Last night, in the environs of Falkirk District, there
was an epic battle between the Riders of
Rohan and the evil forces of Harad, supported by three massive War Mûmakil - colossal war-beasts trained by the Mahud to
trample their enemies into the dust!
Our Rohirrim riders, led by Éomer, were a mixture of lance, spear and archers which we quickly divided
between ourselves in roughly equal proportions. As this scenario is part of the wider Battle
of Pelennor Fields, the Rohirrim
start the battle deep into the battlefield, heading off the Haradrim's advance
forces as they arrive on the scene. The Rohirrim have two full turns before two
of the Mumakils arrive, the third a turn later.
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| The Riders of Rohan en-circle the Haradrim advance force (top, right) |
So all we had to do was swiftly cut-off and en-circle the
Haradrim led by the enemy players, Andy, Dave and Stewart. How difficult could that be? Having never played this system I was
reassured that it would be mostly just a case of manoeuvring and rolling dice
to hit and wound. Even I could do that! Yes, but I was pretty sure that my notoriety
of poor dice rolling hadn't yet permeated the Falkirk Club. They're fully
aware now!
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| The Bad guys (click to enlarge) |
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| The Good guys (click to enlarge) |
My Rohirrim force, the majority of which were archers,
and one of my fellow captains, Kenny with mostly lance and spear contingent,
quickly got to work on the Haradrim from the first turn. The lancers charging
straight in whilst I manoeuvred my archers into position, looking to pick off
any enemy not yet engaged in melee. Except they just about all missed their
targets! My oft-tried excuse of just 'ranging shots' didn't wash really!
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| The mounted riders soon in melee... |
That said, Kenny was just as unfortunate, his
Rohirrim taking a few early casualties without any impact on the enemy. Our
third captain, Ian, in support nearby waiting for gaps to appear, could only look on
in dismay at the impending disaster. The Riders of Rohan were supposed to be
quickly shutting down the smaller enemy force but instead found themselves being
pushed back!
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| The Rohirrim finding the battle much harder than expected |
By the end of turn two the battered and bruised Rohirrim,
their numbers dropping at an alarming rate, were still slugging it out when the
menacing, ponderous thump... thump of
and voluminous braying announced the arrival of the Mumakils. At least, that's' what I imagined!
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| The Mûmakil arrive! |
These Oliphant's, with their great bamboo and canvas war
harnesses, each transporting a contingent of Haradrim archers, looked spectacular
on the battlefield.
Strangely, though, their arrival only seemed to help rally
the Rohirrim as they struggled to contain the enemy. Whilst the remnants of the
initial two Rohirrim contingents - including mine - were now all locked in a vicious melee, Ian split his force to bravely take
on the beasts with his lancers and spears, under withering fire from the archers
atop the Mûmakil.
It was all quite desperate stuff. The first two Mûmakil
advanced on the melee and quickly started to ruthlessly swat and trample the
forlorn Rohirrim with their gigantic, powerful feet and huge tusks. The enemy
players, fully engaged in their 'evil' role-playing, didn't seemed to care
whether they trampled or shot their own forces, as long as the Rohirrim fighters
went down too!
By the time the third Mûmakil arrived on the scene, it
was pretty much all down to just one Rohirrim contingent to take on the Mûmakil, so battered
and reduced were the rest of the Rohirrim force! One of the beasts did start to
take some wounds - although some of this was caused by inaccurate Haradrim
archers firing from the other Mûmakil! The beasts could take 10 wounds and this
one was down to 2 by the end of the battle.
By now the threat from the initial Haradrim force was
mostly spent, but at drastic cost to the Rohirrim. Dead and dying mounts and
riders blotted the battlefield. With the Haradrim now sensing a cruel victory
they spurned on the frantic Mûmakil to crush the remainder of the Rohirrim. The
last valiant Rohirrim captain, Ian, wisely decided to save what was left of the
Riders of Rohan and retreated from the battlefield.
This was a really enjoyable game, with six players and
marshalled by our host Kevin McCusker. More details on his Double Six blog.
Thanks Kevin! Other club members helped out, one becoming an impromptu roller of the 'Dice of Fate' when called upon to
decide which forces took hits from haphazard shots into the swirling melee!
Brilliant fun, all the more enhanced by Kevin's huge force of finely painted miniatures. I was privileged to see and use them!
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