Turn 4 – Good priority. The fierce fighting continued around the doorway corridor, as more goblins joined the fray. Boromir, Aragorn and Gimli all tackled two goblins each, and Sam charged the goblin approaching the hobbits. The flurry of combats seemed too much for even the keen eyes of Legolas, as all his three arrows missed their targets. The goblin on the southern balcony returned fire, and although his arrow did hit the elf, it wasn’t enough to pierce his protecting leather. Aragorn mightily won his heroic duel, but the goblins were quick to duck and Andúril swung mere air. Suddenly, the sound of the Horn of Gondor blasted in the chamber, and the might of the son of Denethor slayed a confounded goblin. On the other side of the chamber, Sam knocked the attacking goblin down with his frying pan. Looking pleased, he said: “I think I’m getting the hang of this.”
Turn 5 – Good priority. Both sides kept on fighting, with most heroes dueling two goblins. Legolas shot one of the two goblin archers perching on the southern gallery through the throat. More goblins went down – Boromir killed one, two were felled by Gimli’s axes, two were cloven in two by Glamdring, and after a mighty victory of Aragorn, Andúril dispatched another two.
Turn 6 – Good priority. Taking an advantage of the lull in battle, Gandalf moved to the doorway corridor. The wizard attempted to remove the remaining goblin from the southern gallery with his sorcerous blast, but the spell failed. Only a few goblins remained in the chamber; Boromir and Gimli tied one in combat, and Aragorn another – as another six entered through the western door and joined the fighting. Legolas attempted to drop the gallery archer, but his arrow bounced from the goblin armor. The archer returned fire and attempted to unsuccessfully shoot at Frodo on the opposite side of the chamber. Only Gimli managed to kill a goblin.
Turn 7 – Good priority. Realizing the danger of the goblin arrows, Frodo retreated behind the wall under the northern balcony. Aragorn won his heroic duel against a goblin; Andúril came down upon his helm, and the goblin fell with cloven head. Aragorn rushed immediately to help Gimli duel two evil warriors. Together, the two hewed the goblins down. Nearby, Boromir engaged a goblin with a spear supporter. With a thrust of his shield, the goblin turned Boromir’s sword and bore him backwards, causing a wound. Closer to the door, Gandalf also lost his fight and was wounded. The Fellowship heroes were getting weary, but the goblin horde seemed endless…
Turn 8 – Good priority. Sneaking past fighting heroes, three new goblin archers rushed towards the southern side of the chamber – just as an elven arrow finally killed the troublesome goblin perched atop the southern gallery. Their plans were negated as Boromir and Gandalf managed to slay a goblin each, but Aragorn lost his balance and two goblins overpowered him, causing one wound – and only fate saved him from getting a fatal second wound.
Turn 9 – Good priority. The combatants kept exchanging blows in the narrow entry corridor – the goblins pressed particularly hard on the wounded Aragorn, but Legolas’ arrow killed one of the three goblins trying to break the line of Isildur. This time the Fellowship was victorious all around – Aragorn trapped the two remaining combatants and ended their existence. Boromir slayed one, and, although his two enemies were trapped, Gimli only killed one… but the one left standing was now the only goblin alive.
Turn 10 – Evil priority. Suddenly, a roar echoed in the chamber, originating from the southeastern corner, and uttered by a new, monstrous entrant. “They have a cave troll”, shouted Boromir, as he and Gimli mounted a defense against the final, charging goblin. Legolas turned towards the oncoming troll, and fired three arrows in rapid succession – two arrows found their mark, but failed to penetrate the thick skin of the beast. Gandalf’s sorcerous blast spell failed, so the wizard took a stronger grip at the hilt of Glamdring as he and Aragorn rushed towards the troll. Boromir hewed down the last goblin, and the entire Fellowship now turned the attention towards this new devilry.
Turn 11 – Good priority. Aragorn shouted “at the double” to give Gimli and Boromir a chance to catch up. The troll kept lumbering closer, unbothered by elven arrows. Gandalf tried frantically to cast the sorcerous blast, but to no avail – except for irritating the troll enough for it to turn towards the wizard, who barely managed to dodge the flailing chain wielded by the beast. In the ensuing combat, Gandalf was not so lucky and he was wounded by the troll spear.
Turn 12 – Evil priority. The troll charged Aragorn and Gandalf, and Boromir and Gimli immediately joined the fight. From the distance, Legolas shot an accurate arrow, but as before, the troll was unharmed. However, the beast could not withstand the combined attack of the four heroes, and Aragorn swiftly cut the troll’s head off. As the echoes of the thump from the falling body died down, the Chamber of Mazarbul was quiet once more – even the drums in the deep seemed silent for now. Then, out from beyond the western doorway, distant goblin screeches were heard again. Pointing towards the hole in the wall beyond the dead troll, Gandalf shouted “To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!”
Conclusion
Thus ended the eleventh scenario in our campaign, with all the members of the Fellowship still alive – albeit starting to be a bit battle-weary. For this scenario, the following scenario rules were applied (again, thanks to rok100 for development & play-testing):
1) The evil forces consisted of the troll, goblin captain, and 35 regular goblins with various armaments (we used about an even number of sword+shield, bow, and spear-armed models). The evil force is considered broken only when the cave troll is killed.
2) Goblins get automatically priority in the first turn, depicting the onslaught of goblins. The good heroes can only defend themselves, and cannot do heroic actions in the first turn. In addition, the good side models count as having no control zones. The good side may act normally from turn 2 onwards. In the first turn the evil seizes priority from the good side, goblins may also enter through the hole in the eastern wall of the Chamber.
3) The cave troll enters the board on the turn the evil player wins priority with a number equal to or less than the turn number. D6 is rolled to determine whether the troll enters from the western doorway (1-3) or the eastern hole (4-6).
4) Drums in the deep: the whole board counts as being in the range of Goblin drums throughout the scenario.
As you can see, the good side held priority for an amazing 8 turns in a row, resulting in the eastern hole being available as an entry point only from turn nine onwards, by which time the evil player had already given up on getting priority, and had placed all the goblins on the board through the normal doorway. Similarly, the troll could not enter until turn 9, so it ended up being the only one appearing through the eastern hole (and had practically no support from goblins, as the last one was wiped out before the troll entered any combat). Nevertheless, the combat was intense, and although every good model stayed alive, many wounds were accrued. Post-game, Aragorn gained back a wound and a fate point, Gandalf healed one wound, and Gimli also un-wounded himself. Oh, and inspired by a discussion about Gandalf’s attacks in the One Ring forum, we decided to grant the wizard some experience points, and gave him another attack so that he wouldn’t be a mere conjurer of cheap tricks. Next, after a summer break, there is a new devilry that the Fellowship must face before they can exit the mines of Moria… stay tuned.
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But even if thing go awry , it can also always be explained away as, 'he was only wounded'...
. Now the fellowship has to face the long dark of Moria, and we all anticipate your next scenario!
