The editor realizes that the interior of the city is oversimplified and does not follow the description of LOTR III, page 25. The rules cover the defensive strength of the city in a more abstract way. DSL

PANZERFAUST #60, featured an article by Gary Gygax on recreating the battle of Five Armies Mr. Gygax outlined his game in detail, saying this was the only battle in Lord of the Rings (LOTR) that could be re-fought by wargamers, because Five Armies is the only battle Tolkien describes in detail. I disagree that "hard" data is lacking in Tolkien's other battles: Helm's Deep, Morannon Gate (Cormallen) or the Siege of Gondor.

True, Tolkien does not provide order of battle data down to the last spear carrier or can of Spam, but a little mnuvering through Vol. III of LOTR has enabled some of us Pittsburghers to re- create what many Tolkien fans feel is his greatest battle - the Siege of Gondor.

Of course some inagination is required, but is is assumed that anyone reading Tolkien has this in full measure.

For anyone unfamiliar with LOTR. "Siege" recreates the evil necromancer, Sauron's pre-emptive strike at Minas Tirith, principal city of the West. It is here, in the land of Gondor that the Captains of the West have assembled an army to resist evil. Sauron already has dominion over the Eastern and Southern nations of the world of Middle Earth and is collecting an army of monsters, slaves, goblins, pirates, renegades, and other riff-raff to invade Gondor and bring the West under his rule.

Tolkien tells us that if Sauron is permitted to concentrate his army and attack according to plan, the West is doomed. The Captains of the West, therefore, decide to trick Sauron into attacking before his army is ready.

Sauron is mislead into thinking his long-lost magic Ring of Power - which would give him control over every living thing - is in Minas Tirith being used against him. (In reality, the Ring has been sent secretly into Mordor, Sauron's homeland, in a desperate attempt to destroy it in the forge where it was made. Sauron's fate is linked to the Ring, and if it is destroyed he will perish). Sauron greatly fears the power of the Ring and he takes the bait, launching his half-assembled force in a hasty attack against Minas Tirith.

In LOTR, this army is destroyed. The West then attemps an invasion of Mordor and during the Battle of Morannon Gate, Sauron is so distracted that the Ring is destroyed right under his nose and he perishes. Had Sauron conducted a successful "Siege", however, and crushed the Army of the West, there would have been no invasion of Mordor and Sauron would have been free to seek out and recover his Ring, completing his mastery over all Middle Earth.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

In Siege of Gondor, Sauron achieves victory by occupying the Tower of Guard, chief citadel of Minas Tirith. This immediately causes the Western troops to rout. If the Western player prevents this or kills Sauron's general - the Dark Captain - Sauron loses the battle and presumably, later on, his life and empire. "Siege" contains several battles.

First, Sauron must force a crossing at the ford of the River Anduin at Osgiliath. Then he must assault the Pelennor Wall, breach the city wall. fight across the city and take the citadel. The Rohan cavalry arrives at mid-point in the siege, causing a battle on the right as it attempts to force passage into the city. Shortly thereafter, the Coastal Army arrives by ship on the left of Sauron's force and also tries to win through to reinforce the city's defense. In the final stages of "Siege", players are treated to the spectacal of three separate battles all life-or-death struggles.

ORDERS OF BATTLE

The Western Amy consists of 5 separate forces. While Tolkien provides a fair tally of Western forces, Sauron's army does require some guesswork. I agree with Mr. Gygax that phrases like "orcs innumerable". and "hard-eyed grim men of the South" are a bit difficult to translate into brigades or divisions, but if the overall translation serves to recreate the original sequence of events, I feel it is sufficiently accurate to build a game around. Somewhat arbitrarily, therefore, I have assigned the the following orders of battle to both sides. These have been tested and refined In many games of "Siege", and simulate events quite well. while still permitting Sauron a chance at winning. Purists may supply nationality symbols of Dol Amroth, Lebinnin, Anfalas etc. for various units if they wish. Gondor troops are generally strongest. Below, the number of units starting at a specific location is given first, followed by combat factors in parenthesis. Heros are listed by name.

ARMY OF THE WEST

Osgiliath

7 (4)
Faramir (12)
Gandalf (30)

Rohan

11 cavalry (24)
Theoden (8)

Coastal Army

3 (40)
3 (30)
6 (20)
6 (10)
3 cavalry (30)
5 cavalry (20)
Aragorn (20)

Pelennon

4 (4)
6 artillery (3)

Minas Tirith

9 (6)
9 (2)
1 (16)
1 cavalry (24)
10 artillery (4)

ARMY OF THE EAST

(East bank of River Anduin)

Mordor

25 (16)
7 (20)
5 (30)
10 cavalry (1)
1 ram (60)
8 wraiths (8)
Dark Captain (40)

Easterlings

6 (14)

Khand

18 (16)

Southrons

40 (10)
13 cavalry (8)

The rules for "Siege" are simplicity itself. Infantry move four hexes per turn. Cavalry, wraiths and heros move 10. Movement triples on roads, Gandalf and the Dark Captain have unlimited range. Troop units never stack. although wraiths and other heros may stack atop troops, but never with other heros.

The Dark Captain and Gandalf may stack with other heros. In addition, each Western troop unit has an attached leader. Only one-half of the Eastern troops have leaders. This leader has no combat factor but may absorb an enemy attack - and be destroyed - with no loss to the host unit.

COMBAT

Because of the vast number of units, combat has been simplified so "Siege" can be played at one sitting. Units are destroyed by steps. Each Western unit which has lost one step retains one-half of its face value. This should be printed on the rear of the counter to facilitate play. Eastern units retain only one-third of their face value. Heros may take losses and save troop units, if desired.

No die is used in combat. Western troops reduce enemy units by achieving simple numerical superiority over them. If they achieve double the defender's factor, two steps may be destroyed, and so on. Eastern units do the same, but pay a penalty of one step for each step they kill in attacks of less then 5 to 1 odds. Attacks in excess of 10 to 1 are "free", and at 12 to 1 are considered overruns. If the defense has no step remaining attacking units may pass over an overrun unit.

Overruns are not considered "combat", so a unit might overrrun and continue on to attack another unit, or perforn a series of overruns and then attack. Except for Western units defending the Pelennor, the outer wall of Minas Tirith, inside the city or the citadel, no units ever exert a zone of control. Eastern units never have a zone of control. Attacking is always voluntary. Western troops at Osgiliath are doubled on defense if attacked from the ford. Pelennor troops, those inside the city, and inside the citadel are doubled on defense. The outer wall of the city quadruples defensive units. Heros are never doubled, only troops units.

Artillery have a range of 5 hexes and may support or attack independently, the Ram of Mordor may be used only twice and then is automatically lost. Once placed, artillery never move and have no defense factor.

Althouqh Osgiliath was in plain view of Minas Tirith, the garrison did nothing to support it and did not react at all until the Pelennor was lost. Therefore, troops in the city may not move until the turn after the Pelennor is attacked. "Siege" is 13 turns long. Rohan enters anywhere on the Anorien Road on turn B. On turn 9 the Coastal Army enters by the Lebinnin Road or adjacent coast. For added realism, players may wish to determine the exact entry of either reinforcement by a die roll.

The Dark Captain may cause a total of three Western troops having no leader or hero stacked atop it to retreat once during the game. Units retreat twice their movement value and may not move for two turns. On any three consecutive turns, the Eastern player may use the "Cloud of Mordor" rule. This darkens the sky and disheartens the Western troops, which causes them to lose one movement factor for each turn the cloud remains.

CONSTRUCTING THE MAPBOARD

A battle may is easily constructed from the drawing. The Anduin and Pelennor are a full hex wide. Anduin cannot be crossed except at the ford which is five hexes long. The outer wall of Minas Tirith is two hexes wide. The citadel is five hexes in a circle.

NOTES ON STRATEGY

The Eastern commander has a brittle force of tremendous shock power. Because of the step reduction penalty and lack of leaders to blunt enemy attacks, however, this army will decay quickly in sustained combat. The army is basically a slave army, fighting under lash and chain and its losses will be enormous. The East enjoys initial cavalry superiority and this advantage should be maximized to get the army over the walls of Minas Tirith as fast as possible.

Because no value accrues from killing enemy units (other than getting them out of the way) it is not wise to pursue remnants away from the city, or to stop to mop up; let the following elements do that. Above all the Eastern commander must delay the arrival of Rohan and preventthe Coastal Army from reinforcing the city. Try to keep both relieving forces out on the flanks away from the main body of the Eastern Amy as long as possible.

The Western player starts with no immediate advantage except the knowledge that time is on his side. Meanwhile, he must fill gaps and plug holes. His deficiency in cavalry severely limits the West's ability to counterattack or retreat. From Tolkien's account, the Eastern force probably outnumbers the total force of the West about nine times. However, because the Western troops arrive piecemeal, the Western player is confronted with odds of up to 20 to 1 against him in the beginning.

However, the Eastern force requires some time to cross Anduin and the Western troops generally fight behind fortifications so initial disparity in strength may be quickly overcome. When Rohan arrives, the large fast units will be hard to stop. The Coastal Army also has many large. powerful pieces and will chew up many of the weakened and less powerful units of the East when brought into action.

The action is generally in doubt until the last turn, which provides a suspenseful game.