Recovery: MESBG Battle Companies

Our fourth Battle Companies game was Recovery. An item of power was in the area, and both Leaders wanted to find it for their superiors.  Five tokens are placed on the centre line, one is the objective, but neither side knows which.

Both our heroes with Old Battle Wounds were well enough for the battle, though I certainly had the advantage, having ten minis to the Fiefdoms six.

Opening Moves

I won Priority for the first few turns, the above shows the first turn after my move.  I split my force into three groups, hoping to make for at least a couple of objectives while my bowmen provided missile support.

The Fiefdoms place a Blackroot Vale archer on a hill while the rest of the company advance.

The Middle Phase

The Fiefdoms now had a run of Priority rolls, and their Knight managed to reach a token, which turned out to be the item we were both seeking.  I now had to stop them taking it off my table edge.

I tried to bring my force together to block the enemy.  Sayaad made the most of his Expert Shot to take down one of the Dol Amroth Men-At-Arms.  The Archer on the hill shot one of my Bowmen (Sita).

Qayid leads a small group of spearmen ready to attack the Knight.  The remaining Man-At-Arms charges Eashra.

The End Phase

Eashra falls to the combined attacks of the Man-At-Arms and the one-armed archer, but the turn is disastrous for the Fiefdoms - the Knight is slain by the combined efforts of Qayid, Shawish, Arbaea and Khamsa

Arbaea snatches the item, while Qayid and Khamsa knock the Man-At-Arms down.  It doesn't go all Harad's way, as Tise is felled by the Man-At-Arms and the Archer.

Shawish catches an arrow from the Archer on the hill, but Qayid manages to avenge Tise when he charges the one-armed sergeant.

At this point the Fiefdoms wisely decided to retreat and see to their wounds.  Permitting the Haradrim to take the item.

Aftermath

Neither of us lost any troops, though both Tise and Shawish will miss the next game as they recover from their injuries.  Qyaid is now a Master of Battle, and Sayaad has the Keen Eye ability.  Not tremendously useful, given that I'm not facing elves, but it could be interesting.  As Arbaea carried the item away, he is now a Hero, and has a point of Fate.  Very nice.  Unfortunately I failed all my various Warrior advancement rolls, so the rest of the Company are no better.

The Fiefdoms managed to recruit an Axeman of Lossenarch, I can see that two handed weapon will be cleaving through my lightly armoured troops like a dwarf axe through goblins hot knife through butter.

Another great fun game, though it did feel as if my superior numbers really gave me a huge advantage.  I'll be down to eight next game though.  I tried to think about how I moved and used my forces this time, and resisted the temptation to charge whoever was clos against the Knight, instead waiting until I had a good number of troops.  I must try and think smart again in future games.