Battle Report: 12Nov11

Here is a Battle Report I had written back in November after a game. Putting it up here so others can see it if they wish. Hope you enjoy :)

Minas Morgul  vs The Kingdom of Arnor and Minas Tirith

Scenario: Domination

Good:

Arvedui, Last King of Arnor
Malbeth the Seer
Adunfaroth (Dunedan /w Spear)
Arthelion (Dunedan /w Spear)
 1x Warrior of Arnor /w Banner
24x Warriors of Arnor
4x Rangers of Arnor /w Spear
8x Hobbit Archers

Earnur, Prince of Gondor (King of Men /w horse, heavy armour, shield and lance)
5x Knights of Minas TIrith /w shield

648pts, 48 models, 8 might

Evil:

Gothmog /w shield
Grishnakh /w shield
Dolguzagar (Black Numenorean Marshal /w armoured horse)
1x Orc Warrior /w Banner
20x Orc Warriors /w shields
10x Orc Warriors /w spears
7x Orc Warriors /w bows
3x Spectres
4x Black Numenorean Warriors
1x Morgul Knight
2x Morgul Stalkers

648pts, 51 models, 8 might

Pre-Battle Thoughts:

I am hoping to redeem myself after the last, fairly disastrous battle. On the initial glance Domination seems to be a fairly straight forward slugfest. The question I am thinking of now, is how to employ my army. Do I keep them mostly all in one group and try to destroy the evil army in the field, or split my force into smaller groups and try to take all the objectives at once. I think it is going to be determined by what my opponent does.

Battle Report

Turn 1 – Priority Evil
Movement, evil claims objective 1

Turn 2 – Priority Evil
Movement, evil claims objective 2

Turn 3 – Priority Good
Movement

Turn 4 – Priority Evil
One orc warrior slain by a Ranger’s arrow.

 

Turn 5 – Priority Good (had been a tie)
One orc warrior slain by a Ranger’s arrow

Turn 6 – Priority Evil
A knight of Minas Tirith is lured in by the fell light of a Spectre, and is immediately swarmed and slain by Black Numenorean Warriors. Earnur is struck by an orc arrow, but fate saves him the wound. An orc warrior charged by several Warriors of Arnor is driven back, but not killed.

Turn 7 – Priority Evil
Earnur calls a Heroic Move, and leads his remaining knights in a charge past the Black Numenoreans and into the line of orc archers. A Warrior of Arnor shrugs off the beguiling gaze of a Spectre and returns to duty. One of the Knights is lured away by a Spectre and is attacked by orcs, but pulls through, slaying one of them.  A second knight is slain by the Dolgulzagar while Earnur slays Grishnakh, a Stalker and an orc archer. Meanwhile two Warriors of Arnor are killed by orcs.

Turn 8 – Priority Good
Three orcs are killed along with a Warrior of Arnor. In the cavalry battle, Dolgulzagar and several comrades pull down a Knight of Minas Tirith while Gothmog kills a second Knight. In turn, Earnur slays the Morgul Knight and four orcs in a dazzling display of combat prowess.

Turn 9 – Priority Good
Gothmog initiates a Heroic Move, charging Earnur, and in the ensuing fight manages to kill him with the help of Dolgulzagar. Finally the last remaining Knight is killed by a Black Numenorean Warrior. Elsewhere, one of the Spectres is slain by a Warrior of Arnor, and Arthelion and three other Warriors of Arnor and Arvedui each kill an orc. Adunfaroth is killed by an orc while one of the Hobbit Archers is struck and killed by a black feathered orc arrow.

Turn 10 – Priority Good
Five Warriors of Arnor surround and completely destroy an orc while three other warriors and Arvedui also each kill an orc.

Turn 11 – Priority Good
Two orcs are slain, one by a Warrior of Arnor and one by King Arvedui while the remaining Stalker is slain by a Warrior of Arnor. The evil army has now been Broken. Feeling left out, Dolgulzagar charges and kills a lone Warrior of Arnor.

Turn 12 – Priority Evil
Three orcs turn tail and run, while Arvedui and two warriors of Arnor each kill an orc. Dolgulzagar, emboldened by his success continues his charge and cuts down a second warrior of Arnor and a Hobbit Archer.

Turn 13
A 1 is rolled, and the game is over!
Final Casualty figures:
Good                                                                     Evil
1x King of Men                                              Grishnakh
5x Knights of Minas Tirith                             2x Morgul Stalkers
5x Warriors of Arnor                                      5x Orc Warriors /w Spears
1x Dunadan                                                    19x Orc Warriors /w Shields
2x Hobbit Archers                                          4x Orc Archers
                                                                        1x Spectre

Post Battle Thoughts:
I definitely feel the dice were on my side on this one. There were a few situations where it really seems some of my troops pulled off some amazing feats. The Knight who was lured into a battle by a Spectre but yet managed to somehow not only win the fight, but also kill one of his attackers. Also Earnur would have to be my pick for VIP of the match. Though Gondor would be deprived of its King a little earlier than originally thought, Earnur and his Knights made an absolute mess out of the enemy, occupying a good portion of the evil army which allowed Arvedui and his warriors to stand against a largely unsupported orc assault in the center. Archery really did not factor much into the battle, the only casualties were the two orcs killed early on by rangers, and the Hobbit Archer who somehow wandered into the path of an orc arrow. The hobbits got plenty of hits, but apparently had switched over to rubber arrows as they failed to cause any damage.