"BARUK KHAZAD!"
- Gimli, Son of Gloin, The Fellowship of the Ring
Pre-Match
Initially
I was planning to fight against Craig and I wanted to try my WotR Dwarf army
again - I have battled with them on numerous occasions before and have had some
good battles (which I have always won with the dwarves) and enjoyed using them
to great effect. I now have 3 full companies of Dwarf Vault Wardens and wanted
to field them, so I came up with the following WotR battlehosts/armies:
Dwarf Army Circa
1750
|
Moria Goblin Army Circa 1750
|
Epic Hero
Gimli, Son of Gloin
Common
4 x Comp of Dwarf Shield Kinband with captain
4 x Comp of Dwarf Shield Kinband with captain
4 x Comp of 2HW Dwarf Kinband with captain
3 x Comp of Dwarf Archer Kinband
3 x Comp of Dwarf Archer Kinband
Rare
4 x Comp of Dwarf Khazad Guard
2 x Dwarf Ballista
3 x Dwarf Vault Wardens
1 x Dwarf hero - Kings Champion
Legendary
4 x Comp of Drar’s Hunters (Dwarf Ranger Kinband)
|
Epic Hero
Durburz, Goblin King of Moria
Druzhag the Beast Caller
Common
6 x Moria warband with Moria Goblin Drum
4 x Moria warband with shields
Moria Goblin Captain
2 x Moria Goblins with bows
Moria Goblin Shaman
2 x Moria Goblins with bows
Moria Goblin
Shaman
2 x Moria Goblins with bows
6 x Wild Warg with Misty
Mountains
Wild Warg Chieftan
Rare
5 x Moria Cave
Trolls
Dragon of Ancient times
|
 |
| WotR Dwarf Khazad Guard |
Unfortunately
Craig wanted to play Games Workshops Bloodbowl, but fortunately I managed to
find a new opponent, Charlie (an avid Warhammer 40k tournament player) who was
interested in Lord of the Rings and wanted to play War of the Rings.
This is why I settle on the 1000 point army list for the intro game… Although, with hindsight, I should have listed smaller armies list, around the 500 - 750 point range just for speed.
We played on the East Grinstead War Gamers club ‘snow’
battle board which is perfect for Moria / Misty mountains battles. And placed
two small hills in the corner and trees at each end, the idea was to keep the
terrain to a minimal level and allow the Misty Mountains wild warg freedom to
charge around the field; with a glacier in the middle of the field - the ice on
the Glacier was agreed to be difficult terrain, the broken ice, impassable.
2 x Moria Goblins with bows with Moria Goblin Shaman
Dwarf Army 980 points (Me)
Epic Hero
Moria / Misty Mountains Army 1055 points (Charlie)
 |
| WotR Misty Mountains Goblin Army |
I
chose the army below for Charlie as it had a variety of units, magic, cavalry
and hero’s with might to help Charlie play and work through the WotR rules so
that he could learn the variety of rules that make up WotR.
I ran through the
basic rules first and then step by step explained the rules as we were playing.
Epic Hero
Durburz, Goblin King of Moria
Druzhag the Beast Caller
Common
6 x Moria warband with Moria Goblin Drum
4 x Moria warband with shields - Moria Goblin Captain
 |
| LotR Moria Goblin Archers |
2 x Moria Goblins with bows with Moria Goblin Shaman
2 x Moria Goblins with bows
6 x Wild Warg with Wild Warg Chieftan
Rare
2 Cave Trolls
Dwarf Army 980 points (Me)
 |
| WotR Gimli & Dwarf Army |
Gimli, Son of Gloin
Common
4 x Comp of Dwarf Shield Kinband with captain
4 x Comp of Dwarf Shield Kinband with captain
4 x Comp of 2HW Dwarf Kinband with captain
Rare
3 x Comp of Dwarf Khazad Guard
Deployment
 |
| LotR Dwarf Warrior Line |
As
this was a LotR introduction game to WotR we just lined our forces up at each
end of the battle field.
I
was to the south and placed Gimli with the Khazad Guard and then spread my army
out across the board, dwarf warriors with shields, then dwarf warriors with two
handed weapons followed by the last dwarf warriors with shields.
Charlie’s army was deployed to the north and placed two
formations of Moria goblin archers next to a cave troll, with the Moria goblins
with shields in the centre of the field with Durburz the King of Moria, behind
them the Moria goblins with Druzhag the beast caller and Moria Goblin drums. On
the left of Charlie’s flank were the wild wargs with the chieftain and a cave troll.
Round 1
Charlie won priority for his Misty Mountians / Moria army.
Movement
 |
| WotR Moria Army advances |
 |
| LotR Misty Mountains |
The
wild warg and their warg chieftain wasted no time and sprang forward pouncing
towards the dwarf lines, passing their at the double (ATD) roll they shot
forward nearly 20 inches!
The Moria archers moved toward the glacier and the rest of the Goblin army advance towards the middle of the field, avoiding the icy ledge.
The Moria archers moved toward the glacier and the rest of the Goblin army advance towards the middle of the field, avoiding the icy ledge.
 |
| LotR Moria Cave Troll |
 |
| LotR Dwarf Khazad Guard Army |
My
dwarves held their ground, without priority there was no way I was going
anywhere near the wild warg charging distance, I know how effective they can be
if they get the charge.
I did move the Khazad Guard forward slightly and
changed their layout so that they were two wide and angled towards the
advancing Misty Mountains army.
That ended the first round.
Round 2
My Dwarf army won priority
Movement
 |
| WotR Dwarf and Moria Armies |
 |
| LotR Dwarf Shield Warriors |
I
wanted to seize the opportunity to catch the wild warg unawares and so moved
Gimli and the Khazad Guard ATD to the edge of ice, ready to face the flank of
the Moria Goblins.
The dwarves on the right flank ran forward ATD to face
the wild warg head on. The centre of my dwarf army advanced across the field to
cover my flank, but I was conscious not to get too close to be engaged by the slower
advancing Moria Goblin horde.
 |
| LotR Wild Warg and Warg Chieftain |
 |
| LotR Moria Goblins Shields |
Charlie
wasted no time and moved his goblins forward, many ATD, his archers came into
range, as did both his shaman. The result was 2 x fire bolts from his
goblin spell casters at the Khazad guard, and some excellent dice results two
6’s for the effect and 7 dead Khazad Guard dwarves - ouch!
 |
| WotR Dwarf Khazad Guard |
 |
| LotR Dwarf Khazad Guard |
Next
Durburz, Goblin King of Moria’s formation moved forward in close range of my
dwarf 2HW warriors in the centre, Druzhag was too far to cast fire bolt on the
dwarf formation, and didn’t have line of sight.
Shooting
With
no shooting in my dwarf army I passed this stage and as Charlie had moved his
army full range and so had no shooting either.
Charge
 |
| LotR Dwarf Shield Warriors |
I
declared my charge with my dwarf shields warriors on the right hand flank
against the wild warg, Charlie clearly had been listening and his wild warg
chieftain declared a heroic charge, not wanting to be charged by the wild warg
cavalry, I also had to call a heroic charge as I did NOT want to be charged by
the wild warg, this resulted in a roll off…
…4!
good win the roll, phew! And fortunately my dwarf warriors made the charge
against the warg.
 |
| WotR Dwarf Shield Warriors |
Next
I charged the dwarf 2HW warriors straight at the goblin shields, but disaster,
I rolled a ‘1’ failed charge. I had to use a might point to ensure that
the charge was made (I know the picture shows that I had a banner bearer, I just
love the figures and think they look good so did not pay nor use them as banner
bearers).
My
plan was done - ensure that my dwarves got the charge and hammer the goblins
and wild wargs to dust…
Fight
 |
| LotR Dwarf 2HW Warriors |
The
Wild warg (as cavalry) strike first, but they simply could not penetrate the
dwarven shields and the defense 8, the dwarves with the charge bonus on the
other hand gave the wild warg a bloody nose killing 4 of them.
In the centre the dwarves with 2HW and the charge bonus
killed ½ the formation of the goblins 17 dead, for only 2 dwarves - fantastic
result for the dwarves, but I kind of felt guilty for Charlie as it was his
first game.
Charlie
passed his panic tests.
Round 3
My Dwarf army won a timely priority again
Movement
 |
| WotR Dwarf v Wild Warg |
I
couldn’t move my dwarf army much this turn. At the front my army was pretty
much engaged in battle, I had 4 companies of dwarves with 2HW in reserve and so
the only move for me was to move the Khazad Guard over slightly to try to get
them into the fight. Gimli moved from the Khazad Guard to the Dwarf 2HW
formation in front of Durburz, Goblin King of Moria - he was clearly eying his
prey.
Charlie
in reply edged his goblin bows forward to the edge of the ice glacier. Then both
of his Moria shaman cast fire bolt at the vulnerable Khazad Guard, this time
killing 5 Khazad guard (I was now worried that they would all be incinerated
before they could actually fight!).
Druzhag the Beast Caller’s formation ATD onto the ice as did
a cave troll. The bows at the rear of the battle ATD forward to get into the
fight/bow range.
Shooting
My
Epic hero Gimli, now within spitting distance of Durburz the Goblin King of
Moria and his shielded goblins was hurled into their ranks shouting "BARUK KHAZAD!", and managed to kill 3 goblins in the process.
The goblin bows that could see the Khazad Guard loosed a
volley at them at full range and peppered the ground with black arrows, but
none of the Khazad Guard fell.
Charge
 |
| WotR Dwarf 2HW v Goblin Shields |
I
was about to charge Gimli straight into Durburz, but had to sigh when Charlie
called a heroic charge, that meant that I had to call one too. This resulted in
a roll off, I roll a 6 - good win the charge, again I sighed in relief. Gimli’s
formation of dwarf warriors made the charge and spread out to 3 companies from
the spearhead at the front to maximise the possible damage on the goblins.
Next
the dwarf shields spread out to three at the front and charged the wild warg
chieftain and his band of howling wolves.
Fight
 |
| WotR Dwarf Shield victory |
Having
won priority I decided the battle order, Gimli called Epic Strike and raised his
fight to 10, then called heroic duel. Gimli and the Durburz rolled for the
duel… Gimli was never going to loose on fight 10 + 1 for calling the duel and
managed to secure 5 rolls on the duel table.
Some
poor rolling from me meant that Gimli could only kill 6 goblin warriors, but
did manage to kill Durburz the Goblin King of Moria, I guess it’s the luck of
the dice and I did get to kill Durburz in a duel.
In
the proceeding fight more goblins died along with 6 dwarves, leaving only 9
goblins to hold the centre of the battle field, for now!
 |
| LotR Dwarf hold the centre |
Next
was the wild warg v dwarf shields - to my amazement, no dwarves were killed;
having the charge bonus again I went on the rampage and completely annihilated
the wargs, every last one gone… now that was some serious rolling… how many
6’s!
As Charlie lost, he rolled on the panic table for the
goblins, but rolled a 6 and remained steadfast.
Things
were starting to look good for the dwarves and I was quietly confident of a
win.
Round 4
Dwarves win priority
Movement
 |
| WotR Dwarf Shields charge Cave Troll |
I
condensed the dwarf shield line to create some space to move my dwarf army over
slightly and advanced towards the cave troll (after all only one company can
fight him at a time).
Next
I condensed the dwarf 2HW to try to get the spare shielded dwarves who were
still in reserve into the fight, but the gap wasn’t quite big enough and they
couldn’t get through.
The
Khazad Guard, sensing their time was up edged sideways to lure Druzhag in to
charge and allow my spare dwarf shields a flanking attack, and to also try to
get out of the bow range (fortunately, the shaman’s view was blocked by
Druzhag’s formation of goblins).
 |
| WotR Dwarf Warrior Line Holds |
Charlie
moved Druzhag and the Moria spears forward across the ice, having to move half
distance on the difficult terrain. His cave troll and archers, who were
behind the wild warg now turn and face the Dwarf shields in front of them and
spread out to increase the frontage of the formation.
Druzhag
then cast a spell on the Khazad Guard halving their movement, fortunately he failed
his second spell.
 | ||
| LotR Dwarf Shield Spare Advance |
Shooting
Again my hero Gimli, was used to complete another "BARUK KHAZAD", killing
another goblin, not much but ‘every little helps!’
The
goblins shot everything they could at my dwarves, but only manage to kill one
dwarf with a shield (and that was a lucky shot), despite handfuls of dice being
rolled on the board.
Charging
My dwarf 2HW warriors charged the last few goblins with
shields in the centre of the battle and my Warg-slaying dwarves charged the
cave troll, no other units on either side were in charging range.
Fight
The
first bought was between the Cave troll and my dwarf shields. The troll tried,
but failed to kill any dwarves, the shields were simply proving too hard to get
through - even for trolls. Needless to say, the troll died at the hands of the
warg-slayering dwarf warriors.
The
remaining goblin shields crumbled under the pressure of the dwarf formation and
are all slain, they did manage to kill 3 dwarves in their final stand.
Round 5
Goblins win priority.
Movement
 |
| WotR Goblins trapped |
Charlie
took the bait and ATD’d straight at the Khazad Guard, casting a spell on his own formation to re-roll
failed hits and a fire bolt for good measure, which for once didn’t kill any
Khazad Guard.
I
put into practice my previously disclosed plan; my Khazad guard fell back to
lure Druzhag’s formation of goblins into my trap… my spare dwarf shields held
the ground in the centre, if Charlie charged, his flank will be in view of my
spare dwarf shield warriors.
 |
| WotR Dwarf Shield Warriors |
Next
having smashed the right flank of the Misty Mountains army, I immediately advanced the
troll-warg-slayering dwarf warriors towards the goblin archers, who look
stricken and very alone. Charlie casts shatter shields on them and scored a 6,
destroying them for the match, but I used my shield bearers last might point to
roll to use ‘will of iron’ and countered the spell, fortunately this saved my
shields from smashing to pieces.
Shooting
The
majority of the Moria goblins were out of range for both spells and arrows,
perhaps Charlies should have brought them all forward slowly but steadily, I
guess the goblins were scared of the ice.
The
stricken goblins that were in range opened fire on the troll-warg-slayering
dwarves, but the limited and poor firing power of Goblins meant that no dwarves
were injured.
 |
| LotR Dwarf Shields Flank Goblins |
Charlie,
as expected charged the Khazad Guard, now the Khazad Guard would have to earn
their money. In return, I charged the spare dwarf shields into the flank of the
charging Goblin spears thus reducing the number of attacks on my my Khazad
Guard.
My
troll-warg-slaying dwarves charged the goblin bows, 3 companies abreast (be
afraid, be very afraid)!
 |
| LotR Goblins Take Heavy Casualties |
First Druzhag’s formation of goblins rolled and directed all their attacks onto my Khazad Guard, clearly intent on killing them off, but to my amazement and delight the guard held and only 1 of them died. In reply, the Khazad Guard and spare dwarf shields killed 17 goblins, a clear win for the Dwarves.
 |
| WotR Dwarf Shield Charge Bows |
Round 6 (final round)
My Dwarf army wins priority.
Movement
I moved my Khazad Guard over and condensed them to cut the number of attacks from the goblin spears.
My shields held in the centre covering the flank, while the
dwarf 2HW advanced to face the final troll who was coming in across the glacier.
 |
| LotR Khazad Guard, move back |
 |
| WotR Dwarf Advance to Cave Troll |
Charlie,
ATD his goblin spears and out-flanked my Khazad Guard - I didn’t see that
coming, and Druzhag again called to re-roll failed hits.
Despite
the quick move of Druzhag, seeing that his army was broken and defeated, Charlie
threw in the towel and conceded the game.
Dwarf Army Wins.
 |
| LotR Gimli, Son Gloin |
Man of the match
Gimli, Son of Gloin. He was able to jump around the battle field, and fight where he was needed with relative ease. He killed off Durburz the King of Moria as well as loads of Goblins, and COULD have done a lot more damage and even managed to hurle himself into the enemy shouting "BARUK KHAZAD", I am pleased with him so far - I will definitely use him again.
Final Thoughts
Do
Dwarves need ballista’s and bows…?
I certainly didn’t need them and the
Goblin bows were, lets face it next to useless against the high defense dwarf
army (even without shields), although I have had the Goblin archers kill the
Kings Champion before when I have fielded them, I guess it’s the luck of the
dice. I would like to try Drar’s Hunter as the Dwarf Rangers look awesome and
have slightly better bows than the dwarf short bows.
 |
| LotR Dwarf Khazad Guard |
I
am also looking forward to fielding the dwarf vault wardens as I wanted to try
them against the dragon, but by cutting the points for the match, I simply
couldn’t justify them, maybe next time as I would like to do a Dragon slyers /
hunters scenario with the dwarves.
Charlie
picked the game up quickly, but I don’t think he was sold on it though. His
army sped across the field at different speeds and that made it easier for me
to pick them off. The magic at the beginning was very good and I was
worried that the Khazad Guard would end up Khazad Toast instead of actually
fighting, but Charlie started to try out different spells and that stopped the
death toll.
I
was also surprised that Charlie didn’t create any spiders with Druzhag the
Beast Caller as I did explain the rule and prompted him on several occasions, I
believe that this could have greatly assisted the Goblins, as Misty Mountain spiders are good cavalry and if
they were cast to the flank could have caused serious problems for me.
Hopefully
Craig will be back to fight next time and he was interested to see the dwarf
army win, as he had not been convinced by them, despite numerous
attempts. I love the dwarves and if they are played right are a very
good, strong and solid army, yeah they move slowly, but as a shield wall they
are perfect. Lets just hope that this
prompts more people to play
To see the full LotR / WotR Dwarf Army please visit this blog:
http://eastgrinsteadwargamers.blogspot.com/2011/10/wotr-dwarven-army.html
The LotR / WotR - Moria / Misty Mountains army please visit this blog:
http://eastgrinsteadwargamers.blogspot.com/2011/10/wotr-misty-mountains-moria-army.html
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 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 SBG
figures and LOTR scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep
ready and waiting.
Feel
free to email us to come
along or arrange a game.
East Grinstead War Gaming club
Sussex
Sussex
