We were lucky to have a beautiful day up here, so we took the decision to take the battle outside. Since the castle is so big it was difficult to find a big enough table (and not to mention get the thing out the door), but that was soon resolved and we took out the ping-pong table which fit perfectly. Keep in mind this is my first battle report, so go easy on me. I'm afraid that we were not able to finish the battle after starting rather late, which was a real pity... but on the upside it can allow you to ponder what might have happened. This battle was a 6 man operation with 2 people commanding the good forces inside Helm's Deep, and the other calling the charge of Rohirm (which happen to be Gondor models) The defenders consisted of 1550 points while the foes of Isengard had 2250 points. The three of them had a portion of army to command and then later all received reinforcements. The rules were mostly based on Onxy's rules with a few tweaks. Although next time I think I would have changed some bits. Here below we have the photo before starting and the setting up.
Under the shade of a the gazebo the battle begun! ... .... well after the refreshments anyway
The first casualties took place on both sides. The volley of elven arrows flew towards the enemy taking out half a dozen Uruk-hai with some help of the Rohan archers, who had more difficulty on their 4+
The cavalry charge that took place in the same phase had more difficulty needing all 6's to wound anything. Immediately three riders fell taking heavy damage while only killing 2 people in the charge.
The Uruk siege crew got ever nearer with those nasty bombs and the elves were preparing for hand to hand combat.
A few phases later caused more problem for the cavalry, although taking out most of their foot troops that troll took no effect to charging. The troll held it's ground swinging it's great sword keeping off any attackers. Funnily enough to two Uruk-hai archers held off such a fight, killing 2 of my riders and causing chaos.
Finally some reinforcements had arrived after desperately needing backup. Saruman had heard of their trouble, and he himself made his way with extra uruk's and warg riders.
After four turns, the two balista crew's who had been constantly firing at the main gate still hadn't been able to get through! They arrived with even more reinforcements and trolls to finally take out that gate. Even the battering ram crew had fallen after being dropped.
The Elves prepared for combat and the ladders were finally up. Isengard now had the advantage here once they moved up the wall with that strength 4. Any spare elves frantically shot at the bomb crew, but fail. Not all hope had been lost, when the bomb didn't go off and was a dud. With a breath of relief all was not safe, 1 bomb still remained a threat.
The next phase the bomb successfully blew up on a 6, causing a catastrophic explosion. 6 elves died in the explosion, with 3 remaining on the ground recovering from the shock. This now meant the elves forces had been split apart , losing casualties. The door was prepared to brace while the Uruk-hai and trolls raced up the rampart.
The doors were later breached, but with the troll. After the whole time the two siege engines and battling ram only got to batter points on the door which was very surprising to all of us. The uruk-hai reinforcements finished off the last of the remaining cavalry charge and moved onto the wall. What was left of the elves retreated as far as they could into the outer ring while uruk-hai swamped the deeping wall. The trolls at the door smashed through the Rohan defenders at the door. It later got two wounds and fell the very next turn. I'm afraid that's where we left, so it's a little of a cliff hanger. Isengard had very heavy casualties the first wave, and all that was left was a troll. The good forces retreated back and the rest is up to your imagination.
