Monday 10 December 2012

The Hobbit: SBG Harad Invasion


"And only the heathen Kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus, slaying themselves in pride and despair, murdering their kin to ease their own death."          

                                                   Gandalf the White, The Lord of the Rings

This weeks battle saw SouthernDunedain and Muppetslayer from the onering forum attend the club.

The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game Rule Book
It was our first battle using the new Hobbit SBG rules, which has recently been released by Games Workshop.

The battle was 1000pts per side with Muppetslayer commanding the evil side of Harad.  The Harad army was led by the Betrayer with support from Suladan the Serpant Lord, 12 Harad Abrakhan Guard, 12 Watchers of Karna and a shade for good measure - this part of the army was to face me (dwarves).
The second half of Harad had The Golden king of Harad lead another 12 Harad Abrakhan Guard, 12 Watchers of Karna, task master and a shade - this was a very impressive, all metal army!

SouthernDunedain fielded the Galadhrim - with Thranduil, Rumil, Galadhrim warriors, Guards of the Galdhrim Court, two banners, Storm Caller and a few wood elves for good measure.

My Dwarven army was led by Gimli with 12 Khazad Guards, Floi Stonehand the Loremaster of Moria with Dwarf warriors 6 with two handed axes and 6 with shields, the flank of my army had a captain, banner and 12 Dwarf Kinband warriors.

THe battle was fought on the snow board (having agreed dwarves v goblins), but the Harad just had to be used and the desert board was already in full swing of 40K.

The dice was rolled and the scenario was set, "To the Death"....


Hobbit SBG - Harad v Elves and Dwarves

Hobbit SBG - Elves and Harad advance

Hobbit SBG - Harad March on Gimli and the Dwarven army

Hobbit SBG - Floi and the Dwarf warriors make slow progress across the snow

Hobbit SBG - Harad Abrakhan Guard look huge against the small Dwarves


Hobbit SBG - Suladan and the Betrayer steady the Abrakhan Guard
and the Watchers of Karna
Hobbit SBG - Harad Army impressively advance and shoot at the Dwarves

Hobbit SBG - The Golden King of Harad orders the advance
and the Task Master sets the army  into action


Hobbit SBG - Gimli Son of Gloin leads the deadly Khazad Guards to
meet the Betrayer and the Harad Army

Hobbit SBG - Dwarf warriors and Khazad Guard push forward

Hobbit SBG - Floi 

Hobbit SBG - Dwarf Army
Hobbit SBG - Galadhrim Army look towards
Harad and the Golden King

Hobbit SBG - Elves and Harad engage - fighting is tough and the
shade just out of view is proving its worth and allows Harad
to get the better of the elves

Hobbit SBG - Elven Command push forward


Hobbit SBG - Dwarven legs take an age to cross the field and still have not
engaged the enemy who are still shooting  at the
Dwarves to try to whittle them down... (dwarves with shields!)

Hobbit SBG - Floi tries negating the Shade... 

Hobbit SBG - Harad finally hit and kill a dwarf who had
stopped to do his boot laces up!

Hobbit SBG - Finally the Khazad Guard and Abrakhan Guard meet
and fighting



Hobbit SBG - The remaining Dwarf army waits to support the
Khazad Guard

Hobbit SBG - The Elves are fighting it out, let down by the poor bow fire
they are struggling to beat the Harad army with the shade...
"Rolled a 6, but you still can't win!"

Hobbit SBG - Gimli and Suladan meet in the first fight with Gimli
transfixed by the Betrayer I had to roll a nifty 6 to save a wound and his life!

Hobbit SBG - The first round between Harad and the Dwarves is more like
a game of slap as neither side take many loses

Hobbit SBG - The Elves on the other hand are being punished by the shade

Hobbit SBG - Finally Floi stops the Shade and the Dwarves start hitting
to kill on the Abrakhan Guard

Hobbit SBG - It's looking like a close call with Harad and the Elves,
even the Golden King pushes the advance and Harad swamp
the out numbered Galadhrim

Hobbit SBG - The cold may have started to affect the Harad army

Hobbit SBG - The Dwarves are now dominating the Harad army
and are taking very few casualties, they simply are refused to die

Hobbit SBG - Gimli now has his sights set on the Betrayer and uses his last
Will point to stop him from  successfully casting Transfix again...



Hobbit SBG - Floi targets the Shade while the Khazad Guard mop up

Hobbit SBG - Rumil and Thranduil are in the thick of it,
desperately trying not to loose  

Hobbit SBG - Rumil and Thranduil are slain and the
Elves look unlikely to last another round

Hobbit SBG - The Khazad Guard seem unstoppable as they plough
through the Harad lines and pour around the flanks killing all in their path




With no more time left the battle ended. 

We added up the casualties... Harad were broken having lost over half of their force and loosing Suladan, the Elves lost Rumil and Thranduil so the final score was 7-4 - Victory for the forces of good (Harad claimed it was the unexpected snow that put them off!). 

I hoped you enjoyed the battle report - please join the site and get up dates on more to come soon.

We are about to start playing LOTR SBG - both skirmish battles and walk through the books/films each Monday night and WotR on club nights.

We welcome anyone interested in playing The Hobbit SBG, Lotr SBG, WotR or any warhammer/40K battle - why not let us know so that we can arrange some starter battles, like the one above, or if you/your club want to challenge us. We have all the LOTR/Hobbit SBG figures and LOTR scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep, snow fields to desert boards ready and waiting.  

Why not join our watch list for updates and look out for Easters weekend battle event... two days of fighting in the ruins of Osgiliath, Helms Deep and Far Harad, you cannot afford to miss it.
Feel free to email us to come along or arrange a game.

East Grinstead War Gaming club 
Sussex

6 comments:

  1. I have found the Shade to really be worth its points helping evil battlelines! Must admit I wouldnt have themed it with Harad though! But allying is freely possible in the game...
    Clever use of Floi to nullify the Shade.

    Surprised Thranduil went down. I would expected his Natures Wrath to have knocked the evil battleline flying? Then with a bunch of prone 'trapped' models the good guys could have got ahead here?

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  2. Hi Scott

    It was a really fun game with two experienced players. I loved the theme of Harad, but the elves were simply disappointing, although there has to be a balance between heros, banners and troops... They were out numbered from the start.

    All-in-all a good and fun game!

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. I am guessing you used the new Hobbit rules... how did you find them, in terms of new heroic actions, monsters, spells and weapon abilities...?

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  3. Hi Scott,

    Yes we did play the new Hobbit rules - the core rules are very much the same - there are a few changes here and there and a few bits added and few bits removed - which changed how we used our armies (no volley fire for example).

    We didn't get a chance to use monsters, but maybe during the next battle we will! I will update the next battle report and comment on the flow with the new rules...

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  4. Your Welcome - look out for more uploads this week end, finally finished my Cirith Ungul army and there will be battle report from Dol Guldor, as well as some scenery updates on the Escape from Goblin Town...

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