10mm Fantasy Battle - LotR (sort of)
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 8:14 pm
Here is a Battle Report of an experiment I just ran. I have a lot of old Warmaster and Warmaster Ancients 10mm stands. Most were built for a large Battle of the Pellenor Fields game I planned almost 20 years ago. The Orcs are pure Warmaster basing which means all cavalry face the short side. The rest are a combination - I converted to Warmaster Ancients at some point which has different types of cavalry. All are on 40mmx20mm bases.
For basing, I decided I would use two basings - 40x20 for all infantry and Jav Cav. 40x40 for Knighs, Hordes, Trolls (elephants), and artillery (you have to imagine for the artillery since I only have one). This allowed me to simply double up the 40x40 bases. I decided not to try to pretend they were on anything else because I wanted to see how it worked.
I used straight Triumph rules for this with Trolls = Elephants. I used the general stands (25mm circle) to mark the general - they don't actually play any part.
Armies:
Gondor/Rohan
3x Knights - Theoden is general
2x Jav Cav
1x Elite Foot (tower guard of Minis Tirith)
4x Heavy Foot
2x Archers
2x Horde
Orcs
2x Elite Foot (Black Orcs) - general
2x Jav Cav (wolf riders) - Note: these look like they are sideways because of the Warmaster basing - just go with it
6x Warband (Orcs)
2x Hordes (goblins/lesser orcs)
2x Elephants (Trolls)
1x Chariot (wolf chariot)
1x Artillery
One note - I made a ton of mistakes, both rules and strategy. This was mostly an experiment. I deployed what I thought looked cool and don't have any experience with some of the troop types (Warband, Elephants, Artillery, Chariots) so you'll see my knights and jav can doing completely the wrong thing and then trying to adjust. I also deployed the Horde and Elephants in exactly the wrong way - ate up a lot of command points. I didn't use any terrain just because I wanted to see how the combats worked and wanted to eliminate a variable.
Pictures at deployment:
Turn 1 - 2
Mostly just moving up the Orc army. Gondor sent jav cav around the flanks. Also sent one Knight to their left flank
Turn 3
Orcs sent their faster warband up ahead to set up a charge next turn. Gondor attacked the chariot with Jav Cav to no good result. They sent a Jav cav to deal with the artillery and set up the knight to deal with the Trolls next turn. The also move their line up so they could shoot.
Turn 4 - Orcs
Artillery shot the Jav Cav off the table - first casualties. Some combat happened. I made one mistake - I kept forgetting that the Trolls were "mounted" - they should have shattered the archers.
Turn 4 - Gondor
Realised that Knights shouldn't be fighting Trolls (Elephants) so attempted to withdraw them. Same with Jav Cav and Chariots - got out of ZOC. Backed up some Orcs with shooting and lost the archers to Trolls. Tower Guard managed to kill an Orc Warband (I think I forgot to follow up).
Turn 5 - Orcs
Charged forward. Trolls into knights. Artillery killed the horde on the Orc right. Looking good for the Orc right now.
Turn 5 - Gondor
Got the knights out of there. Otherwise mostly uneventful. I think the Heavy Foot beat back the trolls. Didn't do a picture here.
Turn 6 - Orcs
Turned the Trolls on the flank of the Heavy Foot, they were beat but not killed. Lost a Warband to the archers.
Turn 6 - Gondor
Started switching flanks with the Jav Cav (to deal with the Trolls) and Knights. Sent a Knight to deal with the Chariot. Moved Theoden and his knights into a gap to get them stuck in next turn.
Turn 7 - Orcs
Moved the line up including the general with Elite Foot into the Knights with general - yeah, that wasn't smart - they died.
Turn 7 - Gondor
Continuing the over-aggressive non-sense, Theoden charge the flank of the Warband and killed it - they stayed where they are because of the stand behind them - I think I did that right. Knights charge the Chariot and locks. It is 10-13 at this point (Orcs lost 13)
Turn 8 - Orcs
Theoden's aggressiveness backfires, and he's lost because he has no place to fall back. The Tower Guard are also beat and shattered by the warband. End of game: 17-13.
I think the experiment worked. Everyone on 20mm deep bases didn't cause a big issue, neither did the 40mm deep knights. It was fun using troop types that I have never used before and a good learning experience. I like the look of the 10mm figs.
For basing, I decided I would use two basings - 40x20 for all infantry and Jav Cav. 40x40 for Knighs, Hordes, Trolls (elephants), and artillery (you have to imagine for the artillery since I only have one). This allowed me to simply double up the 40x40 bases. I decided not to try to pretend they were on anything else because I wanted to see how it worked.
I used straight Triumph rules for this with Trolls = Elephants. I used the general stands (25mm circle) to mark the general - they don't actually play any part.
Armies:
Gondor/Rohan
3x Knights - Theoden is general
2x Jav Cav
1x Elite Foot (tower guard of Minis Tirith)
4x Heavy Foot
2x Archers
2x Horde
Orcs
2x Elite Foot (Black Orcs) - general
2x Jav Cav (wolf riders) - Note: these look like they are sideways because of the Warmaster basing - just go with it
6x Warband (Orcs)
2x Hordes (goblins/lesser orcs)
2x Elephants (Trolls)
1x Chariot (wolf chariot)
1x Artillery
One note - I made a ton of mistakes, both rules and strategy. This was mostly an experiment. I deployed what I thought looked cool and don't have any experience with some of the troop types (Warband, Elephants, Artillery, Chariots) so you'll see my knights and jav can doing completely the wrong thing and then trying to adjust. I also deployed the Horde and Elephants in exactly the wrong way - ate up a lot of command points. I didn't use any terrain just because I wanted to see how the combats worked and wanted to eliminate a variable.
Pictures at deployment:
Turn 1 - 2
Mostly just moving up the Orc army. Gondor sent jav cav around the flanks. Also sent one Knight to their left flank
Turn 3
Orcs sent their faster warband up ahead to set up a charge next turn. Gondor attacked the chariot with Jav Cav to no good result. They sent a Jav cav to deal with the artillery and set up the knight to deal with the Trolls next turn. The also move their line up so they could shoot.
Turn 4 - Orcs
Artillery shot the Jav Cav off the table - first casualties. Some combat happened. I made one mistake - I kept forgetting that the Trolls were "mounted" - they should have shattered the archers.
Turn 4 - Gondor
Realised that Knights shouldn't be fighting Trolls (Elephants) so attempted to withdraw them. Same with Jav Cav and Chariots - got out of ZOC. Backed up some Orcs with shooting and lost the archers to Trolls. Tower Guard managed to kill an Orc Warband (I think I forgot to follow up).
Turn 5 - Orcs
Charged forward. Trolls into knights. Artillery killed the horde on the Orc right. Looking good for the Orc right now.
Turn 5 - Gondor
Got the knights out of there. Otherwise mostly uneventful. I think the Heavy Foot beat back the trolls. Didn't do a picture here.
Turn 6 - Orcs
Turned the Trolls on the flank of the Heavy Foot, they were beat but not killed. Lost a Warband to the archers.
Turn 6 - Gondor
Started switching flanks with the Jav Cav (to deal with the Trolls) and Knights. Sent a Knight to deal with the Chariot. Moved Theoden and his knights into a gap to get them stuck in next turn.
Turn 7 - Orcs
Moved the line up including the general with Elite Foot into the Knights with general - yeah, that wasn't smart - they died.
Turn 7 - Gondor
Continuing the over-aggressive non-sense, Theoden charge the flank of the Warband and killed it - they stayed where they are because of the stand behind them - I think I did that right. Knights charge the Chariot and locks. It is 10-13 at this point (Orcs lost 13)
Turn 8 - Orcs
Theoden's aggressiveness backfires, and he's lost because he has no place to fall back. The Tower Guard are also beat and shattered by the warband. End of game: 17-13.
I think the experiment worked. Everyone on 20mm deep bases didn't cause a big issue, neither did the 40mm deep knights. It was fun using troop types that I have never used before and a good learning experience. I like the look of the 10mm figs.
