The Battle of Pelennor Fields

Long view of the battle

Last month, I participated in the Battle of Pelennor Fields; a dramatic re-enactment (can you re-enact an event that occurred only in literature?) of the epic battle from "The Return of the King" using the GW Lord of the Rings figures and rules.

The city walls

Charlie hosted the battle at Dragon's Lair. We used the the standard Strategy Battle Game rules; not the 'War of the Rings' rules. Charlie had all the figures necessary for the game and he setup the terrain on a huge table. He pushed together 3 large 6' x 8' tables to create the map. Charlie was willing to stand by and play as moderator and referee while the rest of us played it out.

We had 17 players involved! I think the odd player ended up on the evil side but I'm not sure. The forces were broken up into individual commands of each faction. Each player handled one faction. As a result, the whole battle was played out in several smaller battles occurring across the whole map.

I managed a host of Rohan cavalry led by King Theodin. I approached from the flank. However, my progress was hindered by a stand of trees and large farmhouse. Don't remember the farmhouse and trees being part of the Pelennor 'fields' but they were present anyway. Rather than crashing into the flank of the enemy formations in grand Hollywood-style, I was confronted with a large force of warg riders led by a troll captain! They kept the Rohirrim occupied for most of the game. My group never got close enough to see the gates of the Minas Tirith.

The Rohirrim combats the Troll captain and Warg riders


An inconvenient stand of trees

The room was packed with players and the air got very warm and stuffy. An extra fan was brought in which helped a lot.

Any game including a Nazgul riding a fell beast is worth the effort

Unbelievable that Charlie provided all these figures!

The Nazgul approached the walls but pulled back for reasons unknown

We had a four hour window to complete the game, but time ran out before our excitement did. Time was called and the casualties were tallied. Ultimately, the forces of Good were given a marginal victory! Though our dead were beyond the count of grief, the Evil forces never reached the walls of the white city.

Next month will be another general LotR game day. In October, there will be another Lord of the Rings tournament!

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