Battle for the South Downs
Turn-1 (Summer 1300 Third Age)

Battle Summary

Arthedain_01
Starting with 25 models at 335 points
Warrior Combat Casualties: 19
Warrior Courage Failures: 4
Hero Combat Casualties: None
Hero Courage Failures: 2 (King Arevdui and Malbeth the Seer)

Grey Havens_01
Starting with 24 models at 425 points
Warrior Combat Casualties: 4
Warrior Courage Failures: None
Hero Combat Casualties: None
Hero Courage Failures: None

Cardolan_01
Starting with 42 models at 600 points
Warrior Combat Casualties: 21
Warrior Courage Failures: 6
Hero Combat Casualties: 1 (Captain)
Hero Courage Failures: None

Cardolan Battle Company
Starting with 8 models at 62 points
Warrior Combat Casualties: 3
Warrior Courage Failures: None
Hero Combat Casualties: None
Hero Courage Failures: None

Gulvahar, The Terror of Arnor
Starting and finishing with 1 models at 200 points / no change

Battle Narrative

Turn 1 priority went to Cardolan since they initiated they battle on the campaign map. Cardolan concentrated their forces on Arthedain_01, which held a defensive shield wall on the East side of the table. Cardolan cavalry maneuvered from the South, the main body moved directly East, while the Cardolan Battle Company maneuvered from the North with the goal of entrapping the Arthedainian force. Due to the close initial deployments, Cardolan archers immediately wounded two rangers, whose return fire thudded without effect into Cardolan shields. Grey Havens_01 came on to the West edge of the battlefield in Turn 2 and sent his archers and giant eagle North toward Amon Sul, while his main body of Elven warriors marched East towards the larger battle.

In the subsequent turns, Arthedain_01 moved his rangers behind the cover of the heavily armored Soldiers of Arnor as Cardolan edged closer battle. Both sides suffered marginal wounds from bow fire. Gulvahar, the Terror of Arnor made a short sortie from the walls of Amon Sul, flying South-East towards the merging lines of Cardolan and Arthedain. Grey Havens_01 diverted 7 High Elf archers and one giant eagle to counter the threat of Gulvahar. These opposing forces played a game of maneuver over several turns which largely kept them out of the main battle to the South.

After the first three turns of maneuver and bow fire, the Cardolan battle line crashed into Arthedian from three sides. While Cardolan seemed to have better luck with the dice in their bow fire, the high fight and defense values of Arthedain held the line as Cardolan began to remove casualties at a faster rate. But it was a matter of time before the defenders were entrapped, and though he killed many Cardolan soldiers, Arthedain finally fell below 50% and started to take courage rolls. Here, both the priority rolls and high courage of King Arevdui kept the defenders in the game for many more turns, causing Cardolan to suffer more casualties and eventually require courage rolls as well.

Cardolan redirected his foot and cavalry archers to attrite the High Elves who were coming up from behind with marginally effective interdictory fire. At the end of the day, both Arthedain and Cardolan suffered many casualties. Grey Havens_01 archers killed a few of the Cardolan Battle Company warriors in the back while their main body engaged the outer fringes of the Cardolan battle line.

Finally, after the valiant efforts of King Arevdui rallying his troops for several turns past their break point, Arthedain_01 collapsed as their numbers fell below 25%. Their few survivors routed West into the night.

There was no time for Cardolan to relish any sort of victory as the battlefield succumbed to total darkness. Many of its warriors lay wounded as a fresh army of Grey Haven elves now engaged their rear most ranks. Had there been more time in the day, the Elves surely would have finished off the remaining Cardolan army. But Darkness favored the Servants of Darkness, and in the ensuing night, the two armies left standing withdrew their battle lines a short distance from each other and waited out the night.

Not far to the north, from the battered tower of Amon Sul, the great wings of Gulvahar could be heard taking to the air. Unable to deny his appetite, he puts aside his desire for the Palantir, and flies South to feed upon the carnage of battle.

Battle Resolution

This battle was very complex and too long to bring to a clear and undisputed summary. And since this battle has held up the campaign for about two weeks now, it is important that we move on into the next campaign season so the other players don’t languish as they wait for their turn to do something. Whatever resolution we agree to, the next step will take place in the Fall campaign phase of Turn-1 (Year 1300 Third Age).

There are two courses of action that I propose. If there are other battle participants, including Tom (High King of Cardolan), who have another idea to propose, please submit it ASAP. All battle resolution proposals will be posted by me on the forum for all campaign players to vote on so we can determine a way to proceed that is fair to all players concerned:

COURSE OF ACTION 1: “The Battle Continues The Next Day”
The remainder of the campaign players make their Fall moves based on priority as normal. All players involved in this particular battle roll for warrior and hero recovery. Grey Havens_01 occupies the West edge of the table with a deployment zone of 12” deep from the edge. They will have initial priority for the next day battle. Gulvahar, who is still very hungry, is deployed from the top of Amon Sul. He must feed in this next battle or he will die of hunger. Cardolan_01 and Battle Company occupy the East edge of the table with a 12” deployment zone. They have recovered Arthedain warriors as prisoners and may elect to kill them or barter with the Grey Havens for them. Arthedain courage failures roll for recovery. For those that pass are considered to be wandering in the wild back towards Fornost, their capital, and may return to campaign play in one year.

COURSE OF ACTION 2: “Forces Scatter in the Night”
All players involved in this particular battle roll for warrior and hero recovery. Recovered warriors and heroes are returned to each army immediately. Gulvahar, who is still very, very hungry, is deployed from the top of Amon Sul. He must feed in this next campaign phase or he will die of hunger. The Grey Havens Elves own the battlefield stay on the original hex as Cardolan makes up to a half move to the South-East and Arthedain makes a up to a half move to the North-East. There must be at least one hex separation for all armies that participated in this battle. The campaign resumes as all players make their Fall moves based on priority as normal.

Battle After-Action Notes

1. Battle Resolution & Time Management: We’ll need to factor in a lot more time to resolve complicated, multi-party battles. We played an 882 point battle verses a 760 point battle starting around 7:30 PM and finishing around 9:45PM. The Elves would have likely finished Cardolan off if they had a few more turns and if Gulvahar chose to stay out of the fight. I think everybody agreed it was getting late and it was time to call the battle. Since there were two distinct parts of the battle, it seemed like a logical place to conclude the first half of the battle. For the purposes of the campaign, it was assumed the nightfall set in and fighting stopped for the day. I think for future games, we should set a 12 turn limit and also set the final break point of any army to 25%.

2. The courage roll of Cardolan_01 in the battle was calculated incorrectly. There were three casualties from the Cardolan Battle Company that should not have been included or counted towards the 50% break roll of the larger force. Cardolan_01 had 42 models with a break number of 21. Cardolan Battle Company, a separate campaign unit, had 8 models with a break point of 4 (I’m not sure if Battle Companies use different rules.) The result of this miscalculation was that Cardolan was required to take courage rolls one or two turns before it was necessary and lost 6 models prematurely.

3. In the heat of the battle last night, I did not keep track of inflicted wounds for the Cardolan Battle Company and would like to provide the following estimates for the purposes of determining experience:

4 Battle Company Influence Points earned (2 for battle participation, 2 for a win)

Brom the Shieldman (Lieutenant),
6 experience points gained (4 wounds inflicted, 1 battle participation, 1 win,)

Jared the Shieldman (Master at Arms),
5 experience points gained (3 wounds inflicted, 1 battle participation, 1 win,)

Needle Jack the Bowman (Master Archer),
3 experience points gained (1 wounds inflicted, 1 battle participation, 1 win,)

Baden the Shieldman (Warrior)
3 experience points gained (2 wounds inflicted, 1 battle participation)

Rorik the Spearman (Warrior)
2 experience points gained (1 wound inflicted, 1 battle participation)

Savin the Spearman (wounded Warrior)
1 experience points gained (1 battle participation / wounded in action)

Uhtred the Spearman ( wounded Warrior)
1 experience points gained (1 battle participation)

Yorvick the Bowman ( wounded Warrior)
1 experience points gained (1 battle participation)