Scenario 6: The Fall of Arnor

As the years passed by in the Third Age the strength of Arnor began to fade, be it from constant attacks, plague and a diminishing population. As Arnor worsened and fractured into three smaller kingdoms they too fell one by one. As the final holds in his domain fell Arvedui, who would be known as the last King of Arthedain, lead his remaining people away but was attacked on the way. Arvedui had two options available, hold the defensible ground and defeat the oncoming Orcs or break through the encirclement to escape into the Blue Mountains. His survival is key so that they could look to take back their lands with help from Gondor and the Elves in the future.

Forces of Good:

Arvedui, Last King of Arnor

Malbeth the Seer
Captain of Arnor

24x Warriors of Arnor
12 x Rangers of Arnor

Forces of Evil:

Shade
Orc Captain with shield
Angmar Orc Shaman
Barrow Wight
3x Dead March Spectre
24x Angmar Orc Warriors (8x Shield, 8x Spear, 4x Two Handed Weapon, 4x Orc Bow) 

2x Cave Trolls (1 Hammer, 1 Spear)

Additionally, the following rules are in play:

• Arvedui will ignore a wound on a 4+ when nearby Malbeth instead of a 5+.
• Arvedui has the fearless special rule.

The Scenario ends on either of the following victory conditions:

• The whole Evil force is slain for a forces Good victory!
• Arvedui and Malbeth are both slain for a forces of Evil victory!

*Should Arvedui escape the board the game will be a draw, however this will not be a option unless at least half of the good models are slain.

Deployment

Making use of the terrain and their resources, the forces of Arnor set up as defensively as possible, their rangers making use of the ruined watch tower to alert their fellow troops that Orcs that had followed them had started emerging from the trees in every direction. But they were not alone, Cave Trolls and Spirits had come along, likely under control or answering to the Witch-King.

The calm before the storm

Arnor held the line knowing their current position was about as good as they could get and fired into the oncoming Orc's with the hope of taking out as many as possible before any combat would ensue. The Evil forces moved up as fast as possible, wanting to pin the men of Arnor place to prevent any further escape, with a few wild Orc bow shots flying past them.

The magics of the dead Marsh Spectres struggled and only pulled a single fearful man out of place. As the two forces ended up ready to engage, a single warrior of Arnor lay slain while four Orc's and a Dead Marsh Spectre are taken out in return.

Combat begins

The forces of Good took the initiative and mainly held position, but Arvedui knowing what damage Cave Troll's could cause, attempted to lead a small rally out to pin them in place. However, after charging one of the Cave Troll's Arvedui turned to see his other warriors fail, cowering in fear of both Trolls and only the nearby Orc's were pinned in place. Malbeth meanwhile attempted to forewarn all his allies of any dangerous they were in.

Then it was the Orc's time to engage. The Dead Marsh Spectres failed to gain control of any of the men of Arnor. The Orc's planned their attack two fold, the main attack's came from the north and south sides of the ruin while the remaining Orc's moved around to group up with their Cave Troll's and Shade forcing the men of Arnor to hold defensive positions they were not longer attacking.

Arvedui steps up and takes down the Cave Troll with help from his warriors. However, on the other side of the ruin the remaining combats go poorly for the Men of Arnor, thanks to the shade limiting their ability to fight back. The men of Arnor fail to take out any Orc's and lose three of their number.

Weathering the Storm

The Arnor troops hold their lines while the Orc's engage on all fronts, now with the movement and numbers to force through. Arvedui is left fighting the remaining troll with only a single spearmen to help due to the on rushing Orc's. A desperate attempt to still hold all sides of the ruins to limit the Orc's from splitting up and trapping pockets of Arnor warriors.

After a few rounds of combat Arvedui took out the remaining troll at the cost of all his remaining might, but the Orc's alongside it were still pressing. Additionally the northern and eastern sections of the ruins had fallen, mainly thanks to the Shade that had came along, making every Arnor warrior struggle to fight.

Malbeth and Arvedui were key in keeping their troops around, forewarning them of danger and leading from the front to take out key targets and problems respectively.  

The remaining combats went more and more the Orc's way in the North and Centre now they were able to break through and the Shade started to affect more and more Arnor warrior's. As such they were killing more Arnor warriors than numbers of their own that fell each turn, but Arvedui and the troops at the south were able to clean up. Arvedui was now free to turn his attention to the Shade as the last main threat as he sley the last Orc on the southern side against him. Meanwhile the Northern side had completely fallen and Malbeth himself was vulnerable which the Orc's capitalised on by Paralyzing him.

At the end of three rounds 13 Orc's had fallen to 18 Arnor warriors with both sides slain including their respective captains. Arvedui had also taken a wound.

Stay or retreat?

Arvedui had a lot to judge, if they could still win by fighting of the remaining Orc's or if he should make a break for it now the Southern side was clear. Sticking around could cost his life and the rest of his troops but fleeing and getting caught in another ambush along was a death sentence.

He choose to stay for now and see if he could bring more of his troops along with him. The Orc's 

used the time he was stuck behind his troops to further push in as well as attach Malbeth while he was still suffering from the effects of Paralyze. The Angmar Shaman attempted to Wither Arvedui but was resisted in the attempt. The Arnor warriors were unable to push back much due to the limited space to move where combats were not already taking place.

Only a single model from each side falls after the first round of combat but Malbeth takes two wounds, managing to fate one but still remains Paralyzed and at the forefront of the attacking Orc's. A blessing however for the Arnor troops despite not knowing is the Shade is running out of its ability to influence their ability to fight.

Arvedui is able to shrug off another Wither cast and the Barrow Wight fails to paralyze him allowing the wounded King to stay in the fight. Another round of combat ensues and it goes pretty poorly for Arnor. Three of their own die including Malbeth who is finished off to take out only two Orc's. Arvedui now too far into the fight to make a decision now to retreat which may have been a mistake. But all the Angmar Spirits have nothing left to influence the battle other than their own combat attacks.

Do or Die

Arnor finally get the initiative and make full use of it. They are able to ignore the terror of the spirits and engage everything they can with the Orc's unable to move around following the charge. Arvedui takes on the Shade knowing this and the Barrow Weight are the only two remaining real threats but needs to finish them off quickly.

And the warriors of Arnor stood up to the task, 3 Orc's were killed alongside the Shade which Arvedui and his support were able to take out. Only a single ranger falling in response.

Arvedui being able to get involved after his long stint at the Southern side of the ruin allowed the remaining Orc's and Barrow Weight to get cleaned up at the further cost of only a single ranger. A very close win for the forces of Good and likely a pyrrhic for Arevdui knowing that he could be attacked again during the rest of the march away.

His remaining force consisting of less than a quarter of what he had before this engagement, but chiefly he was alive so he could look to solicit help from whoever would give it. That would only occur however. if he could fully escape Arnor and no other attacks occurred or issues arose escaping by land or sea.

Review

This one felt a lot different to any scenarios I had played so far, I tried to deploy giving Arnor a defensive position they could make the most of as well as split the Orc force so they came in from each side to truly surround the Arnorians and make it a hard decision to pick where to break through.

Shooting still seems to be only moderately impactful at most but I still try to keep it as a key thing to happen where possible as it would be a tactic that armies like this and in these situations would do, albeit should probably be more effective than these dice are rolling.

I did feel this was always going to be an Angmar win every time I read the scenario and the win conditions but maybe its because I deployed so split but it really felt like a close scenario and on a knife edge most of the time as Arvedui has to do most of the work to kill the problematic models Angmar have, Trolls, Shade etc and at only two wounds this is risky but as shown this time he can do it. Not getting hit with a Paralyze also majorly helped Arvedui as I think with him down late game the Orc's would have taken it.

Hatred was a key element to this scenario that makes the Arnor warriors much more killy and Malbeth working on a 4+ instead makes the defence six line very very tough. This is a scenario I would like to do again without any real changes, maybe how I deploy and try it from the other side.

Good take the win albeit having Malbeth slain (wounded should we get an Arnor expansion as I'll come back and do them) but Arvedui will still succumb to his fate as the Last King by the ship he boards sinking.

Next up we shall be going to Khazad Dum where King Durin and his Dwarves may have delved too greedily and to deep, gaining the notice of a creature of legend.