Balin goes to Moria!

   

The Moria Battlefield

   Some days ago, we played a huge battle! A 2006 points Balin's dwarves army fought against a 1999 points Moria army (Balrog was included)! Both armies consisted of plethora of warriors' kins. We placed all our relevant terrain pieces, the dwarf mine workings, the mirrors, the secret entrances and the Khazad-dum columns on the table to create a dark Moria atmosphere! The scenario was the easiest that can be. No objectives - just kill all your hatred enemies to win the game! We were three players in total. Me and my friend, a newcomer to the game who loved it as he said when we finished, controlled the Dwarf army. Below you can see the two army lists:

DWARVEN ARMY 122 miniatures (2006 points)

Dain Ironfoot, King of Erebor	Mithril armour, Great axe Barazantathul
Balin	Heavy dwarven armour, Durin's axe, Throwing axes
Murin	Dwarven armour, Shield, Kalazal
Drar	Dwarven armour, Hand axe, Dwarven Bow
2 Banner bearers	Dwarven armour, Banner
18 Iron Guards	Dwarven armour, Hand axe, Broad sword, Thr.axes
26 Khazad Guards	Heavy dwarven armour, Hand axe, Two-handed axe
16 Rangers with longbow	Leather armour, Hand axe, Dwarven longbow
8 Rangers with thr.axes	Leather armour, Hand axe, Thtowing axes
18 Axemen with shield	Dwarven armour, Shield, Hand axe
18 Archers	Dwarven armour, Dwarven bow, Hand axe
8 Vault Warden Teams	Crew: Iron shield & Foe spear
Iron Shield	Dwarf heavy armour, Hand axe, Tower shield
Foe Spear	Light armour, Spear
4 Dwarf Ballistae (Crew: 2)	Dwarven armour, Hand axe

GOBLIN ARMY 100miniatures (1999points)

The Balrog	Sword, Lash
Buhrdur, Cave Troll Chieftain	Sword
Ashrak, the Spiderkin	Armour, 2-handed stuff
Goblin Shaman	Armour, Spear
2 Dwellers in the Dark
18 Giant Spiders
4 Goblin Prowlers	Light armour, rusty blade, thr.weapons, 2-handed
22 Goblin Swordmen	Light armour, Hand weapon, Shield
22 Goblin Spearmen	Light armour, Hand weapon, Spear
22 Goblin Archers	Light armour, Hand weapon, Orc bow
2 Cave Troll with spear	Hand weapon, Spear
3 Cave Troll witn chain	Hand weapon, Troll chain
1 Goblin Drum (Crew: 2)	Armour, Daggers

   
   And of course, the photos. First, the Evil army from right to left:

Ashrak, the Spiderkin and the Goblin Shaman

The Balrog

Goblins 

Trolls and spiders

Buhrdur, the Cave Troll Chieftain and his lads!

Goblin Drum is hidden behind the column! 

Dwellers in the Dark and spiders

More Goblins and spiders

   The Dwarf army from left to right:

Drar's Rangers

Drar and the "field artillery"

Balin (third from the right)

Khazad Guards, Dwarf warriors and archers

Vault Warden teams

Dain Ironfoot, King of Erebor and Murin

The "mountain artillery"

   The first move. There wasn't any tactical plan, just the simple "run towards your enemy" tactic:

The right,

the centre

and the left.

   The clash! The best part of the game, where dice and heads are rolling! As we didn't have any specific objectives, we followed the  “Kill! Kill! Kill! And may you drink wine in their skulls tonight!” tactic! I have to confess that it is my favourite one.

The Iron Guards didn't have problem with the spiders,

neither the Vault Warden teams had with the Dwellers.

Balin and his Khazad Guards faced some problems,

which were Buhrdur and his boys' three wounds and their high F.

But above all, the Balrog was the real problem!

   Since we had plenty of warriors to play with, we didn't have problem with losses. That's why, as you can see, the fight was unstoppable!

"Kill someone!"

The green dice represented the remaining lives

"We trapped him!"

The Dwarves adopted the shieldwall tactic to stop the Balrog! 

But in vain, as you will see later.

Vault Warden teams killed the Dwellers!

And Iron Guards with their two A won easily the spiders! 

Our "guru of LotR SBG" moves his warriors! 

Where are the rests of the shieldwall? All dead!

   Buhrdur, Cave Troll Chieftain and his boys troubled a lot Balin and his Khazad Guards. In the meanwhile, Iron Guards and Vault Warden teams cleaned all the left side of the table from evil warriors and creatures and ra to help Balin.

Everybody runs to help Balin!

The left side of the table. Only the mountain artillery left!

   By the way, the mountain artillery had a big success. It shot accurately and killed one of the two Goblin drummers! The Courage stats were restored after that. 

   At the moment, Dwarf warriors were moving from the left side towards the centre of the battlefield to face first the Trolls and then the Balrog! On the far right, the Rangers killed Ashrak, the Spiderkin and the Goblin shaman together with their spiders and Goblins.

Trolls were our first obstacle,

and the Balrog the second to win the game.

A panoramic view

Dwarf army losses, even in death they dressed their lines! 

Evil army losses, chaos, as expected!

   After five hours of gaming we played the last turn. During that turn, a wave of Dwarf warriors crashed on the Trolls and the game ended after that. The condition was the following: Evil army had already started to pass Courage tests, the remaining Trolls hadn't Might, Fate, etc, anymore, so they became vulnerable; on the opposite, the Balrog was strong, had still nine out of ten Wounds. On the other side, no Dwarf hero or banner bearer was killed, Dwarf warriors were still a lot and all the Ballistae engines were on the field to spread death!   

   Anyway, although we didn't have a winner we had a great fun!

  Dwarf warriors have encircled the Trolls

   That's it for today! More battle reports are coming!