HOTT in Middle Earth: Ithilien In Flames

It is 2951 of the Third Age. Far to the North the Steward of Gondor Turgon hears news that Dol Guldur is being retaken by the Nazgul. Sauron has openly declared himself in Mordor and now the last few valient people of Ithilien are being evacuated under the protection of the Ithilien forces. Turgon has sent his Captain Madril from Cair Andros to secure safe passage. Madril’s ships land at the Field of Cormallen.

The Army Of Ithilien:

Hero General Madril 4pt

Gondor Blades x2 4pt

Ithilien Spears x3 6pt

Ithilien Rangers x3 6pt

Ithilien Riders x2 4pt

24pt

The Forces of Mordor:

Blade General Uruk 2pt

Uruk Hai Blades x2 4pt

Uruk Hai Spears x3 6pt

Troll Behemoth 4pt

Orc Shooters x4 8pt

24pt

The landings at the Fields of Cormallen are unopposed and the defenders of Ithilien take the field. The Rangers have the golden trees to their rear and the riders take to opposite flank. Out of the gloomy East they hear the trump of approaching foes. These are not just orcs, but fearsome Uruk Hai.

The riders to the south ride forward to encounter the Uruks. Their general has taken this flank and the even match of blades verses riders might be in doubt if he can outflank the horsemen.

The rangers start to pepper the advancing orc archers, but there are more of them and they are whipped forward by their overseers. In the centre a mighty troll clashes with the blades of Gondor. Madril holds the line against the Uruk spears.

The great troll just keeps on coming. Madril turns to give support, but the troll is a tough nut to crack.

My hope that the riders would be able to beat the Uruk blades was unfounded. True the riders meet the blades evenly, but there are more of them with the Uruk General. In a short time the Gondor flank is in danger.

Madril races to secure the flank and come to blows with the Uruk General while his spears and blades seek to stop the troll behemoth. The Uruks form themselves up and attack. Madril presses to relieve his soldiers from this assualt.

While on the north flank the orcish bows have split the ranger’s defensive line and they start to fall back.

Madril reaches the Uruk General. He is now on his own as his other blades are pushed back. Calamity! Everone’s last wish occurs. Madril is Sixed! He will not be going home. Mordor is victorious.

There will be no boats returning to Cair Andos. Ithilien has fallen.

I hope that you have enjoyed this battle report. It was fun to play and I wanted to try out a blade heavy Mordor army after the warband/hoard tactics of the last game. This proved good for the forces of darkness. The troll was also a formidable enemy to the blades. At one point I had to stop attacking it as a repulse would have seen the beast kill the Gondor troops behind it.

All the figures are 25mm. The Gondorians are Minifigs Mythical Earth for the most part. The Orcs are Garrison and the Uruks Prince August homecasts. The troll is from Hinchcliffe.

All comments and crits welcome.

Spaceship Combat

Hi Everyone,

This summer I have been playing a space combat game that I have been working out. This started a long time ago when I first made my spaceship models which can be seen in previous posts. For some time I was playing on a black cloth using measures, but at the start of the summer I walked into Poundland here in the UK and saw these hexagonal wall tiles. I was sold. They would make a perfect hex table for my game. No more measuring!

So I got to thinking about rules for the game. So far I have only being using Fighters and Corvettes from my fleets. What follows is a beginning to a set of rules which I have been play testing.

The Set-up: Both fleets are made up of the same number of Fighters and Corvettes. They can start up to 6 hexes from their fleet’s starting edge.

Priority cards for each group

Priority: If a group of ships are next to each other in hexes then that group has 1 card drawn for them. If ships are separated from others they also get a card drawn. The order of activation is Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades. Aces high. Jokers trump everything. Groups move together.

Movement: At the moment both Fighters and Corvettes have to move 6 hexes each turn. This gives an impression of constant movement and the ships have to move 6 hexes. If a ship collides with another the colliding ship is elliminated as 2 ships cannot be in the same hex.

Turning: This is where the difference between a Fighter and a Corvette shows.

Corvettes can make 2 moves within their 6 hexes eg move 2, turn 1 hex side, move 2, turn 1 hex side, move 2. ( If ships could turn every hex it would make targetting an enemy too easy)

Fighters can make 3 moves the first of which is before the move hex. They still need to breakdown their move like this: turn 1 hex side, move 2, turn 1 hex side, move 2, turn 1 hex side, move 2. Fighters can elect not to make their first turn. This help them to keep in formation.

No ship can make a turn after moving 1 hex. That would make targettig too easy.

Targetting

Targetting: Fighters and Corvettes have 1 forward firing gun. These have a range of 6 hexes. The line of fire must be in a straight line ahead of the ship. If two enemies are facing each other then fire is simultaneous. If one craft is behind or to the side of another then they get to shoot and the target cannot.

Firing and Saving: Both Fighters and Corvettes score a hit on an enemy on 4+ on a D6. However if you see the pictures I have bought small magnets to show shields or lives. Corvettes have 2 shield and Fighters 1. Another 5+ on a D6 marks whether enough damage is done for a ship to lose a shield or has it made a save. So a corvette can take 2 hits before destruction. This makes Corvettes stronger and Fighters more maneuverable in the game.

If a ship starts its turn on target it can fire first and then move.

Winning the Game: I have not sorted anything out yet, but at some point one fleet will break off. They have to get off the board to out run their enemy. Usually this will be their starting edge. As time goes by I might use the number of lives left ie magnets as a score.

In Summery:

Ship Type	Move	Turns	Hit/Save	Shields
Fighter	6	1+2	4+/5+	1
Corvette	6	2	4+/5+	2

So now I have to introduce the next class of ship to the game and try to balance it up. These will be the frigates. I’m quite happy with how the game plays right now. It is fast, needs skill (luck) to det a shot at the enemy and most impoortant of all has no paper work! Hope you have enjoyed reading these rules and that they make sense.

Comments and crits welcome.

HOTT in Middle Earth: Dol Guldur

In 2951 of the Third Age Sauron revealed himself openly. It has been ten years since The White Council ousted him from Dol Duldur in Southern Mirkwood. Since then the Elves of Lothlorien have kept a guard there. Hearing word of stirring in the forest Celeborn meets the guards there with his knights. Just as well as Sauron has sent his Nazgul led by Khamûl to secure the ancient fortress.

The Forces of Lothlorien:

Celeborn Hero Commander x1 4pt

Elvish blades x2 4pt

Elvish knights x3 6pt

Elvish bows shooters x3 6pt

Elvish spears x2 4pt

24pt

The Forces of Sauron:

Khamûl and Nazgul Anti Hero Commander x1 4 pt

Trolls Behemoth x1 4 pt

Warband orcs x3 6 pt

Wolf riders x1 2pt

Orc Archers Shooters x2 4pt

Horde orcs x4 4pt

24pt

Celeborn thought to defend the citadel, but heard word that Khamûl had outflanked him and would be arriving from the south. He quickly spread his line out to make the most of the open terrain where his knights could have room to manoeuvre.

As darkness was beginning to fall the opposite side of the forest revealed the orcs led by fearsome trolls and the sinister shapes of the Nazgul. Celeborn signalled his elves to meet them. On the left the Lorien Knights rode out. While Celeborn and his blades went to counter the trolls who sought to wreck his centre. Larger orcs sped towards the fortress hill.

The behemoth Trolls raced towards Celeborn while evil orcish archers sent up volleys of arrows towards the lightly armed elves in the middle of the line. As yet Khamûl held back. The Lorien Knights shattered the hordes of orcs before them and it seemed the entire right flank of Mordor was destroyed. Impetuously the knights continued to advance.

The Trolls smashed into Celeborn’s blades and… they held. This was not expected, but the light of Aman was on Celeborn’s brow and none could withstand him. The unexpected happened and the Trolls’ blood soiled the ground. They were dead!

With this Khamûl tried to halt the rout on his flank and he charged the knights. Terror pushed the horses back.

Celeborn turned to the orcs swarming on the hill of Dol Guldur and he charged valiantly uphill. At this time further orcs started to stream from out of the forest to make up for the losses to Mordor, but the evil forces had lost many already and the elves still stood. Celeborn slew more foul orcs before him. Khamûl ordered the reinforcements to block the knights while he broke off to pursue Celeborn. Darkness was falling yet the hill would be taken.

Bloody but standing tall Celeborn watched the black riders approaching.

“Halt foul Dwimmerlaik*,” he called. “Return to your master in shame.”

Khamûl’s icy laughter returned across the field.

“This is only the beginning.”

*Apologies to Eowyn

This was a very fast paced battle and it seemed that the loss of the trolls early on was a great setback for Mordor. Behemoths can hold up a battle line for ages and it was the really poor dice that led to their destruction. If they had held Celeborn then perhaps Khamûl could have seen off the knights and attacked more solidly. As it was Celeborn acted heroically.

The armies are old school 25mm ones. Many Minifigs Mythical Earth orcs and Asgard trolls were up against Prince August homecast elves. I believe the Lorien Knights are Minifigs. Possibly from the Alexander Nevsky Russian line.

Hope you enjoyed the battle. Comments and crits welcome.

A Curiosity of Nazgul

“They crossed the River Isen on Midsummer’s Eve, disguised as riders in black.”

A few years ago I saw these Nazgul on e-Bay and thought they looked interesting. I bought them because I couldn’t identify who had made them and when they arrived I found out that they were converted from other figures using Milliput I believe. They were painted a uniform black and had no real detailing. I left them for a long time and recently was reading about how to paint black using different “shades” so I repainted them. What I did was add a little dark blue to black for the robes and brown to black for the horses. I highlighted them with a little more blue and brown and I think this has made them have better tones and contrast. Here are some photos to show of The Nine. They are quite large 28mm figures.

I think they look pretty cool and I wonder who made the conversions. I think the person showed a good deal of imagination as all the Nazgul are different. Hope you like these. Comments and crits welcome.

HOTT in Middle Earth – Gondor vs Harad

The Year is 2951 and it has been 10 years since the Battle of the Five Armies. Sauron has returned to Mordor and he now declares himself openly. He sends Nazgul to Dol Guldur. Perhaps he also sends them to Harad to attack Gondor in the south.

Turgon the steward has sent his son Ecthelion to Southern Ithilien to scout out the rumours of war. Coming near to the old Crossings of Porus the young Captain of Gondor hears news of a force from Harad nearing the river. Close by are the tombs of Folcred and Fastred of Rohan who helped defend the Crossings nigh on seventy years ago. There is an enemy force nearing the river. Ecthelion quickly plans his defence as the Haradrim approach. They appear under strength. The Captain of Gondor decides to hold the river bank against the Southerners. Close by are the ruins of Poros. Perhaps they can use that to anchor their defence.

Battle is joined.

In this game of HOTT I wanted to show what may have happened when Sauron revealed himself, so I hid two Nazgul from Ecthelion until battle was joined. The force of Harad closed on the river but the men of Gondor were quicker and captured the bank. This would mean that the Haradrim would have to fight out of the river. When the Nazgul appeared they pushed the Gondorians back, but it was hard going. After a lot of effort the Haradrim blades managed to attack successfully on the right, but their cavalry were stymied on the left for a while.

Near to the ruins the Haradrim cut down many men and pushed towards an attack on Ecthelion who was holding the Nazgul at bay. He did this throughout the game but now he was threatened. The Captain saw the threat approaching and his flank being destroyed so he turned to help his men. For a moment the lines reordered, but Gondor had lost four stands and Harad none.

There was on odd moment when I thought that Ecthelion had delivered a killing blow to the Nazgul with a 6/1 roll, but they could not be killed. He would have needed another unit to support him to double the fell creatures.

On the Captain’s right the Knights of Dol Amroth and the Rangers of Ithilien had been engaged in a slogging match with the Haradrim cavalry and archers. Now at last one of the Gondor knights stands killed the Harad cavalry that if had been fighting all day. This was the tipping point. Joining up with the other stand of knights they defeated the dark power’s horse. With no defence against the shock cavalry the Haradrim archers were destroyed where they stood and the battle was over.

This fight went down to the wire as the Gondorian line had been battered and were themselves in danger of annihilation. The Nazgul could see that they were beaten for the time being but they would return.

This was an interesting battle in so far that the rock/paper/scissors that is part of HOTT showed that when the units that attack each other are the same then it really comes down to support to win the day. When a hole appears and cavalry can attack shooters in the open they really don’t stand much chance as they are quick-killed.

The figures used in this game were old 25mm ones. Many were Minifigs Mythical Earth figures. There were also some Ral Partha figures on the Harad side. The Dol Amroth knights are old Garrison Sword and Sorcery figures. The strongholds are scratch-built by me.

As always comments and crits welcome.