The Journey Continues

Last night, David and I made our way to Tolworth First Founding to continue our "The Fellowship of the Ring" Journeybook Campaign.

Here's some pictures and an update on how it went.

The first game was "Short Cuts Make Long Delays" in which Frodo, Sam and Pippin are assisted by Gildor, a Wood Elf, as the Ringwraiths close in around them. I'd actually forgotten to bring the Journeybook with me so we did as best as we could from memory. The first half of the game involved my Ringwraiths walking around in circles as sentries, desperately hoping to stumble across a hobbit in the dark to raise the alarm so they could move normally.

The Nazgûl spot their prey and close in!

By time they finally did, the hobbits were more than halfway across the board and Gildor was right in the thick of things to hold the Nazgûl back; though due credit must be given to Samwise Gamgee who, on several occasions, successfully overcame his terror and charged a Ringwraith to keep it away from Frodo. Eventually, all three of my Ringwraiths had faded out (due to losing a Will point after every fight, and only having seven to begin with). A Victory to the Forces of Good.

Gildor bravely strides forth to protect the hobbits.

Sam challenges the Witch King himself!

Of course, in the meantime, my other Nazgûl were making their rolls to restore their Will, and behold, most of them were back at full; contrary to Davids unfortunate rolls for the hobbits which saw none of their Might points restored! For those who've followed us, the lack of Might points on my Ringwraiths has been a constant thorn in my side - one I was happy to see David suffer too!

The Flight to the Ferry

Thus it was that we tried to recall the rules for "Flight to the Ferry" where Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry rush across country to the Buckleberry Ferry to cross the Brandywine River and escape the Ringwraiths. Neither of us could fully recall the rules, so we settled on a close approximation, having the hobbits start central north, a Nazgûl on the centre points of west and east, and the third arriving at the end of movement on Turn 2.

The Nazgûl close in...

This game went much more my way - the hobbits movement of 4 and utter lack of Might (to call a Heroic March) meant my flanking Nazgûl were right on top of the hobbits by about turn 3 (and I made sure not to use any precious Will trying to Black Dart them!) with the third Nazgûl piling in shortly after. A few lucky Command/Compel casts later, and despite some valiant heroics from Merry and Pippin (who were both summarily cut down for their efforts), the Nazgûl closed ranks around Frodo. Sam tried to pull them away from him, but he was Compelled away, leaving Frodo surrounded.

And so it ends...

The game ended when the Ringwraiths dropped Frodo's lifeless corpse, turned and claimed Sam's life too. Despite it finally being a victory to Evil, we decided we'd look at the Journeybooks and if there were any significant differences, we'd fight the scenarios again on Thursday properly.

With an hour left, we decided to reset the table and break out Thorin's Company and the Trolls, to re-enact the "Roast Mutton" scenario from "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey".

The game was hideously good fun! On turn 2, William the Troll dropped Bilbo into a sack just before Kili and a swarm of other dwarves (only Gloin, Fili, Ori and Bifur being delayed until the second turn!) broke through the trees!

Kili was possibly our dwarf of the match. Instead of charging in solo, he waited patiently for his companions to catch up, and two turns running managed to wound a troll with his dwarvish bow! Ouch! Eventually, the companions reached the treeline, and tired of being peppered with surprisingly potent arrows, the trolls charged forwards!

First to fall was Bert who, despite sneezing all over Dwalin, got bashed to bits by him and Nori, whose high Strength combined with having two handed weapons battered the poor troll senseless!

Next to fall was William, who despite mincing Thorin down to one wound in a single attack (Thorin had passed all three of his Fate rolls!), then finishing him off the next turn, then proceeding to hurl Bofur into the fire, killing him, couldn't fight back the horde of dwarves that had surrounded him! The final blow went to Dori, who whacked Bill upside the head, finally ending him.

Last was Tom. Surrounded, I had decided Tom would at least get to try his "Squash Them All To Jelly!" Brutal Power Attack and deal a S7 hit to everyone else in the fight. Sadly, his attacks couldn't roll higher than a 3, and in the ensuing brawl that followed, Tom was brought low and his life ended mere seconds before sunlight broke the horizon!

Annoyingly, the experience was only let down by me not having had Dori, Nori and Ori painted yet! They're the last three!!!

Regardless, on Thursday, David and I will likely be playing one or both of the previous scenarios again, so I'll let you know how those go!