Iron Hills vs Minas Tirith in Hold Ground (600 points)

We got a few more of our league games done today, with Sean and John swinging by for a few games. Sean and I played one before this; but it was so dang engrossing I took very few pics. I did, however, observe the entirety of the Dwarf/Gondor grind fest and I am prepared to share it with you now, dear reader.

Sean's Minas Tirith

John's Iron Hills

As usual with our league games, three scenarios were rolled and the players alternated vetoing by rolloff. The three drawn were Storm the Camp, Reconnoiter, and Hold Ground. Iron Hills vetoed Recon' and Minas Tirith vetoed Storm the camp.

As I alluded to, these two high defense armies were pretty grindy. Lots and lots of turns played out before significant casualties really started adding up. Minas Tirith had to deploy first, and with Maelstram of Battle they wound up being in the "North West" corner. Iron Hills had two warbands come on very close to Faramir's warband with the Captain and infantry forming up and marching towards the center.

After deployment. The Bottom Left is the "North West". 

Much like a Facebook argument, these two lines are about to clash for the remainder of the game. Unlike a Facebook argument the Dwarves and Men of Gondor didn't eventually resort to picking on each other's grammar. "It's You'RE not YOUR" shouted Dain as he charged into battle!

I'm not sure why I'm stuck on this grindfest being similar to a Facebook argument, but in come the Minas Tirith Cavalry like someone who did their own research to add to the fray!

The Grind is real! Dain, Boromir, Faramir, and the Iron Hills Captain sparred for countless turns, burning through some might!

It was an epic battle. The Gondorians frequently won their fights due to banner coverage and high fight, but then they failed to kill anything!

Meanwhile, as the lines on this flank were thinning...

The infantry blocks were marching inexorably towards each other and further grindage.

This is the view at about the Midpoint of the game. 

Personally, I don't see no nothin' wrong with a little bump and grind.

After much toil, Dain falls to Boromir. 

Hudson was trying to keep an eye on the game, but the rain was making him pretty sleepy.

We had to call time as Sean needed to leave- but the game was a full 2.5 hours.

In the end, Minas Tirith was broken, but the Iron Hills weren't. Boromir was wounded but alive. Dain had fallen. And the Iron Hills had ONE more model in range of the central objective. This made the game a 7-2 Major victory for the Iron Hills, but I think another turn or two could have seen a big swing.

It was a lot of fun to get to watch these two guys play. I think they both had a similar idea- tie up the majority of the other army and push towards the center. The Dain/Boromir struggle was interesting. Boromir is a beast and that banner makes the whole army so good. The fight/strength/defense differential played out much like my elf vs dwarf games- you win a lot of fights but lose more models overall. Dwarves are strong, and capitalizing on their only real weakness (speed) is tough in a lot of scenarios!