Cob Wargaming
The Last Alliance
“One by one, the free lands of Middle-Earth fell to the power of the Ring. But there were some who resisted. A last alliance of Men and Elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the slopes of Mount Doom they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth.”
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An epic opening to an epic film! Our seventh and penultimate scenario from the Fellowship book is the Last Alliance. Even though it doesn't feature any members of the Fellowship its still a brilliant scenario. The great heroes of the Second Age head into battle with the minions of Sauron. Although curiously Sauron himself does not appear in this book or scenario. If Sauron was included then it would be a very different game because he is near impossible to kill.
Scenario
Our game was as usual lifted straight from the Fellowship book and we would be using the exact participants. However there was no way we had all the right models so we had to make quite a few substitutions but they would just be “counts as” either Orcs, Men or Elves. This Scenario is a simple one, kill as many of the enemy as possible, the only special rule is that Isildur cannot use the Ring, for obvious reasons! The two sides start with a gap of 24” between them. There are impassible rocks in both corners of the Good sides deployment zone.
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Good Force
The Alliance is big! It consists of 24 Men with spears, 24 Men with swords, 24 High Elves with two-handed swords and 24 High Elves with bows. The are led by Gil Galad, Elrond, Elendil and Isildur (but we had to use the armoured Faramir mini). That's 100 models!
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Evil Force
The Orc army is even bigger. It contains 60 Orc bowmen and 180 armed with either swords or spears, which we split to an even 90 of each. They were led by 8 Orc captains. Thats a MASSIVE 248 miniatures! Which is ridiculous when you remember that back in the day the only available Orc models came in blister packs of 3 metal minis. As you can see on our pictures we were forced to use any and every Evil models we could find!
Deployment
Good
I tried to keep deployment interesting and decided to test out a new tactic. The archers deployed in two ranks as far forward as they could so that the Orcs would be in range from the very first turn, they would then drop back slowly to get as many turns of shooting as possible. Behind them a force of warriors was ready to step up to where they were needed. A party of Elven swordsmen sat on the right flank with Elrond and Gil Galad with them ready to push forward. On the left flank a slightly bigger group of Men would do the same with the intention of surrounding the Orc force so that their main numbers would be stuck in a ball in the middle unable to fight. The heroes did not lead from the front in case the dastardly Orc archers tried anything nasty.
Evil
The enormous Orc force deployed as far forward as possible in surprisingly neat rank and file lines. The Orc bowmen were at the front to absorb incoming bow fire and also to dish it out. The captains were concentrated in roughly a central glob so they could pack an extra punch and help break through the enemy ranks. The Orcs with shields were lined up in perfect ranks with spearmen behind them to hopefully give them an advantage in combats. A pack of shield armed Orcs set up on the right flank opposite the Men to try and swoop around and get some enemies surrounded.
Objectives
Very simple objectives for both sides. Kill three quarters of the enemy. The first side to be reduced to 25% is the loser. This means that the Good side must kill 186 Orc models before they are reduced to 25 or less. The Evil side must kill 75 miniatures before they are reduced to 62 or less.
With 348 models on the board this was going to take a long time!
Turn 1
To begin with the Good side sent both of its flanks forwards. Evil chose to try and make the most of their huge force of bowmen, deciding to move up 3” with the battle lines but 6” with the Orc on the flanks. Onto the shooting phase, both sides had staked a lot on this. 24 Elven shots managed to hit an impressive 20 times but with the higher defence of the shields only killed 6 Orcs. Evil shooting was patchy as a result of their lower range. 10 Orcs could shoot at the elves and hit with 5! but failed to slay any. A further 21 Orcs shot at the men but still only hit 5 times and again could not get any kills.
Turns 2-5
The Evil forces won 3 priority rolls in a row but luckily for the Good side they lost the roll for turn 5 which is the one that really mattered. Throughout these turns the Orcs continued to advance a steady 3” at a time while the Good force moved into formation and held their ground. In turn 5 the Good side dropped back so that they were out of charge range and could get another valuable turn of shooting. The Shooting phases of these four turns combined totalled up to the following. The Good side had 94 shots, hit 60 times and killed 28 Orcs, choosing an extra turn of shooting in Turn 5 proved a great decision because they got another 12 valuable kills. The Orc shooting was predictably woeful. Over the same four turns the took 186 shots, only hit 56 times and these only killed 5, three of which were Men and two were Elves. Turn 3 was the worst example, 42 Orc archers fired at the Elven archers hitting 11 times and not scoring a single kill.
Turn 6
The Orcs got priority in the sixth turn and rushed up with pretty much everyone, they filled the gap that had been left by the retreating archers. The Orcs could not get close enough to the men on the left flank and were now within sniffing distance of the Elven flank however it was the Good side that was able to dictate the combats this turn with the Elves on the right flank charging into battle. In the shooting phase the Orc archers fired 21 shots at the line of Men in front of them and with 8 hits the successfully killed 3 of them. In LOTR the Evil side is allowed to fire arrows into combat if they are crazy enough. It turns out they were,5 Orc archers shot into the only Combat where the Elves had a 2 on 1. They scored 2 hits which were both on the Elves and managed to slay one of them to even out the combat. The Elves fired another 23 shots at the horde that was pouring through the middle, hitting 18 times and cutting down another 7 kills, which still felt like a drop in the ocean. The first turn to actually feature some combats had 7 different 1 on 1's consisting all of Elves with two-handed swords vs Orcs. The fighting ended positively for Good, they won 6 of the mini battles and chopped down another 3 Orcs, whereas the Evil side won just once but did get a kill.
Turn 7
In turn 7 Evil won priority and charged as many Elves as possible using spearmen in support, the middle group of Orcs continued to chase the Elven Archers. Curiously the Orcs facing the Men chose not to charge but instead held back and drew the Men out of line. The Good side supported wherever they could with Elves and the Men had to charge up, there seemed no point in leaving Elendil and Isildur out of the fight when they could be racking up the kills. The Elf archers continued to drop back and lure the middle section away from the fight with the intention of surrounding them. The shooting phase saw nothing happen for the Orcs but the Elven archers picked out another 6 from the mass. The Fight phase saw the heroic charge of men completely flop, even Isildur with the support of a spearman lost his combat but was too tough to kill. Overall the tide appeared to be turning for the Evil force as they won 15 of the combats slaying 7 good warriors, the Alliance only won 7 fights and killed just 3 in return.
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Turn 8
Good won a crucial priority roll, dropping the archers back and out of charge range, gaining another valuable turn of shooting in the process. Both flanks pushed up to try and split the Orcs although they were still facing a sizeable block of infantry. The Evil side continued to gang up with spears but now they revealed a sinister plan. The Orc mob that was heading for the archers suddenly split and attacked the support lines that were linking both flanks to the archers, they heavily outnumbered the defenders and ganged up on them. Sensing a weakness, the Orcs that couldn't get into a fight with the Men suddenly rushed down the middle. Shooting wise the Good side could only make 3 shots at a stray Orc but they all missed. The Orcs however fired 7 shots at Gil Galad, not bothered if they hit the spearman he was fighting, although they got 4 hits, they did no harm to either combatant. Fight phase. Elendil called a heroic combat (he can do this for free with Narsil), he butchered both Orcs that dared to oppose him, went to assist a friend and annihilated that Orc as well. Hoping that the butchery would continue the next fight had 5 Men surround a single Orc, but somehow the Orc won that fight! In this rulebook there are no Elven Blades so the High Elves have to use two-handed weapons which was proving to be a disaster. Elrond also suffers from this and despite of having a Fight Value of 9 and 3 attacks he was still needing to use a point of might to win the combat. In total the Evil horde won 20 fights and cut down another 12 warriors whereas the Good side won 13 fights and killed 11.
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Turn 9
The Evil side won priority this turn and a small splinter force led by 2 captains finally got into combat with some of the Elven Archers that had killed so many of their number. The rest of their movement phase was spent getting Orcs stuck into combat and outnumbering with spearmen. Another large group had peeled away from the flank containing the Numenoreans and were heading to push open the middle of the battlefield. In the Good sides turn the battle line looked to be bending in the middle section but there were simply not enough reinforcements. The archers ganged up on those that had assaulted them although 6 Elven bowmen formed a wedge shape to hopefully pick off any loose Orcs. In the Shooting Phase 5 Orcs shot at Gil Galad who was fighting a lone Orc but they had no effect. The 6 Elves hit with 5 shots but only killed a single spearman. In the Combat Phase Elendil successfully used Narsil to kill his opponent and jump into a different fight killing another Orc, this seemed to spur the whole left flank as the Men dominated the fighting. However, over on the other flank the High Elves continued to embarrass themselves, even Gil Galad lost his fight with the lone Orc and Elrond lost a wound. The archers surprisingly did pretty well, in fact a single bowman nearly killed an Orc Captain thanks to double hits for not being able to back away, a Might point was needed to help him pass his Fate roll. Elsewhere the other Orc Captains were causing carnage to the battered alliance. In total the Evil side won 23 combats and killed 14 where as the Good side won 21 and killed 16. If the battle held this cause then the Evil side would surely win.
Turns 10 and 11
Evil also won both of these priority rolls and really started to hammer home the numbers advantage, they were now able to isolate and surround the hero's whilst also massively out numbering the rest of the Good models. In the Good Movement Phase there were only a couple of archers left who just dived into battle to try and even some odds. At this point both sides had given up on the Shooting Phase, now it was just a brawl. A brilliant combat phase in turn 10 for the forces of Evil as all 4 of the Good heroes completely flopped. Elendil had to use a point of Might to win a combat but could not kill anything. Isildur lost a wound. Elrond posted his worst result yet as he rolled a triple one but somehow the Orcs and their captain caused no damage. Gil Galad won his combat but the rolled triple two for his to wound roll against a single Orc. The Combat Phase in turn 11 continued in much the same way, even Elendil lost his fight. There was a glimmer of hope though as Elrond finally managed to kill the Orc captain that had been causing him so much bother. Both turns combined resulted in the Good side winning 36 individual combats and slaying 21 Orcs. The Evil side however won 47 combats and cut down 27 Men and Elves. It looked to be over for the Good side.
Turn 12
Good won priority for a change but the Orc captain fighting the Elf archers called a heroic move to get himself out of trouble. The rest of the Good models attempted to fall back into pockets of resistance but it was too late, they needed priority sooner to take control of this battlefield. The Orcs still managed to swamp most models. A last ditch effort to prolong the fight saw Elendil, Isildur and Elrond all use valuable Might points to get the kill count up. For this turn the Good side won 12 combats and killed 14 which was their best ratio of the battle so far. But the Evil side won 17 combats, killing 15 which was enough (after a few re-counts!) to win the battle.
Post game
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“Victory was near. But the power of the Ring could not be undone.”
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In the end it turned out to be almost close battle, the Good side only needed to kill another 18 Orcs to win the battle. This was a great scenario to play, the sheer numbers made it look spectacular and it also provided a challenge for both players. Whilst the concept is simple it is still a tricky one for both sides to get right. The placement of the hero's on both sides is crucial. For the Good side to have come a lot closer to winning they should have stayed in the cover of the rocks, used these to protect both flanks and remained in one solid mass of infantry. Both players agreed that the only thing the Evil side could have done differently was to simply not bother trying to shoot using the Orc archers and charge them into combat straight away, like they did in the Flight to Lothlorien scenario we played previously. As usual we played this game using the rules as they were presented in the original rulebook, if we had used the newer rulebook the Orcs would have found it more difficult to win. Elrond and Gil Galad count as Terrifying and Elrond can use Natures wrath. Also in the old book the High Elves only come armed with two-handed swords meaning they can't be supported by spearmen and can only roll a maximum of a 5 to win a fight. Elrond could not properly utilise his massive Fight Value (9 in this book!) as he could never score high enough. In our battle the models that really stood out were the Elven archers and Elendil both of which kept the Good side with a firm foothold for most of the game. The models that made a big difference for the Evil side were definitely the Orc captains who smashed aside most other models with ease. But the biggest difference was being able to use spearmen effectively, rolling an extra couple of dice can make a big swing in the fortunes and vastly improve your chances of getting a kill. And with that we will leave you with the kill counts and see you again soon for our final Fellowship of the Ring scenario.
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Kill Counts
Elrond: 5
Gil Galad: 2
Elendil: 8
Isildur: 4
The remaining members of the Last Alliance
The remaining Orc horde including most of the captains