Elven Battle Company - First Report

My son asked for an Elven battle company so at Christmas (and his birthday which comes just after) we got a whole heap of elves. It has taken since then for me to get them painted up! He's super into Lord of the Rings and we even got out a Sindarin dictionary (well, looked it up online) so he could come up with names for his elves.

His leader (Arwen model) is Ithilgalad, the sergeants are (Elrond) Col-galadh and (Haldir) Celeb-galadh. Then we have Brethil and Thaun the wood elf archers and Ecthel-galadh the Galadhrim with spear and shield. He chose all the colours and bases etc. and I painted them up to order =) We don't have hardly any wood elves (I just happened to have a couple that I'd obtained in random eBay finds) so it's a bit of a modified battle company!

We set up for the match with what he calls our Ruffadrim (we don't have ruffian models, but do have Haradrim). This is the mission where the battle company has to escape from a random board edge while the ruffians try to stop them. The story is that a Hobbit says he has a friend in need and invites the Elves into the pub to explain his quandary to them. While meeting the hobbit the Elves notice a shady character slip out of the door. Going to the window, Brethil reports that there are some shady looking characters approaching. The Elves tell the Hobbits to stay put and that they'll lead the newcomers away from the little town...

And in the most unfortunate of all events, in the middle of a COVID-19 lockdown, having waited months and months to get the company painted and ready to play, on turn 1 he charged three Elves at a single Ruffadrim. The Elves all rolled 1s and 2s, the Ruffadrim rolled a 6. No worries, Elven heavy armour will block that... and another 6! Yikes! Col-galadh fell immediately. This caused some grief and almost tears, but we had a chat about how in the first mission there's no ill effects, no rolls on the wound chart etc. and with a few deep breaths we continued on playing.

Fortunately from there the other Elves made short work of three Ruffadrim!

Still, after the scary first turn, the Elves decided to hustle for the exit, keeping Ithilgalad safe and leading the Ruffadrim away from the Hobbits. They launched into the rotten Ruffadrim who caused so much angst and served him up some revenge!

The two wood Elves, Brethil and Thaun, bravely held the alleyway, forcing some Ruffadrim to go around the houses while they fought and defeated two more!

Meanwhile, the others bolted through the fields towards escape!

With some lucky priority rolls, Celeb-galadh fired arrows at the Ruffadrim while the brave rearguard wood Elves caught up with the rest of the group.

Finally, they all escaped and discovered that Col-galadh was merely knocked unconscious and recovered with no ill effects. Thanks to their excellent forestry skills they returned to the deserted hut in the woods where they recovered Ithilgalad's white elven horse, Legrinsul and Col-galadh was reunited with his loyal cockatoo (which they'd had to leave outdoors while inside the village). The remaining Ruffadrim all scattered, but the plot thickened! The Hobbit told a story about a friend of his who had been talked into going on an adventure (I know, I know, the shame!) with a Dwarf, a Human and an Elf! They hadn't been gone a very long time, but long enough that they're a bit worried. They pointed the Elves off in the direction they think they went and hope that the Elves can check on their friends. The Elves are very interested in what would make an Elf, Hobbit, Dwarf and Human all join together so will head off to investigate!

We're looking forward to more adventures from the Elves!