Fall of the Necromancer – Scenario 7: Clearing the Nests

Somehow, the Necromancer has returned. Unbeknown to the Elves, he has once again taken up residence in his domain of Dol Guldur in southern Mirkwood. The fell creatures of the forest have once more begun to creep further from the shadows. Giant cobwebs have become a much more common sight and are found ever more northwards, towards the Woodland Realm. Thranduil has ordered his Rangers to rid Mirkwood of the nests of these spiders, hoping to drive them back.

Playthrough: 1v1

Played on: Wednesday 30 July 2025

Scenario: Fall of the Necromancer (2021) #7 (out of 13)

Ruleset / profiles: 7th edition (2024 War of the Rohirrim Edition)

Participants

Good (12 models)	Evil (12 models)
Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood	6 Mirkwood Giant Spiders (previously known as Mirkwood Spiders)
Tauriel	6 Mirkwood Hunting Spiders (previously known as Giant Spiders)
10 Mirkwood Rangers

Objectives

The game lasts until one side has completed their objective.

The Good side wins if the Spider Nest is destroyed.

The Evil side wins if the Good side is wiped out.

Special rules

The Spider Nest – Good models may Charge the Spider Nest during the Move phase, and may attack it during the Fight phase provided they are not in base contact with any enemy models. Good models do not need to make a Duel roll against the Spider Nest; they will automatically win and may simply strike blows. The Spider Nest has 3 Wounds and will only ever be wounded on the roll of a natural 6.

More where they came from – Whenever a Spider model is slain, keep it to one side. At the start of each turn, before Priority is determined, roll a D6 for each Spider model kept aside in this way. On a 5+ (4+ because of the Evil campaign bonus), the Evil player may place that Spider model within 6″ of the Spider Nest, but not within the Control Zones of enemy models. Models that arrive in this manner are placed anywhere within or touching the Spider Nest and may act as normal that turn.

Pre-game tactics and thoughts

As the Good player I need to not die, or else Evil wins. Between the superior movement of the Spiders, their respawning right next to the objective and the dense terrain I reckon that shooting will generally not help me a great deal. Instead I should probably focus on having my units initially stay together, move to the Spider Nest as quickly as possible and then hope that I can get as many Elves to attack the Spider Nest unengaged. That means I’ll save my Might points for defence and surviving, though a Heroic Move in certain turns to dictate the Fights will likely be essential as well. I have 6 Might on the board and two quite formidable fighters. Furthermore, all my models have a superior Fight value and the Knife Fighters special rule means I can’t be too outnumbered. Overall I am cautiously optimistic about my chances, though the Evil campaign bonus sounds like it could be quite significant.

It sounds like an interesting scenario and I’m happy to have Tauriel make her debut, ever since The Hobbit edition I’ve wanted to use her in a game, her profile sure seems strong!

The game

The Evil player deploys the Mirkwood Giant Spiders within 3″ of the Spider Nest. They then deploy 3 Mirkwood Hunting Spiders within 3″ of the centre of the eastern board edge, and the other 3 within 3″ of the centre of the western board edge.

The Good player deploys their models within 6″ of the centre of the northern board edge.

1G. -> Evil begins. The Spiders try to move behind trees and other kinds of cover while rushing towards the Elves. In the Shooting phase the Elves land 3 Wounds on 3 Mirkwood Giant Spiders. My strategy here is to pepper the wounds because when killed there’s a 50% chance for a Spider to just respawn.

2G. -> Evil begins. A number of Spiders charge, but most are not able to. This gives the Elves the chance to choose their fights. 2 Mirkwood Giant Spiders are slain in combat, but so is 1 Mirkwood Ranger.

3E. -> Evil begins. One out of the two slain Mirkwood Giant Spiders respawn. I regretfully forgot I could call a Heroic Move, which likely cost me the game (though I think the odds were already stacked against me from the start). The Spiders pin down the Elves and with more dice to roll, wounding on 3’s and re-rolling 1’s, 4 more Mirkwood Rangers die. 2 Giant Spiders and 1 Hunting Spider are killed as well, but they will likely come back soon.

4E. -> Evil begins. Only 1 Giant Spider respawns. At this point I do remember I can call a Heroic Move and so Tauriel calls one. However, the damage is already done, there are now enough Spiders to make all the combats 1v1. This makes for another massacre turn where most Elves die and Tauriel even loses against a single Spider. Previously she was too afraid to charge it, rolling two 1’s and needing both of her Will points to be able to do so. Now I understand why.

5?. All 5 previously slain Spiders respawn. Good concedes.

Aftermath

Victory for Evil. This means that in the next scenario: Attack on Rhosgobel, Spider models roll a D6 when they are wounded. On a 6, the wound is ignored.

Post-game thoughts

This was a very thematic scenario with flavourful rules. It was also a fun scenario, I just feel the 4+ Spider respawn is too strong. Respawning on 6’s would be fairer I think. With the original 5+, I think the Spiders will still overwhelm the Elves, but that could be a fair campaign bonus.

In such a dense forest they can just creep up and move pretty much unhindered. And the only way for them to fail to Wound the Elves is on 2’s or consecutive 1’s. You might think the Mirkwood Rangers should carry just a bit more armour with all these Spiders around. Nevertheless, it was a fun and quick game that is likely stacked against Good.

In the next scenario, the Spiders attack Radagast’s home of Rhosgobel.