Clearing the Backlog (May-June'23)

 This was two busy months that I've just had, with a lot of prep for Seven Stones, followed by a couple of fun conversions for a local silly buggers tournament coming up next weekend (8th July).

Firstly, in prep for Seven Stones, I had to paint up/redo several Rivendell elves. But before that, I kicked off with painting up all the bases that I would need. Many of you would recognise the work of Matt Davies.

These were done with Dryad Bark for the dirt, Rhinox Hide for the Bark, Steel Legion Drab for the inner wood, Castellan Green for the vines, Dawnstone on the rocks and Skrag Brown for the leaves.

The first models that I got done of the bunch were the unarmoured sons of Elrond. I had Elrohir for years but at some point had lost the Elladan, who was replaced though a quick eBay purchase. Attaching metal models to the bases with some pinning, I decorated them with some summery flock and a small pinch of dead leaves.

Next up, I did a refresher on an old High Elf Captain, including a change of colour on his cape. From Kantor Blue to Incubi Darkness, I figured that the small change would just help him and the warriors pop a little more.

Happy with this colour scheme, I then did the same repainting a load of old sword warriors and getting some bowmen out of the grey pile.

With the army done, I decided to crack on with the display board. The idea that I wanted to go for was a riverbank on the edge of the woods. I also decided to try polyfiller for the first time with it.

I went and bought a cheap and cheerful wooden photo frame, removed the glass and wrapped it in newspaper. Before marking out roughly how I would want the board's layout to be e.g. river, cliff etc.

After this, I dug through my bag of polystyrene and threw together a rough design. I figured that the smaller pieces at the front could be painted and flocked to make it looks like a collapsed riverbank. I used a couple of other pieces to make a fallen tree and boulder to flesh out the plain/forest.

Then came the time for the polyfiller, I was very nervous about this as I had never tried it before. However, despite a very rough appearance and a few gaps, I was happy with it. I then added some sand along the riverbank and up at the top to create a nice dirt/mud appearance to blend them better into the rest of the scenery. This was then all sprayed.

I could now begin some painting. I had grabbed some cheap acrylic blue and white paints and applied a nice layer of blue over the river. Before then adding the white, while still wet, and blending them together, adding more white at the banks. I didn't smooth it out as the build up gave a nice appearance of foam. I gave it a green wash with Athonian Camoshade, to give it the colour of a murky river. Once dry, I added a glaze of 1:2 PVA glue/water, to give it a nice wet and shiny look that made the water look a little more realistic.

With the river sorted, I painted the rest of the board with a cheap brown acrylic. Going back and using the same recipes as above for the rock and fallen tree.

It was now time to apply some decorations, I began by placing the rocks that I had got out of my tub and painted as above. Then I put individual tufts of long grass to make reeds along the river.

Now it was starting to come together, as I put some of my old fashioned flock onto the rocks and fallen tree to give them a mossy appearance. And to give more life to it, dotted some wildflowers around.

As all of those things dried and set a little more, I took the photo frame and decided to attempt some calligraphy. I first looked up the title for the film 'Born of Hope', since our theme was the Death of Arathorn and copied it onto the front. Starting with pencil to mark it out and Sharpie to imprint it.

I then did the same to the left and right using an elvish script for my name and a mannish looking one for Allan (I found these on various sites through Google).

I finished up by adding the flock to the display and then putting the frame back together around it.

And here is the finished display with both our armies upon it.

Right, with Seven Stones done, it's back to the relatively unfocused and random. A couple of weeks later, I had an event to attend with Goblin town, where I needed to repaint a cheeky three warriors. This was a nice easy task after all the work on the previous project so I chose that to get me back into the swing of it.

Next, heading later into June, with another tournament approaching, I required a second Batswarm (included in the list to get me to keep ticking off the Moria models). I forgot how time consuming this one was, even though I went for a pretty simple approach.

I also needed a few Goblin archers and so polished off the last 10 of them too.

At the very end of the month, I slipped in a couple of Giant Spiders too.

Now just to cut back a bit, as I'd like to finish this one on a high. We have an event coming up in the EAHC in early July, where we can mount a hero with an armoured horse, even if they usually can't. And in the same vein also give them a shield, Heavy armour and lance. We can also get a banner in the army, even if its usually not available. And if you paint or convert these things, the best painted prize is awarded for the best ones.

Since I had a spare Durburz and almost certainly a broken goblin somewhere, I figured I would make a good go of it.

I found a broken archer and removed his quiver and bottom half of his bow. I then drilled a small hole into his hand from either side and used pieces of paperclip to make the frame for a banner.

Greenstuff was used to hold the join together and double as the attachment, while a blue stuff press mould provided a shield.

Finally to complete the build, I cut a small piece of paper to measure and used superglue to stick it in place.

Next, I went to the place all amateur graphic designers turn to...Microsoft Paint, to design my sigil. Since in this event, we have to choose a princess for the upgraded champion to fight for, I chose Groblog (obviously). I then created his visage in a way that I could easily paint onto a banner in a recognisable way...with lipstick added.

Now onto the champion himself. I cut Durburz from his rock and tab, deciding that the squatting pose would work fine. I intended to find a broken warg rider to steal the mount from, but no dice. So improvised with a fell warg. I quickly press moulded three shields, for reasons that will become apparent.

It was time for Durburz to commit and he took the hand drill in the bum without complaint, as did the warg but in the back. I then pinned him to it, to get a nice solid connection. I also snipped off his sword blade and carefully cut away the handle from his glove. I then drilled through that hand and put another paperclip piece through it, superglued in place. I then used greenstuff to wrap around a connection between the end of the wire I had made and the sword blade. Reinforcing it with a thin layer of superglue. This made a lance for Durburz, staying with the Moria aesthetic. The wraps to hold them together, I would paint to look like a leather strap.

I then applied the lance arm back onto Durburz and gave him a shield. This is where the other two come in, as I had been struck with inspiration while mulling over the fact that this was an 'armoured horse'. My idea was to use two shields to make a Moria theme fitting face guard for the warg.

Now the issue with this look was, 'How is it staying on his face?'. So I carefully added some more thin strips of green stuff to make straps to hold it in place. And proudly sent over some WiPs to fellow writer CJ, the TO for this tournament, as he was loving seeing what people were coming up with.

His comment made me make a small change, as he responded with 'I love the face cage on the warg!'

Face cage...ooh that's pretty awesome actually, and definitely fits into the Orcish nature!

'Yeees...face cage...'

With all the building now out of the way, I eagerly got to work on the paintjobs. Using the exact same recipe as I have for Moria throughout. Just using some Deathworld Forest on the sigil highlights for goblin skin on the banner, while Groblog's crown on it was done with Mechanicus Standard grey and Dawnstone Highlights. The wargs fur was Dryad Bark with some Rhinox hide highlights and washed in Agrax along with everything else. As always, the goblin armour got a second was to exacerbate the rusty look. And once they were finished, I was more than pleased with my work!

Well that was a very lengthy painting update, I promise I'll do some smaller scale stuff for the next few months! But after all that, the Moria project is finally getting close to finished! With only 2 Mirkwood spiders*, Druzhag and Ashrak now left. They should be done by the next update and who knows what else with them...maybe a certain King with a lovely for shiny things upon his goat?

*I recently realised that you can't take them in that list, as I had misread Druzhag's rule, but I've been listing them in that target for so long now, that it would feel wrong to drop them from it this late. We're all in this together my eight-legged friends.

CJ's "More will come" Legions The Battle of the Five Armies part 3: The King Under the Mountain

"Will you follow me, one last time?"

Army List

Thorin (Shield 5pts)

Dain Ironfoot (Valour)

The Champions of Erebor (No Goats)

Bofur, Champion of Erebor (Troll Brute…85pts)

Bombur, Champion of Erebor (Warhorn...30pts)

Iron Hills Captain (Swap for Mattock)

Iron Hills Dwarf (Spear, Mattock, Crossbow, Banner)

"To the King!" The addition of thirteen more Dwarves makes all the difference to the previously "spent" forces from the Iron Hills. This Legion represents the four minutes of screentime after Thorin "Quasimodos" his way out of his own barricade and the dwarves go on an all-infantry plough through the orcs. Dwarf armies in SBG are almost entirely defensive, "die slowly" armies. This one encourages a much more aggressive attacking style of play, whilst retaining the benefits of being a high defence shieldwall army!

Additional Rules

Thorin must be taken and is the Leader.

See? He has a shield. Definitely shield things are happening in this moment. It's on the cover of the battle companies book. Give the guy a shield.

Special Rules

“The King under the Mountain shall come into his own”

Thorin gains the Fearless Special Rule, and his Stand Fast! increases to 12” and may affect friendly Heroes. Additionally, all models taken as part of this Legion benefit from the "Du Bekar!" Special Rule. Whilst the Enemy Leader remains on the board, Thorin's "A Score to Settle" rule allows him to reroll unsuccessful wounds against all enemy models.

Thorin embodies his grandfather Thror by becoming a 6" D9 banner and becomes significantly more killy (Kili?) by being able to re-roll his Wound rolls. Have to make up for his lack of goat somehow!

“To the King!”

When a roll for deployment occurs, after Thorin has been deployed, all undeployed Warbands may deploy automatically from the same point or in the same deployment zone on the same turn. Additionally, Dain Ironfoot may call a Heroic Combat for free in order to reach a Combat involving Thorin.

Dain translates his Iron Hills reinforcement bonus rule into keeping his king safe. This will help preserve might points and give tactical options to help with the Mv5" dwarven mobility hindrance. They do redeploy in record time when the orcs arrive after all. You can also use this to help deploy further back in eg. Capture and Control to be able to use your Xbows to take out the key targets before charging in (Like the Gundabad Trolls in the film!). Dain being able to Combat to Thorin before Thorin uses his own free Heroic Combat will be a useful chain reaction you can threaten with every turn to rack up the kills and keep 1-Fate Thorin just a bit safer.

“The dwarves, they're rallying!”

Spears in this Legion may also be used as Throwing Spears whilst Charging. A model may not use a spear as wargear in a Combat or to support a Combat on the same turn that it uses a Throwing Spear. Additionally, on a turn that Thorin charges into Combat, friendly models that have charged within 3” gain +1 to their Strength Value for the remainder of the Turn.

There's no getting around the film showing a lot of dwarves yeeting their spears around, especially at this moment to OHKO the advancing trolls. To avoid the temptation to kite and throw, the dwarves can only use them on the charge, adding to the aggressive playstyle. There's also an homage here to Young Thorin's profile when he last lead a beleaguered army of dwarves to rout Azog's orcs. The additional Strength will make Dain and Thorin downright terrifying, and a core of S5 dwarves will do a lot of damage!

“Hold on Lads, I’m coming!”

If Bofur purchases a Troll Brute he will be placed in the rider’s seat on the model, and is treated as the Driver of a War Beast for the purposes of Heroics, Combat, Shooting, and Magic. If the Troll Brute is slain, Bofur will count as “Knocked Flying” and suffers falling damage.

Bofur's Steadfast makes for a War Beast that's nearly impervious to Magic, just saying! Also leaning into the charging incentive of the army with Trampling, and giving a dwarf army access to Brutal Power Attacks... Admit it, you want to give it a try!

 Example Army:

Thorin

12x IH (Sp, Sh)

6x IH (Xbows, Sp)

Dain

7xIH (Sp, Sh)

4xIH (Xbows, Sp)

Bofur (Troll Brute)

7xIH (Sp, Sh)

4xIH (Xbows, Sp)

43 models, 8 Might, 900pts

 

Tournament Report- Seven Stones 2023 (27-29th May)

 The Tournament

This is probably my favourite tournament of the year, only really contested by Throne of Skulls. It's a doubles event which encourages theme, fluff and a silly attitude to the highest degree. You will see armies that no one would dream of taking to any other event and longshots will be taken that happen, leading to great stories!

Our Army

Usually, I pair with James Willson each year. However, since I wasn't certain on my availability at first, I suggested he gets someone else so that I don't let him down.

Naturally, once I was confirmed as free, he had done just that. However, I got a message from Allan Cameron offering me a space. Since he offered, we went with what he really wanted to use, The Rangers. 

The only army I had that could thematically ally with them, was Rivendell. I suggested that we use Arathorn, as he is rarely seen and would be fun. So we settled on a theme based on 'Born of Hope', the idea being the elves trying to save Arathorn from the trouble he gets himself into and preserve the line of Isildur. 

Our lists ended up being:

Allan

Arathorn (Army Leader)

Rangers of the North x8 w/ 5x Spear

Ranger of the North w/ Horse

Ranger of the North w/ Horse

Me

Elladan and Elrohir

High Elf Warriors x8 w/ 3x Elf Bow

High Elf Captain w/ Shield (An-Gilraen)

High Elf Warriors x8 w/ 3x Elf Bow

Might: 13+8

Numbers: 30

Game 1- Reconnoitre (Khazad-Dum/Rivendell (Joel and Elliot))

Opponents' Heroes: Elrond (L), High Elf Captain, Durin and Dwarf Captain

Opponents' Warriors: Rivendell Knights, High Elf warriors, Vault Wardens and Dwarf Warriors

Our opening game was against a tough mix of elves and dwarves, led by two strong heroes. We brought most of our forces on inside the fortress, and the two mounted rangers along with the Elf Captain's warband came on outside. Elliot and Joel did similarly, but with just the Dwarf Captain arriving outside. The Rangers opened well as they killed both of the Knights, including the banner bearer and dismounting Elrond.

Before long, my elves had formed a line across a chokepoint, with the Rangers rushing over to join. The opposing elves rushed forward, and the Captain charged two. He called a Heroic Combat, threatening Arathorn, who called a Heroic Strike in response. The Captain slew both of my elves and then rushed into the Ranger Chieftain...before lancing him through the chest and killing him in our second combat of the tournament. I felt that I hadn't carried out my duties of saving him very well.

Before long, our mounted Rangers had rushed past and off of the board, as inside the fortress, another 3/4 were making their way up. I saw a chance and charged one twin into Elrond, we had a chance to kill Daddy! The second twin then called a Strike against the Elf Captain, as a Ranger called a combat. We killed the captain and rushed Elrond, but he won the Strike off and then the combat, pushing us back. The next turn, he charged Elladan, as Durin rushed in to grab Elrohir.

Over a couple of turns, Elladan blew a chance to wound Elrond and Durin brought down Elrohir, driving the twin into a rage. He rushed forward and attacked both Durin and Elrond, calling his Heroic Challenge, which was flatly denied and he too was slain.

Outside the fortress, our Elf Captain fought with his numerically superior unit against the Dwarf Captain, but somehow completely failed to bring his numbers to bear until a few of the dwarves were dead, but so too were most of his elves. Despite this, he just about managed to stop any escaping past him.

The same could not be said inside the fortress however, as Durin and Elrond were now unopposed, save by a small handful of horribly outmatched Rangers. A large contingent of them got off the board and turned our 5-5 draw into a 8-0 defeat. But it had been a very entertaining game and a great opener for the tourament.

Game 2- Total Conquest* (Rivendell/Lothlorien (Ben and James))

*Doubles scenario

Opponents' Heroes: Elrond (L), Arwen (Representing Celebrian), Celeborn, Galadriel and Haldir

Opponents' Warriors: High Elf Warriors and Wood Elf Warriors

As I say above, usually I would double with James for this tournament. He apparently took this badly, and I found myself subjected to propaganda and challenged. Due to this, Ben and Allan found themselves pulled in when the TOs were happy to let this happen in our group.

Arathorn found himself deployed in the centre with all his Rangers against the Rivendell force, so he deployed back to allow the friendly elves to join and assist, before retreating half move. Mine and James's halves would arrive via Maelstrom, so I used a might point on the Captain, who arrived behind Arathorn (South) and began to rush forward. Meanwhile, the twins rolled a 2, and so was designated the South-West corner to arrive by James and Ben.

In their move, Elrond (Ben) rushed forward to close the gap to Arathorn, while Celebrian ran towards the two mounted Rangers, who were in front of the SW objective. James then rolled his Maelstrom rolls and had Galadriel and Celeborn arrive beside the twins and Haldir failed to arrive. In the shooting, the Rangers fired and I believe killed an elf or two.

The next turn, the Rangers rushed forward and engaged Elrond's elves, as the Captain was able to get his warriors right up behind, ready to aid next turn, as his archers claimed the SE objective. The two mounted Rangers engaged with two elves before Celebrian, and the twins rushed forward and Elladan engaged Celeborn, while a lone warrior got ahold of Galadriel. Celebrian attempted a Nature's wrath but was resisted by a Ranger.

James and Ben proceeded to have a terrible turn of combat, as Elrond fluffed his, then several of his warriors were slain by Rangers and Celeborn was brought down to 1w, 1f. One of the mounted Rangers fell to Celebrian and an elf.

Over the next couple of turns, their luck didn't improve much as the twins slew their Grandad, Celeborn, Elrond used his might for moves and combats, that they didn't win, as even more of his elves were killed. And with the Captain's unit joining, it was looking dire in the centre for them, as I sent a couple of elves to hold the NE objective.

The twins had Haldir arrive behind them and charged, using throwing knives. I desperately tried to get the twins to catch Galadriel, leading to me being told.

'You've killed Grandpa already, you can't have Granny too!'

 Eventually, Haldir still having might led to him slaying Elladan and driving Elrohir mad with wrath, but the game ended before much could come of it.

In the centre, the Captain rushed from the main fight and took the NW objective. Arathorn saw a chance for greatness and with 3 other Rangers, they surrounded the Lord of the West. They proceeded to get a Heroic Strike in place, then roll a 4 highest, allowing Elrond to win and cut down Arathorn with 3 wounds! The final combat of the game and I had dropped the ball again, allowing him to die!

We owned 4 objectives and a 5th that was contested. We had broken them, but they had slain our leader, giving us a 10-1 victory. James and I agreed to bury the hatchet, or so I thought...

Game 3- Fog of War (Erebor Reclaimed/Thranduil's Halls (Natalie and Katie))

Opponents' Heroes: Thorin, King Under the Mountain (L), Kili, Champion of Erebor, Legolas and Tauriel

Opponents' Warriors: Iron Hills warriors, Palace Gaurd Banner, Mirkwood Rangers and a Wood Elf Sentinel

I have never played Natalie nor Katie before, so didn't know what to expect. But what I could see was that they had arguably the scariest army of our group!

We decided to capture the Hobbit hole to our right, defend my Captain and slay Kili, COE. We figured that the terrain was as good as any to go for, the Captain was a sturdy D7 guy, who could shield with F5, if needed. And Kili was fairly likely to be at the front fighting, but we'd have a decent shot at killing him with 2w, 1f.

We deployed most of our forces to the right, with the two mounted Rangers out to the far left, to sow doubt of what we were going for. We had Thorin with his dwarves and Kili before us, Legolas was to the far left and Tauriel in the middle.

My Captain called a March and pulled our army up the board to cross the gap as fast as possible, while the Rangers opened fire. They killed a small handful, but we managed to shoot a Mirkwood Ranger dead in response. In the second turn of shooting, I got a group of archers against the right board edge, with a view of Kili, behind the Hobbit Hole that we wanted to seize. I took my shots and dismounted him. We lost another couple of elves to shooting in response.

We then got our first turn of combat as Tauriel arrived, Thorin hit and I pushed Elrohir towards him, we got lucky and managed to dismount him too, but failed to wound the King himself. Many of our blows against the dwarves deflected off their thick armour, but we got a couple or so.

The following turn, we charged and surrounded Tauriel with Arathorn, Elladan and two Rangers, we called two Heroic Strikes to hers and won the roll off. She was cut down (and we regretted not making her our target). But that was still a big threat gone from the field.

On the far left, the two mounted Rangers hid behind a tree and engaged in a shooting war with Legolas, in which, the tree saved their lives many times. They even managed to peel some fate off of Legolas. When the elven prince make a break across the river, Allan, with my encouragement, sent the horsemen to charge him. They managed to take away his might before being slain.

In the battle, Kili joined the fray and went for the Captain, who pushed him back in the field. The next turn, Kili attempted to jump the fence, but rolled a 1 and fell on his back. Dwarves rushed to protect him, but we sensed our chance and got some bodies on him. In the combat, he managed to valiantly roll a 6 and stave off the attempt on his life. 

Elladan launched a Heroic Combat off the rear of the dwarves and pounced onto the Hobbit Hole as time was called. Arathorn had ended up amongst the Mirkwood Rangers, who had run over and slew their Palace Guard bannerman. Thorin had broken away from the elves and seized a Hobbit hole to our right as the game ended.

We had taken our terrain piece and kept the Captain unharmed, while Natalie and Katie had successfully defended Kili, captured their terrain piece and broken us (don't think we were far off returning the favour). This gave us a narrow 9-6 defeat!

By the end of the group stage, we would now be ranked 1st-4th in our group, to play amongst those who ranked equally in their own groups. Day 2 would be a knockout to rank each group formed this way. 

Natalie and Katie topped our group with an undefeated 3 win streak and they went on to come second overall! The rest of us all sat on 1 win and 2 losses! Meaning 2nd-4th would be entirely decided by VPD, and we had -2...

In the end, Joel and Elliot ended up taking 2nd with a VPD of 0, and we took 3rd over James and Ben, who had a VPD of about -6. This meant that Allan and I would be in the knockout for the Palantir Mugs!

But first, there was a melee to fight...

Game 4- The Arena of Champions* (All the above teams)

*Each team had a couple of Heroes of 100pts or less (including wargear). For every 5pts below 100pts, they would gain a Might/Will/Fate. These duos would fight until one duo remained, or one Hero. The winner of each group would progress into the final 8 and play in Round 2, with the winner gaining Anduril for day 2 and the runner-up claiming Orcrist for Day 2.

Our Heroes: Arathorn and High Elf Captain, An-Gilraen (Bottom)

Opponents' Heroes: High Elf Captain and Dwarf Captain (Joel and Elliot) (Top)

                                 Haldir and Arwen (Celebrian) (James and Ben) (Left)

                                 Kili and Tauriel (Natalie and Katie) (Right)

*In our first turn, sticking to the theme, and with a cry of "Get down, Mr President!", my Captain leapt in front of Arathorn. Who then levelled his bow and took out Kili's goat. James and Ben shuffled forward and Haldir managed to dismount the other elven Captain, we had already taken out all the mounts from the fight. 

In the second turn, we edged forward and attempted another shot, but missed. We then saw Celebrian suspiciously wander over, before casting Wrath of Bruinen and us both knocking down, along with Tauriel. James then cried 'GET HIM!' I guess the hatchet has been dug up and buried in my back. XD Haldir threw himself at me and landed a blow, which I fated away. Kili followed up, giving my captain a further whack, which I used two fate to resist. And finally, Tauriel jumped in and with her knives, made a horrible end to my Captain. I had dropped out like a stone incredibly early. But I had achieved my aim, keeping Arathorn alive and letting him use my resources to stay in the fight as best he can.

There was then half an hour of the other three teams attacking each other like wild animals, Wraths of Bruinen would knock them down, Heroic Strikes would be called, fate taken away, a multitude of might spent and yet STILL nobody else had died! It was all very exciting, people crowded round, astounded that while others had long finished their round, here still was 7 players and a witness still fighting! Even with the calls of +1, +2 and +3 to wound in combat going up, still they survived! At one point even Damian, one of the TOs came over to cheer them on, with cries like 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING???' 'ITS +3 TO WOUND!!' and 'I just want to go to the pub...', it may have influenced his decision in announcing that from about that point, any model losing a fight is also trapped! This was announced just as the Dwarf captain lost to Haldir and was immediately sliced in half. This seemed to open the floodgates as soon after the other Elven Captain was slain, having just brought down Celebrian.

Kili rushed at Arathorn, who used his last two might and cut down the dwarf, only to drive Tauriel into a rage and have her leap upon him and cut him to ribbons with her knives (I was at peace with this, I wanted badly to see him win Anduril, but at least he did something heroic).

This just left Tauriel and Haldir in the arena, both on 2w, 0f. Who would win this thrilling showdown..? 

Well, Haldir as it happens, he drew his bow and shot Tauriel twice, earning a chorus of boos.

*Some of this may be a bit off, a lot was happening at once

So Haldir progressed into Round 2, against the likes of Gollum, Boromir, a Hasharin, another Tauriel, the Witch King, an Orc Captain and Murin. 

Highlights include the Witch King chasing an invisible Gollum and yelling 'Stop nutting me, you little bastard!' after winning and wounding the Dol Guldor wraith 2/3 times, Boromir expending 5 might to beat Haldir and the Orc Captain and slay the former and the final showdown between the Witch King and Tauriel. Eventually, the she-elf claimed Anduril and the Witch King, Orcrist for Day 2.

Game 5- No Escape* (Mordor/Serpent Horde (Ash and Jacob))

*Doubles scenario

Opponents' Heroes: Gothmog (L), Mordor Orc Captain and Mumak with Beastmaster

Opponents' Warriors: Mordor orcs, Morannon orcs and Harad warriors

*Note- we agreed that the Mumak could trample terrain on a 4+, with the largest piece having 3 wounds, as otherwise there would be no way for it to be involved in the battle.

Our run for the Palantir Mugs began with a tough matchup, as it would place Arathorn and his Rangers in the middle against Gothmog and his orc army, with a Mumak approaching them from behind. The elves would have to rush to try and save Arathorn from this very tight spot. However, this was the absolute best for capturing the theme of our army.

Gothmog and his orcs deployed before the large ruin so Arathorn started with his Rangers to their left behind a small ruin. Arathorn called a Heroic Move, while the Elven Captain called a Heroic March. The Rangers rushed forward and engaged the warg riders, blocking the chokepoint from having orcs rush through. Gothmog's unit moved towards them, with orcs spilling over either side of the two terrain pieces. The Rangers caused some early damage, killing the warg riders before them. They then won the move off the following turn and pinned Gothmog as Arathorn ran into the orcs to the left.

The elves then hit the left flank of the orcs, with Elladan  fighting amongst them. Elrohir and the Captain both charged a couple of warg riders that were attempting to flank Arathorn and Heroic Combatted off of them to cover the Rangers' backs.

The Rangers and elves began cutting their way through the orcs and suddenly we found Elrohir, the Captain and a handful of elves surrounding Gothmog! An orc managed to peel off the Captain just in time for the combats to start. Gothmog and Elrohir called Strikes and, to our horror, the Orc pulled it off and got away.

Despite this, it felt like our forces were doing well, when suddenly a shadow fell over us and loud footfalls were approaching. The Mumak crashed in, having flattened the mounted Rangers and shattered a ruin, before squashing several elves and rangers.

We now had a real task to end the game before the Mumak killed us all. We got the move off and rushed as many as possible into the beast, we won the fight but only did a single wound! The following two turns, evil got to move first...

First, Gothmog pulled himself out of danger and ran round the building, then the warbeast charged, several elves and rangers were crushed until Elrohir went down to 1w, 0f and brought it to a halt. The following turn, his brother did exactly the same just as time was called, meaning Arathorn was safe from being run down. Our remaining warriors all then charged into the Harad, who had climbed down with their rappelling lines and the orcs. They just managed to break the enemy in the last few combats, while remaining unbroken by a single warrior.

We had managed to break the forces of evil, while they still had a banner, meaning that we had claimed a squeaky 5-2 victory.

Game 6- Lords of Battle (Nature itself (Callum, Katrina and Severus the Judgmental Snake))

Opponents' army: Thranduil on Elk (L), Dain on Warboar, Radagast on Sleigh, Farmer Maggot w/ Dogs, Bullroarer Took, Bill the Pony, Great Eagle, Goat Rider, Fell Warg and Rider of the Dead (Spectral Steed)

Their theme was the animals of Middle Earth, to explain the Eclectic mix.

At the end of deployment, Radagast, the Great Eagle, the Fell warg and rider of the dead are to our right, Thranduil is in the centre and Dain, Farmer Maggot and Bullroarer Took were to the left. We deployed a mounted Ranger to the left and the rest of the army to the right.

The beasties got first priority and Thranduil escaped our attempt at a Heroic Move to catch him, slipping through the gateway. Radagast cast panic steed upon the mounted ranger and the Eagle flew behind us. 

Outside the gate, Maggot's dogs and Bullroarer attacked the mounted ranger, losing and having the hobbit dismounted. Severus gave us an unimpressed shake of the head. The next turn the man was ripped to pieces!

Meanwhile, Thranduil returned through the gateway with Dain and Farmer Maggot in tow, plowing into our elves and Rangers. Arathorn made the brave decision to charge into Thranduil, figuring that at D6, he was more likely to be wounded and would be worth leader VPs. They both did their strikes, and Thranduil had the edge, before brutally cutting down the Heir of Isildur. 

I may have failed my duties again...

We pulled back towards the Eagle and the next turn called a Heroic Move, using the chance to pin the eagle in place before Heroic Combatting more of our troops off of it onto the Rider of the Dead, which we also slew. Severus was once again displeased.

It's at this point that I should mention that, as an award for their dedication to theme, Callum and Katrina had been awarded Anduril for day 2. They had given it to Sebastian, the hedgehog in Radagast's care. I felt that it was my duty to seize that weapon and return it to Arathorn's heir, so began a mission to catch him. 

Over the rest of the game, I threw Elladan, the Captain and several elves into the wizard desperately. Only, many, many times the wizard won and three times Sebastian slew an elf with Anduril! 

Back in the centre, Thranduil and Dain were spinning out of our control, as they had only had a wound on their mount each. They both killed three Rangers between them and Thranduil used a reclaimed might to shatter Elrohir's defence and slay him.

This now meant that Elladan, who was in combat with Radagast, went up to S5 and shattered the Sleigh at last! I have to admit that in my excitement as getting the following priority, I forgot that Elladan should have made a beeline for Thranduil (my bad!), as I threw him after Radagast with the other elves and failed to finish him off!

In this final pic, simply enjoy the immortalisation of Farmer Maggot's dogs learning how to use siege equipment.

By the end of the game, we had been truly bested by our opponents. They had 55~ wounds caused to our 15~, had slain Arathorn and broken us, earning them a well deserved 12-0 win. 

Game 7- Seven Stones Domination* (The Army of Brothers (Matt and Jon))

*Same as Domination, except there are 7 objectives for a max of 16VPs across the scenario and they can be placed 10" apart

Opponents' Heroes: Isildur (L), Boromir of Gondor, Faramir, Elladan, Elrohir, Fili the Dwarf, Kili the Dwarf, Murin, Drar, Nob and Hob (One used Gaffer Gamgee's profile, the other Folco Boffin, I forget which way round though, apologies).

Opponents' Warriors: A Warrior of Numenor (Redacted Anarion)

We were offered the chance to have the sets of twins duel and agreed that as soon as one twin dies, the other three will all be enraged. (Take a minute to admire the insane conversion work on them!)

We ended up deploying in two thin lines across the middle ready to rush in and fight. The twins all rushed with Elladan fighting Elrohir and Elrohir fighting Elladan, all going 2h. And we ended up winning both duels and wounding both twins. Boromir used several might to plow through our lines with a Heroic Combat. But the rest of their combats seemed to backfire, and a lot of might was being spent to keep afloat.

In the next move phase, a mounted Ranger got around their rear and fired at a hobbit, shooting him dead! Arathorn attempted to leap over a low wall and landed facefirst on the other side, only to have Faramir pounce on him, a true chance to show his quality! 

Boromir ended up having to use yet more might to avoid taking heavy damage as he was surrounded and the twins all fought again, this time our Elladan lost and took a wound, but their Elrohir was reduced to 1w, 0f. Arathorn managed to survive the attempt on his life and get back on his feet.

The next turn, our Captain charged and duelled Boromir over two turns, before slaying the Captain of the White Tower. Faramir over these two turns, ended up slaying two of our Rangers and Kili fell to a few Rangers and elves. In the twins' duels, our Elrohir brought down their Elladan, before our Elladan slew their Elrohir the next turn!

Our Captain then ended up in a duel with Isildur, they crossed swords for another couple of swords, before Isildur brought him down and avenged Boromir. Fili was laid low beside them by two Rangers. Isildur would have turned to avenge him also, had Elrohir not then rushed in, in fury, and fought him for the last turn! And managed to land a lasting wound upon him. But where had Elladan gone...?

Well it turned out that the closest model to Elladan was the poor surviving Hobbit. Seeing the seething elf coming running towards him, he ran as fast as his legs could take him off the objective and out the door of the ruins, hotly pursued.

However, just as he was about to be captured, the Hobbit got priority and failed his broken courage test, fleeing the field and narrowly avoiding death.

By the end of the game, we had full control of 6 objectives and had a majority on the centre, we had wounded Isildur and both armies were broken, giving us a 15-1 victory. This left us in 3rd place for the Palantir Mug.

This is one of my favourite events of the year and thanks to Allan for tolerating my dice rolls for the weekend! Anyone looking for a good doubles event, this is THE one!

Events that I'll attend

Suffolk Under Siege (GBHL 90pt)- 25th June

A Clash of Kings 2: The Hand's Tourney (EAHC)- 8th July

The Wolf's Lair (GBHL 100pt)- 12/13th August