Shadow in the east: reprisals

Today I was hosting* a game of Lotr. I had never actually played one of the scenarios from the Shadow in the east supplement book as I didn't believe I could make up the forces. But by using some  dwarf heroes as khazad guard and morgul knights and khandish cavalry as Kataphracts we had two nice armies exactly replicating the ones in the book.

The scenario basically revolves around a raid lead by Dain Ironfoot (I was using Thorin Oakenshield) on an easterling temple where many of the dwarves precious artefacts have been stolen and held. The easterling Infantry and captains start in the temple whilst the cavalry start on the eastern board edge. The dwarves then start on the western board edge.
The objective is for the dwarves to gain 25 pts before their force is eliminated. The dwarves can gain 1 point for each easterling captain slain and 3 points for each artefact moved off the board. They can also gain 10pts for torching the temple but they lose 10 points if Dain (thorin) is slain.
Each turn the Easterling player may move on D6 models removed last turn.

The opening positions were as follows with the dwarves setting up as close to the temple as possible, facing off against the infantry defending it. The cavalry meanwhile were riding dow the flank to role up the dwarven flank.

The dwarves lost the first priority, but this did have the advantage of getting the charge, and in lotr it is very often beneficial to lose the priority. Four dwarven archers sprinted for the watchtower and flung themselves up into it so as to rain down shots on the easterling defenders. Thorin and Durok lead the charge on the captain's phalanx together with their khazad guard. Thorin lept forwards and hacked down one of the captains whilst durok wounded the other. Th dwarven archers opened fire on the on coming cavalry, taking out two of the men's horses whilst the dwarves with two handed axes stalwartly advanced towards the kataphracts, hoping to stem their charge whilst the dwarf shield wall held the flank.

 The next round of combat saw the fighting slowly descend towards the chaos it would become... Thorin struck down the other captain and Durok and his guards fought off the easterlings. But now the eastelings were scaling the watch tower scaffolds, pursued up them by dwarven warriors.

The archers in the watch tower had held out strong and now Thorin and Durok had all but negated the easterling right flank, and could start to pillage the temple. Indeed two of the shield wall had broken ranks, diving through the battle to run out from the temple with two artefacts before fighting off all the easterling who tried to grab them. And with the cavalry still held off the four dwarf axemen seemed to be doing their duty.

Some of the cavalry had finally managed to pull away form the four dwarves, but the damaged was already done. Two dwarves were sprintin it for the board edge whilst four more dwarves (including durok) had grabbed some loot and had now started to torch the temple, starting two fire in its framework. The dwarves ha by now secured a root of escape for their loot off the western board edge, so the cavalry had the new mission of breaking this supply route.

The cavalry and all the easterling reinforcements were still being held up by but three dwarves and a couple of the shield wall were also  helping stem the charge which was well and truly blunted  by the valiant stand of the four. Thorin and two other dwarves had now started  to try their hand at looting and als burning, lighting another two fires! But the easterling archers who had fled the burning temple were begining to douce the flames and put out two of the four fires.

The remaing two dwarves of the four were swept aside and the cavalry charged forwards, catching up with the artefact carrying dwarves and setting on them with their scimatars. But Durok had already deposited his and like the dwarven hero of legend he is, was now running up and down the supply train encouraging and helping  the stragglers.

And so the game ended. With but eleven points the dwarves had not achieved their objective, however there were still ten dwarves standing so netehr had the easterlings. With four artefacts in dwarven hands and most likely to be rescued another twelve points was probably the dwarves due but in the end it really was still all to play for.


*Hosting in wargaming terms means a game where you supply both forces.

The Hobbit: Incursion into Mirkwood

This game was one of my opponents first LOTR ones and as such only the spider and mouth are his models, the rest are from the studio collection.

This game was designed to represent an incursion into Mirkwood just before the events of the hobbit. I was using the 13 dwarves backed up by a force of Rohirrim lead by Thengel (father of Theoden). They were being met by the mouth of the Necromancer and the Tainted together with their orcs.

The army of the Necromancer
The tainted
The mouth of suaron
Spider Queen
6 warg riders
5 Morgul knights
12 orcs
mordor troll

Raiders of Thorin Oakenshield
Dwarf King (Thorin)
Dwarf Captain (Dwalin)
Theoden (Thengel)
Eomer (eomund)
Captain Elfhelm (Earldermund)
11 Dwarf warriors
15 riders of rohan
1 royal guard

We played the Reconoitre scenario from the Mordor sourcebook. Nearly all my men turned up (except Dwalin who had popped off behind a bush and was still failing to show) whilst only the mouth, knights and troll turned up on the Necromancer's side.

Next turn and the rest of his force showed up as I charged everything for the mouth (He's my opponents favourtie character so I wanted to prioritise his death to have a psychological effect on him). However Dwalin was still failing to turn up, no doubht it was a No. 2.

The first charge happened with my Rohirrim hitting into the Mouth and one of his knights, they let lose their throwing spears as they charged...

... and with the spears fell a morgul knight, also the Mouth took a wound from a spear and failed his fate point.

Both wings were soon falling upon the centre with the battle focused around the clash with the mouth of sauron. Thorin and Earldermund were leading their men as a flank guard directly for him while Thengel was leading his guard straight for the troll. By now Dwalin had finished behind the bush and was sprinting for the combat, almost catching up with Eomund who had been immobilised by the mouth's magic.
But behind the large clumps of undergrowth the tainted and a spider queen were moving up with their orcish hordes.

Then both forces crashede into each other! Thengel and his riders hit the troll, wounding it with a throwing spear. The mouth quickly spurred his horse, riding quickly out the way of the battle, just as the tainted was charged by Earldermund and three riders. The rest of the morgul knights were all charged by riders.
The dwarves were running fast now, but their little legs were finding it hard to get there.
The Spider queen had also spawned two spider swarms as well.

But the combat went badly for Rohan with only one morgul knight slain to three riders killed and Earldermund wounded.

The combat had gone badly with the tainted proving his worth and blasting apart loads of riders.

But now Thorin, Balin and the king's shield bearers Killi and Filli went to try their luck at the Nazgul, and very quickly they had made mince meat of the wraith to no casualties!

This turn had gone allot better, the troll had been wounded, a morgul knight had been killed and the Tainted was gone! But now the very real threat of the orc horde lead by the spider queen was swarming towards them along the flank, thr troll stil wasn't dead and Eomund remained immobilised.

Then the orcs crashed. Thorin and three other dwarves charged into the spider queen while a riderm Filli and Earldermund held up the wargs. Bombur and two others were now making their way round the undergrowth to take on the rest of the orcs. A single rider was fighting the mouth, while Bifur, Balin, Eomund, Killi and three riders were fighting his Knights. Dwalin by now had emerged into the centre of the fighting but was still to late to join in for the moment. The troll was also trapped by Thengel's riders!

And the Dwarves did their magic yet again! Thorin and Bofur hacked apart the spider queen whilst Filli and Earldermund slaughtered their way through the warg riders. Thengel also won renown, slaying the mighty troll, whilst only one morgul knight remained standing.

It appeared now that the mouth and the last knight were surrounded and the only way they could survive was if the orcs broke through the dwarven lines, a very unlickly event.

 Now all the fury of Rohan came to bear on the Mouth of Sauron! Thengel, Eomund, Bifur, Killi and a royal guard surrounded him, to make sure that the evil one did not tell his master of the events of the field! His faithful orcs however did come to his rescue but were all intercepted by dwarven warriors! Including the mighty Dwalin and Balin

And with only one round of combat the mouth was slain and all but three of his orcs and a swarm of spiders were slain. However the mighty knight duelled on, being surrounded by Eomund, Thengel, Dwalin and three riders.

 Under the banner of Rohan and by the hands of men and dwarves, the last of Morgul did fall to spear and axe!

And with but one spider swarm and two orcs remaining the Battle was pronounced a joint victory for Thengel and Thorin Oakenshield, kings of great kingdoms

The Battles Of Helm's Deep

This was another game put on by my local Games Workshop store. One of the guys who works there had the old Helms Deep set so we decided to refight the siege. The Defenders force was made up of four armies each of three warbands with five arriving as reserve in turn four. While the evil side was made up of three armies each of three warbands with a warband arriving as reserve in turn 5. Until the good sides reserves arrived the Evil force could regenerate its men.
The Evil side won if they had ten models and a hero inside Helm's Deep at the end of the game, The evil side won a minor victory if they had ten models inside Helm's Deep at the end of the game and the Good side won if the evil force failed to achieve any of these.
Armylists were...

The Allies
Defenders of the deep
Grimbold
Legolas
Dain
Balin
stormcaller
elven captain
dwarf shield bearer
36 wood elves (12 archers, 12 Spearmen, 12 warriors)
36 Dwarves (9 iron guard, 1 vault warden team and 26 warriors and archers)
12 Rohirrim (warriors)
Relief force (turn 4)
Theoden (horse)
Eomer (horse)
Eowyn (horse)
Elfhelm (horse)
Merry
16 Rohirrim (14 riders, 1 outrider and 1 royal guard)
18 Rohirrim (6 riders, 12 warriors)

The forces of Isengard
Besiegers (regenerate until turn 4)
Lurtz
Ugluk
Vrasku
Buhrdur, hill troll
Durburtz, goblin king
Goblin Captain
3 urukhai captains
36 goblins (12 black shields, 24 goblins)
36 Urukhai (12 crossbowmen, 9 pikemen, 9 warriors, 6 bezerkers)
36 urukhai (24 scouts, 6 pikemen, 6 warriors)
uruk battering ram
uruk siege ballista
great beast of gorgoroth
8 siege ladders
cave troll
Isengard troll
Relief force (turn 5)
Watcher in the water

The Defenders of the deep gathered with the dwarves of Aglarond on the left and centre walls, the elves of lorien on the right hand wall and in the court and the men bracing the door against intruders. You may remember the dwarf player from http://warformiddleearth.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-13-dwarves-vs-easterlings.html. My entire force however was in reserve (Theoden, Eomer and Elfhelm).

The defenders hold the Deep against the forces of Saruman, come form Isengard! If you look suspiciously on the Dwarves in Helm's deep and say "this feels too much like... A WHAT IF GAME", never fear! In the lotr Gimli says that the caves of aglarond, which back onto Helm's deep, were once a Dwarf colony... Why couldn't the still be?

The massive host from Isengard! 3 trolls, a great beast, a battering ram, a ballista and eight siege ladders... What could possibly go wrong? With dwarves defending i wouldn't like to guess. If you look suspiciously on the Goblins besieging Helm's deep and say "this feels too much like... A WHAT IF GAME", never fear! There could have well been goblins there as they would have been overshadowed by the Uruks... as for the beast of gorgoroth, who cares? Its new!

The Fortress started to look very small after a while and the besieging force very large!

In turn one the besiegers picked up the ladders and charged for the walls! Right in front of the gate the Cave troll, hill troll, ram and Beast hurtled for the great, in preparation for the breaching! The Uruk crossbows took down an elf in their first shots, but the lucky goblins got down three dwarves! What was going on?

The Ram and Hill troll was by now getting dangerously close, as was the cave troll and the rest of the siege ladders.

Soon the Black shields and Bezerkers were on top of the ladders trying to fight their way onto the wall. Unluckily for the uruks their ballista missed the dwarves on the wall and pierced the back of the cave troll killing it out right, however it fortunately regenerated from off the board (I do have to say this called for many remarks of "They have a cave troll" in Sean Bean's most sarcastic voice)

The Bezerkers and scouts assault the wall. The Great beast's crew (enthused by the two dwarves killed by shooting) decide to use their beast as a mobile platform instead. The isengard troll however seems to have got confused, trolls can't climb ladders, soon we'll see the dwarves' truth strength!

Two Goblin black shields race to the top of the ladders to duel their way onto the wall against the Iron guards!

After a hail of Elven shooting the battering ram is reduced to half wounds, can it smash down the gate before its is destroyed or will the hill troll need to be called upon?

Grimbold leads his helmingas up against the door to shear it against possible uruk entry, behind him the rest of his men ready their throwing spear while the storm caller and Dain ready their men.

The riders of Rohan have come! Eomer has come at last! On the top of the ridge Eomer, Theoden, Eowyn, Elfhelm and merry appear with their many eoreds of riders and several blocks of coerls. They sweep aside Uruks as the royal banner unfurls.

Eowyn and her Eored make round the cover of the forest for the Urukhai siege engines.

The crossbows won't know what hit them...

But the forces of Isengard react well to this new threat. The crossbows open fire on the riders sending several volleys of bolts crashing into men and horses. They also dispatch the Great beast and a warband of Scouts lead by Vrasku to confront Theoden while sending 3 pikes and 2 black shields to protect the ballista, which promptly opens fire at Theoden dismounting him, hurling him back and sending him to the floor!

Last turn the Bezerker assaulting the south tower had defeated and pushed back his iron guard opponent and now there were two bezerkers in that tower with no sign of flight! Meanwhile the next black shields were hurtling up the ladders to take the place of the goblins they were replacing, in fighting the dwarf archers. On the south wall Legolas and the captain were doing an ok job of holding of the uruk captains and scouts but they had lost allot of men to crossbow fire and really needed assistance. The Ram however, even with the help of a hill troll, was unable to break down the door and get at the Helmingas on the other side.

A large group of riders breaking away from the main body, which had all but been destroyed by crossbow fire, started to flank round on lurtz's crossbows whilst dispatching two riders to deal with Vrasku and his scouts.

Vrasku steps forwards, huge crossbow in hand, leading his scout archers in for the kill.

Whilst eowyn leads her riders towards the Ballista the cave troll fight for its life in the sea of Rohirrim.

Then all hell broke loose with the arrival of the watcher in the water, which had no doubt dragged itself out of the deeping stream when it smelled blood and heard the sound of battle. It arrives grabbing the fallen Theoden with a tentacle and dragging him into combat. Meanwhile the riders let forth the famed charge into the crossbow men, Elfhelm taking on two!

The ram, now on one wound, still failing to open the door starts to crash frantically at it while the hill troll uses his great blade to smash away splinters of the wood under the watchful eye of Durbutz, the goblin king. But the door remains closed.

Eowyn crashes into the Ballista crew, by now reinforced by 5 black shields and two pikemen, personally duelling the engineer. However the odds are against her but at least she put the Ballista out of action so that her brother can have more luck in the east.

Eomer, by now dismounted and fighting on foot is charged by a crossbowman and the great beast, but amazingly he throws both off and wounds the beast, leaving it on two wounds. Elfhelm, only paces away from his lord Eomer, finds himself bogged down by crossbowmen, dispatching one only to be embroiled with another.

Alas, King Theoden has been severely wounded and taken out of the battle by the Watcher, which now grabs Merry as its next victim. The Rohirrim around it that are not fighting off trolls or Bezerkers try to rush to his aid but for all their courage fails them and they cannot move.

Helm's deep is falling fast, now the battering ram has finally smashed its way into the keep and the Hill troll storms into combat with Grimbold. Another Uruk also manages to enter the south tower. But on another hand the next black shields mount ladders to fill the places of their beaten comrades in fighting the dwarven bowmen, and on the south wall and tower the Iron guard arrive and start to beat back the uruks over the walls.

Causing yet more devastation the watcher throws down the limp Merry, but is charged by a militia man, sacrificing himself to keep it bogged down. And with one last charge the last Rider and two Coerls storm towards Lurtz, the rider throwing his spear straight through the neck of the Uruk champion and killing him outright. Captain Elfhelm then charges into the Great beast, as his lord Eomer is bogged down in Crossbowmen, and is set upon by a volley of Crossbow bolts which just fail to kill him but which wound the Great beast.
In the combat then he draws his sword and stabs it through the great creatures heart, killing it.

And in the Breech Grimbold rushes forwards with two of his Huscarls to try and Repulse the Hill troll. Behind him Dain and the stormcaller rush forward with their men, intent on keeping the Goblins out of their fortress!

And the Defence holds. Saruman now had Durbutrz, a hill troll, a Bezerker, a scout three Uruks and a Goblin inside the gates or on top of the wall. Only eight men was not even enough to cause a Minor victory for the White hand and Rohan stood triumphant (or should that be Durin's folk stood triumphant as the riders were practically all dead).

I still stand by and say that this victory would not have been possible without the shedding of my men's blood! We managed to distract the attentions of the Great beast, The ballista, a cave troll and an isengard troll from the breaching of the gate all of whom could possibly have opened it allot sooner. Also the Crossbowmen suffered the forefront of our attack, and if they had been able to fire the men on the wall would have probably thinned out allot quicker and in this single act we may have won the day for Grimbold, Balin, Dain and Legolas. Even Theoden's accident at the hands of the Ballista lost it a turns shooting at the walls.

I'm quiet pleased with how some of my men performed, particularly Captain Elfhelm (who happens to be my favourite character in the whole lotr trilogy, if you've never heard of him read the chapters around and including ride of the rohirrim). His novelty is that he always gets ignored by your opponent who picks on characters such as Eomer and Theoden (Elfhelm, who is just a captain, is almost as good as Eomer in everything apart from M, W and F, and some could argue even better than Theoden) but ignores the humble Captain... that is until he kills your great beast of Gorgoroth!

Also the Nameless man who killed Lurtz with a throwing spear requires note. He did it in that contardictory manner that always happens after your fellow team mates say "throwing spears are the worst type of spears"...

Altogether a very good game and the additions of so many big monsters (Watcher, Great beast and four trolls) and so many great dwarves made it even more enjoyable.