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.

Battle Report - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs Usurpers of Edoras at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 2 #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! 

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 second game was Fog of War and during lunch I looked at the result and it did cross my mind that as I'd won by 6 and Ben had won by 5, there was a chance we could be paired up and we were. He had his Usurpers of Edoras, which is:

• Freca
• 1 Crebain
• 4 Hill Tribesmen with bow
• 4 Hill Tribesmen with two-handed weapon
• 1 Hill Tribesman with shield and flaming brand
• 1 Hill Tribesman with spear
• Wulf on horse
• 2 Crebain
• 5 Hill Tribesmen with two-handed weapon
• 1 Hill Tribesman with shield and flaming brand
• 2 Hill Tribesman with spear
• Hill Tribes chieftain  with two-handed weapon
• 1 Crebain
• 4 Hill Tribesmen with bow
• 2 Hill Tribesmen with two-handed weapon
• 1 Hill Tribesman with shield and flaming brand
• 1 Hill Tribesman with spear
• 1 Hill Tribesman with flaming brand

In Fog of War you have to choose a Target hero [not the General] to kill. A hero [not the General] to protect. And, piece of terrain wholly within your opponents table half to have more of your figures touching. I chose to Kill Wulf, as I suspected Ben would think the Chieftain would be the obvious choice and be protected. While Wulf would be in the mix and more vulnerable. I chose to Protect Gollum, as when he goes invisible he'd be a nightmare to target. Unfortunately my terrain choices were all way back in Ben's half. So I went for the building in the top right, just because it was so big. I thought I'd be able to get more of my figures in base contact. Ben pushed forward. I figured his terrain objective was the ruin to my bottom left.

I tried to surround it with bodies. The Crebain were getting close with a few Tribesmen to be tempted. While on my right flank I sent Gollum and 4 goblins toward my own objective.

Everything looked pretty epic as battle was about to join. Wulf had charged over to my right flank, prompting me to reconsider my dash to the building and thrown in more goblins to try and trap him.

The King eventually got into Wulf and I was able to engage the rest of the Tribesman so I could trap him with more chaff and subsequently kill him. Gollum had put on the ring and I was going to make a run for it but the rest of his gang were needed to mop up the Tribesman. In the left I continued to surround the ruin, but Ben just wasn't getting enough bodies in there. I was losing goblins but still had plenty spare in contact with the terrain. Sadly this was the last pic.

Gollum would get to within 5" and then be overcome by the Ring, Ben sending him scurrying back the way he'd come. He'd also put a few Tribesmen archers on his building so I would have been outnumbered anyway. I threw a lot at the Hill Tribes chieftain, mistakenly thinking that was who I had to kill and as the game came to an end found out my original target of Wulf had already been assassinated! I'd protected Gollum so that got me 10 points and Ben scored 5, I think Wulf had killed his target of the Scribe - he is wafer thin though.

Another good game, one more to go.

Battle Report - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs The Grey Company at Midweek Warhammer World, Game 1 #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, maybe afterwards we can see it as a 'prequel'?

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 first game was Hold Ground against Sam Cole and the Grey Company which is:

• Aragorn
• Halbarad [with banner]
• Legolas
• 4 Rangers of the North [1 with armour]

That's it, 7 models and the Hold Ground mission is a central objective and whoever has the most models within 6" wins. 4VP for more, 8VP for twice as many and 12VP for 3 times as many as your opponent. I started with 49 models... And, having played it the day before knew exactly how important that race to the objective would be. There were also points for wounding/killing the general, breaking the army and my most hated - 2VPs if your opponent has no banner. Goblins can't take them, so I started the game already losing 2:0! Sam won the roll off but gave me priority. Maelstrom deployment everything off board. I rolled:

• 2 for Goblin King - Sam deployed him, North edge, bottom left in building tunnel.
• 3 for Scribe - Sam deployed him, West edge, top right above building
• 6 for Grinnah - I deployed them near to the Scribe
• 4 for Captain and 10 goblins - North edge, nearest me in the middle
• 5 for Captain and 7 goblins - East edge, left side middle
• 1 for Gollum - he does not turn up this turn

Sam got to put his warband near to the Scribe, which I couldn't figure because they would have to go through them to get to the objective.

Turn 2. I don't know who won priority, Grinnah may have called a heroic move, which got the grey Company blocked off next to that tree while the rest formed speed bumps to the objective. Sam did not know the Goblin Town rules but separating the Scribe from the King wa preventing all the benefits from army wide 'with me' and transfer of Might points

The two captains both called heroic March moves, heading 8" toward the objective. Gollum turned up in the left side. The Goblin king moved 6", getting a headstart on his warband, who could only move 5".

Turn 3. No idea about Priority. With the Grey Company bogged down in the top right I didn't need to March. 10 Goblins headed for the middle, alongside the 7 coming from the left. The King started to catch them up, while his warband followed in his wake. Legolas had been trying to shoot in combat but failed to hit/wound.

Turn 4. No idea about Priority, but it looks like the Scribe is dead [so no buffs or transfers at all from him]. On the plus side, the Grey Company is still bogged down in that corner. I've started to surround the objective and the King has joined the mob of 7 Goblins. I was continuously forgetting to sing with the King, but there no buffs to take advantage of anyway.

Turn 4. No idea about Priority. But still Aragorn is bogged down in that corner.  I remembered to sing a song, but only to remind me when it was important next turn as they were immune to Terror.

I mean my Goblins were no competition but they were clearly slowing him down a bit.

Turn 5 [or 6]. No idea about Priority. I sang a song to give all goblins within 6" a 6+ 'feel no pain'. Sam finally made use of heroic Combat - Aragorn and Legolas killed their Goblins and sprinted up the board. Suddenly I was less confident. My goblins were fragile and Aragorn with his free Might was lethal. I think we've missed a bit where Aragorn had been surrounded. The King had got into base contact with a goblin supporting one in combat. So he picked him up and threw him at Aragorn [needing a 6]. I got the 6, avoided 'in the way' for goblin he was in combat with, so he was hit. I rolled to wound and wounded him, but Sam made the Fate roll, avoiding the wound and denying me the 1VP for wounding. However, it knocked Aragorn Prone and despite the advantage I couldn't wound him. One of the Rangers got killed by some sneaky goblins.

Halbarad and Aragorn managed to get in range of the objective as our time ran out. He'd also managed to break me, put a wound on the King [I think Legolas only got 1 wound in the entire game and the rest of the Ranger's shooting was equally ineffective]. I had no banner so he scored 6VPs. However, I had 17 goblins within 12" of the objective, more than 3 times his 2 [even with Aragorn counting as 3 for the Dominant rule]. This gave me 12VPs.

As soon as the grey Company broke out of that corner I was convinced I was going to throw this away. I think the King killed another Ranger, but even so, if we'd have had more time I think they could have scythed through my army. They'd killed 29 for the loss of just 2! And they were just the basic Rangers! But it was always going to be an uphill struggle when weight of numbers was the deciding factor. I might suggest we try and play this in the shed, see how Otty would have run it, could be interesting. Anyway, great game with Sam.

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...