The Tournament
This is one of my favourite events of the year. At the heart of the hobby in Warhammer world itself, 1000pts of very theme heavy joy, everyone getting into the spirit and a very sporting atmosphere. The effort people put into their armies and the unique ones you see just gives you a warm feeling.
This time, is a slightly different approach to the report, as I'll be writing up alongside fellow EAHC member James, who also attended.
Our armies
James
Minas Tirith
King Elessar
18x Warriors of Minas Tirith w/ 9x Shield and 9x Spear/Shield
The Fiefdoms
Prince Imrahil
12x Swan Knights of Dol Amroth
Rohan
Eomer w/ Shield
13x Warriors of Rohan w/ 1x Banner, 4x Shield, 4x Throwing spear/Shield and 4x Bow
The Rangers
4x Rangers of the North w/ 1x Spear
50 models
Sam
The Fellowship
Gandalf the Grey w/ Horse
Aragorn w/ Anduril and Armour
Legolas w/ Armour
Gimli
Boromir w/ Shield
Frodo w/ Sting and Mithril Coat
Sam
Merry
Pippin
Rivendell
Glorfindel w/ Armour of Gondolin and Asfaloth
10 models
The reasons for this army were simple.
1. I had the three hunters, who were just begging to be painted. And had been for over two years now.
2. I had always wanted to make a mounted Glorfindel.
3. Lots of might is fun
Game 1- Destroy the Supplies
As luck would have it, in the very first game of the weekend. We were drawn as opponents. We had played a practice game the night before, with very limited time and I had played recklessly in order to get the game played to a near conclusion. I had been beaten 7-0 but had got more familiar with the nuances of the list.
James: The odds were stacked very highly in my favour here, as i had fifty models to Sam's ten.
The game began with James deploying Eomer to my left along with two rangers, Aragorn in the centre and Imrahil to my right with the other two rangers. I deployed my Heroes in the middle behind a house with Legolas peeking out and Glorfindel ready to run down the right objective. Strider, I left on my left to attempt a defence of the left objective. James, not having much to fear of a counter attack, went for a full assault, charging forward.
Gandalf cast a channelled blinding light to protect the Fellowship from the arrows and Legolas opened fire, managing to take a fate off of Eomer. The next turn, Gandalf blasted two Rohirrim and Legolas sniped out James' banner, removing his 2VP headstart. He continued to pick off Rohirrim until the Men of the West hit them.
James: Sam was able to hold me up considerably with his forces in the centre, until my heroes started to enter the combats- I was able to surround him with warriors and then use my heroes for Heroic Strikes.
Boromir went out and faced Eomer, while Gimli charged two Rohirrim. Boromir managed to win but failed to wound Eomer as Gimli lost his fight. Legolas moved to the opposite side of the house and fired at the two rangers to the right, taking a fate from one. Glorfindel, seeing that Imrahil was too close to the right objective, ran and stood on it. Imrahil, naturally, charged him in response. Over a few turns, the elf first killed several knights before his horse took a beating but Glorfindel used his fate to protect it.
Meanwhile, Strider joined the fray, abandoning the left objective, as Elessar charged and slew Gimli with Anduril. Gandalf held back Eomer, but was quickly slain in response, while Pippin fell to some Gondorians.
Legolas had continued to snipe the rangers, killing one but ended up being charged, turn after turn until some knights charged him. He managed to win several fights and killed 3/4 before finally losing and taking 2 wounds. He, obviously, then failed all three fate and succumbed. Glorfindel continued to hold off and killed the second ranger along with more knights.
In the centre, Strider was charged and fell to Elessar and he was overwhelmed. Sam too fell as Boromir was charged again by Eomer and felled. With only brave, brave Merry left in the centre, it wasn't long before Elessar's gentle nature took a darker turn...
By the end of the game, James had slain my leader, taken all three objectives and broken me.
Result: 9-0 Victory to James
James: A very valiant effort from Sam, but unfortunately luck was, as usual, not on his side.
Game 2- Assassination
James (vs. Josh(Easterlings/Khand))
I've met and chatted with Josh at multiple GBHL events, but never had the chance to play him until now. His Easterling and Khand force had some particularly nasty units- Khamul, Amdur, several chariots and multiple Dragon Cult Acolytes.
Choosing a target is also difficult, so I chose one of his mounted chieftains and chose Imrahil as my assassin. Unfortunately for me, Josh chose Khamul as his assassin and had four Rangers to pick as his targets- much easier to take down than Imrahil or Eomer!
The majority of his army ended up on the left flank, where I'd placed Imrahil and his knights. Aragorn and the men of Minas Tirith held the centre in a shield wall, whilst Eomer and the Rohirrim were dealing with a few sacrificial Khandish horsemen on the right flank.
Things did not go well for the Swan Knights- they were either trampled under the wheels of the Khandish chariots or skewered by the throwing daggers of the Acolytes. Imrahil, however, held his own, slaying several Easterlings and Khandish horsemen, before ultimately being surrounded and brought down by Amdur and the Easterlings. Equally unfortunately, for me, Khamul compelled his target Ranger away from my lines and subsequently tore him apart in combat. Khamul also spent the game bombarding Aragorn with magic, draining his will and then his courage almost every turn.
Things didn't all go Josh's way however- Aragorn and Eomer combined well to take down several Khandish warriors and Acolytes, including the Khandish King who'd been causing michief for the men of Dol Amroth. The men of Rohan and the surviving Rangers also acquitted themselves well, combining to take out several chariots and horsement. The battle was evenly poised heading into the final few turns, but then the momentum swung in Josh's favour- he won several Heroic move roll-offs, allowing him to dictate any charges, preventing Aragorn and Eomer from getting in amongst his warriors.
Things then went worse for me as my army broke and Aragorn fled, his courage severely reduced, thanks to Khamul's magic. Amdur then charged into and cut down Eomer. Despite only a being a few models short of breaking Josh's army, I then failed to kill anything for the remainder of the game, despite winning a string of combats. My army, however, continued to crumble until the last of my warriors fell, wiping me out.
A small consolidation was the fact that I had caused a wound on the chieftain that was my target. Josh, however, had killed his target with his assassin, killed my leader and broken me without being broken. We both agreed though that the game had been closer than the score suggested.
Result: 12-1 Defeat
Sam (vs. Martin(Numenor/Rivendell))
Opponents heroes: Elendil, Gil Galad, Cirdan and a Rivendell Captain
Opponents warriors: Kingsguard, High elf warriors and Numenorian warriors
Looking at Martin's army and the frightening amount of F6+ models, I thought I'd hit hard and fast. I chose the Captain as my target, as I wasn't too confident on taking down Gil Galad and didn't know if I'd get to Cirdan. I chose Legolas for my assassin, as I figured that he'd have the easiest time finishing off the target with his bow from the back.
As we started, I rushed forward, leaving the Hobbits at the rear with Legolas. Seeing the captain not far from Glorfindel, I thought I'd go for an early advantage. Gandalf blasted an elf into Elendil, dismounting him and Glorfindel charged a Numenorian and called a Heroic Combat. Hitting the captain and dismounting him too. Gandalf then blasted the captain into a wall, causing a wound and Elendil trapped Glorfindel with some warriors. Glorfindel lost the roll off after they drew and was slain the next turn.
Legolas, meanwhile, sniped out Gil Galad's horse and picked off various useful targets, not wanting to spam shots at the captain and give away my intentions. Boromir was charged by Gil Galad and called a Heroic Defence while surrounded by him and several elves. He survived and the next turn killed three elves in a single combat. Gil Galad then returned and this time finished off the man of Gondor.
As this was happening, several Kingsguard had flanked around and charged into the Hobbits in their field. Legolas pulled away and fired a shot that killed an elf on Aragorn and also removed the spear support with them.
Gimli held at the front for a long while before Aragorn fell to the united might of the two Kings. The Dwarf managed to slay three Kingsguard before falling in the same way to Strider.
Sam, Merry and Pippin all hold in the field, allowing Legolas to look after Legolas and flee out the back, still firing direct hits onto the elusive captain. With all pretense gone, I was simply after a lucky 6 to wound and hoped for a failed fate.
Frodo, the last Hobbit, put the Ring on and slipped into the gateway. Legolas fired his last shot and still didn't manage to score the wound.
Martin had slain his target (Boromir) with his assassin (Gil Galad), broken me and slain my leader. I had wounded my target.
Result: 12-1 Defeat
Game 3- Hold Ground
James (vs. Jay(Thranduil's Halls/Survivors of Lake-town/Radagast's Alliance/Erebor Reclaimed))
Opponents heroes: Thranduil, Bard, Bilbo, Gandalf the Grey, Beorn, Thorin, King Under the Mountain and Dwalin, COE
Hold ground with a fifty model force against ten heroes? Sounds easy, right? Well this was definitely not easy! Jay's army packed some of the most powerful heroes of the Hobbit films, including Beorn, Dwalin, Thorin and Thranduil.
However, the maelstrom deployment went heavily in my favour- his army ended up scattered around the battlefield, and I was able to hold up Thorin, Bard, Thranduil and Thorin using my Rangers, whilst the men of Gondor and Rohan marched to the centre and set up a shieldwall. Beorn, however, appeared right behind my Knights of Dol Amroth, and proceeded to rampage his way through them. They did however, make it to the centre, and Imrahil proceeded to tie up Beorn in several combats, allowing Aragorn to close in on him. Only a heroic move roll-off saved Beorn from being taken out by two heroes.
Elsewhere, Thorin and Dwalin continued to cut through the men of Rohan, whilst Gandalf repeatedly (although not always successfully) threw sorcerous blasts at my battleline- eventually taking out my banner bearer. Thranduil also arrived in the centre and immediately made it difficult for me to make ant charges, thanks to his free aura of dismay from his circlet. My forces were no broken, and I couldn't seem to get my heroes into Jay's heroes. Fortunately, the game ended on the very first roll- I had more than double his numbers in the centre.
Result: 5-3 Victory
Sam (vs. Ben(Variags of Khand))
Seeing such a vast horde of cavalry and chariots, I knew this was going to be a tough one. I had the luck of a maelstrom deployment, and so, potentially knew his army could divide.
And I did get lucky, as the Fellowship arrived as close to the objective as can be (due to the 6x4 boards), although Glorfindel failed to arrive, while Ben's army was split almost down the middle, arriving at opposite ends of the board, with a small chieftain's warband arriving near to me. Gandalf had cast a single dice blinding light as he arrived, protecting the Heroes from their bows.
The next turn, he cast a channelled one as Strider called Heroic March alongside Boromir's Heroic Move. They quickly moved up to the centre with two turns of this as Legolas failed to hit a barn door. Glorfindel arrived up to the North (left side of pic) and quickly galloped past the Khandish.
As the Fellowship closed in on the central woods, Gandalf commanded a chariot to slam into the rear of his King, causing a wound to the chariot. The King's chariot then strayed slightly too far. Legolas, Gandalf and the Hobbits moved into the woods as Aragorn, Gimli and Boromir ran within charge range of the chariot. They then won the Heroic move off and charged it. Glorfindel linked up and charged two horsemen, before getting the surprise of his life, when another chariot plowed through them both into him, forcing him to spend fate for his horse. Some other horsemen then charged Boromir and Gimli. Boromir called a Heroic combat and then rejoined Aragorn, allowing them to slay the King.
With that side of Ben's army severely weakened, the Fellowship moved back towards the woods, ready for the second attack as multiple chariots closed in. In a swirl of melee, many Khandish were cut down but the Fellowship was exhausting their might trying to avoid being knocked down.
In the thick of it Samwise, sees Frodo under attack and calls a free Heroic combat against the chariot he charged. Classic Samwise the Brave, he manages to slay the driver with a might point and rush towards Frodo.
The next turn, Frodo is charged by the leading King and Samwise is held down by two horsemen. The only person, who can help, is Boromir. He slays the chariot before him and charges the King, but misjudges and finds himself under its wheels. He falls, Samwise with him.
Merry and Pippin, meanwhile, show the potential of Hobbits as they both wound a chariot each. The following turn Frodo does the same. Legolas and Gandalf end up fighting a chieftain, as Gandalf's horse is killed by the charge, they lose and Gandalf goes through all his fate, only passing on the last reroll. Once Aragorn joins, they finally slay the Chief. Gandalf then prepares to line up a sorcerous blast to knock a charioteer into the King and using his free point and his last will, rolls snake eyes...
The game continues too long for Ben after the Khandish break and several flee as Aragorn keeps calling free Heroic moves, when needed, pinning down the heroes. Gandalf loses a fight and takes a wound, but it's too little too late and the centre is taken with only 3 Khandish left after the King is finally slain.
By the end, this was the Khandish dead pile...
I had slain Ben's leader, broken his army and held the centre with triple the number of his warriors. He had wounded Gandalf.
Result: 12-1 Victory
Game 4- Divide and Conquer
James (vs. Damian(Ents))
Another player I've often met and chatted with at GBHL events, but never played with.
Damian is one of the busiest and best content creators for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game- one half of the team behind the SBG magazine, one of the Battle Streams in Middle Earth team and running of the excellent themed GBHL event, Seven Stones, a doubles event full of fun and fluff.
Over the last few years Damian has been showing up at Warhammer World events with superbly painted armies, complete with unbelievably detailed display boards and matching fancy dress to boot- his commitment however has been justly rewarded, winning the last two Throne of Skulls events.
For this battle, I'd be facing Treebeard, Quickbeam, Beechbone and four Ents- not an easy force to play against. Fortunately, I was able to use Aragorn's free might to call marches each turn, allowing me to reach the middle faster. A huge surprise early in the game, occurred when I took out one of the Ents with shooting, my Rangers taking two wounds off it initially (before he then picked up and bashed their heads together, taking them out of the game), allowing my Rohirrim archer to pick him off. TIMBER!
In the centre however, fortune was not on my side- I accidentally left Aragorn exposed, allowing Beechbone to barge through combat into him, taking off a wound and all his fate. Aragorn counter-charged the next turn, but disasterously fluffed his Heroic Strike roll, allowing Beechbone to finish off the King of Gondor.
That left Eomer and Imrahil to try and take down Ents, and unfortunately they weren't up to the task. I did, however, manage to reduce two of the Ents to one wound apiece, but they stubbornly refused to take their final wounds. The game went right down to the final turn, turning into a huge tactical challenge for both of us, as Damian tried to keep me off of the objectives, and I attempted to surround the Ents and get some crucial traps in combat, which would give me a better chance of scoring a wound (or hopefully more).
Treebeard, however, had other ideas- he didn't lose a single combat. Damian also made excellent use of his brutal powers, barging my models away from the objectives, rather than opting for hurls, or rending. Sometimes, he did rely on the brute force of the Ents, which was equally good. My army continued to crumble, but fortunately one of my Rohirrim held on to contest and so deny Damian the left objective, whilst he held the objectives in the centre and the right hand side.
By the end of the game, we were both delighted with how good and close the game had been (despite the score)- we both agreed that it had been one of the best games in SBG both of us had played in years- it seemed rather fitting, given that we'd wanted to play each other for ages.
Result: 11-0 Defeat
Sam (vs. James C.(Isengard))
I knew that this would be a tough one, with so many enemy troops and a wizard to manage, I decided to just rush for the centre, turn against Saruman and then try to push back the rest once he was dealt with.
My first move was to command Grima away from the Fellowship, then repeat the next two turns and march with Aragorn to put good distance between us. I reached the centre quickly and turned to face Saruman's incoming army. First, the Fellowship was hit by a flock of birds. Using some Heroic Combats, they quickly killed these off and then took the impact of the Dunlending cavalry, which they also managed to slay, although Boromir had to burn some might after bad rolling.
Legolas began picking off loose Wildmen and Dunlending archers. Glorfindel linked up just as the Fellowship charged towards the Wildmen. Gandalf blasted the banner into one, killing the banner bearer and knocking the wildman prone.
Glorfindel then charged said wildman and heroic combatted into Saruman! Naturally, he then lost the fight and a golden opportunity to take down the wizard quickly slipped away. The Oathmaker called a Heroic Move and won the roll off, allowing the wizard to make a run for it. At the same time, Thrydan had bravely charged Aragorn. Sam and Gimli then charged in to counter it but despite Gimli's Heroic Strike, then lost the fight and found Samwise cleaved in two! With Gandalf, the man and Dwarf avenged their fallen Hobbit, before charging into the Wildmen to assist Glorfindel, who had rolled poorly and ended up on 1w, 0f!
Aragorn and Glorfindel fought against the Wildmen, with the former slaying the Oathmaker, as the surviving Fellowship members turned to face the advancing Dunlending main force. Boromir charged the flank and as he prepared for a Heroic Combat, a very unwelcome ex-man of Rohan returned. Boromir called it anyway, seeing a chance to be rid of Frida, he ended up using his last two might to win the fight (being on two wounds and not liking the chances). Then, promptly failed to wound either man he faced...
The next turn, he faced Frida and failed to get through her Heroic Defence, before being cut down the following turn by her men.
Gimli took a surprise Sorcerous blast from Saruman and suddenly was attacked by Gorulf, before Aragorn leapt in and saved him.
As time was called, in the final turn, Merry fell in the fighting and Gorulf used his final might to slay Gimli. The rest of the Fellowship caused a few more casualties but sadly, not enough.
James had taken both of the flanking objectives and held the contested central one, while I had broken him.
Ahem...Glorfindel, a word please 😂
Result: 7-1 Defeat
Game 5- Lords of Battle
James (vs. Sam McG(Rise of the Necromancer LL))
Opponents heroes: The Necromancer, the Witch King, Khamul the Easterling, the Dark Headsman, the Forsaken, the Lingering Shadow, 2x Abyssal Knights, 2x Slayers of Men and the Keeper of the Dungeons
My final game for the weekend (and the year) saw the Men of the West up against the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion- this game was not going to be easy. We set up everything in the centre, and prepared for the inevitable slug-fest that is Lords of Battle.
I had some surprising early success- my Rohirrim 'killed' several Nazgul with a combination of archery and the Throwing Spears- handing me four wounds in the first turn. The downside of Nazgul of Dol Guldor, of course, is that they are very hard to kill permanently- over the course of the game, I 'killed' them multiple times, only for them to come back the very next turn. The Nazgul then proceeded to cut their way through my forces, including Eomer, who fell to the Keeper of the Dungeons, and Imrahil, who had his wounds drained away by the Necromancer's Chill Soul magical powers.
Aragorn, however, had other ideas as he cut down Nazgul left, right and centre- his elven blade making it harder for the Nazgul to pass their resurrection rolls- two of them subsequently failed and so would not be coming back.
Then came the crucial moment. The Necromancer had been bombarding me with magic all game, and was equally dangerous in combat, thanks to the extra attack he gets from the Legendary Legion bonus. However, being low on will points, Sam elected to charge him into Aragorn. Aragorn then won the fight and did two wounds- it cost the Necromancer four will to save the wounds, but he had then lost his remaining will point for being in combat! As his ancestor had done many years before, his heir had vanquished the Dark Lord!
With the Necromancer gone, Aragorn went on the rampage, cutting down the Keeper of the Dungeons, and then using a free heroic combat in the next turn to kill two more Nazgul, who promptly failed their resurrection rolls.
At this point, Sam's force was broken, and again the game ended on the first roll to see if it continued. Sam had racked up a considerable kill tally- with 30 odd wounds to my 14 (so more than double mine), thanks to all the fate points spent by Aragorn, Imrahil, Eomer and the Rangers, but with his leader dead and my force unbroken, I had managed the draw!
Result: 5-5 Draw
Sam (vs. James H.(Thorin's Company))
For my final game, we were given Lords of Battle, I was pretty happy with that. But when I saw it was against Thorin's Company, it didn't seem quite so clear cut.
We deployed right in front of each other, Legolas started on a balcony, preparing to harass the dwarves from above. Glorfindel, to the far right, ready to charge in and hit hard.
The Fellowship surged forward, Aragorn took on Dwalin, Boromir- Fili and Nori, Gimli stood beside Aragorn and Gandalf compelled Gloin forward to block Bilbo from interfering. Frodo, Sam and Pippin surrounded Bofur and Glorfindel charged Bifur. In response, Dori charged Gimli while Oin and Kili joined against Glorfindel. Legolas fired his bow and failed to wound, while Ori, used his slingshot and caused a wound on the elf.
Heroic Strikes were called by Aragorn, Dwalin, Boromir, Fili, Nori and Kili. Bombur also called a Heroic Defence.
The Hobbits went first and managed to slay Bofur, Sam regaining the might he spent to cause the third wound. Boromir won and killed Nori, Aragorn managed to wound Dwalin and, while Kili defeated Glorfindel, the dwarves failed to get past the elf's Horse Lord fate rolls. James had had a horrifically unlucky turn. One small bit of solace was that Dori had managed to wound Gimli.
The next turn, the Fellowship won the move off and Gandalf sorcerous blasted Gloin into Bilbo, who was wearing the Ring. The Hobbit took a wound and the rest of the Fellowship engaged as Gandalf charged into Dori. Samwise charged Balin, allowing Pippin to finally go and stand up to 'evil' Gandalf.
Gloin and Bilbo, now enraged got up and charged the former's son, pulling him off of Dori. And Thorin joined the combat against Gandalf. Legolas managed to shoot a wound onto Ori.
In the combat's that followed, Glorfindel slew Oin, Aragorn killed Dwalin, Boromir sliced through Bombur and Pippin, amazingly, beat back Gandalf and Ori slaying the dwarf! Gimli defeated his dad and landed a blow on the Hobbit.
Balin managed to get a wound on Samwise in return for all the violence and Thorin took some of Gandalf's fate.
James' luck was really not with him as, in the turns following this, yet more of the company fell.
Legolas shoots Bifur, Glorfindel- Kili, Boromir- Fili, Sam and Frodo- Balin, Gimli- Dori.
The Company's Gandalf did manage to give some injury back as he killed Samwise the Brave, but that just caused the Hobbits to gang up on him.
Things just got worse as now with superior numbers, the Fellowship quickly killed Thorin, Bilbo and Gloin.
With just the Company's Gandalf left, the Fellowship one ran over, dismounted and had a slapping match until the game ended.
James had had the absolute worst luck in this game, only passing 1-2 fate rolls out of the 15-20 he did, so the score didn't feel very fair on him.
Result: 12-0 Victory
James: With the event over, I'd come away with two wins, two defeats and a draw- not a bad weekend in all, and some very fun games to boot. I'm looking forward to painting up some new armies over Christmas and taking them to GBHL events next year- roll on 2022!
I personally had managed two wins and three losses, but taking all hero, I did expect some uphill struggles and had a great time with them. It was a great weekend of games and a great feeling to finally be back to the big tournaments at WHW, we greatly look forward to the Grand Tournament in February!
Upcoming Tournaments that I'll attend
8th Jan- A Rumble in Rhovanion- 400pts
16th Jan- Return to Rivenstead- Escalation 350/650pts
26/27th Feb- Grand Tournament- 700pts Good/Evil
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