Last weekend, something happened that had not happened for an age...I got to attend a full blown SBG tournament! A weekend of fighting it out with a vast array of different opponents and their armies. Finally, able to enjoy that familiar environment that we've all missed and craved for the last 16 months.
I'll give a quick overview of the tournament's quirks and setup and then lay out my force before going through each of the games that I got to enjoy.
The Tournament
I travelled up to Lincoln to attend the Lord of the Imps' second (and long awaited) tournament, hosted by the lovely guy, Harry Parkhill. This tournament was a classic 800pt Good vs Evil stand off BUT with a twist...
...on day 2, your leader and his entire warband are killed off by a mischievous imp, and so you must name a lieutenant, who will become your leader for the second day. You then fill the army up with whatever you please to replace the points of those lost troops, whether this be top up existing warbands, buy existing heroes some wargear or throw in entirely new warbands. Whatever takes your fancy, as long as no new heroes outrank your lieutenant's heroic tier.
My army
I had fancied trying a particular army throughout the entire pandemic and realised that there was a perfect theme that I could tie into the list writing. After trying this army out against Mr Parkhill himself via TTS and how much I enjoyed it, it was settled.
I would theme my list around the dwarves facing down Azog's orcs in Azanulbizar!
Day 1
Thror (Leader)
18x Grim Hammers w/ Guardian of the King upgrades
Thrain (Lieutenant)
13x Erebor warriors w/ 5x shield, 5x spear/shield and 3x spear
Young Thorin
13x Erebor warriors w/ 5x shield, 5x spear/shield and 3x spear
Day 2
Replace Thror's warband with:
The Oakenshield for Thorin
Young Dwalin
2x Erebor warriors w/ shield
6x Grim Hammers w/ 1x Banner
Young Balin
3x Erebor warriors w/ shield
5x Grim Hammers
With these armies, I had good, solid heroes backed by a large number of tough dwarven warriors. I felt like I had a good reliable army, with only one true weakness, manoeuvrability. Without any Heroic March or cavalry to hand, I could be in deep trouble if I end up against a fast paced army or have a scenario that depends on long distanced movement, but I'll wing it with a hope and a prayer.
Due to current Covid restrictions, Harry had to adapt to make sure that the tournament could go ahead. The way he did this was to create pods of 6 players (3 Good, 3 Evil), who would play each of the opposing team's players through the day. After Day 1, the players would be ranked and the top 3 players of each side would be put together, followed by the next 3 and so on, to create Day 2's pods.
Day 1
Game 1: (Custom) Seize the Imp (Azog's Hunters/Legion)
This scenario plays the same as 'Seize the Prize', with a few small changes; the prize is replaced by the Imp, who you must defeat and wound in combat to capture, but rolling a D6 at the beginning of the turn to see if he wakes up. You may use might and/or will to boost this roll as if he does, he will fly away 4" in a random direction.
Opponent's heroes: Bolg, Narzug, Fimbul and a Gundabad Captain
Opponent's troops: Hunter orcs, Fell wargs and a handful of warbats
I was fortunate enough for my first battle to be with a beautifully painted orc army played by a very pleasant guy named Adam, who had only joined that morning to fill a space.
I was already bitten by my army's lack of speed as the warbats immediately used their captain's Heroic March to leap forward, getting beside the Imp. He was successfully awoken the next turn and captured as a load of Grim Hammers threw their axes at the bats and hit the Imp. Luckily for me, he escaped and flew right into the middle of us both. Thorin called a heroic move, as did the Gundabad Captain, but the dwarves won the roll off and surged forward.
Thror charged the Imp as his Grim Hammers and Grandson charged the orcish frontline. Bolg was trapped behind his own orcs, to his frustration, unable to get forward and stuck in. Thrain stood before him, just out of reach.
Some bats flew over the dwarves to try and distract at the rear, tying up a handful of dwarves as Fimbul led a counter attack towards the flank. Across on the other side, a few orcs and wargs attempted the same. Fimbul won a few combats, killing a few dwarves, before a Grim Hammer bashed him from his mount.
In the centre, Thror and Thorin stand side by side, cutting a path through the orcs towards Narzug, who also gets bashed from his warg but luckily saved from Thror's furious heroic combat charge by his banner bearer's control zone. Thrain manages to settle into his stride after a few dodgy combats as he slays all 3 of the hunter orcs he faces, but leaves himself exposed to Bolg.
As the dwarven leaders, prepared to push on and try to make their escape with the Imp (held tightly as Thror spent a will point to hold onto it), time was called on the game. Holding the Imp in the opponent's board half and having the orcs broken, while being unbroken themselves, the dwarves score an 8-0 victory!
Game 2: Domination (Mordor)
Opponent's heroes: Witch King, Gothmog, Zagdush and Kardush
Opponent's troops: Mordor orcs, Morannon orcs, Orc Trackers, Black Numenorians and Morgul Knights
For my second game, I came up against a Mordor force headed by Jon. I had seen him at previous tournaments in years gone by but this was the first time I'd ever got to play against him.
We lined up our armies facing straight at each other. And little time was wasted before they surged forward and locked horns. I braced my right flank for an incoming assault from Morgul Knights and orcs, led by Zagdush, and tried to defend my left from Gothmog as he charged in and called the Time of the Orc, causing several dwarves on my left to fall.
Luckily, Thrain and Thror cut down several orcs and Black Numenorians in the middle and Thror rushed the Witch King. The two leaders faced off for a couple of turns, with no damage done, until both had only a single might remaining. Thror charged again and the Lord of the Nazgul called his Heroic Strike. Usual recklessness overtook me and I responded with a Heroic Challenge (Logic being that the Witch King's Stand Fast would be vital to the army once broken so he'd have to accept). He accepted and they clashed again, the Witch King went up to F9 but failed to roll his 6, which Thror pulled off. The Dwarven King then used one strike after another trying to dismount his foe, only succeeding on his final strike. The Witch King got tangled in his reins and went down hard, rolling a 1 on his fallen rider, then rolling a 6 and a 5, taking a wound from the fall, before rolling 2, 2 and 3 for his fate and being killed by this disastrous bit of luck. Thror regained 2 might for it.
With the centre now cleared of major threats, the dwarves secured the central objective and reinforced both flanks. Thror rushed to the rear objective and slew the Orc Tracker on top of it, as Thrain and his troops slew Kardush in the ruins. Thorin made use of the extra troops and pushed back against Gothmog, managing to take the left objective (albeit contested). And the dwarves on the right managed to kill enough orcs to break the enemy, causing most of Zagdush's unit to scatter and neutralising the right objective, although one orc held the one on the dwarves side of the board. This led to a close victory at 7-3, mostly thanks to the sheer luck of the Witch King's fall.
Game 3: (Custom) The Imp's Curse (Moria/Mordor/Denizens of Dol Guldor)
This game was a customised version of the doubles scenario 'No escape'. Harry had changed a couple of rules; you deploy your leader and his warband as the primary force, then the rest of the army as the secondary force and VPs were also changed; 3/5VP for wounding/killing the leader, 1/3VP for wounding/killing the Lieutenant and 2/4VP for breaking the enemy/remaining unbroken.
Opponent's heroes: Witch King, Spider Queen, Durburz, Goblin Captain and Goblin Shaman
Opponent's troops: Giant Spiders, Moria Goblins, Goblin Prowlers, a Batswarm and Cave Troll
For this scenario, I was drawn against Dave, who I have played a couple of times previously. One small part of the deployment, left him at a disadvantage from the outset, as the Witch King was alone in his warband and therefore put into the middle of enemy territory, alone, against Thror and 18 Grim Hammers.
The Witch King took priority and rushed at full speed away from the dwarves, to try and join with his own forces. The Dwarves are, as we all know, very dangerous at a short distance and his is quickly caught and slain.
As the Witch King is cornered, Thror turns around and leads a charge straight into the goblin ranks. Thrain, works his way round to the left and Thorin leads a small unit around a large rock, only to be set upon by spiders. In a do-or-die attack, the Spider Queen charges him and they face off, Thorin wins the duel and lands 3 wounds upon the beast, slaying her. He then moves on an manages to kill the Batswarm and a spider in the following turns.
The rest of Thrains unit forms a line, to block the spiders from flanking Thror's unit and the Grim Hammers hurl axes, wounding a spider or two. Thrain himself gets to the left flank and sees two of his dwarves obliterated by the Troll's Hammer, he steps in and with a Heroic Strike manages to slay the beast.
Thror pushes the attack at it's head and comes face to face with Durburz, who calls Heroic Defence, avoiding death with only a single wound taken but saved by fate. He does this a second time but this time with a cry of 'DU BEKAR!', Thror rolls a triple 6 to wound and cuts the Goblin King down! His troops cut down more goblins, who's numbers are dwindling now, until time is called and victory is achieved. With the enemy leader and lieutenant slain, while Thror and Thrain avoided injury, the goblins broken and the dwarves have held, its a 12-0 victory.
Day 2
Somehow, I had got through my first day with three victories. This was ground that I had only trodden once before, then had promptly been brought down with three defeats the following day. Could I do better this time without Thror, his banner effect and his Str4 dwarves?
Game 4: Contest of Champions (Ugluk's Scouts)
Opponent's heroes: Ugluk, Mauhur, Grishnakh, Snaga, Uruk Scout Captain and Uruk Drummer
Opponent's troops: Uruk Scouts and Mordor orcs
In this match, I came up against Sean (who does his own blog 'Subtle Asian Wargamer' and may write his own perspective of this). I played him previously in a Dwarf v Dwarf matchup that if I remember correctly, he won narrowly. And I was eager for the rematch. This time Sean had his Ugluk's Scouts force (he had Lurtz's scouts for Day 1), painted in a Tron? theme (If thats wrong, my apologies).
We deployed our champions in the middle, and I smelt a trap from the way that there was a small pocket formed in front of Ugluk with Grishnakh beside. Although Thrain desired to wade in and grapple his foe, head on, I had to play smart. Instead, he ran into the gap but attacked a troop to the side, so only one hero could join against him. Sean threw Grishnakh at Thrain, hoping to tie him up for a few turns. Thrain naturally bashed Grishnakh's head in immediately, then redeemed the might point for the Heroic Strike.
On the right flank, Mauhur and Snaga both jumped onto the edge of the defensive V formation, made by the dwarves and started trying to cut a way through. But with plenty of dwarves held back, I planned to refill any gaps to stop any flanking. On the left however, I underestimated the move speed of the scouts as they quickly swept round a pillar and attacked Thorin's unit in the rear. I called a heroic move with the now Oakenshield wielding dwarf and reformed a spear wall between a rock and piece of rubble.
On the opposite flank, Dwalin managed to take the intiative with Balin's heroic move and charged both Snaga and Mauhur, calling a Heroic Strike and going up to 9, since he had gone high enough to be untouchable, he then used his special rule to reroll failed wounds and cut down Mauhur, taking 3 might away with him, that along with Grishnakh was 5 might off the table and a big advantage to me.
Ugluk had been careful and managed to avoid the wrath of Thrain, building a small but steady kill count (2) to contest the King (4) but then Thrain fought 3 orcs/uruks and took two wounds due to their Legendary Legion bonus for wounding, he promptly failed all three fate and was left on 1w, 0f.
Seeing Ugluk exposed and close to Thorin, I had an awkward decision to make. I could spend Thrain's last might to call a heroic move, allowing me to move the dwarves in Thorin's way, so that he could face Ugluk and either kill him or hold him up as Thrain built his kill tally. Or I use Thorin's to just hold the line and allow Thrain to pull back into the ranks.
I opted to go for the big gamble and chose the former, one of the enemy heroes countered...and won the roll off. The army moved speedily to seize the big advantage, Ugluk threw himself on top of Thrain with a group, called Heroic Strike and cut down the King! Putting him on 5 kills and ahead of Thrain.
I now knew, I had lost the battle, but I could still claim some VPs from it. I cornered the remaining orcs and uruks on my right and did my best to break the 59 strong horde! With a matter of minutes remaining, and greatly inspired by the duel on top of the central tomb being won by my dwarf, the 30th casualty came and halved the opponent's numbers. It was a defeat but we took something back ending 6-2.
Game 5: Divide and Conquer (Isengard)
Opponent's heroes: Lurtz, Vrasku, Gorulf Ironskin and Uruk Drummer
Opponent's troops: Uruk warriors, Uruk scouts, Warg Riders, Wildmen of Dunland, Crebain and two Isengard Trolls
This was my first encounter with Vince and it was playing a scenario I have only played once before to my recollection, so I was going to have to wing it.
The battle began with Vince calling a Heroic March and sounding the drum, allowing Lurtz and Vrasku to rush their unit almost into the centre off the bat with Gorulf approaching from the opposite corner. I had Thrain/Dwalin in one corner and Thorin/Balin in the other. I decided to clear the two outer objectives first, then pincer the uruks in the centre. Thrain and Dwalin attacked a small group of uruks on the right flank before a troll barged to attack Dwalin, who managed to get away with just one wound. A single uruk scout archer survives and runs away to the edge of the board.
Thorin, meanwhile, charged a warg rider as the other was slain by a throwing axe and called a Heroic Strike as Balin called a Heroic Combat, allowing them to catapult into the second troll on the left, managing to deal it two wounds. They chase the wounded troll and Balin leads the attack into the ruins, with several rushing through the arches into the central objective.
Thrain spots Lurtz near the front of the ruins and prepares to call a Heroic Combat, until the uruk leader senses the danger and rushes into the centre to fight. So instead, Thrain calls it and charges into the troll alongside Dwalin, who had called a Heroic Strike, they quickly slay it and open up the right flank. Lurtz responds by throwing himself and several uruks to plug the gap as Thrain tries to slay Gorulf, who calls Heroic Defences each time.
On the opposite flank, Balin pushes inwards with the Erebor warriors as Thorin charges the wounded troll with two warriors. Vince caught me off guard here, as he flew his Crebain off the roof and into Thorin, pulling him out the combat. The two warriors were unsurprisingly slain. Thorin reengaged the troll the next turn, throwing a warrior into the birds and gambled on not calling a Heroic Strike. It paid off as he used his remaining might to boost his roll to a 6 and then brought down the beast!
Time was almost up as we entered the last turn and Vince gained priority. The uruks swarmed the dwarves in the centre and the Crebain flew just out of charge range onto the left objective. On the right, the surviving uruk scout threw himself onto the objective, charging both warriors there.
Thorin sends two warriors to gain control of the left objective, albeit contested. Then joins Balin in the central fight. A turn of brutal bloodshed occurs as dwarves and uruks cut one another to pieces, but crucially one dwarf survives in the centre and the dwarves barely manage to break the uruk army. The score is tied and it comes down to the scout on the right objective, who loses the fight...but survives the blows from the two warriors and retreats, staying in range of the objective. Good controls both objectives on the sides although contested as well as having broken the enemy. The Uruks hold the central objective but the lone dwarf contests it and leaves the game a 3-3 draw!
Game 6: Assassination (Azog's Legion)
Opponent's heroes: Bolg, Gundabad Captain and two Goblin Mercenary Captains
Opponent's troops: Gundabad Berserkers, Warbats and Goblin Mercenaries
My final game for the weekend was against the esteemed, Will Champion. I had only faced him once before in a doubles match and he was a pleasure to play against.
I decided to make Thorin my assassin for this and labelled his goblin mercenary captain with a golden helmet as my target.
We deployed right before one another, with Will's army 6" back. I gained the first priority and rushed forward to create a chokepoint between the houses. Will responded by throwing his flock of warbats over my lines and begin attacking troops to the rear. Bolg then led his berserkers in a full frontal assault.
Bolg called a Heroic Combat and I made my big mistake, forgetting that Dwalin was right beside this daunting foe, I didn't call a preventative Heroic Strike. Bolg pounced and struck, Dwalin was slain in turn 1! Things went better at the rear for me, as the dwarves managed to defeat most of the bats and wound the majority, with Balin one shotting his opponent.
Thorin started pushing up the left flank as Thrain pushed from the right. It was then that the first unit of goblin mercenaries led by my target arrived before Thrain. I got hopeful that I could hammer my way through to my target and slay him. Luck was not with me on this however, as a warbat knocked Thrain prone with its 'Pluck' ability. Thrain then lost the combat to the Gundabad Captain I had hoped he would flatten and took two wounds, before failing all three fate. My leader was suddenly on 1w, 0f.
In such a desperate situation and then losing priority, I had to use Thrain's final might to attempt a Heroic Move and stand up, but also to push towards the goblins. Bolg mirrored it with his 'Master of Battle' and took it on the roll off. Sensing such a vulnerable target, he pounced on the wounded dwarven King and quickly slew him.
The turn following this, Bolg managed to charge at Balin and take him out without too much resistance as Thorin watched helplessly seeing the 'Bringer of Death' reach his 10th kill! Thorin prepared to face the devastating enemy head on as he was took the force of the warg's charge full force. He fought hard, rolling his 6, but Bolg was simply unstoppable by this point and cut down the last of the line of Durin.
The surviving dwarves manage to slay the last of the warbats, but the battle was sadly already decided. For slaying his target (Dwalin), breaking my army and slaying Thrain, Will achieved a well deserved 10-0 win and managed to reach first place. It was a great experience to finally play him in a solo match.
End of the Tournament
In the end, I had managed to score three wins, a draw and two losses, and since I had gone into the weekend deciding that I would be satisfied with two wins, I was very pleased about this. Day two however, really highlighted to me just how crucial Thror and Str4 Grim Hammers were to my Day one success.
I managed to place 19th out of the 54 players for the weekend and I believe that Team Evil came out triumphant in a heroic last ditch effort in the final round, after starting with a single point difference between the two teams.
For anyone who likes the sound of this tournament, Harry is doing another (Lord of the Imps: Return of the Imp) on the weekend of 9/10th October, I would love to attend but with a baby due soon, we will have to see. This event will be a 100pt event so I'd expect tougher armies but still the same rough layout for the weekend. An event page is up on the GBHL.
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