Tournament Report- The Grand Tournament 2026 (28/29th March)

The Tournament 

The GT is a nice straightforward GvE tournament. Everyone brings two 700pt armies of Good and Evil, playing two games (one of each), rolling off on the odd numbered rounds.

My Armies

I took this as my chance to set a target for painting my Haradrim. And so I would get a load of them done to use alongside my Easterlings and my custom Hasharin from Seven Stones a couple of years back. So my Evil army would be Grand Army of the South, Suladan as a solid leader, Amdur as the disposible beatstick and Hasharin for a solid backup.

For my Good force, I wanted to minimise the packing and unpacking so wanted an all hero army. I took the heroes of Ravenhill to my first ever GT, 8yrs ago! And decided to do so again, even if it leaves me 50pts short, I felt that their bonuses may make up for it.

Good- Assault on Ravenhill

Thorin, King under the Mountain LEADER

Fili, Champion of Erebor

Kili, Champion of Erebor

Dwalin, Champion of Erebor

Legolas w/ Orcrist

Tauriel

Bilbo, Master Burglar

Numbers: 7

Evil- Grand Army of the South

Suladan w/ Armoured Horse

Harad warriors x9 w/ Bow

Harad warriors x9 w/ Spear

Amdur w/ Armoured Horse

Dragon Cult Acolyte x3

Easterling warrior x3 w/ Shield

Easterling warrior x9 w/ Pike/Shield

Hasharin

Harad Raiders x3 w/ Bow/War spear

Numbers: 39

Game 1- Stake A Claim (Vs. Andrew (Fangorn))

Opponent's Heroes: Treebeard, Birchseed, Beechbone, Merry and Pippin

Opponent's Troops: Ents

I lined up my with all the Harad in the centre and left, and the easterlings to the right. My intention, as always against a small force of monsters, was to get an early kill and try to ‘unzip’ the opponent from there.

I called a Heroic March with Suladan to try and get up the board quickly. But then reassessed as we got to my movement, and instead moved half, figuring that with so many bows and poison, I may get lucky and cause a wound or two. They all missed.

A couple of turns later, we engaged and I threw Suladan and the Hasharin into Birchseed. While Amdur charged Beechbone with some warriors.

Suladan’s Heroic Strike spectacularly failed, as he was picked up by the ankle and pummelled into his friends. Killing all but the Hasharin, himself included. Amdur, meanwhile, had a little more luck, beating Beechbone, but failing to cause any wounds.

 

Over the next few turns, Amdur came out on top each time, but kept failing to wound. Luckily, some warriors wounded one of the ents and put it down to its last one. But around this time, Amdur suffered a similar fate to Suladan.

I had been busy elsewhere, as the easterlings had advanced and taken the right objective. With three left to defend it. The others advanced on Andrew’s rear objective, where Pippin sat upon it. After several turns of approaching, they chased the Hobbit off of it, and eventually speared him as he attacked when an ent came to assist.

Merry had gone to my left objective, where I eventually sent a spare raider to try to lance the surviving hobbit. But as I got close, the single wound ent approached. It was at this time, however, that my archers, sat on my rear objective, fired a cheeky shot that slew the ent! It was short lived as a victory as Birchseed quickly stepped in instead. As the end of the game approached, another handful of my troops defeated a second ent!

By the end of the battle  I had 27 Fortification Points to Andrew’s 29. He had beaten me on that, slain my leader,  broken me, and held the most objectives at the end to win 12-0!

12-0 L

Game 2- Retrieval (Vs. Gabe (Army of Gundabad))

Opponent's Heroes: Bolg, Gundabad Captain and Troll Catapult

Opponent's Troops: Gundabad Trolls

With so few models on the table, this wasn’t going to be a long game, one way or the other. It turned out that Gabe was a fellow BSIME viewer  so it was cool to put a face to the name.

I began by calling a March with Thorin and hurrying up the centre towards where Gabe’s troops were standing to defend their objective. Tauriel took the catapult trolls rock to the skull but shrugged it off like a champ…with a fate.

Legolas fired his bow and managed to take a wound off the Captain at the back.

The second turn was similar but without the March, Tauriel took another rock to the head but this time it failed to wound.

Legolas fired again, hitting Bolg’s warg and killing it.

The following turn, we hit combat. Fili, Kili and Bilbo fought one troll, and Thorin, Dwalin and Legolas took the other. Fili and Kili, using a Heroic Strike, managed to beat the troll and caused three wounds between them upon it. Bilbo then stepped up and slew the beast with Sting!

Dwalin and Thorin then fought Bolg, as Legolas, Tauriel, Bilbo, Fili and Kili charged the second troll. I called a Heroic combat and once again, Bilbo landed the killing blow! Fili and Kili charged the Captain as the others rushed towards the Catapult troll. In the combats that followed; Thorin slew Bolg and Kili took down the Captain. 

In the final turn, Legolas, Tauriel and Bilbo charged the Catapult troll, with Leggy grabbing the objective as he did so. He used his last two might to cause two wounds with his bow, Tauriel then landed another two wounds and Bilbo managed to slay his third troll of the game!

I had slain his leader, broken him, claimed the objective and killed three heroes for a 14-0 win.

Game 3- To The Death (Vs. Dom (Defenders of Helm's Deep))

Opponent's Heroes: Theoden, Aragorn and Legolas

Opponent's Troops: Rohan Royal Guard, Rohan Warriors and Galadhrim Warriors

I deployed my easterlings to my left, the Harad spears to my right and the archers upon a raised platform to pepper the opponents. 

We both ran towards each other and I got the edge in shooting as I shot a couple of archers dead. Then also taking some fate off Legolas. Dom then returned the favour killing a handful of my archers. 

The lines met (just under a glued platform so I had to stand them on top for ease), and I threw my easterlings into the wall of elves and Rohirrim. My Harad went to engage the small unit off to my right, with help from the archers, who took out a couple of Rohirrim each turn. In the fighting, I lost a few easterlings but killed off some elves in return.

Amdur then saw an opportunity and charged into some Rohirrim up the far right flank with a raider. Dom reacted to this, by throwing Aragorn in alongside Theoden. The idea being that Aragorn could match the fight value and Herugrim from Theoden could give him the edge. 

In the fight phase, I lost a handful of Harad spears to the Rohirrim due to numbers, but the easterlings again managed to whittle down the elves for me. When it came to the big hero fight, we had both called Heroic Strike. Aragorn went up to 9, and Amdur to 10. Amdur then managed to win the fight and laid into Theoden. Managing to slay the King with his final strikes. In the following turn, Amdur charged Aragorn again. Legolas, I should say, had been shooting into combat to try and dismount Amdur, but would either miss or roll catastrophically to wound. 

Neither of us called a strike this time, and Amdur won the roll off, before landing many wounds upon the Heir of Isildur. Managing to bring him down too!

Now in a tough spot, through sheer bad luck, Dom threw Legolas into the fight with the Easterlings. My Harad spears collapsed under the weight of the Rohirrim, who then tried to hurry past and flank me, but a lone Harad managed to hold them at the chokepoint for a couple of turns, keeps my easterling rear safe. 

In those two turns, Legolas had lost both fights and ended up being speared by the glimmering horde. With all three heroes now slain, Amdur hitting the rear and my archers picking off loose targets, I had the upper hand as time was called. Suladan’s sole contribution to this battle, had been to hide at the back giving banner effect, VPs and not getting wounded. 

I had slain Theoden, broken the defenders, got them to 25%, killed three heroes and we each had a banner remaining, giving me a 14-1 win.

Game 4- Lead From The Front (Vs. Alun (Wolves Of Isengard))

Opponent's Heroes: Sharku, Orc Captains and Orc Shaman

Opponent's Troops: Warg Riders and Wild Wargs

This was one of the better matchup and scenario pairings that I could have hoped for. Having several strong heroes of decent tier to hold up to three objectives.

I deployed in front of a field, which had the central objective in a corner. The aim was to get inside the field and use it as a fortification to defend. 

The wargs got their pre priority move and rushed up a handful, who shot at me but failed to wound. In the move phase the other wargs all hurried up to push the line against me, and I pushed up towards the entrance to the field. 

In the shoot phase, the wargs managed to shoot Legolas and remove a wound, two fate, and a might from him. Legolas fired back, killing a rider. 

The turn after, I called a Heroic Move and hurried into the field. Thorin pinned the Captain in the corner, Fili and Kili charged a couple, Legolas charged one and Dwalin blockaded the gateway. 

Poor Bilbo, however, got left behind…how themeatic.

The field now became a kill zone, where I had Fili, Kili and Legolas killing any wargs that entered. Not wanting to get caught at time or the end of the game later, as they approached their break point, Tauriel pushed for the left objectives, launching herself with a Heroic Combat (in which she slew all three riders and the warg that passed courage). And landed beside the captain, who promptly shielded her away. The following turn, she faced the captain and two warg riders, got a four high and was ripped to pieces…plan A is out the window…

So the remaining heroes in the field (Bilbo had managed to hop through, using the Ring, killing a couple as he went) tried to hold a wall each and avoid being overrun. Legolas managed to narrowly dodge many bow shots and throwing spears, using his bow to avoid being outfought. Fili and Kili kept up a steady kill count on their two walls, Bilbo threw stones and stabbed the riders with Sting, and Thorin…well he got Orcrist from Legolas and then proceeded to bounce off the Captain for most of the game…when he did finally score a wound that went through fate, he rolled for the bane effect and did a single wound. He did eventually manage to slay the captain, before charging the Shaman over the same wall, and rolling triple 3 for his in the way rolls. Shaman got away unscathed.

Legolas eventually fell as a warg rider knocked him down and nommed him to death. Fili suffered a sudden similar fate. But luckily, Kili and Bilbo held firm, the latter ending the game on five(ish) kills. Dwalin, meanwhile, decided to one man army ‘Rambo’ it. He charged out the field as the game approached its end, called a Heroic Combat with his last might, slaying both the mount and rider. He then rushed the Captain, and didn’t manage to kill, but did steal the left objective!

As the game ended, I had claimed two objectives against lower tiered heroes, Sharku held the last, as he had stayed there, well away from any nasty elves or dwarves. I had broken the wolves and Thorin, as per the army bonus, is counted as a banner, so I had won 9-4.

Game 5- Escort The Wounded (Vs. Jay (Dragons Of The North))

Opponent's Heroes: Dragons and Cave Drake

It’s been several years since I’ve played Jay, and finally I’d have another crack!

Based off a practice game that I’d played, I knew that the best approach would be to just grab two wounded and get up the board ASAP. So Dwalin grabbed one and Tauriel/Legolas grabbed another to get him out of the woodland. Whereupon Legolas dropped and Kili took over. This was so Legolas could start popping off shots at the Dragons.

He began this in style, using two might to take two fate off the lead Dragon (red). And over the following turns taking one away from the Drake too. Jay, meanwhile, took an objective each with the second dragon and drake to save them, then flew the second dragon back, taking the last from the lead dragon and rescuing him too.

I used two of Thorin’s might for Heroic Marches to cover as much ground as I could, weaving through a ruin for cover, and managed to get my two wounded saved. Sadly, Thorin was roasted as I did so.

I then retreated back into the ruin, to avoid the Dragons picking me apart. Tauriel, Dwalin, Fili and Bilbo managed to pin the Cave Drake. After chipping off four wounds, Bilbo charged in, threw a stone and took its second to last wound away, before Dwalin slew the beast. Kili was then eaten by the second Dragon as Legolas fought the lead one, winning but failing to wound.

As my might wore thin, Jay managed to gain the upper hand with patience, and gradually my heroes were killed off; Tauriel, Fili, Dwalin were slain by the second dragon, despite landing a few blows upon it, and Legolas was eventually devoured by the lead one. Bilbo was the lone survivor as he stood alone in the ruins with the Ring on. 

Jay had rescued all three wounded to my two, he had slain my leader, broken me and neither of us had any banners. So I had lost 20-10, but given the matchup and quality of the opponent, I was happy to accept that.

Game 6- Command The Battlefield (Vs. Louis (Halls Of Thranduil))

Opponent's Heroes: Thranduil, Legolas and Tauriel

Opponent's Troops: Mirkwood Knights, Mirkwood Elf Warriors and Wood Elf Sentinels

Louis was another opponent that I was rematching. I believe that our last battle was at TOS ‘23? 

I got the edge early on as I gave priority to Louis so that he’d have to arrive first. He had Thranduil arrive in the South West corner and Tauriel in the middle of the South edge. Legolas failed to arrive.

I then had my Hasharin fail to arrive. Amdur then came onto the Eastern edge behind Thranduil, and Suladan, the South near to Tauriel.

We exchanged bowfire and the elves shot a couple of my archers, who then shot a wound off Thranduil’s elk. Tauriel also managed to snipe out Suladan’s horse. However, one of the acolytes managed to throw a knife and kill the sentinel nearby.

I then went on the very aggressive offensive. Amdur’s unit went for the elven rear and pinned them. Amdur flanked one of the elven glaives and others pinned some of the knights. In the melee, several on either side fell, with me putting a good few holes in the elven lines to exploit next turn.

The Hasharin then arrived behind Amdur’s unit to reinforce it. 

In Louis’ turn, Tauriel charged at my archers, grabbing two. The sentinel then sang at another and pulled him in too. Predictably, Tauriel murdered them all. My archers managed to shoot a couple of elven bows dead. But Legolas had arrived behind me and instantly shot three wounds onto Suladan, killing him!

Over the next few turns, Tauriel gradually ground down my archers until none were left. 

I had several turns of gaining the priority in a row, and took full advantage. Managing to almost destroy Thranduil’s warband. So Louis made a sensible decision and pulled him and his surviving knights back. I called a combat with Amdur, involving several warriors including acolytes and the Hasharin and gave chase. I then won priority and was just out of range of Thranduil. So I threw several guys into Tauriel’s archers and Thranduil’s knights to try and break them. My Hasharin saw an opportunity and threw a knife, slaying the second sentinel. After all the fights had resolved, I had broken the elves, but wasn’t far off myself. 

Over the rest of the game, I tried to wear down the elves in the south west corner, lost 2/3 of my raiders in the north west to courage after breaking. And Louis held firm, using Legolas’ courage and the last sentinel’s music to keep a vital knight in check.

I had captured the north west, Louis had both the north and south east, and had outnumbered me in the south west. We were both broken, he had slain suladan and 25%ed me. I believe that he was only 1/2 off himself. So Louis had claimed the victory, 13-4.

Results

In the end, I had managed to get 3 wins and 3 losses, breaking even nicely. (A bit of a rarity these days!) I had achieved a VPD of +1 and slain two leaders. I ended up 27th out of the 64 players. 

I was really happy with that performance, especially as I had the opportunity to potentially get 4/2+. I always really enjoy these WW tournaments and hope we continue to see them well into the future!

Tournaments that I'll attend

EAHC Teams 18th April

Fog of War 4 16th May

Seven Stones 23/24th May

Aragorn, You Need More Men (Backlog Clearing Jan-Feb '26)

 Hey all

It's the first hobby post of this year's progress. And I'll try to be more consistent this year. 

I'm off to a bad start for getting the grey pile down, having bought quite a few second hand Haradrim warriors from local guys. But I have plans for them, so it's not buying for the sake of it.

Kicking off with January, I had received a secret santa gift at Xmas, and vowed to make whatever I got one of my first projects for the year. What I received, having asked simply for 'Warriors (not Moria Goblins)' was a box of Mirkwood Knights and a box of Dragon Cult Acolytes.

So I kicked off with the Acolytes. The idea behind asking for warriors was to make whatever I got a total surprise. And if I was given something that I already had, I'd use it as a chance to convert a little or a lot depending. Since I have some already, I played around with them in building and managed to make them a little different to add some variety.

Then I had to put the Knights on hold, as we had a big siege battle coming up, so I had to quickly paint up the siege equipment for it. A handful of ladders and a couple of battering rams (one made hastily with sprue).

After this, the Knights got held up again, as we had our league opener approaching. I needed to paint up my new Theodred for this and I didn't want to rush, as I wanted to mix loads of colour into it.

I'll list below the mixes that I used (all were 1:1 for ease of matching, when I needed to come back);

Brego- A mix of Dryad Bark, Mournfang Brown and Doombull Brown.

Armour ?plates?- Corvus Black and Waaagh Flesh mix

Shield- Lupercal Green and Catachan Green

Red trim- Khorne Red and Doombull Brown mix

Trousers- Rhinox Hide and Dryad Bark mix

Saddle- Castellan Green and Waaagh Flesh mix

I felt that this gave plenty of different shades to differentiate between the different parts of the model, without changing the look too much.

With all that sorted, it was finally time for the patient elves to get sorted. I painted them to match the ones that I had done several years ago, but adjusted the builds, like the Acolytes to vary the poses a little.

With those finished, thanks again to my secret Santa! I'm trying to think of an event that I can take them to!

Now entering February, I managed to swing a ticket for the GT in Warhammer World, and needed to think about what to take. I decided to do one all hero force, to make unpacking/packing a lot easier. So for my good force, I chose Assault on Ravenhill. It'll be 50pts down, but I like the look of it and am not expecting to win.

So for my evil force, I was thinking, when our local Tom asked if I wanted some spare models before he sold them. And I ended up exchanging a spare plastic Bolg to him for a warband's worth of Haradrim warriors, adding this to the eight archers that I needed to paint. Inspired by this, I decided to do Grand Army of the South, using a mix of Harad and Easterlings.

First up, I sorted out all the models that I had got from Tom and tidied them up. Then got them painted nice and quickly by my standards. I decided to also do a custom paint scheme based off my portion of the Seven Stones winning army that James and I made in 2024 (example pic below.

After they were all done, I had another offer from our local Phil, who also had some Harad to get rid of. Since I was still pretty short, and these were a decent price, I thought 'Screw it!' and grabbed them too. 

While they were on route, I got my Suladan out his box and sorted out a repaint for him, as he didn't look quite suitable to lead a freshly painted army. There wasn't much in the way of custom colours here; just a mix of Hobgrot Hide and Pallid Wych Flesh for the horse tail, Administratium Grey and Pallid Wych Flesh for the horse fur, and Naggaroth Night and Phoenician Purple for Suladan's top. I figured that this blended him into the paint scheme nicely and would match up the customised Hasharin that I made back in 2024.

I also had to decide what symbols to do on his banner. After a little browsing, I decided to use the Sauron's eye symbol from Rings of Power on the side banners and the snake symbol featured in dungeons in Skyrim.

 

One little trick that I have used before on Gamling, is to draw out the freehand design onto some paper, then fold it up into the same shape as the banner. This helps me know how the design should look when it's creased up.

It took me a good while to get him done, but I was very happy with his new look.

And that is it for the first couple of months. I feel like I've been good and productive, so am happy that I'm on track for a good year (even if my starting number of unpainted models has climbed from 327 to 350 🥴). Until next time!

Battle Report- Rivendell Under Siege (Jan '26)

We like to have a large battle to end our year on. But December was rammed so we decided to begin this year on it instead. 

We've done a few now, including Battle of Fornost, Siege of Edoras and I have found the best are sieges and also that 'What if?' Battles are the most fun. So we had a brainstorm and eventually settled on the fact that Tom notoriously hates elves. So let's give him a shot. 

What if...we saw: 

Rivendell Under Siege

What if...Sauron decided that a good strategy would be to try and destroy Rivendell. This would theortically remove a big player (Elrond) from any influence that he could provide, make the North-West of Middle-Earth entirely defenceless and also give him the opportunity to seize the shards of Narsil. This siege was based between the Fellowship leaving Rivendell and Elrond taking Anduril to Aragorn.

The Rules

I should specify that this was a chilled game, so we were very flexible with rules and would allow random moments of inspiration to influence new rules to be added mid game, if they seemed cool.

Deployment

The three evil armies would deploy first 12" away from the walls or river.

The two elven armies would then deploy anywhere within Rivendell and behind the river.

The Armies

The Elves (900pts each)

Me

Will*

Total force size: 82

*We wanted a mass of cavalry for the rule of cool, so elected to say that our knights were melee only units.

The Attackers (800pts each)

Tom

Vince

Josh

Total force size: 123

Objectives

• Each opposing leader (Elrond/Glorfindel/Razgush/Muzgur/The Dragon Emperor) being wounded is worth 1VP. If they are slain, they are instead worth 3VPs.
• Break the enemy force for 3VPs.
• If you have more allies within the ford, you gain 1VP. If you have more than double your opponent's numbers, you instead gain 2VPs. If you have triple or no opposing models to contest yours, you instead gain 3VPs. (The ford is the tile with the islet on, the other two tiles are both deep water.)
• If you have more allies within 6" of the gateway, you gain 1VP. If you have more than double your opponent's numbers, you instead gain 2VPs. If you have triple or no opposing models to contest yours, you instead gain 3VPs.
• Evil may attempt to burn down a scenery piece inside Rivendell (supplies, woods, the elven bridge), by ending in base contact with it. If they have not fought, shot or been incapacited e.g. by a Transfix, they may roll a D6. On a natural 5+ it removes a wound. Each building has two wounds, once it runs out, the building is set alight. They get 1VP for each house alight at the end of the game, to a maximum of 3VPs.
• The Shards of Narsil are a light object. They are deployed at the beginning of the game. Evil may try to steal them by picking them up. Good may only retrieve them from an evil model and attempt to return them to where they started. If they are in their deployed spot by the end of the game, Good gain 2VPs. If they are in the possession of a Good model, they gain 1VP. If Evil is in possession of them, they gain 1VP. If they have them and are outside of Rivendell (across the River/outside the walls) they instead gain 2VPs.

Armies will not break; Good has their backs to the wall, and Evil is under instruction to destroy Rivendell or not return!

Evil may call Heroic March for free in turn one with every hero that they wish, but this will only affect infantry units.

A Time of Heroes; Each time an enemy hero is slain in combat, a friendly hero from that same combat may regain a might spent earlier in the game.

All army bonuses from the playing armies were in use. Because of Assault on Lothlorien, this means the battle is fought at night.

There was a gentlemanly agreement, not to shoot at heroes.

We didn't set a turn limit, but a time limit, seeing how far we could get in that time.

Before we began, Tom made a vow; he would buy a model of any enemy hero that he slew, and dissect them into a banner effigy for his elf hating army!

Turn 1- Good Priority

We rolled for Elrond's Foresight points and got two. Will and I agreed that we need solid defence at the ford, since we would be exposed and not have the protection of the walls. But we could get some covering fire from our archers for assistance. So we sent Elrond and both sons to do so, alongside Lindir, hoping that the Wrath of Bruinen casts in water would be devastating. 

Erestor stood behind the gate with a unit of elves, in case it broke early. Bilbo was above him to the right upon the wall and Arwen, we had decided would be the most thematic assigned guardian of Narsil. So she stood beside it, in case anything broke through. Glorfindel, finally, stood in the courtyard with the cavalry

Evil calls their Heroic Marches and the wall of darkness surges toward the elves. Rutabi heads down our left flank towards the ford with the Dragon Knight. While the Emperor joins the assault on the walls. Razgush is to our far right, heading towards Bilbo's wall.

In the shooting, the elves showcase their deadly bowfire; slaying an orc, a prowler, two easterlings and a spider. Evil returns fire and kills an elf at the river.

Turn 2- Evil Priority

Evil ladders hit the walls and quickly the attackers climb up and begin their assault, the elves beside Bilbo have the enraged face of Razgush appear before them, the courageous hobbit rushes in to help. The first ram also reaches the gate, with the Orc Captain giving the orders to start breaking it down.

The elves reach the river and form a shieldwall across it, bracing for the easterling attack.

Evil opens fire and kills a couple of elves upon the walls. As the attackers wandered into range, the elves above the gate tipped their pot of boiling oil over the side. It directly hits the orc below, killing him and another, as well as wounding the Captain! Their archers pick off another handful of goblins and orcs after.

The oil sends evil into a frenzy and already the first cracks in the defences are shown. An easterling is the first up as he slays an elven bowman. Before Razgush, giving in to Tom's insanity, spends two might to beat the two elves he faces and then slew both! Heaving himself onto the walls and staring down Bilbo!

Turn 3- Good Priority

Rutabi leads a mass charge of easterlings over the river, personally charging Elrohir. Evil then reveals one of their great gambits, as the Spider Queen climbs onto the wall and rushes along it, over the river! Suddenly, our flank is under grave threat from the a huge threat! What's more, she releases her first broodling, which appears behind our line and charges Elrond, preventing our Wrath of Bruinen cast!

In the shooting, several elves are killed by the marauders bows, but one is wiped out by return fire. 

During the fighting, Rutabi and Elrohir cross blades and although the Eastern general comes off better, she fails to wound the elf. Elladan stops the Marauder's charge and kills the warg and a rider. However, the Spider Queen announces herself by picking up the elf she faces and hurling him at Elladan, bringing him to 1w, 2f.

Razgush is stuck upon the wall as our elves moved the ladder to keep him back. He doesnt fare so well as he faces another elf on the wall, loses the fight and also takes a wound, after failing his fate roll. Tom is apopleptic, HOW DARE THEY!? Bilbo doesn't calm him down as he smashes his red book into the head of an orc on the ladder and sends him falling to his death.

Turn 4- Evil Priority

Heroic Moves: Lindir and Rutabi (Master of Battle (MOB)). Lindir wins.

Elrond manages to launch his Wrath of Bruinen, scoring a 6! But Rutabi rolls two dice to resist and matches with a 6 of her own! Saving several easterlings from being washed away. He then rushes into the Spider Queen, wanting to end her threat quickly! Elrohir re-engages Rutabi and Elladan charges the goblin that he'd dismounted.

At the walls, Razgush furiously attacks the elf that wounded him. His orcs fly up the ladders and push to make headway. 

In combat, the Orc Capt uses two might and the gate is shattered to splinters. Erestor prepares to hold it. Razgush and his orc slay two elves and the ladder up is cleared. But the plucky hobbit on the end holds his own and the orc he faces slips to his death. Vince's goblins and orcs have spent the last two turns attacking and falling to their deaths, trying to break through to the oil, with a malicious plan to upend it over the defenders at the gate. But the elf holding it is stubborn.

At the ford, we made a mistake...we hadn't realised just how close the batswarm had come, and it rolled an eleven on its courage test, swarming Elrond as he faced the Spider Queen. The instant kill had now become a fight for survival. Elrond called a Heroic Defence and braced. Rutabi mimicked (MOB), just to wind him up. Elrond was then hurled at Elladan and slammed into his son, knocking him flat. Rutabi seized the opportunity and stuck her blade in his twin in the commotion. Elrohir had been slain!

Turn 5- Evil Priority

Heroic Moves: Elladan and Rutabi (MOB). Elladan wins.

Elrond is incensed at the death of his son and throws another Wrath of Bruinen into the river, scoring another 6. But once again it was foiled as the Spider Queen resists on a 6 in return! He then charges into Rutabi, in an attempt to cut down the easterling general. Lindir pins down the batswarm and Elladan faces the goblin again. Ashrak compels the elven banner away.

In the combat phase, Elrond calls a Heroic Combat, sensing another elf would be hurled at him by the Spider Queen. Rutabi obviously can't let the free Heroic Strike pass up and calls it. She wins, but fails to land a blow on the elven Lord. The Spider Queen also calls a Heroic Combat but can't reach Elladan as hoped, so kills another elf instead. Elladan valiantly kills his goblin nemesis, using the rage of Elrohir's death.

At the walls, the Orc Shaman casts Fury and the now berserk orcs charge through the gate into the wall of elves. Muzgur then attempts to Wither Erestor, but the elf manages to resist the spell. 

Glorfindel hears the elven horns sounding in distress from the river and dispatches several riders to go to their aid.

A bloodbath then began in combat, easterlings on ladders, killed a couple of elven defenders and broke onto the walls. The defences are now looking very fragile. Erestor tries to heroically inspire his allies, as he brutally slashes the burnt Orc Captain to death. But a wail is heard as the red book is smashed from Bilbo's hands by Bonebreaker, and Razgush follows it up with one brutal swing, killing the hobbit before he even falls. 'THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR SIDING WITH ELVES!' Yells Tom, heroically.

Turn 6- Good Priority

Heroic Moves: Dragon Knight and Elladan. Dragon Knight wins.

The easterlings get their edge and surge into the elves at the river. In the combat phase, the Spider Queen calls a Heroic Combat and hurls the elf she is fighting at Elrond, knocking him prone. She then rushes into Elladan. It looks worrying but the enraged twin swings and wounds the beast. Elrond manages to overcome Rutabi's onslaught and gets back to his feet.

At the gate, Erestor leads by fearsome example, he throws a knife at the orc before him, slaying it...

Then rushes into the gateway, trying to fight his way outside like a madman.

He manages to kill both the orcs before him, clearing the gate, under the gaze of the Dragon Emperor, who bides his time.

Razgush descends down the ladders and quickly kills the two elves at the bottom. He is joined by two batswarms, one had landed in the watchtower and slew the elven archer inside.

Turn 7- Good Priority

Heroic Moves: Dragon Knight and Elrond. Dragon Knight wins. 

The Easterlings slam into the cracking elf frontline. Rutabi fights Elrond again and the Spider Queen rushes Elladan. 

In a beautiful display of perfect equilibrium, Vince fires his 2 warg marauders at the wall, rolling four 6s to hit, then promptly restoring balance with four 1s for his in the way rolls.

In combat, Elrond manages to defeat Rutabi, but she was too agile and leaps back before he can land a blow. Elladan has more luck as he overcomes the Spider Queen and scores three wounds! The beast is slain in Elrohir's name! More elves fall however, and the defence of the river is getting desperate.

At the gate, Erestor charges into another two orcs and promptly slays them both in combat, opening up the way for the Dragon Emperor himself.

Tom's orc trackers have settled onto Bilbo's wall and draw their bows as Glorfindel comes in like a force of nature at Razgush. 

They fire into the combat, and score one wound...on Razgush... Glorfindel overcomes the malicious orc and scores a single wound...because of the wound caused by the archers, Razgush falls! Tom wails like Gollum with elven rope round his neck.

Turn 8- Good Priority

Heroic Moves: Ashrak, Orc Shaman and Elrond. Ashrak wins.

Elrond is jumped by Rutabi again and his son is stopped from assisting by a goblin. The elves are struggling as they see the reinforcement cavalry come out the gate and towards them to help. Elrond overcomes Rutabi and causes a wound, showing that she can bleed and can be killed.

The walls defences are sorely struggling as gaps appear and the mass of spiders climbs up and over! Arwen rushes underneath one and launches a Wrath of Bruinen, wounding a spider and knocking both prone. She'll now have to prove her worth defending the shards of Narsil. While most of the remaining elves upon the wall fall or climb down the ladders to defend the courtyard, one (Seen in the pic) bravely holds the ladder against the masses. Disasterously for good, a couple of Easterlings manage to get down the ladder and set the supplies alight, scoring their first burning VP. Suddenly, the courtyard is filled with bright light from the flames!

At the gate, Erestor is pounced upon by the Emperor himself, both call Heroic Strikes, and while Erestor reaches F8, the Emperor gets up to F9. He wins the fight and brings the elf Lord to within inches of death (1w, 0f). Above them, Vince still sent his orcs and goblins desperately trying to steal the Boiling Oil pot, by this point he must have lost 5/6 of his troops attempting this.

Glorfindel, meanwhile, attempts to slay two of the three remaining batswarms. But Tom, undisturbed by the consequences of his last volley, or simply too blooddrunk to care, fires again. This time they have more luck, and Asfaloth is slain! So Glorfindel is stopped from harming them, but the nearby elves wound the third batswarm.

Turn 9- Good Priority

Heroic Moves: Muzgur

Muzgur seeing that the gate was threatened, redoubles the assault, tring to widen the cracks that now show. The Emperor pushes to break Erestor and Glorfindel tries to get forward to stop him. The elves all fight the bats again, trying to end the threat. Erestor manages to overcome the Emperor's onslaught, but only removes two fate points after a flurry of blows, as his spearman is occupied by an orc.

The easterlings manage to flood the walls and force Arwen to act.

She orders her knights to charge, and they hit like a tsunami, killing several spiders and easterlings in the courtyard. She herself, returns near to Narsil (6 objective marker) and slays another spider with her spearman.

The knights finally hit at the river and try to turn the tide. Elrond pulls away from Rutabi to try and kill some of the swarming troops, but loses the fight, narrowly avoiding wounds. Elladan instead squares up to her and calls the Heroic Challenge that he wishes for to avenge Elrohir. Rutabi accepts and they cross swords. It quickly becomes apparent that Elladan has underestimated his foe, as she gains the upper hand and with a couple of brutal slashes as his guard is down, he is slain! Elrond has now lost both of his sons to her!

Turn 10- Good Priority

Elrond's wrath is now at it's peak, his force is broken and he invokes the Bruinen (Rivendell force special rule). The water rises up and strikes the easterlings with the wrath of nature itself. Four easterlings are washed away and the Dragon Knight is knocked from his horse and wounded. Elrond then takes on Rutabi as his elves try to rally into a cohesive defence.

Alas, while his elves put up a good fight and kills some more attackers, in a brave attempt to retake the ford. Elrond is overcome and Rutabi plunges her blade into him as well. Claiming the father as well as the sons and ending the Lord of Rivendell!

In the courtyard, the last surviving member of the house of Elrond, Arwen, bravely holds the line against the waves of spiders pouring over the walls. She slays yet another of the beasts as her knights keep the momentum going.

While her efforts are heroic, the undefended walls are allowing many enemies to replace each fallen one.

At the gate, the defence is clinging on. An elf rushes up the ladder at the Orc trackers and engages a couple to prevent shooting, he fails to kill one but will try again. 

Meanwhile, those trackers shoot again at Glorfindel (it had slipped Tom's mind that we had made a gentlemanly agreement not to shoot heroes, but he was incensed 😂). They missed anyway and killed the batswarm that he faced.

Erestor faced the Emperor one final time, but exhaustion had taken its toll. He leapt in for a deadly strike, but was swept aside by a parry from the Glaive and killed by the Black Dragon bearers. Above them, Vince's orcs STILL try desperately to get to the Boiling oil, but it's surviving defender simply isn't having it!

Turn 11- Evil Priority

Having slain Erestor, the Emperor pulls back to allow the Marauders to rush in. Glorfindel jumps into the breach to hold them back. They manage to dismount one with his assistance. The elves inside, depsite both bats being on a single wound each, fluff their dice and let them escape! The elf on the ladder manages to bring down a tracker and get elven feet back onto the walls!

Arwen keeps up the fight for the courtyard as the last dregs of the spiders come over the ramparts. She manages to kill yet more with her troops and seems to be holding the tide back.

Elrond's surviving troops at the ford, led by Lindir keep up the resistance that he wanted. But the weight of numbers is against them and Lindir is knocked down by a warg marauder and mauled to death!

Turn 12- Evil Priority

Arwen feels like there is still hope as she flow of beasts ebbs, but her numbers are also falling. The last of the spiders in the courtyard are taken down. But Rutabi's warband, now almost victorious at the ford, sets up yet more ladders and climb up the walls.

Glorfindel ends up facing down the Emperor over the body of Erestor. The Emperor spends his last might on a Heroic Strike and wins, but fails to cause any injury to Glorfindel. The last two bats are finally dispatched by the elves, after causing havoc for most of the battle! Another of Vince's orcs is STILL at the top of the ladder screaming 'LET ME HAVE THE GODDAMN OIL!!!!' I have long since lost count how many have died for it to this lone elf.

Turn 13- Good Priority

As the fury of battle starts to settle into a conclusion, Glorfindel faces the Emperor again. He wins but it's a swing and a miss in his attempt to wound.

Arwen is almost spent as she takes a wound from an easterling she blocks. Some others are trying to burn the elven bridge, but a knight is rushing over to stop them. And a sneaky Acolyte climbs down from the walls and makes a break towards the shards of Narsil.

A great cry of joy echos over the battle, as an easterling runs along the wall and impales the elf, who has caused Vince so much grief in his saga to steal the oil! His orc leaps excitedly onto the wall and eagerly grabs the pot for next turn!

Turn 14- Evil Priority

As our time limit approaches, the elves at the ford are forced to endure another charge as they lose priority, and the dream of saving the ford is dead. Many are cut down brutally by Rutabi and her victorious men.

At the gate, easterlings run over from the courtyard to contest the gateway. Where Vince is bouncing like a Looney Toons character with excitment to finally throw the oil over the elves! He rolls, they hit! It goes over Glorfindel and multiple elves at the gate....and kills one...Glorfindel wasn't even harmed.

Josh and Tom erupt, 'YOU SPENT FIVE HOURS FIGHTING FOR THAT!! AND WHEN YOU FINALLY GET IT, YOU KILL ONE!'

The elves try to cut down as many orcs as they can, but they are finally outnumbered!

Arwen after a heroic stand, is finally surrounded and slain by a horde of easterlings. Her knights rush the Acolyte, who has run in and snatched Narsil. But unbelievably, all three lose to him and he keeps it!

And with that, the Siege of Rivendell came to a close, and it had been bloody!

End Result

• The elves had slain Razgush (3VP) and Evil had slain Elrond (3VP).

• Both forces were broken (1VP).

• Evil held the ford with no elves present (3VP).

• Evil held the gateway with double the number of elves (2VP).

• Evil had burned one of the three targetted buildings (1VP).

• Evil held the shards of Narsil at the end (1VP).

Good had a total of 4 to Evil's 11VPs

In the end, Rivendell fell to the forces of Evil, Elrond and his family all lay slain in and around the settlement. Glorfindel lives, but escapes to go into the West. With the last homely house gone, the North-West of the free peoples are left vulnerable to Sauron's machinations to come!

*Remember that vow of Tom's? Well, this means he only has to make a banner out of an elderly Hobbit and Asfaloth that he slew with great valour! So if anyone has a spare old Bilbo for him, or a horse, get in touch!