A battle report of the 1000 pts SBG my brother and I are currently fighting:

After Gandalf was imprisoned in Orthanc, Saruman marched an elite force of Uruk-Hai forth to the Shire, hoping to catch the Ring before either the forces of Good or the Ringwraiths. Elrond, however, saw his purpose from afar, and not only sent his most trusted elf lords forth to find and save Frodo, but only gathered an emergency force to stop Saruman's trust north.

Army lists:

Forces of Good:
Thranduil
4 High Elves with Elf Blades
4 High Elves with Shields

Haldir
Ent
3 High Elves with Spear and Shield
2 Wood Elf Guards with spear and Elf blade

Captain of Minas Tirith
4 WoMT
4 WoMT with Spears

Captain of Minas Tirith
2 WoMT
2 WoMT with bow and Spear

Balin
5 Dwarf warriors with Shields

Isengard
Saruman
Troll
Banner

Uruk Captain with Heavy Armour and Shield
3 Uruk-Hai with Shield
8 Uruk-Hai with Pike

Uruk-Hai Captain with Heavy Armour and Shield
3 Uruk-Hai with Shield
8 Uruk-Hai with Pike

Orc Captain with Warg and Shield
6 Dunlending Riders (aka Haradrim Raiders)

Uruk-Hai with Heavy Armour and 2HW
5 Berserkers
6 Uruk-Hai with Crossbows

Goblin Captain
3 goblins with Shield
4 Goblins with spear

Deployment: we decided to roll and see what happened. Well, Hold Ground happened, and it was horrid for both of us (though I was saved by my brothers typical luck).

Turn 1 (Isengard Priority)



Move (aka deployment): My cavalry arrived at the lower right corner. So far so good.
Then my brother got to place one of my phalanxes, and of course he put them in the top left corner.
Saruman remained behind, the goblins joined the phalanx in the left corner, and the rest was arrayed along the right flank.

Then my brother placed his High Elves just behind my Uruks
His Dwarves ended up behind my Goblins.
And his Ent and Wood Elves landed next to the phalanx.
So I was cursing my luck... And so was he, because Legolas had arrived just in range of my Uruk Crossbows, and Galadriel had somehow managed to end up in the middle of my cavalry.
The predicament of my poor Uruks


Shoot: I nicked a wound off Legolas and a Fate point off Galadriel.The my brother got to fire 6 elven bows at my Uruk pikes. And setting the tone for things to come, he fluffed them all (except one).

Turn Two (priority Good)

Move: Everyone charged the nearest target, basically. My phalanx on the left was surrounded by elves, the dwarves rear-charged my goblins. The big WoMT unit arrived at a place of my choice, right opposite to my Berserkers and Phalanx on the right. The small WoMT squad came in next to my gobbo's, too late to do anything.

On the left, I tried to save what could be saved by charging the flanks of his lines with those warriors still unengaged. The Berserkers charged the WoMT on the Right and Galadriel was caught by 3 Dunlendings, with the captain close by and the other three galloping off to the rescue of my left flank.

Shoot: We both fluffed every roll we made, basically.

Fight: The fight I dreaded, Uruks outnumbered by High Elves, actually ended in my favour, with one elf and one uruk dead, but a wound on Thranduil, who also lost all his fate, because my brother couldn't seem to roll more then a 3.
Gobbo's versus Dwarves also went better then I expected, both lost one, after I spent a might point from my captain.
As predicted, the Berserkers toasted their WoMT opponents, and my captain butchered his mannish counterpart in a single swing of his two-handed axe.
My Dunlendings amazingly only managed to make Galadriel lose a single point of fate.

And there things stand as of yet. Mid-game thoughts: When the deployment finished, I thought I was toast, having a key unit, and my Ent-distraction-team surrounded and outnumbered on one flank, with the rest of my army on the other, facing two models. I had a bit of luck when his WoMT ended up in the middle of my army, and a LOT of luck in the fight phase, so now I think my chances are rather good (touch wood).

I hope you enjoyed it.

PS: I know both army lists are technically illegal, but it's a friendly game, so if reasonable we disposed of the need to have hero and troops in a warband from the same list.

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"... Telchar wrought it in the deeps of time."
-On Andùril, The Lord of the Rings

i liked the scenario idea a lot!
I was lost in the deployment phase coz everyone was spawning wherever he wanted but in the end it seems you both had fun so thats all that matters.

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éala éarendel engla beorhtast, ofer middangeard monnum sended

Thanks!

That's "Hold Ground". Each unit rolls a die each turn, and if it's 1 they don't come in yet, if it's more, the dice result determines where they go (which can be annoying as hell).

Here's the rest:

Turn 3 (priority Good):

Move: He charged everything in range on the right flank, I cast Transfix on the Ent, and Command on Legolas, pulling him withing range for my troll to charge and kill. Galadriel was caught again by my cavalry, this time 3 riders and the captain surrounded her. The Uruk Berserkers closed in for the kill on the WoMT on the left flank.

Shoot. His archers fired at Saruman, and missed to a man, while mine had been engaged in melee by the dead-men-walking WoMT.

Fight: This phase went really splendid for me. The Dunlendings killed Galadriel, and the Troll killed Legolas, but my Uruk Captain unexpectedly tore Thranduil to pieces, and his WoMT were reduced to an absolute minimum (only 3 survived). The Ent won against an Uruk, but couldn't hurt him thanks to Saruman, and the other combats went quite even (how come Goblins can hold their own agaist Dwarf Warriors?).

Turn 4: Priority Good.
Move: Again, everyone charged everyone on the right flank, and my brother's archers moved to keep up on Saruman, who hid behind the Troll.
The last WoMT on the other flank escaped and attacked some Crossbowmen, but my berserkers overtook them and prepared to finish them. My cavalry started to race to the rescue of the right flank, where numbers started to tell against me.

Shoot: A lucky elf downed the Troll, leaving Saruman to the tender mercies of his comrades. This ended with Saruman left on two wounds and no fate. Again, my crossbows were preoccupied in melee.

Fight: Quite a few of my men were killed on the right flank, though I got two elves and a dwarf as well. The last Men on the left flank were killed.

Turn 5: Priority Isengard
Move: I charged the ent with a lone Goblin, and arranged the rest so as to survive as long as possible. Saruman ran to hide behind a rock, where he was joined by 4 cavalrymen. The others charged the two archers who could have hit him anyway, to keep him safe. The Uruk Phalanx advanced.

Shoot: No-one fired as far as I remember (all target were either hidden or in combat).

Fight: My goblin shielded and survived the Ent's onslaught, as did another with Balin. The goblin captain beat a dwarf but left him alive, and both a dwarf and a goblin were killed. One archer killed a rider, the other won the combat but failed to wound.

Turn 6: Priority Isengard
Move: My cavalry hid behind the rock, my brother's archer moved up across the Uruk-Hai reinforcements that were now dangerously close to the main combat on the right flank, where everyone squared off again.

Shoot: Haldir shot the uruk Captain of the Phalanx, and his archers killed a second one. My crossbows pulled an epic fail and missed the Ent en masse.

Fight: Another goblin died, together with most of the elves, just one with sword and 2 with spear & shield remaining. Also, most of my Uruks were dead by this time, just 3 left.The Ent squashed the goblin opposing him this time, but the Goblin Captain took revenge by killing a dwarf.

Turn 7: Priority Good
Move: The Elf archers retreated, and the Phalanx came after them, stopping just beyond charge distance. The last goblins, dwarves and Uruks charged into one another, while the Ent came into combat with more than one model for the first time.

Shoot: A dunlending cavalryman downed an Archer of Minas Tirith.

Fight: The last dwarves and goblins pretty much killed eachother, while Balin split the Goblin captain's skull. The Ent botched his rolls, but escaped unhurt.

Turn 8 and further: Priority varied (I kind of lost track of what happened when, sorry)

Saruman and the Cavalry appeared from behind their rock, Commanded the Ent into a hopeless combat and killed him, the Uruk Palanx killed the archers (who were remarkably stubborn, one defeating 6 Uruks singlehandedly!), and then I mopped the remnants of his army up.

I'm afraid the pictures are very blurry and bad for this stage, so I haven't posted them

It was a rather fun game, but my brother's bad luck really mad sure he was dead on turn 3. Does anyone have a way to mitigate this (the reason why I prefer WoTR)?

_________________
"... Telchar wrought it in the deeps of time."
-On Andùril, The Lord of the Rings