Rohan vs Dunland (Battle Companies)

WayUnderTheMountain · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2011 5:08 pm

This is a quick battle report on the exploits of the Westfold 3rd Eored's 7th Support Company (Rohan Battle Company played by me) against the scouts of barbarian horde (Dunland Battle Company played by my friend Jeremy). I tried to write notes for this report but got frustrated with how slow my writing was in comparison to the game play. Next time I'll take photos to make this easier. Oh, and throughout the battle report I refer to the throwing spears as javelins because javelins sound nicer than throwing spears.

Rohan
Lieutenant w/ shield and javelins (Lt. James)
1st Sergeant w/ shield and javelins (Sgt. John)
2nd Sergeant w/ shield and javelins (Sgt. Jordan)
3 Warriors of Rohan with shields (David, Alistaire and Dustin)
2 Warriors of Rohan with bows (Thomas and Cody)

Dunland
Lieutenant w/ two-hand axe and armour
1st Sergeant w/ armour and shield
2nd Sergeant w/ two-hand weapon
2 Dunland Warriors w/ bows
3 Wild Men w/ hand weapons
2 Wild Men w/ two-hand weapons

Battle One (Hold the Line, Rohan as Defenders)

The Lieutenant watched as the barbarian horde surged forward towards him and his men on the road to the village they were using as a forward base against the Dunland Incursions. With a practised eye he noticed two Dunlend archers advancing on the south hill, readying their bows as well as the well-armoured Dunlend sergeant leading two Wild Men on the hill to the north of the road. The main body of the barbarians was not in view due to a cairn of boulders but the cloud of dust told him they were near.

"Form ranks! Officers in front! Swordsmen behind!" James ordered, "Archers, take out the force on the north hill!" The Rohan infantry was swift in forming double ranks while the archers moved to their right flank, loading their bows as they went. The Dunlend archers fired their arrows but their arrows fell short of the organizing Rohirrim. The Rohan archers loosed arrows on the Barbarians but one arrow flew wide and the other grazed a Wild Man’s leg.

The barbarians continued to surge forward as their leaders urged them on. The archers advanced, fitting arrows for another shot. The flanking force on the north hill continued to run, attempting to bypass the Rohan line. The main horde finally appeared on the south side of the hill, careful not to stray too close to the Rohan infantry block. Spotting the Dunland leader, the Lieutenant ordered a march forward at a cautious pace as he wanted to get a volley of javelins in before closing with the equally sized Dunlend force. Thomas and Cody slowly retreated to the north east, readying another flight of arrows.

The barbarian archers focused their fire on Sgt. John and one arrow hit the ground at his feet. Snapping his shield arm up, the sergeant caught the arrow on his shield. On the north side Cody’s arrow flew wide again while Thomas’ arrow flew true and slammed into the chest of a Wild Man, knocking him to the ground. First blood spilled was for Rohan!

Cautiously the barbarian horde moved onto the south hill beside the archers, trying to skirt the Rohan line. In the north, the Dunlend sergeant led his remaining comrade in a desperate charge towards the archers. Alistaire saw the Dunlenders running towards the archers and broke ranks, running to join the archers. James ordered the remaining infantry onward, reforming to a single line along the bottom of the south hill. Thomas and Cody held their ground, quickly reloading to fire before the barbarians were upon them.

The barbarian archers focused on Sgt. Jordan this time, but their arrows bounced off his well-crafted armour. The Rohan archers missed at point-blank range for they fired too quickly to draw a bead on the charging barbarians. The Rohan officers threw their javelins but they didn’t account for the elevation of the Dunland position and so their javelins failed to hit any barbarians.

Moving swiftly to block the barbarians from escaping, the Rohan infantry skirted the bottom of the hill to stop between them and the east. In the north, the archers tried to retreat from the barbarians but were caught by the charging warriors. Alistaire continued his run towards them, but he was still too far to aid them. Surprising the Rohirrim, the Dunland barbarians charged down the hill to face them in melee, though their archers didn’t make it into the fight.

Thomas drew his sword quickly and with contemptuous ease, cut down his Wild Man opponent. Cody struggled again the Dunland sergeant but managed to push him back. Lt. James tried to push past the Wild Man facing him, but the Wild Man was able to brain him with the blunt end of his two-hand weapon. Though their commander was down, the Rohan infantry pushed back the barbarians but were unable to slay them.

The melee in the south continued with the Rohirrim trying to shield their commander’s limp form while in the north the
archers and Alistair faced off against the lone sergeant. David was cut down in the south, which emboldened the Dunlanders but no others fell. Meanwhile Cody slipped past the Sergeant’s guard and hamstrung him, ending the threat of the flanking force.

The melee in the south continued a while longer (three turns), with no casualties to either side, as the archers followed Alistaire as he ran to aid his beleaguered comrades. Then the flow of battle shifted into Rohan’s favour as Sergeant Jordan threw a javelin into one of the archers and charged the other, cutting him down easily. Sergeant John followed his lead, throwing his javelin into a barbarian wielding a great axe before forcing back the sergeant wielding a two-hand weapon. Meanwhile Dustin managed to hold back the barbarian commander and one of his un-armoured brethren.

With a loud shout, the Rohirrim threw themselves upon the remaining barbarians with Cody managing to join the fray. In this final onslaught Cody slew a barbarian wielding nothing but a rusty old sword and the Dunlanders turned and fled the field. Victory was Rohan’s!

They returned to the village, bearing the their commander and fallen comrade upon their shields, where they were relieved to know the wounded would live to fight another day, so long as they rested for the next couple days. A Royal Knight, by the name of Ser Jeremy, joined their cause under the orders of Erkenbrand, Captain of the Westfold, who had learned of the great victory.

The barbarians recovered their wounded and all save two of their warriors would be able to fight the next day, though the wounded Sergeant’s leg didn’t mend well. There would be another reckoning, the barbarian leader swore. And indeed the Rohirrim and the Dunlanders would soon face off once more.....

I’ll be posted the second battle later this afternoon.

Ultragreek · **Joined:** Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:03 pm **Posts:** 294

Nice fight...and story of course.

Cyndra the Grey · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2011 9:26 pm

Good report. Pics would be nice though. What rules are using for the dunland battle company?

Cyndra the Grey

valpas · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2011 6:18 am

Enjoyable read, thanks for sharing. I like these narrative reports more than those that are just game mechanics without story.

-- Pasi

WayUnderTheMountain · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 8:54 pm

This is the report for battle two between Rohan and Dunland using the Control scenario. The objectives were: an ancient elven artifact (Galadriel’s Mirror) on the north east hill surrounded by trees, a chest besides a pile of rocks and the tallest tree, the body of a dwarf at the bottom of the southwest hill by a couple of fallen trees, another dwarf corpse on top of the cairn and the entrance to a vault which sat upon the north western hill. Rohan came in on the eastern board edge, Dunland emerged from the western board edge.

Rohan
Sgt. Jordan
Sgt. John
Dustin
Alistaire
Thomas
Cody
Ser Jeremy (Royal Guard on horseback)

Dunland
Lieutenant
Sergeant w/ shield
Sergeant w/ two-hand weapon
Two Archers
Wild Man w/ two-hand weapon
2 Wild Men w/ hand weapons

The Battle

The barbarian force arrived first and they moved quickly to take their objectives. Their archers arrived on the hill with the vault entrance and captured it. The cairn was claimed by the Lieutenant, Sergeant with two-hand weapon and a Wild Man with hand weapon. On the south hill, the remaining barbarians ran toward the fallen dwarf body.

Sergeant Jordan ran toward the wooded hill, Thomas and Alistaire running hard to catch up. Sergeant John led Dustin and Cody around the base of the south-eastern hill, trying to beat the Dunlanders to the chest. Ser Jeremy trotted down the road, calling out enemy positions while staying out of range of the Dunland bows.

The barbarians on the south west hill realized there were archers in the approaching force so they fell back to the safety of the fallen trees. On the north hill the Dunland archers fitted arrows on strings, hoping to take out the rider on the road. The barbarians at the cairn stayed there, reasoning the stones would provide reasonable cover.

Sgt. Jordan’s group finally reached the top of the hill and gazed upon the artifact of the elves. Sgt. John’s men reached the chest beneath the large tree and readied themselves for battle. Ser Jeremy wisely took note of the Dunland archers and trotted south to regroup with Sgt. John’s men.
The barbarian archers loosed arrows upon the group of Rohirrim by the ancient artifact. One arrow lodged itself in a tree while the other slammed into Thomas’ chest knocking him back down the hill, rolling to a stope at the bottom. First blood was for Dunland!

The barbarians cheered but their leader refused to abandon their defensive positions in fear of the remaining Rohan archer. Sgt. Jordan dived behind the elven mirror before ordering Alistaire to join Sgt. John as they needed to take back one of the dwarven corpses from the barbarians. Alistaire nodded his assent and ran down the southern face of the hill, careful to stay out of the archers’ lines of sight. Meanwhile in the south, Sgt. John led Ser Jeremy and Dustin towards the barbarians at the south hill while Cody guarded the objective.

Dunland arrows bounced off the elven artifact as the archers tried to hit Sgt. Jordan. Cody’s arrow did no better, bouncing off the rocks of the cairn.

Realizing that Rohan was nigh upon the objective, the shield-bearing sergeant led his troops in a death-or-glory charge. Sgt. John met the Dunland officer’s charge head on while Dustin held his ground against a Wild Man, swords clashing. The Wild Man bearing a two-hand axe decided to run further up the hill to force Ser Jeremy to fight at a disadvantage but the Royal Knight ignored him and charged in to aid Dustin.

The Wild Man at the cairn decided to make a break for the hill with the artifact, running across the open ground, and one of the Dunland archers slowly advanced towards the hill as well to take the objective. Alistaire continued to run towards Cody, not noticing the Wild Man running towards the hill he just left.

Dunland arrows again bounced off the elven artifact while Cody’s arrow missed the running barbarian on the open plain.

Sgt. John forced back the Dunland sergeant but was unable to wound him. Dustin managed to force back wildly-swinging barbarian who was promptly run down by Ser Jeremy’s faithful steed.

The Rohirrim pressed their attack with Dustin running up the south hill to engage the Wildman waiting there. Ser Jeremy and Sgt. John charged the Dunland sergeant with shield, hoping to quickly and cleanly take the objective. At the chest objective, Alistaire finally joined Cody and had the archer fire over his shoulder. In the north, the Dunland Archer and Wild Man run for the Rohan-held hill with the Wild Man reaching the bottom of the hill just after Sgt. Jordan moved from behind the mirror to behind a tree.

Cody’s arrow failed to hit the Dunland archer in the open, possibly due to Alistaire’s difference in height. Sgt. Jordan threw a javelin at the Wild Man nearest him and it slammed home. A Dunland arrow grazed Jordan’s chest but the armour he wore turned it aside.

Dustin’s deft cuts and feints steadily forced the Dunland barbarian he faced back, too far away to reclaim the objective he had been guarding. Meanwhile Ser Jeremy cut down the Dunland sergeant with a single slash as he rode by.

Realizing the tide was turning against them, the barbarian leader charged towards the objective his men just lost. Meanwhile the Dunland archer to the north met Sgt. Jordan head on in a one-on-one confrontation beside the elven mirror. Seeing the barbarian chieftain Ser Jeremy rode up in his stirrups, shouted a battle cry and charged into him. The two warriors upon the south hill continued to fight. Sgt. John on the other hand, raced back to claim the dwarven corpse.

Arrows flew but the wind was strong for no one’s arrows came close to hitting the mark. By the elven mirror the Dunland archer forced back the startled sergeant but Jordan was able to turn aside any killing strokes. Dustin continued to force back the barbarian he faced, but his blows were unable to connect. Upon the open plain, a duel of champions was about to begin. Ser Jeremy leaned back across the saddle as the chieftain’s axe passed harmless above him before slashing back once, twice across the barbarian’s chest. Mortally wounded, the chieftain fell to his knees before falling in the long Rohan grass.

Night was beginning to fall so both sides retreated with what they were able to gain. Rohan had been denied her deserved victory but Dunland had received a bitter second helping of Rohan steel. Thomas fully recovered from the ‘flesh wound’ he gained that day which gladdened Lt. James for he wanted to deal another blow to Dunland’s morale and with the addition of the warrior Darce, that desire was much closer to achievement. Meanwhile, in the brooding hills of Dunland, the barbarians tended to their chieftain. Of all the men injured in the battle, only the chieftain had not yet recovered from his wounds. Two more Wild Men joined their ranks, but without their chieftain on the field beside them would they be able to claim a victory?

I apologize for the lack of pictures, I will take some the next time I play. The Dunland rules were at http://www.scribd.com/doc/49048128/Dunl ... le-Company

Cyndra the Grey · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 6:53 am

Haha thats the one I made

no kiddidng my other forum name is Vulkan454 on Warseer and stuff. Does it play well?
I'll look forward to seeing pics which would make these great battle reports even better.

Cyndra the Grey

WayUnderTheMountain · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 2:28 pm

Oh cool. hahaha. The Dunland Battle Company rules have played well thus far. Neither of us noticed anything being unbalanced during or after gameplay.

Rohan vs Dunland (Battle Companies)

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