"Hunt for Durins Crown" -My first tournament report

Intro

On the 25.9.2021 I attended my first ever tournament while also playing for the first time outside of my home and with new players + my first contact with the local community in real life. And it was amazing =) It was named "Hunt for Durins Crown" and was organized by "Der Würfelorden" - a gaming group located in the region St. Pölten, Austria.
We were 16 players, it had 4 scenarios + a special quest were on each battlefield, four books/scrolls were hidden. Collecting them gave a chance for a bonus price. The point limit was 471.

My Numenor Army

War-band 1
Isildur (the one ring, shield)
1 Warrior of Numenor with banner, shield
3 Warriors of Numenor with shield
2 -"- with shield and spear
2 -"- with bow and spear

War-band 2
Captain (heavy armor, shield)
3 Warriors of Numenor with shield
2 -"- with shield and spear
2 -"- with bow and spear

War-band 3
Captain (heavy armor, shield)
2 Warriors of Numenor with shield
2 -"- with shield and spear
2 -"- with bow and spear

Battle Report

The first scenario was "Capture and Control", we played on a Shire board and my enemy fielded Angmar including the Witch-king, two cave trolls, orcs, one dead marsh spectre, one barrow wight, five wild wargs and one wild warg chieftain.
This one went pretty well for me. I early on secured two books and one objective. Isildurs war-band fought the Witch-king and the trolls - one of them died. My third war-band killed nearly all the wargs without losses. My second war-band fought the orcs and the ghosts and killed nearly all of them with some losses. Sadly the fight with the witch king was too far away from the center objective so I secured only two of them in the end. But I was really surprised and happy about the success of my army - especially the warriors proved to be deadly and resilient. The ring on Isildur did not really make a difference.

The second scenario was "Command the Battlefield", we played on a wasteland board and my enemy fielded the Serpent Horde with Suladan, Hasharin and fat guards. This one hurt. Isildur and his warband showed up on the board pretty close the the main bulk of Suladans war-band. I put on the ring quite early since they had a lot of shooting. This however proved fatal since in every turn to follow, I rolled bad and my enemy was able to control and move him far away from the fighting. The rest of the war-band got shreded to pieces. My third war-band skirmished with some hashashins and was able to inflict some losses, but was overwhelmed when Suladan arrived. My second warband was able to secure a book. When i noticed that i probably wouldn't stand a chance against the remaining serpent horde, i withdrew to one of the corners and sacrificed one warrior to end the scenario before the enemy could reach my last quarter. It worked but he was able to secure all of the remaining quarters. My biggest error here was to put on the ring too early and not removing it again after the first unwanted movement. I was too afraid of my enemies shooting and he too said the battle would have looked very different if Isildur had had the chance to intervene.

The third scenario was "Lords of Battle", we played on a Harad board and my enemy fielded the Corsairs with a lot of shooting and black Numenoreans as front troops. This was one went even worse than the second. The only surprise was that my enemy had A LOT of shooting but did not kill a single one of my warriors with it. The throwing weapons however did their job and I was easily overwhelmed. I was able to kill some black Numenoreans and one hero but i went out with zero books and zero points. I used the ring and although it did not misfire, I could not capitalize on it.

The fourth scenario was "A clash by moonlight", we played on a troll hills board and my enemy played The Fiefdoms with Imrahli, two knights, axe and pike fighters and Blackroot Valley archers.
My second war-band went forward against the Blackroot Valley archers and since there were a lot of ruins, they could not really shoot at me. In close combat my warriors proved harder and i obliterated the archers.
In the center my third war-band met with half of the axe and pikes, while Isildur took on Imrahil, his knights and the rest of the enemy infantry. This was the only battle were Isildur made up for his points (and i did not use the ring). But again it were the captains and warriors that surprised with their survival and hitting power. The scenario ended with a draw - i broke the Fiefdoms but was not able to inflict damage on Imrahil.

My conclusion game-wise

I think it went pretty well for my first tournament. I was ranked 12th place of 16.

• Isildur was a mixed bag but felt underwhelming. In the first scenario he went toe to toe with the Witch-king and the trolls and was great. In the second scenario the blame is on me because i used him wrong. The third scenario was meh - he killed some warriors but again not as many as I had hoped. He shined again in the last scenario where he single handedly killed two Dol Amroth knights and was able to keep Imrahil at bay. Using the ring felt... unnecessary. Maybe i just used it wrong. But all in all it caused me more problems than it helped xD
• Cavalry: I was fearing that without one myself, I would get a lot of losses from cavalry since they sounded very destructive. In the end my enemies mostly only had their heroes on mounts and really were not that much of a thread. But i felt the disadvantage of speed when it came to catching up with archers and objectives.
• Archers: I had six archers in my army. Rarely had the chance to use them. Either it was more important to move and reach an objective or enemy or the line of sight was obstructed. Or it was more effective to hit the enemy in close combat since he would have been able to out-shoot me. I am not sure they were worth their points.
• Warriors of Numenor: The silent heroes of the my army. They held up pretty well against orcs, axemen of Lossarnach, pikes, knights and wild wargs. I rarely lost one of them without a fight. Only the Serpent horde and Corsairs cut though them like a knife in butter.
• Captains of Numenor: Another surprise. The hacked pretty well through enemy forces and had much more impact on the battle than Isildur. When their warbands got killed, they were always the last man standing and still holding the enemy for one more round.
• Army as a whole: I knew about but now experienced it when playing against other armies: Numenors available tools and tactics are limited and it showed. Next time i definitely wanna use Elendil. And I am thinking about getting the mounted Davale versions of Isildur, Elendil and the Captains. Also maybe get some Rivendell to have green alliance. Maybe Elrond and some Rivendell knights to mitgate my lack of mobility. HOWEVER my next army i want to finish is Dol Guldur (Painting the Nazgul, getting the Necomancer and some Castellans).

My conclusion for the tournament itself

All the people i met were super friendly and chill. All the battles were fair, there were no unnecessary discussions - we gave tips to each, praised each others units and tactics. The organisational part was also on par - we had good food and the possibility to get drinks very cheaply on demand.

So I had a lot of fun and looking forward to the next opportunity to play again =)
Impressions from the tournament