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Thread: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

  1. #1

    Default [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Hello, first time poster of an AAR. This might not be how it's supposed to work, but oh well. This is all 100% based on the campaign I just did, including the characters in it and how everything happened. Obviously there is embellishment for the sake of entertainment, but it is still completely true to the campaign events.

    Also, I'm not such a LOTR fanatic and I haven't read the books for several years and most of my knowledge is based off the movies, so don't go all lore fanatic on me if things aren't exactly correct, alright?

    Book 1-Isengard Campaign

    Chapter 1-Good News and Bad News

    Alduini wiped his hands on his breaches to remove what food still clung to them before excusing himself from the group. It was another night of eating cold meals so that they wouldn't give away their presence to the orcs, and Alduini was sorely tired of it. He would give anything to just have the enemies army show up already so they wouldn't have to live like this anymore.

    "Wait, don't go!" One of the soldiers called after Alduini. "You promised us the news! What has Hengist been doing with the army in the east?"

    Alduini smiled. He always liked giving the soldiers good news. "Not only has Hengist personally begun a seige of Isengard itself, Erkenbrand is bringing up the reserve troops from Edoras to assist him. As soon as their forces join up, Isengard will fall." A small cheer when up from the men, but it was of course not too loud. Sound didn't travel far in this forest but everyone knew they couldn't be too careful.

    Nothing Isengard can throw at us will be able to stop us now! Alduini thought to himself. Once they send reinforcements from Duneard to lift the seige on Isengard, they'll be in for one big surprise! Even if the ambush didn't desroy the reinforcements from Dunland, it would delay them enough and weaken them enough to give the two eastern armies the time they needed to secure Isengard.

    With the soldiers' apetites for news satiated, Adluini took his leave and made his way carefully through the dakr back to his tent.

    "Alduini, is that you?" Someone asked out of the darkness. Alduini couldn't make out his face, until he stepped closer and moonlight filtered through the trees to illuminate the man's face.

    "Eomer!" Alduini remarked upon seeing the younger officer. "Are you making your rounds for the night before catching some shut eye?"

    "No..." Eomer averted his eyes and smiled nervously. "We just got a messenger from King Thengal. The news isn't good. We..." Eomer shifted uncomfortably. "Gondor has been overrun by orcs out of Mordor."

    Alduini didn't say anything for a moment. It was too hard to beleive. "You can't mean...All of Gondor? How is that possible? Last word we got they were fighting off the Hardrim at Pelagir and they had halted Mordor's advance...I just can't..."

    "The last in the line of Stewards died, Alduini." Eomer explained. "Mordor made one final push into Gondor and destroyed everything between Osgiliath and Dol Amroth. The last Steward of Gondor died defending it. Mordor doesn't control anything beyond Dol Amroth though, but without a central authority Gondorian government has collapsed. We can expect no aid from them."

    "I...Theoden needs to hear this." Alduini decided. "If the king sent no instructions for our mobilization, then Theoden will know what needs to be done. With our southern borders completely vulnerable, we might have to abandone this offensive against Isengard to secue the border villages..."

    "That's not all." Eomer interrupted. "Orcs from the misty mountains are descending from the north. Fangorn Forest is now infested with them and we've lost contacted with the garrison we had stationed there."

    Alduini cursed. "There's no way we can fight on three fronts at once. We have to get Theoden's decision on this first though before we decide where to send the men." Theoden always knew what to do. He had not only been the mastermind behind the recent offensive against Isengard, he had also been the one leading every charge in almost every battle. There was no doubt in any of the men's minds that Theoden was Rohan's greatest general, and would one day be its greatest king.


    Chapter 2-More Bad News

    "Theoden!" Alduini whispered, pushing open the tent flap. "How can you be asleep already? We just got a message from your father and the other gnerals are gathering now so we can decide what to do about it! Theoden!" Alduini grabbed Theoden by the shoulder and shook it lightly to get hs attnetion. "Theoden?" As Alduini reached down to grab Theoden again, he felt something cold and wet on the back of Theoden's neck. "What..."

    Alduini rolled Theoden over, and gasped. A puddle of blood was soaking into the grass from the tear that crossed from one side of Theoden's throat to the other. "Oh...Theoden..." Alduini sighed. How could this have happened, in the middle of the camp? No one knew where they were, and there was no one in the entire army who could ever have wanted Theoden dead for any reason.

    "Theoden...Whoever did this to you, I will make sure they pay." Alduini stood up quickly and pushed his way out of the tent. He was so intent on his own thoughts, he did not register for several seconds what was going on outside. It was like an overturned anthill, people were running around everywhere in a panic, grabbing weapons and donning armor.

    "Alduini!" Gamling shouted from across the camp. "You need to get your armor on and mounted quickly! The enemy army is approaching along the road from Duneard! It looks like we've finally been waiting here long enough!"

    "Finally, once bit of good news." Alduini said, glancing back at the tent to where Theoden's body would still be lying. "Gamling, Theoden is dead. Someone sliced his throat in his tent, right here, in the middle of the camp."

    Gamling's mouth dropped open and he completely stopped his preperations for the moment, but then he was right back on task. "There's no way we're going to win this battle. I thought Theoden might have been able to pull out a victory somehow but now..." Gamling dropped his gaze to stare at the ground. "There's no way any of us are going to make it out of this battle alive. But if that's what we have to do, to delay this army long enough..."

    "What? What are you talking about Gamling? We still have the element of surprise and if we can hit them in their most vulnerable spot before they can form up, the battle will be over before it even started. We could be outnumbered 3 to 1 and it wouldn't matter!"

    Gamling just shook his head. "W'ere outnumbered at least 3 to 1, and we don't have the element of suprise. Alduini, the orcs are heading directly this way. They know exactly where we are. Somehow, the ambush failed."
    __________________________________________________________________________________________

    So maybe I'll post some more later. Things just go downhill from there, so don't worry.

  2. #2
    Borissomeone's Avatar Citizen
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    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Very nice, enjoyable read, its building into something epic with so many things going down hill for you, keep writing keen to see what happens next. + rep

    Under the Patronage of TheFirstONeill.

  3. #3
    AgentSmith's Avatar Foederatus
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    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Wow good read i like it alot +rep to you
    MISTER A-A-ANDERSON......

  4. #4

    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Thanks for the positive feedback. Here's some more.

    Chapter 3-Hopeless Battle

    "We don't have much time left Alduini. Sauroman's forces will be here within the hour. All the captains have been given their instructions to ready the troops for the battle, but we a battle plan Alduini. If Theoden is truly dead...no, i can't worry about that. We have to figure out what to do on our own. I knew we shouldn't have depended solely on him to see us through this all."

    "It's not our fault," Alduini said. "There is no way we could have forseen this. But we have to roll with the punches, so gather the other officers quickly. And...tell Wini about his father."


    Gamling was of course swift in gathering the other two officers. With Alduini, Eomer, and Wini all gathered, Gamling pulled out a map and laid it on the table. "Alright, well obviously you all know we are here." Gamling said, pointing to a part of the forested area of the map. "The orcs are gathered here," Gamling indicated the edge of the forest, "And advancing on our position. It would be easy for us to retreat in any of these directions, but we then we would have accomplished nothing and we would lose our one chance of taking Isengard."

    "What are you saying?" Wini demanded. "You know we can't fight this battle. If we try to fight this army head on we are all going to die, I won't allow it."

    "We don't have a choice!" Alduini said angrily. "We are going to complete our mission whether we live or die. If we don't fight then we are just condeming the rest of Rohan to death. Wini, you may be heir to the throne of Gondor now but I am still your superior officer. We are going to fight this battle, and we may die but we will do so with the knowledge that we saved Rohan from a worse fate. This battle is going to decide the outcome of the entire war!"

    Wini nodded, but he didn't look happy about it. "If we must do it..."

    "Alright, now that we're all in agreement we have to figure out what we are doing." Gamling said. "Eomer, how many of the Helminga units did we have left?"

    "No more than a hundred sir."

    Gamling grimaced. "There goes that idea." Gamling stared at the map a few seconds longer. "Alright, well here's another idea..."


    A horn blared in the distance. "It's time." Alduini whispered. The others mounted their horses and readied their weapons. "Alright, I'll take the front and..."

    "No." Wini said. "I'm going to lead the charge. It's what my father would have done." Alduini consented, and as they fromed up ranks Wini and his personal bodyguards made up the front line of the formation, with Alduini, Gamling, and Eomer lined up behind him with their own men and the tattered remnants of a few other cavalry divisions.

    "I can see them." Wini called back to them. "They're marching on the main infantry force, just like you planned." Alduini leaned forward and strained his eyes. For moments he could see nothing but then...movement through the trees. It almost looked like a dark wave was moving slowly through the trees, advancing on the tiny force they had left to guard the camp.

    "The ranks aren't going to hold long enough." Alduini realized. "The men are brave, but they won't be able to stand before an army like that. They won't last nearly long enough for us to be able to get their."

    "Don't worry. Dunland spears are no match for well disciplined Eorlings. The ranks will hold, everything will work out just as we planned." Gamling said.

    "We can only..." a flaming arrow shot up, high into the air and landed somewhere amidst the dark horde. "It's time. Wini, now!"

    Wini kicked his spurs into the horse and soon the all of them were charging down the hill. It was too dark to make out clearly what kind of army was ahead of them, but the flaming arrows flying out of the dark trees was enough to let them know where their target was. Gimli raised a horn to his lips and blew as loudly as he could, and the confused orcs turned to greet the oncoming charge, but not quickly enough. The archers knew the horn's signal and ceased fire, retreating back towards the camp.

    Alduini hacked and slashed at the mass of orcs churning around beneath his horse. Several horses fell around him, victims to the cruel orcish blades. Alduini continued to swing his sword through the orcs, unsure of where the others were or where he was until he heard the shout. "It's done! To me! Retreat!" Alduini turned his horse towards Wini's voice, and charged through the mass of orcs to arrive at Wini's side.

    "So their general is dead then?" Alduini asked, panting and out of breath. Wini nodded, out of breath himself.

    "We didn't lose too many in that charge, we are still prepared for the next part of the plan." Gamling said. Alduini turned around and could see that Gamling was correct. Nearly half of the Isengard army was advancing towards them, in the exact opposite direction as the rest of the army. "I guess this is where we part ways Wini. For now at least." Gamling said.

    "Just don't get yourself killed." Wini said, before charging his horse in the other direction, closely followed by less than a third of the remaining cavalry. Alduini saw Wini charge into part of the orc army for a breif fight, before leading his men backwards and out of combat once again.

    "Alright, he has them distracted." Alduini said. The rest of the horsemen circled around the main part of the orc army to reach the spot where the infantry was in a fight for their lives. A large gap had opened between the orcs actually fighting, and the swords and heavy troops who were should have been protecting their archers.

    "Charge!" Alduini yelled. The cavalry charged foward and smashed right through the unprepared archers. It was seconds before they were runnin for their lives. With the archers gone, the horsemen charged into the back of the orc infantry units, where they were completely unprepared to face an attack from behind. What few weren't killed in the charge and somehow managed to escape the battle were right behind the archers. Alduini ran an eye up and down the line of infantry, and it didn't look good. More than half of their men were already dead, whether from archers or the battle with the swarms of orcs.

    "Gamling, we don't have the numbers to continue with the rest of the plan." Alduini warned.

    "We'll be fine. The enemy will be mroe shaken up than we are by now, with their general dead and almost half their infantry on the run. I'm sure once Wini gets back..."

    Wini came charging towards them from the direction of the orc horde. What seemed to be only a fifth of the horse he had left with returned with him. "What happened? Alduini demanded.

    "Skirmishers..." Wini said. "We were too close, their spears took out most of the men. Some Dunland spears did for the rest. We lost our archers as well. They were too slow running from the enemy...I don't know how many survived but the ones who did were making a break for it and not looking back."

    "Well...that's it." Gamling said. "We may have killed a third of their troops, but they still have an army. All we have is..." Gamling indicated the bloodied foot soldiers and meager cavalry force. "We did what we could, let's just hope its enough. Sound the retreat, trying to fight any longer would just be a suicide mission. Maybe we'll be able to get to the main army before the orcs do. It's the only hope we have of still taking Isengard."

    As much as it pained him to do it, Alduini had to agree. The only thing they could accomplish by fighting on would be getting themselves killed. The plan might have failed, but there was still the chance that Isengard would fall before either army could reach it. But even that would be a hollow victory now. Theoden was dead, and even if Isengard was defeated there were still swarms of orcs advancing on Rohan from Mordor and the Misty Mountains.

    Alduini didn't know it at the time, but that wasn't even the worst of it.
    Last edited by Clumber; August 27, 2009 at 02:07 AM.

  5. #5

    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    RESERVED for future continuation

  6. #6

    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Very nice. Sounds like a hard and challenging campaign, making it even more rewarding if you survive.

  7. #7
    AgentSmith's Avatar Foederatus
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    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Cool! i like where this is goin'
    MISTER A-A-ANDERSON......

  8. #8
    Cro-Gamer's Avatar Civis
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    Default Re: [Rohan AAR] It all goes to hell

    Theoden was assassinated

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