Sam's Top 10 'What the hell just happened?' moments 2022

 Hey all

This is a post I thought that I'd make to summarise my ten biggest catastrophic and spontaneous failures of the year, inspired by a segment of the SBG magazine from an early issue, titled 'Dice of Woe'. Those, who I play with regularly, are familiar with my moments of abysmal luck that have sunk me unexpectedly. Such as the infamous example against Tom Hawker, where my entire army fled, one at a time, in the final turn, to hand over a 8-4 victory to become a 10-0 defeat. 

I hope that you enjoy these, as much as I did collecting them. (In hindsight, of course). 😂

Anyway, lets kick off with...

10: To War! (August) Host of the Dragon Emperor Vs. Dan (Isengard)

To set the scene, it was the opening game of the day against Dan, who had spanked me in the EAHC finale the year before Covid. I was keen to return the sentiment and I so nearly did as we played 'Lords of Battle' and I so nearly matched the wound tally, after two very unfortunately failed Heroic Combats from Rutabi and the Emperor.

However, what we didn't know was that what would decide the match was the most seemly innocuous moment midway through, as a Rhunish War Drake failed his climb test, to get off a small ledge just an inch high and took a wound. This knocked Dan's tally one above me at the very end, leaving me narrowly defeated. While Dan went on, untouched, to win the whole event!

*Fell warg proxying the Drakes, bottom left being the guilty one

9: Throne of Skulls (December) Isengard Vs. Jacob (Rivendell/Numenor)

We have a classic Heirlooms game in full swing, the objective has fallen into their camp and I'm launching a full on assault to claim it. I just have a small group of warriors with the Oathmaker, who calls a Heroic Combat against the dismounted Rivendell Knight to move them up and get them stuck into the attack. 

The Knight rolls first and scores a 3! Brilliant! With 5 attacks total, I can't fail! Then...

I let out a small wail of dismay! That Knight was a thorn in the Oathmaker's side the entire game, taking away all his might and only falling at the very end, when it only mildly soothed a damaged ego. The Last Alliance held their objective.

8: The Grand Tournament (February) Garrison of Dale Vs. Dan (Azog's Legion/Hunters)

In the thick of another great game of 'Fog of War', I was in a struggle. Bolg was hitting me hard with his warriors and gradually breaking through to, what I assumed was, his objective terrain piece. It was at this point that I saw an opportunity. I had Bard and a small troop of warriors in a second ruin. The idea was that my bow armed Captain, who was on full stats, would call a Heroic Combat against the Hunter orc that he faced, slay it and then rush up to assist Bard in slaying Narzug. And in the next turn, he would then call a Heroic March to push them all up past Bolg's main army to seize my objective.

Instead, my Bow Captain rolled snake eyes in combat, took two wounds from the orc and then rolled another one on his fate, placing him in the ground rather than the orcs. Bard also fluffed his combat and, luckily, wasn't wounded himself. As one final twist of the knife, the Bow Captain, was the hero I had chosen to protect.

7: Will you follow me, one last time? (November) Men of the West Vs. Sam (Angmar)

This was one of those Legolas moments that he would rather you forgot.

He arrived in Heirlooms, away from any friends and fairly far from enemies, so he stopped and took a turn of shooting at a couple of warg riders. He naturally failed to do any damage, and seeing those riders now turn and coming at him, at full pace, tried to climb up the ladder of a tower, from which, he intended to start sniping the enemy force, as I had found the objective.

Unfortunately, Legolas then proceeded to climb onto the bottom of the ladder, be charged by Warg riders over the entire game. For three turns in a row, he rolled snake eyes and would then be wounded, forced to spend fate and might to survive, falling from the ladder with a complete lack of grace. Eventually, he managed to win a fight and slay the second warg, before scrambling up the ladder. Only to face them at the top anyway.

By the end of the game, he was lucky to be alive and had only claimed two mounts for his kills.

6a: Seven Stones (May) Rohan/Fellowship (W/ James) over two games

While I can't remember the specifics of these events, I still have the echo in my mind of James screaming at me 'What is wrong with you?!'

In a weird mirror image across two games, we twice had Aragorn have his horse shot, he would spend all three fate, one after the other failing, before being forced to use one of his stored might to save it. Only to lose it the following turn regardless.

It should be noted that I was dressed as King Theoden for our theme, the Charge from Helm's Deep, while James was my trusty steed, Snowmane, leading to the following image.

6b: Heroes of the Belegaer Sea (May) Army of Thror over two games

In a very similar vein, in two games, again more or less mirroring one another. I first played against the Pits of Dol Guldor legion, so I was understandably concerned about locking down and defeating Azog.

I got a great chance as several warriors, Thror and Thrain managed to finally pin him and using the last point of might, I called a Heroic Strike. It went horribly and suddenly both heroes took 3 wounds from the Pale Orc, and I failed all 4 fate rolls between them! The rest of the game snowballed and I was thoroughly beaten.

Into the second game, where I faced the Return of the King legion in Contest of Champions. I threw Thrain at the King of the Dead to hold him back as Aragorn was behind the army, for fear of being double teamed. Imagine my surprise, when Thrain not only lost the fight, despite Heroic Striking higher, but also failed all three fate to save the only wound the King caused on 1s.

This then happened again as Thror also lost to the King and suffered a single wound, also rolling a 1 for his fate, and after Heroic Combatting the previous turn, and using a might to try and Heroic Move, suddenly also fell. Meaning that I had failed all 8 fate rolls that I had taken (1/256 chance).

5: Friendly (October) Men of the West Vs. CJ (Assault on Helm's Deep)

In preparation for the EAHC finale, I decided to give the LL a few practice games, to figure out how best to use it. I came up against CJ, who was running his army for the finale, complete with big, scary bomb.

There was two ballistae to contend with, so Aragorn led the Heroic March up towards one to get too close to shoot. As the bomb team ran towards the King of Gondor, I braced for impact.

To my horror, it expectedly detonated, but on the chart CJ rolled a 6! He then followed this up with a 6/5 on the wounds caused, meaning the Heir of Isildur now covered the entire battlefield! I don't think that I need to tell you that my army was decimated following this, although Gimli did brutally cut down the Uruk General.

4: Local league (September?) Azog's Legion Vs. George (Fangorn)

George and I were fighting hard in Capture and Control, as Bolg managed to kill Quickbeam before being torn apart by Treebeard or Beechbone. I had all the objectives under my control and had broken the Ents, so just needed the game to end...

Except it didn't...

Turn after turn, a 3+ was rolled, and my heroes were killed and my warriors fled. Until eventually, after the 10th roll had failed and the turn had passed, I was just left with a lone Gundabad Troll on its last wound against Treebeard and Beechbone. And then the game finally ended, which was just as well, or I may have had a breakdown! Luckily, I had maintained control of the objectives to claim the 11-0 win, despite how close it really was.

3: Strider Cup (October) Easterlings/Mordor (W/ CJ) Vs. (Sorry I have forgotten the names) (Mordor) 

To give some context, at the Strider Cup, the cups themselves are awarded for the team that manages to achieve the most Strider points across the weekend for carrying out bizarre actions e.g. lying down with your Ringbearer in a place where they can be charged.

So, we were playing to achieve one in which we needed Amdur (our champion) to fight one on one with a monster, in this case a troll. Then to max out on the points, we needed Amdur to slay the troll. He had a single point of might left and had scored a single wound upon it thus far.

As I prepared to throw him in again, CJ suggested that he throws the Great Beast of Gorgoroth into it first and his logic was sound. 

CJ: It's a 4/9 chance that I do a single wound on it, a 4/9 chance that I do nothing at all, but at least add extra attacks to win the fight.'

Me: But what if you kill it?

CJ: Well, what are the chances of that?

Me: Ok, fair enough

The Great Beast flattened that troll into the ground so fast...

Luckily, despite this, we managed to win the cups, but it was the only thing that stopped us achieving every Strider point going.

2: White Shores and Beyond (February) The Trolls Vs. Tom (Corsairs of Umbar)

At our first EAHC event since the start of Covid, I found myself facing off with the Three Trolls against the corsairs in the capable hands of Tom, who has won several events in the past. This seemed like a fairly clear cut game to me.

I opened up by throwing Bill into combat with some pirates and Tom the Troll into Dalamyr. Tom sneezed over Dalamyr and used his victory to shove the pirate leader into a sack, thus paralysing him. Excellent, I now had them in the palm of my hand, all that I had to do was get some kills with Bill and then ride the game to a victory.

I then realised the issue, I could not be quartered, and so would have to quarter them to end the game. Bill had managed to kill two pirates before fluffing a combat and being slain. Tom then quickly followed and Bert fled not long after.

I should point out that this meant that while I had the higher VP count, I had lost. And this is despite the fact that the enemy leader, who is relied upon to score most of the VPs, had spent the ENTIRE GAME paralysed in a sack...poor show, Bill, poor show.

1: Warhammer World Team Championships (September) Thranduil's Halls/Beornings Vs. Felix (Depths of Moria)

For the final entry, it was a big one. At the Team Championships in Warhammer World no less, when I have the hopes of another three players on my shoulders!

We followed the matchmaking system, and I chose to face off against the Depths of Moria LL in 'To the Death' as I felt that my army had the best chance against them.

The game opened with Grimbeorn firing his Great Bow and scoring a cheeky wound after using a might point. As the flaming demon of doom closed in, Grimbeorn went into bear form and charged, roaring into the beast. He had an elf join in with a glaive supporting him.

Then began a very fast and very unfortunate series of events. First, Felix got a goblin prowler to throw a dagger, which hit, went through the combat and killed the elf at the front. This removed both elves from the combat. Right, that's bad, but I'll roll with it. I called my Heroic Strike and went up to F10, the Balrog then set a bar of 4 highest. With a squeal of delight, I rolled my three dice, and got a 2 highest...

The Balrog then went to wound rolls, and I comforted myself that I have 3w and 3f, so it'll be ok. Only to suddenly be lumped with 4 wounds! I, numbly, picked up my dice and rolled all 3 fate, to get 1, 2, 3. My big scary bear, worth 1/4 of my army, had just been torn apart by an even bigger and scarier beastie! And it hadn't cost him any resources!

Thranduil then led a heroic attempt at trying to pull it back, but there was no coming back from that start and I was destroyed. I went on to win 3 games and draw the last, but that one stung.

In a similar situation, I played against John in the EAHC two months later, again with a Balrog. But this time, he whipped Thrydan, the leader of my Dunlendings, from behind cover and ate him in the opening combat. It pales in comparison to the prior case, but I hope it can help explain my 'irrational' fear of this demon of the ancient world!

I hope that you've enjoyed this chronicling of my woes and, if it's well received, then maybe I'll do the same at the end of 2023.

Have a Merry Christmas all!

Battle Report: Erebor Reclaimed/Garrison of Dale Vs. Easterlings

I asked amongst the local group chat, whether anyone fancied a game on TTS for Sunday 18th December as a pre Xmas game. And had two volunteers, so it only made sense to do a 2v1. We quickly split into two teams (Me v Josh and Will) and decided to theme our game around the Battle of Dale. It was going to be a 1200pt game. 

(Image from the one wikia to rule them all)

I was to be the Easterlings and Josh/Will to be the good forces, with Josh using Erebor and Will using Dale. We also agreed to not use the Legendary Legions for a nice chilled game.

Our armies were:

Me

The Dragon Emperor of Rhun LEADER

12x Easterling warriors w/ 6x Bow and 6x Pike/Shield

6x Black Dragon warriors w/ 5x Pike/Shield and 1x Pike/Shield/Banner

Rutabi

6x Dragon Cult Acolytes

9x Black Dragon warriors w/ Pike/Shield

Brorgir

3x Rhunish War Drakes

8x Black Dragon warriors w/ Pike/Shield

Dragon Knight w/ Armoured Horse

1x Black Dragon Kataphrakt

Easterling Captain w/ Armoured horse, sword and shield

5x Easterling warriors w/ 4x Bow and 1x Pike/Shield

6x Black Dragon Kataphrakts w/ 1x War Drum

1x Rhunish War Drake

Numbers: 62

Josh

King Dain LEADER

16x Iron Hills warriors w/ 8x Shield and 8x Spear/Shield

1x Goat Rider

Thorin III Stonehelm

11x Iron Hills warriors w/ Spear/Shield

1x Goat Rider

Will

King Brand

2x Knights of Dale

15x Warriors of Dale w/ 1x Banner/Spear, 2x Bow/Spear, 7x Shield/Spear and 5x Shield

Bard II

7x Knights of Dale

8x Warriors of Dale w/ Bow/Spear

Captain of Dale w/ Shield

Numbers: 65

This wasn't a typical scenario, for this we were trialling the approach that was to be used at my event, coming in January, 'The Fog of War'. This would involve randomised objectives, deployment and end conditions.

Fog of War event pack: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MV73FUVwwPvOImaFnnYe16MRfxSEPHco/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116936616889776102357&rtpof=true&sd=true

We rolled for ours and got:

Up to 12" deployment from your board edge/On breaking, a D6 1/2 will end the game.

Minor objective: Option 4- Similar to Heirlooms, the Heirloom is worth 1VP for having more models nearby or 3VPs for holding it.

Major objective: Option 3- Similar to Fog of War/Assassination, note down a friendly hero to defend, worth 1VP for surviving the game and 3VPs for being unharmed (fate is allowed to be spent). Also choose another friendly hero (may be the same one if you wish), this will be your assassin. Note down an opposing hero as a target, if you wound them, you gain 1VP. If they are slain, you gain 2VPs instead, but if your assassin deals the killing blow, you instead gain 3VPs. (You may select leaders for any of these roles).

The final 3VPs are for breaking your opponent, if they also break you, then you both receive 1VP instead.

I will unveil our selected targets at the end of the game.

We found a nice gates of Erebor to use as our map and so we began.

We deployed thematically so that the forces of good were outside of the Gates of Erebor and the Easterlings were across from them. I deployed Rutabi to my far right. Beside them I had the Emperor's warband, to the left of which I had Brorgir. And on the far left, the Captain. At the rear, the Dragon knight hung back.

Across from us, King Brand was on their far left. To his right, he had Thorin III. In the centre, Dain had a solid rank of dwarves and the far right was held by Bard II. The Capt of Dale was at the rear.

Good got the immediate priority, and found the Heirloom instantly. This would usually be a big blow, but since it was worth only 3VPs, it wasn't game changing for now. They continued forward, forming a nice wall of defenders, as the Easterlings sounded the drums and surged their left flank to the centre. Rutabi and the Emperor pushed their own warbands forward.

After another sound of the drums and rush forward, the Easterlings were right before their opponents.

Good got priority again and leapt upon the attackers, Brand charging with his men into the Acolyte lines. Thorin nearby charging a pike formation. In the centre, Dain threw himself and his dwarves into the Easterlings and wrapped around. The Easterling cavalry responded by pincering the pincer.

On the Easterlings' right flank, Brorgir stepped up and cast Tremor on a knight, it then went 5" up the line. This managed to kill one Acolyte, two Knights of Dale and two Warriors of Dale, also knocking King Brand prone. Rutabi then launched her ambush, personally pouncing upon the floored King and after a Heroic Strike off (in which they both rolled 1), she used her two remaining might to slay him outright. King Brand had died in the first turn of combat! Many of his men also fell to the blades of the Acolytes and pikes.

In the centre, the Easterling Captain had charged a lone Iron Hill warrior with a Kataphrakt and called a Heroic Combat. He then used his last might to slay the dwarf and, while the Kataphrakt rushed into Dain's two spear supports, the Captain charged the goat rider at the rear. He managed to slay this too.

Dain led a pushback as he managed to kill both the Easterlings that he faced and the combats up and down the line had men and dwarves both fall in a vicious turn of combat.

The next turn, Bard II arrived and leant some assistance to Dain. He charged himself and his warriors/knights into the Easterling flank, as Dain and his dwarves flattened out their line to fill the gaps formed. The Easterling Captain was surrounded by angry dwarves and Dale men. 

However, this was when Brorgir returned, and cast a second Tremor. This time upon Dain's spear support and it ripples back into the Captain's combat. In which, it kills; the second goat rider, an Iron Hills warrior, a Dale archer and a Knight. The Captain also took a wound, and then was thrown from his horse by it and took a second one from the fall, killing him too. This wasn't the end of the world, as I suspected that he was about to be torn to pieces anyway, but this way had killed many foes with him.

I then sent the remaining cavalry and Drakes into the flanking force, to turn the tide on Bard's assault. This worked fairly well, as many men of Dale and Dwarves fell. But Bard called a Heroic Combat and killed a Black Dragon Kataphrakt and then a Drake.

Dain also called a Heroic Combat, and then I saw the danger too late. As he slew his opposing Black Dragon and rushed forward and around the back into Brorgir! The enraged Dwarf King managed to score three wounds! Brorgir, only being saved by a lucky couple of fate rolls, but left on 1w, 0f.

On the right flank, Rutabi led her troops forward, slaying yet more of the dwindling Dale unit. While a handful of troops from the centre, managed to score some good success against the dwarves and kill several.

Since we were running out of time, we decided that we would play one more turn and call it. The Easterlings got priority, but Dain called a Heroic Move. This was countered by Brorgir, but won by Dain. He used it to charge Brorgir and an Easterling archer together. This prevented the Emperor from being able to reach him. His handful of warriors that were in range, rushed into a few of the Easterlings before them.

I charged my cavalry into the dwarves again, trying to break them down. And threw my drummer off to the left, to run down a small group of archers, that I worried may try to pick off pikes. The Drakes swarmed around Bard and his remaining men. Finally, I threw the Dragon Knight into the back of Dain.

In the combats, Bard called a Heroic Combat and lost to two Drakes, luckily, getting away with only a lost fate point, considering the venomous beasts. His two men, were not so fortunate, and they were slain by a beast.

The Dwarves and men at the front, managed to rally and win several of the fights. And though they lost a few more of their numbers, led by the Dale Captain, they drove back their foes with bloody noses. Dain stood up to the Dragon Knight , who rolled a 1 on his Heroic Strike to Dain's 5. The Knight was hewn from his horse with Barazanthual and killed instantly!

On the right flank, the Emperor saw an opening and marched his palanquin into Thorin. The troops around him managed to secure the trap, making this a very concerning fight for the Dwarven Prince. Rutabi, on the cusp of a thorough victory, charged once more at the last few men of Dale. She and her troops cut them down to the last three, as just two spears and their Banner were left standing after her aggressive assault.

The Emperor went next, seeing his chance to strike down the dwarven heir. He rolled his Heroic Strike, and scored a 1 (I was 3/3 by the end of the game on this), while Thorin got up to F9, he won the fight and gave the Emperor a single wound, which I just threw all three fate at to save. The Emperor's men did better managed to kill another couple of dwarves.

By the end of the game, many were dead and the frontlines were shattered, but who had won the titanic clash?

Scores

Let's start with the objective that everyone knows already, the forces of Good held the Heirloom and therefore got 3VPs.

As for breaking, I had killed 34, requiring 32.5. They had killed 22, while needing 32 dead. So Evil claimed 3VPs.

For slaying a chosen enemy hero, I had selected King Brand, who I had killed. I had done this with my assassin, Rutabi, Evil got another 3VPs. Josh and Will had chosen the Dragon Knight (oh no...), who they killed in the final turn. However, their assassin was Bard! So they claimed 2VPs. This put the scores at 6-5 to Evil, with one objective to go!

The final objective, defending a chosen hero. They had chosen to defend Thorin, who had narrowly avoided a huge assault from the Emperor at the very end of the game, to come out unscathed and get 3VPs. I had chosen to defend Brorgir, who Dain had Heroic Combatted into and taken a wound off of, leaving me with 1VP.

Final score after that, left Good with a cheeky 8-7 victory, saved by the heroics of the Dwarves! They lost the battle, but they won the war! Grats to Josh and Will and thanks to them for giving me a good end of year game before Xmas!

Tournament Report- Throne of Skulls 2022 (3/4th Dec)

 The Tournament

This is a staple event in the SBG calendar, a wonderful weekend of large, 1000pt, themey armies and sporting games. And the level players go to with their displays, means that it is insane what doesn't qualify.

There was also secret objectives in play for this event as another tie breaker.

My Army

Since I got my ticket without much time to prepare (2~weeks prior), I had to use a force that wouldn't require much preparation.

Because of this, I decided to go with a theme that I had wanted to try for a while, a Fords of Isen/Raiders of the Westfold approach. This led me to the following setup:

Vrasku (Leader)

Uruk-hai warriors x11 w/ 1x Banner/Pike and 10x Pikes

Thrydan Wolfsbane w/ Horse

Dunlending Huscarls x6

Crebain x2

Dunlending warriors x4 w/ 2x 2h and 2x Bow

Gorulf Ironskin 

Dunlending Horsemen x2

Dunlending warriors x7 w/ 3x 2h, 2x Shield and 2x Bow

Uruk-hai Scouts x3 w/ Bow

Frida Tallspear

Dunlending warriors x10 w/ 3x 2h, 4x Shield and 3x Bow

Uruk-hai Scouts x2 w/ Bow

The Wildman Oathmaker

Wildmen of Dunland x11 w/ 6x 2h

Uruk-hai Shaman

Feral Uruk-hai x3

Uruk-hai warriors x2 w/ Crossbows

Numbers: 69

Might: 16

Heroes: 6

Game 1- Breakthrough (Vs. Lothlorien (Chris))

Opposing heroes: Celeborn, Haldir and two Galadhrim Captains

Opposing warriors: Galadhrim warriors

Secret objective: Kill the most expensive opposing hero (Celeborn)

My first game was against Chris, a lovely guy, who told me his secret plan was to rush forward and slog it out (a man after my own heart). Chris sounded the charge and Celeborn rushed forward into my troops. To my left, his archer unit pulled back ready to shoot at the wildmen, who ran sideways to trap as many elves as they could. Those not in combat were very quickly shot dead!

The game from this point became one big dizzying melee spanning the middle of the board, with Frida holding one flank to the right, as the Oathmaker's men held the left from the archer unit from joining the centre. The Oathmaker rushed into the middle and attempted to Heroic Combat to join against Celeborn with Thrydan, but failed to beat his opponent. Thrydan, somehow, avoided being dismounted in the fight and held firm, while Frida began a push, in which she steadily killed elves to get forward.

My archers managed to run out to my right and set up in a ruin on the balcony for a vantage point. From here, they harassed Haldir's unit of archers to the far right. And in a fight, a lone uruk, not only ruined Haldir's Heroic Combat, but also managed to wound him!

In the centre, Thrydan and friends redoubled their efforts against the thinning numbers of elves as their pikes and flanking warriors piled up the casualties. Celeborn was getting slowly isolated and, eventually, Thrydan's sword caught him. The elven leader had fallen!

I finally got a priority, where I didn't need to call a Heroic Move after this, and allowed the Crebain to fly towards Chris' objective. Unfortunately, he had a small group of elves, making their way to mine. So Thrydan pulled back and charged two of them, but lost and pulled back within range, alongside two Uruk scouts, giving me control of it. On the left hand objective, I had a lone Dunlending rush in and fight the lone elf on it, to neutralise it.

As time was called, I had control of my own objective and Chris', while he owned a central one uncontested and the other was neutralised. I had also slain his leader and I had broken him for a close 8-5 victory to me. I had also achieved the secret objective of slaying Celeborn.

Game 2- Fog of War (Vs. Angmar (Wayne))

Opposing heroes: Witch King of Angmar, Buhrdur and two Barrow Wights

Opposing warriors: Angmar orc warriors, wild wargs and three cave trolls

Secret objective: Control a building at the end of the game (Minimum of three models inside, no opposing models)

When I saw that I was against Angmar for the second round, I was concerned, expecting to have several heroes paralysed for the game. Luckily, I had several so would be able to work with it. For my targets, I chose; to defend my shaman, to kill Buhrdur (figured that he'd be in combat and die eventually) and capture the ruins to my far left).

Similarly, to the first game, I went for a high line and advanced into their half. Vrasku and my crossbows fired into the wargs to kill a few off and Vrasku managed to put a wound on the far right troll in the following turn.

As the lines met, I had my wildmen facing down the fell wargs, Thrydan and Gorulf's warbands facing Buhrdur's unit and Frida along with the Shaman charging at the Witch King's. I had a very good turn of combats and inflicted a good amount of early damage, while Wayne was unfortunate and failed to cast any paralyses (this went throughout the entire game).

In the following turn, I managed to get Gorulf onto Buhrdur and Heroic Combatted Thrydan from an orc spear into the back of him. Gorulf called a piercing strike and I won the fight. Thrydan didn't make a single blow as Gorulf caused plenty and slew the troll chieftain. On the right flank, Frida's troops managed to barrier up against the Barrow Wight's warband that was about to flank them and get a troop to prevent the Witch King from casting.

I expected that Frida and her troops would be killed before long, so kept the Shaman round the back ready to pull away if the fight went badly, however, instead it went insanely well. The defenders of my flank held well, even with a troll pushing at them. And Frida's unit killed many of the Witch King's warband. Eventually, she got into a one on one with him and brought him down (obviously in a much more impressive and heroic manner than that strawhead Eowyn, also with a wittier line).

Around the board, I managed to fell a few trolls and managed to slay an orc, that I assume was trying to clear a ruin in my half, but had my archers inside of it.

With the fall of the Witch King and the army broken, there wasn't much more Angmar could do. By the end, I had slain Buhrdur, captured the ruins (also covering the secret objective), kept the Shaman unharmed and broken them while being unbroken, I had claimed a 12-0 victory.

Game 3- Destroy the Supplies (Vs. Defenders of Erebor (Matt))

Secret objective: Have your leader slay the enemy leader in combat (he must remove all the wounds himself)

I looked at this one with mixed feelings. On one hand, this was a fairly small force in a scenario that favours large forces generally, but this is a scenario that I have NEVER won. I have had several close calls, such as at the Team Championships, but never quite swung it.

I set up a large defence across two objectives and sent a small force for the third, more just to cause delays than actually hold it. Matt sent a large block of heroes (King Brand, King Dain, Thorin III, Dwalin, Bifur and the Iron Hills Captain) and their warriors towards the centre. Vrasku managed to dismount the captain after a well placed crossbow bolt, but that was all the damage that I did with my ranged attacks. 

Just as the lines met, I had won the Heroic Move off and charged the Oathmaker and Thrydan into Bifur. I then called a Heroic Strike with Thrydan and Heroic Combat with the Oathmaker to slay Bifur and throw Thrydan into King Brand, who was also slain by Thrydan.*

*I will put my hands up here and say that I marked that as my secret objective completed, after having a mind fart and getting it in my head that Thrydan was my leader. So this was in fact a failed one.

It was a good start nonetheless, killing the enemy leader and removing six might off the table. However, there was still plenty of teeth left in this opposing army, as I found out in the following turns.

Vrasku, having no shots left forward, moved over to the left and started firing through a doorway, causing a wound upon Bard and having his archers take out a knight of Dale. But the defenders of that objective were falling fast, and a few turns later, it was destroyed.

In the other half of the board, I managed to get a Horseman to destroy one of theirs and my Crebain were flying up the left to attack, but were met by a crossbowman, a goat rider and Gloin, who managed to kill off one flock of birds. The other slipped away towards the centre but was caught and also killed.

In the centre, Dwalin began a rampage, and I'm pretty sure never lost a combat. His first victim was Thrydan followed by untold numbers of Uruks and Dunlendings. Gorulf managed to get ahold of Dain and get him to 1w, 0f. But then just could not inflict the final wound. 

With such relatively low numbers, the men and dwarves were punching through my army hard. Since my numbers were doing the best they could, I sent all my archers and crossbows up through the ruins, towards the centre objective. They ended up in a fight with a goat rider and some Iron Hills warriors, mere inches from it. Eventually with minutes left on the clock, they punched through and destroyed it.

However, things were tight at my central objective. Gorulf finally landed the killing blow on Dain. And I was struggling to hold down Dwalin and Thorin, who were pushing through. I had lost most of my heroes, including Thrydan, Frida, the Oathmaker and my Shaman (I'm sure Dwalin killed at least three of them). So I just had Vrasku and Gorulf remaining. It was at this point, where we both broke.

To my horror, Vrasku abandoned his warriors and fled. Just as Bard came running in and pushed onto the objective. Luckily, some spare troops rushed in and saved it from destruction. With only 10mins~ left on the clock, we began the final turn.

Matt claimed it and again rushed forward, Dwalin tying up a couple of troops, including my banner, which he killed, and Thorin another two, both near the objective. Bard then rushed forward and charged another, as his last Knight of Dale jumped onto my objective, leaving me with just one Dunlending who could reach that knight and save it and the victory.

I realised that Gorulf, could reach the man and use his stand fast to keep him on, instead Gorulf fled. So with a lot of concern, with my history of important courage tests, I rolled to see if he would stay of his own accord...

Luckily for me, he did and saved the game. I had destroyed two supplies to Matt's one, I had killed Brand, while Vrasku fled and we had broken one another. We had no banners left either (damn you, Dwalin!), giving me a narrow 7-5 victory!

As stated above, I hadn't achieved my secret objective.

Game 4- Heirlooms of Ages Past (Vs. Rivendell/Numenor (Jacob))

Secret objective: Kill more models than your opponent with ranged attacks.

The objectives were placed, because of the 6x4 boards, we ended up with all the markers being in one half of the board (marked in blue below). And I got lucky, in that Jacob got priority and Isildur was forced to spend two might to avoid being isolated. I, meanwhile, arrived with all but one of my units on one side, with Thrydan on the opposite board edge, so that the Crebain could search markers on that side.

We quickly searched through all but two of the objectives, Jacob searched one of the ones before him and I searched the bottom right with uruks. And the top left and top centre with the Crebain. It seemed that we were going to end up in a stand off. I had Elendil then arrive behind the wildmen and get surrounded with Frida, being dismounted quickly. The Oathmaker moved beside the top right marker, to guard it for me, when I realised my mistake. I hadn't sat ON the objective, just beside it. So a Rivendell knight galloped up, dismounted and uncovered it, before a gobsmacked Oathmaker.

Suddenly, I was going to have to take the fight to the Last Alliance. Vrasku opened up by shooting dead the elf, who picked it up. I then formed up the bulk of my army and marched them over to the ruins that they were holed up in and launched a savage assault. My archers sprayed a volley into the doorway to kill a small handful of warriors as the Shaman, who had fluffed his fury casting led a attack on the left side of the ruins. Gorulf led the right to the right and used Heroic Combat to lurch forward and suddenly appear in front of the elven lines. Before long he faced Gil Galad and dismounted him.

Isildur ran down to the left and attempted to break up that assault but narrowly avoided taking a beating by using his last might point. His warriors were being killed around him as Thrydan arrived with his unit in the rear. Forcing him to abandon his Numenorean Captain to hold the line alone as he went to meet the new threat and avoid the army being pincered. It went brilliantly for him as he managed to not only beat but also slay Thrydan instantly. As he did so, the Captain also prevailed and held the line up long enough for help to come in. 

I continued to press hard, seeing how close I was (objective marked in blue).

Meanwhile, up by the woods, I had a good chunk of warriors with Frida and the Oathmaker, who had been having a nightmare, calling Heroic Combats off of the dismounted knight, but endlessly failing to do so. In one case, the knight rolled a 3 and I gleefully rolled, expecting to end him at last. But got this...

At the very end, the Oathmaker finally slew him, giving me some relief. But it was too late to help with the important central fight. Frida had done a stellar job of holding back Elendil for the entire game. 

In the middle, at the very end, it was as close as you could expect, Gorulf finally fell to Gil Galad and many of my troops fled the field. Though some were only two models away from the objective, but still not quite there to capture it. 

So by the end of the game, Jacob had held the Heirloom and slain my banner, while protecting his own. I had managed to break him leading to a 8-2 defeat. I had achieved my secret objective, getting 5~ ranged kills to his 1.

Game 5- Contest of Champions (Vs. Minas Tirith/Rohan (Louis))

Secret objective: Have more models within 6" of the centre than your opponent by the end of the game.

I decided that the best approach for this would be to just throw caution to the wind and put Vrasku up front supported by pikes to build up a kill count. What lessened the worry for me, was that Louis had thematically made the King of Men the leader, as opposed to Eorl the Young.

Before me lay a shieldwall of Fountain Court Guard, Citadel Guard and Knights of the White Tower. To the far right, Eorl sat with his Sons of Eorl, ready to engage. I had Frida with the Oathmaker and some archers ready to put up a fight with them.

I won the Heroic Move off and engaged, Vrasku charged into two Fountain Court Guards with his pikes and Gorulf charged a Knight of the White Tower. I had another great opening turn, as Vrasku killed both his opponents and two of the Knights were wounded in fights, although Gorulf came scarily close to being killed in one swing. On the right, the cavalry lined up ready to charge the next turn and the King had ridden through the ruins, aiming to go after the wildmen for easier kills.

I should quickly take a second to highlight the cool conversions that Louis had done for his Knights (in the below pic, all had Fountain Court Guard heads. The blue one was based off an Elendil model. The red, I believe, was based off a siege veteran. And the last, the yellow, was based off of Hurin. Apologies if I made any mistakes there, but they were all very cool. And secured a best army vote from me).

In the next turn, the cavalry hit and they came in like a wrecking ball. Many wildmen were slain, but Frida fought back and killed one of the Sons, as did the Oathmaker. Thrydan called a Heroic Combat to get closer to the King but he managed to slip away, just out of reach. 

Vrasku managed to kill another of the shieldwall, as Gorulf wounded his Knight. In the following turn, Gorulf called a Strike, as Vrasku called a combat, when they paired up on a Knight. They killed one and piled into the second, with Vrasku claiming both and regaining might.

On the other side, the King joined the fight and rode into two Dunlendings, I threw a Crebain in to prevent the Heroic Combat and the birds took three wounds (it turned out that Louis, had mistakenly believed it was wounds that was being tallied, rather than kills). Many more Dunlendings fell but Frida, the Oathmaker and Thrydan fought back, killing more Sons (assisted when I remembered that the OM and wildmen have Hatred Rohan).

It was at this point that my luck with the Trebutchet ran out and it scored a big hit, killing several of my Uruks on the left side of the central fight. But also killing a couple of his Citadel Guard. This isolated his banner and allowed Vrasku to slay it for his fifth kill.

The King round the other side, managed to slash down two Dunlendings to get his own kill tally started. But in the following turn, I managed to get him surrounded by Dunlendings, Crebain and Thrydan, then over a couple of turns, slay him.

By the end, I had managed to double the King's kill count with Vrasku (5-2) and we had broken one another, to give me a 6-1 victory. I had also achieved the secret objective of claiming the centre.

By the end of the games, I had achieved 2 major victories, two minors and a major loss, landing me in 10th place for game scores, however we all know that there's more to Throne of Skulls than that...

I had received three favourite army votes, and ended up in 27th place (looking at  the scoreboard, luckily my mistaken secret objective doesn't seem to have made a difference). Clearly there were a lot of very sporting players with great armies, and that is what makes this one of the must attend events of the year. Next year, I'll hopefully do the army that I intended, but will have to start it much more in advance.

Events that I will attend

The Fog of War (EAHC opener)- 7th Jan

The 7th City Middle Earth SBG Grand Prix 2023- 4/5th Feb

March Fourth, All Legions (EAHC league)- 4th March

Tournament Report- Will you follow me, one last time? (EAHC Finale 2022 (26th Nov 2022))

This was the league finale for the year, to crown the winner as the champion. Places were earned by ranking on the EAHC table and we ended up with 16 players fighting it out for the top in a 650pt tournament.

My army

I have been meaning to try out the Men of the West LL for a while now, with so many people claiming it was underpowered or at least simply doesn’t offer enough to justify it over a green alliance of the same mix. 

Obviously, I am required to take King Elessar as per the LL rules. And initially, I intended to take a Rohan Captain alongside him with Gimli. However, after a practice game, it seemed a better idea to make space for Eomer and swap the dwarf for Legolas, so I had a way of taking out unreachable valuable targets with the elf and a more durable leader for the Rohirrim.

Game 1- Domination (Vs. Ryan (Azog’s Legion/Azog’s Hunters))

Ryan's army: 

Legion

Bolg w/ Fell warg (Leader)

Gundabad berserkers x3

Gundabad orcs x10 w/ 1x Spear/Shield/Banner, 5x Shield and 4x Spear

War Bats x2

Goblin Mercenary Captain

Goblin Mercenaries x6

Hunters

Fimbul w/ Fell Warg

Fell warg x1

Hunter orcs x9 w/ 2x 2h and 6x Orc bow

Hunter orcs x2 w/ Fell wargs

I deployed front and centre to face down Ryan and his Gundabad force. I had Eomer to the right opposite Bolg and Aragorn in the middle, hoping to cut through the opponents quickly to split them up. I had Legolas sat on a ruin beside an objective with a good view of the battle. 

I rushed forward, after I got the Heroic Move with Aragorn and brought the lines together. Legolas managed to snipe out Bolg's warg as he had been charged by Eomer. The Men of the West managed to kill a chunk of Hunter Orcs to the left but suffered a few casualties to the right.

The next turn, Aragorn got the Heroic Move again. I pinned down all the lines and Legolas managed to snipe Fimbul's warg from under him (to the left). However, the Goblin Mercenaries had sprung up all around him. I rushed Aragorn into joining Eomer against Bolg. Calling a Strike against Bolg with Aragorn and Heroic Strength with Eomer, while their foe was trapped. I had also called 'For Frodo' to get Aragorn to F7 as a base. Frustratingly, Bolg managed to escape the death trap, as Aragorn got to F9, while he reached F10. Bolg managed to win and then take two of Aragorn's fate away. Ryan taking a deep sigh of relief. It wasn't all bad though as Aragorn's rallying cry had given me an edge and helped to thin out the Hunter orcs ranks further with my higher Fight Value.

Ryan then attempted to strike back, throwing some berserkers and bats round my right flank. Eomer detached himself to help the troops deal with the threat, slaying a couple of bats and berserkers over a few turns, as Aragorn tried to deal with Bolg. Eventually, the evil leader managed to break away, unharmed and keep to the edge. He got a berserker to pull back to an objective as his army broke and the orc guarding it, fled. I managed to break through the left side and rushed towards the rear left objective. There was a lot of back and forth on that one as we killed a model here and there, eventually ending neutrally on it.

In the dying stages of the game, Legolas was finally overwhelmed by the hordes of goblins and slain, allowing them to take that objective. Eomer, managed to slay his last foe and break free to my rear right one. This just left the central objective to worry about, as Fimbul was fighting for it. But as time was approaching, the Men managed to kill or push the orcs off of it as Aragorn stepped in and slew Fimbul with a sweep of Anduril.

By the end, this left me with the rear right and central objectives, uncontested and Ryan with the far right and rear left ones. And we had broken one another, leaving us at a 5-5 draw.

Game 2- Heirlooms of Ages Past* (Vs. Sam (Angmar))

*One small pair of changes were made to the scenario for the VPs, the maximum allowed for the Heirloom was 5VP and for breaking the enemy was 3VP

Sam's army: 

Witch King of Angmar w/ 3m, +2will, 3f, Horse, Crown of Morgul

Dead Marsh Spectre

Angmar orcs x10 w/ 5x Shield and 5x Spear/Shield

Gulavhar

Angmar war riders x2 w/ Shield

Shade

Angmar orcs x12 w/ 6x Shield, 5x Spear/Shield and 1x Banner

We got the dreaded Heirlooms game for this round. Luckily, this would mean with the altered VPs that there is hope of victory for the team not holding the Heirloom.

I grouped up Aragorn and Eomer as they came in one behind the other, due to Aragorn rolling a 1 for his arrival in the first turn. Legolas opted to come in on another edge, near a tower to climb and use as a vantage point to snipe from. The Angmar forces all arrived in the opposite corner of the board.

In the second turn, things took a dramatic turn as Eomer's unit found the Heirloom... He and Aragorn quickly retreated to the nearby corner, as Legolas got onto the bottom rungs of the ladder, only to be attacked by two warg riders. He promptly lost the fight and fell from the ladder, taking a wound.

The rest of the army formed up a defensive position in the corner, with a no fly zone for Gulavhar, for them to back into. The archers lined up in front to try and thin out the Angmar ranks but failed to kill anything. Legolas, again tried to climb the ladder and was quickly pulled back down as he rolled snake eyes (he did this for three turns in a row, eventually using all his might and fate and being left on 1w).

Finally, Gulavhar came soaring in an hit the Men hard, with the Witch King immobilising Aragorn to keep him away from the beast, who then hurled an archer, killing several of the men. The following turns, the Men rushed forward to brace the impact of the orcs, Gulavhar got to move first, however, and charged Eomer, who withstood the charge with a Heroic Strike with a spearman managing to score a cheeky wound.

In the following turns, Aragorn managed to get into a fight with Gulavhar as his men were dying to the orcs around him, due to the Shade's interference. By the end, they had the vampire on his final wound, but had been broken. But, importantly, they had held onto the objective. 

Legolas, meanwhile, had had a nightmare of a game, only making it up the ladder in the last couple of turns and being forced to fight the orcs back off the ladder, after only managing to kill their wargs all game! (The Witch King model is a dismount for a rider).

It was a desperate struggle but the Men had held firm! But it was then that I remembered...

I had adjusted the VPs, so for holding the Heirloom, I only got 5VPs, while Sam had received 3VPs for breaking me, while being nowhere near broken himself and still had a banner alive to my none. So the Men of the West were sitting on another 5-5 draw! But this means that they are undefeated*!

*Admittedly, in the cheapest manner

Game 3- To the Death (Vs. Kieran (Numenor))

Kieran's army: 

Isildur w/ The One Ring and Horse (Leader)

Numenorean warriors x13 w/ 1x Banner/Shield, 4x Bow, 4x Shield and 4x Spear/Shield

Captain of Numenor w/ Horse, Lance, H.Armour and Shield

Numenorean warriors x12 w/ 1x Banner/Shield, 4x Bow, 4x Shield and 3x Spear/Shield

Captain of Numenor w/ Horse, Lance, H.Armour and Shield

Numenorean warriors x11 w/ 4x Bow, 3x Shield and 4x Spear/Shield

(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture for this one, but rest assured that Kieran's Numenoreans were lovely)

We began the game with me calling a Heroic March with Aragorn to get up to the middle, and anchor my lines between two pieces of scenery, as Legolas and some Rohan archers peppered the advancing Numenoreans on the left and the Minas Tirith archers, the right, losing a couple in the return volleys.

The next turn, I got priority and with a whispered 'For Frodo', Aragorn led the charge out towards Numenor, who charged back in return, falling just short of combat. The following turn, Aragorn engaged with all the Men of the West. He called a Heroic Combat to kill both swordsmen before him and both spearmen behind, exposing Isildur at the back. Eomer did similar on the flank, managing to slay several warriors. Kieran had a bad turn of rolling that led to the deaths of several of his swordsmen and a Captain being wounded. The next turn, Isildur called a Heroic Move, which Aragorn countered and won. His men followed on, launching themselves at the battered Numenoreans and killing several more, as Eomer worked his way around the back and managed to slay a banner through a Heroic Combat. In that phase, Aragorn called 'For Frodo', forcing Isildur to spend another might to Strike, which Aragorn did back, Kieran's luck remained constant as the Strike failed and Aragorn gave Isildur a few wounds, before finishing him off the following turn. I hadn't targeted the horse as I didn't want to make the Ring an obvious choice to Kieran. 

The damage was piling up by this point and I managed to get them down to 25% not long after. It was a 10-0 win but the only real mistake Kieran had made was making Isildur a big target to Aragorn early on.

Game 4- Domination (Vs. Will (Lothlorien))

Will's army: 

Galadriel (Leader)

Guard of the Galadhrim Court x6

Wood elf Sentinel

Wood elves x3 w/ Elf bow

Galadhrim Knight x1 w/ Elf bow

Galadhrim warriors x2 w/ Elf bow

Celeborn w/ H. Armour, Shield and Elven Blade

Galadhrim warriors x3 w/ 1x Banner/Spear and 2x Elf bow

Guard of the Galadhrim Court x12

For the final game, I was placed against Will. I had had a practice game against this army, where he had some abysmal luck, getting a maelstrom deployment and barely rolled above a 4 all game.

This time, it was going to be more of an uphill battle as I would need to slay Celeborn, who would also be his assassin, with my chosen one of Legolas (I figured that if I could get him down to 1w, 0f a cheeky 6 to wound with a direct hit would happen sooner or later.)

With Galadriel throwing up a blinding light early, I knew that I wouldn't win a shootout, so began advancing with Heroic Marches. Before long, I had Aragorn up against the pikes of the Galadhrim court and called 'For Frodo' with a Heroic Combat, managing to slay 4 pikes. The warriors managed to do similar damage, putting a good early dent in the elven lines. Eomer managed to get ahold of the Sentinel and slay her, as a small group of warriors ran around the ruins to the left, to kill the wood elves.

Aragorn managed to get into a one on one with Celeborn, however, Galadriel immobilised him and the King of Gondor fell to a flurry of elven blades! This really hurt my forces as suddenly, we weren't immune to terror. As time was drawing to a close, I realised that I had broken the elves, while they had slain my leader, therefore, if I could just avoid breaking, I would win.

Naturally, I then could not win a priority to save my life! But the determination of the men held out and they avoided having too many of them slain. There was another squeaky bum moment as Eomer was caught by Celeborn and the elves but narrowly avoided having any wounds stick, as he safed enough with fate!

With that, I had broken Will and lost Aragorn for a very close 3-2 victory!

So after all was said and done, somehow, the Men of the West had come through the tournament undefeated! Admittedly, I still didn’t win half of the games, but that seems very pessimistic. I ended up on 2 wins and 2 draws to take 5th place by VPD behind Sam from game 2, who had similar results.

Men of the west, they have their issues, but they can definitely put up a fight. Especially after breaking, when, with Aragorn alive, they’ll fight to the bitter end!

Clearing the Backlog, Part 7 – Beards and Axes!

Much like Sam's post about his Rhunish drakes, this blog post will also be a short one. 

October was a busy month for me – I attended three different SBG tournaments, and batch painted over fifty models (including an entire army of Morannons and Easterlings!) – it was a pretty intense month hobby-wise!

As you'll know from Part 6, the orcs and Easterlings were painted to take to the Lord of the Imps and Battle of Unnumbered Tears events. Whilst I struggled at the Lord of the Imps, winning a single game whilst drawing one and losing the other four, I was much more successful at Unnumbered Tears, coming away with three wins and three defeats. 

With that done, my attention then turned to an SBG event that I've been wanting to attend for several years, finally managing to attend this year's event – The Strider Cup! A two day doubles event where the main focus is on theme more than anything else. The Strider Cup also places emphasis on completing certain objectives to win "Strider Points" – whichever team earns the most wins the Strider Cup. 

I was paired with my friend Josh for this event, and he'd slowly been working on an Army of Dale, so we decided to do the Defenders of Erebor (although without any Legendary Legion bonuses, as all Legendary Legions were banned for the event). Fortunately, I had a small collection of Iron Hills Dwarves sitting in my painting queue (and like most of my painting queue, they'd been there for some time!), so I decided to put some paint on them!

Much like my Morannon Orcs, I decided to save some time on the dwarves by using Leadbelcher Spray over a black undercoat – this instantly basecoated all of the metal areas. A quick wash of Agrax Earthshade, a drybrush of Necron Compound, and the silver metals were done! The bronze areas were basecoated with Balthasar Gold, washed with Seraphim Sepia, and then layered with Hashut Copper and Sycorax Bronze. I picked out the belts with brown, and the underclothing and weapons with black – a few highlights later and my dwarves were done!

I also painted up the command set – the mattock captain, as he's become known, is arguably one of the nicest looking models in the range and is full of character. The difference to the other dwarves is his bright red cloak – I used progressive layers of red, getting brighter with each layer, until I had a look I was happy with

Next, they needed a leader, and who better than Dain Ironfoot? Dain's gold armour and white beard really helps him stand out from the rest of the army – I also spent some time (and much of that was cursing – it's very fiddly detail!) picking out the gold filigree found in his hair braids and axe handle. The armour was basecoated in Balthasar Gold, washed with Sepia and then layered with Retributor Armour and Liberator Gold. Dain's crown was done the same way, albeit with a black wash rather than sepia. 

With Dain and the dwarves done, I had a bit of spare time on my hands, so I painted up Dain's son, Thorin III Stonehelm! Another lovely model with a lot of character – I painted his armour in the same way as Dain, but went one colour further up, so I started with a basecoat of Retributor Armour, then Liberator Gold, applied a sepia wash and then highlighted it with Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver. His hair was a bit of a challenge – bright, vibrant orange. I decided to experiment, applying a wash of Fuegan Orange over Zandri Dust, and it actually came out so well I kept it – adding a few extra highlights just to make it stand out – I now had a nice Erebor Reclaimed force ready to hit the tabletop!

So, how did the tournament go? Well, unfortunately, luck was not on our side and although we won two games, we drew one and lost three, putting us in the wooden spoon place. However, we also took home the Most Sporting prize, so we were very pleased with that!

So, with all those dwarves done, my models painted count for the year is now up to 225 models! As mentioned before, it feels great to get to this milestone, and I've also managed to complete several armies in the process (although, let's be honest – is an army ever really "complete"?). The only challenge now is: what can I paint before the end of the year?