This past weekend, I participated in the second Lord of the Rings Tournament. After getting crushed at the last tournament, I was determined to place this time.
After many games with my Wood Elf army, I came to the conclusion that the list is just not competitive in the tournament environment. So, I painted up some Numenorian reinforcements to help the poor elves.
My army was led by Legolas and a band of wood elves including one Wood Elf sentinel.I exchanged another elf warband with a band of Numenorian warriors with shields, led by Boromir (Fellowship version). Removed the horse Asfaloth from Arwen and gave her an escort of 3 High Elf warriors. This resulted in a force of only 30 figures. I was hoping the Numenorians with their heavy armor, would improve the overall survivability.
In round one, I was matched up with Charlie, the tournament coordinator. He brought a force of orcs, goblins and warg riders. The overall theme of the tournament was “Take the Hill!”. Every table was setup with an objective in the center of the map on top of a large mound or structure. Victory points were given for holding the objective, forcing the enemy to break (cause 50% or more casualities), and for killing named heroes. Since Arwen is considered one of the weaker named heroes, she became a target of much enemy aggression.
I sent the large part of my force around the left side of the hill, while sending Legolas and every archer to a ruins on the right side. I tried to place the archers on top of the ruins but the Sentinel failed her climbing roll. It was her first battle and the jitters got the must have got the best of her. She recovered on the following turn and climbed the ruins with no problem. I sent Arwen and her escort to hold the hill.
Charlie thought he could make a charge on the right side but soon found a hail of arrows and turned around. He sent the meat of his force around the left side but Arwen was close enough to fire off a ‘Nature’s Wrath’ spell and knocked everyone to the ground. This gave me enough time to get more units on the hill but took 50% casualties to end the game.
Round two, I faced Will with his force of Wargs and Giant Spiders led by Druzhag the Beastcaller. In this battle, one warband was held in reserve and could ambush with a successful die roll. I held Boromir and the Numenorians in reserve They popped out on turn 2 right behind the Spiders and Wargs. They may have surprised the enemy but Druzhag was able to cause fury in the beasts which gave them extra combat dice. The Numenorians were beaten back. Druzhag made two attempts to paralyze Boromir. He was successful on the second attempt and Boromir was killed.
Round three, I faced the Garrett with the Grey Company aided by Ellrohir and Elladin, the elven twins. This time half of the forces were deployed at the base camp in the corners of the map. Extra victory points were given for capturing a base camp. A die roll determined if you could deploy a new unit on the board or if your opponent could deploy your unit in a place of his choosing. Sadly, the dice were not on Arwen’s side. Garrett deployed her in the open and very close to most of his warriors. She was defeated easily, making me reconsider the choice to remove her horse.
After many games with my Wood Elf army, I came to the conclusion that the list is just not competitive in the tournament environment. So, I painted up some Numenorian reinforcements to help the poor elves.
My army was led by Legolas and a band of wood elves including one Wood Elf sentinel.I exchanged another elf warband with a band of Numenorian warriors with shields, led by Boromir (Fellowship version). Removed the horse Asfaloth from Arwen and gave her an escort of 3 High Elf warriors. This resulted in a force of only 30 figures. I was hoping the Numenorians with their heavy armor, would improve the overall survivability.
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| The reinforcements have arrived |
In round one, I was matched up with Charlie, the tournament coordinator. He brought a force of orcs, goblins and warg riders. The overall theme of the tournament was “Take the Hill!”. Every table was setup with an objective in the center of the map on top of a large mound or structure. Victory points were given for holding the objective, forcing the enemy to break (cause 50% or more casualities), and for killing named heroes. Since Arwen is considered one of the weaker named heroes, she became a target of much enemy aggression.
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| The right side of the battle |
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| Nature's Wrath was particularly effective on the troll |
I sent the large part of my force around the left side of the hill, while sending Legolas and every archer to a ruins on the right side. I tried to place the archers on top of the ruins but the Sentinel failed her climbing roll. It was her first battle and the jitters got the must have got the best of her. She recovered on the following turn and climbed the ruins with no problem. I sent Arwen and her escort to hold the hill.
Charlie thought he could make a charge on the right side but soon found a hail of arrows and turned around. He sent the meat of his force around the left side but Arwen was close enough to fire off a ‘Nature’s Wrath’ spell and knocked everyone to the ground. This gave me enough time to get more units on the hill but took 50% casualties to end the game.
Round two, I faced Will with his force of Wargs and Giant Spiders led by Druzhag the Beastcaller. In this battle, one warband was held in reserve and could ambush with a successful die roll. I held Boromir and the Numenorians in reserve They popped out on turn 2 right behind the Spiders and Wargs. They may have surprised the enemy but Druzhag was able to cause fury in the beasts which gave them extra combat dice. The Numenorians were beaten back. Druzhag made two attempts to paralyze Boromir. He was successful on the second attempt and Boromir was killed.
Round three, I faced the Garrett with the Grey Company aided by Ellrohir and Elladin, the elven twins. This time half of the forces were deployed at the base camp in the corners of the map. Extra victory points were given for capturing a base camp. A die roll determined if you could deploy a new unit on the board or if your opponent could deploy your unit in a place of his choosing. Sadly, the dice were not on Arwen’s side. Garrett deployed her in the open and very close to most of his warriors. She was defeated easily, making me reconsider the choice to remove her horse.
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| Elf twins fighting for the objective |
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| Boromir tried to make his way up the steps |
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| Charlie and other players pondering the tables |
A group of three rangers made a mad dash for my base camp which I had left undefended. I chased down the warriors with my high elves to protect the camp. Once all the units had been deployed we both sent our forces to the objective in the center. There we met in an epic cinematic battle between Boromir and the elf twins. Garrett’s force won out.
So, I played three games and resulted in three close losses. No trophies or medals this time but, I certainly had more fun as all the games were tactically interesting. And each game was exciting as they were decided in the final turns. Had a few die rolls gone my way, I could have won any of those battles.
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