Elendil and Glorfindel's combined forces meet the Witch King's orc host on the field of battle! I was pretty excited to finally try the Last Alliance of Men and Elves on the table. I had hoped to have my Numenor spearmen finished, but my last few weeks have been so crazy I didn't manage to knock them out in time so, their "modern day" Gondorian spearmen are in their stead for this battle report. Apologies for the far-off proxy, it is not common practice on this blog!
Andrew's host of Mordor. Speaking of proxy, the part of the Dark Marshall will be played by the Dwimmerlaik- pretty much here on out I will be using either the Tainted or the Dwimmerlaik for all nazgul models as they're just hands down the best looking.
My first crack at a last alliance list. I might cut down on some models to swap for some Riv Knights, but I like the makeup overall! I chose my target as Kardush, with Glorfindel has my assassin. I knew Andrew would choose Erestor as his target, but I wasn't sure if his assassin was Shagrat or the Dark Marshall. Erestor is pretty easy to wear down with spells, so I assumed black darts would be pelting him constantly.
I wasn't really sure if I wanted to start close or not; and I had to deploy first. But, I thought it'd be cool to use that height advantage for my archers, and so decided to deploy under cover of them.
Normally my archers are just spear guys who have a few shots of opportunity so this was a fun take.
Elendil rallying the troops.
Fairly quickly the lines clashed. I blocked my banner in so Andrew couldn't compel him out of the fight! The archers manage to get a clear shot on Kardush, and chip off his fate and one wound! That will earn me a VP.
Elendil gets to choppin'. But, a channeled fury keeps him from getting off a heroic combat. We realized way later, that Elendil had like 3 wounds on the orc, and so he needed to pass two more fury saves, but oh well. This was my first combat with the
Elendil model I painted up ages ago!
Again, I'm so glad we had this cool verticality to the board, even if it meant the Witch King could get up there and do some chompin'
The boys move out of the hurl line.
Elendil and bowfire whittle down Andrew's bows.
The Witch King swoops down into my rear. At this point, Erestor has been the target of multiple black darts and is suffering, but hanging on.
The Witch gets an epic hurl, knocking down much of my left flank as the battle contracts around him. Elendil rides into the rear, ready to strike (visible just in the upper part of the screen).
Mordor is broken, but the Witch King holds the lines together for now.
Elendil, orcbane, wades into the fight and flash kills Shagrat.
The Witch king comes back for more!
Elendil has his eyes set on Kardush...
But the game comes to a close on a die roll.
With no targets killed, The Last Alliance scores 1 VP for having a wound on Kardush, and 3 VPs for breaking Mordor without being broken. Mordor scores 1 VP for getting a wound on Erestor, though it was not dealt by the Dark Marshall, which was Andrew's assassin.
With one more turn, Elendil would almost certainly kill Kardush. However, Erestor has no will, no fate, and 1 wound. One black dart from the Dark Marshall could earn Andrew 7 VPs! but the dice have spoken! The game comes to a close.
Closing Thoughts: After my first outing with the Last Alliance... I think I am in love. The Numenor spearmen really make up for the elves' lack of killiness. In this particular matchup, the front rank elves were able to feint and I would still win on ties. Elendil? Fuhgettabout it, he's amazing.
Comments
Post a Comment