On Tuesday we had out first session of Battle Companies Season 2. Not everyone could make it, and we were all there at different times but we managed to get a fair few games in! Here is a rundown of what happened.
A side note, we have been using the utterly fantastic Battle Companies Manager to track everything this time around. I had heard of this but hadn't used it before, expecting it to be a glorified spreadsheet. Boy was I wrong. It is such an incredible tool that makes keeping your Company up to date so easy. It automatically tracks experience and influence, it allows you to add special rules or injuries and it even calculates your rating automatically. I cannot recommend it enough. In fact, I love it so much I went straight home and became a Patron on Patreon immediately after my games on Tuesday! Definitely check it out if you can!
Dan Slob:
In the first expansion phase I went straight to Erech so that I could hopefully have a spooky recruit to help in my games!
A side note, we have been using the utterly fantastic Battle Companies Manager to track everything this time around. I had heard of this but hadn't used it before, expecting it to be a glorified spreadsheet. Boy was I wrong. It is such an incredible tool that makes keeping your Company up to date so easy. It automatically tracks experience and influence, it allows you to add special rules or injuries and it even calculates your rating automatically. I cannot recommend it enough. In fact, I love it so much I went straight home and became a Patron on Patreon immediately after my games on Tuesday! Definitely check it out if you can!
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| The positions after our initial expansion |
Dan Slob:
In the first expansion phase I went straight to Erech so that I could hopefully have a spooky recruit to help in my games!
Game 1 saw my Rohan take on Steve’s Lothlorien. I thought this would be a tough match but the scenario had us deploy right up next to each other (Kill the Messenger). My Rohan were straight savages and tore the elves apart! Oof, sorry Steve! Man of the match was Phil who sniped away two elves!
No one gained enough experience to upgrade but I did get enough influence to buy myself a horse! Riders of RoDan indeed!
My second game was against Adam and his Minas Tirith. I had a shaky start, with random deployment meaning I had one model on each board edge and 3 not show up! On the other hand half of Adam’s company came in on the same edge while the other half stayed at home. Phil was a hero once again and held up the 3 WoMT for a while, even killing a hero! Dan Stu came to help but got smacked down. After breaking Adam, all of the rest of his guys ran away leaving me uncontested on the objective.
This time I had all 3 heroes get on to a path. I chose the path of the warrior and got an extra Might. Adam went on the path of the sorcerer and took the army bonus, and Phil went on the path of the ranger and gets to call a free heroic shoot each turn. I also bought Adam a horse to get use out of that bonus! Unfortunately I suffered my first loss, RIP Dan Stu, who died for the Rohan cause. This is very annoying as now my numbers are lower than I’d like! Guess I’ll be recruiting soon!
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| The Rohan warriors and their spooky friend line up to batter the elves! |
The first game for the Second Breakfast Club say them pitted against Dan Stuarts ghosts in the mission “Rescue”.
Fillibert, my leader, started in the centre, along with 2 archers, Bungo and Marcho. They spent the next few turns running away, whilst trying to meet back up with the rest of their company. One of my Hobbits picked up an early kill with their bow, but such fortune would not last, as this would be my only kill. Combats ensued, but with Dan being a game or two ahead, he'd managed to get a Banner effect from Path of the General, and that proved too much for the Hobbits to beat!
Fillibert suffered a broken leg, reducing his move to 3”! Robin Chubb, a plucky militia, fell to ghosts and was the Companies first Death, however rolling on the reinforcement table granted me 2 Shirrifs!
Game 2 saw me playing Adam, with the mission “A Show of Strength”. Leader kills were the win condition, and a 3” move on Fillibert made that difficult! A couple of bow kills from Tobold and Bungo were a good start, and the kills continued, though I can't remember who picked them up, but none went to Fillibert, meaning, even though I got Adam down to 25% and caused the game to end, he still won as he had managed to pick up 2 kills on his Leader!
Marcho fell in this game, putting me down to only 3 archers now, but similar to last time, I gained a Hobbit Shirrif on my reinforcement roll, putting me at 3 models with Fight Value 3!
Dan Stu
Game 1: Steve’s Lothlorien – Stand your Ground, Defender
Unfortunately for Steve he had lost an Elf to an unlucky roll in the previous game, putting him on only 5 models – fewer than his starting company!
Thanks to a lucky early kill, I could start setting up traps for the elven swordsmen, and by the time the archers arrived it was too late. My leader picked up 3 kills, which scored him a banner (with the help of a reroll from the territory bonus) – a ridiculously strong start.
MVP: Lie-in-Hell Messi, for getting the banner on game 1.
Game 2: Dave’s Shire – Rescue, Attacker
Oh dear. I had to kill Dave’s leader while he tried to run away – not a great scenario pick for the most ‘rule of cool’ company out there. Despite this, Dave had a strong start with a bow kill and winning heroic move, allowing his leader to run to relative safety. Sadly, the pure stats advantage of the banner-backed ghosts, combined with terror, made it straightforward to drop a hobbit or two a turn, picking up some XP before cornering and finishing off the leader.
MVP: David Screaman – not a hero, but racked up 3 kills.
Game 3: Colm’s Gundabad – Stand your Ground, Defender
Oh dear oh dear. Courage 2-3 orcs and gobbos meant another ridiculously favourable matchup for the ghosts – which seems to be a running theme... To rub salt in the wound, Colm had just picked up an Ogre – a terrifying opponent in battle Companies, until you remember that he’s still only courage 3. The writing was on the wall– low courage and terror checks meant that ghosts had mostly favourable engagements, getting a clean sweep by turn 3. Ouch.
MVP: Wayne Wooooooney, who has a funny name.
After 3 games, Liverghoul F.C. are looking… pretty overpowered, to be honest. They now have a banner, a rider and 6 ghosts, as well as a sprinkling of F4 and D9. Hopefully next time somebody can put them in their place!
Colm:
The Gundabad Shaggers got off to a middling start by scrapping with some Wanderers in the Wild in an attempt to kill their messenger. The portly hobbit fled the board with message in hand after the force broke leaving us with a draw, but a few xp and some influence to kick things off.
The next game was Infiltrate and Assassinate against Adam's Minas Tirith. Thanks to some shoddy sentry work Seal Team Shag were able to kick down the door of Adam's leader and take him out! This got my leader started on path of the general and a sergeant on path of the warrior.
This was quickly followed by a brawl with Steve's elves that gave more xp and due to a lucky roll on the hero injury chart a bucket load of influence! This got the company their first new hire, an ogre!
Unfortunately he was promptly was taken out by some ghoulish hooligans, but thankfully made a full recovery. I paid my reminding influence to earn a Beserker, which combined with my general's new ability to boost courage in 6" should give me better game against the ghosts next time out.
Will:
Dan Stu
Game 1: Steve’s Lothlorien – Stand your Ground, Defender
Unfortunately for Steve he had lost an Elf to an unlucky roll in the previous game, putting him on only 5 models – fewer than his starting company!
Thanks to a lucky early kill, I could start setting up traps for the elven swordsmen, and by the time the archers arrived it was too late. My leader picked up 3 kills, which scored him a banner (with the help of a reroll from the territory bonus) – a ridiculously strong start.
MVP: Lie-in-Hell Messi, for getting the banner on game 1.
Game 2: Dave’s Shire – Rescue, Attacker
Oh dear. I had to kill Dave’s leader while he tried to run away – not a great scenario pick for the most ‘rule of cool’ company out there. Despite this, Dave had a strong start with a bow kill and winning heroic move, allowing his leader to run to relative safety. Sadly, the pure stats advantage of the banner-backed ghosts, combined with terror, made it straightforward to drop a hobbit or two a turn, picking up some XP before cornering and finishing off the leader.
MVP: David Screaman – not a hero, but racked up 3 kills.
Game 3: Colm’s Gundabad – Stand your Ground, Defender
Oh dear oh dear. Courage 2-3 orcs and gobbos meant another ridiculously favourable matchup for the ghosts – which seems to be a running theme... To rub salt in the wound, Colm had just picked up an Ogre – a terrifying opponent in battle Companies, until you remember that he’s still only courage 3. The writing was on the wall– low courage and terror checks meant that ghosts had mostly favourable engagements, getting a clean sweep by turn 3. Ouch.
MVP: Wayne Wooooooney, who has a funny name.
After 3 games, Liverghoul F.C. are looking… pretty overpowered, to be honest. They now have a banner, a rider and 6 ghosts, as well as a sprinkling of F4 and D9. Hopefully next time somebody can put them in their place!
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| The Hobbits are just expressing what we all feel when Dan's ghosts approach |
The Gundabad Shaggers got off to a middling start by scrapping with some Wanderers in the Wild in an attempt to kill their messenger. The portly hobbit fled the board with message in hand after the force broke leaving us with a draw, but a few xp and some influence to kick things off.
The next game was Infiltrate and Assassinate against Adam's Minas Tirith. Thanks to some shoddy sentry work Seal Team Shag were able to kick down the door of Adam's leader and take him out! This got my leader started on path of the general and a sergeant on path of the warrior.
This was quickly followed by a brawl with Steve's elves that gave more xp and due to a lucky roll on the hero injury chart a bucket load of influence! This got the company their first new hire, an ogre!
Unfortunately he was promptly was taken out by some ghoulish hooligans, but thankfully made a full recovery. I paid my reminding influence to earn a Beserker, which combined with my general's new ability to boost courage in 6" should give me better game against the ghosts next time out.
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| Colm's newest recruit - Shagbalrog |
The Forgotten Sons – My first SBG experience.
Game 1 - Colm, Mission: Kill the Messenger
After watching a lot of videos on SBG and flicking through the rule book the night before I took the plunge and joined in the campaign at the last minute. Taking Wanderers in the Wild was a good opportunity to try out several factions at the same time. First battle against the Gundabads was kill the messenger. I picked the hobbit as my Messenger due to him being named after Colm (so he may just leave him alone). In the first shooting phase, with my first ever rolls of dice in the game of SBG resulted in 3 shots and 3 dead goblins- I like this game. The remainder of the game was a game of attrition which the orcs won but still resulted in a draw with my MVP Godrir Wisesnarl (Ranger) taking 2 goblins down but having to miss next game due to injury.
Game 1 - Colm, Mission: Kill the Messenger
After watching a lot of videos on SBG and flicking through the rule book the night before I took the plunge and joined in the campaign at the last minute. Taking Wanderers in the Wild was a good opportunity to try out several factions at the same time. First battle against the Gundabads was kill the messenger. I picked the hobbit as my Messenger due to him being named after Colm (so he may just leave him alone). In the first shooting phase, with my first ever rolls of dice in the game of SBG resulted in 3 shots and 3 dead goblins- I like this game. The remainder of the game was a game of attrition which the orcs won but still resulted in a draw with my MVP Godrir Wisesnarl (Ranger) taking 2 goblins down but having to miss next game due to injury.
Game 2- Adam, Mission: Rescue
I was the rescuer so left my Elf bow wielding Hero (Pelleas) in the centre with two warriors. I backed up and shot as much as I could until I took cover with my elf cloak and provided kills from afar, whilst my other band of merry men could come in to charge. It worked and I managed to break the army and win. Upgrading my leader (Eldarion) on the General table to give 12” steadfast was good, but the best thing was Pelleas getting Lethal aim with a double 6 on the ranger table. I also managed to roll an ELF SENTINEL on the reinforcements table. Wooohoo!
I was the rescuer so left my Elf bow wielding Hero (Pelleas) in the centre with two warriors. I backed up and shot as much as I could until I took cover with my elf cloak and provided kills from afar, whilst my other band of merry men could come in to charge. It worked and I managed to break the army and win. Upgrading my leader (Eldarion) on the General table to give 12” steadfast was good, but the best thing was Pelleas getting Lethal aim with a double 6 on the ranger table. I also managed to roll an ELF SENTINEL on the reinforcements table. Wooohoo!
Game 3 – Steve T Mission: A darling rescue.
Confidence was high going in to this I felt my force could easily prevail as he was seriously down on models. After a few useless shots by my archers he kindly charged into my indestructible circle, or so I thought. My newly beloved Elf Sentinel going down instantly to a bow shot and then losing a dwarf and an elf in combat, it was pretty plain sailing from there for Steve and his Hero ran off through the gap in the lines into the sunset. Finished up with a loss, a DEAD Sentinel and Wood Elf (RIP Slobodian). So I rolled on the reinforcements table and lo and behold another Sentinel! Facing the Hobbits with this may be a good bonus.
Summary- I love this game!!!! So I went and bought more models.
Confidence was high going in to this I felt my force could easily prevail as he was seriously down on models. After a few useless shots by my archers he kindly charged into my indestructible circle, or so I thought. My newly beloved Elf Sentinel going down instantly to a bow shot and then losing a dwarf and an elf in combat, it was pretty plain sailing from there for Steve and his Hero ran off through the gap in the lines into the sunset. Finished up with a loss, a DEAD Sentinel and Wood Elf (RIP Slobodian). So I rolled on the reinforcements table and lo and behold another Sentinel! Facing the Hobbits with this may be a good bonus.
Summary- I love this game!!!! So I went and bought more models.
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| He wasn't kidding, he really did go and buy this straight after! |
