Sunday 27 November 2016

Hobbit batrep: Arnor v Morannon v Shire Woses.



"You did not seriously think that a Hobbit could contend with the will of Sauron, there are none that can."
Saruman the White, The Two Towers, The Lord of The Rings


Three way battle, Arnor, Morannon Orcs and Shire/Woses.
After the previous battle with Martin, it was time for us to have a three way battle. Martin v Me v

Martin took his morranon army, I took Luke's shire force and Luke too my trusted Arnor army, each army was 500 points.  The scenario was simple, the player with the most figures within 6 inches of the centre would win. The game would end when an army was reduced to 25%.



Martin's Morannon orc horde deployed on his side of the board and moved on 6 inches

Once my Shire army (Hobbits and Woses) had deployed,
Luke set about deploying the Arnor army

I moved my Hobbits forward to gain a good position and be ready to throw stones

My archers move into position, covering the centre of the field

Meanwhile, my woses line the wall and militia cover the flank with the morannon orcs

Luke moved forward with Arnor next,
dividing his army into two to face both the orc rabble and the shire force

Arnor use the trees to avoid the shire bow fire

Martin lines the wall and prepares to repel the Arnorian warriors

whilst the rest of the orcs surge through the ruins

My hobbits pick targets with the Arnor rangers

The fight at the wall started, with the orcs defending

Slowly the hobbits emerge from the trees, ready to out flank the Arnor warriors

The archers take two casualties from the ranger return fire

While the woses are poised to engage

My flanking militia seem to do the trick and the orcs change course
leave the side of the ruins to head through the centre

Three side about to collide

To my surprise, Luke starts to spread out with the Arnor troops, breaking the shield wall

The orcs are winning on the wall

and the centre, although held by the Arnor, looks vulnerably spread out

Mordor strike the Arnor flank

and beat back the Arnor warriors at the wall

Suddenly Arnor look outnumbered and in a little trouble

Malbeth moves to try to be in a good position to save some men from death

The morannon pure over the wall and Luke tries to regroup

The fight is intense

Not wanting to be out done, the shire surge... I mean edge forward,
4 painful inches at a time

But clearing the wall the hobbits charge the armoured orcs

But Arnor, take the initiative and charge the hobbits, outnumbering the little folk

The hobbits are struggling to kill the orcs

Saruman and the woses charge in to combat trying to turn the tide

Along with a cheeky sourcers blast!

But the high defense of the Arnor keeps them alive

The Arnor, fighting on two sides are struggling, but the hobbits are also in trouble

The orcs, seemingly unstoppable plough through everything they see 

Fighting on all fronts

Lukes troops are spread too thin and his vanguard
are trying to keep off the orcs from attacking his rear

My archers join the skirmish 

Who will win, hobbits or men!?

THe orcs, ;looking strong, reform a defensive wall

But Arnor, spread too thinly start to fall

The orcs over run the side and look towards the objective

Now the rear has fallen, the orcs there form a battle line and move for the objective

The woses try to stop them, but simply are not strong enough to kill the orcs and their heavy armour 

A last ditch effort by my hobbit and woses to kill a few more orcs...

as Arnor are brought to an end and are killed off - and so the game ends....

The game was very close, but the hobbits narrowly won 16 v 12


Final thoughts
The morannon orcs were awesome, strong, high defense and with a shaman were almost unstoppable.  Luke didn't utilise the shield wall with the Arnor to keep them together and strong and he divided his troops, meaning that they were much easier to pick off.  I have never played hobbits before, and they took a little getting used to, loosing so many, but still outnumbering your opponent!

Maybe I should get my Morannon army out....?

A fun game, with good company.

 Man of the Match: Saruman  the White

Man of the Match
This was a tough decision...

...again no single hero stood out from the other, Malbeth the Seer would be a good contender due to the number of saves he did, but he didn't perform as well as he usually does.  

So this week the accolade has to go to Saruman the White,, he kept the Hobbits in teh fight, cast spells and was a general pain to the other armies, but also was able to get stuck in when the time was right.

Saruman is the man of the match.












We welcome anyone interested in playing The Hobbit SBG, Lotr SBG, WotR or any Warhammer/40K, X-Wing battle or table-top war game - why not let us know so that we can arrange some starter battles,

Or if you/your club want to challenge us. We have all the figures and scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep, snow fields to desert boards ready and waiting; fighting in the ruins of Osgiliath, Helms Deep and Far Harad, you cannot afford to miss it.

Why not join our watch list for updates and look out for more battle reports, campaigns and armies on parade...  as well as our brilliant GBHL Hobbit Hobby Tournament.

Feel free to come along to Midsussexwargaming or arrange a game.

Sunday 13 November 2016

Hobbit Batrep: Khazad n Woses v Isengard



"Kill Gorgun in woods, hate orc-folk. You hate gorgun too? We help as we can. Wild men have long ears and long eyes; know all paths."
Ghan Bui Ghan The return of the King, The Lord of The Rings


KILL THE GORGUN!
This week I traveled to Eastbourne to visit Martin, who I met a few weeks earlier and battled at Warhammer World in the Hobbit Doubles tournament.

I took an army consisting of Khazad Gaurds led by Gimli and a dwarf king, Woses with Ghan Buri Ghan, Bullroarer Took and a cheesy Malbeth the Seerer.  Martin took 750 points of Uruk Hai berserker's led by Saruman, Vrasku, Shaman, with pike support and crossbows!

We deployed and set the troops up... hope you enjoy!


I deployed my Khazad's and Woses with an unwelcome Grima Worntongue in their midst

Malbeth took cover in the ruins whilst the woses found high ground to fire at the Uruk Hai

The rest of my army formed a battle line to face the Uruks

Martin's Uruk Hai looked formidable with berserkers at the front, pikes behind, crossbows on the flank
and Saruman mounted !

Vrasku and his warband of Uruk Hai crossbows take flank

With the troops deployed, this was the battlefield from above

Gimli led the advance, and his Khazad's spread out
ready to form up with the woses as spear support

Grima Wormtongue stayed as close as possible to Gimli

Malbeth moved from the ruins to support the flank with the crossbows,
risking his own life to support the attacks on the khazads

Martin also advanced and the lines clashed,
Saruman started off by casting sorcerers blast and knocked my khazads over.

Martins elite uruks moved forward to ;pounce on the dwarves if he won priority

Saruman the White on his horse lurked near my front line ready to cast 


Martin advanced his crossbows as there were no targets to hit

Winning priority I was able to get my dwarves up and charge the Uruk Hai berserkers.

All along the line, both sides clashed

Even Martins crossbows got stuck in the help sway the battle
The evil army took a few casualties as did the dwarves

Meanwhile on the flank, the evil army seem to be getting the upper hand

Vrasku and his crossbows slammed into the woses

The evil army had the woses on the back foot

The fighting was getting intense and both armies looked to hold their lines

The dwarf king, surrounded, looks in trouble

Vrasku and his support was simply too much, with too many dice the King was slain.

I was forced to move Malbeth in to a defensive circle,
to try to protect him from the advance mass of uruk Hai

My army on the other side of the line faired much better and were able to start to sweep around the rear,
conscious that time was of the essence

Bullroarer took decided enough was enough and charged in to help balance the odds

Now Gimli was able to come in behind the Uruk hai and press the numbers advantage

The rest of my army fell into place to support the others

Malbeth was still not safe though as a number of berserkers advanced towards him

Saruman also decided that every man counted and charged a wose 

The tide seemed to have swung from the uruks to the good army

The Uruk Hai army looked in trouble for the first time in the game

I sent Bullroarer to protect Malbeth from Saruman, but the uruk hai army looked beaten

Saruman, still on his mount

The last few Uruk hai, surrounded were falling like flies

With priority to me, I swamped Saruman

Everyone else surrounded Vrasku and the last of the Uruk Hai


Final thoughts
Unlucky Martin, the Uruk hai looked formidable, and started off giving the dwarves a real run for their money, but the number of troops, the high defense and the occasional save from Malbeth helped sway the win to the army of good. 

Man of the Match:
Malbeth the Seer
The Khazads supported by woses were a brilliant combination.  With the woses hating orc kind, elven cloaks and spears, they were able to give the added support dwarves often lack.

Man of the Match
Again, this was a tough decision...

...the heroes were all OK, but none stood out as better than the others, but I think that Malbeth the Seer has to take the accolade again, as he was able to keep troops from being killed due to the number of saves he did, keeping my troops in the fight and keeping my numbers high.

So for this fight, Malbeth is the man of the match.







We welcome anyone interested in playing The Hobbit SBG, Lotr SBG, WotR or any Warhammer/40K, X-Wing battle or table-top war game - why not let us know so that we can arrange some starter battles,

Or if you/your club want to challenge us. We have all the figures and scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep, snow fields to desert boards ready and waiting; fighting in the ruins of Osgiliath, Helms Deep and Far Harad, you cannot afford to miss it.

Why not join our watch list for updates and look out for more battle reports, campaigns and armies on parade...  as well as our brilliant GBHL Hobbit Hobby Tournament.

Feel free to come along to Midsussexwargaming or arrange a game.