Tournament Report- Fool of a Took (1st April)

 The Tournament

This was an four games escalation event increasing from 250pt to 400pt to 600pt to 800pt. You had to choose a 'Fool' who would attempt to achieve bonus points by performing certain feats i.e. Slaying a hero of an equal/higher tier, calling heroic move within range of allied heroes, contesting and beating an enemy heroic.

My armies

Those who have seen my paint blogs this year, will know that I've been working my way through my Moria pile. I decided that this would be the army's inaugural event. I chose Groblog to be my Fool for the day.

I will list the armies used at each round.

Game 1- Hold Ground (Vs. Army of the Dead (George))

250pt

Groblog LEADER

Moria Goblin x12 w/ 6x Shield and 6x Shield

Moria Goblin Shaman

Cave Troll w/ Hand and a half Hammer

Moria Goblin x3 w/ 2x Shield and 1x Spear

Models: 18

Opponents Heroes: King of the Dead

Opponents Warriors: Warriors of the Dead

George is an opponent that I have played several times prior, including the infamous game that lasted for thirteen turns of rolling to end. He may be out for vengeance.

I arrived first and ended up getting both warbands together in the South-West corner, while the dead arrived in the North-West.

A footrace then ensued for who could get to the centre first, which the dead won. On the way, the shaman threw up a Fury knowing that the goblins will need it.

Having very few numbers on either side, every kill could lead to a big swing. So I tried to prioritise the banner so that I could have the edge with the numbers. The banner managed to survive the initial combat while I lost 3/4 goblins. The troll had failed his courage and refused to join the combats for the first 2/3.

This meant the normally subtle Groblog was having to throw himself in. He managed to kill a couple of the dead before facing the King (red cloak). In the combat, the trapped King ended up being forced to use two fate.

The now mightless Groblog, was pulled into another fight with the King and slain. The goblins had the edge on the centre and now were desperately hoping that the game would end as they broke. The troll got involved and started thumping some of the ghosts.

The game continued for 3 turns, in which time the dead managed to kill enough of the goblins off to claim the centre by a slight majority.

They had the centre, had killed my leader and we were both broken, leaving me defeated 6-1.

Game 2- Reconnoitre (Vs. Minas Tirith/Fellowship (Ryan))

400pt

Durburz LEADER

Moria Goblin x15 w/ 7x Shield and 8x Spear

Groblog

Moria Goblin x12 w/ 6x Shield and 6x Shield

Moria Goblin Shaman

Cave Troll w/ Hand and a half Hammer

Moria Goblin x4 w/ 2x Shield and 2x Spear

Models: 35

Opponents Heroes: Denethor, Aragorn/Strider and Siege Veteran

Opponents Warriors: Warriors of Minas Tirith, Guard of the Fountain Court, Rangers of Gondor and Avenger Bolt Thrower

I had a brand new opponent, Ryan and I have met at many tournaments, but never clashed before.

We ended up on the desert board with three crossing points over the river. I ended up arriving with Durburz being in in turn four, to the left of the dead mumak in my half, in front of the ford. While the rest of the army was in front of the wooden bridge, to the right of the mumak. 

Ryan had arrived with his army as a block. The bolt thrower moved around the camp and fired upon the goblin lines, killing three/four in the first volley. I held back to make sure that the goblins wouldn't arrive in waves and be slain by the well armoured men.

I moved up using the bridge for cover from the siege engine. And was engaged by the Gondorians as I got onto the bridge. Durburz's goblins engaged a small number in the ford and slew all but one. Durburz then ganged up on the surviving man and heroic combatted to push across the river and into the rangers, who also fell.

The troll alongside used a barge to move up too, rolling a 6 and suddenly being to the rear of the bridge. 

Aragorn had used a priority just prior to this to launch himself into the goblins on the bridge and kill a few. Groblog charged him and trapped him for +1 FV, then got his crown up for another +1. They both called Heroic Strikes and the goblins came out on top. Strider was dismounted and jabbed at mercilessly, until he was on 1w,0f!

As Durburz led an exodus towards the rear of the board, the troll charged a crew member of the bolt thrower. The other two of the crew surrounded him and they fought. The troll won and proceeded to slay all three of them. Meanwhile, Aragorn fought the now mightless Groblog and slew him.

The troll charged onto the bridge and attacked some warriors. Denethor led the push to kill the goblins on it and Aragorn charged into the troll, calling a Heroic Strike. He went higher and then lost the fight, despite having his allies! The troll finished Aragorn and then killed a warrior too.

Ryan then sent his knight to go and escape the board. Durburz, who's army was now broken, passed courage tests, one after the other until reaching the edge and sweeping his troops off, before escaping himself. Denethor managed to slay the Shaman and remaining goblins on the bridge. But the troll then came in, it lost the first combat and took two wounds. But it won the second time, and Denethor was slain. This put the men below 25% and ended the game.

I had got 6-8 goblins off the board to Ryan's 1, slain Denethor and we had broken one another. Giving me a 10-1 victory.

Game 3- Seize the Prize (Vs. Kingdom of Moria (Rob))

600pt

Durburz LEADER

Moria Goblin x15 w/ 7x Shield and 8x Spear

Groblog

Moria Goblin x12 w/ 6x Shield and 6x Shield

Moria Goblin Shaman

Cave Troll w/ Hand and a half Hammer

Moria Goblin x4 w/ 2x Shield and 2x Spear

Cave Drake

Moria Blackshields x6 w/ 2x Spear

Models: 42

Opponents Heroes: Balin, Lord of Moria, Dwarf King and King's Champion

Opponents Warriors: Khazad Guard, Iron Guard, Dwarf warriors and Dwarf rangers

Rob is my second new opponent of the tournament, that I have met several times and never played. And he appeared to have the most themey matchup that I could have hoped for.

I was going to have an issue in this game, in that I didn't have a Captain for marching, while Rob had access to it. I could put the Drake in the centre, but was worried that this could just lead to big heroes being able to isolate and slay it.

So I made a wall of goblins ready to engage the dwarves in a desperate fight for the prize. I'd have to hope Rob failed the first attempt or two to dig it up as my Drake worked her way around the back to try and pincer the centre or the flank with Balin (depending on which seems closer to crumbling).

Rob found the prize on his first attempt and then pulled its bearer behind his lines. I engaged with a furious charge and, to my horror, my casualties went from the three or four from shooting, up to about thirteen in combat. Only killing a single dwarf in retaliation, even the Drake was pushed back by a lone dwarf shield.

The goblins pushed again, hoping for a better result, using a few traps to try and pincer some enemies. The Drake rushed forth and bulldozed a few dwarves. As Rob started pulling the prize around the ruin to my left. The goblins had another unfortunate turn, with several more losses but did return a few this time. Durburz attempted a Heroic Combat to join the troll, who had pinned the Dwarf King but failed to wound and the latter lost the fight, taking a wound.

As I won a move off, I did something Rob didn't expect. I used the move to pull the majority of my line back and threaten the prize bearer (dwarf with blue band), who was edging towards the escape. The dwarf rangers, who had pushed around, were pinned against the wall and one slain. The dwarves gave chase, with Balin slaying the troll. 

The Cave Drake called a Heroic Combat, intending to get around the fighting to my right and chase down the prize. She won the fight and with four dice, need a four to kill the Khazad guard she faced. She rolled a three highest... This not only lost the move from the heroic, but also meant that, when I lost priority the following turn, she was able to be pinned again, losing 16" of movement and safely keeping her away from the prize.

The goblins desperately tried to fight off the dwarven onslaught but first Groblog and the Shaman were slain. Before the remaining warriors also fell. This just left Durburz facing a multitude of the dwarves, including Balin, the Champion, the King etc. He unsurprisingly fell to their axe with the Drake right beside him, a single turn from potentially saving him.

As the prize was carried off the board, the Drake had a single warrior thrown at it, just to limit it to 6" of movement maximum from a barge, allowing the dwarves to escape it. That dwarf was slain and broke them but saved Balin from potentially fighting it.

In the end, Rob had taken the prize off my board edge and we had broken one another for a 8-1 defeat to me.

Game 4- To the Death (Vs. Mordor (James))

800pt

Durburz LEADER

Moria Goblin x15 w/ 7x Shield and 8x Spear

Groblog

Moria Goblin x12 w/ 6x Shield and 6x Shield

Moria Goblin Shaman

Cave Troll w/ Hand and a half Hammer

Moria Goblin x4 w/ 2x Shield and 2x Spear

Cave Drake

Moria Blackshields x6 w/ 2x Spear

Moria Goblin Captain w/ Shield

Batswarm

Moria Goblin Drum

Moria Goblin Prowlers x2

Moria Goblins x7 w/ 2x Shield and 5x Spear

Models: 55

Opponents Heroes: The Witch King, Shagrat and Troll Chieftain

Opponents Warriors: Morgul Knights, Morannon Orcs and a Warg Rider

My final opponent was also a new(ish) one, I had played James in doubles once before, but never in singles.

I sent my first wave, led by the Captain to engage the orcs, while the Drake slammed into his right flank. I lost a wound on the Drake to a black dart from the WK. While Shagrat countered the charge by throwing himself on the beast. He called a Strike and won the fight, spending a might to win the fight, and they scored a single wound.

I kept my cave troll to the right to protect the flank against the small crowd of orcs and Morgul knight coming through towards the Drum. He took two wounds on the charge but the next turn, the goblins around him got stuck in and helped. The knight fell and a hurl killed two orcs. 

James then went for the big guns, he threw a transfix at the Drake, who resisted with resistance to magic and charged the WK in to call the Heroic Strike. I was very worried for the Drake and decided to save my fate for the WKs blows as he declared to be using the Morgul Blade. I was very fortunate, when he rolled a four highest and had to spend the WKs remaining might to beat my six. I braced as the wounding dice were rolled and did none! The Drake had survived the Morgul Blade and the next turn, charged into the Ringwraith and destroyed him! 

Durburz engaged Shagrat and they both called Heroic Strikes, leaving the Uruk without any might, and he lost two fate as the Goblin King pushed him back. As time was called, several more were killed, including three by the Drake but we fell two short of breaking James's forces. The batswarm had made a last ditch attempt at swooping in to kill the banner but failed.

By the end, James had the only banner and I had slain his leader for a narrow 3-2 victory.

This left me on 2 wins and 2 losses with a VPD of -2. Once the additional points were added in for 'Most Sporting' and 'Fool Points' from the bonuses, I ended up in 7th/10. But I had had four fun games, with a new army and mostly new opponents.

Tournaments that I'll attend

23rd April- Desolation of Stowmarket (GBHL)

29th April- The Fog of More!? (EAHC)

3rd June- At Dawn, Look to the East (No affiliation to us or any other league, to my understanding)

10th June- Republic of the Shire (GBHL)

12/13th August- The Wolf's Lair (GBHL)

Clearing the Backlog, Part 10 – The Grand Tournament

January was a fairly relaxing month in terms of hobbying – I painted up the reinforcements for my Assault on Lothlorien army, made a start on my Men of Dale army, and also painted a few random miniatures from the collection sitting on my desk. For February, I had the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Grand Tournament to look forward to!

The Grand Tournament (or GT, as it's also known) is usually my first event of the year – I tend to start with the GT, and then end the year with Throne of Skulls, attending various GBHL and East Anglia Community events in between. Six games played over two days at Warhammer World, with the Green Dragon Pub Quiz on the Saturday night, plus free entry to the Exhibition, so you can drool over all the lovely models GW has made over the years (plus their absolutely stunning showcase dioramas) – it's a great weekend to start your gaming year. 

I spent the couple of weeks I had before the Tournament painting up King Brand and the remaining Warriors of Dale in my planned army (the Defenders of Erebor Legendary Legion) – Brand is a lovely model, covered in some nice little details too – it helps that his wargear and white hair help him stand out easily on the tabletop, so you don’t lose him amongst all the cloaks and pointy helmets!

The Warriors of Dale have an outstanding amount of detail for plastic miniatures too – from the designs on their shields and helmets, to the flowing way their cloaks have been sculpted, they're probably some of the most detailed plastic models in the range. With them done, I added a banner bearer to the army (GBHL veterans will remember the lengthy campaign for Dale to finally get one!) and also set about converting my captain to carry a bow – I already had a captain with a sword and shield, so I decided having one to lead my archers would also be a good idea. Fortunately, the model's posed to look like he's drawing his sword, making the conversion that much easier - a simple weapon swap later, and I had my bow captain!

To finish off the army, I added half a dozen Knights of Dale. These were both a lot of fun and a real challenge to paint, mostly because of the sheer amount of detail each model has. However, I was really pleased with the end result – the models looked great fighting it out on the tabletop. They did take a while to paint however, which ended up with me applying the last bit of static grass to their bases at 1:45 in the morning in my hotel room, the night before the tournament started… 

So, feeling excited (and also pretty tired), I was (finally) ready for the tournament. My Defenders of Erebor faired very well, remaining undefeated over the course of the weekend with two wins and a draw from their three games. The Assault on Lothlorien didn’t do as well, finishing on a win and two losses, although one of these losses was due to a rather clumsy error on my part – let's just say when you're rolling courage tests after breaking, do it in the right order (I blame it on the lack of sleep!)! In the end, out of 78 players, I finished in a respectable 27th place, and went home as part of the winning team on the Green Dragon Pub Quiz!

With the post-tournament blues kicking in, my attention turned to the next East Anglia Community event, where I ran the Erebor Legendary Legion again, although this time I was trying it out with Bard II and Thorin III Stonehelm. Bard II was another lovely model to paint, styled in the same way as the Knights of Dale, but with lots of extra details to help him stand out.

Having got tired (both literally and metaphorically) of painting Men of Dale, I dived once again into the pile of random models on my desk and pulled out some Castellans of Dol Guldur. These are lovely models, incorporating styles similar to both Sauron and the Ringwraiths, with their spiky armour and black cloth. I was able to get four of these painted in just a few sessions, making them some nice additions to the slowly growing Dol Guldur force in my collection. They're not bad on the tabletop too – their Morgul Blades make heroes wary about engaging them, whilst they're tough enough to shrug off most attacks, making them a cheaper, alternative choice to Ringwraiths. 

With the Castellan's done, my attention turned to the remaining Men of Dale that still needed to be painted. However, another model unexpectedly entered my painting queue thanks to Battlestreams in Middle Earth – a fortnightly stream hosted by Damian O'Byrne of SBG Magazine and Seven Stones fame, and Steve Crowe of TopTableGaming, where they get together to work their way through each issue of the old Battlegames in Middle Earth magazine, and invite people to watch along and get through their backlogs at the same time. Each magazine comes with a particular model and a handy guide for painting it, and the featured model for this particular issue was Gothmog. A quick bit of rummaging in my painting pile later, and I'd dug out an old Gothmog and put him on a base – I then spent the course of the stream painting him up, and based him to go in my Mordor army – another model ticked off the backlog!

So, with those additional models painted, my count for the year now stands at 47 models. I'm somewhat glad that I'm not trying (or not yet at least) to beat last year's total, as I'd already be worrying that I'd painted nearly 30 more models at this stage last year. However, 47 models is definitely not a bad return from two months of painting, and I have a few projects planned for this year which should help keep the model count ticking along nicely. Stay tuned to see what I get painted next!

CJ's "More will come" Legions: The Hunt for Oakenshield

The Hunt for Oakenshield

Azog on White Warg

Yazneg on Fell Warg (Lance)

Fimbul on Fell Warg

Hunter Orc Captain on Fell Warg (Bow, Two-Handed pick)

Hunter Orc on Fell Warg (Bow, Warhorn, Two-handed pick)

Fell Wargs

This Legion represents the Warg Scouts lead by Yazneg to hunt down Thorin Oakenshield by Azog the Defiler. Azog though will not tolerate failure and is more than happy to relieve Yazneg of command, as well as his life! The limited selection and somewhat expensive Azog and Hunter Orcs are balanced by a ruleset designed to play at speed and harry the opponent into leaving victims out in the open...

Additional Rules

Either Azog or Yazneg must be included as the Leader. Where Yazneg is the Leader, the first time a roll is made to determine the end of a scenario, he may remove himself as a Casualty to automatically count as rolling a 1 or a 2.

Yazneg's not a great profile for a Leader, but his propensity to save his own skin may let you win some tactical pyrrhic victories!

Special Rules

The hunt is on!

Azog, Hunter Orc Captains, and Hunter Orcs gain Expert Rider when taken as part of this Legion. This Legion may include 50% bows rather than 33%. Additionally, all models in the Legion have their Shoot value improved by 1.

Scoring full points for the dressage, this Legion of parkour wolves can clear obstacles and land lightly on their feet. Depending on how many fell wargs you take, this Legion can rack up quite an impressive bow count! Moving at speed, the Hunter Orcs can keep the enemy extremely honest with a dual threat of sniping or just running you down. Taking enemy mounts away will also help you make the most of the cavalry charge...

Pack hunters

All unmounted WARG models within 12” of the White Warg will automatically pass all courage tests they are required to make. If a mounted WARG model is charged and not benefitting from Cavalry bonuses during the Fight Phase, it may contribute an Attack to the combat alongside it’s rider as if part of a multiple combat. Note that the Warg and the Rider will not be split into separate combats against multiple opponents.

When Hunter Orcs mount up they not only run the 58% risk of their mount fleeing if they become dismounted, they also forfeit their twin blades rule. This rule helps make the expensive mounted models better value as part of this Legion. To represent the added threat of teeth and claws on a Mount, these Wargs will also get stuck into the fight! The Multiple Combat rule is a nod back to how Fell Beasts worked when they first had rules, now over twenty years ago!

“That is no wolf!”

Once per Game, at the start of the Movement Phase, if no models are engaged in Combat, the Wargs will Howl to signal their attack. For the remainder of that Turn, enemy models must pass a Courage test before moving.

This "on the way in" cast will give you a turn of potentially stealing a great amount of maneuvering over your opponent as they have to either turtle up an extra turn in advance as you make your approach, or run the risk of having stragglers for you to pick off at your own discretion!

“Run them down!”

Models moving as part of a Heroic March or Move called by Fimbul the Hunter gain his Hunt Master rule for the remainder of the Turn. Where two or more Infantry WARG models have charged a man-sized enemy model, when resolving that Combat they will gain the Knock-Down effect as if they benefitted from Monstrous Charge.

As the movies demonstrated, the woods and rocks will not slow these wolves down in their pursuit! Fimbul needing to call a Heroic in order to chase through rocky/woodland terrain can provide a nasty surprise for your opponents, but the pressure is on to make each Move count! The films also repeatedly show the scary effects of a horse-sized wolf charging down infantry so to give the fell wargs a little added "teeth" they can knock you down if they gang up together! 40mm bases are tricky to do this with, but 10" can reach a long way...