Our most recent LotR game was one of the scenarios from the last Rohan campaign book. The scenario represents the initial assault of the orcs on the outer wall of Hlms Deep. The scenario is on a four foot square table. The outer wall covers the back edge, with the rest just open terrain with the ditch down the middle.
The defenders include foot Rohan troops with bows and swordsman with throwing spears. These are supported by some elf bowmen and swordsman. The force includes all the a their heroes and even the old guy and young boy shown in the film!
The orcs were divided between crossbows, swords, pikes and berserkers. The force was led by four orc heroes. The orcs also had six ladders that were being carried by the orcs. They had to get three ladders up and hold until the end of the game to win.
The defenders deployed across the wall, with the elves on the left flank and the Rohirim across the rest of the front. The heroes were spread out to cover the wall, with the plan to concentrate as needed. It was hoped that the archers would thin down the orc hoards before they got to the wall.
The orcs attacked across the whole wall, with berserkers leading the assaults. The archery proved not to be very effective, due to the orc defense value, as only a handful of arrows made their mark. Ironically, the orc crossbows took as well as they got.
The initial assaults were repelled, but the casualties started to mount on both sides. Over time, the orc leftwing assaults were able to take the wall, while the other forces were held back. The orcs finally ran out of steam due to heavy casualties. The Rohirim had taken a lot of losses, but are still holding on with their heroes leading the way.
We realized that we made a few mistakes with the assault rules during the game, that would have made some difference. We live and learn! Even so, the game was fun and things seem to hang in the balance until a tipping point was reached late in the game. You can not ask more than that!
- Manteuffel