WOTR: Battle Report - Dwarves v Gorgoroth Orc Horde

WOTR: Dwarf Army

Dwarf Force 1000 points 

(Simon and Craig)

Dain Ironfoot

3 x Comp of Dwarf Khazad Guard 
 - (with shield bearer)

1 x Kings Champion

2 x Comp of Dwarf Ballista

1 x Comp of Dwarf Rangers

4 x Comp of Dwarf Shield Kinband 
 - (with shield bearer)

3 x Comp of 2HW Dwarf Kinband 
 - (with shield bearer)

WOTR: Mordor Army - Gorgoroth Horde

Mordor Force 1000 points 

(Me)

Gothmog

4 x Siege bows

4 x Morannon orcs with shields  
- (Gothmog to reside)

4 x Morannon orcs with shields, banner and captain

18 x Mordor orcs (Gorgoroth Host) with banner, captain, task master and drummer

Back to business this week - Simon (Craig’s cousin) wanted to learn to play, so Craig took a back seat and allowed Simon to play whilst he and I taught him the rules.

We played a 6 x 4 battlefield (shield wall) with woodland area to south of the board - this had capacity for 4 companies.  As I had my figures attached to the home made trays I set up quickly and we agreed that I would then have priority. We used the usual Realm of Battle, battle board and so had the hills in each of the four corners.

Deployment

WOTR: Army Deployment

I placed the Gorgoroth host right in the centre of my deployment zone, 3 deep and 6 companies wide - this meant the whole club gathered round to see the sheer number of orcs on the field.  The host was flanked by 4 companies of Morannon to their left and Gothmog in 4 companies of Morannon to the right.  These in turn had 2 siege bows each behind them.

Simon and Craig deployed with their ballista’s on the northern side, one on the hill the other in line with Gothmog, his rangers were sat between the ballista’s.  Next in line was Dain with his Khazad guard, flanked by the 4 shields and finally the 3 2HW were position near the woods.

Round 1

Orc priority

Movement

WOTR: Gothmog moves forward

I started to advance the Gorgoroth Host 3 ½ inches forward (that ½ inch from the drummer makes all the difference!), when Craig called heroic move and used his shield bearers might to run his 2HW dwarf Kinband into the woods… This altered my thoughts on the Morannon on the southern flank of the orc host, and moved them so that they protect the flank from any later attack/charge (Craig has used this tactic before to charge the rear of my Morannon). 

Gothmog moved forward and spread out; I thought about ATD but wanted to protect both flanks from the dwarves.

The dwarves clearly wanted a fight and the shield Kinband and the King Champion ATD towards the orc horde, Dain and the Khazad guard decide to walk it.

Shooting

WOTR: Mordor siege bow battery

The Gorgoroth horde started the shooting and fired at the Kings Champion and despite the number of arrows flying across the field, only two hit counters are recorded on the Champion.

Next I proudly open fire with my siege bows… the first two misfire, the next didn’t do any damage to the Khazad Guard and the last finally managed to kill 3 of them.

The dwarf ballista misfired, the second killed ‘5’ Morannon orcs… the rangers needing 6 then 4 at long range kill another.  This ended the first round: 3 Khazad dead and 6 Morannon orcs.

Round 2

Dwarf army win priority

Movement

WOTR: Gorgoroth Horde move back to fire

Dain and the Khazad guard ATD to the centre of the field, the shields advanced normally, this allowed both formations to be side-by-side. The King Champion advance ATD again and suddenly become worryingly close to my orc horde, but he was clearly out on his own; the dwarf rangers moved ½ forward.

WOTR: Dwarf Army advances

Fearing the charge, I moved my Gorgoroth host ½ back, everyone else holds (I thought about calling heroic charge and charging my horde at his Champion, but wanted to let Simon learn how to charge his Champion), just in case, I turned Gothmog’s Morannon to the side to face the Kings Champion.

Shooting

The Dwarf rangers tried, but failed to hit Gothmog’s Morannon, one dwarf ballista failed to hit, while the other killed 4 of Gothmog’s Morannon orcs.

My shooting was terrible, 3 siege bows rolled a 1, so misfired and the last rolled a 6  which enabled me to at least kill 5 Khazad Guard.  Again to allow the King Champion to charge I direct the orc horde bow fire at the Khazad Guard and not him, this killed 10 of them.

Charge

WOTR: Dwarf Kings Champion surrounded

As predicted the Kings Champion charged my orc horde, so in turn I charged Gothmog at the Kings Champion.

Fight

The Kings Champion rolled dice for his fight value, charge, attacks etc - but amazingly only managed to kill 4 orcs.  In reply the orcs (with 2 support attacks) managed to score 7 rolls on the VHtK… which as anyone could predict left him dead.

Round 3

Orcs win priority

Movement

Gothmog’s Morannon orcs ATD towards the dwarf ballista, while the horde holds position - the dwarves will be in charge range this turn.

WOTR: Gothmog's Morannon ATD

Dain called Epic Strike (ES) and increased his fight value to ‘10’ - then I measured and Gothmog was 11 inches away, so I call a free ES! Dain advanced to an inch of the Gorgoroth orcs and declares a Herioc Duel (HD) on my orc captain, again I consider the captain for a heroic charge, or perhaps wiping the Khazad guard out with bow fire (we did actually discuss this), but decide instead to allow the HD to continue so that Simon and see how it works. 

The dwarf 2HW exited the woods as expected.

Shooting

As described above I decide to shoot the shields (to the front) and mange to kill 5 of them, 2 siege bows on southern side shot at the 2HW dwarves and killed 5, the northern siege bows destroyed one of the dwarf ballista.

The dwarven numbers are dwindling, their ballista and rangers again shoots at Gothmog, but only kill 1 Morannon.

Charge

My Morannon charged the dwarf 2HW on the edge of the woods, Gorgoroth captain calls a heroic charge and charged Dain, who in turn calls Epic Rampage (ER) - the Gorgoroth Horde also collided with the dwarf formation with the shields and they are caught up in the fight.

Fight

WOTR: Last few from Dwarf Army

The fighting was brutal; Dain and the captain rolled for the duel… Dain was never going to loose on fight 10 + 1 for calling the duel and managed to secure 7 rolls on the duel table, 3 are 1’s (no effect) 2 are wounds for the captain (he’s dead) and the 2 secure 6 dead orcs (I think I got off lightly).  Then Dain massacred 38 orcs as his ER allows him to keep rolling the hits… it’s cringe worthy for the orcs with 44 dead.  

In the meantime I rolled my attacks back at Dain and killed all his formation (and him).  I then resolved the fight with the dwarf shields but amazingly they were only dwindled down to 6 warriors for only a few dead orcs.

As I lost the fight I rolled on the panic table and had to complete a courage test - fortunately there are no casualties from this as I scraped through. I also rolled for a new captain of the Gorgoroth Horde and secure 3 might points for him.

The Morannon killed 9 dwarves with 2HW and they kill 6 of mine, Simon then rolls a 6 on the panic test and his dwarves remain steadfast.

Things are not looking good for the dwarves.

Round 4

Dwarves win priority

Movement

The Dwarf rangers moved ½ back to avoid Gothmog, so in turn Gorgoroth orcs also move ½ back.

Shooting

The Dwarf ballista shot 1 Morannon orc, the rangers failed to hit.

My siege bows opened fire, again 2 misfire, the next killed the dwarf ballista and the last siege bow killed 6 dwarves with 2HW.

Charging

In a last ditch effort, the dwarf rangers charged Gothmog and his Morannon, and the dwarven 2HW charged the southern Morannon orcs.

Fight

The battle finishes with the dwarf 2HW being wiped out for 1 casualty on the Morannon and the rangers are also wiped out without killing any of Gothmogs Morannon.

Mordor Wins.

Man of the match

Dain, despite being killed off, he COULD have done a lot more damage and in the one fight he did battle, his Khazad Guard killed 44 orcs (nearly 6 companies).

Final Thought

Are ballista’s/siege bows worth the points… I am not sure anymore.  They seemed to misfire a lot in this battle and did little to influence the tide of war.  Dain was awesome and had the dwarves all attacked at the same time with the Kings Champion etc, I am not sure there would be so many orcs left.  After the battle I explained how I would have fought the battle and ensured that the dwarves didn’t split up into the woods etc. and would have advanced together in a shield wall and all smashed the orcs together.  Craig and Simon are now going to look at a Gondor army for the next match in two weeks time circa 1500 points so they can try something different, with cavalry, archers and magic… maybe I’ll field Fallen Realms?!

*Apologies for the lack of photos... my camera keeps running out of batteries.

East Grinstead War Gaming club 
Sussex

WOTR: Battle Report - Dwarves v Misty Mountains

 ...Suddenly without a signal the dwarves sprang silently forward to attack. Bows twanged and arrows whistled; battle was about to be joined.

- The Hobbit

Defenders of Khazad

Gandalf the Grey (allies)

WotR: Misty Mountains Army

Dain Ironfoot

Balin Lord of Moria

3 x Khazad Guard

1 x Kings Champion

2 x Ballista

4 x rangers

4 x Shields

4 x archers

2 x warriors 2HW

1 x vault wardens


Misty Mountains Invasion force

Druzhag

Durburz, Goblin King of Moria

Dragon of Ancient times

WotR: Dwarf Army

Spider Queen

4 x trolls

3 x wild warg

3 x wild warg

6 x goblins

4 x goblins with shields

3 x goblin archers with shaman

3 x goblin archers with shaman

Well, this week’s battle was interesting.  Craig wanted a break from WotR to have a battle of Trafalgar. I was set to take on Adrian (his brother) who used to play LotR 1000 points each.  However, there were two others that were interested in WotR and had never played before so I agreed a 2 v 2 battle.  Adrian and Ben as the Dwarves defending Moria, and me and Dougy as the goblins of the Misty Mountains.

 

With hindsight we should have stuck with 500 points per person, but everyone got carried away with the number of figures and it quickly became a 1700 v 2000 - Dwarves have to stop the goblins from entering their 1/3 and goblins have to kill all dwarves….

 

Unfortunately Adrian was busy with running the club so once deployment had finished he left and I had to manage the game with 2 other newbs.

 

WotR: Invasion of Misty Mountians Battle Field

The Battlefield

The cold morning wind blew across the valley as the dwarves entered the field ready for battle; the snow had lain deep in the valley. The frozen mountain pass which led to the gates of Moria (6 x 4 playing long ways) would be heavily defended by every last dwarf.

The frozen lake on the east side (this was difficult terrain and the broken ice was impassable) came into view as the mist started to clear… then the distant sound of the goblin drums could be heard. 


There were snow covered trees with capacity for 2 companies and a build for 4 companies.

Deployment

The dwarves won priority and set up with a ballista on each hill at the northern end of the battlefield, the rangers on the east flank and their archers behind them.  The Khazad guards took centre stage with Dain, followed by 4 companies of shields with 2 companies of 2HW behind them.  On the west flank was the vault wardens.

 

WotR: My Half of the Moria Army

WotR: Misty Mountains Army

We split our misty mountain army, Dougy deployed his goblin archers on the west side so that he could run to the building, the main goblin army took the centre with the trolls and warg behind (our first mistake as this meant we had to move ½ the goblins to allow them through), and a formation of goblin archers on the east side in front of the frozen lake.

Turn 1

WotR: Goblin Army Advances

The dwarves won priority and advanced, slowly but surely, the goblins also advanced, with the archers on the west moving to the building – the 2 shamans and Druzhag cast fire bolts and nature’s wrath spells and managed to kill 5 rangers and 2 Khazad guards.

At the end of the movement the goblin archers on the west side entered the building. The dwarf ballista’s both misfire, with nothing else in range for any of our archers or charging we progressed to:

Turn2

Goblins win priority

Movement

WotR: Wild Warg surge forward

Druzhag summoned 3 companies of spiders and his shields advanced on the ice, he also cast fire bolt and natures wrath on the dwarf rangers killing 3. 


The goblin spears ran OTD to create some space to allow the trolls and warg through, but didn’t create enough space. The shaman cast shatter shields and amazingly managed a 6, permanently destroying the dwarf shields (much to the delight of Dougy). 

WotR: Cave Trolls and Warg Surge

Druzhag casts fire bolt and natures wrath and kills 3 more rangers.

The dragon moved forward, hiding behind the spears and was preparing for the lines to meet so that he could fly to the rear and wreak havoc on the backs of the dwarves.

Dwarves marched to their 1/3 line, spread out and held the line, but at this point realized that their archers couldn’t shoot at anything as the rangers were in the way! The Kings champion walked to the side of the rangers and stopped… Gandalf cast blinding light and Druzhag fight to “0”

 

My archers having moved ½ distance are now on the edge of the pond, but out of range of the Kings champion and the rangers across the water.

 

Shooting

WotR: Dwarf & Goblin Army prepare to clash

The goblins in the building tried to soften up the vault wardens, but with shields that size the goblin bows were ineffective, but still managed to kill one of them.

The rangers seeing the danger of the 3 companies of spiders in front of them (which also blocked their view of the goblins) fired and destroyed every last brood in one fowl swoop...  the ballista’s split their targets, one hitting a troll and leaving a wound counter the other targeting the dragon, but failed to get a hit on him.

 

With the spiders dead, there were no units close enough to charge - end of turn 2.

 

TURN 3

The dwarves won priority again.

 

Movement

The dwarves went first and stepped over their line to close the gap with the advancing goblins. However, Gandalf the Grey and the rangers moved full distance and ATD to the east to allow room for the archers to move forward in to the gap, which they do using their full distance to get into range, but forgoing their shooting this turn.

 

The Kings champion walked to the side of the frozen lake just in range of my archers…

 

The goblin spears marched forward and tried to create enough room to allow the trolls through the side, but the gap was too narrow and so we had to push everything up the middle.

WotR: Giant Spiders 

 

Druzhag cast another 6 spiders (lucky roll (again)) which were placed straight in front of the gap between him and both the archers and the rangers… cannon fodder me thinks!

 

The trolls start their surge up the middle with the warg following behind them… (Should have been at the front!), the dragon jumps over the line and lands on the flank of the vault wardens.

 

Shooting

WotR: Dwarf Army kill Giant Spiders

The dwarf rangers having moved double distance, use Gandalf to call heroic shoot and are again able to fire, this decimates the spiders again with their volley.  The dwarf archers now shoot at Druzhag’s shields and manage to kill 8, driving them back 6 inches.

The ballista’s both target the dragon but again fail to hit him.

The goblins turn; those hiding in the building fire at the dwarves with shattered shields and kill 3.

 

WotR: Kings Champion takes 4 wound counter

My goblin archers at the lakes edge fired at the kings champion 20 arrows hurtled across the frozen lake, and to my amazement I rolled 4 hits (having needed 6, then 5), which allowed me to roll twice on the VHtK table.  


My luck with the dice was evident again when I rolled a 6 and was then allowed to re-roll - landing 4 wound counters on the Champion… the look on the dwarves face was clear even through the lingering mist.

 

Charging

WotR: Dwarf shields charge

The dwarf shields take the initiative and charge the goblin spears, while the Khazad guard and Dain charge a company of warg, my dragon fails to charge the rear of the dwarves.

  

Fight

The centre of the battle field started to clog up, but I went through the battles one by one ensuring that I didn’t forget anything (but I did forgot the dwarves had 2HW and relinquished a troll to cover the mistake)

13 goblins dead, for 5 dwarf warriors along with 2 warg. Fortunately the goblins pass the panic test.

 

Turn 4
Dwarves win priority

WotR: Kings Champion is slain

Movement

Again the dwarves win priority and decide to hold their ground apart from the Kings Champion who ATD straight towards Druzhag, running along the side of the lake to try avoiding the goblin bows, and to try to get in to the battle.

The Goblin spears consolidate their formation to allow the trolls through, who subsequently surge through the centre gap. Meanwhile Druzhag uses his last might point to summon 3 more companies of spiders (I keep rolling 6’s) and casts fire bolt and natures wrath on the Champion and manages to kill him before he has a chance to charge Druzhag formation of goblin shields.

The dragon flew straight to the eastern ballista and sat waiting for a shot to hit.

Shooting

WotR: More Wild Warg prepare to fight

The dwarves again open fire on the spiders and kill them all… still save Druzhag dying! Again, both ballista’s misfire leaving the dragon sighing in relief and his fire breath killed 2 crew, not quite as good as I hoped.

The trolls throw their weapons and kill a Khazad guard, while the goblins within the building again kill another 3 dwarf warriors.

Charge

WotR: Khazad Guard surrounded by trolls

The dwarves again press the attack charging the goblin spears, while the Khazad guard charge the warg and a troll; the remaining trolls surround the Khazad guard and charge – 2 of them managing unstoppable charges.

The Dragon charged straight into the rear of the rangers.

Fight

The ensuing battle is hard fought and leaves a troll and the 4 warg dead, as well as Dain and the Khazad guard. The Dragon ripped through the rear of the remaining rangers and killed them down to ½ of the last company – Gandalf is also killed.

 

Unfortunately time ran out and Adrian declared the battle a draw - the dragon and a troll were in their 1/3 so they failed their objective (Oops I forgot about the objective!, while the attacking army had not destroyed the defenders (although I am sure we would have!).

Final thoughts

keep it simple - the amount of figures with only me knowing the rules meant that I kept forgetting things as I had too much to try to sort out and manage (even forgot the objective otherwise I would have just charged everything into battle) and also had questions shot at me from all sides throughout the match - if this happens again, then I will either sit out and teach (although I love playing too much), or ensure the armies are small enough to manage.

 

WotR: The Dragon prepares to charge

I have previously set up with trolls in the front (last battle report Angmar v Dwarves) and allowed them to advance and soften up the enemy, this is a tactic I need to remember as the battle above took a bit of moving units to get them into the battle - this all took too long. This also needs to be the same for other beasts like the warg and spider queen. 

 

Also, the dragon is 475 points for a reason - move him in earlier and allow him to do what he does best, breath fire, cast spell and kill dwarves!

 

Archers… I hear people say that shooting is ineffective in WotR, well sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t, I guess that’s the luck of the dice - who would have thought that goblins would have killed the Kings Champion at full range.  I certainly always have archers/siege bows as it allows me to target the enemy at range.  I am about to start painting my Rohan army and I have heard that they are also lacking, but I can’t wait to try them… expert riders who can move full range, fire and then charge, and if they win the fight and roll a 6, charge again, with infantry that have throwing weapons - awesome!

WotR: Dragon of Ancient Times

Man of the Match
The Dragon of Ancient Times, despite not being used early enough, he was able to swoop in, cast spells, breath fire, charge and kill loads of dwarves, all without being challenged, even my fear of the ballista’s was short lived (they have to hit me first!)

 

Warhammer 40K: Blood Angels Chapter by Adrian Harrison

Welcome to my attempt at collecting the entire chapter of the Blood Angel space marines. Keep an eye as this develops over the coming months & even years!

I have decided to start with a random mix of units, vehicles & characters that I had laying around before moving onto some gaming army lists & then will come complete companies.