War of The Ring Campaign!!!

 Soooooooooooooooo...

I was inspired to do a campaign for the War of the Ring, with scenarios in order...

First Battle of the Fords of Isen

Second Battle of the Fords of Isen

Warg Ambush

Battle of Helm's Deep

Ambush in Ithilien

Siege of Minas Tirith

Battle of Pelennor Fields

Orc Infight in Cirith Ungol

Battle of the Black Gate

Oh, boy, this is going to be good!!!

Have fun playing the game,

The Rohan General😎

Case Study: Grimbold!

 Last Case Study we dived in to see the Uruk-hai captain, now we're exploring what I personally think is a big mistake by Games Workshop - Grimbold!😖

this is the GW helmet...

 

OK, so I recently converted a mounted Grimbold to go in my all-mounted Rohan, and I chose the sculpt that looks closest to what he looks like (you can also use a Royal Guard, but they don't have axes).

That's more like it!

In my custom rules, Grimbold can take a horse and throwing spears (like he does in the movies) and is included in the Riders Of Theoden (because HE WAS THERE!...  how did Games Workshop not see that?)

Where are the Riders from Grimslade?

He's pretty good with nothing on, but to take him in The Riders Of Theoden, he has to come mounted (and since he appears to be a member of the Royal Guard, he can take throwing spears for range.

And that is where the spear went!

Okay, I've covered  my conversion, let's move on to the Case Study, shall we?

While Grimbold doesn't need a horse, that 4+ hit on the mount instead of yourself is pretty good, and with HORSE LORD like all Heroes of Rohan there's a 50% chance that  the horse lives!

DEEAAATTTHHH!!!!

Also, unlike Erkenbrand, you can upgrade ANY NUMBER of Warriors of Rohan to Helmingas, it doesn't apply only to his warband, which means that your whole Rohan contingent could be Strength 4 Helmingas!

Grimbold can also take throwing spears, which are very valuable, since Rohan is one of the few armies that can take an everybody can shoot force.

Grimbold fully kitted out.

so there you have it, Grimbold really should take all of his options, so have fun gaming!

The Rohan General😏

Case Study : Theoden!

 In this post we interrupt the battle reports and start a new series on heroes. 

So I had nothing to do this afternoon and decided to take a shield from a Rider of Rohan (he didn't really need it, I might convert it into a mounted Grimbold) and give it to Theoden, the shield is fixed in place with normal plasticine clay (in fact, from the Dollar Tree) so that if I ever run low on points, I can take it off.

the shield (see the plasticine?)

That got me thinking, and thus the Case Study series, all about finding out which upgrades a hero/warrior should always take, and which upgrades you could take, but are probably just eating your points, was born! 

So Theoden can take heavy armor. I think you should always take this as well as the shield (plus, there's no model for Theoden without any additional upgrades (unless you proxy him, Ranger Faramir with bow sawn off and head swap is a good choice)). It takes you from being wounded on 6s and 5s* to 6/4s and 6s*! Much more reliable.

ALWAYS. TAKE. THE. SHIELD. (and armor)

*Against strength 3 and 4 models and archery (which is most of them).

Theoden can also take a horse and armored horse. With only 1 Fate to try and save the horse, always, always take the armored horse. You won't see the change with strength 3 models and archery, but it always gets better roll to wound with models that have a Strength value that is an even number (always, trust me, I fight Uruk-hai a lot).

I don't have the mounted Theoden, so imagine he's mounted, okay?

So that just about wraps this Case Study for today, so as always, have fun gaming!

 - the Rohan General

Tournament Mode! (The Hobby Trailer Tournament Game, Part 1)

 Welcome to The Hobby Trailer Tournament Game, Part 1. 

Today Blue Boy and I decided to play the long-awaited battle report I've talked about so much ((LOL) you should listen to this, it fits so well with what happened)

the game was Hold Ground, a detailed description of the scenario can be found here.

Turn 1 

The Rohirrim won Priority on the first turn and arrived as did the Uruk-hai phalanx (the Uruk-hai Leader and Banner Bearer were not so lucky), with Theoden rushing forward to protect the objective, ironically a Feral Uruk-hai (Blue Boy -  Strange objective for Rohan to fight over.)

and the royal Guard forming a thin red line around Theoden, while the rest of the riders formed a gun line for the shoot phase.  Although 1 uruk fell to the bows and spears of the Rohirrim, the tide turned against them, with the Uruks charging Theoden and his Guard (including THE BANNER!), and the ensuing combat saw 1 guard fall ( THE BANNER!)

Turn 2

mostly uneventful, --- EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THEODEN SUFFERED A WOUND ON THE SECOND ROUND OF COMBAT! - gasp - The Rohan General

no casualties on the Isengard force, two casualties on the Royal Guard, the Leader hasn't arrived yet.

Turn 3

The Rohhirim, having safely protected the objective,proceeded to focus on breaking and killing the enemy leader and banner for the victory points, the Uruks were busy trying to cut down as many Rohhirim as they could ASAP apparently, with NUMERO UNO casualties on their side and FOUR CASUALTIES on the Rohhirim (Blue Boy - actually I was heading to the objective, those Riders just happened to be in the way) 

Turn 4 

In this turn the brave and courageous Theoden fell in the face of great danger, trapped and cut down by hooked Uruk scimitars, being dealt four wounds after forgetting that he had heroic strike...

Anyhow, the Rohhirim started to crumble after being broken the past turn by marauding... pikemen? 

and as the uruks closed in, two failed their courage tests and fled, leaving the remaining Rohhirim quartered and the game drew to a close.

VICTORY POINT COUNT: ROHAN - 2 FOR GETTING AN EQUAL NUMBER OF TROOPS WITHIN 3" OF THE OBJECTIVE AS THE OPPONENT - TOTAL - 2

ISENGARD - 2 FOR GETTING AN EQUAL NUMBER OF TROOPS WITHIN 3" OF THE OBJECTIVE AS THE OPPONENT, 3 FOR KILLING THE ENEMY LEADER, 1 FOR HAVING A BANNER ALIVE, 1 FOR BREAKING THEIR OPPONENT - TOTAL - 7

Victor - Isengard major victory 2 - 7

well, that was a bloodbath, I don't think Rohan scored more than 2 casualties during the game,

so Isengard will be moving on to fight Mordor next time, but anyway, have fun gaming!

                        - The Rohan General

Battle Reports with Tie Die, Blue Boy, and The Rohan General!

  So me and my good friends Tie Die and Blue Boy got together and decided to play a battle report (the first in the history of the blog - YAY!).

This is a two-part tournament that should be fun (and hopefully easy to understand)

The Rohan General's 270 point Rohan List (obviously)

Theoden, King of Rohan with heavy armor and shield - 85 points

5 Riders of Rohan - 70 points

4 Rohan Royal Guard with throwing spears and horses - 72 points

1 Rohan Royal Guard with Banner - 43 points

Total - 270 points

Tie Die's 270 point (almost) Mordor List 

Zagdush, Orc Captain - 65 points

5 Mordor Orcs with shield - 36 points

My converted Mordor Orc - 6 points

6 Mordor Orcs with spear - 36 points

Orc Captain with shield and Orc bow - 50 points

4 Mordor Orcs with Orc bow - 24 points

4 Mordor Orcs with two-handed weapon - 24 points

Total - 235 points

Blue Boy's 270 point Isengard List (Assault on Helms Deep LL)

Uruk-hai Leader with shield - 65 points

Uruk-hai Captain with two-handed weapon - 65 points

6 Uruk-hai with pikes - 70 points

3 Uruk-hai with shields - 60 points

1 Uruk-hai with banner - 34 points

Total - 254 points            

Those are our forces for the tournament, so stay tuned until the next post!