Similar to my last tournament, Lord of the Imps, in July, I thought I'd do another for last weekends event.
The Tournament
This is a tournament that I had attended once previously back in 2018. I had fond memories and was really looking forward to it...
Sadly, Covid then hit and it was delayed several times due to restrictions, but after nearly two years of build up, it was finally green lighted!
Steve Crowe's boards are famously gorgeous, you look at them and know exactly what is being illustrated to you. There's tiny details and grand pieces of scenery to really immerse you into your games. Steve had also spoken to the creator of 'Longshanks', an online tournament creator that made life a lot easier for the players, allowing them to see one anothers lists, if uploaded and plan tables with no real issues. (I'd recommend TOs have a look into it).
This was a 700pt tournament with no real restrictions, so there'd be a great mix of armies spanning 52 different armies/Legendary Legions amongst the 88 players. But what did I take?
My army
Goblin Town
The Goblin King
Gollum
17x Goblin Town warriors
Grinnah
12x Goblin Town warriors w/ 2x 2h
Goblin Mercenary Captain
11x Goblin Mercenaries
The Trolls
Bill the Troll
Tom the Troll
Yellow alliance
46 models
I chose this force as I had painted the Three Trolls at the beginning of lockdown last year but hadn't had any 400pt tournaments come up to play them at. So I decided to just ally them with Goblin Town as its a fairly themed mix and works aesthetically, while giving me a chance to repaint their models.
With the army all painted and prepared, to battle!
Game 1- Assassination (vs. Ryan (Riders of Theoden))
Opponent's Heroes- Theoden, Dernhelm, Deorwine, Gamling and a Captain
Opponent's Warriors- Mounted Royal Guard
Seeing on Longshanks that I would be against the Riders of Theoden, made me feel very dependent upon scenario. When Assassination was drawn, I considered myself to have a rather large mountain to climb. However, when I got to my board, I had lucked out! Before me was a lovely Laketown board, littered with chokepoints and narrow corridors! Maybe I have a chance...
I chose my target to be Deorwine, figuring that Ryan would love to throw him into the thick of the fights to take advantage of the free heroic combats and my assassin to be Bill because...well... *waves at the big lumbering troll*
I deployed my trolls on a wider corridor to my right, figuring that they could hold off a cavalry charge fairly comfortably and the King to the left with Grinnah. Ryan had deployed his cavalry in a large line before me, out of charge range and after I won the first priority and more or less held still, besides moving up slightly to plug any holes in the line, the Rohirrim skirted round and away from the Trolls, towards the softer goblin flank.
Before long, Deorwine led a charge and killed a goblin, heroic combatting into another. But to everyone's surprise, he lost his second fight and found himself disarmed and forced to spend his fate point. With that unexpected development, I took the heroic move and tried to pin him down as Bill made his way towards the fights. Gollum slips the Ring on and attempts to sneak over to Deorwine.
Eowyn managed to kill her goblin and charge into Gollum, who fluffed his duel rolls and ended up trampled. Deorwine then won his combat and took Grinnah's fate.
In response to this, the Goblin King charged Theoden in the centre after the Rohirrim lost a move off. In the following turn, several goblins fell, a few Royal Guard were dismounted and Theoden took two wounds from the King, surviving on his fate roll and promptly retreating the next turn.
For the rest of the game, the goblins desperately tried and failed to land the killing blows upon Deorwine, even with the Mercenary ambush trapping his unit. The Rohirrim broke them and the game ended by time.
Ryan claimed the win 10-1 as his assassin (Dernhelm) had slain his target (Grinnah) as well as breaking me, while I had wounded Theoden.
Game 2- Seize the Prize (Vs. James (Minas Tirith))
For my second game, I was drawn against fellow Southerner and regular rival, James.
Opponent's Heroes- King Elessar, Irolas, Mablung and Damrod
Opponent's Warriors- Citadel Guard, Guard of the Fountain Court, Rangers of Gondor and Minas Tirith Warriors
For this game, I chose to deploy my Mercenaries with my army to allow me to call a Heroic March to the middle. I was quickly in the centre and failed to find the objective. The next turn, I advanced over it and failed for a second time. James responded by firing a volley, wounding Bill and then launching his attack...
Aragorn charged the Goblin King with Irolas and several warriors. While Irolas called a Heroic Combat, both other heroes called a Heroic Strike and got to Fight 10, both rolled a 6 to win but Aragorn rolled a 5 on the roll off. Irolas and the warriors all made their strikes but failed to land a single blow. Aragorn, however, had no such issues. He rolled 3 wounds and used a might to boost his 2 to a 3 (he had gone 2h). Due to the elven blade effect, his blubbery mass couldn't save him and the King fell!
Aragorn then charged into Bill from the Heroic and caused another two wounds, Bill's fate saved him and next turn, Gollum put on the Ring and through a Heroic Combat joined Bill against Elessar, who had called a Heroic Defence. In this golden opportunity, Gollum wounded the horse, which Aragorn saved through 'Horse Lord' and Bill decided to attempt to 'Mince 'im fine'! Bill rolled first and got a 3, which Aragorn matched! The King of Gondor had just had a very close brush with death!
Not long after, Aragorn managed to slay Bill and progressed onto Tom, who let out an almighty sneeze over the King and then rolled poorly, allowing Anduril to be inserted into his nose. The goblin line collapsed as Aragorn slew Grinnah and a lone Fountain Court Guard dug up the objective as the game ended.
James won 10-0 (we had to roll off to decide whether the objective was in his half or mine, due to it not moving at all, he rolled my half), had broken me and slain my leader. A classic case of a couple of rolls deciding the outcome.
Game 3- Contest of Champions (Vs. Max (Kingdom of Khazad Dum))
Opponent's Heroes- Durin, Dwarf King and Dwarf Captain
Opponent's Warriors- Hearthguard and Khazad Guard
Max had brought a heavily armoured and dangerous army of dwarves. With Durin in the middle, I knew this would be tough. My intention was to just keep the Goblin King, 1 on 1 in the middle and weather the storm until his might ran out.
As you'd expect, we charged both our armies forward and locked horns, I kept Tom beside the King to anchor his flank and Bill to the far left to pull off some hurls. Grinnah stayed back (Under the balcony) to be a Heroic move battery.
The first two turns, Durin called Strike, which I mimicked and lost. Durin reliably did wounds on the King but the blubbery mass kept him alive, but he did take a wound.
Real danger reared its head, when Tom unexpectedly lost a fight to 3 Khazad Guard/Hearthguard and died! This left the King's flank exposed, but luckily Grinnah called a Heroic Move and won the roll off, allowing goblins to fill the gap.
Durin used his final might to call another Strike but this time lost and the King caused two wounds through his Rend. Many dwarves had fallen on their right flank and suddenly, a Mercenary ambush was launched. Durin was then caught and slain by another Rend.
The Goblin King then went back and tried to get another couple of kills, but rolled badly and ended up taking 7 wounds, all of which were stopped by his blubbery mass. The second time, he wasn't so lucky and fell.
When the game ended, I had managed the win 6-2, by having more kills with the King than Durin (1-0) and had slain Durin with him, while Durin had wounded him back. We were also both broken.
Game 4- Hold Ground (Vs. Jake (Fiefdoms))
Opponent's Heroes- Prince Imrahil, Forlong the Fat, Angbor the Fearless and Duinhir
Opponent's Warriors- Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, Clansmen of Lamedon, Axemen of Lossanarch, Blackroot Vale Archers and Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth
My initial tactic was to try and deploy beside the Fiefdoms and pin them in an all out fight as my Mercenaries arrive in the middle to take the objective. Instead, I arrived in one corner and they came in on the opposite after. I spent a might with Bill and Duinhir spent one himself.
We began a hasty march for the centre to claim the middle for ourselves (represented by Frodo).
The goblin horde and the combined armies of the Fiefdoms close in on the centre, the King and the Trolls combine on the right flank to face the cavalry as the goblins pool on the left to face the infantry with Grinnah at the back to again be the Heroic Mover. The Blackroot Vale archers line up to shoot supporting goblins...
...when a victorious cry erupts from the ruins to their left! The Mercenaries arrive and next turn win, the move off to envelope the men.
Now free of the concern for their supports, the armies collide.
The fighting is brutal, with both sides taking multple casualties a turn. The Fiefdoms take heavy losses early but manage to find their footing and push back. At one point, Tom dismounts Forlong and then Bill barges his opponents forward to surprise and slay him.
Imrahil fights back hard and when Gollum does a sudden Heroic combat to give the King an edge. The Prince gets a surprise win and slays the Ringbearer, to my horror. Tom falls not long after (to a Swan Knight, if I remember correctly) and with time running out for the round, very heated fights break out for the middle, in which the King is wounded by Imrahil.
Surprisingly, the Mercenaries have decimated the archers in their skirmish but a lone Swan Knight joins and flattens most of them in return. As the timer hits 0, the final combats are played out and Bill uses his last might to heroic combat into Imrahil, joining with the King. Despite the numbers of high strength attacks, they deal only 4 wounds and leave Imrahil with 2 after his fate.
The scores are in and we were both broken, both had wounded leaders and when the centre was accounted for, I had 14 within range to Jake's 11! A very close 5-2 win to evil!
Game 5- Breakthrough (Vs. Dave (Mordor/Isengard))
Opponent's Heroes- The Witch King, Shelob, Lurtz and an Orc Captain
Opponent's Warriors- Mordor orcs, Uruk-hai warriors and Uruk-hai Berserkers
With a large rocky ledge in the centre of the board, this was going to be a difficult fight to claim the objectives, particularly as Dave's side one fell on a rock in the middle of the river.
We lined up so the Goblin King was across from the Witch King along with the Mercenaries, with Gollum upon the central cliff face and the Trolls with Grinnah on the right flank.
I was immediately engaged by Dave's frontline everywhere that he could and had Bill transfixed by the Witch King. Lurtz and friends surrounded the Troll and Shelob flitted past to attack the goblins. The Goblin King, trampled two of his minions to get into combat. Gollum engaged one of the two orcs that climbed onto the rocks but failed to kill him.
When Lurtz called his Heroic Strike, I called a Heroic combat with Tom, in that combat I hurled a berserker into Bill's causing all of Dave's guys to fall over but none died. Bill was now safe for the turn. The King barged an orc aside and charged him again with another orc...he then lost the fight and took a wound, which went through his blubber and fate. D'OH!
In the next turn, Dave carefully charged Tom, in a way that stopped a hurl hitting Bill again, then transfixed him again. A berserker made a run along the rocky hill towards my objective so gollum attempted to give chase and I sent some goblins climbing up.
The Goblin King's unit made short work of the Witch King's unit, with the banner being hurled down the line. The left objective was now secure, so more troops were sent up the rocks as the King advanced towards Dave's objective.
On the other flank, Tom barged the berserker aside and charged into Shelob, trapping her. On arrival, he sneezed all over the spider and won the fight, landing two wounds, taking two of her will to pass the courage tests. In the following combat, Lurtz and his berserkers brought down Bill after another transfix and Tom was pulled from the spider by berserkers.
In the following turns, two goblins manage to land a third wound on Shelob and Tom is brought down by Lurtz and his Uruks. Grinnah spends multiple turns surrounded by berserkers and spends his remaining might to strike and win fights, each time causing a wound but...each...and...every...one...is saved by the berserkers oblivious to pain.
In the centre, the Witch King rushes and slays Gollum as his orcs surround and kill the goblins, allowing Dave to seize my objective. The game ends before I can reach his.
Dave ends up winning 8-2 as he owns my objective, his own and a side one while breaking me. I own the other side objective.
Game 6- Divide and Conquer (Vs. Michael (Fiefdoms/Minas Tirith))
Opponent's Heroes- Prince Imrahil, Hurin the Tall and Irolas
Opponent's Warriors- Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth, Citadel Guard and Minas Tirith warriors.
My final game was to be against Michael's Fiefdoms/Minas Tirith alliance in Divide and Conquer, I have never won this scenario before. (Objectives represented by Mordor Dice/Empty base).
I chose my corners first and decided to keep the Mercenaries back for an ambush. I deployed the King alone and the Trolls with Grinnah. Gollum used his might to call an early Heroic March and make some progress to the right side objective. They made it there and prepared for the coming fight. Once they were close enough, the King rushed the frontline and his goblins prepared to block. The King barged his opponents and tried to kill some of the men out of formation. Hurin charged the goblins, but Gollum slipped the Ring on and surrounded the Warden of the Keys. He was promptly dismounted and over a few turns Gollum and the goblins wore him down and eventually Gollum dealt the killing blow.
The King, however, ended up surrounded as his goblins were slain and taking 16~ strikes in one turn saved only two wounds. He managed to put up a fight, pushing them back and killing a few but when completely surrounded, took 22 strikes, which even his blubber couldn't save him from. The King died along with all his goblins. But Gollum, invisible, survived and contested the objective at the very end.
In the rest of the battle, Bill split off to engage Imrahil and his knights, while Tom, Grinnah and his goblins moved towards Irolas and his Citadel guard. To really throw the balance their way, the Mercenaries arrived in the woods.
Bill saw his chance and hurled a stone at Imrahil, against call the odds, it hit, went past both the Knights, who were in the way, and took off two of his fate. Bill then rushed over the barrow the next turn and was charged by Imrahil and his knights. Both called Heroic Strikes and while the Prince went up to Fight 10, Bill fluffed his and went to 8. The Knights tore the troll to pieces.
Back in the centre, Tom barged a Citadel guard aside and one shotted Irolas off the board, removing two might in return for the loss of Bill! The sheer numbers of goblins overwhelmed the guards and many died quickly. The pressure was released somewhat as Imrahil and his knights arrived and started clearing the central objective. As time was running low, Tom saw an opening and when Grinnah called a Heroic move, charged the surviving guard and quickly barged him aside, rolling the 4 required to be able to reach Imrahil! He immediately sneezed over the Prince and with the goblins laid into him over two turns. In the second combat, in the last turn, with both forces having 3 men/goblins owning the central objective, the Goblins got Imrahil down to 1w, 0f. Tom decided to Rend and rolled 1, 2 and...
With that the goblins claim the win 7-4 as they own the centre and left objectives, have broken the enemy and slain the enemy leader. The good forces have the right objective contested by Gollum, broken the enemy and slain the Goblin King.
So I ended the tournament with an even split of 3 wins and 3 losses with a VP difference of -15 leaving me in 56th place.
Upcoming tournaments I'll attend soon
28th Nov Wrath of the Nine- A small local event over one day. 650pts and I'll be taking my Dunlendings.
4/5th Dec (Basically) Throne of Skulls- Usually bigger event but I hear less people due to restrictions for now. Very theme heavy event, 1000pts, I'll be taking the Fellowship and Glorfindel.
I may write reports for these tournaments too, time allowing. Hope you enjoyed the read.
Very thorough report. An enjoyable read with great pictures!
ReplyDeleteCheers mate
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