Mines of Moria scenarios, part one

The Hive Queen and I tried out the first couple of scenarios in the Mines of Moria boxed set, which is an intro game for Lord of the Rings. This has some things in common with most other Games Workshop games, and a few things that differ. So far, it seems fun.

The first difference is in the turn sequence. 40K and Fantasy players are familiar with the "I go/ You go" system, in which the first player moves, shoots, fights, and then the second player moves, shoots, and fights. For LOTR, the player with "priority" (in most scenarios, this is the Good player) moves, then the second player moves; the "priority" player shoots, then the second player shoots; the "priority" player picks a fight to resolve, and so on. Finally, there is a roll-off for priority, which goes to the high roll, or switches hands in case of a tie.

The alternating phases can bring some surprises for 40K and Fantasy players, as the player with "priority" may move to line up shots, only to have the second player move to spoil them and line up shots of his own. Shooting is done similarly to most GW styles (and again, Hive Queen had some frustration as it was familiar to her to move, then start shooting only to be told, "nice shot, but it's not your turn to shoot yet!"), while rolling to wound and making armor saves have been combined into a single roll, with Toughness and Armor becoming a single stat called Defense.
The old GW rolls of 7, 8, and 9 are back, as weak creatures may need a 6, followed by a 4+ or higher, to wound particularly tough or well-armored opponents. Also, bows are not particularly Strong, so that they rarely seem to wound, which can be frustrating: our first match ended with the Fellowship standing at point blank range from a goblin, with Aragorn and the goblin shooting at each other, each maniacally praying to both Hit and Wound. By the end of it, they must have been picking up each other's spent arrows to shoot back at each other.

In the boxed scenarios, one cannot shoot at a target unless it is a clean shot, unobstructed by any other model or terrain-- this also led to real frustration for the Hive Queen, as I'd make sure to keep those four bunched-up goblins from all being able to shoot at their choice targets. In the full game, this is less of a problem, as you can shoot past obstacles (or friendly models, if you're Evil), and just have to make a 4+ roll to pass each obstacle.

Scenario one requires the entire Fellowship to cross the board and exit through the door at the far end (conveniently, the size of the battlefield for the boxed scenarios is the size of the inside of the game's box lid, so if you've got the mins and terrain in the box, you have a travel set). Evil wins if it can kill any of the Fellowship. Since the non-hobbits all have more than one Wound each, and since only Legolas and Aragorn get to shoot in this scenario, it's sensible to shepherd the little guys along behind the cover of the big'uns. Good won in both trials, but we may go back to this one with the full rules once we know the game better.

The second scenario puts Aragorn in the middle of the board, an oblong room with pillars down the middle, needing to exit alive through the door in the middle of the far wall. Eight goblins are split between each end of the field, and win if they can kill Aragorn. This one ended quickly, when Aragorn moved out of cover and was charged first by two goblins, then by all the rest.

Fighting in LOTR is done by first moving into base to base with an opponent, who may no longer move once contacted. He can't shoot, either. Attackers on each side roll dice equal to the number of Attacks they have (in the first round, 3 for Aragorn, and 2 for the 2 goblins). Roll those dice, and the side that rolls the highest die wins. If there's a tie, compare the Fight statistic to break the tie. The loser is knocked back 1" or 2cm, and the winners score their full number of Attacks against him, rolling their Strength vs their victim's Defense. Aragorn luckily avoided being wounded in the first round, but Evil got priority in the second turn, and moved first, surrounding him completely, or Trapping him (a Very Bad Thing Indeed).

Remember that the loser gets knocked back (a rule you'll find all the way back in Rogue Trader, btw). Well if he's surrounded or can't move back, then he is Trapped and takes double the nromal number of hits. So in the second turn, there was poor little Strider, taking 12 Strength 3 hits, that needed 5+ to wound, and while the six goblins had to move back themselves (because this 1cm gap always has to be established at the end of combat), there was no way for him to move past them to get clear in his next move phase even if he did survive. Down went Strider, and we called it a night.

In the full game, Aragorn could have used his Might to adjust his dice (making him more likely to win combats and to Wound), and to call for Heroic Actions, moving out of sequence, Fighting more than one combat in a turn, using the Flame of the West to Wound more easily, etc. In the boxed set, this second scenario seems to be there to hammer home that wandering off on your own on the battlefield is suicide.

We'll let you know how the next scenarios play out in the next installment.