The battle of the 5 armies is one of those iconic battles from fantasy literature. I have wanted to play it for years but never got round to it.
When I
first read Tolkien in the 70s I though they were the best books ever and as soon
as I learned that wargames figures were available I started to buy them.
I still
have many of them and many fought in this battle.
I’ve collected
fantasy figures for years on and off so I easily had enough for this battle.
The issue
for me with fantasy wargaming has always been about finding a suitable set of
rules. I’ve tried various sets over the years but none has really inspired me.
I was never a fan of Warhammer as I felt it too slow for the scale of battles I
wanted to do.
I liked a
lot about Kings of War but there were 3 features about it I did not like –
The IGOUGO
system which meant one side could pretty much shatter the other in one turn;
The lack of
attrition – there is no reduction to a units performance as it takes damage
which I think is daft;
The one
sided combat.
Looking for an alternative I found these free rules on the web. The have some resemblance to KOW but deal with all the issues that I don’t like about that system. It’s a fast play system, based on a Tolkienesque world (clearly intended to avoid any copyright issue) which gives you the rules and the army lists.
https://cruciumgiger.blogspot.com/2020/08/war-of-sundered-realms.html
So Battle
of Fives Armies using War of the Sundered Realms – how did it go?
Really well - the attraction doing this battle is the
variety of races involved which is a good try out for the rules. The other
thing I should say here is that I did minimal preparation for this game – I did
not work out the points totals for the armies, look closely at the stats, or
set any objectives. I did not even make a mountain but just improvised one.
Despite
these failings it was a really good game which went like the battle in the
Hobbit pretty much and most importantly demonstrated that this is a really good
set of rules. Thanks again to Ed for playing what was an experimental game.
I did make
a couple of changes to the rules. So troops on higher group get +1 to their defense
– this is important for this battle. The other thing I changed was the combat system.
Under my change both units attack and defend, but the charger gets a +1 to his
attacks. This worked well.
Now on to
the battle report.
Initial set up. Dwarves are on the far spur, the Lakemen and Elves on the nearer one. I did not have many goblin wolfriders so used chariots instead.
The view from the mountain.
Elf archers shoot down a goblin unit but are then ridden down by wolf riders. Bard is on the left of the picture.
On the right flank, dwarf warriors make short work of their opponents.
The lakemen on the left flank are in trouble...
With both Lakemen units and both Elf archer units gone, the remaining elves try to hold the position. Gandalf uses the single spell he is allowed for the game to fry the wargs advancing on the elf spearmen.
On the other flank, the dwarfs come down off the ridge to attack the gobiln wolfriders who have been peppering them with arrows.
Four units of night goblins come round the back of the mountain, attacking the elves in the rear. its the end for the elves, but Bard and the elf prince are still fighting. Thorin and company break out of the mountain and move to join in the battle.
It was all looking grim for the allies, but then the eagles arrive and start making mincemeat of the goblins. The eagles are plastic toys off ebay.
Beorn also turns up and stomps the nearest unit of night goblins.
Night goblins charge Thorin's company in the flank and are well and truly thumped for their trouble.
Thorin and bodyguard rashly charge a unit of orcs.
Gandalf and Bilbo fall to a furious troll. I should have made him a High Wizard instead of a Hedge Wizard in which case he would have had the troll for breakfast rather than the other way around.
Bard also fall to a troll. 4 trolls was too many considering how powerful they are and of course in the book there are none in the battle.
The dwarves are still holding on, but Dain is about to fall to another troll in the centre of the picture.
On the left flank, the elven prince is still fighting!
Eagles swoop down on the flank of the orc unit saving Thorin who has been reduced to 1 wound.
Eagles rampage over the battlefield though they have taken quite a few wounds by now.
By now both sides had been reduced to a handful of units and we decided to call it a day. It had been a really exciting game with the balance swinging from one side to another.
I had not set any victory conditions, probably these should have been based on number of heroes slain and taking the mountain and the spurs. The allies lost Dain, Gandalf, Bard, while Thorin and the elf prince survived. The goblin leaders avoided combat until the end of the game!!! Typical.
The elf prince was a legend, fighting throughout the battle. The allies still held one of the spurs and the mountain, so I guess a draw with the advantage to the goblins. Giving the goblins 4 trolls was probably too many.
So the battle played very much like the book, and the rules worked really well, I had no quibble with them at all. They are just right for large game set in the land of Middle Earth. Highly recommended.
