Secure the Gracbaush

After several hours of scouring the forest, following trails of spider webbing and orc blood, Gracbaush has been located in a small clearing. Both companies are converging on this location in the hopes of securing (or destroying) the stricken Lieutenant.

Turn 1 - Good
The dwarves are first up for Priority and begin their deployment. Squalin and Bifin both arrive from the north just east of the center. Bofin, Filur and New Kid show up to the west, just north of the center of the board edge. Ziri appears by himself in the south. It is now the turn for The Fist of the Eye to arrive, and they waste no time. Ogzit, Auzath and Barsh step onto the field from the east. Auzbog, Krugac and Shuglogh emerge from the north, in the north-east corner of the board. Murog appears from the west, warily eying Bofin, Filur and New Kid to his north. Uthragh and Guldursh are delayed this turn, still making their way through the forest.

Here is the layout of the board following deployment at the start of the game.

Turn 2 - Evil
The Fists receive Priority this turn, and immediately begin their rush toward the center of the board. Ogzit, Auzath and Barsh run straight west and Auzbog, Krugac and Shuglogh make their way mostly west, along the north edge of a dense patch of trees. Murog takes a half move eastward, keeping his bow ready. Uthragh makes his way onto the board from the west, followed by Guldursh from the north. Here is the board following the Evil movement phase.

The dwarves rush as quickly as their dwarven (or Hobbit, in the case of Squalin & Bifin) legs can carry them.

Turn 3 - Good
Here is the board at the beginning of the turn.

The dwarves have Priority this turn, and continue their dash toward the prostrate Gracbaush.

The orcs largely do the same. Auzbog, Krugac and Shuglogh skirt the patch of trees and begin to close in on Squalin and Bifin.

Murog looses an arrow at Filur, but it goes wide.

Turn 4 - Evil
Evil takes Priority, and Auzbog charges Squalin and is supported by Shuglogh while Krugac joins in.

Uthragh and Murog continue their eastward march, Murog readying another arrow.

Ogzit continues to close in on Gracbaush and Barsj starts to angle south to intercept Ziri.

Bifin runs around Squalin and charges Auzbog, diverting his attention from Squalin as the rest of the dwarves continue their dash to the center.

Auzath draws back his bow string and fires an arrow at Ziri. To the surprise of everyone, the arrow not only hits, but the dwarf drops with the black feathered shaft buried in his chest.

For the first melee combat of the match, Krugac defeats Squalin, but the heavy Dwarf Armor withstands the blow. Bifin is not as lucky, as he is defeated and goes down to Auzbog and Shuglogh after failing two Fate checks.

Turn 5 - Good
The dwarves regain Priority and Bofin, Filur and New Kid continue their charge toward Gracbaush. Squalin turns and hurls an axe at Krugac, but it misses. He continues his charge hoping to delay the orc's advance.

Guldursh rushes up to aid Krugac, as Auzbog and Shuglogh continue past toward the center.

Ogzit and Barsh close in on Gracbaush and Uthragh moves in from the west.

A vicious two-handed strike from Krugac and blow from Guldursh brings down Squalin as his Fate deserts him.

The Good company is now Broken, and at the end of the turn a die is rolled and the match comes to an end. Fortunately for Gracbaush, Ogzit and Barsh are the only two models in range and they quickly drag him to safety (after hurriedly rifling his pockets).


Aftermath
The dwarves are the only ones who need to roll for injuries this match and the results are promising. Both Squalin and Bifin each receive Protected by the Valar results and Ziri makes a Full Recovery.
None of the Fists have enough XP to check for progression this time, but Bifin rolls and gains the Master of Battle special rule.

Hope you've enjoyed the last few battle reports. Hopefully will be able to schedule another game in the near future to continue the campaign. Who will find the Hold first? Will they find the Hold? Will they all be eaten by spiders and wargs? Only time will tell...

Scenario 1 - Aftermath

Now comes the messy business of cleaning up. Both companies were decimated, so there are lots of injury rolls... For the battle reports themselves, here are links to the Good and Evil sides of the scenario.

First up, the Good company.

Both Squalin and Bifin receive Leg Wounds, reducing them to Hobbit like speed. Bofin and Filur shake off their injuries and make Full Recoveries. Kilur and Twiggi both receive Injured results and must sit out the next battle. Sadly, Duri has quaffed his last ale, and passes on to the Halls of his Fathers (dead).

Now come the Fists.

Gracbaush is last seen wrapped in webs and being dragged off through the trees by a spider, receiving the Lost in Battle result. Ordinarily, the other members of the company would view this as a positive development, but alas, he was still carrying the company's paychecks. Ogzit makes a Full Recovery, and rids himself of his Old Battle Wound. Auzbog must have found the favor of some dark power, as he receives a Protected by the Valar(?) result. Bolgash and Zorzagar require more time to nurse their wounds, being Injured. Luck is with Uthrog, Krugac, Shuglog, Auzath, Guldursh and Murog as they make Full Recoveries.

Next up, comes the Progression phase.

For the dwarves, Bofin flexes his muscles as he receives an additional point of Might. Squalin gains the Baruk Khazad! special rule, and gleefully sharpens his axe in anticipation.

Preparing their dice, the Fists begin to roll... Gracbaush receives a bonus to his Fight value and grins evilly through the webs as he contemplates forcing roll-off with the dwarves. Auzbog is temporarily enveloped in an inky black cloud as he is Infused with Dark Power. Shuglog and Bolgash both receive promotions to Morannon Orcs and begin to speculate how far they can back date the promotion orders. Auzath and Murog both take their place among the upper echelon of the company, after being recognized as A Hero in the Making. Murog chuckling to himself as he polishes his new bat skull necklace. Unfortunately for him, Guldursh is left sulking with a No Effect result.

Rounding out the process, Influence points are spent. The dwarves gain a reinforcement in the form of a Dwarf Warrior with Two-handed axe, cordially known as "New Kid". Shuglog and Bolgash both fashion crude shields from some of the wood at hand and the company is bolstered by the arrival of Barsh, and Orc Warrior with Shield.

Stay tuned, as the mission to locate the Hold is put on hold, as the Fists must attempt to locate their Lieutenant before he becomes Spider Chow...

Scenario 1 - Mordor

Following the carnage that was the dwarves attempt to traverse the forest, the members of the Fist of the Eye begin their own journey. The board is the same and we used the same number of lairs to keep it consistent, but we did get slightly different results when rolling for the beasts. This time we had a warg in the NW, a giant spider NE and SE, and bat swarms in the SW and center.

Turn 1
 Here is the initial deployment of the company:

 Here is the board, looking east with the beasts in place in their lairs.

Gracbaush barks out the order to march, and the company begins trudging nervously eastward, aware of the splashes of dwarf blood on the forest floor and the surrounding trees. The three archers lag behind slightly, keeping their bows ready.

The closest bat swarm flits around the flank  and charges Murog.

The other beasts advance, with the warg skirting the pile of rocks.

 Here is the board following the Movement phase:

Auzath and Guldursh live up to the expectations of orc archery and hit nothing (though Auzath narrowly missed his own foot). Murog turns the tables on the bat swarm, knocking one of the bats out of the air and causing a Wound and.



Turn 2
Here is the board at the start of the turn:

Auzath and Guldursh continue their half move forward and Murog charges back into combat with the bats. The rest of the company continues east with them starting to split north and south around an upthrust rock formation.

The beasts leap to attack Zorzagar, who is slightly ahead of the others with only the north-east spider still lagging behind. Zorzagar becomes the first of the Fist's casualties as he is surrounded and Trapped. Losing the duel, he quickly succumbs to the fangs of the beasts.

Murog surprisingly wins his duel roll and strikes down another bat, causing one more Wound to the swarm.

Turn 3
The board at the beginning of the turn.

Murog hopes to keep his streak going, and charges the bat swarm once more. Gracbaush takes his part of the company past the rock pile and keeps moving east. Bolgash charges the bat swarm, and Krugac, aided by Shuglogh attack the closest spider. Auzath and Guldursh take full moves, heading east as quickly as they can.

The Giant Spiders skitters quickly across the forest floor and charge Ogzit and Gracbaush, fangs bared.

Combat is mixed this turn. Gracbaush defeats his spider, but the creature quickly sidesteps the blow from his pick. Ogzit loses his duel and is forced to expend his Fate point to avoid injury. Krugac and Shuglogh slay the warg, it's howls abruptly cut off.

Bolgash is enveloped by the swarm of bats, and once the air clears he is left laying still on the ground. Murog takes revenge, inflicting yet another Wound on the bat swarm he faces.

Turn 4
I apparently forgot to take an overall picture for this turn. A third Giant Spider takes the place of the fallen warg, appearing from the south-west lair. Gracbaush passes a Courage check and charges the spider ahead of him, entering the control zone and sidling around behind it. Uthragh also attempts to charge a spider, but fails his courage check and freezes in place. Ogzit and Auzbog rush eastward, avoiding the spiders.

Krugac also fails to charge a spider and remains in place. Shuglogh attacks the nearby bat swarm, and Murog hopes to finish off his own bat swarm. Auzath and Guldursh continue their run eastward, angling to the north-east to pass a dense patch of trees.

The two spiders not engaged rush forward past Uthragh and Gracbaush to attack Ogzit and Auzbog.

Combat opens for the turn with Gracbaush defeating his opposing spider but again fails to harm it. Ogzit loses to his spider, but manages to dodge out of the way of the fangs. Auzbog drives back the spider attacking him but is likewise unable to cause any damage.

Murog again defeats the bat swarm, but this time, perhaps due to fewer bats to hit, he fails to cause a Wound. Finding success, the other bat swarm manages to kill Shuglogh.

Turn 5
 This turn, Gracbaush strikes out to the east, but Ogzit and Auzbog each fail Courage checks to tie down the spiders. Uthragh does pass his Courage check this turn, and engages one of the spiders.

Angered that the bats continue to plague him, Murog rushes back into combat. Krugac, too, charges the nearby bat swarm as Auzath and Guldursh continue their flight north-east.

The brown spider, spotting the pair of running orcs,  sets off to catch them, passing into the dense patch of dead trees. The other free spider rushes forward to cut off Gracbaush's flight.

The bats manage to reverse their fortunes slightly, defeating Murog but are not able to do any harm to him. Uthragh is not so lucky, the spider leaping upon him and sinking its fangs into his skin. Krugac loses his Duel, but the bats are unable to pierce his armor.

Gracbaush wins his duel, his pick sinking deeply into his foes body. Ichor seeps from the wound, but the spider is still very much alive.

Turn 6
Here is the board at the start of the turn (apparently I finally remembered to take a picture).

With apparently no thoughts of anything else, Murog attacks the bat swarm again. Gracbaush makes his way north-east, while Ogzit and Auzbog run south-east. Krugac abandons the bats and runs east as Auzbog and Guldursh continue running north-east.

The beasts continue to harry the orcs. The bats easily catch up to Krugac and one of the spiders skitters down to attack Ogzit. Gracbaush is caught again, and the brown spider catches up to Guldursh.

Combat is savage, and goes entirely the beasts way this turn. Murog loses to the bats but manages to save his skin. Ogzit is pulled down and bitten mercilessly while Gracbaush suffers a similar fate, not having enough Fate points to save both Wounds.

Krugac is so confused by the randomly flitting and swirling of the bats that he trips over his own feet, and is immediately set upon by the creatures.

Guldursh's flight comes to an end at the snapping fangs of the brown spider.

Turn 7
Here is the board at the beginning of the turn.

Murog continues his fixation, and charges the bat swarm one more time.

Running fast, but not fast enough, Auzbog heads east, south of another patch of trees, and Auzath heads north-east.

A spider catches up to Auzbog, with the free bat swarm closing in.

The brown spider turns its attention to Auzath, and the eight legs easily carry him into charging range.

Finally achieving his goal, Murog causes a Wound, and strikes down the last remaining bat.

His triumphant evil laugh is cut short by Auzbog's scream as spider fangs sink deeply into his arm.

Auzath manages to beat back the spider, postponing the inevitable.

Turn 8
The turn opens with a replacement bat swarm arriving next to Auzath.

Murog shoulders his bow and trudges eastward, chagrin on his mind as a spider and bat swarm rush to meet him.

Auzath attempts to run, but is easily caught by the brown spider and the newly arrived bat swarm with a second spider approaching.

Unsurprisingly, the spider and bat swarm are successful in their duel, and Auzath joins his companions on the dark floor of the forest.

Following the precedent of the earlier game, Murog succumbs to his impending doom, and is removed as a casualty. In the second half of Scenario 1, the beasts reign supreme in their gloomy domain.