This Sunday I joined a local tournament as a way to get back into the gaming side of this hobby. This ended up being a casual 395pts tournament named "A Ranger Caught off of his Guard". The points are this way specifically to reference the scene where that line is spoken, as Aragorn, the four hobbits, Arwen on Asfaloth and Bill the Pony total exactly 395pts. In fact, there were a few examples of this list were in attendance, though I did not get to face them, one of them managed to reach 3rd place in the final scores.
No points for what I took; Riders of Theoden.
1x Theoden, King of Rohan-Snowmane with Armour, Shield, Exchange armour for heavy
armour
- 2x Rohan Royal Guard-Throwing spears, Horse
- 2x Rohan Royal Guard-Horse
1x Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark-Throwing spears, Shield, Firefoot with armour
- 4x Rider of Rohan
- 1x Rider of Rohan-Throwing spears
395 points | 11 models | 5 bows | 4 throwing weapons
Broken: 6 killed | Quartered: 2 remaining | Might: 6 
A pair of blurry photos of the army and thier dismounts. I was quite glad I got to include a pair of my old plastic Royal Guard and a pair of my Shieldmaidens in the list.
Nothing revolutionary, but it has a couple of decent combat heroes, especially Eomer after his recent buffs. Half the troops are Royal Guard to help to mitigate Terror and bring that higher Fight Value. Finally, there's plenty of bows and the maximum Throwing Spears I could bring. The downsides are it's low numbers and lack of banner, but at this points range I figured I'd manage.
Game 1 - Domination
The first game was against Jacob's Muster of Isengard. He was another returning player, so we were both rather insure in our initial plays, and spent plenty of time consulting our rules manuals.
Saruman
- 4 Uruk-hai Berserkers
- 6 Uruk-hai Warriors-Shields
- 7 Uruk-hai Warriors-Pikes
- Uruk-hai Warrior-Banner
A thematic game in some ways, but a touch match-up. Jacob initially split the Berserkers and a few pikemen off to run around a building, allowing me to focus most of my army on his shieldwall. Whilst I was initially able to clear out most of his front-line shieldbearers, I could not keep the momentum. Saruman locked Eomer down with Transfix's for several rounds, evading my attempt to flank a Rider around. Eventually, the Berserkers charged in and the Uruk's ground me down. Eomer redeemed himself in the later rounds, but it was too little too late. (Besides, the bar was low, he rolled triple 1's in the one round.)
I committed two Riders early to guarding a pair of objectives, but this left them out of place and thier bowfire contributed little. In hindisght, charging quicker with a simultaneous flanking manueovre would've served me better, perhaps even allowing me to lock Saruman down. More judicious use of Heroic Moves and Combats would've helped also.
Final Result: 0VPs to 12VPs
Game 2 - Hold Ground
This game was a mirror match (ish), against Brian's Kingdom of Rohan. However, he'd brought a Captain instead of Eomer, allowing him to bring three more Riders and a banner in exchange.
1x Theoden, King of Rohan-Snowmane with Armour, Shield, Exchange armour for heavy
armour
- 4x Rohan Royal Guard-Throwing spears, Horse
1x Captain of Rohan-Horse, Shield, Exchange armour for heavy
armour
- 7x Rider of Rohan
- 1x Rider of Rohan-Banner
Deployment here led to both of our Theoden-led warbands sitting next to each other, with Eomer and the Captain flanking from either side, leading to a situation where priority would decide which of us would get sandwiched. I lost and called a heroic move to take the initiative. Placement left me mostly of of range. The next turns saw incoming fire whittle down my Might and Fate as I rolled badly trying to keep Snowmane and Firefoot alive. Brian was able to smartly keep control of the battlefield, leaving me with few options and eventually near everyone died.
Hindsight here was after Theoden fell, I forgot entirely about Eomer's Grief rule, which may have allowed me to kill off Brian's Theoden and grab a few VPs. In the end, this was a fun game and I didn't need to claw for points like that.
Lessons from this game? Perhaps it's ok to let the horse die sometimes?
Final Result: 0VPs to 16VPs
Game 3 - Reconnoitre
This game featured something that I was worried to face; a large horde and plenty of magic in the form of Will's Shadow's of Angmar.
Shadow of Rhudaur
- 2x Orc Warrior, Shield
- 3x Orc Warrior, Two-Handed Weapon
- 3x Orc Warrior, Spear
Orc Captain
- 2x Orc Warrior, Shield
- 3x Orc Warrior, Two-Handed Weapon
- 3x Orc Warrior, Spear
Barrow Wight
- 3x Orc Warrior, Shield
- 3x Orc Warrior, Spear
Barrow Wight
- 3x Orc Warrior, Shield
- 3x Orc Warrior, Spear
Despite having the speed advantage, we both charged straight into the middle without thought for escaping initially, though later a single Rider and a trio of Orcs would peel off to run for the board edges. The middle of the board became a big scrum and I managed to better keep fights in my control, though Terror stopped a few charges where I couldn't get Royal Guard into play. This was a especially bad my first charge of the game and greatly slowed me down.
Eomer once again became the target of a magical hailstorm, though much of it failed, and he even managed to shrug off a Paralyse after it costs him most of his Fate and Wounds. In revenge, he killed the Shadow. The end of the game saw both of my heroes hanging on by a thread, and a single Rider escaped.
This easily could've gone either way, with the state my heroes were in. Lessons here are to lead with Royal Guard on big charges, as failed courage checks on Riders blocked me in places and stalled my momentum.
Final Score: 7VPs to 2VPs
Game 4 - Destroy the Supplies
This game I matched against Rob's Rivendell, a fairly numerous list led by Elrond. I have learned to fear him.
Elrond, Horse
- Rivendell Warrior, Banner
- 6 Rivendell Warriors, Elf Bow
- 5 Rivendell Warriors, Shield and Elven Spear
- 5 Rivendell Warriors, Shield
Rob set up in a gunline with Elrond in the back. Fearing the Elven bowfire, I charged forward, trying to use the terrain to get In-the-Ways where I could, but still lost both men and horses on the way in. I sent of a few flanking Riders once again to try and get to his supplies.
In the centre, I charged in and then Elrond stepped forwards and knocked them all down. Wrath of Bruinen is a nasty spell. In the following turns, I could not get any momentum and killed only a single Elf. My flanking Riders did nothing but waste arrows and then fail thier Courage tests as the Army broke. In his final moments, Theoden slew four elves in single combat, but ultimately I lost with two supplies and an army destroyed.
Lessons here is that you can be too gung-ho. Taking a larger loop around would've allowed me to avoid more fire, and perhaps split his forces. The other is that you must absolutely resist Wrath of Bruinen on a cavalry charge. I rolled bad, but I could've used an extra Will dice and didn't, thinking to save it for a follow up. Rob explained that he'd failed to successfully cast it in every proceeding game, but in this one it 100% sealed the deal for him.
Final Score: 0VPs to 18VPs
Game 5 - To the Death!
The final game, against an army that was already dead; Martin's Defender's of the Pelennor.
The King of the Dead
- Warrior of the Dead, Banner
- 6 Warriors of the Dead, Shield and Spear
- 6 Warriors of the Dead, Shield
Herald of the Dead
Another worrisome match-up, as I know the Dead hit hard and die harder. I took the lessons from the previous games and got in quick, sending a parallel flanking force and keeping Riders in reserve as the Fearless Royal Guard took the lead alongside my heroes. Death! netted me a good number of early kills, and whilst I kept going with judicious Heroic Moves, eventually attrition and the Blades of the Dead wore me down.
Eomer and the King of the Dead duelled back and forth until they both had a single wound, but the King eventually took the win, and I was Quartered in that turn. A rather close game, and one where winning required just a few more sixes, when I already rolled more than plenty.
Final Score: 3VPs to 7VPs
So ending the day with 1 Victory and 4 Losses, leaving me in 39th place out of the 40 attending players with my mere 10 Victory Points. I was nonentheless satisified with my performance and had a fantastic day. Every match was close and could've gone either way with just a few different rolls or tactical calls, with the sole exception being such a well-placed and decisive strike it was impressive to witness. Every player I spoke to, as well as the organisers were friendly and accomodating.
I'd gladly attend more events at this venue, despite it being a little out of the way, so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for future events like this one.
As for my list, I doubt there is much I can do to refine it. 395pts is small enough where you have to make sacrifices. Eomer was far too valuable to drop him for a cheaper alternative, but with Theoden being mandatory, it leaves little points for troops. A banner would've been nice, but then the list would've been far too small to perform I would think.
Riders of Eomer or Kingdom of Rohan may have been good alternatives, using Eomer as the General backed up by a Captain (likely the former, for the free Heroic Combats). However, having your General getting stuck in is a quick way to lose him, so there's pros and cons to that approach.
May be moot anyway, I doubt we'll see this exact points level soon.
Anyhow, without much further waffling, until next time. FORTH EORLINGAS!