Chronicles of Beleriand Antwerp II
This weekend i went to Antwerp for the 2nd edition of the Chronicles of Beleriand tournament at the Outpost Antwerp. Last year i managed to win the first edition but this time i hadn't played in a wee while and it was my first encounter with the new MESBG rules (work, family and study had nothing to do with that offcourse). This meant i was expecting to be tabled three times.
I fielded my trusty Angmar, in spite of magic being nerfed in the new edition of the game i went all out on magic.
In this 700 point tournament i fielded the Witch King of Angmar (WiKi), a Shade, 2 Barrow wights, Buhrduhr, 1 spectre and 25 orcses.
The first game we played a version of the Capture & Control scenario called "Dagor Aglareb" (Philippe Anne, the organiser has a strong Silmarillion theme in place, hence the tournament name etc.). 5 objectives had to be captured and kept.
My opponent was the ever charming Valerie Lever with her Mirkwood army fielding Thranduil on elk, Legolas on horse, Tauriel and a mix of woodelves and palace guards.
Deployment.
Valerie.
Legolas, prince of Mirkwood meets Illuvatar very quickly in the game.
Thranduil on his steed clashes into the lines of Angmar.
To be paralysed and surrounded.
The WiKi threatens an elven objective but is effectively kept busey there .
Flanking woodelves are trying to contest an Angmar objective.
In the centre Thrandui falls and one by one the elves are meeting their demise.
Buhrduhr threatens Tauriel.
As the WiKi comes to aid in the centre.
The flanking attempt fails.
As Tauriel was delt with and 4 objectives secured the WiKi contest the 5th one.
The game ends in a 10-0 mayor victory for Angmar.
Valerie and myself.
It was a good game, we had some laughs and it was obvious paralyse is a potential pain in the behind.
Lunchbreak and my dear wife was so sweet to make me a bentobox.
Yummy.
The second game was versus Jasper Lohrman and his Gundabad force with Azog the defiler on his white warg, a Gundabad troll, gundabad orcs and goblin mercenaries.
We played "Dagor Bragolach", better known as Fog of War.
Several objective kept secret from oneanother in wich the goblin mercs would have a nice advantage.
Jasper, my worthy opponent.
The set-up and first moves. Goblin mercs pop up in the woods on my left flank and the WiKi threatens the small group with the gundabad captain (one of my objectives).
Said captain is hurled towards the Angmar lines to be meeting his doom.
The armies clash and Azog resists a paralyse attack using all his will and might and to my horror the WiKi is sain by a ferocious Gundabad berserker.
Azog is paralysed at last but my Barrow wights used all their will to do so.
The central battle could still swing both ways as the gundabads where tougher than my orcs. The shade and banner leveled that a bit.
Alas for Angmar, Azog recovered quickly from his slumber and the white warg charged into my ranks.
This Gundabad troll was spectred all around the place and didn't see any action.
As my army was slaughtered my hero to be kept alive (one of the objectives) reached the forest that also was an objective of mine.
The army of Angmar was broken, so things looked bleak.
Jasper managed to get the white warg into said forest and contested my objective.
Well played because that was the difference between a tie and a victory for Gundabad!
Jasper won 12-7, well deserved i might add.
Great game and we tend to be silly from time to time.
Winning the tournament wasn't possible anymore i reckoned. But hey i was expecting worse before attending and due to my loss i would avoid the two dreaded Iron Hills armies of Sebastiaan Raats and Larry Snellink (who was my fellow Dutchie and traveling mate) with their dwarven ballista's (they are fellbeast killers).
So with a positive mindset i entered the 3rd and final round of the tournament where i met Mertijn Moeyersons, a player re-entering our glorious hobby after a 4 year break..
Mertijn was general of Mordor fielding an (usurper) WiKi on felbeast, the Dark Marshall on horseback, a shaman and a selection of Black Numenorians and Morannon orcs.
A WiKi vs (usurper) WiKi face-off!
The scenario we played was "The fall of Fingolfin", a true Contest of Champions.
Who's WiKi would make the most kills?
Mertijn with his nicely painted army and matching t-shirt.
But first (thirst?) there was Belgian beer!
The epic and and Tolkienwise very correct *cough* battle deployment.
After a somewhat dissapointing Sap Will and Paralyse attempt on the Mordor WiKi he charged into my WiKi and i got surrounded.
My Angmar WiKi won and returned the favor.
All except 1 will was put into paralysing attempts by both barrow wights together with another sap will.
Mertijn's WiKi got away with only a few will points left when this little bugger cast a paralyse with his last will point.
The Mordor WiKi was paralysed and fell of his fellbeast!
My leader sapped the other armies leader to death and collected some kills to gain a mayor victory.
A victory that was a 10-0 one. A tense but relatively short game that was.
After all that winner bought beers and there was much rejoicement.
Time for the award ceremony.
Philippe, the tournament organiser presented the winners and runners up.
Mertijn won the Best Painted Competition with the Mordor army seen above.
I forgot to take photo's of all the armies sadly, sorry about that.
Mertijn, well done!
3rd place was won by Sebastiaan Raats.
2nd place by your's truly.
And Jasper Lohrman won the tournament!
Congratioulations to Jasper and Mertijn!
I would like to thank my nice opponents, had a great time.
Also a big thank you to Philipppe Anne for organising the tournament.
When you're in Belgium you drink beer and eat fries (did i mention i like food and drinks?).
Larry and me went to a good "Frituur" recommended by Sebastiaan. Good it was and wow what a portion......
