This week, those violent, vengeful Dunlendings were back for more invasion. This time, they struck north to hammer the tottering kingdom of Arnor. On their way, they heard of treasures which they raced to grab. Arvedui, king of Arnor, had also heard of these caches and determined to secure them for his land.
The sides each had 600 pts and a mix of characters to aid achieving their aims. With deployment up to the centre line, each general seemed a bit uncertain about how aggressive to be. Dunland had more commands to stretch out deployment and they stacked their right flank.
Above, Arvedui's command has nothing before it - the Dunnish had used their higher commands well to stack their forces through effective deployment decisions. They would need to march hard to the relief of their centre and left.
The combined commands of the Dunlendings made an impressive battle line with their order - a phrase not normally associated with these barbaric tribesmen. Two swarms of crebain flapped about in addition to their human forces.
The central command was a body of riders for Dunland. This included their general.
A crebain took the above image. It shows the three commands of Arnor evenly spread across the bottom of the image while the Dunnish are amassed on the left with the cavalry in the centre. A shallow stream divided the battlefield. This immediately have Arvedui the willies as his line are not known for their proficiency in the pool.
With a blast of a warhorn, which no-one was actually carrying, the line surged forward promising death to people that rode horses - completely ignoring the fact their general was on a horse!
The small line of Arnor soldiers in the centre assessed the situation ... and began to draw back.
The Dunnish riders urged their mounts into the centre. From here, they could fall on the sides of the Arnor centre before Arvedui's command could intervene in the battle. They rode around an ancient barrow which one flock of crebain had perched atop.
While the Arnor centre moved back slowly, Malbeth didn't need his horoscope to figure out he needed to march quickly to form a more substantial battle line.
The Arnor centre fell back then halted at the small mound that held the rearmost of the treasures.
Acting with great rashness, Agardir (whose name shall henceforth be Agadoo) urged his mount into the centre. At first, he crashed into the Dunnish cavalry while they were in line. He slew his first opponent but in the following turn he was engulfed by the other cavalry. Both sides expended might but the Valar were not smiling this day on the reckless.
I knew this was a bad move from the start but just had a rush of blood and decided to throw caution to the wind. To make matters worse, Agadoo was worth added victory points in this scenario as the most expensive non-general hero on my side.
Thrydan called a heroic combat, slew one Arnorian knight who had ridden to the rescue, then hacked up Agadoo. A cloud passed over the sun and Agadoo knew his fate was at hand. He died under repeated axe blows from the furious Dunland chieftain.
Arvedui had also used might to hurry his forces across and rescue the bold, but rash, Agadoo. His footmen did slay some riders but it was not enough. Note the Agadoo shaped hole in the centre of the picture.
After this first rush of charge and counter charge, the meat and potatoes of the evening were about to be served. Above shows Arvedui has moved his band across while Thrydan and the remaining two Dunnish riders had withdrawn to threaten flanks and the objectives.
Malbeth had now formed a sturdy battle line and soon would have even more help.
The lines then clashed ... Arnor spears struck out rending gaps in the Dunnish line. The higher fight value led to many Arnor duel victories ... and the low Dunland defence saw their warriors dying with regularity. Alternatively, the high Arnor defence - further enhanced by their shield wall - meant Malbeth wasn't even using his foresight powers to save Arnorian lives.
Oh yes ... and on the matter of Malbeth! Like some sort of Dr Strange, Malbeth was gazing into too many futures and totally forgot about his ability to use his points to manipulate the initiative order of each turn. What a dunce! Exactly when I realised this, I'm not sure, but the battle was quite progressed. After I realised this, poor old Dunland barely won an initiative as Arnor could dominate the flow of the game.
For me, this is the time in all battles when MESBG looks the best! Its ability to recreate a Dark Age battle line donnybrook does the rules much credit in my eyes.
Above is a key image for several reasons. The Arnor banner has moved into a much better position to influence the fight. Also, Arvedui has splashed into the stream to threaten the flank of the Dunnish line. He was screaming with fear and prodded by his soldiers spears to overcome his fear of the water. "Isildur" is often a battle cry but this time Arvedui screamed, "Not like fucking Isildur" as he stood in the placid stream. He was pale and shaking and highly motivated to get out of the water.
Even though Arvedui wasn't knocked prone, I rolled a dice to see if he would be swept away on a 1. He wasn't.
Also, at the top of the above image, a skirmish has renewed with Thrydan's cavalry re-emerging to attack a small group of Arnor soldiers and one of their last knights. This was a see-sawing struggle which Thrydan was slowing winning but the high defence of Arnor made this an inexorable process.
Thrydan battled the dwindling central forces of Arnor.
But then, I marched more in. The Crebain was threatened and I fed soldiers into the cavalry - always keeping 3 on Thrydan to activate the shield wall rule. Malbeth's manipulation of the initiative continually gave the infantry time to charge the cavalry - this denied the riders their cavalry advantages against infantry. Thrydan grew more and more impatient by these turns of fate and his inability to pierce the Arnorian shields. Unfortunately for Thrydan, he has spent all his available stores of might early in the game to slay Agadoo.
The soldiers of Arnor are quite cheap (for what you get) and this drives up their model count. This is handy in situations such as the above. More troops are often on hand.
The Arnor line was clearly winning the central fight. Some Arnorians fell as the game wore on but many more Dunnish warriors had perished on their spear blades. The Arnor line was extremely durable. Arvedui, perhaps still shaken from his little dip, was less than inspiring in the fray.
The far left of the Arnor table saw little action. Two groups of two bowmen shot rather poorly at each other for some time. One Dunnish hobo lurked around their treasure mound. One Arnor knight repeatedly charged the crebain but for each bird he stabbed, more fluttered aside as he advanced.
If you peer closely through your palantir, gentle reader, you'll see a small scuffle on the left side of a wood's edge. A small group of 4 Arnor footmen pressed the flank of the Dunnish line. At first Dunland could oppose their advance but, after several turns, they would threaten the rear of the line and push toward the objective.
Broken by the prolonged clash of battle lines, Dunland drew back to try and organise a better defence. Arnor, urged by shouts of Arvedui - trying to put his shameful behaviour at the babbling brook behind him - pressed in to the front and both sides. Now there was no escape.
Key to this, rather surprisingly, was Arvedui. He finally found the sharp side of his sword and led a heroic combat to battered through to the Dunnish banner bearer who he easily slew. This sealed the rot for Dunland and their soldiers lost heart ... some literally.
In their final push, Arnor lost several brave soldiers but the Dunnish forces were routed. By this stage, Arnor contested the objectve shown, but had complete control over all other objectives. Thrydan had fallen late in the game after the three Arnorian warriors finally bested his duel roll and multiple spear stabs rent his armour and found his heart. His fate, like Agadoo's before him, deserted him at the last exposing him to cruel death. His forces were but a husk of their initial martial strength.
Arnor had suffered around 10 casualties but not enough to threaten their success. Although, their special hero was lost, and Arvedui has suffered a wound (your ward save, when finally needed, was pissweak you prognosticating punce, Malbeth!) all other sources of victory points had favoured Arnor. In the end, it was a significant victory to Arnor.
The Arnorian plan had reacted well to the initial deployment problem but my use of cavalry left much to be desired. I also, perhaps for the second time, was too focussed on killing crebain. These flocks are not as tough but can prove problematic if let unchecked. Bowfire did little all game - for either force. Once the battle line was formed, Arnor has clear advantages over Dunland in FV and defence, mainly, but also could match their numbers. Dunland does have quite a few minor heroes but these didn't seem too effective in breaking down the Arnor soldiers. These heroes are difficult to kill and must fight well to keep the rigidity in the Dunnish line.
Overall, the durability and numbers of Arnor were key. Malbeth's ability to gain the initiative also was important (once remembered) and his magic bubble didn't work today, but could easily add even more durability to Arnor. The list lacks a heavy hitter but today came up against a side with similar low to mid rank heroes. It was a good game but Arnor just seemed to have the advantages where it counted. Dunland acquitted itself better than its first outing but seems to be a problematic list through its low defence combined with an average fight value. However, their strength can be quite high (perhaps too generous a word ... ) so I'm sure, they'll have their day soon - something about wolves howling and shields breaking from memory.
