Battle Report 18.12. - Numeor VS Isengard and Rise of the Necormancer LL VS Return of the King LL

Today I met with a friend at the local Vienna shop SirenGames, to play two matches in their game area. We did not play scenarios - just a matchup to the death since we both still have to learn certain aspects of the game. Both matches were played with 600 points.

Numenor VS Isengard

Our first match fielded my proud Numenoreans against my friends freshly painted Isengard force.
My army contained Elendil, Isildur, a banner, six bowmen and the rest filled with sword and spear warriors. His army had Lurtz, a spear troll, six crossbows, a shaman, a dunlending chief, dunland warriors,  a banner and the rest filled with Urk-hai swords and pikes.
This was my first game were I fielded the most possible number of archers because I so far i had a maximum of four and never had too much chance to use them. And this match did not improve my opinion on them^^" They stayed at the center of the board and therefore were able to reach all enemies. However despite being able to shoot in every turn, I only killed two enemies. On the other side the Uruk-Hai crossbows shredded through my warriors.
Isildurs warband tried to approach through the ruins on the right and keep some cover. But by the time they reached the crossbows, half of them had been shot and the dunlending warband blocked the path.
On the left, Elendils bigger warband used the cover of the small wood and met with the troll,  Lurtz and the Urk-Hai. I was pretty confident that Elendil would make short work with the troll and my warriors would keep the rest at bay. How wrong I was! Four times Elendil stormed against the troll and four times I rolled so low I could not even use might to improve. The only saving grace was that on the side, the troll could not get through his defense.
Alas my warriors did not fare better. Where in previous games they withstood the onslaught of evil warriors, this time the Uruk-Hai and their pike support proved to be too much. I had always at least one more dice against me than i could offer and not even the banner could save me.
We ended the game when I reached the breaking point of 15 lost models.












Rise of the Necromancer LL VS Return of the King LL

My army contained the Necromancer, a Castellan, Khamul, the Witch King, a Slayer of Men and the Forsaken. My friends army contained Aragorn, the King of the dead, a banner and the rest filled with hand-weapons and spears.
Since our time was limited and we wanted to see our models in action, we agreed to ignore the terror rules of our both armies.
I tried to form a lose line of defense with my other five models and kept the Necromancer behind and waited for the enemy to approach me. I used the time to bombard him with spells like Chill Soul, Transfix and Sap Will. It was the first time ever I used magic in MESBG and it was quite fun =) However the only spell I was able to get through was Chill Soul.
I also probably have to revisit on how to play this faction. Although my Nazgul kept coming back, they got swarmed by the vast amount of enemy warriors and killed not a single one. Soon the defense line was broken once reached, the Necromancer died pretty quickly. I of course could have moved him to safety in the mean time but I doubt it would have changed much.



Conclusion

The games were fun but oh boy did I lose xD 
The Uruk-Hais very similar warrior profile to my Numenoreans, proved to be a good match. The pike support flipped the favour into their direction. Maybe I should have sent Elendil into the frail to cut down the warriors and only then focus on the troll. I played for the first time against crossbows and oh man are they dangerous. 
Regarding magic and Dol Guldur I think still have to learn a lot. Moving and casting is probably a good idea ;P But I wonder how this LL is supposed to keep a great number of enemies at bay. Maybe the dead of Dunharrow are a good counter? I could see the possibility to hold them off with spells that block them. But although "Chill Soul" is a nice option, I do not really see the Necromancer as having too much killing power since this spell affects only one model and my other spells are only indirect. I was also surprised that "Transfix" cannot be casted at models in close combat - I thought that was the whole point of it?
Anyway, I learned a lot today and cannot wait to put it to use the next time ;)

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