Scenario 3: The Gathering Evil

Following the construction of Dol Guldur the Greenwood gradually became more and more corrupted and dark. The creatures that dwelt there grew bolder attacking anyone who would wander the pathways the Elves had set up. Eventually, this grew frequent enough that Thranduil issue an order to his rangers to investigate the cause.

Forces of Good:

Mirkwood Ranger Captain
10x Mirkwood Rangers

Forces of Evil:

The Necromancer of Dol Guldur

12x Mordor Orc Warriors (4x Shield, 4x Spear, 2x Two Handed Weapon, 2x Bow) 

Additionally. the following rules are in play:

• The Necromancer starts the game with only 12 points of Will.
• Good model's can only see and shoot within 6" of themselves.

The scenario ends on either of the following victory conditions:

• Five Mirkwood elves escape the northern board edge for a forces of Good victory! (Increased by one from evil winning last scenario)
• All of the Elves have been slain for an Evil victory!
• If one to four Elves escape the board it is a draw!

Deployment

The Elves continuing to investigate the disturbance in the woods end up in the Necromancer's domain. The darkness limits their vision and they struggle to see further out than their own group. The Necromancer and his Orcs though can fully see the Elves and are ready to jump.

Turn 1:

The Elves advanced up keeping wary but as of yet were unable to notice anything out of the ordinary. The Orc's able to see this moved up as quickly as possible but the woods hampered their progress. The Necromancer eliminated an Elf with his chill soul magic and the Orc archers opened fire but missed their shots.

Turn 2:

The Elves moved first and shored themselves up ready to fire back at whatever was attacking them. The Orc's again rushed their enemy but left themselves vulnerable. The Necromancer seeing this compelled out a Ranger to engage some Orc's, knowing they won't risk hitting their friends.

The Elves opened fire at their remaining targets and utterly struggled to cause any damage, killing only a single Orc warrior. Needing fives to wound proved to difficult of a task or perhaps the Necromancers presence heavily put them off. With combat starting the single ranger facing four Orc's lost and was cut down, thanks to the magic of the Necromancer being unable to show their knife skills.

Turn 3:

Evil took the first move this time and the Orc's got stuck in as much as possible. The Necromancer seeing the captain as the biggest threat attempted to compel him in but was unsuccessful. The Elves re-engaged where they could and were ready to fight it out.

The combats go by one at a time, the Orc's scored a single kill while the Elves slew three Orc's in return. Depending on how the next few rounds of combat went the Necromancer and his Orc's could be in trouble.

Turn 4:

The Orc's got the jump to go first again and engaged all but two of the Elves, with the Necromancer taking out one of those remaining with a chill soul cast. The remaining Elf engaged on the right flank to try and stabilise the amount of fights his friends were outnumbered in.

Both the Mirkwood Ranger Captain and The Necromancer called heroic combats. The Necromancer saw this and the chance to be rid of him while the Captain saw this as a chance to assist his Elf comrades and prepare to take on the Necromancer next turn. The roll went to the Necromancer and him and his Orc's killed the Elf and moved on to trap the Captain. The Captain fighting three opponents goes up to four attacks but the Orc's covered for the Necromancer and won the fight for him. Following the attacks made the captain fell to the Necromancer who spent a second might point to get both wounds through. At the end of the combat another Elf lay slain alongside two Orc warriors.

Turn 5:

Good moved first this turn and engaged the Orc's and Necromancer while one of their number made a break to try and escape seeing the battle as less important than warning their King of what lay beyond their domain. The Elves as masters of fighting when outnumbered all engaged multiple opponents other than the brave Elf who engaged the Necromancer. The Elves killed two Orc's this round while the only Elf that falls is that who took on the Necromancer.

Turn 6:

The Elves moved first again, one brave soul again engaging the Necromancer to allow of his escaping friend to get further away. The fights this turn lead to no further kills, even the Necromancer failed to wound the Elf. A win in the eyes of the Elves as they had brought more time to relay news.

Turn 7:

The Elves moved first but only one was able to pass their courage test to engage the Necromancer. Locking down the Necromancer for another turn all but allowed their fleeing comrade to escape. The remaining fights occur. one Elf falls but the Elf fighting the Necromancer and some Orc's does 2 wounds to the Necromancer, He pulled through but down to only two Will is close to being unable to maintain his form.

Turn 8:

The fleeing Elf finally escaped the board bringing news of what he saw. The Necromancer is charged again by the same Elf who previously wounded him but with only two of their number left they got mobbed by all the remaining Orc's and fall. 

Thanks to a single Elf escaping the scenario ends in a draw. The Necromancer on only a single Will point and angry that one Elf escaped to relay news, ordered the march back to Dol Guldur ready to shore up against any further threats that will come their way knowing some information will spread.

Review:

A pretty good scenario and another one you can knock out in around 30 - 45 minutes due to the number of models. The range limitation on the Elves prevents the Orcs from getting shot of the board as they only really get one round of shooting, even if this time the Elves scored only one wound.

The Knife Fighters rule on all the Mirkwood Rangers makes the fights for the Orc's difficult as if you ever outnumber without spearmen there will be equal attacks on both side. The Necromancer also isn't as durable as you would like as he has a lot he needs to do between combat and magic.

I think this Scenario is typically going to end in a draw as just one Elf will need to escape to do so. However, I can see both sides winning depending on how the first few rounds of combat go. As we played it though unless you spread out the Elves from the start you will engage most at the same time. I also don't think the Elves should try and make that decision until they see what they are fighting as with the design of only 6" of vision they shouldn't have anything to report until the attacks start.

The next Scenario in order will be Corruption of the Greenwood where Mirkwood Rangers will be sent to deal with the spreading of foul creatures in the woods and will need to stop them corrupting  key locations. With this Scenario ending a draw we will get the standard victory conditions for the next one.