LOTR River Village Battle

Well, it's been a while since we last got together to play some LOTR SBG, but this last Friday night we had a 'big boys' night! The kids were not in attendance, so it was just one of my older nephews, my friend Joel, and myself. Joel had been working on a Hirst Arts bridge and some Fat Dragon cardstock houses, so we decided to have a bridge battle. I threw together a quick posterboard river, lined it with some rocks, and away we went! My nephew and I pitted 24 rangers and 16 wood elves against a force of orcs, Haradrim warriors, and a Mordor troll.

The setup:

Our rangers and elves charge toward the bridge. We split off archers on the flanks...some rangers to the left and some elves to the right.

Somehow the orcs managed to beat us to the bridge and took first control...they split out archers on the flanks as well, some orcs and Haradrim warriors on each side.

The two armies met and fought for purchase on the bridge.

The orcs called in their Mordor troll, whose huge bulk and control zone spanned the width of the bridge. He actually killed two or three of his own men just to get to my front line of rangers!

Archers on each side began to take their toll. Our rangers and elves quickly turned their sights on the troll, but only managed to get in one wound before he engaged our front line. They continued to pick off orcs and Haradrim warriors crowding behind the troll.

At last, due to the backup provided by our spearmen, our rangers and elves were able to dispatch the troll...although he exacted a heavy toll before we were able to do so. We lost about a third of our force on the bridge.

With the troll out of the picture, and with continued archer support, our force charged across the bridge and crashed into what remained of the orcs. Thankfully, there was considerably less opposition at this point, as our Elven archers had cut down a good portion of their main force.

The last of the orcs died on the far side of the bridge under an onslaught of arrows, steel, and spears. Without their troll, they didn't stand a chance.

In the end, we had lost about a third of our force, but had soundly defeated the enemy.

Key lessons learned:

1. Using the backup rule in close quarters is highly effective.
2. Facing a troll in close quarters gets you killed.
3. Well placed archers with enough lucky rolls can win the battle.
4. Joel can build some really cool Hirst Arts stuff!

Until next time...Ranger322 out!