Elven Battle Company - Mission 2 Battle Report

Mission 2!

I stole the idea for this mission from Don's very excellent series of Battle Company reports that you can watch here on YouTube: OSBGL Battle Report.

Ithilgalad and her team travel north to locate the missing Hobbit and his friends. Travelling through the woodlands they make excellent time due to their woodland skills. After a few days they hear shouts off in the distance!

The missing adventurers mentioned by the Hobbit in the pub have put together a hasty barricade and it is under attack by some Ruffadrim! Some of the scruffy men continue their back and forth attack at the makeshift defences while the others note the bright white horse and head down to investigate. (These guys won't actually participate in the battle as they're all tied up with the adventurers.)

With their woodland skills, the Elves decide to use the terrain to their advantage and head into some rough ground. (They get full movement in rough terrain rather than half - except for the horse, which is slowed right down until Ithilgalad gets some bonus rules.)

The three Elven archers take aim at the incoming Ruffadrim and launch their shots. The accurate Elven archery swiftly claims two victims, one Ruffadrim...

And one horse! The only mounted enemy is de-horsed! (Well that was my attempt at making the mission at least a little difficult!)

The arrows from the Ruffadrim continually bounce and ricochet off Celeb-galadh's armour plating. He took arrow after arrow as the Wood Elves have Elven Cloaks and can't be fired at while obscured by scenery - making the Galadhrim the prime targets!)

Col-galadh and Ecthel-galadh charge forward and Col-galadh wins the battle due to his fighting prowess (won on a tie!). One more Ruffadrim spearman goes down! (In this mission, to increase the difficulty a little at a time for my son, I let these guys use their spears and bows, along with the arrow poison.)

Ithilgalad boldly spurs Legrinsul forward and smashes down two more Ruffadrim, narrowly winning the duel, knocking them to the ground with the momentum of her steed and then striking both of them down!

The Elven archers continue whittling down the enemy before they can get into close combat, thanks to the rough woodland terrain! (The poor Ruffadrim move at half speed in the rough terrain and the archers managed to pepper most of them before they could get into close combat!)

Col-galadh continues his relentless march forward, Ecthel-galadh ably assisting him with some spear support!

At this point the Ruffadrim are losing men rapidly and the elves have yet to take any injuries! Those attacking the adventurer party are starting to cast nervous glances around!

The last evil man in the south puts up a terrific fight, winning against the three elven archers and pushing them back temporarily, but failing to wound any, before they gang up on him again and this time strike him down.

Col-galadh's cockatoo swoops in to help trap another Ruffadrim, ready for Ithilgalad to strike down from horseback. However, the two remaining Ruffadrim archers shoot into the combat! One of them takes out their own trapped companion! The other manages to roll many sixes and wounds Col-galadh!

But it's too little, too late and the remaining Ruffadrim leg it, chased by arrows as they scurry away!

And the Elven team meets up with the adventurers, who are very grateful for the save and contribute resources to Ithilgalad's cause - allowing her to attain a Rallying Horn (which gives plus one to rolls for reinforcements).

Col-galadh makes a full recovery, though is becoming annoyed at the taunts from his friends given that he doesn't seem to be able to make it through a mission without being knocked out (he has failed all of his Fate rolls!

The adventurers confess that they have received a treasure map, but that they may be underprepared for the task and offer the map to Ithilgalad if she grants them a finders fee if she is successful in obtaining the treasure! Sounds like more missions are in the future!