Great Battles of History: The Battle of Five Armies (What do you mean it's fictional? Shame on you!)

The Wood Elves of Mirkwood Forest, under the command of King Thanduril and accompanied by Thorin Okenshield attempt to stem the tide of the Evil (BWAH HAH HAH) onslaught.

Over the Christmas break Honorable Son #5 (The Skirmisher) and myself played an oldie but goodie: Games Workshops' The Battle of Five Armies. The Battle of Five Armies using the Warmaster rules concept, one of the more innovative sets of rules developed. We see its influence, combat and activation system in many subsequent rules that have been written. Sadly, it is out of production.

The Field of Battle.

The scenario is faithful to The Hobbit and is one of the most play balanced games I have ever participated. I have played the Evil Side (BWAH HAH HAH!) and the Forces of Good equally and I win, with both sides, about 50% of the time. In addition the game is a nail biter just like in The Hobbit. And with the 10 mm figures it looks like there are actual units lined up ready to fight.

"Halt!" cried Gandalf, who appeared suddenly, and stood alone, with arms uplifted, between the advancing dwarves and the ranks awaiting them. "Halt!" he called in a voice like thunder, and his staff blazed forth with a flash like lightning. "Dread has come upon you all! Alas! It has come more switly than I guesses. The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the North is coming!

For this iteration I was going to be the Wood Elves, the Dwarves, the men of Lake Town and the Eagles. Honorable Son #5 (The Skirmisher) would be the Goblins, Wargs, and Goblin Riders (BWAH HAH HAH).

Dain of the Iron Hills.

King Thanduril, father of Legolas, of the Wood Elves.

King Bard of River Town, the Slayer of Smaug.

The Elvish Army deploy on the Eastern Spur to the right of Thorin's Gate.

In the scenario, all of the Forces of Good (except the Eagles and Beorn) are deployed while the Army of Bolg deploys his Wargs and Wolf riders. The Goblin infantry each turn must roll a six sided die to determine how many goblins units arrive. Traditionally they arrive helter skelter allowing the Forces of Good time to deploy, disrupt attacks and buy time for the Eagles and/or Beorn to show up.

Thorin's Gate.

Thorin and Company. Once Thorin Oakenshield passes a command roll, the gate comes crashing done and the mighty warrior and fellow companions enter the fray.

The Dwarven Army under Dain Ironfoot and the men of Lake Town under the command of King Bard await the enemy onslaught.

Usually when I play the Forces of Good I am more cautious as it is easy to get overwhelmed or outflanked by the faster Wargs and Wolf riders. This time I decided to be more agressive, advance with all of my forces and combine them near the ford and wait for the Eagles and /or Beorn to show up.

Bolg.

Bolg and his bodyguard marching through the ruins of Dale.

To make a long story short; for once the goblins moved onto the table like maniacs. The Forces of Evil (BWAH HAH HAH!) fought a sacrificial delaying action to keep the men and dwarves out of the main battle (and I had trouble getting the men and dwarves activated!). The Elves were left to face the full fury of Bolg and the goblins in the open. The Eagles and Beorn never showed up. It was not pretty but we went down fighting!

What the Eagles look like.

Beorn. He is like a panzer tank going through butter if he arrives.

Here are some pictures from the battle:

A hearty handshake, some laughter and another game well done. Now where is my ring, pipe and hot chocolate?

 

Favorite Games: Oldhammer (Warhammer)

I saw an article the other day about how us "Boomers" loved the old Warhammer which is now referred to as Old Hammer. Dang how I loved this game; according to the article we could not adapt (even though most of my "boomer" friends also like other skirmish games!). For me Warhammer 4th Edition, and then 6th Edition was the fantasy big battle game (we will talk about Warmaster later!). An innovative concept provided everything you needed straight from the box: two armies, rules, terrain, etc. Everyone has an opinion on the rules and I personally felt it reached its epitome with Edition 6: Heroes and Monsters were Heroes and Monsters but you still needed an army to win.

 Who doesn't like trolls? Just lay off those Billy Goat jokes that make them mad.

I was never a tournament player searching for that "perfect" army. I was the guy who saw something and thought to myself. "Self, that will look cool in such and such army." I was lucky that I had my 5 Honorable Sons who liked to play plus several friends who were not into the tournament aspect of the game. By the way, I'm not criticizing tournaments, just not my thing.

Yikes! Night Goblins!

Then came the other editions (sigh) which just didn't feel right to me.. Some of the models were great, the prices rose (I know, the purpose of a business is to make money), and unfortunately for me, all of the armies became too "gothic" with a definite feel of darkness. Suddenly the new Warhammer wasn't fun. With the drop in sales of "big battle" fantasy games (though I would still argue that the prices and not giving the consumer what they wanted) turned Warhammer into the monstrosity that is the "Age of Sigmar." Needs more skulls. (Just my opinion that others also share - I also know some guys and gals that love the Age of Sigmar)

 The Empire to the rescue!

 The Imperial Knights Panther.

 Artillery is cool.

Anyway, the armies my Honorable Sons and I did were the Orks and Goblins, The Empire, The Kingdom of Bretonnia, the High Elves and the Dwarves.

Of course you have to have Knights and a Jester for the Royal Army of Bretonnia.

Stout Men-at-Arms.

 Speaking of Stout - who doesn't love Dwarves?

 Dwarf Troll Slayers or maybe football hooligans. I'm not sure which.

The Grey Beards. "The Orks and Goblins were bigger, smellier, and meaner in the ole days."

 It was a good run but now the White Dwarf and Josef Bugman have one last toast for an epic Fantasy Game . . .

The two veteran warriors meet to have one last toast . . .

 Josef sighs, "Who would have thought that we would have to fight Chaos Space Marines now?"

 "I know . . . I laughed silly when I saw the Space Marines on our side!"

 "Back in the day those Chaos Space Marines were a lot tougher . . . these new ones have round bases!  They have no rank bonus and will be easy to cleave in two! "

Well . . . at least the XXX Brew is still a trade secret!

 Oh well, to each his own. My preferred rules for Fantasy Gaming is now the wonderful Dragon Rampant by Daniel Mersey. I usually don't editorialize on my blog but now I'm inspired to show off my "old" Warhammer armies - a separate entry for each! See you next time.