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 2016 Third place The Serpent Horde Vs The Fiefdoms

The fiefdoms eased past the Isengard raiders in the first round, were defeated heavily by the Rohirrim and brought down to earth in the second round. The Haradrim meanwhile, got some revenge over the Easterlings in the first round. But in the next round the Captain of Rivendell showed his prowess, bringing down the serpent lord and claiming the victory. Further both sides are previous winners so this could prove who between them is Top Dog...

The Serpent Horde Vs The Fiefdoms (Take and Hold)
Either force must claim the well by having more models within 3'''/8cm when the battle ends.


Most of Suladan's bodyguard arrive in good order and turn to see a
surprised Duinhur whose warriors are scattered and
only 5 have turned up initially.

Three more of his men hasten to the field, while Suladan and his
last bodyguard arrive. The Gondorians move quickly
to stall what Haradrim they can.

Duinhur then charges two serpent guard preparing to jump over the
wall, while the other swan knights and clansmen
make their way to the well.

Although Duinhur clips the hamstrings of the serpent guards,
Suladan carves up a knight and gallops to the well.

On either side of the barricades the forces fight each other, as another
clansman finally makes his way to the sounds of battle.

Suladan slings and pivots atop his steed cutting down two clansmen.

Meanwhile Duinhur takes down another of the serpent guard.

Suladan senses the battle will turn against him so must remove the
pesky knights guarding the well, but one charges him and grabs his reins.

Duinhur parries aside the Haradrim's attacks and stabs the nearest
guard with a swagger.

Although Suladan kills the rein-grabbing-knight, his side have
been broken, and the well nowhere near taken...

The Gondorians have more models within 3''/8cm, so claim the victory!

The Fiefdoms = 10 + 5 (breaking Haradrim) + 3 (models within 3''/10cm) = 18
The Serpent Horde = 4

Hero Kills
Suladan = 4 (4)
Duinhur = 4 (4)

Again the serpent lord was contained, this time from losing priority consistently and the single model tribute sent to him each turn to prevent him from slicing through too many Gondorians. And so Duinhur could slowly whittle away at his bodyguard and breaking the Haradrim.

With this victory the Fiefdoms claim third place. Up next is the final between Rivendell and Théoden's Host in Domination.

Until then

Fish

Face-off 201 semi-final The Fiefdoms Vs Théoden's Host

The Rohirrim have recorded their first ever victory in the face-offs, but now they face an even harder test; the fiefdoms, a force that recently bowled over the Isengard raiders. The Gondorians have a numerical advantage and throwing spear advantage, but they lack a leader with a fighting prowess at Erkenbrand's level. But that's not too important, so long as they claim the prize and exit the field...

Fiefdoms Vs Théoden's Host (Seize the prize)




Forces setup in opposing corners, they must get off any
board edge with the prize other than the top edge.






..........



There's a brief exchange of spears and arrows,
but only minor cuts and scratches to show for it.

The sides get closer.

Erkenbrand sees that the Gondorians may get there first and urges
his men to attack now! One of the Rohirrim spears a swan knights
barely two foot away, and so Erkenbrand sounds his horn!

A handful of men break off from the main fight to gain the prize, and
one clansman gets on the pointy end of a Rohan spear.

Duinhur, however, dances around the pointy ends slashing apart his two
 opponents in mighty chucks, but sadly two more of his
clansmen fall to the Rohirrim.

The sides engage again, but one Rohan warrior picks up a spade in
his hand and starts digging up soil.



Erkenbrand sees red, and promptly slices through a swan knight
and clansman who appeared to be looking at the Rohan warrior
digging in the midst of battle...

Seeing his men being cut down, the blood becomes too much for
Duinhur and one knight, so leave the field coughing and spluttering.
This leaves three Swan Knights to battle against the numerous
Rohirrim, who've just dug up the prize.



After a few duels, one-sided assaults and Erkenbrand getting
another kill, the last of the Swan Knights is chased off,
but not before stabbing a Royal Guard in the thigh.



So the Rohirrim clear the field of cowardly Gondorians, claim the prize and so the victory!!

Théoden's host = 10 + 5(breaking Gondorians) = 15
Fiefdoms = 4 

Hero kills
Erkenbrand = 3 (3)
Duinhur = 2 (2)

The Rohirrim clearly got the better of the Gondorians early on; and after they had lost a couple of warriors to throwing spears, the SKODA had to either shield to prevent being killed too easily and had to get 6's in order to restore number balance, which put the stats and the individual fights against them, aside from Duinhur fleeing early on completely ruling out any chance of a Gondorian comeback.

With the semis out of the way, the third place battle between the Fiefdoms and the Serpent Horde is next :)

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2016 1st Round Isengard Raiders Vs The Fiefdoms

The Fiefdoms return to the Face-offs again and confront their last enemies, the Isengard raiders, in hope that it will go like it did last time. Lurtz has the same bodyguard, the only difference is that they must take the prize before the Gondorians do.

Neither side has a wounding, move rate, numerical or fight value advantage, so really it's battle of model placement, movement and lucky dice rolls.

Isengard Raiders Vs The Fiefdoms (Seize the prize)

Both sides start off quickly, yet Duinhur gets the first kill,
shooting an uruk in the throat.

More movement towards the site, the uruks keep on firing arrows too.

The Gondorians then charge into the main uruk line, while some 
of each force detach to close in on the artifact.

One uruk gets the worst of the first melee.

The uruks reach the artifact first and block off the nearby Gondorians.
The main forces engage again.

And four more uruks fall to Gondorian steel, one by Duinhur, which
breaks the uruk forces, the only bad thing is that 
an uruk has dug up the artifact.

This uruk hastens to the board edge, while things go more awry
in the center, as Lurtz and co. are surrounded.

Another two uruks are cloven in two by a clansmen, 
and Lurtz gets the worst of the fighting.

The men corner the uruk...

Lurtz is brought to his knees, and killed along with one of his warriors. 
The Uruks have been humbled and the battle is basically over.

The Swan Knight surround the uruk allowing Duinhur
 to fight the pesky thing hand-to-hand.

And from here the uruks were charged until they fled, leaving the Gondorians with the artifact, and the victory!

Fiefdoms = 10 + 5(breaking Uruks) + 3(killing Lurtz) = 18
Isengard Raiders = 4

So the uruks have been utterly defeated, just as they were last time, they didn't get a single kill.

Duinhur got lucky with his first shot, then poor movement from Lurtz and his main group of warriors meant that two of the uruks and Lurtz were not even involved in the fighting for two turns, so a couple got killed, which left the fight very one-sided from that point onward.

The only bit of luck was the uruk digging up the artifact within one turn, however didn't have enough support to prevent the Gondorians surrounding him.

Hero Kills
Duinhur = 2 (2)

This means the Gondorians continue their winning run progressing to the semis, and will face the victor of the next battle: Théoden's Host Vs Moria.

Until then

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