Part 3
Location: North of Rohan, near the Lothlorien border.
Bertrand managed to outrun the pursuing Orcs and found himself near the borders of Lothlorien. Afraid of the magical forest he maneuvers around it, keeping at the southern edge of the realm of trees and elves. This is where he meets one of the elf-folk, a lone traveler. Quinrith Fyhorn, elf of the woods and messenger of Lady Galadriël. He has to deliver a message to Lord Elrond in Rivendell. Bertrand alerts him about the Orcs running the Eastern plains of Rohan and hot on his tail. Upon traveling together they find shelter for the incoming band of Orcs in a nearby village.
Third Scenario:
Based on the scenario Seize the Outpost from Battle Companies:
Changes made to the scenario are:
- Instead of two attacking forces: one attacking force
- Instead of villagers as Sentries: Villagers get an active roll once alerted by Bertrand (within 6“ of the gate). Before alerted the villagers are able to shoot or throw weapons at the enemy, when in reach
- The attacker is trying to capture the outpost and the Defender is trying to defend it.
- The game ends if the Orc forces are defeated (all models killed or fled) or at the end of a turn in which there are more Orcs than villagers within the village.
Additional rule:
- Defending models gain +1 on their Courage tests when within the outpost
Game:
Bertrand and a loyal soldier started at the edge of the table. Bertrand’s movement is reduced by 1” due to an old battle wound.
At the end of the second turn the Orc forces came on the table in pursuit. Just arrived on the battlefield an Orcish archer got a wound on Betrand that he, thankfully, shook off with a Fate roll.
During the third turn Bertrand and companion met up with the Elf, Quinrith, positioned halfway from the boardedge to the village.
In the shooting phase another orc arrow got lucky and fatally wounded Bertrand's companion. Reverse fire did not find a target at all.
The next three turns consisted of retreating to the village and firing from afar. The defending wall was manned by three archers, two warriors with throwing spear and a mercenary (Ferdin Woodlock) with a hand-and-a-half sword and longbow. Combined they managed to kill 3 more orcs.
Furthermore in the village are five warriors with shield and a blacksmith: Tourk Grimstone (dwarven descent of Khazad-Dum). He functions in game as a shop to buy new weapons or armor. Around the fifth turn Bertrand managed to reach the blacksmith and buy himself armor(1 influence point) to be more resilient(+1 Defense).
In the meantime Quinrith and some warriors kept the left flank. The orcs managed to kill a warrior and wound the elf, but he shrugged it off with his fate roll. In return just one orc got slain.
In a heroic attempt to cut down the enemy's forces one of the archers made a death leap into the battle below.
We decided on a failed leap test for the warrior and the orcs he fell on to. Because he fell 4 inches both were allocated 4 strength 3 hits. None of them survived. Taking the left flank to a battle with equal numbers, quickly decided by the Good side.
On the right side of the village a small group of warriors manages to keep the orcs at bay, losing one of theirs and killing two more orcs. Following the example on the left flank an archer decided to leap into combat from above. This time a drop of just 3 inches and taking out only one orc.
Taking the orcs down under the 50% army size.
Priority went to the good side once again (not one turn went to the orcs), my brother decided to pull back to the opening in the wall and take a defensive stance. This forced the orcs to take courage tests which only two of the remaining eight models passed. They attacked bravely, survived one last round, but were outnumbered and boxed in for their last fight.
In the end Bertrand did not kill one single orc, but he survived the scenario and gained the influence points for winning the scenario. He decided to approach Ferdin who named his price as a sell-sword(and bow) which Bertrand decided to pay.
The Blacksmith Tourk had heard a tale of a magic artifact being lost in the mines of Moria, this, in combination with the task of Quinrith to reach Rivendell made him decide to travel towards the once mighty realm of the dwarves.
Grrr, !mrahil