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.

Hobbit Batrep: A Good Day to Die!

"One small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man."

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

A Good Day to Die
With the fountain on Mount Freddo located, four armies prepare to fight for the spoils of war, a giant Freddo... Rohan, Dwarves, Castellans of Dol Guldur and Elves all enter the battle field ready to fight to the death.


This battle was to the death last army standing takes the prize.

Let battle commence!

The SBG Battle Field

Mount Freddo and the Chocolate bar

Rick's army, Castellans of Dol Guldur with a few Uruk Hai/Orcs
and the Shadow Lord deploy in one corner

My warband of kings Champion, Vault Wardens and Khazad Guard

Gimli and his warband of Vault Wardens and Khazad Guard

Lawrence and the Riders of Rohan deploy in another corner

I deploy in a defensive arc, bring it on!

The  Elves and Rohan/Woses deploy in the last corner

The Kings Champion view the Riders of Rohan ride forward

But the turn and charge straight at the Castellans of Dol Guldur

The Elves move forward to get in range for their bows

This forces me to shuffle a bit to face the elves

Using the scenery as added defense

The Shadow Lord watches the Riders charge towards him

...and starts to cast spells...

Eomer is dragged forward and promptly surrounded

Meanwhile the elves start to shoot at the dwarves

But they refuse to move

The Eomer fight was only going to go one way and he is slain

The Riders move forward, but only as few can reach the Castellans

Woses move round towards the objective

And the dwarves advance

The fight is on, Rohan slam into Rick's evil army

Amazingly a shield warden drops to elven bow fire

The Castellans look out numbered and surrounded

The battlefield so far

Rohan and Mordor fight it out

Mordor and the shadow lord

Dwarves march towards the objective and continue to soak up the elven bow fire

Charge again...

but a porr round leaves Rohan with a bloody nose and now they are on the ropes

The woses move

And make a dash for the objective

The Riders desperately try to salvage the fight

Elves and Woses advance

The Woses and Rohan foot are almost at the objective

The Dwarves push forward and prepare to face the Rohan foot

The charge bowls over the evil army, now to make it count

#BOSH - Lawrence fails to wound

Elves hold back and shoot

The evil army hold firm

The Shadow Lord moves forward

The last of the riders

A brave soul manages to muster the courage to stay and charge again

The Woses move back and hold back from the objective

The Dwarves reach the objective and spread out

The brave riders loses the fight...

...and dies!

The dwarves hold again as bow fire scatters into their ranks

With the Rohan Riders gone, Rick announces his hate for dwarves and starts his march to fight them

The Castellans reform and move forward

With two armies to face the Dwarves try to reform

But now the elves and Rohan foot move in

Gimli forms the defense and Vault Wardens start to line up

Meanwhile, The right flank try to get ready for Dan's Elves

CANT LEAVE A GAP, the Kings Champion moves in to bridge the gap

and the Vault Warden cover the rear

The Brave Elves edge forward forming an arc around the objective, and the dwarves 

The Kings Champion eyes the Shadow Lord and remembers what happened to Eomer

The dwarf flank is held by three Vault Warden teams

Dan uses Theoden to lead the attack on the Dwarf flank

Gimli moves to the rear

With the weight of numbers the Kings Champion is forced to break rank and help defend the flank

A Vault Warden team goes down to Theoden

Castellans of Dol Guldur and the Shadow Lord and now in charge range

The Kings Champion charges forward, but can't reach Theoden

Gimli and a Khazad also have to break rank to help out on the flank as the Elves arrive

About turn for the Vault Wardens as they are attacked from the rear by more elves

The dwarves are trapped, Castellans on one side, Elves on the other, both intent on killing the dwarves

The Dwarves push the Rohan foot back

The Rohan are wavering

But just as the dwarves start to hold off teh Elves and Rohan,
in come the Castellans, but Gimli and the Kings Champion spot an opportunity and kill the Shadow lord

The Dwarf army is completely surrounded

Shield n axes clatter, but the dwarves are still trapped

Rohan charge again, with Pippin leading the way

The elven spears are being held back, but for how long

The Castellans charge the rear of the Dwarves, as the Woses come from behind

It is looking bleak for the Dwarves, the Elves are still shooting 

Dwarf sandwich with no where to go 

Ghan Buri Ghan charges the Kings Champion (with the support of a Castellan) and wins,
The Kings Champion falls

Everyone for kill (of dwarves anyway)

Gimli and Ghan go head to head

The dwarves are broken and on their last legs

Gimli and Ghan both get support

A Khazad stops the Castellan from tag teaming Gimli as well

Haldir fires into the melee hoping to kill something

Gimli wins and Ghan Buri Ghan is killed

The Vault Teams refuse to die and keep the Elves at bay

Seriously outnumbered the dwarves are still the target of both armies

More fighting

Theoden and Pippin  face the dwarf wardens

and lose! but don't die 

The elves are pushing my Vault team back

and continue to re-engage

Theoden moves to the objective as his warriors surround two vault teams

oh dear, elves and Castellans on either side, the dwarves cannot hold on much longer

Dwarf spear dies

and are now holding on to the obective

but it seems in vain as they are promptly surrounded

Rohan foot move round to hold the objective

The Castellans move out of the fight as they are nearly exhausted and risk being removed

Gimli sneaks on the end and attacks Haldir

The elves jump a Castellan who remained too close

the dwarves hug the objective 

and win the fight, but no wounds

Gimli wins, but can't kill Haldir

Meanwhile the vault wardens are holding on for dear life

Haldir backs away again, but didn't die, the Castellans are wiped up by the Elves and Woses

With the end of the game, the elves move onto the objective

final score, Elves n Rohan n Woses 7 : 4 Dwarves (both other factions died)
Well done Dan a well played victory

Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this battle, the dwarves were brilliant, but fighting two armies at once, was just too much and in the end the Elven contingent (with a little help from Mordor) won the day.  Vault wardens are for winners, but not today!

Man of the Match: Gimli Son of Gloin

Man of the Match
For me it had to be Gimli, he killed the Shadow Lord and managed to hold off Theoden and the Elven host, and ran around the battlefield defending the dwarf honour.

Gimli is always a go to figure in the dwarven army, and is a must for me every time.

He can have three attacks, throwing weapon and can even go two handed.

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.