The Quest for the Dwarven Ring-the Spider Queen

 

Viscious Beast meets the Warg Chieftain

The White Finger have come along way, literally and figuratively, from the 99 Point 6-man band of desperadoes that set out from Isengard, into a 320-point 15-man company of hardened veterans. Gorluk, at 100 points, is now a capable Captain, having gained 5 skills- Rally to me, Inspiring Presence, Lead by example, Battle veteran and Master of Battle. All good leadership skills. He has 3 might and has increased Fight, Strength, Attacks, Wounds, Defence and Courage. He is now equipped with heavy armour. I changed his figure to reflect this.

Gargul, at 90 points, has become a monster, a stone killer. He has increased Fight, Strength and 3 Attack, 2 Wounds and 3 Might. He wields a master forged two handed axe as if it were a pen knife and he has the skills Parry and Blade Master. He too has been replaced by a new figure bearing an axe.

The Battle Company have accrued a considerable store of initiative points with which they spend on increased armour for the scouts, a company banner which allows rerolls for courage checks and a pouch of healing herbs. 

I decided to add a scenario into the campaign 

 Gorluk leads his victorious band even further North deeper into the forest which becomes thicker with taller, older trees as they travel and darker and now, high in the tree tops above them, long trails of gossamer threads can be seen. Sticky white webs, and in them the scurrying forms of eight legged horrors. From somewhere in the dismal gloom, comes an eery howl.

 For centuries there has been a terror that haunts the depths of Mirkwood, giant spiders, all daughters of the one ancient Spider Queen. The forest is thick with their webs and they wait high in the trees to drop down on their prey.

Recently a pack of vicious wargs has moved into the area, driven perhaps by the relentless expansion of the Carrock and the axes of the woodsmen.

 

Layout

The board represents the dense forest of Mirkwood and should be covered in trees. There are six lairs each 6” in from the table edge and set at equal distances from each other to form a crude hexagon. I represented these with some trees that I have that have been “webbed” with kapok and PVA. I spread some thin Kapok (soft toy filling, available from Hobbycraft or kill a teddy) over all the trees, I found it works best if you stretch it really thin and drape it over them, to create that webby Halloween look.

Starting positions

The Battle Company enter from the Western side of the board. The Denizens of Mirkwood enter on their first turn as per the special rules

 Special Rules

The Company must cross the table and exit the opposite edge with at least 50% surviving in 10 turns

At the start of their turn roll a dice (d3) for the Denizens to see how many lairs are activated. The lairs are numbered 1-6 roll to see which lairs are activated. Roll on the chart to see which Denizens are activate

 1= 1 Warg

2=2 wargs

3 = 3 wargs

4= 1 giant spider

5=2 giant spiders

6=Spider Queen/Warg Chieftain

 

Foul Ichor of Mirkwood

Whenever one of the company move they must roll a d6 1= fouled in webs. They cannot move and if attacked are -1Duel roll and -1 strength. Next turn they may try to free themselves; they need to roll equal to or below their strength on a D6

Heroic Deed

Any model that slays either the Spider Queen or the Warg Chieftain gains an extra experience point

Rewards

1= a purse dropped by a previous adventurer 1-3 influence points

2=the Warg Chieftains pelt would make a good cloak for champion. One hero in the company may wear the Warg pelt, which causes Terror

3= the Battle Company leader gains a single point of Might Will or Fate

4=a small phial of blue elixir is found, it’s a powerful healing potion, do not make any injury rolls for the company

5= an ancient onyx amulet, when this is worn the wearer rerolls any wounds suffered, on a 6 the wound is ignored

6=a curiously shaped green stone on a leather thong, when worn around the neck, the owner may choose to reroll their priority dice

The web entangled trees of Northern Mirkwood, the company enters cautiously. I have no idea what is the best tactic to deal with this scenario. The Finger head out in a long line

 

Its not long before some members of the company become entangled in the sticky webs. Do I press on with the others or stay and protect those that are trapped?

I did a bit of both

The Wargs attack!

The Wargs move fast and  soon surround the Uruks 

No sooner had the Uruks shook off the webs and kiled the attackers before they were tangled up and attacked again

Mayhem ensued 

When this happens it’s the highest fighting skill that wins

Fortunately for the Finger they usually had the edge

When you start playing this game the fighting skill doesn't seem that important.Essentailly the highest fight value wins drawn duels.The fact is that with opponents using might and attributes to boost dice rolls, a lot of duels end up as draws and a high fight value becomes crucial

The Warg Chieftain! He’s quite a handful, not least because he causes terror and requires a courage test to charge.

He has impressive stats and Heroic Strength and Heroic March

 

Gargul v the Warg Chieftain

The Warg got a few bites in but Gargul proved to be the worst monster and got himself a new Warg skin cloak.

The Spider Queen and her brood performing a flanking attack

The spiders were actually quite easy to kill, although they did take out a couple of Uruks with their poisonous fangs.

I ran this scenario 3 times. The first time it was too easy. I have never used the spiders before and had thought them to be much tougher than they actually are, they have a defence of 3! Initially I only had few wargs, but each time I played I increased the number. Then I rolled d6 instead of d3 on the table, that helped. The third time I had decided that if the Queen and the Chieftain had not made an appearance, they would both automatically enter on turn 5. I also ruled that once the Queen was dead there would be no more rolls for spiders and likewise for the Chieftain and the Wargs.

The third game was very much the best. 7 Uruks got injured, one died. The Queen and the Chieftain both died on the same turn which pretty much ended the game.

I enjoyed writing this scenario almost as much as did playing it and it has given me an idea for another one . The poor White Finger ,they have no idea what lies ahead of them Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa!