More ME SBG Games

Hero does happy dance on cave troll - news at 11...

Decided it was high time to intro one of my gaming pals - Ken here titled "Kenhirrim" - back to the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.  We played back in the day when it was LOTR SBG, and a few other names. 

We opted to use his Saxons as Rohirrim, so I made a 350 point Rohan list featuring a Captain, Hama and his son Haleth, and 23 warriors [with Spear and Shield, as Saxons].  

The Moria Goblins were the antagonists. At this points level they had my favorite build: Durburz, a Captain, a Shaman, a Cave Troll, and 30 Goblins, five with spears, rest with nothing added.

Set up a simple twist on "Scenario 1 - Domination", but using only the one central objective; here, a cart of supplies that has broken down in a strategic pass through the hills.  Both sides had to set up 12" away from the objective, and we alternated setup by Warband.  As we closed in on each other, there was some shifting of the battle lines:

Goblin wave assault in progress!  Below, Durburz and his favorite pet close in on the Warriors of Rohan.

After some Priority changing hands and maneuvering, the goblins did manage to overlap on the right flank:

But will it turn into a game-winning advantage?

A few more turns along, the goblins, led by their hammer-wielding pet, are attriting the Rohirrim battle line...

The left flank is especially shaky, as the goblins force their way through some holes and start to encircle isolated Warriors, with a Captain providing some advantages.

Meanwhile, in the center, Kenhirrim sacrifices Haleth to hold an opening gap, which he manages for a couple turns, burning some of his Might and Fate - but finally he succumbs. 

The Rohirrim tighten up into the center with a Priority win. Their Hero, Hama, manages to take down the Cave Troll with some help!

Despite this victory, Durburz and the Captain are able to keep up the pressure, especially on the flanks which become enveloped, taking down a few extra Warriors every turn. Soon, the Rohirrim are Broken, and with their Heroes concentrated in the center they start to depart the field.

This was a pretty straight-up clash, with our intent to do as much fighting as possible to get the basic rules down. I like the idea of using my plastic Vikings and other Dark Age figures as Rohirrim as well as using these rules to fight Dark Age battles, as they are, well, PERFECT for that!  So there will be more historical use of the rules in the future.

     *     *     *

Was able to get in another game shortly after, same opponent.  This time HE wanted to be the goblins, so I played him with a 350 point Kingdom of Moria dwarf list.  Confident in both the power of Dwarven axes as well as their paint job, I set down a straight battle of #1 Domination from the MRB. 

The board is from a Warcry board game he has, suited the scenario well, and as it was a bit small at 2 x 3 feet or so we got to fighting quickly.  Below, Dwarf left flank, has some shields and archers to pick at the warband opposite.

The center...looks a bit thin, but the flanks are pretty secure. Large cave slug coming our waaaayyyy!

Plan is for the archers to attrit the left, the king to hold the center, kill more goblins and reduce their numbers before being flanked and encircled.  A good, simple plan!

Kings view of the goblin center.  Banner behind... needs a banner!  I have one, I just need to shrink it in size and attach it.

Turn 1, the goblins decide not to sweep the flank due to the archers - they lose two with arrows sticking out of them on this maneuver, however!

A good start and the initial combats should all favor the dwarfs who have heavier armor and higher Fight.  But...the first Khazad Guard goes down early!

Turn 3, at the right - center, the dwarfs flank the goblin center, since the goblin left is busy maneuvering. Both of us on Turn 2 call a Heroic Move - and the die goes to the Dwarfs!

The Dwarfs swarm around Durburz and keep the troll busy with a very brave [stupid] Khazad Guard. Unfortunately, few goblins die and more are coming...

Turn 4, Fight Phase is a complete disaster, with five dwarfs going down!  This puts them over 50% and they are Broken - ugh!  Not only did the dwarfs get beat on the Dual rolls, but the goblins rolled '6' after '6' and killed them.

The omens continue to go bad, and the King loses against a lowly goblin warrior... and he has no Might left to change the roll, either.

By Turn 5, the disaster was setting in - even with the archers jumping into the fray, the goblins are starting to find gaps and flanks to go around.  The end is nigh!

With Turn 5 also going badly, the dwarfs lose three more warriors, including their banner, and are approaching being quartered. The goblins have actually lost fewer Warriors in a straight-up fight!

The dwarfs panic, and realize "They are coming!  We cannot get out!"  The game ends in sweeping goblin points victory.

Sure there were a couple of things that I did wrong - one problem was forgetting about my banner, and then having him in the wrong spot, anyway.  But the plan was fine, I think.  I was going to try and attrit his center and then avoid being outflanked. This has worked against me with the goblins before, so figured it would work here.

But my king lost the tie roll for his Fight against the troll, spending a point of Might to make his '5' a '6' and tie the troll [I figured he'd pull the king apart at the seems with a "Rend"]. He only escaped by very bad rolling from the troll. Then I had a disastrous turn 4, going from 3 dead dwarfs [already too many, but the goblins had 7 or 8 dead] to 8 dead dwarfs, just putting me over the Broken point.  

I needed to get the goblins to 15 dead to break them, and that definitely wasn't happening.  And the dice kept beating me up, last turn I rolled four 1's for Duals in a row.

Some days, you get the troll, and some days the troll gets you!

Playing Middle Earth SBG v. Champs

"For Gondor!"  "OOORRRRRRGGGHHHH!" [trans. "for Moria!"]

Somehow, got talked into participating in a tournament at The Wargamer's Guild in Yardville, NJ. It was all day for three rounds at 800 points.  I didn't think I could swing it, but got talked into it by kindly peer pressure, so decided to give it a go and really test out how much I like playing the game by drinking from the proverbial MESBG fire hose.

I didn't have enough Moria Goblins to do 800 points, but was kindly loaned an army by one of the regional champion types, Alisher A.  I did use a few of my models, like my cave troll.

My first opponent was I believe an Angmar list by Andrew P, another champion type. I tried various things, and forgot a lot of rules and tactics, and muddled through it best I could.  I was a key part of Andrew winning the tournament, I feel!

Below, my Spider Queen and her brood advance.  We are playing one of the objective scenarios, represented by the treasure chests. My Goblins are somewhat scattered about, showing poor training and leadership as usual! Why the Cave Troll is out on his own at left... I dunno, and neither does he...

Melee in the middle. my bats are mixed in with orcs and Black Numenoreans, who all cause terror.  I brilliantly left my Fury-casting Shaman on a hill nearby.

The Witch King, with all the trimmings.  Yes, he has "every old thing" possible, and he flies "Wraiths with wings!!"  He casually wanders the field killing everything.

We BOTH have a spider queen, Andrew's is very nicely done.  She throws a goblin down this line to good effect, knocking a few down.

Big bat beating on the little bats!

In the end, I was left with - I believe - on goblin on the field.  He went back to his hole and told a tall tale of a near victory and his personal heroism. Andrew was well started on his tournaments victory.  Nice models, helpful opponent with the rules [which I'm still learning.

There were two other games that day, one against Isengard fielded by John H, and a final game against Evan A using Erebor dwarfs.  Both games had a lot of hard fighting, and the Moria Goblins definitely got some heated action, altho they lost badly in points in both games.

As happens all too often, I got caught up in the game and took no pics, especially unfortunate as they both had lovely armies, with great conversions and alternative models.  

All three players were great opponents, knew the rules and fought hard but were helpful regarding questions I had, and how to do things I wanted to do - can definitely recommend the scene to a newer player. The Wargamer's Guild organizers, staff, head cooks and bottle washers [both of them] were gracious and helpful, and ran a great event.  I'd definitely return for another event in the future.

While I didn't win or place, I was 100% successful in two goals:

- bettering my game and testing if I really want to play the system a lot, and

- a 100% success in something...in this case, it was placing last, for which I got:

I assume this symbolizes the beating that Moria took!?

          *          *          *          *

The next opportunity I had for a game against another Big Shot Player was just a week later. Ted L was willing to escape the confines of the city and visit the suburbs for some battle, pitting his Minas Tirith men against my Moria Goblins for 550 points. He clearly knows a lot about the game and what he's doing, so grateful he was able to make it.

After some discussion, we decided to use a circular table for "something different". This made for a few unusual issues with measuring table entry/exit and such - the "Reconnoitre" scenario is from the main rulebook; rolling to enter the board, and leaving the table is a victory condition. We probably should've just used the 8' tables that were also available. 

I put out "not Gondor" terrain and set up some ruins - ended up like below:

The might of Gondor, still potent in the Third Age altho their power wanes:

Ted uses clear bases, in which I see some positives and negatives. While they do match the below terrain better, they have a continuous "halo" effect around them!

My Goblins advance in a couple of waves. At top is Groblog The Pretentious and the Shaman, Drum Team, Cave Troll, and a cast of thousands. Below is another Captain, Cave Troll, and the usual sword-fodder.

The Shaman rolls for turns 1-3 to cast "Fury" and rolls a '1' each time, a first for him.  No Fury today, lads!  You'll just have to settle for being "Mildly Perturbed".

To right, the Cave Trolls and Goblin Horde close in on Gondor's Finest.

Among other things I forget, is that the Goblins get +1 to Fight when they trap opponents, their special "We cannot get out - they are coming!" rule.

Hurin charges into Groblog the Pretentious and takes him out - the Cave Troll stands by, looking confused [not hard to do, confuse a Cave Troll].

Nearby, Gondor shows how to take out a Monster with about a dozen guys. The Goblins did not help the troll much. It was inevitable really, as this Cave Troll had "new model syndrome" all over him...

Next turn, in a burst of anger, Painted Cave Troll Rends Hurin limb from limb!

But retaliation is swift, and Ingold takes him on with a lot of help...

...and they inflict the last two wounds on the troll: EERRR, EEERRRRRGGHHH [CLICK]

Nearby, and towards the Gondorian side of the board, a bunch of goblins are fleeing the field, erhm, "exiting the battlefield to Reconnoitre and Accomplish the Mission" they say... but do we believe them??  Gondor moves to stop them.

More plausibly, on the opposite flank entirely, over a dozen goblins under the leadership of "Not-Durburz" the Humble Goblin Captain are also trying to exit the board, and are very very close.  As Gondor has only exited two models [the two Knights of Gondor] exiting 6 or more would be a sizeable victory point help for the Goblins as they are definitely not winning the straight-up fight! Indeed, the Goblin force is "Broken" and quickly going to pieces due to being scattered and lacking Heroes for "Stand Fast". 

On the game-winning left flank, Not-Durburz rolls a 6, +3 Courage for a 9!  Now all the goblins will have to check, and few will pass [THEY - SHALL - NOT - PASS!!!]. 

BUT, in a burst of misguided chivalry, the Gondorian commander reminds me that I can spend Not-Durburz's one point of Will to make his roll a '10' and pass!  I can't believe it, but we re-think the math and he does in fact, pass.

Not Durburz takes on multiple Gondorians in a burst of frenzy, if not outright heroism. The last Goblins flee the board, bringing the total to 8 I believe.

In the end, we both killed the enemy Leader [Hurin, Groblog], then my force was broken and Gondor's wasn't [3 pts] but I trebled the Reconnoitre force of Gondor, which was worth 7 points, so we ended up 9-5 and a Moria Goblin victory!

This was the Moria Goblin's first victory, and altho it didn't "feel" like a victory by sticking doggedly to the victory conditions and a little bit of furtunate dice [and help from Ted] they got the points.

In post-game analysis, we both felt that the scenario was finely balanced, and could've gone either way. Ted felt that he could've held back a bit and let me come to him instead of maneuvering to meet me farther out. But, the terrain was better for him forward, and maybe I would've broken through somewhere and then been close to exiting the board.  His knights I couldn't do anything about, not having any fast-moving figures.  Maybe some Bats would have been useful...

As for me, I need to maneuver better, be more decisive on where to put key figures like the Goblin Drum, and also stay together better. Plus, get more familiarity with the rules.  As it stands, my only victory so far was due to m opponent's helping!

A couple more games already scheduled, so more to come soon!

Middle Earth SBG: Figs, Customizing

Soon, they will have TWO cave trolls!

I was a bit daunted at the prospect of assembling the plastic cave troll from the Fellowship of the Ring box set. I'm not keen on filling gaps with Green Stuff, etc. Somehow, they always look a bit lumpy and off, or that there's a bit of a ditch at the seam. But, I needed this guy on the table, so forced myself to get enthusiastic and have a go. Turns out, he was actually quite easy to work with, much easier than a metal model!


First, I used the X-acto blade to cut, as bending off the sprue can lead to indentations in the model. I carefully left a bit of extra sprue there to trim off later.


Next, I test-fit the bits together. Lots of gaps - ugh!



I assembled the model without glue, and compared him to the other, metal cave troll I completed years go - he is actually a lot more different than I thought he was!

Technically, I guess he's the same cave troll as in FoTR film, the famous fight seen in the Chamber of Mazarbul [Hall of Records] of Khazad-dum. He's just dropped his hand-and-a-half hammer and picked up handy spear.

I'd prefer him with an under-hand grip on the spear, actually.



After applying the super-glue, and giving it a minute to soften the plastic, I pushed the bits together. I then squeezed them tightly, hoping to get rid of the gaps a bit. This didn't work as it actually created an overlap instead! Oh well...don't do this!



The seams looked pretty bad, but I was hopeful and pressed on!


I used a round file to work along the seam, matching the ripples and folds of Cave Trolls fat trunk.

These smoothed down quite well, and quite quickly - hoorah!


I then used the angled file to repeat the grooves of skin lines that are sculpted on the model - this breaks up the seam line even more, and perpendicular to the seam.



After I filed all the lines down, there was a lot of plastic powder about, so I gently washed him with some soapy water. Probly the only time the filthy beastie every had a bath...



Final product - the seam is nearly gone, and looks pretty natural. While it is visible, I am hopeful the primer will settle in any shallow gaps and crevices, and make the lines disappear.


Seam on left side - more visible, but I think it is the glue.
The shoulders have the worst seams - unfortunately, this is also the most visible part of the model during play, at the top.



I say "primer" but this is really $2 can of cheap flat black spray paint from Home Depot. It works really well, amazingly.


End result? Virtually seamless - amazing!

And the shoulder seams were the worst!





Just a little bit of a seam at the wrist. I had to trim the peg down a little bit to fit the hole better, but it actually looked pretty tight - surprised there's a bit of seam at this point.



Next up, I had to make a Groblog, that pretentious "king" who hangs out somewhere in the depths of Moria with a Mirthril Crown. I wanted him because he is cheaper than Durburz, and has a fun ability due to the Mithril Crown - raising the FV of the Goblins +1 within 3". This can really help as you no longer lose ties against average models. Ultimately, with Goblins, you want to gain any parity you can against average models, and let the Cave Trolls take on the big-shot good-guy heroes! But he is a resin model from GW, and he is also a bit awkward on the table, I found, being posed on a pillar. So...

This is the figure I started with - I forgot to take a pic before I modified him...he had a square-ish head, which made him the likely candidate. He is metal.

from: [CLICK]

And this is how he came out, after being primed. I like that the crown is sort of irregular and slip-shod looking. The official model looks too much like dwarfs carefully made it.
He is basically all original, except that I fashioned a crown out of bits cut off the angled edge of plastic sprues. These come out triangular, so I put the larger flat edge against his head, which gives each bit of crown an angled edge.
These were super-glued on, and I also took a bit of wire, wrapped it around the end of a paint brush, then set it on his head inside the verticle bits to give them more structure to stick to. This worked really well, to my surprise.
Mithril probly shouldn't look so rough, but, hey, they are goblins, so what metallurgical skills to they have, really??



I also somehow acquired ten assembled and primed plastic orcs. Upon close examination, they were not cleaned of mold lines. This is a problem as I like to dry brush and Magic Dip, and mold lines stick out even more prominently!


Using a bright light, I worked to remove them with X-acto blade and file. Only had one small cut with the blade, so a good day compared to other ones!


That's an ugly mold line!


This is how they looked after plenty of filing and cutting. But the final product will be worth it.

Well, I hope this tutorial on the plastic cave troll is handy and gives you some ideas of what to do and not to do. Above all, press on, and work towards that finished product!


I have a game for Tuesday, so hoping I can at the very least do the basic painting for these models, so they won't stick out on the table.