Second Battle for the Isen Fords

From Recon 2008, where Dave Ward and I hosted a big scenario of Second Fords of Isen. About 1950 points of Isengard, 1000 points of Rohan (some as reinforcements)

The battle turned out as a draw, as Isengard failed to get half its army off the board and Rohan failed to kill half of Isengard's army in the alloted time. However, Rohan stood a good chance of winning as Erkenbrand's arrival had stymied Isengard's left wing, and Isengard had suffered 75 of the needed 100 casualties.

Since Rohan was heavily outnumbered, we added a variety of special rules that were consistent with Tolkien's description of the battle. First, since the battle was fought at night, but the orcs were carrying torches, we used night fire rules (see Ill Met By Moonlight) with 12 inch LOS for Isengard but allowed Rohan to fire 24 inches and normal volley. Both sides benefited from the +1 to wound when shooting. Rohan could volley with any archers (regardless of number) that were positioned in the towers. Second, the Forts counted as banners for any troops in them and the Rohan banner on the Island covered all of it. Finally, the troops on the island had prepared works in the book, so that they were counted as defending a barricade (which is consistent with their position on a ledge anyway).

We had 8 players total, including Dave and myself who helped players with rules and strategy. About half the players were new to the game, while William, Eric and Alexander Adams helped lead their teams also. We split with 2 players commanding Rohan on each side, and 2 commanding Isengard on each side.

We had a 4-hour slot, which would have been enough time, but the session was Saturday night from 8-midnight. Due to the business meeting running long, players didn't have time to get dinner before the round started so we took a 30 minute meal break during the round and then finished about 11:30. We started losing the younger players around 11 as it had been a long day.

Dave and I kept the game moving quickly. One thing we did that really helped was to split the board into two different games early on so that the Isengard West flank, which had further to go and fight, could move at its own faster pace. It worked out well as the West flank had captured the Fords about the time the East flank had pushed the Rohirrim back. When Erkenbrand arrived the two flanks were close enough that Rohan had to worry about both rather than just steamroll one of them.

The night firing rules really helped as casualties came at a much faster pace. In fact, had the 24 Rohirrim not shot so poorly (we played them as per their profile, where all have bows) this could have been a stunning Rohan victory. Eric only had 26 figures (all but one infantry) but he inflicted over 30 casualties on the Isengard heavy infantry force, most with his archers in the towers.

Dave made all the terrain boards including the custom river terrain. Worked and looked fantastic. The 2 X 2 modular boards work really well and are easy to transport. He also made the Rohan towers you see. Several people said we had the best battlefield of all the games in the night session, most of which were historical encounters. I supplied most of the figures.

Photos:

The Battlefield

Isengard's Eastern Wing

Isengard Approaches the River Defenses



Battle for the Island