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