Refighting Amon Hen - SBH

Hi,

House move is on the go so Im not up to much at the moment. We'll be in Limbo for a few months (House purchased stopped after building report) so not much will get done. Hopefully new home )once found) will have suitable gaming area\space for me to not be like a gaming hobo and have to put away stuff at night.

Please note
i) Real Estate agents are usually lying bastards
ii) West Ham are still shit. Every year its the same - Relegation from the Premier league.
iii) There is only so much chocolate I should eat at xmas.
iv) Another relative has passed away in the UK - Getting itchy feet to go back.

A while back I did a 15mm refight of  (Balin Tomb) using Song of Blades and Heroes and it basically devolved into a mickey take  of Lord of the Rings movies.

**SPOILER ALERT**  The report below is a complete non event so don't read below unless your bored.

As I have now had my "Hobbit fix" I shall complete a few comedy re-fights of parts of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit 1 & 2 movies for the laughs.


Amon Hen is a scene in the movie where Frodo decides the Fellowship is cutting his style and that Sam is going a bit "Brokeback Mountain". Aragorn gets a bit emotional but then they are attacked by Orcs and a big fight is viewed.

The movies has the following fight - Aragorn is up against 30+ Uruk Hai.

So I thought I do the same - Aragorn (Ral partha) vs a load of Orcs. (15mm.co.uk). 30 or so Orcs all in a line waiting to get a piece of the actions. All yelling "FIND THE HALFLINGS" with a great gnashing of teeth and stomping of feet.

Unfortunately in the first game the Orcs activate in large droves and swamp Aragorn. A little like the movie I guess as he did charge into them.

 However more orcs activate and it is starting to get a little dicey (The orcs can just reach Aragorn but don't have the ap to fight him) and he soon has three in-front. 3 quickly turns into 5........I can just see Aragorn trying to get Peter Jacksons attention to yell cut.

 Oh Dear. Aragorn activates and attempts to fight - He rolls a 1, the orc rolls a 6. As Aragorn is surrounded by 4 other combatants he gets a -4 a total result of Aragorn 1 Orcs 10. The result is the orcs at least treble his score which in SBH means a gruesome kill (Envisage Aragorn basically getting butchered in little bits). Its one thing about the Tolkien movies, the horrible beheadings and deaths are only shown for Orcs - the are so discriminated against so I guess some Justice for orks has occurred.

Peter Jackson is not happy.

So I roll back to when Aragorn (The joys of directing) is attacked and I decide to make him flee. That was the rest of the game - he simply legs it away from groups of Orcs, Gimli (AND MY AXE) ad the walking Pantene advert Legolas arrive but don't do anything apart from pop a sole orc who is brave enough to have a crack.

 As I rather brassed off now I decide to call it a day

 

Next on my list:

Boromir's last stand

Dwarves v Trolls

Dwarves v Wargs

Dwarves v Goblin City etc etc.

In other news I have been busy painting some WSS figures and have finished my figure for Colonel Barry Taylor, who will lead the fictitious Spanish Foreign unit "Herzogtum von Rechburg" for my Spanish "Amansa" army. I loved painting this front rank figure but am entirely annoyed at the varnish I used as it seems pretty crappy. There is something about a painted 28mm figure that is so appealing, I added some standards to some test figures and they look great so maybe I'll try to get some more done.

I won't mention the 6mm Sudan and Zulu armies I also finished :)

Cheers

Balin's Tomb

Hi,

I thought I'd use Song of Blades for a refight of Balin's Tomb in 15mm. Balins tomb is simply an A4 piece of grey card surrounded by some walls and at one end a gate. I'll spare you the deeper Brokeback Mountain moments that the LoTR movies portrayed between Frodo and Samwise and I'll just focus on the action.

"you fool of a took !" Bellows Gandalf !
The game starts with the fellowship trapped in the Tomb, the heroes at the front and the halflings cowering at the back squeeking like church mice. 12 Goblins start in the tomb, with 2 d6 arriving every 4 activations, and then on the 12th activation Mr Troll arrives. If the Fellowship kill the troll the Goblins run for it scared silly. Easy ?

It begins.....

Boromir (With the large Red Plume) and Gandalf stand at the front giving all sorts of slicing and dicing to the Goblins launching through the door. They stood there for several activations beating all sorts of hell out of any Goblin that came close enough. Feeling left out Aragorn (Bottom left) advances while Gimli (Skyblue) charges in shouting "AND MY AXE". Legolas of course is looking pretty yelling "AND MY BOW" shooting arrows at.......nothing as he keeps missing.

Activation 4 sees a horde of Goblins arrive and Gandalf and Boromir can't stem them all. A few lone Goblins break the line and try to run down Gimli who knocks both down with his axe with ease. Obviously he is feeling a little peeved at Goblins killing Balin, so he gets a little worked up about it all and procedes like a kitchen whizz through the Goblins.

The Goblins, seeing that horrible little dwarf killing like its going out of fashion decide to rush Aragorn and Gimli and surround them, while a brave little Goblin (Bottom left) runs forward to get Merry ready for lunch. Things seemed to be going really easy for the Fellowship........

 Oh dear - Aragorn falls in battle knocked to the ground by vicious Goblins, Gandalf runs back to assist but it is too late. Aragorns falls to the floor bloodied and beaten, the gloating Goblins continue on to try and take down the dwarf. Legolas does his hair, and then shoots off a few more arrows somewhere pointless. The combat seems to see-saw for some time now - Goblins arrive and die rather quickly but in the hallway a big orrible troll is coming this way. Activation 12 is almost here......

 In walks the troll with another horde of Goblins, and they are feeling pretty good now they have a big lad with them. Well he (The figure) isn't that big but then again he is stooped somewhat low. Big and touchy though and he wants to stomp some humans.  Boromir, Gandalf and Gimli get ready for the onslaught, Legolas eyes everyone up intently and then whispers some Elvish gibberish.

 The troll activates and charges forward, whilst the Goblins have a great turn and surge forward in a large wave. Gimli kills 3, while Boromir begins an epic fight with the Troll. Gandalf assists Boromir while with a timid cry "For the Shire" the hobbits charge forward, Frodo leading the way (In his elegant Green cape) past the useless Legolas who is prancing around looking flash.

 Gimli however doesnt get much help, he doesnt need it - this is his meat and potato's ! Legolas continues to miss everything that moves and just as he decides to draw his sword and help, valiant Gimli takes a blow to the head and falls in battle under a mass of Goblins.

  More Goblins surge forward, the Troll knocks Boromir over and then hits Merry like a tennis ball across the tomb. Things are starting to look pretty bad for the Fellowship - 3 down and Goblins are everywhere. Boromir regains his feet and then he and the  Troll slug it out like Rocky Balboa and Dolph Lungren while the Goblins keep trying their luck.

 The final blow below ! Samwise sneaks up behind Legolas and ruffles his hair, Legolas loses the plot and starts shooting Goblins like some form of chain gun whilst Boromir cripples the Troll and Gandalf steals the kill .

At the sight of their might champion falling the Goblins run for it and the fellowship count the cost. Its turns out to be pretty good as I roll on the Personality Injury table. Aragorn is found under a pile of Goblin corpses alive but with a head injury (Next encounter he rolled the Fearless attribute due to his head shakeup). Gimli has a nasty wound that will reduce his potential for a while (- 1 Quality) , while Merry is perfectly fine as he survived the Troll treating him like a golf ball.

The rules were fun though if you get a good run of activation you can kick the enemies ass. 24 Goblins and 1 Troll fell in battle to the 3 goodies. I didn't like my solo mechanic for activating the Goblins *Roll a d6 to determine how many activation dice to roll* so I changed it half way through and it seemed to improve things a little. The troll was tough, hard to activate but tough and he lasted a long time until 3 of the Fellowship (Boromir, Gandalf and Pippin) tag teamed him.Like the movie the Fellowship make it through a little bloodied and the Goblins die like the good movie extra's they are. Legolas sat there for 80% of the game while the Hobbits knocked off a few Goblins but without the heroes of Middle earth there it would have been Hobbit pie for tea at Mrs Miggins Goblin Pie shop.

I'm half tempted to try the Bridge at Helms Deep now where (Movie) Aragorn and Gimli (Book) Aragorn and Eomer (I think) jump on the bridge and stem the tide of assaulters. But I will try this again with Warrior Heroes once I get the OOB sorted out.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.