The Fall of Dol Guldur

   During the last days of War of the Ring, the Dol Guldur evil forces launched an assault against the elven kingdoms of Lothlórien and Mirkwood. In March of 3019 T.A. Dol Guldur forces attacked three times (March 11, 15 and 22) Lothlórien, the realm of Celeborn and Galadriel. All  these attacks were repelled by the elven forces. Furthermore, on March 15 a night assault was launched against Mirkwood, King Thranduil's realm. This one was also repelled and is known as "The Battle under the Trees". 

   When Dark Lord forces were defeated, on March 25, joint forces of Celeborn and Thranduil, marched on Dol Guldur and destroyed its defence evil forces. After the battle, Lady Galadriel destroyed the fortress to the ground. Since then, Mirkwood forest is free from the shadow of the haunted tower and it is renamed to Eryn Lasgalen (“Greenwood”).

   The "Battle under the Trees" is the first battle we played this year. Below you can see the participants.

Good Forces

Elves: Glorfindel, Erestor, a Rivendeil Banner-bearer, six Rivendeil Spearmen, sixteen Rivendeil Swordsmen, sixteen Rivendeil Archers, six Lorien Swordsmen and six Lorien Archers. (53 miniatures = 794 points)

Wood Elves: Thranduil, Legolas, a Mirkwood Banner-bearer, three Mirkwood Sentinels, eight Mirkwood Spearmen, eight Mirkwood Swordsmen and eight Mirkwood Archers. (30 miniatures = 672 points)

Evil Forces

Knight of Umbar, a Spinder Queen, two Castellans, Kardush, fifteen Black Numenoreans, twenty one Morgul Stalkers, ten Giant Spinders, ten Spectres and eight Orc Archers. (70 miniatures = 1358 points)

Objective for the Good Forces:

To kill Knight of Umbar

Objective for the Evil Forces:

To protect Knight of Umbar. What else?

Dol Guldur in the shadow

Dol Guldur panoramic view

Legolas' Woodelves

Thranduil's Woodelves

Celeborn's Elves

The opponents

   Some photos of the Dol Guldur Defenders:

Celeborn's force is moving

Woodelves release their arrows

The Defenders are preparing for heroic exit

The exit

   Unfortunately, the river crossing delayed Celeborn's elves a lot. So, for a few turns only Thranduil and his men faught against the evil creatures. They hit the spinders with arrows first and then started the close combat:

  

   The Elves approached the enemy lines and killed all the evil creatures who stood in front of them in the north part of Dol Guldur, while the evil remnants were moving south protecting simultaneously Knight of Umbar:

   Kardush managed to immobilise Thranduil and his Sentinels a couple of times till the moment Legolas and two of his men hit him hard, two lucky sixes and a five was much more than enough to kill Kardush. (In the photo below, you can see only Kardush's fire while he is hiding behind the walls)

   In the south Wood Elves were holding positions while evil forces tried to gather themselves for their last counterattack. The only chance for them to save the day was to kill all Wood Elves with minimum casualties, if possible, and then turn to face the Elves who were pursuing them. If the Elves managed to reach Knight of Umbar and his evil creatures first, then the victory would be theirs. 

   We stopped at that moment due to a mistake concerning the initial numbers of the evil force (evil control player started to pass courage tests earlier than the 50% casualties), but we decided to repeat this fight in the future. The fight is terribly interesting, because of the scenario, the miniatures (many dark creatures such as Stalkers, Castellans, Spectres, etc participate) and the terrain (ruins everywhere!).

   That's it. Stay tuned for more.