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Return of the Wargs of Isengard, A Scenario.

Introduction

The vicious Wargs and their riders have been beaten off, but a terrible price has been paid for the victory.  Many Riders of the Mark have been slain, and Lord Aragorn is missing, believed to have been killed during his fight with the vicious Orc captain Sharku, the Warg and Aragorn plummeted from the cliff top into the turbulent waters of the rock strewn river below.

Theoden realises that the refugees from Edoras are not yet safe as the evil forces of Saruman from Isengard may well return.  So leaving the fallen, he urges haste to make for the fortress of Helm’s Deep and safety.

Meanwhile the refugees are slowly making their way along the treacherous road towards Helm’s Deep.  At the columns rear, defending the fleeing people of Edoras, are Eowyn Shield Maiden of Rohan, Theodens niece, and a handful of Warriors of Rohan.  This small band of warriors are all that stand between the marauding Orcs and their people.

Description

In this battle, the surviving routed Warg riders have regrouped, and have returned to the battlefield to renew the fight.  Their evil intent is to capture the fleeing refugees from Edoras to take to their master Saruman at Isengard. 

The Warg riders have been joined by a small band of Modor Orcs on their way to Isengard, on an errand for their master, the Dark Lord Sauron.

Participants

On the good side are :- Theoden, Gamling, Legolas, Gimli and 5 Riders of the Mark, (all start the game mounted, Gimli is a passenger on Legolas’ horse).  Eowyn and 9 Warriors of Rohan, 5 have throwing spears and shields, 4 have bows.

On the evil side are:- 2 Orc Captains, (riding Wargs with shields), 9 Warg riders, (3 with bow, 6 with throwing spears and shields).  The Orc war band includes 2 Orc captains, (with shields), 16 Orcs with hand weapon and shield, 4 Orcs with spears and shields, 4 Orcs with two handed swords, and 9 Orcs with bows.

Points Match and Notes on Forces

The scenario may be played with different Evil forces to those specified in the Participants section of the scenario, if you so wish.  The points for both the Good and Evil sides came out at 502, so I left them at that, but they are easily adjusted one way or the other, if you need to make any amendments to play your game.

You may wish to increase or decrease the number of Warg riders used depending on what models you have available to you, obviously if you add more Warg riders, the number of Mordor Orcs will need to be reduced accordingly, and vice versa.

Also you do not need to play this game with the specific mix of weapons specified for the Mordor Orc models here. This scenario used the models I had available to me at the time.  You may use models that use any mix of weapons allowed in the War Gear section of the Rule Book. 

Layout

The scenario is played on a 5’ x 4’ board, (a 4’ x 4’ board would suffice though).  The battlefield has small hills and dense thickets or equivalent areas of woodland.  The ground is littered with rocks and rocky outcrops. 

Movement through or over the thickets and rocky terrain is reduced by ½. The area on the map where the Warg riders are deployed is broken ground and is to be treated as difficult terrain, but there are a few narrow pathways, (though they are only wide enough for one model to use at a time), that the riders can pass through.

Any model starting the game deployed on a hill is subject to a penalty of ½ move rate to descend the hill, treat slopes of hills as difficult terrain.

Click Here to see map...

Starting Positions

Theoden, Gamling, Legolas, Gimli and the 5 Riders of Rohan start the game in the deployment zone specified on the map.  Their deployment is in an area measuring 12”/28cm x 6”/14cm on the Eastern side of the board.  (There must be at least 18”/42cm distance between the Orc deployment zone and the deployment zone of Theoden).  Theoden, Gamling, Legolas/Gimli and one RoR start the game on the Eastern edge of the small hill in the Good deployment zone.

Eowyn and the 9 Warriors of Rohan start the game in the deployment zone specified on the map.  Their deployment is in an area measuring 12”/28cm x 8”/20cm on the North Western side of the board.

The Warg riders start the game in the deployment zone specified on the map.  Their deployment is in an area measuring 24”/56cm x 6”/14cm in the hills on the South West side of the board.  (There must be at least 30”/70cm distance between the Warg rider deployment zone and the deployment zone of Eowyn).

The Mordor Orc war band starts the game in the deployment zone specified on the map.  Their deployment is in an area measuring 12”/28cm x12”/28cm on the North Eastern side of the board.  (There must be at least 18”/42cm distance between the Orc deployment zone and the deployment zone of Eowyn).  At least 1/3rd of the Orcs start the game on the hill top in their deployment zone.

Objectives

The Warg riders and Orcs plan is to attack the refugee column while Theoden and the Riders of Rohan are still some distance from the column.

The evil side wins a major victory if Eowyn and all of the 9 Warriors of Rohan are either killed or forced off of the table edge.  If Eowyn is killed but some of the WoR survive to the end of the battle, the evil side will only be able to claim a minor victory.  If all of the WoR are killed but Eowyn survives the battle, this will also be a minor victory to the evil side.

The good side wins a major victory if the evil forces are reduced to 1/3rd of their starting strength. (Good must kill 30 evil models).  The evil forces will automatically rout and flee the battlefield if their fighting strength is reduced down to this number, (please note that normal rules for courage tests still apply if any force is reduced to under 50%).   If either Eowyn or the Wor are killed, but the Orcs are reduced to 1/3rd of their starting strength, the good will win a minor victory.

Special Rules

Eowyn and the WoR must remain on the table, they may not at any time leave the battlefield or their deployment zone.  The evil side wins if Eowyn moves off of, or is forced to leave the table edge for any reason.  In addition to this Eowyn and the Warriors of Rohan must remain at a distance of no further than 8”, (see map), from the table edge at all times, they are after all protecting the rear of the refugee column.  If any of the good force with Eowyn is forced to leave their deployment zone for any reason, they must attempt to move back into to their specified deployment zone for the next round. The only exception to this is if they are charged by an evil model and are unable to move.