Ran six games at Little Wars this year centered around Balin's Expedition to Moria. I was able to take a few photos while running the games, but unfortunately I didn't manage more than a handful during the long weekend.
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Ran two games each of three scenarios: Battle for the First Hall, Goblintown Raid and Last Stand of the Dwarves. Below, Balin's division climbs the stairway into First Hall while Oin's division guards the bridge behind them. On the far right, Floi leads the Iron Hammers up Durin's Causeway.
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A closer view of Durin's Causeway. The causeway was still intact at this time and provided a back way into the Chamber of Marzabul (at least in this version of Moria) Floi's boys managed to drag a ballista up the stairs as well.
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Here's a side view of the First Hall, the largest piece of level ground on the board. In the first game, the goblins managed to whittle down Balin's Khazad Guard, hitting it from three sides with goblins, spiders and wargs to eke out the win. In the second game, the dwarves did much better, committing fewer resources to the bridge and wiping out most of the goblins the First Hall. Melees up here tended to be very linear, almost like fighting an ancients battle.
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The Goblintown Raid scenarios proved to be a bit more dynamic, with two dwarven players fighting two goblin players on one end of the board and two opponents squaring off on the other side.
Here, in the center, Balin's Khazad Guard assaults the main bridge into Goblintown being defended by Durburz and the Moria Black Shields. In the foreground, two units of Vault Guards attack the lair of Gorbag's Tunnel Rats.
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Both games proved to be very near things. In the first, Durin, lacking support from the flank attack, was unable to pierce the goblin defense. Goblin archery, usually notoriously ineffective, helped to carry the day.
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In the second, the dwarven flankers managed to get through a screening defense of spiders and wargs, reaching the back steps into Goblintown, surrounding the Black Shields on the last turn and killing them to the man. Er, goblin.
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On the other end, Floi's Division managed to punch through the trolls, spiders and bats guarding the mines to stage a final attack on the Blood Shields, who were guarding the dwarven treasure room. (Yeah, I know, the photo really didn't really capture the action.)
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Had great players in all of the games. GW's War of the Ring (OOP) is a great mass combat ruleset: simple movement, easy to understand concepts. I boiled down some of the melee elements a bit since it was a convention setting, but overall everything seemed to work pretty well. The guys below played a particularly good Goblintown game.
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Hoping to run the thing again at Rock-Con this November. Planning a new scenario, Goblin Wars, which will involve the denizens of Moria fighting for supremacy in the wake of the dwarven defeat. Already printed up a spider queen and some cave drakes for the occasion. Hope to see you there!
