WOTR: Battle Report - Dwarves v Mordor

This is the East Grinstead War Gamers clubs second War of the Rings (WOTR) battle here in Sussex - 

Me

Khamul the Easterling Ring Wraith            

12 companies of orcs (Gorgoroth Battle host)

6 companies of Morannon orcs

6 companies of Morannon orcs

4 companies of warg riders

2 x Mordor Orc siege bows

Craig

Dain Iron foot

4 companies dwarf kinbane with shields and shield bearer

3 companies dwarf kinbane with 2HW

3 companies Khazad guard

1 companies Vault wardens

1 bolt thrower.

1 Kings Champion

WOTR: Battle Dwarves v Mordor

Deployment

Craig took the north side of the battle field with the woods to his left and the building on his right. He positioned the kings champion in the centre of the field with the bolt thrower behind and the 4 companies of shields on his left, the Khazad with Dain were also in the centre with the two handed warriors on his right (near the building)

I deployed the orc host centre with Khamul and the morannon on each flank.  The siege bows were each placed in a corner at the southern end of the battle field with the warg taking the far right to flank around the woods.

WOTR: Battle Dwarves v Mordor

Round 1

Craig won priority and elected to got first.  The Kings champion completed an ATD and ran to the centre of the field with the Khazad guard following suit.  The two handed warriors marched towards the building.

I moved my orc host half distance and spread out, the left morannon moved towards the building and the right moved centre side of the woods.  The warg moved around the far side of the woods (sneekin’)

Craig then fired his artillery at the host and took two casualties, one of which was deflected leaving 1 killed. I opened fired with 96 orcs 32 direct the rest support, this killed 5 Khazad guard; while my siege bows killed 1 and the other miss fired.

This ended the first round as neither party were in range to charge.

WOTR: Mordor Warg Riders

Round 2

Again Craig won priority and went first. His 2HW dwarves entered the building, while the rest of his army advanced up the centre desperately close to the orcs.  I decided to pull back with the orcs, out of range of the Khazad guard to prevent a charge, but still in range of the kings champion, I moved half rate (guess what’s coming!)  My morannon advanced forward, one almost to the building the other to meet the dwarven shields.

Firing was much like last time, with the Khazad guard taking a couple more casualties and the kings champion, brushing siege bolts off of his shoulder. The orc horde again suffered a few hits, with Khamul deflecting a couple into the Khazad guard.

The king’s champion and the Khazad guard charged the orc horde passing there courage test against Khamul, but the shields failed rolling a one!  Leaving my Morannon to charge them!

The fighting was better then expected with the dwarves rolling poorly the number of dead only amounted to eight with Khazad taking 3, the kings champion still unharmed. The morannon and shields both did little damage with both taking 2 casualties (bad dice rolls on both sides); the orcs held their courage test.

Round 3

I won priority and moved my spare morannon around the building to out flank the dwarves, the warg cleared the woods at the rear of the dwarves, the orc horde again fired (relinquishing the charge) while my morannon charged the dwarf shields. Craig fired his artillery at the warg killing one, while my orcs at short range took out 5 Khazad guard.  The king’s champion charged the side of the morranon fighting his shields.

The fighting was brutal, with the king’s champion killing the remainder of a company of the morannon, the shields killing another few orcs and me killing 5 of his, fortunately I passed the courage test. Meanwhile the Khazad guard hit my orcs and killed 12, but with the orcs killing 4 and Khamul throwing back 3, the Khazad were reduced to ½ strength of the last company and so were destroyed along with Dain, having not used any might nor using his abilities…

The dwarves exited the building on the west side behind the morannon who were walking around it and successfully charged their rear, this caused them to loose 9 warriors and not passing the panic test were left helpless.

Round 4

I won priority and rallied my morannon against the 2HW dwarves at their rear. My siege bow on that side rolled a 6 and took 5 casualties; my warg charged the dwarves artillery and destroyed it - leaving the dwarves pretty much surrounded. With more bow fire the kings champion took a 3 wound counters and the shields and 2HW took casualties equal to the morannon they were fighting, with the rolling some lucky dice, Khamul being Khamul and the sheer number of orcs (and with time running out) Craig had little option but to surrender and concede defeat.

This was very much a trial of the rules and to try to get to grips with them, Dain wasn’t used to his best, but again I kept forgetting that Khamul could cast spells (let alone 3!)

Sorry about the limited photos, my camera batteries ran out.

Next time will be a smaller battle 500-750 to help learn the rules as well as plans for a weekend tourney in the spring using both the helms deep scale model (Rohan v Isengard) and a project about to begin - the recreation of the siege of Osgiliath (Mordor v Gondor) - although this will take some planning.  The battles will be 5-8000 points with 2-3 players per side… can’t wait and if you are interested let us know as we are also thinking of running other battles that weekend (TBC) as well.

East Grinstead War Gaming club 
Sussex