This is my battle report for the Charge of the Rohirrim scenario included in the Battle of Pelennor Fields box set for Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. I don't own this boxed set, but I was at the excellent Models and Games store in Dunedin and they had a shelf of used books, including the booklet from this box. The price was right at $0, so I took it home resolved to play through the mini-campaign.
I don't own any Riders of Rohan models, so instead this is the Battle for Pelennorium, a Roman battleground that was (as we all know) besieged by orcs in 78 BCE. Pompeii has just been decimated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but that was hardly the worst of it. From the smoldering volcanic mountains there rose hordes of beastly humanoid warriors, known to Pliny the Younger, who witnessed their emergence from afar, as liberi orci, or children of orcus. Historians refer to such a malformed warrior simply as the orc.
The orc forces, heralded by the eruption of Vesuvius in August of 79 BCE, began a year-long 245 km advance toward Rome. By the end of 78 BCE, the carnage and chaos this march caused across the republic was infamous, and soon only the vast fields of Pelennorium was all that laid between the orc horde and the great city of Rome. General Theodinius gathered an army of Romans and mercenaries to confront the orcs and to protect the Roman republic.
Special rules
The first scenario is 12 Riders of Rohan (Roman cavalry) against 24 orcs (infantry). The Romans always count as Charging, which means they can always move into base contact with an enemy.
6 orcs have throwing spears, and the rest are armed with just swords. I'm using orcs from Zombicide: Green Horde, which are armed with nothing but teeth and hands, so I'm basing weapon load outs on poses. 12 orcs have spears, 6 of which also have shields.
My cavalry consists of 5 Romans with swords and 4 mercenaries with spears and 2 mercenaries with swords. That's only 11 riders, so I'm granting the Roman army a free 6 on its first initiative roll.
The armies start on opposite ends of the battlefield. The Romans gain 1 Victory Point for each Roman that reaches the opposite edge of the map, while the orcs gain 1 Victory Point for each Roman killed. With just 11 Romans on the board, the army that reaches 6 points first is victorious.
Round 1
The Romans get an automatic 6 on initiative and win the roll, and this could be really good for them because they're always counted as Charging in this scenario's special rules. That means they can advance now, hope that the orcs also advance, and then Charge into the orcs the next round.
The riders of Rohan move forward, and the orcs move forward. The orcs spread out, attempting to form 2 distinct lines for the cavalry to get past.
One unit of orcs with spears run off toward the North, obviously hoping to circle around back.
Round 2
The orcs roll high for initiative this time, so they Charge where they can, and advance the ranks otherwise. The Romans do the same, Charging when possible and advancing when a clear Charge is unavailable. The trees are really getting in the way, here.
I forget momentarily that the orc spears are not throwing spears, and grant one orc circling round back a shot at a Roman. It doesn't matter because the orc misses.
The Roman mercenaries do have throwing spears, and 3 of them are able to shoot. Only 1 hits, but it fails to damage its orc target.
During the Fight phase, 1 Roman rider loses his horse to an orc's sword. I chose to slay the horse rather than the rider in this case because I've gotten several rules wrong while resolving this turn and am trying to compensate. Next turn I think I'll get it right.
An orc is also slain by a Roman's sword. That doesn't earn Rome a Victory Point (only orcs in this scenario get points for kills) but at least it helps clear the battlefield a little.
Round 3
The Romans win initiative. They press on, Charging where possible, but the horde is real and progress is slow. The orcs swarm the Romans. So many orcs. There are literally so many orcs that they can't all fit around the enemies they want to swarm. It's kind of mesmerising and terrifying all at the same time.
In the melee that ensues, the Roman who lost his horse is killed, and then another Roman is knocked off his horse by a swarm of 4 orcs. He rolls a 1 on the Thrown Rider table, and so he suffers a Strength 3 hit, which he survives, but he is now Prone.
The mercenaries are earning their pay, though. They slaughter 4 orcs, clearing a path for their way forward (unless the orcs get priority next round and close the gap!) The Romans kill 3 orcs.
The score so far:
- Romans: 0 Victory Points (but 8 orcs killed)
- Orcs: 1 Victory Points (1 Roman killed)
Round 4
The initiative roll is a tie. The Romans went first on the previous round, so orcs get priority this round. As expected, the orcs continue to swarm the Romans, but actually I think that's really what the Romans want because there are lots of orc casualties this round. The orcs manage to kill a horse, so there are 2 Romans on foot now, but otherwise the fight very much favours the Romans.
The Roman that was prone from the previous round stands and kills his attacker this round. A Roman surrounded by 5 orcs manages to win every duel, and even kills a few orcs while he's at it. No Romans die this round, and I think it's a real testament to how powerful cavalry can be. In Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, models on a mount treat every 1 Attack as 2 Attacks, so each mounted Roman is rolling 2 dice against each orc's 1 Attack dice, and it's making a huge difference. Long may it continue!
Round 5
Orcs roll high for initiative again, and another wave swarms the Romans. They kill both of the Romans on foot, scoring 2 more Victory Points.
Otherwise, the Equites continue doing what they do best and barrel through orcs. I can't count how many orcs are dead now, and I'm genuinely baffled at how many orcs are still on the board. The mercenaries clear a path, oblivious to the orcs sneaking up on them from the North. That'll only be a problem, though, if the orcs steal initiative on the next turn, because the Romans are nearly out of range.
By the end of the round, 4 Romans are just inches away from the edge of the battlefield!
- Romans: 0 Victory Points
- Orcs: 3 Victory Points
Round 6
Unbelievably, the orcs steal initiative. The orcs that had circled around behind all the fighting charge into battle now, and one of them is just close enough to stop 2 mercenaries from moving forward. All the Romans currently on the board are mounted, though, and the orcs don't catch a break. They're hacked to pieces, having proven a mere inconvenience to the Roman charge.
By the end of the round, 4 Romans have officially crossed the line.
- Romans: 4 Victory Points
- Orcs: 3 Victory Points
Round 7
Romans have initiative, and another one promptly rides off the battlefield. There are still 2 mercenaries on the board, though, and if the orcs can kill them then it's the game is a draw.
This is about to become a bitter and spiteful struggle. The orcs want mercenary blood out of their hatred of humans, not for any strategic advantage.
The orcs only get 1 Hit in on the 2 mercenaries, but it's a glancing blow off a shield. The mercenaries kill 1 orc.
- Romans: 5 Victory Points
- Orcs: 3 Victory Points
Round 8
Initiative is tied, so it falls back to the orcs, who obviously swarm toward the mercenaries. I looked into the rules for moving out of a control zone, and I can't find any. It seems that if you've been charged then you're stuck and there's no way to make a desperate escape. So the fight continues.
Round 9
Unfortunately, the game fell apart at this point. I played several mind-numbing rounds where orcs and Romans hit each other without killing one another, but the orcs kept winning initiative and would swarm the Romans again, and they'd all hit each other again, and around and around it went. It wouldn't end, and it was probably the best argument against rolling for initiative each round I've ever witnessed (and normally I'm a fan of rolling for initiative every round! I do that in Warhammer despite the rules.)
For my own sanity, I eventually decided that the orcs would eventually gain the upper hand in such a fight, and that it was a quirk of dice that they weren't dealing damage. With 2 more kills, the orcs bring their Victory Point to 5, making the game a draw.
- Romans: 5 Victory Points
- Orcs: 5 Victory Points
Good scenario with a weird ending
Ignoring the glitch at the end, this scenario was surprisingly fun. 24 orcs against 10 (it was supposed to be 12) Romans seemed like an easy win for the orcs, but once I started playing and saw how powerful a 2;1 duel roll could be, I started to think a Roman victory was possible. I still think it was possible, had the dice cooperated. If I had to play the scenario over, I'd have ruled that the 2 remaining mercenaries could make a desperate escape, and maybe roll a Courage test or something to see if they could get out of engagement unscathed. That might not have worked, and the result of the battle may have been the same, but at least it wouldn't have felt as unsatisfying as the battle falling into a seemingly endless loop of rolling dice in hopes that the right combination of numbers appear at the right time. That's the first time that's ever happened to me in Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, and I don't think it's indicative of anything other than sometimes edge cases happen, and you have to be ready to make ruling to get past them.
I feel really good about the scenario, even though my Romans lost. It was a fun challenge, and maybe not a bad introduction to the game. There's a clear goal for both sides, and there's a lot of combat with nuances like multiple targets, imbalanced number of Attacks, but ultimately similar stats (5 Defence for both Riders of Rohan and orcs).
The scenario suggests playing the scenario again with Théoden added in, and I think that sounds fun but also like a sure-fire win for the Good army. Then again, I could be wrong. I just might have to try it sometime to find out!
Next scenario
Speaking of Théoden, the next scenario in the booklet is Théoden's last stand.
Header image copyright Games Workshop.