Sunday 20 March 2022 – In several hours of desperate fighting, Faramir’s garrison at Cair Andros has failed in repelling the assault upon the fortress-island. The Orcs push on and hope to fully take over the island.
This scenario is found in the Siege of Gondor (2003) supplement, scenario number 3. It is the third of a 6-part campaign covering events concerning the Siege of Gondor.
Participants
| Good (17 models; point value: 211 pts) | Evil (41 models; Half-way point: 20 models; point value: 506 pts) |
| 1 Captain of Gondor | Gothmog |
| 4 Rangers of Gondor | 11 Orcs with shield |
| 3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bow | 9 Orcs with spear |
| 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shield | 8 Orcs with orc bow |
| 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with spear and shield | 8 Orcs with two-handed weapon |
| 1 Warrior of Minas Tirith with Banner | 1 Mordor Catapult with 3 Orc crew |
| 2 Mordor Siege Bow with 2 Orc crew each | |
| 4 Orc Trackers | |
| 4 Siege Ladders and 1 Battering Ram |
Objectives
The game lasts 12 turns, or until the Evil force is reduced to 50% or less of its starting numbers, at which point the game ends. The Evil player wins if he has 10 or more models on or behind the ramparts of the keep at the start of any turn. If he does not achieve this before the game ends, the Good player wins.
The Good side gets a campaign bonus if they win and the game ends because of the Evil force being reduced to 50%. The Evil side gets a campaign bonus if they win within 8 turns.
Special rules
The Siege of Gondor – Because Evil secured at least four out of five objective markers in the last scenario, the Evil forces may be deployed anywhere on the board but no closer than 6″ to the keep’s walls.
The game
The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board. The area covered by the ruined keep counts as difficult terrain.
The Good player deploys his entire force anywhere within the main keep. The Evil player then deploys his entire force as described above by the Siege of Gondor.
I’ve decided to once again spread out my army, this time having enough space to not let the orcs immediately jump over the walls when the ladders are raised. I put three of my Rangers atop the tower for shooting, though I realize they are likely a prime target for the catapult. Evil has, as I expected, once again chosen to deploy his force near each other, except for the siege engines which are far enough to stay out of my firing range, but close enough to be able to hit my forces.
In the first turn Good has Priority, which truthfully feels a bit unusual for me when Evil has had Priority so many times over the last two scenarios. But it’s very nice to have, since I can now redeploy my troops much easier than last time when I had to cover the entire palisade wall. I also get to shoot first, which kills an Orc Tracker. That’s about 5% towards my victory objective.
Evil shooting thankfully doesn’t do much, although the catapult does kill one warrior of Minas Tirith and knocks prone another. In the fight phase, the Siege Ram removes 1 out of 3 wounds from the gate.
Turn 2, Evil Priority. One ladder moves to the right to harass the castle walls from the other side in a following turn, which means I leave some troops stationed there. Two ladders are raised, although only one is actually climbed to the top, led by Gothmog, who charges a Warrior of Minas Tirith. I move my Rangers down the tower so they can assist on the walls in the following turn.
In the shoot phase I only have one shot (by the archer on the photo above) and he rolls 2 6’ses, killing another Orc Tracker. Another archer from me dies to the siege bows and the catapult thankfully fails to hit.
In the combat phase a second wound is placed on the gate, which means it only has 1 wound left. Thankfully I did send some shielded troops down there. Gothmog wins the fight and slays the soldier of Minas Tirith.
Turn 3 Good Priority. I move the banner bearer forward so that I can have a shot at trying to throw down Gothmog’s ladder. I need a 5 but don’t roll high enough so Gothmog is save for now. I reposition a bit more and now have 2 to 3 shielded men of Minas Tirith to stand their ground if the gate should break. I have one shot in the shoot phase once again but this doesn’t do much. My opponent has moved the flanking ladder up a bit more, but deliberately doesn’t charge anywhere yet except with Gothmog. The gate doesn’t break this turn, but Gothmog does kill the banner bearer and takes his place, jumping over the wall.
Turn 4 Evil Priority. I’m thinking of Heroic Moving with my Captain but then I remember Gothmog has the Master of Battle special rule. So I don’t call it. Gothmog charges two warriors, another orc moves up the ladder to charge a third warrior and on another ladder an orc steps over the wall. There is not enough space on the rampart for the Captain to aid the Gondorians.
Gothmog calls a Heroic Combat and declares ‘The Time of the Orcs has Come’. He needs 1 Might to win the fight and then fails to Wound against the shieldwalling men of Minas Tirith. But his declaration of Orc time gives him re-rolls for the failed to Wound rolls and this time he just slays both enemies. He then charges in the fight on the left, killing two Rangers. The third ranger is then also murdered by the orc warrior and just like that almost the entire wall has been wiped clean of defenders. Gothmog is really cunning and lethal with his Hatred (Men) special rule. Down at the gate, the door does fall so the orcs can try and enter it if they can get past the defenders there.
Turn 5, I desperately try to hold up the forces of Evil for as long as possible, shielding wherever I can. This does work a little and the orc on the ladder at the other wall loses his fight, falls down to his death and kills another orc with him.
Turn 6, if only I can stand strong for two more turns, since the victory condition check is at the start of any turn. But it is not to be, at the end of the turn there are 10 Orcs inside the castle or on the walls, meaning Evil wins the game on turn 7.
Aftermath
The Evil side wins the scenario within 8 turns, which means he can deploy 6 warriors from any table edge at the end of the first turn in the next scenario.
Post-game thoughts
I liked this scenario more than the previous one. The smaller battlefield and less forces made the game a bit quicker and it felt more balanced, though it seems to me that Good still has an uphill battle here (even without the Evil campaign bonus). I think using the new profiles in this scenario in particular also might create a bit more imbalance, as Gothmog has become much stronger in the new edition and had it not been for him, I think Good would have had a much better chance. Especially because the ladders are quite lethal for the ones that use them, but it seems a strong 3 Might 3 Attack Hero can mitigate this quite a bit. All in all not a scenario I’d quickly replay using the new profiles (at least not as the Good side :p), but fairly decent overall and I think pretty nice if you really like sieges. I’d rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
Gothmog is once again triumphant on the battlefield and Cair Andros has fallen into his hands. The Gondorians now have no option but to retreat to the Rammas, guarding the Pelennor Fields.