Tiny Tolkien

On New Year’s Eve Gus Woodward ran his long-awaited 6mm scale Battle of the Five Armies (or Battle of the Six Armies as there were enough Orcs for two Orc commands under Hordes of the Things).

The forces of Evil were commanded by Andy Sangar (the Wargs), Ron Pearce (Orcs) and Nathan Halliwell (more Orcs).  The Goodly Men of the West were Robin Woodward (The Dwarves), Richard Sangar (The Elves of Mirkwood) and Jamie Crawley (The Men of Esgaroth).  I made tea and coffee, took photographs, and gave rules advice.

The battlefield featured the ruins of Dale (foreground), the gates of the city under the mountain (middle distance, right), and the mostly dammed River Running (middle distance).

Gus’s armies are based on 15mm style bases (40mm frontage) with large number of figures on each base - about 30 in each Horde element.

The massed Wargs were led by a nameless Goblin Hero.

In the centre, the Orcs discovered why it’s best not to send Warband into a stand-up, good-going fight with Elven Knights.

On the Orcish right the mysterious Beorn (a God under HOTT rules in this game) appeared...  

... and then he rolled a 1 and left, presumably remembering that he had some honey to eat back at home.  Still, Jamie still had another God (the Eagles) to call upon.  They surely would be more effective.

On the Orcish left a massively bloody fight developed between Dwarves and Wargs.  The Goblin Hero leading the Wargs killed Thorin Oakenshield and then fought Dain of the Iron Hills (the Dwarven Hero General).  The result was a tie on an odd number leading to both Heroes dying in the combat!  

The loss of Dain pushed the Dwarves over 50% casualties leaving them as a Demoralised Command.  The loss of their own General could have demoralised the Wargs but Andy threw a six on their next PIP roll so the wolves fought on.

The battle then hung on whether the forces of Evil cold seize the treasure locked up under the Lonely Mountain.  Andy managed to get a lone unit of Wargs into contact with the goodly stronghold but they lost the contact and were then killed by Elven Knights.  Nathan nearly got there with two units of Goblin wolf-riders.  One unit was destroyed by Gandalf’s magic (a timely 6:1) and the other was unsuccessful in its single attack on the walls.  


Oh, and the Eagles:  they arrived and then Jamie immediately rolled a one and they decided they weren't needed.  So quickly were they gone in fact that I didn't get a photograph.

Finally, Grogg, the Orcish commander-in-chief, was fought off and killed by Gandalf working in tandem with some Elvish blades.  His death signalled the end of the Battle of the Five or Six Armies.