Tournament Preview: How do you play SBG again?

*UPDATE - As Sam and I both live in Essex, the tier change in coronavirus rules on the day of the tournament scuppered our plans at the last minute! Still, you can read about what we would have brought with us!*

Hellos readers,

We have a rare post today: a tournament preview! Both Sam and I will be attend a 6-man good v evil tournament hosted by Zsolt Jokai on the south coast at Magic Mayhem Hobbies. Zsolt had originally planned to hold his annual Heroes of Belegaer Sea tournament but that has of course been postponed given current conditions. If you ever get the chance to attend Zsolt's events, I'd hugely recommend it. Zsolt prides himself on his superb terrain which makes the boards look stunning. As he wasn't able to hold his usual tournament, Zsolt has organised a small 700pts team tournament which follows current government guides for those still looking to get their dice rolling fix.

As lists have now been submitted, I am going to share both mine and Sam's lists and give a break down of their strengths and how they are intended to be played. With both of us on the evil side, we are joined by an Isengard army and have found out we will be facing off against a Rivendell force, a Rivendell and Fellowship Alliance and a Thranduil's Halls army. 

Sam's Army - The Burning of the Westfold - Isengard

Vrasku 

5 uruk warriors with xbow

7 uruk scouts (4 bow, 3 shield)

Gorulf 

6 dunlendings (1 banner, 3 shield and 2 bow)

4 uruk warriors with pikes

2 uruk scouts with bow

Oathmaker 

12 wildmen (6 with two-handed weapons)

Friday Tallspear

3 uruk scouts (1 banner, 2 shield)

4 uruk warriors with pikes

5 dunlendings (3 shield and 2 bow)

52 models, 13 bows

Sam's force is themed around the Isengard forces tasked with burning the Westfold and leaving none alive. Due to this, he has brought along a huge number of models for 700pts which contains an interesting mix of dunlendings, wild men of Dunland and uruk hai.

Vrasku is Sam's leader which will allow him to keep his leader VPs fairly safe as Vrasku can snipe opponents from the safety of the back of the board. The army's ranged threat is significant and will force his opponents to move toward him. 

Gorulf brings Heroic Strike and the important 3 Attacks. With his free Heroic Defence each turn, Sam could also use Gorulf defensively in a bid to tie up opposition big hitters. The addition of pikes helps provide much needed support for the front line dunlendings and the inclusion of a dunlending banner will make this warband hard to take down. 

The Oathmaker brings with him 12 fearless wildmen for an absurdly cheap points cost. Having 12 fearless throwaway models gives Sam a great counter to terror causing models, excellent objective control and brings good numbers. 

Sam's last hero is Frida Tallspear. Offering a good counter to enemy cavalry, Frida will be positioned in the middle of a dunlending front line and braced to blunt enemy cavalry charges or mounted heroes. 

This army will spend the first few turns whittling down enemy numbers (with opponent's bringing elf armies, each loss will be big) and look to overwhelm them with numbers in combat, utilising piercing strike liberally. With a comfortable amount of Might points, Sam will look to dictate the pace of combat with Heroic Moves, hoping to bleed the Elven armies dry of resources which aren't often blessed with lots of Might.

The big weakness in the army is the lack of a big, killy hero, with Gorulf the sole Striker in the list. Once Gorulf is taken care off, opponents know they have the FV advantage. The other issue is the low courage across the army if the heroes are defeated, although numbers and the wild men help to mitigate this. 

My Army - Things That Go Bump in the Night - Angmar 

WK on FB with Crown and morgul blade (3/15/3)
8 orc warriors (2 shield, 2 two handed, 3 spear, 1 spear and banner)
1 warg rider with shield
2 spectres

Orc captain on warg with shield
8 orc warriors (2 shield, 2 two handed, 4 spear)
1 warg rider with shield

Barrow Wight
8 orc warriors (2 shield, 2 two handed, 4 spear)

Shade
10 orc warriors (3 shield, 2 two handed, 5 spear)

42 models

For my first tournament in many months, I wanted to break out my Angmar. Following my Build Me an Army Worthy of... Angmar post, this list is a modified version of the 800pts list found there.

With strong magic, a flying monster, good numbers and a shade to nullify the elves superior FV, this list looks well placed to counter the armies being brought by Team Good. The Witch King and the Barrow Wight can work well in tandem to target enemy heroes whilst the meat shield of orcs can grind down the enemy troops with superior numbers.

With 5 Might points, my Angmar list will need to be careful with its use of Might but has more resources than I'm used to having with Angmar. The fact this list is facing 3 flavours of elves does counter its army bonus as a terror causing is less of an issue for elves. However, with drain courage and harbinger of evil, the elves may fail a few courage checks at key moments. Similar to Sam's list, this Angmar army only has 1 Striker and a lot of what this force can do revolves around how effective the WK and his fell beast can be. Should the WK fail to shine, the army can start to crumble. 

Tactically, this army will look to close quickly on the opponent, possibly utilising the captain's Heroic March, and activate the Shade's Chill Aura to grind down the enemy. The WK and Barrow Wight will wait for a successful combo on enemy heroes before striking.

All being well, the mini-tournament will take place on the 17th October. I look forward to letting you all know how we get in. How do you think out armies will fair?