Community Content: Why you should go to an MESBG Tournament

In a very laborious and roundabout way Harry Parkhill (of the Entmoot podcast, and Battle Games in Middle Earth Youtube channel) discusses why you should join him at a tournament when the Great British Hobbit League restarts later this year.

I always had this preconceived notion about wargaming tournaments; that they were full of the kind of nerds you never like to think of yourself as. You know the ones, they’re a little too into the game, they know just a little too much about the profiles and they’re perhaps a little bit more touchy about how long 6 inches is.

“That’s a long Six inches”, they’d say.

I had this notion because it had been inherited from ‘groupthink’ at the gaming club in my hometown. When I told them I was heading off to Warhammer World for a 40k school league event, they said they hated tournaments. It was all “too competitive”; people were unwelcoming and often downright rude they claimed. Even though that tournament was great fun (we actually won!), I never made the effort to go to one again. I guess I was young, I didn’t have access to a car, and my mum has always been the first to laugh at my ‘nerdiness’ when I mention Warhammer so it’s fair to say I wasn’t keen on the idea of convincing her for a lift to spend the weekend doing it.

So I didn’t.

That tournament was consigned to history. History became Legend. Legend became myth. And for six-and-a-half years (roughly) that memory passed out of all knowledge.

Then the unlikeliest thing happened. I picked out one of my oldest and favourite plastic models (a Minas Tirith Warrior) from the Middle Earth range and put paint and brush to it. The reason was that in 2016 rumours had circulated that Games Workshop weren’t going to renew their license to make Middle Earth models (don’t trust rumours). I was horrified. This was my childhood; the reason I got into wargaming. I began pouring through eBay (back when it had a Capital B in the middle – aah, those were the days). I bought pretty much anything – but particularly the old metal sculpts I assumed would be first to go. It was a furious and addictive spending spree. My quizzical girlfriend was confused as to why I was buying so much and painting so little, but what does she know of such necessities!? They’re mine, I didn’t feel like parting with them, they came to me (in the post).

Then as luck would have it, I stumbled on the unlikeliest of videos. Whilst searching for painting tutorials, I stumbled across a battle report. What’s this? A ring… of people still playing the game?

I had never really played the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, I’d only played a bit on my own, and maybe with some of my friends when I was at primary school. But it was never the ‘actual’ game, using the official rules, just some weird quasi-dice-rolling-army-man game. Here were people actually doing it, and not all that long ago (I watched it, according to my Youtube watch history, in April 2016 and it had been released in November 2014).

From there I discovered the GBHL Facebook page, and the league itself. “What must I do?” I thought. I couldn’t live vicariously through these videos when the world was on my doorstep. So I bundled my sleeping roll together, grabbed my walking staff and headed to a tournament in Nottinghamshire. I met a few people who made a fantastic impression (Dan Entwistle, as the welcoming organiser particularly stood out) They helped shepherd me into a world which was simultaneously challenging and exhilarating. It’s never easy making new friends, but I tried with gusto to ingratiate myself into the groups of people who clearly knew one another (hopefully I wasn’t “that guy” who was a bit too friendly). I was taught valuable lessons about the game (mainly how to play it… but also about putting heroes behind your troops so crossbows don’t cut them down) but I also found there was passion and heart in the Middle Earth Scene.

These weren’t the finicky, unpleasant nerds I’d worried about – these were warm-hearted people I shared a great passion with. Not just the gaming and the models, but the worlds of Tolkien too. I was joining an exciting adventure, a new phase in my life with friendships that were no longer defined by school, university, work, or even where I lived, but by a fierce passion. These people were willing to travel to Nottinghamshire from around the country (and I’d been willing to travel on the gamble that I’d enjoy it), we had been united by that cause.

 From there, came more tournaments, including meeting and/or playing against various members of the Middle Earth team at Throne of Skulls, but also seeing familiar faces and building on those early games, slowly adding people to the list of people I could feel comfortable wandering over to for a chat between games.

This feeling of belonging is something difficult to find in adult life – and is something which I think most of us probably search for. We connect with people for a number of reasons, but common interests are probably top of that lists.

So think about it; SBG tournaments combine so many niche passions – reading, painting, modeling, the worlds of Tolkien, the films of Peter Jackson, the pleasure of pulling together the puzzle pieces in an army list, the delight of challenging someone to a game of wits, the spirit of adventure that comes by travelling to another part of the country (or world), and of course the social interaction that comes from spending time in the company of strangers who share all these interests. That’s a long list, and if you think any of those sounds like fun then you’d fit right in.

So why should you go to an MESBG tournament? Ultimately, you’re already interested, because you’re reading this. There’s already a box of tinder, and pyramid of wood waiting, all you need is the spark which roars into all consuming fire that this hobby can be. You can be the next companion in this Fellowship of tournament goers.

Great… When are we going?

Dan Slob: Thanks so much Harry! Check out the excellent Entmoot Podcast here! 

Conversion Corner: Corsair Reavers

Today Will is going to show you how to do some simple but effective conversions for Corsair Reavers. Enjoy.

So here we are again in Conversion Corner, this article is going to show you how to convert some of your unused Corsair bowmen models into Reavers. Seeing as there is no model for these and the fact the bowmen are the most underused model in the faction it makes sense to at least use these to your advantage. I am going to show you the 4 different bowmen models and show you different ways to convert each one. Also a nice little trick even if you don't have any bits at all. Being pirates you can use all sorts of different styles of weapons so raid your unwanted/unused models and see what you can come up with.

Things you'll need:

The sculpting tools and tweezers aren't 100% necessary. A cocktail stick will do the job just as well.

Bowman 1

So here is the trick using the first one and probably the easiest. Firstly, cut the bow bits off the top and bottom...DON'T throw the cut off bits away.  Clean up the model's rough bits left from cutting and flatten off 1 of the off cuts at the bottom using a hobby knife or file. The other one should be left with a V shaped end.

A) Using Plastic cement glue the flat ended piece to the left hand of the model. You can create a less curved style sword by cutting at a different angle, but I liked the funky style of this one and thought it suited their pirate nature.

B) Again, using plastic cement glue the second one into the recess of the hand. You will notice it is much easier to place due to the v shape created by the clippers. 

And hey presto, one simple and easy Reaver using no extra parts or much hassle.

**You could if you wanted to create a more pointed shape on these "swords" before fitting them if you wished but for the purposes of this and who I wanted to target with this I didn't bother.

Bowman 2

The beauty of this bowman is he basically comes pre-prepped for you. Firstly, find a sword/axe or any sort of weapon you like that can be placed in the hand and a right hand and weapon off an old model or out of a bit box. I found here that a Morannon Orc axe hand was perfect and a serpent horde sword from the serpent rider kit fit perfectly. File down the hand to sit as flush as possibly with the rest of the arm. If you need to cut down the inside, you can as this will not be seen.

Simply glue or stick the hand with weapon and the weapon green stuff making a smooth transition using water and a tool or even a cocktail stick. and you are done.

Bowman 3

This one takes a little more finesse than the previous 2.  Initially you need to cut the bow off, but this is also attached to the leg so be as careful as possible and just clean up the leg as you would normally if you were cutting it from a sprue. The hand is a little trickier. Cut off the hand from the end of the fabric up to the hair and the feathers of the arrows. You essentially want to cut out the block like in the third picture. Don't worry too much about how smooth it is as this will not be seen.

Again, for this I used the same morannon axe hand as I did in the previous model.  I had to play around with my hobby knife for a little while to fiddle with the correct fit, but it didn't take long. I then used the green stuff to stick it in place and shape some more hair. You can again use plastic cement for this which is also great as it melts the plastic creating a smooth transition.

The left hand I used a random sword I had lying about and used the same method as the previous models. Like I said, these are pirates not soldiers, so I like the fact they have different weapons.

After an hour I revisited any excess green stuff I didn't like the look of and just cut it out. Another one done.

Bowman 4

Again, another tricky on but believe me when I say if I can do it you can too. Cutting off the bow...no change. The hand though was a little more difficult. In order to cut the hand, you must cut it flat along the model initially and then chop in at the wrist. I then dry fitted the hand I found in my bits box which after a little shaving on the model fit nicely. Here I have used an axe but I previously had a practice model using a Minas Tirith sword hand which also fit well. This will take a little time and shaving the flat part of your cut. Just be patient and don't expect it to fit perfectly. You always have green stuff to help make it look natural.

To attach the hand, I used plastic glue to melt the inside of the hand a little better to the model and then used a tiny amount of green stuff to finish it off. Again, after an hour I trimmed any excess off that I didn't like. The sword I attached in the same way as the others also adding a little pommel underneath.

And there you have it. 4 quick and easy Reavers from your unused models. Let us know what you think and if you have some of your own why not show us.  I'll try and get them painted up for another blog so you can see how they turned out.

Community Content: Brilliant Basing

Today the very talented Mike Schalk takes us through how to make some lovely looking bases. You can see more of his work here: https://www.instagram.com/mschalk12/ . If you would like to contribute to our Community Content please get in touch at DrawnCombat@gmail.com

In this article, I'll be presenting an in depth how-to on the basics of crafting and painting bases from materials you can find almost exclusively at your local Dollar or Pound shop.  I've made hundreds of these bases, with some variation, for my armies over the years to great effect; a few of these armies now have event awards for appearance next to them in my display cases thanks, in large part, to the foundations they're glued to!

Gather Your Materials

The bulk of this technique is founded on you rounding up some cork sheeting.  Avoid getting yours from hobby shops; this stuff is prone to price gouging, and I'd hate to see you paying $20 a roll for it.  The roll that I'm working with here came from the Dollar General (a U.S. Chain retailer) and cost me a whopping $3USD.  It's not a huge roll, but 36 square inches will do about 30 bases if you're smart with your materials.  You can also find it sold in square sheets, which will do just fine too!

The trickier, yet equally important, material that you'll need to source is some wood chips.  In the photo above, these are the silver chunks; mine came from the Dollar Store, a Canadian retailer, and cost me $4CAD.  The best way to find this is to make your way to any store that's going to be selling “Filler” for vases and the sort of decorative things that your mum likes to set out on tables or shelves.  Failing that, I've seen folks make good use of tree bark.  If you have to go this route, make sure the tree is dead already; not only will this mean the bark is dry enough to not lift any paint you apply, but you're less likely to wake up to some Ents storming your house.

The last elements are easy enough to get a hold of: some fine sand (also easy to find at bargain shops or your yard), the cheapest acrylic  paint you can find in grey, white, and black, some primer, a cheap glue gun, and some PVA glue.

Optionally, you can usually find some tufts of flowers or clumps of bush to dress the finished product to your taste; I like the Woodland Scenics stuff, but cheaper alternatives are easy enough to find.  If a can of black or grey primer is out of your price range, any junk from the bargain shops that you can brush on works fine too.  Finally, I've got some Woodland Scenics Adhesive shown that I like to brush on to seal the bases at the end, but it can be hard to find/expensive, so either forego that altogether or brush on some PVA, as listed above. Finally, the GW Shades in Reikland Fleshshade and Athonian Camoshade are what will really make these pop, but you can absolutely made do without them in a pinch.  Everything needed to follow these steps cost me about $25CAD, aside from the Shade paints.

Assembling the Components

Start by gluing your bases face down onto your sheet of cork with your hot glue gun, ensuring that they're not too close to each other.  Be sure to use enough glue to cover the surface of the base, but not so much that it squishes out the sides when you press them to the cork.  Next, tear around each base and set aside all the scrap cork that will naturally start piling up; you'll need it for the next step.  Be sure that you tear as close to the edge of the bases as you can can so that opponents can still get their models in base contact with you. 

Next, hit each base with a chunk of wood.  Be aware of what models you're going to be fixing to each base at this point; you're going to add layers and bits of cork around the wood next, but models don't adhere to the wood well.  This is rarely an issue with plastic models, but some heavier metal figures will often detach during handling if they don't have some cork underfoot.  The job now is to simply fish through your pile of odd cork bits and build up a few layers (depending on the thickness of your material) around the wood.  Be careful about making the base too tall, as you can inadvertently make your model top heavy and potentially get accused of modelling for advantage by ornery opponents. To avoid harsh edges to the cork, grab some hobby clippers and try to blend the cork bits into each other

Lastly, and this is optional, I like to use some fine grit sand to emulate moss growth on the rock. The sand I used for this tutorial was a little too heavy, but I've included a shot of what it looks like with much finer grit sand at the end of this article. Run a bead of glue along one face of the base and sprinkle some sand over it. Remember that moss always faces one direction in nature (North maybe? I can't remember) so don't go wild with the sand here.

Painting Your Bases

Painting rock that looks convincing relies on your skill at drybrushing.  Nature is not consistent, predictable, or ordered, and your bases will look more convincing as you layer colours and texture on top of them.  For now, start by priming them black and brushing them all over with grey.  You can skip the priming, but be ABSOLUTELY certain that all of the cork is covered. Nothing ruins the suspension of disbelief like a nasty chunk of cork showing through. 

Next, dilute some black acrylic with water to make a poor man's wash.  Don't use GW shades for this; not only does the Citadel stuff sometimes come out glossy, but there's no reason to cover a 25 cent base in 27 cents of expensive wash anyway. Depending on how dilute you go, you may want to do this process twice. It is absolutely critical that you let your coats dry between steps.  If you try to wash over wet grey then you'll end up with a weirdly muddy looking mess.  Be patient.  If you're doing 25 of these in a row, then the first few you do might well be dry by the time you get through the whole line of them. 

Next, after the washes have dried, hit the whole base with a white drybrush.  Cheap acrylic white does a fine job, but an off white like GW's Screaming Skull or Ushtabi Bone gives a warmer hue.  A great tip for anyone frustrated by drybrushing that looks chalky would be to try a makeup brush; my wife donated a little eyeshadow brush to me a while ago and it's the best for drybrush applications.  The softer bristles make control so much easier! Don't overdue it, but do take advantage of the texture of the cork, and remember to always make downward strokes to catch the edges.

Next, feel start alternating washes and drybrushes.  I like Athonian Camoshade for the cork and Reikland Fleshshade for the wood chunk. If you want to follow up with another drybrush to re-establish the edges, just make sure you go lightly.

Finally, hit the moss that we did with any green you have on hand, wash once with our black wash, and touch the very top surfaces with a yellow (Balor Brown is a great pick),  This will give the moss some variation and add a bit more colour to our work.  Don't forget to paint your rims and you're all set!

Closing Thoughts

Basing is an easy way to take your army to the next level, and requires only some basic, cheap materials and some experimentation. Even if painting your models isn't your favourite part of the hobby, doing some nice work here can elevate the appearance of even the most basic armies. Always remember to let your paints dry between steps, be aware that a model has to have somewhere to stand, and avoid shapes and patterns that look unnatural. Cheers, and happy hobbying folks!

A Tale of Two Treebeards

Finecast or Metal? Contrast or regular paint? These are two discussions that crop up constantly within the community and likely will do for some time. It just so happens that two of us from the Drawn Combat team got hold of the same miniature around the same time, but in different materials. I myself managed to get hold of the original metal kit of Treebeard, whereas Dan picked up the (currently sold by GW) Finecast sculpt. At this point we decided we'd have a look at two of the larger debates when it comes to ME:SBG miniatures at the moment, comparing the different materials and different methods of painting available!

Dan: Sadly for me, I drew the short straw and had the Finecast Treebeard to assemble. At first this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, with surprisingly little flash to clean up. The model even went together fairly well, except for a big gap where the right leg met the body (the foot also has to sit in the base so I couldn't just reposition the leg). It did take a while to twist the leg into alignment using the old hot-water trick, but once it went in it was very snug. The whole model ended up requiring no green stuff at all! Success!

Obviously I was feeling pretty smug at this point, so that's when Karma took a sharp look in my direction in the form of Merry and Pippin. Merry was fine, he just perched on his branch no trouble. Pippin on the other hand was an absolute pain. I couldn't get him to sit flush on the branch for a start, and not only that, but I couldn't physically get him into the gap because his foot was in the way. Sadly for the already diminutive hobbit he had to have most of his lower leg chopped off and his foot reattached at the knee. Both hobbits were also very flash-y, especially under the cloaks. Overall I have had far worse experiences with Finecast but it still wasn't great.

Finally, and I am sure Steve will talk about this too, there is the issue of Treebeard being somewhat lacking in the height department. As he is being added to my Ent army, the height discrepancy was just ridiculous, especially as he will almost always be the leader (as he is a Hero of Legend).

He's so little!

I had to do something about it so after a bit of thought I went with a bunch of spare bases that I chopped up. I went with two layers in the end, and even then he is little, but the base was starting to look more like a plinth than a base so I just went with it.

Still small but the best I can do.

Remember how smug I was about using no green stuff just a paragraph ago? Well here comes Karma again. I ended up having to use a tonne of it to cover the little steps I had made. Overall it worked out fine in the end, though I do wish the model itself was bigger!

Steve: I'm not going to lie, I felt really chuffed when I got hold of the original Treebeard kit. It was a model I wanted so much when I was younger and now being an adult who will happily chuck money at Lord of the Rings models I managed to snag one (unused, I might add) off of one of the trade groups. The first thing you notice about the kit, is the sheer weight of it. Seriously, this is one massive hunk of metal and it will happily break your toe if you drop it. Two big concerns I had going in to the build were the weight for one (keeping everything fixed in place) and the potential level of reshaping to made parts fit snuggly. Flash-wise similar to Dan's was not much of an issue, although as with any metal model there's always a noodle bit of flash you didn't realise was there until you've painted the model!

Onto the first issue: weight. In order to get this model assembled to the point where it wouldn't fall apart with a small tap I was going to have to pin the parts together - mainly the arms and legs. Pinning (for the uninitiated) is a good old technique involving drilling a small hole in each of the parts you want to attach, and inserting a small metal rod (this can easily be part of a paper clip) to add extra support to the joint and to take some of the weight off of the glue. When attaching to the base however, I decided I'd forgo pinning here and instead use a combination of baking powder and superglue. The two when combined make a ridiculously strong bond and helped in securing the whole model to its metal base. 

Pinning in action.

When Dan showed me a comparison of Treebeard to the other Ents, the scale didn't match up so I shamelessly borrowed his idea and gave him a lift off the base to help him with the towering presence he should have. For this I took the base, and added the lid from an old tester pot of paint back from when I decorated my house to give another centimetre of height, then building around the edges with Green Stuff to smooth it all out (admittedly, I did this after I painted most of the model!).

-------

Dan: I am not really a painter. I don't particularly enjoy it and I am often unwilling to spend money on the 15 different shades of brown that a lot of painting guides suggest. When Contrast Paints were released it was like they were made for me. Paint and Shade mixed into one? Yes please! They have become my go-to paints, and though they aren't suitable for everything they are often 'good enough' which is my M.O. for painting. So with Treebeard I knew he was going to get Contrasted to death. I went with a basecoat of Wyldwood, which ended up being surprisingly difficult. Considering how thin Contrast is it left a load of white spots in the recesses of all the bark. I hate to say it but I think the model might just be a bit too detailed! It was a massive pain as I kept finding white spots every time I picked it up. I eventually got them all but it was still annoying. I finished off with a dry-brush of Mournfang Brown and Baneblade Brown. That'll do pig.

Merry and Pippin, on the other hand, were a joy to paint. Contrast works best for cloth and they are all cloth. I think they turned out really well, especially as they are all Contrast and nothing else. Told you I wasn't a painter!

Steve: Compared to Dan, I find a great amount of joy in painting - it's one of my favourite parts of the hobby. That being said - I'm not amazing, but decided to go with more traditional methods of tackling Treebeard and the Hobbits. He started off primed with Abaddon Black to then be base coated in Rhinox Hide all over (my general go-to dark brown). My aim was to build him up from there in gradual, increasingly light dry-brush coats, with a little Nuln Oil thrown in after the first. this started with Sylvaneth Bark moving on to Terminatus Stone and finally an extremely light coating of Wrack White (all dry paints) on the small highlights I wanted to pick out. This whole process was actually remarkably quick (not as quick as coating the whole model in contrast, mind you) but the sculpt of the bark really lends itself to dry-brushing and every accent shows for it meaning that detail could be achieved for minimal effort. 

I then worked into a bit more detail, adding dabs of Castellan Green to the areas of moss, leaves and patches of the beard (of which I largely left up to a healthy wash coating of Creed Camo), finally highlighting with a small drybrush of Nurgling Green. 

A similar approach was used for Merry and Pippin (base, wash, dry-brush) only with the small addition of contrast for the flesh and hair - I'm still not confident with painting flesh so this makes for a nice alternative with good results.

-------

Dan: For basing I first covered the mound in Brown Battleground from Army Painter. I also added some spare branches that I had leftover from my other Ents to make it look less like he was just stood on a lump.

To finish the model, and to make him fit with the rest of the army, I decided to give Treebeard some proper foliage. I did this by teasing out poly fiber until it was thin and hooking it over his branches. I then used some spray adhesive and sprinkled over coarse turf so that it stuck to the poly fiber. After two applications of this I sprinkled on some leaves to finish. I also stuck some of the coarse turf to Treebeard himself to look like moss. I repeated the whole process with two of the larger branches on the base. Finally I finished the base itself with a mix of two different colours of coarse turf, static grass and leaves.

I finished with some flowers to break up the green a bit. I wish I had cut the tufts up to be smaller but tearing them off now would cause too much damage.

Steve: To start off with like Treebeard the whole base got a healthy coat of Rhinox Hide as a base. From here I started to attach clumps of Tree Bush from Green Stuff World to both the base and certain parts of Treebeard in order to achieve the beginnings of a mossy look as per Fangorn, with a few grass tufts thrown in to break it up a little bit. The main problem I found with this when applying however is that the colour is very flat - it doesn't show the texture off well enough so this was given a once over with Nurgling Green to add a touch of highlight and make it look a little more natural.

The base is looking a bit too bright for my liking!

Just having the gras tufts wasn't enough to break it up however, so out came the Stirland Mud to add a bit more of an earth tone to the top of the base whilst also removing some of the Tree Bush. Finally I had some more Green Stuff World shrubberies to use, so added a couple of clumps around just help elevate the base and make the model flow a bit better from base to head. This was achieved by drilling a few small holes in the softer Green Stuff part of the base and inserting the stalks of the shrubs. 

-------

Dan: Overall I am really happy with how Treebeard turned out. As I said above, I am not a painter but I think the foliage distracts from the simplistic paint job. I ended up being glad that he is the Finecast version as the base adds a lot of heft to the model so if he was metal he would be very chunky indeed!

The finished article - Dan

Steve: Given it's my first large miniature I've tackled in a while I'm pretty darn pleased with the outcome. I really do love dry-brushing, and this model was absolutely perfect for picking up the ridges and contours of the bark by doing so. The model is however extremely heavy (especially with my additions to the base) and if it falls over on the table for whatever reason, something other than Treebeard is likely to break. Personally I've found that metal feels a lot better when I dry-brush - the texture just seems to pop out that little bit more when applying. Admittedly, the Finecast version would have been much more easy to assemble, but if you're someone like me who enjoys assembling a kit even with all the extra steps, it's worth it if you can get hold of it.

The finished article - Steve

So what are your thoughts on the big material debate? Are there any parts of either that make you yell out in pain or jubilation? We'd love to hear your thoughts and if you have any questions about the materials/methods we've used just drop us a comment!

Bonus picture with the rest of the Ents. Yes that is Quickbeam who is doing the running-man.

Pushing the Odds

Recently, we took a look at various probabilities relating to SBG that were key for every player to have in their back pocket for decision making in a game (you can find that here). Since then we've worked away on some examples that are a little bit more complicated to build towards a fuller picture, which we will continue to expand upon in the future. For now, keep reading to discover the impacts of two-handing your weapons in combats and what you should consider when resisting spells!

-1 to Duel Rolls

A common piece of feedback we got after the last odds article was that people were interested in what happens if a combatant had -1 to their duel rolls for situations such as using a two-handed weapon or being unarmed, so we've prepared the same tables for a combatant at -1 vs an opponent with no modifications to their dice. The top row shows the number dice you're rolling at -1 for various numbers of opponent's dice and is considered for when you are higher, lower, or equal fight.

As you can see, a -1 modifier to your duel rolls really hinders your ability to win combats. How could you alleviate these odds? Let's look at the example of a goblin with two-handed axe fighting a warrior of Minas Tirith to find out. The below table shows what happens if multiple goblins team up against the MT warrior and only one of them chooses to use their two-handed axe e.g. the 4v1 scenario considers one goblin with two-handed axe and three with one-handed weapon taking on the single die of the outnumbered Gondorian.

The Goblins are lower fight so have to have three in the fight to have better odds than a mere coin flip to win the combat and even more before they can be reasonably confident of victory. Once the mange to outnumber the MT warrior enough to feel confident in two-handing their weapons they stand a much better chance of chipping through his high defence.

Resisting Spells

When a wizard casts a spell targeting a warrior they have no choice but to sit there and take it, but heroes will often have a store of Will they can use to try and resist, but it can often be hard to know whether to spend that Will or save it for later. The below table shows your odds for resisting a spell for a given casting value and number of dice thrown to try and resist.

If you have a single point of Will and the enemy casts their spell on a 6 the chances of actually stopping it are slim enough that you may be better off saving your Will unless it's absolutely key that you stop it e.g. you've set up a brilliant heroic combat and you need to avoid being immobilised, or your General needs to dodge a Black Dart to avoid giving up VPs, but it's often not clear cut. Let's take a deep dive into one of the trickier examples, whether or not you should try and resist Sap Will.

Sap Will will cause your hero to lose D3 Will points and there are certain situations where it's obvious to know what to do e.g when you have a single Will point you might as well throw it to try and resist in the hope you get a six and keep it as in every other scenario it's going away, but what do you do if you have three Will and your opponent casts Sap Will on three dice? Are you more likely to lose more Will by trying to resist it or by just letting it go off? Let's look at the possibilities for when your opponent has cast Sap Will on a 6.

The percentages show your chance of losing a given number of will (the top row) for a set number of dice used to resist (the left column). Will lost can include that spent on unsuccessfully resisting, which is why you can lose more than three. As you can see, when cast on six you are much more likely to just make the effects of the spell worse if you try and resist! You can see similar breakdowns to above for different cast values here, but the general gist is that resisting on a single die is only really plausible on a cast value of three (as you might expect). The tables in the link will inform your odds for throwing more resist dice and controlling how many Will you have left, although the situations where heroes will care about this are niche e.g. you want a Will point on Floi Stonehand to use his ability in the upcoming turn. Niche as they are they will still be useful to have in your back pocket!

That's all for now, but odds discussion will return in the future.Let us know if there's something you want us to delve into and we'll have a go (as long as the maths isn't too hard . . . )

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!