Chasing Hobbits (500 points a-side Fantastic Battles),

 Chris and I had long planned to do some more 10mm LOTR themed games using the excellent 'Fantastic Battles' rules. With me having painted some Riders of Rohan and Chris having painted both Orcs and Men of Gondor (all the excellent Copplestone Castings) it was only right that we planned some games around these forces. So the two scenarios of 'Chasing Hobbits' idea was born from the two of us exchanging several emails discussing ideas and this is what we came up with...

My Riders of Rohan so far, a touch over 500 points there so not all of them will be playing. 

 Two 500 point games of Fantastic Battles.

Hunt the Hobbits: very loosely based on and inspired by the chapter 'The Riders of Rohan' from the Two Towers, using the forces we have ready.

Merry and Pippin have managed to slip away from the orcs that were taking them to Isengard. The orcs, led by Ugluk are now trying to recapture them when the Riders of Rohan led by Eomer arrive.

Terrain: along one short side of the table is Fangorn Forest, the rest of the table can be fairly open, perhaps the odd small wood or hill etc...

Each player will place 3 tokens on the table, outside the deployment zones and at least 3BW apart. Then dice for table edge/deployment zone.

Objectives: Find the hobbits and defeat the enemy.

The hobbits are currently trying to hide from everyone. Each token could be Merry and Pippin. Whenever any base or character comes into contact with a token, throw a d6, on a score of 6 you have found and captured the hobbits. If the hobbits have not been found from the first 5 tokens then they are automatically found and captured on the 6^th token.

Once found and captured, the hobbits will still try and escape. For each turn that you are in control of Merry and Pippin throw a d6, on a 1 the hobbits break loose and flee 1xd3 BW towards Fangorn Forest, but must try their best to try and keep at least 1BW away from all other figures when moving. Obviously, the forces of Rohan or the Orcs may chase the fleeing Hobbits and try to recapture them by moving into contact with them. However, if the hobbits manage to get into contact with the edge of the forest then they will escape off board. (What happens to them next could be another game).

The armies deployed for battle (after 'Mishaps' had messed the orcs about quite a lot). Chris was playing the Orcs whilst Ian and I were riding for the Riddermark!

Rohan scouts go scouting!

The wooden tokens are the possible hobbit locations? 

The two forces close in on each other in the centre. 

The red and green tokens are the character tokens reminding us who has activated. 

The Riders of Rohan line up for the charge.

(Furious Charge with Master of Horses, we were looking forward to this).  

 

Smash, one unit of orcs have disappeared on the left and the Rohan unit even threw an 11 when testing for Character casualties, marking the end of the Orc Warlord Boldog. Great fun as it was only turn 2!

Melee and mayhem everywhere. The Rohan combo of Furious Charge proved to be too powerful for the orcs and broke their army. 

Meanwhile at the far edge of the table, well away from Fangorn Forest the last unit of wargs capture Merry and Pippin. So the Orcs lose the battle but gain the objective...we called it a draw. Great game and also fun to finally play games in Middle Earth with a set of rules that we really like. Chris and I have been searching for these rules for over 30 years. 

On to game two...

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The Ruins of Osgiliath: the attempt by Frodo and Sam to move through the ruins undetected whilst the Orcs attack the brave defenders of Gondor.

Frodo and Sam are desperately trying to pass un-noticed through the ruins of Osgiliath as the forces of Gondor clash with a host of invading Orcs.

Terrain: The river Anduin runs along one short edge of the table with the ruins of Osgiliath set on the eastern side. A few other pieces of scatter terrain can be placed around.

Objectives: each force must try to defeat the other and gain a bonus objective if they find/capture Frodo and Sam.

Frodo and Sam are moving around trying to get safely to Mordor, they may shift between areas of difficult terrain. Roll to determine if they are in an area (6 on a d6) when it is entered by troops, but no area is ever considered ‘cleared’. Once unoccupied Frodo and Sam may appear there in future turns. There is no ‘auto find’ in the last area searched, which does mean that it’s possible they may never be found (in which case they got through to Mordor).

If captured Frodo and Sam may also be 'stolen' by the opposition by defeating any unit/character currently in possession of them.

In both games the usual 'ending the game' p25, conditions apply. 

Deployment for game two, both sides took a far more cautious approach this game. This time Ian and I played the orcs with Chris commanding the brave forces of Gondor. 

The wonderful 10mm scenery belongs to Chris. These ruins are 3d printed by 'Telford 3D printing' I believe, link: Telford 3D Printing - Home

Two turns in and the Ithilien Rangers are about to be destroyed by warg riders... 

...and my trolls found Frodo and Sam. 

The two forces slowly approach each other, seeking the best position.  

Bash, all hell finally lets loose. The trolls leave the hobbits with the large unit of orcs on the right and try to get around the Gondor flank.

Biff, another great dice throw and the Gondor Warlord is downed by a unit of orc archers. 

I had to record these two dice throws as it was me chucking the dice. 

But the forces of Gondor edged the win. Close to breaking themselves they reduced the Orcs to their breakpoint claiming the battle but the remaining Orcs escaped with Frodo and Sam thus rewriting the whole Tolkien storyline and the result feeling like an echo of the first game. 

Fantastic Battles certainly lived up to it's name and gave us two wonderful LOTR themed games. We are increasingly happy with the armylists that the rules allow us to build for Middle Earth forces. Next time we may try a single, large battle.