Belagus
moved his piece across the board and looked up at the Princess. She was
distracted, her moves poor and uncoordinated. Finally, she turned away from the
board and looked out a window. ‘I have a letter,’ she said. ‘I need it delivered
to a friend in Lossarnach. A captain stationed in the mountains…’
Belagus set-off the next day. He was
joined by Coric, his old swordmaster; Levant, a young soldier in the Princess’
personal guard, and the brothers Eldamir and Caellen, who had spent several years
serving as rangers in the White Mountains. Most of their journey passed
pleasantly as they made their way through the civilized lands of the south, but
as they headed north into the mountains the road became more difficult. They
were still two days from their destination, when they crossed paths with a band
of orcs…
Seeing them coming, Belagus ordered
his men to take defensive positons, while Eldamir and Caellen went to work. As
the orcs charged, the brothers let fly with their arrows. In minutes, two orcs
were down, and another was badly wounded. Then the orcs were upon them. Both
Coric and Levant were battered back, and even the brothers were forced to join
in the desperate fight. Only Belagus stood his ground, his blade flashing this
way and that. Just when it looked like the small party might be overwhelmed,
Belagus cut down an orc and the rest fled in panic. Taking stock, only Coric
was badly wounded. The party waited a day while Coric recovered, then hurried
on their way. Eventually, they reached the outpost and delivered their letter.
They stayed at the outpost for a few more days, then set-off
home. Two days out, they were ambushed by the same group of orcs. This time,
the fight went against them. The orcs came at such speed that bows were useless and the fighting became desperate. Just when the fight looked bleakest,
the orcs, apparently having accomplished what they wanted, retreated in an
orderly fashion.
Although everyone lived, the small party was in bad
shape. Coric’s leg had been smashed, and Caellen had suffered a nasty sword cut
to his side. Although he claimed to only have suffered small cuts and bruises,
Belagus realized he had reopened the old wound that had pulled him from the
front lines, what seemed a lifetime ago.
Last Friday, I met up with a friend
and got in two games of the new Middle-Earth Battle Companies. I brought my Dol
Amroth battle company, and he brought his Uruks. He had the advantage of
numbers, 7 to 5, but I had a slight advantage in both archery and armour.
For
our first game we rolled the ‘Messenger’ scenario. Basically, we each secretly named one of
our figures to be a messenger and were supposed to keep this figure alive while
killing the enemy messenger. I chose ‘Levant’ as my messenger, which was a
classic case of out-smarting myself, as this was probably the worst choice. I
would have done better naming Belagus (who had the highest armour) or one of
the rangers who were less likely to get involved in hand-to-hand fighting.
Anyway, when the game started, I went on the defensive. I slowly
moved my company back and around to the right, trying to keep the Uruks out of
charge range, while my rangers went to work. The tactic worked pretty well. The
rangers downed two Uruks and wounded one of the heros. But then they were on
me. The hand-to-hand fighting went poorly for me, and Coric fell at first
contact. Levant slew an orc, but then fell to the next. Belagus killed another
orc, but had to rely on his heavy armour to save him.
After
a few turns, I was down to just Belagus and one ranger, while three Uruks were
left. Then, in a horrible display of dice rolling, my opponent failed his
courage checks for all three Uruks and they fled the table.
Both
of us had lost our messengers, so technically the game was draw, but since I
held the field, it felt like a win. We both claimed a reward of 3 Influence
points. Coric received an ‘Old Battle Wound’. (Meaning he has to check before
each game, missing it on a roll of a ‘1’). The Uruks had one guy suffer an arm
wound, meaning he could no longer carry a shield, and another one would have to
miss our next game.
We
decided to immediately play another game. I was feeling pretty good about this.
Coric passed his roll, and with the Uruks one down, I was only outnumbered 5 to
6. Unfortunately, the scenario we rolled, ‘The Relic’, basically prevented me
from using the same tactics for game two. Anyway, the game was a disaster for
me, so I won’t go into details. Belagus, Coric, and Eldamir all went down
before I caused a single casualty. With the Uruks already making off with the
relic, I conceded the game.
The
post-game also went very poorly. Belagus picked up an ‘old battle wound’. Coric
got a Leg Wound (-1 Move), and Eldamir has to miss the next game. Sigh. I
claimed my 2 Influence points for the game and limped away.
When
it came time to spend my Influence, my bad luck continued. I paid 3 for a roll
on the reinforcements chart and got a ‘1’, which is nothing. Thankfully, I was
able to spend another point to increase this to a ‘2’, so I could recruit
another Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth. I spent the last point getting some Heavy
Armour for Coric as his poor Armour score twice proved his undoing.
None
of my men gained enough experience to make any advancement rolls.
All-and-all,
not a great showing for two games. Still, no one is flat out dead, and we’ve
added another heavy armoured trooper which should help. My company rating
stands at 102.
Most
importantly, I had a lot of fun. The games were extremely quick. We finished
both, with lots of pauses for chatting, in two-hours. In fact, we probably
would have played a third, but both wanted to have a pause to get our new
men/orcs painted up.
