Tournament Report – The Battle of Unnumbered Tears

A few weekends ago, I headed up to Sanctuary Games in Sutton-in-Ashfield (just outside of Mansfield, near Nottingham if you’re unfamiliar with the area) for the Battle of Unnumbered Tears GBHL Event, hosted by Owen Wright and GBHL veteran (and former champion) Ed Ball. This is a 100 point event, consisting of 7 games played across two days.

In honour of the upcoming Amazon Prime TV series, players had to select a 797 point good or evil army for the event – 797 being a prime number!

Having played good at several previous events this year, I decided to dust off (quite literally, as it had been sitting on the shelf for ages!) my Haradrim army. With 797 points to play with, I decided to bring in the big guns – a mighty Mumakil!

My full force was taken from The Grand Army of the South Legendary Legion, and consisted of:

Suladan the Serpent Lord, on an armoured horse (my Leader)

7 Serpent Riders

Raza, Fang of the Serpent

12 Haradrim Warriors armed with spears and a banner

War Mumak of Harad, upgraded with a Beastmaster Chieftain, Tusk Weapons, and rappelling lines

11 Haradrim Warriors with bows

797 points on the nose!

My hopes were for Suladan and the Serpent Riders to run around and harass my opponent's forces, the Mumakil to stomp over everything whilst the archers shot anything not trampled, and then for Raza and the spearmen to mop up whatever was left. 

As for the Mumak's upgrades, the Beastmaster was a no-brainer. He comes with three might points, giving you the option for a heroic move, plus a courage value of 5, meaning passing the courage tests required when the Mumakil is wounded becomes a lot easier! Tusk weapons are also very useful, as you inflict four Strength 9 hits when trampling instead of three.

Rappelling lines is a little used upgrade, but if used effectively it can be very good indeed – on the roll of a 2+, a model in the howdah can be placed in base contact with the Mumakil and then move as normal. Be careful if you roll a 1 though – your model will then take falling damage, and from the mumak's howdah, you'll take at least FIVE Strength 3 hits. Ouch!

Raza is also a useful character to take – nominate 1 hero in your opponent's army, and if Raza is in base contact with them during the Fight Phase, he gets a +2 bonus to his fight value. With Heroic Strike and Bane of Kings (meaning he re-rolls failed To Wound rolls), he should be able to finish off his target with ease. 

As for the Legion, it has some great bonuses – the mumakil (which already causes terror), gains the Harbinger of Evil special rule, meaning all enemy models within 12" suffer a -1 penalty to their courage. The best one, however, gives your leader a free heroic action when they're in combat with your enemies' leader – having those saved might points later in the battle can come in very handy!

With my army selected, I was ready for the 7 games ahead!

DAY ONE, GAME ONE – TO THE DEATH!

My first game of the weekend was against Ben Davies and his Easterling Horde, consisting of Amdur on horse, Khamul the Easterling on a Fell Beast, an Easterling Captain, a number of Black Dragons, 6 Dragon Cult Acolytes, Easterling Warriors and Archers and a couple of Black Dragon kataphracts. Not an easy army to play against – Easterlings have a very high defence, and Amdur is very dangerous in close combat. Add Khamul and his magic, and I was in for a tough game. 

Unfortunately for Ben, he'd never played against a Mumakil before, so I explained exactly what it's capable of. He set his army up in a huge shieldwall, intent on stopping the Mumakil before it could move – it's a lot less dangerous if it's not moving. 

To the Death! is a very straightforward scenario – charge forward and do as much damage to the enemy as possible. I sent my cavalry on the left flank, not wanting to charge them head-on into a wall of Easterling steel. Raza and the spearmen went up the right flank. 

Ben had some early success, winning a heroic move and stopping the Mumakil moving, and then taking two wounds off of it. Fortunately, the Beastmaster passed both courage tests – if he'd failed, Ben would have been moving the Mumak the next turn. My archery was pretty ineffective, bouncing off the Easterling's armour, even with the ability to re-roll 1s thanks to the Poisoned Arrows special rule. 

On the left flank, Suladan and the Serpent Riders charged into the Easterling archers, making short work of them. Raza engaged Khamul on the right, but those combats came to a standstill, as Raza won the fights thanks to his special rules, but failed to wound the high defence wraith. Then came the crucial turn – Ben won priority, so I called a Heroic Move – Ben countered, but the roll-off went my way. 

The Mumakil promptly moved forwards, and it was devastating. By the time its move came to an end, 18 Easterlings had been trampled by the beast, including Ben's captain and his banner bearer. The Mumakil came to a stop after running into Amdur, inflicting two wounds but crucially not killing him, meaning the Mumakil stopped. 

As Khamul and Raza continued to trade blows, my Haradrim mopped up the remaining Easterlings that hadn't been trampled. Amdur bested the Mumakil in combat and inflicted another two wounds – I promptly failed the courage test, meaning it would stampede the next turn. However, I'd inflicted enough casualties that Ben's army has been reduced to below 25% of its starting number, meaning the game was over. My banner bearer was still alive, and my army was unbroken, whilst both of our leaders were unharmed.

Result: 9-0 win! Ben was a great opponent to play against, putting up a great fight against the Mumakil despite never having played against one before – he walked away with my Most Sporting Opponent vote for the weekend. Anyone who can still smile after losing 18 models in a single turn definitely deserves it!

DAY ONE, GAME TWO: ASSASSINATION

My reward for my initial success was a top table clash with the Middle-Earth SBG rules writer Jay Clare. I've met Jay at a many GBHL events and he's a very down to earth person – he loves playing the game as much as he enjoys writing the rules for it – although he did need a few reminders as to my army's special rules, as he's written so many different ones!

Jay was using his trusty Laketown army – Bard the Bowman, Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins, Percy, Sigrid, Tilda, Alfrid and a horde of Laketown Militia. Assassination is a tricky scenario as you have to nominate an enemy hero to kill (except for the leader, who can’t be targeted), and a model in your army who is the assassin – we both joked about the Mumakil being an assassin – not exactly subtle!

With only two heroes to choose from, Jay had it slightly easier than I did – he chose Raza as his target, and I chose Sigrid. Jay also knew if he came at me head on it would go badly for him – he wisely chose to stay in his deployment area, forcing me to come to him. This also meant I'd have to suffer his archery, which was brutal. Bard's bow, which is Strength 4 and can potentially shoot a maximum of three times in the Shoot Phase, took out the Beastmaster. Gandalf then Commanded the Mumakil into charge range, and in the subsequent combat, the Mumakil was beaten and took several wounds. 

With only Courage 3 to pass the test with, I promptly failed. My archery did however take out several militia, along with Alfrid. Annoyingly, I hit Sigrid with several arrows, but even with her low defence and poisoned re-rolls, I didn’t score any wounds. The next turn, Jay stampeded the Mumakil off the board, leaving the rest of his army free to mop up the rest of my Haradrim. 

Suladan however, was defiant until the very end – the free heroic action he received for being in combat with the enemy leader allowed me to take a wound off of Bard, but in the end I was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers Jay had at his disposal. He's been using Laketown for several years and knows exactly how the army works – by the end of the game, I had been completely wiped out. 

Result: 1-12 defeat. Had I killed Sigrid, it would only have been 6-12, but sadly it wasn't to be. Regardless of the result, it was still a very fun game. 

DAY ONE, GAME THREE – COMMAND THE BATTLEFIELD

The opposite scenario to Hold Ground, Command the Battlefield is all about holding the corners of the board, rather than the centre. I was up against Elliot Hamer, who was running the Ugluk's Scouts Legendary Legion. 

Command the Battlefield is a Malestrom Scenario with rolls to determine where a warband enters the table. Unfortunately for me, Suladan's warband was the only one to arrive, whereas the majority of Elliot's did – Suladan was alone against Ugluk, Mauhur, Snaga and a host of orcs and Uruk-Hai. By the end of the second turn, nearly all my cavalry had been slain apart from Suladan and two riders. Fortunately, the Mumakil then arrived, trampling a number of orcs and uruks as it moved onto the board. Suladan then took advantage of the legion bonus to declare a free heroic strike, having charged into Ugluk, and promptly cut down the Uruk-hai leader. 

Mauhur managed to tie up the Mumak for several turns, but once he'd run out of Might, the Mumakil promptly moved forwards, trampling him, Snaga, and a further half a dozen orcs and uruks. By this point though, Raza had still refused to turn up (I rolled a 1 for his reinforcement roll FOUR turns in a row). The remaining orcs and uruks fled towards the remainder of Elliot's army in one corner of the board, pursued by the Mumakil. Suladan and the surviving cavalry set about clearing up the orcs and uruk-hai left in the other corners. 

Raza and his warband finally arrived, and set about clearing the remaining orcs and uruks from the board. The rappelling lines came good in this game, allowing me to drop several archers off in one of the corners and move the mumakil towards the remaining forces. By this point, Elliot's army was broken, and he suffered the misfortune of Grishnakh failing his courage test and fleeing the board. Raza then slew his remaining captain, whilst a well-placed Heroic Move allowed the Mumakil to trample several more orcs. 

At this point, the game ended. I held three corners, whilst the fourth was contested. Elliot's leader was slain, whilst Suladan was unwounded and my force was unbroken – another victory for the Haradrim.

Result: 10-0 win. A tricky scenario – but the Mumakil entering the board and trampling models straight away made a big difference – it then won me the game as I was able to run over most of Elliot's army with it. 

DAY ONE, GAME FOUR – BREAKTHROUGH

For the final game of Day One, I was up against Callum Fairbrother, who had brought Thorin's Company – Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Kili, Fili, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Dori, Nori, Ori and Bilbo Baggins. Breakthrough is another tricky scenario – two objectives are placed on the centre line, with another in each deployment zone – the focus of the scenario is taking the objective in your opponent's deployment zone. 

This was a tough game that swung in both player's favour. The Haradrim had the early success, calling a heroic move, with the Mumakil trampling Gloin and wounding Fili, and Suladan slaying Bofur. In a surprise twist, Dwalin failed a heroic combat and had to use all his fate to survive. The dwarves then struck back, wounding both the Mumakil, Suladan and killing Suladan's horse. Oin then fell to the Haradrim's archery, but the Dwarves wounded the Mumakil and I failed the courage test. Despite calling a heroic move, Suladan and the banner bearer couldn’t get out of the way and was promptly trampled by the stampeding Mumakil, along with several Haradrim and Serpent Riders. 

The Haradrim however, refused to be cowed. Raza charged and killed Balin (helped by his special rules as he was facing his target). Ori fell to the Haradrim's archery, as did Fili. Bilbo however put on the One Ring, and with Dori by his side, headed for one of the centre line objectives, both of which I held, with a few spearmen on each. Thorin kept the Mumakil occupied, charging it multiple times and preventing it from moving. 

By this point, the dwarves were broken – Dori subsequently failed his courage test and fled, whilst in another twist, Raza slew Dwalin and Kili in the space of two turns. By this point, Thorin and Bilbo were the only models Callum had left, with Thorin down to one wound and no fate. At 25%, the game came to an end. I held my own objective and one of the centre line objectives – the other two were contested. Suladan was dead, Thorin wounded. The difference was breaking – Callum's army was broken, but I was just one model away…

Result: 4-2 win. A really close game that could have gone either way. Callum had some really bad luck – he didn’t pass a single fate roll in the whole game – Dwalin should also have performed much better than he actually did. Perhaps with a bit more luck, he would have dominated the game a bit more. 

By the end of Day One, I had three wins and a single defeat. Day Two looked very promising, although I would be potentially fighting on the top tables. 

DAY TWO, GAME FOUR – DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Another difficult scenario, and very tricky opposition. My opponent, Rowan May, brought a very unusual force. A host of wood elves led by Galadriel, including four Wood Elf Sentinels. Allied to that was a Rohan contingent, led by Theodred and Grimbold, including a mounted captain, three mounted Royal Guard and a dozen Helmingas. The way the terrain was positioned also meant that manoeuvring the Mumakil would be difficult – I wouldn’t be able to simply trample all over my opponent's army. 

Divide and Conquer makes you split your army into two and deploy them in opposite corners. I deployed my cavalry and infantry in one corner, and the Mumakil in the other. Rowan's cavalry went in one corner, and Galadriel and Grimbold set up in the other with their warriors. I went straight for the central and western objectives, whilst the Mumakil advanced towards the cavalry, shooting as they went. 

A well timed immobilise from Galadriel saw my route to the centre cut off, so my cavalry headed towards the elves and Rohirrim, whilst several of my spearmen claimed the western objective. Elven shooting proved deadly, taking out a Serpent Rider whilst unhorsing another. In a disastrous turn of events, Suladan took two wounds from the archery. 

Suladan however saw his opportunity the following turn and charged headlong into Galadriel, whilst the Serpent Riders charged into the elves and Helmingas. Theodred and the Guard marched towards the centre, chased by the Mumakil – two Royal Guard fell to the poisoned arrows, as did one of the Sentinels. Suladan then took advantage of the army bonus to call a free heroic strike, winning the fight and knocking over both Galadriel and Grimbold, who had rushed to her aid. Suladan promptly inflicted two wounds on Grimbold, who was saved only by his fate. Galadriel was also forced to spend all her fate points, taking a wound. Suladan charged again the following turn, called another free heroic strike, winning the fight and taking the final wounds of both heroes - Grimbold and Galadriel were both dead!

Unfortunately for the Serpent Lord, he was now surrounded by a host of foes and now only had one might point left. He promptly spent his last might point to call a final Heroic Strike, slaying the second and third sentinels, but was brought down the following turn by Theodred. 

By this point, I'd rappelled several archers out of the howdah to claim the eastern objective, and held the central objective, but by now a host of elves and Rohirrim were closing in. The final sentinel was able to drag one of my models away from the eastern objective, whilst the other was cut down by elven archery to hand the objective to Rowan. In the final turn, with the western objective firmly in my hands, the focus was on the central objective. The Mumakil trampled over Theodred and several elves to clear most of Rowan's models, but the captain and the remaining Sentinel still contested it. 

In the end, whilst I had more models within 3" of the centre objective, they were all in the Mumak's howdah – and the rule is the 3" around the objective only extends 3" up – they were too far away! With both armies broken, and both leaders slain, Rowan held the central objective and took the victory. 

Result: 5-8 defeat. A tough one to take when you lose the game on a technicality – even my opponent admitted it was harsh. But at the same time, you have to follow the rules. I could have won the game if I'd rappelled my models out of the howdah and crowded the objective, but I didn’t. An important lesson learned!

DAY TWO, GAME 6 – DESTROY THE SUPPLIES

Another fun scenario, but a very difficult opponent – GBHL veteran and League Winner, the appropriately named Will Champion! Will had brought a very compact but powerful force – Treebeard (with Merry and Pippin), Quickbeam, Beechbone, Gandalf the White on Shadowfax, Damrod and a Minas Tirith banner bearer. 

Fortunately, I had manoeuvrability on my side. I left a few Haradrim behind to guard my supplies and headed forwards, shooting Will's banner as I did. Unfortunately, Gandalf controlled the Mumakil more than I did, Commanding it both into a building and into combat, where it was pulverised by the Ents. Fortunately, several of the crew survived the fall, including the Beastmaster, who survived five Strength 3 hits!

With the Mumakil gone, the Ents turned their attention towards the rest of my forces. Beechbone, Merry and Pippin were left to deal with the surviving crew, whilst Treebeard and Gandalf headed towards the rest of my force. Luck however was on my side – Quickbeam bested but failed to kill a Serpent rider I had perched on the first supply marker. The following turn, Suladan called a heroic move and charged Quickbeam with several Serpent Riders, ensuring that supply marker would be destroyed. My Beastmaster also raced to the third supply marker, whilst the other surviving crew engaged Beechbone and the Hobbits.

I then had my second piece of luck – Beechbone won his fight and barged the Haradrim out of the way – a 2+ would have meant him charging my Beastmaster, but Will only rolled a 1! Another supply marker destroyed! Merry then fell to the other crewman, whilst the Ents and Gandalf made a mess of my forces, slaying Suladan, Raza and my banner. Damrod however was not so lucky and was brought down. A loan Serpent Rider then made for the final supply marker, cutting down Pippin in the process. However, by this point I was below 25%. Will had broken me and killed my leader, but I'd destroyed two supply markers – the game was a draw!

Result: 4-4 draw.

DAY TWO, GAME SEVEN – LORDS OF BATTLE

The final game of the weekend was a rematch against Will. Unfortunately, this did not go well for me at all. Lords of Battle was the one scenario Will had wanted all weekend, and he got it. The Ents proceeded to annihilate my cavalry, and then my infantry in very short order. Gandalf Sorcerous Blasted the Beastmaster off the Mumakil, which the Ents promptly turned their attention to. The saving grace was the game ended before the Mumakil could be killed – it only had two wounds left. 

The whole game lasted just under half an hour, and I only managed to score 4 wounds, these being Damrod's wound and fate point, and one wound and one fate on Quickbeam. By contrast, Will scored 38 wounds… 

Result: 0-12 defeat. A 30 minute 12-0 thrashing was definitely not the best way to end the weekend. However, Will was very gracious in victory, admitting any other scenario would have produced a different result. 

SUMMARY

I finished the weekend with three wins, three defeats and a draw, finishing 27th out of 50 players. Not a bad return, considering the Mumakil is a very big points investment in the army, but it performed excellently – particularly in Games 1, 3 and 5, where it's presence made a big difference – the fact it has Harbinger of Evil in the Legendary Legion makes it much harder to be charged. The tusk weapons also made a difference – an extra Strength 9 hit can help inflict that extra wound to finish off a hero that otherwise would have stopped it moving. 

Suladan was excellent – his banner helps troops around him and the ability to call a free heroic action thanks to the Legion Bonus was a big difference – he slew Ugluk, Bifur, Galadriel and Grimbold over the course of the weekend, and was able to wound Bard the Bowman. He even went toe to toe (or rather twig) with Treebeard for a few turns in Games 6 and 7. A seriously underrated hero in my opinion!

Raza also proved useful – his special rules came in very handy for killing off heroes, especially in Game 4 – slaying Dwalin, Balin and Kili in a single game is a pretty good achievement. He struggled in Game 5, and was outmatched against the Ents, but if you pick the right hero to target, he can really come good – he even went up against Khamul in Game 1 – if it wasn't for the Ringwraith's natural toughness, I may have claimed a bigger victory.

The event itself was excellent – very well organised, a fun mix of games and a nice variety of opposition – Easterlings, Laketown, Uruk-Hai and Orcs, Elves, Rohirrim, Dwarves and Ents. The venue was great too – well lit, not too hot or cold, plus a nice selection of drinks and donuts available too – what more could a Strategy Battle Gamer want?

Hope you've enjoyed this write-up – keep an eye out for more in the future!

Until then, Happy Wargaming!

TheTolkienNerd

Tournament Report- The Scouring of Che-Shire (6/7th November 2021)

 Similar to my last tournament, Lord of the Imps, in July, I thought I'd do another for last weekends event.


The Tournament

This is a tournament that I had attended once previously back in 2018. I had fond memories and was really looking forward to it...

Sadly, Covid then hit and it was delayed several times due to restrictions, but after nearly two years of build up, it was finally green lighted!

Steve Crowe's boards are famously gorgeous, you look at them and know exactly what is being illustrated to you. There's tiny details and grand pieces of scenery to really immerse you into your games. Steve had also spoken to the creator of  'Longshanks', an online tournament creator that made life a lot easier for the players, allowing them to see one anothers lists, if uploaded and plan tables with no real issues. (I'd recommend TOs have a look into it).

This was a 700pt tournament with no real restrictions, so there'd be a great mix of armies spanning 52 different armies/Legendary Legions amongst the 88 players. But what did I take?


My army

Goblin Town

The Goblin King
Gollum
17x Goblin Town warriors

Grinnah
12x Goblin Town warriors w/ 2x 2h

Goblin Mercenary Captain
11x Goblin Mercenaries

The Trolls

Bill the Troll

Tom the Troll

Yellow alliance

46 models

I chose this force as I had painted the Three Trolls at the beginning of lockdown last year but hadn't had any 400pt tournaments come up to play them at. So I decided to just ally them with Goblin Town as its a fairly themed mix and works aesthetically, while giving me a chance to repaint their models.

With the army all painted and prepared, to battle!

Game 1- Assassination (vs. Ryan (Riders of Theoden))

Opponent's Heroes- Theoden, Dernhelm, Deorwine, Gamling and a Captain

Opponent's Warriors- Mounted Royal Guard

Seeing on Longshanks that I would be against the Riders of Theoden, made me feel very dependent upon scenario. When Assassination was drawn, I considered myself to have a rather large mountain to climb. However, when I got to my board, I had lucked out! Before me was a lovely Laketown board, littered with chokepoints and narrow corridors! Maybe I have a chance...

I chose my target to be Deorwine, figuring that Ryan would love to throw him into the thick of the fights to take advantage of the free heroic combats and my assassin to be Bill because...well... *waves at the big lumbering troll*

I deployed my trolls on a wider corridor to my right, figuring that they could hold off a cavalry charge fairly comfortably and the King to the left with Grinnah. Ryan had deployed his cavalry in a large line before me, out of charge range and after I won the first priority and more or less held still, besides moving up slightly to plug any holes in the line, the Rohirrim skirted round and away from the Trolls, towards the softer goblin flank. 

Before long, Deorwine led a charge and killed a goblin, heroic combatting into another. But to everyone's surprise, he lost his second fight and found himself disarmed and forced to spend his fate point. With that unexpected development, I took the heroic move and tried to pin him down as Bill made his way towards the fights. Gollum slips the Ring on and attempts to sneak over to Deorwine.

Theoden rushes across some boats to charge a goblin block in the centre and the Royal guard rally to their chief and prevent the goblins from getting a good assault upon him with their counter charge. Dernhelm is amongst them and calls a heroic combat to counter Gollum's as he prepares to kill Deorwine with Grinnah. 

Eowyn managed to kill her goblin and charge into Gollum, who fluffed his duel rolls and ended up trampled. Deorwine then won his combat and took Grinnah's fate.

In response to this, the Goblin King charged Theoden in the centre after the Rohirrim lost a move off. In the following turn, several goblins fell, a few Royal Guard were dismounted and Theoden took two wounds from the King, surviving on his fate roll and promptly retreating the next turn.

For the rest of the game, the goblins desperately tried and failed to land the killing blows upon Deorwine, even with the Mercenary ambush trapping his unit. The Rohirrim broke them and the game ended by time.

Ryan claimed the win 10-1 as his assassin (Dernhelm) had slain his target (Grinnah) as well as breaking me, while I had wounded Theoden.

Game 2- Seize the Prize (Vs. James (Minas Tirith))

For my second game, I was drawn against fellow Southerner and regular rival, James.

Opponent's Heroes- King Elessar, Irolas, Mablung and Damrod

Opponent's Warriors- Citadel Guard, Guard of the Fountain Court, Rangers of Gondor and Minas Tirith Warriors

For this game, I chose to deploy my Mercenaries with my army to allow me to call a Heroic March to the middle. I was quickly in the centre and failed to find the objective. The next turn, I advanced over it and failed for a second time. James responded by firing a volley, wounding Bill and then launching his attack...

Aragorn charged the Goblin King with Irolas and several warriors. While Irolas called a Heroic Combat, both other heroes called a Heroic Strike and got to Fight 10, both rolled a 6 to win but Aragorn rolled a 5 on the roll off. Irolas and the warriors all made their strikes but failed to land a single blow. Aragorn, however, had no such issues. He rolled 3 wounds and used a might to boost his 2 to a 3 (he had gone 2h). Due to the elven blade effect, his blubbery mass couldn't save him and the King fell!

Aragorn then charged into Bill from the Heroic and caused another two wounds, Bill's fate saved him and next turn, Gollum put on the Ring and through a Heroic Combat joined Bill against Elessar, who had called a Heroic Defence. In this golden opportunity, Gollum wounded the horse, which Aragorn saved through 'Horse Lord' and Bill decided to attempt to 'Mince 'im fine'! Bill rolled first and got a 3, which Aragorn matched! The King of Gondor had just had a very close brush with death!

Not long after, Aragorn managed to slay Bill and progressed onto Tom, who let out an almighty sneeze over the King and then rolled poorly, allowing Anduril to be inserted into his nose. The goblin line collapsed as Aragorn slew Grinnah and a lone Fountain Court Guard dug up the objective as the game ended.

James won 10-0 (we had to roll off to decide whether the objective was in his half or mine, due to it not moving at all, he rolled my half), had broken me and slain my leader. A classic case of a couple of rolls deciding the outcome.

Game 3- Contest of Champions (Vs. Max (Kingdom of Khazad Dum))

Opponent's Heroes- Durin, Dwarf King and Dwarf Captain

Opponent's Warriors- Hearthguard and Khazad Guard

Max had brought a heavily armoured and dangerous army of dwarves. With Durin in the middle, I knew this would be tough. My intention was to just keep the Goblin King, 1 on 1 in the middle and weather the storm until his might ran out.

As you'd expect, we charged both our armies forward and locked horns, I kept Tom beside the King to anchor his flank and Bill to the far left to pull off some hurls. Grinnah stayed back (Under the balcony) to be a Heroic move battery.

The first two turns, Durin called Strike, which I mimicked and lost. Durin reliably did wounds on the King but the blubbery mass kept him alive, but he did take a wound. 

Real danger reared its head, when Tom unexpectedly lost a fight to 3 Khazad Guard/Hearthguard and died! This left the King's flank exposed, but luckily Grinnah called a Heroic Move and won the roll off, allowing goblins to fill the gap.

Durin used his final might to call another Strike but this time lost and the King caused two wounds through his Rend. Many dwarves had fallen on their right flank and suddenly, a Mercenary ambush was launched. Durin was then caught and slain by another Rend.

The Goblin King then went back and tried to get another couple of kills, but rolled badly and ended up taking 7 wounds, all of which were stopped by his blubbery mass. The second time, he wasn't so lucky and fell.

When the game ended, I had managed the win 6-2, by having more kills with the King than Durin (1-0) and had slain Durin with him, while Durin had wounded him back. We were also both broken.

Game 4- Hold Ground (Vs. Jake (Fiefdoms))

Opponent's Heroes- Prince Imrahil, Forlong the Fat, Angbor the Fearless and Duinhir

Opponent's Warriors- Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, Clansmen of Lamedon, Axemen of Lossanarch, Blackroot Vale Archers and Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth

My initial tactic was to try and deploy beside the Fiefdoms and pin them in an all out fight as my Mercenaries arrive in the middle to take the objective. Instead, I arrived in one corner and they came in on the opposite after. I spent a might with Bill and Duinhir spent one himself.

We began a hasty march for the centre to claim the middle for ourselves (represented by Frodo).

The goblin horde and the combined armies of the Fiefdoms close in on the centre, the King and the Trolls combine on the right flank to face the cavalry as the goblins pool on the left to face the infantry with Grinnah at the back to again be the Heroic Mover. The Blackroot Vale archers line up to shoot supporting goblins...

...when a victorious cry erupts from the ruins to their left! The Mercenaries arrive and next turn win, the move off to envelope the men.

Now free of the concern for their supports, the armies collide. 

The fighting is brutal, with both sides taking multple casualties a turn. The Fiefdoms take heavy losses early but manage to find their footing and push back. At one point, Tom dismounts Forlong and then Bill barges his opponents forward to surprise and slay him.

Imrahil fights back hard and when Gollum does a sudden Heroic combat to give the King an edge. The Prince gets a surprise win and slays the Ringbearer, to my horror. Tom falls not long after (to a Swan Knight, if I remember correctly) and with time running out for the round, very heated fights break out for the middle, in which the King is wounded by Imrahil.

Surprisingly, the Mercenaries have decimated the archers in their skirmish but a lone Swan Knight joins and flattens most of them in return. As the timer hits 0, the final combats are played out and Bill uses his last might to heroic combat into Imrahil, joining with the King. Despite the numbers of high strength attacks, they deal only 4 wounds and leave Imrahil with 2 after his fate.

The scores are in and we were both broken, both had wounded leaders and when the centre was accounted for, I had 14 within range to Jake's 11! A very close 5-2 win to evil!

Game 5- Breakthrough (Vs. Dave (Mordor/Isengard))

Opponent's Heroes- The Witch King, Shelob, Lurtz and an Orc Captain

Opponent's Warriors- Mordor orcs, Uruk-hai warriors and Uruk-hai Berserkers

With a large rocky ledge in the centre of the board, this was going to be a difficult fight to claim the objectives, particularly as Dave's side one fell on a rock in the middle of the river.

We lined up so the Goblin King was across from the Witch King along with the Mercenaries, with Gollum upon the central cliff face and the Trolls with Grinnah on the right flank.

I was immediately engaged by Dave's frontline everywhere that he could and had Bill transfixed by the Witch King. Lurtz and friends surrounded the Troll and Shelob flitted past to attack the goblins. The Goblin King, trampled two of his minions to get into combat. Gollum engaged one of the two orcs that climbed onto the rocks but failed to kill him.

When Lurtz called his Heroic Strike, I called a Heroic combat with Tom, in that combat I hurled a berserker into Bill's causing all of Dave's guys to fall over but none died. Bill was now safe for the turn. The King barged an orc aside and charged him again with another orc...he then lost the fight and took a wound, which went through his blubber and fate. D'OH!

In the next turn, Dave carefully charged Tom, in a way that stopped a hurl hitting Bill again, then transfixed him again. A berserker made a run along the rocky hill towards my objective so gollum attempted to give chase and I sent some goblins climbing up.

The Goblin King's unit made short work of the Witch King's unit, with the banner being hurled down the line. The left objective was now secure, so more troops were sent up the rocks as the King advanced towards Dave's objective.

On the other flank, Tom barged the berserker aside and charged into Shelob, trapping her. On arrival, he sneezed all over the spider and won the fight, landing two wounds, taking two of her will to pass the courage tests. In the following combat, Lurtz and his berserkers brought down Bill after another transfix and Tom was pulled from the spider by berserkers.

In the following turns, two goblins manage to land a third wound on Shelob and Tom is brought down by Lurtz and his Uruks. Grinnah spends multiple turns surrounded by berserkers and spends his remaining might to strike and win fights, each time causing a wound but...each...and...every...one...is saved by the berserkers oblivious to pain.

In the centre, the Witch King rushes and slays Gollum as his orcs surround and kill the goblins, allowing Dave to seize my objective. The game ends before I can reach his.

Dave ends up winning 8-2 as he owns my objective, his own and a side one while breaking me. I own the other side objective.

Game 6- Divide and Conquer (Vs. Michael (Fiefdoms/Minas Tirith))

Opponent's Heroes- Prince Imrahil, Hurin the Tall and Irolas

Opponent's Warriors- Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth, Citadel Guard and Minas Tirith warriors.

My final game was to be against Michael's Fiefdoms/Minas Tirith alliance in Divide and Conquer, I have never won this scenario before. (Objectives represented by Mordor Dice/Empty base).

I chose my corners first and decided to keep the Mercenaries back for an ambush. I deployed the King alone and the Trolls with Grinnah. Gollum used his might to call an early Heroic March and make some progress to the right side objective. They made it there and prepared for the coming fight. Once they were close enough, the King rushed the frontline and his goblins prepared to block. The King barged his opponents and tried to kill some of the men out of formation. Hurin charged the goblins, but Gollum slipped the Ring on and surrounded the Warden of the Keys. He was promptly dismounted and over a few turns Gollum and the goblins wore him down and eventually Gollum dealt the killing blow.

The King, however, ended up surrounded as his goblins were slain and taking 16~ strikes in one turn saved only two wounds. He managed to put up a fight, pushing them back and killing a few but when completely surrounded, took 22 strikes, which even his blubber couldn't save him from. The King died along with all his goblins. But Gollum, invisible, survived and contested the objective at the very end.

In the rest of the battle, Bill split off to engage Imrahil and his knights, while Tom, Grinnah and his goblins moved towards Irolas and his Citadel guard. To really throw the balance their way, the Mercenaries arrived in the woods.

Bill saw his chance and hurled a stone at Imrahil, against call the odds, it hit, went past both the Knights, who were in the way, and took off two of his fate. Bill then rushed over the barrow the next turn and was charged by Imrahil and his knights. Both called Heroic Strikes and while the Prince went up to Fight 10, Bill fluffed his and went to 8. The Knights tore the troll to pieces.

Back in the centre, Tom barged a Citadel guard aside and one shotted Irolas off the board, removing two might in return for the loss of Bill! The sheer numbers of goblins overwhelmed the guards and many died quickly. The pressure was released somewhat as Imrahil and his knights arrived and started clearing the central objective. As time was running low, Tom saw an opening and when Grinnah called a Heroic move, charged the surviving guard and quickly barged him aside, rolling the 4 required to be able to reach Imrahil! He immediately sneezed over the Prince and with the goblins laid into him over two turns. In the second combat, in the last turn, with both forces having 3 men/goblins owning the central objective, the Goblins got Imrahil down to 1w, 0f. Tom decided to Rend and rolled 1, 2 and...

3! The Prince is slain, giving the goblins the majority in the centre as the game ends.

With that the goblins claim the win 7-4 as they own the centre and left objectives, have broken the enemy and slain the enemy leader. The good forces have the right objective contested by Gollum, broken the enemy and slain the Goblin King.

So I ended the tournament with an even split of 3 wins and 3 losses with a VP difference of -15 leaving me in 56th place.

Upcoming tournaments I'll attend soon

28th Nov Wrath of the Nine- A small local event over one day. 650pts and I'll be taking my Dunlendings.

4/5th Dec (Basically) Throne of Skulls- Usually bigger event but I hear less people due to restrictions for now. Very theme heavy event, 1000pts, I'll be taking the Fellowship and Glorfindel.

I may write reports for these tournaments too, time allowing. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Tournament report- Lord of the Imps: The Two Powers (10/11th July 2021)

 Last weekend, something happened that had not happened for an age...I got to attend a full blown SBG  tournament! A weekend of fighting it out with a vast array of different opponents and their armies. Finally, able to enjoy that familiar environment that we've all missed and craved for the last 16 months.

I'll give a quick overview of the tournament's quirks and setup and then lay out my force before going through each of the games that I got to enjoy.

The Tournament

I travelled up to Lincoln to attend the Lord of the Imps' second (and long awaited) tournament, hosted by the lovely guy, Harry Parkhill. This tournament was a classic 800pt Good vs Evil stand off BUT with a twist...

...on day 2, your leader and his entire warband are killed off by a mischievous imp, and so you must name a lieutenant, who will become your leader for the second day. You then fill the army up with whatever you please to replace the points of those lost troops, whether this be top up existing warbands, buy existing heroes some wargear or throw in entirely new warbands. Whatever takes your fancy, as long as no new heroes outrank your lieutenant's heroic tier.

My army

I had fancied trying a particular army throughout the entire pandemic and realised that there was a perfect theme that I could tie into the list writing. After trying this army out against Mr Parkhill himself via TTS and how much I enjoyed it, it was settled. 

I would theme my list around the dwarves facing down Azog's orcs in Azanulbizar!

Day 1

Thror (Leader)

18x Grim Hammers w/ Guardian of the King upgrades

Thrain (Lieutenant)

13x Erebor warriors w/ 5x shield, 5x spear/shield and 3x spear

Young Thorin

13x Erebor warriors w/ 5x shield, 5x spear/shield and 3x spear

Day 2

Replace Thror's warband with:

The Oakenshield for Thorin

Young Dwalin 

2x Erebor warriors w/ shield

6x Grim Hammers w/ 1x Banner

Young Balin

3x Erebor warriors w/ shield

5x Grim Hammers

With these armies, I had good, solid heroes backed by a large number of tough dwarven warriors. I felt like I had a good reliable army, with only one true weakness, manoeuvrability. Without any Heroic March or cavalry to hand, I could be in deep trouble if I end up against a fast paced army or have a scenario that depends on long distanced movement, but I'll wing it with a hope and a prayer.

Due to current Covid restrictions, Harry had to adapt to make sure that the tournament could go ahead. The way he did this was to create pods of 6 players (3 Good, 3 Evil), who would play each of the opposing team's players through the day. After Day 1, the players would be ranked and the top 3 players of each side would be put together, followed by the next 3 and so on, to create Day 2's pods.

Day 1

Game 1: (Custom) Seize the Imp (Azog's Hunters/Legion)

This scenario plays the same as 'Seize the Prize', with a few small changes; the prize is replaced by the Imp, who you must defeat and wound in combat to capture, but rolling a D6 at the beginning of the turn to see if he wakes up. You may use might and/or will to boost this roll as if he does, he will fly away 4" in a random direction.

Opponent's heroes: Bolg, Narzug, Fimbul and a Gundabad Captain

Opponent's troops: Hunter orcs, Fell wargs and a handful of warbats

I was fortunate enough for my first battle to be with a beautifully painted orc army played by a very pleasant guy named Adam, who had only joined that morning to fill a space. 

I was already bitten by my army's lack of speed as the warbats immediately used their captain's Heroic March to leap forward, getting beside the Imp. He was successfully awoken the next turn and captured as a load of Grim Hammers threw their axes at the bats and hit the Imp. Luckily for me, he escaped and flew right into the middle of us both. Thorin called a heroic move, as did the Gundabad Captain, but the dwarves won the roll off and surged forward. 

Thror charged the Imp as his Grim Hammers and Grandson charged the orcish frontline. Bolg was trapped behind his own orcs, to his frustration, unable to get forward and stuck in. Thrain stood before him, just out of reach.

Some bats flew over the dwarves to try and distract at the rear, tying up a handful of dwarves as Fimbul led a counter attack towards the flank. Across on the other side, a few orcs and wargs attempted the same. Fimbul won a few combats, killing a few dwarves, before a Grim Hammer bashed him from his mount.

In the centre, Thror and Thorin stand side by side, cutting a path through the orcs towards Narzug, who also gets bashed from his warg but luckily saved from Thror's furious heroic combat charge by his banner bearer's control zone. Thrain manages to settle into his stride after a few dodgy combats as he slays all 3 of the hunter orcs he faces, but leaves himself exposed to Bolg.

As the dwarven leaders, prepared to push on and try to make their escape with the Imp (held tightly as Thror spent a will point to hold onto it), time was called on the game. Holding the Imp in the opponent's board half and having the orcs broken, while being unbroken themselves, the dwarves score an 8-0 victory!

Game 2: Domination (Mordor)

Opponent's heroes: Witch King, Gothmog, Zagdush and Kardush

Opponent's troops: Mordor orcs, Morannon orcs, Orc Trackers, Black Numenorians and Morgul Knights

For my second game, I came up against a Mordor force headed by Jon. I had seen him at previous tournaments in years gone by but this was the first time I'd ever got to play against him.

We lined up our armies facing straight at each other. And little time was wasted before they surged forward and locked horns. I braced my right flank for an incoming assault from Morgul Knights and orcs, led by Zagdush, and tried to defend my left from Gothmog as he charged in and called the Time of the Orc, causing several dwarves on my left to fall.

Luckily, Thrain and Thror cut down several orcs and Black Numenorians in the middle and Thror rushed the Witch King. The two leaders faced off for a couple of turns, with no damage done, until both had only a single might remaining. Thror charged again and the Lord of the Nazgul called his Heroic Strike. Usual recklessness overtook me and I responded with a Heroic Challenge (Logic being that the Witch King's Stand Fast would be vital to the army once broken so he'd have to accept). He accepted and they clashed again, the Witch King went up to F9 but failed to roll his 6, which Thror pulled off. The Dwarven King then used one strike after another trying to dismount his foe, only succeeding on his final strike. The Witch King got tangled in his reins and went down hard, rolling a 1 on his fallen rider, then rolling a 6 and a 5, taking a wound from the fall, before rolling 2, 2 and 3 for his fate and being killed by this disastrous bit of luck. Thror regained 2 might for it.

With the centre now cleared of major threats, the dwarves secured the central objective and reinforced both flanks. Thror rushed to the rear objective and slew the Orc Tracker on top of it, as Thrain and his troops slew Kardush in the ruins. Thorin made use of the extra troops and pushed back against Gothmog, managing to take the left objective (albeit contested). And the dwarves on the right managed to kill enough orcs to break the enemy, causing most of Zagdush's unit to scatter and neutralising the right objective, although one orc held the one on the dwarves side of the board. This led to a close victory at 7-3, mostly thanks to the sheer luck of the Witch King's fall.

Game 3: (Custom) The Imp's Curse (Moria/Mordor/Denizens of Dol Guldor)

This game was a customised version of the doubles scenario 'No escape'. Harry had changed a couple of rules; you deploy your leader and his warband as the primary force, then the rest of the army as the secondary force and VPs were also changed; 3/5VP for wounding/killing the leader, 1/3VP for wounding/killing the Lieutenant and 2/4VP for breaking the enemy/remaining unbroken.

Opponent's heroes: Witch King, Spider Queen, Durburz, Goblin Captain and Goblin Shaman

Opponent's troops: Giant Spiders, Moria Goblins, Goblin Prowlers, a Batswarm and Cave Troll

For this scenario, I was drawn against Dave, who I have played a couple of times previously. One small part of the deployment, left him at a disadvantage from the outset, as the Witch King was alone in his warband and therefore put into the middle of enemy territory, alone, against Thror and 18 Grim Hammers.

The Witch King took priority and rushed at full speed away from the dwarves, to try and join with his own forces. The Dwarves are, as we all know, very dangerous at a short distance and his is quickly caught and slain.

As the Witch King is cornered, Thror turns around and leads a charge straight into the goblin ranks. Thrain, works his way round to the left and Thorin leads a small unit around a large rock, only to be set upon by spiders. In a do-or-die attack, the Spider Queen charges him and they face off, Thorin wins the duel and lands 3 wounds upon the beast, slaying her. He then moves on an manages to kill the Batswarm and a spider in the following turns.

The rest of Thrains unit forms a line, to block the spiders from flanking Thror's unit and the Grim Hammers hurl axes, wounding a spider or two. Thrain himself gets to the left flank and sees two of his dwarves obliterated by the Troll's Hammer, he steps in and with a Heroic Strike manages to slay the beast. 

Thror pushes the attack at it's head and comes face to face with Durburz, who calls Heroic Defence, avoiding death with only a single wound taken but saved by fate. He does this a second time but this time with a cry of 'DU BEKAR!', Thror rolls a triple 6 to wound and cuts the Goblin King down! His troops cut down more goblins, who's numbers are dwindling now, until time is called and victory is achieved. With the enemy leader and lieutenant slain, while Thror and Thrain avoided injury, the goblins broken and the dwarves have held, its a 12-0 victory.

Day 2

Somehow, I had got through my first day with three victories. This was ground that I had only trodden once before, then had promptly been brought down with three defeats the following day. Could I do better this time without Thror, his banner effect and his Str4 dwarves?

Game 4: Contest of Champions (Ugluk's Scouts)

Opponent's heroes: Ugluk, Mauhur, Grishnakh, Snaga, Uruk Scout Captain and Uruk Drummer

Opponent's troops: Uruk Scouts and Mordor orcs

In this match, I came up against Sean (who does his own blog 'Subtle Asian Wargamer' and may write his own perspective of this). I played him previously in a Dwarf v Dwarf matchup that if I remember correctly, he won narrowly. And I was eager for the rematch. This time Sean had his Ugluk's Scouts force (he had Lurtz's scouts for Day 1), painted in a Tron? theme (If thats wrong, my apologies).

We deployed our champions in the middle, and I smelt a trap from the way that there was a small pocket formed in front of Ugluk with Grishnakh beside. Although Thrain desired to wade in and grapple his foe, head on, I had to play smart. Instead, he ran into the gap but attacked a troop to the side, so only one hero could join against him. Sean threw Grishnakh at Thrain, hoping to tie him up for a few turns. Thrain naturally bashed Grishnakh's head in immediately, then redeemed the might point for the Heroic Strike.

On the right flank, Mauhur and Snaga both jumped onto the edge of the defensive V formation, made by the dwarves and started trying to cut a way through. But with plenty of dwarves held back, I planned to refill any gaps to stop any flanking. On the left however, I underestimated the move speed of the scouts as they quickly swept round a pillar and attacked Thorin's unit in the rear. I called a heroic move with the now Oakenshield wielding dwarf and reformed a spear wall between a rock and piece of rubble. 

On the opposite flank, Dwalin managed to take the intiative with Balin's heroic move and charged both Snaga and Mauhur, calling a Heroic Strike and going up to 9, since he had gone high enough to be untouchable, he then used his special rule to reroll failed wounds and cut down Mauhur, taking 3 might away with him, that along with Grishnakh was 5 might off the table and a big advantage to me.

Ugluk had been careful and managed to avoid the wrath of Thrain, building a small but steady kill count (2) to contest the King (4) but then Thrain fought 3 orcs/uruks and took two wounds due to their Legendary Legion bonus for wounding, he promptly failed all three fate and was left on 1w, 0f. 

Seeing Ugluk exposed and close to Thorin, I had an awkward decision to make. I could spend Thrain's last might to call a heroic move, allowing me to move the dwarves in Thorin's way, so that he could face Ugluk and either kill him or hold him up as Thrain built his kill tally. Or I use Thorin's to just hold the line and allow Thrain to pull back into the ranks.

I opted to go for the big gamble and chose the former, one of the enemy heroes countered...and won the roll off. The army moved speedily to seize the big advantage, Ugluk threw himself on top of Thrain with a group, called Heroic Strike and cut down the King! Putting him on 5 kills and ahead of Thrain.

I now knew, I had lost the battle, but I could still claim some VPs from it. I cornered the remaining orcs and uruks on my right and did my best to break the 59 strong horde! With a matter of minutes remaining, and greatly inspired by the duel on top of the central tomb being won by my dwarf, the 30th casualty came and halved the opponent's numbers. It was a defeat but we took something back ending 6-2.

Game 5: Divide and Conquer (Isengard)

Opponent's heroes: Lurtz, Vrasku, Gorulf Ironskin and Uruk Drummer

Opponent's troops: Uruk warriors, Uruk scouts, Warg Riders, Wildmen of Dunland, Crebain and two Isengard Trolls

This was my first encounter with Vince and it was playing a scenario I have only played once before to my recollection, so I was going to have to wing it.

The battle began with Vince calling a Heroic March and sounding the drum, allowing Lurtz and Vrasku to rush their unit almost into the centre off the bat with Gorulf approaching from the opposite corner. I had Thrain/Dwalin in one corner and Thorin/Balin in the other. I decided to clear the two outer objectives first, then pincer the uruks in the centre. Thrain and Dwalin attacked a small group of uruks on the right flank before a troll barged to attack Dwalin, who managed to get away with just one wound. A single uruk scout archer survives and runs away to the edge of the board.

Thorin, meanwhile, charged a warg rider as the other was slain by a throwing axe and called a Heroic Strike as Balin called a Heroic Combat, allowing them to catapult into the second troll on the left, managing to deal it two wounds. They chase the wounded troll and Balin leads the attack into the ruins, with several rushing through the arches into the central objective. 

Thrain spots Lurtz near the front of the ruins and prepares to call a Heroic Combat, until the uruk leader senses the danger and rushes into the centre to fight. So instead, Thrain calls it and charges into the troll alongside Dwalin, who had called a Heroic Strike, they quickly slay it and open up the right flank. Lurtz responds by throwing himself and several uruks to plug the gap as Thrain tries to slay Gorulf, who calls Heroic Defences each time.

On the opposite flank, Balin pushes inwards with the Erebor warriors as Thorin charges the wounded troll with two warriors. Vince caught me off guard here, as he flew his Crebain off the roof and into Thorin, pulling him out the combat. The two warriors were unsurprisingly slain. Thorin reengaged the troll the next turn, throwing a warrior into the birds and gambled on not calling a Heroic Strike. It paid off as he used his remaining might to boost his roll to a 6 and then brought down the beast! 

Time was almost up as we entered the last turn and Vince gained priority. The uruks swarmed the dwarves in the centre and the Crebain flew just out of charge range onto the left objective. On the right, the surviving uruk scout threw himself onto the objective, charging both warriors there.

Thorin sends two warriors to gain control of the left objective, albeit contested. Then joins Balin in the central fight. A turn of brutal bloodshed occurs as dwarves and uruks cut one another to pieces, but crucially one dwarf survives in the centre and the dwarves barely manage to break the uruk army. The score is tied and it comes down to the scout on the right objective, who loses the fight...but survives the blows from the two warriors and retreats, staying in range of the objective. Good controls both objectives on the sides although contested as well as having broken the enemy. The Uruks hold the central objective but the lone dwarf contests it and leaves the game a 3-3 draw!

Game 6: Assassination (Azog's Legion)

Opponent's heroes: Bolg, Gundabad Captain and two Goblin Mercenary Captains

Opponent's troops: Gundabad Berserkers, Warbats and Goblin Mercenaries

My final game for the weekend was against the esteemed, Will Champion. I had only faced him once before in a doubles match and he was a pleasure to play against.

I decided to make Thorin my assassin for this and labelled his goblin mercenary captain with a golden helmet as my target.

We deployed right before one another, with Will's army 6" back. I gained the first priority and rushed forward to create a chokepoint between the houses. Will responded by throwing his flock of warbats over my lines and begin attacking troops to the rear. Bolg then led his berserkers in a full frontal assault.

Bolg called a Heroic Combat and I made my big mistake, forgetting that Dwalin was right beside this daunting foe, I didn't call a preventative Heroic Strike. Bolg pounced and struck, Dwalin was slain in turn 1! Things went better at the rear for me, as the dwarves managed to defeat most of the bats and wound the majority, with Balin one shotting his opponent.

Thorin started pushing up the left flank as Thrain pushed from the right. It was then that the first unit of goblin mercenaries led by my target arrived before Thrain. I got hopeful that I could hammer my way through to my target and slay him. Luck was not with me on this however, as a warbat knocked Thrain prone with its 'Pluck' ability. Thrain then lost the combat to the Gundabad Captain I had hoped he would flatten and took two wounds, before failing all three fate. My leader was suddenly on 1w, 0f.

In such a desperate situation and then losing priority, I had to use Thrain's final might to attempt a Heroic Move and stand up, but also to push towards the goblins. Bolg mirrored it with his 'Master of Battle' and took it on the roll off. Sensing such a vulnerable target, he pounced on the wounded dwarven King and quickly slew him. 

The turn following this, Bolg managed to charge at Balin and take him out without too much resistance as Thorin watched helplessly seeing the 'Bringer of Death' reach his 10th kill! Thorin prepared to face the devastating enemy head on as he was took the force of the warg's charge full force. He fought hard, rolling his 6, but Bolg was simply unstoppable by this point and cut down the last of the line of Durin. 

The surviving dwarves manage to slay the last of the warbats, but the battle was sadly already decided. For slaying his target (Dwalin), breaking my army and slaying Thrain, Will achieved a well deserved 10-0 win and managed to reach first place. It was a great experience to finally play him in a solo match.

End of the Tournament

In the end, I had managed to score three wins, a draw and two losses, and since I had gone into the weekend deciding that I would be satisfied with two wins, I was very pleased about this. Day two however, really highlighted to me just how crucial Thror and Str4 Grim Hammers were to my Day one success.

I managed to place 19th out of the 54 players for the weekend and I believe that Team Evil came out triumphant in a heroic last ditch effort in the final round, after starting with a single point difference between the two teams.

For anyone who likes the sound of this tournament, Harry is doing another (Lord of the Imps: Return of the Imp) on the weekend of 9/10th October, I would love to attend but with a baby due soon, we will have to see. This event will be a 100pt event so I'd expect tougher armies but still the same rough layout for the weekend. An event page is up on the GBHL.