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!)
