The GREAT BATTLE of our time

On turn 16 things got even worse for me. Although the losses in the cousin’s army were extremely heavy, with every turn it was clearer that most of my reinforcements were not going to reach the battle on time to make any difference. The second reinforcement wave was just arriving, and the limit of killed units for me was really close…

Would the dark army loose 15 more soldiers, the battle would end immediately, because we didn’t want to keep on fighting the rest of the turns, knowing that once an orc army is below half its original numbers, their extremely low courage doesn’t allow them to have any chance of winning…

On the other hand, the army of light was not going to roll for courage at any time, the special rules of the scenario would allow them to fight to the last man, they would fight defending the city until the end…

But let’s not anticipate defeat!

Although things got complicated, I never gave up, because I still could envision the possibility to have ten soldiers over the walls… let’s remember that that was my main goal!

If I was able to disembark with just six soldiers over the walls on the left flank… perhaps the four urks on the oposite side could survive long enough… and my goblins had also placed a ladder… and the siege tower was arriving just right now!!!

First things first… I began the attack through the merlons!

Now If the left flank was able to keep the pressure and disembark quickly…

And then came the great moment… the moment that we had waited for hours, days and weeks… the moment the tower finally arrived to the walls of the fortress!!!

With great enjoyment, I proudly opened the front ramp of my siege tower, checking the movement was smooth, and that the magnets I installed worked perfectly…

Next thing was moving forward my completely crazy uruk-hai berserkers!!!!

It was a possibility, It had to be in this turn, but If I managed to place at least a couple of berserkers over the wall, and JUST ONE uruk-hai from the ladder next to the tower, I would have SEVEN miniatures over the walls… that was very close to my mission of placing TEN of them… I COULD DECLARE AN HEROIC ATTACK!!!

My berserkers could fight against the first line of soldiers over the walls, with two attacks each it was relatively easy to win both combats, specially considering I had the support of the spears from the orcs behind them… so three dices against two on each combat.

AND  THEN… my pie in the sky got down and crashed at the speed of light…

Because I decided to resolve first the hardest combat, that was ongoing on the ladder next battlement: dices flew, the chips were down, the die was cast… the stupid uruk didn’t win… and had to retire… down the ladder…

Dices flew, and then the stupid uruk fell down… and dragged the uruk below, dices flew, and the other stupid uruk fell down… and dragged the uruk below, dices flew, and the other stupid uruk fell down… and dragged the uruk below, dices flew…

The setback caused by the uruk domino was definitive. Seeing that the light side only needed to kill 11 dark side soldiers to win, I decided to try the combats left on the wall of the right flank. That was my second mistake: it turned out to be a disastrous combo, which killed almost all of my uruks! The elf captain personally killed an uruk-hai captain and the rest of the pointy ears surprised me with slow, methodic and psichopatic killing… al but one uruk captain were exterminated -the captain was precisely the first in… and the last standing. That action meant three more kills, and there was no possible way to get 10 models on the walls before losing 8 minis elsewhere. For example, on the left flank, some elves and arnor soldiers still kept on killing goblins. So a decision had to be made…

The other combats of the round had been really terrible for the dark servants of Sauron, so I thought at least give a try to the main assault… the berserkers going down the tower.

But this one was going to fail too. Receiving my berserkers there were a couple of Minas Tirith captains (one of them ressembled a lot the son of Denethor, the eldest, the one who sliced off orc heads in Osgiliath before breakfast).

The result of the siege tower attack was just a wound in one captain, but nothing definitive enough…

So, having lost almost every temptative to conquer the walls, having only one mini reaching the goal, and seeing that my enemy needed only 8 kills to win…

I DECIDED TO CONCEDE!!!!

The combat had been really GLORIOUS… after WEEKS we finally finish the game. My personal thoughts about this great battle is that it’s been a pleasure and a different experience from a normal game. I am a person that normally enjoys the game without considering If I am losing or winning… but in this case, such a philosophy was completely needed.

So, althought I have to admit that there were some tense moments, in the end what it really made us happy was just to have a good show, to see that wonderful battle develop in front of us, to enjoy every corner, every small maneuvre, every single fight, every anonimous soldier…

BUT… If I had to recreate again that kind of battle I would for sure change a couple of things for the sake of gameplay…

We really didn’t like what happened with reinforcements getting from the bottom, and having to move across a board SO long. We should have placed the fortress on the longer edge, and the reinforcements would have arrived more close and so would have arrived more regularly. With that size of gaming mat, and considering how many turns were required, the reinforcements finally were completely useless… except for the second wave of wargs, that managed to capture the Rohan cavalry from the back. OR we could have allowed the reinforcements to appear from the flanks, so that they could get quickly to the walls…

So the BIG escalade and the BIG fight for the walls we hoped for, never happened… so I lost every possibility to win…

Anyway, the damage done to the light side army had been really impressive. There were more than 230 minis when the game began… by the moment I conceded, only about 50 soldiers were alive… while the dark side had only lost about 150 minis!!

Of course, the fact that the light side army was divided, and that a great part was somewhat helpless outside the fortress,  was the reason for such an slaughter. And we have to take into account that the more expensive units (Mûmakil, Nâzgul…) potentially more difficult to destroy, were on the dark side.

If I had to choose a MVU (most valuable unit) of my army, it has to be for sure the Mordor Catapult… there were countless times that it hit in the middle of the enemy’s ranks, killing two, then killing four, killing a couple more… its destruction ratio was very high!! This and the destruction of the trebuchet on the first turn, made that catapult the best unit!

I have to recognize that the most funny part of the game has been the front assault of the dwarves to the middle of the dark army… it’s been a glorious charge!! I really didn’t expect such a movement, thinking that every enemy unit would search for shelter behind a wall or between the battlements. So that brave -and completely crazy- move blew my mind. The sight of those sons of Durin ramming my army and preventing my siege tower from advancing was very inspiring… it is exactly what one would think a group of dwarves would do!!!

Well… I really don’t know what else to say. If you have read the whole project, congrats! it’s really a tour de force, specially considering my lack of proper english vocabulary and grammar, I am sorry for the spelling and expression mistakes, I’m sure there are many!!

And of course I have to thanks my cousin, for A LOT of things.

For encouraging me to make this battle…

But also for showing me for the first time, when I was a child, a Tolkien book… and for telling me that D&D was not a clothing brand… thanks to him I still love fantasy, science fiction, and even I owe him the wonderful job I am dedicating my life to.

And of course, special thanks to the beasts of war… for the good company, for the great and inspiring contents, the projects, the articles… and the golden button! and the runner-up at the anual competition!! to me these prizes are priceless!!! Thanks for encouraging me when the world tells me that I am just a freak…

And very special thanks to Warren Johnston, my special person there, my favorite among favorites.

Rickyard.