This week I'm back with the next installment of my Fantasy Fellowship campaign. The Fellowship have just escaped the dark of Moria, losing both Cirdan and Grip to the Balrog's fire. After recuperating and grieving in Lothlorien, the heroes received the gifts of Galadriel. But alas, they were being trailed as soon as they left the safety of the forest, and tragedy struck at Amon Hen. As Dori was corrupted by the Ring, it was up to Aragorn to help the Ringbearer escape...
Aragorn’s Stand
This scenario was interesting in concept, but turned out to have some fundamental flaws. Aragorn and Frodo took off on the first turn, calling a Heroic March and
zooming away down the board. Meanwhile, most of the Uruks arrived, but because
Good had Priority they were forced to show up behind their comrades and well
out of the way. When Good won Priority the next turn the game was sealed, with
almost all the Uruks moving onto the field and being forced to arrive several
turns behind the main chase. Lurtz tried to Heroic March to catch up with the
Good pair, but simply ran out of Might before he could. Frodo and Aragorn ran
off the board edge on turn 5, having faced nothing more threatening than a
handful of optimistic Uruk arrows.
The easiest fix to this scenario would be to have the
remaining Uruk Scouts arrive from either of the long table edges, as chosen by
the player with Priority. That way Good can’t immediately relegate at least
half the reinforcements to the far edge while they sprint away, and winning
Priority on the second turn isn’t the only roll that matters. This scenario
seemed great in theory, but weak in execution.
Bravest: Aragorn I guess, if you can call running away
immediately ‘brave’
Boromir’s Redemption
As I was playing this scenario in a linked campaign, Dori,
Éowyn and Haleth needed to survive for a mere 5 turns. So, uh, they ran away
for 5 turns.
Bravest: Haleth shot an Uruk, so he wins by default
The Breaking of the Fellowship
We started this scenario
with Dori on no Fate, because that seemed the fairest way of adapting the
requirement that Boromir starts down a Wound. However, we subsequently realised
that this made no sense, as we were playing the scenarios linked and Dori
should have just started on the stats he had left from the last scenario (i.e.
full stats). This became more than a little relevant later on.
The Uruks deployed a large squad surrounding Dori, while
Lurtz and the others tried to shoot down the Three Kings. Dori won his first duel,
Wounding the Uruk Captain twice but opting not to spend both his Might to lock
in the third Wound. The Captain made his Fate roll to survive, and proceeded to
win the next combat in a roll-off. While the other Uruks bounced off Dori’s
armour, the Captain spent both Might to inflict two Wounds and slay the Dwarf
(who had no Fate…). After the game we rolled for Dori’s Fate point and it would
have saved him here, but it seems the Valar were against the Good side this
game.
On the other side of the map, Lurtz had Trapped Aragorn
after winning a Heroic Move-off, and when Isildur’s Heir flopped his dice
rolls, managed to inflict a whopping 5 Wounds on him. Aragorn had obviously
stolen Dori’s luck though, as he made all his Fate saves with the help of some
Might. His close shave was even closer than it seemed, as Thandruil had
succeeded in peeling an Uruk off his friend with a Heroic Combat, and that Uruk
would have otherwise gotten the kill. In an ironic reversal of what had
happened to Dori, Aragorn managed to win his second fight against Lurtz and
decapitate the Uruk with a single blow. This was the turning point in the
fight, with Thorin and Thandruil butchering all who stood before them as the
badly wounded Aragorn scraped through to the finish.
Bravest Companion: Aragorn
Fool: Dori
With that, Frodo had safely escaped to the boats, Maggot and his dogs swimming out to meet him. Alas, Haleth and Éowen had been captured by the Uruks and were being carried off to their master in Isengard, so it was up to the Three Kings to rescue their friends. Their quest would diverge from that of the Ringbearer from here on, leading west to Rohan and Helm's Deep...
I hope you enjoyed this installment of my Quest of the Ringbearer campaign, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new Amon Hen scenarios. Have you found Aragorn's Stand as anti-climactic as I did?
Until next time, may you always spend the Might you need to!
I've played the linked scenarios (the Amon Hen Sequence, as I call it), but haven't played the big one. I know it would add two extra missions, but do you feel like the mission would be better if you had to play all three instead of "just the big one"?
ReplyDeleteI’ve played the big one quite a lot, and I think it’s a really well balanced and enjoyable scenario, arguably one of the best in the game. The Sequence was a fun twist, and I’m glad I played it, but I think the first mission in particular really needs reworking to make it less easy for Good to just run away. That would make the second one more enjoyable, and the third one’s already pretty good. Did you find the first mission too easy in your playthrough?
DeleteHa, just saw the reply. :P Yes, the first mission is just a glide-Aragorn-and-Frodo-away thing. In the old Journeybook for the Fellowship of the Ring, you could do the same thing in the Lothlorien scenario, but they took March away in that one. Honestly, taking March away in this scenario would be really good too.
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