@Galanur, we do fear the Balrog, and are prepared for casualties, but of course hope that the Ringbearer makes it through, at the very least. But our campaign is not over even if the Ring is lost in Moria - the free peoples do not yield so easily, and Sauron still has to fight for the dominance of the Middle-Earth. Even if he gains the Ring, he remembers that it was cut from his hand long ago, and it can be cut yet once more...

Incidentally, inspired by your comments about the War in the North, we have revised the later scenarios somewhat, and have added Battle of Mirkwood and Battle of Rivendell, as well as shuffled the order of some of the War of the Rng rules scenarios. Although the attack on Rivendell does not appear in the movies, we thought it prudent to give Elrond and his knights something to do... plus, if the Fellowship fails to destroy the Balrog in Moria, that gives the evil side more choices as to how to utilize it later in the campaign by having the possibility to deploy it against Elrond. I will post a revised campaign chart once we reach the Council of Elrond...

If all members of the fellowship die at some point in your campaign you should start from where you left off with a full fellowship

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@Elflover, that we could do, but that would kinda defeat the goal of our campaign, i.e. seeing where the story goes. We adhere to fallen character revival rules, but failing that, the character will stay dead (apart from Gandalf, of course, who can make one comeback accompanied by different colored robes). If the Fellowship fails, most large battles will still be fought, including the final battle against Sauron in person on the Pelennor fields (or at the Black Gate, if the Ringbearer is lost beyond Ithilien).

You could potentially play with a fantasy fellowship, whereby Elrond or Arwen join up to replace fallen heroes! Or even a toned down campaign with Hobbits only. Imagine fielding Lobelia against enemy?

You could play it in reverse, with the "Dark Fellowship" (a phrase that I have just invented!) using the nine Nazgul to try and get the ring back of the fellowshop, or on fellbeasts trying to get past eagles, or even to punish Saruman at Orthanc! I suspect this theme is worth its own thread? I am going to try it out on the weekend!

Thanks, an intriguing idea - our good Fellowship has it hard enough already, I'm afraid, but I could easily envision a scenario where a "Dark Fellowship" would be transporting the just-captured Ring to Sauron, and the good side makes a last-ditch effort to intercept. I'll definitely keep this idea in mind should our good Fellowship lose the Ring at some point during our campaign before reaching the Crack of Doom.

If the "Dark Fellowship" catches the ring and gains it, lets say in the mines of moria, the a good fellowoship could then try and get it back?

Ring Wraiths with the ring could be exempt from spending will to remain in combat?

If the Ringbearer is slain in Moria, and no other Fellowship member continues to carry the Ring, it practically must mean that the entire good Fellowship is destroyed. Goblins would most likely send word to Sauron, and summon Ringwraiths to fetch the Ring. Upon exiting Moria, the Ringwraiths would beeline towards Barad-dur, riding fell beasts. The eagles are probably the only good creatures capable of trying to intercept, perhaps having Radagast as a rider (now that would make an interesting modeling project). We'll have to wait and see how the story unfolds...

I suspect that there would be a lot of squabbling orcs along the way in a similar manner to Shagrat and Gorbag!

As was revealed at the end of the previous scenario, Merry almost died, if not for the recovery reroll thanks to the good side victory, and for the +1 healing bonus of Aragorn. Frodo, Sam and Gandalf also managed to regain the lost wound, and Aragorn recovered two might points. Gandalf, however, did not get any might back, and only two of the five used will points were recovered. The Ringwraiths recovered many lost will points, but not all. The Witch King has 6 points of will, while the Undying has four, the Shadow Lord has 3, and Dwimmerlaik has 2. The rest have 5 will each. With these values, we start our eighth scenario, the flight to the Ford of Bruinen. This is the overall board setup:



The board is a bit wider than specified in the Journeybook on the west side of the River Bruinen; we consider the edges of the woods to mark the northern and the southern limits of the actual playing area.

The evil side begins with five Ringwraiths (the Witch King, Khamûl, the Knight of Umbar, Dark Marshal, and the Tainted) in hot pursuit of Arwen and Frodo. The Nazgûl have only one objective clear in mind – kill Frodo and regain the Ring for Sauron. The good side needs to slay all the wraiths in order to win the game. Naturally, for our campaign, the survival of Frodo is quintessential, meaning more flight than fight for Arwen.



Turn 1 – good priority. The first turn begins with Arwen riding like wind, carrying Frodo towards the River Bruinen and the relative safety of the eastern shore. The remaining members of the proto-fellowship emerge from the western board edge, and remembering the humiliation at Amon Sûl, Gandalf has a bone to pick with the Witch King. The Grey Pilgrim starts the turn strongly by immobilizing the leader of the Nazgûl, after which the wizard charges the Dark Marshal. Aragorn, in turn, charges Khamûl, and Sam & Merry charge the Tainted. Pippin, unfortunately, loses courage in the sight of so many black-hooded figures. The Knight of Umbar ignores the fights behind him – he is fixed on the Ringbearer as he tries to catch the fleeing elf. The fighting wrights are all victorious, and the Tainted wounds Sam.

Turn 2 – evil priority. The Knight of Umbar spurs his tired horse a bit too much… his ride falls dead and throws the Nazgûl to ground and this knocks him prone. On the south side of the road, the same fate befalls the Tainted – but he fares better and stands up, albeit a bit dazed. The Witch King, Khamûl and the Dark Marshal all advance and stay on their horses.



Arwen continues her dash towards the ford. Meanwhile, Aragorn is still within charging distance of Khamûl, and Gandalf continues to show that today he is not a conjuror of cheap tricks – his sorcerous blast knocks the Witch King off his horse. Satisfied, the wizard charges the Tainted. The hobbits move bravely closer to the Witch King, who is now on foot. Gandalf loses his duel, but is not harmed by the Ringwraith and his seeping decay. Aragorn, in turn, manages to slay both Khamûl and his horse with swift blows of his ranger sword.



Turn 3 – good priority. Arwen rides down the bank and into the ford…



Far behind, Gandalf continues dealing double trouble for the Ringwraiths as he immobilizes the Tainted and charges the Dark Marshal (no victory but no wound, either). Aragorn closes in on the Knight of Umbar, but the wraith does not care for the exile – the Knight gets up and continues towards the ford and his ultimate prey. The Witch King, similarly, completely ignores the hobbits and rushes eastward.

Turn 4 – good priority. Aragorn charges the Knight of Umbar, while Gandalf immobilizes the Witch King and charges the Dark Marshal. Sam takes advantage of the spell-weakened Witch King and charges him. The Tainted single-mindedly continues his pursuit. The Knight is victorious, but Aragorn manages to parry his blow. Gandalf wins his duel, but fails to dispatch the Dark Marshal. Sam, unfortunately, fails to win even against the immobilized Witch King – luckily, the dazed wraith does not strike him.

Turn 5 – good priority. Aragorn charges the Knight of Umbar yet again. Gandalf attempts to immobilize the Witch King, but the Nazgûl manages to resist the spell. The wizard is so surprised at this that his courage fails and he is unable to charge the Dark Marshal. The three hobbits, however, shout “for Frodo” and surround the Witch King. The Tainted and the Dark Marshal continue the pursuit of the Ringbearer, and suddenly, they are joined by the Dwimmerlaik and the Undying appearing from the woods in the north and south, respectively.



The delight of the wraiths is short-lived, however – after several duels, Aragorn finally kills the Knight of Umbar.



On the south side of the road, the hobbits win against the surrounded Witch King – his final thought is “oh no, not again” as Pippin manages to slay the leader of the Nazgûl for the second time!

Turn 6 – evil priority. The flanking Dwimmerlaik has been pushing his horse, and the fatigued mount finally expires, throwing its rider. The Dark Marshal and the Tainted advance on the road, and the Undying approaches the ford from the south. Aragorn charges the Dark Marshal – his might gives him dueling victory, but Strider unfortunately fails to wound the creature.



Turn 7 – evil priority. All the remaining wrights approach the ford. Gandalf pursues and he attempts a sorcerous blast towards the Dark Marshal – alas, the spell fails. Aragorn moves a bit more cautiously as he reaches for his bow and sends an arrow flying towards the Tainted. He scores a hit, but unfortunately the arrow fails to wound the Ringwraith.



Turn 8 – evil priority. The four wraiths are now near the water’s edge, hissing “give up the halfing, she-elf” at Arwen on the opposite shore. She replies defiantly “if you want him, come and claim him”.



Gandalf and Aragorn are not far behind, but nevertheless, far enough so that they cannot engage any of the four wrights. Gandalf attempts to send a sorcerous blast towards the Dwimmerlaik, but the spell fails.

Turn 9 – good priority. Aragorn charges Dwimmerlaik, while Gandalf attempts to knock the Undying down with another failing sorcerous blast spell. The Undying spurs his fatigued horse into the water, but the poor beast expires mid-river and the Ringwraith suddenly finds himself standing knee-deep in water. The Dark Marshal and the Tainted hesitate and remain on the shore. The Dwimmerlaik loses his duel against Aragorn, but the Strider fails to wound the Nazgûl.

Turn 10 – evil priority. The Knight of Umbar and the Dwimmerlaik follow the Undying into the ford, and the Tainted charges Gandalf. Aragorn joins the duel. On the eastern shore, Arwen shouts “Nin o Chithaeglir, lasto beth daer, Rimmo nin Bruinen, dan in Ulair!” The magic of Elrond is released, and suddenly, the waters of Bruinen rise up as a torrent of floodwater, topped with foamy shapes of horses – and the three Ringwraiths are seen no more.



On the western bank, the seeping decay of the Tainted wounds Gandalf, but the might of the wizard gives victory in the duel, and the swift blade of Glamdring banishes the last Ringwraith from the scene and seals the good victory. The Ringbearer has survived the first leg of his journey and can now safely reach Rivendell.



Conclusions This scenario brought with it a dilemma – the “foam horses” were a powerful weapon, but of course, the evil player was aware of how they worked. It would have been easy to feed the Ringwraith with the least will points remaining to the churning waters, and then send the remainder of the evil force over safely. From the narrative point of view, the Ringwraiths of course were not aware of the doom awaiting. To reflect this, the evil player allowed a dice roll to decide whether any given wright actually enters the ford (1-3) or not (4-6) when it was possible to do so in the move phase. Gaming-wise this was naturally not the best strategy, quite the opposite, but it made narrative sense, and resulted in three wraiths being in the ford simultaneously – definitely more dramatic (although this did leave Arwen very little to do in this scenario).

If you kept count, you probably noted that the evil only ever had seven Ringwraiths in play… as per the reinforcement rules of the scenario, the poor dice luck of the evil side resulted in the Shadow Lord and the Betrayer both “meeting with an accident” and thus, they were not available. Couple that with the addition of Gandalf, and it is no wonder that the evil side had very little chance in slaying Frodo…

Our campaign has now reached Rivendell and the Council of Elrond, and with all the characters still alive (although barely, in the case of Merry and Pippin). The campaign now continues with the forming of the Fellowship of the Ring, with the familiar, brave nine members. There will be a brief interlude with some wargs, followed by the long dark of Moria… stay tuned!

I finally had time to read through the whole lot. Wow! Well and interestingly written battle reports and probably the best photos I've seen in any battle report, including WD. The terrain makes me envious and your use of photo backgrounds, lights and even foggy photos in Barrow Downs are just perfect. I can't wait to see what you guys will make of the Halls of Moria and Balrog's shadow and flame.



-- Pasi

awesome again

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goblin: "people associate me with boogers because i am green"

Continually amazing Would have loved to have seen Glorfindel instead of Arwen though

_________________
'You would die before your stroke fell!' ~Legolas

Check out my WIP!

I love the trees and water effect!

Why did the ringwraith a just randomly fall off their horses?

Great battle report and pictures. Can't wait for next time. Do all stats get replenished in Rivendell?

Great battle report! I really like the alternate water bases for the wraiths.

Again, this is so much fun reading. I really liked your narrative rule concerning the Ringwraiths crossing the river.

Thanks for the great comments, folks!
@Valpas, we are looking forward to Moria, too. I only wish I had a transparent Balrog like they had in the "Best of White Dwarf - the Two Towers" compilation - I could then light the figure from inside. Now we'll have to settle for reflected light, but we'll try our best.

@ElfLover, Glorfindel will get his share of action later in the campaign. We will add "Battle of Rivendell" WotR scenario to our campaign chart, pitting Moria goblins (and possibly Balrog) against Elrond's forces.

@LordElrond, since Arwen is the only good model with a horse, the scenario special rules tie the movement of the mounted ringwraiths to a dice roll, and explain that their horses are almost dead from exhaustion. Roll the maximum move, and after the move, the horse dies and throws its rider. This prevents the wraiths to leave the on-foot good model far behind. Without this rule (and without Gandalf), theoretically Aragorn could kill one wright, but possibly eight others would ride on and eventually catch Arwen and Frodo on the other side (after having sacrificed one wraith to the torrent waters of Bruinen). And yes to your other question - might/will/fate points will be fully restored in Rivendell (and also later on in Lothlórien).

@theavenger001, the water bases were the same pieces of blue-painted foil I used during the model show setup back in early March, with a bit of white poly-fiber around the edge of the base. I'm glad I had saved the foils (and could still find them!).

@Sticky Fingersss, that rule was quite spontaneous, and I fully credit my friend for that - she was a good sport doing that, fully knowing she would lose the scenario. I fear that she is secretly rooting for the good team! But seriously, we alternate playing good/evil from scenario to scenario, and I guess both of us want the Fellowship to start off and reach Moria. It would have been a shame not to be able to use the terrain that already exists...