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 2013 Final Fiefdoms Vs Isengard Raiders

And the Final

The Isengard raiders have had a challenging two battles before this one, the Easterlings nearly escaped their grip, however they managed to remove them completely from the field, for a score of 18-4.

They then faced Moria in a battle to the death, which they scraped through from a close set of fights and courage tests, giving them a minor victory 15-9.

The Gondorians in comparison have had two easy battles, Cirith Ungol held the upper hand in the first battle for one or two turns, before Duinhur lead by example, killing a total of six warriors, breaking the orcs and watching them flee the field for a major victory of 15-4.

The second battle was half as difficult once Duinhur had killed the elf captain, and two Gondorians had infiltrated their lines, a comfortable 20-4 victory.

Fiefdoms Vs Isengard Raiders(Clash of Piquets)

Deployment:
Duinhur and Lurtz are set at opposite corners

All warriors arrive except three knights and uruks

Lurtz moves his uruks up the field, the small group of clansmen and
knights try to evade them. 

Two knights haven't arrived yet, Duinhur urges his warriors to kill the 
two uruks quickly so they can defend against the ones coming.

One of the uruks falls

Duinhur organises his men as Lurtz and co. fire arrow after 

arrow at them, thankfully to little effect

Duinhur cleans up the final uruk behind their lines

The final knight enters the field, an uruk takes a tumble for the worse, 

three uruks jump over the hedge only to be set upon by Gondorians

An uruk is cloven at a clansman's blade

Lurtz orders a full attack behind the hedge

Duinhur dodges the uruk-hai's attacks, piercing his spear and sword

into both uruks, which reducing the Uruk-hai below 50%

Giving the Fiefdoms a victory!(15-4)

Fiefdoms = 10pts(winning scenario) + 5pts(breaking enemy) = 15

Isengard raiders = 4pts(losing scenario) = 4

Well the Uruk-hai have reason to be mad. Not a single Gondorian fell there, moreover an uruk was killed by falling over, meaning Lurtz didn't get much of a shine in this battle.

The Isengard raiders didn't use their strength advantage and were sucked into unworkable fights, even their shooting was disorganised.

The Gondorians put on a good show, surrounding and killing stray uruk-hai, shielding to prevent them gaining ground while Duinhur killed the remaining on the other side.

Now the kill chart, displayed like: [ NAME = Kills(Weight of kills) ] 
Weight of kills contributes to place, when two heroes have same number of kills:

Duinhur = 12(14)
Troll = 11(17)
Lurtz = 7(9)
Goblin Captain = 5(5)
Elven Captain = 4(6)
Gorbag = 1(1)

Duinhur scrapes the most kills, one more than the troll, where he would've lost to weight of kills with one less.

Also the team kills:
The Fiefdoms       = 22
Moria                     = 20
Isengard Raiders = 16
Rivendell               = 10
Theoden's Host    = 4
Cirith Ungol           = 4
Erebor                   = 2
The Easterlings    = 1

Duinhur also takes the Man of the Tournament award as his kills contributed more towards the victory conditions of each battle, for example killing the orc banner bearer and the elven captain.

The disappointments have been Theoden's host who held the 3rd placers to a draw, and Erebor who should have been able to surround and defeat the elves, with superior numbers and armour.

I hope you enjoyed the past few battles more when I get back in a couple of months, where I shall be following the fellowship through Moria?

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2013 semi-finals Fiefdoms Vs Rivendell

Now it's time for these two to battle.

The Gondorians have the numerical advantage, and have similar armour to the elves. Duinhur is slightly disadvantaged again the Elven captain in fighting skill, armour and courage. The elves however despite their fighting skills will have to infiltrate their lines, which is difficult with much fewer numbers.

Fiefdoms Vs Rivendell  (Reconnoitre)

Deployment:

The elves split, like the Gondorians do

The elf archers group, while the other two groups try to hold their 
ground. Two Gondorians move to flank the elves, while the rest distract
the main groups.

A huge melee, and a knight also tries to flank.

A small fight over here, and the two flankers are getting away.

Duinhur and the knight fight well together blocking the elf's attacks 

and thrusting deep into his chest, Duinhur claims the kill.

One clansman falls to elven prowess.

The melee continues, but the elf archers have joined this time

one elf blocks a knight. flanking.

More small fighting over here, and one knight manages to break the 

elven lines

Duinhur manages another kill, as do two clansmen

which breaks the Elven force

One elf flees, the remainder try to move to evade, 

as one death spells the battle end

And Duinhur does such

Giving The Fiefdoms a major victory! (20-4)

Fiefdoms = 10pts(winning scenario) + 3pts(killing leader) +5pts(breaking enemy)                                              +2pts(number of models successfully infiltrating) = 20
Rivendell  = 4pts(losing scenario) = 4

The fiefdoms took a massive victory over the elves there, once the Elven captain fell there was not much hope for the elves. The Gondorians used their numbers well, the elves could not find a gap in the Gondor lines, so were reduced quickly by the number of attacks.

Next time shall be the third place battle between Rivendell and Moria in Reconnoitre.

Until then

Fish