Into The West 2019 part2

Second day and with only one win to my name I was eager to at least get a few more points. Back into it then....

Game 5 -Andy
A Contest of Champions you say? With Elrond as my champion for the match I was pretty confident. Andy was already waiting at the table when I got in (pays to be early folks) and had his Rohan army ready to go.

It was obvius to both Andy and I, that who ever got initiative in this first turn was going to take a massive lead. That said Elrond's Foresight ability was only good enough to force re-roll before Andy declared his Heroic Move. I countered and the Dice God's smiled on me to take the first turn.

Once more Elrond proved to be the deciding factor in the opening turn as he through out Nature's Wrath to put Eomer and his Riders to the ground. I had learned my lessons about cavalry hard and was not going to get steam rolled a third time if I could help it.

 Whilst Elrond and Eomer began their epic duel, Isildur and the Numenorians took the remaining Rohan army on the opposite flank. I knew this was going to come down to how quickly I could thin the Rohan numbers, but I at least had some time to play with.

 Andy got a lucky break against the Numenorians and managed to thin there numbers. Meanwhile the Elves and the dismounted Rohirrim continued with handbags. Niether side causing much damage. only Elrond and Eomer seemed to be causing any grief with Elrond seriously injuring Eomer, but using all his might to do it.

 Again the Numenorians took the brunt of the casualties against the cavalry, but it was the kill counts from our champions that would decide victory and it wasn't by much.

In the end Elrond had killed a single Rider of Rohan and put two wounds on Eomer, who in return had done nothing. Andy had been fighting his poor luck since the first dice roll it seemed, but it didn't stop him smiling and it was a lot of fun to play him. I think if the game had continued, Andy would have been able to bring more cavalry around to deal with Elrond, but with my force broken, the game ended.

Game 6 -Mike

I had not played Mike before, but his army was very similar to Scott's Moria army from the previous day. I did not see this as bad thing, far from it. It meant I had been given a second chance to go Drake hunting!

 The Bat Swarm quickly took the objective away from me. Whilst Mike and I guessed it would take around two or three for the Bats to clear the board, that left me all the time I needed to bag me a Drake's head for my wall.... or die honorably like last time.

 Once again I needed the rank & file to hold up the Goblins long enough for my would-be Dragon slayers to at least cripple the beast.

 With the Numenorians and Elven archers running interference, Elrond took the lead against the Drake and Isildur put on The Ring. Up to now The Ring had yet to give me anything but grief so I wasn't expecting too much from it, but through shear numbers I was able to trap the Drake against a rock side and caused a few wounds.

 Slowly, but surely the Goblin's superior numbers were telling against the Men and Elves, but there was a small glimmer of hope to be had. Despite Isildur getting bogged down by Goblin's, Elrond and the surviving Elves was able to keep the Drake pinned for one last round of combat.

 As the lines of Good finally collapsed, so to did the Drake, I got my monster kill for the tournament and Mike took his victory for the mission.

It was a great Game and a lot of fun to play Mike. Though I discovered his secret mission was actually get the Drake killed, I still claim a moral victory in my own mind. Mike's army was a joy to play against as well. So many cool and unique conversions, especially his tripped out Groblog with all of the bling.

Game 7 -Alfie

Final game and I was given another chance to correct passed failures. Game 6 awarded me my Drake's head trophy and now Alfie was stepping up to defend his victory from Day 1. I was happy to let him try as I'm always up for a rematch.

 For this Game we had to roll randomly to find out where our armies would arrive on the board. Luckily my forces all turned up in roughly the same area near a hill over looking the object at the center of the board. Though Alfies cavalry and chariots all turned up in the same place he was unlucky enough to have me choose the area. As a result his Army began to get in it's own way for the first couple of turns. Once clear of the woods though Alfie made straight for the center of the board, looking to get a repeat of our previous encounter.

 This time I had more luck with Elrond's magic and Alfie's heavy Cavalry dissolved into nothing without their horses. Soon only Amdur was left to face the vengeful Numenorians and Elrond.

 Isildur again sought to dismount the Khandish King from his chariot as Khandish reinforcements arrived to try and tip the balance...

 ...but it was not to be. In the closing stages, my luck had gone nuclear and I could not be stopped. Elrond and Isidur almost single handedly cleared up the rest of Alfie's army. The game ended Alfie was cleared off the board, but he didn't give up until it was truely over.

Whilst it was great to get my own back, Alfie made every attempt to take it back and never gave up. It just wasn't in the dice for him this time. With a win each, I'm looking forward to next year where I hope we'll meet again to see who wins our best of three.

And with the Games all rapped up, it was time to hand out the prizes and pick up some recruits for my next army. I'll not list all the winners as it's late, but everyone's well deserved moment of glory can be seen HERE far better than I could ramble about it. Thanks again to Matt for running the event and thanks to all of my opponents for 7 great games. Can't wait for more Middle-Earth goodness next year.