Inspired by speculation in another thread, I played out a battle between the Nine and the Fellowship on the assumption that the wraiths didn't try to follow Glorfindel into the Bruinen ford, but instead didn't try to enter Rivendell and lay in wait for the Fellowship to leave.

To that end we have the Witch King and 8 generic wraiths at full power verses the Fellowship with what they had at the time.

Deployment







The scenario objective for both sides was to get the Ring off the left side of the board. Frodo started carrying the Ring, but upon his death his killer would take possession, with possession switching again if that model were killed and so on. Deployment saw the wraiths on the left side of the board and the Fellowship on the right.

Terrain of note included a large hill on the right which had difficult terrain sides and flat surfaces, and a difficult terrain river running the width of the table with a single bridge.

Turn 1:







Nothing terribly eventful, the wraiths move at full speed, splitting into two groups to go round a wood. The Fellowship make for the hill to take advantage of the difficult terrain sides against the mounted Nazgul.

Turn 2:







The Fellowship is going to have time to take the hill before the wraiths arrive, but not much else. It has become clear that four of the wraiths are going to be slowed down crossing the river, and the Witch King and four other wraiths will cross at the bridge.

Turn 3:



The Wraiths move first, coming into range of Legolas for the first time.





Meanwhile the Fellowship continues up the hill and Legolas takes his shot, putting an unerring arrow into the Witch King's horse and killing it.

The Witch King, in a display of pure awesomeness, fluffs his thrown rider roll and ends up face down in the mud. Some days its hard to feel like a "spear of terror"...



More turns to come...

Haha, that final picture is brilliant! It's moment like that which remind me how wonderful this game can be. Looking forward to updates, though I'm not sure who I'll be placing a bet on just yet

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Soon the Dark Lord Knighty shall have all he needs to cover the lands in an eevee-related darkness...

Very nice, I'm looking forward for more. Reminds me of the second scenario of FotR journey book where four of my opponent's wraiths failed a jump test on the same ridge and ended up face down in the mud. My dunedain almost died of laughter.

I like very much the quality of your photos. And good-looking terrain.

-- Pasi

Great report so far, excited for more!

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Manners maketh man

Great terrain and paintjob! Its fun to see these small games. Looking forward for some more. This should be an article on the website when it is done.

lol I can just imagine that last turn played out in the films! Love the board dude you should post more bat reps!

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All Hail The Lord of Light, R'hllor, for the night is dark and full of terrors!

hey i want to read the rest of this! post it soon

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goblin: "people associate me with boogers because i am green"

Turn: 4







The Fellowship have priority and fall back to keep the wraiths out of magic range for another turn.

The four separate Nazgul make there way further into the river, while the four with the Witch King close on the hill as quickly as they can. Legolas encourages this by putting three arrows into the wraiths at the river, but can't manage to wound any of them.

Turn: 5







The Nazgul take priority and move into magic range, peppering the Fellowship with Drain Courage. Mostly it is resisted, but Gimli takes a few hits. The lagging Nazgul finally clear the river.

The Fellowship moves next, advancing on the wraiths. While there is no combat this turn, it is coming soon. Gandalf tries to go bowling for wraiths with a Sorcerous Blast, but (despite casting on a six) it is resisted by a heavy use of will.

Turn: 6



Combat is finally joined. Boromir ends up taking a defensible ridge against two wraiths, while Gimli is charged by another. As the wraiths move, they continue to batter the Fellowship with magic. Boromir spends might heavily to resist a first Transfix, but can't stop a second. Gimli takes the worst of it, being both Transfixed and reduced to Courage 3 by the end of the wraith's move. Gandalf's Sorcerous Blast is again resisted, but is starting to put a series dent into one wraith's will.

Legolas fires into Gimli's combat and kills the charging Nazgul's horse, denying him the knockdown he'd need to reliably wound Gimli.



Combat sees predictable losses for the two transfixed heroes, but no wounds are dealt.





With the exception of the wraith who has been battered by Gandalf, the Nazgul are in good shape in terms of will. Drain Courage on 1 die has been most of the expenditure, with a couple more lost to combats.

The Fellowship by contrast is looking grim. The three biggest close combat hitters are all out of will, and Gimli is rocking a Courage of 2 after Harbinger of Evil. Aragorn has faired better, but his Courage is starting to flag.

A fantastic battle so far! I love these type of battles.
Where did you get those cards? Those would be very helpful in games.

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My WIP page: Click Here! -->So It Begins

Current Project: Ringwraiths - Haradrim - Mumakil

Nice cards. Again, excited for more! I'm rooting for the wraiths....

I'll put a couple more turns up tonight, but the cards are home made. I laid them out in word and inserted in the pictures from the GW site. Next you print them out ~four to a sheet of cardstock and cut them up.

You can laminate them if you like, but its easier to use the plastic card sleeves game stores sell for magic the gathering and the like. There is a Lord of the Rings "living card game" that has LotR themed sleeves which I've been using. Any of the sleeves though you can mark off wounds and might points with a dry erase marker.

I got the idea from a set I saw either here or TLA, it's easy enough to make your own though.

Turn: 7

Priority doesn't really matter for the rest of the game, the wraiths win the roll-off on heroic moves and get in another round of charges and spells. Boromir and Aragorn are transfixed and charged (without any will left, they are fairly easy prey). Gandalf is driven back with a compel, now out of will as well.

The Fellowship doesn't have many options left, in theory Gimli could charge but with a Courage of 0 can't pass a terror test. The hobbits had been hanging back up to now, but start heading towards combat now. They're unlikely to ever wound a wraith, but at least they can cost them some will as they die...



Combat sees some surprising upsets. Boromir and Aragorn both manage to win combat, despite being outnumbered and transfixed. Legolas also manages to win combat and wound, but is stopped by fate.



Turn: 8

Gimli calls a heroic move and the Fellowship wins the roll off, which allows Gandalf to use strengthen will on Aragorn who spends it and his free point of might to charge a wraith.

The rest of the Fellowship ties up as many wraiths as they can to prevent casting and drain the nazgul's will. The unengaged wraiths manage to transfix Boromir, but Aragorn gets an opportunity to fight.



Boromir is basically the perfect target for a morgul blade. With no fate and three wounds the Witch King slides the blade right into his heart and watches him collapse dead. Normally a multiple wound hero spends fate if the Witch-King decides to use the blade and burns wounds if he doesn't. It is really hard to take advantage of the morgul blade against someone like Aragorn or Gandalf, but Boromir is especially vulnerable to it.

Aragorn wins his combat, and strikes out with Anduril causing two wounds, but fate saves them both. Defense 8 is bad enough, but really you need lots of wounds before you get past the two fate each wraith has. If he could fight round after round, he'd do serious damage, but with courage down to next to nothing he can't fight often enough to make a difference.



Things are basically a mess for the Fellowship. Boromir is dead, Aragorn and Gimli are too cowardly to charge, & Gandalf is out of will. That leaves Legolas and the Hobbits to take on the Nine.





Turn: 9

Combat with Hobbits is joined all over the hills, with Gimli and Aragorn unable to charge due to terror. Legolas finds himself fighting four wraiths, while Gandalf is compelled away from the front.



Merry, Pippin, and Legolas all die. The only bright spot is that one wraith is out of will and dissolves into the night. We're getting close to the end...

Awesome! Keep going!

The battle looks grim for the Fellowship. Can they pull it together and come out victorious?!

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My WIP page: Click Here! -->So It Begins

Current Project: Ringwraiths - Haradrim - Mumakil

Did Aragorn have a bow? It feels like I am watching a series I enjoy on TV. Keep them coming, go fellowship!

Aragorn had a bow, but wasn't ever able to kill anything with it.

Turn 10

Things are looking bad as Frodo charges the Witch King in the hopes of draining his will even if he isn't likely to wound him. Sam is mobbed by wraiths, but Gandalf comes to his rescue by engaging one. Meanwhile Gimli once again fails to muster up the courage to charge, and Aragorn finds himself mobbed by wraiths. Fortunately flubbed casting rolls all round leave him un-transfixed!



Sam loses his fight, despite help from Gandalf and is hacked apart by laughing ring wraiths. Gandalf is driven back but not badly hurt. Frodo and Aragorn both win their fights, but neither can wound. It is understandable in Frodo's case at S3 vs. D8, but Aragorn has to just hang his head in shame while unable to wound with Anduril.

The only upside for the Fellowship is another wraith dissipates for lack of will.



Turn 11

Combats engage much like last turn, with a few key differences, Frodo is now outnumbered and Aragorn is transfixed.



Frodo is driven back, but his mithril coat saves him from death, Aragorn is driven into the ground and beaten within an inch of his life but hangs on.

Gandalf drives off his wraiths, but can't wound. Gimli, as always, cringes in terror.



Turn 12

Turn 12 sees every member of the Fellowship low on fate and wounds and hard pressed to fend off multiple wraiths. Aragorn continues to stare vacantly at his death out of a haze of transfix, and Gimli continues to cower before the horror of it all.



Even though Frodo fights valiantly against his wraiths, the Nine rejoice as Aragorn is cut down, prematurely ending his career as King of Gondor and Gandalf, long time foe of Sauron, loses three fate and two wounds in one fight.



Seven Nazgul remain to finish Gandalf, Frodo, and a terrorized Gimli.





Turn 13: The End

And finish them they do. Each of the three surviving members of the Fellowship is engaged and killed.

Victory of the forces of Sauron! Soon the Ring will be back on its master's hand.







Final Thoughts

The Nazgul are designed as counters to heroes. Transfix and Drain Courage are totally wasted on rank and file troops, but devastating against 100+ point heroes. Any fight between pure heroes and pure hero counters is going to be rough...

Magic doesn't worry about "in the way" so nine casters all together can focus their efforts and cripple any given hero in any given turn. If two or three get a transfix off, the other six or seven can beat someone's courage down to nothing. The Fellowship's ~20 will just doesn't last resisting eight or nine spells a turn.

Heroic moves are also a big deal, with 19 might the wraiths never had a problem calling them and with Aragorn neither did the Fellowship. Who wins the roll-off makes a huge difference. If the Fellowship wins they can engage the wraiths, prevent them from casting, and burn their will. If the wraiths win, they all get to move and cast leaving the Fellowship a quivering mess for that turn.

The Fellowship was on the back foot basically the whole game, and while they did burn through a lot of the Nine's will, their eventual demise became obvious pretty early on. If you wanted to balance the scenario better, there are a couple things you could do. First, is to give the Wraiths less will. At full will they're devastating, at one will each they'd drop almost instantly. Somewhere in the middle there is a balance point. Second would be to reduce the wraith's access to heroic moves, i.e. take away their might. Take all of it away and the Fellowship is going to do really really well (the wraiths won't ever get to cast, Aragorn will just make sure they're always engaged). Finally you could break theme and give everyone elven cloaks. That forces the wraiths in close before they can start casting and limits their ability to gang up on individuals. Combine two and three and the wraiths are toast, without might they can try to stay out of range and pepper the group with spells before closing, but without might and forced to stay close they're dead.

If I were going to try it again, I'd keep everything the same except bust the wraiths down to one might, one fate, and seven will each.

Excellent battle report! I vote rematch!

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"Mickey, my friend!"

Great to see evil triumph! Would have made a rather short movie though.

Fantastic battle report. It was well written (not to detailed, but clear) and had some great pictures to go with it. I loved your terrain setup. My only criticism is that I think you have made the Nazgûl too powerful. I think the FotR journey book gives them less than full m/w/f to represent that they are traveling in disguise and are far from the seat of Sauron's power. With them all having full stats, it makes an Evil victory a foregone conclusion. That said, if you and your opponent had fun, that's all that matters!

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Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

A fantastically written report. I was going for the Fellowship. Oh well.

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My WIP page: Click Here! -->So It Begins

Current Project: Ringwraiths - Haradrim - Mumakil