Hobbit SBG - Black Guard v Gondor

"Then he saw it: Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him."          

Frodo seeing from Amon Hen, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings

The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game Rule Book

So I have finally caught up with bits I needed to do and so have updated the outstanding battle reports. 

This week saw a battle between Craig (Gondor) and I (Mordor).  We had arranged a circa 1000 point battle and so I knew Craig would be taking Boromir, fountain guard and a tonne of Warriors of Minas Tirith.  

I decided to take The Knight of Umbar (to go head-to-head with Boromir), Gothmog, ½ my Black Guard army from Barad-dur and a couple of warbands of Morannon orcs.

  

Gondor Army of Minas Tirith

When I arrived, Craig had forgotten several of his warriors and so we discussed dropping to 750 points or he could take more heroes and split some of the warriors - he chose the latter and added Denethor and Pipin and some more citadel guard.

We wanted to get into the fighting quick so played on a 4x4 table with ruins on the west and woods on east sides of the table.  Craig won priority and opted for the ruins; it was clear from his deployment that he would fill the ruins with his rangers and then use his warriors of Minas Tirith to hold off the attack.

I smiled as I saw the opportunity for an early win, with 1/3 of his army (the bows) hiding in the ruins and a few troops to support them I was left to use 4 warbands of Mordor against Craig’s 2 warbands of Gondor who he had positioned in the gap of the ruins and on the board centre! Excellent, he didn’t even try for a round of shooting before I got there… “Divide and conquer”!

As you will see from the photos - I deployed my line as close to the centre of the field as I could and then prepared to charge - my Black Guard Uruk Hai were up for a fight.

Craigs Gondorian Army led by Boromir with banner

The Hobbit SBG battle field, with ruins and trees -
Craig won deployment and opted for the ruins

Once Craig had deployed his archers in the ruins and his Fountain guard on the entrance
 I deployed ready to surround his troops.

Close up of my Black Guard engaging his Fountain Guard, The shade helps tip the odds 

Gothmog calls the advance and my Morannon flank prepare to storm the ruins,
"THE AGE OF MAN...etc!"

Craig forms a circle to try to stem the number of Mordor troops descending on him,
Boromir takes the lead and charges forward



First round Gondor 4 vs 10 Mordor...





The fighting continues as Mordor surround the Gondor elite
and Craig's archers struggle to find a target



Gothmog and Cirian get locked into combat - I know he is usually a tough nut to crack,
 so my plan is to surround and kill (no change there then!)

The Knight of Umber's abilities allow him to copy some of Boromir's stats.
Craig doesn't use any might to boost up and with added support, the Wraith is looking strong...

Meanwhile the shade is helping the Black Guard push through the Gondor Fountain Guard
and Faramir is trying to push them back

Craig's bows are struggling to find targets to hit with all the combat going on

Gothmog slays Cirion with a little help from his friends

Next up Boromir vs The Knight of Umbar... and a few orcs who,
 using the Wraiths courage test and prevent Boromir using his horn of Gondor

Boromir - being matched by the Knight of Umbar and not using any might
received too many wounds to survive and was removed from battle, what a scalp for Mordor!
This time Boromir will NOT win man of the Match!

The Black Guard hunt down small pockets of Gondor Warriors

Faramir senses the battle being lost and sees an opening to take out the shade!

Round 2 - Gondor 4 vs 11 Mordor

With the numbers now heavily in Mordors favour Craig sends in his rangers
Madril might be too little, too late...

Denethor, would surprisingly is still on the battlefield
engages Gothmog to stop him moving forward

Despite calling herioc actions (expecting to win and fight some more)
Gothmog loses to Denethor and is pushed back

"FOR GONDOR!" Craig has a moment of rage following his disbelief
at Boromirs (not so) heroic death and plunges a lonely Warrior of Minas Tirith
into the Wraith to stop his advance

Farimir gets to the shade, but the Gondor line is looking very thin

Gothmog and Denethor continue their "Strictly come dueling" and engage again

Faramir wins, but fails to slay the shade, now he looks vulnerable

Black Guard Captain raises his sword shouting
"ANOTHER GONDOR SCUM HERE!" as my army descends on Faramir

A good round for Craig, he managed to hold of a lot of attacks and
with my poor rolling he wins
Gondor 5 vs 2 Mordor

The rangers and Morannon are stuck in a stale mate
as neither can kill the other!

Here we go again - Go on Gothmog - he's mad you can have him!

Faramir rages forward to have another attempt to kill the shade

Meanwhile the Gondor line is again swamped with Black Guard Uruk Hai

Faramir, brave, but stupidly dies surrounded by the shade,
Knight of Umbar, Black Knight Captain and a few orcs :¬D

Gondor start to collapse and near breaking point

Another round over and Gondor are really looking thin

Gondor 4 vs 12 Mordor, another clear round for Mordor

Mordor swamp the Gondor few and force them to form square!

Spot Gondor... the Black Guard Captain charges forward and Orcs are full in support

Gothmog... wanting another kill orders all to surround Denethor,
The old man WILL die

Still a stale mate with the rangers, who are holding up pretty well
against the morannon orcs

The black horde advance

Yeah... Morannon start to win!

Mordor in a frenzy set upon every Gondorian they can find, 

No he won't! Denethor wins again.. what are the odds,
Gothmog is going to have to up the game and use some more might

Craig's lonely bugler sounds the retreat,
Gondor are broken and end up loosing most of their troops in the next round.
Final score:
Gondor 20 vs 46 Mordor

Final thoughts - to be honest I tailored my army to take on Craig’s Gondor army, I knew the heroes and the soldiers and my two main concerns were Boromir and a host of archers/rangers to pick me off… but I had a plan. Black guard shields front centre - they are tough and can withstand the bow fire of Gondor, with Morannon on the flanks to wrap around and reduce the spear support.  This worked perfectly and saw me cutting through the Gondor line, whilst minimising the casualties from the bows, Craig saw this error too late and ran the rangers into the battle, but it really was too little, too late.

The final score was Mordor 46 - 20 Gondor, which seems more like an American Football score than a Hobbit SBG score.  Surprisingly, Denethor managed to hold off Gothmog for numerous turns and kept winning the battle against him despite my best attempts to outnumber and use of might… a bad dice roll is a bad dice roll…

Man of the Match: The Knight of Umbar

Man of the match - for once it wasn’t Boromir, for me it was the Knight of Umbar (Ring wraith) who’s special ability was able to use Boromir’s stats to attack him back and with the support of the other Mordor troops and shade easily won the fight, The Mordor attack was able to hit him so many times he simply did not have enough fate to survive and was removed from the field without using any might… huge win for Mordor! I really didn’t use the Knight of Umbar as well as I could, my main focus was on the special abilities and the occasional black dart, next time I will dish out more spells.
.

  

At East Grinstead War Gamers we often play Hobbit/LOTR SBG - both skirmish battles and walk through the books/films each Monday night and WotR on club nights.

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 

Sussex

Hobbit SBG - Black Uruks v Gondor

"I have my orders. And it's more than my belly's worth, or yours, to break 'em. Any trespasser found by the guard are to be held at the tower..."          

      -Shagrat to Gorbag at the Pass of Cirith Ungol, The Return of the King

The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game Rule Book

In this weeks battle I decided to field my black Uruk Hai or Mordor Uruk Hai with their new shields, and this time spear support from orcs to give them good fight, defence and attacks... I teamed up with Louis and split the circa 1000 point Mordor army between us.

I took Shagrat Captain of Cirth Ungol, Gorbag and a captain to lead my 3 warbands of Uruk Hai and Orcs and he took a ring wraith (army general), mouth of Sauron  and a drummer to lead his Uruk Hai and orcs.

Sam and Craig joined up with a Gondor army full of elites and standard troops to give my Uruks a run for their money.

Hobbit SBG - the Battlefield for Hold the Ground,
the statue in the middle is the objective.

Sam had the Knight of the White Tower, leading Fountain and Citadel Guards, Cirion leading Fountain and Citadel Guards, and a hornblower leading Citadel bows, while Craig had Faramir (army general) leading Knights of Minas Tirith, Beregond with Archers of Minas Tirith and a captain leading a warband of standard Warriors of Minas Tirith.

Sam rolled to find out which game we would play and it was 'HOLD GROUND'. interesting as it could prove vital on the positioning of the armies!

As you can see from the layout of the battlefield (6 x 4) there was plenty of scenery, ruins and trees to add to the mix and both sides started rolling for their troops positioning... deployment was underway!

Who will win - Good or Evil, man or beast...?

Ring Wraith - Mordor army general and leader of warband 1

Drummer leads second warband for Louis

Mouth of Sauron leads Louis' third warband of Mordor Uruks

A converter Mordor Uruk Hai Captain leads a warband of
two handed weapons

Deployment of Troops, Louis and I set up a large contingent of
Uruk Hai and Orcs behind the Gondor Knights

With blood on their minds both Louis and I set up either side of Cirion,
he will be trapped and will be one of our first victims!

Shagrat deploys on the ridge... with Gorbag in support

Sams Citadel Guard look vulnerable with the mass of Uruk Hai next to them

Mordor win priority and immediately Louis sets on the Gondor Knights

The Ring Wraith casts black dart and knocks Faramir from his horse

Shagrat charges the flank of the Citadel Bows

The rest of the Mordor Uruks with Shagrat and Gorbag move foward

Louis' Mordor Uruk Hai charge the knights of Gondor

Mean while, Cirion's warband is attack from both sides by Mordor Uruks

Mordor Uruks surround the Gondor warband

Warriors of Minas Tirith leave their deployment area to try to get into the battle

The Knight of the White Tower brings his guard
across the battle field to try to support Cirion

Citadel bows look for targets...

...and shoot at the Mordor General - the Ring Wraith, but fail to hit him

The Knights of Minas Tirith are all but eliminated, Faramir is left prone

Faramir - the General of Gondor has a look of angry Uruk Hai around him!

Cirion is desperately trying to hold out to the mass of Uruks

The southern side - Gondor looks to be over run, citadel archers are being flanked
and Knights of Minas Tirith have be annihilated 

Warriors of Minas Tirith head for the objective, the fights are all too far away

Citadel guards spread out to stem the flow of Shagrats boys

Gondor look for the target and aim for the objective... it is going to be a race!

Meanwhile the Knight of the White Tower is making slow progress to cross the field

Gondor forces having to make difficult decisions

The view from the Knight of the White Towers war band...
Uruks everywhere!

Up close, Cirion is battling hard and Sam is rolling some very good  results,
 keeping him in the battle

Sensing victory, the Uruk Hai mob surround Faramir and hack him to pieces.

Gondor General dead = points for Mordor and we take the early lead

The same fate seems certain for Cirion, but desperate times call for desperate measures
and Sam is using his might knowing this could be Cirions last round

Sam, unable to reach Cirion with him support starts to discuss with Craig
about moving his troops to the objective

Mordor mobs pour in from their deployment to go for the objective

Shagrat, now gets into the battle and starts to hack the Citadel guard

Gondor or Mordor, who will get there first!

Birds eye view of the battle field, the objective id the statue in the middle
between the trees and the ruins

Shagrat pushes forward - he is unstoppable

Still Cirion is fighting to stay alive

Gondor reach the objective... almost

Mordor however are also there

Shagrats boys are now moping up the citadel guard,
but have I left it too late to run for the objective?

Craig runs his Gondorians into the ruins, nearly there,
his archers start to pick of the odd orc

Gondor archers targeting the orcs, they are easier to kill!

Realising that the Knight will not reach Cirion,
Sam changes tact and all head for the objective

Mordor seem to absorb the hits and continue to flood the objective

Gondor prepare to fend off the Uruk Hai - the fighting looks set to be tough

TOO ME! Cirion forms a bubble and looks to hold off as many Mordor as he can

Gondor, rolling well win the round and stay in the battle

Cirion targets the Uruk Hai captian and charges straight at him,
his guards know their time is up

Again Mordor charge, with the rest making for the objective, Cirion has to die

Shagrats warband has now overrun the citadel guard and Gorbag tries for the objective

Cirion in the foreground is surrounded, the remaining Uruk Hai scream and shout
at the knight of the White Tower in an effort to pull him away from
the objective and out numbering the Mordor gang

The mad dash!

Gondor are now making progress and are heading into the ruins

The two armies meet at the objective and the fighting begins!

Shagrat and his warband of Black Uruks finish off the last few Citadel Guards

Shagrat leads by example and hacks away

Both armies are now getting support to the objective and fighting to win

Pride gets the better of him and the Knight of the White Tower
turns and prepares to engage the Uruk Hai... my plan worked

Oh, but wait there are more of them... and they have pretty spear support

Job done. Shagrat has decimated the Citadel guard, but
with time running out he cannot make it to the objective

Battlefield view

Northern boarder and Cirion is now alone

Cirion is completely surrounded, Mordor Uruk Hai prepare for another Gondor scalp!

The Knight of the White Towers warband charges the Uruk Hai

The objective is looking cramped

Gondor Warrior are now pouring in and surrounding the Mordor army

The knight is held too far to engage for the objective.. my plan worked!

With too far to travel, Shagrat calls it a day
- he can't cross the board in time to make it to the objective

Shagrat hacks the last Citadel Archer

Gorbag sneaks across the board in a cowardly (hide behind orcs)
attempt to assist at the objective

Cirion is slain. Now fot he Knight of the White Tower

Fighting is intense with Gondor gaining the upper hand

"Spread out and kill the human scum"
The Mordor Uruks change tactics to over come the spear support

Gondor hold ground and seem reluctant to fight

And here's why more Gondorians coming in to support

Every man, Uruk and Orc is now going to count... 

Shagrat - I just love him!

The fight for the objective starts and to make it easier to work out we remove the ruins... who will win!?

With the end of the last round the Knight of the White Tower survives!

Amazingly the battle ends with wins and losses right across both armies, the scenery is removed, the distance measured from the objective and the points added... 

Mordor - 23

Gondor - 23

So in the end despite the early loss of Faramir (their General) the Gondor army managed to pull back and earn a well deserved draw, there was some tough fighting and both side flexed the muscles of their respective armies to try to tip the balance.  

We all really enjoyed this scenario as it was different to the usual shield wall with our armies spread around the board. All in all a very enjoyable game!

Hobbit SBG - Man of the Match Cirion

Man of the Match
Sam - has to take this again, Cirion and his Citadel Guard held out to the last and his warband prevented Louis' Uruk Hai from supporting the objective, which could have lost him the game.

Cirion, just didnt want to die (some lucky dice helped).  

For evil, Shagrat was awesome and smashed the Citadel bows to pieces, but by the time he had dispatched them all, he was just too far to get stuck into the objective... oh well!

  

We are about to start playing LOTR SBG - both skirmish battles and walk through the books/films each Monday night and WotR on club nights.

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 

Sussex