The Battle of Carn Vorn, Part 1

 Hiya buddies, here is a battle report that took place earlier this year in February(?). Better late than even later, eh?  

With the recent disaster in Moria, the Cthulhic Invasion of Middle Earth had begun. (see Battle of Hollin Gate here: http://mars-miniatures.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-battle-of-hollin-gate-part-1.html) Mortimer the Brown's team took a beating and are recuperating and busily preparing the defenses of Rohan. So it is up to his fellow Istari Wizard, Balthazar the Blue to step up and investigate rumors of cultist activity in the forests of Carn Vorn. The last thing the nations of the West need are local sources of belligerents that the tentacled invaders can conscript from. Better to nip these pesky cultists before they become active insurgents...

Left to Right: Mordecai the Butler, Malekith the Dark Paladin, Prince Arioch of the Grey Havens,  Adeline the torch bearer, Balthazar the Blue, Lenore the Valkyrie, Karnov the Barbarian, McGirk the sellsword

Being the newly formed and untested junior varsity team, they are anxious to prove their mettle.

Adeline: *leading the chant* We're Number Two! We're Number Two!

Balthazar the Blue: Yeah, great. Celebrate mediocrity.

With the team are sent these redshirt henchmen. "To do and die and not question why" is their motto.

Rohan Archer #1: I dont like that motto, in fact I am wondering why the Breelanders or House Stark arent investigating this area. This forest is as close to them as it is to us?

 

Left to Right: River Troll, Green Slaad, Owlbear, Eye-dea the Beholder, and Orc cultists behind them

And a glimpse of the monsters hunting our heroes. There is something strange about the River Troll, Green Slaad, and Owlbear. Have they been magically transformed or mutated somehow?

Eye-dea the Beholder seems to be the ringleader here and the Orc cultists are his minions. He is a young Beholder as far as Beholders go. And his full powers havent fully matured. Beholder puberty. Yuck!

Overhead view of the hero player's setup and defense.

The villain player decides that the South and West board edges are his deployment and reinforcement zones. The hero players take that into account as they setup their traps, a makeshift wall, and their deployment. Seems like they setup an "Alamo" area in the North East corner to fall back to if necessary.

 ~~~

THE BATTLE OF CARN VORN

Summary
The White Tower has sent the newest adventuring team to the forest of Carn Vorn in Minhiriath to investigate the disappearance of woodcutters in the area. Is it environmental cultists (terrorists) protesting against Rohan's unsatiated need for more and more natural resources? As the heroes enter the heart of the forest, they realize they are being hunted by forces unknown. Balthazar the Blue, leader of the expedition, decides to create a trap for the "predators". Who is the hunter and who the hunted?
The heroes: "There's something out there and it aint no man. I want a defensive position on this ridge, trapped with everything you got."
The villains: "You too can stop forest genocides!"

Board Setup
- Before setup starts, villain chooses 2 board edges that enemy reinforcements will be coming from. (1 long and 1 short edge)
- Both players alternate placing up to 4 terrain pieces each: a tree, shrub, or rock but not within 4" of each other or board edge.
- Hero player then places one wall terrain piece anywhere on board without a distance restriction from other terrain.
- Hero player sets up 3 trap tokens secretly hidden under terrain pieces. The hero player decides when trap is sprung, once at least one enemy is within 6" of it.
- Spike-Traps: cause 1 damage each on up to 3 enemies.
- Strangle-Vines: cause Immobilized effect on up to 3 enemies. Affected figures must pass a Resolve test at start of its turn to remove Immobilized effect.
- Slumber-Spores: cause Sleep effect on up to 3 enemies. Affected figures will wake once attacked or woken by adjacent friendly figure (action to wake)

Deployment
- Heroes may deploy anywhere on board. The heroes also receive 8 human followers: archers or knights.
- No villains are deployed at start.

Reinforcements
Turn 1 - River Troll & 2 orcs
Turn 2 - 2 orcs
Turn 3 - Slaad Troll & 2 orcs
Turn 4 - 2 orcs
Turn 5 - Owl Troll & 2 orcs
Turn 6 - Eyebeast

Special Rules
- Adeline's Torch will stop a Troll's Regeneration ability once she wounds it.

Victory Conditions
- Game ends once a victory condition is met:
- Hero victory: Eliminate the 3 Troll brutes and the Eyebeast.
- Villain victory: Eliminate all 6 heroes (not counting followers)

 The game begins! 

A River Troll and 4 Orcs arrive in the South East corner.

River Troll: Ok my teal colored Orc minions...  like the Beach Boys said we gotta shut them up and shut them down.

Adeline and Lord Arioch go to investigate.

Lord Arioch: Lets go investigate! A kiss for good luck?

Adeline: Id rather not, Balthazar says you have mono.

Balthazar senses the presence of more "Troll-ish" creatures approaching.

Balthazar the Blue: I sense a disturbance in the Force... as if more terrible monstrosities roared in anger and hunger. Yes... they are quite "hangry".

Its a Green Slaad and 2 Orcs who arrive in the South East corner. They are massing in that corner of the board!

Green Slaad: "Wow" is the word you're looking for. Prepare to be amazed!

Where is the River Troll?  The Orcs accompanying him close in on Prince Arioch and Adeline.

Malekith brings an archer and knight to help reinforce the South East corner.

Malekith the Dark Paladin: *chanting a death dirge* I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter. Dancing through the fire.'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar. Louder, louder than a lion. Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

 Knight: *looks at Archer* Im not sure how I feel about his choice of song... 

Archer: You'd think as a Dark Paladin that he'd use some type of metal. But no, he subverts our expectation and uses cringe pop. Frankly though... it makes me even more frightened of him.

Where are the bigger creatures... hiding? 

No they arent hiding, they are biding their time! Waiting for more reinforcements and when enough force has been gathered, they will pour forth like a deluge, a tsunami of unstoppable monstrosities! Our heroes and their henchmen are stretched out in a line. It seems the monsters are concentrating their power on that flank and plan to destroy the hero forces piecemeal! So, now that the heroes suspect the enemy plan, should they hurry to reinforce that flank. Or perhaps the monsters wait for the heroes on the western board to move and then have reinforcements pop up in that sector? Oh what to do?

Balthazar the Blue: What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power? They're animals!

In the meantime, the Orcs begin their assault on the heroes.

Get some!

Next post: The Battle of Carn Vorn continues in part 2!