LotR Battle Report - Harad vs Dol Amroth and Wood Elves

A couple of weeks ago four of us got together to play some Lord of the Rings.  This was not an ordinary gathering.  Keith, who introduced me to the game, and Tim, who used to manage Collectormania were both there.  As well, Steve, a long time denizen of the shop.  This was a special night because Keith has been working out of town for the last two years.  I haven't seen much of Tim or Steve in the same amount of time.  It was great to sit down with three old friends and just play a game.

My battleline with Steve's Mumak on the right.

Steve and I both brought Harad.  Steve had a Mumak with warriors.  I brought my normal army with an extra fifty points of models; A chieftan and some warriors.  We were playing 650 points instead of our normal 600.

Wood elves in winter camouflage.

Tim had the new wood elves from Thranduil's hall, led by Thranduil, Legolas and Tauriel.  These guys shoot well and are deadly in a fight but have very low armor saves.

Bud Select Knights of Dol Amroth.

Keith brought out his Bud Select Knights of Dol Amroth, the first army of his I fought, before he switched to Dwarves.  Keith has modified every model in this army to fit his theme.  Happily, since moving here from St Louis he has come to appreciate good beer and no longer drinks swill from St Louis.

Two rounds of shooting at wood elves.  Very squishy.

Keith set up on both flanks with Tim in the center.  I took the left while Steve sent his Mumak up the center right and his small infantry force guarding the right.  My archery line moved up to a wall and from behind this cover began to wipe out the wood elves.  My archers, guards from around the haunted city of Kharna, were hitting on 3's, as were the woodelves.  I had more shooters and they were behind cover.  The carnage was appalling.

The Mumak, tied down by heroes while the infantry brace for a cavalry charge.

Steve moved his Mumak forward but was never able to get a charge in.  Tim and Keith tied it down with heroes calling heroic moves while Legolas killed off the Mahud champion.  Eventually the mumak took enough damage that it stampeded through my line, killing eight of my warriors, before dying.

The wood elves realized that their only chance was to charge into combat.  The survivors were met by a counter charge of Haradrim.  The Elves high fight began to tell at this point.

Fountain Court Guards and Guards of the tower, closing on the open left flank.

Knights closing on the right flank.

Elves winning the fight in the center.

With the forces of Good closing on all sides Nuradan ordered his spears over the wall to even out the fight against the Elvish Guards.  Allawhi took several warriors to bolster the line facing the cavalry.  The Easterling captain was acquitting himself well but the purple haradrim were being killed quickly.  

The knights, Easterlings and Haradrim pounding each other into paste.

We hit closing time for the store before we finished the game.  It still could have gone either way but none of us really cared.  It was just really good to spend the evening throwing dice with old friends.