Hobbit SBG - Mirkwood & Woses v Hunter Orcs & Black Uruks

“Now come, you filth... we're going on; but we'll settle you first."

       Sam to Shelob, The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings

With the end of the Tale of 4 Gamers coming to a close, it was time for Sam and I to join our armies and fight a battle to attempt to gain maximum points. Sam took his Mirkwood army of rangers, while I took my Wanderers in the wild army.

Craig took the Hunter orcs, while Thomas took the Black Uruk Hai with shields.

Elanor, Lieutenant of Mirkwood rallies her rangers

Tauriel, Captain of the Guard leads the attack.

Beorn's hate of Orc has drawn him from his lands.

  

The mighty Treebeard leading woses.

Bandobras leads more woses.

Ghan-Buri-Ghan and his warband of woses.

Gwaihir has heard rumors of a large Orc army.

Fimbul leads his hunters into battle.

Narzug brings some bow armed infantry.

A Mordor Uruk-Hai captain leads a warband of heavily armoued uruk-hai into battle.

The Uruks of Barad-Dur arrive

The Dark Marshall (hiding at the back) leading Morgul Knights.

The Elves and Woses form a battle line and prepare to fire.

Gwaihir and Belarum circle above the battle field.

FImbul sounds the advance

As does the Dark Marshall

The mighty warleader of Barad-Dur, Shagrat, arrives with more Mordor Uruk-hai.

The Knights and Orcs try to hide from the bow fire.

More woses arrive to support the elves. 

Gwaihir moves to reinforce the right flank.

That is one formidable battle line. 

Fimbul heads for the trees to avoid the arrows. 

Narzug advances as Bolg finally arrives in the distance. 

The Mordor Uruks advance. 

The Knights are slowly being whittled down by bow fire. 

Shagrat advances down the left flank. 

The elves take aim.

Narzug and his bowmen take aim/ cower behind the wall.

The knights desperately try to avoid bow fire.

Fimbul is still hiding in the trees, biding his time. 

The Orcs hold as they wait for Bolg to arrive. Meanwhile arrows rain down from the sky and claim more victims. 

Shagrat is slowed by the trees. 

Things are looking good for myself and Justin. 

Bandobras spurs his horse forward. 

As price for waiting for Bolg, Narzug's warband suffers heavy casualties. 

CHAAAAARGGEE! The forces of Evil break cover and advance towards the waiting elves.

The Mordor Uruks also decide it is time to fight. 

Tauriel readies her men and prepares to loose more arrows into the oncoming hoarde. 

Woses everywhere!

A Morgul Knight loses his horse.

The Hunter orc bowmen are proving useful only at dying.

Elanor instructs her troops to keep firing. 

Numbers are looking thin on the evil side. 

Over on the right flank, Fimbul tried to make a sneaky attempt to get off the board and two of his hunters succeed. Gwaihir isn't happy. 

Beorn is also annoyed but fails to transform into a bear. 

The woses load their blowpipes with poisoned darts.

The Uruks advance ever closer. 

A lone orc charges Treebeard. 

Soon combat will be joined, how many more can we kill with bow fire?

Gwaihir is charged by a lone hunter orc.

Beorn is also charged to prevent him tranforming.

The Morgul Knight who lost his horse tried to redeem himself by charging Treebeard. 

SWORDS! SWORDS! Combat is imminent. 

Belarum spies a few uruks tried to sneak off the left flank so circles round to engage. 

The two sneaky uruk-hai try to avoid unwanted attention. 

The elves & Woses make great progress and wipe out a large number of uruk-hai; including the banner!

Gwaihir throws a hunter orc at Fimbul and knocks him from his warg. 

Beorn also kills his orc and sets his sights of FImbul. 

Treebeard doing what he does best...uruk-hai bowling. Even the mighty warleader is knocked prone.

Belarum summons a Wose for protection...

Woses and Bandobras arrive to support Treebeard/ 

Shagrat is sent flying again. 

The Uruk-hai reach the elven/ wose lines and begin smashing. 

it's not looking good for Fimbul. 

The Dark Marshall hides behind an Uruk as he moves to inspire the main combat.

Tauriel orders her forces to wheel around to get better LoS on Bolg's Warband. 

The Captain of Barad-Dur and Bandobras face off. 

Fimbul loses the fight...

...And is promptly killed. 

The Mordor Uruk-Hai captain and a few black guard try to smash their way through. 

Treebeard is still causing havoc. 

STRIKKKE! Treebeard knocks nearly all the remaining uruks to the ground. 

The Woses and Belarum move in for the kill. 

Not looking good for Craig and Tom on the left flank. 

Still duelling...

Wth the evil side broken, Narzug takes a courage test...

...Nope....he has had enough and flees back to Dol Guldor. 

The hunter orcs are dismayed by their captain fleeing and most follow him. 

A lone uruk has made it too the board edge. 

Bolg finally arrives but it is too late. 

The captain keeps smashing but the woses keep coming.

Shagrat tries to kill Treebeard. 

Belarum sends more Uruks flying. 

Treebeard wins the fight and Shagrat narrowily avoids the incoming fists.

Only Bolg and the Mordor Uruk Captain survive in the centre with a lone body guard. 

Treebeard is starting to mop up the flank. 

Things are looking bleak for evil and they are nearly reduced to 25%

Tauriel is content to keep shooting whatever targets she has. 

Beorn and Gwaihir sense the battle is won so have a chat in the corner.

Good armies casualty list!

Close score despite the evil army being decimated

Final Thoughts:

Close final score!

This battle was a very clear victory for the army of good, despite the total annihilation of the evil army. The combination of Elven bow fire and woses blow pipes saw over 50 shots per round at the high of firing!  Add the woses +1 for hating orc folk to the rolls to wound... 

The final score was:

Mirkwood and Woses 3 - 2 Mordor Uruks and Hunter Orcs

Treebeard is a monster, the woses have elven cloaks, blow pipes, spear support and +1 to wound against orcs, Goblins and Uruk Hai - how cool is that, the elves high fight value and excellent bows.

There wasn't mush Tom could do here, Shagrat was no match for Treebeard, and despite his best efforts, he just could not stop him. 

So a win for good and both Sam and I gain full points for our Tale of Four Gamers armies: Wanders in the Wild 700 point army and Sams Mirkwood army.

Man of the Match:

Man of the Match: Treedbeard!

Quite simply, and yet again this has to go to Treebeard, he is a beast and despite the wraiths attempts to stop him in his tracks, he was more than able to handle everything thrown at him. It's a shame Beorn couldn't change as I think that he 
he would have had a good chance to take this accolade. 

Treebeard was able to hold the flank and got stuck into the fight right where he was needed, and to devistating effect. 

All in all another brilliant game and an enjoyable battle.

We welcome anyone interested in playing The Hobbit SBG, Lotr SBG, WotR or any warhammer/40K battle - why not let us know so that we can arrange some starter battles, like the one above, or if you/your club want to challenge us. We have all the LOTR/Hobbit SBG figures and LOTR scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep, snow fields to desert boards ready and waiting.  

Why not join our watch list for updates and look out for Easters weekend battle event... two days of fighting in the ruins of Osgiliath, Helms Deep and Far Harad, you cannot afford to miss it.

Feel free to email us to come along or arrange a game.

East Grinstead War Gaming club