Isengard vs Rohan

Battle of the south undeep

Having had reported to them that a host of orcs and evil men were crossing the river at the south undeep, Theoden Thengel-son gathered the Eoreds of the riddermark and rode for the Anduin ford. Along side him rode Eomer Eomund's son, marshal of the riddermark and Guthlaf, warden of the king's halls. Whilst crossing the entwash they were joined by the dwarven host of Feldunost and their King; Dwalin. Then Whilst overnighting in the east Emnet, Marshal Elfhelm and his Eored arrived to the king's standard, from running the gauntlet along the gap of Rohan, along with two elves from the grey havens. With the host of riders and warriors now assembled they made for the south Undeep to find that the host of Udun which had forded the Anduin was constructing a fleet of flat bottomed ships, to float down the river to Osgiliath.
Remembering the ancient alliance with Gondor and outraged that the hosts of the dark one were in his lands, Theoden rallied his host and lead the attack.

The game was a wipe out with 1000pts aside. The armylists were as follows:

Army of Udun
Knight of Umbar
Mouth of Sauron
Spider Queen
Orc captain
Black numenorean marshal
5 morgul knights
15 black numenoreans
12 orc spearmen
4 orcs with two handed weapons
8 orc trackers
1 mordor siege bow
1 mordor troll

Host of the Emnet
Theoden thengel son
Eomer eomund son
Marshal Elfhelm
Dwalin, Captain
Thorin Oakenshield, captain
Murin and Drar
Guthlaf, royal guard
15 riders of rohan
8 dwarf archers
2 dwarf shield bearers
6 dwarf warriors
6 dwarf warriors with two handed axes
2 elf archers

The opening moves saw Theoden and his host of riders fall back from what had appeared to be a central charge for the morgul knights and the troll (I am known for my Rohirrim charges towards the most deadly opponent, ride to ruin and all that). Instead the Dwarves under Murin, Drar and Dwalin threw up a wall in front of the riders.

 Lead by the inspirational arrows of the two elves and Drar, the rest of the dwarf bowmen open fire into the charging morgul knights, killing one outright and throwing another from his mount. With another round of shooting this would be enough to completely blunt the knight's charge.

 However the ambassador of Sauron and the crusading ringwraith redirected their knights for the flank away from the archers, but were quickly halted by Dwalin and his dwarves, who ran up and hacked down yet another of the knights as he galloped.

Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves struck out from the bushes at the weighty forces on the left flank. Thorin and Bombur both running in and splitting apart a black numenorean.

With the Knight's charge blunted in two turns by the dwarves, Theoden now let slip his cavalry on the Right flank. Dwalin and his dwarves held up the remaining knights and their leaders whilst Murin, Elfhelm, Guthlaf, Eomer, Theoden and two dwarves surrounded the Troll, and hacked it down under a bitter number of blows. With the morgul knights all but nullified and the troll slain to not a single casualty on our part yet, Theoden's tactic of holding back seemed to be paying off. However he had now committed his riders to the right flank and they would have to break the black numenoren line and hope Dwalin held the rinwraith off their flanks till then.


The Rohirric advance was beginning o take hold and the trackers now found themselves at the horsemen's mercy. The three troll slaying heroes of Rohan now directed their attacks of the knight of Umbar, but they were thrown back by the spectre as he showed them his steel. The black numenorean shield wall was also proving equally difficult for the rohirrim to break, and they burst around its flanks.

On the left flank the dwarven attacks had descended into naught but a brawl with the spider queen and the marshal's warriors fighting an all out skirmish with the dwarves and their archers, lead by Thorin, Murin and Drar. However the spider had been wounded by the Dwarves but Thorin had met his match in the Black numenorean marshal.

Thorin Oakenshield and Fili battle hard against the wicked Marshal and his fellow warrior, supported by the cowardly orc lackeys! But the Dwarves threw them off time and time again!

With rather a turn of events the Rohirrim swept aside the orc trackers, to fall upon the shield wall's flanks and roll it up with their enfilading charge. But despite the carnage of the rohirrim's charge, just as much carnage was caused by the orcs who let rip their bolt thrower into the combats slaying two dwarves and Theoden's horse. However the right flank was clearly won, with just a ringwraith and one orc to protest.

But the left brawl was going on just as firecily. It was complete chaos as the dwarves battled with teh Black numenoreans and the spider queen fought off all assailants. However, with the carnage of the right flank the evil forces had lost their spirit and were well and truely broken, the bolt thrower crew sneaking off to the ford.

The Rohirrim now continued the charge on the left flank, riding down the evil men and orcs alike and dispersing the combats.

 The ringwraith, falling back and blasting off darts and immobilising spells for all he was worth, suddenly found two rohirrim atop of him. With but one will left they defeated him in combat and he disolved into nothingness before their blows fell.

The ringwraith was banished, but the Rohirrim and dwarves were now broken and a few of the more mean dwarves fled the field of carnage, to leave Thorin and Dwalin battling the warrios of teh spider queen.

From what had looked like a succesful victory the warriors of the Emnet quickly fell. Dwalin was cut down, as was Thorin and so too was elfhelm. Kili battled on against the tide of evil and teh last elf continued to let off his arrows at the Umbaric Marshal.

The last three riders and the lone elf stood beside their king in the face of the superior forces. The Marshal brought Theoden to his knees, dragging him off for the high ransom the Rohirrim would pay for his safe return, whilst the other riders were slain and the elf died at the hands of the spider queen in a self sacrificing last stand to save the king.

But in the end the servants of Sauron stood tiumphant, though numbering but three men, an orc and the spider queen they could not pursue their voyage down stream. But Sauron's coffers were richly filled with the money earned for the king's ransom along with the horses and arms of the fallen warriors.

the 4th age, rise of man: part 1

Since the finish of the Fantasy War in wattonford campaign (http://warformiddleearth.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/war%20in%20wattonford) my local store has started a long awaited lord of the rings strategy battle game. Us two at tale of two gamers entered it with my force of rohirrim and my fellow gamer's Mordor force (we really must get round to doing a special on it). The first game was 1 warband each and the tale of two gamers made a team against the other players in the campaign. Today's game was a kind of capture the flag objective.
So my rohirrim and the forces of mordor took on the servants of sauron with the folowing lists.

Tale of two gamers
Eomer Marshal of the riddermark
12 riders of rohan with throwing spears
Spider Queen
6 black numenoreans
6 orc warriors with spears
Great beast of gorgoroth

Servants of Sauron
Mordor troll chieftain
Urukhai captain
Easterling captain
4 urukhai with shields
4 urukhai with pikes
2 bezerkers
1 urukhai ballista
5 orcs with spears
2 orcs with bows
3 orcs with two handed weapons
2 orcs with shields
2 easterling black dragon kataphracts
6 easterlings with pikes and spears
4 easterlinsg with bows
I kicked off the battle with my classic opening Rohirrim move! The charge of the Rohirrim, where my commander spearheads the block of riders straight for the enemy shield wall!
We burst forwards from the right side of our objective with the minions of the spider queen advancing in a shield wall to the left.

Shooting took its toll on us as we advanced at full pelt towards the foe, the urukhai ballista piercing a man in half and going straight through two other men's horses, sending them walking. The Easterlings also opened up on the black numenorean shield wall, taking out two of the corrupted men and leaving their orc supporters exposed.
The Rohirrim charge then hugged the enemy objective, out of sight of the urukhai ballista. The riders then split up with Eomer riding to take on the troll while four others charged the urukhai phalanx, hurling their throwing spears and taking out two of the urukhai shield men, falling upon the orc supporters.

However only two of the four who charged survived, defeating their orcish opponents as their fellows, who failed to dispatch their uruks with their throwing spears, were hacked apart by the uruks and their captain. Over on the right Eomer was defeated by the troll chieftain but he survived its blows without injury. Two orcs were also taken out by fellow orcish shooting from the great beast.

Things soon got bloody as the lines broke under the weight of combat and the charge of the great beast! The rohirrim were now trapped inbetween the Bezerkers and the phalanx, having slain but one orc spearman to the loss of four riders. The great beast in the centre had been halted by the Easterling captain and his pikemen and neither were making much of an impression on the other.
And on the left the Kataphracts and orc warriors were in a bitetr grind with the terror causing black numenoreans and their orc spearmen, which had so far claimed two orc spearmen and all the oposing orc warriors.

With but two rohirrim left standing against the phalax now was the time for great deeds! And these two warriors did not disapoint with one hurling his spear at the captain as he ran for him, the spear pierced his side and wounded the urukhai leader. However the enraged uruk struck down the brave warrior and after slaying an orc the other rider also fell to the urukhai phalanx. The casualty count after the charge was but two urukhai shield bearers and two orc spearmen dead plus the urukhai captain wounded to the deaths of ten rohirrim.

Eomer bravely battle on under the banner of Rohan! Surrounded by two bezerkers and assailed by the troll chieftain Eomer brought his axe down into the troll and taking it to two wounds, however the combined efforts of the two uruks and the troll brought the marshal of the riddermark to his knees in the end. And the last man of rohan, holding the banner alloft only just beat back the Bezerkers, riding hard for the objective to plant the flag there and await a stand!

With the arrival of Rohan's standard the spider queen left her lair in the ruin and attacked the urukhai captain! Within one round of combat she had consumed him armour and all!

The force of the black numenorans was starting to show and they and their orc lackeys easily overpowered the last easterling rider whilst the great beast (supported by a spider swarm and a black numenorean and orc lackey) on just three wounds fought on against the easterling and urukhai pikemen oposing is.

With the easterling shock cavalry out of the way and the urukhi captain slain the black numenorens and the spider queen fell upon the foe with the aim of freeing up the great beast from combat. Unfortunatly the great beast's (which had been on two wounds) crewmen hit it with their bow fire at the easterling captain, wounding both him and it.

With all but one of the urukhai and orcs slain the Numenoreans and their orc spearmen  started for the enemy objective. Hoping to, with the help of the spider queen, over power the troll chieftain and the bezerkers before capturing the ruin for themselves (or at least contesting it).

The easterlings were straggling now, with the one wound great beast, three black numenoreans and three orc spearmen surrounding and skirmishing with but three easterlings and their captain.

The game ended with the spider queen at the door of the ruin. Next turn she would have been brawling with the troll, but as the shop was closing up we had to bring the game to a close.

The objectives were both still in their owner's hands so we went down to see which side had the most broken warbands. For ourselves the rohirrim were broken and the great beast was on just one wound while the orcs and urukhai on the otherside were also broken. So it was drawn there as well.

However in the end we were declared the victors by the manager as we had come most close to capturing the objective and had actually focused on it as well.

So 3 campaign pts to each of us from tale of two gamers whilst the rest went home with but one each.

A good start... but as Milton keynes campaign and goodness knows how many church events seme to clash with the rest I probably won't be able to join in again till the last week.

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