Well Mike can we find a time to get a 350 point game in for the harad road? Maybe a practise game for donkey 'con after that as well

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Gold, 14 and under youngbloods GD 2008
2008 Donkey 'con Lord of the rings Best General

The Salvation of Ithilien - The Contest of Champions

Matt-Shadowlord: Isengard
MikeStMonkalot: Dol Amroth

We are nearing the end of the Dark Plague Campaign, and the battles in the land between Gondor and Mordor continue to be the most brutal of the war. Today saw Prince Imrahil finally lead his men across the river to try and rescue the region of South Ilithien, while Saru-kai and his uruk forces stand against them. Down from the slopes of Mount Doom, Sauron has sent a powerful new ally for the forces of evil - The ShadowLord has arrived!

At the time this battle begins, both forces have already been ground down through fighting and are hanging on by a thread. All that is holding them on the field is the leadership of their heros, and the fight will be decided by nothing other than whichever hero can kill the most of the enemy and thereby inspire his men!

As an aside, one of my goals in the game was to see how viable a standard Uruk-Hai captain would be in such a contest against a powerful hero - and Prince Imrahil fills that role better than most!

The Uruks muster their forces on the banks of the black river.



The men of Dol Amroth prepare to march, as their Ranger allies filter into the ruins for a vantage point.



The game started with the Uruks being forced from their defensive position by the rangers volley fire; there was no way Mike was going to be forced into charging his cavalry over rough terrain.

Using the ruined tower as cover, the archery was mostly restricted to mere volleys, but it had been sufficient to start the evil force moving forward.



Marching forward to meet them, the cavalry suddenly split off from the infantry and circled around the tower, hoping to get a charge into the softer targets of Isengard Crossbowmen.



With good placement, the knights were only subject to a single round of crossbow bolts as they came in tightly against the rockface. One fell and another lost his horse, but they valiantly shielded their Prince from the missiles.



More kudos to the men of Dol Amroth, who managed a formation with a firing corridor down the middle that let archers fire directly at the Uruk hero for one last turn. With The Shadowlord around to foil their accuracy this was not enough to wound him.
Breaking forward, first blood went to Saru-Kai as he struck down an infantry man.

Dol Amroth 0 - Isengard 1



Then the cavalry charged - killing 3 crossbowmen instantly. Prince Imrahil attacked 2 orcs, but I fired all my crossbows at him and managed to miss and kill one of my own men -a perfect result, although killing both would have prevented him scoring at all.

Cunning placement meant that this fight left all the infantry outside of Imrahil's inspiring banner, but Mike was not having that. He called this fight to be resolved first, did a heroic combat to kill the remaining orc, then galloped Imrahil into two other uruk-hai within range of the rest of his men. They got the banner, and he got 3 kills one one turn.
A very impressive move.

Dol Amroth 3 - Isengard 1



Imrahil killed another Uruk after managing to resist the Transfix spell from The Shadowlord, but Sarukai struck down a pikeman and as the fighting in the centre got more intense.
Dol Amroth 4 - Isengard 2

Leaping forward into a double combat, Saru-kai outfought both knights and their supporting pikes to kill another two, only to see Imrahil ride down two more of his men.
Dol Amroth 6 - Isengard 4

Now came the moment that Mike had been waiting for - he had managed to clear a charge corridor between Imrahil and Saru-kai! The prince charged the captain, preparing to lance him to the ground, only to be amazed when Saru-Kai won the fight against the odds and striking his horse down!
Imrahil fell to the ground at the mercy of the Uruk!



The wild cheering of the Isengarders was short-lived however, as Imrahil managed to win the combat even though on the ground, and having lept to his feet, in the next turn killed Saru-Kai and one of his henchmen. The contest was over, the champion was decided.



Final result:
Dol Amroth 8 - Isengard 4
South Ilithien is taken by the Fiefdoms of Dol Amroth

My first battle report Hope it's good!

The Harad Road - The contest of champions

Liamrob - Harad
MikeStMonkalot - Dol Amroth

The King of Harad Suladan has commanded a second in command to ride out and take over the lands of Harad in the name of Sauron! A contingent moves out from Dol Amroth to try and claim back lands in the name of Gondor!

The Dol Amroth army has Adrahil, a mighty Dol Amroth captain to try and slay the haradrim commander (no name).

First turn the haradrim cavalry rush down the flank hoping for a deadly lance charge. Adrahil commands his warriors to form a pikeblock to repel the charge, while the rest of the serpent lord's army marchs up the road.


The volley fire from the Dol Amroth rangers turns out terrible not killing a single Haradrim! Return fire get's 5 hits out of the 10 haradrim bowmen killing a ranger and a knight thanks to the deadly poison. The next few volley's turn out terrible only killing one more ranger.

The cavalry get even closer readying for a next turn charge, while Adrahil get's his men to fall back to a safe distance. The haradrim warriors march further down the road hoping to encircle the Dol Amroth force with the cavalry and them. The rangers fire killing 3 haradrim raiders!


The haradrim gain priority and sends 2 decoys in to split the Adrahil's force. Although being cut down, Harad will have some deadly charges if they gain priority.

Score
Dol Amroth - 1
Harad - 0


Dol Amroth gained priority but the Haradrim commander calls a heroic move! Trying to counter it, Adrahil calls one. The roll off gets a one and with lances lowered the cavalry charge in! Killing 3 Dol Amroth knights and 5 of their number being brought down.

Score
Dol Amroth - 2
Harad - 0

The next turn the Haradrim King get's a heroic move off again and kills 2 knights! With both forces out of Might next turn will be a decider. Adrahil cuts down another spearmen sending his tally to 3!

Score
Dol Amroth - 3
Harad - 2

Evil gains the next turn and charge in. The haradrim bowmen ready their arrows while the knights brace themselves for the volley. Suddenly they all turn their bows on a loan haradrim spearmen fighting Adrahil. They let fly! killing their own 3 times over and not a single wound on Adrahil. The Haradrim King loses combat and fails his fate, losing a wound.


We hoped it would be a quick game but it went a bit longer then we expected. To much 40k and lovely dinner .

So we call the game with the final score!
Harad: 2
Dol Amroth: 4

The game could of lasted a lot longer so Matt rolled a dice and if a 1-3 was rolled we would call it a draw and if a 4-6 was rolled Dol Amroth would take The Harad Road. The dice came up as a one.

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Gold, 14 and under youngbloods GD 2008
2008 Donkey 'con Lord of the rings Best General

You were so lucky! 4-2 and your king was wounded, so he was saved by the bell.

You played well though, good game.

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Doomed is the being that does not see a creature's true form, only hears its misguiding call - Inquisitor Michaelus Thule, 41063 AD

AWESOMENESS AWESOMENESS AWESOMENESS AWESOMENESS ORANGE

The Good news: The forces of Isengard will be marching on the Free-People's stronghold of North Ilithien early next week. A victory here would almost complete the encircling of Gondor, and make up some of the distance between the scores.

The Bad news: Wyldecard is stepping in to defend the land with his Tournament Winning army of Wood Elves, so its anything but in the bag. I've heard he likes to turn enemies into pin-cushions!

Watch this space for updates on what should be a great 800pt clash between the most noble of Good and the purest of Evil.

if anyone would like to fight my barbarian army, i would be keen. my rebel mordorian forces are massed and ready for action.

i also would like a go in the next campaign when it kicks off if there is room.

cheers

ears

For anyone who was watching this space for that update, let me put you out of suspense - The forces of the free people managed to finally destroy the forces of Mordor, Isengard and Harad in a pair of large scale siege battles, and the Dark Plague Campaign was won by the Good armies.

I seem to have forgotten to post the final result in all the excitement, but now you know and can go back to your lives.
It was quite the journey and a lot of fun, so hopefully we'll have another campaign soon.

@Tony - you were asking about the old LOTR Campaigns that were played locally.
This one is for teams, good vs evil, and can have games arranged whenever suits opponents over a couple of months. The other, Blood and Sand, is a 1 Day campaign for up to 12 Players that we'll probably do in a few months.