The Tournament
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, but what better way to return, than with Throne of Skulls? In my opinion, one of, if not the, best events of the year. Five games, 1000pts and everyone in the spirit of themed, fun armies played in the spirit of fun games over competitive play.
My Army
When I got my ticket, thanks to my first opponent, who offered me his spare. I immediately thought that what makes a fun army to play with and against is; intermediate heroes, low defence, high strength and aggressive play.
I had one thought instantly come to mind that would tick all those boxes…
Game 1- Divide and Conquer (Vs Riders of Theoden (Phil B))
Phil made a request to the TOs for us to have the opening game against each other as Rohan v Dunland would be a great start to the weekend. This was a scenario that could be tricky as Phil would have a good chance to isolate half of my force and kill them off.
Going by the picture below, I ended up with Thrydan, Frida and the Oathmaker in one corner (bottom) and Gorulf with the Chieftain in the other.
Phil managed to get Theoden, Gamling, Elfhelm and a Captain in one corner (right) and Eomer, Deorwine and another Captain in the other (left).
Phil used turn one to call Heroic Marches with both Captains and both halves of his force made a beeline towards Gorulf’s corner. Gorulf, refusing the be intimidated by the Forgoil, led a move straight back at Eomer!
A couple of turns later, Gorulf had his unit lined up ready to receive the charge from Rohan, with their horsemen off to one flank. The Rohirrim rode in and engaged.
Gorulf called a heroic combat, as did Eomer and the Dunlendings got the initiative. Gorulf killed his Royal Guard with a piercing strike and managed to pin the Marshal of the Riddermark! In the ensuing fight, Eomer lost his horse, but that was all. In the other fights, Deorwine used his fate to save his horse and several Dunlendings fell before the wrath of Rohan. However a few of the Royal guard took axes on the charge or lost their mounts.
In the next few turns, Gorulf became a big concern for Rohan as he slew the Captain and followed the turn after by killing Deorwine. Eomer fought hard and managed to kill the Chieftain as horns were sounded. Theoden and his warbands had arrived! And they quickly cut down the Dunlending horsemen, who had gone to block them.
Unfortunately, for the Dunlendings, the cavalry hit them like a tonne of bricks and many were slain! Soon, Gorulf was the amongst the last standing and he rushed both Eomer and Theoden at once calling his free Heroic Defence. Gamling, who was behind him cut down the warrior he faced and barrelled into the back of him, and paired with Theoden’s strike along with a handful of dice, the Dunlending hero was slain! But it was an end, worthy of song!
Now Rohan had to turn to deal with the remaining threat and had lost an alarming amount of men in their opening fight. Frida lined up her warriors to guard the central objective and the Oathmaker hung back to keep some wildmen on the far right, when we broke.
Phil started to gather his troops together, ready for a mass charge, so I went for the initial attack, throwing the crebain in and dismounting two Royal Guard. Thrydan then joined the fight, calling a Heroic Combat and using his remaining two might to win, before cutting down the Guard. He used his follow up to swing around and attack Elfhelm!
In that fight, Phil challenged my pride, when he asked ‘You’re going to go two handed, aren’t you?’. ‘Yes!’ I answered, not wanting to give an impression of fear, ‘And! I’m going to piercing strike too!’
That was a mistake as my 6 became a 5 and lost me the combat. Thrydan lost his horse and a fate, before several heroes came up and finished him the following turn, think it may have been Theoden who got him.
I was broken as Phil got priority and charged in, since I didn’t want to advance and lose my defensive spot. He left Frida unchallenged, and she promptly rolled snake eyes and abandoned us! The Oathmaker had no such issues with his Fearless and stretched as far as he could to cover both objectives with his stand fast. A handful of my men fled, but enough stayed to hold off the Rohirrim, and the game ended on the first roll.
Game 2- Hold Ground (Vs Kingdom of Moria (Phil MR)
My second game was against another Phil and his Kingdom of Moria army. He seemed to have sprayed them in a two tone colour scheme to be light and dark that looks cool.
Phil got priority and had all but Balin’s warband arrive to the East, while his ballista was in the North and Balin didn’t arrive. I only had Frida and my Chieftain arrive in the South-West. Phil’s ballista fired and bulls-eyed my only present flock of Crebain, mushing the lot of them!
Phil then got the second priority and Balin arrived alongside the ballista. His King called a March and the main force started moving towards the centre. I then had Gorulf and Thrydan arrive to either side of Balin and the next turn, won priority and the move off. Gorulf led the charge into the cornered dwarves and then Thrydan pincered from the other flank.
In the combats that followed, Thrydan cut down a couple of dwarves, Gorulf also killed one and many dwarves and Dunlendings fell in a mass brawl. Phil sent some of his main force to join the next turn, led by Ori, who hopped over the wall of the adjacent field. In this turn, I went for blood and had Thrydan attack Balin along with a handful of warriors. Thrydan won the fight and his warriors first did a wound, which was allowed to pass, before Thrydan also caused one, which was fated. His mighty blow, almost doing its work!
As we both ran out of might in the North, Phil started winning all the priorities, giving him a fighting chance as his dice in combat were abandoning him. A few turns later, a handful of dwarves still held out as the Oathmaker, who had arrived too, led a breakaway towards the centre.
Ori joined the Northern fight (centre of the right side) and found himself quickly stuck into the combats. By the end of the game, Balin had held out against all the odds and survived, albeit wounded. And Ori had been slain by the Ironskin. Thrydan had killed several dwarves in this bloody fight.
In the centre, meanewhile, the Oathmaker had rushed in from the North, Frida and the Chieftain from the West and the dwarves with Oin, a King and the King’s Champion from the East. The lines formed and met in an almighty clash of steel and iron.
While the fighting only lasted the last 2/3 turns, there were many killed on either side. The Oathmaker and a few wildmen broke through the dwarves and made an attempt on Oin’s (blue circle) life, but he heroically fought them off. The Champion crashed into the Dunlendings and started trying to cut through, but couldn’t kill enough to push in. Frida used all 3 of her might to slay two dwarves and break them in the final turn as time was called!
In the end I had ~27 Dunlendings to Phil’s ~12 dwarves in range of the centre, I had wounded Balin and broken him to score a major win 9-0.
Game 3- Clash by Moonlight (Vs Garrison of Dale (Tom))
My third game was against Tom, who I have seen at many tournaments, but never had an opportunity to play against until now. He had a dangerously equipped Dale army with a mass of bows. And while his range would be limited to 12”, he would get +1 to wound, so swings and roundabouts.
Tom formed a large semicircle ready to receive me and as I approached, one of his windlances managed to shoot dead a Crebain (twice in two games, weird huh?).
Once I was past all the obstructing scenery, the Dunnish went for a full frontal charge, surprisingly only losing ~4 men to bows along with 2/3 horses.
Before long, the lines met and the lightly armoured armies laid into one another. I threw both of my remaining Crebain onto my right and a turn or two later the birds swooped in and dismantled a windlance, just as nature intended them.
I spread my banners out to give rerolls in all the fights on the frontline, but Tom’s F4 was doing its work and many men were falling on either side.
As gaps started to open up, I noticed that both of the named heroes of Dale were getting exposed or isolated. So Thrydan rushed in and charged Brand with some friends, while Gorulf and the Chieftain both attacked Bard.
Strikes were called on either side in both fights and both Bard and Gorulf rolled 3 to reach F8. Both then rolled 6s and the roll off went to Dale. To my horror, Bard then scored a total of 3 wounds and killed BOTH heroes!
Luck went more my way in the next fight as Thrydan knocked Brand to the ground and took out the King with his sword. This was good, in that they had lost their leader, but Gorulf and the chief going down too was a tough trade off.
Over the rest of the game, my remaining heroes managed to avoid the noose and steadily kill some men of Dale, until the final turn. In that last turn, I narrowly missed a chance or two to kill the Windlance’s siege veterans and the Oathmaker just dodged a killing blow with fate! Then, Frida found herself caught by Bard and multiple warriors.
In a wonderful moment of heroics, she managed to overcome her opponents, and I was left with a choice…I could either stab at a warrior and confirm the break with Tom being 1 away or, with Tom having killed 2 heroes to the 1 that I had slain, I could go for a Hail Mary. Because if I used both strikes on Bard, and got double 6, I would not only break Tom, but even the hero kills and win the game!
I went for the latter, and the dice rolled. The first stopped on a 6! And the second…
….stopped on a 3. It was so close but what a way to finish dramatically!
With that, I had at least one hero remaining and had killed their leader, while Tom had killed more of mine than I had of his and broken me while unbroken. This left the score at a 8-3 major loss for me, but what a game!
Game 4- To the Death (Vs Grand Army of the South (Tim))
For this one, I knew that I was in trouble as I didn’t want to spend a game hiding in woods and being no fun for anyone. So, I lined up my troops and prepared to march out. I had the Oathmaker out on the left ready to try and charge the war leader from behind, while the bulk of my army would try and kill the block of cavalry to the right. I also intended to get my archers into the small field in front of me to give some cover from return fire as they shot into the howdah.
Before long, the southern forces were before me and I moved Frida up the right ready to charge the cavalry the next turn. The archers in the howdah fired and wounded Gorulf.
Unfortunately for me, Tim won the move off that followed and as you’d expect him to, the charged the war leader into the flank of my forces and, by the time it stopped, I had lost all 12 Huscarls and Gorulf!
I then charged Frida and her warriors into the camels and pinned Suladan in place.
In the shoot phase, I fired into the howdah and started kicking off archers from within. By the end of the game, I think I had killed 1/2-2/3 of those inside.
In combat, Frida and Suladan called Heroic Combats. I went first and Frida killed her camel rider and charged into Suladan. I was hopeful that without his charge bonus, I could dismount him early and perhaps even wound him. Instead, he won and rolled 6, 5, 1 to wound her, before rerolling his poison roll and getting another 5 to outright kill her!
On the other flank, the Oathmaker’s wildmen had tied up some camels and managed to dismount a couple.
The following turn, with the war leader looming above, I took my chance and Thrydan peeled away with many of his men to charge Suladan’s group, facing the Harad leader himself. In combat, Thrydan’s Heroic Strike got him higher and he cut down Suladan brutally. With his banner gone, many camel riders fell, but the survivors used the following turn to peel away and force a chase.
The Oathmaker and his wildmen bravely charged the war leader and lost two combats back to back, having their leader killed by the beast.
Over the last few turns, I gingerly approached the war leader intending to set Thrydan, the Chieftain and as many warriors as possible upon it. Sadly for me, as I was within charge range, Thrydan made the executive decision to flee the field and with it, my small hope of taking down the opposing leader was extinguished.
Tim played his small numbers well and managed to overcome my heavily loaded Dunnish. Thrydan was off the field, he had broken me and brought me down to 25%, all I had achieved was to take down his banner, while I had also lost my own. He had won a very deserved 10-0.
Game 5- Domination (Vs Rivendell/Numenor (Kalman))
I was ecstatic to see that I had managed to have a weekend of entirely new opponents, when I drew Kalman. And he had only 9 models in domination to my 68!
However, it’s the last game of Throne of Skulls and we aren’t playing for top spot, so I could have moved some troops to 4/5 objectives and then just keep him penned in, but where’s the fun and spectacle in that?
So instead, I lined up every troop I had in front of him and prepared to charge.
Weirdly, I seemed to be blessed for my audacity in turn 1 as all his combat heroes threw themselves in headfirst and amazingly everything seemed to go to pot.
First, Cirdan attempted to climb onto weathertop and slipped, allowing two Crebain to somehow roll 11s on their courage test and charge him. He ended up spending his only might to avoid being pecked to death, boosting his 6 back up.
Then Elendil ended up spending 2 might to avoid losing and being dismounted, after seeing both Isildur and Gil Galad suffer that exact fate!
Elrond managed to redeem his force somewhat, when he caused 2 wounds on Gorulf through his free Heroic Defence and he rolled a 1 on his fate, then having to spend all 3 might to not die.
As this combat was happening, a large portion of my force was working its way around the ruin to pincer from behind.
The next turn, Elrond, who, in Kalman’s words ‘had not successfully cast Wrath of Bruinen ALL weekend’ went for it. It turns out that saying it was a curse on my behalf, as it went off, killed Gorulf outright along with several Dunlendings and knocked another 7+ prone (marked blue in the below pic). Elrond, feeling very please with himself, then galloped off and killed one of my Crebain.
I believe in this turn, I then managed to kill his Numenorian banner with some Dunnish and Elendil, having spent 2 of his might, lost his fight and was dismounted. Isildur also lost his fight but took no wounds, and Gil Galad found his stride and started to cut down foes.
In the last few turns, Isildur struggled to show any prowess, being lucky not to be killed. Elendil had clearly taken the loss of his horse very personally as he cut down 2/3 men a turn, despite being on foot. Elrond proved himself a consistent threat as he killed most things he faced, including the Oathmaker, and Gil Galad went about in a similar manner, killing Thrydan with Aeglos.
Despite the heavy numbers in my favour, the heroes began to perform admirably (not you Isildur) and an elf captain slipped out to capture a rear objective and Elrond to another. While the remaining heroes cleared the central one as many of the Dunnish fled due to being broken. I did get one small victory as I cut down their second banner.
The game ended with Kalman having claimed 3 objectives, killed Thrydan and broken me to win 8-0! If you wanna win Domination with numbers, don’t do that! 😆
By the end of the tournament, I had claimed a major win, a minor win and 3 major losses, I had also received two votes each for favourite army and favourite games, so a great weekend all round!
Events that I'll attend
MESBG Winter Tournament (Wayland Games)- 13th Jan
Even the Smallest Person can change the course of the future (EAHC)- 27th Jan
The War of the Ninepenny Kings (EAHC)- 24th Feb
The Fog of War III: In Space! (EAHC)- 16th March
Great write up as usual bud
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