[Battle Report] Back to Regularly Scheduled Gaming - Lothlórien & Survivors of Lake-Town VS The Dead of Dunharrow (750 Points)

Managed to make it up to play this Saturday as our normal FLGS was occupied by an event, little bit of a drive for me but worth it for a game. This time I got a match against The Dead of Dunharrow, I don't know the player's name but we had not faced off before so that's a nice icing on the cake. Not much else to say so let's dive right in!

Lothlórien and Survivors of Lake-Town - Convenient Allies

Galadriel (Leader)

• 8x Guard of the Galadhrim Court
• 6x Wood Elf Warriors w/ Elf Bow, Wood Elf Spear
• 4x Wood Elf Warrior w/ Wood Elf Spear

Bard the Bowman w/ Horse

• 6x Lake-Town Militia w/ Axe, Bow
• 12x Lake-Town Militia w/ Axe

Lake-Town Militia Captain

• 4x Lake-Town Militia w/ Axe, Bow
• 8x Lake-Town Militia w/ Axe

Lake-Town Militia Captain

• 4x Lake-Town Militia w/ Axe, Bow
• 8x Lake-Town Militia w/ Axe

Pretty much my normal list although I have moved things around. Mostly just a lot of infantry backed up by Elven infantry and some fighty Heroes plus Galadriel. I've been liking it a lot but I continually struggle with mistakes during play, which is only my fault.

The Dead of Dunharrow

The King of the Dead (Leader)

• 15x Rider of the Dead

Captainless Warband

• 12x Rider of the Dead

So this army is, just being honest, very bad. It has 1 Point of Might, no Banners, no Bows, struggles badly with Terrain, and suffers in many Scenarios. But that's fine because A. it's what my opponent wanted to play and they're not necessarily as competitively minded as I am and B. there are things to be learned from every game no matter what you're up against.

Scenario

We rolled up Seize the Prize, Heirlooms of Ages Past, and Fog of War with the first ban to me. I removed Heirlooms of Ages Past as I think it's one of the worst Scenarios on offer (in terms of balance) and it also has Maelstrom Deployment which my army is bad at and my opponent is very good at. I expected Fog of War to be the one we played but I got a surprise and that was banned, leaving us with Seize the Prize. The Dunharrow army is very bad at this Scenario since they only have one model capable of interacting with it unless something dismounts, which is throwing points away. The Light Object can be passed to a Cavalry but I have access to Immobilize and a fair amount of Bows so that doesn't seem like a viable idea either.

Terrain & Deployment

Our table was fairly open with mostly a few Impassable pieces here and there. Unfortunately I should have made some changes as the field was very Cavalry advantaged: no Area Terrain and very little obstacles are not a good setup. My opponent did set the table but it's my fault for not speaking up that he built it to his advantage.

I deployed on the line in what's become my "normal setup" with Militia in the front and flanks, then the Elves in the second rank. The Dead just blobbed up between two pieces of Terrain, giving them access to a flank if they want it. Pretty simple and Priority goes to me so let's get into the game.

Turn 1 - Priority: Me

The King of the Dead declares a Heroic March, I declare no Heroic Actions. I'm going to report this game a little differently than I normally would because I make a massive mistake to start the game which then snowballs as we play, so I want to touch on that now and continue with it. That may spoil the game a bit but that's okay with me, the priority is learning and improving.

I don't move my army other than to shuffle around a bit because I wanted to maximize my Bows. Now I did know that the Horses are Defense 6, so I'm unlikely to do much to them, but there's also no need to use my Bows. This army can't beat mine in almost any fighting situation, so shying away from a fight is foolish. The only thing that's against me is Terror but with so many models I will pass SOME Tests even with the King around plus when I get Charged I'm still advantaged (2 dice to 2 dice, I have Banner, I have Fight Value).

The King resolves his Heroic March, pushing a big portion of the army to the center and what's left is to my left flank. This bubbles me off of the Objective, which isn't a problem, but I'm far away which is a problem. My Shooting goes and does nothing, which should be expected.

Turn 2 - Priority: Me

Once again I decline to move my army with only a few of the Riders being in Charge range. My plan at the moment want to take the Charges if they came, get a bit more Shooting done, and see what happens. The King is slow so I feel like I can control him with Galadriel even if he makes the roll for the Objective. I cast Immobilize on one of the Riders who is out of range but will clog up the works a bit.

The King moves onto the Objective and takes it with a 4+, five Riders Charge in, and the rest fan out. At this point I should have known he was going to pull the King to the left and screen with the Riders but I didn't, although I already had my chance to move anyways. Shooting does nothing again but I do kill 3 Riders and dismount 1 more as they all Charged into two files instead of one, a big mistake from my opponent to just throw models away.

Turn 3 - Priority: Me

I see the flank attempt coming but as I said, I thought it was just a flank and not an attempt on the Objective. My expectation was that the King would move backwards, towards his own edge, and delay me while there was an attempt to Break me or hurt Galadriel. I move to deal with the flank attempt and also push up on the right to try and cut the King off from that side. Galadriel tries to cast Command on the King with three dice but fails and I don't use a point of Might to bump it up to a 4. In hindsight this was also a mistake, I have loads of Might and my opponent has none but if I can draw out even two points of Will from the King that would help me in future turns.

The Riders crash in where they can, having a few Charges on my left flank and a fair amount in the center but his own bases keep some models out while the King flees to the left. My Shooting is pretty much turned off by now since I'm playing Good, also Bard has missed every shot taken so far this game (needing 3's). In Combat I kill two Riders and two Horses, losing nothing in return. The combination of my Axe Special Strikes and being extremely favored in Duels is paying off, as expected.

Turn 4 - Priority: Opponent

By now the writing is on the wall for what the plan is but I don't think I'll be able to get to The King very well. I start throwing as much as I can at the Riders on the left, hoping to punch a hole for Galadriel or Bard, but it'll take a few Turns at best. I'm fine with being Charged so I call no Heroic Action and the Riders come in pretty much everywhere. I counter-Charge where I can but fail a fair amount of Terror Checks, keeping some models out or bogging me down.

Going right to Combat I lose three Militia, all of them were fighting solo, and kill two Riders in return. By now the attrition game is completely over, I've killed more Riders than I've lost models over two Turns and it's not going to get easier for the Dead.

Turn 5 - Priority: Opponent

Not having any Heroics that would matter I've almost certainly lost now but have a few last gasps at it. Riders just Charge in and I do the same where I can and am brave enough. Galdriel makes it to the left side and is just in range of The King, I throw three dice at a Command which goes off on a 6. The King resists with four Will and fails, allowing me to move him 3" back the way he came, unfortunately he'd already moved so not as much help as I wanted. I didn't have a chance to use a Heroic Move with Galadriel as The King had to walk into my range, otherwise I'd be too far.

I kill a few more Riders and lose a few Militia, nothing major, and I've all but crushed the center and right flank. My hope is I can delay The King just a bit longer and get something to him but it's looking bad still.

Turn 6 - Priority: Me

Bad roll for me as Galdriel isn't in range of The King now and I need him to move first. I cast Immobilize on a Rider to gang up on other ones and mostly our melees continue. The King cuts to the far left where Galadriel can't reach him anymore unless I punch through the line of Riders. Unfortunately to do that I'll likely Quarter the army, which would end the game.

This Turn and the next can be summed up pretty easily. I get some more kills but mostly in the center where it doesn't matter. I throw Bard behind the lines in Turn 7 but stupidly Charge two Riders as I'd misread the Scenario and though that you get points for controlling the Objective, moving it off the enemy table edge, or your own table edge (in reality, you get points for controlling it on your opponent's half). I hoped to Quarter the army before The King could get off the table, ending in a 3-3 Tie, but I just didn't read things clearly enough.

I do get the Quarter but Bard doesn't get to move since one of the Riders doesn't die, although I'd have been able to stop The King next Turn had I gotten the move. As is the game ended in a 5-3 Defeat for me as I had Broken without being Broken but my opponent had the Objective in my side.

 

Final Score

5 to 3 for The Dead of Dunharrow

Post-Game Thoughts

The end of the game, where I wanted to get to and discuss things. Going back to the beginning I could have ended the game on Turn 1 by either declaring two Heroic Marches or balling up in Deployment and declaring one, then fanning out in Turn 2. I still wouldn't be first to the Objective but I'd have Galadriel right in the thick of things, leaving The King nowhere to hide or run. From there The Dead don't have enough models to escort The King and even a single Command would be devastating. I do realize I could have used Command to make The King drop the Light Object but then he'd just pick it up the next Turn at no cost so that was never worth it in the game.

On Turn 2 I repeated the same mistake, which was my last chance to really make a stand. From there the game just went as it did, I had a few chances to claw it back still but lost on not using Might to get Command off and force an expenditure of Will and Priority not going in the order I needed a few times. No complaints about the Priority, I had plenty of chances to not make that matter. Finally I threw the game at the end by putting Bard into two Riders and not stopping my Special Strikes/instead aiming for Horses to delay the Quarter. Simply a comedy of errors on my part from the beginning to the end of the game.

Sadly my opponent made misplays too, not taking an easy pass off of the Light Object to a Rider and winning the game MUCH earlier and typically making poor Charges with regards to positioning or target selection. I certainly played worse, no question about it, and deserved my loss. It just feels a bit worse when you played terribly, still could have won due to opposing mistakes, and still don't. Bleh, this one will stick with me for awhile.

In light of this game I'll be making my own cheat sheets for the various Scenarios, allowing me to more easily read how you score and also put notes as to how I should play, loosely, within that Scenario. So for this one the answer will almost always be "Aggressively" unless I'm against a soft army with no Cavalry. I'll probably post those here when I'm done but so far almost all my losses have come because I didn't know how to play the Scenario. I always feel like my list if better, the only army I really fear is Easterlings because they're magnitudes above everything else right now. Just need to play better and focus up a bit, we'll see what I can get done next time.