The Return of HeroQuest

Back in the 1980's, Milton Bradley teamed up with the UK's Games Workshop to create HeroQuest, a board game which mimicked the experience of Dungeons & Dragons, but in a simplified and much more limited form, at least as far as role playing was concerned.

The game involved a single map board divided into static rooms and corridors, but the whole board wasn't used in any one game. Instead, the path of available rooms and how they connected with each other was determined by set scenarios, meaning that each game would be different in play. The players took on either the roles of the heroes-- always a Barbarian, a Dwarf, an Elf, and a Wizard-- or the "evil wizard" Zargon, who acted as their opposition, controlling the various monsters, traps and tricks the heroes would encounter on the adventure. If was very much a "rules lite" copy of D&D (though not a clone by any means). In addition to the figures for the heroes and the monsters, the game included plastic items representing the various furnishings of the ruined "dungeon" the heroes would explore.

At the time it came out, I was a teenager, and looked down on it as a "kiddie" version of D&D, clearly inferior to "the Real Thing." It was also pricey, so I passed it by. The game had some success, but eventually went out of production.

It wasn't much after that when I began hearing how much fun the game actually was as just a quick-and-goofy dungeon crawl. Suddenly, I wanted the game. But it was gone forever, and by the time copies began to appear on eBay, the prices were sky high-- $300 or more for used and battered sets! I wrote it off as not-to-be...

And then in spring of 2020, I learned that Hasbro, who now owned Milton Bradley, had decided to bring the game back through their Avalon Hill line... but only as a crowd-funded product via HasbroPulse. But it was enough to convince me. I leapt in full bore, and backed the game for the full "Mythic tier" level, which would include reproductions of the original expansion sets from back in the day, as well as extra goodies if sales went well.

Sales went great. I had hit the motherlode, and all I had to do was wait a year. (Yes, I actually managed to wait patiently for a whole year. No, really.)

This past week my waiting paid off and the box full of goodies arrived from Hasbro... and I'm sharing my treasures with you-- feast your eyes!

The New HeroQuest: ALL the boxes! (Mythic, ain't it?)

Figures from the main game (also cards & character sheet pad)

The board, with Zargon's screen (still in paper band wraps).

Inside of Zargon's screen, rule books, and punch out tiles and markers.

Zargon's screen, from the heroes players' view.

Expansion quests contents-- more minis!

The "Mythic Tier" original expansion quests.

Mythic Tier unboxed-- even more awesome minis.
(Yes, that's a dragon.)

The Ladies of the Mythic Tier (plus "Lord Ragnar")

The heroes, both male and female in pairs.
Left to right: Barbarians, Dwarfs, Elves, Wizards.

The Mythic tier additional heroes, plus "Lord Ragnar."
Left to right: Warlock, Wizard ("Mentor"), Bard, Druid, "Lord Ragnar."

And there you have 'em! Aside from a few slightly bent weapons (easily correctable with hot water, a quick reshape, and a cold water shock), everything was in great shape.

Note that the sculpts and artwork are all new to the game-- homages to the original product, but not actually copies. (I suspect exact duplicates would not be possible for copyright reasons, not to mention probable destruction of the original molds.)

I'm looking forward to trying this out-- the whole thing should be a hoot!

--- Howard Shirley, aka Parzival

UPDATE

First, a minor correction: The core game has a female Elf hero and figure; the male Elf  hero is part of the Mythic tier upgrade.

Secondly, HasbroPulse/Avalon Hill has announced the game will be released for retail-- so it's available even if you didn't back the crowdfunding project.

Thirdly, and more importantly, HasbroPulse has released the HeroQuest Companion app, available for free, which can play as the evil Zargon, allowing all players to be heroes and experience the mysteries of the quests themselves. The app also supports solo play, so if you're by your lonesome, you can run all four heroes and try to defeat the dread forces of Zargon yourself! I'll be reviewing this app and the overall gameplay very soon... and in the meantime, I'm gonna have some fun!

"Advanced" Dungeon!, or New Rules for an Old Game

Dungeon! is an oldie and a goldie, and a favorite of mine. Originally produced by TSR back in the ‘70s and ‘80s as a light dungeoncrawl game without the heady rules of D&D, it’s recently been reprinted in a new version by Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro in 2012, and another version is expected this year, too. My version is the 1989 version (The New Dungeon!), complete with some dandy plastic Ral Partha adventurers. (Alas, the new version uses card standees instead of miniatures.)

The box cover art for my edition (The New Dungeon!).

Dungeon! is a complex combination of a competitive and cooperative game. Each adventurer is out to be the first to leave the dungeon with a set amount of treasure (it varies by hero type, at least in the Expert Rules, see below). But in order to amass this amount of treasure, the heroes will have to face monsters that in many cases no one hero can defeat alone (at least, not without some really lucky dice). So ideally the game becomes a test of making deals and then backstabbing which is quite amusing for players who can handle that sort of thing.

But it's still rather limiting, and the difficulty of monsters is so high at the lower dungeon levels (there are six total "levels" on the board), so I wanted to shake things up a bit and capture a little more of the classic RPG flavor. My solution— "Advanced" Dungeon! 

Level Up, Level Up

One of the key elements of classic dungeon crawling is the ability of characters to gain experience and improve their abilities, or, in gamer vernacular, "level up." Dungeon! does not have such an element, so I added one! Specifically, I added an experience points system to the Expert Rules in Dungeon! (If you’re not familiar with the Expert Rules, which I am given to understand are not included with the 2012 re-release, try to seek them out. They add a lot of flavor to the game, introducing Paladins with healing ability, magic spells, other varied skills, and different victory requirements, as well as an ambush ability that can become very significant in the endgame). You can see my rough notes here:

Dungeon scrawl. Yeah, you can click to make
the pic bigger, but it won't help you read it.

Since my scrawl, like all good writers, is virtually illegible to anyone but myself, I will translate:

The idea is simple. All monsters are worth the ubiquitous Experience Points (or x.p.). The x.p. value of a monster is equal to the red numbers on the monster’s card (this happens to be the “to kill” value for a fighter striking the monster in combat). Note that the x.p. value is always the red number, even if the hero attacks the monster using a different color. This makes the x.p. system identical for everyone, regardless of the monster’s dungeon level. When a monster is killed by a hero, he retains the monster card. When he reaches a set total (which I decided was equal to his treasure goal, divided by 1,000), he turns in the monster cards and “levels up,” gaining his choice of abilities in either combat, defense, wounds, or a special ability fitting to the hero’s character class, as follows:

The Heroes' Level Bonuses

A Fighter (such as the indomitable Floid) needs 20 x.p. to “level up.” His ability improvements are as follows:
Attack Bonus: Gains +1 to all attack rolls in combat.
Defense Bonus: Monsters must add 1 to their attack rolls when attacking this hero.
Extra Wounds: Each status of “wound” is counted as one less when attacked by a monster. So a “light wound” result is treated as “stunned,” a “serious wound” is treated as a “light wound,” and even if wounded, the hero must be wounded three times in order to be slain, not just twice.

Fighters have no other special abilities, so those are the only choices for improvement for fighters. Bummer. But fighters generally have the best attack dice anyway, and don’t have huge treasure goal (20,000 g.p.), so it’s a pretty decent balance.

A Wizard (like Rast) needs 30 x.p. to “level up.” His ability choices are:
Spell Bonus: Add 1 to all spell attack rolls (but not normal attacks).
Defense Bonus: Same as Fighter
Extra Wounds:  Same as Fighter
Gain an Extra Spell: The Wizard immediately selects another spell card, and may memorize seven spells at a time, not just six.

A Thief (like Krind) needs 20 x.p. to “level up.” His ability choices are:
Attack Bonus (includes ambush attempts): Same as Fighter
Defense Bonus: Same as Fighter
Extra Wounds: Same as Fighter
Ignore Traps: The thief may ignore the consequences of any trap card, if he wishes.
Steal Treasure (from a monster): Instead of attacking, the thief may attempt to steal any one treasure a monster has. The thief rolls two dice, using the most favorable non-spell attack number for that monster. If the roll is equal to or higher than this number, the thief steals the treasure and immediately leaves the room or chamber, through any exit of the thief’s choice. If the monster has more than one treasure, the thief may take the treasure of his choice. The monster cannot attack the thief, and the monster remains alive and well— and, of course, the thief gains no x.p. from the theft.
If the thief fails his roll, the monster attacks the thief.
Note that if the monster does not have a treasure (such as chamber monster), the thief can instead use the Steal Treasure ability to slip past the monster without fighting— a nice way to elude pursuing opponents (if, for example, you've just ambushed the elf and taken his game-winning 5,000 g.p. jade idol). The thief, however, only moves one space after bypassing a monster, regardless of how much movement he had remaining when he entered the room or chamber.
The Steal Treasure ability does not bypass traps; these take full effect, unless the thief has the Ignore Traps ability as well.

A Paladin needs 30 x.p. to “level up.” His ability choices are:
Attack Bonus: Same as Fighter
Defense Bonus: Same as Fighter
Extra Wounds: Same as Fighter
Dispel Undead: The Paladin attacks any undead creature using the most favorable attack number for that creature— even spell numbers.
Bless: When involved in cooperative combat, the Paladin gains or gives an additional +1 bonus. So if the Paladin is cooperating with the Fighter and the Dwarf, the bonus would be +3 rather than +2. This ability applies whether the Paladin is the main attacker or merely cooperating.

An Elf needs only 10 x.p. to“level up.” His ability choices are:
Attack Bonus: Same as Fighter
Defense Bonus: Same as Fighter
Extra Wounds: Same as Fighter
Range Attack: The Elf may attack through a doorway, similar to the Wizard casting a spell, and thus avoid a monster counter-attack. This ability applies only to the first attack attempt; if the Elf misses, he must enter the room on his next turn if he wishes to continue to fight the monster (it is now aware of him, and avoids the range attack). An Elf can instead leave and return later and attack again using the range ability, but not on the same turn. (For example: An Elf misses his range attack. On his next turn, he cannot simply move a space away and move back and regain his range attack. He must move away and wait out another turn before returning. No, he can’t just sit and not attack for a turn either; as long as he remains outside the door without moving, the monster knows he’s there.)
If the range attack is successful, the Elf may immediately enter the room or chamber and collect the treasure (even if he’s used up his movement). Note that the elf cannot remain outside to get the treasure— he has to enter the room.

A Dwarf needs only 10 x.p. to “level up.” His ability choices are:
Attack Bonus: Same as Fighter
Defense Bonus: Same as Fighter
Extra Wounds: Same as Fighter
Ignore Traps: Same as Thief
Resist Magic: The Dwarf gains a +1 bonus when attacked by monsters who use magic. No, this isn’t stated by the monster cards, but common sense applies— any monster labeled as a “wizard” or “sorcerer” or the like obviously attacks using magic. Also, creatures like the lich, dracolich, and beholder use magic, so the bonus applies. (Honestly, looking at the creatures in the game, this is not very broad ability, but it is very powerful.) The defensive bonus is in addition to the Defense Bonus ability, if the Dwarf also has that.

Only one special ability may be chosen when leveling up, though a character may level up multiple times. Once a special ability is chosen, that same ability cannot be chosen again— a hero only gets one Attack Bonus, for example.

Paying X.P.

The x.p. payment does not “give change.” If a player turns in monster cards with more x.p. than is needed to level up, the extra x.p. are lost. However, a player may also sacrifice treasure cards as an x.p. payment if his monster totals don’t add up enough to level up. Each treasure card is worth one (and only one) x.p. point, regardless of the value of treasure shown on the card. (After all, the point of the game is to acquire treasure, not spend it.) Spent treasure cards are returned to the box, out of play, and do not count towards a hero’s treasure goal. Likewise, all monster cards spent as x.p. are returned to the box, out of play.

Test Crawl

To test the system, I set up a game with one of each character type, and put everything through the paces.

The Dwarf plays Chutes and Ladders, minus the ladders.

(He drew two chutes in a row, moving him from fourth level

to the dreaded sixth level in one turn. Clearly, he needed the 

Ignore Traps ability...) Dwarf is amidst the blue cards.

At first the Elf advanced very quickly— very early on, he had gained three of his four possible special bonuses— a virtual Super Elf. But his attack limit of the white numbers began to slow him down as the remaining monsters became more difficult to defeat. (This elf is no Legolas.)

Super Elf gets caught between two dangerous monsters.
Lower left, in the yellow section.

Surprisingly, the worst advancement results came for the fighter, Floid. But he had lousy rolls throughout the game, and was the only hero to die. Multiple times.

Floid (hallway, green section, center board) has no luck.

After searching for a secret door for three turns, he stares

in amazement as the Dwarf pops through in one.

Floid: "How did you do that?"

Dwarf: "Simple. It's always the fifth stone from the left of the third support block

of the secondary lintel key."

Floid: "Huh?"

Dwarf (gives up): "It's Durin's Day."

I was also surprised to see the Wizard advance very quickly— but then, I made the decision early on to send the Wizard down into the deeper levels, where the monsters are more difficult to defeat, yet more susceptible to magic. (Ironically, for many of the higher level monsters the Wizard was better off just jumping into the room and whacking them with his staff— a green attack— than casting a spell!)

In the end, the Elf and the Wizard were the first to gain their treasure goals. The Thief ambushed the Elf, but got caught among monsters he couldn't get past. Floid, in the meantime, had managed to bounce back from three deaths to gain his own goals. The race for the stairway was on— would it be Floid? Would it be the Wizard with his incredible abilities? Would Super Elf regain his stolen idol? And the noble Paladin, smiting evil— would he gain one last treasure to reach victory himself?
None of the Above— the victor to reach the stairway with his treasure complete was none other than the brave Dwarf. "Of course," he grinned. "It's Durin's Day."

Analysis of a Crawl

In the end, every hero managed to level up multiple times, the most successful being the Wizard and the Elf. And it was a good tactical question as to which bonus abilities to select each time— a greater chance to survive against the monsters, or something to give that "edge" that could win the game. By the end, the Thief was stealing monster's treasures, the Paladin was setting off to smite undead evil in the lower depths, the Elf was shooting arrows through doorways... everybody wound up with abilities they could use, and did so effectively.

I had feared that the level up system wouldn’t work or might break the game, but I found the opposite was true— to me, it made the game more interesting, and while it did offer advantages against the monsters, the simple bonuses didn’t seem to swing things too much in the heroes’ favor at all. The really nasty monsters remained a big risk for solo attacks, especially for the weaker heroes like the Elf and the Dwarf, and the special twists offered some interesting tactical differences among the heroes. I think this system is a keeper.

If you have Dungeon! in your closet, feel free to give my system a whirl, and post comments below!

--- Howard Shirley, aka Parzival, the Wargamesmonger.

Fort on the Frontier

A Warmaster/Battle of Five Armies Battle

     The Master of Bows peered towards the western sky, watching the light fade behind the last foothill across the river. Clouds had been approaching from the north all day, a dark pall, low and thick, rolling over the mountain peaks in a way that made his neck prickle. Even the youngest of the men had noticed, and muttered about what it meant. But the archer knew. And the Warden of the Wild Reaches knew as well, setting the men and elves on the wall in full array, and the small cavalry detachment to saddling up in the courtyard below. But mysterious as the powers of their wizard commander were, the sign the Master of Bows set most store by had come when he found the garrison’s weapon’s master sharpening his axe in the armory.
     “So, there’s to be a battle, then?” the bowman had asked his taciturn dwarven friend.
     “Aye,” was the only answer, and it hadn’t been needed.

     

     The sound of a horn, high and sharp cracked through the cold air, and hope sprang in the archer’s heart.

     “Our brethren approach,” said his elven lieutenant, pointing south of the river’s ford, “and with them I see horsemen, bearing the banner of the royal house— and there are more of Durin’s folk as well, alas.”
     “Don’t look down upon our relief, woodland brother,” the bowman laughed, clapping his fair comrade on the shoulder.
     “How can I help but do so,” replied the elf, “if only because of their height?” But he smiled when he said it, for he, too, shared the gladness to see a sign of strength approaching.

     But then another horn broke through the darkening day, and it was harsh and rough and cold, like the crackle of dry bones, and behind it came the howls of wolves, a din beyond counting.

     “See now why the stars hide,” whispered the elf, and the Master of Bows stared northward in horror. The mountain slopes boiled with misshapen creatures and glittered with equally mis-made spearpoints, while down in the western valley wolves raced forward, all too many also bearing as riders the same creatures as the mountainsides.

     “Our brethren...” breathed the elf.

     “Had best not tarry,” finished the archer, “for I fear there is little we can do to help them.” And perhaps not even ourselves, he did not say aloud.

***

Yesterday I trotted out some of my 10mm fantasy collection and set up a little battle scenario. As I had yet to test out my fortress from Sally 4th (read about it here), I opted for a castle assault scenario, but to make it more than just a static pounding, I added the element of a relief force marching to supplement an under-manned garrison. As I also wanted to field my growing cavalry force, this gave an ideal setting for the two.

The Rules and Special Rules

Rules are the Battle of Five Armies (Warmaster) rules from Games Workshop (OOP, sadly). The castle assault rules are from the Warmaster rule book, but otherwise I stuck with the army lists, magic rules, and wording from the Bo5A rules, as these reflect corrections and additions to the core set.

A few special rules which might or might not be reflected in either rule book (but probably should be):

Archer units located in a fortress tower (but not a wall) can see and shoot in any direction. All stands are considered able to see and shoot, regardless of the unit’s physical orientation in the tower. Nor does anything at ground level (or any other level) block line of sight except for elements of the fortress itself (you can’t shoot through another tower, or at enemies obscured by the walls). So this means that a three-stand unit of elf archers will always roll three dice when shooting at a target in LOS of the tower. Range is unaffected, and is measure horizontally, not vertically.

Although wolf riders are technically shooting units, they can’t effectively attack units fortified behind castle walls (or in towers, of course). This reflects these units’ nature as skirmishing harassment troops. Cavalry also cannot charge units on fortress walls. (I’m pretty certain that’s in the Warmaster rules anyway, but if not, well, it is on my tabletop!)

The fortress has one small sally port located on the south edge of the westernmost tower. Friendly units may enter or exit from this sally port, provided no enemy units are assaulting the southwestern wall or the tower at that time (that is, engaged in combat with the wall’s defenders). As per standard rules, friendly units may enter or exit the main gate without penalty (but must accept an order to do so). Again, if the gate wall is under assault, the gate cannot be opened for either exit or entry (doing so would be immediately treated as a breach).

Any undefended wall can be immediately scaled by the enemy (note that the initial garrison is unable to man all of the walls and the towers as well). However, undefended towers are still unassailable (the scaling ladders aren’t long enough).

In this scenario, I decided that the hill slopes are “difficult” terrain— not dense or steep enough to offer defended status, and still passable to cavalry, but causing any troop upon them to move at half-pace. This is a bit of departure from the standard rules (and was probably a mistake on my part, but I wanted something to slow the initial onslaught of the goblin horde).
Troops on the top level of the hill can reach the lower levels by descending the two sloping passages sculpted into the hills.

The Forces

The Warden of the Wild Reaches is a wizard equipped with a Staff of Power (and, apparently, a pet bird and halfling manservant).

The Master of Bows has the same shooting bonus ability as Bard from Bo5A. The dwarven Weapons Master is a dwarf hero (+2 attack bonus), as is the dwarf captain in the relief column.

All others as per Bo5A rules, except the Orc Trebuchet, which uses the Warmaster Orc Rock Lobber stats.

I didn’t bother to calculate points, as I had no idea how to cost out the fortress itself (which, by the way, really made a big difference). But for comparison, the Goblin Horde had 113 units, including characters, and the Army of the Wild Reaches had only 55 units total— which I suspect on the points match up is grossly in favor of the goblins!

Good Guys

The Garrison of the Wild Reaches
Elf Spearmen (2 units)
Elf Archers (2 units)
Men Spearmen (1 unit)
Men Archers (2 units)
Horse Tribe Cavalry (1 unit): Attack 3 Hits 3 Armor 5+
Horse Tribes Archer Cavalry (1 unit): Attack 2/1, Hits 3, Armor 0. Can shoot 360°, 15cm

Heroes:
Master of Bows (Bard stats)
Dwarf Weapons Master (dwarf hero)
The Warden of the Wild Reaches (wizard general)

The Relief Column
Elf Spearmen (2 units)
Elf Archers (2 units)
Dwarf warriors (2 units)
Horse Tribe Cavalry (1 unit) “The Riders of the Westfold” (Red cloaks)
Horse Tribe Royal Cavalry (1 unit): Attacks 4 Hits 3 Armor 5+

Heroes:
The Lord of the Woodland Realm (Elf hero)
The Dwarf Captain (Dwarf hero)

All infantry from GW's Battle of Five Armies boxed sets.
Cavalry from Copplestone Casting's Horse Tribe line.

Bad Guys

The Goblin Horde
Goblins (16 units)
Wolf Riders (16 units)
Wargs (16 units)
Goblin Guard (1 unit)
Hill Trolls (1 unit)
Gigantic Bats (1 unit, flying monster)
Storm Giant (1 unit, monster)
Rock Lobber (1 unit, artillery)

Heroes:
The Goblin King (general)
Orc Chieftain (4)
Goblin Shaman (1)

For the record, the Horde forces consisted of two entire goblin armies (with wargs and riders) from two Battle of Five Armies sets, plus a unit of GW Bo5A Goblin Guard, a GW WM giant, a unit of GW Bo5A Hill Trolls, a Rock Lobber (Kallistra Orc Trebuchet) and a unit of Gigantic Bats (Splintered Light’s “Bat Swarm”).

The Set Up

Defender sets up first. The Garrison deployed in the fort, with the spearmen on the walls and the archers in the towers. The southernmost wall was left unmanned, as the threat was to the north, and assuming a detachment from the relief column reached the fort, manning it would not be an issue, In a pinch, however, a tower could be abandoned to protect the wall.

The Relief Column set up west of the river, on the southern edge of the map (for game purposes, “North” is at the top of the wide photos, along a long edge of the battlefield).
To make things move quicker, the column deployed into two temporary brigades— the elves all in one and the cavalry and dwarves in the other.

The Goblin Horde then set up on the northern edge of the battlefield. The evil cavalry and six infantry had to deploy west of the river. North of the river, the forces had to deploy either on the hill or immediately abutting the edge of the table.

Scenario Design
I conceived of this scenario as having two parts— the attempt by the relief column to reach the garrison, and the subsequent assault. It did play out that way, but not entirely as I expected (or planned).

The Goblin Horde appears to the north— can the tiny garrison
of the Wild Reaches survive?

And Now, The Battle!

The First Hour— The Race for the Ford

The dwarves and the riders of the Mark claim the Ford, but the elves tarry.

The Warden sends out the garrison cavalry to aid the relief column.

The Warden casts a spell, and throws the evil bats into disarray.

The Horde advances on the fort, but fails to press the column.

The forlorn hope— the goblins try to take the eastern wall!

The elves hold— the goblins are repulsed!

The Second Hour— Barbs, Blunders, Bats and Blood

The relief column advances, and connects with the garrison cavalry, but fails
to reach the fortress; the elves prepare to receive the charge of the vile wargs.

The elven archers and the bowmen unleash their barbed shafts, decimating the
 goblin forlorn hope...

Oops— "someone" has blundered.

Missed 'em by that much— the wargs' impetuous charge fails!
(Oh, I supposed I could have fudged in the dogs' favor. But this was funnier.)

The bats bite while the Giant and the Goblin Guard batter the relief column. 

On the right, the hill trolls withdraw from the archers in the towers.

The orc trebuchet (upper left center, by the river) and goblin arrows drive

the men of the Westfold and the elves from the ford in confusion (center).

The bats and dwarves fall back, but the Royal Guard of the Mark is lost!

Meanwhile, the giant slaughters the horse archers of the garrison.

The heavy cavalry takes casualties, but rebuffs the Goblin Guard.

(Cavalry retreats 1cm, but infantry cannot pursue, and loses a stand as well.)

The Third Hour— Monster Bashing, and an Orc Too Far

More death from above for the goblin forlorn hope.

The elves attack the wargs, the dwarves strike the center— and the giant is
confused (well, more than usual) by a hail of arrows from the tower!

Dwarves On a Roll, or Bye-Bye, Bat-birds!

The Horde Recoils (for now...)

On the left, the elves drive back the wargs and the warg riders with heavy losses.

In the center, the bats, the Goblin Guard and goblin infantry are destroyed.

The giant is forced to retreat in front of the garrison gate, and remains confused.

The garrison cavalry tries for the infantry near the Goblin King in hopes of an

early victory, but falls back when the goblins hold (combat draw— lucky devils!)

The Hour of the Wolves

The wargs and warg riders charge the elves, the goblins charge in the center,

and the Goblin King wisely retreats onto the mountain slopes.

The forlorn hope hopes forlornly. (Not a chance, bub.)

 The Last Stand of the Elves

The charge of the wargs.

The elves are overwhelmed.

The ford falls.

The End of the Third Hour

The ford is lost, the center is scattered, and there's a giant at the gates— time

to attack, obviously! (Oh, and the forlorn hope is down to one stand...)

 The Fourth Hour— Bold Action

When hard pressed— attack!

The Riders of the Westfold take a chance and charge the giant, and the dwarves

charge the goblins, aided by the garrison cavalry.

(The other dwarves were confused by the trebuchet on the previous turn.)

The Giant Falls!

 The spearmen of the garrison sally to aid the cavalry of the Westfold 

(and the dwarf captain lends his skill). Driven back against the tower,

the giant dies.

The spearmen withdraw back to the garrison, but the riders press on...

And utterly destroy the hill trolls!
(And the lone orc chieftain with nowhere to run...)

Meanwhile, the dwarves and cavalry slay the goblin front.

... and the cavalry charges into the reserves, threatening the Goblin King again!

The Goblin King survives, and the garrison cavalry falls back. On the far right,

the goblin forlorn hope assault has been driven back yet again. 

 ... and the Goblin King responds.

The Wargs Cross the River

The dwarves are in danger, and the goblin center charges the garrison cavalry,

aided by chieftain.

A lone warg tries for the central dwarves, but the orders fail. The Goblin King

scurries to the center left.

Oh, and the forlorn hope (unseen) tries for the wall. Again. (Guess who dies?)

 

The Fifth Hour— The Center Cannot Hold

With the dwarf left lost, the dwarf center falls back south to protect its flank

from the approaching wargs and warg riders. To the north, the combined

cavalry charges the remaining goblin center.

The warden sends archers to the southern tower, but fails to man the

southwestern wall.

The skirmish is won...

The lone wargs in the center are shot down by the Master of Bows and elves.

To the north, the riders destroy the goblins and fall back towards the garrison.

But the Horde is undaunted...

The wargs charge, eliminate garrison cavalry, but trade one for one with the

men of the Westfold.

The next wave of the Horde advances in the center and the left, reaching the ford.

Warg riders approach the dwarves in center south, but fail the order to charge.

The Warden surveys his losses, and realizes his army is hanging on by a thread—

a two unit thread! (26 units lost towards a breaking point of 28 units.)

 The Sixth Hour— Back to the Garrison!

Give them a volley!

The archers in the western and southern towers turn the warg riders into

porcupines, driving them back to the ford. The archers in the north tower drive

the lone wargs back.

With the way cleared, the dwarves and the Westfold cavalry advance to the

safety of the garrison—  the relief column (or what's left of it) has finally

arrived... just in time to fully man the walls!

Now useless, the horde cavalry moves out of the way as the infantry
closes for the grand assault.

The Seventh Hour— The Last Sortie

The Final Sally

The Warden takes a risk, seeing an opportunity to perhaps crack the Horde's resolve.

He orders the dwarves to sortie from the gate, striking the goblin assault before it

can reach the wall...

The dwarves hew their enemies down, advance, pursue and hew again!

But the Weapons Master fears to press further...

... and pulls his dwarves back to the garrison, sealing the gates a final time.

This battle will be won or lost on the walls.

Approaching the walls...

Having watched the deadliness of the archers, the Goblin King orders the
warg riders to screen the assault force from the towers.

 The Final Hour— The Grand Assault!

The Warden is content to man his walls and wait—

But first the archers send the warg riders into confusion.

The great assault begins.

The goblins pour across the ford, raising ladders against the gate wall and

the western wall— will they overwhelm the men and elves?

Hail the Valar— the assault is repulsed!

The Goblin King is seized with dismay— his army is broken!
(61 units lost, with a breaking point of 57)

The clouds break, and the horde flees in panic.

The Garrison Triumphant!

Closing Thoughts

 This battle turned out to be a lot of fun. I think a few things became clear to me—
one is that the goblin infantry really have little or chance of taking the walls. They never even managed to inflict a single hit.
The Goblin King (okay, me) erred in not sending the giant against the gate, and in pulling back the Hill Trolls. Both could have either taken a wall or (in the case of the giant) breached the gate early on. By the time the trebuchet was in range of the fortress, there was no time left in the battle (I always use the eight turn limit, and holding the garrison meant victory for the good guys, regardless of anything else.) Losing the bats early hurt, too.

On the other hand, the Warden (also me) nearly blew it by mucking around across the ford. The elves could inflict damage, yes, but there was no way they could stand against the wargs and goblin cavalry. Staying there was death— the elves should have crossed the ford and blocked it up rather than forming long lines that could be assaulted en masse. Also, not simply rushing the relief column into the garrison was another mistake— if the relief column had made it safely inside, the wargs and warg riders would have been able do nothing to anyone in the fortress! So fighting them in the open was silly, and almost cost the Warden the battle. (I had only been casually keeping track of casualties, and then I tallied up what was going on and realized the garrison was but a handful of stands from the breaking point! Yikes!)

But all in all, as a solo game this turned out to be quite satisfying. I look forward to trying a scenario like this one again, maybe against an opponent more worthy than myself!

--- Howard