Wakefield Doubles Tournament Battle Report
I was excited about the prospect of playing in my first-ever LOTR event, but also concerned about finding a teammate since my friends weren’t prepared to travel over to Wakefield. Fortunately, Craig (ukrocky) over on the Last Alliance paired me up with a guy named Martin. After a brief phone call it was decided that we would field Dwarves (mainly because that was his only army). For those who aren’t aware, the rules required that the teams have two 300 point forces; able to ally with one another and that are themed.
I left Martin to create whatever list he saw fit while I concentrated on mine. You can’t really go wrong with Dwarves. Obviously you have to limit yourself to one hero which is plenty considering they’re likely to last what with an average defence of 7. Not knowing what hero Martin would take was a pain, and being on holiday the week before didn’t help but I eventually settled on a list I was happy with. I took as many archers as I could, 7 in total, brought 3 Iron Guard for their extra attacks and throwing weapons, 3 Khazad Guard for any terrifying trolls or heroes and a bunch of defence 7 warriors to hold up the enemy. I also included a banner. These things tend to work best in small, strong forces. The hero leading my force was a Dwarf Captain, not the greatest Dwarf hero (actually the worst) but still, nothing to laugh at. Alternatively I could have dropped the captain and banner and taken Gimli and a Dwarf warrior, but there’s no point dwelling on such matters. I filled in the remaining 16 points with 2 Dwarf warriors.
Martin’s list was not what I had expected. Balin along with his trusty axe was leading 3 Iron Guard, 8 Khazad Guard, 2 Vault Warden Teams and 2 Dwarf Warriors with shields. The list is very elite heavy however the surprise of no archers really changed things. However I was glad that he had brought a Fight 6 hero. If ever heroes have a stand off, it’s almost always the higher fight that determines who lives and who bites the dust! Now at this point, you Dwarf players will be shouting that isn’t LOME legal, which is true, the Vault Warden teams don’t appear in the Erebor list. However I hadn’t realised until I began writing this up, trying to figure out what my partner had brought. I think we would have been penalised a few points if someone had recognised Martin’s list was illegal, lucky us I guess
Anyway to summarise the first three games, we had a
Major Loss in ‘Reconnoitre’ – Slow buggers were no match to an orc drummer!
Minor Victory in ‘It only counts as one’ – Balin killed three with a well timed heroic combat in the final turn to swing the balance in our favour.
Minor Loss in ‘Take the Prize’ – We were heading for a Major Victory up until the penultimate turn.
We were looking forward to our final match, an all out fight to the death. Pitched Battles are won by reducing the enemy to a quarter of their original numbers. A major win is awarded if there is one surviving hero on the winning side and a minor win if there isn’t. With 40 Dwarves at our disposal we were feeling confident. Our opponents were ironically ‘the Morgul Stalkers’ – two members here on the One Ring (Hazer Morzy and the Newbie). Their list was something like this,
Shagrat Warleader
Orc Taskmaster
Morannon Orc Captain
Orc Drummer
34 Morannon Orcs (equipped with various gear)
11 Orc Trackers
Immediately my jaws dropped to see 4 heroes in one list! Outnumbering our army by 9 models they also had superior archery, the ‘drum’ and Shagrat! I was nervous about their movement advantage, especially if they could kill off all our archers. Then they would have free reign to retreat 4.5 inches and shoot for as many turns as they liked so long as the drummer was within 12”.
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The Map
Deployment
We began by deploying half our force in a defensive position around some bushes as seen in the map (sorry forgot my camera). Then they deployed half their force quite a distance away. Next we deployed the archers behind the Khazad Guard on the far right, the banner near Balin and the remaining warriors and Captain on the left side of the terrain. They then deployed their remaining numbers, making sure their trackers were hidden behind their front ranks.
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Turn 1
It began with the Dwarves winning priority thanks to a high roll of 6 by Martin (reader beware, your in for a scare). We moved our dwarves on the right flank up 2.5 inches so they could let off a volley in the shoot phases. The left flank moved up 5 inches to cover the gap between the building and bushes. Our opponents decided to move their force forward hesitantly, but began re-adjusting the lines with more spear support over on the far right side, whilst bringing shield armed orcs over to the left side.
The shoot phase was a decent one for us, with our 7 archers behind the Khazad Guard aiming at the Trackers behind the front rank. One orc with shield fell as did a tracker standing right behind him. The 10 remaining trackers returned fire at our archers but their pointy sticks couldn’t pierce our well armoured Dwarves.
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The Map at the end of Turn 1
Turn 2
Losing priority this turn 'the Morgul Stalkers' (not the minis, but the people
) moved some orcs to the left of the western most building attempting to flank us, while the remaining orcs shuffled around filling in any gaps that were opened last turn. The Dwarves on our right advanced steadily moving 2.5 inches, closing the gap ever so slightly. I sent part of my force on the left to make another Dwarven line next to the building to prevent against any chance of being surrounded. In the shoot phase the orcs rolled poorly barely managing a hit and failing to wound. We returned fire at the trackers, with a well aimed arrow passing through the front rank and striking the poorly armed orc in the chest.
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Turn 3
Priority changed hands again, and with it we decided to create a Dwarven wall on the left, preventing the enemy charging this turn as they had no line of sight around the building. The remainder of the left flank spread themselves between the building and bushes. Our main force on the right was making steady ground curving now towards the horde of orcs ahead of us. The orcs on the western most side moved forward but stayed hidden behind the building, able to charge next turn if need be. Their main force shuffled together again, moving forward again but at a slow rate. No-one was in a hurry to fight hand to hand just yet.
The shooting phase was a total success for us this turn as I managed to roll all 7 'to hit' shots. A couple hit the front line and one Orc with shield fell whilst two Trackers in the second rank were fatally pierced, leaving them with only 7 archers. Another turn passed and yet again the orcs failed to wound however by this time they had rolled at least two sixes to wound, but due to the defence 7 of the Khazad Guard they needed a four to follow and this was prooving harder than expected.
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Turn 4
Taking the initiative yet again we proceeded to move our forces forward on the right side, at a steady rate of half movement so that we could take advantage of our increasingly effective artillery. I decided to leave an Iron Guard and two Dwarf Warriors armed with shield on our left flank, just out of sight behind the building. This would mean that there was no possibility of fighting this round and any attempt to take our left flank in the following turns could be quickly countered by the group of Dwarves to their right. The two Iron Guard and remaining Dwarf were moved to help strengthen the line formed between the building and bushes.
The orcs in the centre pushed forward by an inch or so, however the orcs on our left turned and retreated 9” with the help from the drummer back towards the main line. I was somewhat relieved to be quite honest as I didn’t expect to withstand an assault at this point in the game, especially since the main block of Dwarves were at least a full move away. However looking at their depleted forces in the centre it was perhaps sensible to send more reinforcements to strengthen the lines and exploit their advantage of spear supporting units.
Aiming at the trackers yet again, 5 out of the 7 Dwarves hit, most of them passing through to the second rank. Shielding themselves from the deadly arrows, the front rank bore no casualties, however behind them, 2 trackers dropped to the floor. The 5 remaining trackers retaliated by launching their own deadly volley, but yet again the high defence of the Khazad Guard proved it’s effectiveness.
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Turn 5
Priority switched yet again, the orcs eager to reform their lines. The main orc block barely moved this turn, only filling in any gaps that were opened last turn because of the Dwarven archery. The Morannon Orc captain, drummer and the 9 Morannon orcs moved 9” preparing to join the main line of orcs between the two buildings.
The Dwarves on the eastern flank moved forward slowly with the Khazad Guard just ahead of the archers. On our far right the Iron Guard and Dwarf Warriors moved ahead of the main block, eager to join battle. Seeing that most of the Trackers had been slain, Balin moved his full 5” movement to come up alongside the Vault Wardens. With no apparent threat on our left flank, the remaining Dwarves moved to join up with the main block creating a long line.
The Trackers, seemingly angered by the losses they had sustained fired another volley at our archers. Surprisingly most of the 5 shots hit our lines. After seeing what they had hit all 3 came up on the Khazad Guard in the front row. Rolling to wound they managed to roll a 6 however a 4 to follow was needed to get past the defence 7. Throwing the dice again, a huge cheer went up as the dice settled on 4. They had their first kill of the game! As if to spoil the fun we returned fire killing a Morannon Orc and a Tracker. The Iron Guard were still not within range to throw their axes, so ending turn 5.
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Turn 6
Winning priority for the fourth time this game, we began by moving all the Dwarves forward adding numbers to our main formation. It was becoming apparent that the combat in the middle would be the only battleground in this game and so would decide who was victorious. There would be no flanking manoeuvres as the buildings posed too big an obstacle to go around. I was content firing 7 shots a turn behind a defence 7 shield of Khazad Guards however my partner was keen to engage. We positioned our best warriors and two heroes on the front line ready to take the first wave of attacks.
Our opponents seemed reluctant to take the fight to us, perhaps because we would have more numbers to outflank them, so sitting between the two buildings was their best hope. The orcs managed to form a line, two deep spanning most of the distance between the two buildings. Most of the enemy heroes were now positioned on our left flank, similar to our hero distribution. The Taskmaster would soon be able to use his special rule, which on the role of a 4+ gives allied heroes within 6” a free heroic action.
In the shoot phase we were yet again able to direct most of our shots through the first rank, killing another Tracker leaving them with only 3 archers. Frustrated by their incapability to kill any of our archers, the Trackers turned their attention towards the exposed Iron Guard on our left flank. Their lower defence of 6 proved too much of a temptation and one of our elite fell! This was irritating as we only had 6 of these guys. The rest of our warriors were limited to one attack whilst the enemy had plenty of spear support.
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Turn 7
The orcs took priority in Turn 7. The Taskmaster and Drummer moved forward to add numbers to the second rank whilst the front row was strengthened by a couple of Morannon orcs. The Dwarves continued their steady march forward, however the Iron Guard dropped back behind the Dwarf warriors giving the Trackers another obstacle to shoot through. On the far right, 3 Iron Guard moved within 6” of the enemy.
The 3 Trackers fired upon the Iron Guard behind the Dwarven warriors however failed to wound anything. The Dwarves were much more successful killing a Morannon orc and yet another Tracker. The 3 Iron Guard on the right threw their axes at the Morannon Orcs but all 3 failed to hit!
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Turn 8
Winning priority again the orcs moved forward ever so slightly to within 6” of our line, moving Shagrat and the Taskmaster further to the left. They also began moving orcs from the second row to the front to stretch their line across the entire gap, from building to building. The Dwarven line moved forward to within 5” of the enemy, though on the right side the Iron Guard ended their movement to within 3”. Balin moved across to attempt to challenge Shagrat’s movement. I was concerned about Shagrat’s combat ability and sending a Fight 6 hero against him would hopefully take care of him.
In the shooting phase the remaining 2 Trackers came close to killing another Khazad Guard but were yet again unable to roll the 4 after throwing a 6. We returned fire with our Iron Guard, on the left, both of whom failed to hit. On the right side the Iron Guard managed a couple of hits but we were unable to score any wounds. Our lack of sixes however was more than compensated for through our archery. A Morannon Orc and the remaining 2 trackers were fatally pierced, bringing the total death count to 16!
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Turn 9
Losing priority we immediately called a Heroic Move with Balin however Shagrat countered this, and thanks to the Taskmaster saved his Might point. However in the roll off, the Dwarves managed to secure their Heroic movement. Balin engaged Shagrat, whilst the Vault Wardens, Dwarven Warriors and Khazad Guard within range charged into the Morannon orcs opposite them. The remaining Morannon Orcs moved forward slightly engaging a few of the Dwarves. Finally we moved the remainder of our models into combat. The Iron Guard on the left threw their axes as they charged but didn’t wound anything.
As axes clashed against harsh steel, the Dwarven archers could only look on helplessly as their comrades engaged the enemy in vicious hand to hand combat. On the right side of the line the Dwarves began by winning a large majority of the fights thanks to my partners wicked rolling (it was 6 after 6 after 6!) However wounding them was proving rather difficult. The long line of Khazad Guard managed to hold their line and in fact killed the first orc by hand this game. The Vault Wardens easily won their combats and their handy strength 4 saw another orc fall. Balin beat Shagrat and managed to wound him however a fate point proved to undo all of the Dwarf’s hard work. The Dwarf Captain managed to kill another Orc as did one of the Iron Guard. The Morannon Orc Captain lost his combat to a shielding Dwarf warrior whilst a brave Khazad Guard fell to an Orc blade.
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More to follow folks!
If you need help remembering any movements just pm me and I'll put my thinking cap on.