Nothing more than a sigh in the night, that most would hardly distinguish from the sounds of the restless earth, caused the dim forms around the smouldering campfire to come to rapt attention.


Turn 1 from the top of Dol Gwaihir

"It's Eldamarin," remarked Nêlheneb, as usual the first to sort out the faintest sensations.


Turn 11?

The next moment all were in motion, Ásaros barking orders and the remaining sentries hailing from the bottom of the hill. Ásaros rousted the dwarves from where they were resting under their ballista and put the entire company into formation at the top of the defile nearest Eldamarin's post. For what seemed a long time, the defenders waited by the sweaty rocks, below which the scurry of boots and twang of bowstrings could now be plainly heard. Vanquessë and Penglagor were already drawing interest for their fallen comrade. Then, suddenly, the mass of attackers materialized out of the heavy mist, bounding up the hill with little effort.


Turn 13?

The dark tide skidded to a halt at the sight of Lumbotir, still as a statue beside a menacing dwarf. The goblins had dealt with the glowering elf before, and were reluctant to do so again. After a few uncertain moments, the eager warriors at the back of the goblin horde split to the side to find another way up. Anticipating their movements, Ásaros sent Os-Mando with the other dwarf and a few elves to set up a second point of defense.

The goblins were just as reluctant to advance when they spotted the old convict, but Os-Mando didn't leave them the luxury of lining up their archers. With a great cry, he lifted his blade high and sent it crashing through the helmet of his nearest opponent.

Ásaros always smiled when he heard that cry. Os-Mando intimidated many with his physique and demeanor, but Ásaros had put his trust in him. If elves were intimidated, so much more so orks and goblins.

Suddenly, though, that cry was cut short. Without a moment's reflection, Ásaros left Paranbund to support Lumbotir and the dwarf and rushed off to deal with the breach. The goblins were already pushing in against the heavily armored defenders, but Ásaros plowed into the midst of them. The defenders took heart and mowed down every opponent. At this the rest gave up their assault and fled off toward the forests.

Having beat off the attack, Ásaros turned to his friend. Several heavy arrows jutted from his armor.

"It was strange," commented Lhingril, standing nearby. "They managed to shoot him several times without hitting the warriors Os-Mando was attacking..."

"Hm," Ásaros considered. "Could be trackers or prowlers or perhaps something even worse. He'll recover. Perhaps we can get old Thranduil to send even more reinforcements."

Privately, he doubted Thranduil would send much. The old lord had only acted last time when obligated by the unexpected success of Sind Fëan. Dol Gwaihir was firmly in his hands now. If he could secure the rest of South Greenwood, he would no longer need to go to Thranduil begging...

***

Battle Analysis

The key to beating  goblins, as with other cancers, is early detection.


Initial setup.

I was not heavily outnumbered for once, but the Silence the Artillery scenario we were playing called for my army to be scattered over half the board until random movement put one of my sentries within four inches of a foe. Heath had badly underestimated the strength of my force (which he should have known, having seen me roll up the influence to expand it), but on the other hand had only to put a single warrior in contact with the ballista one turn without other action to win. We both thought he had a better than even chance at pulling it off.

He didn't realize he could have entered on the near edges of the board by my guards and tried to run through the sentries instead. This basically put the game on a 50/50 basis, dependent on whomever got the initiative more than once at a time in order to significantly move the sentries in or out of the way. For eleven turns, the initiative flipped regularly. I kept an eye on the shot clock, hoping to draw by default. Then he got too close to a sentry, and I could bring my troops into formation. Restrictive terrain made the most of my spears and terrifying, two attack, high armor heroes, and that was pretty much that.


Elven archers try to pick off stragglers while the goblins try to force the hill at two points.

Luck did not play much of a role. Heath did manage to get more wounds with his gobbo archers firing into combat than my two archers managed to get with clear shots all game, but this just balanced the fact that he rolled a one for an old battle wound and lost his main hero before the start of the battle.