Battle Begins - Round 1

[tomcat]

It was not long after Durac's return to his line that the forces of Angmar commenced their attack. The Dúnedain upon the battlements, watched as the enemy broke out into units of roughly fifty warriors, each taking a position on the field. Easterling Archers formed up in a long line well within bowshot before the gates of Eldanar; to their right flank sat Durac and his cavalry. The remaining orc units marched forward as arrows flew from bows to rain down upon the men defending the improvised gates of Eldanar – the shafts sinking into wood and flesh.

Eradin watched from above, ordering a return fire from his own archers, but pleased to see that only one group of orcs could cross the bridge to his gates. Still, their numbers were great and they swarmed up over the barricades to engage his men and the battle was engaged.

The Dúnadan commander turned as a runner came upon him, "Commander, a gathering of orcs are maneuvering to the west side of the keep."

Lûnduf who had stood by spoke, "They must be looking for the way we had come in." He smiled a knowing smile, as he and some of the Men warriors had burnt the ivy off the side of the keep, "They will find the way fruitless!"

And with a wink, he hefted his axe and began to descend to the battle below - these Men would need help. "I have some necks to hew!"

OOC: I have uploaded the first round of combat on the front page of our site to test my hybrid combat system... it seems to work well. Tomorrow I will type out the rules I have genereated so that you all can understand what I am doing and participate.

[tomcat]

OOC:

Hello all!

Sorry for the delay in posts over the weekend but my funriture was just moved up from Florida and Beth and I have been very busy over the last three days. Anyway, I want to give you my hybrid combat system and how the characters will participate:

First, we will be using the Basic combat system from the CRB but it will be the tweaked version that I put together for our game a while back, but now tweaked again with the addition of maneouvres. I am allowing each side two maneouvres per round to help with their attack or support, or whatever. the maneouvres will be performed before the actual opposed Siege-craft (Unit Leadership) roll is made.

Like characters, Units are allowed 2 actions (combats) per round before they are penalized a cumulative -5.

I will be carrying out the actual battle on the Home page of our website - each combat round will be 1/2 hour. You guys will interact with your characters in the combat using the following rules:

1. Roll 1d3 to determine number of opponents around the character for that round and roll that many dice for the enemy attacks. This number will change every round giving the feel that enemies are moving around the character constantly - some may attack, some may not.

2. Enemies will roll 2d6 per attacker and hit on a die result of 1 or 2 for 2d6 damage minus any armor protection

3. The number of Enemy attackers above does not imply that that is all of the soldiers the character may attack on his turn. It implies that in the fray of combat, that is how many attackers took a swing at the character.

4. Characters then may roll 3d6 per round and will kill one enemy soldier per die based on the results of each die roll and their current Health/Weariness (consult the chart below)

5. The characters will skirmish two times for each Battle round and must make a Weariness Test TN 10 at the end of the two attacks. Character skirmishes will continue until the Battle is resolved. Skirmishes are considered simultaneous combat in regards to results

Healthy/Hale: 1-4
Dazed/Winded: 1-3
Injured/Tired: 1-3
Wounded/Weary: 1-2
Incapacitated/Spent: 1
Near Death: Cannot combat

Any questions, just ask...

PS - Matt, as I have been busy with moving my furniture in, I have not yet started the Hall of Fire issue for September. Also, the article I wanted to write for battling larger creatures... well, you wrote one already!  :wink: That was just what I was looking for in rules, so I have added them to our house rule thread and they will be applied from here forward.

[tomcat]

OOC:

Roll(1d6)+0: 3,+0 Total:3 - 2 orcs race up to Lunduf and attack

Lunduf is dazed so he will kill only on a 1-3... now rolls 3d6

Roll(3d6)+0: 5,2,4 - 1 kill

Orcs attack simultaneously:

Roll(2d6)+0: 4,6 - they miss

Lunduf climbed onto the piled wood that made up the improvised barricade, his axe in one hand, shield in the other. He hacked at the orcs as they scrambled up the other side cleaving into neck and limb. The Dunedain watched on as the stout Dwarf held the center all alone.

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: No problem Doug, I understand. I can't wait for the next issue, the Gundabad article I think is one of my best... if I would've had the time (and money LOL), it could've turned into something akin to the Moria supplement.

Oh well, I look forward to this battle unfolding... should prove quite interesting.

[Stefan]

Nain, not to be outdone, runs down the back of the battlement and follows him up on to the barricade, Axe in both hands ready to hew the orcs.

OOC: My only question is which rolls do I make and which ones do you make?

[tomcat]

OOC:

Hey Stefan, you can go ahead and roll them all twice for each round -

Roll first the # of orcs that are attacking you (1d3)

Then roll 3d6 for yourself and you will kill on the die number rolled based on the chart above.

Then roll 2d6 per enemy around you and they will hit you on a 1 or 2 for 2d6 damage minus armor

That will constitute 30 minutes of combat as the armies skirmish around you.

[tomcat]

Dirnhael woke up feeling refreshed. He could see that it was still late at night and all of his comrades were fast asleep, save Edrahil. The Sindar sat quietly to himself staring off into the darkness - watching for any potential threats. He turned as he heard the Dunadan stir and gave the Man a smile.

"You are awake," he said as DIrnhael came over to his side. "I fear we will be arriving at Eldanar with our Enemy outside its walls - hopefully not inside. I watched another large group moving along the road southbound."

"I must also tell you Dirnhael, I have had a vision... one of a wolf leading a pack. I believe it foretells of the return of the Easterling. The man who had confronted you on our road north a few weeks past. I must extend to you again... be wary of this one. I feel a great unease in my heart when I think of him."

With that Edrahil fell silent and only the pop of the small fire could be heard in the cold northern night. Far to the south, the two companions' Dwarven friends stood side by side over a broken gate trying to hold off an onslaught of orcs.

[sdrotar]

OOC: We aren't anywhere close to this, are we? Not that six people would make a huge difference, but will we arrive in time to help at all?

[tomcat]

OOC: You guys are a half day's ride to the castle. If you look at the Central map on the left control panel, you will see a point north of Eldanar that shows a 19 and a 22 next to it - this is where you guys are camping.

YOu guys can get to Eldanar in about 5 hours from here.

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: Is the time given the best we could hope to do or is that at standard pace?

[Stefan]

Ok, Combat Rolls

1d3: 3 (Great)
3d6: 1,4,5
I dont believe that I have any penalties atm so I hit on 1-4
2 Kills

2d6/enemy: 3,1,5,2,3,2
3 hits
Damage
(2d6)-7=3+5-7=1
(2d6)-7=1+2-7=0
(2d6)-7=4+3-7=0


2nd Action
1d3: 1
1d6: 4
1 Kill

2d6/enemy: 3,4
0 hits

That went a little better.

[tomcat]

OOC: Is the time given the best we could hope to do or is that at standard pace?

OOC: That would be a standard pace Matt, but you could reduce the time by about an hour by pushing the horses... remember though, Fengel currently carries Camentir.

--------------------------

Stefan... perfect on your rolls. Understand with all of that, it is just a way I can allow the characters to interact and give a feel like there is a lot of action going on around you (also to wound the characters as they might be in battle). The kills will count in the main melee, but it is also there to give the character a bit of bragging rights.  :wink:

So that you all know, I may introduce a captain or lieutenant or some other semi-major NPC that steps up to fight you. If that happens, I will let you know. In this case, we would revert to standard combat for your character.

Lastly, remember there are two character interaction rounds per each Battle round, so you will need to roll once more for each of the steps (including a new number of combatants - this implies that new enemy have stepped up to take their fallen's places, or perhaps even that some have backed off). I need to roll the second set for Lunduf myself.

Doug

PS - I have almost finished with all of my belongings being moved into my house (boxes are almost gone!!  :D ) so I will be getting our games back to a normal pace very soon and I apologize for the delays here.

[GandalfOfBorg]

As the group gets ready to race back to Eldanar, Durgil felt that they could move faster than they have been.  "From what I've noticed, Edrahil, is that you ride much lighter upon your horse than Men do.  I mean this as no slight to you, Fengel or your steed, but I think we could make better time if Lord Camentir rode with our elf-friend instead."

[tomcat]

I mean this as no slight to you, Kanaror or your steed, but I think we could make better time if Lord Camentir rode with our elf-friend instead."

OOC: Hey Matt, who is Kanaror? Is that your horse, or someone elses? I don't remember the name from anywhere. In saying that, I am not stifling any creative license on your parts as players, I just want to know so that I can include these kinds of flavour as the game progresses.

Doug

[GandalfOfBorg]

Sorry about that, was thinking of the similar character in my game at the time.  Its fixed.