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!

Comments

The Blog is going on a Permanent Vacation

Ok, I haven't had any comments on this blog on an post for many, many months. The only post that seems to get any traffic is my 2015 post about Star Fleet Battles. I don't fully understand why that post has generated so much interest, while the rest of my content has been mostly ignored. Clearly, this has not been an successful blog. I get much more traffic with my Facebook content and the YouTube channel is showing promise. Perhaps the subjects of my posts have been too random. I may need to focus on a specific game or subject. Maybe I didn't generate enough posts to keep the audience connected. Whatever the case, I am ending this blog with this final post. I'm calling it a 'permanent vacation' because the blog and posts will still be here, though I will not be adding any new content. I might continue to comment on the SFB post since that is still generating traffic 3 years after it was published. To anyone who might still be reading, I say 'Thank

Gulf Strike - Final Turns 26,27,28,29, and 30

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules. We have reached the final turns of the scenario. Turn 30 is the last turn, when we will count the number of cities captured by the Soviets and determine the margin of victory. The Soviets currently have 10 cities captured. The US is building a supply network in southern Iran. Can they reach the Iranian cities in time to help defend? Most of the air missions and ground assaults have been reduced due to decreasing supply for both sides. Turn 26 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: The last few Iranian infantry brigades move toward Esfahan. The Soviets assault the city of Kashan and capture it. This is the 11th city for the Soviets. This qualifies them for a 'marginal victory'. At Sea: The US LHA carrier with a compliment of AV-8 Harrier aircraft, moves northwest to the Iranian port city of Abadan. In the Air: Harriers launch air strikes against Soviet targets approaching Ahraz, but are ineffecti

Gulf Strike - Turns 18 and 19

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets are moving further south in Iran. The Americans now have supply chain problems. There are two points of failure. A Soviet heavy cruiser is bombarding the supply head at Diego Garcia The supply chain has been broken at Konark. Turn 18 - In Air; F-4s bomb a supply depot in Afghanistan, further weakening the Soviets there. Soviet Backfires make a conventional bombing attack on Iranian Militia in Hamadan, but the militia gets some incredibly lucky rolls and put a hit on the bombers. This forces the bombers to retreat. Su-24s provide close air support for the assault on Hamadan and Qom. On Land; SpecOps raids destroy a truck unit in Afghanistan. Soviets push out the remaining militia and capture the holy city of Qom. At Sea; The Soviet CA is finally sunk by an American SSN. This is the last Soviet naval unit in the Indian Ocean. US heavy transport ships reach the friendly port in Somalia.

The Painted Thumb

Search This Blog