Nova Open

[Smeagol]

Is anyone in this group going to be at the Nova Open?

I am scheduled to play in four of the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit events.

[Jobu]

So, I for one would be interested in your war stories if you would oblige us all with them. I went last year but was not able to make it this year.

[Smeagol]

I have to do a cut and paste from facebook. I should be able to get them up tonight. I had a great time. My army was hampered by the terrain, but the tables were still beautifully done. Frank Brown and Tom Clutchy were able to make the event. I did not get to spend much time with them.

[Smeagol]

Nova Doubles started with me meeting my doubles tournament partner, Eric, for the first time. After a brief introduction we settled on a dwarven force as our force.



Round one was the messengers mission against a Canadian duo playing a combined two warbands of Rivendell Knights along with Elrond's twin sons and Glorfindel.

The canadians played conservatively and were doing a good job of tearing apart my half of the alliance with bow fire before engaging.

We took a gamble to dash one of our messengers across a stretch of ground where only one elven archer could shoot at him. The git dropped the messenger. They also managed to break my force which netted them another two points.

For our part we found that Glorfindel's force had charged into a trap. We were able to counter charge a hero into a gap we were able to make after being charged. A heroic combat broke through and we were now one model from breaking one of their forces.

Floi removing Glorfindel's Woodland Creature special rule for a turn caused our opponents to cancel a counter charge and fall back.
Final result was four of our messengers dead, my force was broken and we had managed to break one of their forces. We lost. The elves came out on top 6 to 2.



Round two pits us against a Mordor alliance in Harad. A wall of Moranon Orcs took the center with The Undying (ringwraith) on a fell beast behind them. On our left deployed The Dark Marshal on an armoured horse, a troop of Black Numerorean Knights and a Great Beast of Gorgoroth. Thorin, Baen (Captain of Erebor), 19 Grim Hammers and 20 Warriors of Erebor spears stood firm 2 inches in front of the orcs. Floi lightly held our left flank while the King's Champion protected our central objective along with an assortment of dwarf shield warriors, Iron Guard and Khazad Guard.

Thorin led the charge into the Morranons and they cut down 6 of their number with no losses on the dwarve's side.

The Great Beast was later stopped by Floi's flankers and cut the beast down which broke one half of our opponent's force. It took a few minutes of explaining and then the tournament judge verifying that the orcs riding the beast counted as casaulties.
This resulted in the sudden death rule kicking in. We managed to play a few more turns with Thorin trying to break through the orcs. Baen had managed to get through and was shielding fiercely to prevent himself from being killed by the Black Guard Captain and anything else that was thrown at him.
The highlight of the game (for us) was Floi removing the Fly special ability from a fell beast that had perched atop a building with the intent to swoop in for the kill. Now the fell beast could not safely get off the building.
The game ended in our favour 6 to 2.



Round three saw us pitted against my hotel roomie, whom I met for the first time on Wednesday, and his partner. Another canadian team. Radigast on his sleigh, Gwaihir, three mounted Rangers of the North and six(?) giant eagles fought for possession of Erebor. Oh and did I forget to say Alfred?

These guys expertly tore at my half of the force and countered every attack we threw at them. With time running out and my force three models from breaking we finally had a combat turn go our way. We routed Gwahir's force which ended the game and netted us a 10 to 0 win.

No picture unfortunately as my phone's battery had just entered the critically low charge state.

My partner and I were 2 wins and 1 loss for the doubles event with a bunch of dwarves. Next time I will remember that we need at least a few bows to keep cavalry armies honest.

[Smeagol]

The 1000 point Deadliest Heroes tournament. I managed to come in second at 3 wins and no losses. Unfortunately my victory points were well behind the first place winner.

Round one of heroes. I managed a 5 to 3 win against this fun gentleman and his version of the White Company. Unfortunately for him this scenario was movement based and I pinned his golden donut on his side of the table while Arwen won me the game.

I was broken on the last turn which awarded him his points for the match



Round two deadliest heroes at Nova. My opponent Alex brought a fellowship and Radigast Alliance force. A tough and tight game until I managed to take down Beorn in bear form.

Elrond was bled white until his (generic captains) sons came in to rescue him. His Radigast was the next to fall and I was finally able to clobber his force and end the game in my favour.

A 15 to 0 victory.

My opponent:


His all hero force:


Robert was my round three opponent for the Deadliest Heroes tournament. His force was a bit tough with two wraiths, but managable since they were on horseback. Well until Radigast panicked one of them and Saruman Sorcerous Blasted Amdúr into Kamúl.

Tough game. I managed a 10 to 3 win. So three wins for the tournament and 30 victory points

Dave Nolan was the only other three win player, but had more VPs. So I placed second overall. I loved getting three very fun and competitive games.

My opponent:


His all hero force:

[Smeagol]

The NOVA GT:
The calm before the storm. The Nova GT matchups are soon to be declared.



Nova Open GT round one. I am matched up against Ian who was playing an Arnor force with Aragorn, Halbarad with Arwen's banner, Galadriel Lady of Light, Ghan-buri-ghan and a couple of Rangers of the North. He deployed into a castle defense on a fortress style board and the victory conditions were the one who did the most casaulties measured in points lost, wins.

His deployment caused much grief to my poor orcs. I skulked behind buildings as much as I could, but I had to keep things exposed to keep him from reacting to my plan of attack.

I used Ian's misdeployed Ranger of the North to cover my flank attack and to launch orcs closer to his rear line where a warg sized gap existed between the table edge and the end of his lines.

My mistake in my execution was to launch my assault when I had priority, but if I hadn't he would have closed it on me.

The game ended with me pulling out a squeaky 10 point difference in points lost in combat. I won the game 7 - 0

My opponent:


The Table (my force is on the left):


Nova Open GT round two had me pitted against Jamie Giblin. We played the Sabotage mission which is basically destroy your opponent's home objective markers, protect your own objectives and dogpile on the center.

This is the only scenario I practiced with my force before flying out to Nova. The table was a nightmare as I hit yet another fortress table. Jamie took the proper route and fought a defensive battle and wore me down enough to counter attack. I managed to break his force and destroy one objective, but Jamie quite expertly won the game with brilliant use of end game tactics.

I was now headed back into the mid-ranged cheap seats. I still kept him to a 7 VPs.

I was thrilled to get to play against Jamie and he did not disappoint.

My opponent:


The table:


Round three saw me back on the forest table and playing the messenger scenario. Deja Vu moment as this was the same table and scenario I lost on Friday in the 1st round of the doubles. Unfortunately I did not record my opponents name. He used a Haradrim force which was a mixed force just like mine.

By this time I was feeling exhausted. I screwed up my first three turns badly. I had my cavalry surrounding my infantry due to when and where they entered. I called a heroic march with my cavalry commander and only after marching the hero 15 inches forward did I realize my infantry could not move because they could neither move first nor keep up. So messengers are stuck within 6 inches of the table. So after kicking myself for being stupid I managed to FORGET to move the same infantry models in my next turn. Plus I failed to get a 3+ heroically channelled Fury off on my warg mounted shaman.

Luckily my opponent entered the table and made his initial attacks exactly like my Friday doubles opponents did. I recovered relatively well. Setup an infantry blockage and attacked his raiders from the flank using my warg mounted trackers. Once I had killed his King and was bleeding out his cavalry he started falling back. His teft flank infantry ran into Burhdúr's force and decided to do a points refusal and retreat to his board edge. I eventually managed a win by killing four of his messengers, getting four of mine off the table and breaking his force.

My opponent:


My opponent's half of the table:


Round four of the Nova GT.

I seldom get to play against anyone but a grognard, a historical wargaming reference for those of you without a proper war gaming background. So getting to play against someone with a fresh enthusiasm and genuine love for this game and hobby was great. Ryan reminded me of myself at his age complete with the wearing of emotions on my sleeves. So I went in facing off against a newbie (9 months of playing experience) and a young man with a great love of the dwarfs. "Du Bekar" was his cry every time he needed to make a critical die roll. I was soon to learn that Ryan has the new rule book better memorized than I do.

Before me were Thorin on a pony, Dwalin on a pony (this is just plain mean), Thrain and Legolas leading a collection of Erebor warriors with spears and/or shields, plus a banner. I was pitted against this wall of steel on the same table where Jamie Giblin beat me in round two.

Ryans inexperience showed in his deployment as he spread out his dwarves into three parts AND he placed Thorin first. This allowed me to placed three of my warbands on Thorin and the other two as holding forces for my left and center.

I won the Heroic Move contest and charged Thorin with Burhdúr. The rest of my orcs hit his dwarven wall and I sent the wargs around the flank to try and surrounded Thorin. In the center I settled in for futile arrow lobbing, but you never know sometimes it works. On the left I retreated out of range and LOS of Dwalin and his dwarves. Burhdúr died on the first turn. I rolled a 1 (which happened in every game) for his heroic strike FV bonus and then lost the combat, and then watched as two sixes and a five got dropped by Thorin to wound. One Might point and a failed Fate test later I was putting Burhdúr back into the box.

Short version. I completely destroyed Thorin's force and nearly killed him. He was down to one wound. I had also almost completely destroyed the dwarves on my left flank, leaving only 1 standing. Dwalin, Thrain and the Banner proved to be too much for the orc trackers in the center so the dwarves still held that position in strength. The first turn after breaking the dwarves the game ended when I rolled a 1. Ryan was visibly shaken and depressed by this as he was sure he had lost. We counted up the VPs. Ryan owned the center ( contested) and one objective without contest. I owned one objective without contest. The other two had a dwarf nearby. When I measured they were both so close to 3 inches as to be no more than a mm or two out. So close in fact that my hands could not hold the measuring tape steady enough to verify. Rather than call a judge I just declared them in range. Those two hard fighting dwarf warriors gave Ryan two points and the win at 8 points to my 7 points.
So now officially I was at 2 wins and 2 losses, but I had just played a great and challenging game against an enthusiastic young player. I do not know who inspired whom more. I have not seen many players with his level of enthusiasm for this game nor a better played and well themed force in one place. The game started with me being badly annoyed by the events on turn one, but ended in a much better place.

My very enthusiatic opponent:


This table again, but on the opposite side.


Round five at Nova.
I was paired up against Jonathon ( no picture) and his wood elves. Deja Vu to my second game. I wish my second game had been on this table. smile emoticon:)

I was forced to deploy my entire force first. As this scenario has a great deal in common with Storm the Camp I knew the best way to win was to swarm my opponent as fast as possible. So I deployed completely forward. My opponent deployed in a typical elven fortress wall formation. My jewel bearer was declared as my warg riding captain. I honestly do not remember who his was nor did I really care. I was not going to be able to kill them anyway.

I swarmed half of my cavalry around my right side and the other half moved on the left side of my central infantry mass. One warband headed to the objective on my left.

My plan was to quickly secure both of the secondary objectives to give my jewel bearer an additional 4 inches to his throwing range on the jewel. While my jewel bearer took the shortest route to the forge. Apparently my "massive" cavalry intimidated my opponent as he did not place anything in the way of their advance. At least not on open ground. About five turns into the game I was at 5 inches from the forge and threw the jewel. I rolled a 2 (needing a 4+), but as I had held onto my Might for this one die roll I was able to modify up to a 4 and win the game. All this despite failing to cast a channeled Fury for the second time in this tournament. Over half of my wargs would stick after losing their riders which helped keep my opponent off balance.

Jonathon did not realize that I was that close to winning the game and was visibly crestfallen. So I finished with a 7 to 0 win.

3 and 2 for the weekend in the GT.

One turn from winning the game. The orc on foot has my jewel. Notice the distinct lack of any defenders. I was confused as to why he left his right flank wide open the entire game, but I wasn't going to complain.

[Smeagol]

Pictures of some of the tables at the Nova Open. These are all 4x4 tables.

Dead Marshes


Smaug's bedroom


The wilds of Eriador


Isengard?


No clue, golbin town I think.


The Gates of Minas Tirith


The foot of Mount Doom?


Osgoliath


Harad


Don't know. The outskirts of Dol Guldor or something like that.


Unknown


The Shire


Unkown


I am pretty sure that is Radigast's house


Dol Amroth


The Midge Water Marshes


Khazad Dum/Moria


Village


Bree


Osgoliath?


More wilderness


Laketown


Raven Hill


Unknown


Far Harad?


Unknown

[Jobu]

Thanks a ton, I appreciate the copy pasta. Interesting, I am not a huge fan of some of these scenarios. No reason to keep your banner alive, or even bring one, a little too much emphasis on kings wounds/fate etc for points.

[Smeagol]

Custom scenarios have problems.

[JLeong]

Tim, so glad to see you attended this event! I was ignorant of it, otherwise I would likely have tried to make it! That terrain is gorgeous. I'm also happy to see that Frank Brown was out to a LotR event.

Are there any other LotR organized events coming up in 2017? I was under the impression our game's organized/tournament scene had dried up entirely with Adepticon.

[Smeagol]

Sorry for the late reply. This message notification went into my SPAM folder.

Mayhem in the Mountains is still going on and is this weekend. I saw that Frank Brown is attending that one. If I wasn't travelling out of the country this weekend I would be going as well. Unfortunately I can only be in one place at a time.

The terrain was very well done, if a bit crowded. There were far too many fortress tables, meaning towns and city locations where you could anchor both flanks on impassible terrain. I still managed to go 3 wins and 2 losses despite the unfriendly (to my force) terrain. Mostly that was due to three of my opponents being less experienced than I am at playing.

The scenarios also had some issues, but home grown scenarios often do.

EDIT:

Nova is scheduled again for 2017, There is an event in Canada, but I'd have to look up that information. I expect that Mayhem will run again next November as well.

[Matt_C]

Smeagol did I miss you or did we talk at Nova?

Holy **** if I did miss you.

I was there along with three others from Chicago who were not Frank. I did talk with him for quite a bit though.

[Smeagol]

I do not remember anyone from Chicago being there. Or more specifically none of the faces I would easily recognize. I ran across two of the LoTR veterans, Frank Brown and Tom Clutchy, but did not have the opportunity or energy to spend much time with them.

[Matt_C]

Which is interesting because those people are not familiar with my group and my group the same.

You guys should join us if you have the chance. I left my email address in the other topic.

[Matt_C]

Looking at your post I did meet you I believe. Did you have the mordor force with a lot of mounted warg riders then?

I complimented your army if thats the case and we talked briefly.

Id hope all of you come to Adepticon this year. Join us at some of our upcoming events.