Other SBG Battles

Weathertop

This is a scenario of Games Workshop's Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, from the Quest of the Ringbearer sourcebook. Sauron's mightiest minions have tracked Frodo and his friends through the wilderness and finally corner them in the ruins atop Amon Sûl.

The Evil side wins by killing Frodo. Good wins if the Evil force is eliminated before that happens.

(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)

The Forces

This is one of the game's smaller narrative scenarios. The hobbits (l to r: Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Sam) have Aragorn's help. All the Good models except Frodo have armed themselves with flaming brands, which force the Evil models back d6" if they lose in combat. Aragorn also has the option to throw his brand, with his target being Set Ablaze if it hits.

Facing them are the Witch-king of Angmar with Morgul Blade and 4 Ringwraiths. Calling them "mightiest minions" above is a bit inaccurate, as here they have no Might or Fate and only the lowest amount of Will. But the Morgul Blade can potentially kill a model with a single hit, and so between that and their spells, the Evil side has a few tricks of their own.

Setup

Frodo sets up in the middle of the ruins, with the other hobbits next to him. Aragorn enters play only on a dieroll of 4+, but can't start rolling until the second turn.

The Ringwraiths set up at the edges of the ruins. The three in the back are a little hard to see in the thumbnail, but you can see the glint of their steel weapons.

Turn 1

Good always starts with Priority in a narrative scenario.

The Ringwraiths are out of move range (4") of the hobbits, and there's trouble in all directions, so there's little point in moving the Good models. Without much to do, they stoop for stones.

Ringwraith #2 (in the lower left corner) casts a two-die Sap Will on Frodo, which fails (4,4). It then Charges Frodo, squeezing in between Pippin and Sam without touching either.

Ringwraith #3 (in the lower right corner) also casts a two-die Compel on Frodo, which succeeds (4,6). Frodo uses one of his Will plus the Resistant to Magic bonus to resist with two dice but succumbs (3,3). Frodo can't move, being engaged, but the Ringwraith forces him to put on the Ring! The hobbit goes invisible and now more clearly sees the Ringwraiths, hence the model switches. Ringwraith #3 can't actually reach Frodo, and sees no point to needlessly engage Sam. (Remember that a Ringwraith engaged in combat automatically loses a Will point at the end of the combat, and Evil has a very limited supply. That rule doesn't apply to combat involving a Ringbearer, which is one of the several reasons to force Frodo to put the Ring on.) So the Ringwraith stays in place to await developments.

Ringwraith #1 (upper right) casts a one die Compel on Merry, trying to get him out of the way, but the spell fails (3). He then Charges Merry, who is half as tough as Sam, reasoning that with a bit of luck the roadblocking hobbit can be slain.

With this preliminary work in place, the Witch-king casts Drain Courage on Frodo and succeeds (6). Frodo reasons that the risk of losing a single Courage point isn't worth spending precious Will, but he does use the Resistant to Magic bonus, which fails (1). Frodo is now Courage 5. The Witch-king then Charges Frodo.

Finally, Ringwraith #4 (upper left) casts another Drain Courage on Frodo. He succeeds with only a 3 and Frodo is then fairly confidant that the single RtM bonus die will be sufficient to resist. But he's wrong (1) and is now Courage 4. The Ringwraith then Charges Pippin, using the same reasoning as his compatriot #1.

With Sam unengaged, he's free to fling his stone at Ringwraith #3. He hits (4), then rolls 6/4. He needs a 6/6 to dissolve the Ringwraith ... but he remembers his 2 points of Might, and spends them for the kill! (first image)

Combat continues to go Good's way, as all three hobbits win their Combats! Since Frodo has the Ring on and no firebrand, his two attackers retreat the usual 1". Merry and Pippin's opponents are forced back 2" and 3" respectively, and lose an additional Will. (second image)

Not a great turn for Evil, but Frodo has the Ring on with reduced Courage, and the Ringwraiths still have plenty of Will left.

This scenario is so hero- and magic-heavy that I'm going to show the characters' M/W/F expenditures each turn. Numbers in the boxes are the turn number that characteristic was used:

Turn 2

Evil Priority (3,1)

Not wanting to give Evil a chance to cast spells, Frodo calls a Heroic Move.

Sam, Merry, and Pippin all pass their Courage Tests and Charge Ringwraiths #2, #1, and Witch-king, respectively.

With the Ring on, Frodo must test to see which player controls his movement this turn. Fortunately for Good, he maintains his self-control and then passes his Courage Test to take off the Ring. He then scampers away from the action. (That's him in the lower right.)

Evil can now move but only Ringwraith #4 is unengaged. He weasels his way around the blocking hobbits to the center of the ruins but doesn't have enough movement to reach Frodo. Frustrated, he casts a two die Compel on Frodo and succeeds (4,5). Frodo really doesn't want to put on the Ring, so he resists with one Will point plus the RtM bonus and resists the spell (3,6).

Now its Good's regular Move phase. Everyone's already moved but Good can start rolling for Strider's appearance and he does indeed show up (6). Unfortunately for Good, he can't Charge on the turn he enters play, though. (first image)

There's no longer any shooting (Aragorn has a bow, but all the Ringwraiths are in Combat or obstructed by a Combat) but there are three combats to resolve.

Brave Sam wins his Combat (6 v 1) but is unable to Wound. Ringwraith #2 loses a Will and retreats 3".

The other two hobbits are not so lucky, each losing their fight and suffering a Wound. Merry saves himself with his Fate point (6), but Pippin's roll is a 3 and so the poor hobbit is slain! (second image)

Turn 3

Evil Priority (4,2)

Evil begins the turn with the scenario-specific Cry of the Nazgûl rule, lowering Good's Courage values by 3 for this turn only.

Aragorn uses his free Might point to call a Heroic Move. He then Charges the Witch-King, needing to use a Will point to pass his Courage Test. Sam Charges Ringwraith #2, passing his Courage Test easily. Merry tries to Charge Ringwraith #4 but muffs his Courage Test and stays in place. Frodo cowers in place.

Evil then moves his free models. Ringwraith #1 re-enters the circle and casts a 2-die Compel on Frodo, hoping to force him to put on the Ring again. It succeeds (5) but Frodo burns a Will point in addition to the RtM bonus and resists (6). The Ringwraith is too far away to reach Frodo, so positions itself in the center of the circle to await developments.

Ringwraith #4 also casts Compel on Frodo, but as it's running low on Will it uses only one die. It pays off (5) but Frodo uses his RtM die and shrugs off the spell (5). Ringwraith #4 then Charges Frodo. (first image)

In the Fight Phase, Aragorn easily bests the Witch-king (5,4,1 v 3) but his Wound rolls are terrible (3,3,2). Is it worth expending his entire allotment of three Might to kill the Witch-king? The Lord of the Nazgûl has 8 Will left plus the Morgul Blade with which to cause mischief, so ... yes. Aragorn's now out of Might, but the Witch-king vanishes with a dreadful, piercing shriek.

Perhaps emboldened by Aragorn's success, Sam wins his Duel roll as well, and then rolls a (6) to Wound. Can Sam take out another Ringwraith? A tense dieroll follows (3) but the Ringwraith is safe for now. The Ringwraith retreats 2" and loses another Will point.

Evil finally gets a small break against Frodo, both rolling (6) and Ringwraith #4 winning on Fight value. The Ringwraith fails to Wound, though, and loses another Will point. (second image)

Turn 4

Good Priority (5,3)

Aragorn Charges Ringwraith #4 and doughty Sam continues his campaign againts Ringwraith #2. Merry continues to cower.

Frodo decides to more actively participate and Charges Ringwraith #1. This prevents the Ringwraith from casting spells, and the risk to Frodo is small since he can take multiple wounds and the Ringwraith can only inflict one. Which assumes the Ringwraith even wins the fight, which has been an iffy proposition so far.

Aragorn unsurprisingly wins his Duel roll (4,2,1 v 2) and again his Wound rolls are sub-par (5,4,1) but he still has his free Might point and uses it to inflict a killing blow.

Sam yet again defeats the hapless Ringwraith #2 but yet again fails to Wound.

Frodo's cheeky attack is punished as he loses his combat, but the Ringwraith fails to Wound.

Turn 5

Good Priority (3,2)

Ringwraith #1 is swarmed, with everyone, even Merry, passing their Courage tests. Sam continues his vendetta against Ringwraith #2.

Ringwraith #1 loses of course. Aragorn chivalrously lets the hobbits try to Wound first; each gets an initial (6) but the followup rolls are (1)s and so Aragorn administers the coup de grâce.

Sam loses a Combat for once but the demoralized Ringwraith fails to Wound.

With only one Ringwraith left, and that one having a single Will point, Evil has no way to win. Even with perfect luck, it'd need two Combats (so costing two Will) to kill Frodo. It could avoid the Will penalty by forcing Frodo to don the Ring via Compel, but that would cost its last Will point. So it's hopeless. Evil concedes.

Good victory!

Post-game Thoughts

A bit of a blowout, wasn't it? It started out well enough for Evil with Frodo being forced to put on the Ring, but then Sam's lucky shot ("if luck you call it", as Gandalf would say), Aragorn's immediate arrival, generally below average Duel and Wound rolls, and inability to seize the initiative with a Heroic Move due to lack of Might pretty much sealed Evil's fate.

I mean, it couldn't have been my strategy, right? Neutralizing Aragorn with some Transfixes would be a good idea; there's little point in saving Will points when a Ringwraith is just going to die anyway.

SBG being a dice game, there's always going to be an element of luck, and these small scenarios in particular tend to be more luck-dependent because of the fewer dierolls. It's not hard to see luck going the other way leading to an Evil win as Aragorn is held back a few turns, Frodo's lowered Courage prevents him from taking off the Ring, and the Morgul Blade does its thing. So I don't sweat the balance here much.

Besides, this is an iconic scene in both the films and the books. For that reason, there have been many versions of this scenario over the years. I like this one's Objectives the best, as they revolve solely around Frodo. The other hobbits are just irritating obstacles, which is as it was in the lore.

My rating: ★★★★☆

Dave Townsend / dave@davetownsend.org / 07 Jul 2024