Batrep WOTR @ Cavs 12/08/10

I made Martin setup first. His Minas Tirith force led by Faramir and Gandalf the Grey (Left to right - Archers, Warriors, Warriors, Knights, Archers, Archers, Archers) faced off against my Carn Dum led by the the Dwimmerlaik, Tainted and the 'king' of Carn Dum.







Turn One has us both advancing. Angmar makes the Gondor (Angmar left) left flank go the long way round a hill while a warband on the right foolishly uses Wings of Terror to race up the right with the Dwimmlerlaik. Combined Artillery and the warband charge eliminates the archer unit. However, short range archery takes its toll on the Angmar warband, which has now already taken over 1/3 losses and is far from its allies.


My over-rash warband on the right flank found were pinned in place by Gandalf's (in the Knights) magic, then Martin used the fortune he had purchased to deny them their terror ability. So CDW2 was likely toast. The 'king' of Carn Dum assumed command of CDW1 ready to get a charge in on the enemy Minas Tirith Foot. On the left, the Tainted led CDW3 to block the advance of the other unit of Minas Tirith foot over a narrow pass in the hill. By the end of it all, the warband on the right was smashed to pieces and the Dwimmerlaik was lost. He did attempt to duel out Gandalf but only landed a single hit. In the centre, the battle-lines pushed back and forth, while on the left the Carn Dum Warband got a
massive charge in with four of its companies hitting two of the enemies.

On turn's three and four (pic four), Martin put his commander -Faramir -in the small unit of Cavalry and attempted to run them away from combat. However, my artillery shot through the gap in front of the big cav unit before they charged and took him out. My magic did not achieve much, but Martin continued and ongoing trend of immobilising the unit with the Ringwraith in it, pinning him in the unit and ensuring I never got the charge and never got Berserk. He also added enfeeble to the mix, meaning that unit only hit half as hard in melee. I do at least wipe the big cav unit out in melee, though CDWB1 is now getting awefully small!

On turn five I finally get the Tainted free from his warband and into another, facing it around and screening the blocker on the hill from bowfire to the flank. The enemy warriors W1 charge into me while the Tainted's warband is then able to smash into their rear. So the Minas Tirith warriors both reap strength 5 hits behind their shields and lose so many attacks that they are unable to finish the small remnant of the warband to their front.

We were running out of time, so left it there. We had both lost our army commanders, Martin had lost thirteen companies and I had lost eight, so was at that point a little ahead. It all would have hinged on whether I could have chased down Gandalf though. I was blocking off his forces to the left ok, but with Gandalf in there they could have held on forever through just using Epic Defense for free every turn. I had forgotten how much fun 1000 pts of WOTR is!