Wednesday 2 August 2022 – The final defences of Minas Tirith have fallen, and now only the city itself stands between Sauron and the dawn of a new age where he is the dominant power. In these final hours of the siege it is Gandalf who saves Minas Tirith from doom. Wherever he strides, hope is renewed and strength redoubled, and without his presence the city would have fallen swiftly. The walls of Minas Tirith are strong and while men still defend them no enemy can prevail, but fear is a weapon the Witch-king long ago mastered. Even as the physical siege progresses, the Captain of Morgul assailt the hearts and souls of his foe. Though netither side realises it, this final assault will determine the fate of Gondor. If the city holds for long enough, the Rohirrim will arrive to break the siege and hope will be snatched from the clutches of despair. If the city falls, Théoden and his warriors will arrive in time to gaze upon the ruin of Gondor.
This scenario is found in the Siege of Gondor (2003) supplement, scenario number 5. It is the fifth of a 6-part campaign covering events concerning the Siege of Gondor.
Participants
Good (33 models; Half-way point: 17 models; Quarter-point: 8 models) | Evil (57 models) |
Gandalf the White | The Witch-king of Angmar (on Fell Beast and with full M/W/F) |
Pippin | Gothmog |
Beregond | 1 Orc Shaman |
4 Citadel Guard with spear | 16 Morannon Orcs with spear and shield |
4 Citadel Guard with longbow | 8 Orcs with spear |
4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shield | 1 Orc with orc bow |
4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with spear and shield | 4 Orcs with two-handed weapon |
1 Warrior of Minas Tirith with bow | 8 Orcs with shield |
3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with banner | 2 Mordor Siege Bow with 2 Orc crew each |
2 Avenger Bolt Thrower with 2 crew each | 1 Mordor Catapult with 3 Orc crew and 1 Troll |
2 Battlecry Trebuchets with 3 crew each | 2 Mordor Trolls |
4 Orc Trackers | |
3 Orcs with banners | |
8 Siege Ladders, 2 Siege Towers and 1 Battering Ram |
Objectives
The game lasts 12 turns. The Evil player wins if he has 16 or more models on or behind the wall, or has achieved two out of the following three objectives at the end of any turn:
- Gandalf has been slain.
- The Good force has been reduced to 25% or less of its starting numbers.
- The Evil player has 8 or more models on or behind the wall.
Otherwise, the Good player wins.
The Good side gets a campaign bonus if more than 50% (so 14 models) survived this scenario (and the more the bigger the campaign bonus). The Evil side gets a campaign bonus if they have models escaping from the Minas Tirith board edge (and the more the bigger the campaign bonus).
Special rules
Rohan has Come! – From the sixth turn onwards, the Good player may roll a D6 at the start of his Move phase. If a 6 is rolled, the Rohirrim have arrived and the Witch-king leaves to confront this new threat – remove him from play as if he were a casualty.
The game
The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board.
The Good player deploys his entire force on or behind the walls of Minas Tirith. Then, the Evil player may deploy his entire force up to 18″ from the northern table edge. Because the Evil side won the last scenario within 10 turns, they get an extra Siege shooting phase before the first turn in this scenario.
The Siege Bows fail to hit, but the Catapult annihilates two Gondor Avenger Bolt Thrower crewmen, effectively taking out the full unit.
Then the game truly starts, and Gandalf rolls a ‘1’ with his free Will point, meaning he doesn’t successfully cast Terrifying Aura. In the Shoot Phase, the Avenger Bolt Thrower kills one Orc with a shield and so does a Trebuchet who scatters off the Troll manning the Catapult. The Catapult kills another Avenger Bolt Thrower crewman, rendering both Bolt Throwers non-operational.
Evil has Priority in turn 2. The forces of Evil move up. The Trebuchet slays an Orc that was again scattered off a Troll. A Citadel archer kills another Orc.
Good has Priority in turn 3. The Witch-King swoops in and the first Siege tower opens and unleashes a host of (mostly Morannon) orcs upon the soldiers of Minas Tirith. One Trebuchet kills another Orc, the Mordor Catapult scatters and hits Gandalf, who survives using 1 Fate and 1 Might point. In combat, Beregond kills a Morannon Orc by spending his Might point. The Witch-King begins his onslaught, slaying both Pippin and a Citadel Guard with spear.
Evil has Priority in turn 4. Evil moves up and the second Siege tower opens its gate, revealing three Orc archers, who shoot but miss at the Citadel Guard. The Trebuchet kills another Orc, which means the Mordor Catapult now has no spare non-crew Orcs to scatter off to. Good isn’t so lucky in the combat phase, the Witch-King kills a Banner bearer and a warrior of Minas Tirith. Gothmog kills Beregond and other orcs slay another two warriors of Minas Tirith.
Evil again wins Priority in turn 5. The Witch-King swoops in against a Trebuchet. A brave warrior of Minas Tirith charges him, so that the Trebuchet can stay operational. He does die this turn and so does a Minas Tirith bowman that was the last remaining survivor on the eastern wing.
Evil Priority turn 6. Rohan hasn’t arrived yet. Gandalf casts a sneaky ‘Banishment’ on the Witch-King, but he resists with 2 Will (regaining 1 Will for rolling a natural 6). The orcs fail to kill the two Citadel Guards on the western side, slowing the advance down by at least another turn.
Good has Priority in turn 7 and Rohan has arrived, meaning the Witch-King is removed from the game. Good retreats, if they can hold out for 5 more turns, keep Gandalf and at least 8 others alive and prevent the Evil models from entering through the gate, they’ll win the game. The two Citadel guardsmen who held out last turn are now slain and so is another crewman who dies because of the catapult.
Good retains Priority in turn 8. The retreat continues. Not too much happens this turn.
Evil Priority turn 9. That allows Gothmog and his band of orcs to catch up with the retreating Gondor crewmen. One of them dies, the other wins the fight. The Mordor Catapult accidentally kills an Orc Tracker and a Morannon Orc with shield and spear.
Good Priority turn 10. The final crewman in the tower dies. Good is down to 15 models. The Gate finally takes (2) wounds, out of the needed 3.
Evil Priority in turn 11. Three orcs make it off the board, to provide a campaign bonus for the next and final scenario in this campaign. The front gate is finally breached, but likely too late.
Good wins the extremely important Priority roll in turn 12. This allows the forces of Good to stop the oncoming forces of Evil in their tracks, meaning at a maximum only 15 Evil models can still make it beyond or atop the wall. With 14 Good models still alive, including Gandalf, that means a (narrow) victory for Good.
Aftermath
The Good side wins the scenario, though they have been reduced to less than 50% of their starting numbers, meaning they won’t benefit the next scenario. 6 total orcs have made it off the board, which will help Evil’s deployment in the next scenario.
Post-game thoughts
As the Good player I felt quite outnumbered. I was lucky to have the Rohirrim arriving as early as turn 7, because the Witch-King was doing a lot of damage to my forces. In the end, I won at a very small margin (15 out of a needed 16 Evil models made it atop or beyond the walls).
That did make things tense, but I also feel it therefore relies on quite a bit of luck, if the Witch-King stayed around longer (which easily could have happened), he would undoubtedly have done a lot more damage. Another thing I didn’t really like is that it’s unclear how the Witch-King is supposed to be equipped. It just says ‘The Witch-King of Angmar’ under participants. But a Fell Beast seems a given considering all the photos of a mounted Witch-King throughout the supplement and with the possibility of him disappearing from turn 6 onwards. Considering the Return of the King-era time frame I also decided to give him full Might Will and Fate. I didn’t give him the crown of Morgul, though historically that would have made more sense. Though that wouldn’t have mattered in this particular playthrough because Will was never a problem and he decimated everyone he came in combat with.
All in all, I’d rate this scenario 3/5 stars. It’s okay, not too long, but on the other hand it was also a little bit anticlimactic, small scale and for me it felt like I didn’t get to make that many interesting choices. It didn’t feel like the outcome was really in my hands.
I also found it a bit weird that the Evil player gets a bonus the next scenario and I get nothing, despite winning this one. That seems a bit like an oversight, because if playing purely for campaign, it would mean Evil could just focus on getting as much units off the table as possible after bringing down the Good forces to below 50%.
Mordor’s forces move up and Gandalf & Pippin return to stop Denethor from burning Faramir. Will they succeed?