My playthrough of the Return of the King Journey Book scenarios continues here with Charge of the Mûmakil.
Here a small Haradrim force tries to hold out against Éomer and his cavalry. The odds are hopeless ... until the oliphaunts arrive. Good must kill those monsters to win; Evil must wipe out the entire Good force.
(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)
Éomer and two Captains of Rohan lead 5 Rohan Royal Guard and three squads of Riders of Rohan. The points allotted for the Good force by the scenario specs would allow a fourth squadron here; but I don't have that many painted up. So I used what I have, and scaled down the Evil forces proportionately. Yeah, the Erkenbrand model here is just a Captain.
Each Mûmak has six archers and a Mahud (misplaced at the top of the howdah and hence not visible, but I corrected that before starting the game). The initial ground force is twelve spearmen (one of which has a banner) bolstered by a Haradrim Chieftain.
The starting positions for this scenario seem a little confused. Good is told to set up first within 36" of the western board edge, which corresponds well with the image in the book. But then Evil is supposed to start at least 12" from the Eastern table corner, which is weird. First off, the board is arranged with the edges facing the cardinal directions, so there is no single "Eastern table corner". Perhaps more important, since the board is 48" wide those instructions technically mean that the Evil setup area is the same as the Good setup area!
So "at least" is probably just a typo for "no more", right? Except the book image has the Evil deployment zone not touching the Good deployment zone -- which it should because 36" + 12" is the entire width of the board.
So it's really hard to figure out what's intended. I ended up just setting the Evil forces 12" from the Eastern board edge and put the Rohirrim slightly over 10" away so there could be some manuevering before getting into the melee.
Good always has Priority on the first turn.
By scenario special rule, Éomer always has to Charge, or move closer to an enemy if no Charge is possible. Since he starts out of Charge range, he advances full speed, bringing the Royal Guard with him; one throwing spear takes out a Haradrim before Evil even gets a chance to move. The Riders on the flanks (each wing led by a Captain) advance a half move so they can use their bows.
Evil is in danger of being surrounded, so retreats a full move. Besides, this forces Éomer to advance next turn even closer to where the Mûmakil will enter.
Shooting is pretty sad this turn and despite the huge number of shots and the relatively low defense of the Haradrim only one Southron is lost.
Casualties: Good 0, Evil 2
Good Priority, 6-3.
Last turn's retreat was not enough to get the Evil forces out of the Charge range of the horselords, so the Haradrim Chieftain calls a Heroic Move. Éomer counters, but Evil gets the nod.
The Haradrim retreat to the board edge. Good moves full in the center and half on the wings, just like last turn and for the same reasons.
Shooting again takes out two spearmen.
Casualties: Good 0, Evil 4
Evil Priority, 6-3.
Éomer sees no point to calling a Heroic Move, as he'd just have to Charge (due to that pesky scenario special rule) and would likely get surrounded or, worse, trampled. And the Captains are too far away to matter. So Good lets Evil go ahead.
The Mûmakil enter this turn, and though they can't Charge they can trample. So the Haradrim show some spirit and charge the Rohan Royal Guard, being careful to leave enough space for a Mûmak to drive in on Éomer. The Mûmak rolls his trample dice and gets the dreaded triple '2's. Not only does Éomer stop him, but he doesn't even take any Wounds at all. That's a brave hero!
The other Mûmak advances on the Rohirrim nearest the camera.
Good in turn countercharges the spearmen but is careful to stay away from the oliphaunt due to its Terror.
Evil now has bowmen on the table (well, on the elephants...) and can join in the Shooting festivities. Alas, their results are even worse than the Rohirrim and there are few hits (despite needing only a 4+) and none of the hits do damage. Bad Shooting luck continues as Good fails to Wound anything, either.
The Mûmak, angry over having a good (not Good) trample ruined, looks forward to stomping on Éomer. Unfortunately, the Good hero rolls a '6' and has the higher Fight value, so he wins his combat and even succeeds in putting a Wound on the beast! The Mahud's Courage test rolls boxcars, though, so he passes with flying colors and there will be no stampede this turn.
In other Combat, the Haradrim take out a Royal Guard for the loss of three of their own spearmen. Rather a disappointing turn for Evil.
Casualties: Good 1, Evil 7
Evil Priority, 4-1.
Éomer calls a Heroic Move to prevent a trample. The Mahud counters but Good wins the roll-off.
Éomer and one Royal Guard Charge the Mûmak while the rest of the nearby horsemen tie up the Haradrim to prevent getting trapped.
That still leaves the other Mûmak free, and he advances towards the nearest Rohan Captain. In return, that group charges ... except for the Captain himself and two others who fails their Courage tests ("You fellows take on that monster; I'll continue to take in events from here!")
The other Captain moves up to support Éomer though his troops stay put to shoot some arrows into the Haradrim riding the Mûmak.
In the Shooting Phase, the bowmen of both sides are starting to find the range. One Rider goes down, and the stationary Rohirrim put a Wound on the exposed Mahud.
Combat starts with the purple Mûmak, whose lousy '4'-highest roll is easily beaten by the Good roll of '6'. Is it worth two points of Might to win? No way -- the Good troops need '6/5' to Wound and would have to score that ten times to actually kill the beast. It's not in any real danger, an evaluation confirmed by the subsequent Wound rolls which completely miss.
The other Mûmak gets the '6' against Éomer's '5', but the Marshal has a nearby banner and he luckily gets the '6' on the re-roll and wins again due to higher Fight value. Then unluckily he fails to Wound, getting no '6's and only a single '5' which he decides not to boost with his precious Might.
Combat elsewhere favors Evil. Despite the charge bonus, only one Haradrim warrior is ridden down, and the bold Royal Guard charging the Chieftain is, thanks to the banner effect of the Mûmak, cut down for his temerity.
Casualties: Good 3, Evil 8
Good Priority, 5-3.
Evil considers a Heroic Move. But the war beasts are tough, and the Haradrim spearmen don't matter directly to the victory conditions at all. So Evil saves the Might.
Good has to Charge, of course. But the cavalry's Courage tests are terrible. Éomer ends up facing the red Mûmak alone, while only the Captain and one other Rider find the heart to face the purple Mûmak. A few Riders Charge the enemy foot troops to tie them up, with the result that when it's Evil's turn to move all he can do is rearrange the archers in the howdahs.
In the Shooting Phase, Good continues to fire away at the red Mahud. Just a single Wound is scored, but the Mahud fails his only Fate roll and he is killed! (You can just see the wound marker at the top of the first image.)
Evil Shooting gets another casualty, but it's just a Rider's horse (shown by the white stone in the second image).
Combat starts well for Evil. The purple Mûmak beats the Captain, scores three Wounds, and kills him outright.
Perhaps inspired, the red Mûmak wins his Combat, too. But his Wound rolls are terrible and Éomer continues to fight on.
The Riders are determined to make up for their poor showing against the foot troops last turn and all of the spearmen are ridden down. The Chieftain, though, beats his Rohan Captain opponent and kills his horse.
Casualties: Good 4, Evil 13. Evil will be broken if he loses two more models, although Mûmakil never have to take Courage tests for being part of a broken force so the point is rather moot. (I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that riders on the beasts don't have to take tests, either.)
Evil Priority, 6-1.
Good saves his Might and so no Heroic Moves are called.
The Chieftain gets out of the way of the nearby Mûmak so it can trample. It takes out two Royal Guard but the doughty Captain survives having taken only one Wound and so stops the beast's onslaught.
The purple Mûmak has better luck and pounds four of the Rohirrim into dust.
Éomer tries to charge the red Mûmak but fails his Courage test with a roll of '4'. Fortunately he's still got Will points and so by expending one he manages to get at the oliphaunt.
There still a lot of archery despite the casualties but none of it has any effect. Likewise the sole Combat, where thanks to Éomer's higher Fight value Good wins, but can't land any Wounds.
Casualties: Good 10, Evil 13
Good Priority, 5-1.
Good runs from the semi-out-of-position purple Mûmak, and his heroes again charge the other beast. Evil has only one model to move, the Chieftain, and he engages the Captain to peel him off of the Mûmak.
Shooting dismounts two riders (the white markers) and nearly puts a Wound on a howdah, rolling '6/5' but needing a '6/6'. So close!
Good wins both Combats but though the Chieftain takes a Wound Éomer rolls a miserable '1', '1', '2' against the Mûmak to no effect.
Casualties: Good 10, Evil 13
Good Priority, 3-2.
The purple Mahud calls a Heroic Move and Éomer, having only 1 Might point left, lets him have it. The beast tramples down the riders dismounted last turn. In response, Éomer and a couple of his men again Charge the red Mûmak, while another engages the Chieftain.
Shooting is generally ineffectively, except for a rider landing a lucky hit on the purple Mahud.
Combat is the inverse of last turn. The Chieftain easily knocks off his attacker, but Éomer finally lands a Wound on the red Mûmak, and it fails its Courage test. Stampede next turn!
Less fun news for Good is that his force is broken.
Good Priority, 6-5.
With their leaders out of range, a squad of Riders has to take Courage tests for being broken and three run away.
The purple Mahud uses his last Might point to Heroic Move, hoping to get out of the way of the out-of-control red Mûmak. But Éomer uses his last Might point to counter, and Good wins the roll-off.
Good swarms the purple Mûmak, being sure to leave plenty of room for the red Mûmak to charge in as well. The Chieftain is also engaged again.
Now it's stampede time. Good gives some serious consideration to having the Mûmak just stampede off the board. This would get Good halfway to victory without any further ado. But his troops are thinning rapidly and it seems like the chance of stampeding the remaining beast is pretty small, to say nothing of the vanishingly small chance of killing it outright.
A better strategy seems to be to charge the other beast. With luck, at least one will take damage and fail a Courage test and the stampede process can continue back and forth until both are defeated. So that's what Good ultimately decides to do.
But luck is with Evil. A total of three hits are inflicted between the oliphaunts, but all the resulting Courage tests are passed and there will be no more stampeding for now. Having an archer fall from the howdah to his death is slight recompense for Good's decision not paying off.
In Combat, the Chieftain is Wounded but is saved by his Fate point. (I think I goofed here and gave the Chieftain a 3-Wound stat instead of 2. But I don't think it materially affected the game.) Éomer continues his winning streak, albeit this time against the purple Mûmak, but he fails to Wound.
Evil Priority, 6-6.
The Rohan Captain calls a Heroic Move and the Chieftain counters, but Good gets it. The Rohan heroes move near to protect the riders from Courage test, putting the Chieftain between them and the Mûmak. But the beast doesn't care. The Chieftain, Captain, and, due to appalling Fate rolls, Éomer are all trampled!
The purple Mûmak goes in the other direction and tramples the last of the Good forces on that part of the battlefield.
There are now just three Good riders left on the board.
Evil Priority, 3-1.
There's no finesse needed here. Evil tramples the last Good guys and so wins the game.
I think the Rohirrim have an uphill battle here. Really the only weapon they have against the literally terrifying Mûmakil is Éomer's higher Fight value. Although that helped win his Combats, Éomer was pretty unlucky in that he rarely scored a Wound. And if he's not producing for you, you don't have many other tools. Sure, there's plenty of archery here, too, but the Mûmakil have such high defense that you'd be lucky to score more than one Wound that way during a normal game.
The Mûmakil make great tanks -- just point them and charge. A doughty hero might stop them, but normal troops are going to end up as pancakes.
You can really see why in the movie you need the Army of the Dead here. Good would have had a much easier time striking against the beasts' Courage 2 instead of their defense 7!
This was still a fun scenario to try, though. I liked giving the Mûmakil a go. They are impressive models and there aren't many scenarios that use them. And if the Rohirrim are not the best-equipped opponents to face them, the asymmetry of the two sides kept it interesting.