Grey Company vs Moria 600 points

@plasticlegions HQ 11/4



Army titles are little deceiving here, "You shall not pass" is more accurate. As I mentioned in the sidebar earlier in the week I had a game set up with my pal joe tonight to get some LotR in before the tourney this weekend. Joe has a massive Harad army that maxes out in like the 4-5K range in War of the Ring, so he said no problem to 600 points of Harad for a match with SBG rules, I even told his to bring a Mumak as I never faced on and at 275 points it reasonable one might show up this weekend. Problem was I met up with Joe, he had forgotten his Harad at home and showed up with what he had in his other case, which turned out to be Moria and a Balrog. Well I doubt at 400 points we'll be seeing a Balrog this weekend, but I have never played one of the either and since I am running Gandalf the Grey...playing against the Balrog just had to happen. We grabbed a cup of coffee, cracked open the Legions book and rolled "to Kill the King" as the scenario and let it roll.

Joes List

Goblin Captain

11 Goblin Warriors

6 Goblin Archers

Cave Troll

The Balrog



Not a very competitive army at 600 points because with a break point of "10", playing leadership "2" Goblins its all going to be about the Balrog. I dont expect to see anyone with break point less than mine at "14" this was the only game I'll be playing anytime soon I am feeling confident about numbers.

Joes choose he Goblin Captain as his "King", thinking he's be easier to defend..and the let the Balrog go nuts..I choose Gandalf and just did what I always do.

My list.

Gandalf the Grey
5 Rangers of North
20 Rangers of Arnor
Gwaihir the Great Eagle.



I won priority and the first couple turns were spent advancing, I had Gandalf Cast , "Blinding Light" and "Terrifying Aura" along the way. Being in opposite corners of a hill with all those trees took 3 turns to get into range of each other once we did it was fast and bloodly. Joe brought the Balrog right up the middle..My army breaks out very nicely in 5 groups of 4 rangers each being led by a Ranger of the North..Gandalf was off to right with two groups of rangers, two other headed toward the ruin and the Balrog and one flanked left. Gwaihir, flanked right with flying move of 12 I hope to get to the rear and go after the Goblin Captain.


The Cave Troll got a lucky break and ties up Gwaihir early but the eagle puts a wound on the troll, next turn I lose Priority so use the eagles might to make a Heroic Move and get away to rear. The Balrog moves up to bust out his whip on some of my Rangers but Gandalf casts "immobilize"..Joe throws 6 of his 10 dice to stop it but has no luck..and cant beat my 6 casting value. Balrog is held tight...I put a ton of arrows into the Balrog..needing 6's then 4's or 5's to wound at Defense 9..its nigh impossible to put a wound on him with S2 bows...I turn my fire on the Troll and put two wounds on him..my guys on the far right flank put down some goblin archers.


I win Priority this time, and Gandalf takes the troll down with Sorcerous Blast..I figure my 10 guys in the ruin will get charged by the Demon, but Joe does a 180 just manages to get the Balrog into contact with Gandalf..a big mistake on my part as I had lots of move and other men to protect him. I can't shoot the Balrog this turn to turn my attention to Goblins. Gwaihir engages a few goblins guarding the captain and most of the goblin warriors turn around, pile in and surround the great eagle. In shooting I take a few more goblin archers and lose my first ranger as a shooting casualty. Combat is a nasty affair, one on one vs the Balrog isnt like the movies its Fight 10, Str 9, Def 9 4 attacks, Vs Gandalf's 5/5/5 and 1 attack...Gandalf loses
and takes 4 wounds..but he's got three fate points which are re-rollable thanks to his ring I end up taking 1 wound but burn all my fate, I cannot take another round of that. Meanwhile Gwaihir surrounded, loses combat takes double strikes and takes two wounds.



Thankfully I won Priority again, it would be the last time of the game but the one that mattered Gandalf "Immoblized" the Balrog again, Joe tried to stop it, with four dice , tied my roll but used my first might point of the game to beat him. I then surrounded the Immoblized Balrog with 10 Rangers and Gandalf. we went thru the next 4 turns either re surrounding the Balrog or it charging Gandalf..I managed to "Immoblize" it a few more times, finally putting 6 wounds on the thing with double strikes from surrounding it and winning combat.

Meanwhile the rest of my Rangers cleaned the Goblins nicely and broke them, The Eagle was killed by a lucky goblin...but the rest of the men took down Goblins who were killed or ran off and surrounded the Goblin Captain who fended off seven of them for a few turns before going down. thankfully Gandalf managed to survive the combat with only 1 wound...and while we didnt kill it, but "you shall not pass!!"..LOL!



Not so much a practice game for the weekend other than getting my sea legs back with the ruleset but we had a great old time..we'll see how it goes this weekend.