The story continues

We continue the saga of our 4-player tourney with one of the second heat battles. I’m counting on Shas’El’Hek’Tryk to write up a battle rep for his stage 1 fight against Teutonico.

Scenario 2: "Take and hold"

In this scenario, each side vies for control of the 3 static objectives on the battlefield, as well as trying to capture its opponant’s banner by carrying it off the field by any edge possible.

Teutonico Vs BarbarianJ

This match saw my humble Rohirrim taking on the steel-clad might of its former overlords of Minas Tirith, led by Faramir. The Steward’s cadet son sought to bring the former vassals to heal, whilst Theoden of Rohan intended to prove himself the last of the great kings of men of the Ouest.

I set my Rohirrim up in a continuous ligne, in the centre of my deployment area, with the riders behind my right flank. Teutonico adopted a classic Gondorian formation, with a central bloc in two raks, swordsmen, then spearmen, with his standard and heroes in the middle. Hi archers were opposite my very sparse left flank, whilst his knights were behind the cabin. The three objectifs are represented by the piles of rocks along the centre of the battlefield.

The Gondorian archers immediately advanced, both out of a lack of targets and in order to seize control of the objective on my left flank. I dispatched a small group of warriors, led by Eowyn, to hide behind the hut, where they would await the opportune moment to contest the objective. The two amry corps opposite each other in the centre went forth, the troops of the White City occupying the ruins, my left flank anchored by the cabin. Teutonico decided to divide his cavalry into two groups of three; one going behind the cabin to threaten the group hidden behind the hut, the other passing in front of the cabin to launch itself at my main battle line. Relieved by the absence of archers opposite them, my riders straight away made the most of their freedom of movement to take the objective on my right flank and threaten the flank of Faramir's soldiers, who were hiddenamongst the ruins.

The Gondorians brought the fight to my left flank, attacking the group behind the hut, reinforced by the three knights on that side. Eowyn and the handful of peasants were set for disaster. The knights of the White City who had thrown themselves towards the central battle line suffered the peril of massed javlins; thrown fom their saddles, they were quickly put to the sword. This allowed my main battle line to push back the soldiers of Minas Tirith towards the ruins, on the defensive. My riders, on the right flank, managed to outflank the enemy, one of them fighting his way through to the standard bearer, slaying him and stealing the banner of the White Tree. Some lucky dice trows contributed towards my victory in the centre of the battlefield... but that luck was nothing compared to the jinx Teutonico suffered on the left flank! Despite the charge of his three other knights and the great superiority in numbers which his men enjoyed, Eowyn held her position with her feeble escort of javlinists.Incredible given that I'd counted the loss of the flank as a foregone conclusion and necessary sacrifice in favour of the other two objectives. It is important to note, however, that although my lucky dice rolls held back Teutonico's men on the left flank, Teutonico never allowed me to be a threat to his control of the objective held there by his archers.

At the end of the battle, I held the centre and the right flank, one of my riders had made off with the enemy flag and Teutonico was reduced to less than 25% of his initial numbers. Teutonico's archers were too far away from their .

I think that Teutonico's main mistake was in dividing his cavalry forces into two groups, thus dissipating their power. I learnt threwpast experienes to avoid such a move... but in another more recent battle, he showed me he exception which makes the rule.

RESULT: 2 objectives (2 x 3pts) + Standard stolen (4pts) + Enemy brought under 25% of his initial numbers (2pts) = BarbarianJ 12 - 0 Teutonico = MAJOR VICTORY for BARBARIANJ

A good game; Teutonico suffered greatly from poor luck.