Last weekend TGA hosted “The Battle for Helms Deep”, a massive 5,000 points game between Steve and Matt (Rohan) and Tony and Aaron (Isengard) on the tremendous Helm’s Deep board built brick-by-brick by Steve (Onyx). This was a terrific game, and I invite anyone who loves table-top gaming to have a look at the photos from this epic match whether LotR is one of your favourite systems or not.

As far as I am concerned, in the video-game age, table-top games like this are why we bother in the first place.



“If the wall is breached, Helm’s Deep will fall.”

“Even if it is breached, it will take a number beyond reckoning, thousands, to storm the keep.”

“Tens of thousands.”

“But, my lord! There is no such force!”

(The Two Towers Book version: No Elven allies, and Eomer at the Gate, Gimil on the Wall)

Objectives:

The game ends at the end of the turn when the forces of Isengard are reduced to below 25% of their starting number, or when more than 10 Evil Models are past the gate to the central keep.

At the end of the turn, calculate victory points:

[] The forces of Isengard are reduced to 50% of their starting number: 10pts- Good

[] The forces of Isengard are reduced to 25% of their starting number: An additional 5pts – Good

[] No Evil models are alive past the gate of the central keep: 5pts – Good

[] The Long Wall is breached: 2pts – Evil

[] The Gate is destroyed: 3pts – Evil

[] More Evil Models than Good are alive behind the long wall: 4pts – Evil

[] More than 10 Evil models are within the Keep (see deployment image): 5pts – Evil

[] One point each for the death of any of the following: Theoden, Aragorn, Eomer, Gandalf, Erkenbrand, Gimli – Evil

Late in the night the watchmen cried out, and all awoke. The moon was gone. Stars were shining above; but over the ground there crept a darkness blacker than the night. On both sides of the river it rolled towards them, going northward.”

All Isengard is emptied! As vast amounts of Uruk-hai and Orcs begin to be deployed under the banner of a White Hand, the beleaguered army of Rohan takes refuge in Helms Deep. Royal Guard on the wall and warriors of Rohan at the murder-holes above the gate prepare to repel invaders.

“A new power is rising, its victory is at hand. This night the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan. March to Helm’s deep, leave none alive. TO WAR! There will be no dawn for Men.” – Saruman

The word is given – ADVANCE! Massed ranks of Uruk-Hai surge forward, captains bellowing orders as crossbowmen open fire on the defenders on the battlements.

Wargriders are kept back in a strategic reserve. The evil generals wisely chose to retain them as a counter-charge force in order to blunt the charge of the Rohirrum relief force that was destined to arrive on Turn 7 (if the castle still stood!).

Ballista bolts fired at Helms Deep. The first launched a ladder straight up the wall of the main keep with a combat-ready Beserker at its top, while subsequent shots began pounding on the gate.

Urukhai rush forward, shielding the nigh-insane Bererkers who rush towards the gate of Helms Deep. In the midst of the formation is one of Saruman’s black-powder bombs, capable of creating a massive explosion.

An overhead view of turn 1, as ladders rush forward and the curved formation of 32 crossbows open fire. Wargs are shielded from return fire, as the badly outnumbered defenders prepare to try hold the line at all costs.

The Uruk-hai stream towards the gate. However, two Heroes have managed to sneak out through the secret gate to the main entrance’s right: Aragorn and Eomer are pressed against the wall, ready to leap the gap and try slow the charge.

Another Balista bolt smashes into the main gate, this time scoring a direct hit and splintering some of the wood and reducing its strength.

Adding insult to injury, men of Dunland are reinforcing the Uruk-hai. Promised rewards by Saruman, these wicked humans hate Rohan above all others and see no shame in betraying their own race.

Aragorn and Eomer prepare to make the jump, and both do so without needing to use Might points to succeed – just as well, because in moments it will be the two of them against a mass of enemies.

Their position close to the gate is on purpose; they need to hold the line their while ensuring the enemy are still in range for the men above to throw spears and rock. The plan is to have the ranged fire take out the supporting pikemen while the heroes dispatch the front ranks. This creates very little margin for error, and the enemy bring a bomb with them that can cause 2 D6 wounds on anyone within 2″ when it detonates (even these heroes only have 3 wounds).

The Uruk-hai offensive is well organised and tightly coordinated, and key areas of the wall are simultaneously suffering massive bombardments of crossbow bolts.

In return, the weaker bows of rohan’s archers focus on picking out the most dangerous enemies – the berserkers armed with fire brands that can so easily explode the bombs approaching the gate and walls.

‘It is said that the Hornburg has never fallen to assault,’ said Théoden; “but now my heart is doubtful. The world changes, and all that once was strong now proves unsure. How shall any tower withstand such numbers and such reckless hate?”

The walls stop many bolts, but casualties are now roughly even – which is not ideal when the enemy start with more than double as many men.

There is simply no stopping the flood of Urukhai, and some of the Rohan Warriors begin to move to their second defence position in case the walls are breached.

Rohan outriders rush down the stairs to bolster the wall and provide bowfire at the warriors at the head of the ladders.

The assault is launched with 10 siege ladders going up simultaneously. Only one is successfully pushed down by defenders, and uruk-hai stream up the remainder.

At the gate, Eomer attempts to break through to destroy the bomb, but can’t quite make it. He does however kill two siege engineers and the bomb cannot be set off this turn.

Royal Guard engage the enemy on the ladders. The Isengard generals tactic was to top each ladder with their very best fighters, either Heroes or Beserkers, in order to improve the chances of a breakthrough. The bonuses for defending a barrier are just enough to help hold the enemy in place this turn.

Every single Rohan Warrior was upgraded to Helmingas for this battle, meaning they fight with Strength 4 and are more of a match for heavily armoured enemies. Even so, the archers would struggle vs such a foe.

For every uruk-hai slain there are a dozen to take their place.

Once again Aragorn and Eomer defeat their enemies in combat, and once again are unable to also destroy the bomb. A dozen more warriors rush up the causeway, but the Captain charged with the mission of exploding the bomb this turn fails his courage test to do so (it would certainly kill him, so perhaps he actually passed an intelligence test!).

It is clear that the Isengard plan is to try use the bomb to kill the heroes rather than the gate, but the men are committed, and a new ladder has come up the wall just behind Aragorn to try trap them in place.

At the top of the keep, Gamling must battle a Beserker before he kills Outriders. He succeeds, but this is a remind of the fact that the battle ends with Isengard’s victory if just 10 evil models make it just a few inches more into the central keep.

More berserkers make it to the keep, this one propelled by a ballista shot that raises his massive ladder. Down below, Theoden orders some of the royal guard behind the gate up the stairs to help hold the line – Aragorn will have to hold out without them.

The trap is sprung – scaling a ladder, Uruks come in behind Aragorn, Eomer and the one Royal Guard brave enough to join them, pinning them in place close to the bomb. Redoubled efforts from above and skill of the heroes hold them back for another turn.

With the threat of Rohan’s arrows greatly diminished as the archers struggle for survival, the lines of enemies outside the castle reform. The Crossbows wheel around and set up to fire into any relief force that may arrive – it’s as if the Isengard generals knew what was coming!

A single berserker made it over the wall, quickly smashing a hole for more to follow. This one small leak would soon become a flood,



The loss of the East wall.

The Fall of Eomer – Isengard Captains celebrate as Eomer is finally overwhelmed, and scoring 1 point for Isengard. Aragorn would fight on alone.

Two things then happened simultaneously – firstly the ballista scored a third direct hit, smashing open the gate of the fortress, meaning that the uruk-hai were literally inches away from their victory condition. Secondly, after holding for sufficient turns the horses were saddled and war spears raised:

King Theoden Rides out!

“Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin and the red dawn!

FORTH EORLINGAS! CHARGE!”

Warriors guard engineers from arrows as they place the bomb in the culvert, the weakest point in the wall.

A massive explosion killed many of the men around it, including Legolas on the wall above.

There was no time to mourn this tragedy however, as before the dust even settled the enemy began to flood through the gap.

In one of the best moves of the game, Steve called a heroic move to allow one of his Warriors of Rohan to rush up the stairs and block the Urukhai who were now stranded by the gap in the wall their comrades had created. This warrior would manage to hold out for 2 turns before falling, but the time he bought the defenders was enough that some of the Urukhai died in the jump trying to get around and past him rather than fight down the stairs.

GANDALF ARRIVES!

“Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.”

At the start of turn 7, the sky was lit by dawn and Gandalf the White and the Rohirrim Relief force finally arrive! The forces of Isengard were well prepared to accept the charge, but with Gandalf’s blinding light preventing most of the crossbows finding their mark and the expert skills of these Sons of Eorl cavalrymen, it was the Isengard line that began to buckle.

A sorcerous blast from Gandalf’s staff lifted a crossbowman into the air and bowled him through the tight ranks of his allies as more Uruk-hai rush to boost the lines with pikes and wicked blades.

The Gate Bomb finally explodes!

In a massive detonation, everyone in the vicinity of the bomb is instantly vaporised, apart from Aragorn who took 5 wounds from it. It was not his destiny to die this day however, as he passed his 3 Fate Point tests by adding all his remaining Might to his rolls and managed to struggle out of the carnage with 1 wound remaining. Bloodied but unbowed, he would fight on!

With dawn’s rays now filling the sky the situation on the walls was increasingly desperate, with Captain Háma struck down near the keep. Isengard had now more men behind the main wall (4pts), killed 2 of the named heroes (2pts) and destroyed the gate (2pts), while Rohan was still only nearing breaking the enemy army by reducing it to half in order to raise their score from 0.

More Royal Guard rushed forward, after allowing Aragorn to pass through back into the mouth of the gateway. He would now use his free Might point per turn to issue heroic charge after charge, but was too wounded to go out and risk giving the enemy another point from his death.

Against all odds, the walls of the main keep were holding even as the long wall was falling to the enemy.

Rohan throw spears into any enemy without shields, with the simple goal of increasing their kill count as quickly as possible while warriors fought and died for every inch of the stairs. Down below Gimli bolstered the defenders and took several enemy down.

Eventually even Gimli would fall however, simply overwhelmed by numbers. Just before he did, he managed the fatefull kill that reduced the enemy to half, breaking their force and making the require Courage Tests to stay on the field of battle.

With the hour growing late, the Crossbowmen were ordered to abandon their positions, and they too rushed forward up the siege ladders to try and seal the victory.

The Riders at the gate held the line, killing half a dozen urukhai for every Rohirrim that fell.

Even with their numbers dwarfed by the reinforcing Urukhai, the Relief force continued to exact a heavy toll, with Gandalf blasting wargs through one another and charging in to combat

In a fast heroic move, all the ladders up against the central keep were thrown down by the defenders at once, slowing the advance and forcing the enemy to raise them again.

Both armies were depleted, and the men on the wall braced against the final surge of uruks up the causeway as their comrades scaled the wall.

King Theoden charged out into combat, slaying an uruk captain and ensuring that the Keep wouldn’t fall for at least another turn.

Above him, the last wave of uruks reached virtually deserted battlements, needing just a few inches to get off the wall and down to the keep. 10 uruks would end the game and score Isengard an additional 5 points, while just one would be enough to prevent Rohan from scoring 5 points for keeping it clear.

At that moment, word reached the defenders that Gandalf had been slain, and the entire relief force destroyed by the Urukhai. However, their loss had not been in vain, for the forces of Isengard were reduced to by 75% of their starting number, and the game ended as the survivors fled the castle and into Fangorn Forest.

Final Score:

[] The forces of Isengard are reduced to 50% of their starting number: 10pts- Good

[] The forces of Isengard are reduced to 25% of their starting number: An additional 5pts – Good

[] No Evil models are alive past the gate of the central keep: 5pts – Good

TOTAL: 20 Points

[] The Long Wall is breached: 2pts – Evil

[] The Gate is destroyed: 3pts – Evil

[] More Evil Models than Good are alive behind the long wall: 4pts – Evil

[] More than 10 Evil models are within the Keep (see deployment image): 5pts – (Not scored)

[] One point each for the death of any of the following:

Theoden (alive), Aragorn (alive), Eomer (dead), Gandalf (dead), Erkenbrand (dead), Gimli (dead) – 4pts

TOTAL: 13 Points

VICTORY TO ROHAN: 20 vs 13

The outcome of the battle had rested upon a knife’s point. All that remained of Rohan’s defenders at the end of the game was a mere handful of men, but it was enough.

The work of burial was then but beginning; and Théoden mourned for the loss of Háma, his captain, and cast the first earth upon his grave.

‘Great injury indeed has Saruman done to me and all this land,’ he said; ‘and I will remember it, when we meet.’