Battle Report: Army of Thror vs Easterlings
I got a message from Harry Parkhill a little while ago asking if I fancied a game on TTS as he figured that it is the best available way to play in current conditions. I accepted and we set the points at 650 and he chose to play as evil.
I have had an itch for nearly a year to try out the Army of Thror. Unable to decide whether I wanted to use Thror and Thrain or Thorin, Dwalin and Balin as my heroes, I did a coin toss. It told me to play as the three young dwarves, so I naturally felt disappointed and chose Thror and Thrain.
Harry had said that he was going to play as Easterlings as it sounded like he had got a taste for them recently and wanted Khamul to lead with a couple of smaller heroes.
We rolled for a scenario in the Matched Play Guide and got Lords of Battle.
Army lists
Army of Thror (Sam)
Thror (Leader)
Grim Hammers x16 w/ Guardian of the King upgrades
Erebor warrior x1 w/ Shield (Jarvis of Erebor)
Thrain
Erebor warriors x15 w/ 1x Banner, 10x Spears and 4x Shields
Total: 34
Break point: 17
25%: 8.5
Easterlings (Harry)
Khamul the Easterling w/ Fellbeast (Leader)
Easterling warriors x6 w/ Shields
Easterling warriors x9 w/ Black Dragon upgrades, Pikes and Shields
Dragon Knight w/ Armoured Horse
Easterling warriors x6 w/ Black Dragon upgrades, Pikes and Shields
Easterling Captain w/ Armoured Horse, Sword and Shield
Easterling Kataphrakts x3 w/ 1x Banner
Easterling warrior x1 w/ Pike, Shield and Bow
Total: 28
Break Point: 14
25%: 7
We rolled for deployment and I got to choose where to go. I chose the Southern edge with the intention to force Harry into a bottleneck as soon as I could and start cutting down his Easterlings with brute force. My main concern was the Fellbeast as that was his best shot as wounding my heroes.
I deployed in front of a house with a walled garden, but had made a mistake in that there wasn't enough room to fit the spears in behind as planned. Meanwhile Harry was forced to divide his forces either side of a house in the middle of his deployment zone.
Turn 1: Harry won the first priority so I called a heroic move with Thror to allow me to move forward and organise my spears behind the Guardians better. Harry didn't contest it so I went ahead. The Easterlings then lines up in two alleyways across from the dwarves. The two forces exchange arrows and throwing axes but nothing is wounded.
Turn 2: Thror leads the charge forward towards the Dragon Knight and Captain's warbands with his unit, although he can't join himself. The Dragon Knight orders his troops to engage. In the combats, two guardians are slain.
Thrain rushes towards Khamul's unit and is also attacked and Khamul flanks. He hurls a guardian through the crowd of Dwarves, killing Jarvis of Erebor! In the rest of the fights, the dwarves manage to avoid death!
Turn 3: Since good claims priority, evil calls heroic moves with both Khamul and the Captain. In response, good gambles on only attempting one heroic move in response with Thrain to preserve might if they go first. It pays off when they win the roll off. Thrain leads the charge into the gleaming horde and Khamul is pinned down! In combat, Thrain calls a heroic combat but then fluffs it, only managing to kill one of the two Easterlings he faced. A few Easterlings are slain to one or two dwarves.
On the other side, the uncontested Captain charges forward into Thror and a guardian with the rest of the cavalry joining against the unit. With sheer weight of numbers from his guardian and two spears, they beat the captain. The guardian successfully bashes the captain from his horse and Thror spends a single might to confirm the kill causing 3 wounds upon the floored captain. Having called a Heroic combat, he rushes forwards and kills a pikeman. His guardians backed by spears kill a couple of the Kataphrakts.
Turn 4: Evil gains priority so Thrain calls a heroic move. Khamul is again pinned in place as the Dwarf Lord leads another charge into the Men of Rhun. But the Ringwraith is cunning, he barges his opponents aside and slams into the Dwarven banner, killing it outright along with a spearman. Thrain is enraged and hammers two men out of the battle.
On the other flank, Thror is isolated and the Easterlings quickly move to keep him cut off. The King under the Mountain is surrounded! But one plucky dwarf, runs to the hay bale and rolls a 6 for his climb test. He sprints over and pulls the Dragon Knight off of his King, but gives his life for it as the Dragon Knight furiously cuts him down for the sheer cheek of it. Thror manages to shield off his opponents and the rest of the dwarven unit kills two easterlings to open a path to the King again.
Turn 5: Good steals priority. The Dragon Knight calls a heroic move, intent on cornering Thror, while he is so exposed. Then orders his men to once again block the rest of the dwarves from assisting. The Dwarf King and the Dragon Knight both call Heroic strikes with their last might points and though Thror very nearly loses, he is saved when he rolls a 6 with his banner reroll! But he fails to wound the enemy hero. His men, once again cut an opening to him.
On the opposite flank, Thrain leads by example as he is finally able to reach the enemy leader and marches up to face him. He manages to land two blows on the Ringwraith but Khamul isn't giving up easily as he passes both of his fate in response! Their troops kill a few of each other beside the intense duel.
Turn 6: Sensing the chance for victory, the dwarves take priority again and charge heavily into the Easterlings. Thror faces the Dragon Knight once again and a throwing axe from a guardian, strikes true at last killing a warrior and breaking the Men of Rhun. The King fails to wound the Dragon Knight again but his spear manages to kill his mount! The Easterling Banner is finally defeated beside them and brought down.
Meanwhile, Thrain again charges Khamul and lets out a great warcry as his hammer crushes the breastplate of the enemy leader and defeats him. His troops go on to push back the Easterlings beside him.
Turn 7: Evil wins priority and two of their men flee, but most insist on fighting to the last man. They push back against their enemy with the might they have left. Thrain calls a heroic combat and ends up slaying two more men. Thror faces the Dragon Knight one last time and finally manages to land a decisive blow, scoring 3 wounds upon him and ending him.
Results
Objective (VPs) Army of Thror Easterlings
Wounds 31(5) 12 (0)
Enemy leader Dead (2) Alive (0)
Broken enemy Broken (3) Unbroken (0)
10-0 Victory to the Dwarves!
Thanks to Harry for a fun game. My first points match in nearly 4 months. We may be doing another in the fairly near future.
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