The Tournament
This was a local one day tournament at 4tk in Colchester. A nice, straightforward tournament with 650pt armies, pools 1-4 only and 22 players as well as a nice mix of scenery and boards. This was particularly personal as it was also the scene of my only tournament win! (About 3yrs previously)
Could I repeat history?
My Army
Army of Dunland LL
Thrydan Wolfsbane w/ Horse
Crebain
Dunlending Warriors x11 w/ 1 Banner, 2 Shield, 4 2h and 4 Bow
Gorulf Ironskin
Crebain
Huscarls x2
Dunlending Warriors x5 w/ 1 Banner, 2 Shield and 2 2h
The Wildman Oathmaker
Wildmen of Dunland x12 w/ 6 2h
Dunlending Chieftain w/ Axe and Shield
Crebain
Huscarl x1
Dunlending Warriors x5 w/ 3 Shield and 2 2h
43 models
One day, I shall remember to get a team photo for the write up...but it is not this day!
I chose this force as I spent a lot of time early last year painting this army, only to get a small handful of run outs for them prior to lockdown. Having not used them in a while, this seemed ideal.
Game 1- Destroy the Supplies (Vs. Darren (Army of Thror/Dale))
Opponent's Heroes- Thror, Girion and Erebor Captain
Opponent's Warriors- Guardians of the King, Grim Hammer, Erebor warriors and Dale Warriors
Immediately, I knew I was in trouble for this matchup. Darren had several high strength bows, then throwing weapons and a high defence frontline to follow up. I decided that I'd simply have to go very aggressive and get into fights as soon as possible, hoping my Crebain could swoop in and destroy the supplies to force the good side to try to counter attack.
Things started badly for me as I lost several warriors to the Dale bows and then even more to the throwing axes. Thrydan charged and heroic combatted to kill several Guardians of the King but found his unit quickly dying off.
The Oathmaker ran down the centre and lost half his warriors to the bows and Girion but surprised everyone as he with his unit, fought back hard against the Captain's unit, holding the fight very level in numbers.
Gorulf took several shots, despite putting up several 'in the ways' and found himself quickly on 1w, 0f and 1m. A unit of Dale warriors tried to rush past but he threw himself with his unit into them, killing several but losing more troops and their banner to bowfire and combat. One slipped past and ran for a supply.
The Dunnish Chief called a Heroic Move, the intention being to simply force Thror to counter and waste a might, Thror won the roll off and I prepared to fly my Crebain to two markers...except I had forgotten one small risk, as my Chieftain failed his courage and fled...Hmmm
The birds were grabbed by angry dwarves in response.
Thror faced Thrydan, who used his last might to try and do some damage through a Heroic Strike, hoping to roll a lucky double 6 to wound and maybe one shot the King or at least wound him. But alas, Thror's Strike went higher and despite rolling a 5 to win, Thrydan only managed a 3 highest. He was slain.
Darren started charging my warriors, seeing that I was a single model from ending the game, intending on simply shielding to prolong and maximise VPs, but didn't think as his Dale warriors pulled away from Gorulf...and his Dunlending. I took the Dunlending's courage first and he fled, ending the game and saving me a severe thrashing.
The game ended in a 6-0 defeat as Darren had destroyed a supply, broken me and slain Thrydan.
Game 2- Hold Ground (Vs. James (Grey Company))
Opponent's Heroes- Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Halbarad and Rangers of the North
This was as ideal a matchup as I could've dared hope for, with my relatively large numbers against 9 men in an objective scenario. My intention was to simply fly for the centre, sit on it and hold the enemy as far back as I could, either killing him before he got close, or dying and ending the game while holding it.
I arrived on the Southern and Eastern board edges, while Aragorn led his rangers in from the North. I called Heroic March with the Chief and flooded the centre as fast as I could as James peppered me with arrows. Now that the centre was secure, I sent all but 3 of my men towards the Grey Company (leaving the Oathmaker as he's fearless and wouldn't abandon his post). I flew all my Crebain into two of the Rangers, hoping for a lucky early kill but lost the fights and they were killed the next turn. However, this had saved me a couple of turns of some shooting and allowed me to close the gap.
I hit them hard, Gorulf charging two Rangers with a Huscarl support and calling a free Defence for insurance. He quickly cut them both down. Aragorn and Gimli fought back killing a few Dunlendigs but I soon had Gorulf holding down Legolas as the Dunlendings attempted to overwhelm. Thrydan was carefully skirting around towards the back, waiting for his chance.
Aragorn, rolled poorly for a couple of fights as I had stabbed and forced James to spend might to avoid taking wounds. It was as he was on 1m and had already used his free point that Thrydan struck. The Dunlendings parted and their leader charged down the middle into Aragorn, calling a Heroic Strike, Aragorn countered but didn't roll well again and suddenly ended up taking 8 wounds in total from the 'Mighty Blow'.
Legolas and Gimli fought ever harder to avenge their fallen friend and suddenly Thrydan ended up surrounded by them and the remaining rangers. The Dunlending's attempted to peel them off but Legolas outfought them and almost slew the leader. The game ended just after.
I scored a 10-2 win as I had sole control of the centre, had slain Aragorn, while Thrydan was wounded and we had broken each other.
Game 3- Lords of Battle (Vs. Ryan (Isengard))
Opponent's Heroes- Saruman, Lurtz and Ugluk
Opponent's Warriors- Berserkers and Uruk Hai
As Lords of Battle was announced, I groaned. This was a scenario I was concerned for with my low defence and up against Isengard. This could be tough.
I lined up and Ryan deployed 8-10" away. I moved up as fast as I could go and took a few casualties to the shooting. The next turn, I charged in with Gorulf and the Chief as Thrydan hung back, wary of Saruman. I flew my Crebain over the top to pin down the pikes and reduce the Uruks' movement options. They were both surrounded and died but had given me a chance by the end of the turn.
A string of Heroic Combats were called and Ugluk had won the roll off and charged into the Oathmaker. Gorulf found himself up against Lurtz and so confidently called his free Defence in response to the Uruk's Heroic Combat, Lurtz laughed at this and rolled a couple of 6s to wound...I rolled a 1 for fate and having spent a might for a Heroic Move earlier...lost one of my killiest heroes. It was a bad start. However, I had also called a Heroic Combat with my Chief, with the intention of using it to chop through another rank, but Ugluk had opened himself up and so the Chief redirected and instead joined the Oathmaker. Ugluk rolled a 3 highest and ended up taking 3 wounds from the two heroes, I had lost Gorulf, but taken Ugluk.
With the far reaching Dunnish Banners, I was getting a good foothold into the Isengard lines, coupled with a few flanking warriors, we were turning it around. However, there was still a wizard to manage... I lost priority and called a couple of Heroic Moves charging the Oathmaker and Chief into a lone Uruk. Then with Thrydan's, my last Crebain then blocked Saruman's Uruks and a Wildman, who had an opening, pinned the wizard!
Thinking I had no better chance today, I called a Heroic Combat with the Chief and Heroic Strength with the Oathmaker (getting up to 7, needing 3s to wound Saruman!) We easily beat the Uruk and then...
FAILED TO WOUND! (4s with the Chief in black (Piercing Strike) and same for the Oathmaker (1 might)
Unbelievably, the white wizard had escaped the perfect trap that turn. The next turn, the Oathmaker and a crowd of Dunlendings broke through and caused 5 wounds on Saruman, who then managed to pass all 3 fate! The following turn, he fought back and clubbed the Oathmaker to death with his staff.
Thrydan had spent several turns after charging, being immobilised by Saruman but somehow managing to fight off Lurtz and his Uruks. Once the wizard was pinned, Thrydan managed to land two wounds on Lurtz, doubling to 4 and slaying the last Uruk hero.
As the game neared it's end, one heroic Wildman avenged his Wildman Hero and managed to shank the wizard in a 1-on-1 fight!
I won 8-0 as despite there not being many of Isengard left alive, the wound tallies were not too far off (roughly 40-32), I had killed his leader and broken them while remaining unbroken.
If I could win this final game, I could potentially podium!
Game 4- Capture and Control (Vs. Mitch (Pits of Dol Guldor LL))
Opponent's Heroes- Azog, Keeper of the Dungeons and Gundabad Captain
Opponent's Warriors- Fell wargs, Hunter orcs and Gundabad orcs
Oh no...Azog! 😂
I was drawn against Mitch, who I have had many closely fought games with in the past. He had brought the Pits of Dol Guldor legion and I knew this was going to be a hard one. I thought I'd have to simply tag as many objectives as possible, hobble his manoeuvrability by slaying the wargs and just have to do my best to hold him down or kill him. Usually, I'd just feed Azog a token kill a turn, but with his free Heroic Combats that wouldn't be an option this time.
We began with Mitch slamming into my frontline at the centre. I charged Gorulf into some orcs on the left and flew my Crebain to take an objective behind the woods to the right and another to my rear. Azog unsurprisingly killed his opponents and flew into the next. For whatever reason, I had only put one roadblock in the way and not left another for next turn...Whoops.
On my left flank, Mitch tore my army apart as I was losing the fights despite the Banner, wasn't having a lot of luck with the roll offs and his high strength made me suffer for it. Gorulf had the Keeper Heroic Combat into him and took a wound.
The next turn, Mitch swung Azog into my Banner and killed it. My Crebain managed to get hold of Mitch's wargs and killed them off, giving me an advantage. The following turn, Azog charged again and I saw a chance...I charged both my Chief and Thrydan into the same orc, put a total of four men onto Azog and when Mitch called his Heroic combat, I called one with the Chief and a Heroic Strike with Thrydan. Mitch immediately saw the danger, but was stuck with seeing it play out. Azog went first and killed 3 of his opponents. Then Thrydan went up to F7 and with the Chief, easily slew the orc. He then charged Azog but I had overestimated the gap again by sight and couldn't get the Chief in through too. We rolled the fight and Thrydan fluffed, getting a 2 highest with no banner in sight. Azog, understandibly unimpressed with such sneaky attacks, gave him a good thumping and slew him.
I was in a very tough spot now, Azog was more or less free to do as he pleased, still having 4 might on him. Gorulf evened out the tables somewhat by killing the Keeper with a well timed piercing strike and somehow, we had managed to break Dol Guldor just after we had. My Chief failed me for a second time today, as he failed his stand fast (again on a 1+2) and fled. Eyeballing the objectives, it looked like I was narrowly ahead and just needed the game to end. It did not, but as the centre was neutralised, I managed to cause the hunter orcs on the left objective to take their stand fasts and all those unengaged failed. I won the fight on the objective and kept it but the game didn't end for a second turn.
The writing was on the wall as Gorulf then fled, ending my chance of seizing the left objective and allowing Azog free reign to claim the centre and the one in his half, turning what could have been a 7-6~ victory into a 10-3 defeat. But we had a very close and fun game, I felt I could hold my head high that I had made it hard for him.
Mitch ended up coming third after his victory against me and Darren pointed out that my Dunlending fleeing to end the game, had in fact prevented him from claiming the Gold (Sorry..). I, myself, had fallen into 10th with 2 wins and 2 losses, having scored 21VPs (the tie break).
It was a great day of games and I'd love to attend another, when it comes up!
Upcoming tournaments that I'll attend
4-5th Dec- (Basically) Thrones of Skulls- Fellowship and Glorfindel (1000pts)
12th Dec- Courage is found in unlikely places- Breaking of the Fellowship LL (600pts) A local tournament, hosted by Josh as a send off for the year. Was pleasantly surprised, when my better half insisted that I go!
8th Jan- A Rumble in Rhovanion- The Three Trolls/Theodred's Guard. A kinda local Good and/or evil 400pt tournament.
Assuming that I get time, I hope to write up these tournaments too!
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