As part of our current Escalation League, Chris and I are up for our first round together! My previous games in the league can be seen here:
The Minas Tirith list:
I've been really enjoying the combo of those three heroes!
Chris' Kingdom of Moria list:
As usual, we are using the Veto system. We rolled Seize the Prize (which, given dwarven speed, Chris vetoed), Capture and Control (which I Vetoed), and Command the Battlefield. My thinking was the Maelstram in Command the Battlefield isn't bad for me with Madril's special rule and if I could catch the dwarves split in half, it could go my way!
Madril's warband arrives first, smack dab in the center of the South board edge.
After which the rest of the Minas Tirith lines are able to form up.
Balin's warband does not show up initially, but Gimli's does. They appear on the Eastern flank.
I move my cavalry to pressure Gimli's warband, and of course a dwarf bow shoots Hurin's horse out from under him.
Hurin and company get stuck in as the rest of my force marchers to quickly get around the terrain before Balin's warband (which arrived in the North) can catch up.
Duels do NOT go my way at all. I probably roll a dozen dice and not one comes up higher than a 3. Will my luck turn around?
Gimli's warband gets a bit split up with some warriors facing Hurin's cavalry and some reinforcements...
while Gimli and the warriors face the majority of the Minas Tirith lines. Balin is close to arrive, though, and it's about to be a scrum!
The lines clash all across the board in three distinct pockets! In the "South East" Hurin and company battle the remnants of Gimli's warband. Hurin takes a wound from an Iron warrior and my dice luck remains pretty abysmal. In the center, in the shade of a jutting rock, Gimli and his warriors hold out against a superior Minas Tirith force. While Gimli is never in any danger, his warriors are getting trapped and killed off. Finally, in the North (and, unfortunately, mostly in the "dead zone" for the mission), Balin and Ingold square off. Both Chris and I have a pair of warriors heading into the Western quadrants.
And then my luck changes pretty dramatically. In one turn, Ingold (not even Striking) one-shots Balin and half a dozen dwarves fall to the Men of the Gondor.
Hurin and company also see some luck, and start mopping up the South East. Gimli does Gimli stuff, although for two turns in a row he fails to successfully heroic combat.
The results are fairly precipitous. As Minas Tirith outnumbers the dwarves, many dwarves find themselves trapped and killed.
Gimli tries to kill my banner bearer for two turns and fails...
Two brave boys just chillin' and holding a table quarter.
As the Kingdom of Moria is broken and careening towards quartered, we both start jockeying for position to hold table quarters.
The board at the end of the game. Chris has two dwarf warriors just behind the Northernmost Wood.
With that, Minas Tirith holds 3 Quarters for 2 VPs each, for a total of 6 VPs. Balin's death nets Minas Tirith another 2VP. Finally, breaking the Kingdom of Moria without being broken earns the Men another 2VP.
The Kingdom of Moria holds one quarter for 2 VP, and put one wound on Hurin for 1 VP.
The game comes to a close as a 10-3 victory for Minas Tirith.
Closing Thoughts: In reflecting on this game, I do think Malestram of Battle really worked in my advantage. I was able to commit exactly what I wanted where I wanted it and, despite some initially crummy luck, that really worked to my advantage. Killing Balin in one shot was just ridiculously lucky... Always fun playing with Chris!
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