We might now hope to return from the victory here to ruin and ash. - Gandalf the White
Bereft of his ally Smaug, the Dark Lord dispatched forces northward to conquer Dale and Erebor. Little is known of this "host of the allies of Sauron," neither who led it nor what numbers marched under which banners; only that among them were Easterlings and that they approached Dale from the east over the river Carnen in March of T.A. 3019. This battle was meant to simulate an early skirmish at the fords of the Redwater. Each force was comprised of only 300 points and, as it turned out, no named Heroes. The scenario was Reconnoitre.
The Easterlings started with priority but did not manage to get a single warband on the table. The men of Dale showed superior alacrity in defending their homes and both warbands arrived on the first turn. One Easterling warband, two Kataphrakts with bowmen in tow commanded by a Mounted captain, arrived on the second turn but the other, a phalanx, dawdled until the third.
The mounted Captain did not come so far to simply ride past Brand's subjects. Spurring on his black steed, he led the Kataphrakts across the central ford of the Carnen. The hardy Warriors of Dale not only survived unscathed but managed to slay one rider and then the other on the next turn. The enraged Captain in turn made short work of the brave defenders. Seeing that he could do no more, he rode off the table unwounded. One victory point for Evil and three denied to Good!
Meanwhile to the south, two Warriors of Dale slipped away from the carnage to cross the Redwater unmolested - no doubt their orders were to evade the Easterlings and search out their camp. Such is the privilege of a numerical advantage! I honestly don't recall if they made it off the table but last I looked they were a single turn from doing so. If they did, it would have meant two victory points for Good!
Back in the center of the table, the Easterling archers took advantage of the only clear lane of fire across the river ... or at least tried. In three turns of shooting, they only managed to pick off two of the Warriors of Dale! The Dale men slammed into the archers of Rhûn but, to everyone's shock, found themselves handily butchered. The Captain of Dale and his surviving Warriors, despite being trapped by the Easterlings again and again, shook off their attacks and gradually whittled them down to nothing. However, the archers had served their master well; it was too late by then for the Dale men to push onward.
To the north, the heaviest fighting decided the battle. The tardy phalanx of Black Dragons stoically forded the Carnen, where the second Captain of Dale, the Leader, rallied his warband to meet them. Like their Easterling counterparts, the Dalish bowmen managed merely two kills despite shooting nearly every turn, frustrated by terrain and the Easterlings' heavy armour. The men of Dale had barely allowed the Easterlings a few steps up the bank of the Redwater before engaging them but the Easterling line wheeled left to give themselves room while squeezing their enemies against the river. Over about three turns, the Easterlings carved through the defenders with blade and pike but despite being trapped twice, with four and five attacks against him respectively, the Captain of Dale threw back his assailants. Still they came on and at last he fell, yielding three more victory points to Evil. The remaining Easterling Captain then reformed his men and slayed a final Dalish archer to end the game.
Many thanks to judgedoug for hosting the game, including providing the terrain apart from the one piece (on the left in the third picture above) which I recently made for him.
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would have liked to see more pictures though.