  Haldir   Fool- Gwaihir

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Sam and Aldor fully recover.

Frodo- 2 will, 1f and 1 wound, Damrod- 0m, 0f, Galadriel- 2m, Aragorn- 0m, 1f, 2 wounds, Haldir- 1 wound, Gwaihir- 1m, 0f, 1 wound and Theodred- 0m.

Scenario 7- The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod, Aldor, Galadriel, Aragorn, Haldir, Gwaihir and Theodred

Evil- The Balrog, 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins.

With an ancient demonic monster breathing down their neck and only a handful of resources available, the tactics for the fellowship was clear. Run! With a March every turn from Aragorn, and Heroic Moves where required, the companions push for the Bridge of Khazad-Dum. Gwaihir swoops to one side to slow down a group of approaching goblins but a sense of deja-vu occurs as 4 goblins beat back the charging eagle and cause 2 Wounds, sending him flying to the excite and leaving the fellowship behind. Luckily for the group, they reach the bridge before the goblins and Haldir, Sam, Aldor, Damrod and Frodo rush across. Theodred and Aragorn form 2 road blocks on the structure as Galadriel aims to destroy the bridge. Only as the group reaches the bridge does the Balrog arrive. On her first attempt, Galadriel successfully casts Blast but fails to destroy the bridge as she watches Theodred lose his final wound against a horde of goblins whilst Aragorn Heroic Combats through as number of goblins. Continuing to hold off the horde, Aragorn is the last defender before the goblins can reach Galadriel as the 5 remaining members head for the stairs. This time round, Galadriel successfully destroys the bridge, sending not her only but a number of goblins and Aragorn into the abyss. Luckily for Aragorn, Gwaihir managed to swoop in and save him before it was too late. Unfortunately, Galadriel couldn't be saved but I have a funny feeling we will be seeing her again soon enough!!

Kills

Frodo- 0              Aragorn- 6

Sam- 0                 Haldir- 2

Damrod- 0           Gwaihir- 0

Aldor- 0               Theodred- 2

Galadriel- 0

Bravest companion- Aragorn   Fool- Gwaihir (although it should have been the Balrog for how late he was!)

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

All fully restored at Lothlorien and receive Galadriel’s gifts.

Sam

Scenario 4- Wargs in the Night

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor, Grima, Saruman, Theodred, Haldir, Dain, Aragorn and Bill the Pony.

Evil- Wild warg chieftain and 18 wild wargs

Aragorn calls a march and leads the Fellowship to a large rock, so they can defend only three angles rather than four. Aldor and Haldir fire their bows but all miss. Next turn, the wargs charge and Saruman blasts the warg chief into another but causes no wounds. Aldor is grabbed by two wargs being bitten and scratched until unconscious. Dain calls a heroic combat and joins Saruman against the warg chief, causing a single wound. The next turn the warg chief causes 2 wounds on Saruman.

Smeagol and Lotho both climb onto the rock to get out of reach of the wargs, just as Aragorn manages to slay the warg chief. Suddenly, wargs are throwing themselves up the rock and one tears Lotho’s jacket (fate). Haldir calls a string of heroic combats over several turns, relieving the pressure building upon Saruman, Grima and Bill. But, in turn ten, Grima is finally caught and pulled into the pack wailing. The mix of Aragorn’s flaming torch, Saruman’s magic and the back to back fighting of the Fellowship forces the wargs to retreat (turn 11). CJ rolled a 2 for priority, Sam saw this and knew this is what his whole life had been building up to and all those terrible rolls have been destined for! I rolled a 2 and ended the game on the first try!

Kills

Smeagol- 4          Theodred- 9

Lotho- 1               Haldir- 6

Aldor- 0               Dain- 9

Grima- 1              Aragorn- 11

Saruman- 3          Bill- 1

Bravest companion- Haldir

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Smeagol, Grima, Aldor, Theodred, Haldir and Aragorn are all fully restored.

Lotho- 3 will, Saruman- 0m, 4 will, 2f, 2 wounds and Dain 1m.

Scenario 5- Balin's Tomb

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor, Grima, Saruman, Theodred, Haldir, Dain and Aragorn.

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

As the door erupts with goblins. Aragorn and Dain rush forward to hold their advance, while Haldir and Theodred stand back to either flank and Saruman stands with Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor and Grima. The wizard blasts two goblin archers on a ledge by the door and Haldir snipes a spear behind Aragorn. But Aldor is shot at by archers and is forced to use his fate.

Saruman is jumped by two goblins from the well and a Captain who has got past Dain, but Haldir rushes to his aid and strikes down the goblin hero. Seeing that the waves of goblins will quickly overwhelm, Aragorn, Dain, Haldir and Theodred start cutting their way backwards. Haldir takes an arrow from archers and Saruman takes a wound from warriors. Things get difficult as Aldor is sniped by an archer and removed from the fighting. Dain and Aragorn are stuck near the tomb while the rest are at the rear surrounded by goblins.

At this moment, Haldir slays the second captain but it’s a short-lived celebration as the troll arrives and takes Dain down to 1w, 0f! Haldir is then surrounded and also taken down, quickly followed by Theodred! Dain is now fuming and retaliates for his falling allies, he manages to hammer the troll in return causing a wound back. Then the next turn, charges it, terrifying all the goblins around him and slays it before them!

Smeagol, Lotho, Grima and Saruman all climb onto the walkway at the rear and desperately try to escape the pursuing goblins as Aragorn and Dain attack the archers trying to prevent lucky shots. Despite their efforts, Lotho is sniped down. Smeagol puts on the Ring and strangles a couple of goblins. In the very last turn, heartbreakingly, Dain loses his combat and is brought down by some goblins. With five of them down, it’s a defeat.

Kills

Smeagol- 2          Theodred- 4

Lotho- 0               Haldir- 5

Aldor- 3               Dain- 9

Grima- 0              Aragorn- 13

Saruman- 6

Bravest companion- Haldir     Fool- Grima

EVIL WIN

Carried stats

Smeagol, Grima and Aldor fully recover.

Lotho- 0m, Saruman- 0m, 4 will, 1f, Theodred- 1m, 0f, Haldir- 1m, Dain- 0m, 0f, 1 wound and Aragorn- 0m, 1f

Scenario 6- Escape from Dwarrowdelf

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor, Grima, Saruman, Theodred, Haldir, Dain and Aragorn.

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

The Fellowship rushes down the stairs and a chunk of rock quickly punches a hole in the walkway before them. Luckily, they all clear the gap with their jumps, despite several lacking might. Aragorn rushes ahead of the rest to try and start clearing a path for them. Haldir takes an arrow from an archer and Saruman blasts two spears supporting against Aragorn to death.

Haldir and Aldor stand at the top trying to fire down on the accumulating goblins when some arrive behind them. They turn and face the new threat but Aldor is quickly surrounded and downed.

Saruman continues to blast goblins into one another behind the frontline and Theodred slays a captain, when another chunk of rock falls and creates another chasm in the walkway. As they jump over, Grima slips and narrowly avoids death as he is caught and swung back to safety but out of the fighting. Haldir is overwhelmed alone up at the top and beaten down, just as another chasm is caused and things look dire.

Saruman blasts the troll that has arrived into a goblin, flattening the latter and allowing Dain to pounce on it and kill his second troll in Moria. Aragorn cuts down the second captain and the way is clear but there is one more jump to do, and Theodred nor Saruman or Dain have might…

Theodred trips and is just rescued by Dain and Saruman, who manage the jump and the five of them escape.

Kills

Smeagol- 0          Theodred- 4

Lotho- 0               Haldir- 3

Aldor- 0               Dain- 3

Grima- 0              Aragorn- 6

Saruman- 9

Bravest companion- Saruman    Fool- Haldir

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Smeagol, Aldor and Grima fully recover.

Lotho- 0f, Saruman- 1f, Theodred- 0f, Haldir- 0m, 1 wound, Dain- 1m, 0f, 1 wound and Aragorn- 1m, 1f, 2 wounds.

Scenario 7- The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor, Grima, Saruman, Theodred, Haldir, Dain and Aragorn.

Evil- The Balrog, 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

Seeing the bridge up ahead, Aragorn calls a heroic march and spurs the Fellowship on. Saruman blasts some archers ahead to reduce the shots coming. As they near the bridge, the goblins win the roll off for the heroic move and block the bridge, just as a crash announces the arrival of the fiery demon. The Fellowship begins to quickly cut through the blockade but Grima is brought down.

After a couple of turns of combat, in which Haldir slays a captain, Smeagol, Aragorn, Haldir and Theodred are on the bridge. As more follow, Lotho takes an arrow and is dragged to safety, while Aldor fates away another arrow. Dain is fighting still and gets onto the bridge, where he fights the second captain, with the Balrog attempting to whip Saruman off the bridge as he casts a sorcerous blast, trying to destroy it. The first whip, slays a goblin, the second misses and the third…

…never happens. Dain leaps and just clings on the edge of the chasm as the blast shatters the bridge dropping Saruman into the dark with the goblin captain. Aragorn leads Smeagol, Haldir, Aldor and Theodred through a hailstorm of arrows to the stairs and escape the mines.

Kills

Smeagol- 3          Theodred- 3

Lotho- 0               Haldir- 1

Aldor- 1               Dain- 3

Grima- 0              Aragorn- 3

Saruman- 3

Bravest companion- Aragorn

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

All fully restored at Lothlorien and receive Galadriel’s gifts.

Will

Scenario 4- Wargs in the Night

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod, Denethor, Gandalf, Boromir, Faramir, Irolas, Hurin and Bill the Pony.

Evil- Wild warg chieftain and 18 wild wargs

Damrod scores first blood as he shoots a warg. The Fellowship abandons their camp to cover a flank with a rock, so that they only have to protect three sides. Gandalf compels the warg chief and Boromir attacks, scoring a wound.

Frodo puts the ring on and promptly rolls a two, so runs out of the camp into the thick of the wargs! Pippin tries to defend him and gets bitten repeatedly, disappearing in a cloud of fur and teeth. Boromir, jumps in and clears the path for Frodo to pull back. He takes the Ring off again. Denethor is wounded by two wargs, as is Frodo and Gandalf. Faramir takes a beating and is brought down to 1w, 0f.

Damrod manages to snipe his 8^th kill but by the end of turn 16, the noose is tightening and the Fellowship is getting crammed into a small space. Gandalf takes another wound and Damrod is dragged down screaming. Faramir leaps in and saves Frodo from a warg attack. But Denethor beside him, is also swallowed by the furry masses. Gandalf is left on 1w, 1f as Boromir and Hurin also suffer wounds.

Faramir is finally defeated and dragged down after a long and defiant defence. But this is followed by yet more wounds as Boromir is on 1w, Gandalf 1w, 0f and Bill is bitten before finally being killed! A huge hole is now left in the defences of the Fellowship as Frodo is left horribly exposed. But Gandalf is dragged down and chewed by the wargs, who now finally having had enough, flee.

It’s a sore defeat after 37 turns! The odds of it going that long calculated by CJ to be 7 in 100,000, but luckily somehow, not one member of the Fellowship is killed besides Bill.

Kills

Frodo- 1               Boromir- 23

Pippin- 0              Faramir- 14

Damrod- 9           Irolas- 14

Denethor- 14       Hurin- 28

Gandalf- 17         Bill- 1

Bravest companion- Damrod 

EVIL WIN

Carried stats

Frodo and Damrod got full recovery.

Pippin- 0m, 1 will, 0f, Denethor- 1 wound, Gandalf- 1m, 1 will, 0f, 2 wounds, Boromir- 3m, 1 wound, Faramir- 2m, 0f, Irolas- 1m, 1 wound and Hurin- 1m.

Scenario 5- Balin's Tomb

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod, Denethor, Gandalf, Boromir, Faramir, Irolas and Hurin.

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

The goblins break through the doors as Gandalf lights up the room with a channelled blinding light. The goblin archers fire, despite not being able to see well and an arrow strikes Damrod, taking him out the fight quickly. The mass of goblins piles onto the Gondorians and all but Gandalf end up in fights. The Fellowship pushes back hard although Denethor is quickly brought down due to his exhaustion after the warg attack. Hurin takes a wound from a Captain.

The Fellowship decides to push out and Irolas and Pippin are defeated by Captains. Boromir, Faramir and Hurin are left fighting back to back, while Gandalf sits on the platform attempting to assist with magic and Frodo hides wearing the Ring. Despite such a rough start, these hardened warriors refuse to crack and Hurin slays a Captain forcing the Goblins to admit defeat and withdraw.

Kills

Frodo- 1              Boromir- 7

Pippin- 1             Faramir- 6

Damrod- 0          Irolas- 2

Denethor- 1         Hurin- 4

Gandalf- 2

Bravest companion- Hurin

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Frodo, Damrod and Denethor are fully restored.

Pippin- 0f, Boromir- 2m, 1 wound, Faramir- 2m, 0f, Irolas- 2m, 0f, Hurin- 2m and Gandalf- 1m, 1 will, 0f, 2 wounds.

Scenario 6- Escape from Dwarrowdelf

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod, Denethor, Gandalf, Boromir, Faramir, Irolas and Hurin.

Evil- 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

The Fellowship breaks into a run down the stairs of Dwarrowdelf and Gandalf conjures up a channelled blinding light. They spot some goblins arriving lower down and Damrod starts firing, quickly killing two. Boromir and Hurin rush down and engage them as Damrod snipes a third. Gandalf wounds a captain with a sorcerous blast. But as he does so, the last of the goblins arrive behind them and attack Irolas, who protects Damrod and Faramir.

Boromir loses a fight to two spears and is forced to use fate as Damrod nails a fourth goblin. When the second captain, behind him, leaps over the corner of the walkway, past Irolas and attacks Damrod, who is taken so much by surprise that he is downed before he can draw his sword. Irolas is momentarily stunned and takes a wound.

Hurin brings things back on track as he cuts the 2^nd captain in half with a great swing of his sword. And Boromir causes two wounds on the cave troll. Faramir saves Damrod from his assailant as he runs him through with his sword and kicks him from the walkway. A dying roar is heard as Hurin kills the troll and as the ceiling begins to crack, the Fellowship escapes.

Kills

Frodo- 1              Boromir- 5

Pippin- 0             Faramir- 3

Damrod- 4          Irolas- 4

Denethor- 0        Hurin- 9

Gandalf- 1

Bravest companion- Hurin

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

Frodo, Denethor and Hurin are fully restored.

Pippin- 1f, Damrod- 0m, Gandalf- 2m, 1 will, 0f, 2 wounds, Boromir- 3m, 2f, 2 wounds, Faramir- 0f and Irolas- 0f, 1 wound.

Scenario 7- The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod, Denethor, Gandalf, Boromir, Faramir, Irolas and Hurin.

Evil- The Balrog, 2x Moria Goblin Captains, 24x Moria Goblins and they have a Cave Troll

With their escape in sight, Irolas leads the exhausted Gondorians, who have experienced hell since Rivendell, in a couple of heroic marches up to the bridge. But the goblin blockade is already in place. It is hit with a brutal, desperate ferocity as several heroic combats are called by Boromir, Faramir and Hurin. They all succeed but Faramir has to exhaust his might to kill a goblin.

Boromir charges both captains on the bridge and feels it shake as Gandalf recklessly tries to weaken it but fails. Boromir regains his footing and slays one. Pushing on, the Gondorians rush onto the bridge and Pippin takes an arrow, forcing Faramir to sling him over his shoulder. Damrod and Denethor are outnumbered before the bridge but manage to kill 3 between them as Boromir cuts down the second captain just in time for the Balrog to arrive.

As the Fellowship crosses the bridge, Gandalf uses a might to throw up a blinding light and protect them from more arrows. Irolas hangs back to protect Gandalf as he blasts the bridge again Gandalf conjures the blast to throw Irolas to safety as the bridge collapses beneath him.

The remaining Fellowship run as the goblin archers pepper them with arrows. Boromir takes one going down to 1w, 2f. He is followed by Hurin, who goes down to 1w, 1f, but no more find their mark and they, along with Faramir, Denethor, Frodo and Damrod, escape to safety and have their multiple wounds treated after a truly trying journey.

Kills

Frodo- 0              Boromir- 5

Pippin- 0             Faramir- 2

Damrod- 1          Irolas- 3

Denethor- 2        Hurin- 4

Gandalf- 0

Bravest companion- Boromir    Fool- Gandalf

GOOD WIN

Carried stats

All fully restored at Lothlorien and receive Galadriel’s gifts.

Our Fellowships have now made it through Moria, albeit at the 'loss' of their wizards. Under the guidance of their champions, they reach Lothlorien, where they recover. Before setting off down the Anduin, where an ambush is coming to greet them...

CJ's "Send forth all Legions": Lurtz's Scouts

 

We're back! This time out we're looking, as promised, at Lurtz and his New Zealand rugby team of halfling kidnappers. This was an LL I were looking forward to very much for two reasons. The first being that Ugluk's Scouts is a very characterful LL that gets a lot of utility out of a very limited selection of profiles and great fluffy special rules- much like the recipe we discussed last time was my view on what makes a really great LL. And the second is that my first book in this hobby was the original Fellowship edition of Best of White Dwarf (in my opinion the best of those books there has been). In the back end of that book was a custom two-part scenario which began with the 3 Hunters fighting through Uruks to escape off the board edge as quickly as possible, and then a linked scenario where Boromir had to protect Merry and Pippin for as long as possible before the 3 hunters arrived on the board, which just so happened to be the turn that they escaped in the first scenario! I built a custom board for this Amon Hen duoscenario and spent many happy teenage years playing through it with friends. 

Competitively, limiting yourself to Lurtz, Mauhur, Ugluk, Scout Capt, Drummer and Scouts would be plenty themey but unlikely to win 6 games over a weekend. I have been schooled by Martin Seed before using such a list due to his excellent tactical play, but I wouldn't expect it to challenge a top table player or meta-geared list. You just forgo so very very many of the excellent range of options in an Isengard list that makes it one of the most versatile in the game next to Mordor. So how did the Quest sourcebook get on with capturing the terror of the Uruk pursuit whilst making a spearless, low defence horde viable?

Special/Additional rules:

1. Relentless March 

Just like Ugluk's scouts, if you have Mauhur then everybody gets mv8 including Heroes for free, as well as the woodland creature rule. Unlike Ugluk's scouts though, the whole army can benefit which means you have one of the most mobile armies not just on foot but in general. You can stack drums and HMarch to achieve a 14" move, 40% over cavalry, whilst going through woods at full speed. That's up to 7inch move and shoot, or 5.5" with just a drum- so you can kite goblins and shoot them until they break without taking a casualty. But on the flipside, the Army Bonus for Isengard already gave these models (and Vrasku the dual-action xbow monster who can't be taken in this list) the Woodland Creature rule. However, the other half of the Isengard Army Bonus (the bit people remember), means that you don't take courage tests for breaking until you lose 66% of your models instead of 50%. It's understated, but really, really good value in Matched play. So essentially, the trade-off is 2" extra movement for everybody not already in Mauhur's warband for free, but no broken test help. When you have drums and so much access to HMarch already, and Mauhur can still be taken in a normal list with just 12pts on his warband of faster Marauders, I'm not sure it's worth it. So the other rules need to pull a bit of weight to balance it out. 

2. Lurtz 

To say that this Legion puts its eggs in one basket really would not be an understatement. Lurtz must be taken and is your leader. Then he gets two rules: A Worthy Foe, and Shield Throw.

A Worthy Foe allows Lurtz to call Heroic Challenge on ANYBODY regardless of Heroic Tier. If the target refuses, Lurtz gets his Might back. To remind ourselves, as this Heroic is one of the least used in the game, if they refuse the Heroic Challenge their troops may no longer use their Stand Fast!, and their friendly models may not benefit from their Heroic Actions. So potentially, a great tool. The issue has always been that you cannot call a Strike the turn that you call the Challenge. So, your opp can Strike in retaliation on the first turn and potentially get almost a free set of strikes on you for your trouble. Then your two Heroes must charge each other for the rest of the game until one of them is dead and the winner gets D3 Might back. Note that you are not prevented from using spears to support after the first round of the Heroic Challenge, which this Legion has none of. Due to a specification in the wording of Challenge, it is also possible to deny your opp the D3 Might by simply Stabbing yourself for the final wound, shooting your own Hero (Evil tactic), or even in a good old Isengard list if Lurtz or Snaga called a Challenge that is going sour (or any of your other Heroes get one called on them), you can use a Demo Charge to deny your opp the D3. Tad extreme, but I'm just illustrating that this is probably the coolest, fluffiest Heroic in the book which I love...but it doesn't really work. Usually. There is one strong proponent of the Challenge in the game currently, and that is Shagrat. He has 3s in all the right places (unique to Evil!), D7 to last out most opps, 3A with S5 and knockdown to kill, F5 with Strike, Blood and Glory to recover Might "wasted" on Challenges, and most importantly of all: Fortitude Tier. This means he can, if he wants to, run around and bully weaker captains without Strike and mine them for Might points. See last week's Cirith Ungol review for details. Now to cycle back to Lurtz, being able to call one on any Hero at all means he can run into a myriad of weak Independent Heroes and Challenge them. If they refuse, they still have to complete that fight (common misconception that they escape the combat by refusing the Challenge) and if they somehow survive their Might is now much less useful (until they get one of their stronger friends to do your Challenger in) and they can't use Stand Fast! at all. So by having a rule to regain "wasted" Might on refused Challenges, Lurtz can now run into any mid-low Tier Hero and mess with their ability to impact the game. It's not quite being able to automatically mine D3 Might out of any weaker hero, and it's not even Blood and Glory, but as a psychological tool and tactical option most opponents won't have much experience dealing with, it's there to use. There is also one other additional benefit to Lurtz using Challenge: if it is accepted it keeps him safe from being run over by a nastier killy opp Hero. For now. So you may make your opp hide some of their lesser captains etc behind lines and that removes threats to your comparitively middling Heroes and your squishy troops. The main issue is that Lurrtz just doesn't have the killing power to make good on this ability. He's got no knock-down, no rerolls, no +1, he's just S5 and 3A. When the vast majority of Heroes are D6-7, he's averaging 1 Wound a turn, and that's if he wins. You can run the risk of locking Lurtz into one location with your opp Shielding or otherwise stalling for days. So, we need to make him a bit more killy, and that leads onto his other special rule, and this Legion's last one.

Shield Throw works fairly straightforwardly: Lurtz has a Once per Game Throwing Weapon- his Shield. S4 hit, and man-sized or smaller that is hit is knocked Prone. Then the Shield is gone. It doesn't affect his Defence value, but the option to Shield on your Leader is still very, very valuable. So, firstly no other Throwing Weapon works on a Once per Game basis. But it's the fluff- he pins Aragorn to a tree and nearly decapitates him and then no longer has the shield, so how do we represent that? I imagined they might have a requirement that the target had to be within 1inch of terrain and be in between Lurtz and the terrain, and they then become paralysed. A scary as hell prospect for even the biggest of Heroes (and this list really will struggle to kill the bigger threats except by wearing down through numbers and the 6 available Strikes). By making it within 1inch, it forces the opp to not hug the terrain and lets you get more of your spearless horde to wrap in around for traps and Duel dice. Perhaps it could have been limited to a scenario rule but it's here and it's cool so let's look at how you can make the most of it.
But the second issue: it's man-sized or smaller. So this has no effect on mounted Heroes. You'll have to put in some work and have a bit of luck shooting your opps Heroes off their horses before sending Lurtz for the kill. And finally, this is a Throwing Weapon, and therefore is not automatic. Lurtz has a 3+ shoot value, which is pretty decent, but there are two problems with this. If you want Lurtz to take his shot at knocking a big bad Aragorn to the ground and then having a turn of hacking him, you either have to hang back and get a shot at him in a shoot phase before combat (if you shoot into combat, there's a chance you'll pin your own guy instead), or you'll have to charge Lurtz straight into Aragorn and hope really, really hard that you hit. You can use Might to ensure the hit of course, but now you've got a new issue: you have to win the fight or Aragorn just jumps straight back up and your big chance is blown. Lurtz might have a banner to help, but so might Aragorn. But Aragorn can have a spear support, at his Fv, and you can't. Then it's a Strike-off, and most big bads will be F6 or higher so you're already at a disadvantage. But after all that, if you hit, if you out-Strike, and if you win the combat, you can do your 6 S5 attacks. And if the big bad has D6 or higher, you're averaging 2 Wounds, which is not enough to trouble any 3W and 1-3F big bad. Then next turn, if they win the Heroic Move-off, big bad is now back on his feet, and right in front of your not-very-big-bad-Leader, who now can't Shield.

So to get the most out of this rule, your timing has to be absolutely immacculate. You'll want to engineer a situation where big bad has become somewhat isolated, Lurtz can reach him (the 8mv helps) and you can get at least another friend or two into big bad as well, possibly even Ugluk as a second Striker to put the pressure on or Mauhur to help finish them off. But even after all that, there's a lot of luck involved.

And I've only alluded once in all that discussion of Lurtz to just how fragile he is. No HDefence, a Shield (some of the time) that doesn't improve his Defence due to being unable to drop his bow, only F5, and then D6 with 3W and 1F. Any big bad that only costs 50-60pts more will follow Aragorn and the Black Knight's examples and divide Lurtz into many seperate pieces in as little as one round of combat. But this Legion has 2/3 of its rules focussed entirely on him. If/when you lose him, you're back to having a Legion that exchanged an incredibly restricted list and no Break Point courage help for slightly faster Shieldwall fodder.

Playstyle tips and example list:

Because this list has so little in terms of options, as well as tools for dealing with big threats, this Legion will probably do best in low point events (a running theme for Quest Legions). That way you reduce the risk of dealing with a big bad, a strong spellcaster (all your Heroes, including Leader Lurtz, only have 1 Will point), or Siege Engines to force you to split up and be taken apart. It also means that very little will be able to match your potential mobility, and so you may find yourself winning the Scenario objectives but not the main fight quite often. With these ideas in mind, this list leans on mobility, numbers, and cheap Heroes to run around the back of an opponent and overwhelm whilst stealing the objectives (traps are really important to increasing the kill output of this Legion in the absence of spears, Hatred, or Ugluk's Animosity).

Lurtz with Shield
10xScouts with Shield
5x Scouts with Bow
225

Ugluk
7xScouts with Shield
4xScouts with Bow
164

Mauhur
7xScouts with Shield
2xScouts with Bow
2x Scouts with Bow and Alternate Weapons (Maces for knocking Heroes off horses to make way for Lurtz's Shield Throw or Axes for a cheeky bit of S5 to help with fairly prevalent D7)
161

Total pts: 550. Might: 8. Numbers: 40. Bows: 14.

Almost a full 50% over the Pts/20 guideline, this is a horde where everybody is 8mv, F4, S4, and a passable C3. I have spread the bows around the warbands mainly to keep the threat spread out for Scenarios with random deployment. But do not forget that in those Scenarios Lurtz counts as rolling a 6 for his warband, so you can either bring numbers to bear (and save Might) in Maelstrom deployment, or help you to deploy further back in e.g. Capture and Control to use your large amount of S3 bows to full effect before using your superior movement along with Heroic "Slingshots" to secure objectives later in the game. With the amount of S2 shooting, and S4 Strikes in the game, I always like to opt for D5 if possible. Additionally, you can pair up objective sitters with one with Shield to push back objective stealers, and one with bow to hide behind him and still influence the board whilst behind D5 cover. So you can opt to drop some or all of the Shields in exchange for up to 3 more Scouts but the ones you do have will just die faster. If you need help acquiring additional Shields for the 1/3 of the box that come without additional wargear, I strongly recommend blue stuff press-moulding, or else look for Dirty Deeds facebook page who makes a huge array of spare bits for SBG models to fix up your broken favourites.

The shooting superiority will be important to pull your enemy forward away from surrounding terrain so that you can encircle their Shieldwall and bring your numbers to bear whilst getting the traps you will need to get kills. You can keep your archers behind a wall if terrain is kind, or behind your Shields for a D5 in-the-way. You have 8mv, so the vast majority of infantry opponents will not be able to make the initial charge. In fact, even without March or Drums you can move 4 and shoot and your opp will only be able to gain 2" on you per turn or else be forced to use their precious Might on Marches (at which point you can run full away and only lose 1" of line-gain). You can split your archers to the sides evenly to threaten spears and banners (who should be one of your top priorities to kill), or Heroes hiding their mounts (or themselves from Lurtz!) behind the shieldwall. Alternatively, you can have your main line be archers (or mix them with the sheilds), and retreat whilst shooting whilst the other parts of your army get the manoeuvrability around the sides and if you're careful you can bring it all to bear at once. And don't forget that all Heroes have Heroic Shoot, which can really put the pressure on your opp and with your relatively plentiful Might it will likely cost them more to counter it than is worth it, allowing your to remove their archers and the threat they pose. But the nastiest shooting ability? Evil shoot into combat. Take away your own guys to deny a Heroic Combat, take out a big bad's horse, or even the big bad himself. 14 S3 bows is an average of 7 hits, 3.5 hit big bad, 1.75 hit his horse, roughly 49% chance of taking away the horse. Combat will not save his Heroes, and your troops are cheap, so rain your arrows on them! 

Don't be afraid to Shield when 1v1, by staying alive in one place, you're keeping the press there because his model is still there trapping his friends, and your model is still there giving you options for next turn and meaning he can't move away and relieve the pressure. Try and think like the Shieldwall press from Game of Thrones' Battle of the Bastards, except you have no spears, but you do have the Shields. But whilst spears aren't an option, Banners are- Banners can be added (and maybe should in more numbers than your usual army!) but they take away from your numbers. It's 3 scouts you're giving up per banner, not including the model who's carrying it and having to hang back with it (so give him a bow if you do take a banner). Then potentially you've got yet another model stood next to the Banner Bearer unengaged (again, bow), in case he gets sniped and the banner needs to be passed on. In the right context, Banners can make your Heroes more consistent, double your no-spear line's dice to win their fights, and count for VPs in 1/6 of the Scenarios. Very much down to personal taste, and if I was going up to 600pts I might even just add two to the above list rather than go for another Hero or Drummer. But at 550 I'd tip towards just straight-forward weight of numbers. 

Drums can be added but for my money they're a 1F warrior for 35pts. Based on Battle Company pts value allocations (not the most consistent system but it's all we've got to work with), you've got a basic scout for 8 pts, add +1 D and C for 10, Fate for 15, meaning the drum is about 20pts, which is 5pts more than an Easterling War Drum but you also gain a Stand Fast! on an Uruk Drummer so there's that. So you pay for an additional March, which can stack with regular March, and has a 12" range rather than 6". You don't have to finish moving in range of the Dummer like with a March, but you can't be selective with who uses the Drum-March and who doesn't, so you'll have to be very, very careful with measuring movements and ensuring you only "get" the models you want to, but you have to declare it at the start of the move phase which makes it harder. You may therefore try to leave him further back so that the front can charge but the further back models can move around the back for traps, or else have a very speedy flanking manoeuvre for the next turn. But by leaving your dummer in the open, your 35pt investment is one lucky arrow and a 50/50 fate roll away from popping. In the Special Scenarios Pool, they become an outright liability. They're too risky for me, but a very skilled player could use one to good effect with practice. 

And a final word to the Heroes. Ugluk has a 12" auto-standfast which affects friendly Hero models as well as the troops, at the cost of beheading one friendly warrior within 2". You have large numbers so don't be afraid to make the most of it. This does help make up for your losing the Army Bonus somewhat, but Ugluk is even squishier than Lurtz and so may be hard work keeping alive for those late stages. Especially given that he is your only other Striking option after Lurtz, so you may be tempted/need to put him in situations he may not survive. But if you use him to call the Heroic Shoots, you carefully use him to Strike against Heroes that can't do Strike back, the Might has been used and break point is coming up, maybe look at retreating him from the front line to safety to ensure you stay in the fight until the end. Don't be tempted to over-reach with Mauhur- 3 attacks is great but 2W 1F and no Strike means he's an easy target for traps such as an enemy Heroic Combat or just simply spaffing his roll against warriors. You'll want to charge two enemies every turn, but for longevity and consistently pulling 1 guy off the board per turn I prefer to play him safer. At the same time, if you can find an opp model that's just a bit isolated on the flank, go at him with a Hero and as many bodies as you can get, and call a Heroic Combat. Sling them all off on an extra move to get more bodies and traps in combat. Finally, the Scout Captain is there as an option, but he's more or less the same pts as the named Lieutenants (who are just better), and all 3 of the named Heroes have March so he doesn't bring anything unique to the table, so the list kinda naturally caps out around the 600pt mark anyway.

Strengths:

· Numbers

· "Good" Evil shooting

· Plenty of Might and useful Heroics

· Manoeuvrability, including underrated Woodland Creature

· Solid F4 S4 C3 basic warriors

· Lurtz bullying Heroes 

 

Weaknesses:

· Courage: Terror-causing opps will prevent you bringing your numbers to bear. Somewhat mitigated by extra move but comes back to the no spear problem.

· Harbinger of Evil: In conjunction with above, you're completely stuffed.

· Elves: Not many of them but usually have D6 and S3 and 24" range and sometimes Blinding Light into the bargain, so your shooting superiority is probably gone.

· Siege Engines: If you have to space out, you'll struggle to bring numbers to bear. You don't have many valuable targets, but it's a different problem posed. Use your speed and bows to take out the crew ASAP.

· Spellcasters: 1Will per Hero is your lot. Use speed and bows to get to their Wizards fast.

· Big bads: Your options are really, really limited. Drown in bodies and arrows until they run out of Might, then send in the Strikers.

· All-cav armies. You're outmanoeuvred, without spears, and very likely at a lower Fv. You'd better hope you get an outstanding shoot phase (or if you're lucky with 18" bows and a HMove, two shoot phases).

· Squishy Leader: With so much focus on Lurtz for the special rules, he's very fragile. Could be easy VPs for your opp. Be careful not to bite off more than he can chew or leave him open to being run over by a big bad. 

Legion suggestions for improvement and conclusion:

With the Isengard Army Bonus literally being named for Saruman's speech to Lurtz's scout party, it's a bit weird that the 66% breaking rule hasn't carried over. Especially for an army that in all likelihood will take a lot of casualties and will be pretty spread out as opposed to concentrated in a Shieldwall. Perhaps it was for a balancing issue, but honestly, I think this Legion needs a bit more help and it wouldn't be OP for having that rule.

The Shield Throw rule I'm not a fan of. I discussed above how I thought it was going to be written, and I'm a little disappointed how lucky you have to get with using it especially as it's one of your precious few tools for taking out big threats. If it was an auto-hit, that would be a reasonable amount scarier. If it enacted the Stun special rule, it would be a much better tool for one-shotting big bads. As it is, it's inconsistent at absolute best, but also comes with the drawback of losing the ability to Shield on your squishy Leader. I wouldn't be surprised if players get to the end of a day tournament and either haven't used it or forgot they had it.

Staying with the fluff, A Worthy Foe allows Lurtz to bully all Heroes. Except that isn't what he did in the film- he sniped Boromir (in combat) with 3 consecutive on-target wounding shots, and then went toe-to-toe with Aragorn for longer than almost any other adversary across the trilogy, severely bloodying him in the process. Then from a practical point of view, it centres on possibly the least used Heroic apart from Resolve, and on a Hero that doesn't really have the Combat ability to take advantage of it. But he does make a point of licking a dagger covered in his own blood- Blood and Glory rule for Lurtz to lean on this Legion's Might advantage and even compliment this HChallenge focus and Shield Throw's potential to take out Heroes? Or even the option to drop the bow and go to D7 like he does after being tackled by Aragorn? To emphasise his proficiency with the bow, perhaps he could have Heroic Accuracy to help with the Uruk shooting? In the books Boromir dies to a cloud of Uruk arrows, so it would make sense. Given his 3 in a row dead-eye-shots, perhaps he counts as having accuracy and can re-roll hits and in-the-ways? That would even help with the Shield Throw rule! It would also make this Legion the real kings of shooting into combat as a tactic, something a bit unique. 

Or to move away from the focus on what Lurtz can do, what scouts with no spears struggle with is winning combats, so perhaps you could have allowed named Heroes who have charged to count as banners? Reflects the aggression, makes the troops a little more consistent. Or to transfer the angle of Lurtz bullying minor Heroes, it's really his troops that are charged with kidnapping the halflings, so perhaps you could give the scouts an option to knock out Hero models rather than wound them and like a spider web it requires a fate to avoid. This then applies a pressure like a Morgul Blade does where your opp might take wounds as opposed to spending fate because they want to avoid being knocked out, which can mean getting Leader wound VPs. And then you have an option to carry Heroes away from objectives, or the troops they give effects to, etc. But maybe that kind of mechanic is better suited to staying in scenario play?

On balance for me, this Legion doesn't provide a viable alternative to an Isengard list for Matched Play, and it's not even close. But if you were going to do a pure scout army anyway, you may as well use this. Ugluk's Scouts has better fluff and better viability, but no Lurtz. At the same time, if you go for a pure Isengard list, you can also take Vrasku as another Scout Captain option and he also gains the Woodland creature rule, and as discussed you get the 66% break rule, and access to everything else in the Isengard list. And in that comparison, I think that's where my disappointment with this Legion lies: It's almost no better than if you just took these exact models from the pure Isengard Army List, so you're not really rewarded for limiting your profile selections. You get one fluff rule that's an inconsistent gamble, and another that doesn't really reflect the character *that* well. But I hope people will find tricks to use with it that I haven't thought of, and most importantly I hope people have a lot of fun with this with friends or at casual tournaments.

Lurtz's Scouts LL score: 2/10

Next time: Depths of Moria

Fantasy Fellowships: Part I: The Journey to Rivendell

We begin the Fantasy Fellowships campaign! Due to the latest social restrictions, Tom and Vince are unable to do their scenarios for now, and so will catch up at a later date.

I decided that the best way to lay out these write ups was group up scenarios into blocks as opposed to drips and drabs. I'll run through each Fellowships journey one by one giving a quick rundown of how each scenario played out. Starting with...

CJ

Scenario 1- The Buckleberry Ferry

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid and Grima

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The friends initally attempt a stealthy approach, but as they near the Ferry, something alerts their hunters and two come close. Dori manages to successfully fail his sneaking, as he bashes one then the other to death. During this Khamul, not hearing any alarm wanders off into the wilds. As Bilbo, Dori and Grima go off on the Ferry, Alfrid attempts to swim and is dragged out half drowned on the other side. They all make their escape. 

Kills

Dori- 2

Bravest companion- Dori        Fool- Alfrid

GOOD WIN

Scenario 2- Fog on the Barrow Downs

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid, Grima, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

Evil- 4x Barrow Wights

The friends are quickly lost on the Barrow Downs in the thick fog. Bilbo wanders off as he gets lost, while Dori and Grima are gripped by paralysis. The fog clears unveiling the Barrow Wights that harass them. They continue to be barraged with magic until only Bilbo remains free, while Tom Bombadil makes his way over. 

Dori is put upon the Barrow ready for sacrifice, but is saved at the last second by a refreshing song from Tom. Grima is almost sacrificed too but the Wight misses it's stab. Tom manages to banish a Wight, as Dori slays two of them. Tom then replenishes several of them while Dori slays the last.

Kills

Dori- 3

Bravest companion- Alfrid        Fool- Grima

GOOD WIN

Scenario 3- Weathertop

Participants- Bilbo, Dori, Alfrid, Grima and Bard (kinda)

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The friend's, having met with Bard travel on their final stretch towards Rivendell. But, one night, as they rest in Amon Sul, they hear the shriek that they fear...

While Alfrid and Grima charge the wraiths before them, Dori freezes in terror! Something he has never done before. A second wraith jumps on Alfrid and beats him down, while Grima is put aside by a black dart.

Dori leaps in to redeem himself, trying to hold the wraiths back as there is no sign of Bard. But he goes down to 1w, 0f and 0m. The next turn he manages to defeat a wraith before being knocked down himself. Bilbo is then stabbed by a wraith as the Witch King engages him. Bilbo rolls a 2 on his survival, narrowly escaping death, like his nephew did. We can only assume Bard arrived here and saved the friends, but not soon enough to avoid getting the title of 'Fool of a Took'.

 

Kills

Dori- 1

Bravest companion- Dori        Fool- Bard

EVIL WIN

CJ's survival rolls. Green- Bilbo, Red- Dori, Blue- Alfrid and Black- Grima.

James

Scenario 1- The Buckleberry Ferry

Participants- Bilbo, Hamfast Gamgee, Fili and Kili

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The group attempts to sneak to the Ferry but a Wraith is blocking their path. An impetuous Kili draws his bow and fires before anyone can stop him. He hits but fails to wound and raises the alarm. Hamfast sees Bilbo being threatened and leaps in to save the Ringbearer, bringing down the wraith, while Fili defeats another. The last pops as its will runs out.

Kills

Hamfast- 1

Fili- 1

Bravest companion- Hamfast

GOOD WIN

Scenario 2- Fog on the Barrow Downs

Participants- Bilbo, Hamfast, Fili, Kili, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

Evil- 4x Barrow Wights

Fili and Kili get quickly lost in the fog and wander dangerously close to a Barrow. They are peppered with paralyses before Tom arrives, Kili is found in a Barrow almost sacrificed, but with a defeated Wight beside him. Hamfast has basically wandered over to a Barrow and laid himself on the stone slab before coming to his senses and rushing back over to his allies. Fili manages to slay a Wight with a throwing axe before Tom casually banishes the last two.

Kills

Fili- 1

Kili- 1

Bravest companion- Fili        Fool- Kili

GOOD WIN

Scenario 3- Weathertop

Participants- Bilbo, Hamfast, Fili, Kili and Aragorn

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The Ringwraiths encircle the hobbits and dwarves, Bilbo is attacked by the Witch King. Not only does Bilbo win the fight, but he also defeats the Witch King! Kili downs another wraith nearby but Hamfast is downed and Fili takes a black dart, followed by a wound in combat to remove him. Aragorn then arrives and quickly defeats two, one having the flaming brand thrown in his face, before charging and defeating the last as well. 

Kills

Bilbo- 1

Kili- 1

Aragorn- 3

Bravest companion- Fili

GOOD WIN

Kieran

Scenario 1- The Buckleberry Ferry

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod and Aldor

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The hobbits and archers manage to successfully sneak past the sentries as Frodo calls a crucial heroic move to get by.

No Kills

Bravest companion- Frodo

GOOD WIN

Scenario 2- Fog on the Barrow Downs

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod, Aldor, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

Evil- 4x Barrow Wights

In the second turn, the friends call out for Tom Bombadil. Frodo is paralysed twice, the first time his friends revive him and the next, he rouses himself. Tom arrives, and banishes two Wights over a few turns. Sam manages to chip in with a kill of his own, but Damrod fails endless courage tests.Goldberry arrives and starts refreshing the friends with songs. The last Wight runs out of will as they make their escape!

Kills

Sam- 1

Bravest companion- Sam        Fool- Damrod

GOOD WIN

Scenario 3- Weathertop

Participants- Frodo, Sam, Damrod, Aldor and Aragorn

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

Aragorn arrives on his first try. Frodo is black darted in turn 3, taking a wound. Aldor fails his courage to charge and his shots all miss for three turns. The Ringwraiths make another attempt on Frodo but fail to get any wounds or through his resistance to magic. Two more wraiths are on a single will point before being charged and sapped of it. Sam jumps in to save Frodo as Aragorn cuts down the Witch King and last wraith.

Kills

Sam- 1

Aragorn- 2

Bravest companion- Sam        Fool- Aldor

GOOD WIN

Sam

Scenario 1- The Buckleberry Ferry

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor and Grima

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The friends sneak the way around the searching wraiths and just about manage to make it aboard the Ferry after several near misses with discovery. As Smeagol and Grima run on the other bank, Aldor draws his bow and snipes out a Ringwraith on the opposite bank. Lotho swims across the river, a little miffed about being left behind. 

Kills

Aldor- 1

Bravest companion- Aldor

GOOD WIN

Scenario 2- Fog on the Barrow Downs

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor, Grima, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

Evil- 4x Barrow Wights

Sensing danger, Smeagol and friends pull together. When they see a Barrow Wight, Grima pounces and slays it as Smeagol kills another. Aldor misses all his shots, fails his courage test and then is paralysed. Grima manages to kill a second before Tom Bombadil arrives and banishes the last.

Kills

Smeagol- 1

Grima- 2

Bravest companion- Grima        Fool- Aldor

GOOD WIN

Scenario 3- Weathertop

Participants- Smeagol, Lotho, Aldor, Grima and Theodred

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The friends all rush at the Witch King as Aldor moves half and prepares to fire. He doesn't get the chance as he receives three black darts and is quickly removed as a threat. Grima loses his fight and is also removed, while Smeagol manages to survive the Morgul blade attack with fate after Lotho threw gold at the Witch King to avoid it himself. Smeagol panics and climbs up onto the ruins, leaving Lotho to hold off three wraiths, he pays a fourth to not attack. Then manages to win the fight with his might. 

Theodred arrivesand pushes back two wraiths who attack him. He pushes on into the Witch King and another, defeating both. Lotho holds another back as it pops from will exhaustion and Smeagol defeats another that chased him up the ruins. Theodred throws his brand at the last setting it ablaze and saving them by the skin of their teeth.

Kills

Smeagol- 1

Theodred- 3

Bravest companion- Lotho

GOOD WIN

Will

Scenario 1- The Buckleberry Ferry

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod and Denethor

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

The Gondorian band and Frodo take a careful and sneaky approach, but just as they start to rush for the Ferry, the Nazgul sense their presence and pull back. Denethor throws caution to the wind, draws his sword and with Damrod, a pair of the Ringwraiths are removed but the alarm is raised. The last throws a flurry of spells at Frodo, until he pops.

Kills

Damrod- 1

Denethor- 1

Bravest companion- Frodo

GOOD WIN

Scenario 2- Fog on the Barrow Downs

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod, Denethor, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

Evil- 4x Barrow Wights

A real war of attrition as the Wights paralyse tirelessly but each time their prey wakes up instantly. Frodo scores an early wound on one. Once Tom Bombadil arrives, closely followed by Goldberry, there isn't much hope for the Wight's anymore as the pair restore the Gondorians back to full fitness. Bombadil banishes two Wights and Damrod eventually kills the other two.

Kills

Damrod- 2

Bravest companion- Damrod

GOOD WIN

Scenario 3- Weathertop

Participants- Frodo, Pippin, Damrod, Denethor and Boromir

Evil- 3x Ringwraiths

A dire start is had as both Denethor and Damrod freeze in terror as the Nazgul surround them. Pippin moves and exposes Frodo, who saves the Morgul blade stab with fate. Damrod is quickly injured and removed from the fight by two wraiths, while Denethor loses his fight and takes a wound. The remaining Gondorians pull back into a narrow gap, Denethor is downed by a black dart and the other Nazgul surround Pippin and Frodo. The former is also downed, leaving Frodo alone and on 1w, 0f and 0m. But then Boromir arrives. He slowly drains three wraiths of their will and downs a fourth, but the Witch King keeps up with Frodo as he retreats around the rim of the ruin and stabs him.

Kills

Boromir- 1

Bravest companion- Boromir        Fool- Pippin (Who else?)

EVIL WIN

That's the opening of five of the Fantasy Fellowships' quests, hopefully it won't be too long before the next part, 'The Long Dark of Moria'.