It's about time I got to doing this! So, here we go:
DeploymentThe three trolls deploy next to their camp-fire. Bilbo is positioned just in front of the biggest troll, Bill. It looks grim for Bilbo, however Kili has spied the camp-fire through the darkness and prepares to lead the dwarves to rescue the poor hobbit!
Turn 1 Bilbo starts the game by running for his life past the ruins. Kili leads the other dwarves in a mad dash towards the centre, not even stopping to ready his bow. Dwalin, Gloin and Dori are a bit slow into the action and will have to wait until next turn to come on, these three mighty warriors need to get a move on lest they get left behind.
The trolls give chase to Bilbo but are unable to charge the burrahobbit until turn 3, they use their massive bodies to block him from moving too far.
Turn 2Priority goes to the trolls and they move to surround Bilbo, preventing his escape. Dwalin, Gloin and Dori arrive and move up with the rest of the company. Kili aims his bow and Ori his slingshot but both fail to make a dent in the trolls thick hides. Fili throws one of his dwarvish knives at the largest troll. The monster fails it's fate roll and takes a wound!
Turn 3The dwarves take priority this turn and charge the trolls. Not all of the dwarves can make it into the melee and Bombur fails his courage test to confront the terrifying trolls.
The first duel is between Tom and Bofur, who is backed his kinsman Bifur. Both Tom and Bofur heroic strike but Tom ends up winning the fight although luckily the sturdy dwarf escapes with no harm!
Bert faces Balin, Kili and Nori. Heroic strikes are called but suddenly the troll lets out a massive sneeze causing him to win the fight by a nose. He then grabs the shocked Kili and shoves him into a sack.
Meanwhile Thorin along with his brave nephew Fili confront Bill. All three of them heroic strike, Fili and Bill roll ones and Thorin a six. Fili, knowing that he can't match the troll decides to at least pretend he can and strikes a feint. Thorin beats back the monster but causes no wounds. Dodging the trolls clumsy grasp, Fili hacks at the trolls neck and slays the beast with two sixes!
Turn 4Agitated by their leaders death, the trolls take priority. Balin uses his longbeard special rule to reroll priority but with only a one rolled it makes no effect on the outcome.
The remaining two trolls reposition to target the weaker dwarves, the stronger warriors try to move to protect their weaker kinsmen. Bombur fails his courage test again! Even if he used up his reserve of willpower it wouldn't be enough, maybe he is too distracted by the troll's cooking.
The duel between Ori, Nori and Dwalin with Tom sees heroic strikes with Dwalin knocking back his enemy and causing two wounds. In a rare show of might Ori sends a rock straight at Tom causing a wound however fate is kind to the troll and he fights on!
Bofur knows his time is probably up and heroic-ly strikes his mattock at Bert's nose, forcing him to sneeze. Covered from head to toe, he is unable to beat back the troll and looks in terror as a giant hand reaches down for him and hurls the dwarf through the air. Bofur flies and knocks down some of his comrades. They escape without harm but Bofur succumbs to his wounds and is incapcitated.
Kili is freed from his sack with help from the others.
Turn 5Even with Balin's guidance, the dwarves fail to get priority again. Perhaps unwisely they decide to save their might for combat and call no heroic moves. Outwitted by the trolls, Thorin and the rest of the company are unable to catch them as they storm to the flank, engaging the knocked down dwarves.
Only Gloin is close enough to come to their aid but his heroism is short lived as a gigantic sneeze comes his way. Dwalin, seizing the opportunity manages to get back up to his feet and drive back the troll. A single wound is caused by Gloin's axes but fate saves Bert the troll from harm.
Ori and Nori are less fortunate as Tom gets the better of them, picking up poor Ori by the feet he hurls him a massive 8 inches. Nori, Bifur and Fili are all wounded with only Bifur passing his fate roll. Dwalin is knocked down for a second time. Ori takes a battering of five wounds, taking him out of the fight!
Turn 6 Again the melee continues. The massive pile of dwarves hamper movement slightly with the trolls again managing to get away with engaging only part of the company. Thorin curses himself in frustation!
Dwalin, Gloin and Kili nonetheless present a formidable force against Bert whose cold seems to be getting slightly better. Due to poor rolls, Bert, the
weakest troll, manages to get the better of these powerful warriors! Picking up Gloin by the beard he hurls him 6 inches. Nori takes a wound by the flying mass and Gloin himself takes two wounds, failing his fate he is taken out of the battle.
Dori steps in to defend Bilbo from Tom who towers over both of them. Dori had prepared for a heroic strike but he embarrassingly trips on his own flail rolling a one. Tom rolls a six for the duel and decides to join Bert in his game of dwarf bowling hurling Bilbo nine inches across the board!The hobbit is tougher than he looks as fate keeps him from harm although Kili is finished off.
Turn 7Daybreak pierces the sky and Gandalf arrives. With a mighty crack he shatters the boulders around the clearing and the trolls are turned to stone by the sun!
With neither the dwarves or trolls managing to finish off the other side the game ends in a
draw.
Thorin rushes to see the damage caused by the trolls to his kinsmen. Dead or not, either way; the road to Erebor must go on!
After Battle ThoughtsThorin's company had a good start. Fili outdid himself, causing all three wounds on the leader of the trolls, Bill. It all went wrong very quickly however as the dwarves let the trolls outmanoeuvre them. They move faster than the dwarves but there were some missed opportunities with heroic move/march there! They can be taken down very quickly when surrounded (apart from Bill with his magic purse rule) especially when combined with things such as two handed weapons and piercing strike. The dwarves need to stick together to make these things work though.
Hurl made a big impact on the battle, taking out several dwarves and slowing them down as well. I think it was a good tactic to target the weaker models for this as you can win the fights
very easily and then throw them into the more dangerous models. Things like rend and stuffing into sacks works very nicely on powerful enemies such as Thorin and Dwalin.
Overall this is a really fun scenario to play and helps you learn the new rules as well. There are a lot of little tactics to find in this particular scenario and it gives you a chance to try out the new heroic actions,special strikes and all of the dwarves special rules as well (there are a lot of them!).
Thanks for reading, this is the first battle report I've written so I hope you've enjoyed it. I want to cover all of the scenarios over time so we'll see how this goes. Pictures below but you'll have to bear with the quality.
http://s967.photobucket.com/user/MadSci ... t=4&page=1
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