War of The Rings - Rohan vs Isenguard

Troops massing prior to deployment

This week's club game was a bit of a turn up and see what was happening kind of game with a few bods looking for a game and so an impromptu game of War of the Rings game was put together by Kev, with myself and Ian taking the side of the mighty Isenguard forces under the generalship of Lurtz against the 'Straw Hairs' in the guise of Kenny and David commanded by the 'unlucky' Theoden. 

The scenario chosen was 'Kill the King' ie four victory points for taking out the opposing general and 1 pt for each three companies destroyed so basically a meat-grinder.

The initial Deployment

The Isenguard forces deployed first and went for a fairly simple plan to hold the centre and right flank expecting the Rohan forces to attack through the ruins and possibly split the cavalry for each flank, and our main thrust was massed on our left flank through the woods to be followed by the centre and Lurtz with the massed Uruk-Hai pike.

The sneaky Rohan forces then deployed and went for a refused flank and ignored the ruins, and plumped for a holding centre and a massed cavalry assault on their left flank.

Isenguard advances on the Rohan lines

This now obviously caused a bit of a conundrum but being Uruk-Hai (and minions) we didn't let this bother us too much and launched our assault as planned and began a sweep of our forces towards the stationary Rohan Infantry.

The first half of the engagement quickly bogged down into a fight for the woods with a see-saw fight for control with first the Uruk-Hai scouts occupying them but quickly ousted by Theoden and his surrounding Riders. 

The fight for the wood rages

The Isenguard Uruk-Hai and Dunlending infantry advance into
the fire from the Rohan lines

Sharku's Raiders (Warg Riders) ocuppying the far left of the Isenguard lines held the line pretty much for he whole game and held up a unit of Riders of Rohan, much to our surprise as we expected these to buckle pretty quickly and hopefully, as we had a unit of Uruk-Hai Berserkers ready to pounce once the Raider broke but as it transpired these Berserkers never saw action.

Theoden pushed out of the woods and fairly quickly destoyed the Uruk-Hai scouts but this allowed an assault on Theoden and his Riders from a counter-charge by an Uruk-Hai Warband and an Isenguard Troll and threatening Berserkers. This assault stopped Theoden and pushed him back towards his lines through the woods.

The numbers on the Isenguard left began to tell and the limited space prevented the Rohan forces bringing all their cavalry to bear, especially the Kings Guard and Gamling with the Royal Standard which languished at the back trying vainly to find an opening to exploit.

The long march of the Isenguard forces nears its conclusion

The second half of the engagement now began to unfold as the rest of the forces began to close. Vrashku's Talons ( a powerful Uruk-Hai Crossbow Unit occupied the farthest forward ruins and began to fire on the end of the Rohan lines and in two rounds destroyed a unit of the Rohan militia and the proceded to make a dent in the next unit in line. The advancing Pike blocks taking fire from the Rohan Oathsworn Bowmen and this lined the lines a bit but not enough.

The fight around the woods involving two units of Riders, Theoden and his Guard versus the Troll, Uruk-Hai Warband and Sharhu's Raiders continued began to tell in the favour of the Isenguard forces as the Kings Guard was slowly whittled away and when the remaining Riders of Rohan cut off the advance of the second Unit of Uruk-Hai Berserkers but suffered heavy casualties, things began to look bleak for Rohan.

The Isenguard forces close

With the Uruk-Hai lines crunching into the Rohan ones and breif melee evolved with the Rohan Royal Guard trading blows with the second Uruk-Hai warband and Lurtz and the massed pike running over the Rohan Bowmen speed bump without much pause and onto the remaining Rohan infantry, things were unravelling fast for Rohan.

The end nears
Surrounded on three sides Theoden is about to be cut down
 along with most of the Riders

Another round or so was fought until with Theoden being cut down and the tally of destroyed Rohan Companies mounting rapidly, the victory was declared for Isenguard.

For a run down of the forces involved and Kev the umpire's take on the game, you can find his report at Double Six.

A fun and interesting game, and something different for the weekly club game. It often is the impromptu games that turn out to be the most enjoyable.