Siege of Lothlorien - War of the Ring AAR

I have been playing a little bit of War of the Ring (Games Workshop's take on massed battles in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings universe) lately. It's a nice elegant system, all contained in one rulebook (though there is one extra army book with more specialised army lists). I like it as it flows nicely and I get to use most of my LotR miniatures (blue chip investments). The only modification needed (as with many GW games) is to limit the use of characters. A common modification in our circle is to have one character for each full 1000 points in play. Size wise 1000 - 2000 points gives you a good game in a couple of hours.

Bruce K, Brad H and I played a 1500 point game at the July League of Ancients wargaming club meet (I commanded the forces of Mordor). The following armies were used:

Elf and Dwarf Army
Radagast the Brown - 160 points

Wood Elves with longbow - 135 points
x3 companies (120), Longbows (15)

Wood Elves with longbow - 135 points
x3 companies (120), Longbows (15)

High Elf Archer Regiment - 300 points
x5 companies (300)

Galadhrim Knight Regiment - 250 points
x5 companies (250)

Dwarf Warrior Kinband - 120 points
x3 companies (120), Dwarf Captain (50), Shieldbearer (25)

Dwarf Warrior Kinband - 120 points
x3 companies (120), shields (free)

Dwarf Archer Kinband - 105 points
x3 companies (105)

Ent - 125 points

Easterling and Mordor Army
Khamûl the Easterling - 125 points

Easterling Kataphrakt Cohort - 205 points
x3 companies (105), Easterling Captain (50), Banner Bearer (35), Easterling Drummer (15)

Easterling Archer Cohort - 70 points
x2 companies (70)

Easterling Cohort - 325 points
x3 companies (90), Easterling Captain (50), Banner Bearer (35), Easterling Drummer (15), Dragon Knight (35), War Priest (100)

Morannon Orc Warband - 185 points
x4 companies (80), shields (20), Orc Captain (50), Banner Bearer (35)

Morannon Orc Warband - 185 points
x4 companies (80), shields (20), Orc Captain (50), Banner Bearer (35)

Warg Rider Warband - 75 points
x3 companies (60), shields (15)

Mordor Troll - 100 points

Mordor Troll - 100 points

Mordor Troll - 100 points

The battle generator in the book makes you roll for both objectives and deployment. We rolled Seize the Prize for the objectives (5 fluid counters that are seized by the units, but can be lost during the battle) and Battle for the Pass for deployment (deploying length-wise along the table).

Deployment:

Elf and Dwarves: dwarf bowmen (right flank), Wood Elves in the forest, High Elves, knights, Wood Elves, Dwarves (left flank). The Ent was in ambush (and never came out of his woods). It had nothing to do with his general forgetting about him 😛.

Easterlings and Mordor: trolls (left flank), Easterlings, Easterling archers (in a walled field), Easterling Kataphrakts, Morannon orcs (x2) (right flank).

The game was a race to the one lone objective in the middle of the table, which the elven knights rushed out to seize in turn one (see photo above). The forces of evil knew that they had to rush forwards to try and grab these objective(s) back, and to avoid the hail of arrow fire that would surely rain down on them. The plan was for a right flank punch, with the trolls set free to cause chaos on the left flank.

The elves rained a hail of arrows down on their enemy, but their low strength and high toughness of the orcs and trolls meant that there wasn't many deaths before the lines hit.



During the magic phases though, the forces of good did manage to banish Khamûl which redressed the balance to some extent.



On the left, only one troll was taken down before they reached the dwarves, who in turn died in droves.



This was all a side show to the main battle on the other side of the battle, where the fifth objective changed sides a few times and eventually was seized off a unit of orcs by the dwarves for a marginal victory by the forces of good in the last turn of the game.

We stumbled through the game a little, but considering it had been a few months (and the evil commanders have only played a few games - all this year), we were able to enjoy ourselves and not forget too many rules.

I highly recommend the game to those looking to expand from the LotR skirmish game, and also to those (with a few modifications) looking for a massed battle game for historical battles.

Golden Die - A Secret Agents AAR

On June 16 2013 a group of us joined together at a League of Ancients meet in Melbourne for "Golden Die - A Secret Agents Game" designed and run by Jan. The game was originally planned for Little Wars Melbourne 2013.

Mission:
The stolen European rocket has been identified on surveillance photos taken recently by a navy plane flying over a remote island in the southern pacific. We assume Dr X is manufacturing atomic material with the help of a group of abducted scientist and plans to launch the rocket using his newly developed X-rocket-fuel. You will be dropped off in a native village and make your way through the jungle towards the launch site. Obtain the formula for the X-fuel, destroy the atomic manufacturing plant, gain intel on Dr X’s other lairs (most likely stored on data tapes) and free the scientists and prevent the launch of the rocket.

Cast of Characters:
Agent J (Shaft), Close combat specialist - Bruce
Diana Briggs (Diana Rigg), Kung Fu specialist - myself
006 (007), a gentleman - will never shoot a lady - Lon
Lord Smythe, tech specialist - Mark
Jason Prince (Jason King), reroll golden dice - Richard
Ian Flaming (Ian Fleming), medical knowledge - Tyler

Some of the Villians:
Dr X:

Dr X's goons:

Bikini babe:

Crocodile:

Russian henchman:

Fembot:

Rules Overview:
The rules were designed by the GM, Jan, and were a simple mechanic based on a D6 for convention play. Each player had three actions per turn (move, shoot, dodge, etc) but couldn't perform an action more than twice. In addition to the normal dice, each player also had a Golden Die which acted as a super reroll die.

Each player had a number of wounds that if you had taken too much damge, the number needed to succed at certain actions would increase to reflect the dificulty in suceeding while you were bleeding everywhere.

The beginning of the mission, with our secret agents just on the other side of the river of the evil Dr X's secret rocket lair:


The rocket waiting to be assembled:


And it won't be easy to get to, as it's heavily guarded:


By Dr X's minions who are ready for action:


Back to our secret agents, who encounter a gang of bikini babes with samurai swords and machine guns:


All, bar one, are dispatched. The survivor is taken to one of the huts to be "interrogated" for a couple of turns by 006. This is when the rest of us had a feeling we wouldn't be able to rely on him to stop Dr X. The other agents leave him behind as they punch their way on through. 006 might have had the right idea though, as the jungle and river turn out to be crawling with giant carnivorous plants, wild dogs, huge snakes and hungry crocodiles.

Eventually though, one by one, our agents make it across the river. Mr Prince is not too impressed he had to get his suit wet:


Some of the men get "that feeling" that one of the warehouses has a damsel in distress:


And call out to the Russian goons that they should come out and fight:


Mr Flaming and 006 climb the roof of one of the outhouses as it offers a clearer vantage point to shoot from... and to be shot at:


This works in 006's favour, as the elevation allows him to jump onto the Russian goons declaring "That's the problem with you Russians, always bringing guns to a foot fight."

These actions are not stopping the technicians from assembling the rocket:


The gun fight between the minions - not to mention Agent J taking the right flank and facing the flamethrower maniac ALONE (why do these things always happen to the token?!) - draws out a scientist with some lovely fembots:


"Easy!" we all think, until their friend joins the party:


006, going at it alone (AGAIN), gets to the unguarded warehouse where our damsel is tied up:


No sooner is the President's daughter untied does she quickly make a break for it, she has heard of 006 and his collection of STDs:


Mr Prince and Lord Smythe wish they were chasing a girl, instead of being chased by an angry iron man:


Mr Prince's clever ability of taking on the robots single-handily allows Lord Smythe to fire his pen missile launcher at the rocket, successfully disabling it, and allow Diana Briggs to get healed from almost certain death by Mr Flaming for a second time:


The final scene sees Lord Smythe confront Dr X (not before having the French scientist pour acid over his face), and just as he's about to kill Dr X, Agent J crashes through the back window and takes him out instead:


Was a very fun game, lots going on, plenty of bad accents and great one-liners.

Force on Force - Contracting Trouble! AAR

Afghanistan 2006.

An SUV carrying two civilian contractors has been hit by gunfire as it moved through one of the city's red zones. UAV footage indicates that the contractors are injured but alive. The contractors have held the small group of insurgent gunmen who attacked their vehicle at bay for nearly a quarter of an hour, but more armed men have been spotted converging on the disabled SUV.

French Foreign Legionnaires, entering from the south, must locate the contractors and escort them off the south or west table edge. The contractors are wounded and out of ammunition by the time the Legionnaires arrive on the table and may not fire on the insurgents.

I played my first game of Force on Force, and we played the introductory scenario to asymmetric encounters: "Contracting Trouble!". I controlled a squad of FFL (consisting of two fire teams of 4 men with FAMAS assault rifles, a Minimi LMG and an M203 grenade launcher each). A lieutenant was also along for the ride.

The view from the south to the disabled SUV and contractors:

The two contractors:

The first fire team and the lieutenant move up the main road at the double, hugging the wall:

Meanwhile the second fire team moves west to counter a group of insurgents at a hotspot:

These insurgents fall back, taking cover in a courtyard, thereby allowing the second fire team to shut down a hotspot:

This unfortunately leaves them in the open. The insurgents strike back in force, wounding three of them:

The first fire team is fairing a little better, neutralising insurgents on rooftops, but getting slowed down:

The last man standing from the second fire team doubles back to lend support to his comrades:

Having also taken heavy casualties, the first fire team has been pushed back into a compound, allowing insurgents to start to swarm around the flank:

In a last ditch effort, the Minimi gunner sprints to the SUV to grab the contractors:

Unfortunately this is too little too late, the three are gunned down and the game ends.

A fun, fast game. I made the error of getting bogged down in this mission. Will play it more (I am a fan of Flying Lead for smaller encounters), though I liked how this game has a very cinematic feel to it.

Little Wars Melbourne 2013

In 1913, 100 years ago, HG Wells published a set of rules for playing games of war on one’s parlour room floor. It was the culmination of many years’ worth of fun he had enjoyed with his fellow gentlemen playing with his collection of toy soldiers. Little Wars Melbourne commemorated this anniversary on May 25 2013 by celebrating with a day of miniature gaming!

I went down to Mornington Secondary College where Little Wars Melbourne 2013 was being hosted. I first played in Mark R's Bolt Action game in the morning, followed by TOing a WWII air combat game set over the north Australian coast with Japanese and Australian aircraft using 1/144 plastic models I had sourced from HobbyLink Japan.

As always, a fun day - made better by capping it off with cigars and whiskey out in a field next to the school as the sun set.

War of the Ring - First Time Using Magic

Originally I had organised to play War of the Ring's Siege of Lothlorien scenario, but plans sometimes fall through as Bruce was unable to make the March League of Ancients meet.

Instead Brad H and I pitted our forces of Mordor against Mark R's Misty Mountain goblins.

It was the first time I used magic and I definitely think no more than one magic-user per side and only one Epic/Legendary hero is the way to go with WotR. Like most Games Workshop games, the basic mechanics are clean and elegant, creating a fun but nevertheless rather subtle game. It is the overpowered nature of characters that can slow things down.

Bruce also recommended afterwards that only one character for each full 1000 points in your force.

Looking forward to more games in the future.

War of the Ring Mordor Army

After not being happy with the dip I had done on these a year or so ago (washed the colours out a little too much), I ended up painting 1-2 basic colours, highlights and shading on every figure (The non-orcs were only undercoated in December, but they're basically black anyway). It's to a gaming standard I'm pretty happy with.

All up about 2000 points with all options, but that's Sauron (at 500) and 4 Ringwraiths (at 500); 1000+ points gets you a good game*. Current army fits in an A4 storage file box from Officeworks.

Will aim to get this up to 1500 points of troops in the next year, or build an OPFOR (Last Alliance Elves & Men).

*Based on the one game I played a few years ago.