Return of the Goblin King Campaign Log

Our 2011 Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game campaign has drawn to a close, and Middle-Earth is set for woe...

Return of the Goblin King

A Campaign of Good vs Evil in Middle-Earth

The Encroaching Darkness

It's been quite some time since the darkness has pressed in around the elven lands west of Mordor.  The last time there were stirrings of evil, a ringwraith known as the Goblin King threatened to return to the darkness of Dol Guldur and bring forth the armies of Sauron.  Now that the Wise know of the Necromancer's presence in the Hill of Sorcery, provisions have been made against his return.

Now, it seems those provisions weren't made in vain.

The Goblin King has returned at the head of vast hordes of orcs and evil men who have somehow traversed the darkness of Mordor and have begun raiding the lands to the west.  In the Last Homely House, Elrond of Rivendell has given the order to mobilize.  Those elf-lords who still have the heart to fight have mustered there, and messengers have been dispatched to those folk whom they believe may aid their cause.

Among men, Rangers from Gondor and a few warriors loyal to continued safety of the Riddermark have traveled to the woods near Rivendell and Mirkwood to battle this threat to their spirits.  However, their enemies are many - goblins, orcs and evil men from Harad are counted amongst the forces of evil, and battle will soon be joined.

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The campaign will consist of a round robin for each player.  Each player will fight each enemy team member once during the campaign in a 1 on 1 battle.  

Further, there will be an equal number of 2-player team games.  Each team has been divided into 4 teams, and each team will fight each enemy team once during the campaign in a 2 on 2 battle.

Lastly, there will be two 4 player team events in which the entire team will fight the entire enemy team.

Games will be a random size between 300 and 1000 pts, determined by a d6 roll on the Game Size Table.

All wins, losses and draws will be kept track of per player and per team.  If a players team wins a team game, both players on that team score wins and both players on the defeated team accrue losses.

To win the campaign, a look must be taken at influence.  Campaign influence accrues as you fight battles, and is simply the percentage of victories a given party has.  There are three kinds of influence you can accrue.  They are, in no particular order:

• Personal Player Influence
• 4 Player Team Influence (Good or Evil)
• 2 Player Team Influences (Each player will be involved in 2 of these teams)

Good or Evil Influence at the top tier will determine the campaign victors for the narrative.  The team that has the highest 4 Player Team Influence wins the campaign.  2 Player Team Influences can severely change the narrative, and Personal Player Influence will determine our actual placings for the Wargate Campaign Awards.

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Game Size Table

            d6 Roll             1 player                 2 player                      Team 

              1-2                    300 pts           250 pts each               250 pts each 

              3-4                    500 pts           400 pts each               300 pts each

                5                     750 pts            500 pts each              400 pts each 

                6                     1000 pts          600 pts each              500 pts each     

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Campaign Record

All teams have lost the campaign.  All Influence has been reduced to 0% for all sides!

This means that Middle-Earth remains in the grip of constant fear of war, and the Free Peoples are helpless to do anything about it!  Scouts from Rohan and warriors from Rivendell are powerless to stop orcs and fouler creatures from rampaging past the walls of Mordor!

Likewise, the Dark Lord's armies are stymied.  Unable to convene forces from Rhun and Harad due to the meddling of men and elves, he waits and builds his strength in secret.  Soon, Easterlings and Southrons will attempt to spill into Gondor, but the first portions of the armies have been diverted.

Next year, we'll seal the deal with a fully developed campaign to help direct the points of attack against the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth!

Lord of the Rings: Return of the Goblin King Commences!

Back again to Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game!  It's been almost a year since we closed the last Middle-Earth battle campaign, and this years campaign is going to be ten times as awesome as last years!  Who said that Lord of the Rings is dying off?  Ringwraiths will never die, and to prove that the Wargate's Fall campaign will focus on team games in a way we haven't really explored before!

Continuing the narrative from last year, Rivendell and the lands of the West have been peaceful for many years.  However, a stirring of darkness has issued forth from the East, and a vast and silent army of raiders have slipped into the quiet lands.  The Wise know that the ringwraith approaches, but don't realize the amount of hidden soldiers Dol Guldur has summoned...including a band of Haradrim, who have journeyed to Dol Guldur on a sacred mission of servitude to Sauron.

You can check out the campaign page in the State of Play, now active here on the site.  We'll be updating the Influence track there weekly, so everyone can stay abreast of what's going on in Middle-Earth.  We have around 12 weeks to finish this campaign, and all Influence accrued will be final on that date, so make sure to get as many battles as you can in!

That might be a heroic feat, since we'll be having two huge wargames campaigns going!  Never fear however, as we'll be keeping long hours get those battles in!

Over the last year, we've come to understand that our club likes a certain kind of campaign.  The limit is on time, and a set number of battles will be played to help organize the chaos.  We've found this keeps the campaign rolling, and usually we finish up right before the time limit is crossed.  We'll be keeping in mind the time limit as we create new campaigns, but this campaign will be a good test of how many games we can get in that period of time since it represents one battle each for each opponent combination of players and teams.

Influence (win percentage) is likely a concept we'll be seeing in future campaigns, as it is simple to compute and elegant in representation.  We're trying a few new ways to incorporate Influence as a solid campaign mechanic in this go around, so give us some feedback on how you think it's working as the campaign progresses.

Arrive early on Sunday and get in a battle or two!

Oh Ringwraith, where art thou?

Elrond's refuge at Rivendell is often called the Last Homely House, so-called due to the fact that it is the last civilized area a traveler to the east is to find before crossing the Misty Mountains into Rhovanion. It is sometimes also called the First Homely House, for travelers coming into the West. It is also home to a great many elves of many different houses. Elrond Halfelven himself could reasonably claim lineage from all three houses in Middle-Earth.

The elves of Rivendell, along with their allies the Rangers of Gondor and the Riders of Rohan, have completely defeated the Nazgul known as the 'Goblin King' during his encroachments upon their domains! The campaign was won with a Total Rivendell Victory!

In fact, there was little damage done by the marauders. Orcs from Mordor rampaged through the woods near Dol Guldur, but were met and turned away by warriors from Rivendell. The men of Gondor and Rohan were warned of danger, but the Haradrim and Easterlings either turned from their course or fell to natural hazards. In the end, there was little bloodshed...and all is now quiet. The so-called 'Goblin King' is nowhere to be seen...and may never have even existed!

However, the victory is a hollow one. The turnout on this campaign was less than optimal...so much that we've instated a few new rules to handle campaigns going forward.

The Wargate's Universal Campaign Rules, version 1.0

1. Please do not join the campaign unless you mean to play!
2. Make arrangements with your opponent and set a date to play! This will be done following all campaign games and be mediated by the campaign manager.
3. If a date is set and one party arrives while the other does not, that party that is present is the winner of the campaign game through the other party's forfeiture.
4. Exceptions can be made for absences involving extenuating circumstances. Exceptions will not usually be made in the interest of keeping players playing and the campaign rolling.
5. If one party has forfeited two-thirds or more of scheduled games, the campaign is over and the non-forfeiting party is declared winner by maximum condition, i.e. Total Victory. You have to fight to win a war.

This short list of rules is designed to keep our games rolling forward, and not get mired down in a massive amount of reschedules or delays like some of our other campaigns. Moving forward, we'd like to see a minimal amount of reschedules and absolutely NO forfeitures on anyone's part.

I also want to encourage everyone to DEMAND forfeitures for opponents who do not bring an army to battle! If your opponent does not have a good enough excuse (like he wants to trip shrooms with some pin-up girls instead of do battle) do what the Lords of Old would have done.

Declare yourself the winner and help yourself to the spoils of his lands (or the conditions of victory in that scenario)!