Wednesday 24 & Saturday 27 February & 2 March 2022 – While the armies of Gondor dwindle, Sauron’s forces continue to grow. He is now certain that the One Ring will soon be his and his long-planned assault on Middle-earth is about to begin. As the opening thrust, his forces redouble their efforts in Osgiliath, the former capital of Gondor that sits astride the Anduin. The Anduin is a powerful and wide river, and it is only at Osgiliath that it can easily be crossed. A host of Orcs marches from Minas Morgul, with Gothmog at their head, intent on driving the hopelessly outnumbered defenders, led by Faramir, from the ruined metropolis. Fortunately for Gondor, Denethor has discovered this gambit and, knowing what will befall should Osgiliath be lost, dispatches Boromir to aid his younger brother. In this scenario the Good player must hold the defences of Osgiliath against Sauron’s hordes, while the Evil player attempts to drive the forces of Gondor clear of their former capital.
This scenario is found in the Siege of Gondor (2003) supplement, scenario number 1. It is the start of a 6-part campaign covering events concerning the Siege of Gondor.
Participants
| Good (43 models; Halfway-point: 22; Point value: 690) | Evil (62 models; Halfway-point: 31; Point value: 735) |
| Boromir, Captain of the White Tower | Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul |
| Faramir, Captain of Gondor | 2 Orc Shamans |
| Beregond of Gondor | 1 Orc Captain |
| 4 Citadel Guard with spear | 11 Morannon Orcs with shield and spear |
| 4 Citadel Guard with longbow | 1 Morannon Orc with Banner |
| 7 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bow | 8 Orcs with hand weapon and shield |
| 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with spear and shield | 8 Orcs with spear |
| 7 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shield | 2 Orcs with Orc bow |
| 2 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Banner | 4 Orcs with two-handed weapon |
| 7 Knights of Minas Tirith | 2 Orcs with Banner |
| 1 Knight of Minas Tirith with Banner | 5 Warg Riders with shield and throwing spears |
| 5 Warg Riders with Orc bow | |
| 4 Mordor Uruk-hai with Shield | |
| 4 Mordor Uruk-hai with two-handed weapon | |
| 4 Orc Trackers |
Objectives
Starting with the Good player, each player takes it in turns to place an objective marker on the board until there are a total of five objective markers. No objective marker can be placed within 12″ of another objective marker or within 18″ of either the Minas Tirith or Minas Morgul board edges. This happens after placing the troops.
Once one force has been reduced to half its original number, the game might suddenly end. At the end of each turn after this condition is met, the Good player rolls a D6. On a result of 1, 2 or 3 the game ends.
When the game ends, count the number of models from each side whose bases are entirely within 3″ of each objective marker. An objective marker is controlled by whichever player has the most models with their bases entirely within 3″ of it. The player who controls the most objective markers wins the game. If both players control an equal number of objective markers, the game is a draw.
Special rules
Reinforcements – At the end of each player’s Move phase, after all models have been moved, players must roll a dice for each model not yet on the gaming table to determine if they have arrived. Roll for each model separately, deploy the model and then roll for the next.
1-2: The model is delayed and does not move onto the table yet.
3: The model moves onto the table from any point of either side table edge (ie, not the Minas Tirith or Minas Morgul table edge). Both the edge and entry point are chosen by the opponent.
4: Same as above, but edge and entry point are chosen by the controlling player.
5-6: The model moves onto the table from the controlling player’s table edge (Minas Tirith for Good and Minas Morgul for Evil).
The game
The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board. The board is covered in ruins, which count as difficult terrain.
The Good player deploys half his force (including Faramir) within 12″ of the Minas Tirith board edge. The Evil player then deploys half of his force (including a single Hero) within 12″ of the Minas Morgul board edge.
This is the first time I’m not playing solo. This is the first ever game of MESBG for my opponent, but he does beat me in pretty much any other game, pretty much all the time. So that should hopefully make for a well matched game. I take control of Good, he plays Evil. The Good player can decide 3 of the 5 objective markers, however due to the placement restrictions (at least 18″ from Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul board edges and at least 12″ from the other objective markers), I couldn’t really place the final one where I wanted it to be, which means it ended up more towards the Minas Morgul side.
My tactic now that half of all our models are on the board is to try and secure the east area of the board, as I placed my cavalry there and by controlling that side of the board I should be able to secure 2 objective markers, plus the 2 objective markers that were already advantageously placed near my side of the board, overlooked by a number of archers.
I let my groups of troops move towards the 2 objective markers that are easily within my control and manoeuvrer the cavalry out of hiding toward the middle-east area of the board to stay flexible.
After our Move phases are done, it is time for reinforcements. Most of our reinforcements arrive, both of us have 8 models still in store after this phase. And the reinforcements are mostly well placed under our own choosing, save for some unlucky troops. Importantly for me, Boromir enters from the Minas Tirith side. Two warg riders and some Orcs spawn near my side of the board and they’ll soon be matched by my cavalry.
In the shooting phase Evil has the advantage. All my archers don’t have line of sight or are out of range, so no shooting for me. I accidentally placed Faramir within the 18″ range of the Orc trackers atop the ruins in the middle of the board. Were I to play solo I would just retcon it and place Faramir slightly out of range but not so with an actual opponent, in a real battle I wouldn’t have perfect knowledge either and mistakes would be made. This mistake immediately costs him, taking a wound to the very first shot fired. My opponent rolls 3 6’es in a row, but fortunately the to wound roll of the second archer is only a 4.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Warg Riders are having a field day, being able to throw spears and shoot their bows at some of my reinforcements. This costs the lives of one Minas Tirith Knight and one Minas Tirith Warrior. Not a great start for Good. There are no fights in the first turn.
In the second turn Good keeps Priority. I continue with my plans. Yes, the shooting was annoying, but I think I’ll have the advantage once I get into combats. Having experienced great success with shooting in the last turn, my opponent meticulously places his troops so he can’t be shot at, while being able to shoot optimally himself.
Most models have now arrived as reinforcements, so there should be little surprises going forward. Because of good positioning on my opponent’s part (and perhaps bad positioning on my part, as well), Faramir can again be shot at, but now by a regular Orc archer, who surely can’t do any harm? Wrong! Faramir takes the second wound. Not a big deal, I have 2 Fate and 3 Might left I think. Wrong! I roll double 1’s with my Fate, forcing Faramir to spend all his Might points just to survive. “This always happens with Faramir in my games!” I say, “he always dies fast.”. To which my opponent comments that I did put him in harm’s way, placing him at the front of the squad, which is of course true and a mistake. Another Minas Tirith warrior is also killed during the shoot phase.
There is some good news for me as well. My plan with the cavalry works. My plan was to let them neutralize the Warg riders as much as possible, as their throwing spears and cavalry bonuses are scary. So the 4 Evil troops that were cornered near the Minas Tirith board edge are partly dealt with, 2 Warg Riders were charged and killed by my cavalry.
In the third turn I once again have Priority, allowing my cavalry to continue dealing with the 2 remaining orcs in that corner. One of them dies, the other lives. On the other side of the board my gathering of soldiers also kill a lonely spawned orc spearman. In combat a Minas Tirith warrior is slain and during the shoot phase one Minas Tirith Knight is unhorsed.
In the fourth turn Evil gets priority, which means the remaining orc spearman in the corner of the board charges two Minas Tirith Knights. I move the bulk of my force on the left back towards the objective marker there and my cavalry has now nearly reached the objective markers on the right side of the board, with Boromir coming up behind them.
That Evil got Priority is actually beneficial for me, since my opponent is quite careful with his placement, allowing me to move as much as I want. It also gives me the opportunity to let Faramir charge an Orc with a Morannon Orc supporting him, hoping he is better in combat than he is in fending off arrows.
The plan works. Evil decides to shoot Faramir with their Orc Trackers, but they hit their own orc, killing him instead of Faramir. Elsewhere, a Minas Tirith Warrior with shield and spear heroically kills a charging Warg Rider and my two Knights kill the final orc in the corner of the board. Things are looking up for Good.
In the next turn Good moves up their troops and brings Boromir & co in position, nearly ready to take on Gothmog and his orcs. Faramir survives another round and actually manages to kill an Orc. In the turn after he retreats, hoping to regroup with the rest of the Minas Tirith garrison. Good moves in, but unfortunately can’t directly charge because everyone was hidden out of sight.
Evil then charges everything as advantageously as possible, keeping away from Boromir. Gothmog calls his ‘The time of the Orc has come’ special rule, though it doesn’t do too much this turn.
In the following turn Evil gets Priority and uses this to again charge as optimally as possible. An Orc Shaman casts channelled Fury and it immediately makes itself useful, as it effectively prevents Boromir from using his Horn of Gondor. Evil shooting is (again) quite effective, taking down two Minas Tirith Knights. Gothmog and Boromir face off, though the big baddie has support from multiple orcs, a Warg Rider and a Banner. Gothmog uses Heroic Strike and so does Boromir in response. Gothmog only rolls a ‘1’ and will lose out on Fight value. Boromir rolls the 6, winning him the combat. He makes 2 mortal strikes against orcs, but one is prevented by the channelled Fury.
In the next turn, Evil maintains Priority. This is bad news for Good, as this means the cavalry is again outmatched. Boromir is shot by archers and takes 1 Wound. Boromir calls a Heroic Combat in the Fight phase as he is charged by a single orc. Gothmog copies it for free with his Master of Battle special rule. Boromir wins the roll-off, killing the lone orc first and then charging into two other orcs, hoping to bring the numbers near this objective down to just Gothmog. However, Gothmog also wins his fight and then charges into Boromir’s fight. This is where we (or I, since I was teaching the game) got the rules wrong. We played it so that both Heroes Heroic Striked, but that is illegal since they both have already taken a Heroic Action that phase and it should have been declared at the start of the phase. I only noticed this the day after so that might have changed things a little bit. Gothmog went to Fight 10 and Boromir (even with his +1 F Banner) only to Fight 9. He lost and took 2 Wounds, one of which was prevented by Fate. Boromir is now down to 3 Might, 1 Wound and 1 Fate.
Evil feels it’s time to finally make the assault and moves up the orcs towards the other objective markers. Boromir wins his fight against a Heroic Striking Gothmog and kills a Warg Rider and a Mordor Uruk-hai.
Evil retains Priority for what is the fifth or sixth turn in a row. In combat, a lot of Gondorians scattered around the board are slain. Boromir wins his fight and makes some more kills, but it is not enough, he is the only Good man standing near that objective marker, surrounded by a lot of Orcs. Since the Minas Tirith cavalry force has been decimated by losing out on Priority turn after turn, Faramir effectively reduced to a 2 A soldier and Boromir severely low on resourced, Good has no hope on winning. But they can at least try not to let Evil take 4 objective markers since that will give them a bonus for the next scenario in the campaign.
However, Evil racks up kill after kill and Good reaches the halfway point threshold in number of models lost. It continues for one more turn after that, but Good is outnumbered and outmatched. Evil wins the game, now controlling 4 of the 5 objective markers.
Aftermath
The Evil side wins the scenario and controlled 4 of the 5 objective markers, which means both Faramir and Damrod start the next scenario with 1 less Might point.
Post-game thoughts
This took a long time to play and was played over 4 different days. It is a very cool and balanced scenario though. Playing through this, it really has a tense atmosphere where you are constantly on your guard against sniping enemies hidden away behind ruins. This did cause the game to be a bit slower than when everything is obvious. Lots of movement and positioning decisions needed to be made and the plethora of terrain really gave a lot of options.
On the one hand I don’t think this is a very good introductory scenario for someone who never played SBG before, because there’s a lot of different units with varying stats, special rules, complexities, etc., but my opponent did surprisingly well and picked up the rules very fast. It also challenged me in terms of situations where I didn’t fully know the correct rule, which made it a worthwhile learning process as well. On the other hand, because of the large number of different units and interactions, it also greatly shows a lot of things SBG can be and is therefore likely more enticing than a fairly straightforward beat ’em up. So all in all I think this was a good way to introduce my opponent into the game, although I wouldn’t generally recommend others to do the same.
I think I wouldn’t have enjoyed this scenario as much solo (though I reckon it can still hold up well), precisely because there’s so many strategical decisions that need to be made. I probably would have enjoyed it more had my plan worked, but at least I learned something from it and I think it still wasn’t a bad plan. I greatly enjoyed Boromir’s combat prowess and the lethality of the Minas Tirith Knight’s lances. I didn’t enjoy the orc archers killing my Minas Tirith Knights and seriously crippling Faramir, but I’ll be more careful in future games.
Despite Good being outnumbered in terms of points (when using point values from the current edition), I still feel this scenario is quite balanced and very worthwhile. I’d rate it a solid 4/5 stars.
With Gothmog’s victory at Osgiliath, Sauron is ready to lay siege to another Gondorian stronghold on the Anduin, the island of Cair Andros. Will Faramir be more successful in fending off the forces of Evil there, or will Mordor lay claim to this bastion of Good as well?