Scouring the Woods - LOTR SBG Battle Report

As a way to showcase a couple of figures that are kind of unique, I set up a little game that involved a Viking forage party scouring the woods of Vinland for some much needed supplies. Who knew what they would find!

Scenario:

A Viking captain and 8 of his men are out in the woods looking for forage. They start off on their edge of the table. Placed around the table are 6 stands of trees that can be explored. To explore a stand of trees, a Viking must be in contact with it. They then roll a D6 with the following results:

1- nothing there!

2- 2 skraeling warriors!

3- 3 skraeling warriors!

4- 4 skraeling Warriors!

5- a monstrous bear!

6- food!

The bear is a terrifying enemy and a courage test must be passed by each soldier attempting to charge it. The bear is everyone's enemy and charges whatever is closest.

To be victorious, the Vikings simply have to get one piece of food and get it off of their table edge. 

To keep things interesting, there is a 10 man skraeling Warband on the prowl as well. 

Above you can see the initial set up. The Vikings are on the left and the skraeling Warband is on the right.

The Viking captain is a Gripping Beast MacBeth figure. He is hoping to prove himself on this day.

The chief and his men are all CP models. They will defend their lands from these white devils!

On the first turn, the Vikings discover two skraelings lurking in the woods. 

The captain dispatches the first with ease, but the second proves more stubborn. 

Three Vikings stay behind to deal with the lone skraeling while the captain splits his remaining men into two groups. His panic starts to rise as he hears war cries in the distance. Each group heads towards another copse of trees as the Warband sprints towards them. The three skraeling archers break to the right and their arrows begin to flicker through the trees towards the exposed vikings.

The second wood explored is a bad one for the Vikings. Leaves explode into the air as four skraelings throw themselves from the undergrowth onto the Vikings. 

As the Vikings in the center deal with the skraeling ambush, the warband moves closer to the men on the right.

                

The combat goes poorly for the Vikings, with one man on each side falling.

With the skraeling warband closing in, the Viking captain consolidates his men. He hopes that his better armed troops will be able to defeat all of the skraelings in one shot and then be free to explore the rest of the table. 

On the left, the archers take careful aim and drop both Vikings that were in their sights! Whooping with victory they head towards the melee in the center.

The skraeling chief screams a bloodcurdling cry as his men crash into the Viking mob.

The gods are with the skraelings today as their stone weapons clobber MacBeth and two of his men to death.

The remaining Vikings are surrounded and cut down to a man. It looks like the camp will go hungry for another day!

As the warriors celebrate their victory they head a mighty roar behind them.. 

A huge bear bursts from the woods! It was disturbed by the sounds of fighting and has come to investigate the smell of fresh blood.

The three archers are closest and are quickly charged by the bear.

They are all lucky to survive  the remaining natives move to surround the bear.

An archers is caught by a massive claw and throne to the ground.

Natives flee every direction as a brave few take on the beast again.

With a roar heard for miles the bear slays three warriors with one swipe of his paw!

Despite being constantly surrounded the bear manages to shrug off the native spears.

The natives begin to lose heart and flee. There is no killing this beast!

With a final mighty shout the chief clubs the bear on the nose, killing him in one combat! The skraelings have had a day to remember!