Friday, July 9, 2010

Battle Report - Dwarves vs Dragon!

Well, it was my turn to pick the type of battle. I went for a nighttime one, which makes bows have a tiny range.
You start off with half your army near the centre of the table, the other half at the edge.
We also decided to play a different end of game rule.
You play until one side is broken, from then on an escalating chance of game over. A 6 on the turn a side is broken ends the game. A 5 or 6 the turn after that, 4, 5 or 6 the turn after that etc.


My brother chose the points - 600.


Dwarves before the match:


600 points huh. He might choose his Mumak at 600 points, though generally the Mumak works better with a larger supporting army. Who knows! In any case, it's time to let the dwarves have a go. Although their stumpy legs mean that half of the army won't even be in combat until turn 4 or so =(


I've gone with two squads:
Etako's Vault Warden team and Brynmor's rag-tag bunch of tough guys. Each team will have a banner. I plan on putting the Vault Wardens up near the front, even with a Mumak, they should help a lot, with some Khazad Guard to charge in at it. Each team will have 3 Khazad Guard and 3 Iron Guard also. The remaining forces are my other 8 shielded dwarves and a couple of two-handed dwarven warriors.


Harad before the match:



Today’s battle was a fight until break, with increasing chance of game over after a force breaks. At night, arrows had less range, but increased damage. I was tempted to put lots of Harad archers and the Betrayer, so there was twice the chance of poison re-rolls, in addition to greater chance of hitting, but I ended up going for something quite different.

A couple times my brother has mentioned how it would be cool to have a monster battle, and even to throw in a dragon (since I have a toy dragon model that came with the Heroscape game). I decided to try out the dragon today, with fiery breath and toughened hide. It’s not the official model, or on an official sized base, but we’re just playing for fun, so I thought I’d see what it was like.

My plan is to throw the Watchers of Karna and Hasharin, with the Dragon, and try to wipe out as many of his guys as quickly as possible, while my spearmen march up from the back and take on anyone straying from the fight.



The set-up:


Dwarves are known for tunneling ever deeper, ever further, looking for precious stones and, of course, mithril. Deep under the dry, windswept deserts of the South, Etako and Brynmor lead a group of dwarves towards a large cavern, a dullish glow seems to emanate from it and they are intrigued.


Etako leads a group forward, Vault Wardens behind their massive shields, ready for any horde of foul goblins. Brynmor hangs back to cover the tunnel entrance, wary of cave trolls.






The Serpent Horde are not named for the poisonous desert snakes, as many have thought throughout the ages, but for a dragon! The dwarves have mined too closely to the hoard of precious jewels, and the dragon is not happy. When dragons get unhappy, everybody nearby gets unhappy! Plundering the desert kingdoms and ruining their cities, the Great Serpent commands fear and respect from the desert peoples. In the middle of a gift-giving ceremony to appease the beast, the Hasharin finds himself turning to see infidel dwarves in the presence of the Dragon!


Etako finds himself facing the Hasharin and a bloodthirsty gang of Watchers of Karna, black robes almost invisible in the darkness. With a dragon looming on the nearby hill, his only chance is to charge into the men, hoping that the dragon won't risk burning them with its dangerous firebreath.




Brynmor emerges from the far end of the table and waves his men forward, knowing that it's going to be a long slog, but eager to join the battle.




Turn 1: Priority Harad.


The black-clad men swarm forward, and the dwarves counter-attack, trying to bring as many of their number to bear as they can. The banner-bearer calls out for them to be strong and courageous, a difficult task with the bulk of the dragon visible by the flames of the lava pits.



The two dwarves on the flank are protected by heavy shields, though nothing compared to the Vault shields. The furthest is charged by a Watcher, who is incensed with rage at the desecrating dwarf. The dwarf sets himself solidly and shields, focusing all his skill on blocking the darting blades... in vain. The Watcher twirls and whirls and manages to slide a blade sideways into the neck of the dwarf, slashing through the jugular and silencing him forever.

The Hasharin and another Watcher pounce on another of the flanking dwarves, he too focuses on defence, but there is no defence against the Hasharin and his deadly attacks, numerous puncture wounds blossom blood in the weak points of his armour as the dwarf sinks to the ground, dead before his head hits the cavern floor.

Two Vault Warden teams tackle another watcher, the massive shields box the Watcher in and the dwarves heave mightily to actually pin the evil man between them while the spears thrust into the black fabric, staining it dark red before the shields pull back and allow the corpse to fall to the ground.

Another Vault Warden team presses home the advantage against a spearman, who was in the process of supporting the watcher before the massive shield loomed to his right. Stabbing past the shield at the spear-wielding dwarf, he almost wounds the stocky warrior, but the shield dwarf rests the shield on his shoulder and swings his axe around, taking the Harad warrior in the back of the knee and bringing him to the ground, where the speardwarf can finish him off with a quick thrust to the chest.


On the other side of a large rock pillar, Etako leads his personal bodyguard in an assault of more Watchers. An Iron Guard hurls an axe and then bodyslams into a Watcher, while Etako leaps onto him, pulls back his fist and send the Ironfist Gauntlet smashing into the man's head, sending ***censored for excessive violence*** and causing another human fatality.

A Vault Warden fends off a Watcher of Karna, while a Khazad tries to inflict a wound with a massive swing of his two handed axe. The Watcher laughs heartily, enjoying the sport, and darts back, avoiding the axe with ease. 

The Watcher next to him presses home an attack against another Khazad Guard, who loses ground, but obtains no serious injury, every dagger thrust seems to deflect from his well-crafted armour.

Finally, on the far flank two Iron Guards and a Khazad Guard team up against a spearman, who never stood a chance against the three well-trained dwarves. Between the three of them they have well over a century of combat experience and dispatch the human quickly and easily, kicking the body into the nearby lava to remove the barrier to their next target.


Turn 2: Priority Harad.

The Humans, fleeter of foot than the stocky dwarves, retreat! Just as the dwarves are about to charge forward at them in a standard wall formation Etako yells out: "Baruk 'ware the dragon fire!"

For looming on the hill above them is the Serpent of Harad, inhaling with the sound of an approaching wind. The dwarves scatter as much as they are able, given that the Hasharin would love to find them by themselves. The quandary - scatter to avoid dragonfire or stay together to avoid the assassin's blade?


A fireball erupts from the mouth of the great beast and the dwarves in its path throw themselves to the ground. All but the banner bearer, who stands tall and calls them to bravery - before catching the full impact of the firey blaze. He is vaporised almost instantly, charred ash of the standard fluttering to the ground like black snow.

A measure of the fire splashes out into the back of a Vault Warden spearwielder, he is not so fortunate as the banner bearer and dies screaming horribly as the fire eats like acid through the armour on his back and into his body.

Screaming with rage and fury, Vault Warden teams trap Watchers up against the lava and push forward solidly, forcing the black clad men into the molten lake and cursing them loudly as their bodies sink, burning horribly all the while. The Watchers are stoic and die without giving the dwarves the pleasure of hearing their torment - silent to the end, though in terrible pain, burning alive from the feet up.


Turn 3: Priority Dwarves.

Brynmor leads his group ever forward, he can see the other group of Haradrim and calls loudly to them, trying to distract them away from Etako's band. His insults are exceptionally well chosen, but the sound carries all too easily to Serpent ears...



The mighty beast turns atop the hill, sees a close-packed line of dwarves, inhales deeply and sends a burning gout of flame at the dwarven column. Four dwarves are instantly incinerated, much to the horror of Brynmor and followers. The dragon-fear spreads quickly and the Haradrim laugh loudly and evilly at the fallen dwarves.

Still spread out, due to the fear of dragon-fire, the dwarves find that they were, indeed, damned if they did and damned if they didn't. The Hasharin and a watcher leap at a lone dwarf, who, with one watchful eye on the Serpent above, is distracted. He still fends off the first wave of attacks, but the sudden glare of fire and shocked calls from Brynmor's band causes him to flinch enough for the two men to dance past his defence and thrust poisoned daggers through the holes in his mask. The blades penetrate deeply and the dwarf dies quickly. (The Hasharin's ability to re-roll if he doesn't cause a wound is amazing, he uses it multiple times in this battle - ensuring that many noble dwarves die just after thinking they were safe!)

A cavalryman charges full-tilt at another dwarf, the heavy armour a hindrance against the horse as he is kicked to the ground and trampled beneath the hooves of the stallion. A Watcher then darts in and with several deft sword thrusts, ensures that the dwarf will never rise again.


Another cavalryman is brave, but foolhardy, and charges at a line of Wardens. He urges his horse to leap the solid metal obstacle, but at the last second it balks and skids to a halt against the iron and mithril shields. The spears lance forward from behind the wall of metal and bring the man, cursing, to the ground. His swearing fades quickly as blood gurgles in his throat from numerous puncture wounds.


Turn 4 - Priority Haradrim.

Brynmor shouts a command and the well-trained dwarves re-organise from a row into a column, just out of range of the evil dragon's fire breath. The Hasharin backs off from an encroaching wall of shields.


A Watcher and a cavalry man are left behind in the Hasharin's retreat. Three Iron Guards and a Khazad Guard descend on the men, yelling loudly and attacking swiftly. The axes of the dwarves are sharp, and revenge is swift as they attack without flair or style, just quickly and efficiently bringing the human lives to an end.


Turn 5 - Priority Dwarves.

The dwarves press their assault on the Hasharin, surrounding him in a wall of shields. Anybody too far from the combat spreads out as the Dragon looms on the hill again. Etako shouts out to get closer to the enemy, knowing that the great beast won't risk killing the high ranking assassin.


Etako is wrong. The dragon sends another deadly fireball into the midst of the melee. The Vault Warden that it hits is killed instantly, even the mithril-imbued shield is no protection from a direct hit from dragonflame. Etako shields his face with the Ironfist Gauntlet and turns side-on to the blast. His cloak is half disintegrated and his richly embroidered clothes are blackened and burnt, but the mithril armour protects his flesh and his Gauntlet shields his face. (He used all of his might and fate to save the injury!)

The two spearmen are lucky indeed, as the splatters of dragonfire fall around them without causing harm. Another Vault Warden is entirely unfortunate as the flame cascades like liquid fire over his shield, through the narrow eye-slit. He dies screaming as the napalm-like substance eats through his helmet and ***censored due to overload of adjectives about fire***.

The Hasharin, surprised a little, but not entirely by the Serpent's tactics, concentrates all his skills and dodges the droplets of fire splashing off the hapless dwarves as though they were moving in slow motion. He bends, sways and then turns his momentum into an attack against the remaining standing dwarf. The dwarf's shield was raised against the dragon fire and although he feels the heat from it, he survives, only to be forced back by the blows of the Hasharin. Luck is with him as the pools of dragonfire, now cooling on the ground, stop the Hasharin from attacking with full force.


Behind the Hasharin, and back-lit by the inferno consuming the luckless dwarves, a Watcher takes his opportunity and glides past a massive shield, pirouetting past the huge spear and striking swiftly in the back of the Warden's neck, taking out another of the massive shielded warriors this turn.

On Brynmor's side the tide of battle continues raging against the stocky dwarves. Forced into an awkward position due to the worry over dragonbreath, several of the dwarves have been attacked. Indomitable behind their shields, they don't stress too much. Their overconfidence is their ruination.

Also their rolling of more 1s than even Boromir could lay claim to! The dwarves all fell back, shields raised to protect themselves from the flurry of spear attacks. One dwarf manages to keep his feet, three fall to the Serpent Horde's spears. Brynmor, incensed and furious, waves his dwarves forward to avenge their deaths.


Turn 6 - Priority Harad.

The Serpent, growing tired of roasting dwarves at a distance, charges forward towards the one lone Khazad Guard that defends the flank of Etako's diminished force. Axe raised, the dwarf turns to meet the attack.


Although he falls to the Dragon, a day or two from now the Dragon suffers horrible indigestion from swallowing so much metal. Not the best way to get even, sure, but better than nothing. 

Etako leads his remaining troops forward, attacking the Hasharin with fury. Although they use all of the fate, might and sheer determination they have left, in the end the Hasharin falls to dwarven skill. The Ironfist Gauntlet actually knocks the Hasharin back hard enough that he leaves the ground and his black, lifeless body lands head first some distance away.

The last Watcher takes on the last Vault Warden team and another speardwarf, the fighting is furious, the shield trying to diminish the mobility of the black-clad, dual wielding human. In the end, though, the darkness of the cavern benefits the man who finds his cloak snagged on a spear and pinned to the shield! Slipping silently down, however, he shrugs off the garment and lunges underneath the spear, skewering the speardwarf in the lungs and sending him gurgling to the ground.


Brynmor, enraged beyond care by the fatalities of the previous combat, calls a heroic fight and leads a comrade with him into battle, Gjel-grava slamming aside spearthrusts and caving in Haradrim skulls.


The dwarves around him, emboldened by their leader, leap into the fray. Two of the overwhelmed dwarves shield themselves, the Iron Guard and Khazad Guard attack furiously. In the end six spearmen fall beneath the assault, the Haradrim are broken.



Do they retreat? The die is rolled... a 2! The battle rages on...

Turn 7 - Priority Haradrim

Two of the spearmen run from Brynmor's onslaught, those that remain soon wish that they had followed their cowardly comrades. The dwarves show no mercy, overwhelming the last few humans. The Iron Guard viciously attack, hand axes and swords flashing, the Khazad Guard swing their two handers in mighty arcs, ending in bright blood-red sprays. Brynmor's shovel staves in the skull of his opponent and he looks around at the corpses of man and dwarf, blood mingling on the ground.


Etako bravely holds the line against the dragon. It almost decided to leave the battle, but was still hungry for dwarf-flesh. (Failed courage, but used last might to stay in the fight.) The nearby Watcher took the opportunity to disappear into the shadows.

Teeth, claw and tail flashing in the red glow of the lava pits, the dragon knocks all the dwarves back and slays two Iron Guard as easily as though they were unarmoured humans. The dwarven force is now broken. 


The die is cast... it's a 5! The game is over!

The dragon leaves the battlefield. Is it because it's hunger has been sated? Or is it the grim look of the Iron Guard's steely mask? Or something about the positioning of the speardwarf behind it? Only it knows... but it will be back when hungry for more!


Minor Victory for the Dwarves!

Post game Harad:

The dragon was fun! I’m glad I was the ‘evil’ team today, because the dragon could breathe fire on people, even if my own forces would get swept up in the attack, so I was able to attack when dwarves were bunched together. My favourite scene was when the Dragon, atop the hill, was looking down with gaping jaw on a lone dwarf.

Post game Dwarves:

Well, there you have it, last week I surprised my brother with a Balrog, this week he turned the tables and surprised me with a dragon! We decided that the Serpent Horde was named for a dragon instead of whatever the actual reason is =)

What a great game! So close from turn to turn. I'd lose a ton of dwarves, but then the next turn he'd lose a ton of men, back and forth! My favorite moment was the dragon breathing fire on it's own troops to try and get rid of the last Vault Wardens - classic evil!

My man of the match goes to the Watcher of Karna that not only killed multiple dwarves (including a Vault Warden!) but then he just melted into the darkness - I'm sure we'll meet him again!

Another rip-snorting awesomely fun game. Even better, I just got some more cheap Khazad Guard in the mail (e-Bay thank you very much!) so will soon have a 1000 point Dwarf army. I don't know why it's important, but 1000 points is a nice milestone =)

Anyway, as mentioned in the forum posts, I kept an eye on the clock today, the game took about 2 hours, including a spot of lunch in there and all the photography. So I definitely confirm that playing a scenario instead of a "to the death" allows for both a quicker game AND (in my opinion) a more fun one =)


Victory pose - diminished but still raring to go:





Thanks for reading! 

Friday, July 2, 2010

Drums in the Deep - Harad vs Moria Battle Report

Well, as the previous post showed, I've been busy for the last week or so painting up a Balrog in secret - ready to surprise my brother!


We'd picked the scenario last week - Take and Hold. 500 points. That wasn't ideal for a Balrog only army, but what the heck! My initial force before getting the Balrog was going to involve Vault Wardens just swarming over the objective and holding fast to win by sheer indomitableness. But I have a new toy! Must use it!


Moria tactics:



So the plan is, with only a 500 point game, to have the balrog and as many goblins as I can take! You have to have a leader, so I’ve chosen a goblin captain with shield and then added 12 goblins with shields to the mix.
The plan is to kill as many guys as possible with the balrog (duh) and to get the goblins to the objective where they can just stand there and shield to try and stay alive for as long as possible.

My worries are that the balrog won’t enter the game until late (due to the reinforcements rule). Also you win judging by the number of models near the objective, so with so few models that could be a problem. On the plus side, the balrog reduces courage of nearby opponents, so if I can break his force they’ll flee more quickly =)

I’m hoping to be up against the Harad with their lower courage. Boromir and his friends could be tougher. Boromir has might, the Balrog doesn’t. So he could make some ouchies. Then again, last time he played he rolled lots of ones =)



Harad tactics:

I decided not to field the Mumak on this one, as we have a 500 point limit today, and that’s almost all of the points! Instead I’m going in hard with my heroes, followed by the watchers, three raiders, and fourteen infantry. My plan is to keep the Betrayer and archers together where possible, back and away from his forces, while my other units engage the enemy. Using the Betrayer’s enhanced poison arrow ability, I hope to pick off some people with the archers, while casting spells with the Betrayer from a distance.

Whichever side of the objective has the least of his units, is probably where I will try to gather any archers and the Betrayer, and then put the rest of my forces between the objective and his forces. It will likely end up a mass melee in the middle of the map, but I’m hoping the Hasharin and Suladan can work together to stay alive and thin down the enemy to breaking point.

All I need is to have more people near the objective when the game ends to win, so if I can keep the archers and betrayer out of harm’s way, but near the objective, I can move them in if I think there’s a chance that the game could end at the end of the round, to bolster the number of units at the objective.



Anyway, onto the battle!

Deep in the mountains, the Betrayer learns that an ancient gemstone was buried with a dwarven King of old. The gem has the potential to be worked into a powerful talisman and his master desires it. Whispering in evil, sibilant tones into Suladan's ear, the King is bewitched into heading with his retinue into the deeps...


The underworld is full of tunnels and dark spaces that confuse and bewilder even the sharpest minds. As a result the party is scattered, though they still know where they are headed for as they can hear the Betrayer's voice in their heads at all times, driving them onwards. Suddenly the narrow tunnels open up into a large cavern, so big that the glow from the pools of lava does not even reach the ceiling!

They are not alone. Skittering, chittering noises indicate the presence of goblins. There, in the center of the cavern is a tomb, a nearby chest glows with an eerie green light. 

This scenario relies on random rolling to get your troops onto the table. You roll and if you roll badly they don't even get onto the board! Otherwise if you're lucky you get to choose where they come in from. And if you're sort of lucky they get on the board, but at a position chosen by your opponent. 

I had priority so my 6 goblins that rolled well came in one group. Unfortunately my brother rolled well too and, in a great move, though unexpected, brought his troops in behind mine! It's just so normal to automatically deploy on opposite sides of the table that I was totally unprepared! The only caveat is that you're not allowed to charge into combat on your first move.


The Betrayer knows that his master's bidding is more important than any mere goblin infestation and urges Binky straight towards the center of the cavern.


Turn 2 - Priority Haradrim.

The goblins are attacked from behind in short order. They turn and seeing the larger humans there instead of striking back just do all that they can to stay alive, keeping their shields raised at all times and hunkering down to minimise their target profile.

The goblins mainly manage to deflect all of the incoming attacks, though with their total focus on defense they don't have an opportunity to strike back. Against the Hasharin, no amount of skill with a shield can save you, using a mighty leap attack, the Hasharin somersaults over their heads and slashes two goblin throats, spilling green blood with skill, poise and ease.


The Betrayer urges Binky to full speed and is at the objective swiftly. The green gem is quickly obtained from the chest...


As soon as the lid of the chest opens a strange wind seems to blow through the cavern. The goblins all screech in terror, but the Haradrim think that it is their human blades that have scared the greenlings. 

All too soon a red glow fills one end of the cavern and a terrifying roar can be heard, followed by ponderous, heavy footsteps. A miasma of pure terror, at odds even with that emitted by the Betrayer flows across the cavern floor and amidst a cloud of black and sparks of red a terrible sight emerges from a tunnel.

Seeing that this game could suddenly be over far earlier than I thought, I use my precious commander point of might to influence the Balrog's pathetic roll and he enters the board at a point chosen by my brother. Our house rules give you a point of might to be used on any die roll if you win a previous game, 3 points for a major victory, 2 points for a minor victory, 1 point otherwise. The last game was a draw so we each have a point for this game.


The Balrog raises a hand and a fiery, flaming whip flares into existance, flicks out, and wraps around a Harad spearman, his screams are cut short as his body is incinerated into ash with a tug from the Balrog. Bob, the spearman next in line, yells for help!


Amidst the ruins a goblin captain leads three troops into the cavern, drawn by the sounds of fighting and hoping to get some loot!


More goblins emerge from the other side and head towards a Harad bowman.


Turn 3: Priority Goblins.

The besieged goblins run towards the center of the map, hoping that the men won't follow them towards the Balrog. One says to the first one to move "you want us to move closer to that thing?"

They race around a rocky outcrop and find themselves suddenly within sight of Suladan the Serpent King. "You, my friend, are a genius." The goblin says. Suladan charges right at them from one side, the Hasharin, watchers and troops attack from behind.

Suladan's horse rears and smashes through the goblin's shield, trampling the green body into the ground into a gory green mess. The Hasharin spins, slices and dices, disemboweling another goblin. Two watchers and a spearman gang up on another, who manages to block two of the incoming attacks, but dies to a stab in his left side while defending his right. Another watcher and spearman similarly dispatch their opponent.


Suddenly the goblins are close to breaking point (with only 14 models, he only needed to kill 7 and that's 6 down already!)

There is a brief moment of goblin glory as the captain leads his lads forward, swarming over a watcher and overwhelming the human with numerous stabs. The captain leans down over the dead man and takes his long dagger - which was bigger than his own short-sword. The loot is good indeed!


The goblins near the hill all run for it, scampering up the slopes and turning to face the Haradrim, raising their shields defiantly now that they have the height advantage. The human archers let fly, but the goblins hide behind their shields and let the arrows ricochet harmlessly away. One of the goblins manages to fend off the human spear, next to him two spearman gang up on one goblin and between them manage to slip past the wildly defending goblin, stabbing him in the thigh and then spitting him through the chest when he jerks in pain. 


The Betrayer turns towards Bob and points towards the Balrog. In his head Bob hears whispers of how slow and painful his death will be if he doesn't do his duty. Bob turns to face the Balrog, a quick and painful death is probably better than a slow and painful death, though research in this area is obviously hard to come by. Getting the post death surveys completed is the real pain.


The Balrog summons another fiery lash, but Bob dodges away from it. Roaring in fury, the mighty beast summons a massive flaming sword and advances on Bob. The whispers of the Betrayer echoing through his head, promising sweet rewards for success and hideous punishments for failure cause Bob to become a whirling dervish. The Hasharin sees Bob move and decides to hire him for Hasharin training. If he survives.

He does!


In what can only be called "pulling a Boromir", the Balrog is beaten back by Bob. To add insult to injury, the goblin army is broken and at the end of the round the fateful die is rolled...

It's a 1!

The game is over!

Major Victory Harad!

So for all of you out there thinking that sometimes SBG games go for too long, they don't always! And people who say that the Balrog/Mumak/Dragons/Boromir/Aragorn etc. are too tough to win against. Just don't play to the death! This really showed that a scenario can really make for some fun and interesting plays!

Of course, we'd spent more time setting up, getting the game together etc. than playing at this point so we decided to play it out to the death just for fun - but the Major Victory and associated commander points would remain with my brother.

Rest of the game summary:

The goblin captain led his boys on to kill two more spearmen, then saw what was going on, grabbed some more loot and led his men away to argue over who got what.

The goblins on the hill were reduced to one brave goblin that held off for about four turns before running away down a tiny tunnel that was too small for anyone to chase after him, fending off about six Harad as he went.


Suicide Bob ended up finding out about the quick and painful death, but so far we haven't got the completed survey back from him.


From then on it was "stacks on" with the Balrog. The Betrayer cast a few spells, and reduced the courage of the Balrog once, but it managed to resist all other attempts to transfix, sap will etc. The Betrayer eventually left his minions fighting and, laughing in his hissing/coughing fit sort of way, disappeared with the glowing gem.


Suladan and the Hasharin both wounded the Balrog sorely, once the Harad surrounded the mighty creature. (In one combat there were about 36 rolls to wound!) There were enough men so that even when many of them failed their courage rolls (Balrogs are terrifying enemies!) there were usually enough to keep it trapped and taking double strikes.


It took until Turn 17, but in the end the Balrog won out, with three wounds remaining. The hard part turned out to be rolling 6s to win combats, the "curse of Boromir" was well and truly with the Balrog, who only actually won a few combats. Fortunately winning even a few combats makes for a lot of dead humans.

After game Harad:

I was surprised by a massive and deadly opponent in this one! A balrog has been added to my brother’s army! As luck would have it, all I had to do was kill 7 goblins, and make sure I had someone next to the objective, and if the game ended, I would win. It was a quick battle, but the Balrog made for some great photos! We continued on just for fun, after the scenario ended, and his Balrog really slaughtered my remaining Harad forces.

I think my ‘Goblin of the Aftermatch’ award is for a lone goblin who stood atop a hill and fought off tons of Haradrim turn after turn.

My ‘Spearman of the Match’ award is for the lone spearman, who pushed back the Balrog with his roll of 6!

After game Moria:

Woohoo! My Balrog is awesome. Sure, I may have lost. A lot. Totally thrashed actually. But I got to cause some flaming death as well! (When we kept playing after I'd already totally, completely lost.)

Thanks again for my brother's camera and photography - and especially for playing again, I know lots of you don't have good regular combats, so I know I'm lucky.

I guess it is sort of important to try and match your troops to your scenario! Instead of the 50 troops I would normally field in a goblin army, having 14 made for WAY faster turns. This was like "speed SBG", it took longer to roll the dice to see who would come onto the board than it did to play each turn!

If my Balrog had rolled to come onto the board with my initial lot of goblins the game may have turned out completely differently, but that's the way the dice talk sometimes! Part of what makes it a great, fun game in my opinion, where would the fun be if you knew what was going to happen - I have the DVDs for that!

Bob did a fantastic job repelling the mighty Balrog, so he should get lots of credit, but really, my brother just plain out-played me today. Bringing troops in behind my goblins, getting straight to the objective and charging Suladan in to box in my exposed goblins all contributed to a sound thrashing of me.

Of course, now he will know the fear that comes from knowing that your opponent has a monstrous beast. Now instead of me always worried about the Mumak, he'll be worried about a Balrog turning up.

And you just know that some time, some place, that there will be a Clash of the Titans between the Mumak and Balrog. So stay tuned =)