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 2016 semi-final Rivendell Vs The Serpent Horde

After cutting through the Mordorians, the elves have made it through and face a very dangerous Haradrim force that got revenge over the Easterlings. The elves have courage and melee skills on their side, however some lucky rolls could lead to a crippling charge from the Serpent Lord. In this case though, the leaders are the prime targets, so they'll ideally be sticking close to their bodyguards.

Rivendell Vs The Serpent Horde (To Kill a King)

Setup.

Suladan takes centre stage, as both bodyguards move closer.

And then the Serpent Lord calls the charge!

Suladan lops the heads of the nearest elves whilst trotting around,
the elf captain stands around watching this as another elf
gets pieced by a poisoned spear.

But then he orders a counter charge, which takes Suladan by surprise,
so the elf takes a huge slash at him leaving his hors splayed on the
floor and a blood stained thigh. Elsewhere an elf and serpent
guard succumb on either side.

The Serpent Lord rises from the dirt then promptly engages the elf
captain seeing the numbers of elves dwindling.



All the elves hold their ground, and even cut down a couple of
Haradrim, leaving them questioning their chances of victory...



The Elf captain pulls himself together, calls his warriors to charge
Suladan again, who loses his footing against the number of point
spears and blades allowing the captain to stab him in the chest.

And with the Serpent king killed the victory goes to the elves!

Rivendell = 10 + 5(breaking Haradrim) + 3(Killing Suladan) = 18
The Serpent Horde = 4 + 5(breaking Elves) = 9

Hero Kills
Suladan = 2(2)
Elven captain = 1(5)

The elves tried to block Suladan from charging, this wasn't completely successful but the captain managed to contain the Serpent Lord, allowing the other elves to out-do the other Haradrim slowly and the elf captain could bring him down. His bodyguard couldn't reach him through the unyielding elven shields, although both heroes are similarly skilled, the elf captain kept rolling 5's and 6's so he kept losing fights and succumbed. 

Again the Haradrim are denied another chance to fight in the final! And the Elves get their first. Who will meet them there? Fiefdoms Vs Théoden's host in Seize the prize is next...

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2016 1st round Easterlings Vs The Serpent Horde

Finally! The first round of the Face-off starts!

Some history:
After being ejected from the last Face-off semi final by the Easterlings, the Haradrim are looking for revenge, and the Easterlings to avoid Suladan's blade long enough to kill a handful of his bodyguard. The Easterlings have a numerical and armour advantage, along with their spears, whereas the Haradrim have Suladan and...poisoned blades?

Easterlings Vs The Serpent Horde (A Clash of Piquets)

Setup...

Suladan moves to engage the Easterlings, as four of his
guard and five more appear from all sides.

The Easterlings brace for Suladan's charge as two more
from both sides enter the field.

Suladan prepares his horse, and thunders into the captain as 
his guard attack the golden warriors.

Suladan simply rides through the Easterling captain and two of his guard 
down,with barely a stride lost, the flashing blade spills blood everywhere!

The golden warriors spread no tear over their captain and pounce on the 
Serpent lord, while there is an intense melee close at hand.

The thicket of Easterling spears proves too much for Suladan's horse,
the blood stained animal hits the dirt along with an Easterling warrior.

The Easterlings continue to harry the Serpent lord and his guard, 
who are holding them up well.

Yet not well enough, the Serpent lord narrowly misses cutting the throat 
of a nearby Easterling. But both Forces attack again.

The Easterlings respond by cornering and slicing through the Serpent 
lords mail, leaving him barely breathing and somehow standing. Meanwhile
his guard actually do something by killing two Easterlings.

This Breaks the Easterlings, and means that the Haradrim are victorious!

Serpent Horde = 10 + 5(breaking enemy) + 3(killing captain) = 18
Easterlings = 4

Hero Kills
Suladan = 3 (5)

The Haradrim had the better of the Easterlings at times. It all came down to a heroic move early on, that favoured Suladan, and really meant that the Easterlings had to contain him and did so very well. Only disadvantage, his guards actually decided to start killing people.

The Haradrim get their revenge and progress! Next up Cirth Ungol Vs Rivendell.

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

Face-off 2014 3rd place The Serpent Horde Vs Isengard Raiders

So, the battle for pride.
The Isengard raiders have the numerical and ranged advantages. Having four more warriors, and the warrior quality means they can wound on 4's not 5's like the serpent guard. However Lurtz is no equal to Suladan, although needing 4's to wound has 1 less attack and no mount, furthermore two less will and three less courage, which could be decisive as the sides will be battling until 25% strength.

If the uruk archers get early kills, then the melee will be easier to deal with, splitting up means the Suladan can overwhelm and conquer, but could bring him down early which pretty much ensures an Isengard victory. The Haradrim need to break the uruk-hai so their courage advantage can turn into a numerical advantage.

The Serpent Horde Vs Isengard Raiders (Meeting Engagement)



Lurtz orders the uruk-hai divide up, cocks his bow sending an arrow
towards Suladan, but it clinks off his armour.



Both divisions prepare to receive Suladan.

He leads a couple away from the hazardous arrows
as the others vault the wall.

One of the guards doesn't run fast enough
and is caught by one of the arrows.

Lurtz and co. smash into the three stray serpent guard.

But the main melee is over here.

The amount of enemies doesn't concern Suladan as he cuts through four
of them, Lurtz smash through a guard and one more fall on either side.

Suladan rides into the trapped warriors.

The uruks here attack and surround.

Lurtz is stabbed in the side bringing a wince out of him, Suladan cuts
through one, while the other rolls away, his guard kills another uruk.

Lurtz senses the tension amongst his remaining warriors
but cannot rally them as they are pounced upon.

Both leaders finish off their opponents, as one
more of their own are killed elsewhere.

Reducing the uruk-hai below 25% and giving the victory to the Haradrim!

Serpent Horde = 15
Isengard Raiders = 9

Suladan = 14 (14)
Lurtz = 6 (8)

Quite a close encounter considering the forces, Suladan was the deciding factor, his early four kills destroyed the chances of him being brought down at all and being split up meant that he controlled the fights in the main part of the battle. This followed from a poor move at the beginning, to engage the straggling serpent guard, gave Suladan the opportunity he needed.

So next up is the final where the Gondorians face the Easterlings in Ill met by moonlight to decide who wins the face-off.

Until then

Fish