Battle companies tournament - Final battle!

After five rounds of battling all five companies have taken a share of either victory or disappointment. To decide who will be become the greater of these companies they will fight in one final battle...

This battle is special in several ways, the winner of this does not become the overall winner but will be an opportunity to gain more points. Gaining points is achieved by breaking enemy companies, securing objectives, etc... and these points will be added to the table, which stands like so:

Company	Battles	Inf.	pts	EXP (H)
Gondor	4	13	21	30
Moria	4	19	20	16
Isengard	4	8	15	14
Harad	4	0	6	9
Rohan	4	0	0	13

This battle is special in two more ways. Firstly all companies will be involved and will fight to the death (essentially) for the control of several objectives.
Further to this, in order to make all companies involved to be more aggressive, rather than becoming defensive but not spoil any chances of victory in doing so I've introduced an new enemy...

Gulavhar!

He'll be placed in the centre, and can only engage models that either:
- Intrude within 12''/28cm of him.
- Engage in direct combat with him.
- Hit Gulavhar with a ranged attack.
Gulavhar will continue to engage any model that does any of these things until they are killed (at which point he returns to the centre of the board).

However, to prevent Gulavhar from killing off too many models, and generally being overpowered compared to the other heroes and warriors present, the values from his might will and fate are considered zero for the purposes of this scenario.

Fairly simply this scenario is: Kill Gulavhar!

Aside from this objective, companies may gain points through the following ways:

• Dealing the killing blow to Gulavhar (4 points).
• Securing objectives that are placed around the board (which is as simple as having more models than opposing companies within 3''/8cm in the end phase of the turn in which Gulavhar is killed) 1 point is given for standard objectives and 2 points for the weapons stash.
• Breaking an enemy company (2 points).
• Removing an enemy hero from the field (1 point).

With all that sorted, to the Fighting!!!!!!!

Kill Gulavhar!

Setup. Gulavhar centre, Rohirrim southern edge, Moria eastern edge,
Gondor western edge, Haradrim northern edge and
the Uruk-hai on the south eastern edge.

The uruks make headway towards the weapons stash, hoping to
secure some better equipment early on.

The gondorians make their way towards the Haradrim and they send
a lone archer to secure another of the objectives.

The goblins also move to attack the Haradrim, and further secure an
objective. Clearly both major contenders are seeking for easy points...

There is a brief exchange of arrows, the Rohirrim decide the weapons
stash is fighting for after all!

The goblins infiltrate and prepare to fire on the Haradrim...

The Gondorians are somewhat isolated, being the strongest of the
five companies no-one wants to fight them

First Blood! The rider of Rohan hits an uruk archer in the eye!

The Gondorian Knights are preparing to charge as a
melee breaks out near the house.

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The uruks help themselves to heavy armour, shields and throwing spears,
much to the surprise of the Rohirrim.

Yet Eogar sniggers, ordering a volley of spears himself bringing down
two uruk-hai and leaving the uruk-hai forces broken!

Meanwhile Abaan also orders a volley, that takes 
down two goblins! But this allows Radmuz to slash 
wildly at him, unable to back away he falls
bloodied to the floor.

Radmuz then sees the opportunity and calls the goblins to engage the

Haradrim, while the Gondorian knights crash into their rear!

Back at the weapons stash, Eogar and the Rohirrim have sounded the 
charge on a broken uruk-hai line...

Yet one Rider got too cocky, straying ever too close to
the winged fury of Gulavhar!

The Gondorian knights easily crush one of their foes each. The Haradrim 
raider even manages to cut down a goblin hero! Meanwhile 
Radmuz also decapitates a nearby speaman.

Naturally, Gulavhar scythes through the rider of Rohan spilling blood
and limbs everywhere. Despite the ample supply of blood and bone 
flying around Eogar stays strong and punches Gazlur into submission.

The Rohirrim now control the weapons stash, Eogar orders his men to
fight the beast while he finishes off the remaining uruk.

With both the Haradrim and Goblins reduced, Radmuz orders his
minions to stand fast and they engage grumpily.

The Rohirrim manage to push Gulavhar back! The
Royal guard thrusts his spear into one of
his wings and he shrieks in pain.

Radmuz' scampers up and dances around both knights
and slices both horses from beneath them!

With only Gulavhar to fight the men of rohan take up heavy armour,
throwing spears and two-handed axes! Eogar orders another 
charge...But only the royal guard can stomach fighting the beast!

The Gondorian infantry has arrived! only to find the Haradrim and Goblins,
who were at each others throats a moment ago double-teaming them!

Gulavhar swipes at the guard, helpless to defend himself again the fiends'
vengance! And so his crumpled body lays on the floor.

Ingold and his men are pushed back with losses, a Harad archer cuts down 
one of their knights. And another goblin spear is hoof-ed in the face.

Eogar and co. summon the courage to charge Gulavhar again!

Radmuz calls another huge stand fast! and the goblins engage both
Haradrim and Gondorian alike seeing the battle hanging in the balance...

The Gondorians blithely turn aside the enemies attacks, Ingold spears 
the raider in the stomach and he groans as he hits the floor. While 
his guard outmatches a goblin a knocks him out.

Just as the fight by the house becomes one-sided Gulavhar becomes
trapped between Rohirrim shiedl armour and shiny two-handed axes
that dig deep into his hide! Gulavhar screams, ascends 
to the heavens and far off into the night....

And with Gulavhar dead, the objectives are secured as follows:

The lone Gondorian archer secures this objective.

With one person each the goblins and Gondorians
roll off to see who claims this objective...

Now onto the scores:

Rohan = 4 pts(kill Gulavhar) + 2pts(kill 2 isengard heroes) + 2pts(securing weapons stash) + 2 pts(breaking Isengard company) = 10 pts
Isengard = 0 pts
Harad = 3pts(killing Gondor hero, 2 goblin heroes) + 2 pts(breaking Moria company) = 5 pts
Moria = 1pt(killing Harad hero) + 2pts(breaking Haradrim company) + 1pt(objective) = 4 pts
Gondor = 1pt(killing Harad hero) + 1pt(objective) = 2 pts

Well, that could have gone either way, the Gondorians became very isolated so had to trek over half the boards length to stand a chance of getting any points (or face gulavhar).

Meanwhile the Goblins and Haradrim engaged in a death match with got them 8pts in total, but the Haradrim got the better of them (5pts to 3pts) in that case, which naturally works in both of their favours. The Haradrim were not going to win, but got points to save face, meanwhile the goblins got more points than the Gondorians.

The Rohirrim had a stellar battle, chewing through the uruk-hai like they weren't even there, they even got the killing blow on Gulavhar, will these points be enough though? Both those two companies used the weapons stash like I intended it, using it to improve armour and silly weapons that they wouldn't have otherwise in a situation you wouldn't expect...

This battle leaves the table looking like this. 

Company	Battles	Inf.	pts	EXP (H)
Moria	5	19	24	24
Gondor	5	13	23	39
Isengard	5	8	15	16
Harad	5	0	11	14
Rohan	5	0	10	23

The Rohirrim gained a lot of points in that last battle, but even so it was not enough to take them above the Haradrim, who are there on points alone.

The Uruk-hai remain unmoved but gain a little more experience.

Between the Gondorians and Moria though, that last battle has allowed the goblins to leapfrog them by a single point, the worst part is that this situation could be the other way around had the roll for the last objective gone the other way...

This means the Goblins have won! It involved a lot of outnumbering and concentrating on objectives rather than kills in some battles and vice versa in others.

I hope you've enjoyed following this mini-campaign, it's taken a while to post up some of the parts due to many of my other commitments, but it has been worth it.

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2016 Final Théoden's Host Vs Rivendell

And finally the Face-off 2016 Final! The elves defeated the Serpent Horde from a heroic duel between the elven captain and Suladan, after a very close encounter with the Mordorians which also resulted in a heroic duel that the captain got the better of the orc from. The Rohirrim, meanwhile took a close, but deserved, victory over Moria in the first round from Erkenbrand's special rules, then a well fought victory over the Fiefdoms.

Rivendell Vs Théoden's Host (Domination)
Whoever claims more of the five objectives after one side is broken and a 1 or 2 is rolled on D6 (in end phase). Objectives are claimed by having more models within 3''/8cm when the game ends.


Setup

The elves fan out, and the Rohirrim concentrate on their left flank.

One of the elves gets caught in the bush and his brains are dashed
across the floor! The elves advance un-phased.

The Rohirrim stand off their adversaries, who simple charge them. 

Then both captain call a counter charge...

There is tremendous crash of steel as the sides clash, the elven captain
slices through two royal guards, who were looking at Erkenbrand stab
an elf in the face. Also another Rohan warrior falls to an elf spear.

Erkenbrand calls another charge allowing them to surround the elves,
and an elf is speared from three foot away.

Initially the elf captain took a deep leg cut from a throwing spear and
as he bent over to grab it Erkenbrand clove him in twain.
Another Rohan warrior gets speared too. 

Things are looking bleak for the elves, who have been broken,
but they stand fast hoping the battle will turn in their favour.

And so two more elves fall beneath either spear or sword of the Rohirrim.

Erkenbrand orders his guard to claim the remaining objectives.

While he fights fiercely with an elf, but knocks aside his shield
and drives his sword into the elven warriors gut.

The last elf stands, and fights a royal guard, although
neither has the better of the other.



Erkenbrand hastens to remove the faithful elf.



But his guard manages without...

And so the Rohirrim remove all the pesky elves from the field, and claim total victory!!

Théoden's Host = 10 + 5(breaking elves) + 3(killing elven captain) + 5(number of objectives claimed) = 23 
Rivendell = 4

This victory was far too easy for the Rohirrim. Their throwing spears really gave them the edge, allowing them to effectively roll-to-wound on a 4+, not only that but the initially killed elf really meant that the elves had to charge into the Rohan line in order to win the well or the number of objectives would be against them once either side was broken.

Overall Hero Kills
Erkenbrand = 12 (16)
Elven captain = 9 (15) or 19 (27) inc. play-offs
Suladan = 9 (11)
Duinhur = 8 (8)
Shagrat = 3 (3)
Goblin captain = 3 (3)
Goblin Shaman = 2 (2)

There are some clear candidates for the person of the tournament, Sadly Suladan won't be taking it this time, as despite the number of kills he was too easily neutralised by other forces in the last two scenarios. Erkenbrand fought well in his three scenarios, getting a reasonable amount of kills, however a decent portion of his sides kills were from his bodyguard. The elf captain, however, has played a key role in the elven successes, destroying the dwarves in the play-offs, killing Shagrat and Suladan in the first round and the semis with many other kills along the way, although the final was  a poor showing from the elven force, he still earns himself the Elf of the Tournament award for carrying his warband to the final battle.

So this concludes the Face-off 2016, albeit 5 months later than intended. I have done some other things over the Easter break, and they will be put up in due course :)

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2014 Final Easterlings Vs Tower of Ecthelion

So, after a series of surprising results and heroics, two forces have reached the final to decide the overall winner.

The Easterlings began by taking revenge over the Mordorian orcs, who were dispatched through lack of co-ordination and heavy armour deflecting the orc blades, despite Shagrat trying to buoy his force by killing a few Easterlings.
They then faced the Serpent horde, Suladan wasn't his usual self unable to cut through as many of the Easterners, so the captain gave no quarter and his men cut down their opponents with ease.

The Gondorians had to charge against a wall of elven spears, the elves behind refusing to back down, or attack much, which meant the knights could be cut down swiftly, but not enough as the Gondorian captain swiftly drove through the last elf levelling the kills made by either captain.
So they went through by virtue of wiping the elves from the field, they then came across an all out siege against the Isengard raiders who solely defended their camp and a lapse in concentration from Lurtz left him disembowelled on the floor. Neither side could rally very well, except one knight who stood alone to give the Gondorians a very close victory.

Easterlings Vs Tower of Ecthelion (Ill met by Moonlight)

Tactical movements.

The Easterlings take control of the pass.

This means the knights have to flank or be killed in the phalanx
so they retreat to defend the pass.

And the Knights charge into the hastily-formed Easterling wall.

Three are knocked bleeding in the dirt,
the captain turns to see this new threat.

And urges his men into the knights, but are attacked at the pass too 

The Easterling captain scythes and slashes through two knights,
as another is brought down behind him to level the kills.

The Knight's captain counter-charges into the skirmish with support

He strikes down two, as his rival only takes down one.
More fighting succumbs three more warriors.

One of the Easterlings has had enough, taking to the wind,
the rest surround the remaining knight.

Surrounded but the knight retains his composure, lancing
one of his opponents in the throat.

Despite their bravery, both Captain see no victory anymore...

And the remaining knight charges, hopefully for the last time.

The other Easterlings are too shocked by their captains departure,
allow the knight to cut through their opened guards.

Giving the Gondorians the victory!

So the Gondorians have gained another close victory. To be honest any of the three forces they faced could have come out on top quite easily. The knights had the offensive advantage, the Easterlings positioned themselves well to prevent one devastating charge, or so they thought. The hastily formed wall should have had spear support, and neither of the captains should be fleeing leaving one or two of the warriors remaining. But still, such is war:

Tower of Ecthelion = 15
The Easterlings = 9



Overall Kill standings
Suladan = 14 (14)
Easterling captain = 8 (12)
Gondorian captain = 7 (7)
Lurtz = 6 (8)
Shagrat = 3 (3)
Erkenbrand = 2 (2)
Dwarf Captain = 2 (2)
Elven Captain = 2 (2)

Based on the results from the killing chart (above) and parts of the battles, the Man of the Tournament goes to Suladan. This is not simply because of the number of kills, but that each other force had to focus on dealing with him in order to win each scenario. Théoden's host dealt with him very well, but his early kills prevented the Rohirrim from winning the battle. The Easterlings also dealt with him well, as he failed to kill enough of them to prevent an Easterling victory. Finally in the Third place battle, the uruks completely ignored him even as he massacred over half their force.

This ends another Face-off tournament, hopefully next time around in March and April, I do some more board work, doing the final two paint coats, flocking and sealing to finish the job!!
Also some actual story based scenario, maybe some Dwarves Vs Goblins, or maybe something completely different.

Until then

Fish