Face-off 2013 1st round Erebor Vs Rivendell

The dwarves are favourites with better numbers, defence and more bows. the elves have better fighting skill, longer ranged bows, greater move rate and the ability to support with spears. The dwarves need to get to the hill which could be a challenge, as last time they faced this scenario the Haradrim beat them.

Erebor Vs Rivendell (The High Ground)


Deployment:

Both sides approach the hill

And ascend it's slope

The dwarf archers volley, arrowing an elf in the chest. The elves fail to respond

The elves try to play it smart,
however the dwarf captain attacks his opposite number with support

And two dwarves move to flank the elf line

The high Elf cast the dwarf attacks aside and pierces the dwarf mail

The elves look outnumbered, yet charge into the dwarf ranks

Preparing to fire, fires and fails to hit...

The Elf captain dodges the dwarf's attack and pokes him in the eye-hole,
leaving him prone on the floor.
The elves beside manage to spear a dwarf in the throat.

The dwarves swarm the elves

And neither sides proves to be the victor

The elf captain charges into the fray,
with his support seem to be gaining the upper hand elsewhere

The Captain splicing another dwarf

Same again but with one fewer dwarves

And the Captain downs the second to last dwarf archer

The elf archers punch the shield-dwarf to death

It's now a clean-up operation, on turn 9

The dwarf succumbs despite his high defence

This dwarf has seen enough

And the fate of these two seems sealed

And the dwarves are eradicated from the board, in a total massacre

Giving the Elves a major victory!(18-4)

Rivendell =10pts(winning scenario)+5pts(breaking the dwarves)+3pts(Killing dwarf captain)=18
Erebor     =4pts(losing scenario)=4

A thoroughly surprising game, as I thought the dwarves would be dominant throughout. the elven fighting skill proved more influential to the outcome. 
Next up is Cirith Ungol against The Fiefdoms in Storm the camp.

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2013 Team photos and analysis

Last time this took place was nearly a year and a half ago...
I don't know how much anyone liked it, simply from looking at the views, the starting interest died off.

But more on that afterwards. Roughly the same as last time 

• 150pt teams
• No more than 15 participants in favour of the GW warband rules, which I still don't own
• One hero who can be generic, unlike last time

The teams I drew this time are:

Theoden's Host

This time Erkenbrand will lead the Rohirrim, due to his horn and value per points. Instead of Royal guard which won't normally get to utilise their bodyguard rule, I chose 11 warriors 4 of whom have throwing spears.
Compared to last year this looks like a much stronger force, Theodred, who had huge attacking potential but susceptible to wounding, is replaced by Erkenbrand, the same hero but with a horn and a fate point, could make a vital difference in the initial battle.


The Easterlings

No Amdur, as the Southrons lacked numbers last time. A captain shall go instead with 12 Easterlings, 9 shields, 2 with spears, 3 with bows. 
Being the second largest force, and the majority having defence 6, they are one of the favourites, however poor attacking capabilities and Leader strength will mean they may not be able to use this advantage




Cirith Ungol

Gorbag takes command now, giving another 10pts to spend. 13 normal orcs accompany him, 2 with hand weapons, 4 shields, 4 spears, 2 bows, and a banner bearer hopefully to make up for the orcs' rubbish fighting.
Gorbag and the banner will have to be fully utilised as the poor quality of warriors will not grant them any favours.



Erebor

The dwarf king is replaced by a captain with shield and throwing axes. This means an extra dwarf is present, five have shields, and three bows.
The dwarves have always been strong competitors, high defence and courage should prevent any easy victory over them, as long as their legs can keep up.





The Fiefdoms

Taking the Gondorians place in the battles is Duinhur, a good shot, and fighter, however lack courage, which may not be too important this time around. He is supported by 6 knights of Dol Amroth and 4 Clansmen of Lamedon, plenty of skill but not numbers.
Technically breaks the warband rule, [citation needed] however my model constraints overrule this.



Rivendell

The elves make the others look over-numbered. An Elven captain with heavy armour (Half painted Elrond model) who brings 7 others, 3 shields+spears, 2 bows and 2 blades.
This force could have been slightly larger but only having a lightly armoured hero isn't a way to win any battle.





Isengard Raiders

Lurtz leads a pack of 10, 7 with shields, 3 with bows. Flexible in constitution, good fighters, and killers, but weak against arrows.
Probably the strongest force of them all, Lurtz is flexible in his ability to use a bow an still fight well, but lacks a strong defence to stand up to much greater heroes such as the troll or the Elven captain.





Moria

A goblin captain with shield replaces Durburz, and a troll takes up the place of the prowlers and a couple of goblins.
the troll was added to spice up the battles between individual heroes, as they can be one-sided from the start. 
This is a do-or-die situation for the goblins, as a smaller contingent of goblin minions means that they could quickly succumb to larger numbers.



On paper Lurtz' force and the dwarves look to be the favourites, however the order of battles is just as important, and it goes like so:

Erebor Vs Rivendell (The high ground)

Cirith Ungol Vs The fiefdoms (Storm the camp)

Moria Vs Theoden's Host (Take and Hold)

Isengard Raiders Vs the Easterlings (Seize the prize)

And so the winners will face the winners from the battle above or below, first up Erebor Vs Elves which could be interesting?

Until then

Fish

Coming home

Well I've been away for too long, not long enough though. 
As the stats show that November gathered 2100 views, a record amount considering no posts were made...

So if you viewed here intentionally or by accident, I thank you!

Regarding Gondor in Flames,  I must personally apologise for the late posting of the fifteenth turn end, I managed to leave a single picture on my home computer * slapface *.
I'm also afraid That's all folks, there is not enough time over the Xmas Hol's to complete five turns, but in fact if I did continue I would finish after Easter break and give you audience a very unstructured end to Gondor in Flames.
Which you probably wouldn't prefer.

So concluding Gondor in flames, I will put up a list of the key participants with their profiles and even my nominations plus my awards under various categories (I just thought this up) as follows:

Best performance 
- Lieutenant
- Corporal
- Hero

Most shocking
- Kill
- Dice roll
- moment

Best battle

Can't think of any more, hope this will suffice?

On another note, my next few posts with contain the second face-off tournament.

This time it features:

The Fiefdoms 
Theoden's host 
Cirth Ungol
Dwarves of Erebor
The Easterlings
Isengard raiders
Rivendell
Moria

Next time I do one of these, I'll do a group stage, What do you think?

Until then

Fish

Gondor in Flames turn 15 end

Previously this turn:
Haldran, Oira and Io re-took the Captain's hill, disbanding the goblin army and forcing Vashner towards the Anduin
Mainz defeated Rathin at the cost of his life
Dengond and Aerun pushed Morge back into Cirth Ungol
Luthyre and Nethar secured Cair Andros, killing Keresk and Corgoth 
The riders of Rohan dispatched the rogue warband they faced

This turn had a huge body count a total of 16, a General, a captain, two Lieutenants, five corporals, and seven other fatalities.

	Good	Evil
Capital	300	400
Settlements	1000	600
Battles	1450	20
Other	-30	-40
Supplies	-132	-71
Expenses	-500	-2000
Total	2088	-1091

Giving the final totals at 12261R and 1609R

The lieutenants and corporals met in Minas Tirith regarding the loss of their General.
"So tell me. What is our next move?" Asked the steward. 
None could muster the courage to respond. 
"Our Mainz has gained more than any of you upon this table!" He looked a several particular individuals at this point. "I must entrust the leadership of the Gondorian armies to one of you. I know your faults and your strengths yet, few overweight the latter." He paused, "It shall follow as such, Luthyre will command my men as their General." There were mutters and all-round agreeing, He had slain may an orc, and even commanded victories at key battles. "And Thuralion shall be his second in command." 
Uproar arose surrounding the table. Haldran, Dengond and Aerun would have been more eligible candidates, who had fought in a significant number of battles, but Thuralion was simply had lived off Mainz' success.
"SILENCE!" Bellowed the Steward. "We sit weakened men, although glorified in victories, the strands of justice are falling from our ropes and joining the enemy's. Do not make me regret this decision!"

"So the Dark lord is graced with this presence?" He said in third person. "You attacked together, and lose the battles?" He was right, all battles had gone awry. Morge was the only leader in a good position. "You scum are fortunate that one amongst you has done one thing right. Yes Rathin." A chill fell through the hearts of the Lieutenants as they realised, the dark lord was smiling. Morge dared to dart a look at him, luckily it was brief and the dark lord was forgiving in this mood. "The only one to remove a huge obstacle in our plans, and he lead them on wonderfully! So you shall be rewarded as second in command, do not test my decision!" He then warned

Until then

Fish