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.

#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town - TO DONE! ⚪

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town goblins and they're TO DONE! Once again a massive amount of models for me - 53 in total [and 68 hobby points. But that's not actually all, because I did the Goblin town and Moria terrain and some other bits which will be in a separate post.

Here we have the 'command unit' - a Goblin Scribe, Grinnah, the Goblin Throne, a Goblin Captain and the King himself.

I'm not 100% on this guy. I mean he's great for tabletop standard but the stippling leaves something to be desired. For once, it would have been nicer if the the 'brush marks' weren't noticeable and the red sore areas had blended into the pale skin better. A red wash/glaze might do that but for now I'm done with them. I do like the little dig at Otty's Rohan army though 😜

There are elements on this that scream contrast paints, but I haven't used any. I've managed the same effect with standard paints and washes, though it probably took 4 times as long. Maybe one day I won't be intimidated by them and find them rewarding. 

So, another issue - the perpetual pitfalls of varnishing. I had run out of Army Painter Anti-Shine... so have they in fact. It's now Warpaints Fanatic Matt varnish. Anyway, I decided to use my Miniature Paints Matt Varnish. Not that can be more satin but I've two bottles of it and wanted to use them up. They'd been fine on previous models but I somehow saw the return of my old friend varnish foam/frosting. The thing is it never really looks like this while wet. You only find out afterwards and then there's not much you can do. I'll look at some varnish alternatives in the future.

Grinnah next. I'm not a fan of the model, or my execution of him. But in game he's awesome, able to swap positions with any other Goblin within 3" and not counted as a move. Really sneaky having a hero popping an extra move into their threat zone and suddenly be facing someone else who thought they were safe. He's no Aragorn, but he's not rubbish.

The Scribe.

I've actually done two of these and this was the first. I got better second time round. 

In game he's quite hard to use and easy to be taken out - he's always classed as trapped so it's double strikes on him. 

But he can help confer an army wide Heroic Move which could come in handy. 

The completely unnecessary Goblin Throne. I once again added Otty's horse banner for some predictable banter. I hate banners anyway, because Moria and Goblin Town Goblins don't get them. 

When half the matched play missions include points for having a banner and also if your opponent does not it seems particularly unfair to start a matched play game at a disadvantage. Narrative mission sure, but not matched play. 

And here are all the gobbos. Having a horde army is not great for me, but their stats/weapons are all the same [except for the two two-handed armed goblins]. So, less mental bandwidth required.

I love the mutated ones the most.

From the two games I've had their ability to 'spear support' anyone else is awesome. Always having two chances in a duel role has a massive impact on the game.

So long as I always double up, my chances of winning the duel increase dramatically. But also, converting a duel win to a wound. These guys were just offing Hunter Orcs like they weren't there.

I can't believe how effective they were and that's with limited knowledge of their synergies. 

The goblin King's songs also help. Giving them Terror or the equivalent of a 6" banner makes a huge difference to what is otherwise a lightweight army.

He can also sing a song to add a 6+ FnP to any model within 6", which I got off twice in one game much to Ben's intense annoyance.

Or, he can add re-roll 1's to wound for models within 6". 

The King with a 3+ FnP is amazing too. He's so durable. I think one round of combat against a Snow troll and Wulf - 9 damage, he suffered 1 wound!

I can't quite grasp how these are so much easier and effective to play, compared with Moria Goblins. 

Maybe it's the wealth of good rules Goblin Town has compared to Moria. Also, less options means you're not diluting your army with too much choice.

But, knowing my luck I suspect I'll get to our Midweek MESBG tournament and I'll be bottom of the pile once again! 😂 But in the mean time, another Great Big Wooden Stamp of Approval.

'nids part 378 - Leviathan Tyranids - Basecoats

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the remains of my Leviathan box set Tyranids. That is 20 Termagants, something I am convinced will break me. I'm certain I recall just how hard this many can be to paint.

And yet I somehow believe adding 11 Neurogaunts into the mix will make it somehow more achievable... I mean it is not. But I guarantee I will feel a damn sight worse if I finished the Termagants and then throw in another 11 gribblies.

So if I'm all in with 31 models then I might as well the extra 3 Von Ryan's Leapers from Combat Patrol.

AND, 5 Barbgaunts too. You may recall these almost broke me as well.

But I have timings for these and I'll soon have timings for the Termagants and Neurogaunts which should provide me with a timescale. Once I have that it makes the whole process that much more manageable. 

Initially getting these basecoats done felt like such a retrograde step - like it was so far from completion. Yet each step, bone, blue and red has been achievable with some concerted effort and focus. The Soft Tone and Strong Tone wash will be relatively straightforward and then it's the highlights that will be the true test. A test of patience and repetition that hopefully I can overcome.

And just as I acknowledge the value in painting all of these concurrently, however overwhelming such large batches to paint present we get this:

Kill Team Typhon from Warhammer Community

Granted we knew it was coming. But I thought it was a few pieces of terrain and 5 Raveners. But there are multiple copies of each and the big tower. Not to mention 10 Hormagaunts and a base of Rippers! So it would appear I now have to get this and paint them all for AoP too! If I'm focused it just might be possible, so much for 'What's on my palette?'