Battle Report - Lords of Battle

Hey all! It's been a while but it was worth it (for me at least) as I got another High Distinction for another of my Masters subjects, hard work with not much time for gaming. I need at least a 5-6 hour block to get over to my brother's place, set up, play a game, pack up, get home and as you can imagine, with uni and a toddler it's not easy to manage!

Still, thanks for all your comments and emails etc. I hadn't quit or anything, was just busy!

I should mention that some of the rules may have changed in the rulebooks from the very first lord of the rings game. We are using the Mines of Moria rulebook. We've modified slightly so that the wargs this time will not get any bonuses for charging (they never should as they are not cavalry - some of you need to be mindful of this) but we won't play that they get knocked over by a charging horse (though a charging horseman still gets the bonus attack). Wild wargs are not cavalry! They will cost the same number of points as always.

Today our Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game is a modified "Lords of Battle" scenario. The old version was all about your commander, obviously we now have multiple heroes per side so it's not fair to restrict them =)

1 victory point for every wound or fate point a hero causes someone to lose.

1 victory point for scoring a wound on the enemy commander

3 victory points for killing the enemy commander

1 victory point if the enemy force is broken at the end of the game.

3 victory points if you are unbroken at the end of the game.

Special rules: every time one or more of your heroes is in a fight in which an enemy hero dies, one of your heroes who was in that fight regains a lost might point.

To end the game, when one force is broken roll a die, if it's a 1 the game ends. At the end of each subsequent turn the roll needed increases by 1.

So, for some fun we decided to play with a hill-fort. The ruins of an old fortress lies on a hill in the barren wasteland near Mordor. There are strategic points throughout the area, the fortress itself has a source of clear spring water via a well. 

700 points each (though we went slightly over to 712 so I could use all my wargs!)

The Betrayer has convinced Suladan that holding the area will be of vital importance and will personally give the Serpent King a powerbase in the area. Buhrdur, Druzhag and a whole lot of evil creatures believe that this area should be human-free.

The stage is set for an intense battle within the narrow confines of the fortress walls!

The Betrayer and his cadre of archers feel the ground tremble and peer over the walls to see the heads of three trolls bearing down towards them!

Suladan and his raiders sweep around the fortress walls to ensure that the perimeter is clear...

Which, of course, it is not! A wild warg chieftain leads a band of wargs looking for horse-flesh to sate their hunger.

To battle (priority creatures)! One of Buhrdur's "pet" wargs bounds into the room full of archers to stop them from peppering his master. The Betrayer points his sword at the creature, dark, sibilant voice flowing from the dark space under his turban. The warg is transfixed and the haradrim troops swarm over it, smashing it down with their bows and slashing it's throat. 

Druzhag calls out in a gutteral, goblinoid voice and the green spider's eyes turn from their usual yellow to a bulging red as it's joints creak and power oozes from it as it is enraged by the spell. Leaping, chittering towards the Hasharin nearby it stabs and slashes with razor-sharp fangs and abdominal spike. The Hasharin is beaten back, three punctures in his cloak - somehow fate is on his side and the spider has hit concealed weapons next to the evil man's body rather than drawing any blood. (Three wounds and all were saved by fate! His luck must be continuing from the previous game!) The spider itself suffers an internal rupture, a wound caused by the spell's power in its body.

At the end of the turn there is already melee happening - we love these new rules, so fast to get into action and so much adventure with more captains and warbands.

Turn 2 (priority creatures) and Buhrdur's towering form strides into the central chamber. No fewer than five evil men strike out at the beast, but his massive sword sweeps around in a mighty arc and two men fall decapitated, too slow to duck. (One point of might and two kills for a hero, so Creatures: 2, Haradrim: 0)

Behind this fight a brown spider pops over the wall, only to be transfixed by The Betrayer! Somehow the spider still manages to avoid being slain, taking one wound from a spear in the thorax, green ichor spurting from the crack.

Outside the clashing sounds are dimmed by the walls as the two fast moving warbands near each other, growls from the wargs, thumping from the hoofs...

Druzhag has enraged the green spider again and this time it bodily smashes into the Hasharin, bearing the man to the ground and sinking it's huge fangs into his neck. Just as he dies the spider also thrashes around, tearing the human's body even further before it curls up dead - the effects of the spell rupturing more internal organs and leaving the Hasharin torn and covered with ichor.

The other two trolls fight in the corridors outside the central room. The spear wielding troll almost impales the Hasharin before it, but fate is with the man and no blood is lost as the tines of the spear pin his arm to the wall, but fail to draw blood!

The troll with the hammer finds it hard to swing the mighty weapon in the confines of the corridor and the human spears jab at its body, though the tough folds of skin are not scratched by the sharpened metal.

At the end of the turn the frenzy in the middle is about to be joined by the clash of the creatures and horse-men outside.

I took some shots before we started the turn just to show how cool the fortress was, it was really fun playing in such different terrain, though I fear it was to my advantage with the trolls being so tough. See the spiders lurking near the walls, ready to climb over! (Another advantage to me, I think, though I guess they're worth lots of points!)

And here's a low angle view, just a few trolls loom over the walls!

Turn 3 and priority goes to the Haradrim. Buhrdur again faces four men, who have bravely overcome their fears to engage him (passing courage tests) but the colossal sword flashes in a 180 degree arc of death and bisects another two men, splashing red entrails over the supporting spearmen. (Creatures: 4, Haradrim: 0)

The brown spider wins its fight against another group of four men and stings one man, the puncture wound from the massive spider tears his guts out, while slashing and biting the face from another, eight legs swarming over the poor human.

Druzhag casts his enraging spell on one of his bat swarms and follows it into assault against a spearman, the bats fly through the air, each one taking a chunk of man-flesh with it before Druzhag's sharp-tipped staff spears into the poor man's chest as he flails wildly at the bat swarm. (Creatures: 5, Haradrim: 0)

He dies screaming as does the man behind him, where a giant orange spider has leapt out from the walls of the ruins. Although the spears fend off the eight-fold attack, one tiny nick from a spider fang quickly pulses red, then purple, then green and the swift-acting poison causes the human who was bitten to scream in pain as his heart literally bursts from pumping toxic blood.

You can also see in this picture more spiders lurking...

And here's some aerial photography, perhaps taken from a passing Great Eagle?

Suladan's warband charges into the wargs! Suladan himself rears his horse back, kicking a warg in the head before he lunges down and slashes open it's jugular with his sword. (Creatures: 5, Haradrim: 1)

Nearby another of his raiders takes on the wild warg chieftain and another warg! The brave man deftly manoeuvres his steed and spears down to kill the warg while avoiding the claws of the chieftain!

The Betrayer again casts his evil magic, this time on the troll with the spear - transfixing the great monster! The nearby Hasharin unpins himself and with a backflip he swings his swords around, causing two massive wounds in the troll, blood spraying out onto the walls. (Creatures: 5, Haradrim: 3) 

The troll with the hammer is again hampered by the close confines of the walls and wins his fight, though cannot swing quickly enough to take out the faster moving humans.

The eagle's eye view shows how tightly packed the action is today!

Turn 4, priority creatures! Buhrdur has finally cleared a path to The Betrayer, but wait! The Betrayer goes for a Heroic Move, Buhrdur counters with one of his own, the tiebreaker goes to... The Betrayer thanks to his pact with the dark power of Sauron. With one flippant gesture and a muttering of black speech that makes the air turn cold he transfixes the spear wielding troll and rides away from the central room, leaving the brave haradrim there to face the angry troll!


Aforementioned angry troll uses his last few points of might to wade forward into three humans, he kicks one into the wall, shattering his spine, then sweeps the gargantuan sword (which is longer than the men are tall) through two others, the room is now covered in blood and gore. (Creatures: 8, Haradrim: 3.)

The brown spider in the room also launches into some of the men, eight legs, massive fangs and deadly stinger are almost matched by the martial prowess of the haradrim... almost - two more humans are slain by the arachnid in a messy gorefest of poison and stabbing. (So lucky, the spider won on a tie!)


The purple spider is beaten back after squeezing it's massive bulk through a window and attacking two men, one spear punctures the creature, spraying green oozing ichor across the walls.

In the corridor originally occupied by a Hasharin and his warband, the spiders are mopping up, clambering over walls to strike with lightning fast poisonous fangs and skittering legs. The orange spider takes out one human, while in the background...


Druzhag and his two accompanying bat swarms finish off the last human in the corridor, clubbing the man to death with his dwarf-skull staff while the bats swarm around, blinding the doomed spearman. (Creatures: 9, Haradrim: 3.)

The Hasharin, poisoned blade spinning, easily finishes off the transfixed troll, the massive beast toppling to the ground and shaking the rickety old walls. (Creatures: 9, Haradrim: 4.)

Suladan also called a heroic move... Charging into two wild wargs while his companions also spurred their horses on into the fray, in total four wargs are brought crashing to the ground! (Creatures: 9, Haradrim: 6.)

The hammer troll, hearing the ominous thump of his companion, finally works out how to swing the hammer in the narrow confines of the corridor and smashes a human to a bloody pulp on the rough stone ground.

The wild warg chieftain, with so many of his pack killed by the Haradrim raiders, savages one of them himself, leaping into the human and bringing him and his horse down, tearing the throat out of the man as he does so. (Creatures: 10, Haradrim: 6.)

At the end of Turn 4 the wargs have taken heavy casualties, but so have the humans in the ruins! The Haradrim have broken (Creatures: 11, Haradrim 6) but the game continues on...

Turn 5: priority to the creatures (four times out of 5!).


The Betrayer rides around the ruins to get a look at the hammer wielding troll and transfixes it, though it's tough, rock-hard skin manages to be impervious to the blades thrust at it.

Buhrdur charges across the room to slay another spearman, while the lucky bowman ducks under the colossal sword (Creatures: 12, Haradrim 6). The spiders lurk near windows this turn, waiting to pounce on the next (if there is one!)

Here's a shot that I thought was pretty cool of the yellow spider...

Suladan calls another heroic move and spurs his horse into another two wild wargs!

And shortly thereafter are two dead wargs enough to break the creature force (Creatures: 11, Haradrim 9)! Suladan rides on with his nearby banner bearer proudly waving the flag!

The wild warg chieftain pounces towards a spearman...

Is then charged by two other horsemen... but ravages through them, turning, leaping, snarling, biting and clawing until two are brought down dead (Creatures: 13, Haradrim 9)! The last of his pack falls nearby to another raider, warspear jutting from it's snarling muzzle.

At the end of turn 5 the die is cast... game over! The Creature army wins with 13 victory points to the Haradrim army's 9 points.

Gratuitous bat-shot...

And here we have a shot of the losing army. Suladan is particularly disappointed as he was about to clear out the last of the warg chieftain's pack (and probably the chieftain too!) and with the Hasharin about to strike a transfixed cave troll there were plenty of points on the next turn that could have turned the tables on the scores in an instant! Oh well (I say), what a pity =)

The winners pose proudly for the camera, having secured some loot after the battle! Buhrdur stands even taller than usual, having made up this game for his pitiful attempt last game. Druzhag (or his enrage beast spell) also did well, enraged creatures are truly scary to face! The spiders also did not disappoint this game, probably the first time I've been happy with them as their low defence means that when you lose a fight you die really quickly. This time they won fights and their multiple poisonous attacks worked a treat!

I've gotta say that although I won, I think the battlefield probably was in my favour for this match. With flyers and spiders that could just crawl over walls and trolls that were mostly only fighting a few guys at a time in the narrow corridors I think it was probably to my advantage.


Still, it was really great fun to play in such a different setting, the hill fort looked fantastic to play in, I hope the pictures do it some sort of justice. So much more fun than those games that have just three or four terrain pieces! At least, we think so!


At only five turns, this was a short, sharp, brutal battle that was over fairly quickly - again thanks to the new rules with the close deployment options. 


If you haven't played with the warband system and new scenarios on a terrain heavy board before, why not give it a try? 


Hopefully I'll get some more games in before my next semester starts, so keep your eyes out =)

Trolls vs Haradrim - Evacuate

Well, what do you think happens when, all of a sudden, Buhrdur, two cave trolls and a whole host of goblins suddenly descend upon a Harad town? Read on to find out!

My brother and I have done a bit of a re-mix on an old battle report from a couple of years ago. It's essentially the "uprising" mission from the original Harad book. The guys in the town start off with 550 points, three heroes (one chieftain, two hasharii). The troll force has Buhrdur, two cave trolls and lots of goblins for a total of 450 points.

The scenario is for the Harad heroes to try and make it on board a boat handily anchored off shore. The troll force has to stop them. Every turn D3 goblins that have been slain can come back as reinforcements off a board edge chosen by whoever has priority.

Just to make it even more interesting, no warriors may begin within 8cm of one another. As you can see from our initial setup below, this makes for quite a messy game! A whole lot of fun messy game! The only exception to this rule is that the Harad heroes (who start at the far - northern - end) may have three bodyguards each.

Now I'm tired, I have an assignment due soon and want to get my loose ends tied up before I make a start on Diablo III, so this will be more of an annotated battle report rather than anything particularly prosaic, I hope you'll understand!

Starting board from the opposite corner...

In turn one, all of the archers on the rooftops shot at one another! For dramatic effect anybody dying near a building edge fell screaming to the ground below (of course). The harad warriors who had bows were given the warrior of karna upgrade, which made them hit on a 3+ rather than a 4+ and over the course of the game it made them really excellent archers! On the first turn of archery the goblins killed one Harad archer for four goblins killed in return.

It was fun having "streets" with alleys to shoot down. There were melees breaking out all over the place (as well as archers thudding down from above).

There were a few two-on-one fights in the first turn, though these were hard fought and went both ways.

In the ruins, one Harad spearman managed to hold off a few goblins for a couple of turns!

Starting so spread out it was quite chaotic, so different to the usual spear block formations and groups of archers.

At the end of turn 1 the goblins had lost 9 of their number for 5 Harad losses.

Turn 2 saw priority going to the goblins, three more goblins popped onto the battlefield as reinforcements. There was never a problem having some to be taken from the pile of dead =)


Sinbane the Hasharin was charged by a suicidal goblin who knew that he had to try and slow down the humans for the cave trolls. He paid for his bravery in green, sticky blood.

The spear-troll made short work of his first opponent, skewering him with a spear bigger than the man's body!

Another gratuitous alley shot. One lucky goblin =)

Buhrdur heads towards the middle of the board for the most options.

As you can see from the pictures, there were plenty of deaths on both sides.

Mr. Lucky here is still going!

The three goblin archer reinforcements fire and kill a watcher. Because the humans can outrun the goblins I tended to bring in archer reinforcements.

The chieftain and his entourage head towards the ruins.

At the end of Turn 2 the Haradrim have pretty much secured the rooftops, having slain most of the goblin archers up there. 

Turn 3 has priority with the goblins again, another three reinforcements come on. The spear-troll continues smashing his way towards the hasharin hero, brutally stabbing a watcher in a spray of blood and gore.

The haradrim archers are doing a good job of killing goblins, the 3+ roll to hit is doing well. There were 10 archers, and I think the upgrade is something like 2 points. You go from a 50% chance to hit to a 67% chance to hit, or from about 5 hits per turn to 6 or 7 per turn. 


This game was to last on the order of 10 turns (I won't spoil it yet by telling you how long it went for) so that's about 50 hits in the game expected from 10 archers unupgraded to about 67 hits when they're upgraded. Those extra 17 hits only need to kill 4 goblins to make it worthwhile and given that there's a 1 in 3 chance of killing a goblin with a bow, you'd expect to kill about 6. In other words, for this particular game the upgrade was worthwhile. 


Also it's nice psychologically to hit on a 3 =) (Actually, you have a slightly better chance of killing due to the poison arrows come to think of it - although you get them without the upgrade anyway.) And you don't get all of those kills because some of the archers die during the game. 


Anyway, there's lots of people saying it's wasted points, but you can get your money for it in some games. We really used it to bulk up the army as my brother didn't have enough models to make the points up for this scenario.

The watchers bodyguarding the second hasharin throw themselves forward into combat, letting the black-clad man dash forwards towards the boat.

The haradrim man in the ruins backs to the doorway to try and even the odds against the goblins. Guarding a doorway like this makes the goblins roll to see if they actually strike the man or the wall, so it was much safer for the human!

At the end of turn 3 the goblins seem to be doing a good job of keeping the humans well back from the boats, delaying them to let the trolls get down the board.

In turn 4 the spear-troll again slays a human as he heads towards his target hasharin.

Buhrdur is getting closer and closer to the chieftain, who would duck through the ruins - except for the spearman guarding the doorway against the two goblins! A bad bottleneck when there's a big troll heading your way.

Since goblins can climb right up walls, a few times I spooked my brother by suddenly joining his archers with goblins. Of course, these times usually ended in plummeting goblins rather than dying haradrim! The hammer troll is slowly but surely working his way down towards the ruins, smashing humans in his path.


You can see a goblin near center that has fallen to his death after being beaten by the harad bowman he had tried to surprise. It is compulsory in these situations to actually make a falling, "aaaaaaahhhhhh - splat" sound when playing. 

Here are two of the Harad snipers. These guys killed lots of goblins, sometimes very strategically. With plenty of range they had a lot of targets to choose from!

A couple of spearmen peel off to block Buhrdur while the harad spearman desperately tries to kill the goblins that are now blocking the chieftain's path to the boat!

Detouring around the ruins, the hasharin is charged by a goblin... who wins the fight... and wounds the hasharin! The hasharin then fails all of his fate rolls and is wounded! This is the luckiest goblin ever. We think the hasharin was so surprised at being attacked by a lone goblin that he let his guard down.

The other hasharin is getting mighty close to being face to belly button with a very angry troll. He kills his third goblin as he heads for the ladder. We decided trolls couldn't climb ladders.

At the end of turn 3 our turns are already quicker to resolve than the photography.

In turn 4 the spear troll is charged by a few haradrim, only one of them (a watcher of karna with their bonus against terror) manages to actually contact. He regrets his bravery shortly thereafter, but has given the hasharin a chance to escape!

Which he does by climbing up the ladder onto a rooftop just in time to see a goblin interloper slain by the bowmen. ("aaaaaah - splat!")

Similarly Buhrdur is charged... and loses his combat?!? At least the goblins are still bottlenecking the ruins.

Here is the terrifying Buhrdur, beaten by a spearman!

And wouldn't you know it?! The spear-goblin is finally defeated, with a good priority roll the ruins will be open for the chieftain!

Here are some sneaky goblins about to climb the wall and interrupt those pesky snipers.

This goblin archer killed a few guys, shooting every turn throughout the whole game. Unfortunately one or two of the kills were goblins... oops - sorry fellas!

The hasharin charges up the board, fired at by a LOT of arrows. With no fate and only one wound left he's not likely to make it too far. This particular turn he was hit about five times but no wound! He must have swiped all the arrows out of the air with his lightning fast knives! Inconceivable!

This goblin and this watcher fought each other for turn after turn. Although the hasharin had long moved on they continued at it, neither one managing to kill the other! It's little sequences like this going on in a game that make it really fun. Every turn it was like "he won the fight... no wound!" "no way!" So much fun =)

The spear-troll keeps pace with the hasharin by moving around the base of the building. Three goblin archer reinforcements step on as the hammer-troll also heads towards the human hero, who is nicely and dramatically silhouetted in this shot.

The other hasharin engages one of the shooting goblins, six arrows flash towards him... and land thwack into the goblin. Although fate wasn't with the hasharin before, he's somehow survived two rounds of arrows now - and one friendly fire goblin death! Inconceivable!

Buhrdur creams his way through another valiant spearman attempt to keep him at bay, while the final goblin falls in the ruins. In hindsight I should have used a heroic combat with Buhrdur, but didn't think about it until we had already done a few combats and you really should do it at the start of the phase. My brother and I are super lenient about such things, but I chose not to do it so that maybe the annoyance of forgetting would make me less likely to forget some other time.

The chieftain claims another goblin skull for his collection (which he keeps next to his wife's teacup collection).

At the end of turn 4...

In turn 5 the two haradrim that were shadowing the cave troll charge, one is too terrified to attack, but the other manages to hold the massive beast in combat. 

The brave, possibly stupid, move has allowed the hasharin to descend the ladder unharmed, although the hammer-troll now looms large before him. Goblin arrows flash through the air, but clatter harmlessly against the brickwork behind him.

Around the back of the building, two familiar foes continue their ballet of brutality.

Goblins continue trying to climb the buildings to stop the archers from doing their thing. Most of the time it results in a dead goblin, but it was a dead goblin *I* chose rather than a goblin down near one of the heroes, so I consider them worthy sacrifices.

Case in point, two harad archers take out two goblin archers that had a clear shot at Mr. One Wound.

Who continues sprinting towards the boat, arrows flashing around him. Oh, and there may have been another friendly fire incident... maybe... how lucky can one guy be?!?! Inconceivable! 

The haradrim chieftain finally enters the ruins, Buhrdur right behind him remembered this time to call a heroic combat, slays a spearman, then charges into the bodyguard and slays him too. Now he is posed for a clear attack at the chieftain!

At the end of the turn, it's not looking too brilliant for this hasharin either...

One hasharin has one wound and no fate, the other has two cave trolls near him and the chieftain has Buhrdur breathing down his back...

Turn 6 sees one epic confrontation finally finish! 

The two-trolled hasharin calls a heroic move, gets his companions to attack the troll, then runs around them! The haradrim archers start taking out the goblin archers.

More epic haradrim archery sees goblins who could have charged the other hasharin fall dead as the human continues on his epic run...

Here's another angle on it, fortunately I've got goblins up on the buildings trying to stop the harad archers from sniping. Unfortunately they're not doing a very good job =) And yes, it's a smiley face because I find it quite fun to play with goblins, you don't expect much from them so it's a bonus if something does work and funny when it doesn't!

Both Buhrdur AND the chieftain called a heroic move... the chieftain won the roll-off so managed to elude the massive troll, who charged his bodyguards... lost the combat... and was wounded!

At the end of turn 6 it's still anyone's game. The heroes are finally making some progress, but it will take a bit of luck to get past the trolls!

Turn 7. With some more fancy footwork and excellent courage rolls the trolls are kept pinned (as they slaughter the pinners - it was both frustrating to not be able to attack the hasharin, but gleeful to be smashing with the trolls). More haradrim archery fells goblin archers. 

Mr. One Wound continues to evade goblin arrows as he beelines towards the safety of the boat... Inconceivable!

From another angle you can see the goblins shooting at him. Every other game he's in he seems to die to arrows and he was almost dead right at the beginning of the game! He's living either a charmed life or he's on borrowed time... we were both eager to see which!

Poor Buhrdur, the evil cave troll chieftain who has slain hundreds of innocents, he takes another stabbing wound from a haradrim spearman. He's got no chance of catching the chieftain now (and is only one wound away from death!) At least he's got a good paintjob. (That's actually what I said to my brother.)

At the end of the turn it looks as though the two hasharin are on the home stretch!

Turn 8... uh oh... with no might left for another heroic move and priority going to the goblins, the hasharin is assailed by a hammer-troll backed up by a spear-troll. I always thought the spear was useless, but in this case he didn't have enough movement to reach base contact with the hasharin, but did have enough to get to base contact with the other troll! It's only one extra die, but it's a strength 6 one!


Mr. One Wound can be seen in the upper left of the shot. The haradrim archers take out the goblin archers.

Here's an angle showing some scale on just how big the trolls are compared to humans. The hasharin lost the fight, but only took one wound due to some lucky fate rolls! Still in the game!

Buhrdur again loses his fight! He still manages to stay alive though! Since when did my cave troll chieftain start thinking that way, from "how did I only manage to kill two humans this turn" to "phew, I didn't die!"

The chieftain is now close to getting a clear run to the ship, arrows whizz past him...

As you can see from this angle, I have goblin archers down every alleyway!

And Mr. One Wound Hasharin is almost there! Totally and utterly inconceivable!

At the end of turn 8 we're both cheering for the hasharin making his run to the boat! What a run the whole way with one wound left!

Unfortunately for the other hasharin, two cave trolls smash and stab him two times too many.

Oh, and from this angle you can see the assistance a goblin archer made to the combat.

The haradrim are still stopping me from shooting at the chieftain, throwing themselves into combat with all of my archers. Speaking of which... why do I keep reinforcing with archers when goblin archery is so stormtrooper like? Because humans are faster and outrun the little green stumpy legs, whereas my archers can come on and still participate in the battle.

Buhrdur loses ANOTHER combat, but stays alive =)

Archers keep on pegging shots at the rapidly diminishing back of the chieftain.

And Mr. One Wound Hasharin makes it to the ship! Huzzah! We were both really excited about this! What an inconceivable run to have made! I guess that word does not mean what I think it means!

If you look carefully by the beach you'll see a dead goblin archer. Since the humans had priority he was shot before he got to shoot. In a bizarre feat of "what if-ness" I wondered what would have happened if my brother had shot at something else. I rolled, and, you guessed it, that goblin archer would have killed Mr. One Wound! If I'd used that roll for one of my other archers I could have hit the chieftain!

Turn 10 and the hammer-troll is charged, but the spear-troll lunges out towards the chieftain, who is almost right at the boat!

Nooooooo! I mean... Yay! It's so hard to know who to root for sometimes! The chieftain, having made it SOOOO close is brutally and devastatingly destroyed, splashing blood and guts up onto the boat.

Which raises anchor and starts heading out to sea with a very relieved hasharin on board!

Just to finish the turn off, the hammer troll smacks a watcher to the ground...

Buhrdur finally wins a fight and decapitates two haradrim men...

And the boat sets sail for less goblin-infested shores. What an epically awesome match!

Technically speaking I won, as the scenario called for two heroes to escape for Harad victory and two heroes dead for Troll victory. I sort of think it was either a minor victory or a draw. My brother conceded a win to me. Either way we had a ton of fun!

Here are the surviving few humans.

And all that was left on the board for the trolls.

Well, what can I say, a complete blast of a game to play. That plucky hasharin run was just so amazingly fun. Every turn we would watch the goblin arrows plink around him. Every time he was hit we waited anxiously for the wounding roll. My brother threw everything at the goblins to stop them from shooting or shot to death goblins that were trying to intercept the heroes. It was just a non-stop nail biter!


In the end we couldn't believe how close it was. It really was just one or two rolls that totally tipped the game one way or the other. One priority change or arrow shot could have completely changed things. 


In terms of balance, we think the points worked out well, I got a bit under 100 points worth of goblins back as reinforcements and started with 100 points less, so it balanced out there. So much fun!


I can't stress enough how much more exciting this game is if you play scenarios instead of death matches, if you haven't done it yet - what are you waiting for!?!?!