Tale of Many Painters - Azogs Hunters (Month 1)

"Attack them now... Kill the Dwarf filth while they sleep."

Narzug, Outside Beorn's house,  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hunter Orcs of Middle Earth are a ruthless band of Orcs who serve Azog the Pale Orc and followed Fimbul and Yazneg. The Hunter Orcs that roam the lands east of The Misty Mountains are a particularly aggressive kind of Orc, they are wild hunters who don't really mind much what prey they're after, be it Hobbits, animals, men... they're not picky eaters. 

Mounted on hoards of vicious Gundabad or Fell Wargs, they can quickly cover and control large territories. The hunter orcs do not speak common tongue but they speak an ancient orc language. Indicating they are proud of being orc and despise man. The fast-moving and fanatical Hunter Orcs serve as the right hand of Azog, a relentless band who will stop at nothing to slay his quarry.

Below is my progress for month 1 - to complete a full warband and hero to lead them.  I have painted 12 hunter orcs on foot and converted a mounted Narzug to lead them.

Here are my progress pictures.

Next - Azog foot and mounted and another 12 hunter orcs!

Follow the other participants of the Tale of many Painters 2017 at Midsussexwargaming.

The Tale of Many Gamers:

Over the course of the next 6 months participants shall build and paint a new army totaling approximately 1000 points, they will be required to complete new models each month and using their army in tabletop skirmishes as the months progress. 

Players will be awarded points for playing in these battles, completing their selections and completing other tasks related to their armies. 

Building your army 

Month 1 - One Warband (Hero and 12 infantry models/ 6 Cavalry Models)

Month 2 - Expand your army to 400 points 

Month 3 - One Warband (Hero and 12 infantry models/ 6 Cavalry Models) 

Month 4 - Expand your army to 750 points 

Month 5 - One Warband (Hero and 12 infantry models/ 6 Cavalry Models)

Month 6 - Upgrade your army to 1000 points Engaging the enemy At certain points along the course of the building up your forces you will be required to play games against your fellow participants.

These games will be played at the club and while are not mandatory are part of the spirit of the tournament and as such will be included in the points system for the tournament. 

Points system: 

1 point for painting per month 

1 point for basing per month 

1 point for playing a battle

2 points for winning a battle (Battles will be every other month) 

5 points for having a fully painted and based 1000 point army.

Participants: 

Sam P - Azog's Legion 

Tom S - Isenguard 

Kieran S - TBC 

James G - Fiefdoms 

Chris D - Survivors of Laketown and Mirkwood 

Leonardis - Azog's Hunters

Keep an eye on the Midsussexwargaming blog for status updates as the participants start to build and paint their armies.

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.  

Why not join our watch list for updates and look out for Easters weekend battle event... two days of fighting in the ruins of Osgiliath, Helms Deep and Far Harad, you cannot afford to miss it.

Feel free to email us to come along or arrange a game.

Mid Sussex War Gaming club

East Grinsteaad

Hobbit Batrep :Angmar v Gondor v Durins Folk

"One does not simply walk into Mordor.
Its Black Gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly. ."

Boromir, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of The Rings

Gondor v Angmar v Durins Folk

Some time at the end of last year, Sam, Rick and I got together to have a battle.  It ended up a three way battle, I took my monster Angmar army, led by the Witch king, with a Cave Drake, Buhrdur, Shade and some cave trolls.

Sam took his trusted Durins folk army, with Gimli, Gandalf, Kings Champion, shield wardens and a myriad of dwarves.

Rick, took Boromir with citadel guard... erm woses and rangers.

The objective a hill in the centre of the battlefield - 1 point per figure within 6 inches.

Who will win the battle.... 

My Angmar army

The Witch King on Fellbeast

Buhrdur leading two cave trolls

My Cave Drake

a single orc tracker (I had some points left over)!

A shade

Ricks Gondor Army

With elite troops...

...and woses!

A whole warband.

First round after deployment and Sam used sourcers blast
to bowl a cave troll in to the other trolls, knocking them prone.

Meanwhile my cave drake advanced towards the other armies through the woods

Ricks Elite Gondor, with Boromir deployed away from all the combat... apparently he had a plan!

The rest of Ricks Army deployed right next to Gandalf...

Sam was forced to deploy with Dwarf army together on the flank of the Gondor army

Gandalf, winning priority was able to move out of the way of the Gondor army

And the lines clashed - dwarves and woses battle it out

Rick moved his rangers to try to target Gandalf

and moved some of his warriors of Minas Tirith in to engage the trolls

The woses doubled up with their spears to try to even the odds

Ghan Buri Ghan gets a cheeky boost from Alfred... 

Sam charged Gimli into the woses and Ghan

and wins the combat

My trolls and the Gondorians clash

who will win?

Rick sends in some of his rangers to support the woses,
but it could be too little to fight of the might of Durins Folk

Enter the Kings Champion, straight into Pipin

Ricks banner man adds support against the trolls

The woses take casualties

and are forced back

The vault wardens create an iron wall

My trolls start bowling

The Dwarves push the advantage on the woses, cutting through them with ease

The rangers are also struggling

The Witch King joins the fight with the trolls, Gondor look like they are in trouble

Cirion v the Witch King

Gimli and the Kings Champion team up to squash a wose

SPLAT!

The woses are looking in real trouble

Sam moved his dwarves to mop up the rangers too

Back to the trolls

and enter the Cave Drake

Cirion also has to deal with Buhrdur and is trapped...

Sam, still cutting through Ricks softer part of the army targets Alfred

and the rest of the army

Now his mind turns to the objective

But Cirion, is slain

Along with his Citadel guard

Spotting Ricks 'Plan' I turned my army to the objective in the centre of the field

Boromir claims the objective and starts to spread out to claim maximum points

Sam moves towards the objective too

My cave drake looks at the Gondorians

and the Witch King moves in to support

Sam takes the opportunity to kill a few stragglers 

with Ricks Army broken  - the game ends...
his plan was to take the objective, use his soft troops to be broken and win the battle...
well done Gondor 14 v Angmar 3 v Durins Folk 3

With time to spare - we played on -to the last man, dwarf or beast standing wins!

and so my bowling continued, but the high defense minimised the kill power

My monster team rush in to kill the Gondorians

But Boromir pounces on a cave troll and wins the fight

Killing him immediately 

Buhrdur, enraged hurls another warrior at Boromir

The monster Angmar army rush Boromir

win the fight...

and kill him

Gondor are spent, the last few warriors are smashed

Sam forms a line of dwarves

The Witch king and Gandalf fight it out

While the Cave Drake and Kings Champion battle

The Kings Champion is slain

But Gandalf beats the Witch King back

Sams Iron Guard successfully threw an axe at the cave troll, on his last wound...

and kills it!

The witch King was forced to move away - he was very low on will
The dwarves rushed in again

The trapped cave drake strikes out

and knocks over all the dwarves

The battle raged on...

but the cave drake could not hold up to the onslaught of the dwarves

my Angmar army withdraws

Fighting as it went

Buhrdur rended Gimli

Killing him, but is still outnumbered

a hurl to clear the dwarves out makes some room

But it was all too much - both the shade and Buhrdur are killed, the dwarves finish as victors, having charged the Witch King in to battle with his last will point.

Final thoughts

Well done Rick... he remembered the objective and played the game well, we soaked up his soft troops, broke him and handed him the game.  

The second half was really just Angmar v Durins Folk, but this just showed how hardy they are, the slowly beat the monsters down and used their numbers and high defence to be an unstoppable army.

A good game of two halves.

Man of the Match
Ginmli Son of Gloin

Man of the Match

This was quite clear, Gimli son of Gloin was a beast in this battle, he smashed through the woses, Gondorians, killed the cave drake and really made it a slog to try to stand up against him....

So for this fight, Gimli simply has to be 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.