Tournament Report- Throne of Skulls 2024 (30th Nov-1st Dec)

The Tournament

 This tournament I have covered before. The key points being that it's 1000pts and very heavily focused on theme, scoring the rankings half on gaming score and half on theme/sportsmanship. 

Because of this, it is a very popular event, even for Warhammer World, and so James and I found ourselves missing the initial wave of tickets. So we began the waiting game, with me eventually getting a ticket 8 days prior and James still trying. I suggested that he come along and try to get a dropout's ticket on the day. Worst case scenario, my army is suitable to split in two and play as a doubles, so we could do that. Luckily for us, there was a dropout that morning and James was in with his army of Moria monsters. My army was also low numbers, but in a different way.

My Army

This was an idea that had struck me earlier in the year, I gave it a go with an army in a similar vein, as a TO for a local event. And it was well received. 

The idea was like a council of leaders at the beginning of the fourth age. And with them all being expensive, I could fit the army of them together nicely, without being too many points down. 

The first obvious choice was Elessar, being essentially the biggest leader in Middle Earth at that point. Second, was his loyal ally and friend, Eomer, who rode by his side in many campaigns against the men of the East.

Then, I decided it would be thematic to add in Arwen, as Aragorn’s then wife, but she was only a minor hero. So I decided that the most sensible addition would be Elrond, as the leader of the Western elves.

Leaders of a New Age 

King Elessar w/ armoured horse (LEADER)

(King) Eomer, Marshall of the Riddermark w/ armoured horse, throwing spear and shield

(Queen) Arwen Undomiel w/ Asfaloth

Elrond, Master of Rivendell 

*Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm w/ elk, heavy armour and additional elven blade 

(King) Bard II

(King) Thorin III Stonehelm

Might: 19

Numbers: 7

*I vowed that I would not voluntarily dismount Thranduil all weekend to make him more fun to play against.

Game 1- Destroy the Supplies (Vs. Craig (Minas Tirith/Dead of Dunharrow))

Looking at this force and scenario, I knew that this would be tough. If the avenger bolt throwers roll well, that would be a lot of high strength shots to kill my horses or wound my heroes early. The army of the dead would also hinder my heroic combats that I would want to knock down their numbers. 

I quickly decided to abandon the objectives and try to destroy theirs. I advanced up the centre, using a large building for cover from all the oppositions bows, and spread out a bit, intending to do a two pronged attack, and go for two objectives, while trying to clear a spare early.

Eomer, Thorin and Bard go to the left and Elessar, Elrond, Thranduil and Arwen to the right. 

I intended to send Arwen on her faster mount, to destroy the right hand objective as the others engaged the frontlines. However, the Gondorians bolt throwers found their mark and killed Asfaloth, so I had to send Elrond instead.

Aragorn and Thranduil both rushed the flanks of the opponents and did some damage. But Aragorn quickly found himself against his double. Thranduil called a Heroic Combat in an effort to kill off some of the guys surrounding Elessar. In the fight between the Kings of Gondor, both called Heroic Strike and reached F10, both rolled their 6, but I lost the roll off and was dismounted and burned all my fate. Behind him, Arwen repelled an attack by several troops.

The following turn, I lose priority and the four heroes are surrounded. Thranduil and Elrond fight off their foes and kill a handful. Elessar fluffs his Heroic Strike and, surrounded for a second time, is cut down. Arwen beside him, fails to roll another 6 to save herself and also falls to the blades of Minas Tirith.

Elessar takes on his imposter, as Thranduil tries to break through and Arwen pulls some away. Elrond destroys the right objective and then comes in to assist.

On the other flank, Eomer led the charge, getting combat stirred up to cover his man and dwarf allies from the bolt thrower, although it managed to get a wound on Bard. They hit combat like a tonne of bricks, cutting down men and the dead in swathes. Until Bard rolled a triple 2 and was cut to pieces.

Thorin and Eomer continued to put up a fight, despite Eomer being dismounted and they got to the objective, but couldn't clear it to destroy it. Thorin eventually fell to the sheer numbers, leaving Eomer to fight over that objective until the game's end.

Over the central objective, Thranduil fought his hardest, hampered by my promise not to dismount. He steadily killed one a turn until his dice failed, and he was brought down.

Elrond, meanwhile, was livid, having seen the enemy Aragorn kill his son in law and then their troops bring down his daughter. So when the enemy Aragorn attacked, the Master of Rivendell let out his wrath. He slew Aragorn's horse, who then hastily retreated and let the troops fight him. Elrond fought hard for several turns, killing several troops. Until eventually, there was simply too many and he fell.

During all of this, Craig had run his knights behind me and destroyed my objectives. So when the game ended with just Eomer still standing, I had destroyed an objective, while Craig had done three, killed my leader and broken me to win 10-2.

Game 2- To the Death (Vs. Chris (The White Council))

What wins in a fight between magic and swords? Let’s find out. 

Chris had a gorgeously painted army that was later selected as the judges’ choice for best army. I was a little concerned about the amount of magic I’d be facing, but since he hadn’t chosen the Vanquishers LL, it could have been tougher. 

I didn’t take a particularly subtle approach, running at them as quickly as I could. Chris put up terrifying auras where he could and after a few turns, I hit in combat.

I got Elessar and Thranduil both onto Glorfindel and saw a chance for some fun pairings, needing Bard to fight Elrond so that Arwen could fight Galadriel unopposed. Instead, Bard rolled snake eyes for his courage and refused. So I had to hold off as Radagast and Elrond peeled off Thranduil. Gandalf then sorcerous blasted through the combat and dismounted Thranduil.

In combat, Thranduil fought off his attackers and stood up, while Glorfindel was reduced to 1w, 1f by Elessar.

In the next turn, Thranduil rushed the wounded Glorfindel and Gandalf as Eomer charged Radagast, Elessar into Elrond and Arwen into Galadriel. Bard was supposed to charge Saruman for me, but rolled his SECOND consecutive snake eyes and was hereby dubbed ‘the Coward’ by me. His cowardice also prevented Elrond from getting past to do it for him.

Only one death happened in the combats, as Arwen fluffed her dice and was heftily slapped from horseback to the ground by an enraged Galadriel.

The next turn, I got another move off go my way and hit hard, as I repeated most of the combats again, except Bard finally charged Galadriel alongside Thorin and Elrond joined against Radagast. If I remember correctly, called a Heroic Combat with Elrond and Heroic Strike with Eomer. They killed Radagast and Elrond trapped Galadriel, while Eomer rushed Saruman. The latter brought down the white wizard while Galadriel won her duel. Thranduil slew Glorfindel and wounded Gandalf.

Over the last few turns, I continued to win the move offs bar one, and with the numbers on my side, along with Elessar’s inexhaustible might, I was able to kill all but Galadriel. Chris had lost all but one move off (severely hampering his magic casting), and kept the smile on his face throughout, which was commendable sportsmanship.

I had slain Chris’ leader, broken him and 25%ed him to win 10-0. It had been a great game and got one of my favourite game votes. A credit to all the other opponents is that I honestly can’t remember who else got one, as they had all been great.

Game 3- Command the Battlefield (Vs. Cameron (Rohan/Druadan))

Opponent’s Heroes: King Theoden, Eomer, Dernhelm, Elfhelm, Grimbold and Ghan Buri Ghan

Opponent’s Warriors: Rohan Royal Guard, Warriors of Rohan, Rohan Outriders and Woses Warriors 

All dismounted.

I went first and had Elrond, Bard and Arwen arrive on the Eastern board edge, with Thorin on the Western one.

Cameron had most of his army arrive in the South-Eastern corner (Theoden, Eomer, Dernhelm, Elfhelm and Ghan Buri Ghan). While Grimbold arrived on the Western edge near Thorin and Dernhelm on the Northern board edge. 

I decided that this was going to be a difficult scenario to win, so let’s just make it a bloodbath! I turned Elrond, Arwen and Bard at the pile of Rohirrim and barrelled full tilt towards them. Thranduil and Eomer arrived in the South-Eastern, to the left of the Rohirrim. Elessar for a second turn, didn’t show his face. 

In the following turn, Thranduil and Eomer launched themselves into the Rohirrim, both calling Heroic Combats and killing many of the men, including Ghan Buri Ghan, who was run down by the elk.

As I closed in, the archers found their mark and killed Elrond’s horse. Arwen carried on her charge nonetheless. 

In the next turn, she took dozens of arrows and other projectiles (throwing spears and blowpipe darts). And incredibly survived it all…only for Cam to reach for his final dice. Elfhelm levelled his spear and skewered her! Elessar still nowhere to be seen…

On the other flank, Thorin attacked the Woses and was surrounded, but dealt a wound to Grimbold.

In the fourth turn, Elrond, once again incensed by the death of his daughter, stomped forward and cast Wrath of Bruinen…and wrath was the word…

7 Rohirrim and Woses fell to the S2 hits from it and he rushed forward to engage some survivors. Bard was catching up and Elessar had moved nearby. 

Eomer and Thranduil were charged by the Rohirrim and the elven lord managed to drain the enemy Eomer’s might and land a couple of wounds, as my Eomer slew a few men.

Thorin on the opposite flank fluffed his dice to wound this turn, but in the next killed Grimbold. He spent the rest of the game whittling down the Woses until they were all dead around him. 

Elessar joined the fray at last, quickly using Heroic combat to slay several Woses. Alongside him, Bard fluffed his dice and took a mild pummelling, but lived. (Coward!) And Elrond, continued his violent revenge upon the men, slaying a couple more.

Theoden stepped in against, the now mightless, Thranduil and surrounded him with a Heroic Strike, felling the elven King.

Eomer stood his ground for another few turns, killing Dernhelm, until Elessar came in and saved him, cutting down Theoden and Elfhelm in the process. (Might have the wrong heroes slain as it’s been a couple of weeks, but that sounds right.) 

As his army is quartered and the game ends, Eowyn and Merry have claimed a couple of corners, the latter had some help from Royal Guard, a spare warrior had also worked his way into Thorin’s corner, with an outrider from the other side, to claim a third. The last corner, I had reduced him to one more body than I had myself. I had also slain his leader and broken him, leaving me with a 7-4 loss. Elessar had somehow gone the entire game without losing a combat, wound or fate, achieving my secret objective of having him end the game with full wounds.

Game 4- Breakthrough (Vs. Jake (Numenor/Rivendell))

This game, like the one against the Army of the Dead, would be tough. With the abundance of F5/6 in Jake’s army, I would lose a lot of my advantages in this game and would have to be careful. 

I skirted around the central building with Elessar, Thranduil, Elrond and Arwen. The others rushed down the middle. Jake pulled his entire army to my right, hugging the rock behind him.

The next turn, I saw Elendil close to 2 big heroes and called Heroic Move with Elessar. Jake saw the danger and called one in response, winning it and pulling him out the closing jaws. I instead used it to launch Elessar and Elrond into the elven warriors. Arwen and Thranduil used their combats to hide away from potential bow fire. Eomer also threw himself in as Thorin and Bard both rushed up close. In the combats that followed, my heroes killed several elves in exchange for a couple of might points, but I was ok with that, figuring that getting their numbers down early would suit me best.

In the following turns, I got Eomer onto my left flank, as the battleline was wedged between the rock and a building. Elessar rushed into the middle to give his banner effect to everyone and all my heroes were in a nice line. 

Arwen had rushed in to cast a Wrath of Bruinen, as Elrond had committed to a fight with Gil Galad and Erestor and taken two wounds, then was recharged again. Luckily, he won the second fight, reducing Erestor to 1w, 0f, after an Heroic Combat called by Bard, got him to take two elves and Thorin (who had called Heroic Strike) to attack Gil Galad and wound him.

After this, I kept up the pressure and Elrond slew Erestor, Thorin was pushed back by Gil Galad. Arwen was comfortably winning her fights and killing an elf or two each turn, Bard kept the elves up and took a few down. But Thranduil, went for blood and Heroic Combatted into Cirdan, as I hoped, Elendil took the bait and attacked. Thranduil won the fight and fluffed his wounding dice.

In the last turn, I saw a chance to gain some VPs, I charged Eomer into an elf with Thorin and Elrond. Elessar charged Gil Galad, and Thranduil pinned Cirdan. Elendil attacked him again as Bard and Arwen attacked spare troops.

I called Heroic Combat with both Eomer and Elessar, I also called Heroic Strike with Thorin. Eomer went first and Thorin hit F10, they easily killed the elf they fought and Eomer rushed over to the rear objective in Jake’s half to claim it. Elrond charged the elf banner and Thorin joined Elessar against Gil Galad. 

Elessar then easily won the fight against Gil Galad with Thorin’s F10 and the dwarf slew the elven King. Elessar then charged around and into Elendil! In the combats that followed, Arwen killed another elf, Thranduil fluffed and failed to slay Cirdan, Bard killed another elf (maybe we can stop calling him ‘Coward’ now),  Elrond brought down the banner and finally Elessar triumphed over Elendil and caused two wounds. 

As the game ended, I had claimed the objective in Jake’s half, and he had claimed the other 3. I had also wounded his leader and broken him, leaving me with a close 8-6 loss. 

Game 5- Fog of War (Vs. Jack (Mordor))

The last game was a lot of people’s favourite, and an excellent last tournament scenario of the year and edition.

For anyone who can’t read it below, I targetted Zagdush, chose to defend Thorin and wanted to capture the highlighted ruins.

I went for an early rush, having learned nothing over the last four games, throwing Elessar and Elrond at the left flank and Thranduil and Eomer, the right. Arwen hung back and Bard/Thorin were hurrying to assist the left.

Predictably, as Elrond and Elessar hit the frontline, they were enveloped, as were Thranduil and Eomer. Disasterously, Thranduil fluffed his Heroic Strike and Goroth with his orcs ripped him to pieces…whoops.

Elessar and Eomer had called Heroic Combat and I believe Elrond too, despite them fighting three and four orcs each respectively, they both killed all their foes and Elrond charged the warg riders before the Shadow Lord at the back (I didn’t want to be pummelled with magic) as Elessar attacked the batswarm). Elrond killed a warg rider and Elessar got the bats to its last wound. Eomer killed his orcs and rushed through the doorway to kill a couple of Mordor Uruks.

Arwen lives a horror film.

Having made a large dent in the left, I lost the move off and Elrond resisted the transfix of the wraith, but not of Muzgur. Elessar wins his fight but can’t strike as he was dismounted by Shelob hurling Bard through him. Eomer wins his fight against Goroth and his allies, Goroth threw two orcs in the way to save his own skin. Elrond won his fight but was immobilised. Thorin has great chance and lands a wound on Zagdush, however fails to finish him.

The heroes put up a brutal fight for several turns as Elessar cuts down orc after orc, Bard also pushes his way towards him through the crowds. Eomer fights bravely against the orcs until he is overwhelmed and slain. Thorin suffers a similar fate.

Arwen flees from the pursuing spiders, killing one, until I bumble and forget to call a Heroic Move, and she is surrounded and slain (Jack offered me the chance to call it retroactively, but I let it go). Shelob had mysteriously stopped chasing and run off towards a corner of the board…

After several turns of being immobilised on the trot, Elrond finally succumbs to the overwhelming might of the evil forces, but had drained a lot of will off the Shadow Lord. It came down to Elessar and Bard fighting back to back surrounded from all sides until Elessar finally fluffed his dice and was slain.

As we unveiled objectives, Jack revealed that he was defending the Shadow Lord, targeting Bard and wanted to capture the far right ruin on my side. So he had slain his target, defended his hero and broken me, while I had wounded my target, giving me a 9-1 loss.

Results 

By the end of the tournament, I was on 1 win, 4 losses, 2 favourite game votes and 1 favourite army vote. This put me into ~70th out of the 80ish players, but I didn't mind as all my opponents had praised the army and we had all enjoyed each game. Plus, I had taken my chance to use a soon to become illegal force. Overall, it had been a great way to end the edition with a very fond farewell...

...one more game..? Hmm...oh go on then! (Coming soon!)

More Will Come Legions: Theoden Rid- GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND!

GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND!

The Breach of Minas Tirith

 

Participants:

Grond, The Hammer of the Underworld

Great Beasts of Gorgoroth

Mordor Troll

Easterling Captain

Easterling Warrior

Orc Captain

Orc Warrior

Warg Rider

Additional Rules:

Grond may be included at no Points Cost.

Orc Commanders who drive GBOGs may include up to three additional warrior models as part of their warband who deploy outside of the Howdah.

Special Rules:

The Line Breakers

On a Turn in which a Monster or War Beast charges into Combat, enemy models in that Combat at the start of the Fight Phase cannot declare a Heroic Strike.

Rivalry of the Howdah crews

GBOGs in your Force may select up to one of the following upgrades apiece:

The Crew of Barad-Dur: The Commander of this GBOG always counts as your Leader. Your Force will not count as Broken unless this GBOG (including all crew) are slain. (25pts)

The Morannon Crew: All models within the Howdah increase their Defence by 1. (15pts)

The Tracker Crew from Gorgoroth: The archers within the Howdah increase their Shoot Value by 1 (10pts)

The Spiderkin Crew from Cirith Ungol: Bowshots which Hit AND Wound on a Natural 6 (or 6/6 as appropriate) will apply the Paralyse special rule. Heroes may spend a fate to negate this. (25pts)

The Hammer of the Underworld

Grond has all of the following effects, subject to how many Wounds it has remaining:

15: The Witch-King’s Malice: Grond gains the Harbinger of Evil Special Rule.

10+: Totem of Barad-Dur: Friendly models within 6” gain +1 to their Courage Values.

5+: Inspiring presence: Friendly models within 6” may reroll To Wound rolls of 1.

Profiles:

Grond, The Hammer of the Underworld

S10 D10 W15

(Siege Target)

Wargear: Flaming Master-Forged Hammer (+1 to Wound, Re-roll 1s to Wound)

Bring up the Wolf’s Head:

Grond may be deployed in the usual way, or in the same way as a siege engine. Due to its size and low speed, Grond will never arrive as a Reinforcement. You may deploy Grond with as many of your Monsters/War Beasts already attached as you wish counting as one warband.

Grond is moved using the same rules as a Seige Tower with the following exceptions. Only Monsters and War Beasts may count towards moving Grond. For every Monster or War Beast moving Grond, it gains an inch of movement. Grond may be pivoted up to 30 degrees about its centre before making a full move forward in a straight line, with all attached models moving around with it. GBOGs may pull Grond by being in base contact with the front or sides.

Unstoppable Momentum:

Any enemy model moved into by Grond, or by a model moving Grond, will immediately suffer the Barge Brutal Power Attack after resolving any Trample rolls from GBOGs where applicable. The only exception to this are the Unmovable! models (Smaug and the Mumak).

Grond will only be prevented from moving if every Monster/War Beast moving it is Charged. In cases where some are and some aren’t, Grond and all attached models will still move the number of inches corresponding to the number of unengaged Monsters/War Beasts, applying Barge to the enemy models engaged with the attached models at the start of Grond’s Move.

Grond will breach it:

If Grond, or any model moving Grond, makes contact with a Terrain Piece with a diameter or length of 2” or less (or height of 1” or less), remove it from the board- it’s flattened now! This can include removable trees, free standing statues, scatter terrain, and Supplies, as well as Heavy and Light Objects.

If Grond, or any model moving Grond, makes contact with a Terrain Piece exceeding the description above, any Trolls in base contact with Grond (and otherwise unengaged) may pull back the Hammer to Strike the Terrain Piece. Roll 1D6 using Grond’s Strength against the Defence of the Terrain Piece from the table below. Where Grond’s Stike is successful in causing a wound, multiply that by the number of Trolls who participated in the Strike.

Where a Terrain Piece is reduced to 0 Wounds, remove it in full from the board. If Grond is reduced to 0 Wounds, remove it from the board as normal.

Type	Defence	Wounds
Fortress/Castle Gate	10	3
Fortress/Castle Wall	10	5
Stone Building/Ruin/Bridge/Tower	10	2
Wooden Building/Ruin/Bridge/Tower	9	2
Large Tree	9	3

Feel free to add your own!

Tournament Report- Battle Games in Middle Earth Team Championships (28/29th Sept '24)

 After missing last years, due to how close it was to Seven Stones, I was able to get a ticket for a team to attend this awesome tournament once again!

The Tournament

Twenty teams of four face each other, each round is team vs team with an interesting matchmaking approach:

1. Both teams get to see each others full lists.

2. They both then select one player from their team, who will be their 'champion' as I call it. Both are revealed at the same time.

3. Now that you know who they selected as their champion, you choose two challengers to offer against them. They do the same for yours.

4. The champions will choose a challenger to face and the fourth player from each team will play the spare challenger. 

This will give you your four games, usually with one player on each team having to take a hit for the team. We agreed with most teams to roll off to decide who chooses which table off the designated row to use first, then alternate between teams.

Major/minor victories were also in play (double the opponent’s VPs or more).

The Team

Last time that I attended, I headed the team from the EAHC, Tom and the Mellon, a team including Tom Hawker with his legendary hatred for elves, and the rest of us wanting to rub his nose in it. So I fired off the offer to reforge the team.

We were able to re-sign 3 previous members- myself, James Willson and Tom Hawker, but sadly our fourth, Jake Tysoe, would be unavailable. Luckily, Tom provided us with his friend, Vince Jackson, who we'd seen at the occasional tournament here and there with him. Our team was made.

Our armies

The only restrictions for the lists were; 

We had to have two good and two evil players.

We couldn't repeat named heroes e.g. no Saruman the Wise and Saruman the White, no Gandalf the Grey and White etc.

We decided that Tom/I would be good and James/Vince would be evil.

My list (Rivendell)

Gil Galad LEADER w/ Horse and Shield

Rivendell knight x2 w/ Shield

High Elf warrior x1 w/ Banner

High Elf warrior x2

High Elf warrior x3 w/ Elf bow

High Elf warrior x7 w/ Spear/Shield

Glorfindel w/ Asfaloth and Armour of Gondolin

High Elf warrior x3 w/ Elf bow

High Elf warrior x4 w/ Spear/Shield

Erestor

High Elf warrior x2 w/ Elf bow

High Elf warrior x5 w/ Spear/Shield

Might: 8

Numbers: 32

Tom's list (The Iron Hills)

Dain Ironfoot LEADER w/ War boar

Goat rider x3

Iron Hills warrior x12 w/ Spear

Iron Hills warrior x1 w/ Banner/Spear

Murin and Drar

Iron Hills warrior x11 w/ Spear

Iron Hills Ballista

Might: 10

Numbers: 34

James' list (Khand/Easterlings)

Khandish king LEADER w/ Chariot

Khandish charioteers x4

Khandish horseman x1

Khandish chieftain w/ Horse

Khandish horseman x12

Amdur w/ Armoured Horse

Black dragon kataphrakts x6

Dragon Knight w/ Armoured horse

Might: 9

Numbers: 27

Vince's list (Goblin Town/The Trolls)

The Goblin King LEADER 

Gollum

Goblin warrior x13

Grinnah

Goblin warrior x11

Goblin Scribe

Goblin warrior x6

Goblin Captain

Goblin warrior x10

Goblin Mercenary Captain

Goblin mercenary x6

Bill the Troll

Tom the Troll

Might: 15

Numbers: 54

Our leaders ready for battle!

Round 1: Lords of Battle Vs. The JJJR Tolkiens

Matchups

Pre-match up thoughts: Looking through the lists, I felt fairly confident against anything. We felt that James would be best against Riders of Theoden as he could potentially kill off many horses with his chariots. Tom could probably outlast the elves or corsairs and we knew that we didn't want Vince's goblins against the Riders of Theoden or elves, figuring that the Corsairs would be best for him 'as they only had a handful of bows', completely forgetting the well known fact that they all have throwing weapons....D'oh!

I was the champion and Vince was the 4th player, so when offered Thranduil's Halls or Corsairs, I thought to spare Vince the elven blades and foolishly sent him into a hailstorm of throwing weapons.

Me (Rivendell) v. Jake (Thranduil's Halls)

Tom (Iron Hills) v. Rob (Pits of Dol Guldor LL)

James (Khand/Easterlings) v. Julian (Riders of Theoden LL)

Vince (Goblin Town/Trolls) v. Joe (Corsairs of Umbar)

Opponent's Heroes: Thranduil, Legolas and Tauriel

Opponent's Warriors: Wood elf sentinel, Palace guard and Mirkwood elves

Against Jake, I thought my best chance would be to get an early hero kill. Thinking that because I had less bows, I’d be outshot, forgetting that my army bonus could make me more dangerous with shooting than I gave myself credit for. 

We deployed so that I had glorfindel on the left, erestor in the centre in the infantry and Gil galad to the right. He had deployed Thranduil and Legolas behind his lines with Tauriel off to my left. We had agreed for all the forest terrain to be woodland and the fields to be difficult terrain, then I promptly forgot all about that and planned to have Gil Galad heroic combat through it.

I got to move first and moved half forward, killing only a single elf, if anything. Jake returned fire and killed a couple of elves in return. The following turn, I rushed forward and engaged his lines. I had an issue, in that my flank was exposed to Tauriel and his mounted Legolas, so I took a gamble and threw Glorfindel into the flank. Hoping to see Tauriel take the bait and maybe suffer for it. Thranduil used his circlet, having thrown up an aura of dismay the previous turn, to call a nature’s wrath and floor my frontline. With them down, and the +1 to wound bonus, several of my elves were killed. Tauriel and Legolas had also both attacked Glorfindel with a few warriors. All three called Heroic Strikes and both of the Mirkwood heroes went to F10, while Glorfindel fluffed and went to F8. With so many attacks and +1 to wound on the warriors, my mighty elven hero fell!

Gil Galad, meanwhile, rushed the archers and killed both. The next turn, he killed another and Heroic Combatted to try and get out the field to attack the rear of Thranduil’s lines. It was at this point that it sank in that he couldn’t move far at all in that field while mounted. So I settled for clearing half the field instead. 

Erestor, however, was making good progress, killing an elf with his throwing dagger, then rushing two more and killing both! He spent the rest of the game steadily killing 1/2 elves a turn. 

With Glorfindel gone, Tauriel and Legolas started cutting my left flank to pieces, and Gil Galad lost his horse to a cheeky direct hit by Legolas, who then rushed up and attacked the knights, who had run around the field to assist their King. That King, was continuing to stubbornly kill anything he fought, but the damage had been done by the early loss of Glorfindel and Jake had absolutely done a number on my army. 

By the end of the game, I believe I had caused 17 wounds to his 35, so he scored double and had also broken me, while I was a handful away from returning the favour.  

Results

Me 0-8 Jake

Tom 1-4 Rob

James 1-8 Julian

Vince 0-8 Joe

Tom's Iron Hills make a defiant stand against the Pits Legion

Both us and his teammates were surprised when Julian requested to play James' mounted army, but he made his point

How, after six years of this edition, we all forgot that Corsairs have a LOT of throwing weapons, I can't say...sorry Vince...

Round 2: Domination Vs. Steve's Heroes

Matchups

Pre-match up thoughts: I felt again like none was worse than the others for me, except maybe that the Mumak could kill a lot of my guys with a good trample, but then I had the option to go into woodland to escape it. We thought Tom's fearless bubble may be good against it, but didn't want his dwarves to face the Assault legion and get many killed by the effective shooting. The same went for James' all mounted force, nor did he want to face the Mumak. While Vince had a rough matchup whatever he played here, but we felt his army may be best against the Assault, as he could tank the bows, if needed.

I believe we put down Vince as our champion, and Tom as our fourth. Then deciding that Tom would be best suited to the Mumak, instead of the Gondor/Rohan alliance that Vince got.

Me (Rivendell) v. Richard (Assault on Lothlorien LL)

Tom (Iron Hills) v. Rob (Grand Army of the South LL)

James (Khand/Easterlings) v. Stephen (Minas Tirith/Rohan/Fiefdoms)

Vince (Goblin Town/Trolls) v. Oliver (Minas Tirith/Rohan)

Opponent's Heroes: Muzgur, Druzhag, Ashrak, Moria Goblin Shaman

Opponent's Warriors: Orc trackers, Mordor orcs, Goblin prowlers, Warg marauders, Batswarms, Fell wargs and Giant spiders

Similarly to the last game, I thought my best chance would be to try and eliminate an enemy caster from the game early, to reduce the amount of magic that could be thrown at me.

I deployed Gil Galad to my left, Erestor in the centre and Glorfindel to my right. Richard had deployed Ashrak to my left, Muzgur and the Goblin Shaman, and Druzhag off to my right. 

I decided to take an aggressive approach, forcing bottlenecks around the ruins and keeping the evil forces under pressure, away from the objectives in my half. He had spiders and warg marauders, who could potentially seize them, but with low courage, I hoped they’d flee or I could preserve some cavalry or archers to deal with them for me.

I pushed up and shot as I did so, taking out a couple of prowlers as I did so, return fire killed one, I believe. The next turn, I launched my assault with Gil Galad attacking the left side of the gap, Glorfindel attacking the right and Erestor getting another throwing weapon kill on the charge. 

Richard then launched his magical barrage, the previous turn all relevant shamans had thrown up their fury bubbles, Ashrak turned a spider invisible and it rushed through my lines to peel off a spearman. Muzgur scored a 6 to cast his wither on Gil Galad. With so much magic still around, I decided to let it go, as Aeglos would still grant him +1 to wound. 

Gil galad easily dispatch the orcs he faced and Erestor killed again. The elves between them also won most fights, and killed many prowlers. On my left flank, the elf shieldwall managed to beat and wound several spiders. Glorfindel had called Heroic Combat, seeing an opening to Muzgur! He dispatched the orc and warg he faced, charging into the spear and swinging into the orc commander behind!

He promptly rolled a 4 high to their 6, and seeing such a good opportunity to kill him early, I spent both might to win the fight. Needing two 5s to get him to use fate and 3 to confirm, I rolled my four pairs of dice and used my reroll too…scoring a single wound…Glorfindel was in enemy territory and in trouble.

Richard won the move off in the following turn, and as you would expect, Glorfindel quickly found himself up against a pile of orcs, Muzgur, bats and an enraged spider. Unsurprisingly, they easily beat him in the duel and the spider took away all his fate and a couple of wounds, before the others finished him off. Another rough game for Glorfindel.

The rest of the army fared better as an invisible, enraged spider lunged at Gil Galad but lost the fight and was skewered on his spear. Erestor held the middle with his elves, killing off all but one or two prowlers. The spiders found themselves mostly on 1w. The marauders, meanwhile, were running down the flanks and running for the rear objectives. 

Over the next few turns, Gil Galad lost his horse to an archer, but continued to be a menace and cut down orcs and goblins. The marauder to my left dropped a couple of goblins on an objective and began running to my rear right one. The other dropped a goblin and then dismounted to throw an handful of warriors into my right flank. In the combats, I did a lot of damage in the middle, killing many orcs and Muzgur being out of will, trying to get a cheeky kill. Many of the spiders took their final wound, and only a few were left.

Seeing that Richard was near breaking, I started focusing on tightening my grip on objectives; I had the central one but Richard was holding the other four. I solidified my defence on the middle, and got my right flank to push a counterattack up towards his right hand one. I couldn’t see a reasonable way to claim his left, so decided to focus on reclaim the ones in my half. I managed to free up a knight and warrior from the main fight, who pulled back and slew one goblin before running down the other too in the final turn. 

I couldn’t free anyone to regain the right hand one, so seeing a marauder with one goblin upon it and a goblin warrior being all that was there, I dedicated myself to breaking them and letting them flee. Gil Galad was pushing hard to get ahold of Muzgur and slay the leader, instead taking a wound himself. I couldn’t get many of the last few priorities to do so (I had won many on the trot earlier so couldn’t complain). However, a pair of my warriors managed to score a wound on him. 

On the left flank, my counterattack pushed up and slew the beasts around Ashrak, also scoring a wound upon him. The others rushed past and claimed the objective, keeping the enemies away from it. Richard also realised, to his horror, that he had left his bats out of range of any heroes and both fled, to my relief.

At this point, time was called and I had claimed both left objectives as well as the centre. Richard had claimed his right one, but unfortunately had both the models on my right flee. I had also broken him but was unbroken myself, while both leaders had suffered a wound. 

Results

Me 8-3 Richard

Tom 3-7 Rob

James 1-9 Stephen

Vince 4-9 Oliver

We correctly assumed that Tom's dwarves would bravely fight the Mumak Warleader. We incorrectly didn't expect it to flatten his entire army.

James' horsemen valiantly fought the Men of the West (not LL), but sadly their might was simply too much!

Vince gave it a good bash against Aragorn's alliance, despite the scary elven blade in his hands.

Round 3: Heirlooms of Ages Past Vs. Super Major Hyper Mega Ultimate Lightning Black Dragon Ultra

Matchups

Pre-match up thoughts: I felt ok against most things, except the possibility of the Riders finding the Heirloom and being beyond my reach, but that would be an issue for all of us bar James. However, we felt that he would be very strongly matched against dwarves. Since there was a magic/terror based legion, I could be best to face them. We thought Vince would be best to take Isengard or the dwarves. Tom was in a weaker position against the Riders.

I believe we put me down as the champion and James as the fourth. Easily deciding that Saruman using compel to play bulldog with his chariots would be a recipe for disaster, he got the dwarves.

Me (Rivendell) v. Josh (Isengard)

Tom (Iron Hills) v. Will (Riders of Theoden LL)

James (Khand/Easterlings) v. Phil (Army of Thror)

Vince (Goblin Town/Trolls) v. Marton (Host of the Witch King LL)

Opponent's Heroes: Saruman, Grima Wormtongue, Vrasku and Mauhur

Opponent's Warriors: Uruk-hai berserkers, Uruk-hai warriors, Uruk scouts

Josh got the initial priority and all three of his warbands arrived; Vrasku and Mauhur together in the North and Saruman to the South. I then managed to get all my warbands arrive and decided to arrive all around the two Uruk heroes' warbands, with the intention to wipe them both out and break him early as well as remove his fastest paced troops.

I called a Heroic Move and won the move off, allowing all my elves to pincer the Uruk-hai between my warbands. I also got Glorfindel into a position to Heroic Combat, which he used to run into Mauhur and slay him. Vrasku became the poster boy of Josh's resistance as he continued to relentlessly win against elves and kill them.

On the other side of the board,  Saruman's warband moved up and started searching objectives across the middle and working to the far edge away from the fighting. Knowing that they would find it eventually, I managed to pull Glorfindel away and start running towards the remaining three (He was the ideal runner as he could Horse Lord his mount if it took a wound, and also moved faster than the others). A lone Uruk ran alongside him and searched an objective, emptying that too. This left just two, to give perspective, the big fight was happening with all my forces in the NE corner, one objective was in the West and the other in the NW. 

As Gil Galad and Erestor dealt with the remainder of the warbands I fought, Glorfindel galloped towards the NW objective, not intending to search it, but to sit on it and force a stalemate. Then Josh moved Saruman slightly too close, this could have been purposeful to tempt me, or an accident, I'm unsure. But since Saruman was a big threat to me; he was keeping me from killing Grima, wouldn't flee when I broke him and also had might to counter my priorities with, I decided to go for it. In the combat, I killed his horse and gave him two wounds, one went through his fate leaving him on 2w, 0f. Josh then charged in the following turn with a horde of berserkers, which Glorfindel started cutting down. As this happened, the Uruk who had run alongside him, searched the NW objective to clear it...and rolled a 6!

The turn prior, I had wanted to move Gil Galad and as many elves as possible up to start moving on Saruman, as only Vrasku and a few Uruks remained of their warbands. I lost priority and called the Move with Gil Galad, realising after that sneaky Grima was lurking close by. Unfortunately, Gil Galad was the only one who could call it and it was important, so I burned his last two might. Vrasku continued to pester me by winning fights and killing my elves, until eventually in the last turn, he was surrounded, overpowered and slain.

It occurred to me after the game that neither of us had remembered to roll the transfix dice at all for the Heirloom, but that's my fault. Remember kids: Always remember the transfix! As the bearer ran around Glorfindel, I saw a chance and fired my archers at him, one scored a hit, but rolled a four to wound! Glorfindel himself continued to frustrate Josh slaying several berserkers and pikes.

Over the next few turns, I ran my army up, as Josh lined up his remaining Uruks to hold them back and broke him. My archers saw a golden chance despite the bearer being beyond my reach, and fired a volley at the White Wizard, managing to score the two wounds and slay him! Erestor called the last Heroic Move and pin down most of the Uruks, allowing Gil Galad to slay their banner bearer. The only thing that could decide my victory, in this last turn, was whether the bearer ran...but he rolled a 9 in his move phase and safely hid.

Josh had the Heirloom, while I had slain his leader, broken him and had a banner remaining to give us a draw, which felt fair.

Results

Me 6-6 Josh

Tom 9-1 Will

James 1-1 Phil

Vince 0-10 Marton

Tom once again shows his unnatural luck with this scenario, as a Rohan archer, with the Heirloom fell trying to climb over a fence, right into the path of 'Daaaain on a Pig!!' in the very last turn.

James had a hard fought draw against the dwarves, who were possibly about to find the Heirloom!

Vince had a very hard matchup, where his trolls were run away from the battle for a lot of the game and he struggled to charge. But he was very pleased to get them close to breaking.

Round 4: Retrieval Vs. Greedy Deep Delvers

Matchups

Pre-match up thoughts: I thought that the Assault legion would destroy large chunks of my army quickly and was my only concerning army. Tom wasn't keen on Mordor as Dain could spend the game immobilised. For James, the Army of the Dead could negate his chariots. And for Vince, only the Assault legion didn't have a big advantage over him.

If I remember rightly, we put Vince in as our champion and me in as our fourth, hoping that the Assault legion would be a challenger. It wasn't so we had to give Vince Mordor, as the elves wouldn't have a hard time killing the King.

Me (Rivendell) v. Wyn (Lothlorien/Misty Mountains)

Tom (Iron Hills) v. Rob (Return of the King LL)

James (Khand/Easterlings) v. Tom (Assault on Helm's Deep LL)

Vince (Goblin Town/Trolls) v. Jack (Mordor)

Opponent's Heroes: Galadriel, Celeborn and Gwaihir

Opponent's Warriors: Wood elf sentinel, Galadhrim knights, Galadhrim warriors, Wood elf warriors and Galadhrim court guard

I was very concerned about this one, Gwaihir would mean that I need to deal with him early, as he will simply fly past, take my objective and escape, unless I stop him. Galadriel would also prevent me from sitting back and having a balanced shooting war. So that left only a very aggressive option.

I deployed up close, with Gil Galad on my left, Erestor in the centre and Glorfindel on my right. Wyn deployed amongst the ruins, with Galadriel and Celeborn with the troops, the wood elves and sentinel on the balcony and Gwaihir far off next to the woods.

In the first few turns, Galadriel threw up her blinding light, I kept my archers still to benefit from the army bonus and managed to pick off a warrior or two. Wyn got unfortunate with his shooting and didn't cause as much damage as he'd hoped. I also saw an opportunity, as Gwaihir had strayed within range of Glorfindel and the knights, but had a Galadhrim knight in the way. So my archers shot him dead, then the following turn, Glorfindel engaged with a knight. My nearby warriors engaged the other Galadhrim knight to pin him down and my army started running up to meet Wyn's advancing force. His sentinel had successfully sung to my banner and got him separated from the army, but I decided that I needed to engage quickly more than I needed a banner, so left him to fate. In combat, I beat the eagle and managed to take off a wound and all fate.

The following turn, Glorfindel engaged again after calling a Heroic Move, meaning that he was already out of might, having called two moves and a strike, in his pursuit of the eagle. I lost the fight, but managed to use Horse Lord to save Asfaloth from Gwaihir's strikes, as I would sorely need him to keep pace! Celeborn had engaged the elf warrior beside the combat and called a Heroic, to try and peel off Glorfindel, but the elf managed to somehow beat him and his troops.

The next turn, Gwaihir pulled back with the priority that he had won, after Erestor called a Heroic Move, but had been unable to quite slingshot Gil Galad into him. I instead used it to engage Wyn's forces out of formation and kill several. I believe an archer also took out his sentinel with a lucky shot.

Over the next few turns, we fought hard between the ruins and the woods. And a small contingent of my warriors ran around the far side of the ruin. Wyn threw a couple of guys into the doorway, as I hoped, believing that I was trying to flank his ruin. In fact, I was running around the whole ruin and making a break to the lightly guarded objective (only Galadriel and a handful of warriors stood on it). When Wyn realised the danger, he withdrew his troops from the fight and formed a better defence upon it and a bottleneck in the chokepoint, but I used this chance to kill the now isolated troops and build momentum.

On my right flank, Wyn carefully pulled Gwaihir just outside of 20" from Gil Galad, when he had priority, but within 12" of Glorfindel. As there wasn't anywhere within reach to be out of reach of both, and since Gil Galad had higher FV, better wounding ability and might, he figured Glorfindel was the safer opponent. However, he had made a crucial error, as I saw he engaged a warrior with his knight to keep them away. Gil Galad threw himself at the knight and Heroic Combatted, to suddenly be within striking distance! His warrior placed himself in the way of Celeborn to be a nuisance. The next turn, I won priority and both heroes charged Gwaihir. Celeborn desperately charged the warrior, hoping for one more turn to help. But Gwaihir lost the fight, took a wound from Gil Galad (who was trying to get a blood and glory might back) and then Glorfindel rolled a mighty three 6s to finish him!

Now it was desperation on both sides, I had killed all Wyn's fast paced models, but my own were in the far corner, and my opponent had not sat back idly...

The wood elves had climbed down from the balcony and started running for my undefended objective. I pulled a couple of guys out the main fight to waylay them, but Celeborn and his warriors were all coming from the other side! My pair of warriors were fighting hard but losing several fights. Eventually they slew the two wood elves, but Celeborn's warriors were too far past...

A few turns prior, I had a tough decision to make...Gil Galad had a slower horse, but would be a good killer to break their lines. But if he got wounded, or even killed, it would lose me VPs that could decide the game. So that made him a better option to go and defend my objective...but Wyn's remaining archers were positioned to snipe any runner...if Gil Galad's horse took a wound, I had no way of saving it, and he'd never be able to get there in time. So Glorfindel is the better option to defend right? Well he has Horse Lord, but he also had Fortify Spirit, which makes him less susceptible to Galadriel immobilising him out the rest of the game...

In the end, after a long think, I sent Glorfindel towards Wyn's corner, and Gil Galad skirting around the edge of Wyn's bow range, to my own. I just had to hope that he'd make it in time.

On Wyn's corner, my elves were pushing hard, but the elves of Lothlorien were putting up a stubborn defence. I'd kill an elf in the way of the objective, then lose priority and have another step onto it. Eventually, Galadriel herself stood upon it. Glorfindel had done one move towards helping, then had Asfaloth shot, failing his last fate roll. My elves, led by Erestor, managed to get Galadriel down to two wounds, no fate when Glorfindel finally got in and dealt the killing blow, just as the game ended. It was down to whether I had kept Wyn off my own.

The two elves had diligently kept attacking Celeborn's warriors as they closed in on my objective, and just as they were getting into touching distance...the High King rounded a corner and ground his horse to a halt, standing over it, just as the game ended!

In the end, I had broken Lothlorien and slain their leader. All my games this weekend were amazing, but I had to award best game to Wyn for this, as this was just so climactic.

Results

Me 5-0 Wyn

Tom 6-2 Rob

James 3-1 Tom

Vince 0-12 Jack

Dain's fearless bubble gave Tom a real edge in his battle with the dead.

James' speed helped him outmanoeuvre the Uruk-hai to claim a narrow victory!

Vince found himself again against an enemy with strong magic (We aren't doing this intentionally!)

Round 5: Fog of War Vs. Phat Hobbits

Matchups

Pre-match up thoughts: I wasn't too alarmed about any of them in particular, figuring I could take the Witch King's legion and remove something tough. James didn't want dwarves for the same reason as the dead in the previous round. We felt he could be good against the Grey company perhaps. Tom would be good against any and we wanted to avoid Vince fighting more magic after the previous round.

I think we put down James as our champion and Vince as our fourth. So when Mordor was an option we gave him the dwarves.

Me (Rivendell) v. Sam (Host of the Witch King LL)

Tom (Iron Hills) v. Paul (The Grey Company LL)

James (Khand/Easterlings) v. Callum (Mordor)

Vince (Goblin Town/Trolls) v. Nick (Khazad-Dum)

Opponent's Heroes: The Witch King, The Shadow of Rhudaur, 2x Barrow wights, Shade and Angmar orc captain

Opponent's Warriors: Angmar orc warriors, Warg riders, Dead marsh spectres

I decided that I didn’t want to be in the open, as although it’d allow Gil Galad and Glorfindel to swing around and flank, it’d also allow Sam to bring his numbers to bear and kill my elves off a lot easier, so I would try to get the battle to be between the two ruins in the middle.

I had deployed with Glorfindel to my left, Gil Galad to my right and Erestor, once again, holding the centre. Sam had deployed in a large formation with the Witch King and Barrow wights to the rear, the Shadow, the Shade and Captain amongst the orcs.

I decided to make my target a Barrow Wight, figuring that they’re fairly easy to kill with two wounds, no fate, while not being an obvious target. I decided to capture the woodland terrain to my left in Sam’s corner and finally to protect Glorfindel, as although he’ll be in the thick of it, he’s a sturdy boy.

I started by shuffling forward half moves for the first few turns, split down the middle to maximise my shooting as the Shade put up his swirling mists. I picked off a few orcs and then fired many shots at the other Barrow Wight, partly as he wasn’t within the Shade’s bubble, and partly to throw out a red herring for Sam, making him highly suspicious of my interest in him. 

As the lines closed, I sent the central formation into the gap between the ruins, and brought the others up behind. The Knights tucked in behind the ruins to my right, ready to jump in the late game. As the orcs entered charge range, I threw Gil Galad and Glorfindel into the frontline, flanked by my elves to either side. Both called Heroic Combats, intending to maximise my damage before the magical barrage was unleashed. Glorfindel rolled poorly and was pushed back but luckily neither him, nor his horse were wounded. Gil Galad fared better and slew both orcs before him, before ploughing into the Shade and bringing it down in one hard smash.

Unfortunately, Gil Galad’s rampage came to an abrupt halt, as a paralyse broke through, after he resisted the first and down he went. The Shadow of Rhudaur then cast drain courage on him, and rolled a 6 to channel it! The King withstood the blows and managed to spend a might to stand up at the end of the turn, only to be paralysed again in the next! This time, after a second successful natural 6 to cast on drain courage, and being down to C3 with a -2 from the Shadow and Witch King being nearby, the spectres had no trouble slaying him!

Luckily, Glorfindel stood strong beside him and managed to win his combats turn after turn, consistently killing his foes. Erestor, beside him, was facing an orc or two each turn and also keeping the momentum going. The elves along the line were also doing a good job, as they won the majority of their fights and brought down many of them. Before long, the Witch King's numbers were very thinned out and some of the more precious units were having to join the fray. 

Several of the spectres were brought down over the next few turns, and then the Barrow Wight, that I had targeted, was suddenly on the frontline. I couldn't get Glorfindel into him, so just kept getting a couple of elves up against him, bringing him down in his third combat. Glorindel did however slay the Orc Captain in a single combat, the Lord of the West reroll coming in hot. The Witch King disposed of all discretion and bombarded Erestor with Black Darts, eventually getting through his will, fate and killing him. I had, at this time, run my knights around the right hand ruin, to threaten the evil rear, but my real motive was to hurry over to the woods and capture it. Meanwhile, Sam was running a warg rider in the same way towards the ruins on my right hand side. Somewhere amongst this mayhem, I had one opportunity to wound/slay the Witch King, but I opted to strike the orcs also in the combat, to break them and help me even out the numbers.

The game ended and I hadn't quite reached the woodland, but had slain the targeted Barrow Wight, kept Glorfindel unharmed and broken the orcs. They had slain Erestor, their target, but failed to keep the Shade alive or capture the right hand ruin.

Results

Me 9-3 Sam

Tom 12-3 Paul

James 1-7 Callum

Vince 3-12 Nick

Tom's numbers and heavily armoured troops were simply too much for the Grey Company, hammered home by Dain slaying Aragorn!

The might of Mordor was too much for James to overthrow in the end.

And we finally gave Vince a game with no elven blades or magic, so he got to have a nice melee smash up instead.

Results

After five hard fought rounds, we had all had twenty awesome games between us and, in the end, our team had managed to get a record of 7 wins, 2 draws and 11 losses, scoring 73VPs (by my count) with a VP difference of -41, earning us 16th out of 20 teams.

And we were happy to be told, in the awards, that our team had won the Most Sporting prize!

A very proud moment for the team and another highlight for the year! Tom and the Mellon hope to return next year for another Teams throwdown!

Events that I will attend

Oct 19th- Scaring of the Shire III: The House Cup (EAHC)

Nov 23rd- Into the Fires of Mt Doom (EAHC Finale)