Battle Report - Harad and Corsairs vs Wood Elves

Last League night we had four players for the club night.  We were prepared for a three person game, with each of us bringing a 300 pt list and a 600 pt list.  Happily that was not necessary as Jake joined Jonathan, Tony and I for the game; and a real corker it was too.

This pretty much sums up this game for me.

We went for our own scenario.  There were three objectives across the table.  One in each of our deployment zones, on a hill; and the house in the center.  Each model within three inches, or on the floor inside the house, was worth a victory point.  We were playing teams and once one side was down to 50% we rolled a die at the end of each turn; on a 1 or a 2 the game ended.

Nuradan's army, under the Betrayer.

Once again Nuradan had been ordered to lead his army deep into the north.  This time, however, they had allies, of a sort.  They were joined, just above Rauros, by the Shadow Lord and his Corsair followers.  Whatever the feud between the two Nazgul had been, Sauron's orders had them cooperating on this mission.


The combined forces of Harad and Umbar marched north towards Mirkwood.  Several days from the forest, passing through long abandoned farm lands, Nuradan's scouts advised him that there was a force of Mirkwood elves and Galadrim closing on him.  The Southrons made for a farmhouse, planning to use it as a fortified base, hoping to negate the Elvish shooting.


The Elves, however, had also recognized the significance of this lone building and were closing on it with all haste.  In the end the two armies reached it at the same time.  The corsairs were on the left, sheltering within the Shadow Lord's magical shroud.  Nuradan was on the right, with two copses of woods in front of him.  The elves had a clear run to the house.

The old enemy, along with their wood elf allies.

Both sides advanced, the corsairs reaching the house, but on the side with no windows.  The elvish phalanx advanced to block the entrance, while their archers began an duel with Nurdan's Kharna bows, a duel the Haradrim were destined to lose.  As the corsairs closed with their wood elf opponents, Legolas Greenleaf fired an arrow straight into the Shadow Lord's cowl.  The shriek, as the Nazgul was disembodied stopped all movement on the field.  The loss of their leader was a serious blow to the morale of the corsairs which, coupled with the loss of his powerful magic, left them on the back foot for the rest of the battle.

The Haradrim begin to scramble through the windows, occupying the house.

On the right, three of the Abrakhan Guards raced forward to block the Galadrim phalanx.  They knew their mission was suicidal, but they counted it an honor to die so that the rest of the army could occupy their objective.  Amazingly, the three held up Rumil's entire phalanx for long enough for the rest of the army to pour through the windows and occupy the house.  (They held the elves up for three turns, three against eighteen).

The Corsairs, about to join battle, and suffer the first of two Nature's Wrath, knocking them all to the ground.

On the left the corsairs were struck down by the Wrath of Nature, first from the elven storm caller, then from the king of the wood elves, Thranduil himself.  Only the amazing skill and acrobatic abilities of the Reavers allowed them to survive the elvish onslaught at all, though their numbers were severely depleted. 


The Galadrim Knights charged into the corsair line, adding to the slaughter, though one of their number was killed by an arrow, fired from within the stronghold.  The remaining knights caused great slaughter amongst the southern pirates.

Round three of holding up the phalanx.  The sacrifice here allowed most of the rest of the army to enter the building.

On the right the last of the brave Abrakhan Guards fell in combat with Rumil, stabbed by an elvish swordsman.  The golden archers had killed most of the Kharna archers.  The spears guarding them charged home, fighting for several minutes before succumbing, but keeping the elvish bows quiet.  The remaining Kharna's fired into the flank of the phalanx, which was not preparing to assault the building.  They managed to kill a couple of elves, distracting Rumil from his prize and forcing him to send some of his force to deal with this new threat.

This is a nut even Rumil couldn't crack.

On the left the corsairs were finally broken, their stubborn resistance finally coming to an end.  Three attacks on the building were rebuffed.  With all sides licking their wounds, night fell.


We didn't have time to finish the game.  As we were broken we rolled a die and it was not a 1 or a 2.  If the game had ended that turn we would have won easily.  A few more and the elves could have swamped the other two objectives.  We called it a draw.


This was a great game.  The dynamics of the four person game were very different.  Tony's loss of the Shadow Lord, early in the game, was a crushing blow to his plans.  He had no real defense against the Nature's Wrath, giving the elves a huge advantage.  I had mentioned, before we started, that we should be able to go in the windows.  This bumped up the means of access from one to seven.  Sadly, my opponents agreed but didn't think I was serious.  This was a huge advantage when my Haradrim poured through the windows.


This was one of the better games I've played in awhile.  There were four of us and we all got to play.  The dynamics were very different and the interactions between the players were a lot of fun.