Sunday, December 19, 2004

 

"...True Meaning of Haste" report

Today I gave my Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game scenario a solitaire run. It was a test of my scenario design, as well as my knowledge of the rules. I'm happy to say that the scenario seems basically sound and balanced. It'll definitely eat up the necessary 6-8 hours required to satisfy the convention. With one solo test under my belt, I was able to fill in the details of the victory conditions I had been rather fuzzy about. Afterwards, I wrote down the complete scenario for the first time.

Here's the scenario as it stands now:

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Dundracon 2005 Scenario -- "?The True Meaning of Haste"

Description
As Aragorn and Theoden lead the Rohirrim to the refuge of Helms Deep, Gandalf the White rides the other direction. Knowing that Helms Deep will not stand without aid, he searches for the exiled Eomer and his legions of cavalry.

In his tower of Orthanc, Saruman watches these developments with his seeing stone. He sends a force of Uruk-Hai and Wargs to ensure that Gandalf and Eomer do not meet. With the aid of a sorcerous fog, the White Hand traps Eomer in a valley. As the fog lifts, the Rohirrim realize they have been ambushed! The Rohirrim must survive until Gandalf arrives, and escape to give aid to Helms Deep.

Participants
On the Good side are Gandalf the White, mounted on Shadowfax; Eomer, horsed with shield and spear; 18 Riders of Rohan, and 20 Warriors of Rohan.

On the Evil side are one Uruk-Hai Captain with shield, one Warg Rider Captain (identical to Sharku, except for his name), 4 Warg Riders, 2 Uruk-Hai Berserks, and 45 Uruk-Hai Warriors (equal numbers equipped with sword & shield, bow or crossbow, and pike).

Points Match
If you don't want to use the forces above, you can substitute appropriate forces totalling 675 points per side. Approximately one-third of the Good side's points must go to a hero, or a hero and other forces that begin the game off of the board. No more than one-third of the forces may be equipped with ranged weapons.

Layout
This match is fought on a 4 foot by 6 foot board representing a broad valley In the center of the board, place a pond, a large rock, or similar piece of shelter. The two long edges of the board are considered impassible escarpments or other barriers. Most of the battlefield should be clear, representing the plains of northern Rohan.

Starting Positions
The Good side deploys their forces first. All models must begin within 6" of the central pond.

The Evil side then deploys their forces with 12" of either of the short edges of the board.

Objectives
The Good side wins the scenario if Gandalf and at least half of the Rohirrim escape off of one of the two short edges of the board. No Good unit may escape until Gandalf enters play. All Good units must escape off of the same end of the board.

The Evil side wins if Gandalf is slain, or if Eomer and at least half of the Rohirrim are slain.

Any other result is considered a draw.

Special Rules
"A Wizard is never late?" Gandalf begins play off the board. He is riding as fast as he can to rescue Eomer. At the beginning of each turn's Move phase (including the first turn), the Good player rolls a die. Add each turn's roll to the sum of the previous rolls. When the total reaches or exceeds 14, Gandalf arrives. (Gandalf may use his Might points to add to these die rolls.) To determine which board edge Gandalf enters from, roll another die:

1-2 "West" short edge
3 "North" long edge
4-5 "East" short edge
6 "South" long edge

Gandalf may not enter within 6" of any corner of the board; otherwise, the Good player may place Gandalf wherever he likes on the board edge determined by the die roll.

Ambush. Because of the surprise achieved by the Evil side, they get priority on the first turn.

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Today's test ended with a draw, pretty much. Gandalf didn't arrive until Turn 5 (he should arrive on Turn 4, with average rolls), and the Evil side won priority 7 turns out of 9. When Gandalf did arrive, he came in the opposite end of the board as the rest of the Rohirrim! So the wizard had to burn his Might points very quickly, making heroic moves and fending off waves of Uruk-Hai. Eomer, Gandalf and a small number of Rohirrim escaped.

I believe that if the Good side delays engaging the Uruk-Hai as long as possible, and then throws their entire force in one direction after Gandalf arrives, they should be able to win through. If Gandalf is late in arriving, the Rohirrim will be in deep trouble. The Uruks want to close with the Rohirrim as soon as possible to pin them down.

The main problem I had today was that my table is only 30" x 72". So it's only 2/3 as wide as it should be for this scenario. A wider board might make life easier for the Rohirrim.

The next step is a full dress rehearsal, probably. I'll invite some friends over and have them try it out, and we'll get a bigger table to work with. I'll make sure to take photos of that one. I'd love to do that within the next two weeks so there's still time for a second dress rehearsal before the convention.

Jefferson 2:57 PM

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