Battle Games In Middle Earth #1

Never heard of it...there's more to discover all the time!

Found out about this magazine on line, and after a bit of effort, managed to get more info.  Each mag had some figs, "history" of ME, painting guides, and a scenario.  And it is the scenario that is of most interest here.  Altho I can definitely recommend working your way through this series if you are a new table top gamer, or want to introduce it to a new gamer who is also finding their way with the hobby aspects: painting figs, making terrain, etc.

For #1, the scenario pits a simplified Aragorn [no Might, Will or Fate] against 12 Moria Goblins.  Goal is for Aragorn to kill all the Goblins or exit the board on the opposite side.  There were no guidelines for terrain, so I picked 1 / square foot.

Aragorn will start at bottom, and most exit at the top.  The Goblins deploy at center board North, West and East.

To make it interesting, I roll a d8 and use the straight value as well as the direction the triangle points to move the terrain piece.  This results in some randomizing of the terrain.

The board now looks like the below:

Below, Aragorn charges forward against the hideous goblins!

In the first few tries, I can't manage to keep Aragorn from getting whacked.  Without Might, Will and Fate, he's just a 3 attack model with Strength 4; a superior Captain Hero.

There's just too many Goblins, or I'm not playing him well.  Or I'm playing the Goblins too well!

Below, I decide to try the scenario with the straight rules - I need the practice and it is always a good idea to get better acquainted with high-level hero capabilities. The Goblins close in as Aragorn cuts left. Two Goblins take shots and miss.

While he's outrunning four, the other eight close in...one bow shot hits, passes the obstructing brush and fails to wound on a '2' [needs a '6']. Aragorn forges ahead...

Turn 3, Goblins win Priority and form a cordon to restrict Aragorn's ability to counter-move freely.

He still has enough move to go lateral, making next turn's priority crucial to him dodging them.

Turn 4, Aragorn wins Priority and dodges outlying goblins!

They race to catch up on their Move, but can only get a few models into Contact.

>>Aragorn storms forward!

Aragorn spends his free point of Might on Heroic Combat, wins the Dual roll...

...and easily kills the two goblins in Contact!

He moves into Contact with two more...

...wins again......and kills the spearman to open up some space.

Turn 5, Aragorn loses Priority but declares a Heroic Move with his free point of Might!

He dashes 6" to the board edge, and is successfully chased by only one Goblin - but can this lone little creep stop him??

Almost!  Despite rolling a '6', Aragorn ties him and win on the tie!

He then kills him twice over.

But, let's consider this - even if Aragorn had rolled triple 1's...

He could've spent 3 points of Might and killed him anyway. Cuz he's a Mighty Hero worth dozens of Moria Goblins.

Aragorn can't be stopped - he has a free point of Might and will move off board Heroically if he loses Priority, which he does, 6-3.

So, yeah, Aragorn with his full abilities is way too much for 12 Moria Goblins to handle.  I tried it a few more times with 16 goblins, which does help a bit to build up "layers" of defending goblins for Aragorn to break through.

This skirmish scenario is interesting, of the "break through the Ambush" type. At 60 points, what does the exiting side need in points to break through and get off the board?  If they have multiple models, how many need to exit to count it as a win?  

There's an interesting challenge of using the archers to try and get a few shots in as the defender moves across the board, and then a blocking force to hold them while the archers close in and encircle them.  But it's not as easy as it looks. 

The 2' square board also keeps action fast and furious.

Certainly worth a few more plays, trying alternative forces... I used some of my Moria dwarves and they provided a much more even playing field. With them, a captain had to get off the board, sort of a VIP escort scenario. That was pretty even-up, and the goblins playing with points usually had close to double the numbers, which meant a hard fight at some point.

Overall, a fun little puzzle, the shortest iteration took all of 6 minutes to play, and I can't complain about that!

ME SBG Games - new opponents!

Troll dies again...see page C7 

Nope, can't get life insurance on the Cave Troll - the risk is too great!

This game was against Alex S. and his Erebor Dwarf list. There was some confusion with the whole "Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror" but I clarified the Heroes as Young Thorin and Thror [Leader] with a buncha dwarves take the field against Moria's finest [which doesn't say much, but "Quantity has a quality all its own" as Sauron once said]. 

The scenario was "Lords of Battle" which is a terrible scenario for Moria Goblins, as they will always take more wounds than an opposing force - they are simply too squishy.  But who cares, it will be fun to fight it out!

Below, the battle lines are drawn, with the dwarfs anchoring flanks with a hedge and steep hill.  The Goblins are working around the left to encircle them.

To the right, Cave Troll advances thru some ruins and the Goblins attack Young Thorin and his Warband to fix them in place for the sweeping encirclement - all according to plan!

A turn later, the Goblins are working their plan against a quickly thinning dwarf force thanks to some good rolling.

In the center, the Mass of Moria seems to be succeeding in their encirclement, but the Dwarfs have advanced away from the flanking force - the main Moria Line should have advanced sooner and pinned them closer to the hedge.

Finally, the Moria Masses are fighting isolated and encircled bands of Dwarfs.  But Young Thorin is a tough nut to crack.

Closing the circle, the troll fights more dwarfs, rending them with savage fury!

But digging deep into his store of Might, Young Thorin declares a Heroic Combat, kills his goblin, then dashes over and manages to kill the Cave Troll with the assistance of some valiant Dwarfs, as Thror keeps some nearby Goblins busy.

At this point, the grinding combat along the front resulted in the Goblins passing 50% and breaking.  They are now dependent upon their Courageous Heroes to Stand Fast!

However, "King" Gorblog the Pretentious decides not to stick around to fight dwarfs...fails Courage test.

Young Thorin kills a Blackshield Captain, using the last of his Might and some supporting warriors.

Even with a spear at his back, this Blackshield Captain decides discretion is the better part of valor.  Not that he knows what discretion or valor are...

Where have all the Goblins gone?  Last Goblin realizes he is alone, and flees...Dwarves appear to be doing a happy dance!?

Well, more lessons to learn here.  

- I need to get some of the rules more clearly figured out and how to use them to swarm tougher opponents better.  

- Goblins will not stand up in a straight fight, losing ties.  With banner rolls, it is tough for them as they always lose a '6' and don't even need to roll.  

- Dwarf armor is thick, so Trapping them is a must.

- The Goblins are a bit slow, and need at least a small, fast, strike force to encircle the enemy faster.

Good time against a good opponent.  Will have to catch him again at some point.  Maybe with tougher force?

     *     *     *

Next new opponent was Josh H, who brought his just-acquired and just-assembled Fiefdom force.  Lovely models, interesting special rules, clearly a different dynamic as they are all foot except for Imrahil who is mounted.  Forlong the Fat is on foot, another great model, really like him.

Scenario is "Fog of War" which I think is a great scenario.  It seems very "Dark Age Historical" in that the emphasis is on killing heroes and taking a terrain objective - in my mind, most likely the enemy's camp - but all the objectives are secret and written down.  So there's an aspect of guessing the enemy's intent, also.

Imrahil was forced to deploy a warband first; having only two and the Goblins having four gave them something of a deployment advantage. Forlong to left, Imrahil to right.  Opposition is two identical Goblin forces of a Captain and 12 Goblin warriors, 10 with nothing, 2 with spears.

The first two are in center, facing the enemy directly.  The last two are on the right flank, planning to envelope the fiefdom force and take their terrain objective, the mound under the tape measure.

Above, Shaman, Drum and Cave Troll to left, Gorblog the Pretentious to the right - he's a perfect choice to encircle the enemy, altho not a heavy hitting hero in his own right. Below, Troll taking a bit of cover v. Fiefdom archery.

Below Gorblog the Pretentious and his Mithril Crown, valiantly surrounded by his body guard, leading from the 2nd or 3rd rank as usual, and driving his minions onto the spears and axes of the Fiefdom warriors - a true Goblin Hero!

But Imrahil is too wary to be caught in the Goblin trap! He executes a tactical withdrawal and works to get his right wing forward, even as the Goblin Horde rushes forwards.  And then one of his archers puts an arrow where it hurts on the Cave Troll!  AARGGGGHHHH!

By Turn four, the Goblin horde is positioned against the left wing of the Fiefdom force. Unfortunately, they still can't advance as fast as Fiefdoms can retreat!  Still, there are terrain objectives in play, so at some point they need to try and claim theirs or face losing the battle.

Imrahil consolidates on the rocky knoll in his center.  The Goblins move in close as possible and are now within 5"...

On Turn 5, Goblins win priority - as they are within a move, they must pin at least a portion of Imrahil's men and force a fight!

So the Goblin left and center get stuck in while the right moves to surround Imrahil's left, and finish off an isolated archer.

As the Duals are fought out, the goblins are able to hack down several warriors, including a Knight of Dol Amroth!

By end of combat, several men and goblins are down, but the men cost twice as much!  Will the Goblins race ahead to victory??

As a few more turns of close combat are fought, the Goblins get another chance, winning Priority on Turn 7, to envelope and trap several Fiefdom fighters!

Forlong the Fat takes on the Cave Troll!

Forlong and friends wound the Troll, but fail to kill him!

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Fiefdom fighters hack down a Goblin Captain [this was their target, so 3 VPs for Imrahil!].

After a few more turns, the tide has definitely ebbed for the Goblins, as they lose combat after combat to rolls of '6', and they lose ties... the little green bodies pile up in heaps, and soon they pass 50%.  Imrahil and Forlong gang up on the poor Cave Troll, and inflict a final wound on him.

At this point, it was closing time, and it was looking like an overall victory for Fiefdoms!  VPs looked kinda like this:

- 3 VPs for Forlong taking no wounds

- 3 VPs for killing enemy Hero

- 1 VP [possibly] for having more models in terrain objective.

Gondor Total 7 VPs

Goblins get 3 VPs for uncontested hold of terrain objective.

I obviously should've made more effort to get one wound in each of his Heroes, which would have trimmed 2 VPs off.  I also could likely steal the 1VP for the terrain objective, but that's not certain.

Lessons Learned:

- Goblins need some faster figures!  They need to be cheap, and will involve Ashrak or Druzhag.

- Along the same lines, Goblin heroes should consider Heroic March, At the Double! to get an 8" move

- I forgot my Cave Troll causes terror, and that I had successfully cast Channeled Fury so had a 6+ Fate roll for any Goblin that died near the Shaman, and we forgot our banner rolls a few times at the beginning.

- Cave Dweller is +1 to Climb rolls [I thought was a re-roll].

- Imrahil probly should have called a Heroic Combat at least once, as I pinned him with a lowly goblin twice, and once the goblin survived!  And now has a tale to tell...

I enjoyed playing this battle out, and look forward to seeing the Fiefdoms in the future.   Hopefully, I'll stay more focused on victory conditions and present more of a challenge next time.