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Rivendell vs Mordor in To the Death. 700 points.

 
Where once stood a proud temple, now only crumbling stone and briar dwell. It is here that a host of Mordor led by the Witch King himself clash with a company of elves led by Cirdan and Glorfindel. Can evil be vanquished, or will darkness dwell in this ruin forever?


The Rivendell Company



The Host from Mordor

The battlefield. Mordor has no bows and no march, so they must endure withering bow fire from the elves.
Glorfindel rallies the troops in his warband.

Cirdan and Erestor bolster the left flank.

The Troll chieftain lets out a bellow as the orcs begin marching forward.

As the Witch King prepares some foul sorcery.

The elven lines form up and arrows begin raining on the Mordor forces.

Mordor must endure multiple turns of incoming fire.

The bow fire puts a dent in the horde, but isn't completely withering. 6 or 7 regular orcs fall, and one lucky wound lands on Goroth.

The Witch King compels Cirdan away from the fight. His terror/fearless bubble still hits most of the line, but a few elves are now outside of it.

In comes the Troll Chieftain! Glorfindel makes contact and prepares to duel.

The lines as they clash.


Here, I make a crucial mistake. When Andrew doesn't strike with the Troll, I choose not to strike with Glorfindel thinking my blade and the weight of numbers give me the advantage.

Well. We both roll the 6 and the fight goes to the Troll Chieftain! He puts all 3 strikes into Glorfindel and lands all 3!! Glorfindel is left with 2 wounds remaining and no fate. But neither side has spent might yet.

The troll immediately follows up with another charge on Glorfindel, and this time the Witch King transfixes him! Glorfindel is left with 1 will. The troll wins the fight again (after spending a might to strike) and fails all 3 of his wound rolls! On the left flank, you can see Erestor has done a cheeky heroic combat to push behind the elven lines. He needs to tie up the Witch King to shut down his spell casting.

On the following turn, he and the Witch King both spend  a might point for a heroic move with the win going to Erestor. He charges the foul sorcerer. His throwing dagger comes heartbreakingly close to unhorsing the Witch King.

With only one might left on the Troll, Andrew pulls him back as the Elves surge forward. Cirdan, a ton of elves, and Glorfindel gang up on a morannon and Cirdan calls a heroic combat allowing the elves to start disrupting the Mordor lines.

The situation as we get into the late game. Goroth still has 2 might, Glorfindel has 2, the Witch King has 2, and the troll has 1. Glorfindel loses a random combat to a morannon and suffers a wound!

Heading into the late game. Mordor is now broken, and might is running thin. Erestor falls to the Witch King and a few Morannons. In the next turn, Glorfindel defeats the Witch King in combat, killing his horse but otherwise causing no harm.

But the tides shift... Goroth rolls snake eyes for his courage check and leaves the board with 2 might remaining! (2 might, and 1 will aren't even enough for him to pass!). Glorfindel uses his last might to Strike up and he and a retinue of elves push the troll back, scoring 2 wounds. 

In the final turn of the game, the Witch King escapes to safety. Mordor tries to break the Elves and comes within 2 models of doing so, but it's not enough. Mordor is quartered and the game comes to a close.

In the end, the score does not reflect how close this game came! Glorfindel is 1 wound from death and the Elves are 2 models from broken. But, as it shakes out, the elves score 5 points for breaking Mordor without being broken, 2 points for having a banner when Mordor has none, and 2 points for quartering the enemy. Mordor scores a single point for wounding Glorfindel making the final tally 9-1.

Again, I do not think the score reflects just how close Mordor was to turning the tide. The troll landed 6 strikes on Glorfindel, and passed 3. One more successful wound and he would've been dead. Losing Goroth when he had 2 might left and was about to come beat on Glorfindel was huge. 

Comments

  1. Congratulations! I am restarting my journey back into MESBG after a 20+ year hiatus. Hopefully I can stay as hyped on it as you! Nice pictures, wonderful miniatures!

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