Face-off 2016 play-offs

Play-offs

This, as mentioned, will be three battles between three forces under three scenarios, the overall loser will be eliminated and the remaining two will progress to the knockout stages.

The loser is determined by:

• Number of victories
• Number of draws
• Number of major victories/or major losses
• Points obtained against points conceded
• A heroic duel between the contesting forces heroes (I personally would like this to happen)

With that out of the way. To the battles!!
 
Rivendell Vs Moria (Reconnoitre)

Setup

Both sides split off into two directions. The goblin archers fire a volley
towards the elven captain, who takes an arrow to the
right arm, yet it doesn't phase the elf lord.

The elves arrive at the wall first, but the goblins
mount their assault carefully.

And two sneaky goblins vault the wall, slitting the throat of the
defending elf as they pass!

This allows more of the goblins to pass over, but the elves are not
without hope, as the captain cuts down one of the attacking goblins.

One of the goblins evades through elf lines, with more on their way,
still the captain re-assumes them as he slices and
cleaves the two goblins nearby.

By the house the elves have successfully held off the goblin attack.

And elf prowess shows, as yet another goblin
succumbs to the elven blades.

Another goblin manoeuvres through the elf lines,
so two elves are sent to even the scores.

The goblins strike back, stabbing an elf blocking two from certain escape.

And while the Elven captain finally brings down the shaman,
the goblin captain kills another elf.

So the goblins are reduced below 25% and the game ends! This gives Moria the victory:

Moria = 10 + 5(breaking elves) + 5(models evading) = 20
Rivendell = 4 + 5(breaking goblins) + 3(killing shaman) + 2(models evading) = 14


Erebor Vs Rivendell (A Clash of Piquets)

Given the elves lost the previous encounter, they need to win to stand a chance of progressing.

Setup.

The forces more closer to the well and they increase in number,
more arrive on the field as they march.

The sides rush at each other, the elves getting the upper hand initially.

The last of each side have entered the field as they clash again.

This time the dwarf captain squishes an elf, another falls swiftly
beside him, the elf captain takes a nasty cut on the thigh.

But returns the favour to the dwarf, removing the leg from under him.

Both leaders go all out for the victory, killing upon either side.

But the dwarves are broken first, so the game ends:

Rivendell = 10 + 5(breaking dwarves) = 15
Erebor = 4

Moria Vs Erebor (The High Ground)

Moria already have a victory, so a draw ensures progression, whereas the dwarves need a very distinct victory to stand a chance of progressing.

Setup



Both sides approach the contested hill.

And split into two sections.

A fierce melee occurs.

Leaving three bloody goblins and a dwarf on the ground.

The goblins want more, and charge with the fury of the Shaman!

And three dwarves keel over from the red-eyed goblins.

Which leaves the dwarves to be swarmed by the many goblins.

But the dwarf captain provides a small lifeline of goblin corpses.

The dwarves hold out as more goblins fall. But one dwarf succumbs,
leaving the dwarf force broken!

They don't have time to flee, as the goblins force
them to fight for their lives.

Two goblins and the same number dwarves are
cut down, leaving the goblins broken too!

The goblin captain has had enough, but the shaman calls
the goblins to arms and they charge again.

All who remain.

Two goblins flee as the dwarves hold their ground, and the dwarf
captain lobs the head of the nearest goblin, leaving
the hill claimed by the dwarves!

So the dwarves have got a close victory:

Erebor = 10 + 5(breaking goblins) + 3(number of dwarves on hill) = 18
Moria = 4 + 5(breaking dwarves) + 2(number of goblins on hill) = 11

So the final tallying's:

Rivendell (1 minor victory and loss) - pts = 29/24    (1st)
Moria (1 minor victory and loss) - pts = 31/32          (2nd)
Erebor (1 minor victory and loss) - pts = 22/26        (3rd)

Kills by Heroes
Elven Captain = 10 (12)
Dwarf Captain = 7 (7)
Goblin Captain = 5 (5)
Goblin Shaman = 0 (0)

So Erebor despite some late heroics, will not progress. Therefore Rivendell go through as 1st place and Moria 2nd place.

This makes the next battles as follows: 

The Easterlings Vs The Serpent Horde (A Clash Of Piquets)

Rivendell Vs Cirth Ungol (To The Death!)

Isengard Raiders Vs The Fiefdoms (Seize The Prize)

Moria Vs Théoden's Host (Contest Of Champions)

Merry Christmas!!!

Fish

Face-off 2016 teams and analysis

Face-off time!

This time there is an extra team and three more battles than normal. Moria have re-entered along with the Fiefdoms, while the last winners (Tower of Ecthelion) are absent.

The force composition rules are similar to last time:

• Must include one hero
• Must be no more than 150pts
• The force must not include more than 15 models, that are non-heroes (such that each side represents a warband not an army)

Here are the teams:

Cirth Ungol

The same force as last time around. The banner will hopefully be used to win more of the combats, meanwhile Shagrat is a solid hero that should be able to fight against most of the enemy heroes.



The Serpent horde

Again this force is the same as last time around, Suladan leads half a dozen infantry from horseback. The Serpent lord will provide the main threat and killing power while his guards go off and secure objectives.

Erebor

The dwarf captain with shield leads the side again, however the number of dwarf warriors has been changed to 9, three of them have shields. The main aim here is to use the two-handed axes to be able to kill better armoured enemy warriors.

Théoden's host

Erkenbrand gets another go at leading the Rohan forces, last time they left despite clearing the field of Haradrim. They must have done something right so the same force will be used here again. His supporting cast are 4 royal guard and 5 warriors with throwing weapons.

 

The Fiefdoms

After the debut success of this force, there are no changes. Duinhur is in command, and is supported by 6 knights of Dol Amroth and 4 clansmen of Lamedon.

Isengard raiders

Lurtz is the leader of the pack here, providing a stalwart melee and ranged capabilities, while the ten warriors have higher strength values that will be utilised to break down higher defence enemies.



The Easterlings

These Easterlings actually managed to get into the final battle last time around, so this force remains unchanged. They'll utilise the high defence warriors to phalanx their way to an ambitious third place.

Moria

The goblins have gone for a different approach, the captain and his 13 warriors will be attacking everything. Failing this the shaman will add some of his furious magic to help them along the way. This force could either flabbergast or flop in my opinion.

Rivendell

The heavily armoured elven captain leads the 7 heavily armoured elf warriors, 5 of whom have shields. This forces has the advantage for very long battles where courage values become important.

More of the same as last time apparently is the theme. Each force seems to be very well rounded, and no clear side stands out as being a favourite. Although the fiefdoms and the Serpent horde may edge the odds in both of their favours.

As mentioned previously the scenarios used for each of the first three battles are:

Rivendell Vs Moria (Reconnoitre)

Erebor Vs Rivendell (A Clash of Piquets)

Moria Vs Erebor (The High Ground)

And these three shall become two that'll go into the knockout stages.

Until then

Fish

Tis the season to be jolly!

Hello again!

So recently the activity on here has hit a new low. This is not only because of life at university presenting the continued existence of exams and of coursework to keep me occupied - But wait, what about the summer, surely you got time off there?

Well... not really.
I decided to embark in a journey that consisted of me trying and actually getting some form of summer job (to keep the parents off my case!)

That's all well and great, however my time spent on doing the war-gaming things I enjoy, not so great :(
Now I have time free! And with this free time I'll talk about the gaming I've planned for over the Christmas break.

In keeping with my own personal tradition, there will be a mini face-off during this time, although this isn't my favourite form of gaming in LOTR, it's a simple thing both to plan for and to follow. Which helps as I don't always have the freedom over Christmas to carry out extensive campaigns, huge battles, painting sessions and modelling terrain; which everyone would much prefer.

The difference this time around is that I've modified the setup a little: there's now a play off between three forces, two so through to the knockout stages, the rest is very similar:

The fiefdoms re-enter the competition after they won the 2013 competition, Moria also enter again alongside Erebor and Rivendell in the play-off stages. Tower of Ecthelion are absent as they won in 2014 (although the final was actually in 2015).

Another thing is that this is a face-off 2016, as by the time I get around to posting most of the battles (like last year) it will no longer be 2015. Kinda like last time when most of the posts for the face-off 2014 were in January 2015 *insert slapface*.

The warriors and heroes composing each force will be included in the next post, along with the scenarios of each encounter between the forces.

Until then

Fish