Battle Report 2

A rematch against Steve's Rohan again! I kept my list the same as I was pretty happy with how it went last time. In case you have forgotten since then it was:

Boromir with Shield, Horse, Banner: 215
8 Fountain Court Guard with Shields: 88
4 Warriors with Spears and Shields: 36
2 Knights with Shields: 28

Madril: 55
5 Rangers with Spears: 45
3 Warriors with Shields: 24
1 Warrior with Spear and Shield: 9

Total 500, 25 Models, 9 Might, 5 Bows, 3 Horses

Steve had changed up his list as he wanted to try out a couple of new things so it was something like:

Theoden with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour, Shield: 100
6 Royal Guard with Throwing Spears: 102
5 Riders of Rohan, with 2 Throwing Spears: 74

Dernhelm with Throwing Spears: 80
1 Royal Guard: 15
5 Riders of Rohan: 70

Kings Huntsman: 50
Rohan Outrider: 8

This is only 499 points so I may have gotten the exact loadouts wrong somewhere.

The horses without riders and also Royal Guards.

We rolled Seize the Prize and played on a board with set up like a village with lots of houses. I deployed Boromir in the centre and Madril to my right while Steve deployed Dernhelm in the centre, Theoden to my left and the Huntsman to my right.

I pretty much immediately regretted my deployment as I realised on turn one that I couldn't Heroic March with Madril and get to the objective faster. Doh!

The first few turns the two central warbands ran forward while Theoden began a really long flanking manoeuvre which unfortunately ended up keeping him out of the game for a while. Madril and the Rangers began a slow shooting match with the Huntsman and the Outrider while slowly advancing.

That fence in front of my big warband proved really annoying as I had thought I could just move over it for a cost of 2 inches of movement (1 inch up and 1 down) but we discovered that actually it would involve a climb test. Not wanting to be trapped I just advanced up to it. Merry dismounted and tried to dig up the prize but failed while a courageous Rider of Rohan plugged the small gap between the fence and the large house.

Meanwhile in the shooting war the Huntsman managed to kill a Knight but lost his Outrider in return.

After discovering the needed climb test I ran as many of my FCG as I could through the gap while those at the far end clambered over. Unfortunately for 2 of Gondor's finest they rolled 1s and couldn't get over the fence. Much hilarity was had by Steve. Luckily though one of my plucky Warriors did manage to dig up the prize!

On the right my Warriors ran forward to try to deal with the Huntsman before he could murder anyone else and my remaining Knight went with them to stop him getting away. Everyone in the centre started forming a corridor for my Warrior with the prize the closest FCG took the fight to the riders though as they were in range. Steve did win a couple of priorities around this time but didn't want to charge my wall unless it was on mass and he never really had more than a couple of Riders in range.

The prize is underneath the Warrior in the centre. On the right the Huntsman cowers behind a building while the Knight and Warriors hunt him down. You can also see that Theoden is finally reappearing from around the big building.

The Rangers decided to sacrifice themselves to hold off Theoden and his group by defending the dreaded fence that the FCG couldn't get over. Meanwhile in the centre I continued with the same tactics of screening the Warrior with the Prize but I did get a bit more aggressive with charging the Riders, especially as Boromir was now also helping to cut through them, eventually reaching Dernhelm herself and cutting her down in 2 rounds of combat. The Huntmans managed to shoot the other Knight before he could receive a Lance to the face but in doing so he was charged by the 4 Warriors who swamped him and murdered him pretty quickly.

This picture was taken from Steve's side of the board so my guys are running towards the camera.

The Rangers managed to hold up Theoden and co long enough that they never had chance to get into the fight. Meanwhile, Madril was also now in the centre and calling Heroic Marches all over the place so Steve never really had a chance to catch up and my brave Warrior ran the prize off Steve board edge. However we can't forget the Battle of the Ages where Merry held off a FCG for 2 turns before getting a spear stuck into an unpleasant place.

I think this game was not really a good indicator of how good my list is as I was mostly playing against half an army for the entire game. Steve admitted that his epic flanking manoeuvre with Theoden took much longer than expected and my list moved forward pretty fast once Madril got involved with his Marches. However I was again impressed by the F5 D7 Fountain Court Guards as you can really throw them into combats and not have to worry about them too much. for only 2 points more than a shield and spear wielding Warrior they are a bargain!

I'm still really happy with the list, Boromir continues to be a monster and having 6 Might means you can throw it around when needed to keep the Heroic Combat train going. I do want to try the variant where I swap Madril's 4 Warriors for 2 more Rangers and another Knight but with the tournament being 2 weeks away I'm not sure I will have time. Hopefully I can get one more game in before then. Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 1

So I have had my first game with my 500 point list against my friend Steve's Rohan. To recap, my list was:

Boromir with Shield, Horse, Banner: 215
8 Fountain Court Guard with Shields: 88
4 Warriors with Spears and Shields: 36
2 Knights with Shields: 28

Madril: 55
5 Rangers with Spears: 45
3 Warriors with Shields: 24
1 Warrior with Spear and Shield: 9

Total 500, 25 Models, 9 Might, 5 Bows, 3 Horses

And Steve's list was something like:

Theoden with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour, Shield: 100
4 Royal Guard with Throwing Spears: 68
4 Riders of Rohan: 56

Deorwine with Horse: 85
4 Royal Guard: 60
4 Riders of Rohan: 56

Dernhelm: 75

(I may have got the last few points of this mixed up but it gives you an idea). Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of this game but Steve took a few so I have included those where appropriate!

We randomly determined the scenario and got the one with 5 objectives (I think its called Capture and Control but I don't have my scenario cards on me right now!)

Madril deployed first and rolled a 3. Upped it to a 4 with his ability and deployed towards the back left behind the hill with my flank protected by a lake. Dernhelm deployed on her own on the right, next to the right hand objective. Boromir then rolled a 1 so Madril couldn’t even help him. Deployed just over 10 inches back from the centre line to avoid the Rohan charge of doom. Deorwine and his warband deployed in the middle but towards his back board edge and Theoden on my left.

My line of FCG swung around to block the pass between the 2 hills and the 2 knights went to deal with Dernhelm. Madrid’s band stood still apart from 1 guy who went to claim my back objective. Deorwine’s band came up the middle and Theoden’s went down the left hand board edge. Shooting killed a Royal Guard for no return.

Deorwine’s band did not want to charge my shield wall so cut across the hill towards the left to team up with Theoden’s. My Rangers and Madril tried really hard to unhorse Theoden but no luck.

Next turn and only Deorwine is in range to charge my Madril’s band but he bounced off and got his horse killed for his troubles! Meanwhile my centre line is swinging around to try and catch the last few Riders.

Now it all kicks off. Lots of charges from Rohan but now Boromir has come back to lend a hand and his banner which meant I only lost about half the fights. Those that I did lose I invariably died but I think I killed a few in return. Boromir called a heroic combat and minced a rider followed by a royal guard. By now the closest part of my centre line had come back to help, just leaving a few guys to go objective hunting. All the FCG charged Theoden, we drew the combat but he won the roll off. This happened several times much to my annoyance! However once we were in the thick of it and he had run out of might to call heroic moves my F5 rangers and FCG minced their way through his riders. Meanwhile my 5 man objective hunters had claimed the middle and left hand objectives.

Lots of Riders of Rohan!

Where did all the horses go?! Oh right, Boromir...

The right hand objective was fought over by Dernhelm and my two knights for the entire game. We traded charges but I could never wound when I did win the fight. One of my knights was stabbed in the face by Merry but the other hung on until the end, and even pushed Dernhelm off the objective in the final turn making it a 9-0 victory to me.

This was a really fun game, at first I was really scared of the Rohan charge but when I realised I matched or won fight value with Boromir’s banner I became much less scared! Can’t believe I ever doubted Boromir, he is a beast and the banner is incredible. I’m really glad I went with a large contingent of FCG too as their natural D7 is much better than having to try to maintain the Shieldwall. Still haven’t played any big scary things (I am pretty sure at least 1 Azog and Balrog will be attending) so we’ll have to see how it fairs against those but overall I am very happy! Thanks for reading!

Creating an Army

As a new MESBG player I find list building one of the more attractive parts of the game. I love finding combinations and synergies within an army list. Theme is less important to me but I have found that a lot of the time sticking to a theme is rewarded with synergy. I also find that having a tournament to work towards keeps me focused, otherwise I end up writing hundreds of lists all at different points levels. With that in mind I signed up for the Tabletop Weekender at Element Games in Stockport on 12th-13th October. This is a fun event that isn't super serious and consists of a one day, 500 point tournament on the Saturday and a Battle Companies event on the Sunday. Having been drawn into this game through Battle Companies this is especially appealing to me! 

For now I will be concentrating on the 500 point tournament as BC tends to take care of itself once you have actually picked a company. I do have a decent sized Isengard army but I have also recently started a Minas Tirith army which I really want to try as I love the aesthetic of heavily armoured troops forming a shield wall. So, with that in mind, let's start thinking up lists!

When I first asked some friends for advice as to how to start building a MT list their advice was to start with one of the Big 3 and go from there. So who to choose; Aragorn, Boromir or Gandalf? Gandalf I ruled out pretty quickly as the subtleties of magic are still a but beyond my skill level. The deciding factor between Aragorn and Boromir came from my experiences in Battle Companies. I played as Warg Riders and so was capped at F3 for the entire campaign. I found this really limiting because it didn't matter how many dice my cavalry threw, all it took was a single 6 from an Elf or Uruk Hai or Dwarf and I was done. So when I read the rules for Boromir's Banner of Minas Tirith I was immediately intrigued. Having my base troops be F4 (and D7 from Shieldwall) was extremely attractive. Not only that but if they are backed up by some of the more elite choices then I would be F5! Sold. I did have my worries though. Aragorn is such a killing machine being able to wound on a 4+ and I did worry that having S3 everywhere except Heroes would mean I had nothing to crack heavy armour. Time and playtesting will tell how much of a problem this will be.

So Boromir can take 15 troops. At first I just stuck 15 Warriors in there (all shields, 7 spears) so as to maintain Shieldwall, but then I started reading some other profiles. If my back rank was Rangers then I would be F5 in combat and also able to shoot over the front line's shoulders. This seemed really good at first but after chatting to friends I realised a few things. First, shooting is not what it is in Battle Companies. When you only have 5 models on the board losing one to shooting is massive. When you have 40 models, not so much. Second, if I lose a fight then I won't have Shieldwall up as the front line will have to retreat into the back line who don't have shields. Third (but less important) my line becomes much more static if I do actually want to shoot. These drawbacks make this formation less attractive as I think a group of Rangers will be more effective as their own unit off on a flank somewhere. 

That brought me to Fountain Court Guard. F4 and naturally D7 if you give them a shield AND they have spears so can support. Admittedly you pay a premium for this but 11 points seems a bargain if they are going up to F5 with the banner. I originally only had 4 in the list as that is how many I owned, but after a single game with them I bought another 4! So that is half of Boromir's warband done. I then put in 2 Knights with shields to be objective grabbers or to try and get some wounds in on tougher models with their lances. That leaves me with 5 spots left which I filled with regular Warriors with shields and spears. Including Boromir that has cost me a whopping 375 of my 500 points! Ouch!

So when filling out the rest of the army my thought process was I need a cheap way of getting more bodies on the board. Luckily MT has this in spades with a wealth of cheap Heroes of Fortitude. Madril, Irolas, Ingold or even Denethor are cheap ways of getting plenty of troops on the board. I went through all the iterations of these guys, and decided that Denethor is too much of a liability in Contest of Champions, Irolas isn't really bringing anything Boromir can't already do, and Ingold is only really necessary when losing fights (which at F5 I hopefully won't be doing too much). Madril was also suggested to me by several people just for his ability alone so in he goes. He will also go well with a group of Rangers which I want to include so I'll take him. The inclusion of Heroic March will probably be useful too! To fill out his warband I have included 5 Rangers and 4 Warriors (4 shields and one spear) just to round out my points. I could replace the 4 Warriors with 2 Rangers and a Knight with Shield which is tempting but I'll try the Warriors first.

So the final list then is:

Boromir with Shield, Horse, Banner: 215
8 Fountain Court Guard with Shields: 88
4 Warriors with Spears and Shields: 36
2 Knights with Shields: 28

Madril: 55
5 Rangers with Spears: 45
3 Warriors with Shields: 24
1 Warrior with Spear and Shield: 9

Total 500, 25 Models, 9 Might, 5 Bows, 3 Horses

This seems like a well rounded force with a bit of everything in it. I feel like I could struggle against the really scary things like Azog or a Balrog but we'll have to see how it goes. I have a few practice games lined up so I will post those and my thoughts once I have played them! Thanks for reading!

Bonus extra pics of my army: