Lord of the Rings Gondor v. Mordor 600pts

My first ever official game of Lord of the Rings with my Gondorian (with allies) force going up against my brother's Mordor (pulled almost entirely from the starter set). It was mostly a test game of the rules, but it was still a lot of fun. 600 points v. 600 points, good v. evil. 

Forces of Good

Warband 1: Boromir Captain of Gondor w/ Banner and Shield (not modeled due to finecast) 5 Gondorians with swords 5 Gondorians with spears 4 Gondorians with Bows Warband 2: Aragorn, Strider w/ Anduril, armor, bow

Warband 3: 8 Dead of Dunharrow

Forces of Evil

Warband 1: Khamul the Easterling 7 Morannon 6 Morannon 1 Mordor Troll
Warband 2: The Shadow Lord
8 Morannon 7 Morannon

The brave allied forces of good lead by Boromir, Captain of Gondor. 

The host of Morder led by not one but two nazgul with Khamul
the Easterling in overall command.  

With the objectives set down and the large deployment zones established
both of the lines concentrate to the right of the old watchtower. 

The Shadowlord and his orcs arrayed themselves to bear the brunt of the
good forces assault. 

Gondorian archers take place on the hill where they might overlook both
halves of the Morder forces.

Strider takes cover near the central objective to both keep his ghostly
allies leashed to the cause and to leap into action.

Two brave Gondorians prepare to sell their lives slowing down
the flank with the Mordor Troll. 

The dead of dunharrow float to take the central objective while
Strider takes accurate shots that bounce off orcish armor.  

With Boromir anchoring the right wing the Gondorian
shieldwall crashes into the orcs with some success. 

Most fights go the way of man, with Boromir's banner
turning the tide again and again. 

As their comrades fight in the center, the soldiers on the right give
way- using successive won priorities to barely outpace the looming Troll.

A singular ghostly warrior stands guard over the desecrated banner. 

A heroic combat has Boromir cutting through the orcish line...

... and coming face to face with his opponent. Despite constant magical assault (to
mixed effect as the game went on) Boromir almost slays the creature- though
fate just barely saves it's life for now. 

The archers put a wound on the Troll and kill an Orc even as
one soldier after another is turned to paste by its massive hammer.

Even as the fight goes well for good in the center, the Orcs charge forwards...

... and realizing they need to buy time most of the archers draw swords.

All except for one who falls back to desperately hold the objective. 

Stalled by other combatants, and with dark magics
Boromir is kept from doing much at all to his opponent even
as Khamul launches himself into the fray.  

Despite this the overwhelming damage dealt by the ghostly warriors and
Strider rapidly collapses the central orcish line. 

Strider breaks off to take the objective from the trembling guard
even as the orcish force breaks. 

Boromir finally cuts down the Shadowlord as the majority of
the evil forces remaining flee.

Victory for Gondor 9 - 3!

We're sure we've gotten some rules wrong, and our armies were far from 'competitive' but it was a ton of fun! We're looking to expand our characters and armies in the future. For Gondor I'm deciding between Faramir and some rangers (or knights!) and Swan Knights while my brother is thinking about leaning into Easterlings. Hopefully we'll have more games soon!

Rangers of Shadowdeep: The Missing

The adventure begins!

Left to Right: Goliath, Podricka, Grimjohn, Honoria, Vicaver, Fang, and Echo

Through the dim light and twisted boughs of trees, dark buildings began to appear through the soft morning mist. The tall blonde bearded ranger in the lead suddenly halted, lifting a hand to signal that the rest of the silent group should stop. A soft subvocalized growl reverberated from the gigantic brown dog at his side as both of their focused upon the village.

"What is it?" whispered Vicaver, his surcoat of grey-blue cloth and gleaming steel shield at odds with his companions, eyes clearly scanning the treeline for some sign of what had spooked his companion.

Stepping past the soldier, Honoria muttered a soft prayer and touched the simple silver holy symbol of her order rest just under her heavier winter garb "It's not what he see's... it's what he doesn't. There should be movement. Voices. Livestock. There's..."

"...Nothing. " agreed the final member of the ranger band, a young hedge witch clad in the leather skins of the deer. She closed her eyes, looking within for a moment before blanching, the movement causing the dull red pseudodragon upon her shoulder to hiss and flutter is clear agitation.

"Keep quiet. We have a ranger to find." grunted Grimjohn before unshouldering his bow.

This wasn't going to go well. 

-------------------------------------------------

Scenario 1: The Missing Village

Our intrepid explorers have found themselves in a small, nameless village
deep in the woods while looking for the lost Ranger Aventine. 

The grim band of rangers surrounding the village stump (joined by Echo's
Pseudodragon Iri) as they realize they aren't quite alone!  

The twisted undead forms of the former villagers and
grotesque giant rats are here...

... and on all sides!

The first event has the large two story building collapsing, narrowly missing
a nearby undead villager. 

Echo and Iri fight off a gaggle of rats with first the ranger killing one...

...then Iri killing the next...

...before the brave pseudodragon is pulled out of the sky by it's neck!

Another rat manages to take down Goliath near the center tree just
before Podricka can save him, striking the rat down soon after.

Ranger Honoria picks the lock into one of the buildings, discovering
a clue token to reveal strange spider-like tracks all over.

Uh-oh! The dead are following her. She'll squeeze out a window
in just a moment to give the undead the slip.

The rat who killed Iri manages to overwhelm Podricka with a natural
20, before luckily succumbing to a magical bolt from a vengeful Echo.

In the T-shaped building, Grimjohn opens the door before tangling successfully
with the undead villager within. 

Using 'Blend into Shadows' Honoria allows most of the horde to head towards
the rest of her team while rushing towards the final clue token.

The Rangers with Varryn the Merchant stare down the oncoming horde...

... just in time for Echo to throw down smoke to confuse the dead and
give the rangers time to head inside, Vicaver and his loyal Fang
taking up a rearguard.

Good news? The horde turn to head to the nearest clue marker as the smoke
obscured the team's line of sight from them. Bad news? That meant they were
all coming towards Honoria!

Finding the last clue, Honoria sadly identifies the lost ranger's body by his
 beautiful sword- soon after winning the scenario.  

Post Game Results:

Found a Potion of Toughness

Goliath- Alive, but diseased
Podricka- Alive, but with Psychological Scars
Iri- Dead, torn apart by a giant rat.

-------------------------------------------------

Scenario 2: Infest Trees

Following the tracks, the party finds themselves in the deepwoods.

"This doesn't feel quite right" mutters Honoria, passing a skill test and
removing one of the spiders lying in wait.

A good thing too! The forest was crawling with them.~

The four web-covered Nest Trees. Ignore the strange warp incursion happening
right behind the edge of the 'world'.

The forest floor is covered in web cocoons holding the poor
villagers- some might be alive!

The first cocoon indeed has a survivor, the Merchant's wife
from the village.

Poor Goliath! The next cocoon held a reanimated villager
who quickly dispatched the diseased dog.

Podricka and Honoria cut down the abomination even as Grimjohn saves...
the Merchant? He must've gone back into the woods looking for his wife!

Vicaver, Fang, and Echo defeat several spiders and another
reanimated villager. 

Right before reaching the Nest Trees, Grimjohn finds himself
covered in webs for the round before breaking free!

Podricka is charged with escorting the Merchant and his wife to safety.

Just as the end of the scenario was looming, another Nest Tree (and
it's giant spider) reveals itself.

Between Grimjohn and Honoria, the last two trees are burnt down!

Threat contained for now, the entire band and the two survivors
make their way back to their base with the terrible news of Aventine's fate.

Post Game Results:

Harvested a dose of Farlight Leaf.
Found a Philtre of Fairy Dust
Saved two townsfolk.

Goliath- Alive, just knocked out.

-------------------------------------------------

Podricka heaved a great sigh as she trudged through the heavy undergrowth towards where she knew the old realm road would begin to take form within the hour. She had been overjoyed at first when in the heat of combat against those wretched eight-legged beasties she had been given the honorable task of protecting the survivors and leading them to safety.

Then?

They had started talking. Honestly, it was more that they had started bickering. Husband and wife they may be, but did they have to bicker here? Now, with the smoke of those infested tree's filling the air with that sickly sweet corruption? What she could tell, it was all Indrian's (the puffing, red-faced merchant) fault that they were even in this mess. That she told him they should have pushed on to a proper Inn. He responded by offering Podricka a handful of gold to put her back in a cocoon so he could have a moment's rest.

She would have fought a hundred spiders before being subjected to this again. Maybe even a... a rat! Maybe not. In any case, she was going to have words with Honoria when they reconvened at the campsite.

Next time SHE could watch the townsfolk...