Chapter 2 To War!
Well… TO WAR we go! A few weekends ago, I attended the Blue Mountains Brawl tournament near Ashville, North Carolina. I certainly had my work cut out for me this tournament as I would go toe-to-toe with the number 1 and number 2 ranked players in the Southeastern United States (based on current SMEGL Standings)! I guess in order to be the best you have to try and beat the best! This tournament was an escalation event spanning six games over two days. The tournament layout was two games at 400 points followed by two games at 650 points and lastly two games at 800 points. After reading over the player packet (I recommend always reading these thoroughly) and seeing that a requirement to podium was to be playing with a fully painted army and since I signed up somewhat last minute, I decided to go with my trusty (untrusty) yet fully painted Isengard army. Below is my 800 point Isengard list broken down into the 400 and 650 point lists as well (feel free to make fun of them in the comments)
As you can see, I went with an all hero’s of fortitude list. The main idea I was going for with this list was to jam as many F4 S4 models in while giving myself some decent mobility with the warg riders and crebain. Having only hero’s of fortitude allowed me to make Vrasku my leader so I could tuck him safely behind my lines while taking advantage of his expert shot special rule. Here is a quick army photo. At least if they did not perform well, they would look good trying!
Team Photo
Now let’s see how I did! Game 1 - My first 400 point game was against Zach, who is currently the number 2 ranked player in the Southeastern United States! Zack’s army was Survivors of Lake-Town with Bard as his leader along with Bilbo, Alfrid and a host of Lake-Town Militia. The scenario was Retrieval. We played on a beautiful Isengard board with an over 6 ft tall Tower of Orthanc. Here I was thinking great! Home field advantage for my Uruk-hai! Not so fast… remember how I talked about that plan of keeping my leader Vrasku tucked nicely behind my lines? Well… if you know how Retrievals has diagonal deployment zones, I may have just a tad bit reckless with deploying Vrasku’s warband. It just so happens Bard came charging in off of a heroic combat and Vrasku was slain turn 1. Surely not a great start to the tournament. However, he was to be avenged! While waiting for reinforcements to arrive my left flank took heavy losses. I at least was able to trap Bard on several occasions and he had to blow through his might quickly. On turn 4 Gorulf was able to finally make it across the board and slayed the might-less Bard who was also Zach’s leader. However, I was already slightly outnumbered at the beginning of the game and the numbers gap had widened. Over the next two turns I fell back to my relic as Zach’s force was advancing towards it at a blistering pace as I had to pull my right flank defenses to the left side early on. We exchanged some arrow shots with minor losses, but get this!! Bilbo smoked Uruk-hai in back to back turns with THROWING STONES and ultimately broke me. I had a crebain putting pressure on his relic, but the Lake-town numbers were too much for those pesty birds. Alfrid and his warband did a good job of staying out of my movement range and I was not able to do much additional damage. At the end of the game both of our leaders were dead and neither of us had touched each others relics. My army had been broken and Zack’s was not. This lead to a 5-2 Minor Loss for Isengard. It was a great skirmishy game and Zack was a great opponent.
My left flank crumbling and Alfrid canonly keeping his distance
Game 2 was against Michael who was running Minas Tirith lead by Gandalf the White. This was the second and last 400 point game. We played clash by moonlight. This board was on the old citadel realm of battle tiles and showcased Conquest Creations Kingdom of Azragor buildings. You can get your hands on your own set of these buildings by checking out my shop! (ok shameless plug over). This game ended up going to time as the first few turns we were jockeying heavily for position. I got my crossbows within the 12 inch range required in clash by moonlight and the +1 to wound really helped mow down a line of Minas Tirith Warriors. My Berserkers backed up by pikes were no match for his charging Knights. Michael was able to get two heroic combats off with Gandalf to try and even the numbers, however Gandalf would eventually run into Gorulf who with his free heroic defenses was able to lock up Gandalf for several turns and even managed to win a fight to expel Gandalf of all his fate but was not able to wound. At the end of the game neither of us ruined the enemy leader or lost a hero. I was able to break him and I was not broken. This resulted in a 6-1 Major Victory for Isengard! Michael was a great opponent who is newer to the game, I gave him what bit of advise I had and he went on to win his next two games, so maybe I do know a thing or two!
Gandalf getting in some easy heroic combats before Gorulf moves in
Game 3 was against Raphael’s Rivendell/Numenor list. He brought Glorfindel with a host of elven warriors and Isuldur with a warband of Warriors of Numenor. This was the first 650 point game of the tournament and we played Reconnoitre. I felt pretty good going into this scenario as I had decent mobility and a numbers advantage. Neither of us had issues rolling for our warbands to enter the board. Most of our deployment was towards the right side of the board. This was good for me as I was able to score quick points by flying one of my crebain off the back left side of the board early on as our lines continued to march into each other. I was so close to getting my second crebain off and also tried to leak out a warg rider and an Uruk-hai scout in the same fashion, however Isuldur was able to take an appropriate angle and cut them off. My poor crebain were charged and knocked prone (yes BIRDS can get knocked prone) and Isuldur had no trouble taking care of all 4 wounds allowing his heroic combat to go off and was able to charge my warg rider and Uruk-hai scout at the same time. In hindsight I definitely should have spaced them out better as I was a mear 3 inches from getting them off my opponent’s board edge. While all of that was happening, our lines clashed on the right center side of the board. We battled back and forth mostly going kill for kill and we ultimately ended due to time. While I was able to negate any enemies from running off my board edge, unfortunately my army was broken by one model on our last turn and Raphael was one away from breaking, talk about a swing in 3 victory points! As you probably guessed it from those results we ended in a 3-3 draw. I felt I had every opportunity in the world to win this one and some how I managed to squander it away. At least I did not lose I suppose. Once again it was a very fun game with a very nice opponent.
Lines about to clash with some elves fleeing to protect the back left board edge
Game 4 I faced a very familiar opponent and fellow travel buddy, Andrew. Funny enough Andrew and I played three practice games at all the different point levels the week leading up to the tournament and they were all close games. This one was no exception. Andrew ran the new Battle of Fornost Legendary Legion. He had Earnur (Ernie), Glorfindel, Cirdan and a mob of Minas Tirith Warriors and High Elves. This was the last game of the day at 650 points and the scenario was breakthrough. We both deployed for the most part along the center line. I deployed Vrasku and my other crossbowman back on the objective in my deployment zone. They would ultimately end up being my MVP’s. Due to some funny terrain blind spots, I was able to charge Cirdan on turn 1 though I was not able to wound him. During turn 1 and 2 I was taking heavy loses (over 10 models slain). However, my saving grace was killing my own Uruk’s from Glorfindel’s combats in those turns not allowing Glorfindel to get any heroics off. Then comes turn 3. I call a heroic accuracy with Vrasku, who yelled “Take Aim” and the ensuing 7 crossbow shots fired into Glorfindel’s combat. Talk about ripping 6’s! Four shots managed to wound Glorfindel and with only 2 fate left after using one to save his horse the previous turn, Glorfindel would be slain, and thus a big Tiger Woods fist pump thrown into the air (I may have done one or two too many of these, sorry buddy)! Andrew would go onto fight his way back slaying Thrydan with Ernie and breaking my army. I was able to break Andrew back two turns later and on the last turn Ernie failed a heroic combat against a single Uruk-hai scout and the rest was history. Isengard pulled out a 6-4 minor victory with the difference being the fall of Glorfindel. It was a very well fought game with just a bit of luck from the dice gods. Sadly, I completely forgot to take photos of this game and my day two games. With day one’s games concluded I was 2-1-1 sitting pretty in a tie for third place going into day 2.
Enjoyed a fantastic mead at Appalachian Mountain Brewery after a long day of battle
Game 5 I faced another familiar face, Ian. He is also a fellow travel buddy form the Nashville area and we also got a practice game in the week prior. This was the first of two 800 point games and the scenario was Command the Battlefield. I once again had my work cut out for me as Ian is currently the number 1 ranked player in the Southeastern United States! Ian was playing the new Army of Arnor Legendary Legion, though Ian has been playing Arnor wayyy before it was cool. I was outnumbered by over 10 models in this game as Ian brought Arvedui, Malbeth, Aranarth, and Argadir, with a ton of Anror warriors, a total of 57 models I believe. Since Command the Battlefield is maelstrom deployment it got interesting in a hurry. The TO decided that instead of the winner of priority on turn 1 deploying all warbands that opponents would go back and forth deploying, which was a fun little nuance to the standard maelstrom deployment. Might was flying off the board fast as Ian and I both spent 3 points of might each if I recall correctly to come on exactly where we wanted. Once again I regret taking a photo of this game, but I will try to narrate as best I can. Most of our forces were deployed on the Northern board edge. Thrydan, Gorulf and Frida’s warband were caught in the middle with Aranarth’s warband to the East and the rest of the Arnor force to the West. Vrasku’s warband was deployed safely on the southern board edge. Over the first two turns I decided to march my full force that was deployed on the northern board edge towards the East in order to try to take out Aranarth’s warband quickly. Turn 3 I was successful at taking out most of Arnarath’s warband, however not all of it which meant the rest of the Arnor force had caught up to my flank and I was now fighting on two fronts. Over the course of the next few turns all of the fighting happened in the Northeastern quadrant. I was taking substantial losses, but was also able to put a dent in the Arnor force. Vrasku and the crossbowman in the South were able to position themselves nicely for shots at spear supports, but I must have used up all of my luck from the dice gods the day before on Glorfindel as I was only able to kill two Arnor warriors over the next three turns of shooting. I was able to dehorse Argadir, but it was a little to late as we were running out of time. I called a last effort heroic march with Vrasku to secure both quandrants of the southern board edge, however Ian was able to secure the northern quadrants. My army broke on our last turn and Ian’s army was three models away from breaking, which was ultimately the deciding factor for a 6-4 Isengard minor loss. I fought my heart out and gave it all I had, but it just wasn’t meant to be. It was a great well fought game all around. Ian is always a fantastic opponent to play against and I was just happy to at least make him sweat it out.
Loads of prize support! If your tournament ever needs a sponsor feel free to reach out to me.
Game 6 was the last game of the tournament. I played Sam’s Thranduil’s Halls in a game of Lords of Battle. I met Sam earlier this year and had always heard how enjoyable of an opponent he was to play against, so I was happy to finally get a game in with him. With not too much to play for as we were both out of the running for a spot on the podium we had a nice fun and relaxing game. Unfortunately for me I had more wounds to give which is not the greatest when playing Lords of Battle. Most of our fighting happened in the right center part of the board with a small skrimish of crebain and elven archers towards the left. Sam was off to an early lead on the wounds tally and never let up. Legolas and Thranduil mopped up Thrydan, Gorulf, and Frida gaining additional might points with each slain hero. I was very conservative with Vrasku and my crossbowman, which had little effect on the game. If I had to do it over again I probably would not have deployed my army so close to the center line to try to get some additional shots off. However, what’s the fun in that when you can charge head on into terror causing elves with +1 or even +2 to wound with two handed elven made weapons when bubbled around Thranduil. At least I was able to somehow break the elven force mainly from using heroic strike just to win fights against F5 and F6 warriors. In the end it was a 4-1 minor loss for Isengard. It was a shame we had to turn our sportsmanship award nominations in a game early as Sam definitely would have had my vote!
With the final game concluded I finished with a record of 2-3-1, which was good enough for 7th place. I was slightly disappointed in my showing, however going into it I had a feeling my army would probably struggle at the 800 point level. The big take away from this tournament was that it was my first tournament without taking a major loss. That paired with the strength of schedule of playing against the number 1 and 2 ranked players in the Southeastern United States was something to at least hang my hat on. This was a very well ran tournament and I look forward to attending next years. I hope you enjoyed the read. Comments and criticisms are always appreciated! See ya next time!
Group Photo
