I wanted to give Oathmark another try and get my Middle Earth on with elves doing something epic. I drew up 3000 point armies for each side. Evil got a Dragon (700 points!) and I made the Nazgûl a level 5 spellcaster, but I gave him some orc and goblin spells because they seemed more in line with the books. The Nazgul causing dread with Poison Cloud, Lifebane, Fear, Weakness or Afflict. The Elf spellcaster, was only level 4, but she got a magic ring that gave her an extra spell, which she used to cast Earthlines, giving her an extra spell casting die, effectively making her a budget level 5. Her other spells were Trueflight (shooting), Dispel, Confound and Mystic Shield. 

The elves contained a lot of archers, even drafting in my old Ral Partha archers for a big 18 figure unit, which naturally performed quite well. Although the smaller 12 figure units did alright too. My 6 figure unit of super elite Elf cavalry could dish out a lot of hurt, but it was also very fragile. Of course the game, played out over a week, was cursed with many duff rolls. Orcs need a 10 to hit the elf cavalry? They roll 2 of them. Dragon breathes fire on elf shield wall, nothing but smoke.Nazgul gets ready to cast a  spell, fails his activation. Dragon runs away after being peppered by arrows? Orcs just shrug and keep advancing.

Army of Evil. Lots of Orcs and Goblins

Elves. All bright and shiny, except for the sneaky ones in camoflage cloks.

Early moves

Ragged Evil advance

Pathfinders sieze key hill. Which was a mistake. Should have put these guys in woods below hill to fight trolls and goblins, and put that big 18 figure unit of archers up here to shoot at everybody.

Elf shieldwall, who spent a lot of time standing around waiting for the orcs

Elves start shooting at the Big Damn Dragon. It’s Enormous, so the hill doesn’t block Line of Sight to it.

Elf archers trying to secure flank, but have to deal with goblins and some trolls first.

Looks scary, but rolled badly. Or rolled well, if you’re an elf.

„Somebody shoot that creepy guy on the horse!“ Which they promptly do, killing him dead, but destroyed units don’t cause any morale check, which seems odd.

This charge should have gone better. What’s the point of having 2 combat dice per figure if you can only ever roll 5?

Trying something stupid. Even with a magic sword a heroic figure can’t do much vs.Defense 14, and then it hits back with 5 dice and Fight 8! But the Dragon has accumulated 8 wounds and routs off table. Causing NO panic among the surrounding Orcs or Men.

Game end: the Elves held after their King died. Cavalry have attacked flank of main orc thrust, destroying or mauling three orc units.

Game End: other flank. Elves have cleared the woods of goblins and will now wheel to flank the Men and Orcs across the river.

Staged but inspirational picture, in case you’re viewing this on a phone and don’t see my header pic.