Battle Report - Middle Earth Moria Vs Army of the Dead at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 3 #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again at Warhammer World! 

Here's my warband 

• Durbûrz
• 2 Goblin Captains
• 4 Goblin Prowlers
• 17 Goblins [of various loadouts]
• 3 Cave Trolls [2 with hammers, 1 with spear]

Drew Mcclelland was next with his 'army of the dead' legendary legion. Now I'll admit I thought these were Ringwraiths when I saw them, they're dead right? Aragorn was leading them, he had a mounted Rider with 6 warriors. Then there was another warband of 8 with the King of the Dead. The mission was Fog of War which had three objectives: pick an opposing character, not leader, and try to kill it [I chose King of the Dead]. Pick one of your characters, not leader, and try to keep it alive [my Goblin Captain with a machete]. And, choose a piece of terrain in your opponents half [I chose the first walkway on the left middle] and have more of your models in/on it at the end of the game. Now the walkways posed an issue. We debated having them not needing climb or jumps to speed things up, but with my bonus to climb/jump Drew didn't want me to lose the benefit. So, outside of the ramps the Goblins would need to climb to get on the walkways,

Drew heroic marched up the board and I just froze! I mean I started to realise what I was facing after lobbing rocks at them. These are all Defence 8! And they are wounding me on my Courage 2, rather than my Defence [ranging from 4 to 6]. Not to mention they all cause Terror, it turns out Aragorn was probably the easiest! Anyway, the Rider gets onto the piece of terrain I was going for, so I manage to get a Troll and some Goblins on there too. 

Bit of a time jump here. Looks like I lost two of my Trolls. I'm not sure if it was this game or the previous one but of the two rounds of duels they were in they scored 1,2,3, on 3D6 each round - hence why they were cut down. At this stage I was just falling apart. I had a slim chance with holding the piece of terrain I'd picked but there was just nothing I could do and Drew had captured his nominated terrain just out of shot on the right.

With my last troll I once again scored 1,2,3! and was unable to take down the Rider, which meant I could only outnumber him on the terrain piece rather than hold it completely

I then managed to butcher a ghost with goblins! I'd got 5s and 6s to beat the terror test, got two 6's to wound and then needed one 4 to kill! That's how tough these ghosts were. I immediately recalled when we were playing Battle Companies, controlling different areas of Middle Earth gave you bonuses, one of which was a warrior of the dead joined your warband for free! Whoever had that was a nightmare and that was just one of them, not 15 and Aragorn! 

So, as the dust settled I'd lost my last game, I scored 1 VP for having more on my terrain target but Drew managed to get 12, for the life of me I don't know how he'd done so badly to face me in the final game. His army was rock solid so I can't understand how he lost the kill points mission. Regardless, this was such a fun game, the highlight of the event for me.

Which leads me to my final thoughts. The midweek event is really cool and much less tiring but the quick pace and short games mean you don’t actually get to spend much time with the person you’re gaming with. Drew and I got on really well, we were laughing and giggling all the time but I was constantly aware of the 90 minutes running out and having to interrupt the giddiness to get on with the game. 

I’m not sure what the answer is but whatever fear I had about the competitive element soon evaporated thanks to my rotten tactics. I was thankfully unbothered about the results, which meant the reward was in the interactions with the person I was gaming with. I mean this has been my observation for years, but my last tournament was January 2019, which was 40k and slightly more competitive. To be playing my least competitive game, in clearly the least competitive fashion means the shared experience is paramount. My slight disappointment is that everything was over too quickly with the clock-watching and eurrgh, actually playing the game, interrupting the banter we had. 

Perhaps the answer is a tournament with fewer and longer games, with no prizes! Just a casual game, with snacks and copious beverages – essentially my Thursday night gaming sessions ha, ha!

Battle Report - Middle Earth Moria Vs Isengard at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 2 #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again at Warhammer World! 

Here's my warband 

• Durbûrz
• 2 Goblin Captains
• 4 Goblin Prowlers
• 17 Goblins [of various loadouts]
• 3 Cave Trolls [2 with hammers, 1 with spear]

Chris Charles was my next challenge, who just happened to be the Warhammer World event organiser. He had an Isengard list with Saruman and Lurtz with 10 Uruks, a berserker and an Isengard Troll. We were playing the Lords of Battle mission [again] - which is scoring points from wounds caused. I managed to set up quite well, with my 3 trolls in a huddle so I could ultimately try and bundle the Isengard Troll. However, first turn I was out of range, so all three threw rocks at it, 2 of which hit and wounded! One more and it was gone. The rest of my warband tried to make ground but hold a defensive formation.

But Saruman came in on the left flank so I had to stall what I could and get the Trolls into the Isengard Troll. I lost the duel and was pushed back.

I think Saruman was trying to blast away I think he might have done some damage.

The trolls just couldn't win in this fight.

With his Uruks holding firm Saruman moved out of harms way and I continued to try and take down the bigger Troll. I think Lurtz was getting in on the action too but I don't think I was successful facing him either.

I lost again with the Trolls and took 2 wounds on a Hammer.

Another round of combat, I'd lost a troll and took 2 wounds on the other Hammer troll but somehow I managed to take the Isengard Troll down. I think I'd shot into combat a few times and killed my own units - a win-win because if I killed them then Chris wasn't scoring points.

Time was running out and I'd spent far too long on the Troll/Lurtz roadblock while Chris had just been racking up points taking out my soft little goblins. As the game came to an end I was broken, had scored less kills and Durbûrz was injured.

Chris had won 7:0, so at least I was being consistent. Annoyingly I was sure I'd done all I could. I got the Trolls in the right position and had been using the spear in a spear-support role. It would turn out I'd been playing it wrong though - he only adds one attack, not all three to the duel. But Chris confessed later on he'd been playing Saruman's Sorcerous Blast wrong. It would have made zero difference either way and as I always say it's vagaries of the warp on the day. It was still a great game, my main mistake was targeting the wrong units - I should have been laying waste to his Uruks with the trolls. Even then the dice were not on my side

On to game 3...

Battle Report - Middle Earth Moria Vs Moria at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 1 #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again at Warhammer World! Here's my warband 

• Durbûrz
• 2 Goblin Captains
• 4 Goblin Prowlers
• 17 Goblins [of various loadouts]
• 3 Cave Trolls [2 with hammers, 1 with spear]

Ben Whitlock was my first challenge and he had Moria Goblins! But he'd opted for Warg Marauders [7 of them] to join Durbûrz, a Goblin Captain and a Shaman, which I'd been told are really useful for their Fury magic power. We were playing Capture and Control - 5 objectives, 1 in the middle and the rest 12" away at cardinal compass points. If you stand next to them for a turn they become yours. You have to roll for deployment: 1-3 a warband is in the first 12" width ways, closest to the middle. 4-6 you can put a warband anywhere in your table half. I think all mine were anywhere I wanted.  I think I won priority and managed to snag the two Wargs on the right with my Troll, screening the objective, which my archers captured. I also got the one deep in my half and the centre. Ben managed to get his home objective and the one on my left flank. 

Unfortunately my Troll failed to win the duel, I should have seen that coming - 3 Vs 6D6, so he got wounded too. I spread out more to screen the right objective, but the centre one was already under threat as the Warg came bounding in. The Shaman got off Fury, making the Goblins Fearless. Will I ever play against an army that is not immune to Terror?! And one Warg managed to sneak round my left flank and begin to take a run at my home objective.

Everything was starting to crumble, my Goblins on the right were whittled down. I'd killed a Warg, but it's riders had survived, until they fell off and two got killed. But I still had 4 in the middle of the board and about to take the objective and my resources were dwindling. I had to get my right Troll to stop the flanking Warg but they also cause Terror and Trolls aren't immune! I was lucky and made it in. I think I did a little damage but most of the riders survived. My home objective was still mine, the out of shot Goblin had climbed the wall to hide behind it which had taken 3 'in the way' shots. But time was running out. We got one more turn in to play out the most important parts. Ben captured my right objective, so he had 4 and just needed my home oen for a clean sweep. He got a Warg in but again the wall proved invaluable and attacks got in the way. So the objective remained contested, scoring no points for either of us. 

But Ben scored 8 for objectives and another point for wounding Durbûrz leaving the score 9:0 to Ben. I'm thinking yesterday's loss might not be the opposite of today's efforts. Could it be that I'm just rubbish? 😂 Regardless, it was fun as it always is. What was particularly amusing was constantly trying to pick up each others figures to move as were both goblins!

Anyway, on to lunch - a Bugman's burger. I've had a number of burgers over the past year or so, trying to find the best. So far that's been Honest Burger's California burger [double smashed Honest beef, bacon, American mustard, double American cheese, grilled onions, brown butter burger sauce, tomato, lettuce and pickles. Now the Bugman's Burger is OK, it's definitely good value, but the burger itself was very dense, which didn't give it the texture and taste that I was hoping for. It's decent but but I think I had memories of it being amazing, fries were good though.

On to game 2...

Battle Report - Middle Earth Moria Vs Rohirrim at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 0 #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again at Warhammer World! We had signed up for a midweek event, just 500pts, 3 games, done and dusted. However, we decided to go down the day before, so we were right there for the next day's tournie. This meant we could go round the exhibition [for the first time ever] and I could get a practice game in with Otty, with Ben giving me tips.

Here's my warband 

• Durbûrz
• 2 Goblin Captains
• 4 Goblin Prowlers
• 17 Goblins [of various loadouts]
• 3 Cave Trolls [2 with hammers, 1 with spear]

I've got to say my recollection of this game is scant, it's almost 'not a battle report'. I know we were playing the Lords of Battle mission - which is scoring points from wounds caused. I set up aggressive, trying to get Theodred, who is the second rank on the end in the middle. I hoped I could get the troll in and kill him quick - cutting off Otty's access to the Fearless rule for his army.

Unfortunately, despite getting priority [at some point] I was unable to capitalise. I held back a bit and then was able to get in there but couldn't convert any success in the duels. Otty was able to bring in the cavalry and one troll took 2 wounds and the spear troll took 1. 

My Goblins were being slaughtered with ease, I finally managed to get my third troll into combat - quite the journey from where he originally started. But I needed to bolster my left flank as Rohirrim were flooding in. 

But it just wasn't enough, my goblins were just overrun and with two of the trolls falling my whole force started to crumble.

Doesn't look like I had much left at the end, a Troll, 4 goblins and a Goblin Captain. Outmanoeuvred, outgunned, outrolled - it was devastating. Perhaps though, I lost big so I could win big tomorrow?

But clearly Otty was much better prepared for the coming challenge.

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - WHITE PICS ⚪

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my #AdeptusTitanicus Titans and here are the pics on a white background for the connoisseur.

I definitely think the damage and weathering helps with the decals.

Aside from making them look part of the colour scheme it helps fill some of the ungainly gaps I was concerned about.

I'm not sure I need to say much else, that I haven't already said before.

So perhaps I just need to leave the pictures to speak for themselves - enjoy!