The most exciting moment of the demonstration, however, was when I got to try my hand at fighting one of these battles for myself. The mission I got to play was the first Battle of Osgiliath. In this battle, which takes place just before Boromir leaves for Rivendell, I led Boromir, Faramir, and a troop of Gondorian soldiers into the ruins of Osgiliath. Osgiliath, a Numenorean city abandoned in a great plague, has been taken over by Sauron's army. Unwilling to surrender such an important forward base, Boromir and Faramir decide to take it back.
The mission was an intense house-to-house fight without any base building where I attempted to husband my forces to take the city. Eventually, I found that the eastern half of the city was completely dominated by orcs and trolls tossing rocks from a cliff -- my only option was to take down the bridge that divides the town. I lost nearly 2/3 of my forces in the process, but I did it! I captured the western half of the city, feeling victorious despite the fact that I knew Osgiliath would eventually be overrun (The fight for Osgiliath takes up a big chunk of the beginning of Return of the King.)