Battle Report - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs Shadows of Angmar, 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. So, with my correctly costed warband at 500pts. 

• The Goblin King with 10 Goblins
• Grinnah with 6 Goblins
• The Scribe with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 6 Goblins

The last game was Fog of War and I got paired with James Dilworth, he had:

• Gulavhar, the terror of Arnor
• 8 Angmar Orc Warriors, shield
• 8 Angmar Orc Warriors, spear

• Shade
• 2 Spectres
• 2 Werewolves
• 4 Angmar Orc Warriors, shield
• 4 Angmar Orc Warriors, spear

Not sure how much a battle report these are going to be as I can't remember much [as usual]. I chose the Shade as my target [it's the only one I could choose] and to keep Grinnah alive as I figured his ability to swap places with other Goblins would help him get out of a Jam. I also chose the house top right for the terrain I was trying to capture. 

I decided to use the central watchtower as an obstacle and keep James army away from me as much as possible. Except the had some very fast Werewolves that cam barrelling down my left flank, presumably heading for the terrain piece in the left of my deployment zone. So I peeled off about 10 goblins to go an protect it. Gulavhar was also very fast and he got into my blob of Gobbos on the right. So I moved Grinnah out of the melee to jeep him safe.

Except Gulavhar did a Heroic fight, killed his opponents and then just flew over the blob to get to Grinnah and kill him outright with ease. To be fair, James was very apologetic, but it was clinical and you couldn't fault the [literal] execution. I was just stunned by how quickly it happened. The only thing I could do was just try to pin Gulavhar down. Getting a Goblin in past the Terror test. Trapping him with non-combatant goblins, hoping to win the duel or just surviving. It worked quite well for a few turns.  

Meanwhile the Goblin King was doing work on the Shade 6, 6, 6 baby! But the Angmar Orcs coming down the right left that flank failing. The left was a bit better as I had taken a wound off each of the Werewolves. I was holding that building for few losses.

I managed to trap the last of the Werewolves, but not sure if I killed it. Only now did I realise I'd been duped and the Angmar Orcs were always aiming for the right building. I sent some Goblins to secure it but time was running out and even if all 7 had got there [at least another 2 turns unmolested] I think I'd have been outnumbered.

With the Shade dead my best chance was to get the King to the building to score points, but sadly his song did not buff any of the Goblin's inside the stockade, because he was out of sight. Going into the last turn it was clear I wouldn't make the building. The only play that would make a difference would be Gulavhar fighting the Goblin King for VPs for wounds/kills [but it turns out that isn't the case in this mission, or so my old Matched Play rule state]. Gulavhar won the duel, wounded but Blubbery Mass saved all of them

I'm not entirely sure what I scored 5 points for. I know the Shade was killed, but my old Matched Play rules says that is 3 VPs. But James was the outright winner, thanks to no one being near the building he'd utterly secured.

So, another loss 13:5 but no biggy, I think my final placing was 29th out of 33! Shocking result, but I actually think the Goblins are really good. I love playing with them, although I'm often relying on someone else to remind me to sing my song! 🤣 I don't know what it is about this game, I just love it so much. And that is despite it being relatively repetitive in Matched Play. The Narrative missions tend to have a bit more variety to the experience but matched play can feel quite familiar in its experience. I may not remember a whole much but that's the overall feeling I got from 3 games in a row.

But I love it and the competitive side of it isn't as overbearing as other games. Although, I would say there were a few of the more 'gamey' lists currently available. Depths of Moria being successful and well represented, alongside a few dragons. There might be another event in September, Doubles perhaps, we'll just have to wait and see.

Battle Report - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs Uruk-Hai Siege Crew, 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. So, with my correctly costed warband at 500pts. 

• The Goblin King with 10 Goblins
• Grinnah with 6 Goblins
• The Scribe with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 6 Goblins

We were sat having a coffee at lunch and I could see Otty and I had similar scores... The second game involved 6 objectives, 3 each just outside our deployment zone and I got paired with Otty. Time for him to bring some revenge against an equally costed army. He had:

• Uruk-Hai Siege Captain
• 12 Uruk-Hai Berserkers

• Uruk-Hai Captain
• Isengard Troll
• 6 Uruk-Hai Berserkers

Not sure how much a battle report these are going to be as I can't remember much [as usual]. But I think I did an Heroic March straight off the bat.

This got the Goblin King to my middle objective of the supplies treasure, passed my Intelligence test and captured the treasure. Meanwhile the left and right treasures had Goblins closing in. I think the right one failed its intelligence test and the left one was out of range of the March so still had a ways to go. I think Otty failed all his intelligence tests, but that Troll was making his way to me.

For some reason I thought the best idea was to palm the Goblin King's treasure off on a Gobbo and have it scuttle out of the way. The other two treasures remained beyond my intelligence and that Troll had got to my lines as I'd tried to shield the war drum so he couldn't get to it. Meanwhile I had just 5 Goblins holding the centre against 5 Uruk Berserkers!

The Troll managed to wipe out my speedbump and suddenly that Goblin with the treasure looked vulnerable. Prior to this a Berserker had got through and stolen the War Drum on the right. But then I surrounded him and managed to steal it back. It was no 6 Uruk's to 4 Goblins in the centre, but I'd moved some reinforcements to back them up.

While on the left I decided to ignore the treasure and use my Captain to heroically fight a Berserker and then take down a second one. A war of attrition but I was doing OK. Otty was struggling with dice rolls again.

The Goblin King was able to kill the Troll, but not before he was wounded, failed his Blubbery Mass but passed his Fate point to remain on 3 wounds. I scarpered with the Ward Drum and the supplies treasure. I was able to kill the Uruk Hai captain with my Goblin Captain and captured their treasure while I cleared the left flank and my other Captain secured the skull treasure. I think Grinnah was killed by the Uruk-Hai Siege Captain

So I think you got 2 VPs per treasure, I'd captured 4 so got 8 points. Otty only managed 2, so was on 4 VPs. But I think I was broken, which got him another 3 VPs. This was 8:7 except for he scored an additional VP for wounding the Goblin King, despite it being fated.

So a draw 8:8, and Otty's face says it all. Clearly my bob of unruly Goblins are just as good as his finessed brutal Uruk's. Absolutely fantastic game.

Battle Report - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs Lake Town, 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, last time I went GoblinKing2025 commented on the blog that my list was 587pts. I queried it but they never followed up, even though I did check back on some of my points. I recently played that list again with Otty and savaged his Uruks, but when I submitted the list to the tournament I noticed other people using different list builders and decided to check again. And yes, I had been using the wrong points. THE SHAME! Not least because my second game that I won in that tournament was against Ben! I felt so bad, obviously not about the game with Ben, because he deserved the beating but yeah I screwed up. 

So, here's my correctly costed warband at 500pts. Although I would have loved to still have Gollum, I need the 'might bank' from the captain's to buff the King.

• The Goblin King with 10 Goblins
• Grinnah with 6 Goblins
• The Scribe with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 6 Goblins
• Goblin captain with 6 Goblins

The first game was Assassination against Euan Hogg and his Lake Town. He didn't submit a list but it included:

• Master of Laketown
• Bard the Bowman with Windlance
• Alfrid the Councillor
• Two large units of Lake Town Guards

Not sure how much a battle report these are going to be as I can't remember much [as usual]. I was attempting to assassinate Alfrid. I did some decent positioning to avoid the Windlance on the right hand side.

And the left hand too, thanks to the trees.

It worked as Bard left the Windlance and tried a more direct approach, getting into the melee on the right. Meanwhile Alfrid was out in the open and conferring with the Master of Laketown.

I was desperate to get to him and the King barged through, so Alfrid went round the back of the building and had a bunch of guards form a roadblock. My only way to take him out was to hurl one of them. I had to win the duel, pass the intelligence test, Alfred had to be wounded and fails his Fate check, not to mention the additional [successful] wound rolls on the hurled victim inbetween.

Amazingly all these things went off and Alfrid was killed. I managed to score 9 points, however I think Euan killed his target [Grinnah] with Bard for 12 points and he was also the unit he wanted to keep alive too. Somehow I completely failed to deduce that, when it was so obvious.

A 13 to 9 loss, but a lot of fun. Despite all the nervous energy, jittery hands and not winning I had an absolute blast and Euan was a great sport.

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.