Hey all
It's been a long time since I did a Tournament Report, the last being Throne of Skulls last year. So I thought I'd crack one out on here.
The Tournament
This was a one day deescalation event of four games hosted in Woolpit, which the Palmers hold for us. I've never had a bad event there and as always this was a great day.
Players would play two games at 750pts dropping to 550pts for the third and fourth games. I believe the only limitation was that you had to use the same army list for both limits. I personally made my 550 scale up to 750 for convenience.
It was also announced that the scenarios would be exclusively rolled amongst the newest ones in the Matched Play Guide.
My Army
I wanted to try out one of the newer forces from Armies of Middle Earth or the Legacies, as I haven't had many games since their release. After a little browse, I took to bringing out my dwarves again, as they hadn't seen any table time in a few years. It was also a chance to take some of the converted dwarves that I made for my Battle Company challenge way back in 2022. (https://eastangliasbg.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-companies-community-creator.html)
KINGDOM OF KHAZAD DUM
750pts
Durin (Leader)
Hearthguard x11
Dwarf King w/ Throwing Axes
Dwarf Warrior x1 w/ Banner
Dwarf Warriors x5 w/ Dwarf Bow
Vault Warden Teams x4
Mardin
Dwarf Warriors x2 w/ Dwarf Bow
Dwarf Warriors x3 w/ 2h
Dwarf warriors x5 w/ Shield
Numbers: 37
550pts
Durin (Leader)
Hearthguard x10
Dwarf King w/ Throwing Axes
Dwarf Warrior x1 w/ Banner
Dwarf Warriors x5 w/ Dwarf Bow
Vault Warden Team x3
Numbers: 24
Game 1- Convergence (Vs. Reclamation of Moria (Jon))
Scenario
I'll explain the scenarios, roughly, for those who aren't yet familiar.
In Convergence, the armies are deployed over opposite corners, alternating warbands. So that you have half of the enemy army to either side of you. Same as Divide and Conquer.
There are four objectives deployed halfway from the centre to each board edge in a plus sign. These are light objects that have the Heirloom effect and may transfix their carrier each turn, you also may not pass it along to another model. Only one of which can be carried by a model. You maximise your VPs for each by ending the game holding each within 6" of the centre, so running away with them won't help you too much.
The Game
I deployed Durin alone in one corner, with the King and Mardin together in the opposite. Jon had deployed Balin with the Captain in one, and the King's Champion with the King in the last.
Marches were quickly called by Balin, the Captain and both of our Kings. I marched my King and that army half towards the objective that the Champion was chasing, and Durin ran towards the objective that the Captain rushed towards. Balin marched towards one that I wasn't going for, and his King rushed for the last that I also wasn't contesting.
Before long, my King's warband had taken one objective, Balin's Khazad Guard had taken one, as had his King and the Captain had taken the last, but was hotly pursued by Durin and his Hearthguard, who slammed into the warband. Durin called a Heroic Combat alongside a Hearthguard to slay a ranger and give chase, only to lose the fight. As did many of the guards.
The following turn, I got lucky as the ranger with the objective got transfixed by the objective and Durin this time pulled off his combat and rushed after the ranger. The turn after calling a Heroic Move to catch and slay him for the objective. Then pushing towards the middle, Durin took most of the warband to assist the rest of the army as a few of his guard held the objective in the centre.
The Captain fought against three Hearthguard for the majority of the game. Eventually falling, but havin kept three dangerous warriors busy. (In the pics through this report, I have highlighted objectives in red.)
Meanwhile, as all that unfolded, my King and Mardin ran from the Champion, intending to slam into Balin's warband and isolate him, hopefully taking his objective as we did so. Jon's King took his objective to the centre, and seeing Balin getting outnumbered, rushed forward to assist.
I placed my Vault Wardens to my rear, to hold the Champion's warband back with a handful of warriors, as the King, Mardin and remainder of the warband started to cut into Balin's Khazad Guard. My King fought Balin and managed to take a fate, before being surrounded after a Heroic Combat brought Balin, the King and a Khazad upon him, but he won the fight and slew the Khazad.
The King's Champion was steadily killing dwarves, but I kept placing more in his path to avoid being pincered. My backline of Vault Wardens was also just about holding firm, although I lost a spear to a throwing axe.
My King was showing himself to be the MVP as he fought the opposing King time and again, steadily killing troops to push Jon towards breaking, including killing a Khazad objective holder with a throwin axe.
Some of my warriors managed to punch a hole in the Khazad line and get some traps going, just as Durin's warband appeared on the horizon!
I made a mistake as I charged my objective holding dwarf into the front so that, as my banner took the dropped objective, my warrior with the other was slain and had his own taken.
Over the last few turns, I won several priorities, which allowed my backline to rigidly keep the King's Champion warband back and prevent disaster. It also helped as Durin rushed in and took a fate off the Champion's banner bearer, who had rushed around to Balin's side.
My King showed his value as he cut down a third objective bearer in the final turn, meaning it dropped to the floor. Jon's rangers atop some towers had been raining arrows down on the Hearthguard in the middle with the objective but failed to drop the guy holding it.
I did have one last worrying moment as Durin charged and fought Balin, losing the fight and narrowly avoiding a wound with his fate.
As time was called, I had claimed three objectives with one in the centre, I was the only one with models in the centre and we had broken one another. This had given me an 8-1 victory!
Game 2- Escort the Wounded (Vs. Army of the White Hand (Kepa))
Scenario
This is similar to the previous scenario, in that you are carrying objectives to target places. You are deployed 24" away from your opponent and each have three 'heavy object' objectives (the wounded). Your aim is to get each of them past your opponent within 12" of either of the corners in their deployment area. You may not carry your opponent's objective.
The Game
I lined up my dwarves with a warband behind each objective (Durin- left, Mardin- centre and King- right). Kepa also spread his army out, with the lead uruk to my right.
Kepa called several marches to push up and get a high defensive line against me. I decided to just allow the left uruks to get past with their wounded, the intention being to shatter the centre and accelerate my own objectives through while keeping one or two of the uruks busy.
I got some good success off the bat, as Durin linked up with Mardin's warband and a couple of Hearthguard using their Burly rule to carry the objectives alone. Durin used a Heroic combat to get through the frontline and get behind to kill some pikes, allowing his Hearthguard to smash the left flank and get the Hearthguard with the objectives to make a break for it. There was a small handful of crossbows before them, but if I could get Durin to assist, I'd be home free.
Kepa's objective to my left had also broken through and been saved, but I had his last one right in the thick of the battle, so I intended to just keep the fight around it to pin it. (My objectives are the black discs, Kepa's the red).
The King rushed forward and engaged the lead uruk's warband. Said lead uruk managed to skirt around me and start making a dash with a pikeman for the corner. I fired a few shots at the pike ot try and slow them down, but got no luck. But the King managed to smash the opposing warband and eventually get his wounded past and running for the corner. With the uruks dead, the remaining dwarves all poured to middle to assist the main army.
Unfortunately for me, disaster had struck in the middle, where it had been going so well. I couldn't win a priority for the life of me, being forced to attempt my Durin's Ring reroll against a 5, as I had to move that turn to have a decent chance, but failed. And so my objective carriers were pinned well by the uruks. At the same time, they had managed to free up their own objective and I could only watch as it was carried to safety. I had also lost a couple of vital Hearthguard, who were keeping the left flank protected and holding back several berserkers for me. This allowed a wave of troops to hit my crucial spot hard.
The King's unit joined the fray but it sadly wasn't going to help too much without the priority to get my own objectives out of the myre. As time was coming to a close, I knew there was nothing I could do, so we played our remaining couple of turns and to my dismay, Durin was slain from full wounds by a captain and berserker! A lot of congrats to Kepa as he had completely turned around what had started as a disaster for him.
Kepa had rescued all three of his wounded, while I had saved one of mine and carried one still. We had broken one another, he had slain Durin and I had a banner remaining at the end to score a 16-9 loss.
Game 3- Sites of Power (Vs. Reclamation of Osgiliath (Ryan))
Scenario
This is a maelstrom deployment scenario. There are four objectives, halfway between the centre and each corner. These have a randomly assigned effect each turn, boosting courage/ wounding/ survivability. You want to hold those objectives, ideally with no opponents also on them or to outnumber them as much as you can. There's also a bonus objective for trying to take out the second most expensive model in your opponent's army.
The Game
We were now into our 550pt games. Before we started, Ryan mentioned his exasperation at dropping Madril just as we got our maelstrom scenario.
I got the initial priority given to me by Ryan, and had my King use a might to make sure he arrived near terrain for cover, should the big bad Boz turn up. He was in the South-East corner.
Durin then arrived across the board to the West, in hindsight, maybe I should have kept them together, but I wanted to go for the approach of claim two and see if the game ends quickly.
Boromir rolled a two and I placed him right beside the King, deciding to gamble on some shots dismounting him early. He set up a spearwall before me and Boromir skirted around the ruin as we engaged. Ryan immediately managed to slay an Iron Shield bearer, to my horror.
Durin, meanwhile, dropped a couple of Hearthguard at the South West objective and started running the rest of his dwarves up to the North-West one. Faramir had arrived on the North-East and left a few troops before starting to jog and shoot at Durin's unit.
Boromir closed in on the King's unit as I tried to inflict some casualties on his unit. My archers took their only shots they'd get at him...and four missed, the last went through, hit Boromir and narrowly failed to wound.
Boromir then flew in, and quickly started making short work of the dwarves. I killed maybe one or two of the men and dismounted a knight, but the biggest blow I dealt was draining away five of Boromir's might. But in exchange, he had wiped out the King's warband including the King himself.
With that development, Faramir had got close, so I rushed Durin and his guard off the NW objective and engaged the following turn, this turn I bounced off. But the following one, the dwarves hit hard and many of the men around Faramir fell, who had now used two Heroic Defences. He then used another to get a Heroic Move and pull away from the dwarves, towards Boromir, who was approaching up the Western centre.
As Boromir joined in, I threw Durin and the majority of his guard onto Boromir, and called a Strike, forcing Boromir to also call one with his last point. We both rolled a pathetic 1 each for our strikes, and both got a 6 in combat. It was a tense roll off, but it went my way! And I just threw every strike at Boromir himself. With Durin's axe reroll, I did a total of five wounds! Surely, hes dead....no, he only managed to get a 4, 5, and 6 on his fate!
The following priority went against me, so i used the Ring of Durin and seized it! Boromir was rushed again and after rolling a 5 high, fell to the axes of the dwarves! Baruk Khazad! Khazad Ai Menu!
Faramir then stood with a few surviving troops and I desperately tried to break them as time was looming. My two Hearthguard at the SW objective fought hard, but one was slain. The other couldn't land a blow to kill.
In the last turn, with Ryan needing to lose two guys to break, two Hearthguard wounded Faramir three times, to bring him to 1w, 0f. But Durin himself, in the final combat, managed to slay both of his opponent's giving me a comeback of sorts.
At the end, Ryan held the NE and SE uncontested, he had triple my numbers on the SW and I had pulled a lone guard onto the NW, we were both broken, I had slain Boromir and wounded Faramir, but he had slain my King. So I had a 12-8 loss, but what had started out as a rout, was heading towards victory territory!
Game 4- Lead from the Front (Vs. The Eagles (Rob))
Scenario
Again for this one, you deploy 24" away from your opponent for this one. There are three objectives across the middle of the board, and you need to have a hero holding the objective. If the opponent also has a hero there, the one with the highest Heroic Tier will claim it.
The Game
'How can I tell my Eagles apart?' I hear you ask. Party hats!
My last game was against Rob's Eagles. I had one advantage that I could play for this, I had two heroes to his one, so I could potentially claim two objectives to push for the win.
I pushed up as he carefully approached and, before long, I had priority and forced the issue as I put myself in front of the objectives with the Eagles just before me. They charged multiple Hearthguard and I just had to hope that the reroll for less dice would save a few.
Many of the Hearthguard were rended, and one was hurled into Durin, killing the hurled dwarf and knocking the leader prone. Gwaihir then barged and flew into him. I had not called a Strike or Defence, as I knew that I'd need might for moves and fights to come, with the screech still looming. Gwaihir won the fight, and then, with his six strikes scored three wounds and spent a might to cause a fourth. This meant that I would need to save at least one wound with Durin's natural 6 save. Sadly, he didn't and now I was in big trouble after that miscalculation.
I had sent my Dwarf King around the side of the building, hoping that he could lead a charge of Vault Wardens to maybe cause some counter damage. If one eagle falls, it tends to lead to others.
But the Hearthguard, without Durin's bodyguard rule, failed a couple of tests to charge and freed some birds to land more damage upon me, one managed to wound an eagle. When the Vault Wardens and King hit, they unfortunately failed to win their fights and an eagle swooped onto the King and also slew him.
With blow heroes gone, I could only hope that I could slay Gwaihir, but the odds were vastly against me, as I was broken and had only caused a single wound. Gwaihir settled onto an objective and the eagles flew into remaining troops to mop them up, until I hit 25%.
Rob had taken an objective with Gwaihir, broken me, killed my leader and neither of us had banners, to give a score of 12-2 victory to him.
If this game seems short, it was because I barely lasted half an hour. 😂 However, with over an hour left on the clock and the finish time looking around 7ish, I decided to shoot off and see my boy before he went to bed, so that was a bonus.
Results
I had managed to win one game in my four, but they had all been good ones, with a good few nailbiters. I had 27 VPS and -14 VPD, placing me 24th out of 30.
With my last game over and an hour left on the round, I left early to get some time with the boy before he went to bed. But I did receive a message that, in my absence, I had won Most Sporting, which was a lovely way to round the event off!
Until next time!
Events that I'll attend
25th Oct- EAHC Halloween Event (666pts + 100pts of beasties)
8th Nov- EAHC 2025 Finale- The Clouds Burst
29/30th Nov- Throne of Skulls
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