This was a 400 points game. Mike had the Shadow Lord, a new named wraith from the Mordor sourcebook and a troll chieftain leading about 10 Mordor uruks and 7 Morannan orcs with spears. Definitely a unique Mordor army. Jon fielded 8 Elvish archers and a line of Elven bladed warriors backed by a line of spearmen, all led by the brothers Elladen and Elrohir.
The elves started in a small patch of woods, while the Mordor host started behind a hill. The Mordor approach to battle was unfazed by arrow fire, as the pale of darkness of the Shadow Lord reduced the elven archers' effectiveness to near zero. The only damage done was to take the sole fate from the troll chieftain.
After about 5 turns of maneuvering and approach, the lines met. The first turn of combat was reminiscent of the rest of the fight. Mordor lost 4 of 5 fights (2 on 2), losing 4 shielded Uruk-hai that first turn, and not killing the lone elf with the S4 hit in the fight won. The troll won his fight, but inflicted no wounds on either elf.
The next turn, Jon attempted to steal priority, which Mike fought and won (probably the only thing he won this day). Mike took two risks here, the battle having gone poorly thus far (he was outnumbered from the start, and having lost 4 more warriors, something needed to be done!). First, Mordor left his Shadow Lord back, up on a hill so he could see the brothers, with a bodyguard of 3 models. The danger was the 8 nearby archers. Mike saw that only one of the brothers could reach combat circling around the end line, so he attempted to transfix the first one, making the second, who would have to run around the immobile first, inactive; but the attempted transfix only hit on a 3, which Jon easily beat. So Mike charged his units into combat, the brothers running around to engage lone Uruks and Orcs. Mike, seeing that between the brothers, Jon could control combat every single turn with their total 6 might, took another risk and called a heroic combat with his troll, needing to kill two elves on a 4+ (with 3 attacks). Mike won the combat easily, and then rolled 3-1-1 to fail to injure any of the elves, and leaving his troll might-less. His Uruks faired no better, taking down 1 elf and losing 3 more Uruks.
Next turn, with the brothers nearby, the Shadow Lord attempted another transfix with 2 dice -- the last magic he'd have time to perform -- rolling a 3-1, which Jon easily beat again. Seeing the battle going so poorly, Mike's hand was forced. He took another major risk, charging both brothers with his troll, and engaging each blade-spear elf duo with a single Uruk/Orc. The Shadow Lord, having lost 2 of his 3 bodyguards to the charging elven archers, engaged 2 himself. The Uruk/Orc line lost every last member of their troop, save 2. The troll lost his battle, rolling a 4-3-1 versus several 6's by the brothers; the troll fell to the brothers' blades. The Shadow Lord won, sending an elf to Valinor. His bodyguard was not so lucky.
Next turn, the two Uruks were surrounded by about 15 elves, and the Shadow Lord was surrounded by 7 elven archers with the brothers en route. The Uruks finally appeared to wake up, winning BOTH battles (!!), but the Shadow Lord lost, but was uninjured.
The next turn, the Uruks were again surrounded by about 15 elves, while one brother got in on the battle with the Lord. The Lord took 2 wounds, saving them both with fate. One of the Uruks won yet again versus about 7 elves! The other was not so lucky.
The final turn, the other brother entered battle and struck down the Lord, and the final Uruk succumbed.
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In the post-game discussion, Jon submitted a very good idea -- in the turn in which Mordor failed to transfix the brother and attempted the heroic combat, he suggested instead that Mordor compel one of the brothers into the troll, to face him 1-on-1. This was a superior idea to the one Mordor tried to implement with transfixing, but requiring a 4+ to compel would have failed, given Mordor's roll of 3-1, and thus it probably did not end up mattering. But I've filed away that idea for future use. :) The Pale of Darkness was extremely effective against the Elven archers, allowing the Mordor host to last 5 turns under 3+ Elvish fire without taking a single wound (though losing 1 fate).
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