War of the Ring, Rohan vs Easterlings, 1000 pts

[Ogrob]

Battle Report 20/5 Rohan vs Easterlings War of the Ring 1000 pts

My list as follows:
Éomer, Marshall of the Riddermark
Éowyn, Shield-Maiden of Rohan
Radagast the Brown

Riders of Rohan Éored, 6 companies, Banner, Captain
Royal Knights Éored, 4 Companies, Banner, Captain
Outrider Éored, 2 Companies
Wood Elf Warband, 2 Companies, Longbows

Fortune: Counterspell

My opponents list:
Khamul the Easterling (Ringwraith)
The Betrayer (Ringwraith)
Mordor Troll Chieftain

Easterling Cohort, 4 Companies, Captain, Banner, Pikes
Easterling Archer Cohort, 3 Companies
Easterling Kataphrakt Cohort, 3 Companies, Captain

Fate: Balefire Arrows

We rolled up a Scenario of The High Ground and Battle for the Pass, meaning we had to try to capture the objective marker on the big hill in the middle of the table by the end of turn 8. We also deployed on the short edges of the table. This meant we both had a big forest (defensible 2, capacity 5) and a piece of impassable rock in our deployment zones, and the only terrain that would really matter was the hill, which we deemed rocky and thus difficult terrain.

I deployed my big unit of Riders to the left seen from my side of the board, followed by the Wood Elf Warband deployed defending the forest. Then came the Royal Knights, and lastly the outriders. All in all, I covered every available inch along the 18” line with horses. Eowyn revealed herself immediately in the Rider unit, Radagast was deployed with the Elves and Èomer with the Royal Knights.

The easterlings deployed the troll behind their rocky outcrop, facing my Riders unit, then the pikemen with Khamul and the Kataphrakts in position to head for the objective and my big Rider unit. The archers with the Betrayer deployed to do some shooting on my Royal Knights.


Turn One
Since I deployed first, I had choice of priority, which I gave to my opponent. On the far flank, the troll, the pikemen and the kataphrakts went pretty much full speed towards my lines. The kataphrakts aiming for my elves, while the pikemen and troll were hoping to trump my Riders. On the close flank to where I stood, the Betrayer cast Wings of Darkness, hoping to get his Archers in range and still be able to shoot this turn.

For my move, Radagast cast Guide Arrows on the Elves, and something else. The elves and the Riders held their positions, waiting for the Easterlings to come to them. On the close flank, my Royal Knights and Outriders took the opposite approach, and went straight towards the Archers. Here, I cheated a little, and moved At the Double! With the outriders, despite not having a captain. This proved not to matter anyways. Both units ended up withing charge distance, thanks to the Archers having moved forwards earlier.

A bit of shooting followed, the Easterling Archers killed three royal knights, and drove them back, but only a single inch, leaving me needing 4+ on the die to reach them with my charge.

My Elves shot at the Easterlings, killing a Kataphrakt I believe. My riders aimed their bows at the Pikemen, killing one.

And thus came the charge phase. Both my Outriders and Royal Knights went for the Easterling Archers, but the Outriders wiffed the charge with a one. The Royal Knights passed their Terror test, and rolled high enough to reach the Archers. As they did, Èomer called a Heroic Duel with the Betrayer, and both subsequently called Epic Strike. I had an advantage by one, so it came down pretty much to the roll of the dice. I rolled a six, and he a one. Six dice for me on the Duel table let to something like two killed companies and a dead Nazgúl. The Royal Knights finished of the rest of the archers. This left me very happy indeed, since the same archers had butchered half my army in a prior game.

Turn two
I win the priority roll, and once again give it to my enemy. I was acting second for a large part of the game, something I felt comfortable doing. My opponents army, now concentrated on the far side of the table, all moved forwards to meet the Riders and the Elves. Both held firm. Khamul cast Pall of Night on my Elves, making them Shoot 6. I left it at that. He then cast both Sunder Spirit and Transfix successfully on my Riders, but I used my Counterspell on the Transfix.

I moved my Royal Knights to catch the Easterling to the rear, heading around the hill, and my Outriders went up the hill to maybe get some shots in. Radagast moved to the Rider unit.

My opponent had now lost all his bow armed models, so I was alone acting in the shooting phase. The Elves, rolling only 14 dice, compared to 20ish last turn, managed to kill two horsemen. The Riders didn't kill anything.

Kataphrakts were now in range to charge the elves in their forest, and in turn, the Riders charged them. Both charges were successful, and Eowyn called out a Duel to the evil Captain. She proceeded to cut him, and the three remaining horsemen to shreds. This was starting to look good.

Turn three
Priority again to my opponent, but the Rider captain calls a Heroic Move. The Easterling Captain also calls one, in order to catch the Riders. Khamul fails to cast anything, and the Easterling pikemen move up to marchblock my riders. Ah well, they still got 15 inches worth of movement, and powered through the Elves' forest, to emerge almost on the other side of the hill in the middle. Radagast seizes the opportunity to cast Entangle on the Troll, holding him firmly in place. I had some insane luck with that spell over the course of the game. It made the troll completely useless, managing only to plod slowly across the battlefield.

Some ineffective shooting and that was that.

Turns four and five
These turns mainly see a load of maneuvering, ending with the Easterling Pikemen almost back in their deployment, right next to the hill, facing my Royal Knights, the Outriders moving out of the way for the Riders to come up and into charge distance over the hill (Radagast gave them Pathfinders, meaning I ignore difficult terrain). The poor troll is Entangled the entire time, moving either at half speed or not at all.

The Pikemen charge my Royal Knights, and my Riders in turn flank charge the Pikemen. The troll is unable to move. Khamul injures Èomer in a duel, then the Riders kill a whole bunch of Pikemen. The pikemen hit back, and manage to wipe out what was left of Éomer's formation. The Outriders move up to take their place. I win the combat, and the Easterlings are disordered.

Turn six
Priority to me. I'm in position to flank the Easterlings with my Riders again, unless they turn around. The troll is himself in position to flank me. Èowyn calls Epic Challenge to Khamul, locking his formation in place. He fails the courage roll to resist it. Huzzah! The flank charge is mine. Troll moves up a little, still being Entangled. Easterlings manage to not be disordered, but are unable to move anyways. The elves move out of their hiding place.

I might've killed one with shooting, but the real fun came on the charge. Radagast calls Epic Tranquility, which means the Troll won't be allowed to charge this turn. Poor boy. The Riders charge the Easterlings, Éowyn scratches Khamul, but doesn't kill him, which means she herself is removed. I kill some Easterlings, but they hit back and manage to do some damage. Still, I win combat, and they are again disordered.

Turn Seven
I don't recall who had prio, but anyway, the Elves move closer to the hill, the Easterlings stay disordered, and the Troll is locked in place with Entangle. I think he's beginning to hate that spell.

Riders and Outriders charge Pikemen, and kill them off. Not much action, but we were all out of Might by now, and the had only the troll left.

Turn Eight
My priority again, the Elves move to exactly three inches from the objective, a real tactical blunder I was about to learn. The riders move to the other side of the hill, not wanting to be charged by the troll. Outriders back up a little. And luck kicks in, I roll a six on my Entangle, and the troll is unable to move. Had he been, he could've reached the elves, and been guaranteed to shove them back half an inch, forcing a draw. As it was, my Elves claimed the Objective, winning me the game.

I had lost two characters, an entire formation on Royal Knights, and a number of Riders, but my opponent was decimated, leaving nothing but a very tired, but unharmed, troll.

Overall, I was a bit luckier, and I managed to very succesfully hinder my opponents movement and manouver my own forces to the right place. Completely opposite of last game against the same guy, where he had all the luck, and kept freezing my Riders in place. Radagast is probably man of the match, just for totally locking down the Troll Chieftain. I also had a store more of Might, and was able to use it well, especially killing two of his Heroes and their formations so early in the game.

[Prince of Spires]

Sounds like you had a good game. Out of curiosity, how much does luck play a part in this game, and how much is it strategy? I've not yet played WotR, so I'm interested to hear what you think about it.

Rod

[Ogrob]

Luck plays a role indeed, but it can be negated by resource management and planning. Not entirely of course, but at least helped along.

It's more of a factor when you bring spells into the equation, which I would say is not really the norm. My opponent happened to have two Ringwraiths and no other character models, and I happened to have Radagast, so we play with them.
I was lucky with my casting in this game, see shutting down the troll, and my opponent was unlucky.

We have played once before, with the opposite result, me completely annahilated. I'd updated my list a bit with what I learned from that game, my opponent, who didn't have time to paint, played the same list again.

Anyways, while you have them, Might points are a major factor in the game. My heroic move in turn three really enabled me to get away from the nasty troll and start play a surround game on his Pikemen. At one point, I had seven might in the Rider unit alone, something that let them opperate very well for a long stretch of the game, Heroic Move, Epic Challenge and then Epic Tranquility especially letting me impose my game on a Might-starved opponent.