Saturday, October 17, 2020

Middle Earth Battles: Battle Report (Playtest)

Ran the first playtest of my new Middle Earth Battles rules today.  Dan Kerrick and Roy Scaife joined me for the action.  Turned out to be fairly hot outside so I didn't open up the garage door - which meant it was a little darker for taking pictures.


The purpose of this game was to get a lot of different/mixed units on the table to see how most of the different unit types and heroes influenced and interacted with the game system.

For the "bad guys" I had Uruk-hai Assault Ballistas, Uruk-hai Phalanx (pikes), Morannon Orcs, Isengard and Mordor Trolls, Wild Wargs, 2 x Warg Riders (with Sharku in one of the units), and 3 x War Mûmaks.

The good guys had Haldir's Elves, 2 x Oathsworn Bowmen, Oathsworn Warriors, Riders of Rohan Éoreds (2 with no heroes, and three with - Eomer, Erkenbrand and Elfhelm), and a Royal Guard Éored (with Théoden, Gamling and Déorwine).

There was a good mix of small (2 bases), standard (4 bases), large (6 bases) and very large (8 bases) units.  I essentially put out everything I managed to get based so far - which heavily favored the good side.

The game actually went very well.  I kept the table very basic. It is a melee/close combat heavy system as it should be - with a special new phase I added called the Impact Phase.  The impact phase represents the favor of charging troops into melee - with the initial impact of the charge being the damage done by say cavalry horses crashing into a unit, infantry bracing for the impact, the inertia/physical momentum of the charge.  This essentially has charging units deal hits before the actual melee is fought.

I have several notes and some clean up to do but will be posting the rules for anyone who is interested very soon (on the blog).  I'm VERY happy with the look and functionality of the clear basing here - it really makes the units blend into the tabletop.

Until then, enjoy some pictures of the game below ... first up the "fancy" camera ... then after that the phone pictures ...























Phone pictures below ...











Lots more to come on this front.

28 comments:

  1. Awesome sight !!! great view of the battle. I have long wanted to see massive battles on lotr. I want to see your rules as soon as possible. You have a beautiful field, is it fur?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Yes, the mat is a fur mat. Making on some updates based on the play test and finishing the initial army lists then will post up the rules. Will be this week so stay tuned.

      Delete
  2. Holy smokes, Jay, that is spectacular!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brilliant. Love the miniatures and keen to give your rules a crack wick our own collection. Love the clear bases- where did you get them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Carlo! Clear bases are from Litko, 3mm clear acrylic. 75mm x 50mm for cav, 65mm x 50mm for infantry. A beta/playtest version of the rules will be posted up this week.

      Delete
  4. Epic! Spectacular pictures Jay, impressive lines of battles, artillery and oliphants!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fantastic now that is a proper LOTR battle.... brilliant.
    Cheers
    Stu

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very beautiful game!Perfectly colored miniatures!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Impressive stuff and a real spectacle !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Matt, I didn't even put out any terrain yet, just rolled out a mat and threw out some miniatures :-)

      Delete
  8. Looks great! Greaat looking figures! Makes me think to paint my Mumak!

    Best wishes,
    Jan

    ReplyDelete
  9. looks fantastic - well done that man

    ReplyDelete
  10. Absolutely epic, as a LOTR battlefield should be 😀
    Can't wait to read through your rules - and of course really looking forward to your skirmish rules *wink wink, nudge nudge* for fights in Balin's Tomb, Weathertop, Amon Hen, etc.🤣

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol, skirmish rules?! What is this skirmish thing you speak of?? :-D

      Delete
    2. You need to throw some rules to us little people who can't put three Mumak's on the tabletop lol 🤣🤣

      Delete
    3. Lol, I was holding back ... I have 5 mumaks :-) lol

      Delete
    4. *insert jaw dropping GiF here*
      Dayum son!

      Delete
  11. Impressive.... very impressive! :-)
    The clear bases work especially well with the "teddy bear fur" type table surface, I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Yes, I'm happy with the clear base results.

      Delete
  12. What a brilliant table. Magnificent figures and so impressive en-masse!
    Regards, James

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! Beautiful table and mat, spectacular figures (the most Rohan I think I've seen in a game!) and then the three Muamak *jaw drops* The clear acrylic bases are a great innovation and work well on that superb fur mat too. Congratulations on presenting a great LotR game.
    Cheers, Doc
    Doc's 'Art of War'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Doc! (That's fun to say)

      I'm really happy with the clear bases :-)

      Delete