The Newbie's Complete Hunting for Trolls Battle Report.

[The Newbie]

Hunting for Trolls

Overall, I felt the weekend was a success both in terms of my own placing and the friendliness and relaxed nature of the tournament. In the weeks running up to the event my list for Evil was pretty much set in stone. Whereas the Good list was changing every hour (literally), I eventually decided on Woodelves led by Legolas and Rumil however Woses with Ghan and Saruman were highly contemplated.
The only issue that arrived this weekend was not from the tournament organisers (or the Warhammer World staff) but from the Riverside Hotel. After paying for the HFT ticket at the WHFB GT final, I decided to book the room a few weeks later (mid February) however after the evening’s activities, including many games of perudo, we arrived at the reception to be told our room had been double booked and that a room had been reserved at the East Midlands Airport Travelodge. Half an Hour away from the Riverside. After a quick group decision we snapped up the offer once we found out a complementary breakfast was going to be arranged under the assumption that it was to be a cooked breakfast. When we arrived after a strange taxi ride with a driver who could have lied for Britain about his stories of aliens and ghost, we were processed quickly enough and went to bed…only to be woken up 6 hours later by a fire alarm. In true Wargamers spirit we laid in our beds hoping it would end - after the sudden realisation it might actually be a fire we got dressed, grabbed our cases (of course, “leave all belongings” - I don’t think so) and exited the building. Once the hullabaloo had settled we were delivered our breakfast - the uncooked hotel breakfast of UHT milk and cornflakes and croissant with jam. Anyway on with the review of games.

The lists I took were:

Legolas with Elven Cloak
14 Woodelf Warriors
14 Woodelf Warriors with Woodelf Spear
12 Woodelf Warriors with Woodelf Spear and Elf Bow
Rumil

Spider Queen (I lose 5 respect)
Morannon Orc Captain with Shield
14 Morannon Orcs with Shield
12 Mordor Orcs with Spear
2 Mordor Orcs with Spear and Shield
12 Orc Trackers
4 Wild Wargs
Ringwraith with 2/8/1 on horse


Game 1 “Storm the Camp” - Good vs. Chris Jones:

This wasn’t the first time I had seen Chris at a LoTR tournament however was the first time I had played him. I was using my woodelves vs. his small elite army consisting of the Shadowlord on horse, Shagrat Warleader, Shelob, a front-line of black guard and orcs with shield and spear supporting. I was aware how much damage the black guard would cause if they won the fight but was not prepared for the slaughter my elves would face.

The first few turns consisted of the usual advance and fire with legolas taking one-shots on the Shadowlord only to fail to do anything until it was too late - I recall making Chris use up 1 fate point. For the Shadowlord the entire game. Once combat was reached I was relying on my weight in numbers (2-1) and higher fight to pull me through. Oh what a mistake to think, the black guard removed nearly the entire frontline in the first 2 turns, however some ninja elves had managed to lure Shagrat into a wood and pin him in place with their spears. With my advantage in numbers dropping quickly the need to play for the scenario came to the fore of my mind, some crafty elves had managed to slip through a wood and were on the home run towards Chris’ Camp. Chris was unable to catch them without changing the path of Shelob (and remove her from the range of Rumil and his gang of burly elves, causing 4 wounds over 3 turns). More turns of combat progressed and I was eventually broken. By this time my two elves who remained running towards Chris’ camp were one turn away from outnumbering the single orc left to defend the home base. However the elves decided that enough was enough and with the threat of Shagrat, Shelob and a menacing orc both ran away the turn after I broke, removing any chance of me slipping through. With my might burnt and a slight mistake involving moving some bowmen out of my camp Chris was able to slip the Shadowlord through my lines and into the camp giving him the major victory.

Result: Major Loss - 1 point

Thoughts on the battle:

With the benefit of hindsight perhaps sending more than 2 elves would have been a securer option and having Legolas shoot the Shadowlord’s horse would have been the best option instead of hoping to pop him. I really enjoyed this game and despite a few bad dice (an example would be not being able to kill a particular orc warrior regardless how much I threw at it - he deserves a promotion to a Captain).




Game 2 Storm the Camp - Evil vs. Chris Knott:

After losing my first game due to a poor courage roll, my confidence had been knocked a little and when Chris put down 27 Grey company and Saruman, well I didn’t fancy my chances in this game if I am honest.

Chris set up all of his force anchored to a building just outside his camp whilst I set my entire army (except the spider queen and her warg meat shield and those nifty trackers) on the 18” line with the intention of running headlong into a hail of arrows and hot air from Saruman. As expected many died on the way however a decent enough force were able to reach the line of rangers and hold them into place. Chris had by this time manoeuvred so his force had been split into two one still anchored to the building and the other had moved around a wood with Saruman blasting orcs wildly away. Whislt all this ranger dancing had been going on the Spider Queen and her escort (who were promptly shot to ribbons) were one turn away from capturing Chris’ camp. After some uneventful combats with neither side being able to make an impact, the spider queen and her wargs and broodlings had taken Chris’ camp with the aid of a heroic combat to make sure the numbers of Chris’ troops were lower than my own in his camp. After the combat phase I counted with Chris the model difference and it suddenly seem to loom on Chris that he had forgotten about the objectives of the scenario. Had he remembered the objective earlier then I doubt I would have been able to pull of the Spider Queen stunt as over 10+ rangers were within 6” of the camp.

Unfortunately these errors can happen when at tournaments, however I commend his sportsmanship as, did everyone else as Chris was awarded the Best Sportsmanship certificate, he could have taken the loss hard but it didn’t effect his cheery disposition.

Result: Major Win - 35 points (36 total)

Thoughts on the Game:

I got lucky. As mentioned before had Chris been aware I reckon I would have lost this game to.

[The Newbie]

Game 3 Contest of Champions - Evil vs. Paul Hansell:

I was feeling a little more relaxed with a win under my belt now. So went into my game with Paul with the intention of capitalising on my good fortune in the last game. Paul was using an all Dwarf force led by Balin and Gimli with 12 archers and a mix of khazad guard and dwarf’s with shield. He also had a banner (vital when no spear support is available) which proved to be very useful. My champion was to be the Spider Queen whilst Paul’s was the ever menacing Gimli.

The terrain on the board consisted of a rocky outcrop and hill in my deployment, the same in Paul’s with a large pool in the centre we deemed as difficult terrain. My intentions were to anchor my Morannon line between the pool and a small forest. Volley fire was uneventful from both sides except that the trackers got lucky and were able to force Gimli to use a fate point.

Paul was willing to meet me in the gap where I had anchored my line as it suited him just as well as it did for me as he could make full use of his banner whilst keeping reserves ready to fill gaps. The Ringwraith sapped Gimli’s will the moment he was in range however true to dwarf resilience he resisted leaving him with a single point of will. Whilst the lines met and volleys of arrows bounced of dwarf and orc armour, the Spider Queen (with the aid of her wargs) was able to circle round to be able to charge some of Paul’s reserves next turn. I lost priority the next turn (of which I was thankful for). Gimli charged into two supported Morannons and the lines crashed against each other again. Paul reformed his reserves to face the spider queen and her pals and set up his dwarf bowmen to unleash a volley. In my movement phase I charged my captain out from behind the lines into the dwarf beside Gimli with the intention of heroic combating into Gimli if I was able to successfully transfix him. After reforming my lines to meet with the threat of Gimli possibly heroic combating into my second line and scoring some quick kills. I attempted to transfix him with the Ringwraith, he was on form, and rolled a six, Gimli wasn’t feeling so resistant this turn and rolled to low to stop the spell and low enough to warrant might not being used. With this stroke of good luck I charged the Spider Queen into a single dwarf warrior and spawned some broodlings to prevent counter charges next turn. In this combat phase the Captain called a heroic and was able to secure a kill thanks to the spear orc who was the original charge target of the dwarf. The captain moved into combat with Gimli and the orc spearman moved up to support him. Paul decided to do a few combats around Gimli to give him some breathing space, although he wasn’t trapped it allowed him to move the banner and Gimli would be able to escape the captain next turn. We decided to do the crucial combat, Gimli rolled low with his single dice and the seven dice I had were able to roll a six. This was a moment for me to remove Gimli from the game without him even gaining a kill, all it would take was three sixes. My Morannon orcs were able to score 2 wounds on Gimli with their four attacks and the captain used his last point of might to secure the kill by upping a five to a six. Currently it was 0-0 but all my champion needed to do was make this kill. She did (of course she did she’s an under pointed beast).

The game ended 0-1 to me. But we decided to carry on playing for fun as the game ended ludicrously early.

Result: Major Win - 35 points (71 total)

Thoughts on the game:

My army was well built for this scenario and there is little anyone can do when their hero is constantly pestered by a Ringwraith and a Spider Queen is terrain jumping. Paul played this game well and I would have done the same as he did had I been in the same position. After the game we discussed what additions could be included in his dwarf force, during which I found out this was a new army and that he was still relatively new to the game. This wasn’t the last time I would play against Paul and his Gimli.

[theavenger001]

I really enjoyed these, I can't wait for the rest. Nice foreboding ending too; "Rematch time!"

[The Newbie]

Game 4 Contest of Champions - Good vs. Owen ‘white’ Black

I was drawn against Owen (Nemo) for this game, who was using an Easterling infantry force led by Amdur and the Dragon Knight. I’d met Owen before at the GT in January and was happy to be able to play against him now in Hunting for Trolls. I did not know what the rules were for Amdur and the Dragon Knight but Owen had the White Dwarf with him so with a quick point out of special rules etc. we were ready to start the game.

The board was the same from the previous the game with a large lake in the middle however the trees had been moved so they were all on one side of the board and the other had it’s hill and two rocky outcrops. Owen won the roll of for board edge and rightly chose the side with the woods. Although this hindered his own set up it removed the advantage from me. I set up all my archers and champion Legolas behind my plain woodelfs and a few extra spearmen for good measure whilst Rumil took command of eight spearmen who detached themselves from the fight and stayed close to one of the rocky outcrops with the intention to flank.

The first few turns of volley were uneventful but movement wise I had moved my main line up to the difficult water terrain which was to be the focal point of the battle. Whilst I moved forward 3” a turn Owen was running full pelt with his bulk of infantry led by his champion Amdur and the dragon knight. As soon as I was able to shoot at normal range I targeted the archers as they were the main threat (and easier to kill) since I felt confident that I could out manoeuvre the Easterlings. Legolas used up two points of might the first turn to grab two quick kills which put me in an early lead 2-0.

The next few turns were relatively the same with my woodelfs refusing to give combat, they circled further around the pool, I do still apologise to Owen for using this tactic as I know how infuriating it can become when you are unable to catch your enemy. After the movement I fired once again into the archers some good dice rolling allowed Legolas to secure another two kills bringing the scores to 4-0. After some reasonably uneventful turns Legolas was able to grab another two kills but burnt his last point of might to do so, 6-0. By this time Owen had decided that he would split his force and send two cohorts around the lake to pin me down. I reacted by bringing Rumil and his elves closer to the fray and the archers began their 3” retreat away from the lake.

Next turn Amdur was able to get into combat against two of my spear woodelfs led by Rumil, meanwhile the Dragon Knight led his troops to within charge range for the next turn. Legolas being true to his name and my dice good dice rolling continued, Legolas targeted the Dragon Knight and hit three times, passed three in the way rolls and wounded twice. Removing the Dragon Knight from the game and netting Legolas a further kill bringing his total to 7-0. In the combat phase Amdur called a heroic combat and was able to win the fight but only able to kill one of the woodelfs. Owen decided it was not worth the might point to ensure the kill as they would be needed for further heroic combats, had I been in his position I would have made the same decision the score was now 7-1.
By this time Owen’s Easterlings had been broken, Amdur stood his ground his stand-fast ensured all but one of the troops he was leading stayed on the field. Meanwhile the other half of the Easterlings, leaderless, were happy to carry on fighting as they all passed their individual courage tests. Amdur charged into 2 woodelves again and Owen moved a warrior to block Rumil entering directly into combat with Amdur. On the other side the warriors formed a pike block at the ends of my line in an attempt to kill some elves and carve a path into Legolas. In my phase I charged Rumil into the model blocking Amdur whilst Legolas put down his bow and joined combat against one of the supports in the pike block. Rumil called a heroic combat and was able to slay his opponent and continued his charge into Amdur. Since Owen had priority he did the combats that would not matter so much as they would allow Amdur some breathing room and there is the chance to kill some elves bringing me closer to break point. The combat involving Legolas resulted in him gaining a final kill bringing his total to eight, things looked pretty bleak for Amdur at the moment. Finally we reached the Amdur combat - Amdur rolls a six to win the fight and has to have it re-rolled due to Rumil’s deft swordplay, Owen saved the banner re-roll till he saw my dice. I had seven dice in this combat and was able to roll that vital six. Owen’s re-roll did not secure him the six he needed to draw the fight. If I am able to take out Amdur now then the game will end and I can get a pint before Bugman’s closes, so it’s all upto the dice. Rumil and his elves scored three wounds on Amdur and due to some poor dice rolls failed his fate and was slain, the dice god‘s obviously thought I deserved that drink. The game ended 8-2 (I believe I have missed a round of combat were Amdur gained another kill). Major Win for the elves.

Result: Major Win - 35pts (106 total)

Thoughts on the Game:

I played this game how woodelfs are meant to be played and although I don’t really like the idea of refusing to fight it was all I could have done to ensure I won the scenario. I had good luck in this game probably to make up for the lack of good Legolas did in the first game. Owen kept his cheery attitude throughout the game even though the odds were against him. Hence I voted him to be the most sporting opponent of the day.

[hithero]

Excellent write-up's, can I suggest that you paragraph the report though to make it easier to read.

[The Newbie]

I'll go back and do that now thanks for the feedback.

[theavenger001]

I enjoyed these last ones. They're a nice easy read. Keep it up!

[The Newbie]

Game 5 Hiding Hobbits - Evil vs. Peter Revill and Paul Hansell

These next games were to be played with a 250pt list made up from the 500pt list. I was paired up with Paul Hanscombe and his Haradrim with Suladan.

Our combined list was -

Morannon Orc Captain with shield
14 Morannon Orc with shield
12 Orc with spear
2 Orc with spear and shield
Suladan
8 haradrim archers
18 haradrim with spear (I think)
1 haradrim (I think)

Whilst our opponents had 2 Gimlis (great), a dwarf banner, a large amount of Khazad and a few dwarf shield men. We had speed on our side but shifting one Gimli is a tough challenge but two is just too difficult.

The first few turns showed both forces running full pelt towards the nearest hobbits. With both teams finding nothing the first turn but we were lucky enough to find Sam and Merry whilst they found Paul’s dwarves found Frodo. Now it is impossible to get a major victory without Frodo so we needed to ensure we got him or did our best to prevent them from getting him of the board. The haradrim archers did little the entire game netting an entire 0 kills so I’ll not speak of them after this. But they set up on the far flank of the board to have an unsuccessful shooting war against some dwarf bowmen.

Once the lines met our greater movement meant we were able to secure Merry, Pippin and Sam. We were quickly dragging Sam behind a four rank deep wall of haradrim spears to ensure we could punch through and drag him of the board. Whilst Merry was just being pulled along by a single orc with a wall of Khazad looking at him. After a few turns of combat we were able to score a wound on Paul’s Gimli, using up a single fate point. Peter’s Khazad were fairing better than the dwarf warriors who were simply holding up our force to attempt to allow the dwarf carrying Frodo some time to get him away from our grasp. The Khazad had butchered the Morannon frontline and had carved a path through to the orc carrying Merry. In the midst of this swirling combat Pippin had been picked up by some Haradrim and they were joining the Morannon in the flight of the table.

Priority went the dwarfs way for a number of turns and there came a point in the battle where whoever won the heroic move would be able to secure Frodo. Had we won it it would be likely to have grabbed us the major win whereas if Peter and Paul won they would deny us Frodo for the rest of the game. Peter rolled the dice and the result was that the dwarves would hold onto Frodo. After our heroic move we set about concentrating on getting Sam of the board. If we could do that then get our force wiped out then we would win the game. Fortunately we broke relatively quickly and Suladan was able to keep the models carrying the hobbits on the table until they carried Sam of the board.

The dwarfs movement really hampered any progress they could simply not get the hobbits of our board edge in time. In the end we got Sam of then failed all our courage tests in style. Ending the game and grabbing us a minor win.

Result: Minor Win - 30pts (136 total)

Thoughts on the Game:

We were lucky enough to be playing double dwarfs as their half movement would take them 10 turns what it took us 8 to move the hobbits giving us a major advantage. The sheer number of our troops was almost outnumbered them 2 to 1 which meant we could afford to throw troops into slowing down the enemy. I thoroughly enjoyed this game but 2 Gimlis is something I hope I never have to play against competitively gain.

[The Rabbit of Caerbannog]

Hi Jamie,

Great reports I really enjoyed both our games.

Game 5 was great fun, shame the dwarfs dont have longer legs.

For me best game of the weekend was game 5, I think the doubles work really well and I look forward to the GT doubles tournament with Jay

Paul

[The Newbie]

Game 6 Hiding Hobbits - Good vs. Mikolaj ‘I’m Polish’ Bakalarz and Sam Jeffrey


The big game. If I was able to win this one I would be able to catch up to Mik who was storming ahead with five major wins. However I know how good of an opponent Mik can be and wasn’t feeling all to confident about winning but I knew that a loss would put me out of the rankings so at the minimum we could settle for a draw. The lists we were using were:

Legolas with cloak
10 Woodelf Warriors
10 Woodelf Warriors with spear
Dwarf Captain with Shield
2 Khazad Guard
18 Dwarf Warrior with Shield

vs.

Saruman on horse
6 orcs with shield (?)
5 orcs with spear (?)
Shagrat, the Warleader
10 Morannon Orcs with shield
10 Orcs with spear

So, once again we outnumbered our opponent and were once again ‘out-mighted’. The first few turns showed Mik and Sam finding Sam (the hobbit) and Merry whilst we found Pippin. Legolas’ main use in these first few turns was to remove Saruman’s horse to help decrease his threat range and to make sure that Sam wasn’t being dragged along at 5” per turn. Once Legolas had succeeded in removing the horse he concentrated on wounding Saruman which he was able to do bringing him down to just 1 wound within a few turns.

All but one marker had been turned over and Frodo had still not been found, there came a point where a heroic move would allow either team control of Frodo - we lost priority and called the Heroic. Mik advised Sam not to counter in the attempt to use Shagrat to heroically smash through the thin dwarf line and to have him contest Frodo. However Sam was unable to kill of both dwarfs in combat with Shagrat and was unwilling to burn more might points as they may be needed in the future to help contest the control of Frodo and Merry.

Whilst a battle raged over who would control Frodo and Merry, a single elf was slowly dragging Pippin through some trees safe from being blasted around by Saruman or charged by orcs. Once he was only 9 turns away from Mik and Sam’s board edge when they released the fight for Sam and Frodo was fruitless and the only way to prevent a loss was to concentrate on stopping Pippin from escaping. Saruman abandoned Sam (the hobbit) in his own deployment area to increase his mobility to aid in stopping the elf. By this time Sam’s force had broken and were being cut down by Paul’s Dwarf warriors and my elfs. However we realised we were killing too quickly and risked shooting our selves in the foot by wiping out Mik and Sam’s army and ending the game to soon.

We switched our tactic to shielding in every combat possible and withdrew troops that could not shield to help reduce casualties. With Mik’s break point being only one model away and with our constant shielding he set about breaking himself with a well placed sorcerers blast into combat that killed pretty much all involved. With Mik now broken as well as Sam the game would come down to who had priority. When we had priority it was all about charging as many models as possible then shielding to keep them on the board. Whilst when Mik and Sam had priority they were hoping for Saruman to either fail his courage roll or on the likelihood he passes to transfix the elf dragging Pippin.

Eventually the elf was able to get to within 3” of the board edge. It came down to who had priority - we lost it. Saruman passed his courage test and attempted to transfix the elf. This was going to be the last turn of the game as time was running out quickly. Disaster struck for Mik and Sam - Saruman rolled the dreaded 1 to transfix the elf. With no might left to boost the score the Elf was free to move of the board in out turn.

Result: Minor Win - 30pts (166 total)

Thoughts on the Game

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and it came down to a single dice roll. As many defeats they seem unjust and any other time this game could have been a draw. I enjoyed playing with Paul as my team-mate and it must have shown as we were awarded “Best Doubles Team”. Our armies complemented each other and we were lucky in that we outnumbered both our opponents and being out numbered by dwarfs and elfs is a tough challenge to win against. I send my commiserations to Mik and Sam as they played an excellent game.




Game 7 Meeting Engagement - Evil vs. Craig Johnson (UKRocky)

Showdown. After getting whipped (metaphorically) at the Fantasy GT by Craig’s Orks and Goblins. I small part of me wanted revenge and I had never played Craig at LoTR so it was set to be an interesting game.

Craig took a list composing of Erkenbrand, Eowyn, 19(?) Sons of Eorl and the mighty Meriadoc. I knew that the Sons would be a pain to go up against with my Morannons and that the Orc trackers would do little against them due to their armoured horses. However I was confident that the Spiderqueen would chew through them if she got the charge but Craig knows the way of the Spider and when sending of troops to deal with it set them up so that if I did call a heroic move/combat I would only be able to reach one (or two max if I was careful). When the Sons charged my Morannon line I was certain they were going to rip through my Morannons and into they squishy spearmen. Alas, Craig’s dice betrayed him and was rolling little higher than 4s or 5s to win fights. With weight of numbers and a RW transfixing key models I was able to kill of a decent amount in the first two turns. Erkenbrand also fluffed his rolls and was dismounted and charged by the Morannon Orc Captain who was looking to add another mark to his kill tally.

During one of the shoot phases the 12 trackers were able to turn Merry into an oversized pin cushion causing 4 or 5 wounds in a single turn of shooting. This allowed the Spider Queen some safety as it removed might from the area and Eowyn now had the attention of a RW to make sure her might would be wasted if she called heroics.

After barely half an hour Craig’s force was under ¼ strength and I had all my hero’s remaining so I was able to achieve a Major Victory.

Result: Major Win - 35pts (201pts)

Thoughts on the Game:

I did enjoy this game but had the dice been more average for Craig then I reckon it would have been a closer run game. I hope to play him at Doubles or Wakefield for a rematch. As it happens I was now Second in the Rankings, if I could win/draw my next game and Mik draw/lose then I would be able to leap frog him into first place.