A Noob's Perspective: Goblin-Town

There are many reasons that might draw a player to Goblin-town, but the best one is definitely their catchy theme song. If you need a more game-centric reason read on!

One of the main draws for me was that, while it's not the cheapest army in SBG, it is probably the cheapest horde army. The heroes and basic troop types all have plastic kits and sum up to a lot less than buying metal hobbits (as an example) for an equivalent sized army. They also seemed relatively easy to paint. In fact, I got this lot done in just under a week!

There are also some fun shenanigans available to them, but to talk about that we'll need to get into some details. Without further ado it's time to go down down down to Goblin-town.

Goblin Warriors

These guys will be the bulk of any Goblin-town force and at first glance they appear . . . terrible. Fight 2 is below most troops you'd expect to see across the board and with only S3 and D3 they'll struggle to either survive or kill anything (if they can even get to the fight with their 5" move). They do however have two things that make up for this; they're a super cheap 4pts each and their Chittering Hordes special rule. Chittering Hordes allows you to truly swarm your enemy and use a weight of numbers to rack up kills and use number of attacks to outweigh your opponents fight value. They have the option of taking a two handed axe, but I'm not sure on the value of this versus just taking more goblins.

Goblin Mercenaries

The mercenary goblins cost a single point more than their warrior compatriots for which they gain an extra point of defence, which isn't great, but they also gain the Mercenary Ambush special rule. They only get to use this when led by a Mercenary Captain so I'll discuss this further at their entry, except to note that the use of this rule is where they really shine and I don't think I'd take them otherwise.


The Goblin King

Onto the heroes and we start with the biggest boy in town and one that I think goes in every Goblin-town list unless you have a very good reason. Stats wise he's super solid with Fight 6 and three attacks so he's up there with most of the best heroes in the game. He has Strength 5 and a two handed pick (with burly) so he can dish out the hurt and because of his Blubbery Mass special rule can really shrug off a lot of damage (using this in conjunction with Fate and Might points he should be very survivable). Resistant to Magic is also great to have as he is probably the key piece of your army, so avoiding compels and immobilises is very important. He has the monster keyword so can use Brutal Power Attacks, adding some utility to how he can fight.

One of the things I'm looking forward to most is using his Goblin Projectile. By flinging a goblin up to 12" he can deal a Strength 8 hit to a model on a 5+, but perhaps more importantly, automatically knock them prone. Your opponent has a Ringwraith on a Fellbeast? The King will be raining goblins down on them until he gets unseated and the Fellbeast flies home to Mordor.

The next rule to discuss is arguably his most powerful, Relentless Advance, which allows him to move through Goblins in his way when charging. It means there is no hiding from him and that if a goblin ties up a hero in combat the King can still swing in for the kill. This is even more powerful when he's paired with the next hero on our list, Gollum.


Gollum

Stats-wise Gollum is probably the fightiest hero in your army other than the King himself, but that isn't saying much. Where he really shines is his ability to equip the One Ring. When Gollum is wearing the Ring he halves enemy fight values and can move through troops as if they weren't there. This allows him to hang around the back of you army and then dive into a fight after the King and allows his F6 to be the highest in the fight no matter who he's against (unless there's a bat swarm hanging about . . .). This turns the King and Gollum combo into one of the most effective assassins in the game.

Grinnah

Grinnah has 3 Might and reasonable stats, but when compared to a regular captain he doesn't have Heroic March a very important Heroic Action in an army with move 5". He makes up for it with his Swap With Me special rule that allows him to pull the Goblin King out of a deadly situation and keep him alive for VPs and later fights.

The Goblin Scribe

The Scribe is an interesting one and I find myself unsure on if he's worth it. He's quite expensive for a minor hero, but it's because his ability allows him to move Goblin Warriors on from a board edge at an average of 2 or so per turn. This ability seems quite powerful as it allows otherwise slow Goblins to appear on the other side of the table near objectives etc and can potentially set up some small flanking moves. He does require looking after though and seems an obvious target in missions such as Assassination and Fog of War. The Goblins also have to deployed carefully as if isolated they can be quickly cut down and bring about the breaking of your army faster than desired. There's also slightly less flexibility in how he can be used compared to Goblin Mercenaries which can also ambush from a piece of terrain and have the hero with them for Stand Fast and Heroic Moves etc. I think he will require experimentation, but I've put him into at least some of my lists and think he can be a strong piece.

Goblin Captain

You'll doubtlessly have loads of these guys in your army just so you have enough warbands to meet the points limit. They have Heroic March and are 35pts. What's not to like? Having such cheap and plentiful captains means that you will often outnumber your opponent in terms of Might points, which can absolutely be a game clincher.

Goblin Mercenary Captain

I won't discuss this guys stats as it's all about the ambush rule mentioned earlier. It allows them to appear late in the game from a board edge or piece of terrain to seize objectives and just generally be a pain in the arse that your opponent has to commit a decent chunk of their army to getting rid of, which, whilst collapsing under a wave of Goblins, can be quite tricky! My guess is that small warbands is the way to go so that you have maximum choice in terms of what terrain you can spring out of and you don't commit too much on troops that hopefully won't be on the board for much of the game.

Army Bonus and Alliances

The army bonus for Goblin-town seems good at first, but as I wrote lists I often found that the way warbands fit in around common points values it was quite hard to take advantage of (with the exception of bumping The Goblin Scribe up from a Minor Hero to essentially a Hero of Fortitude). It's also quite good to take a few captains for having Might to burn so I don't think it's really essential and opens up the possibility of taking a yellow alliance without really caring about losing it (Goblin-town has no green alliances). In the end though I haven't come up with any alliances that I really like. The biggest strength of the army is by far it's ability to deploy a huge number of warrior models. By having to pay for a hero of valour from another army and whatever troops they want to bring you can really cut into your numbers and crucially bring down your break point. The low Courage of the army means they really can't afford to take too many break checks.

Lists:

500 pts

The Goblin King
24 Goblin Warriors

Grinnah
18 Goblin Warriors

The Goblin Scribe
12 Goblin Warriors

Goblin Captain
6 Goblin Warriors
1 Goblin Warrior w/ 2-Handed Axe

65 Models, 10 Might

This one is pretty simple. It's a massive amount of troops for 500 pts and more can come on with The Goblin Scribe's ability. Powerful list at the points level such as The Rangers of Ithilien will struggle to take enough of them off or deal with The Goblin King. It's given up some hero killing power by leaving Gollum behind, but the King should be good enough by himself at this points value.

800 pts

The Goblin King
18 Goblin Warriors

Grinnah
12 Goblin Warriors

Goblin Captain
12 Goblin Warriors

Goblin Captain
12 Goblin Warriors

Goblin Captain
12 Goblin Warriors

Goblin Mercenary Captain
4 Goblin Mercenaries

Gollum

Spider Queen
2 Mirkwood Spiders

80 Models, 20 Might

This gives up raw numbers to bring in one of the alliances that can best accompany the Goblin force. The Spider Queen and Mirkwood Spiders bring in a lot of mobility and some control. It's a list that still has good numbers, but also has a lot of flexible threats. It looks fun to get on the table and I shall definitely be giving it a go!