November 10th Battle Report: Host of the Witch King vs Minas Tirith 500pts

This Sunday we played a 500pt game that turned out to be quite good, and it was one of my first experiences playing the Host of the Witch King, so I wanted to share it. These were the armies we were using:

As you can see, my opponent brought 2 Bolt Throwers, and it would be crucial for my success this game to reduce the impact they had in the game. For scenario we rolled Domination. We placed the objectives; I tried not to skew them to one side of the board more than other. With this scenario being a 24" deployment, and him having the superior shooting, I was expecting to move deep into his side of the board, and therefore a balanced spread of objectives should be beneficial to me. Otherwise I was risking a bad deployment where my opponent would have a chance to hold more objectives on his side. I then won the roll for deployment, picked the side that I thought was the most defensibe and would've given the forces of MT a greater advantage, and deployed my fist warband. My opponent was able to deploy only his 2 Bolt Throwers first, revealing very little, and I decided to deploy my entire army together at the center, ready to charge into his territory. At the end of deployment, this is what things looked like:

The battle lines were drawn. His Bolt Throwers had decent vantage points to shoot from, especially the one that was located on the high ground. And thus the game started.

Turn 1: Priority Good. I called a Heroic March with my Captain, who was standing in a centralized position and would affect most of my battle line. After pondering his situation for a bit, my opponent chose to stand still. My line marched forward, getting very close to the enemy lines, making it so that next turn we would have combat. The Witch King cast Drain Courage on the Banner Bearer of Minas Tirith, and then one of the Dead Marsh Spectres was able to make him move to the back of the board. The Shooting Phase came around, and fortunately only one orc died. 

Turn 2: Priority Evil. The forces of Minas Tirith decide that they will hold their ground in their current position, and no heroic actions are called. The forces of Angmar crash into the the enemy battle lines, with their 3 heroes piling into the central portion, and some Orc Warriors engaging the Bolt Thrower's crew. Minas Tirith's standard bearer resists the effects of the Dead Marsh Spectres, but they're able to move a spear support out of position.  Before engaging the enemy Warriors, the Shadow of Rhudaur casts a Drain Courage on Faramir with a single Will and rolls a natural 6. However, Faramir decides to use only 1 point of Will to resist and also rolls a natural 6, countering its effects. The WK then also casts Drain Courage on Faramir, which is allowed to take effect, reducing his base courage to 5. 

By the end of Evil's move phase, pretty much everything is engaged. The banner goes back into posiiton, and Faramir decides to move away behind some ruins, to protect himself against future magic.

At the end of this turn, despite the Host's grand engagement, only one Good model had died (victim of the WK who was only able to charge a single model), and 2 more orcs had fallen to the shots of the Bolt Thrower.

Turn 3: Priority Evil. Again, the Good played finds his Captain isn't in a good position to call an effective Heroic Move, and decides to concede the movement priority. The WK charges into 2 models this time, looking to maximise his killing potential. On the way in he casts Black Dart onto the Banner Bearer and kills him. The Shadow of Rhudaur also chages into 2 models, and the Orc Captain follows suit, charging into a single Warrior of MT, and completing the battle line. The small contingent of orcs that's holding the gap to the right re-engage, ceding no ground to the forces of Minas Tirith, and again the Bolt Thrower that's sitting on ground level finds itself engaged. Faramir starts going the long way around, hoping to be able to influence the battle on the flank, away from the spellcasters from Angmar.

A total of 4 orcs die this turn. Two to shooting, one on the small gap to the right and one who was fighting with the Bolt Thrower crew over the wall. But this serves as little consolation, since the forces of Good lose 9 models this turn. The WK called a Heroic Combat, and had to use a point of might to finish off one of the Warriors of MT he was fighting, but managed to dispatch 4 models this turn. The Shadow of Rhudaur slays both Warriors he's engaged with, and the Captain also kills in his combat. Finally, one Warrior of MT is killed over the wall, and one more Warrior dies on the the gap to the right. The central battle line of the forces of Good has been comprehensively vanquished. 

The following pictures show what the state of the battlefield was at the end of the Move Phase, and then what it looked like at the end of the turn.

Turn 4: Priority Evil. With priorities going mostly the way of Angmar, the Captain of Minas Tirith finds himself forced to call a Heroic Move, attempting to stop the WK from continuing his rampage. The Orc Captain counter-calls, but the roll-off goes to Good. The Captain manages to tag the WK, and all the orcs on the right-hand gap get charged. The Orc Captain then moves into a Citadel Guard that had charged the Witch-king. The Shadow of Rhudaur charges 2 Citadel Guards, and the rest of the orcs re-engagewith the Bolt Thrower crew. Faramir sees an opportunity and charges one of the spear supports closer to his flank.

In the Fight Phase the WK must spend a point of might to win his combat, but then fails to wound, leaving him with no might and not much to show for it. By the end of this turn, only 2 more orcs had died; one to Faramir, and one to the Bolt Thrower. But the forces of Good again took a higher number of casualties with 5 dead. The Shadow of Rhudaur cut down 2, one of the Bolt Thrower crew members who had been valiantly withstanding the onslaught, and 2 Warriors fell in the combats over by the right hand side.

This is what the battlefield looked like at the end of turn 4. The forces of Good are only 2 models away from breaking.

Turn 5: Priority Good. The Shadow of Rhudaur calls a Heroic move, looking for the opportunity to catch Faramir flat-footed. However the Captain of Gondor counter-calls, and wins the roll-off. He then charges into the warg riders that were over on the left-side of the board, from Evil's perspective, looking to deal some damage, while simultaneusly getting away from the Evil Heroes. During Evil's Heroic Move, the Shadow engaged some of the Bolt Thrower's crew, also getting closer to Faramir. This allowed the WK to move to a position where he was in range to cast a spell on Faramir, and he used Black Dart with 3 will. The spell went off, but then failed to wound. The WK then found himself in the middle of the board, exposed to shooting, so a couple orcs were placed in the way for protection. Good then finished his move overloading the small contingent of orcs that were remaining on the right hand gap with his Captain and several troops.

The shooting phase is quite successful, taking out one of the orcs protecting the WK, and the WK's horse. He rolls a 1 on his thrown rider and almost dies, but is now prone on the ground. During the combat phase the forces of Evil take out one more model, leaving Minas Tirith one model away from breaking. Orcs also fall on the small contingent on the right, though the Captain loses his combat, and loses one Fate and one Wound. Faramir manages to win his combat against the warg riders, and strikes at the wargs. He spends one point of might to make sure he slays both wargs.

Turn 6: Priority Evil. Surprisingly, Faramir call a Heroic Move in order to charge the prone WK, but uses his last point of might to do this. During Angmar's move, The Shadow throws a Drain Courage at Faramir, reducing his base courage to 4 (though 3 while in range of The Shadow and the WK). He then attampts to jump over a wall and fails, rolling a 1. Then in an attempt to help the Witch-king, an orc charges Faramir, and 2 more run in to support the combat, along with the banner which stands nearby. Along the other side of combats, Evil manages to mostly plug the hole, using also the Spectre's special ability to interphere, delaying Good's advance towards the central objectives.

Getting closer to the end of the game, it's important to note that Evil holds the left objective, with his 2 now dismounted orcs, the back objective with a small contingent of orcs he sent early in the game and the central objective with a lone spearman. The right-hand objective is held by a Warrior of Minas Tirith. The objective that was placed closer to Good's side is now contested, being in range of the Bolt Thrower's crew and a fair number of Evil models.

In the shoot phase the Orc Captain cops a Wound, but passes his Fate. During the combat phase, Faramir loses his combat, and loses his horse to the orc's strikes. The Witch-king stands up. Few orcs fall on the other side of the battle. Evil starts to grow closer to breaking, and Good is still one model Away from breaking. Below, we can see Faramir's heroic charge at Angmar's leader.

Turn 7: Priority Evil. The forces of Angmar rush in to surround Faramir, the Captain of Gondor is in a dire situation. Again the center of the board is plugged by Evil. Some models are charged, and Spectre's are used along with a transfix in order to use Warriors of MT to block their allies.

Heroically, Faramir wins his combat, rolling 2 dice against the aproximately 10 of Evil, but fails to wound anything. The forces of Good keep pushing closer to the central objective, but their leader is bound to fall if he doesn't get some help.

Turn 8: Priority Good. The Shadow of Rhudaur calls a Heroic Move with the last point of might at the disposal of Angmar. This allows Evil to surround the Captain of Gondor. Again, Magic is used to control the advance of Good in the center. The Captain of Minas Tirith decides to move closer to Faramir, and some soldiers manage to tag some spear supports off of his combat, including the Banner Bearer.

The Good player chooses the order of combats, and attempts to kill the Banner Bearer before Faramir's combat. However, he fails at this, and then it's time for the Leader's combat. Outnumbered and surrounded, he falls, and this finally breaks the force of Minas Tirith.

Turn 9: Priority Evil. This priority is useful for the forces of Evil, as it allows them to tag the only Stand Fast left close to his troops. The WK makes a risky move as he charges into the opposing Captain, as he only has 1 Will left. Losing this combat means death to him. Other than that, The Shadow gets into a combat, but the rest of the Good force is left unengaged.

Predictably a large number of Warriors of MT flee, leaving them close to 1/4. Their advance on the central objective crumbles as most warriors there run away. Only one objective is solidly in control of Good, since the lone Warrior of MT on the right-hand objective passes his courage test.

Combats come around and the Witch-king slays the Minas Tirith Captain. This marks certain defeat for Good, and the Minas Tirith player forfeits. The final score wasn't tallied, but it was something around 9-2, with 3 objectives for Evil, one contested but leaning Evil, and the points for Leader kill and break. 2 points for Good for the right-hand objective.