Clash of kings Tournament with the DC Hobbit League

One of our members, Chris H, contacted Devin of the DC Hobbit League and in conjunction the two devised a tournament to highlight mighty heroes.  This involved the generation of unique scenarios (pdf) which centered around the king in your army.  This was a charity event held at our awesome FLGS Battlegrounds, which opened early and provided us with exclusive use of as many tables as we needed.  We had a total of 14 players so we took over their tabletop room which has 8 6x4 tables.  Good enough for us.  I brought 2 dozen donuts from Sugar Shack which originated here in Richmond and we started gaming about 10am.
My army list:
Warband 1
The Knight of Umbar with Fell Beast;
6 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
6 Castellan of Umbar

Warband 2  
Suladân the Serpent Lord with Horse;
6 Serpent Guard
6 Castellan of Umbar

Warband 3
Haradrim Chieftain with Spear;
1 Haradrim Warrior with Banner;
11 Haradrim Warrior with Bow; Spear;

Warband 4  
Corsair Bo'sun with Spear;
1 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
5 Haradrim Warrior with Bow; Spear;
5 Corsair Reaver

51 models, break at 25, 16 bows with poison as well as some poison with the serpent guard.

The first game was the Behind enemy lines scenario, I faced Cole, who brought an army led by Gulahvar with a cave troll, 3 spectres and 8 orcs in his leaders war band, then a shade and more orcs and the dwimmerlaik and black numenoreans.   Made the mistake of casting too much too close to the dwimmerlaik and my Knight of Umbar went poof.  I reduced his leaders war band to 2 and I put two wounds on gulahvar, which ended up being regenerated ( more on this later ).  we totally calculated points wrong in this game.  We stated he scored 4 for killing my king ( although Cole did not, my king lost all his will and dissipated) and I scored 2 for killing more than half his kings war band.  I should have scored 2 more since I wounded his king, but forgot.  Goes to show you, read the scenario and calculate the points correctly.
Second game was the scenario grudge match, I played Joel B who brought Elrond on horse, storm caller, captain and a mix of kings guard and regular high elves.  We started with about six or seven rounds of our kings slapping each other and not wounding, managing to remove both of our heroes mounts.  In the end Elrond removed all the fate on my king and the knight of Umber had to limp off the field. Which he did, earning me five points.  I was going to keep my kings war band back but decided to risk them in order to garner more points. I then managed to kill half Joel's king's war band earning me a further 3 points.  No one was broken so I ended with 8 points.
Third game was Regicide, I played Jacob brought the mouth of sauron( king) 6 black numenoreans, 6 morannons w/ shield and spear, a dragon with fly and breathe fire, the dwimmerlaik on fell beast and an unnamed wraith on horse.  This scenario really hurt me due to my king not being able to kill things and the two wraiths attempting to sap will my king ( and the dwimmerlaks special rule would have cost roughly 50% more will to resist).I kept the dwimmerlaik tied up in the middle with all my bowman, while chasing his king with my other units.  Jacob moved his king and favorites into the corner, I did the same in my corner.  His dragon chewed on some harad/numenoreans while I tried to chase his king with reavers and more numenoreans. Between the wraiths, the dragon and their terror a lot of my models were frozen in fear.  I finally managed to get his king trapped next to a building but with only 4-5 units, while he still had his full war band ( and his king acted as a banner).  He tried like hell to kill suladan, but never pulled it off.  I could win some fights but could not kill very well.  Ended up zero zero, no one broken and I lost only one kings favorite( black dart).
Now during this game we realized that Gulavhar should not have regenerated wounds from throwing a model, which means my fights with Gulavhar in my first game should have gone differently and I probably would have killed him.  Oh well.
My last game was against Alex ( I think, I was pretty burned out by this point ) who brought Durburz, Gundabad captain and shaman, the spider queen and a drums, spiders, marauders and goblins.  First thing I did was try and shoot the spiders and kill the spider queen.  Two turns and the knight of umber killed the spider queen, I then lost the knight of umber after rolling two 1's for a fate roll.  That did not cost me points though. I knew losing my king was not points worthy for me and used him aggressively.  His shaman got off earthquake which was very effective at killing, I will watch out for that one in later games.  So I killed his highest point, non king model with my king and it was more than half my kings cost, plus his king was still alive at the end, earning me 7 points.  I almost broke him, one more turn and I would have, but we ran out of time.
Overall I earned a 3rd place, not bad, probably could have been higher had I paid closer attention to the scenario victory points.
I will link to photos when Devin post them
Thanks for reading.

So We are starting up a campaign

I tried to be creative, while keeping this not only simple but allowing everyone to play everyone else.  Basically not letting the map dictate who can fight who, but being a little restrictive to army lists.  I think I was successful (pats self on back).  I know there will be some kind of issue at some point, because, well I can not think of everything.

Campaign Proposal

Hero/Army selection

A player may pick an army from any of the currently available source books, with the following exceptions/additions(basically including The Hobbit armies into the sourcebooks profiles):

Angmar list: Azogs hunters, The trolls

Moria List: Goblin town

Durins Folk: Army of Thror

Eregion and Rivendell: Elrond's Household

Wanderers in the wild: Thorin's company, radagast's alliance

Rohan: Men of Dale

Once a player picks an army list, they may play any hero in that army and may ally with any other army list IN THAT SOURCE BOOK.  Ex.  If I pick Harad and Umbar, I may ally with any other list in the Fallen Realms source book, but not out of Mordor ( unless you have enough Kingdom Points, which we will cover later ).

The goal, like it is every thursday night, is to take over the world!  How do we do this?

Expansionism, Imperialism and Conquest!  The lands to the east and south of Mordor are ripe for the picking!  It is time to build your empire abroad and bring wealth and honor to your western kingdom.

The people who inhabit this eastern land are drawn to power, you must defeat your competition in combat in order to earn their trust, and more importantly their trade.  Every western lord is on a stealth campaign to gather as many trading partners as they can, without going to all out war with their neighbors back home.  To that end you are secretly fighting battles in the east, and, the politics in the western lands are tricky so neighbors come in and out of alliances as everyone strives to become the imperialist power in the east.

Each player starts out with a three hex area on the western side of “known” middle earth, these may never be lost to or annexed by another player.  To gain renown, and lands, your secret army must defeat your “friends” to gain hex tiles in the east.  Every hex tile brings one Kingdom Point, which are calculated every week, and are not cumulative.  You may freely swap tiles with other players,  negotiate at your own risk.

A win will allow players to claim up to three hex tiles that are unclaimed, a loss means you gain nothing.  If there are no free hex tiles that you wish to claim, you may annex up to 2 of another players hex tiles.   Players may also do both, a win will allow a player to annex 1 tile and grab 1 unclaimed tile.  That is it though, a ? v1(win) allows:

1)Grab up to 3 free tiles

2)Annex 2 of another players tiles

3)Annex 1 tile and claim 1 free tile

a 2(win)v ? allows:

1)The winners may grab up to 2 free tiles each

2)The winners may annex 1 tile

Hex tiles MUST be in groups of three or more to be stable.

But why annex then Jobu?  Well, if you win the next week after annexing tiles from another player, then you can annex another two or grab free tiles that connect to the annexed tile(s).  If the player does not win, or somehow negotiate a tile swap, those tiles revert back to free tiles.  Only tiles with some land on them may be claimed.  Open water may not be claimed unless it is an inland lake.

Each tile in your favor gains you 1 Kingdom Point (KP), at the end of the campaign the player with the most KP's win.  Kingdom points are calculated once a week, on friday.

What do KPs bring you?

They allow allies, they allow buying priority once a game, they allow an extra fate to be given to a unnamed/named hero, they allow you to deploy a specific terrain piece, and maybe something else if I can think of it.  You may only pick two of the following and they may not be from the same list:

1)A force of renown(based on # of models, no points values) allows allies outside the sourcebook, still limited to good with good and evil with evil:

Spend 3 KP's and you may ally up to 25% (or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 9 KP's and you may ally up to but not over 50% with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 15 KP's and you may ally up to 25%(or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using a named hero.

Spend 30 KP's and you may ally up to 50% with a named hero.

2)I swear it was Deja-Vu:

Spend 6 KP's and you may automatically have priority for one turn, must be used before priority dice are rolled – NO EXCEPTIONS

Spend 30 KP's and you may do it after the dice are rolled.

3)Luckiest Red Shirt:

Spend 3 KP's to give an unnamed hero an extra fate

Spend 20 KP's and give a named hero an extra fate

May only be given to native heroes. i.e. no allies

4)Brick in the wall:

Spend 3 KP's and you may remove one piece of native terrain from the table before armies have been deployed.

Spend 6KP's and you may place one small ( about the size of a DVD) non-native terrain piece anywhere on the board.

Spend 9 KP's and you may place one medium ( about 2x DVD ) non-native piece of terrain in your deployment area.

Fortunes/Fates

Hero of renown-You may nominate one hero in your army, that hero now acts as a banner for native troops( not allied ones).

Heroic Intervention-One nominated hero may call heroic fights without using any might.

Courageous charge-You may nominate one hero, during the game all units who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero will automatically pass all courage tests.

War Chant- You may nominate one hero, during the game all models who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero cause terror.

Faltering nerve-Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one enemy hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 4+ nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 3- the might does nothing and is lost.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Ancient Lore-If a model or hero is the victim of a magical power, any native or allied hero within 12 inches may expend will points to help the model resist, the dice are added to the regular resist roll.  This is only allowed to be spent to resist magical powers.

Good Counsel- Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one friendly hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 3- nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 4+ the might is free.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Counterspell-Nominate an enemy spellcaster, during the game if a spell is successfully cast that caster must reroll all the dice used to cast.  The second roll stands.

Mithril Coat-At the beginning of a turn declare this fortune/fate.  All wounds during the turn may be rescued on a roll of 5+.   Use this before rolling fate on heroes.

Rules Changes

From what I have heard, I do not have the Feb issue of white dwarf yet but apparently there is a 12:1 ratio of soldiers:heroes now, which is not too bad unless you are goblins, but then again a dragon probably counts as a hero.  There is also no type of alliance restrictions like in Legions of Middle Earth, at least not yet, that may be in the new rulebook.

Certain heroes allow certain units to be upgraded for a points cost, ala Grimbolds Helminggas and Mahurs Marauders.  The upgrade depends on the hero, I don 't know if there is the possibility to add two upgrades with two heroes.

Not crazy about the lack of list restrictions as in LoME, especially if there is not a bow limit.

WotR: Skirmish

These rules modifications are meant to play WotR without moving trays. Why?
1. Skirmish game looks better on the table top.
2. Skirmish game allows better integration of terrain.
3. The WotR rule book contains all the profiles whereas many SBG sourcebooks are no longer available.

The rules are changed as follow:
I. Companies & Formation (p24)
Movement trays are not used.
There are no facings.
All models within a formation must remain within 1” of another model of the same formation.
II. Dice and Measuring (p27)
Measuring is from each model.
III. Move Phase (p32)
No model may move more than its move allowance.
All models within a formation must remain within 1” of another model of the same formation.
IV. Shoot Phase (p36)
A. Calculate Number of Dice
Shooting Directly: Each model with line of sight and range to a target generate one shooting die.
Accuracy Bonus: Apply for every 8 infantry models shooting directly, 2 cavalry models shooting directly, or single monster model shooting directly.
Supporting Fire: For every 8 infantry models, 2 cavalry models, or monster model in the formation that cannot shoot directly but has range to the formation’s target, an extra shooting die is generated.
B. Removing Casualties
Casualty models to be removed must start with the model furthest away from any command model of the formation. A command model in the formation is any any upgrade listed in the Command Companies section (p60) and any epic hero in the formation.
An infantry formation reduced to four models or less is removed in total. A cavalry formation reduced to one model it must also be removed as casualty.
V. Charge Phase (p42)
Choose Spearhead. The spearhead must be a command model upgrade listed in the Command Companies section (p60) or any epic hero in the formation. If the formation does not have a command model or a hero, then the closest model to the charged formation is the spearhead.
Move Remaining Companies. Change to move remaining models.
VI. Fight Phase (p46)
A. Calculate Number of Dice
1. Fighting Directly: Each infantry or cavalry model in base to base contact generates one die. Each monster model in base to base contact generates a number of attach dice per its profile. Each Galadhrim Knight model generates two dice.
2. Combat Modifiers:
a. Charging infantry and monsters: +1 die for every eight models.
b. Charging cavalry and flying monsters against infantry and monsters: + 3 dice for every model
c. Charging cavalry and flying monsters against cavalry and flying monsters: +1 die for every model
d. Battle Skill: +1 for every fight value higher than charged model for every 8 charging infantry models, every 2 cavalry models, or every monster. In addition bonus dice are generated for the difference between single hero model fight value and the target formation fight value .
e. Unstoppable Charge: +D3 dice for every 8 charging infantry models, every 2 cavalry models, or every monster.
f. Disordered: the maximum number of dice for a disordered formation is 1 for every 8 infantry models, every 2 cavalry models, or every monster.
B. Removing Casualties
Casualty models to be removed must start with the model furthest away from any command model of the formation. A command model in the formation is any any upgrade listed in the Command Companies section (p60) and any epic hero in the formation.
An infantry formation reduced to four models or less is removed in total. A cavalry formation reduced to one model it must also be removed as casualty.