A lot has happened since I last attended an SBG event; history became legend, legend became myth, and for 18 months I missed out on all tournaments. However, that has now changed and on Sunday I attended the Tallaght Skirmish event, hosted by Dave Murphy. This was my first tournament (even my first game) since July 2021, 18 long months ago. 4 games, 500 points, 12 players, I was so ready for this (if you ignore the not quite finished paint jobs).
When deciding on what army list to bring I wanted to bring either an army I'd painted recently or one I was currently working on and could get to a painted state in a couple of weeks. Realistically that narrowed it down to Thorin's Company (with or without Laketown Allies), Khazad-Dum or an evil alliance of Harad and Mordor. After weighing up the options I eventually settled on the Evil army mainly to motivate me into painting some models that were waiting in the queue and also because I really wanted to give Razgûsh a chance (especially after seeing there'd be 7 Elf armies at the Battles on the Coast the weekend before). After tossing several ideas around I finally settled on this army list:
Suladan on armoured horse
2 Watchers of Karna with Twin Blades
7 Harad Warriors with bows
5 Harad Warriors with spears
Razgûsh
1 Bat Swarm
1 Giant Spider
2 Mordor Orcs with shields
2 Mordor Orcs with spears
2 Mordor Orcs with bows
Mordor Orc Captain
2 Mordor Orcs with shields
2 Mordor Orcs with spears
1 Mordor Orc with 2-Handed Weapon
1 Orc Tracker on Warg
31 models
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| The army arrayed, ready for war |
This army would provide 2 good heroes in Suladan and Razgûsh, some mobility with the Spider, Bats and Tracker, decent shooting from the Haradrim, good numbers and most importantly a burning Hatred of Elves (there's bound to be at least some Elves, surely*). Knowing I was probably going to be fairly rusty having not played in so long, I was hoping to maybe get a couple of wins and finish around the middle of the standings come the final tally.
Game 1
Fog of War
Alex Neaves
Beornings
This game confirmed the saying 'Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth'. And it turns out that Beorn the Bear is quite good at punching. Facing Beorn and 15 Beornings in my 1st game for 18 months was a truly daunting prospect, especially when one of my objectives was Kill the Bear. My plan revolved around distracting Beorn with single sacrificial Warriors, forcing him to charge, then shooting into the combat hoping to kill my guy and prevent any Heroic Combats or Barges. Meanwhile, my heroes and infantry could focus on tackling the Beornings, hopefully reducing their numbers sufficiently so I could handle the Bear when it would inevitably arrive. This plan initially worked well and I was using my numerical advantage to kill a decent amount of Beornings, but then I failed to shoot my sacrifice and suddenly I had an angry Bear tearing my army apart. In the space of 2-3 turns things went from 'everything is going well' to 'where'd my army go' as Beorn killed Razgûsh and Suladan and broke my army in short order. Then to make matters worse, my Orc Captain (the Hero I'd nominated to protect and who I'd sent to capture my terrain feature) failed a break test as the reminder of my army crumbled across the battlefield. In the end I failed in all my objectives; kill Beorn (although I was the only person to even take a Fate point off him with a lucky Haradrim arrow), protect my Captain, hold my terrain piece or break the enemy (just one more kill would have secured that, the closest anyone get over the 4 games). Meanwhile, the Beornings achieved all their objectives, only missing out on the full 12 VPs because a plucky Haradrim Archer sitting on his target terrain piece refused to die or run away. A real baptism of fire fir my return to the tournament scene and the Beornings went on to win all 4 of their games and finish top of the tournament.
Result 0-10 defeat
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| Bear snacking on some unfortunate Orc as the rest of my army engages his Beornings and the Orc Captain in the background makes a run for the ruins in the far corner. |
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| Killing the Beornings... |
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| ...until an angry Bear arrives. |
Game 2
Hold Ground
John Foster
Lurtz’s Scouts
After that big defeat, I headed down to the lower tables where I was paired against Lurtz’s Scouts in Hold Ground. Initially I was worried about the Scouts using their superior speed to occupy the centre and making it difficult for me to break through and onto the objective, a worry that was compounded by Razgush's refusal to show up until Turn 3. Luckily, they advanced slowly, trying to use their Uruk bows to whittle down my numbers in a shooting war that I edged ahead on thanks to longer ranged bows and poisoned arrows. Meanwhile, my Orc Captain and his warband advanced on my right flank, baiting in Mauhur and his followers to give Suladan and Razgush time to tackle Ugluk's warband (who were swarming around a huge boulder in the centre of the board). Ugluk and some Uruk-Hai did charge (and potentially trap) Suladan Heroic Combat from Razgush allowed him and the Bat Swarm to slingshot into Ugluk and Orcs to peel away the Uruk-hai fighting Suladan, leaving a trapped Ugluk alone fighting Razgush, Suladan and the Bats. Dead Ugluk. A similar fate befell Lurtz when he reached strike range a turn or 2 later. Across the rest of the battlefield the disorganised melee and staggered nature of the Uruk's advance (helped by the fight my Captain put up against Mauhur) meant I was able to use my numbers and spears to tip combats in my favor and chip away at his numbers, eventually breaking him and occupying the centre. Although he eventually broke me on the final turn, when we added up the numbers I had 13 models in the centre to his 5, both armies were broken, Lurtz lay dead and Suladan down a wound.
Result 8-2 win
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| Suladan cresting the hill |
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| Razgush finally arrives |
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| My Orc Tracker (called Snipey Magee) finally gets a kill in the IHL, it only took him 7 years. |
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| Overview of the battlefield |
Game 3
Domination
Luke Revell
Angmar
This game was really a story of failed Courage tests. With the objectives spread evenly around the centre (3 along the centreline and 1 in each half) and a couple of large impassable boulders flanking the central objective I deployed my Captain on one flank to secure the objective on that side and both Razgush and Suladan in the centre opposite the full Angmar force. This meant that the armies clashed in a choke point around the central objective, although his Cave Troll did move to attack my Captain's Warband on the flank and his 3 Warg Riders swung around the opposite flank, threatening my rear. A Drain Courage on each of Suladan and Razgush, combined with Harbinger of Evil meant that they were both sent on a walk by the Spectres Fell Light and didn't join the central combat until late in the game (although Suladan was able to kill the Warg Riders to my rear, despite losing his horse to a Black Dart). Instead, it was the Watchers of Karna and the Giant Spider who earned their keep, the Spider killing his Captain and the Watcher's Steely Nerve allowing them to charge his Orcs when the rest of the army was failing Terror tests. Slowly I gained the upper hand in the scrum in the centre (thanks in part to my Captain, who dueled the Troll for 3 or 4 turns), allowing me to dispatch Warriors to hold the remaining objectives. By the time the game ended I held 4 objectives, Angmar just outnumbered me on the central objective, he was broken and neither Leader had been wounded.
Result 9-1 win
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| Armies deployed |
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| Wargs try to flank my position |
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| The lines engage (when I can pass Courage tests) |
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| Suladan takes a little walk |
Game 4
Divide and Conquer
Riders of Theoden
Fionn Collender
After getting the 2 wins I'd hoped for I came into game 4 on a high with the rust well and truly polished away. Facing Riders of Theoden in Divide and Conquer did worry me because I knew they would be able to reunite their army far easier than I could. To mitigate this I placed Suladan and Razgush in the same corner with the Captain on his own in the opposite corner. Although I knew I'd probably lose the Captain's Warband, at least this way I'd keep as much of my army together as possible. A few long range shots from my Haradrim archers achieved nothing while the bulk of my force moved towards the centre and the Rohirrim linked up and moved to threaten my isolated Captain, burning Might on Heroic Marches to link up quicker. Eventually the majority of the Rohirrim turned to face the bulk of my army who had formed a line in the centre f the board. Unfortunately for them, they got too close trying to maximise throwing spears and the next turn I was able to win a Heroic Move roll-off and I was able to charge most of his cavalry with Suladan and Razgush each charging a Rider of Rohan, the Bat and the Spider charging Eomer and my Warriors charging as many models as I could reach. Knowing that I needed to maximise my advantage of denying his cavalry bonuses I called Heroic Combats with both Suladan and Razgush, both of which were successful, allowing them both to charge Gamling who was killed in short order. Across the rest of the line my superior numbers helped win combats and thin out the enemy rankswith only Theoden offering much resistance winning a Heroic Combat and killing a handful of warriors. The following turn, with Rohan now out of Might and me winning priority, I was able to trap Eomer with Razgush, the Spider and the Bat Swarm and trap Theoden with Suladan and as many warriors as I could while also moving to secure all the objectives and tying down any remaining Rohirrim who could charge. By the end of the Combat Phase the royal line of Rohan was slaughtered along with most of their followers.
Result 12-0 win
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| Moving forward through the ruins |
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| The Orc Captain's Warband preparing to recreate the Ride of the Rohirrim on the Pelennor |
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| 2 turns after this photo only 3 Rohirrim survived (none of them heroes) |
Finishing the day with 3 wins and 1 defeat was enough to take 2nd place overall. A result I am very happy with. Suladan and Razgûsh performed admirably and their combination with the Bat Swarm worked great (except when being mauled by an angry Bear). I think Razgûsh is an excellent addition to the Mordor army list even in the absence of Elves, both for his own combat ability and for unlocking the ability to bring the Beasts of Mirkwood.
I really enjoyed playing with a light infantry force, with the majority of my force being D4 or lower and lacking shields meaning I had to focus on disrupting enemy battle lines so I could stack fights in my favor with more dice and traps. In this the Watchers of Karna proved invaluable thanks to their 2 attacks and F4. This is certainly an army I'd want to use again, I just hope that the opportunity presents itself a bit quicker than another 18 months.
Congratulations must go to Alex Neaves, who's Beornings won the event with 4 wins, Matthew Butler for getting 3rd place and Best Painted with his Goblin Town and Evin Mooney for winning Best Newcomer and Favourite Opponent with Ugluk's Scouts.
Thanks to all my opponents for 4 great games, to Dave for organising the event and to Underworld Gaming for providing the venue. And I'll leave you with a few other photos of the day.
*There was not a single Elf in any of the 11 other armies.
