Andrew and I wanted to play one more tournament warmup. Andrew's Mordor list is very well honed, but after Glorfindel got away with the football last game, he wanted to try out some Warg Riders. I apologize for the unpainted miniatures- that will not be a regular occurrence on this blog, I promise!
Andrew's list- with the slight exception that the Warg Riders moved to Guritz's warband.
My list changed a wee bit as well. Essentially, I dropped my two knights for another sword and board and a second banner. My thinking was that banner combined with fight values allows me to two-handed feint across my front line to more reliably deal damage at little additional risk.
We rolled for Breakthrough, and Andrew deployed first. I went for it and wanted to try and flash kill his troll with the combined might of Glorfindel and Boromir so we were straight to the races! I figured with two less bows and more emphasis on winning the battle on the line, this was okay with me.
A clash for the ages! Boy being outnumbered here sure sucked.
I went all in after winning priority. Glorfindel and Boromir both charged the troll. Glorfindel struck and, in a moment of hubris, Boromir called a heroic combat. Cirdan successfully cast enchanted blades on Glorfindel.
Well, the elven blade failed me and I lost the dice off after we both rolled the 6. Andrew proceeded to roll 3 wounds on Glorfindel- though all 3 fate rolls went my way. So right off the bat, I am down 2 Might and 3 Fate and Andrew is down 1 might. Fights across the front are a mixed bag- we gave about as much as we got.
I know my time is limited and I absolutely need to deal with the troll ASAP so I can set Glorfindel and Boromir free. I spend Boromir's might liberally since I know Kardush and the Witch King will likely focus him down and burn him. Two-handed feinting across the front line works swimmingly. Erestor scores a wound on Guritz.
A shot of the right flank. This is where Andrew has lots of non-Morannon orcs and Erestor just cuts through them like butter. We mostly keep the Warg riders tied up.
On turn 3 Andrew wins the initiative, and ties Boromir up with one orc while the troll charges Glorfindel. I call a heroic with Boromir and a strike with Glorfindel.
Orcs get pretty well cut down on the right flank. Erestor tries to cut a path to finish off Guritz.
Glorfindel strikes and two-hands. Boromir kills his orc and joins the combat. Glorfindel and Boromir each spend a point of might to ensure the demise of the troll. Glorfindel is now out, and Boromir has spent 4... but the troll is gone.
Now the game gets quite grindy. I firmly hold only one objective and Andrew has more or less free reign to hop on the other 3. Glorfindel is out of Fate and Might. It's very dicey- BUT elves are definitely giving a lot more than they're taking on the line.
With the right mostly won, I start shifting bodies left. Boromir takes a hit from Kardush and loses his horse and a wound... then rolls a 1 for thrown rider and a 6 for a second wound. Ouch. Boromir on one wound, 1 Might. Glorfindel no Fate, no Might. Erestor spends his last might to heroic combat into Guritz and wipes him out! The only Might left on the board after some moves is 1 on Boromir and 1 on the Witch King.
This picture was a fond farewell to Boromir. At this point I know either a Black Dart or a fireball is going to take him down. I am not wrong. Farewell, sweet Prince of Gondor.
Elves mop up on the Right Flank. I should've gotten Erestor moving left a turn sooner.
After circling the battlefield for a while, the Witch King dives in to attack a banner. Thankfully he is able to back into another elf and hand it off.
As the grind continues, Mordor breaks but the channeled Fury is keeping them in line. Rivendell is close to breaking. Glorfindel, sadly, gets a cheeky wound from some Morannons. Ouch. That's a VP given up!
Glorfindel moves back to protect my "home" objective from the Witch King. He charges some Morannons to do some more clean up.
The beginning of the end.
Finally the Witch King, with one Might remaining, dives in on Glorfindel with the intention of striking...
And Andrew rolls a 1 on his Strike. Glorfindel goes for the fell beast, but scores only one wound.
Because he is broken, Andrew can't risk failed courage checks. He sends a Tracker to the far "middle" objective, within 6" of Kardush.
As the fights continue, Mordor is quartered. I am able to get an archer into his backfield, where he also has a tracker to negate that VP. I have one last shot... an archer has a shot on his tracker on the left objective. But, Andrew wins priority and the tracker shoots my elf archer instead!
This was a close one! In the end, I broke Mordor but Andrew snuck it out. He had
2 VP for firmly holding the far left objective. I, on the other hand, solidly hold the right one with no orcs left near it for
2 VP. We both have the same number of models on both "home" objectives. Glorfindel and the Witch King on mine, and an archer and an orc on his. We each broke each other... but Glorfindel has one wound, giving the victory to Andrew by
1 VP.
Closing Thoughts: This was a super fun game! Lots of insane dice (and as soon as I complained about my duel dice? Every banner roll got me to a 6... it was like magic.). I really liked having 2 banners. The choice is: 1 shield and a banner or 2 Knights. I'm not sure which way I am leaning to be totally honest, but I definitely felt like my elves were far more able to kill orcs tonight.
Well played as always by Andrew. He's very good with the Witch King, and honestly had his strike up on Glorfindel not been so horrible this would've swung even harder. Two-handing on Glorfindel when backed up by Boromir felt very nice for taking down that troll. Check back for another tournament report!
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