Introduction

The second battle of our Middle-Earth Manchester "gaming club" took place on Valentine's night, causing some prospective players to bail with romance coming before bromance.

I too, was under some severe time restrictions, so my man who stepped up to the plate, Hashut, agreed to a time limit, a shorter game, smaller points total and smaller table size.

But even then, at 250pts, this EPIC (that's right, epic!) we still overran by 30 minutes!

Would this be a tale of Hashut's revenge, or would the new guy get the better of the veteran for a second week in a row...? There's only one way to find out...

FIGHT!!!!!!

Set-up

Hashut's Blessing
vs
Thermo


(It was Valentine's night and I think my opponent had the wrong kind of heat for the occasion!

In fact, I was waiting for my "date" for a little while, so took a picture of my Grey Company waiting patiently. I was expecting a Dwarven force to accompany him to take up mission revenge after last weeks whalloping...



When Hashut arrived he kindly gave me the option of which force I wished to play against, as he'd made three 250pts lists for the night. I thought I might regret not taking the early, gifted initiative, but I wasn't there to win and told him to go with whatever he pleased...

He chose a prodominately Easterling based force, supported by an allied Far Harad warband. I'm sure he will correct me if I have this wrong, but his list was as follows.

W1 - Easterling Captain with shield.
4 Easterlings with bow
8 Easterlings with pikes

W2 - Haradrim chieftain (poisoned bow?)
3 Half trolls (2-handed weapons)

Up against him were some of the veterans from last week's encounter

W1 - Halbarad
12 Rangers of Arnor (spears)
W2,3&4 all Rangers of the North (spears)

We rolled for the scenario and ended up with The High Ground. As a result, we shifted the battlefield so we now had a hill at the centre.

We rolled for deployment, 1-3 would deploy in the 25% closest to the centre, 4-6 for the 25% of the board closest to your board edge.

Hashut rolled and managed to immediately deploy his Easterling warband on the hill itself. His Haradrim warband deployed closer to the board edge, back on his left flank.

Meanwhile, all my warbands deployed at my board edge. I placed Halbarad's warband in my left corner facing the hill and the 3 rangers of the north facing off against half troll Harad force on my right flank.



For those who don't know the scenario, as well as other victory points which come from killing leaders, breaking enemy forces and not being broken yourself, you get points for having models in base contact with the central hill.

Before we started with movement, I gifted Hashut with his Valentine's day present... a hobbit ruler that came spare with a lot from ebay!



He tried to be cool about it, but I know it made him warm and gooey inside!

Turn 1 priority went my way and movement involved my Rangers moving up slightly on my left flank and the rangers of the north doing the same on the right flank, whilst Hashut continued to secure the hill in the centre whilst moving two of his half trolls in the direction of my right, with one moving towards the hill and the chieftain backing up the two half trolls.



There was little else to do but move onto shooting, the phase which had obviously haunted Hashut's dwarves last week. So much so, that when I continued last week tactic of attempting to pick off soft targets with sheer weight of bow fire, Hashut burnt a point of might for his Eastering captain with Heroic shoot, presumably to get some shots off with his bowmen before the Grey company outshot them from the game.

I didn't challenge and his bold move didn't pay off, missing everything.

But my shooting was equally poor... an unfortunately key theme for much of my game! This week, I wouldn't be able to rely on the sure shooting of the Grey company, who shot like the minds were with their valentine's instead of on the field of battle where their minds were needed.



And so we pressed onto turn two and with the objective in mind, Hashut held the hill whilst Halbarad led his Rangers forwards to challenge for it. On my right, his half trolls pressed on as my Rangers of the North pulled back.

More poor shooting from Halbarad's company, one of which was in turn killed by an Easterling archer, but on the right, one ranger of the north faired better, using up his might point to inflict a wound on one of the advancing half trolls.

With the troll wounded and more of the same happening in movement, I tried to turn half of Halbarad's ranger's attention across the field on the wounded troll, as well as the rangers of the north who were still withdrawing and shooting. Firing over a rock not high enough to trip on, all of them flunked the shot, hitting the rock, whilst the RotN all missed too!

The Haradrim captain decided to take a shot at one of the rangers of the north, even with the half troll in the way. Even if it hit him, which it did, it would take a 6 to kill this tough dude... Hashut rolled a 1 and I groaned... until he told me that "poison arrow" meant he had to re-roll the wound roll... and low and behold, the troll was slain by his own with a 6!



Meanwhile, the Rangers of Arnor closed in on the objective, still useless with their bows, this battle would need to be won with spears if it was to be won at all.



The Haradrim captain, who had slain his own comrade but a turn earlier, steadied himself for another shot at the rangers of the north, who were backing away from the advancing half troll. This time, he would not be denied, the arrow finding it's mark. And again, like the arrow that felled the troll, his was the poison in the wound that killed the ranger (he rolled a 1 followed by a 6 and my fate roll was a write off!)



Revenge!

By this point, we had already overrun our time limit and little that was significant to the result had happened. If the game had ended there and then, Hashut would have won by default as he had started the game controlling the objective.

My shooting had let me down on this second battle! Below is an accurate reflection of that emotion...




It was time to go for broke, and Halbarad's men rushed in, stopping short of assaulting the hill to let off more fluffed shots, whilst on the right, the Rangers of the North who had nowhere left to run, moved so one supported the other and braced for the charge of the half troll, after their shots had of course, fluffed!

Meanwhile, at the hill, Hashut had cleverly moved against some of my rangers, being clever and effectly preventing some of my supporting rangers from entering combat by attacking them, or attacking a couple of models at a time. He also had begun to move the spare half troll around so it was a turn from supporting.

All looked bleak for the rangers as combat through out mixed success but little gain either way...




His half troll on my right charged in on my two rangers with his two handed weapon, but even without the penalty to his fight, the high fight value of the Dunedain ensured they won on this occasion and stabbing ferociously (and using a remaining might point) the half troll was slain! The Rangers of the North, could now try and get involved.





But with time against us, Hashut asked if we should call it a day... Nothing really significant or exciting had happened and my valentine was waiting impatiently at home...

"One more turn," I said... Boy are we glad we did.

It was clearly going to be down to priority. I had been pushed away from the hill in many of last turn's combats. Hashut rolled a 2... and here was my chance... and I rolled a 1 (story of the night!)



I let out a massive groan as Hashut reached down to move. I couldn't win if he had priority, unless he engaged and lost most of his combats and I broke his force... but even that would depend on how many of his troops were still on the hill...

And then I remember the whole purpose of tonight's game, from a learning perspective, which was to learn heroic actions! I immediately called the heroic move with Halbarad.

And then came the challenge with the remaining might point from the captain of the easterling force... if he won, I would lose the game... if I won, I might have atleast a small chance...

Halbarad pulled it off!



I knew all I could do was move all of my rangers to touch the base of the hill and hope for the best in combat and so they were thrown in, with one assaulting some models on this itself to tie them into combat.

Hashut countered, again selectively choosing his fights so some of spear models could not support their intended fights. We had 2 easterling pikes against a ranger, 1 ranger against a half troll, 2 pikes against a ranger on the hill, halbarad and a ranger against an easterling, an easterling captain supported by pike against another ranger... it was all intense stuff.

Before that could win, model of the game (Harad captain) used a might point to slay a second Ranger of the North, leaving just one... but it was clear that it all came down to the combats. Both forces were just a couple of models from breaking...

And so we worked through the combats.

Two easterlings managed to kill a ranger, and suddenly I was only one model from breaking, since a ranger of the north had been sniped. It meant 2 easterlings were guaranteed to be touching the hill, whilst I was one down. If the game had ended here, it was 8-8 for models touching the hill. 6 combats to go...

Then the half troll... All money was on him, to break my force by killing the lowly ranger facing him. But thanks to fight value he LOST his fight against his ranger! He avoided death but this vital combat ensured I would have atleast 1 ranger on the hill and still wasn't broken, which would be an automatic 3 points for Hashut. Still 8-8... 5 combats to go.

Next up were two pikemen who had attacked the model that would have been supporting the ranger fighting the troll. Outnumbered, he was beaten and fell back, crucially avoiding death and thus, the army breaking, but that was another 2 easterlings guaranteed to be touching the hill and another ranger beaten from it... 8-7 to Hashut...

Now the Easterling Captain... having burnt up his might, took on two rangers, one of those that would have been supporting the ranger that was defeated in the previous combat. One of these Rangers was supported by Halbarad and the three of them were too much for the captain. With a might point remaining, he may have won that combat (and playing old rules, Halbarad couldn't have helped with his 2 as he was supporting) This guaranteed me another 3 on the hill, but with the captain alive, it guaranteed him another. Still 8-7 to Hashut.

Further right, an Easterling had engaged the ranger furthest to the right to prevent the two I had there getting on the hill. However, this dude was overwhelmed, knocked back and killed. Hashut was now also only one model from breaking...

And at 7-7, the game relied on the ranger who had assaulted the hill on his lonesome, against the 2 easterlings that challenged him. He needed to win the fight to atleast pull a draw. Kill one of those easterlings and the Grey company would snatch victory. But should he lose and die, victory was guaranteed for Hashut's force and they'd triumph with 10-6 victory...

We rolled...

And again, with his fight value, the Ranger of Arnor pulled it out of the bag!!!! Could he steal a famous victory for the Grey Company from the jaws of defeat? Exhausted from winning the fight against his two enemies, he failed to kill either...

AND WE HAD AN EXCITING DRAW!!



Conclusion to come!

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Haha! The first picture is scary
The mini modular terrain looks fantastic (although it could perhaps do with a board underneath), Have you any idea how to make some like that?

The bat rep so far is very entertaining , I look forward to the next part

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Great terrain pieces, did you make them yourself? They look a lot like what I've made.

Shooting against targets that need a 6 to wound can be very frustrating, as you've discovered.

@Sid: a nice way to learn how to make terrain like that is with the LotR journey books, especially the Two Towers. The trick is learning how to get that organic look that Thermo has, but that will come quickly after you make a couple of pieces.

Loving the report fela... Seems a lot of man love was happenig there last night, lol.
See you next week!

Loving it so far
I'm backing the rangers

_________________
'You would die before your stroke fell!' ~Legolas

Check out my WIP!

Hey Sid!

Haha I have to admit, it was all I could do to stop bursting into laughter for the pic, I was being pulled in close and everything! Hashut did instruct me it wasn't wise to show that picture to my girlfriend

To be honest, because of the iminent game we organised last week, I raided ebay for the pieces so can't take credit unfortunately! I will get myself a battlemat soon, then all should look very beautiful indeed!

Thanks for the feedback, it was fun to write!



Unfortunately, I can't and won't try and take credit for those pieces (ebay raid)

As for the hard targets, it was the in the way rolls which were killing me this week, and even the rolls to hit in the first place. I hardly ever rolled to wound! Last week, the dwarves got completely done over with the bow fire, even with the hard rolls, but this week, I think the only think I managed with a bow was to wound the half troll with a ranger, and that was using might!



Haha just getting the place warm for you next week my friend, looking forward to having you involved!



Haha you wouldn't have with a turn to go. And honestly, with another turn it could have gone either way...

But I'll post up my conclusion shortly

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Conclusion

I have to admit, I was very very surprised to get anything out of this game in the end. It really did come down to a go for broke on the agreed final turn and I never looked even in the game until perhaps that Ranger managed to fight off the half troll.

I was surprised initially not to be against the dwarves again, whom I'm guessing would have suited this scenario quite well. Even a small dwarven force with shields wouldn't have been touched the Grey company, who literally hit nothing but rocks all night!

It was a poor performance on their part!

I must admit, rolling those last combats was some seriously intense gaming, with it swinging one way and then the next and I have to say, with that final ranger up against two attacks, I wasn't hopeful.

Star performer was the Haradrim captain with his bow, taking out 2 Rangers of the North with his bow (as well a half troll!) but nothing else really stood out.

With Hashut deploying on the hill, it looked like he would win from the start, unless I could whittle down his numbers enough to attempt the assault. Missing everything with my bows might have been frustrating if we hadn't have been having fun! It really was almost a steal at the end, like a boxer taking it after being beaten for 11 rounds straight, only to come up with the knockout.

With another turn, it could have gone either way. The difference could have been Hashut not using a might point with his easterling captain for heroic shoot early on, then challenging my heroic move and losing. I think he'd have won the combat if he'd have had might against the three models (with halbarad only supporting) and that would have won it for him.

But without might going into the next turn, both forces were likely to be broken and it would have been a close run thing that was impossible to call. I'd have likely heroic moved if I lost priority and tried to take out that captain, try and guarantee atleast one other fight/kill to break him and just use the rest to tie up. But as this game proves, there were no guarantees and I'd have certainly been broken too at that point. If I killed his captain, I'd favour myself with the courage rolls with Halbarad's stand fast, but it's all just speculation.

I felt a little helpless and one dimensional tactics wise I must admit. Whether that is being grey company or using only 250pts, or both, I did feel a little trapped in what I was doing and could immediately see many worse case scenarios if he'd have done a couple of things differently in this scenario.

But overral, what a fun game and I'm happy I somehow managed to avoid the defeat so I can proudly say I'm undefeated in 2 (that won't last long!)

It was a fab way to spend an evening and looking forward to having a few more joining in next week!

PS - Even casualties were quite even. By the end of the game, I'd lost 5 Rangers of Arnor and 2 Rangers of the North and he'd lost 2 half trolls and 4 Easterling Warriors...

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I only had 6 pikes, actually, but this was such an intensely fought game.

The Half-Trolls lost their comabts not because of Fight values, but rather their two-handed weapons. If they attacked one-handed, it'd have come to Fight values and they have 5 to a Ranger's 4 and their S5 hits should've done the rest. But alas, that -1 to hit meant it wasn't happening.

Also, I must've lost 5 Easterling Warriors by the end because you need to kill 8 of my guys and I need to kill 8 of yours (leaving me with 7 and you with to break the forces. ALL down to models on the hill since we didn't wound the leaders, nor break armies!

We were playing The High Ground because I misread what we rolled (Hold Ground!) and it's the best scenario to be against the Grey Company. Except we never got a double for priority, lol

For those that are wondering, I kept pretending the Hobbit ruler was actually my moustache, since I normally sport a wondrous Dwarfen beard and was feeling that was my reason for losing last week Next week, I'll upgrade to a win by having some facial fuzz, methinks

My own learning points this week were that poison is immensely useful. I know I got lucky with the 1s becoming 6s (and beautiful 6s they are on my dice), but it's really handy. Not so much when you shoot through your own troops, lol.
Also, the Heroic Shoot at the beginning was a silly move - it was partially to explain how it works in example to Thermo, but also partly because I knew he was going to try to snipe my poor little archers with 16 shots/turn and wanted a little shooting action of my own this game. If I'd have had this point of Might later, I'd have drawn the fight against the two Rangers with Halbarad support and it would've become a 50/50 chance of winning the fight due to equal Fight values.
Second mistake learnt from - the Heroic Move counter: I was hoping to prevent some models getting to the hill whilst the backs of my bases touched it, but all that happened was I burnt a point of Might, which I could've used to draw the fight I just mentioned. With both of these points of Might (and I'd ordinarily still have them at this stage because I don't like to spend them very much, lol), I could've won the fight and pushed two models back, saving the day.
My last learning point is similar to the Iron Guard - I do NOT like two-handed weapons. That -1 to hit always becomes a problem: usually comes in the form of us both rolling a 6 and me losing or generally rolling the same and losing. Not particualrly great with an avergae at best roll either. Even with two attacks, the Half Trolls were losing fights they'd have otherwise drawn, gone to Fight values and won. Always had this problem with my Dwarfs and I find the lose of winning the fight FAR outweighs the increased likelihood of death.

This game genuinely all came down to the extra turn Thermo said we should play and I'm glad he said w could, although I then wanted to play another and another ^^ I didn't want to get him in trouble with the missus a second week AND on Valentine's day (although he'd already blackmailed a loving picture out of me, so he'd had his fill [bad choice of words there...]), hence me asking if we needed to end the game there. Not because I was desperate to teach him how to lose Honest...

I did quite like the army I used today, but didn't really get to see the pikes shine properly - they may have well been spears, but it's not like it cost anything extra pointswise (that wasn't for things like Defence etc), so no disappointment. Just be nice to go "4 attacks from my captain, against your one ranger, LOL!!!!111!!" like an utter git

Great game Thermo and may we have many more.

Great report.
Sounds like it was really fun

What was the size of the board/ table?

We went small this week to keep the game short, it was perhaps 3ft by maybe 4 max.



We shall indeed!

Your turn to write battle reports next! Uploading the pics alone took me an age today haha.

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*5th in 2014 GBHL

What a fun read, keep up the good work guys!

_________________
Manners maketh man

You have really great terrain and models. All you need is a grass mat or a board?

I slightly forgot my camera and the battlemat this week, lol. Next week, I'm hopefully bringing both along with me and I'll post up the battle report

Great report, looks like it was a fun but very tense game. I love it when it comes down to a nail buting conclusion.

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Veni Vidi Vici

Thanks buddy! Yup, it was great fun!

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*5th in 2014 GBHL