Sunday 19th May saw myself, Tom, Pete, Andy and Martin crawl out of our beds far too early and get on the road to the awesome show that is Partizan at Newark Showground. Setting up on the edge of the Lard Zone, we put up our double-headed game format to promote my forthcoming Midgard Heroic Battles rules. It’s all very well telling people that your rules will work with any scale of miniatures, but it’s far better to show them!

So this time we had Trojan Wars in 6mm back-to-back with a battle from Tolkien’s Silmarillion in 28mm. This also neatly showcased the fact that Midgard can be used across the spectrum of historical, mythical and fantasy gaming.

Jon Hodgson (of Handiwork Games and Jon Hodgson Backdrops ) had kindly granted us permission to use two of his pieces as backdrops for the battles, so we had a lovely vista on both games.

Once I had micro-managed every single miniature and piece of terrain into its correct location, we had a quick team briefing and then got stuck into the games. While it’s fun to have two games on show, of course, it’s double the work for manning them, and we try to have games being played as well as being available to talk.

I played through several turns of the Silmarillion game with Pete and Andy in between chatting with everyone passing by, so the battle moved at a leisurely pace on my side of the table.

Tom and Martin took the Trojan Wars game so I apologise for the lack of photos of this – Tumhalad was taking up most of my attention!

I didn’t see the action develop in the Trojan Wars game but understand that Hector challenged Achilles to single combat, and found himself being dragged three times round the walls of Troy by his heels…

Back to the Battle of Tumhalad…the Orcs deployed on three sides of the battlefield, with the Elves of Nargothrond trapped with the River Ginglith to their backs.

Surrounded, the Elves elected to throw their archers forwards and harass the Orcs as they came on.

The game featured an Elven watch tower that had been taken over by Orcs and was now manned by their drummers creating an almighty racket!

Yet more Orcs arriving from the North!

Here we have some of the Peter’s Paperboys Orcs taking part in their first Midgard game. They said that they were worried about feeling a bit flat, but were soon made welcome and no-one mentioned their 2D qualities!

Although the Elven archery felled the front ranks of the Orcs, more came on and Glaurung breathed fire upon the Noldor.

Glaurung piled into the Elven ranks but the Elves held on for a minor victory, having more Reputation tokens in their goblet at the close of play. A few more turns might have settled it, but that’d best be played out at a club night rather than a show!

Thanks for all our helpers for today and especially everyone who came and chatted – I hope we have some Midgard news for you soon.

Second of the games that we’ll be bringing to Partizan on May 19th will be our version of one of the battles from the First Age of Middle-earth. The Battle of Tumhalad, which took place in the year 495 of the First Age, only merits a short description in Tolkien’s works but heralds the destruction of the Elven underground realm of Nargothrond.

The Silmarillion states that ‘in the autumn of the year, biding his hour, Morgoth loosed upon the people of Narog the great host that he had long prepared; and Glaurung the Urulóki passed over Anfauglith, and came thence into the north vales of Sirion and there did great evil. Under the shadows of Ered Wethrin he defiled the Eithil Ivrin, and thence he passed into the realm of Nargothrond.’

‘The warriors of Nargothrond went forth, and tall and terrible on that day looked Túrin…as he rode on the right hand of Orodreth. But greater far was the host of Morgoth than any scouts had told, and none but Túrin defended by his dwarf-mask could withstand the approach of Glaurung; and the Elves were driven back and pressed by the Orcs into the field of Tumhalad, between Ginglith and Narog, and there they were penned.’

‘On that day all the pride and host of Nargothrond withered away, and Gwindor son of Guilin was wounded to the death. But Túrin came to his aid, and all fled before him; and he bore Gwindor out of the rout, and escaping into a wood there laid him on the grass.’

This doom-filled account fits nicely with one of the scenarios in the forthcoming Midgard Heroic Battles rules, so I’ve adapted The Last Stand for the forces of Morgoth and Nargothrond.

The Elves are holding a ridge, hopelessly outnumbered and attacked on three sides by the Orcs. However, they can still win a moral victory if they can hold on and protect Orodreth, Lord of Nargothrond, until sunset (or Turn 6 of the game, if you prefer).

The Elven Force is, of course, commanded by Orodreth, but Túrin Turambar is the real warlord, having urged the Elves of Nargothrond into open battle. Armed with the black sword Gurthang (‘Iron of Death’ in Sindarin) and wearing the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, he cuts a frightening figure as the only man in the Elven ranks.

Our third main commander is Gwindor, a maimed Elf who has been rescued from Morgoth by Túrin.

The Elven warriors are a variety of formed archers and spearmen with a considerable mounted wing. Heraldry is the emblem of the house of Fingon, though Orodreth and his bodyguard bear one of his uncle Finrod’s symbols.

The Orc host is great fun to field, not least because the commander is a fire-breathing dragon! Glaurung- the first, wingless dragon of Middle-earth – originally emerged from Angband in FA 260 but was beaten back by Elven horse archers.

By FA 455, he was fully grown and led Morgoth’s forces in several major battles. As a sentient creature, for game purposes, we have treated him as a Monstrosity Unit with a Level 3 Major Hero permanently attached.

I have added various lowly Orc captains, but Glaurung is the star player here. The model is a heavily converted toy by Schleich which I covered in a previous blog article.

The rest of the Orc host is composed of a huge variety of miniatures from mine, Martin and Pete’s collections.

We’ve all enjoyed converting various plastics from Oathmark, GW, Warlord, Wargames Atlantic, Gripping Beast and many others for that uniquely orcish look.

I’ve chosen to give the Orcs a low armour value for game purposes, which means that they die in droves but can potentially swamp the Elves with more warriors, which feels about right.

There are a few Orc archers that we’ve massed into formed units (it’s interesting to note how many characters in Tolkien are killed by Orc arrows) and some wolf riders to act as scouts.

Anyway, we’re looking forward to see how the scenario plays and to a great show at Partizan! Hope to see some of you there.