Riders of Eomer vs Rivendell in Divide and Conquer. 700 Points.

 

Since I have Gandalf the White and a ton of Rohan stuff painted, I've been itching to give Riders of Eomer a try. To be honest, I don't really rate the Legendary Legion as super competitive, but c'mon... everyone loves the scene. Now that our next tournament is a ways away on the Horizon, Andrew and I figured it was time to get back to some experimenting with lists off the beaten path.

To be honest, I don't have much in the way of variety for the list, and with a maximum of 13 riders the list basiclly writes itself. I had to use Theodred as a stand in for a second Rohan Captain.

Andrew, on the other hand, is keen to get some experience with Elrond and a bunch of Rivendell Knights, though I only have 6 painted right now. Quick note- Andrew is over by two bows in this list, minor oversight since we haven't used the Elrond/Knights combo much. Won't happen in the future. Glad I had Blinding Light!

For scenario, we rolled Divide and Conquer. Weird one to be split like that, but having a larger cavalry force on my side and an odd warband count on Andrew's meant that my goal was to overwhelm the smaller force before reforming the line and fighting for the center.

The board after deployment. I have both Eomer and Gandalf in the "South East" with both Rohan Captains opposite. Andrew puts Elrond and his house cavalry in the "South West" with Arwen and Lindir and the foot troops opposite.

The White rider

Elrond and company

The Rohan flanking force

The remainder of the Rivendell elves.

One of the Rohan captains calls a march and the forces start converging!

Gandalf channels a blinding light.

Gandalf uses sorcerous blast and, after spending a point of might I probably shouldn't have, kills two Rivendell Knights with it! 

Bottom of Turn 3. One Rider is unhorsed to some elf bow fire.

On Turn 4, Gandalf compels a Knight forward and Riders swarm him. Elrond attempts a Wrath of the Bruinen but a Captain thankfully resists it. 

The lines meet.

Eomer (supported by another Rider) call a Heroic Combat... and naturally Andrew rolls a 6 on his Knight. Wasted Might! Boo! At this point I have spent 4 of my 10 might.

My goal is to smash this cavalry force quickly so I can turn and be prepared for the rest. Andrew is fighting with terrain on his flanks keeping me from wrapping around. It's like he's read my blog!

Rivendell Knights hold the line pretty spectacularly.

As the foot forces approach, Gandalf rides out and sorcerous blasts an Elf swordsman into Arwen... who suffers a wound form the hit of the blast, and then suffers a wound from the thrown rider... and fails her fate. The Elf spearman also dies. Wow! Sorcerous Blast is prettttyyyy good.

Okay, Gandalf. I see you there.

One Rivendell Knight falls to Eomer, but they are still tying me up as Andrew fortifies the center.

On the following turn, Eomer and Gandalf both charge the same Rivendell Knight. Eomer strikes up and Gandalf calls a Heroic combat. Gandalf tries to Immobilize Elrond, but he shakes it off with his last remaining Will. Elrond strikes up in anticipation of what is to come...

Eomer and Gandalf hit Elrond but I miss out on the trap (there was another Knight there so I couldn't quite fit it). With tied fights and both sides having an Elven blade (Glamdring vs Hadhafang), the Riders win it! We strip Elrond of all 3 of his fate.

With that we've cinched the section of the board except for pesky Elrond. No problem, we'll just surround him and finish him off, right?

Nope. Andrew proceeds to get Priority for several turns in a row so I am unable to transix him. I'm also out of Might to strike (as is Elrond by now) so we fight for a few turns...

Andrew keeps rolling the 6 and eventually both Gandalf and Eomer are unhorsed.

After many turns of Bowfire, both forces are near breaking and I know I have to shift to the middle. Elrond peels away from Gandalf and Eomer and wraps around one of my unhorsed Riders.

So Gandalf absolutely blasts his ass off his horse, and sends Elrond flying, suffering a wound! 

Finally, Rohan charges but it's too piece meal. I struggle to stay within Eomer's 12" strength range. Gandalf transfixes Elrond to keep him out of the fight... 

The initial Cavalry charge is strong- reducing elves in the center and breaking Rivendell. But, on the subsequent turn, Rohan suffers some losses and also dips past the break point. With Rivendell having started the turn broken, we roll to see if the game ends and it does.

Rivendell scores 2 VPs for controling one of the side objectives uncontested. They score 3 VPs for controlling the center objective. Finally, they score 1 VP for breaking Rohan.

Rohan scores 2 VPs for controlling a side objective uncontested. They score 1 VP for scoring a wound on Elrond. Finally, they score 1 VP for breaking Rivendell.

Closing Thoughts 

Whew! I feel like one more turn would've sealed the deal for Rohan, but them's the breaks! After playing with Royal Guard so heavily Riders just leave so much to be desired... at least vs elf bows! 

Gandalf. Man. He was awesome, but is he 240 points of awesome?? More testing is required.

Thanks for reading!