Battle of Five Armies- photo battle report!

I dusted off The Battle of Five Armies after a six year gap. This is a boardgame from Ares Games about the climactic battle of The Hobbit. The Shadow forces are sweeping down onto an alliance of Men, Elves, and Dwarves at the foot of the Lonely Mountain. There are a number of key areas to be controlled, but they are too far apart to support each other. If the Free Peoples can hold on, more help will arrive. Bolg, the leader of the Shadow force, must press the attack in a battle of attrition...

Read on, and click to embiggen! The vantage point is from over the Eastern Spur looking south across the valley, as the Shadow (played by yours truly) sets its eyes on the Front Gate to the west...

The Shadow vanguard pours towards the Running River from the broken lands.

Warg riders sweep towards the lightly-held fords.

The Lakemen are pushed back towards the ruins of Dale.

Dale is captured but a force including Dain counterattacks.

The counterattack is successful but costly as Dain falls.

Dale falls to the orc vanguard a second time.

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Gandalf and Thranduil attack from the south and retake Dale.

The next orc wave threatens Bard's position on the Eastern Spur.

Can Gandalf's blast of magic save Bard and Bilbo?

Bard dies at his post after inflicting heavy casualties. Bilbo escapes using his Ring.

The Free people regroup at the Camp, and Dale is threatened again.

The ruins of Dale fall to the Shadow a third time.

Gandalf and Thranduil sally forth to save Dale again.

A desperate new wave of orcs approach.

Bolg himself attacks Dale as a splinter group take the Lower Slopes.

The southernmost orcs take Ravenhill.

The strong elf counterattack is temporarily repulsed.

Bold manoeuvers on the Eastern Spur as Gandalf
retakes the position and the Camp is threatened.
Dale has fallen to the Shadow a fourth time!

Thranduil dies but saves the Camp.

Gandalf retakes Dale as the last orc assault runs out of steam. The Shadow loses!

Having not played this for many years, I was impressed with how much fun we had. The clashes are many and mostly predictable with enough room for chance, while cards and action dice add thematic events and uncertainty as to your opponent's options. Combined arms attacks and choice of terrain give you a slight advantage. Meanwhile, reinforcing an area or pressing an attack leaves other areas denuded and inviting for counterattacks. The ruins of Dale exchanged hands so many times!

As the Shadow player, I was hoping to get goblins pouring out of hidden mountain passes in a bold flanking manoeuvre, but this never eventuated. I was keenly aware that if I dilly-dallied, powerful allies like the Lord of the Eagles, Beorn and Thorin Oakenshield would absolutely ruin my day. This meant that I had to press the attack rather than build up my forces. The outcome was never certain, and we both thought the other would prevail at different times in this desperate battle.

The Shadow's brief high-water mark was at 12 Victory Points after the taking of Ravenhill, but this was reduced to 4VPs at game's end. Holding 10VPs at the end of a turn will win the Shadow the game.

I hope you can appreciate what a fun story this refight told!

Postscript:

My opponent, Amnese, has published a 20 minute comparison of Battle of Five Armies and War of the Ring on his YouTube channel:

Check it out!

One Gandalf, many Gandalves

I was painting up Gandalf from Journeys in Middle-Earth: Shadowed Paths, and thought I would dig up other Gandalves I have procured over the years. I was a little shocked to find how many I have... and I also found two unfinished Gandalves that I had to complete.

All the Gandalves

Gandalf the Grey

I prefer the weary and grandfatherly Grey Pilgrim to the more proactive White Wizard incarnation. My older paintjobs worked up from black, but my new ones work from a mid-grey washed down with black shades and more highlights. My new ones include FFG's Shadowed Paths Gandalf, and the plastic Gandalf from GW's Thorin's Company. I like his fingerless gloves and silver scarf, but he doesn't have my favoured staff with the gnarled knob.

GW Fellowship of the Ring metal 2001

GW Escape from Orthanc metal 2001

GW Battle at Khazad-dûm metal 2002

GW Mines of Moria plastic 2005

These are my two new Gandalves, painted this week:

GW Thorin's Company plastic 2012

FFG Shadowed Paths

Gandalf the White

I'm very happy with Gandalf on Shadowfax, which is a great sculpt. It was a good exercise in shades of white with cream or grey undercoats.

GW metal 2002

I am underwhelmed with this pose. I painted the face and hair years and years ago, but finished him this week.

GW metal 2003

Little Gandalves

These are from Ares Games' War of the Ring and Battle of the Five Armies.

Bonus Wizard

Here's a plastic Empire Grey Wizard, which I painted during GW's Red Period in the mid 90s.

Balrogs have wings- a proof in three parts

The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.

JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring. (1954)

"Do Balrogs have wings?" is the question that tears the Tolkien community apart. But I have proof that they do:

The Balrog from Lords of Middle-Earth:

The Balrog from Journeys in Middle-Earth:

The Balrog from GW's Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game:

The Balrog family

Q.E.D.

The GW/ Weta Balrog is a massive beast I'm very proud of. The new FFG one is a poor cousin, but I gave it a good shot with the painting and 40mm basing- and I’m very happy with how it came out.

I started from a white undercoat. I painted up from yellow through orange to red, as shown here. I wanted the chest to be blazing and the extremities less so, with the eyes and mouth white-hot. I left the weapons a pale yellow.

Then I slapped on a lot of Vallejo Burnt Red, leaving the flames in the recesses. I then mixed in a bit of black and went over it again, in a reverse-highlight up to black. A light targeted drybrush of grey brought out a little detail.

Then I painted all the flames white, and brought them up again with the yellow-orange-red-black sequence.

It wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be. My GW Balrog took much longer when I painted it about fifteen years ago, using a similar sequence but without the deep red. My new one is more of a dark brown than a black,  and it looks fine.

War of the Ring epic game report with photos

I dusted off War of the Ring last weekend- I hadn't played it in three years. I printed out some excellent aide-memoirs from Universal Head as well as a 3D Mount Doom from Thingiverse, and set it up. I was The Shadow, Amnese was the Free Peoples.

The Shadow has to crush Middle Earth militarily or corrupt the Ringbearer, whilst the Free Peoples have to endure as the Ringbearer creeps to Mount Doom. It is an engrossing race against time, as concentrating on one aspect allows your opponent to get ahead in the other.

The pressure was on the Fellowship as the Nazgûl found them early, having taken the High Pass. Strider died protecting the hobbits.

Fellowship tries to sneak over the High Pass.

Saruman declared his allegiance with a successful assault at the Fords of Isen, following up with a siege at Helm's Deep.

Saruman seizes the Fords of Isen.

The Fellowship remained in dire straits, as both Boromir and Gandalf the Grey died. However, Gandalf the White then appeared in Lórien. Meanwhile, an evil army marched north from Dol Guldur to threaten the Woodland Realm.

Fellowship limps past Lórien.

The Fellowship broke, and Gollum led Frodo and Sam towards Gondor...

Breaking of the Fellowship.

... where a mighty horde bore down upon Minas Tirith. After a devastating journey, the Ringbearer rested here for several turns, giving The Shadow time to manoeuvre his armies.

Hobbits get only brief respite in Minas Tirith.

Helm's Deep finally falls after a bloody siege.

Saruman gloats as Helm's Deep is his.

Osgiliath falls, and Minas Tirith is besieged as Gandalf commands the defenders.

The hammer falls on Gondor.

Minas Tirith falls to the Witch King and Gandalf the White perishes.

Minas Tirith under siege.

But the hobbits sneak through the encircling armies...

Taking the Morgul path.

...and begin to climb Mount Doom.

On the slopes of Orodruin.

The Shadow pushes the Gondor remnants back to Dol Amroth.

Fall back to Dol Amroth!

Capitalising on a tactical error, Southrons seize Lórien. Edoras falls to Isengard. Shadow Victory is imminent!

Lórien is ravaged.

And then Frodo, aided by Samwise and Gollum, destroys the Ring of Power. Middle-earth is saved!

It is done.

Cue stirring music! I really like this game, and it is a pleasure to play with painted figures. Inspired, I went home and slapped paint on Mount Doom.

As the Shadow, I'm always aware that I can have certain victory ripped away from me by insignificant Shirefolk. I built up some big armies that took terrible losses as I drove them across Middle-earth. I put great pressure on the Fellowship, killing Gandalf and Strider and Boromir. The winning action was statistically unlikely but thematic- we worked out afterwards there was a 10% chance of Free People victory and a 90% chance of Shadow victory, hanging on a chit draw from a cup.

The unsung heroes were the defenders of Dol Amroth. They blunted the Witch King's offensive which, if successful, would have won me the game whilst Frodo was only halfway up the mountain.

The game took three hours. I didn't add in the expansions, because I'm not really familiar with the new rules. 

Highly recommended.