Five players (Josh, CJ, James, John, Will) and myself gathered in early December for a big, end of year blowout game of a large scale. We thought about what we would like to play, ideas including the Battle of the Pelennor, the Defence of Helms Deep and eventually settled on a custom Siege of Edoras battle.
I should state before going any further that there was no playtesting at all for this, and it was a matter of me throwing together some rules and getting a group decision on what feels fair. So, there was a risk of things being one sided, but we just wanted spectacle ultimately.
The Rules
Deployment
Evil must deploy 12” away from the walls. Good may deploy anywhere inside the walls, including upon them.
Evil would deploy a force first, then Good would deploy their first force. Alternating until all 6 forces are deployed.
Special Rules
- Hama will do all in his power to protect his son, Haleth. He will receive the same bonuses as Aragorn from Haleth. If Haleth is slain, Hama is driven mad with grief and must charge every turn that he is able. If he cannot, he must move full distance towards the nearest one.
- When Theoden is within 6", ROHAN WARRIOR models may reroll 1s to wound, when making strikes in combat.
- Haldir grants a reroll to hit with each LOTHLORIEN WARRIOR for a shooting roll within 3".
- Aragorn carries his Urukbane dagger from the Breaking of the Fellowship LL.
- From Turn 7 onwards, Theoden, Gamling, Aragorn, Legolas and Rohan Royal Guard may go into base contact with a building inside the fortress (excluding the walls and watchtowers). If they do so, they begin the next turn mounted. Gamling also gains the Royal Standard. They may each do this only once and nothing will prevent it e.g. shooting, combat etc.
- Good will have Aldor and Haleth in their force for free.
- Rohirrim armed with throwing spears may use them to support friendly models, if they have not thrown them that turn.
- Shield equipped URUK-HAI models may form a tortoise by having a minimum of 6 models in base contact with a minimum of 2 rows and 2 columns. This will increase the involved models' defence by +2 against shooting attacks, but they can only move half distance in this formation.
- The Gates are always considered trapped, when taking strikes from striking models. Uruk-hai Captains and Scout Captains may use Heroic Strength, when using the ram.
- If Evil detonates a bomb against a section of wall, that section is removed and the space between is 3" wide and has an area of 3" becoming difficult terrain from the centre. Where the wall stood prior is impassable terrain.
- Once per game, Saruman may grant a 6" bubble that allows URUK-HAI WARRIOR models to reroll all failed wounding rolls in combat.
- Any URUK-HAI WARRIOR model within 3" of Nurtz* may roll a D6 for each wound taken, on a natural 6, the wound is ignored.
- Thrydan may use his War Cry ability from the Army of Dunland LL.
- Nurtz may use his shield throw rule from Lurtz's Scouts LL.
*See CJ's list below to understand who Nurtz is
Secret Special Rule
Each force has one secret rule up their sleeve, each side is aware of the opponent's having a secret, but doesn't know what it is.
- (Good) Play this rule in Turn 9, after all other movement is done. Choose a board edge outside the Fortress. Gandalf on Shadowfax, Eomer w/ Horse and 12 Riders of Rohan (1x Banner, all having throwing spears) arrive from that board edge. They may charge on arrival and will gain +1 Fight value and +1 Str on the charge, while mounted.
- (Evil) Play this rule in Turn 4, after all other movement is done. The Wildman Oathmaker and his Wildmen do not deploy at the beginning of the game. Instead they arrive in Turn 4, after all other players have moved. They start in base contact with any building inside the Fortress (except the walls, watchtowers or Golden Hall), as they snuck inside with the refugees in the weeks before, and may charge on arrival.
The Armies
Good (500pts each)
James (the Defenders of Rohan)
We decided that since Theoden had not left Edoras, that Hama had therefore not perished to the Warg Riders, and could be used by James.
Heroes- (Leader) Theoden, Gamling, Hama, Haleth, Aldor and King’s Huntsman
Warriors- Rohan Royal Guard and Warriors of Rohan
John (Pre-selected force- the Three Hunters)
Heroes- (Leader) Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli
Will (The Reinforcing Galadhrim)
Heroes- (Leader) Haldir and Orophin
We allowed Orophin to be brought to add another named hero for Will to use that doesn’t often get game time.
Warriors- Galadhrim warriors
The Good forces would also have 3x Piles of Rocks, 2x Boiling Oil and 1x Rally Point from the War in Rohan book.
Evil (800pts each)
Josh (Isengard)
We decided to spice things up, by saying that in this alternate timeline, Saruman led the assault himself, keen to see his victory with his own eyes. We also said that Josh and CJ could use the named scout heroes to add more named heroes into the game. But because the characters themselves are dead, some creative renaming was brought into place.
Heroes- (Leader) Saruman the White, Grima, Nauhur (Mauhur but not) and Uruk Captain
Warriors- Uruk berserkers, Uruk scouts and an Isengard Troll
CJ (Isengard)
Heroes- (Leader) Nurtz (Lurtz but not), Vrasku, Uruk-hai Captain and 2 Siege Ballistae
Warriors- Uruk berserkers, Uruk-hai warriors and a Uruk Demolition Crew
Me (Dunland)
Heroes- (Leader) Thrydan Wolfsbane, Gorulf Ironskin, Frida Tallspear, the Wildman Oathmaker and a Dunland Chieftain
Warriors- Dunlending Huscarls, Dunlending warriors, Wildmen of Dunland and Crebain
Evil would also have 2 Battering rams and 12-15 siege ladders.
Objectives
- Whichever army has more models on the wall at the end of the game scores 1VP, if they have double the opponents', the instead gain 2VPs.
- If at the end of the game Theoden or Saruman are alive, their army scores 3VPs. If they are slain, their opponents' score 3VPs.
- If at the end of the game Aragorn/Haldir/Nurtz/Thrydan are alive, their army scores 1VP each. If they are slain, their opponents' score 1VP each.
- The army with more models within the Fortress at the end of the game gains 4VPs, if it's a draw they both gain 2VPs.
- If there are no models at all on the hill with the Golden Hall at the end of the game, or Good has the majority upon it they gain 3VPs. If Evil has the majority they gain 1VP, if they hold it with no Good models to contest it, they instead gain 3VPs.
- If the Evil Siege Engine(s) are mostly still functional (has at least 1x crew member and not destroyed), they gain 3VPs. If they are mostly destroyed, Good gains 3VPs.
The Game
Deployment
First to deploy was Nurtz’s force, who went off to the left flank with his bomb squad and several ladders. He deployed his crossbows on the large rock formation in the middle to be able to shoot over the heads of the army.
Good deployed their elven archers in the centre of the wall, with Haldir in the middle. Orophin and the warriors deployed further back, in the middle of the fortress, ready to go, where they were needed.
Dunland was then deployed onto evil’s right flank and across from a gate with a ram and several ladders. The Oathmaker was nowhere to be seen, but Gorulf was holding the far right ladder.
Rohan then set out their troops, with Theoden, Gamling and his Royal Guard outside the doors of the Golden Hall. Hama and Haleth joining Orophin with some troops and the King’s Huntsman manning a tower in the centre as Rohirrim filled gaps on the walls.
Evil deployed their last force, led by Saruman in the middle and put the scouts around to reinforce the groups already deployed. Grima, we decided had already been kicked out of Edoras and so wouldn’t be able to worm his way back to Theoden.
The Dunnish troops amass outside the walls.
And finally, the three hunters were laid down, with Legolas in the other tower and Aragorn/Gimli joining the central group of troops.
While Aragorn leads the block of troops to plug any holes in the defences.
Before the game began, we all made a gentlemanly agreement to keep the game interesting. Good wouldn’t kill off evil heroes with a hailstorm of arrows, if Evil doesn’t spam ballista bolts at their heroes.
The King's Huntsman surveys the enemy. Can the defences hold?
Turn 1
So it begins...
Before the game began, Aldor kicked off proceedings as he fired his bow, and sent the arrow sailing wide of the mark. Evil took that as enough of a sleight and charged. CJ’s Captain (Rocky) called a Heroic March to get the demolition squad to close the gap with the wall.
The Rohirrim prepare to rain spears down on their foes.
Aldor and the elves prepare to defend their wall.
The evil hordes surge towards the walls and the defenders notch their arrows. Both Vrasku and Aragorn call Heroic Shoots, which evil takes. A storm of bolts fly through the air and most stick into the walls, but the ones that go through fail to find their mark. Then some of Saruman's cunning is shown, as a ballista bolt sails through the air and raises a ladder to their far right flank, Gorulf clinging onto it and slams into combat with a defender.
Gorulf recklessly gets thrown into the walls defences.
In the shooting that follows, the Rohirrim struggle to land any shots, killing a single Dunnish archer. However in the Heroic Shoot, called by Aragorn, the elves rain death upon their foes and shoot dead FIVE Huscarls!
The Elves show that they are a force to be reckoned with as many Huscarls fall.
In the combat phase, there is only one to do. Gorulf incensed by the glory to be won, swats the sword of the defender aside and hacks him down brutally. Evil has a foothold!
Gorulf Ironskin is the first evil on the walls.
Turn 2
Inspired by such early progress, evil rushes forward and raises their ladders. Due to their march in turn 1, some Uruks are able to scale the ladders partway.
Following Gorulf, the rest of the evil host joins the push.
The rest of Dunland also reaches the walls. (Ignore the archer atop the ladder, he shouldn't have been there).
On the left flank, the uruks group their ladders together to overwhelm the defence.
The defenders aren't sitting on their hands however, and they start to fight back, with those not holding bows or ranged weapons pushing the ladders. The most notable success being when a man of Rohan shoves down the ladder with CJ's Captain, Rocky on it. He falls and takes two wounds, having to then use his might to pass his fate roll and survive.
James' 'shit-hot' rolling puts Rocky in an awkward spot.
Rocky just about survives his brush with death.
Into the shoot phase, evil fires a mass volley again and finds all their shots blocked by the walls. While the elves and Rohirrim pick off some targets, and one elf hurls a rock from the pile and lands it on Josh's Capt, Pointy, causing a wound.
Pointy, front of the ram, takes a rock from the elf, right, to the helmet.
In the combat phase, Gorulf hacks down a second defender, trying to make space for his reinforcements and Josh's ram lands a heavy blow, wounding his gate. When the earth shakes and a loud boom echoes through the hills. The bomb detonated beside the wall, with the berserker who lit it, covered in Legolas' arrows that failed to wound him. Several are taken in the explosion and a few defenders are killed by the fall from their walls. A ladder is shattered by the explosion also.
With a part of the wall fallen, Good must now plug the gap before evil can rush through and assault the Golden Hall.
Turn 3
Aragorn was the first to recover from the explosion, he rallied a group of warriors and called a Heroic March, leading several elves along with Orophin towards the gap in the wall. Leaving Gimli, Hama and Haleth to defend the weakened central gate.
To the right, a Rohirrim throws a spear at Gorulf and leaves a deep gash down his flank from the blade and the others prepare to defend the ladders. To the left, the surviving warriors stand and block the breach to buy Aragorn time. Saruman then casts a sorcerous blast into that combat and kills a warrior.
The Dunnish Chieftain throws himself up the ladder, desperate to cause harm to Aldor. The Crebain fly up into a gap and distract the elves.
The Uruks, led by Mauhur (closest ladder), begin a mass assault on the central walkway that is now isolated, as their ladder has fallen inside the breach.
Legolas now comes into his own, when Good's need is greatest and he confidently picks off two Uruk pikemen assaulting the breach. Carrying the momentum, an elf hurls boiling oil (I was informed that this was in fact not oil, but Eowyn's hottest stew) over the ramparts. It splashes across the shield on Frida's back, causing a wound and spattering over two warriors on her ram, killing both.
The stew thrown by the elf to the left of the gate, weakens Frida's ram for the turn.
It's then evil's turn to respond, the crossbows again fail to kill anything over the walls. However, the ballistae adjust their aims and both fire at either gate.
The left ballista opens fire on the central gate.
And with some insane rolling from CJ, both shots hit and wound the gates!
The defenders up their game, seeing how much threat that they are under, Aldor and his elven friend push back and wound the Chieftain. However, Nauhur breaches his wall and gets onto the ramparts, Frida's ram wounds her gate and finally...the Troll rains blows down on the weakened gate.
Bring your pretty face to my axe!
Turn 4
The turn began with the bellow of a Troll as it charged through the gate into Gimli via a Heroic Move. Good responded as Aragorn rushed into the breach with the elves to meet them. Hama groups up the central unit ready to assist Gimli, when an opening is made. A Royal Guard throws a spear at Gorulf, but this time, it impales him, gasping for breath, he goes into a berserk fury and meets the challenge although sluggishly.
Evil then charges into the breach and engages the first of the defenders. As the movement settles down, several crashes and war cries break out from the nearby house. The door is flung open and wildmen pour from it and out the windows too! They charge in all directions; some attack Haleth, some break towards the rear of Aragorn's defence, another starts scaling the ladder to Legolas and two rush up the hill towards the King!
The Good team panic as this unexpected threat suddenly materialises right behind them!
Legolas continues to shoot into the pikes coming into the breach picking off two more and the King's Huntsman shoots dead a Dunnish archer. But to their horror, the second gate fell into splinters as another ballista bolt shattered it off it's hinges and there was no force in immediate place to hold back the men coming through. Haldir was nearby with a group of elves and would have to do his best.
The ballista destroys the second gate and the attackers seem to have the upper hand.
The Good forces end up cutting down most of the reckless wildmen without much difficulty, they do lose a single elf to one of them however. Aragorn cuts down the uruk that came at him and his elves hold back the tide for the turn. Gimli called a Heroic Strike and, while he overcomes the troll, he fails to wound the beast, despite the bonus granted by Legolas leading.
Gorulf bleeding profusely from the spear impaling him, takes a wild swipe with both axes at the Royal Guard using a piercing strike and rolling a 3 highest, even with the nearby banner, loses to the Royal Guard's 4. Because of the piercing strike, the Royal Gaurd's 4 to wound was enough and the Ironskin is slain!
Turn 5
The Oathmaker and Aragorn both call Heroic Moves, evil takes it and quickly Aragorn is pincered and his elves held down as the remaining wildmen attack and the storming uruks pour in. Nurtz attacks Aragorn from the front and Saruman successfully immobilises him. The uruks on the central wall start to jump down to attack the defenders from behind and a couple die from the fall.
The Dunlendings pour through the broken gate and prepare to charge into Haldir's elves. The elves shoot into the mass and kill a couple. A lone archer on the wall, leaps onto the ladder for the tower and attacks the Rohan archer at the top.
Gimli pulls back, sensing a long battle that he may not win against the troll.
Aragorn's defence looks a lot more dangerous with the interference of a wizard.
In the shooting, Legolas again makes himself known as he shoots dead another two pikes, but a wildman has appeared on the ladder behind him. In the combat, Aragorn is wounded by Nurtz. The Oathmaker takes a glancing blow from the elf that he attacked and Orophin cuts down the Uruk that has attacked him.
Haleth surrounds a wildman with three Rohirrim and underestimates his opponent, as the furious man hacks at him with the scimitar and causes a wound!
Turn 6
Again, the Oathmaker and Aragorn both call Heroic Moves and it seems that fate is on Evil's side as they win it again! The evil hordes charge once again and Aragorn has Nurtz throw his shield, which sails far and wide of its target, never to be seen again. He pins Aragorn with the still horribly wounded Rocky. The Oathmaker and Nauhur have grabbed an elf and the fighting becomes very close quarters. Saruman shoves his oar in again and manages to cast a channelled immobilise on Aragorn, whose will is all gone.
Aragorn's defence is in trouble with the white wizard interfering.
Legolas doesn't get a chance to shoot this time as the wildman leaps up off the ladder and attacks, only to be deftly parried and tossed over the ramparts to his death. Gimli is down below against two scouts and calls a Heroic Combat with the intention to join Hama (who successfully did his own Heroic combat to attack), Haleth and the warriors against the troll. Gimli fluffs his combat and fails to do so however. The troll, to the dismay of Good wins the combat and looks at Haleth with a predatory intent (maybe because of my cries for his head...)
However, the troll rolled this to wound...
The troll swings his sword wildly at Haleth, who drops to the floor and narrowly avoids death as the beast's blade is buried in the side of the house.
The Oathmaker uses his last might for a Heroic Combat, but he and Nauhur lose the roll off and the last of the Wildmen finds himself cut down by an elven blade! Nearby, Aragorn, weighed down by the magic, is overcome by the Uruks and is brought down to 2w, 0f!
Turn 7
Sensing critical turns coming, Heroic Moves are called by Aragorn, Nauhur and Frida. Evil has fortune smiling upon them as they win AGAIN!
The battlefield at the beginning of turn 7.
Nauhur goes first and charges his troops into the elves, as Saruman sorcerous blasts Aragorn into Rocky. Rocky is killed from the impact and Aragorn takes a wound from the blast and the impact too, meaning that he is also slain!
The charges are completed by Good but moments later, both Aragorn and Rocky are killed by Saruman's magic.
Frida then calls her Heroic Move and leads the Dunlendings into the elves. Thrydan charges Haldir in the fray.
The Dunlendings hit the elves en masse, Thrydan faces down Haldir, but in the combat the elf comes out on top and dismounts him.
Legolas, seeing his allies in trouble, does what he does. He shuns the ladder behind him and instead leaps over his defences onto the wall below, where he is attacked by an Uruk and promptly slays it.
Legolas dismounts his tower to kill an uruk below.
Orophin, now leading the defence at the breach with Aragorn's death, calls a Heroic Combat and kills the Uruk to pounce upon Nurtz, who he brings down to 1w, 1f in a flurry of blade strokes!
Orophin almost lays low Nurtz in a surprise attack.
In the last combat of the turn, Aldor swings his sword and claims his first kill, cutting down the Uruk scout upon the ladder.
Turn 8
The first light in the sky starts to show as turn 8 begins and as the breached wall starts to fall, a loud horn is blown from the Golden Hall and Theoden along with Gamling and two of his Royal Guard charge out of the courtyard, down the hill and into the fray!
Theoden enters the battle, looking to make such an end, as to be worthy of rememberance.
*Apologies but I forgot to take any other pictures this turn*
Hama was charged by Pointy and brought him down to 1w, 0f with a clean backswing of his sword, that was successfully fated. The troll fought Gimli and the dwarf withstood a heavy beating of the massive sword, clinging on at 1w, 0f.
And finally, Thrydan along with his Chieftain, who had limped through the gate after falling from the ladder, both assaulted Haldir. Haldir had been forced to spend 2m the previous turn, due to the close proximity of Grima, and was now forced to fight Thrydan as he was. Thrydan's men caused a wound quickly and then the Warchief himself, swung his sword viciously and brutally cut down the elven leader!
Turn 9
As dawn is on the brink of breaking, Legolas spies the white wizard below him and leaps over the battlements, slides down the ladder and attacks him, to prevent any further magic!
At the breach, Theoden led the counter attack, with all good forces fighting back against their attackers including Gamling charging Nauhur.
In the courtyard, beside the central gate, things look bad for Hama's defenders as Frida approaches with a horde, while Gimli attacks two berserkers. And Haleth leads another charge against the troll!
Back at the other gate, Thrydan assists his troops against the remaining elves on the ground.
As dawn breaks, warhorns are heard. Before evil knew what was happening, a flood of cavalry poured in from the left side of the fortress! Gandalf leading in the bright sunlight alongside Eomer! They both flew in and joined the fight against Saruman! And the riders threw a cloud of spears into nearby uruks, killing several!
In the shoot phase, the ballistae and crossbows manage to land some shots and kill elves upon the walls, while another bolt flies into the combat and wounds Eomer!
In the combat phase, Eomer called a Heroic Combat and between the three heroes, benefitting from the +1 FV and +1 Str of the charge, cut down the soiled white wizard, with Legolas claiming the kill! Saruman was slain! Legolas used the combat to climb back up onto the wall, and Gandalf with Eomer both soared past the wall and assaulted the rearguard at the central gate, Gandalf pouncing upon Vrasku.
'Saruman...your skull, is broken!'
The fall of Saruman, signalled a turn of absolute carnage...
At the central gate, the battle turned up several notches as both forces were attacked from a new angle, Evil from behind and Good from their left. Good took the first big hit, as the heavily wounded Gimli desperately tried to fight off two berserkers, but the ferocity of their attacks broke through and the dwarf was brutally hacked down to the floor behind the gate, where he died.
Next, the troll fought against the Rohirrim and, after shoving them all back, followed up with a heavy stroke of his sword, which found its mark. Haleth was thrown back and dead before he'd even hit the floor. Hama let out a scream, a mix of fury, horror and grief, and repeatedly slammed his blade into Pointy, but couldn't find a weak spot in his blind rage to finish the Captain. Outside the gate, Eomer effortlessly cut down an Uruk and Gandalf brought Glamdring down, cleaving the crossbow in two and through the leather of Vrasku's jerkin and into his shoulder, down into his torso. The Uruk fell to the floor and was out the battle. Finally, the banner manages to survive the onslaught of the Crebain.
Three heroes in total fall at the gate in one turn!
In the bloodshed that followed, the embers of the vicious fight for the breach were burning out, as Gamling rode in and with a vicious downcut of his sword, took the head of Nauhur! Theoden call a Heroic Combat leading him to cross swords with Lurtz as Herugrim tried to find him, but neither came away with any new scars. While Orophin faced two Uruk-hai and after a mistimed block, took a savage blow that left him wounded.
Good has mixed results to their right, but manages to slay Nauhur with Gamling.
The fall of Vrasku before the newly appointed White Wizard.
Turn 10
Unfortunately, we realised that we would not have time to complete the game fully here, so decided to settle it after this turn.
In the almost forgotten left hand corner of the Fortress (Good's perspective), a lone Dunlending archer, who had fought endlessly against the Royal Guard who slew Gorulf, was once again charged and survived the blows that followed. James got his surviving Rohan archer in the tower to attempt to leap from the tower to the wall, as Legolas had done earlier. But he slipped as he leapt and fell, smashing into the walkway and falling dead to the floor below.
The left corner of the Fortress, with the, now empty, watchtower.
At the central gate, Good tried their best to hold back the evil hordes, as Hama led a charge into the gateway. Rohirrim attacked the troll and Uruks, but the Dunlendings from the left then joined and Frida charged the banner, while an Uruk scout went to smash the Rally Point behind them. On the wall beside them, an elf found himself caught between two Uruks on ladders as one attacked from either side.
The fierce battle for the central gate rages on, despite the loss of so many heroes the previous turn.
Outside the Fortress, the riders hurl throwing spears at the Uruk crossbows, killing two. Eomer continues to push into the gateway and Gandalf charges into some crossbows, but is counter charged by another two. Despite this, he shows his strength and cuts down three!
Sadly, the Riders won't get to sweep over the opponent's outside the walls due to time. But they were poised to do a lot of damage.
At the breach, the Good survivors refuse to die easily. An elf is overwhelmed and cut down, but in exchange, Gamling and the Royal Guard each kill an Uruk, Orophin recovers from his mistake the previous turn and hacks down another and Theoden brings down Herugrim, slicing a deep gash into Lurtz's arm, leaving him on 1w, 0f.
Good's heroic defence of the breach seems to hold, but they had lost Aragorn to do so.
At the central gate, Frida called a Heroic Combat and quickly killed the elven banner, before rushing in and trapping Hama between herself and Pointy. As the Royal Guard was busy fighting the Uruk, she lunged with her spear and a last minute dodge, saved him from being slain, before he successfully parried away the Captain too. The troll smashed another Rohan warrior before him and more fell to the arriving scouts and Dunlendings. Eomer managed to cut down a berserker in his way.
Hama successfully holds the gate and narrowly dodges a savage death at the hands of Frida!
The rally point is destroyed by the attacking scout, but a seemingly insignificant fight takes place as the elf caught between two Uruks on ladders, to either side of the wall, takes place. The elf loses the fight and both Uruks leap up and onto the walls.
With that we were out of time and had to find the scores...
Results
The final result is a close Evil victory. However, if we had had time to play to conclusion, I have a suspicion that Good may have claimed it. They were close the the Siege Engines and could easily destroy them and Nurtz was on 1w, 0f, while Theoden's unit was getting the edge at the breach. However, if one combat went awry for Theoden against Nurtz, a good roll could have seen the King of Rohan felled, Evil had a good clear run opened up towards the hill and they could have held the riders back at the gates. So there was a few if, ands and buts, but it was an awesome game and everyone seemed to enjoy it, in the end it appears that Theoden was right to go to Helm's Deep.
So much death...what can man do against such reckless hate?
*I realised in the write up that I made a small mistake in the points calculation, so evil had 1 more point here, the write up score is correct*
Final Kill Tally
Good
Legolas- 9
Orophin- 4
Gandalf- 4
King's Huntsman- 3
Gamling- 3
Eomer- 2
Aragorn- 1
Haleth- 1
Aldor- 1
Gimli- 0 :(
Evil
Mauhur- 2
Vrasku- 2
Gorulf- 2
Thrydan- 2
Frida- 2
Saruman- 1
Rocky- 1
Dunland Chieftain- 1
Amendment ideas for future
If we were to play this again, I think it seemed relatively balanced, but I would make some changes to make it more fun or more even.
First thought, would be that I would get rid of a gate, as defending two and a breach, stretched Good a little too thin and they had to abandon one to defend the other two properly.
Second, I would probably lose Saruman as he shut down Aragorn completely and made him die a little too easily.
Third, I'd probably offer Good a way to get their reinforcements a little earlier e.g. they have to come on the far board edge, as they didn't get to have an impact on the game. However, they did lose out on half their game time due to the early finish so this may not be necessary.
Overall, considering that there was no playtesting, this seemed relatively balanced. And I really hope we can do something similar again in the future.
Hope you enjoyed the read!
