Battle Report - Harad vs Gondor

Last Thursday night was club night down at Collectormania.  Russ was the only other person there so it made the line up easy.  He brought his Gondor army, with some new models that he wanted to try out.  I had my tried and true Haradrim, who are about to undergo a major revision.

The battle lines meet.

Russ had three warbands.  One led by Cirion, as always.  As a change though, he brought Boromir to lead a second and his new warband of fiefdoms troops.

Cirion and his lads.

Boromir with his Osgiliath veterans and regular WoMT.

The fiefdoms.  Pin cushions in the front.  Axemen of Lossarnach in the back.

Nuradan was back in the south of his enemy's lands, raiding the lands of Gondor's fiefs between the White Mountains and the sea.  They had met up with the enemy near a country inn, burned in some previous raid.  He'd thrown Alawi out to the right to delay the enemy there while he concentrated the rest of his force in the center.

The Haradrim, concentrated near the center.

Nuradan's scouts informed him that the enemy did not have any bows at all, allowing him considerable freedom in his deployment.  Looking at the warbands charging towards him, the King ordered his archers to concentrate on the wild dress wearers on the left flank.

The battlefield.  Boromir is in the ruins in the center.

As the arrows flew, Nuradan began to think there was something wrong with the Gondorian's armor today.  He was used to the skill of his men of Kharna, but never had he seen them shoot with such effect.  The wild clansmen melted away, and even the heavily armored warriors of the White city fell.  (I killed seven models with shooting in the first turn).

Gondorian casualties from the first round of shooting.  Ouch.

As the warriors to his front emerged from the ruins, Nuradan was dismayed to see Boromir, a legend to his enemies, leading the troops.  Of a sudden, Nuradan knew he would need the lead that his shooting had given him.  He shouted to get the Nazgul's attention, willing to take the risk of angering the creature.  The dread chill, as it's empty hood turned towards him, was worth the fear as the creature began to glide across the battlefield to intercept the son of the Steward.

The second round of shooting.  Another three casualties.  A respectable round of shooting normally, but almost a let down after the previous turn.

Arrows continued to snap out, dropping more of the attackers.  With a shout, the Taskmaster led the Haradrim forward.  Along the fence on the right Alawi met the enemy and held, though they started to push back the haradrim near the edge of the building, threatening to split the Southron army in two.  The wraith attempted to slow down Boromir but his magic didn't seem to work with the old vigor, (the new Transfix is much less powerful than the old one).

The battle lines meet, and the inevitable push back begins. 

As Cirion led his lads towards the center, Alawi's men jumped over the fence to close in behind their hated enemy.  The Haradrim held, though pushed back.  The forces of Gondor were able to link up, forming a continuous line, before they were enveloped from both ends.

Cirion pushes forward and the Haradrim begin to fill in behind him.

The Haradrim roll up the left flank as well.  Boromir was, typically, hard to kill.

Finally, the courage of the Gondorians was broken and they fled the field.  Nuradan had won a signal victory.  His army was intact and he was prepared to push deeper into the fiefs, looting the soft, rich lands of Gondor.

The first round of shooting was insanely good.  Russ just wasn't able to recover from losing so many models.  His clansman hero was the only one who lived long enough to get into combat.  Cirion and Boromir were both great but they couldn't carry the battle on their own and the advantage in numbers, due to the early shooting, was just too much to overcome.