Short Cuts Make Long Delays - Lord of the Rings

"Round the corner came a black horse, no hobbit pony but a full-sized horse; and on it sat a large man, who seemed to crouch in the saddle, wrapped in a great black cloak and hood, so that only his boots in the high stirrups showed below; his face was shadowed and invisible..."

The Fellowship of the Ring - Three Is Company

Some years ago (2012) I played the first couple of scenarios in Games Workshop's Fellowship of the Ring supplement for their Lord of the Rings miniatures game (which I highly recommend, by the way). In the first scenario, The Hunt Begins, a trio of Ringwraiths sought to break into the Shire, which was defended by Dunedain rangers. In the second, The Trust of Arnor, all nine of the Nazgul tangled with the Rangers, who were still protecting the Shire's southern borders near Sarn Ford.

L to R : Sam, Frodo and Pippin take cover as they hear hooves

In the next instalment of our saga, Frodo has finally decided to leave the Shire, travelling incognito to Bucklebury, where he claims to be 'retiring'. In fact he is planning to sneak off to Bree and rendezvous with Gandalf at the Prancing Pony. Frodo is accompanied (in the book) by Sam Gamgee and Peregrine ' Pippin' Took, neither of whom are meant to be aware of his plans to flee the Shire. In the book, Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck, being a native of Buckland, has gone on ahead to secure Frodo's new house in Crickhollow.

"I think we're lost Mr Frodo..."

Of course, the Black Riders are on Frodo's trail, and in this game, three of them manage to catch up with the hobbits in the Eastfarthing. We played at the Dice Saloon in Brighton, which I also recommend as somewhere to visit if you are keen on games of all kinds and happen to have an hour to spare.

Pippin runs into trouble.

The first game saw the hobbits start in a tight knit group, but they are lost in the woods, hence need to make Courage checks every round to make any progress. Frodo has to flee off the eastern board edge to win, or all three Nazgul need to be vanquished. The Nazgul are looking for them, but need to get within 4" to spot them. Hence, the first part of the game sees the hobbits desperately trying to give the Black Riders as wide a berth as possible, while the agents of the Enemy stumble around trying to locate the halflings.

Into the mix comes Gildor Inglorion, an elf who wanders the lands between Rivendell and the Grey Havens. Gildor is a Noldor from the First Age, so is not to be trifled with (causes Terror in Nazgul for starters). Unlike the hobbits, Gildor is not lost and can move normally from the start.

The key to the scenario is getting Frodo off the board and using the other hobbits to block the Dark Riders if possible. Once Gildor gets to the hobbits he can also prove useful. The other problem the Nazgul have is that they have a limited pool of Will points, which they need both to cast spells and to survive fights. In both games we played, Nazgul dissipated through lack of Will points - all three in the first one.

Game 1 - Gildor comes to the rescue, but where is Pippin going?

The Nazgul can cast spells once they get within range of targets. In both games they used Compel to force Frodo to put on the Ring and try to bring him closer to them. This is quite a good delaying tactic. In the second game, I made good use of Black Dart which wounded Frodo and eventually slew him, winning the game for Evil. I could do this by keeping them within 12" and simply casting spells at him, without risking a confrontation with Gildor.

Game 1 - Frodo flees to safety as the others confront the Nazgul

In the first game the hobbits made good progress before a failed initiative roll led to Pippin blundering into a Nazgul in some woods, which started the hue and cry. Luckily, by then the hobbits had met up with Gildor. But even with the aid of the Noldor, they had a close thing of it, with one Ringwraith closing in and forcing Frodo to put on the Ring. Luckily all the Nazgul exhausted themselves before they could slay Frodo.

The road to Woody End...

In the second game, the hobbits started closer to one of the Nazgul on the lane, and this led to Pippin running into it earlier, before Frodo had managed to make much progress into the woods (Pippin failed an early Courage check, and unlike Frodo, has no Might to change the roll).

The Nazgul pursued and delayed Frodo with Compel once the alarm was raised, but eventually exhausted itself. However, by this time two more had closed in and cast Black Dart repeatedly at the Ringbearer, to which he eventually succumbed,despite Gildor's best efforts.

I really enjoyed this game. We were a bit rusty on the rules, but it was a useful reminder of the mechanics of what is actually quite a slick little miniatures system. Hopefully there won't be too much of a delay before we can play again...

Frostgrave is on temporary hiatus while I get some scenery painting done. I'm also about to start taking part in a Blood Bowl league at the Dice Saloon, so hopefully more of that later...

"A sudden, unreasoning fear of discovery laid hold of Frodo, and he thought of his Ring. He hardly dared to breathe, and yet the desire to get it out of his pocket became so strong that he began slowly to move his hand. He felt only that he had to slip it on, and then he would be safe..."

The Fellowship of the Ring - Three Is Company

Game 2 - Frodo about to be felled by Black Darts