The Tournament
This was a single day event for the EAHC league, run by our James. It was a de-escalation event with pre-set scenarios, to create the narrative of a progressing large battle. In each round, every army also gets a free banner, even the armies that usually don't have access to one.
700pts- Lords of Battle
The battle begins and the armies set about doing as much damage as possible to one another.
600pts- Domination
The leaders order the capture of key strategic positions on the field.
500pts- Contest of Champions
The leaders step forward to lead by example and boost the courage of their troops.
350pts- To the Death
With many dead on either side, the remaining soldiers engage for a final fight.
With that in mind, I'll write a little narrative blurb after each battle to give a nice progressive feel to the report.
Usually, I'd write my army list here. But because I'll be using the same Host of the Dragon Emperor list, trimmed down for each round, I'll just include it with each battle report (Drakes are proxied by Fell wargs).
Lords of Battle (700pts (Vs. Dan))
My Army
Dan's Army
For my first game, I was drawn against Dan, who I hadn't matched with since the EAHC finale in 2019. In that game, I had had my Champions of Erebor destroyed by Angmar, led by the Witch King and supported by a Shade, so I was eager to avenge myself.
Dan, knowing that a stand up fight wouldn't favour him, deployed towards the back. He had Vrasku to my right, Lurtz in the centre, Thrydan to my left and Gorulf also to my right but further forward. I immediately sounded the drum and got moving forward. His crossbows managed to take out a Palanquin bearer and pike. The next turn had a similar approach, but this time a Drake was wounded. The third turn, I moved up further and the Emperor reached Dan's side of the field, before withstanding another barrage from crossbows, but not before Brorgir cast a Tremor and managed to kill off the Uruk banner bearer.
I was now within touching distance of Thrydan's warband, so Lurtz called a Heroic Move, I countered with Rutabi and Dan won the roll off. He charged Thrydan and his warg riders in as Lurtz led his uruks and orcs to assist. I countered with various charges around the battle, the most notable being the Acolyte, who rushed in and threw a knife at Thrydan, hitting, and killing, his horse. A drake climbed onto the rock beside them, neither Dan nor I knew how crucial this would be until later. The archers then pulled back to create a wall and block Gorulf's warband from creating the pincer.
In the combats, as Dan feared, his lead in wounds was closed quickly as the Easterlings pikes and fight value from the Emperor came to bear. Unfortunately, I called two heroic combats. One was with Rutabi, three warriors and a Drake against a warg rider. They blew it and the second Drake was wounded also. The second combat was the Emperor and two warriors against the Crebain. They also blew it but took no wounds. Those two combats did leave me somewhat concerned for how the game would go. However, the Acolyte redeemed his friends as he managed to not only defeat Thrydan, but score 2 wounds. The Dunlending then rolled 1 and 2 for his fate and was forced to spend 2 might to survive.
The following turn, I charged again. The Acolyte threw a knife at Thrydan, and Dan let out a sigh of relief as it missed on a 3. But then let out a small groan as the Drake upon the rocks then charged from the flank (Bottom of the pic). The Emperor and his kataphrakts charged the Crebain but the horsemen were then counter charged after a Heroic Combat by Lurtz and berserkers. Gorulf and his unit continue to push, but he is wounded by an archer in combat. The Emperor manages to slay the birds and a berserker is killed by a kataphrakt, but Lurtz slays the other. The Acolyte and Drake overcome Thrydan and the Drake manages to finish the Dunlending off with its venom rerolls.
As the last turn begins, I lost priority and used Rutabi to go for a full on final attempt at gaining kills (I believe I was 16 wounds to Dan's 17/18). She was unfortunately, cornered and unable to move but so be it. I piled my pike formations into Uruk-hai on the left flank. The Emperor threw himself at Lurtz on the left as the kataphrakt held back the berserker. As Brorgir rushed into combat, he used his last will point to cast Enchanted Blades on the Emperor. On the rocks, the Drake hopped down but rolled a 1 and took a wound from the 1" fall... In Dan's move, he charged Gorulf into two Easterling archers, moved the unit up into the rest and threw an Uruk in alongside Lurtz.
Gorulf called a heroic combat and pushed through the gap to assist Lurtz against the Emperor. On the left flank, I managed to win most fights but failed to wound in them. On the right flank, Dan suffered a similar issue and so we came down to the Emperor facing off with both heroes. He managed to overcome them both and the Emperor swung his glaive viciously at Lurtz, landing a vicious 2 wounds on him. The bearers then lashed out, striking down Gorulf and narrowly failing to wound the Uruk.
We checked our wound tallies and double checked, finding that we had dead tied at 19 wounds each! And since I had wounded Lurtz, I had just edged it!
...it was here that I realised... Brorgir was still standing there, in an unresolved combat with a lone uruk... We rolled the combat, Brorgir lost, and then took a wound! Just like that, I had gone from a cheeky 1-0 win to a 3-1 heartbreaking defeat. The Drake who fell, and took away my drawn wound tally was heavily reprimanded!
After the initial clash, the men of Rhun had hit the enemy hard. Causing heavy damage to their foes thanks to their intense training, they had done their Kingdom proud. Sadly, Brorgir, their great Warpriest had been gravely wounded and had fallen. The Emperor ordered them forward, demanding the capture of vital strategic areas.
Domination (600pts (Vs. Kepa)
My Army
Kepa's Army
My second game was against a very similar Isengard force against a new opponent.
Kepa deployed back, assumedly for similar reasons to Dan. He had Vrasku to my left, Gorulf in the centre and Lurtz to my right. I didn't sound the drums in case he pushed forward. After he stayed put, besides to flu his Crebain up onto a balcony, I pushed forward and braced for the shots. I also sent a Drake with 3 archers to the right objective and another two pulled to the left to another. My Kataphrakts stayed in formation to shield the Emperor from crossbow fire. I managed to avoid any casualties.
I won the next priority and Kepa only called a March with Vrasku, I presumed this was to get him into the fight quickly with his crossbows. So I rushed Rutabi and her warband forward, joined by the Emperor to the rear. The Kataphrakts again, became human shields.
I was caught off guard as the crossbows surged down the board towards my left objective. Gorulf and his warband ran around the statue but were all just out of range of helping Lurtz. Kepa was caught off guard when Rutabi called a Heroic Combat and slew 2 Uruks to charge Lurtz. Luckily for him, Lurtz escaped, only having lost his fate point.
In the next turn, the Uruks got the Heroic Move off land in their favour and counter charged the Easterlings. Some charged a couple of Kataphrakts, others enveloped the advancing infantry. Vrasku then engaged with a lone archer behind a ruined wall and a flock of Crebain flew down and attacked some pikes. The Easterlings hit back as the Emperor himself advanced into the flock of Crebain. The Kataphrakts circled round their charged allies and counter charged the attackers and the Acolyte attacked Gorulf to protect Rutabi.
The Emperor managed to start off the combat phase with a Heroic as he and his warriors killed all the birds of the flock, he used the chance to push up closer to his allies to cajole them into fiercer fighting. Vrasku had also called one but was pushed back and wounded.
The Kataphrakts counter charges paid off as they killed several Uruks in the central objective. Many Uruks and Easterlings fell in the main battle as they fought fiercely. Rutabi slew the banner bearer but it was passed back.
As time was closing up, we began our final 2 turns. Kepa flew his second Crebain onto the balcony. And we another of clashing and weakening one another, in which Vrasku slew the archer that he faced and his crossbows advanced on the left objective. In the last turn, the Emperor called a Heroic Move to counter Lurtz and again engaged the lines. I made a push for Kepa's right objective but couldn't quite reach. Kepa flew his last Crebain into my archers at the right hand objective and attacked my second archer at the left one. He also thought hard about pulling an Uruk back to hold his left objective but instead ran around and pulled Rutabi off of Lurtz.
In the final combat phase, the Emperor and his Kataphrakts just managed to edge numerical superiority for the centre. The Acolyte with a pike support managed to overcome Gorulf and land a wound. The Dunlending hero then failed his fate and fell. The Easterlings managed to overcome Lurtz and land a wound upon him but couldn't quite seize Kepa's right objective.
Amongst my objectives, the bows beat the Crebain but with 6 strikes only managed a single wound, needing 2/3. Kepa's crossbows then repaid it by obliterating my remaining archer on the left.
The game ended with me owning 2 contested objectives, while Kepa owned a complete one. I had wounded Lurtz and broken him. The score was therefore a tightly fought 4-2 victory to me.
The Rhunish army slammed into the enemy frontline again. The Emperor bellowing his commands for them to hold their positions. Despite the enemy getting a good assault to the flank, they held firm and gained an advantage, pushing the enemy back.
My Army
This was a very tough matchup, fighting against a small, mostly hero army of cavalry in a river, as the centre was right on a corner of it.
I called a Heroic Move with Rutabi to get the jump and rushed forward. The Emperor charged into two Royal guard before Theoden and the rest of the army formed a wall to prevent a surrounding charge.
Theoden and his remaining guys all charged forward into the walls of troops and in the combat phase, Theoden called 'Death!' He called a strike, along with Deorwine and Dernhelm. His Captain called a combat as did Gamling. I called a combat with the Emperor.
Theoden went first and slew 2 Easterlings before charging 2 more. The Emperor went next and he swung, missing both Royal Guard but his bearers managed to finish them both off (sadly not counted into his tally), he moved over towards Theoden's half of the line. The chain of Heroic Combats then cut through the Rhunish lines and killed about a third of the army, with Theoden scoring 2 more.
The following turn, Theoden and his troops got the move off and again charged many of the Easterlings, being careful to avoid the Emperor's wrath. The King himself rushing across the river to the right. I moved the Emperor back towards the right to try and keep close to him, hoping for a chance to force the fight. I had a little more luck as not all the Easterlings lost their fights this time and Rutabi was closing in. I was, however, broken by this turn. Theoden had killed another warrior.
I won the next move off as Rutabi was within range and the Emperor got ahold of Gamling. Rutabi had charged into Deorwine and several others had pinned the Banner and captain. Across the river, Dernhelm was being held back by a couple of warriors but I couldn't stop Theoden getting another charge.
The combats swung in my favour as I won many of the fights and successfully dismounted both Deorwine and the Captain while slaying the Banner. The Emperor made it a big turn as he slew Gamling with a thrust of his glaive. Now, they were on limited might.
In the next turn, I again got the charge off and Dernhelm was held at bay again. Rutabi went for a big fish and faced Deorwine as a lone archer took on Theoden, a couple of warriors held back the Captain and the Emperor couldn't reach any combats. In the fights, nobody, besides Deorwine took a single wound!
However, in the last turn, I lost an archer to push me past 25% but had failed again to get the Emperor into a combat after Kieran moved first, failing to wound or kill any others.
This left me at a 9-0 defeat as I had been thoroughly bested by Theoden, despite the apparent comeback and had been broke, while not quite getting the breaking kill against Kieran.
With the enemy on the break, the Easterlings pushed hard after them, eager to claim trophy kills. But it was a ruse, and as they entered the trap, the enemy turned back and faced them! The Easterlings lost many troops in the fighting and Rutabi was last seen in the thick of it, leading heroically before disappearing into the melee.
To the Death (350pts (Vs. John)
My Army
John's Army (RotK LL)
Aragorn w/ Anduril
Rider of the Dead
Warriors of the Dead x2 w/ 1x Shield and 1x Spear
King of the Dead
Warrior of the Dead x2 w/ 1x Banner and 1x Spear/Shield
For my last game, I was thrilled to get drawn against John, who I had seen around and chatted to for months, but never played. Well today, was the day.
Since neither of us were in the running for the podium, we went for spectacle. I fired a few 'Hail Mary' shots at him that did nothing and then the Emperor engaged with two warriors of the Dead on the front, with the warriors almost unquestioningly passing their courage tests to join the charge as they bogged down most of the other warriors and the King. Aragorn, who was behind them, then rushed through the gap and into the Emperor.
We both called a Heroic Strike and got to Fight 10. We both got our 6s and then the King of Gondor won the roll off! I winced as he rolled his dice and saw Anduril swing up as Aragorn and the 2 dead scored 3 wounds! I rolled all 3 fate and passed only 1! The warriors then won all their fights but failed to kill anything (plenty of 6s, no follow up 4s).
In the next turn, I was reengaged in the same way. We both called Heroic Strikes again but this time did the warriors first. I once again won the majority and took a fate off of the King of the Dead. I also managed to slay the loose Dead spearman.
In the leader fight, Aragorn fluffed his Heroic and only reached F9 to the Emperor's 10. This time the glaive came swinging down, viciously followed up by swipes from the Palanquin bearers, taking 4 wounds off of Aragorn, who had to use his last store might to survive, left with 1w, 0f.
Following this, the Drake rushed forward and attacked Aragorn from behind, as the Emperor reengaged the 2 dead. The warriors had a bit of a wobbly as a few failed their courage this time but in the combats they killed another Dead warrior and took off another fate from the King. Aragorn had used his free might to call a Heroic Combat however, and in one sweep killed the Drake, before turning and running straight at the Emperor and leaping onto the Palanquin, and the end of the Emperor's glaive. Before being kicked back off and into the mud.
With Aragorn dead, there was only one remaining threat and the King fought the Emperor twice, before being brought down. The Banner was also slain and with it the army was defeated.
I had brought John down to a quarter without being broken, had my Banner alive and slain Aragorn while the Emperor was gravely wounded but alive, for a 12-1 win.
After breaking free of the ambush, the Emperor himself fought the enemy leader. He took a serious wound in the fight but eventually managed to best his foe and finally rout them. They had claimed a Pyrrhic Victory.
I had managed to get an even split of 2 wins and 2 losses, with a VPD of 2. Earning me 10th place out of 18. But I did manage to walk away with the Most Sporting prize, which now hangs on my gaming bag as seen below.
Oh also, remember that Drake that fell off the rock and took a wound, losing my opening game? My opponent went on undefeated to win after that. That's a very bad dog! I mean Drake!!
Upcoming Tournaments that I'll attend
Battle Games in Middle Earth Team Championships (10/11th Sept)
The Strider Cup (22/23rd Oct)
Scaring of the Shire 2: C-Evil War (5th Nov)
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