Tuesday, 11 March 2025

Battle for Aldburg, LOTR

We played using our own rule: “About Kings and Heroes”, a variant of “About Ceasar”, which includes units boosted by monsters, and wizards using spells. There are 13 different spells, and each player can draw 3 cards, each one corresponding to a specific spell.  A speel can be used when a flag command die is used. Figures are from Thomas and Alberik.

On the Good side, from right to left, Alberik and Jonathan with the Dwarf armies (all veteran), Steven with Rohan (one elite horse unit), and left Peter with Gondor, Numenorians (elite) and the rangers veteran.

On the Evil right side : with the goblins and wargs: Ronny, Haradrim and the mercenaries Timmy,  then Kristof with the Easterlings, and on the left side Thomas with the orcs and trolls.

Siegfried and Dirk are referees.

Thomas did choose a scenario for the battle, and we made a story around it.

For several years , Eastfold ,the Eastern region of Rohan has been under attack from the evil Easterlings.  Rohan has managed to keep the enemy at bay, thanks to combined support of the Elves, Gondor, rangers and the Dwarf Union. But now, there is a new Elf king, who came to power boosting he would restore the glory of the Elves, by received advice from Grima Wormtongue and gold and spells of Saruman.

The new Elf King, his mind poisoned with ambition, conceit and bad advice,  left the coalition of the Good and started negotiations with Sauron.

Taking the opportunity, the Easterling hired mercenaries, and received reinforcements of golbins, orcs, and Haradrim to attack Aldburg, the capital city of the Eastfold.

The remaining coalition of the Good assembled at Aldburg, the united dwarfs, so despised by the Elves, did send a stronger force than the Elves ever did. “

The armies of the Good are waiting."

Dwarf rangers





Haradrim cavalry

Above and below Mercenaries











The first encounter was the giant elephant smashing inthe the infantry of Rohan, with devastating effect, breaking one unit and breaking through. With the use of spells, he was kept in place, and targetted with spears and arrows.

On he Good left, the advance of masses of goblins was stopped by the rangers. An attrition battle followed.


The dwarf rangers were able to slow down the advance of the orcs and trolls, helped by the dwarf scorpions positioned on a hillock.  Bad command dicing from Thomas mend part of his force remained on starting position for several turns.

The dwarfs came under pressure once the trolls passed the brook.

Thee Rohan cavalry smashed into the mercenary cavalry, and routed them in the end, having sustained many losses. 

Above and below, dwarfs under pressure from the troll units.


Having penetrated deep into enemy lines, the Rohan cavalry became surrouneded by enemy units.
But that way the evil forces were kept away from Aldburg, buying time for the defenders...


The dwarfs did put up a good fight, decimating the ors units. The last unit with a battle troll was destroyed by a charge of heavy armoured goat riders.


Thanks to the dwarf  successes, the orc army came to breaking point. 
Also the giant elephant was eliminated, the easterling and Hadrim armies no longer had reserves to resume the attacks. 
The Good left had lost all its ranger units that had formed the first line,  but the Gondorians and Numenorians were still ingood order. The goblins would not break through.

A clear victory of the Good side.















 

Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Medieval Siege Game

 I was given a set of Swoppets knights when I was seven years old and I have been fascinated by the medieval period of history ever since. This was the first time I got to play with my collection of DSG Crusaders and Turks from Argentina. The castle is from LOD, a Nottingham castle recast. The siege engines are 70mm Elastolin, but they fit perfectly with the 54mm figures. I wanted simple rules, using individual figures, so I went with Tactic Medieval Supplement, which was recommended by several felow gamers. The Crusader attackers started the game 24 inches from the castle walls. I gave the attackers a time limit of ten turns to either break down the castle gate with a battering ram or take possession of three of the four castle walls. The defending Turks had two pieces of artillery, one of the which shot flaming arrows. On the second turn, with a lucky shot the arrow thrower hit one of the siege towers and started a fire. The defender had a 50% chance to put out the fire, but missed his roll. Next turn was only a 33% chance which he also missed. The attackers could put up ladders when they got four inches from the walls. The defenders then had a change to push the ladder down  but all missed and the ladders could not be pushed down in later turns. The escalade fights were very bloody, favoring the defenders, but eventually the attackers managed to gain a foothold on two of the walls. The burning siege tower was eventually destroyed, losing one D6 attackers, but the other siege tower made it to the gatehouse and a furious fight developed. At the same time the battering ram reached the gate. The defenders tried setting it on fire with burning oil but the attacking player was able to put the fire out. We called the game at the end of turn nine with all but one wall in Crusader possession. 

Those of you who live in Europe are so lucky to have real castles in your backyard. The closest castle to me in California is in Disneyland.