Second Assualt on Cair Andros -2nd Battle in The Lord of the Rings Mini-Campaign

  So on Sunday, July 24th, the 2nd Assault on Cair Andros took place at Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica, CA. As the 1st Battle no one side held enough of the objectives to have a advantage in this battle, the set-up was a listed for the scenario. The Orcs had managed to bust the gate open on the wooden palisade and thus set up just past it in the courtyard. Their aim was to assualt the Keep where a few Rangers of Gondor and some Warriors with a Captain were holed up. Leading the Forces of Evil was the great Captain of Mordor, Gothmog.

 The Forces of Mordor and their Siege Engines prepare for battle!

 Orcs advancing with ladders to scale the walls - Gothmog on his warg is in the background

 "Get them ladders up, ya mealy mouthed maggots!"

 The battering ram attacks the gate (too little effect) and the siege ladders go up, are pushed down, go back up again...

 A lightly defended wall is attacked "We need a little help here!!!"

 The Orcs are gaining the from ramparts, Gothmog is on the wall

 Another view of the combats, more troops are moved to help defend that side wall

 Orcs have overrun the ramparts and keeping the Gondorians back on the stairs

The last Turn (12) of the game and the Orcs have enough forces on the wall to win

  The objectives for the Orcs were to have 10+ figures on the rampart and/or in the Keep before Turn 12. If they did this before Turn 8 then they would get a advantage in the next game. If they lost 50% or more of their starting number, they game would end that turn and the number of figures on the ramparts would then be checked. The Gondorian objective is simple, don't let the Orcs have 10+ inside before the end of Turn 12.

  Dice rolling for archery is this game was terrible. The Rangers need a 3+ and Gondorians a 4+ to hit but so many 1s and 2s were rolled to hit and even if the roll was high enough to hit, the "To Wound" rolls were missed. The Orcs were not any better.
  A critical moment was when Gothmog was on the wall, and one of the Mordor Siege Bolt Throwers fires at a target on the wall near him.The shot deviated and Gothmog was hit in he back. All eyes were on the die roll to see if he was wounded or not as this could kill him if he missed all his Fate rolls. The d6 stopped on a "2", so no wound!

 This led to a little story I did about that incident....

  "Gothmog watch as his troops marched through the ruined gateway of Cair Andros, and the remaining keep was now on fire and would soon be a rubble filled ruin like its neighbor. His temper was at last under control after the battle here took longer than he liked, but the human warriors were either dead or prisoners. Some of the badly wounded ones revealed under the sword that their Leader, Faramir and some other warrior named Dimrod (or something like that) had already fled. He was angry they had escaped but his real wrath was for the crew of one of the Bolt Throwers. Gothmog’s armor already had the dent pounded out, but the pain in his back where the off-target shot hit (and could have killed him) made him very angry indeed. So he showed the remaining siege machine crews what happened to crews who fired their machines at targets too close to him. After being fired from the catapult at the keep’s walls, the red smears of where they hit and their mangled corpses show what happens to incompetent crews.

As the last troops march out, followed by Gothmog on his warg, the wooden wall that protected the keep was set ablaze. Now Gothmog was off to Osgiliath to run out the last of the humans there. Maybe Faramir was there too, and Gothmog would take his head. That made him smile. Or maybe he ran back to daddy and was holed up in the White City…No matter; he would fall wherever his was. It was time of Mordor and the orcs!"

  Hopefully you have enjoyed it!

To see all the photos of the game go to:

http://s207.photobucket.com/user/juggernought57/library/Wargame%20Convention%20Photos%202016/LOTR%20Mini%20Campaign%20-%202nd%20Assault%20on%20Cair%20Andros

The next game is Act3: The Rammas  or Faramir, Damrod and 4 Rangers of Gondor try to run the minute mile with the Forces of Mordor right behind them!

TTFN