Battle Report - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs Fangorn [Ents] at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 3 #MESBG

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing MESBG again at Warhammer World! We had signed up for a midweek event again, just 500pts, 3 games, done and dusted. However, we decided to go down on the day! I had got in a practice game the day before, and it's a shame I haven't shared that yet as it was prescient to the tournament 

Here's my warband 

• The Goblin King with 10 Goblins [2 with two-handed weapons]
• Grinnah with 10 Goblins
• The Scribe with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 10 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 7 Goblins
• Gollum

The third, and last game was To the Death and I was matched with Matt Crowther. Only one of the founders of Sprues and Brews! I mean he was actually wearing their t-shirt and I missed it at first! 😂 We were on table 4, so we were up at the sharp end now. He had taken Fangorn, which is:

• Treebeard with Merry and Pippin
• Beechbone
• Birchseed

3 extremely tough monsters, versus my 49 squishy meat sacks in a 'kill points' mission, eek! However, Otty, Ben and I had briefly discussed facing this list on the way down. Given how the Ents can bludgeon all those they're in combat with the plan was to only feed them one at a time, but trap them with additional bodies near to, but not engaged. I foolishly thought to throw in a supporting model too, forgetting that the new rules now allow supports to be hit also, but we'll come to that. This was the setup with Treebeard in the middle, Beechbone is on my right and Birchseed [who must charge Goblins and Orcs if it can do so] is the top left.

I moved forward, I couldn't quite trap Birchseed but I put a fair few Goblins into the central field. This tactic has never proved useful in the past but I was convinced that if I had models in the field and the Ents charged me I'd get an additional 'in the way' from the walls. I mean the fact they could walk over the walls like they weren't there never crossed my mind. I mean, only now as I write this a week later it's made itself known to me! 😂 I think the Ents threw some boulders, but the King shrugged them off with Blubbery Mass. He threw a Goblin in return, but missed.

Birchseed got trapped and so did Beechbone, with the King getting into combat with it. What would follow is numerous turns of combat as each of us tried to win the duel, break the deadlock and do some damage. For the first two rounds of combat I used Might for Heroic Strike - trying to win the duel if we got the same dice. However, both times I only added 1 to my Fight value. I moved the 'field goblins' up, with Gollum alongside. I also moved the Captains closer to the Scribe so I could transfer their Might to the King as he used his, but forgot it needs to be done at the beginning of their Activation.

So the Goblin King was already down to 1 Might point left before I could start topping him back up with a Captain's Might points. Meanwhile Grinnah had gone for Treebeard. I think the Hobbits did hit him with stones but didn't wound. I think Birchseed had killed a couple of Goblins and got to charge, so he was in base contact with far more than I should have allowed. Another round of combat with Beechbone, the second Heroic Strike failing to make a difference.

I think at some point the Goblin King was definitely on 1 Might point left, maybe even down to 0. The Captains continued to transfer Might and I realised I'd put Grinnah in harm's way and needed him back near to the Scribe. I decided the best option for the King was not to Strike, but to use Might to win the roll off if Matt didn't get the 6 in the duel. It's probably not the logical play, but we both seemed to think it was at the time.

Matt won priority. The King sang a song to reroll 1's to wound. At some point Matt had to use all of Beechbone's Might. I'm not sure if it was to keep him alive but all of his resources were gone.

The King sang a song to act like a Banner and I was able to trap Birchseed. Somehow Grinnah is back with Treebeard, whether just to trap or in combat I'm not sure. But he subsequently swapped places with another Goblin to get back to the Scribe The King somehow got back up to 3 Might, thanks to the Captain's transfers and won the duel.

The Ent was trapped and with no Might left the King clubbed him to kindling with his two-handed weapon! A huge blow to Fangorn, but I was losing bodies and I'd spent a lot early on not understanding how to trap effectively.

Once again the Goblin King passed his courage to face Treebeard as I won priority. The Scribe was moved closer to continue to transfer Might from Grinnah, the Captains all spent. Throughout all this Gollum had hid behind the wall doing nothing but I remembered he could halve an enemies Fight Value... then recalled ONLY if he's the only one in combat. So, no use to the King, but maybe in an emergency, so he hopped over the wall.

Treebeard won the duel and put 4 wounds on the King. But his Blubbery Mass was sufficient to repel every hit. He was down to 1 Might, but Grinnah still had 2 to share now he was next to the Scribe.

Matt won Priority again and Birchseed charged the 2 Goblins.  They may have actually won the duel, but 6's and 4's were too much. Although, I am certain one Goblin with an axe astoundingly had put a wound on him at some point. I'm broken at this point, but I manage to get a Standfast keeping most of my Goblins on the board. Treebeard charged the King, but I got to trap him again. Gollum put on the ring, just in case. Despite the banner song I either lost the combat or the next one.

I win the priority, this is the start of my turn and being broken I roll with the King and get a 3. I have Might, but I think not enough [he needs 6] and he runs off the board - catastrophe! Another hero passes and they Standfast. [OK, I screwed up here. I forgot you can add Will to your courage roll, in which case if he had just 1 Might he could have stayed on the board, as he has 2 Will. Although the picture 2 above has him mistakenly down as 3 Will, I get wounds and will mixed up.]

So, Gollum passes his possession by the Ring roll, passes a courage test and charges Treebeard, who gets trapped by non-combatant Goblins.

He throttle's Treebeard, needing 6's he gets 2 wounds and then uses his only Might to make the 5 a 6!

Can Gollum really kill Treebeard in one round of combat?!

That's a no! I think he'd taken wounds at some point, but had 2 Fate points left and passed both of them. So Gollum got a wound on him but I think he survived on 2 left. Matt won Priority, Gollum failed his courage test and promptly scuttled off! Birchseed managed to kill the only Goblin remaining on my left flank.

Then caught up with what I had on the right flank.

Another turn and I win Priority not sure what happens but it's the last turn.

So, final scores: Matt kills my General for 5VP, I'm broken for another 5 he gets the BS 2 points for no banners. I'm down to 25% for another 3 VPs and kills/wounds on heroes for another 3. That gives him a total of 18 VPs. I get 1 VP for killing a hero, 1 VP for wounding his general and worst of all I get 2 VPs because he has no banner. I did nothing for them, he can't even take a banner. Twice as many points for doing chuff all. It shouldn't be allowed in matched play. So, it was 18:4 to Matt, but a great game, despite the loss.

That massive points difference dropped me to 12th overall, which is disappointing given my strong start. I mean Matt came 3rd, so it could have been me with a bronze medal, and you know I crave the bronze ones. However, I was 2nd to last last time with a faction I'd played a lot with so this was a massive improvement. More importantly though, I really don't care about the results, it's just the fun we had and getting to trot out the Goblins. They have been an absolute revelation. I was dubious about another faction when they gave them to me for my birthday. Although the results of the painting didn't fill me with the same intense satisfaction my Poxwalkers did I amy still impressed by the achievement. Add in the fact they're both fun to play and slightly more competitive - meaning the games are more interesting, not that I can win more often. Well, they're awesome. Some more pics to follow but I had a really good time.