The Battle of Un-numbered Tears - a 1st Age of Middle Earth game

[Freelancer]

We ran a game at our club last weekend, replaying the 5th Battle against Morgoth. It played out almost as per the story. An alliance of Elves, Dwarves and the Men of the West and East, united in a battle to defeat Morgoth's army by pinning them at bay outside their fortress. But the spies and lies of Morgoth are many, and what seemed like a sure victory against evil, didn't quite go the allies way.

 The Balrog and Glaurung the Wyrm were mortally wounded, and Fingon and the dwarf king Azaghal came so so close to finishing them off. But the Elven and Dwarven Kings fell at the last, and were carried from the field by their brethren.

Hurin and his House of Hador held the flank and pushed the orcs back to the gate. In the meantime the great Eagles flew down from on high and took out the deadly siege engines that had been raining down death upon the hapless elven units in the middle.

But this was all for nought as the allied races were betrayed by the race of men. The Men of the East in the far flank attacked the poor dwarves from behind - cutting them down, stabbing their former allies in the back, as the dwarves faced the orcs and trolls to their front.

 
The orcs trapped on the plains of Anfauglith... or are they?


Gothmog and his troll bodyguard step forth


The Eagles tear down the orc's siege engines which had inflicted terrible damage on the Elves.


Gothmog is brought down by Turgon and his Elves (and Eagle), but not before slaying Fingon

[bc99]

Awesome. Just awesome.

[Codsticker]

Wonderful stuff Freelancer.

[Little Odo]

Fantastic battle report - great miniatures and terrain. What's not to like? I would love to see more.

[Sunjester]

That looks superb!

[BZ]

Looks pretty impressive!

[andyskinner]

Nice.  Did you use War of the Ring, or something else?

andy

[Freelancer]

Yes, War of the Ring with race and rule proxies. For example Elrond was used instead of his grandfather Turgon. Rohan were the men of the west with Theoden as Hurin. Haradrim were the swarthy men of the east. The dwarves were still dwarves though 

[James Morris]

Impressive stuff!

[Red Orc]

Yes, War of the Ring with race and rule proxies. For example Elrond was used instead of his grandfather Turgon. Rohan were the men of the west with Theoden as Hurin. Haradrim were the swarthy men of the east. The dwarves were still dwarves though 

Nice. Lovey setup, and what looks like a great game.

I think there's an argument for using either Boromir or Isildur as Hurin. But I wouldn't want to get into a fight about it.

How did you game the betrayal of the Men of the East?

[Samsonov]

Just glorious. How big was the table, may I ask? I usually play in smaller scales due to wanting an effect of mass numbers, but I am wondering what size of table is needed to accomplish this in 28mm.

[Freelancer]

The table was 12' x 6'

Each commander received an envelope with special instructions. These varied from Dragon Bane weapons for the Dwarves (so they would be inclined to home in on Glaurung), the ability to summon the Eagles for the elves, and Ulfang was told if he wanted to prove loyalty to Morgoth and be gift the elf lands, he should activate his army in the evil priority phase when he felt the time was right. For a while I thought the Easterling commander was actually going to betray Morgoth instead (I chose a particularly unpredictable friend to command them). He wiped out a Warg Rider and Orc Archer formations before finally wielding his army to attack the Dwarves and loyal men of the East (apparently he just needed to clear space to maneuver). The orc commander he was battling was unaware the Easterlings would defect to Morgoth, so he can be forgiven for keeping his army intact for long enough to betray his comrades.

[Belgian]

Looks lovely! Did you convert many of the orcs as they don't seem the standard chaps looking at the pictures?

Thanks for sharing really cool. 

[Freelancer]

The orcs were all standard out of the box.

[Belgian]

The orcs were all standard out of the box.

Thanks though I most certainly spot some neat conversions, have encountered more orcs recently during my own project so can quickly spot odd ones. Love the inclusion of the Uruk-Hai Scouts in the orc ranks that's great idea! Also impressed by the sheer quality of the nicely painted miniatures, really lovely.