Indeed, we had both just finished teaching classes, mine being a bit more emotional since our teacher left and the class were surprised I was still there, but we knuckled down for you to all have some vagueries of a battle report to come in.
I actually convinced Thermo it was about time he tried out a dual list for practice at the tournament, hence his half and half. As it happens, I was giving one a go myself - I'd been down to Essex over the weekend (not a short trek, but my grandad's not well: getting massively better!: and I wanted tos ee him), so had picked up one of my other cases of models. Which had Wood Elves in. Thought I'd give Thermo a little surprise by springing them on him, but since my entire force was out before he;d even written his leader onto paper, the surprise was somewhat lost. Not that it affected his army choice (this time
).
So, to the field of battle, came:
Balin, son of Fundin, carrying Durin's Axe and accompanied by 7 Dwarf Warriors, armed with shields. He also brough Grunmnar, his Captain (also with shield), whose loyal retinue of 4 Dwarf Warriors wielding Dwarf Bows joined and the scout-like Dwarf ranger with Dwarf Longbow who had informed them of the upcoming battle.
In a bid to apologise for slightly incarcerating Balin years previously, Thranduil brought aid to the battle in the guise of 3 Mirkwood guard with Elf Bows (looking peculiarly like Elf Blades due to a mix up in Essex with which models were in the case) and his son, Legolas, who brough 4 Wood Elf Warriors with their special Wood Elf Spears. They looked something like this -
Whereas Thermo's force looked a little more like this -
So we rolled up the High Ground mission! for those getting excited, not once did we actually have the Gusting Winds rule come into effect either. Again. Hmmm...
We started setting up and balin,w ith his Shield-Dwarfs took the centre for holding. Halbarad took my right flank with his Rangers of Arnor, which I countered with my Captain and his archers sitting about 2" away from them. A Ranger of the North sat back a bit, hiding behind some walls, whilst I placed Thranduil and his archers with the captain, thinking they could use some support. Thermo countered by adding another RotN to his other one and I lastly placed Legolas and his home-elves with Balin for some spear support and the odd snipey-shot (or 3). Thermo finished by adding his last RotN behnd some trees on the right flank and his Rohirrim further to the right still.
Turn 1, my priority, shooting phase, first shot. Dwarf Warrior with Dwarf Bow fires at a RotN behind a wall, hits, gets past the wall and a Hashut! (also known to non-coll dice owners as a 6) to wound, followed by a 2 on the Fate roll and the realisation that 1 point of Might isn't enough to save him. HEADSHOT! Thermo panicked slightly here and then saw me do bugger all else that turn.
However his Rohirrim were closer than I'd realised and already in combat, as was my Captain and some of my Dwarf archers. from here on in, not a lot really happened. Thranduil used his magical crown to knock a bunch of people (including, most importantly, Eomer), but Halbarad used his Will and both Might to prevent it from working. I did some milling about in the centre with legolas taking auto-hit shots at riders, mostly Eomer, but never rolling higher than a 2 in the entire game to wound anyone.
My right flank began to fold, Grumnar felling a Ranger of Arnor as it went and Thranduil decapitating a Rider of Rohan. When it was just Grumnar (who fought valiantly at every turn, but was bested by the 50-50 of equal Fight values after losing to a single 6 out of 8 dice, he having rolled a 5 and expended all Might) and Thranduil left, he decided to become a terrifying presence of goodness (used his circlet to cast aura of Dismay) - Eomer's Will was not enough to stop this Valar-blessed power and was charged shortly afterwards. A Rider's Courage failed him as he attempted to charge Grumnar and some stuff happened. Of note here: I learnt about an hour ago that Aura of Dismay keeps going until he runs out of Will, not for one turn as I'd presumed and misremembered. Doubt it'd have made much difference by the end of things
Eventually, Thranduil succumbed to Eomer's powerful blows and Grumnar was felled by an onslaught even Balin had never seen before. So, a return to last week's tactics of die and let the game end before Thermo could get to the objective ensued.
This meant the RotN felling a Shield-Dwarf trying to hit Balin was in my favour (to which Thermo stated - I didn't really want to do that...)and the two mounted Rohan Royal Guard fought a shield-Dwarf who used his axe (to lower his Defence and potentially kill one of the horse-loving men): he nearly won the fight as well, but was swiftly dropped. Here two was when the mighty Dwarf Captain fell foul of his foe from fiendish feats of fearsome ferociousness (got carried away there), meaning my force was broken (with an additional kill).
I reformed into a defencive perimeter, but the two RRG were already on the hill, with some of the RoA slipping in too. but the rest of the ring held and/or died, keeping the majority of Thermo's force out. Where the game ended!
I had just 5 models left alive by this point, all of whom were scoring me a victory point. But Thermo had snuck in 2 RRG, 2 RoA and someone I've forgotten, making for equal victory points. Neither of us had landed any blo, let alone a telling one, on the opposing leader (Balin and Eomer respectively) and y force was broken, with Thermo's not being!
Thermo's victory face with his minor casualties -
My not-a-sore-loser-face with y stupid corpse-pile of models to be binned -
That's right: tradition holds strong in these Dwarf-holds of lower Manchester - men not losing and Dwarfs not winning. from Day 1, to Day N.
Also, we were finished at about 11 if memory serves (which it usually does, just often the wrong thing. Why would I want soup AFTER my ice cream? Get my palette cleanser!). See, SouthernDunedain - speeding up a little ;P
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