Hey y'all,

With Battle Hosts coming out, I wanted to get back into War of the Ring.  So I to walking  a friend through a practice game of WotR. I'm kicking myself we didn't take photos as we had some sticky issues that I could have illustrated here. Next time.

For this game I created two similar lists just to get through the basics and for him to get the feel of the game:

Mordor (yours truly)
Gothmog
Morannon Orcs w/shields x 4 co's, Banner, Chieftain, TM
Mordor Orcs w/shields x 5 co's, Banner, Chief, TM
Mordor Orcs 2HW x 5 co's, Banner, Chief, TM
Troll
Trackers x 3 co's
Grishnakh's Trackers x 3 co's
Haradrim Raiders x 4 co's, Banner, Chief, bows
Morgul Knights x 4 co's, Banner, Chief
(Over the legal limit for allies, but it's a practice game. No big.)

Gondor (my friend)
Boromir
Osgiliath Veterans x 4 co's, Banner, Capt
WoMT x 3 co's, Banner, Capt
Men at Arms of DA x 3 co's, Banner, Capt
WoMT Archers x 3 co's
Rangers x 3 co's, Capt
Swan Knights x 3 co's, Banner, Capt
Knight of MT x 4 co's Banner, Capt
Avenger Bolt Thrower

We were playing on my friend's awesome 6'x8' table made of GW Realm of Battle tiles with the hills off to the table edges and a small GW hill in the center as the "High Ground" objective. (We could have easily gone to 2,000 or even 3,000.

Viewed from the Mordor side, the battlefield looked like this from right flank to left flank:
Hill with a bldg (capacity 3) / 5" gap / big forest (capacity 4) / 12" gap / small hill (objective) / 12" gap / blg (3 capacity) & fenced cornfield (capacity 4 defense +1) / 8" gap / hill on table edge.

It's important to note that the building and corn field on Mordor's right flank were side by side, rather the cornfield was on the north (closer to Gondor's side) and the building immediately (3") south of it (on Mordor's side of the centerline)

Roll off, and Mordor deployed first:
Morannon orcs with Gothmog in the center aligned with the objective, the Mordor orcs on either side, all 3 companies wide and the troll just behind the Morannon orcs.
Haradrim Raiders with bows on the left flank in line with the big forrest, Morgul Knights on the right flank, aligned with the building to shield from anticipated missile fire.
Trackers and Grishnakh's trackers held in ambush – trackers in big forest on the right flank, Grishnakh in the cornfield.

Gondor deployed, seen from Mordor's (my) side:

Boromir and the Osgiliath Veterans middle of the table, in line with the objective, Rangers on the left, MaAoDA to their right.
To the left of the Rangers, guarding Gondor's RIGHT flank, were the Knights of MT.
Moving from the center to the right, seen from Mordor's side: to the right of the Men at Arms was the Avenger Bolt Thrower, then the WoMT with Bows on a back edge hill, with WoMT in front of them. On the far right (Gondor's LEFT flank) were the Swan Knights.

Having deployed first, I took priority and moved all formations forward, at the double, but having to spend Might to make my Courage test on the Morannon orcs with Gothmog. The Haradrim Raiders moved to my far right to fill the gap between the building on the hill and the big forest that contained my trackers. On the far left, the Morgul Knights moved into the shadow of the farmhouse to hide from the Avenger. I revealed the ambushing trackers in the forest on my right and the cornfield on my left.

Gondor advanced at the double. this is where we realized that, while cool, a 6' deep table is problematic for the Avenger Bolt thrower that was posted too far back to have a shot at anything. I let him deploy it forward as he didn't realize it's not like a RBT in WFB with a 48" range.

In the shooting phase, my Haradrim and Trackers on the right took out a company of WoMT. His Rangers and Veterans each spend Might to Heroic Shoot and killed 11 Trackers, forcing them to fall back out of the forest. Grishnakh's Trackers eliminated the Avenger bolt thrower before it fired a single shot.

The only charge was the Knights of MT got off a long charge on the Haradrim Raiders rolling a 6! That was the only combat resulting in 2 lost companies and disorder for the Serpent Banner. Combined with the Trackers almost cut in half and driven from the forest next to the cavalry, my left flank was looking wobbly.

2nd Turn and Gondor gets priority, and advances at full tilt. From my right to left:
The Swan Knights move down the right table edge, finishing along side the cornfield with Grishnakh's boys, in range to charge the Morgul Knights.
WoMT move up to get within a long charge range of the cornfield.
The WoMT with bows that repositioned last turn waited patiently to shoot.
The Men at Arms moved up towards the objective in line with the Osigiliath Veterans and the Rangers. The Knights on my far right just wait to bring more pain to the Haradrim.

Mordor's center moves forward, creating a gap for the Troll between the Morannon Orcs and the Mordor orcs on their right, with the intent of getting them into combat the NEXT turn. The Morgul Knights backpedal out of charge range around the back of the farm house, knowing they can't go toe-to-toe with Swan Knights if the SK get the charge. The Haradrim don't make their Courage test and are screwed. They are so close to my left table edge, a Fall Back move would probably take them off the table. So they stay put, tying up the Knight with their anticipated sacrifice. The Trackers move back into the forest. In retrospect, I should have waited to bring the troll from behind the screen of Morannon orcs as will be made clear in the shooting phase…

Gondor's Rangers do what they do best and take another reduced company off the Trackers that just moved back into the forest, forcing them back out. (In retrospect, they were down to 3 models, less than half of the "command" company and should have been out of the game, but I just remembered that now.) The WoMT archers on the right had a choice between Grishnakh's Trackers in the cornfield (Defense 6) or the Mordor Orcs in my center/right that had presented their flank to get around the flank of the Dol Amroth pikes (Defense 3). They reduce, but do not eliminate one of its 5 companies and it stays put. Finally, under Boromir's aura of leadership, the Osigiliath Veterans spend another might point, to shoot after moving, and the Troll goes down to a lucky 6 on the Hard to Kill table. My chances of beating down those hard Veterans were starting to fade. But I paid him back in some measure when Grishnakh burned a second Might point and his lads tore 3 (out of 6) valuable Swan Knights out of their saddles. Now I had some hope in the Charge Phase…

My Mordor Orcs to the right of my Morannon in the center call a Heroic Charge to get the Dol Amroth Men at Arms in the flank. He burns a point of Might to counter with his own Heroic Charge, but loses the dice off.

Gondor still has priority everywhere else and his WoMT on my right charged the cornfield attempting to silence Grishnakh's effectivness. And the Knights on my right plunged into the hapless Hardrim.

In the following combats, the WoMT drove Grishnakh out of the cornfield, but instead of sheltering between the field and the farmhouse behind it, under Grishnakh's sneaky leadership, they exited towards the right flank, behind and facing the Swan Knights trying to come to grips with the Morgul Knights. That would force some interesting choices in the next turn.
The flanking orc mob in the center eliminated a company of fearsome Dol Amroth pikes, but they remained stalwart on a Panic roll of 6.
Despite every advantage, the Knights of MT on Mordor's right couldn't land a blow on the disordered Haradrim who regained a chance to get back in the fight.

Turn 3, Mordor won priority!! , but Boromir burned 3 Might points to seize the initiative in this critical turn…

The Veterans with the Rangers at their sides move to safe charge distance of the Morannon and Mordor orcs respectively. Boromir calls an Epic Challenge, preventing the Morannon Orcs from sliding past them to get at the tender flanks of the Dol Amroth Pikes that have pulled back to refuse their other flank to the other formation of Mordor orcs that had just mauled them. It was a very good move as I could only move towards Boromir's unit. ( I should have moved Gothmog to the formation grinding the Dol Amoth Pikes. A successful Heroic duel against the Captain, and his added Fight value in the combat could have taken another company.)
Mordor moves the 3-orc company of Trackers back into the forest. (Inconsequential as they should have been removed and couldn't shoot any way due to the move.) And the Courage 3 Haradrim don't have enough Might points to improve their failed Courage test and remain disordered.
On the other flank, the WoMT that drove Grishnakh out of the cornfield slide to flank to line up a rear charge on the Trackers now facing the Swan Knights. (I had assumed they were going go towards the center of the battle towards the rear of the Mordor Orcs battering the Dol Amroth pikemen. The Swan Knights gave up chasing the Morgul Knights, executing an about face to exact revenge on Grishnakh who's 2 companies were now sandwiched between 3 companies of WoMT in their rear and a company and a half of Swan Knights in their front.

Now here's comes the sticky part mentioned in my opening…

The Rangers in front of the Mordor Orcs who had pushed out ahead of Gothmog's Morannon Orcs on his right, gave them a face full of arrows, removing a company and pushing them back to where their line was half a movement tray ahead of the Morannon formation's battle line. At this point, I recall that Gothmog could use Boromir's Epic Challenge and, while a bit out of sequence, I exercise that option on the Rangers, preventing them from moving up towards the Mordor Orcs and compelling a charge on ONLY Gothmog's formation, soon to be charged first by Boromir's Veterans.When they charge, they expand to 3 companies and align with Gothmog's 3 front companies. When I tell my friend his Rangers can only charge Gothmog's unit, he asks to pull back one of Boromir's companies to make a one-company space for the Ranger's charging "spearhead", who roll high enough to make that charge. NOW, because the Mordor Orcs adjacent to the Morannon Orc's right flank are 1/2 inch in front, the next Ranger company cannot form a line to get corner-to-corner contact with Gothmog's unit. So they must form into a column of 3 companies behind the spearhead company. HOWEVER, the Ranger company farthest out in the line does not have enough movement to make it to the end of the column. (Even at double movement 12") So they can't make the charge AND cannot charge the other formation in front of them (Mordor Orcs) because of the Epic Challenge.

That's interesting/unusual in itself, but here's where it gets kinda wacky in terms of RAW vs. "spirit of the game"…

Because those Mordor Orcs are not being charged by the Rangers in their front, AND because Boromir's formation is in its charge arc, they're free to charge in, effectively turning their 4 company line formation into a column now facing to their left, with a long exposed flank 2" – 3" in front of the Rangers who just have to sit there until next turn, in which the Mordor Orcs will presumably be able "left face" back into line formation to face renewed threat from the Rangers.

While legal (although I'm open to someone pointing out that I overlooked some rule) it felt "gamey" similar to what often annoys me in WFB.

So, to finish up here…

The Mordor Orcs on the other side that had pushed back the pikemen, charged into Boromir's other flank with one company and the rest were extended in line to receive Dol Amroth's counter charge.

Boromir declare's an Epic Duel, Gothmog echoes it, Boromir wins the dice off, and get's +1 for declaring AND +1 for better Fight Value. He wins the duel by 2, rolls a 6 on the duel table and then proceeds to "Rampage" through both Gothmog and his unit. Now here's where we ran into the classic issue of Epic Strike AND Boromir's Mighty Blow.

I told my friend that the practical wisdom of these boards and suggested we exclude other Epic Actions from the duel, but Boromir's special rule applies. Even that was a superseded by my friend's Rampage in which he rolled a 5 for hits on D3 against Gothmog – SPLAT – and a 6 for another D3 hits against the formation. I think the subsequent combats on either flank resulted in a slightly higher kill total for Mordor, but we were running out of steam and I didn't track that way. So, the Morannon Orcs failed a Courage test after Panic and fell back in disorder.

The tide was running out for Mordor so we agreed to clean up and get our small kids to bed.

It was awkward at the start because it had been so long since I'd played, but it fired us both up to get another game on soon. Next time I'll take pictures or find one of those programs to map the battle.

I'm hoping those of you with WotR armies can be persuaded to try some games here in the near future.

Hey Adan,

You're not far off. I had that thought after the game.

So would you be up for trying to get it going again?

We still have that game we never quite managed to schedule.

Wade