Dan Slob:
On Sunday Dan Stu and I headed to the Forge in Trafford to play in a one day beginners event at 500 points. Though we both write as if we know what we are talking about we are both actually still new with probably fewer than 15 games each! This was a good opportunity to try some stuff out and get a few more games under our belt! Overall it was a smashing day, very chilled out and a lot of fun. Big thanks to Richard Woods for putting it on! Now on to the write up!
On Sunday Dan Stu and I headed to the Forge in Trafford to play in a one day beginners event at 500 points. Though we both write as if we know what we are talking about we are both actually still new with probably fewer than 15 games each! This was a good opportunity to try some stuff out and get a few more games under our belt! Overall it was a smashing day, very chilled out and a lot of fun. Big thanks to Richard Woods for putting it on! Now on to the write up!
I’ve talked previously about how I have thought about building Dwarf lists but in brief; I love Thror but his army feels one dimensional so in come their only green allies, Iron Hills. Dain is a must take, as well as a solid shield wall and some fast (for Dwarves) objective grabbers This gave me a fun looking list to use at 500 points:
Thror
8 Guardians of the King
Dain on Pig
7 Iron Hills Warriors with Spear and Shield
2 Goat Riders
500 Points, 19 Models, 6 Might
Maybe this much of a hefty battle line isn't needed with the absolute power houses of Thror and Dain but still, looks like fun and let’s me try out a bunch of different things.
Game 1 v Eoin
Gulavhar
2 Barrow Wights
Orc Captain
20 Orcs (various equipment)
3 Warg Riders
Mission: Command the Battlefield
Eoin was very unlucky as I got to choose where 3 of his 4 Warbands entered. I chose to put one of his Wights right next to all of my army and kept Gulavhar and the Captain together over in the far corner. His other Wight entered from the East near to his board edge. Killed the near Wight fairly easily (though I had to use all of Dain’s Will and a point of Might to stop him getting Paralysed). After that Eoin was very aggressive with Gulavhar but he couldn’t cope with 2 striking heroes and went down very quickly. After that it wasn’t tricky for the Dwarves to mop up.
9-1 win
Game 2 v George
Gothmog
Zagdush
Orc Drummer
30 Morannons including a Banner
Mission: Breakthrough
Gothmog’s Legion is scary but as I don’t have any Men it loses one of its key strengths. This basically turned into 2 fights in the centre: Thror, Dain and the Gurdians v Gothmog’s warband and the Iron Hills Warriors and Goats v Zagdush and his pals. Dain beat up Gothmog early and he ran away with 1 wound left. The Guardians and heroes then smashed the remaining Orcs in fairly short order. In the other fight the Goats went down quickly as I lost a couple of priorities but the Warriors managed to grind the Orcs down, especially when Zagdush charged 3 at once and ended up paying for it with his life.
10-1 win
Game 3 v James
Treebeard
Quickbeam
Beechbone
Mission: The new corners one
Quickbeam rocketed into the middle with a March but the other two stopped to throw rocks which meant I could trap Quickbeam and take him down. Dain did lose his pig to the rocks though. After that I held up Beechbone while ganging up on Treebeard. James did some really clever stuff with brutal power attacks but once he ran out of Might it was game over pretty quickly as it was too easy to trap the trees.
12-0 win
Game 4 v Reece
Amdur
Captain on horse
Many Easterlings
3 Kataphrakts
Mission: Contest of Champions
This was just a massive punch up in the middle. Thror held up Amdur for most of the game as Amdur couldn’t wound him. Dain did pretty much nothing this game as he just didn’t feel like winning fights. It was looking hairy for a while but the Dwarves high defence meant that Reece just couldn’t wound anything. Once he had run out of Might Thror and a few friends killed him in one go and then turned on the rest of the Easterlings. Shoutout to the one Guardian who held up the Captain for about 10 turns and then killed him on the last turn!
12-0 win
With that I was the only person to go 4-0 so I came in 1st place. Eoin who I played in game 1 came 2nd and Reece who I played last came 3rd. It was an excellent day and every game I had was full of laughs.
I think the list is super solid at 500 points. It does rely on the heroes for burst damage but they are really good at it so that feels fine.
Thinking about expanding this list, I need to see what a Ballista can do but it has made me think more seriously about adding Thorin as the heroes are really what make the list shine! I’m looking forward to trying both.
Dan Stu
The idea for this tournament was to be very relaxed, low points level, noob friendly and aiming to get newer players in to the tournament scene - perfect for my second SBG event!
We also got to play 3 of the new scenarios, which was excellent, and put everybody on a more level playing field.
My list was very simple:
Amdur, Armoured Horse
5 Easterling Warriors with Shield
5 Easterling Warriors with Pike
5 Easterling Warriors with Pike & Black Dragon upgrade
Khandish King on Chariot
3 Khandish Charioteers
A very straightforward hammer and anvil. In most scenarios, my aim is to dig in with the pike block, hunt heroes with Amdur (his might regeneration means you can eat mid level captains for breakfast), and flank with the chariots, who will hopefully arrive while I've still got enough pikemen around to claim objectives.
My main aim for the day was to continue learning how to flank with chariots effectively - and this was a great day to practise. The flank went very well in 3 of my games, and did what I wanted it to, so I'm happy that I've got a solid core of a list here.
Game 1: Command the Battlefield vs Ben's Pearson's Gothmog's Legion
Oh no! Game 1 and I'm already up against the one list I hope to never face with Easterlings. Wounding on a 6, but being wounded in return on a 4 does not a happy Easterling make.
This was a fairly scenery heavy board, so I lined up my pike block and Amdur in the centre, happy that I could find a choke point for a favourable fight, but bracing myself for those terrifying Orcish wound rolls. The 4 chariots flanked around a narrow gap on the left, where only 1 could fit through at a time - and Ben broke off around a third of his force to deal with this threat.
But 3 chariots ducked back to join the main fight - one went down to archery - but the other two ploughed in to the side of the orc ranks, killing several, including the banner thanks to some very lucky impact rolls! Meanwhile, the king absolutely decimated the left flank, killing Gothmog's Enforcer in the process. This left the orcs broken, and they started fleeing in droves. I don't think the orcs actually had the opportunity to make a wound roll until they were already almost broken!
Gothmog joined the fight, beelined for Amdur, and won the Heroic Strike off, putting a wound down and scoring a VP in the process. But my opponent was quartered, ending the scenario sooner than expected. I didn't have time to claim the back right corner, and the back left was contested with one model apiece, but I easily took the two on my half of the board with a few pikemen.
6-2 win - purely down to the chariots, and a bit of good luck.
Highlight: Khandish King being an absolute unit, holding the flank and almost single handedly breaking the Orc force.
Game 2: Breakthrough vs John Marshall's Kingdom of Khazad-Dum
Breakthrough is another new scenario, where the highest VPs go for occupying the objective on your opponent's half, while keeping them away from yours. The tough-as-nails Dwarves (featuring tons of D9 vault wardens) deployed aggressively in the centre, so I did the same. I had a nice choke point to prevent any imminent flanks, so the pikemen did what they do best - dig in and wait. Realistically, there is no way S3 pikes are going to get past D9 shields, so I just had to hope they could hold out.
Once again, the chariots flanked on the left. John sent a few Dwarves to block the flanking move, but crucially, did not send a hero with them - not something I think he'll repeat next time he faces chariots! Despite it taking a few turns to break through the vault wardens, I could guarantee getting the impact hits and charges every round thanks to the King's might points. In around 3 turns, the chariots had broken through, and piled in to the back of the main line of Dwarves, smashing in to the back of the Vault Warden teams. Much less tough from the back!
Not a moment too soon, either, as the Dwarves were starting to break through the Easterling pike block, and the unhorsed & trapped Amdur was cut down by a very tasty heroic combat slingshot from the King's Champion. Nasty, and a bit of well overdue good luck on John's part. Unfortunately, the Dwarf line just couldn't handle the 'chariot sandwich' and they were quartered, ending the scenario. I had just had enough warriors left to contest the objective on my side - despite my opponent very skillfully tying up most of my models with his few remaining dwarves. This denied the bulk of VPs to my opponent, while a cheeky chariot split off to take the far objective uncontested.
6-2 win, once again due to a chariot flank. We both agreed that, had the Dwarvish anti-flanking force held out for another turn, it could have gone very differently.
Highlight: Pulling off my most successful chariot flank so far. Need to take notes from this one.
Game 3: Divide & Conquer vs Reece Taylor's Easterlings
An Easterling mirror match! No chariots for Reece though. As you have to deploy your warbands in opposite corners in this scenario, I put my chariots on the left corner, and my Pike block & Amdur on the right. I rushed the pike block in to a beautiful choke point on the far right edge of the board - but this proved to be a decision which lost me the game. I pushed my chariots through the centre, past Reece's scattered archers, and rushed to deliver the 'chariot sandwich' to the enemy pike block, which had moved forward to engage mine. This went very well, and I won the main battle fairly convincingly - but not in time to reclaim board control from Reece's archers, as we'd run out of time. Reece had also wisely left 2 archers on the centre objective, just in case one ran away!
In retrospect, looking at it from Reece's point of view, once I'd committed to the right flank with both my pike block and chariots, all he had to do was keep me penned in and fighting until time was called.
9-4 loss, and a lesson learned - Easterlings can grind out a combat and come out on top, but they certainly can't do it quickly.
Reece went on to come 3rd - always nice to see Easterlings on the podium!
Highlight: The Amdur mirror match... In which both Amdurs died.
Game 4: Contest of Champions vs Eoin Fitzpatrick's Angmar
Normally a scenario I'm happy to see - kill tally is something Amdur is OK at - until I find myself deployed opposite Gulavhar! You deploy right opposite each other, so it was immediately time for action. Amdur burned all 3 will to remain un-paralysed by Eoin's twin Barrow Wights, spent a might on a Heroic Move (lost the roll off) and another on a Heroic Strike (rolled a 1). Gulavhar, who had charged straight in, proceeded to deliver 10 strikes at strength 8, biting Amdur's head clean off while the Angmar archers cheered from the rooftops!
Turn 1, and already 7-0 to Angmar, and my quickest defeat to date!
With the scenario lost on the first turn, we just had a good time throwing dice for the rest of the game, seeing what antics Gulavhar could get up to now that nobody could contest him. The highlight of this was knocking the King off his chariot... By throwing another chariot at him. He'll never live it down!
12-0 loss, but a good fun time, and a scary first encounter with Eoin's Angmar, who went on to take a well deserved 2nd place.
Highlight: Gulavhar playing chariot snooker.
Overview
It was a great day - I'm always happy to go 2-2 with Easterlings (even a very low 2-2!), and feel I really worked for my wins against some strong opponents. I want to carry on working on the tricky chariot flanks, but I'm getting more consistent with delivering their potential - every game I won was because I judged the chariot flank correctly. However, I definitely often prioritise the tactical decisions over the strategic win conditions - something I definitely need to work on!
I'm happy with my list - it's not amazing, but it does exactly what I want it to do, it can win games, and it's SO much fun. I'll continue to run chariots for the forseeable future, and will be including some Khandish Horsemen once I've got them finished.
And I managed to take the Best Army prize, which is always nice!
I believe Richard is planning another 500pt event later this year, and I would fully recommend it to new players looking to get in to the tournament scene, or anybody who wants a relaxed day of gaming against some great people.
Dan Stu
The idea for this tournament was to be very relaxed, low points level, noob friendly and aiming to get newer players in to the tournament scene - perfect for my second SBG event!
We also got to play 3 of the new scenarios, which was excellent, and put everybody on a more level playing field.
My list was very simple:
Amdur, Armoured Horse
5 Easterling Warriors with Shield
5 Easterling Warriors with Pike
5 Easterling Warriors with Pike & Black Dragon upgrade
Khandish King on Chariot
3 Khandish Charioteers
A very straightforward hammer and anvil. In most scenarios, my aim is to dig in with the pike block, hunt heroes with Amdur (his might regeneration means you can eat mid level captains for breakfast), and flank with the chariots, who will hopefully arrive while I've still got enough pikemen around to claim objectives.
My main aim for the day was to continue learning how to flank with chariots effectively - and this was a great day to practise. The flank went very well in 3 of my games, and did what I wanted it to, so I'm happy that I've got a solid core of a list here.
Game 1: Command the Battlefield vs Ben's Pearson's Gothmog's Legion
Oh no! Game 1 and I'm already up against the one list I hope to never face with Easterlings. Wounding on a 6, but being wounded in return on a 4 does not a happy Easterling make.
This was a fairly scenery heavy board, so I lined up my pike block and Amdur in the centre, happy that I could find a choke point for a favourable fight, but bracing myself for those terrifying Orcish wound rolls. The 4 chariots flanked around a narrow gap on the left, where only 1 could fit through at a time - and Ben broke off around a third of his force to deal with this threat.
But 3 chariots ducked back to join the main fight - one went down to archery - but the other two ploughed in to the side of the orc ranks, killing several, including the banner thanks to some very lucky impact rolls! Meanwhile, the king absolutely decimated the left flank, killing Gothmog's Enforcer in the process. This left the orcs broken, and they started fleeing in droves. I don't think the orcs actually had the opportunity to make a wound roll until they were already almost broken!
Gothmog joined the fight, beelined for Amdur, and won the Heroic Strike off, putting a wound down and scoring a VP in the process. But my opponent was quartered, ending the scenario sooner than expected. I didn't have time to claim the back right corner, and the back left was contested with one model apiece, but I easily took the two on my half of the board with a few pikemen.
6-2 win - purely down to the chariots, and a bit of good luck.
Highlight: Khandish King being an absolute unit, holding the flank and almost single handedly breaking the Orc force.
Game 2: Breakthrough vs John Marshall's Kingdom of Khazad-Dum
Breakthrough is another new scenario, where the highest VPs go for occupying the objective on your opponent's half, while keeping them away from yours. The tough-as-nails Dwarves (featuring tons of D9 vault wardens) deployed aggressively in the centre, so I did the same. I had a nice choke point to prevent any imminent flanks, so the pikemen did what they do best - dig in and wait. Realistically, there is no way S3 pikes are going to get past D9 shields, so I just had to hope they could hold out.
Once again, the chariots flanked on the left. John sent a few Dwarves to block the flanking move, but crucially, did not send a hero with them - not something I think he'll repeat next time he faces chariots! Despite it taking a few turns to break through the vault wardens, I could guarantee getting the impact hits and charges every round thanks to the King's might points. In around 3 turns, the chariots had broken through, and piled in to the back of the main line of Dwarves, smashing in to the back of the Vault Warden teams. Much less tough from the back!
Not a moment too soon, either, as the Dwarves were starting to break through the Easterling pike block, and the unhorsed & trapped Amdur was cut down by a very tasty heroic combat slingshot from the King's Champion. Nasty, and a bit of well overdue good luck on John's part. Unfortunately, the Dwarf line just couldn't handle the 'chariot sandwich' and they were quartered, ending the scenario. I had just had enough warriors left to contest the objective on my side - despite my opponent very skillfully tying up most of my models with his few remaining dwarves. This denied the bulk of VPs to my opponent, while a cheeky chariot split off to take the far objective uncontested.
6-2 win, once again due to a chariot flank. We both agreed that, had the Dwarvish anti-flanking force held out for another turn, it could have gone very differently.
Highlight: Pulling off my most successful chariot flank so far. Need to take notes from this one.
Game 3: Divide & Conquer vs Reece Taylor's Easterlings
An Easterling mirror match! No chariots for Reece though. As you have to deploy your warbands in opposite corners in this scenario, I put my chariots on the left corner, and my Pike block & Amdur on the right. I rushed the pike block in to a beautiful choke point on the far right edge of the board - but this proved to be a decision which lost me the game. I pushed my chariots through the centre, past Reece's scattered archers, and rushed to deliver the 'chariot sandwich' to the enemy pike block, which had moved forward to engage mine. This went very well, and I won the main battle fairly convincingly - but not in time to reclaim board control from Reece's archers, as we'd run out of time. Reece had also wisely left 2 archers on the centre objective, just in case one ran away!
Amdur vs Amdur through the doorway was amazing! My Amdur died first, and Reece's was trapped and killed in retaliation!
In retrospect, looking at it from Reece's point of view, once I'd committed to the right flank with both my pike block and chariots, all he had to do was keep me penned in and fighting until time was called.
9-4 loss, and a lesson learned - Easterlings can grind out a combat and come out on top, but they certainly can't do it quickly.
Reece went on to come 3rd - always nice to see Easterlings on the podium!
Highlight: The Amdur mirror match... In which both Amdurs died.
Game 4: Contest of Champions vs Eoin Fitzpatrick's Angmar
Normally a scenario I'm happy to see - kill tally is something Amdur is OK at - until I find myself deployed opposite Gulavhar! You deploy right opposite each other, so it was immediately time for action. Amdur burned all 3 will to remain un-paralysed by Eoin's twin Barrow Wights, spent a might on a Heroic Move (lost the roll off) and another on a Heroic Strike (rolled a 1). Gulavhar, who had charged straight in, proceeded to deliver 10 strikes at strength 8, biting Amdur's head clean off while the Angmar archers cheered from the rooftops!
Turn 1, and already 7-0 to Angmar, and my quickest defeat to date!
With the scenario lost on the first turn, we just had a good time throwing dice for the rest of the game, seeing what antics Gulavhar could get up to now that nobody could contest him. The highlight of this was knocking the King off his chariot... By throwing another chariot at him. He'll never live it down!
12-0 loss, but a good fun time, and a scary first encounter with Eoin's Angmar, who went on to take a well deserved 2nd place.
Highlight: Gulavhar playing chariot snooker.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take". - Gulavhar, the Terror of Arnor
Overview
It was a great day - I'm always happy to go 2-2 with Easterlings (even a very low 2-2!), and feel I really worked for my wins against some strong opponents. I want to carry on working on the tricky chariot flanks, but I'm getting more consistent with delivering their potential - every game I won was because I judged the chariot flank correctly. However, I definitely often prioritise the tactical decisions over the strategic win conditions - something I definitely need to work on!
I'm happy with my list - it's not amazing, but it does exactly what I want it to do, it can win games, and it's SO much fun. I'll continue to run chariots for the forseeable future, and will be including some Khandish Horsemen once I've got them finished.
And I managed to take the Best Army prize, which is always nice!
I believe Richard is planning another 500pt event later this year, and I would fully recommend it to new players looking to get in to the tournament scene, or anybody who wants a relaxed day of gaming against some great people.
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