Battle Report: Men of Dunharrow, Quest 1: The Black Dragon Battalion

Hey Reader!

This is Centaur with another battle report!  Thursday night I sent a call out to my gaming buddies, and Donatello had some free time to play, so we met up to play the first Dunharrow game on this blog.  As a quick reminder from the challenge I sent out to the blogosophere, these games will involve armies of up to 402 points, built either in the Warbands scheme under the new sourcebooks or under the LOME format with at least 175 pts dedicated toward heroes.  All possible game styles are available for play, so this should be interesting!  Donatello decided to pick up my Easterling force (which he recently used and enjoyed using), and the armies looked like this:

More Rohan - All Month Long!

Good evening readers,

I've been swamped with school the last few months - 30 pages in 3 weeks + time with family takes a LOT of time. But, I'd like to talk a little bit about some projects that are going on here at TMAT.

Glenstorm is going to be doing an in-depth look at the Rohan army list, and the focus of my efforts here at TMAT are going to be similar. I recently got my hands on a half-dozen Riders of Rohan and an Eomer model that I'm converting into an Eorl the Young model - way better than the original Eomer and maybe the best hero in the Rohan list (yes, Glenstorm, I'm picking a fight, ;) ). I've got another half-dozen on the way and look at talking a bit about skirmish cavalry tactics (once I get a few games in).

In other Rohan news, be on the lookout for a winter fun tournament, similar to the Hunter's Red October tournament but will probably feature small armies (either small point limit or small unit limit) and focusing on getting FIVE games in a single day - yes, it will be interesting.

Finally, there are some incredibly detail-painted Rohan models (and other models, including some that are no longer being made) from chefofwar.blogspot.com - see the link in the sidebar. The models look great and the Chef of War is trying to get some of his stock cleared out. Visit his site and email him at wyrdhobbyservices@gmail.com for more information.

Hopefully I'll get a projects update up this weekend, but until then, happy hobbying!

Tiberius

Army Update: Rohan

Dear Reader,

As promised, this is a weekend update on my Rohan army, as I'll be focusing on Rohan - my first army ever! - in the month of November.  We're halfway through the month already, and I'm putting final touches on some new models and preparing for some conversions before getting in a few battle reports.

1.  New models!

As you will remember, I did a project this summer involving the creation of two mounted Rangers of the North for my Arnor forces.  From that project, I created two more Warriors of Rohan on foot (which are showcased in the picture above), and four more Riders of Rohan (also above).  One of them (the dude with the spear) will be converted over the next week or so into a Rider of Rohan with banner, as I'm preparing for a fully mounted Rohan force.

Since I was buying Rohan units, I also broke down and bought 3 more Rohan Royal Guards.  I love these guys, and they will form the crux of my updated Rohan Tactics Post in a few weeks.  I'm really excited about the ability to front a strong F4 D6 front line, as I think it will help to increase my sustainability and viability in combat.

THRO Tournament Review, Part IV of IV: Round 3 and Final Summary

Dear Reader,

Hope your pre-Friday is going well!  Today we wrap up the final round of the TMAT THRO Tournament 2013, as well as the final standings and placement of all of our competitors.  As a quick reminder from my previous post, the only true competitors still in the running for first place are Captain Glot (with two Major Victories) and Tavros and Zorro (tied with a Major Victory and a Draw, not calculating points for oaths).  Because none of them were facing each other, the endgame conclusions would be decided by each game.  They'll be reviewed here in table order: Tavros, Zorro, and then Glot.

THRO Tournament Review, Part III of IV: Round 2

Dear Reader,

Happy Wednesday!  As we crest over the top of Hump Day, I hope you find this report exciting and energizing for your day.  As I mentioned in my previous post, the tournament was tied at the end of Round 1 with 2 Major Victories, 2 Draws, and 2 Major Losses, meaning that the tournament was still anyone's game.  As we headed into Round 2, things got more interesting, as surprises came out and strategies were forced to change.  Of all of the pairings, this set had the most frustration, as each team faced something it was not well-prepared to play against.  In Round 2, the pairings were:

-Rohan v. Grey Company on Domination
-Angmoria v. Ringwraiths on Arkenstone
-Isengard v. Easterlings on Ill Met by Moonlight

Each team faced something it preferred not to fight.  On Table One, the Grey Company started in the cornered section of the Domination map, keeping me from volleying for the first few turns.  Rohan had restricted deployment which made maneuvering horsemen difficult.

On Table Two, Tiberius's army of five models was up against one of the largest armies in the tournament, and since the only points available for both teams required breaking an enemy army or killing the army leader, this was a lot of weight for the nazgul.  On the other hand, the primarily Courage 2 army of Angmoria was facing an entire army of terror-causing casters - perfect for sniping shamans that cause a low-courage army to stay in the field.

On Table Three, Zorro's uruk-hai were up against a solid phalanx of F4 D6 warriors who could sustain a beating at the hands of an uruk force, and the Duke of Milan was squaring up against S4 crossbows with a +1 to wound, coupled with the fastest moving team in the tournament.  Frustration was present everywhere in this round, and from it only a strategist could emerge.

THRO Tournament Review, Part II of IV: Round 1

Dear Reader,

Happy Tuesday!  As we began Round 1 of the tournament, I was looking at the match-ups, and I was relieved to see that I was not playing against Tiberius and his ringwraith army.  For my draw, I was paired against Tavros' Angmoria army for Round 1 on the Ill Met by Moonlight map.  This meant that my archery was limited to 12" in range, but that I'd be wounding everyone with a +1 to-wound.  This is handy when facing trolls that are D6 and Wild Warg Chieftains that are D5, so of all of the teams I could have hit on this map, I was okay with going against the Monster Mash that was the army of Tavros.  The pairings for Round 1 were:

-Ringwraiths v. Isengard on Domination
-Rohan v. Easterlings on Arkenstone
-Grey Company v. Angmoria on Ill Met by Moonlight

Before diving into the battle summaries, I want to give a special shout out and thanks to Tiberius for taking pictures - he's amazing, :)

THRO Tournament Review, Part I of IV: Introduction and Scenarios

Dear Reader,

Greetings from all of us at TMAT!  The past few weeks have been pretty crazy for us with work and all of that good stuff that pays for our hobbies, but to end our hiatus from the blog, I will be posting every day this week, Monday through Friday, to both summarize the results of The Hunters Red October Tournament, as well as to introduce you all to my plans for November in revisiting the first army I started collecting: Rohan.  So for all of the Rohan lovers who have felt a bit passed over in content on this blog, I'm sure you'll enjoy November as I update the tactics and army discussions, talk a bit about the unique bestiary and hero options for Rohan, and hopefully get in a number of battle reports as well.  Tiberius is also experimenting with some new Rohan models (which I'm really looking forward to seeing!), so he'll likely also have some content going up as his graduate school classes allow.