This evening witnessed a perfidious Mordor ambush of the valiant fellowship on their way south. In the deep of night the orc forces rushed on the heroes. Above and below the Mordor forces are arrayed to envelop the brave warriors.
I just recently completed my warg riders, so all of these were present in the game. I had 8 'honesty' bows in all - including the warg riders. These played an important role later.
The eagle eyed view of the battlefield with rocky hills along the left flank of Mordor.
The game was off and running and the orcs moved to surround the heroes. Aragorn directed the fellowship to stay close to the rocks to lessen the chances of being overwhelmed.
The main battleline held back giving the flanks a chance to extend forward.
Boromir and Legolas were at the lead. Legolas' bow would soon begin to sing while Boromir relied on his horn (oo-err) and his pile of might points.
Gorbag (i took the incorrect orc hero for this game - an error) led 6 orc plus 4 with two handed weapons. These were my great hope in cutting down the heroes. What I didn't know was - apart from Gimli - their defence was not that impressive.
The orcs closed in. Bowfire had been ineffective from the orcs but Legolas steadily killed 1-2 orcs. Arrow range was limited in the dark conditions but wounded gained a bonus.
Aragorn desperately gave the company orders - this mainly consisted of ... guard Frodo.
The Mordor forces had worked around the back with the aid of swift wargs and an orc drummer pounding incessantly. This drove the evil forces into a frenzy of movement.
The fellowship gave way cleverly dragged the orcs into a more constricted space where numbers would count less. I finally realised that climbing up onto the hills would give me an advantage for arrow fire and an additional avenue of advance.
The first orcish push led to several deaths and the concept to also pull back trying to drag the heroes out of their good terrain position. I was also realising - after Boromir had suffered two wounds - that my bows were not quite as pathetic as I thought.
I really didn't know what to do with my wargs. I wanted to add more missile fire but feared being sniped by Legolas. Also a hoped I could charge one at a time giving a chance to knock down the fellowship combat heroes thus swinging melee into my favour.
Reorganised, Mordor surged back into the fray. Archers now manned the heights and an orc line - led by Gorbag - approached from the rear.
Aragorn waded into the battle.
The orcs pushed into every orifice surrounding as many heroes as I could. Mordor was denied priority for some time clearly representing the recognition of just who they had cornered in the dark of the night. No doubt orcs feared the skills and weapons of these brave souls.
The swirling melee went on for a long time. Mordor squandered many opportunities with their weapons being turned away by the armour, fervent actions or skills of the heroes. Slowly, VERY slowly, they began to fall. First Legolas, then some hobbits, finally Boromir. Aragron battled on. Samwise finally succumbed but all the fellowship were aided by the Valar with impressive fate rolls. The Orcs steadily lost soldiers but they had 45 on the table. Frodo put on the ring and became a harder prospect to handle.
Eventually the heroes, some buried under mounds of Orcish dead, gave way with the indomitable Gimli fending away the enemy. The Fellowship broke but all the Orc heroes had fallen (although I may have stuffed up the wound counting???) The Morannan Orcs had performed well stabbing down the last of the heroes. No doubt, Gimli led the survivors - many with severe wounds - into a darkened crevice away from the Orcs. Perhaps the sun rose driving Mordor away. In any narrative, the fact was the game was over with the Fellowship being broken. The Orcs were only two models away from breaking too and - with no heroes - would have largely routed. Overall, it was a draw which felt like a fair result but Sauron was left cursing in his tower of Barad Dur due to the ineptitude of many Orcs who were supplied with wonderful chances to hew the foe but could not land sufficient wounds. Despite being clearly outclassed, numbers eventually told the day.
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