A huge hello to the One Ring community! I've decided to make my first foray into the world of posting about toy soldiers over the internet (via my new online guise - Flotsam and Jetsam). And what better way to start than by giving a report of my experiences, or, as Dr Grant would put it, 'adventures', at the second Great British Hobbit League tournament held at Dreamlike Gaming in Mansfield (hence the heavily plagiarised title...). I think Dr Grant also encourages you to make yourself a cup of tea (or whatever beverage you fancy) at this point and perhaps you should do so now as this is a long post (edit after reading back through - *very long post!); however I won't suggest it too heavily as that would imply that I expect you to stick with this to the end! My username isn't purple after all... In any case, please go easy on me as I take my first tentative steps into the wild (a bit like Master Samwise leaving the Shire...)
Friday
I was fortunate enough to catch a lift with One Ring regulars Dr Grant (driver of the famous Wonderwagon), Southern Dunedain, and Suicidal Marsbar. The drive from Twickenham to Mansfield flew by as we quickly became engrossed in a world of Middle Earth hobby related discussion. There's nothing better than finishing work on a Friday (and Valentine's Day at that!) and completely switching off so that you can concentrate on the important things in life (ahem... models - just don't tell the girlfriend!). We arrived at our (lovely) B&B and headed to the bar downstairs for a quick drink, where we bumped into Thomas Macklen who was attending his first ever tournament. It was nice to put a name to the face (as well as being a thoroughly nice guy, Thomas is also a regular question-poster (is that the correct name?!) on the GBHL ‘Speak Friend and Question’ series). We chatted until late before heading to bed, excited for the two full days of gaming ahead. Even nearby Valentine's night activities didn't disturb our dreams of Hobbit related tactics, despite the best efforts of those involved...
Saturday
Saturday began with a cracking full English breakfast, including mushrooms for everybody except Dr Grant - Dr Grant commits Hobbit sacrilege by not having mushrooms - he says it's because he doesn't like them but it's clear that he just feels that he isn't worthy enough to follow in the footsteps of Mister Frodo... We arrived at the venue early and almost wished we hadn't - it was perishing! The little fan heaters were trying their best but they were proving as useless as Kili and Fili's special rule...
The tournament format comprised 6 games with every points match scenario from the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey played once (the scenarios were played in the order in which they appear in the rulebook - nice and simple). Tournament points were granted for wins (30) and draws (10) and any ties at the end would be determined by the total VPs accrued during all six scenarios.
I should probably tell you about my army before I dive into the action, so here's a picture:
As you can see, I'd gone for an all Easterling force (hardly a common site at competitive tournaments). The reason for this was not because I think they're particularly competitive, but because I'd spent all January painting them! I'm trying to take a new/half new army to every tournament this year (this may be some ask as I'll have to get a lot of painting to but I will give it a go!).
So, on to my list:
Amdur + armoured horse
3 Black Dragons + armoured horse
1 Easterling Kataphrakt + war drum
Easterling captain + shield + armoured horse
4 Easterling + shield
4 Black Dragon + shield + pike
2 Easterling + bow
Easterling captain + halberd
3 Easterling + shield
4 Black Dragon + shield + pike
4 Easterling + bow
28 models is pretty average at this points level. I reasoned that the defence 6 should make the army durable and that the fight 4 of the Black Dragons would be very useful. However, I was worried about facing anything that is F5 (elves, reavers...) or S4 (most evil elites), as well as anything with high defence as my lack of S4 or axes would make it tough to wound heavily armoured foes. Amdur is good (fight 6 is great, as is the ability to regain might and act as a banner) but is perhaps a tad overpriced given that you spend so many points for a 2 attack, 2 wound, 1 will, 1 fate, and (worst of all) courage 4 model! The lack of a war priest was purely down to the fact that I haven't got the model rather than a tactical choice – plus I thought that it would be nice to see how the army got on without fury! So - my major tactic was 'do not, under any circumstance, break!' - with courage 4 being the highest in my army, breaking would be nothing short of disastrous... Easier said than done though! The war drum was included to give me extra movement to help in those scenario where it is important to get around the board with speed. For those of you getting impatient - yes, I am about to start talking about the actual battles themselves now! So, on we go:
Game 1 - To the Death
Opponent: Billy
In the first game I was drawn against Billy who was attending his first ever Lord of the Rings/Hobbit SBG tournament! I don't know whether it's a good thing to play me or not in your first ever game... He was a nice guy and was very relaxed (he ended up winning the most sporting award, a great achievement given he had never played at a tournament before - I'm hoping he comes to many more!). Billy's army was made up of roughly 24 army of the dead (half shield, half shield + spear) led by Forlong the Fat (leader) and a Dol Amroth Captain on horse (carrying a lance). It may seem cheesy but to be fair 1) there's only one army of the dead hero available and 2) he'd painted the two captains as if they too were dead (ghostly green) - so it certainly looked like a nicely themed army on the table. First thoughts were that his army was all defence 8 (I'd need 6s followed by 4s to wound) whereas my front rank was courage 3 (so they'd all die on a 4+ - ouch). I wasn't particularly confident, suffice to say.
My hopes weren't raised in the early stages, as even Amdur fluffed his terror test when attempting to charge a spectral foe. Not including a war priest already seemed like a terrible error! Billy came forward and engaged my infantry (who were positioned on two sides of a shallow stream running through the board), however my line was positioned far enough away that he could only engage around a third of my models. I was then able to counter charge his line (it was his priority) and swing all of those first fights in my favour (either by flanking round to engage his spear support or by backing up my front line with 2 pikes instead of 1). I was also able to charge a couple of my cavalry in. The combat phase was surprisingly brutal - the army of the dead were let down by their low fight value and I proceeded to roll a lot of 6s (and then those all important 4s!).
Killing so many in the first turn swung the game in my favour (as I now had the numerical superiority). On the next turn, Billy brought his Dol Amroth captain over to my right flank (where the majority of the damage had been dished out) in an attempt to hold his line. However, Amdur had other ideas. He and my mounted captain both charged a single warrior of the dead and heroic combated into the ghostly captain in order to trap him. The captain couldn't call a heroic strike as it was no longer the start of the phase, and promptly died to the two-handed elf blade of Amdur, taking his 2 might with him to the grave (sadly for Billy). It was perhaps a harsh move to play on somebody playing his first ever tournament game - although I guess at least Billy will be wise to this trick in future games!
From then on I was able to boss the game with my superior numbers and superior might stores available - despite failing to charge on many occasions! My positioning - anchored between the stream and a wood stopped Billy's troops from getting around me. Forlong fell to a combination of Amdur, Kataphrakts, and pikes; the game soon ended with me still some way from breaking.
Final score 8-0
Conclusions: great game against a lovely opponent. Shame for Billy that it ended one-sided (I certainly hadn't expected that!).
Man of the Match: has to be the fight 4 Black dragon pikemen, who helped me to win so many fights.
Moment of the match: the heroic combat! Amdur being a beast was encouraging.
Game 2 - Domination
Opponent - Alistair
For my second game I was drawn against Alistair on table 2. I think that this is only his second ever tournament. He had brought the King's champion (leader), Floi, 6 Vault Wardens (!), and a mix of Khazad guard and iron guard, plus a lone dwarf archer (I was wary of what he'd manage to pull off during the game!). He also had 6 Laketown spearmen led by Alfrid... Cough. Cheese. Cough. And MORE high defence warriors for me to deal with plenty of S4 to take on my D6 - my only hope was to expose the slow speed of the dwarves in this highly mobile scenario.
The objective markers were placed in the shape of the pips on a five sided die (pretty standard for domination). The board included two buildings on the diagonals which could be scaled via stairs by foot models - of course 2 of the objectives were placed on the roofs of the these buildings.
I deployed the majority of my force near the centre of the board, with my Easterling archers sat on my 'home' objectives - 4 on top of the building and 2 by the objective on my left. Alistair split his forces: half of his dwarves (plus the Laketowners) were deployed by his objective on the building (far left corner) and the other warband (Floi with 4 vault wardens plus some iron guard) was deployed in the far right corner. The objective was placed amongst some ruins such that two vault wardens could completely block my path to them - looks like I was going on a Vault team hunt!
On turn one I decided to sound my war drum. This carried the bulk of my army (all save the 'home objective' archers) straight towards Floi's warband. My plan was to take out this group quickly by sheer weight of numbers before turning to face the rest of Alistair's army - which I hoped wouldn't be quick enough to arrive in time. Alistair, spotting the danger, called a heroic march with his Herald (who'd been given a point of might by that pesky Alfrid), leaving only his archer behind to hold that objective. He also advanced 3 iron guard and 2 Laketowners towards my left objective (held by only 2 archers).
Winning priority on the next turn, I charged into Floi with 2 Kataphrakts, my captain on foot and also some pike support (and called a heroic strike!). Floi (obviously) countered - and rolled a 2. Perfect. I then proceeded to roll a 1... Obviously, it served me right for being confident before rolling the dice ('anything but a 1' and all that...). Still, there was always the chance that Floi could mess up his duel rolls (please!). How wrong I was. Floi rolled a 6 to win the fight and then nonchalantly pulled a double 6 out of the bag to kill two of my precious Kataphrakts! Clearly, my plan had started well... Thankfully, further down the line my superior numbers and in particular Amdur helped me to start cutting through the rest of the warband - including the vault wardens (two handed elf blades can certainly come in handy!). Next turn, Floi didn't fare so well, and was crushed to the dirt as I exacted revenge for the previous turn. Alistair's dwarves reached the central objective so I swung part of my at back round to block their path to their friends. All the while my shooting had been relatively successful - I think I managed to bring down a couple of iron guard without losing anything in return (Alistair's one archer and a few throwing weapons didn't pose too great a risk). However, this was not enough to eradicate the small force looking to wrest control of my home left objective.
Next turn the fighting began in earnest as we met in the centre of the board. The King's Champion got involved against some Easterlings who were desperately shielding to stay alive. The fighting here was pretty even, with roughly equal kills being made. The same couldn't be said for Alistair's isolated warband, who were all but dead. Only a few pesky Vault wardens with shields remained, and whilst they were rolling around on the floor after being constantly knocked over by my cavalry), they stubbornly refuse to die (or at least move far enough away from the objective for me to completely claim it).
After a couple of turns I finally claimed Alistair's first home objective as the last Vault warden fell (well, died on the ground). I sent reinforcements to help with the raging battle consuming the centre of the board, whilst my mounted captain set off on a mission to kill the lone dwarf archer and take Alistair's second home objective. Things weren't all going swimmingly though, as Alistair's iron guard scout team crashed into my hapless archers. It wasn't long before Alistair had taken control of that objective.
At this point, Alistair was close to breaking, whilst I was not. Amdur took on the King's Champion in the centre and, with the help of his friends, managed to take him down after a few turns despite taking a wound (heroic striking and using his two handed weapon on the charge made light of the King's Champion once I'd manage to separate the Heralds from base contact). Alistair was now broken, and things weren't looking great for him now that Alfrid and the Heralds were his only remaining heroes - although Alistair still managed to pass pretty much all of the courage test he needed to take.
My captain finally reached the bottom of the building holding the archer and dismounted so that he could start climbing the stairs to take on the brave dwarf (we had agreed at the start of the game that cavalry couldn't fit up the stairs). One turn of combat later and the objective was mine!
Combat in the centre continued until Alistair reached 25% and the game ended. I think I'd killed Alfrid by this point too. Again, I hadn't been broken - my tactic of not dying quickly was working well!
Final score: 16-4 (3 objectives for me, 1 to Alistair, and 1 edged by me i.e. the one contested in the centre).
Conclusions: another fun game (I always love Domination) against another lovely opponent (even if he did take Alfrid!). The margin of victory in the end was surprising, but I guess it shows that the dwarves really aren't cut out for scenarios which require speed!
Man of the match: the Kataphrakt with war drum won me the game by propelling my entire army towards Alistair’s isolated warband; it's much easier to beat the enemy if you can concentrate on one part at a time, and that certainly showed in this match.
Moment of the match: I'd love to give it to my captain for dismounting so that he could chase and kill the dwarf archer but I think I've got to give it one of Alistair's models: Floi was awesome for that one turn! A combat beast. Pity (for Alistair) that he got destroyed on the next turn...
Game 3 - Hold Ground
Opponent - Damian
Round three saw me drawn on top table versus my playing partner and good friend Damian (or purple clad Dr Grant to those on the channel). Our games are usually very close; we had played two practice games in the run up to the tournament - one was a narrow victory to myself, the other a narrow victory to Damian. So I was expecting another tight affair. I've played Damian only once before in a tournament and that didn't end well - he took victory in the final game of the East Grinstead tournament last year (again in top table), giving him his maiden tournament win. I hoped I'd be able to get some revenge this time round...
Damian had brought an all hero force to the event: a nicely converted Thorin on pony (leader), Dwalin, Gloin, Dori, Bombur, Alfrid (boo hiss, filthy combination!), and Tauriel. His army was as beautifully painted as always and it was no surprise when he took home the Best Painted Army prize, although had it been Best Army rather than Best Painted then he may have struggled given his cheesy combination!
Damian won priority and had to deploy first. Fortunately for him, he was able to deploy all of his heroes together on the North board edge at the cost of just one might. I had two warbands deployed on the Eastern board edge and one on the West.
In the early stages, we both headed for the centre of the board, except for my archers who were trying to take down the weaker Alfrid and Bombur (unfortunately this was made tricky by Damian's careful placement of his tougher heroes). I think I managed to get one wound off Bombur before Thorin went on a scouting mission to take the archers down, which he duly did despite fluffing one round of combat (if only I'd managed to pick off his pony!). Alfrid had mixed success, rolling a 1 on Tauriel but a 6 on Dwalin and Thorin. Bombur set about finding him some more will (awful).
At one point early on in the game, Damian was conversationally asking me whether I agreed with a move that he'd made - it seemed as if we would be playing no differently from our normal, relaxed practice games which was nice
After a few moves of shuffling about one another, the fighting finally began just outside the limit of the central objective: the dwarves (plus she-elf and short-man) would have to fight their way through. After deliberating for a good two minutes, I decided to send Amdur and my captain on foot into Gloin and my mounted captain into Dwalin (in possession of 4 might thanks to Alfrid - yikes). I reasoned that Amdur was less likely to get killed by Gloin and therefore more likely to get some kills (and therefore give him back some valuable might). Tauriel took on a charging Kataphrakt and some pikemen.
In the fight phase, Tauriel battered my Easterlings - hmm, perhaps an ominous sign of things to come. Dwalin then casually struck up to fight 10. My poor Easterling captain (a measly fight 4) needed to roll a six to give himself any chance of staying alive until the next turn. I rolled almost in resignation - an up popped a (wondrously beautiful) 6. We both rolled a 5 for the combat (these were swiftly bumped up to a 6), so it was down to a roll off. The dice gods were clearly shining on the Easterlings as it went my way. Dwalin was promptly dispatched after being ridden into the dirt, taking 2 might with him. Super stuff - moments mike this make you love SBG (or hate it if you're standing on Damian's side of the table). Still, there were other pretty dangerous heroes still alive to deal with...
Amdur beat Gloin after a heroic strike off and pushed him to the ground, clearly spurred on by the captain's success. I had around 14 dice to wound Gloin, needing 6s with 10 of them and 5s with my two-handed captain (4 dice). I watched the dice tumble and... nothing. Well, actually I think I may have taken one wound off but I had certainly been expecting a second kill! Terrible effort - they must have still been in shock over Dwalin's swift exit.
Next turn, Gloin was able to get to his feet but still had to take on Amdur and my captain on foot (plus pike support of course). I won again and rolled pretty much the same number of dice as last time and... STILL NOT DEAD. Gloin did have to pass a fate roll this time (great) - how on earth was he surviving this onslaught?
Next turn Gloin had the audacity to win the combat, wound Amdur AND kill his horse. Disgusting. Meanwhile Dori, Thorin, and Tauriel were making steady progress, chopping down my Easterlings - made easier by Alfrid generously tossing might around. Alfrid and Bombur were staying just away from the action in a nearby wood - I couldn't get past Thorin to get at them with my infantry and didn't want to risk my cavalry fighting them in a wood.
Next turn, and finally the fall of Gloin. Sadly, Amdur failed to make the killing blow so couldn't regain any might (useless!). Dori fell soon after to sheer weight of numbers (and a terrible duel roll). However, I was now broken thanks to the relentless assault by Thorin and Tauriel.
Damian won priority next turn and quickly moved to tie up all of my heroes - for the first time in the tournament I'd have to take some dreaded courage tests for being broken! Unsurprisingly, a good number of my men legged it. I'm not surprised, I don't think I'd like to stick around near an angry Tauriel who couldn't roll lower than a six! It was looking ever so tight as Alfrid and Bombur rushed for the centre...
As the next turn started, a call from the tournament organiser told is that time was essentially up - this was to be the final turn of the game! We played out the final combats - I managed to kill Alfrid (again - get in) with another heroic Easterling archer, however Amdur failed to kill Bombur whilst Thorin and Tauriel cut down more of my men. We counted up the scores, knowing it would be close. It was: a narrow 6-4 victory to me! Such a close game. However, we decided to play an extra turn as the game hadn't ended in terms of the scenario conditions (just the time limit) just to see what whether the result may have changed. Damian again charged my heroes in the hope that my men would run away (which they thankfully did not), however he later thought that he'd have been better off moving more into the centre and just killing my men (at this point we were pretty rushed and it's not always easy to make such critical moves without lots of thought...). I didn't manage to kill any of his heroes but the score remained in my favour at 4-3! The game then did end as per the scenario conditions, so I guess I could rest easy that I hadn't 'just' won because of the time limit - although of course the extra turn was played rather hurriedly and could still have turned out differently.
Final score: 6-4
Conclusions: I could tell Damian was bitterly disappointed to have lost (not that he showed it much outwardly) and why shouldn't he be - he'd almost won hold ground against an army exactly four times his number! A great effort by a very good player who certainly got the most out of his heroes and made what (on paper) looked like an easy game for me exceedingly tough. Dwalin dying was certainly a turning point although Gloin's heroics bogged Amdur down massively and almost evened the score (although if you had to choose between a dead Dwalin and Gloin I know everybody who isn't as crazy as Denethor would choose!).
Man (or woman) of the match: the Easterling Captain was amazing for that one turn against Dwalin and Gloin did a super job of not dying, however Tauriel was consistently immense (and nullified my awesome captain for the rest of the game). I don't think she lost one single combat all game - her rule makes her a real beast when outnumbered, even with pikes around!
Moment of the match: Dwalin dying in one turn when starting it with 4 might. Enough said.
So day one ended with me top (!) of the tournament standings, ahead of Owen (cereal thief) only on VPs as he too had managed three straight victories. Coming into this tournament I had been expecting a mid-table finish as Easterlings aren't generally that competitive versus tournament armies - how they had surprised me! Still, keeping this going on the second day would be tricky - I was hoping to avoid at least one of Ed's hobbit/Malbeth horde and Charles' disgusting Harad list (17 watchers of Karna plus friends!) - I couldn't see how I'd ever be able to beat them!
After the game I played a friendly game of Lords of Battle with Thomas Macklen (who had narrowly lost his three games) and his dwarves (Gimli, Balin, King). After battering him in the early stages, the dwarf heroes came into their own. Balin crushed Amdur. Once broken, I deserted the battlefield alarmingly quickly - my only solace was that Gimli also ran away! (Rolling a 1 and 2 one turn and then a double 1 the turn after - awful luck!). Despite this the dwarves claimed victory - thankfully this wasn't a tournament game! (Well, not for Thomas... He did get a win in the tournament for real the next day though).
The majority of the players then spent the evening socialising: first at an excellent curry house (thanks to Owen for organising) and later in the bar of our B&B. Being able to chat with everybody in the evening is one of the best parts of independent tournament weekends. It was gone midnight before everybody departed after a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I managed one last drink (tea) with Dr Grant before heading to bed to retrieve some energy for the next full day of gaming.
Day 2
Game 4 - Lords of Battle
Opponent - Owen
My first game on day 2 was (unsurprisingly given we were the only 2 players sitting on 3 victories) Owen (cereal thief). I have played Owen three times previously and each has been a cracking game as they've each been very close (there has also been a common theme of a touch of bad luck on Owen's part in each game!). Playing me probably brings back haunting memories for Owen: Owen was leading the tournament in Preston last year after day 1 before tumbling down the rankings after 3 losses (2 to myself) on the second day. Would Owen do, err, and 'Owen' this time round?! Or could he gain some revenge?
Owen had brought a similar themed list to Alistair: he had the King's Champion (his leader I think, not that it matters for Lords of Battle), another nice conversion, this time Dwalin on a pony (eek), a load of Erebor dwarves (shield plus spear, plus a couple of archers) and some Khazad Guard I think, as well as Alfrid plus some Laketown spearmen. Dwalin on his pony scared me and, given there were no objectives this time, I wouldn't really be able to take too much advantage of the dwarves' slow movement...
Owen deployed right in the centre of the board; I deployed half way between the centre of the board and my table edge where my line could be anchored between terrain pieces (a wood to the west and a rocky outcrop to the east). My archers set up in the wood, slightly hidden behind the trees.
On the first turn, Owen used one of Alfred's will to give might to one of the King's Champion's heralds so that he could call a heroic march to reach me as soon as possible. I was surprised that Owen hadn't spent all of Alfrid's will on this turn before I could do anything about it. I can only assume that he was waiting to see who could make best use of it later in the game, however this turned out to have quite a large impact on the game. Owen had protected Dwalin's pony and Alfrid (seemingly) by hiding them behind three rows of warriors. However, the threat of my cavalry made Owen spread his lines out slightly more so than usual, and this gave two of my Easterling archers a chance of shooting Alfrid with only 1 in the way instead of 3. My Easterlings strung their bows and fired towards the Laketown hero. Both hit (a good start!). One of these arrows made its ways through to Alfrid and then (to my delight) caused a wound on him. A stunned Owen rolled Alfrid's fate - and only scored a 2! Dead Alfrid (again!) and more importantly with 2 will remaining - what a result! This was an extraordinary start for me - I'd been feeling a little pessimistic about my prospects before we started but after this slice of luck it was certainly game on.
Next turn, Dwalin and the King's champion both hurled themselves into my line and called heroic combats - Owen seemed keen to kill me quickly in an attempt to gain the numerical advantage (our forces were pretty similar in size to start with) and also to get to my pesky pikemen hiding at the back. My cavalry were stalking Owen's dwarves on the Eastern side of the board, however Owen had carefully placed the dwarves protecting that flank in such a way that it was very difficult for me to gang up on any models or make any useful heroic combats with Amdur (as I'd merely move onto another single dwarf as opposed to anything more inviting - a sign of a good player).
Dwalin and the King's Champion then both had an absolute shocker. Both had to burn another might to succeed with their heroic combats. This left me in a very good position as I had so much more might left on the board (who'd have thought that I'd be in this position at the start of the game?!) - from this point I thought that I would be able to take control of the board. Unfortunately, both Dwalin and the King's champion had successfully made a mess of my battle line and started picking off my (extremely useful) pikemen.
With no might left on the board, I was able to call a heroic move and then feed a single Easterling to both Dwalin and the King's Champion to negate their effectiveness. The fighting was still very even and judging by the mounting death piles there was really nothing in it. My captain on foot was doing a good job at killing dwarves thanks to some supporting pikemen.
Inspired by the captain in the previous game, Amdur finally managed to charge into Dwalin. Confident with his might advantage (Dwalin had none) , Amdur called a heroic strike and casually rolled to win the fight, scoring a... Wait. A 2 highest?! Thankfully I had the banner re-roll (phew) and was able to score... a 2 again?! What. A. Pillock. Fortunately, Dwalin only managed to score one wound on my general and didn't kill his horse. Next turn, a chastened Amdur fled the burly dwarf to take on a herald, who he dispatched to take back a might point. By this stage, both sides were broken. The game could end at any moment and I had no idea who was in front! In the next turn I won priority and amazingly passed all of my heroes' courage tests - a huge relief. I managed a couple more key kills with my Kataphrakts and my captain on foot before the turn ended. We rolled to see if the game would end and the die slowly landed on a 2 - game over! We nervously totted up the scores and it was just as close as expected but sadly for Owen the kills that I'd made on that final turn had just swung the game in my favour.
Final score: 26-24
Conclusions: that was close! Passing those courage tests on what turned out to be the final turn of the game won it for me as this meant my men could stick around and make those crucial kills. Owen once again had some bad luck early on (Alfrid's fate and the failed heroic combats) - maybe his dice just don't like playing against me!
I gave Owen my most sporting vote for the weekend, partly because of how close and tense the game was but also thanks to his easy-going manner during the game and his gentlemanly attitude (pointing out that my cavalry would be in range of his Laketown spearmen as they move faster than dwarves for example).
I was absolutely staggered by the fact that I'd managed to win four games in a row to put me in a great position to actually win the tournament.
Man of the match and Moment of the match (all in one): my Easterling archer for killing Alfrid on turn one. What a hero. The game would likely have been very different had Owen been able to give his combat heroes more might...
Game 5 - Reconnoitre
Opponent - GBHL Jamie
Surely my luck was bound to run out soon. And who better to do it than Jamie, always a tough opponent. Jamie's army was extremely scary - made up of a lot of wood elves, Galadhrim court and woses wielding axes. These were led by Ghan-buri-ghan, Rumil, and Legolas - so 9 might. Far more frightening was the fact that he had about 8 more models than me to start with, the majority of which were a higher fight value than even my captains! Winning was going to be far from easy... Especially against Jamie who rarely makes mistakes.
Now, I wouldn't usually write a short battle report but this was a complete disaster! (Completely my fault, not Jamie's!). I decided to both drum and heroic march at the same time so that I could meet the enemy close to their board edge. However a building situated in the centre of the board funnelled my force down one side of the board (you have to finish within 6" of the hero calling a heroic march, which I'd not really thought about until it was too late - big error!). This allowed Jamie to steal a march (literally) down the left side of the board and I was going to be hard pressed to stop him as I'd travelled too far forward! To make matters worse, Amdur was badly wounded by bow-fire. With Legolas about, there was no hope of him getting off the board alive. We quickly came to the conclusion that the game was effectively over as a contest, so I ran my remaining models off the board edge to take the victory points even though that handed an easy win to Jamie. I could have charged in but I'd have just been slaughtered and figured it would just be more fun to replay the scenario - after all our first attempt hadn't taken long...
Final score: something like 35-24
Conclusions: I'm a total halfwit! Sorry Jamie... (Well, you won I guess).
Second time round and I played MUCH MORE SENSIBLY. I drummed without marching and kept myself spread out so that Jamie's elves couldn't make a break for it. With Legolas' ridiculous shooting ability, I reasoned that I should run Amdur plus 5 of my archers off the board (any more and I couldn't be reduced to 25% again - recon is horrible when you're outnumbered!). This left roughly 20 Easterlings to take on Jamie's 35ish strong elf army. I had no other choice but to try to die quickly before Jamie got off the board. I did break quickly (being outnumbered by fight 5 models is never a good position to be in!) but sadly couldn't kill myself quickly enough - all of Jamie's models bar the woses could shield... Rumil heroic marched some friends off the board and Jamie had won again - this time it was something along the lines of 9-6.
Whilst the second game was far more enjoyable (even with the decrease in tension levels as Jamie had already won the tournament points), the first game was actually better for me tournament wise. This made me think that victory points really aren't a good way to settle ties between players in a tournament. I'd much prefer e.g. oaths that give you something a lot more meaningful to play for. Still, it was only one loss and I was still right in the mix for a strong finish.
Game 6 - The High Ground
Opponent - GBHL Jamie (again)
Amazingly, I was still in second place going into the final game of the tournament and therefore Jamie and I were back together on table 1 for our second (well, third!) game of the day. I really hoped it would be closer than first time round however I really couldn't see how I could possibly beat his army! My best tactic was to die on the hill whilst trying to hold him off it - and just hope the game ended before the elves could claim it... Do this and my Easterlings will have pulled off a bit of a shock - although let's not get carried away just yet...
I deployed all of my force on the hill except fort cavalry which deployed onto right flank so that they could avoid some of Jamie's bow-fire. Jamie had deployed about 10" away from the hill.
On turn one, Jamie got one round of shooting in that was relatively successful. I moved towards his army (ending within 6" on the rim of the hill to prevent him from getting knit even if he charged). Next turn, and Jamie won priority. I was keen to run forward and engage Jamie off the hill to make it harder for him to reach it however moving forward would have left my flanks exposed to attack. I decided to try going forward anyway, calling a heroic move. Jamie countered and won the roll off - well there was my decision made for me! Jamie charged his entire army forward except for Legolas who skulked around behind the lines lining up shots against Amdur. Git.
The fight phase went exceedingly well. For Jamie at least. I don't think I needed to roll for more than a couple of combats (Jamie rolled first and rolled an obscene number of 6s with 2/3 dice!). I lost a number of men (my Easterling's defence of 6 was the only thing that kept it from becoming a massacre, although the pricing strikes of the woses still hurt me badly.
The next turn was fault similar; even my captains were unable to win fights against the high fight value of the elves. Amdur and my cavalry were my only models able to make some kills. At least it was easy to kill Jamie's army army when they did lose a fight (having an average defence of 3!).
Things were looking bad though, so in an attempt to swing the numbers back towards even next, Amdur charged a lone elf and called a heroic combat. Nearby Rumil countered with a heroic combat of his own. I really needed this roll off however it went to Jamie. Rumil (plus friends) easily dispatched their foe and crashed into Amdur. In the ensuing fight, Rumil managed to beat Amdur and wound him thanks to his infuriating swifts parry rule. This left Amdur dreadfully exposed to Legolas' shooting. Sure enough, on the next turn Legolas used his auto-hit rule to target Amdur. He scored a 3 - Amdur lives! Well at least I thought so for a brief moment before Jamie spent all of Legolas' might to get rid of my leader on that turn. Awful (Legolas, not Jamie). My main combat threat was dead (handing Jamie victory points in the the process).
The rest of my army faired little better and I broke soon after the fall of Amdur. At this point my numbers were so few that I simply couldn't stop enough of Jamie's models from getting onto the hill (I had made very little progress in terms of whittling down the elves as I was unable to win enough fights). The game as a contest was effectively over now, and all I could hope for was the game to end so that I could collect as many victory points as possible before the rampant elves (and woses) could wipe me out. Sadly, the game continued on for a couple more turns than I'd have liked and I ended up close to being annihilated.
Final score: something like 20-6
Conclusions: sadly I couldn't compete with Jamie's army. I hadn't expected to win, however I'd have liked to have provided a sterner test in the tournament-deciding fight. I guess I had already had my 'final' earlier in the day against Owen - I think I'd already punched above my weight and Jamie was just one (or two given we played twice!) step too far for my brave Easterlings. His army was very well thought out - the woses complemented his elves very well (competitive wise if not fluff wise).
Man of the match: wood elf spearmen. Their fight value 5 caused absolute carnage.
Moment of the match: Hmm, I really didn't have much to shout about in this one! Legolas killing Amdur with 3 might was probably the stand out moment. No, wait. Winning a combat with one of my captains at about the eighth time of asking was a pretty amazing moment!
In all, I was incredibly proud of my Easterlings - they'd far outperformed my expectations. Also, to play (after round one) on tables 2, 1, 1, and 1 shows that they hadn't done this the easy way. I’d somehow managed to play against all 3 players who had brought Alfrid along to the tournament (and killed him 3 times!). Due to a late surge by a number of players I was tied with about 5 other players for 3rd position in the end. Unfortunately, a large victory point haul by Charles and his Harad force in the final round pushed me down to 4th place overall. I was pretty gutted to miss out on a podium place given my placement over the weekend, however that's just the way it goes and it certainly didn't detract from my enjoyment of what was a wonderful weekend. It was nice to see Jamie win the tournament, he's a top bloke who is very easy to play against (well, sporting-wise rather than easy to beat!!!) and he thoroughly deserved his win. Although I imagine he was praising his luck at drawing me in the final two rounds - there were definitely some tougher forces out there who could have given him a tougher time in the final game. I don't think he'll ever have as easy a finish to a tournament victory again!
Some reflections on the venue: Tom (the tournament organiser) and his team put on a great show. The best part was being brought tea in a mug whilst you played! Superb. We were also provided with lunch on both days. The boards were good (I only managed to sample 3 of them sadly) and most importantly there was a really friendly atmosphere present for the entire weekend.
After the awards session (well done to all the winners), we finally headed home. Good-bye, Mansfield. Until next time - which hopefully will be very soon as there will be another tournament there on the first weekend in May! I hope that the above report inspires some of you to come along to that event or to another independent tournament run by the GBHL. At the very least I hope you enjoyed this maiden post and well done for reaching the end
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Mr Sporting himself haha. Welcome to the forum mate. Nice write up, love reading about games from other players perspective. You should totally do one for this weekends tournament 
