I was invited to a friend's house to play the Games Workshop Lord of the Rings game (the same friend I battled in a SAGA game a while back). There were three of us. Bob commanded a huge army of orcs backed up by warg riders, six orc heroes, and a Ring Wraith (80 miniatures total). I commanded a group of Rohan militia led by Eomer and two captains. Garrett played a relief force of rangers led by Aragorn (59 miniatures between the two forces).
Every player had different victory conditions. The orc leader wanted to kill heroes. Aragorn wanted to take out the Ring Wraith. I just wanted to keep the three houses from burning.
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| The initial set up. The rangers are not on the table yet. |
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| The village defenders. |
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| A wall of orc marauders. |
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| The initial clash of arms. |
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| Eomer moves to hold up an entire flank. |
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| The rangers burst out of the woods and into the warg riders. |
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| The orcs begin to slaughter the men of Rohan. |
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| Aragorn duels with the Ring Wraith, eventually winning. |
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| A slinger fights off many orc challengers, managing to survive the entire fight! |
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| A counter-attack on the part of the village defenders stalls the orcs, providing victory. |
In the end the forces of Men came within a single figure of losing 50% of their troops and thus giving the orcs a load of victory points. The orcs slew only one hero, gaining only a measly single VP. Aragorn killed the Ring Wraith, gaining 6 VP. I managed to keep all three houses intact, each worth 4 VP for a total of 12, making me the clear winner of the conflict.
It has been forever since I've actually won a wargame, and I have to admit I was stunned. I lost a lot of troops, but by staying focused on my scenario goals I won the day!
A big tip of the hat to Garrett, who set a great table and put together an easy intro scenario.
