Hobbit: Batrep - Corsairs of Umbar Invasion

"The black sails of the Corsairs... The Corsairs are here, the Corsairs are here!"

 Return of the King, The Lord of The Rings

After a fair few weeks of no Hobbit SBG battles, it was time to once again travel to Ricks and fight it out!

Rick and Laurence played good - Rick had 500 points of Gondor led by Isildur (as an independent hero) with Beregond taking fountain court and Citadel Guard and Ghan buru Ghab taking Woses as allies, whilst Laurence had 500 points of mounted Rohan, Eomer and Erkenbrand leading red shields, Royal Guard and Sons of Eorl. I was concerned by the cavalry, it's tough hitting and fast moving, lethal against against my low defense. 

I fielded 1000 points of pure Corsairs - Reavers, Arbelestors, Pikes and bows... 6 full war bands led by Dalymar The Fleet Master, not much might, but plenty of throwing weapons, mixed with two attack reavers and 3 Bo'son for banner re-rolls.

Having taken it in turns to set the scenery and rolled for board edges, it was time for deployment.

Good placed Rohan on both flanks with Gondor in the middle, I put my crossbows and archers to face the Rohan red shields and Erkenbrand.

Hobbit SBG - Deployment

Eomer leads Royal Knights and Sons of Eorl

Isildur and Ghan Buri Ghan join up to take centre field

Beregond with Warriors of Minas Tirith

Erkenbrand and Red shields cover the left flank

My Corsairs deploy with archers at the rear,
I wanted the whole army at the rear, but I had to place where I rolled.

Bo'son view of Corsairs with shield and rear rank with bows

Another Bo'son's warband

Captain with Reavers supported by pikes

Dalymar leads another warband of Reavers and pikes

I win first priority and promptly, tactically with draw (not retreat - with draw)
I need my arbelestors out of reach of the cavalry

Rohan advance on my flank, easily riding over the ruins

Erkenbrand also advances

The corsairs hold their nerve as the cavalry loom nearby

Now Gondor and Woses are in view

Eomer holds his riders in check

Gondor form a long line and come into view

Erkenbrand, clears the mound

Two are better than one! I join two warbands together to form a wedge across the gap
 and to increase the odds of my winning

Meanwhile the Corsair on the road are desperately trying to fall back

The Kings Hunter (hiding behind the rock) takes pop shots at my 3rd Bo'son, but fails to wound

Isildur, with ring reaches my line, literally mm's from my troops!

Rohan advance and Gondor form a line to support

Erkenbrand sounds the advance, This is not looking good for Umbar,
sandwiched between two cavalry warbands 

Corsairs tactically withdraw again, using the move to form a straight line and get a third war band to support

Archers and Crossbows also line up ready to fire

Several riders fall in the first volley, but fail to hit the arbelstors with their shots

The armies are tantalisingly close,
 the thunder of horse shakes the ground in front of the invaders

The Kings hunter, withdraws and lays prone to avoid bow fire...
Brave, brave, brave Sir Robin.... 

The Arbelstors force the Red shields to ride back behind the rocks to avoid my shots

Isildur fails another roll and I move him away from the fight

BAM! Full frontal charge by Eomers war band, Sons of Eorl and Royal Knights... this is gonna hurt!

But not me! Surprisingly the Reavers with support win most of the battles and clear the way for the next batch of riders,
Eomer, uses might and slays the corsairs

Now it is carnage, riders and corsairs fight a bloody battle to the death

Eomer is swamped, but supporting woses arrive to bolster their attacks

Meanwhile the Red shields sneak around the rock...

...And prepare to charge

Gondor now reach the line and the battle intensifies

Eomer is in the thick of combat

Eomer loses the fight, but is not slain, the Corsairs are managing to hold off the cavalry charge

In they come again, this time, more Sons of Eorl and woses!

Erkenbrand realises that he has to get stuck in to the fight, and advances

Eomer smashes the Reavers and kills his foes

The Umbar line is wavering, but the Rohan cavalry is all but spent

Corsair priority, both sides call heroics and the result... 

Corsairs win and charge the cavalry

Eomer faces only one reaver, and a few corsairs and has support himself

The battle rages on... there is no clear winner, and Gondor has more troops arriving

The Red shields lose horses to bow fire as four riders are now on foot,
 including Erkenbrand himself

Madness takes hold and a lone corsair charges towards the Rohan Red shields

Eomer loses the fight again and is forced to move back

With the number of attacks there is only one outcome

Eomer is slain... and removed from the fight

The Rohan riders are decimated, but can Gondor save the day?

The last Son of Eorl also dies

My mad man is surrounded, he is going to die. 

I therefore fire everything I have into the fight to kill what I can

Two more riders dismounted by crossbows

And the mad Corsair is killed

The Corsairs are swamping the Gondor warriors, can Isildur,
who has now removed the ring save the day?

Desperate times call for desperate measures from Rohan and they charge the arbelestors

Surrounded the Rohan fight for survival

More corsairs line up to kill the straw heads

Good are broken, But Isildur and Beregond keep the army together

The Gondor Guard push into the Corsair lines

And push them back

Dalymar throws a smoke bomb, fails to wound, but Isildur uses a fate point to ignore the affects

Men, both good and evil are dying and Gondor seem to be pulling it back

Even Rohan don't want to die!

Beregond is desperate to get into the fight, but there is no space to move

The Corsairs move forward and reach the banner 

Another smoke bomb, but this time it wounds, Isildur is surrounded

Erkenbrand and his last few kill the arbelestors, forcing yet more corsairs to join the fight

Isildur wins and pushed the Corsairs back

But another priority to Corsairs sees Dalymar smoke bomb again, Isildur is hit, but not wounded and the smoke takes it's affect forcing him to heroic strike

Isildur is a beast and wins again

Erkenbrand is now the only Rohan on the field, and heavily outnumbered, but still refusing to die

Another stink bomb hit as Dalymar charges in

The smoke bomb hits,wounds and manages to kill Isildur, what a result!

I change tactic on Erkenbrand... instead of sending men to the slaughter,
I tactically withdraw (again) 

The army of good is wasted

the last few are holding on for dear life

Erkenbrand charges forward, but doesn't quite make it

The last Gondorian (and a wose) are surrounded and massacred 

Bow fire from everything I have left land on Erkenbrand, but still don't kill him

There's nothing left to do, but surround him and trap him

The end!

Final thoughts:

I loved playing with the Corsair army, Rick said it was filth! but I insisted it was fluffy, after all it's not very often someone fields a full 1000 point Corsair army.  I was surprised how well they did.  The arbelestors kept half the Rohan army at bay for long enough to matter, whilst my reavers managed to win against a full charge from Sons of Eorl and Royal knights. 

I killed every figure fielded by good, but was not broken myself, I had the numbers and they managed to win the day. 

Isildur, didn't help the cause for good, losing several rolls for control with the ring, I was able to march him away form the battle, just when he was needed... this cost good dearly.

Man of the Match: Erkenbrand

Man of the match:
There was some debate about this, but the last man standing took it.  Erkenbrand earned his place here, he didn't want to die and simply beat everything I threw at him, in the end my crossbows managed to wound him and shear numbers over whelmed him.

A really enjoyable game, can't wait for the next match!

Leonardis

We welcome anyone interested in playing The Hobbit SBG, Lotr SBG, WotR or any warhammer/40K battle - why not let us know so that we can arrange some starter battles, like the one above, or if you/your club want to challenge us. We have all the LOTR/Hobbit SBG figures and LOTR scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep, snow fields to desert boards ready and waiting.  
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Mid Sussex War Gaming club
East Grinstead