Leaving strict instructions to the Hobbits not to light a fire Aragorn has left the halflings hiding in the ancient hilltop ruin Weathertop.
Of course they light a fire and start cooking some sausages.
The evil player moved his Nazgul forward and tried to cast some spells. Drain courage, sap will, black dart. All resisted or failed to wound.
On the second turn Aragorn promptly arrived whilst the Nazgul closed in. More spells were resisted and the Nazgul were driven back by the hobbits bearing flaming brands. Merry threw a rock hitting the witch king . He rolled a six to wound but the second roll failed against such a high defence.
At this point two Nazgul were able to close in against Frodo. Instill fear, immobilise and black darts were all once again resisted by the hobbits though Sam did lose a point of courage. Frodo of course beat all his foes and pushed them back.
Meanwhile Aragorn defeated the Witch King in a duel.
Soon Aragorn was able to rescue a beleaguered Frodo and the Nazgul faded from lack of will. However Frodo had lost some points that he was unable to regain before the next scenario. Due to his heroic performance Aragorn regained all his points.
Harry Goatleaf gets a surprise as four Mounted Ringwraiths burst through the gates. Aragorn and Barliman usher the hobbits out of the inn at the dead of night hoping to escape before the Nazgul arrive. Bree. The Nazgul are searching and can only spot their prey at 12 with an unobstructed view.One rider tries to ride Harry down as the other three race towards the inn. Harry defeats the black rider and strikes him down with his dagger despite the heavy armour. Nazgul have only one wound so that leaves just three remaining on turn one! The Nazgul rolled double one and then Harry a 6/4 to wound using a might point.All the Nazgul fail the roll to move so are instead moved by Good. Interestingly he decides they are enraged by the defeat on their comrade and turn back to deal with the upstart Harry. This fight will cost them each a will point and delay the search. Harry is horribly struck down suffering six wounds. Meanwhile the heroes escape out of sight to the rear of the inn.They are nearly there , to the western gate. Two Of the Nazgul are finally able to move under the direction of the evil player and charge towards the inn. The third looks for any more gatekeepers! The first turn our heroes are obscured by the inn and the outhouse so remain hidden !Finally they spot their prey and using dark spells compel the ring bearer to turn back. Butterbear goes to give the first a piece of his mind and Aragorn leads the hobbits in a counterattack. The Nazgul in desperation have fallen into a trap. With Aragorn fight six and completely surrounded the second Nazgul is defeated when two hobbits leap onto its back with cries of for Harry Goatleaf whilst Aragorn distracts it to the front.
The third Nazgul is now very low on will and even though the fourth rider soon arrives and uses compel spell to force Pippin back still he blocks the way to the ring bearer. Barliman holds the southern most rider back again and it is in danger of dissipating but instead he defeats it when it tries to chase down the run bearer. Calling heroic moves when required Aragorn is able to keep the heroes moving towards the western gate . They escape leaving the final rider behind. Another victory for the Good player.
We started the day in true Hobbit style with a picnic at our local Long Barrow on the edge of the Downs. Fantastic place. Good had never visited a Barrow before so very informative.
The hobbits cluster together in the Fog. The 4 wights leave their barrows in search of sacrifices.
Merry wanders off of course in the fog and is swiftly paralyzed and dragged back to the NW barrow.
Meanwhile the other 3 Wights descend onto the the 3 Hobbits who all successfully resist their dark spells. They then close to combat but are driven off by the brave halflings!
Good rolled a 6 for the First chance of Tom’s arrival and then the same for Goldberry later. Tom banishes the NW Wight and sets to Renew the hapless Merry. Just in time before the sacrificial knife could be plunged!
With Tom and Goldberry both on the map and the fog lifted things were looking better for the Hobbits. Despite the best efforts of the Wights to slay Frodo and Sam and drag the now paralysed Pippin away.
Goldberry and Tom soon were able to wake Pippin (Renew) and then distract the Wights whilst Frodo, Sam and Merry made their escape. Yes that is indeed a wound that Sam managed to place on a Wight with a mighty blow from his frying pan!
Well done Good player yet again. Safe and sound and ready for Bree.
Well this was a strange encounter indeed. Pippin was struck unconscious early on and failed to rouse. However the other hobbits were able to push back the trees and make their way to the safety of Tom Bombadil.
The Hobbits began in the centre whilst the Nazgul chose to split up- one to the North, One in the centre and one to the South. The sentries all randomly moved in the wrong directions except the Northern one who did not move the first 3 turns.
The Hobbits where able therefore to carefully thread their way along the centre path sticking to cover and evade the sentries till they reached the edge of the woods. They could see Ferry waiting across the open ground. However at that point the Northern sentry (rolled a 6) and finally moved towards pippin and was able to raise the alarm- alerting all the others. Middle and Northern sentry converged towards the hobbits. They cast Transfix successfully on Frodo! Then they had initiative and were about to pounce when Good called a Heroic Move and evading their grasp! They cast Black Bolts on Frodo and wounded him twice. He used all his fate and was down to his last wound.
The Hobbits tried to shield him but black darts ignore in the way! They boarded the ferry but it only moved 1 inch the first two turns. The Nazgul tried to force their way onto the Ferry pushing Merry back whilst Sam held off the other. Using their last essence of will as the Ferry drifted away they hurled black darts again at Frodo but he resisted with a 6!
The last Nazgul arrived but Frodo was now hiding out of sight in the bottom of the Ferry and he failed to inflict more damage as Sam resisted his command / compel. The Hobbits had all made it ashore and raced along the road to safety.
Once again our brave hobbits are about. They enter the woods unaware they are being hunted by the Ringwraiths. Fortunately the great elven hero Gildor Inglorion is out patrolling the woods at the same time.
Gildor decides to meet the Ringwraith head on. A blood curdling cry alerts the other two as Gildor charges the first. Sam has also split off looking for trouble and watches in fascination as the elf charges the dread foe. Meanwhile Frodo and Pippin run for the exit.
Gildor resists the Ringwraith’s Transfix and charges again and again despite the Cry of the Nazgul. Another Nazgul spots the two fleeing hobbits and hurls a black dart at Pippin but misses. Frodo was just obscured enough by a tree to be invisible.
Gildor defeats the Nazgul who dissipates through lack of will and attacks the second. It attempts to Transfix Frodo but he resists and then Sam hurls himself at it. He takes a wound but has kept it delayed long enough for Frodo the Ringbearer to escape. Gildor attacks it and it dissipates having spent its power on dark spells.
One last Ringwraith chases futilely after the hobbits but Gildor blocks the way in the dying light.
wargamesdiary 