I’ve been collecting and painting LOTR and Hobbit miniatures on and off for over 6 years now. In that time I’ve never actually played a game. Last month GW decided very kindly to open a new store 10 minutes from me (Belconnen ACT Australia) so I decided to actually get down there and have a go. So with a single practice game against the store manager under my belt I entered a 450 point tournament. Why I had no expectations of winning I was still hopeful of putting in a decent show but more importantly I was hoping to actually learn a thing or two for next time.

So off I marched with a combined Minas Tirith and Dol Fiefdoms force for Death and Glory…

My first battle was against Thranduil, Haldir and a bunch of the pointy eared ones. My opponent was an experienced player and showed fantastic sportsmanship in the way he played a new comer. Very happy to explain things as we went along and gave me some hints and tips during gameplay as well. We played hold ground and both armies put in a good show. When time was called I had Thranduil trapped and needed the kill for the win. I won the combat but failed to wound. The elves had it 8 points to 6.

Lessons Learnt
Don’t end your move with your character models exposed when Haldir and his arches are sitting on a hill with bows drawn.

Don’t forget your might points. If I had remembered them I may have played that last fight differently which may have changed the result. May have.

My second battle was against a monster hoard and to be honest I can’t remember what scenario we rolled, I think it was til the death. So I faced off against a Goblin captain with cave troll, dweller in the dark and the watcher in the water. Holy devlan mud batman, what a fight! My clansman lifted up their kilts and flashed the dweller in the dark before charging in with their claymores and killing him outright. Meanwhile the watcher pounced on General Faramir and tore him a new one. The battle then turned into me throwing half my force at the watcher trying to make a dent while the other half of my force chased a cowardly goblin captain around the board to try get some VPs. In the very last turn with time called again I managed to slay both the cave troll and the goblin captain. Which meant VICTORY!!!

Lessons Learnt
Know thy enemy. I had no idea about the watcher or his special rules so learnt the hard way. About halfway through I realised going all out against him was a not going to work but drip feeding him troops would keep him busy while I dealt with the other enemies on the table.

Battle 3 was Lords of battle. The mouth of sauron and the knight of umbar with a moranon host lined up against me. My opponent and I agreed to have some fun here and we just lined up against each other and charged in. Not the most tactical move but everyone else there agreed it was awesome fun to just get stuck in. This was a tough one. I was winning my fair share of fights but wasn't wounding, he on the other hand made it count more often than not. So on points I ended up well and truly beaten.

Lesson Learnt.
Deployment. Why I would deploy my troops the same way again for fun I should have had my general better protected when I do, especially when his hero is mounted.

Know thy enemy, again. I struggled against the knight of umbar and had no idea how to fight him.

Remember the objective. I didn’t read the rules for the lords of battle and was playing it more like til the death. Wouldn’t have changed the outcome but I may have played it a little differently, perhaps would have shielded more.

So my forth and final battle was domination. And I faced off against the Dark Lord Sauron with the ring al on his own. I had everything going for me here except the ability to kill him. And after he slowly slaughtered the majority of my force time was called and not a turn to soon. We had 6 victory points each. And I walked away luckily with a draw when if I had played better I could have won.

Lessons Learnt
Don’t deploy your general so close to the front line when you have master of mordor waiting to crush you.

Once again just like when I played the watcher, I tried to get weight of numbers on him early and lost a good number of my force, including my general, before remembering the drip feed approach. If I had played like that and kept Faramir the hell away from him I would have won, well I would have had a better chance of winning at least.

So after 4 rounds I walked away with 1 win, 1 draw and two losses (one of them close).

I’m pretty happy with that result and I think I may surprise a few people next time. Most importantly I HAD AN AWESOME TIME! So to all those on this group that played I say a big thanks and I look forward to the next one.

Patrick

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I think a drug habbit would be cheaper...

and the army i took

Faramir, Heavy Armour & Shield
5 WOMT with shield
5 WOMT with spear and shield

Denethor
5 fountain court with shield
4 Rangers with spears
1 ranger

Captain of Dol Amroth
2 knight of dol amroth on foot
3 axeman of Lossanach
3 clansman of lamedom
4 blackroot vale archers

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I think a drug habbit would be cheaper...

Nice read - you didn't do too badly for your first ever games. I have no one to play and haven't done so in about eight years or so

Thanks, luckily I'm a quick learner.

Move to Canberra and join the fun, problem solved

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I think a drug habbit would be cheaper...

Thanks for posting this. It definitely sounds like you had a fun time. Indeed, perhaps the two most important lessons are: know your enemy; and never lose focus of the objective.

Did the Blackvale archers prove useful against monsters?

P.S. Funny description of your battle against the goblins hehe!

To be honest after my 4 battles I had to question why I bothered with archers at all. I very rarely had a clear shot at anything and the standard bows struggled to wound when i did get shots away. I think my BV archers had a single round of shooting in the monster battle. After that it was all close combat and they were unable to fire.

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I think a drug habbit would be cheaper...