Battle companies tournament - Round 5

And so it comes to the final round. The goblins lead the table thanks to remaining undefeated in all their rounds of fighting, closely followed by the Gondorians, then comes the Isengard raiders. Below them are the Haradrim who have had hard fortunes with their members and lastly are the Rohirrim who have yet to make a proper impact, or get any points, in this tournament.

To the fields of battle!

Haradrim Vs Isengard (Contest of Champions)

Setup

The Uruk-hai split allowing the archers to take aim, but with little avail.

The Haradrim continue their adavance and the Uruk-hai
retreat to form a single line.

More advancing from both sides and some exchanging of arrows...

Until a crossbow bolt finds it's way into the throat of a Haradrim
spearman who prompts staggers to the ground.

Abaan orders the Haradrim line to continue their advance,
yet the uruks pick their targets carefully...

Another uruk-hai bolt makes it's way into a Haradrim warrior,
meanwhile Gazlur takes a chunk out of another

A somewhat beleaguered Abaan calls all his men to charge the uruks!

This avails to little, but the Haradrim charge yet again.

Although both leaders fight frantically but cannnot make any impact, 
however the haradrim warriors retaliate to having their 
comrades killed by cutting down two uruks.

Abaan seizes the initiative and surrounds Gazlur!

But it'll take more than that to kill the uruk, to make matters worse
another Haradrim succumbs to uruk blade. This leaves the 
Haradrim broken!

In light of this one Harad warrior legs it from the field 
allowing Gazlur and company free reign...

And so the last remaining member of Abaan's guard is kicked while
bleeding on the floor.

This Just leaves Gazlur and his warriors to surround Abaan. The man
never stood a chance really and is easily cut down...

Gazlur got 2 wounds there compared to Abaan's zero, so this gives the Uruk-hai a major victory!

From this battle the Haradrim get no points but gain 2 influence while the Isengard radiers gain 6 points and 5 influence.

Harad – Three of the injured warriors die from their wounds, one will miss the next battle and one recovers. Abaan recovers but takes a leg wound. One of the Haradrim warrior is finally promoted and becomes a Haradrim Raider (+1 fate).

Given they have lost three members the Haradrim use 3 influence to roll on the reinforcement table and they receive two Haradrim warriors, one with dagger and one with spear.

Isengard – Of their casualties one warrior recovers and Uruk 1 dies from his injuries. Otherwise one uruk warrior is promoted.

Goven their relatives low numbers compared to other companies the uruk-hai use 3 influence to roll on the reinforcement table and receive and uruk-hai warrior with shield.


Rohan Vs Gondor (Meeting Engagement)

Setup

Marching from both sides...

The Gondorians take up defence of the barrier as arrow and
spear fly over heads and shields harmlessly.

The Rohirrim engage the end of the barrier.

Meanwhile elsewhere on the field, the rider of Rohan gets charged by a
knight with one of his companions close at hand should things go awry.

Ingold calls his men to prepare defensive positions, but Eogar's
men have already engaged them!

The men of Gondor shove the straw-heads aside.
yet ingold takes a nasty gash to the leg...

The Knight also takes a well-placed sword thrust from the rider of rohan,
but his armour glaces it aside and he charges in again!

One of the knight re-joins the fray as the Gondorians assail the Rohirrim!

The Gondorian archer pushes his two attacker back and punches 
one of them. Also Eogar become trapped and gets two spears in 
his gut from Ingold and co.

The odds have fallen in Gondors favour after the last melee...

The Knight gallops around the wall charges the royal guard and watches
his lance clunk the guardsman in the helmet, also the banner
bearer slices through the bowman with ease.

All this time the Knight and rider have been clashing
shield and lance endlessly...

The Rohirrim are reduced to 25% which gives the Gondorians the victory yet again!

Rohan gain no points and 2 influence. Gondor gain 6 points and 5 influence.

Rohan – Eogar, RRG and one other warrior recover, one bowman dies, RRG gains old battle wound. No promotions.

Gondor – Warrior 7 is promoted to CG2, no other promotions. Ingold gains +1 strength.

The Rohirrim had points when they could have got key kills and wounds, although they started well, the heavy armour and experience in arms of the gondorians proved to be worth more, the banner surely didn't help this matter any more. But once they had been reduced by a couple of members, these advantages made all the difference and they couldn't do much more.

In the other battle, the Haradrim had a numerical advantage but couldn't utilise it. The uruk-hai line meant that either side got 3 rounds of shots off before combat, and one of the uruk heroes only required 2+ to hit (due to the Marksmanship special rule) further he had a crossbow, that means he only needed 4+ to wound the Haradrim so was 42% likely to wound per turn (he actually got two kills from this) which is overpowered as hell. So any numbers that had to their advantage were reduced, rapidly. The Haradrim needed 5's to wound while the uruks needed 4's and had a fight value advantage, so naturally they stood very little chance... 

These results leave the table looking 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

The Gondorians Have a very small advantage over the goblins going into the final battle, the Uruk-hai could win overall given a shock victory, but it would require both Moria and Gondor - the two strongest companies - having very bad battles...

On a more rules related note as Rohan, Isengard and Gondorian companies have no injured members going into the final battle none of the companies receive control of the weapons stash in the final battle. However two of the three companies will be deployed nearer to the weapons stash than the other companies (thus it will be easier for them to claim during the battle)


Next up is, you guessed it, the Final battle!

Until then

Fish

Battle companies tournament - Round 4 Part II

The goblins have been on point this tourney, taking three victories from three and only dropping points to the Gondorians so far, the only thing they need is experience for their four heroes.

The Haradrim, meanwhile are looking for points to put them above Isengard, but the battles have taken there toll and having lost three members last round and just six members for this round are quite outnumbered here. This could be a very one sided affair...

Moria Vs Harad (To Kill a King)

Setup.

The goblin archer take aim, only to find the Haradrim hidden behind a
stone wall and so their arrows bounce off harmlessly. 

So the goblin archers move closer and fire again, only to find the 
Haradrim have moved to the other side of the wall 
and the arrows bounce off yet again.

The Haradrim return fire, with one piercing a goblin in the chest.

Radmuz orders an attack on the left side of the prepared enemy line.

In the melee a Haradrim spearman is cut down, meanwhile the goblin
archers re-position themselves and manage to injure 
one of the Hradrim archers too.

Radmuz sits back as his warriors charge again.

One of the Goblin heroes is pushed back into the wall allowing the
Haradrim to take multiple stabs at him knocking him unconscious...

Abaan orders the Haradrim charge and supports his warriors too!

The charge has mixed results, a goblin warrior and hero are brought
down but at the expense of a Haradrim warrior.

Hoping to seize some advantage Abaan orders a charge, and the
remaining Haradrim archer to knock his arrow. But the goblin archers 
have re-joined the main foray and so do the same.

The charge goes awry, with yet another Haradrim spearman brought
down by goblin blade, and a Bowman to successive arrows in the gut.

With the Haradrim force in splinters Radmuz and the remainder of his
company engage who they can.

This swarm of goblins brings down the last supporting member of
Abaan's company, who manages to smash a
goblin in the face with his spear.

The goblins then take no chances with the Haradrim Hero...

And he is inevitably brought down under the weight of numbers!

And so with Abaan down the Goblins claim a major victory!!

Moria gain 6 points and 5 influence. Harad gain no points and 2 influence.

Moria – Two warriors recover from their injuries, but one will miss the next battle. Meanwhile the wounded goblin heroes recover, but one gains a niggling injury from his injuries. Otherwise a goblin archer is promoted.

Harad – Six of the injured Haradrim warriors recover. Abaan recovers although gains an arm wound.

After four rounds of fighting the goblin company remains undefeated, therefore the warriors and heroes gain +1 fight and +1 courage for the final battle!

This battle probably went roughly as you might have anticipated, the Haradrim were outnumbered so tried to bottle-neck the goblin forces, yet eventually the greater numbers of goblins outdid the Haradrim, despite a couple of lucky kills on their part, and they were broken and Abaan was brought down swiftly enough.

Company	Battles	Inf.	pts	EXP (H)
Moria	4	19	20	16
Gondor	3	4	15	19
Isengard	3	6	9	7
Harad	3	2	6	8
Rohan	3	1	0	9

The Goblins again jump back into first place and the Haradrim fail to move above the Uruk-hai but remain in-front of the Rohirrim.

Next up is the final round, 5. Where the Gondorians battle rock-bottom Rohirrim in Meeting Engagement and the Haradrim fight Isengard in a Contest of Champions.

Until then

Fish

Battle companies tournament - Round 4 Part I

Going into the fourth round of fighting the Gondorians have started well, wiping the floor with an unprepared Haradrim company and then lost to the leading goblin company, but still took points from reducing their forces...

The Isengard raiders however have been prepared from their previous battle with the Rohirrim that ended in their favour, but otherwise are hoping to pick up points after resupplying their company.

Isengard vs Gondor (Storm the camp)

Setup.

The Gondorians go on the attack and the Uruk-hai
move to defend the camp entrance.

Arrows are briefly exchanged between the two sides, and one Gondorian
archer swiftly finds an arrow through his throat.

Ingold and his men hesitate on attacking, so Gazlur orders one
of the uruks to flank the Gondorians.

Then Ingold orders the charge!!

But the Uruk-shields simply push the men backwards,
cutting down a man in the process.

Another charge from the Gondorians.

The plucky uruk archer punches another Gondorian into submission.

With the initial Gondorian charge negated, Gazlur goes on the offensive.

An one of the archers nearly makes it into the Gondorian camp!
(Which would have meant a Isengard victory)

With the men staring the face of defeat the Knight
lances an Uruk in the face...

Everyone engaged.

But neither side can gain anything edgeways.

Until Ingold order his men to charge unexpectedly,
allowing the Knight to injure another uruk.

More attacking.

The Knight charges again, trampling yet another uruk.

But a plucky uruk archer manages to wound the last remaining
Gondorian camp defender!

With both sides running low on numbers Ingold musters his courage
and calls his men to Stand Fast! Then the Knight
gallops towards the last uruk archer.

Both uruk archer and Gazlur both fall to Gondorian steel.

As so with the raiders cleared from the field the Gondorians are victorious!

This means that Isengard gain 3 points and 2 influence, while Gondor gain 6 points and 5 influence.

Isengard – Two uruks recover, one will miss the next battle and another is killed. Gazlur recovers and gains +1 fate. One uruk archer is promoted and gains marksmanship.

Having lost a member they use 3 influence to roll on the reinforcement table, and receive an orc warrior with shield.

Gondor – Two warriors recover from their injuries, however two are killed. One warrior is promoted to KOMT2, while CG1 gains +1 might and KOMT1 gains +1 courage. 

Having lost two members they use 6 influence to roll on the reinforcement table twice. And they get a warrior with shield and spear and a warrior with shield. Further they buy a shield for the new promoted KOMT2 (-1 influence).


Moreover the Gondorian company gain a banner due to their victory and killing or injuring all enemy models. This banner is given to warrior 7.

Company	Battles	Inf.	pts	EXP (H)
Gondor	3	4	15	19
Moria	3	14	14	8
Isengard	3	6	9	7
Harad	2	0	6	6
Rohan	3	1	0	9

So the Gondorians manage to skip over the Goblins to first place and Isengard over the Haradrim.

It got very tight there, initially the uruks had the upper hand, and almost claimed a cheeky victory if it was not for 1''. Yet the Gondorians had to remove enemies before they could retaliate, and this was made possible by two things: firstly actually having a mounted company member that could manoeuvre across the field easily, and secondly Ingold's blade master special rule.

Next up is Moria vs Harad in To Kill a King!

Until then

Fish