"You will taste man-flesh"

Cried Saruman as he unleashed his hordes of Urak-hai against the forces of Rohan and Gondor.

The war cry of the mighty Mumakil (courtesy of Lee....) put fear into our foes as the forces of Evil were unleashed against those of the Good in a mighty mega Lord of the Rings battle today.

"Leave none alive. Too war!"

As it was Mark's birthday during the week, we decided the best way to celebrate was to play a large scale game. The game of choice would be Lord of the Rings. There was also beer, V (the best energy drink) and loads of bad food (as in bad for you)... a perfect gaming mix.

Pretty much all the models and terrain were supplied by Mark, so he got the job of figuring out the lists. I have no idea of the detail, but it went something like this...

Good

Riders of Rohan with Theoden, Eomer and Eowyn

Men of Gondor (swordmen, spearmen, archers and some with banners)

Men of Gondor (mounted) with Faramir

Rangers

Some other dudes

A few Captains here and there

Evil

Heaps of Urak-hai (mix of swords(?) and pikes)

A massive horde of Urak-hai Beserkers (with a banner and a shaman)

2 Armoured Trolls

2 Mumakil

Some Easterlings

Saruman

Grimer

Some Captains

I was fighting on the side of Evil with Mark, Rob and Lee. The forces of good were commanded by Phil, Paul and James. 

And best of all, everything was pretty much set-up by the time I arrived :)

I would command a portion of the Urak-hai, some berserkers, a troll and Saruman.

The set-up and some of the forces:

Forces of Evil deploy on the left, while the Good are on the right

As it was such a large game, it is difficult to do a decent AAR. Basically, the Mumakils had fun trampling the Riders of Rohan, but archers from Gondor (with some of the Rangers) killed all the Easterlings on one of the Mumakil so it would stampede most turns. On our flank, the Urak-hai just headed straight for the forces of Gondor whom Gandalf ordered to stand firm. Faramir foolishly charged a large group of berserkers and a troll.... he and his men didn't last long. Soon a mighty battle for the bridge commenced.... would the numbers of Urak-hai make the difference or would Gandalf....??

Here's a few pics of the game....

Mark clearly focused

The weary forces of Evil...

You want to do what!?

Theoden, Eomer and Eowyn survive most of the battle, but even they cannot take down a Mumakil.... the end draws near as the Mumakil squishes them.

Only a few of the forces of Good still stand....

A dark shadow crosses the battlefield as Saruman approaches Gandalf. Urging his Urak-hai forward.... their numbers swarm around Gandalf where the berserkers show no fear and bring him down.

Soon, only a small force of Rangers and Men of Gondor remain holding a hill. But not for long.... the Urak-hai approach. They will feast well tonight.

So the end result.... the forces of Evil are triumphant!

A good day and good fun. Thanks to Mark for providing all the awesome models! Mumakils are awesome! Having one with no riders was interesting as it rampaged around the battlefield (not that it did a lot). Oh and Urak-hai are mighty tough. The Men of Gondor certainly stood firm, but just couldn't really put a dent into the hordes.

I'm currently crashing after all the sugar, so will leave things there for today.