It’s not a Dutch event this time as we are moving to Poland for the Nations cup of 2025. The best players will represent their respective country in this all out 6 games clash. With 132 players and 22 teams in total, this is bound to be a glorious event. This year the Dutch team consisted of the following members:

Ronny Kost (Team captain)
Alexander Peijfers (Vice captain)
Rick van Meijl
Tim van Staalduinen
Tim Hazekamp
Max Belder (me)

It was almost sure that I would be playing Depths of Moria (you can find an army list review about it here). The strength of it’s army bonus could not be ignored. I also had the most experience with this army, as I started the hobby with it. My exact list is very feng shui. It has the Balrog with 4 shield, 4 spear. Then 4 identical warbands all led by a captain containing 4 shield, 4 spear, and 2 bow. The other armies which we were taking are:

Minas Morgul (Ronny)
The Last Alliance (Alexander)
Army of the White Hand (Rick)
The Battle of Fornost (Tim S)
The Battle of the Five Armies (Tim H)

Game 1 – Fog of War vs Arnor (Team Bieda (Polish second team))

The first game and I would immediately play against someone with home field advantage. Jokes aside, the second Polish team consisted of some experienced players. Including Pjot (no idea if I spelled your name right), who I would be playing against, already had 20 years of competitive experience under his belt. He had also attended several international events before. This would be a difficult match, since the match-up was also not looking favorable for me. Arnor is already a tough cookie to crack for Depths of Moria, even more so on Fog of War. His army, quite unsurprisingly, consisted of: Arvedui, Malbeth, Argadir, Captain, and a boat load of dudes.

The game started off with some very standard deployment. Basically a big line with our most important pieces in the middle. The first few turns went as expected. Pjot did some kills with shooting while I threw my army forwards. I did keep 2 captains and about 12 goblins back to defend my terrain pieces. Over the course of the game Pjot played it very well, keeping his objective hidden by moving erratically. Only in the last turn I discovered what his objective was. My own objective was the woods on the far left. I figured that sneaking goblins past such a wide and competent battle-line was folly and went for an objective that I could threaten well with the Balrog. The passable hill in front of my chosen piece of terrain led to this decision. It meant I could walk up with cover, leading most of his shots towards the goblins which were kept back. I wanted to arrive with the most sizable force possible to support the Balrog. Because let’s be frank, the goblins were not gonna do it vs Arnor.

As the Balrog charged over the rock, Arnor ebbed away from him. I had one chance to decide the game then and there. Pjot had left his captain a bit exposed and I could whip him without any in the ways, so naturally, the Balrog missed. Had this whip gone of and had I killed the captain because of it, I could have just sat back and played defensive. Oh well, the game was by no means decided yet. The Balrog made up for it by rolling 6’s in the next 3 turns of combat. He wasn’t converting a lot of kills though, but that was mainly because of the super fun and interactive +5 Malbeth save.

If you look at the picture above, the situation looks fairly decent for me. My objective is on the left screened by a Balrog. Plus, I am against 20 warriors with Arvedui, a captain, and Malbeth, with around 20 goblins, 2 captains, and a Balrog. Pretty decent prospect right? I could not have been more wrong. Like I said before the Balrog did all right, but not nearly enough. The goblins were doing dramatically. Not really the fault of the goblins though, more of Pjot who just kept rolling 6’s. Over the course of 3 to 4 turns he almost didn’t lose a single fight and mostly managed to kill their opponent. He also wasn’t losing any models. Granted I need to roll a 6 and then he still has a 5+ Malbeth save, but still, no one was dying on his side.

In the mean time Argadir was making his way over to his chosen terrain piece. This is where I think my opponent made an error. He was very hesitant to get Argadir into combat. To paint the picture, he had Argadir, 2 knights, 8 warriors, 4 archers against my 2 captains and 12 goblins. He could have absolutely smashed my meagre warband and captured his terrain piece easily had he just engaged earlier. He only did so on the last 2 turns and it was not enough to roll up the goblins in time.

But it did not end up mattering much. In the end he still managed to keep his hero protected and kill the entire warband which was around the Balrog. Maybe a mistake from me, but I elected a captain which went with the Balrog. I thought he would be safer around the big boy and I thought that Pjot would be much more aggressive on my back line. However, my goblins were heavily underperforming this game and the Balrog was also getting bogged down. Both captains in the back were still alive at the end of the game. The Balrog also ended up taking a few wounds after flopping heavily (and some more 6’s into 6’s from Pjot), which gave up leader VP’s.

In the end, the Balrog did not have enough wounds for me to break, he did do some wounds for leader VP’s, he ended up killing the hero which was his target and the one that I wanted to protect, protected his own hero, and we both failed to get our terrain pieces captured. This ended the game on a 11-0 for him. Quite a bad start to the tourney for me, and my team didn’t end up performing any better. Only our team captain won his game. This meant that we would plummet down towards the bottom tables.

Game 2 – Hold Ground vs Erebor Reclaimed (Ireland)

The next match-up seemed a bit more in my favor. I was matched up against Stevie, one of the Irish players. Stevie brought his Erebor Reclaimed to the table, sporting Thorin, Oin, Gloin, and Dori. I definitely liked my chances here. If I could just get my Balrog in the middle while screening him from the objective this game seemed golden. It could still take a nasty turn if the maelstrom roles went poorly.

I won the roll for priority and gave it to my opponent. He managed to deploy most of his warbands on the Eastern side of the board edge. He did end up spending 2 might on Dori and Oin roled a one. No matter because he rolled a 6 next turn. He essentially deployed all of his forces in a big ball in the center of the Eastern board edge, around some chokepoints, with his heroes in the middle… Yeah I could not resist either. I decided that, even though it might cost me a bit, I would deploy around him. Spoiler alert, it did not cost me a bit. I rolled a 5 two times deploying the first two captains on both flanks of Stevie. one captain rolled a 4 and deployed right behind the captain on the southern side of the board. The next captain did not fare better and rolled a 2. I did not opt to spend the might because I already had enough models to spring my trap. My opponent shood him as far away as possible towards the Western board edge. Last up was the Balrog who rolled a crisp 4, making me a very happy man. The Balrog is a big slot machine, and maelstrom roles are no exception. I deployed him on the Northern flank.

A picture here would be very nice, it would give more context than the whole paragraph I have just typed. Would be a good idea to actually make pictures during the game, but alas. My opponent was essentially boxed in with a Balrog and around 40 goblins to chew through before reaching the objective. I think he also made a small mistake boxing in his heroes. Yes it offers more protection against the Balrog, but it makes the formation immobile. After the second turn we called a heroic move for every turn onwards. His heroes had nowhere to move, except to shuffle barely and inch forwards, and everything within 6″ (all of his army essentially) could not move further away. This meant he was boxed in either by my move, or his own.

The game was pretty much over from this point. Even if, by some miracle, he could keep the Balrog at bay and break out a few dwarves there was a welcome committee waiting for them on the objective. Due to the Balrog flopping he did manage to take 4 wounds. This did make me play a bit more cautious with him, but when I saw that my army would not break anyway, I threw him back in full force. One by one the dwarven lords fell, Stevie’s rolling speeding up their demise. He was a great sport about it though. I think he could also see the writing on the wall pretty soon and just decided to have fun this game.

Not much else to say about this game. Even if we had a stalemate or if it went slightly more his way the game would have still ended in a major for me. The wide fence in the picture above really helped me this game, it made it really easy to trap him between a boat load of goblins and a Balrog. He did not end up being tabled. The last dwarf on the field managed to win his fight, the next roll ended the game (broken 1-2). I had 3 goblins in the middle of the board, broke my opponent without breaking myself, had killed his leader, but did not posses a banner at the end of the game. This ended the game on a 20-2 for me. Such a comfortable win after a big loss felt really good especially playing against such a sporting opponent. Even though the game was not particularly exciting for him, I did not hear a complaint leave his mouth once. Truly an example of good sportsmanship. I bought him a beer after and we had a chat while my team finished their games. We did end up winning this round as a team, but just barely.

Game 3 – Reconnoiter vs Harad (Switzerland)

Game 3 was a weird one. It always is when you’re playing against two Mumaks. Yeah that’s right, nobody dared to play against this in Recon so the Balrog got thrown in front of the Mumak train. I did not mind though. I had plenty of goblins to sneak around the flanks while still keeping plenty to charge Mumaks. My opponent was Patrick from Switzerland, a mad lad who somehow convinced his team captain that two Mumaks was a good idea. Deployment was fairly balanced, on turn two both our full armies were on the board. One Mumak and the Balrog had a small delay. For me this was no issue. He only had 8 models in total so if I could get a warband off he could not win the game anymore. The Balrog needed to hang back and just stall a bit.

The first few turns we were dancing around each other a bit until Patrick finally saw an opening and charged a Mumak into the Balrog. This opening came in the form of a heroic march while I had just moved my captain out of 6″ from the Balrog. Expertly spotted from Patrick and a real beginner mistake from me. I was even actively thinking about this play, but somehow forgot a few turns later. Oh well, the charge managed to take 2 wounds from the Balrog and left him in combat. The Balrog promptly slapped back 2 wounds onto the Mumak to make it even. The Mumak was so surprised by this backhand that it immediately stampeded. Patrick rolled a snake eyes and was helpless to do anything about it. This was the “normal” Mumak, the other Mumak with his war leader was further towards his board side.

This stampede could not have come at a better moment. I won priority next turn and gave it to myself. He had to spent a might on his main Mumak just to move backwards and keep him safe, ouch. I forced the other Mumak to stand still and then charged all I could at him, the fearless bubble from the Balrog paying dividends. I took another 5 wounds off him, but this time the oliphaunt was brave and kept his cool. In the mean time, my goblins were on their way to march off the board.

Next turn spelled disaster for the forces of Harad. The normal Mumak only had 3 wounds left, something the Balrog and a few goblins could definitely heroic combat through. Patrick had charged his Royal Mumak next to the other one to trample some goblins attacking it. This was actually what I was hoping for, since the Balrog now had something to actually heroic combat into. Which he proceeded to do so, claiming a Mumak skull and charging right into the next one. After a few more turns, this Mumak also went down without having done anything spectacular. Ending the game on a 20-1 for me. My team, again, barely scraped together a team victory.

Another very quick game and write up. Nothing against my opponent, I think Patrick played it the best he could. But the scenario and match-up were absolutely stacked in my favor. He also lost the only two heroic move offs in the game. I think we finished the game after 45 minutes. This gave us plenty of time to sit on the terrace and enjoy a beer. We had a chat about the game, his other armies and experiences with the hobby. We even got interviewed by Harry from Entmoot. You can find the interview of Patrick and me all the way at the end of day one in the tournament livestream on Entmoot’s and Battlecamper’s YouTube channel.

Conclusion of day one

What a start and what an end. To give up so much in the first game while tasting victory and then experiencing the other side of the table (literally) twice was quite the rollercoaster. I’ve played against some very professional players. Not just in player skill but also in their approach to the game. I have to honestly say, before I came to this event I was expecting a sweat fest. I’m happy that I got proven totally wrong. The atmosphere was amazing and even less sweaty than most Dutch events. My teammates agreed with me on this, which proves that you can bring meta-armies and still make it a fun game. This of course is also a testament to the sportsmanship of Stevie, Patrick, and Pjot, whom I want to thank again for making it a fun game.

I promise that the second day will have even more exciting games in store. Again, nothing against the players, they did their best, but some games were set in stone. So not much to write about, which is a shame. I still hoped you enjoyed the quick overview. Stay tuned for part 2 while I go have a beer and celebrate with the team. Cheers!

PS:

Props to the Polish for making the weirdest bed ever. My fiancée and I had a good laugh.