1st Assault on Cair Andros - Saturday

     On Saturday at Gateway 2012 (presented by Strategicon) was the 1st Assault on Cair Andros.

   Here is a photo of what the board will look like. Upper left is the remaining keep and the gate is an objective. Opposite it is the ruins of another keep that has been destroyed. The flag inside is an objective marker. The statue in the middle is an objective. The wooden wall's gate is an objective. Whoever hold the balance of the objectives will win this game. And now, on to the battle!

The forces of Mordor have moved forward to place ladders on the wall.

                                          "FORWARD! Up the ladder you Maggots!!"

 The orcs start to gain a foothold on the wall. Archery on both sides was horrible and few casualties where caused, much to the Gondorian's dismay.

 Orc spearmen on the wall, engaging a Gondorian archer. Being supported by another spearman, it's a 2 dice to 1 melee.

 Damrod, Ranger of Gondor, combats each orc as they climb the ladder. For a couple of turns, this section held.

                       Too many orcs, not enough Gondorians to effectively man the entire wall.

     Gondor falls back from the wall and shoots at the orcs on the wall, now prime targets with no cover.
 A wide shot of the battlefield, showing the Gondorians falling back and the orcs climbing down from the walls to chase them down and capture the objectives.

                 The orc Captain Vrang helps cut down the defenders, not caring about his own losses....

                                                          Surrounded and fighting to the last!

                                    With nothing to stop them, the Orcs swarm over the walls!

                                                  MORDOR!   MORDOR!   MORDOR!

                                                    Trying to defend one of the objectives

                                     "Form around Faramir! STAND YOUR GROUND!!"

   The game ended a turn later. For the whole game the Gondorian player had horrible archery rolls and thus couldn't thin out the orcs as planned. The wall was defended as long as possible, losing Damrod in the process, then the remaining Good Forces fell back and at last retreated into the remaining intact keep. With this result the forces of Mordor won (held all but one of the objectives) and got to start inside the wall on the next game on Sunday.

TTFN