Glaurung Rampant - A Trial Game

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

I figured the Tolkien First Age version of DR must be Glaurung Rampant.  Alas, no Glaurung in this game and as I only have two trolls, one warg and two elves most figures are Vikings and Saxons (with a few undercoated normal wolves thrown in).
Points for games are unusually high as most units have one or two special rules.  My first try was at 48 points, but this game is 70 points.  The Noldor have seven units, the Orcs 13.  Twenty nine elves against 115 enemy figures (trolls are at present single figures and only 5 wolves in total). 

Noldor
General - a great Noldo lord: Elite foot, wizard (the power bolt represents archery), venomous (enchanted sword)
Hero - elite foot, mystical armour, fear, venomous (again, great skill with a sword)
Heavy foot x3 - offensive, fear.  One unit with wizardling
Archers x1- Light archers, mystical armour (Noldor archers are armoured), fear
Rangers x1 - elite foot, fear, missile

Orcs
Bellicose foot  x3 - these are the nastier sort of orc
Light foot x4.  Offensive
Light foot x1.  Missile
Skirmish x2
Trolls x2 - lesser war beast, fear, cunning, mystical armour (or, rather, terribly tough skin)
Wargs x1 - lesser war beasts, cunning, fear

The Orc raiders




Are those enough elves?




More to follow.
Sorry about the blurry photos.  Taken at night with my lap top.

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Part way through.  A slow start due to several turns where only one or two units moved on each side.

Here the Noldor archers have driven off one lot of bellicose orcs while a group of heavy foot have trapped a battered troll against a following unit of Orcs.  Note, one archer is an elf from Thunderbolt Mountain.



Close up of the poor wee troll (Reaper bones)



Mayhem on the Orcs left flank.  Units are driven back everywhere by Noldor rangers and heavy foot.  Numbers have proven to be a problem as retreating units are driven back on to the following units.


Overview of the battle.

[jon_1066]

Looks like fun.  What did you do about activations?  13 units is a lot to get through without failing.  Did you split them into two retinues or keep them as one?  If kept as one removing cunning from the warbeast would help since a failed attack roll during wild charge doesn't end the turn.

[Vermis]

Nice Much difference between heavy foot trolls and lesser warbeast trolls? Which do you prefer?

How well do the multibased units feel to play? I'm planning a few myself.

[guitarheroandy]

Just one query - the big difference in numbers of models between the forces. I seem to recall in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad chapter of the Silmarilion, halfway through the battle, just when the sh*t has truly hit the fan for the Noldor, that there is something along the lines of
'Turgon and Fingon were now assailed by forces thrice that remained available to them' (paraphrased - I don't have my copy to hand.)
This kinda suggests to me that vast disparity of numbers was not necessarily the everyday order of the day which is why Morgoth had to bring Balrogs and Glaurung's brood to battle...and that odds like that could overcome even the valour of the Edain and Noldor, especially when Gothmog's crew turned up... And that's the point that Turgon's force leave the battle, thereby reducing the allied force still further and rendering massacre inevitable.

So you could possibly get away with normal size Elf units if you wanted if you subscribe to that possibility...

Anyway, it's not a criticism, it's just a thought...I mean, it does look WAY more heroic with fewer Elf models, I have to admit. In fact, it looks supremely cool even with stand-in models and really makes me want to get back into my LOTR Elf and Orc figures!! 

[Hobgoblin]

How well do the multibased units feel to play? I'm planning a few myself.

Just chiming in on this point: I've played quite a bit of Dragon Rampant with my ancient Hordes of the Things forces, and I reckon that DR actually plays better with multi-based figures (so long as you've got a couple of individually based ones to hand) - it just speeds the movement up that little bit.

Following a HOTT revival in the house, I'm painting up a couple of additional HOTT armies (my son insists on lizardmen ...) with the specific intention of using them for DR as well. I procured some slightly thicker bases so that the multi-based figures will sit at the same height as their slottabased peers - which means that a unit with some single-based troops will look vaguely coherent. I'm thinking that most of my 28mm projects in future will be similarly spread over multi and single bases - I've got plenty of singly based models for SoBH, and you only need two individuals at most to cover the full range of DR casualties. Of course, you can use a dice or whatever, but the correct number of figures is the simplest way.

Anyway, the game looks great! I'm intrigued by Lesser Warbeast for the trolls - I'd lean towards Shiny Armoured Bellicose Foot with reduced models myself.

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks for looking and commenting.
As this is only a skirmish the impact of heroes is far greater.  If I took out the heroes and replaced them with conventional units I would have four standard units instead of two heroes.  This would mean 22 more figures and therefore 51 figures against 115.

I didn't split commands for the orcs.  I am unsure how two commands against one might affect the game.  And even when the inevitable failed activation occurs, with so many units, most turns there is still plenty going on.

Lesser war beast trolls - well I decided that only a 6 for combat in defence didn't seem right. Having said that, I somehow confused myself and actually played most of my turns as a hybrid between bellicose foot and lesser war beasts - basic statistics of war beast, but counter charge and played mystical armour as terrifically shiny armour.  One troll hasn't come into action yet.  I might play the rest of the game with one as a lesser war beast and one as bellicose foot. 

[guitarheroandy]

51 vs 115 is still pretty long odds! I've been looking at my Elves and I have some heroes on 40mm round bases with rank and file on 25mm rounds. I'm actually thinking of each hero model having 3 strength points, so a hero figure accompanied by 3 elite foot rank and file gives me a 4 figure unit for 6 strength points; same principle for heavy foot so I get 10 (9+ the hero for the 12 strength points). As I have a few Elf hero figs this gives most units a heroic chap to lead them and reduces painting a bit, especially if I use the various upgrades to make the Elves really hard!!! The Orcs will tend to be mostly rank and file models without upgrades, so I'll still get some disparity in numbers... I need to cost it all out and work out what that would look like...

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

51 vs 115 is still pretty long odds!

This is fantasy!  I still think Noldor are pretty shit hot.
To use a real world example, some modern estimates for the Battle of Gaugamela have Alexander at 53 000, the Persians 87 000 (if the ancients are believed there were anywhere from 200 000 to 1 000 000 Persians).

I have just completed the game.  Elves won.  The problem for the orcs were the number of units getting in eachothers way. 

I am unsure about the rule about battered units that have their path of retreat blocked.  The rukles suggest that the unit stops and may take a further casualty.  BUt what happens on the next turn?  Is the unit just stuck there?





Again, fuzzy photos with lap top.

Elf turn.
1.Shoot troll with missile fire, fails courage test, is battered and falls back but this brings him into contact with the orcs behind and so stops.  Rolls against courage, no further casualty.

2. Elf infantry charge the poor troll who is stuck out in front.  Troll takes further casualties and in theory should fall back again but is still stuck on the unit behind.  There  are two problems now.  What do the trolls do?  Do they remain stuck and keep getting hit?  As the troll has no where to go what do the elves do?  Do they fall back instead so that they are 3" away from the enemy.

Orc turn.
1. As courage tests must be taken first the orcs behind the troll can't move out of the way.  Poor troll takes a courage test. In the game he passed, but what if he fails.  Does he stay put, a target for the next elf turn.  The orcs behind can't help.  Their only choice is to move back in their activation or to wait for the troll to die and then attack the elves.

[guitarheroandy]

Indeed! You can do what you like in Fantasy... I'm always fascinated by Alexander the Great's victories against supposedly enormous Persian armies. I suspect their problem was like that of the Orcs in your game - getting in each others' way!

Ref the blocked retreat, in the example you provide, units that have retreats blocked and who then lose one more SP will attempt to rally in their next activation. If they fail, they go through the process again. I suspect that the Elves within 3" must move away or attack, but frankly, surely they'd attack, as attacking a battered unit is always a good thing to do anyway...

One thing we do when playing Dark Ages games using DR is to allow units to pass by within 3" of others but not end up within 3" at the end of the move. When using bigger armies, that works better for us...

[dbsubashi]

The trapped troll will have to take a courage test at the beginning of the turn. If they fail, the lose a strength point and fall back have their move distance. In your photo, they would have to move around the orcs trapping them. If they are war beasts, they might make it. If they are bellicose foot, they will still be within 3" of other models and have to take the "unable to retreat" test (roll a single D6 and compare the result to the troll's Courage value. If the result is equal to or higher than the troll's Courage value all is fine. If the die roll is under the troll's Courage value, the troll will lose Strength points equal to the die roll. For example, if you rolled a 3, that result is under the troll's Courage value and thus the poor troll would lose 3 Strength points!) If they succeed on their Rally test, they will stay put, but the elves will probably charge them again. Looks bad for the troll!