Battle of Mander's Hill

An Anarendor Battle

Inspired by Bob Cordery's boxed portable wargame, I ordered a couple of Tuff boxes. They arrived on Friday so I began putting together my own box.

I'm taking a slightly different approach, using miniatures and terrain. My battlefield is 8 by 8 1 inch squares.

I decided to test it, and complete a 6 x 6 Challenge game by playing a fantasy battle set in Anarendor. I'm using my WISER rules. Units are 1 stand each, and I tweaked the rules a bit to account for that.

The Battle
Following up after their victory at Merridale, the Dark Lord's forces pressed relentlessly deeper into Anarendor. A unit of rangers and militia took a stand upon a ridge (with the rangers upon Mander's Hill).

Rangers are on the right

With a wood blocking a direct route to the hill, the enemy forces swung wide.

Before they even came to grips, reinforcements arrived, including more rangers and a unit of the King's Royal Infantry.

A band of giant spiders attack the rangers on the hill.

They are routed, but more evil forces appear.

More militia arrive to bolster the Anarendorian ranks. The orc warbands rush up the slopes of Mander's Hill.

An orc warband pushes the militia off the ridge (center of the line).

Then the Iron Legion attacks the Royal Infantry.

The orcs rout two units and swarm up the hill. The Royal Infantry stands alone.

But they hold out stalwartly as a unit of rangers showers the orcs with arrows. A warband breaks.

A militia unit gains the top of the ridge and comes to the aid of the Royal Infantry.

They break the warband. On the Anarendorian left (the picture's right), orcs break some militia before they are destroyed by ranger arrows.

The Iron Legion tries to gain the hill.

 But now heavily outnumbered, the forces of evil are cut down.

Utterly routed, the forces of the Dark Lord slink back to their hideouts in the Bleak Mountains.

Days later, as the news reaches the capital, bells ring in celebration. In particular, the king recognized the brave Royal Infantry that held the hill despite the odds. From then on, their unit were to be known as The Stalwarts.

Game Notes

• With this victory, the forces of good are up 3-1, and thus secure a victory in the campaign.
• I now have completed 2 fantasy games for the 6 x 6 Challenge. I will start a new campaign to get in the last 4.
• The scenario is # 8 - Melee, from Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames. The objective is to hold the hill at the end of 15 turns. The Iron Legion was still alive but unable to take the hill by turn 15. I went 1 additional turn in order to destroy them and create a satisfying ending.
• I used my WISER rules for the most part. Units could only take 2 hits, however. I compensated by halving any damage.
• I would say that my experiment with a boxed portable wargame was very successful. Initially, I worried that the battlefield would feel too small. However, I actually liked that units took up most of the space. The boxed version made set-up and take-down very easy. This may become my most common method of gaming!