At Stephens today and he was keen to show me the Middle Earth Battle Game system (trying to tempt me I fear) with his lovely figures which are a mix of 'official' WH stuff and various 3D printed stuff.
One does need to know the army you are using and the myriad of various abilities,traits, spells and attributes applicable to its units and more importantly its heroes.
Its a point based system with a lovely book of 'army' lists (pick 'n mix points style a favourite of Mr B) covering just about every type of force from the LOTR world and with a very nice hardback rules/battle manual.
Stephen has a couple of armies and so I chose to use a Mordor Orc force he had compiled.
Lots of Warrior Orcs (armoured and unarmoured) some (crap) Orc archers and 'heroes/leaders' with an armoured Troll in tow.
The leaders included Gothmog on a Warg, Goroth, a Shaman and an Orc Commander all with differing abilities.
First game (a standard fight o the death scenario) saw these Orcs face the men of Rohan with loads of bow armed cavalry and several with throwing spears, backed by some foot archers and swordsmen along with Theoden, Eomer and other Horse Lords.
Not knowing the system I deployed incorrectly to my rear (trying to utilize terrain) and was deluged by a ton of arrows which saw me lose 11 figures (out of 36) before I even got close to enemy !
I did manage to assault 2 isolated Riders with the Troll killing 1 but would have failed to close anywhere else had not the Rohan moved into contact on my right where I was soon overwhelmed by the charging horsemen
But I did get to learn gist of system, although hard to remember all the stats and especially when best to use certain powers and abilities which is of course key to such fantasy type games.
Riders of Rohan pummel Orcs on my right
Second game was played on same table set up but this time the Orcs faced a Rivendale Eleven force with less bows (but better shots) and lots of decent foot and no mounted units but several heroes all with nice abilities.
Having learnt from first game I deployed as far forward as possible (ie up to half way) and simply went straight ahead.
Elves held back to use their bows (poor shooting rolls thankfully) but soon we were both involved in dozens of melees all across the board.
Eleven ability to win drawn combats aided them several times and 2 heroes double teaming my Troll saw it die horribly although Gothmog managed to kill 3 Elves after knocking them down with his Warg (gives double kill dice if you win initial 'Duel').
Elves devastated the Orcs over course of a couple of turns although they did suffer losses (unlike the Rohan chaps)
Whilst WH not a system I have neither enjoyed or played much (ie twice) but this LOTR version is a fun and playable played on a 4' x 4' table with nice flavour of the Tolkien world. The generous movement and therefore very easy ways to surround or outnumber figures is different to what I am used to but easy to play and pick up.
Orc archers ended up charging into contact where they were much more effective
"Not all those who wander are lost..."
ReplyDeleteThe setting and scheme seems like it should make a fun game!