Ok so i finally found some time to write game 3
So first off, its another isengard player (almost half of the ppl played isengard). although, he did also play goblins, haradrim, ummm everything (including some 40k armies and fantasy... along with all the other minorites....)
the games was field of swords and shieldwalls
his list was something like this:
saruman (cant remember if he had lurtz)
khamul the easterling
thrydan wolfsbane (R3, epic strike, inspiring leader men, 50PTS!!?!?!?!!)
4c uruks, banner (saruman and khamul in here)
4c uruks, banner
4curuks, banner (thrydan in here)
3c xbows
3 isengard troll capt.... (everyone seems to love these guys....)
he deployed first like this (from my pt of view)
thrydans f._troll_xbows_troll_saruman's/khamul's f_troll_uruks _ is a small gap btwn them... it was a pretty good shieldwall, (his army was closer to the right side than the left)
thrudan's guys are kinda behind a forest(their a bit to the left of it), the regular uruks are behind a hill
My deployment
dragon_wargs_____4c bows_troll_blackshields(khamul)_gobs(durburz)_troll_3c arhers______sharkus guys
the 4c arhers are directly behind a hill, the 3c archers are directly behind a forest
as soon as i saw his deployment i know that it was not going to be easy, as there were no weak pts in his army or deployent.... (the first 2 ppl had some pretty big weak pts)
so he goes first and as soon as he makes a few moves i know that im going to lose
His Movement
He moves the left and middle trolls at the double towards durburz (the troll on the right moves toward them but fails at the double)(this where i knew i was going to lose, cause i couldnt move my 6c gobs forward, so if i was to move the blackshields forward then they would get flanked, so i couldnt move or attack with my 2 main formations....)
then he moves saruman/khamul up close to them (a bit at an angle - facing the blackshields), then proceeds to bombard me with magic, shatters shields, kills goblins...
then moves thrydans formation back, so that a front corner is touching the xbows and the other the board edge (so the dragon and wargs cant flank)
and the regular uruks move forward
Me
So im in a real pickle, if i move my blackshileds forward, they will get flanked by either the xbows or sarumans formation. i cast str from corruption on the closest troll, inflicting 2 wounds, and try to stop sarumans formaion from charging but fail... so i dont move the blackshields much (just a little forward and facing saruman a little - so im not within the xbows kill zone (12''))
sharkus guys move forward
dragon moves at the double and casts tremor on thrydans formation, but then fails focus (got the dragon's spell order down now - dark fury - shatter shields - tremor/bolt of fire/ excisiccate), then moved him out of their charge range
wargs cant move at the double and so just move forward (so slow compared to the dragon)
shooting:
he kills 4 or 6 gobs from the 6c gobs (more like 4.3c now)
charging
i dont charge the dragon as im not sure he could take on thrydan and the 4c uruks
only charges is by the 2 furtherest itroll capts, both charging the once was 6c goblins
fight
i heroic duel and epic strike a troll capt with durburz, killing it, but fail to hurt the other one (the one close to the blackshields with 2 wounds). i got pummeled even more by the other troll capt.
Turn 2
His move
thrydan and xbows dont move
regular 4c uruks move forward a little
the close troll capt moves away from the blackshields a bit (but still right in front of the gobs)
the other troll cpt moves toward the archers in the forest
sarumans blasts my gobs even more and kills my troll on the right of the gobs with srt through corruption, then khamul tries to black dart durburz, i resist and roll a 3.. forgetting that it will burn my might i dont use the other might pt to make it a 4....(but it didnt hurt me, just burnt the other might pt), sarumans f doesnt move
My move
The dragon gets dark fury, then tremors, but fails focus (for shatter shields...)
the wargs move up next to the dragon
the blackshields move out a bit toward saurmans f. khamul fails all his magic and focus rolls
the troll on the left of the blackshields moves to their left front corner, so they cant get flanked (but in the death range of the xbows)
durburz runs away to the archers in the forest (after last turns fighting, and this turns magic there were 2c left)
sharkus guys get a side flank on the 4c uruks
shooting
his troll infront of the gobs chucks a rock and kills 2 gobs
the xbows kill my troll
sharkus guys kill 1 uruk
and my archers kill his troll infront of my gobs!
charges
his right troll fails to charge me in the forest
the dragon and wargs charge thrydans f
sharkus guys charge the uruks in the side (rolled a 5, i was thinking about using a pt of might to make it a 6, but decide not to)
fighting
sharkus guys almost kill 2c (1 guy left) and in return 2c get killed (so i should of used the might pt! those uruks hit hard, even if im on their flank!)
the dragon gets dueled by thrydan, but its a draw
the dragon kills a few uruks and the wargs dont kill much... (D7! i so needed shatter shields), i killed 1.1c and in return he kills 2c of wargs 8(
(by this time its looking pretty bleak, both trolls are dead, the dragon and wargs cant get through thrydan, sharkus guys got wolloped, my gobs got demolished, and i cant attack with the blackshields)
so turn 3
my move
durburz goes back into the gobs (1.6componies) and they run away behind the blackshields
sharkus guys move behind the uruks
the dragon gets dark fury and moves a bit to tremor thrydans f and the xbows,
the wargs move out of temor range then set up for another charge
my 4c arhers that were on the hill doing nothing move down to help the blackshields (what i should of done in the first place)
khamul tries to do something with magic, he tries to stop the xbows from shooting but fails, and then black darts saruman, but its blocked
his move
the regular uruks turn around
saruman and khamul move to thrydans f. and then blast the dragon with spells, tremor (killing a warg and causing 1 wound on the dragon, and killing 4 xbows), str from corruption (another wound on the dragon), bolt of fire (another wound on the dragon). saruman replenishes the ranks. (cant remember what else they did)
sarumans old formation moves to the left, blocking the xbows and coming infront of the blackshields and the archers
shooting
my 3c arhers in the forest fail to even cause a single hit on the troll right in front of them
sharku chucks a stick that bounces off an uruk
charges
the wargs and dragon charge thrydan/khamul/saruman and the 3c uruks
sharku charges the uruks (2 warg riders against 2.1c of uruks...)
THE BLACKSHIELDS FAIL TO CHARGE THE URUKS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!!! and khamul used his might to resist a spell, so i couldnt change it
his troll capt charges the gobs in the forest
fighting
the trolls kills 5 guys for not even a singe hit in return (out of shooting and fighting, 36 dice rolled, not a singe 6), and the gobs run out of the forest
the dragon and wargs kill off 10 uruks
the dragon gets hit hard but in the end only takes 4 more wounds (up to 7 now)
the wargs lose 1c
sharku kills 2 uruks before getting mutilated
we call it a game their as we were runnig out of time and it was clear that i was going to lose
(there was this guy watching the game half the time, he had the mordor battle host full of trolls, he wiped out his opponent on the 3rd or 4th turn)
what i should of done
attack immediatly with the blackshields and hope khamul doesnt die in a duel, relying on khamuls save to live and to kill the enemy (but what happens when 2 khamuls fight? they would keep reflecting....)
made sharkus guys larger (although i couldnt at the time, thats the largest i could make them) cause they died so fast
attack with the dragon much earlier and use the spell order i said above
attack with the 4c bows cause i should of known that they wouldnt of gotten to shoot (although they would have had to walk right n front of the xbows... if only khamul could of stopped them...)
if i was able to i would switch out a troll and 1c from the 4c archers for druzhag and get some drums, as i really needed them, well i would of gotten alot of thing differently, but this is about all that i had to bring anyway.
so what was left
wargs with 2-4c
dragon with 7 wounds (once you get him to 5 wounds, then he becomes very easy to wound, and so dies shortly after)
blackshields 8c
archers 4c
archers 2-3c
khamul
durburz
2c gobs
him
uruks 3c (regular)
uruks 4c (was sarumans f)
troll capt
2c uruks
all his heros
3c xbows (but were only 1-2 left in the 3rd c)