Here's another War in Rohan scenario for Games Workshop's Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. Having seen what happens after the Uruk-hai explode the Deeping Wall at Helm's Deep (here), now we go back in time and see how (or if!) the explosion comes to be.
The victory conditions are simple: Evil needs to blow up a Demolition Charge within 1" of the culvert in the Deeping Wall. Good needs to kill all of the Uruk-hai Berserkers carrying torches, which would prevent an Evil win.
(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)
The Good forces are the same as in the previous scenario: the Three Hunters, Haldir, a sprue of Warriors of Rohan, and a sprue of Galadhrim. Here again the latter have been replaced with twelve metal Galadhrim, since that's all I have.
Evil has pretty much the same force as the last scenario, too. There's an extra Uruk-hai Captain (here represented by Mauhur) and of course three Demolition Teams.
The bases for the Demolition Teams aren't required by the rules, but they make moving the teams a bit more convenient and, since the charges get placed off the ground on a small support, it looks more like the Uruk-hai are actually carrying them.
All of the Good and Evil forces, barring the Demolition Teams, set up on the Deeping Wall. The Demolition Teams set up 33" away from the wall.
Good sets up first in the central section of the wall. The archers are deployed in the middle, with the Good tanks (Aragorn and Gimli) on either side of the outermost flanks to protect the bowmen.
Evil then sets up second, at just outside the Good position. The Captains are in front, having the best chance of reaching the bowmen before they can kill too many troops. My walls are not quite 4 feet long, but they are just long enough that all of the Evil models fit. But it's quite crowded.
The ladders here are not just for show. By scenario special rule, Evil casualties (barring Captains and flaming Berserkers) can return to the game on any of the ladders in subsequent turns.
Good begins with Priority, as normal in narrative scenarios.
Evil deems it not worth spending the Might points for a Heroic Move. It doesn't matter much who Charges whom at this point, right?
The Demolition Teams move up, the valuable flaming Berserkers hiding behind the charge bearers. The teams carefully measure and stay just out of bow range of the walls. So there's no Shooting this turn.
Combat sees both Aragorn vs Uglúk and Mauhur vs an elf making much sound and fury to no result. The other end of the wall is bloodier, with Gimli inflicting a Wound on the Captain while Lurtz kills an elf.
Evil Priority, 5-2.
Again there doesn't seem to be much point to a Heroic Move. So the forces on the wall jiggle a little but there's no great difference from last turn (hence lack of pictures).
The Demolition Teams advance, of course.
There's a lot of Shooting this turn: Legolas takes three shots, Haldir gets two, plus four Rohirrim bowmen and six elven bowmen. Most have no effect, but Haldir and another elf manage to get through to the Berserkers and score a Wound (Haldir using a Might point to do so). Neither Berserkers' saving roll (courtesy of their Oblivious to Pain special rule) comes through for them.
On the walls, Aragorn burns his Free Might and one from his store to win against Uglúk and inflict a Wound. Mauhur kills an elf, Lurtz loses to elf(!) but suffers no Wound. The Captain spends a Might point against Gimli to force the dwarf to also spend a Might point to win. But Gimli fails to Wound.
We're on turn two and Good's already 67% of the way to victory?!?
Good Priority, 6-6.
The scrum on the Walls continue while the Demolition Teams move up.
Shooting opens with Legolas, whose first shot hits, passes the In the Way roll to reach the Berserker, then gets a '5' to Wound, which has no effect. But Legolas has Might. One point is expended, the '5' becomes a '6', and down goes the Berserker, whose saving roll does not in fact save him.
Technically, Good has won at this point.
I decided to keep playing, as the charges can be exploded by normal troops using the Desperate Detonation rule. But the elves are absolutely lethal. Out of six shots, four hit and kill the bearers; Haldir accounts for another.
There seemed little point to continuing.
That was really an unsatisfactory experience. I don't think this scenario works at all as written.
If the Demolition Teams advance from the start, there seems to be little that Evil can do from being shot to death, as happened here. And it makes all those troops on the walls pointless.
So is this a walkover for Good? No, it's actually a walkover for Evil. Whaaat? Think about it: suppose the Demolition Teams just .... wait. The Uruk-hai are inexhaustible and the Good forces are not. So eventually, given enough time, the Uruk-hai on the walls will eliminate every Good model. The Demolition Teams can then stroll up to the wall and (rather pointlessly now) blow it up.
I argue that neither of those cases is very interesting or fun to play.
In hopes of salvaging something from this replay, I decided to reset and allow the Uruk-hai to set up on the ladders as well as the walls. Perhaps they'll be able to reach the archers before they turn the Demolition Teams into porcupines? Let's see how it goes.
Good still gets Priority for Turn 1.
Knowing that Evil can set up on the ladders, Good adjusts his setup so that Aragorn and Gimli are guarding the outermost ladders, the innermost getting regular Warriors. Evil puts a hero on each of those ladders, with a Berserker behind to exploit any breakthroughs.
As before, there's no Shooting on Turn 1 because no one is in range.
Taking the ladders left to right, Aragorn manages a miserable '2'-highest against Mauhur's '6'. Is it worth all four of Aragorn's Might point to win? Hardly. So the orc wins, and Aragorn's confidence is well-placed as Mauhur manages to hit only stonework.
Uglúk also wins, and slays a Warrior of Rohan.
Good does better at the other end, where the Captain loses to an elf '2' to '3'. Again it doesn't seem worth all the Captain's Might to win, or even one Might to tie. The elf fails to Wound, but the Captain falls and takes the Berserker on the ladder with him. The Captain's heavy armor somehow protects him from a fall (odd, that) but the Beserker is not so lucky and even though he falls a much shorter distance, he dies!
Gimli and Lurtz each spend a Might point to get their '6's. Gimli fails to Wound, but Lurtz maintains his grip on the ladder.
On the flanks, a Warrior of Rohan and, surprisingly, two Berserkers go down.
Evil Priority, 5-4.
Having fought his way on to the wall, Uglúk is a threat to the archers and so Aragorn uses his free Might point to call a Heroic Move. Likely to face the heir of Elendil himself, the orc saves his Might for the Combat. The scrums continue as the Demolition Charges move into bow range.
Good must have used up all his luck last game, because archery fails to score a single Wound this turn!
Aragorn beats Mauhur but his Wound rolls are terrible and Mauhur doesn't fall, so there's ultimately no effect.
Uglúk ended up facing three Warriors of Rohan. He beats them and takes one down.
A Berserker beats the elves facing him but fails to Wound.
Gimli beats Lurtz and inflicts a Wound, but Lurtz again maintains his grip.
Among the Warriors on the flanks, a Warrior of Rohan and a Galadhrim die.
Good Priority, 2-1.
There's the usual very slight movement adjustments on the wall. On the ground, the Demolition Teams continue to move up, and the Captain moves to help lead them to the wall.
Good's Shooting luck is back, with the elves taking out one Demolition Team entirely and Legolas nailing the Berserker in another.
Such luck continues into the Combat phase, as Aragorn gets his '6' against Mauhur, gets Wound rolls of '6', '5', '6', and uses his Free Might point to turn the '5' into a '6' also. Mauhur gives up the ghost.
Uglúk then knocks off another Warrior of Rohan, and the Berserker wins but fails to Wound against the elves.
Inspired by Aragorn perhaps, Gimli also beats Lurtz and puts two Wounds on him. Bye-bye, Lurtz.
The warriors on the flanks have entirely indecisive Combats.
Good Priority, 3-2.
Uglúk calls a Heroic Move to get to the archers. Aragorn uses his free Might point to counter, but Evil wins the roll-off and Legolas is engaged.
The Captain calls a Heroic March to help get the Demolition Teams to the wall.
Shooting has no effect. It seems to be all or nothing with these guys.
Aragorn burns a "real" Might point calling a Heroic Combat, hoping to help Legolas. He wins against the Berserker but manages to inflict only a single Wound. Naturally the Berserker's saving throw comes through, and Aragorn's Heroic Combat is foiled!
Uglúk does indeed beat Legolas '6' to '4'. Legolas has plenty of Fate, though, so he takes his lumps, or rather a single lump after the Wounds are rolled for.
The Combats on the flanks take down a Berserker, two elves, and a Warrior of Rohan.
Evil Priority, 2-1.
The Captain calls another Heroic March, which is just enough to get a Demolition Team to the wall. The Berserker passes his Courage test at the beginning of the Fight phase, the Demolition Charge explodes, and Evil wins, this time.
So that was a little better. It's still not very good, though. Starting on the ladders made for more action, but there were still a great many models that had no effect on the game, which feels wrong.
Again, Evil should really have kept the Demolition Teams out of Shooting range until the walls were cleared. That's still a guaranteed win at the cost of an extremely boring scenario.
I think the problem here is that there's no time pressure on the Evil player, and little incentive for Good to shoot at anything other than the Demolition Teams (and even then, just the Berserkers).
I'm not sure how best to fix this. Maybe adding some crossbows to the Evil side to give the Good bows something else to think about? And a time limit to prevent the boring "everyone dies eventually" win?
More troops on the ground would also help the scenario's verisimilitude. Do you remember in the movie where the Berserker with the flaming brand was running all alone, with no one around him in an otherwise empty field? Me neither. Surely the field should be filled with troops?
I think sometimes the desire to showcase every movie scene in a standalone scenario is more trouble than its worth. I hope sometime to try a more complete Helm's Deep scenario, which seems to me to have interesting decisions. Where should the heroes go: the Deeping Wall? The Gatehouse? Both? Likewise, how should the Demolition Charges be apportioned? And can the Uruk-hai accomplish their goals before Gandalf shows up and ruins everything? Dice still play a factor there, to be sure. But the game isn't just a die-rolling exercise, and all the troops play their part.
My reluctant rating for the scenario as written: ★☆☆☆☆