Sunday 22 September 2013

The sands of Harad



Boromir gazed upon the endless desert that covered the land, this was the land of Harad, the home of the enemies of Gondor which spawned unending invasions from it's desolated extensions. He felt his mouth as dry as dust, it had been a tough joureny across the desert, exhausting journeys trough the sea of dunes, marching from oasis to oasis to reach their destination: the dark temple of Sauron, lost in an unexplored  wasteland. There were the supplies that the haradrim army had gathered for the invasion of Gondor and if he could destroy them, his homeland and the white city would be beyond any harm. But Harad was a treacherous land, and it's inhabitants masters of hiding, so the final approach to the temple wouldn't be easy. This was the land where everything died.

Mission: burn the supplies (500pts)

The light side must burn the supplies gathered by the darkness side, each model can try to ignite them with a 4+, when ignited they must remain burning an entire turn before the supplies are destroyed, each burned dupply is 250 victory points worth, the darkness side can try to quench the fires with a 5+ for model.

The darkness side is playing at home, they know all the secrets of the desert and so can deploy hidden in any terrain feature (except in the light's deploying zone), just note your hidden deployment in an scketch.

 The light side deploys: Boromir, four Dol Amroth knights with flag, two minas tirith knights, seven MT bowmen, seven MT warriors and a MT captain with bow
 The light seizes the initiative

 The warriors advance to explore
 Darkness unveiled: in their turn, haradrim incursors appear, five with spear, six with bow
 alongside a nazgûl on horse
 The gondorian bowmwen are charged! And the nazgûl throw a sap will to Boromir who in using all his three points of will to resist losses it anyway

 meanwhile, the warriors receive some inofensive arrows
The melee goes well for the darkness with two bowmen down 

 an heroic gondorian charges alone against the nazgûl!
 Seizing now the initiative, Boromir leads the cavalry towards the temple

 First loss for Harad, the bowmen start taking advantage of being on the high ground
 but suffer also one loss
 Surprise! in darkness turn a second nazzgûl and the haradrim infantry appear next to Boromir's rides

 The nazgûl transfixes Boromir (who is now without will) and charges home alongside with the haradrim infantry
 but the gondorians remain unscratched
 the hand to hand continues with bowmen holding against all odds
 Seizing now the initiative, the darkness surrounds their opponents, some of which have begun to run
 with the help of a rider, the nazgûl finally manages to kill his opponent 
 arrows again useless
 a lone bowman holds the hill against everybody


While Boromir holds the infantry, the rest of the column advances into the temple's hill

 too short!
 The superior skill of Dol Amroth is too much for the southerners
 but Boromir, transfixed again, suffers his first wound
 seizing the initiative in a crucial moment, the light begins to come at sword's reach
 The remaning knights charge against the hill defended by a troll and a phalanx of easterlings
 The banner of Dol Amroth has fallen!
 knight down
 Boromir suffers his second injury, but the nazgûl is spending too much will in keeping him transfixed
 however, for Gondor, the attack on the raiders goes well
In darknesse's turn the troll smashes the skulls of the swan knights
 The hill is ours! 
 The lone hero kills one of the two raiders
 Without any will left the nazgûl vanishes into a foul mist
 And Boromir is finally able to slaughter his assailants
 the hero strikes again!
 darkness seizes the initiative and closes up on Boromir and the remaining swan knight
 taken from the back the hero of the hill is finally slain
 also Boromir losses his last wound
 seizing again the initiative for the last turn, the remaining nazgûl and some raiders charge uphill, but are beaten hard and the last of the ularii is also banished

The final of the battle, some gondorians hold a dune in the right while their friends flee (captain included)
the supplies end held firmly into darkness's hands 

A lone knight of Minas Tirith watched the disaster, Boromir was dead, and his once powerful army lied dying with him or routing from the field. Now the only thing that he could do was come back home, come back home and warn the steward before it was too late, it would be a journey full of dangers, but the knight knew that Gondor's survival was more important than his. The rider turned back and headed for the north, behind him he left the pride of Gondor. Buried, buried forever beneath the sands of Harad.