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!
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