Behold! I am Saruman, destroyer of worlds!

 

After a brief break, we were back to MESBG. My friend, Nick, looked for a way to enhance his Dunland army, which, thus far, had been flailing for success. As Arnor is a little one dimensional, I decided to give Army of the Great Eye a go for the first time. 

The scenario involved both sides being only around 6" apart and the deployment zone was situated diagonally across the battlefield. A single objective marker was at each end. Both sides had a couple of wargs to harry the back objective. Dunland had a hero on a horse and two crebain giving them a clear advantage in their ability to threaten the back objective. I had an advantage of about 7-8 figures, but these were mostly Mordor Orcs. I did have a troll but ... he turned out to be more trouble for me than the enemy. 

And then, of course, Nick had taken Saruman ... 

We set up ... as you can see a barricade separated the armies with lots of scatter terrain to stop the formation of a long battle line. This would inhibit the ability of Mordor to use their advantage in numbers in an meaningful way. The Orcs frothed in a rage to close with their foes - to no avail. 

More images of deployment. 

The game began with initiative falling to the Dunnish and they used this to fall back. I had a brief opportunity to launch my troll after my 'C' grade general wraith used a compel. I thought better of this as I had no way to support him with orcs. Much to my considerable anguish, I knew trolls were pathetic without support. They need a banner and flank guards at the least. 

Falling back was a great move from Nick and played directly into his strengths. Dunland had 5-6 archers while Mordor had none. Also, Saruman. 

The Destroyer of Worlds began by summoning lightning. This was made slightly more difficult by the close deployment allowable in this scenario. But retreating alleviated this problem and a bolt struck from the heavens killing 4-5 Orcs ... who were all my front shield-carrying battle line. This resulted in the left side of my army dangerously exposed as my rear line of Mordor Orcs are unable to take shields ... and Defence 4 is very vulnerable to everything. The lightning strike also wounded my Task Master and robbed him of his single fate point. 

Dunland did advance and ran toward Mordor's back objective. It was two identical warg riders each but Dunland had a crebain. If my Orcs could only hurl their javelins well ... 

Dunland continued to retreat. As shown above, more scatter terrain provided fairly good blocking features to guard their flanks and prevent the Mordor forces from establishing a single battle line. 

I run one group of Morannon Orcs around the side of the building and then I was "Saruman-ed" again. I called a heroic march - to speed my flankers advance - but Saruman summoned the winds halving my movement ACROSS THE ENTIRE BATTLEFIELD! 

This wind had the addtional effect of preventing my charge in the centre. I had drawn one Dunland warrior out with a compel and the troll was positioned to charge-barge then attack. This time he would have Orcish support but nothing could happen because of the wizardly gale. My Orcs again gnashed their teeth and cursed Dunland but, in fact, their own deep inadequacy was to blame. 

You recall I hoped I could throw javelins ... yep, I couldn't. Nick did with ease. Now the objective was held by one lone warg rider versus two and a crebain. 

These troops immediately obliged by buggering the single warg rider witless. 

Saruman's next trick was to make his entire army terrifying. I've already made my views on terror in MESBG pretty clear on this blog - it sucks! Good is immune to it and evil is vulnerable to it. With my terrible leadership of 7+ and 8+ it wasn't worth even trying to attack. This would only result in a piecemeal assault which could be surrounded and cut down. My Orcs quailed and, sensing the ebbing influence of their master, didn't even have the ferocity to wail and claw to show their disgust. It was becoming very clear Mordor was totally outclassed this day. 

By this point in the game, I'd lost about 8-9 models to Nick's 1-2. My number advantage was gone. 

Apart from Saruman transfixing the troll, Dunland had the initiative and charged in. Numbers were equal now and Mordor performs dreadfully in such situations - Orcs need some type of advantage as they are mostly terrible troops. The scatter terrain ensured that the warriors were lined up neatly. It was around this time Saruman gazed into his palantir ... he would have giggled looking at the massive pile of Mordor dead his army was soon to create ... but for now it simply enabled him to control the flow of the game by grasping the initiative. 

In desperation, I expended two might to try to create some combat advantages, but the 50/50 roll went against me. My Task Master failed to stop the might point expenditure and this meant I had only my Orcish Captain might remaining. 

The only good thing about the 'Army of the Great Eye' is ... you guessed it ... the Great Eye. This is a disappointing little 25mm marker than moves around the battlefield to aid Mordor acting as another banner. It radiates a -1 to leadership, which is entirely a joke as this army only has one real ability to make their enemy test courage - the terror causing compulsory wraith general. I also had a troll in this scenario - providing some hope this leadership reduction may prove beneficial. As long as you don't roll a '1', the Great Eye can bolster Mordor forces. The moment a '1' is rolled, your opponent can send it hurtling across the battlefield at double the speed it can advance. 

This is exactly what happened to the Eye as the battle lines met. 

Dunland's mounted hero - Thrydan - also decided he couldn't be arsed securing the objective (he didn't need to as my defending forces had already collapsed) and attacked the flank of my army. 

I felt okay about this as my Mordor Captain guarded the flank. He has good defence and a banner, ... a real physical banner ... not a flitting easily distracted Great Eye of a demi-god with ADHD either. 

With these advantages ... Thrydan buggered him in a single turn, inflicting around 8 wounds. 

There goes my might stores. 

Things were getting worse and I just needed my troll into the fray. I couldn't wait so pushed him up. This, unfortunately, was into the only Dunland hero I didn't want to fight - the Oathmaker. On paper, he isn't much but he does have heroic strength - making him a natural threat to a high defence troll. However, with my high fight value and three attacks I might be okay. Oh, if only I had that Great Eye marker that my army was named for ... 

The result ... the Oathmaker smashed my troll in a single turn of fighting! 

(Is anyone detecting a theme for the evening?)

With no other options, I had to run my general back to tackle the objective. This was likely a terrible decision as my magic could have helped in the main line fighting, but it felt like I had little choice. I was actually scared of Saruman's magic. I know from experience Istari can do nasty things to wraiths as I've had my Witch King almost banished a few times. That single wraith wound makes them feel extremely vulnerable to me. I can't say I ever feel confident about using a wraith and I avoid it whenever I can. This saddens me as I really love the Witch King character and the model. (And no, I'm not buying some impossible to store WK on fellbeast model to compensate.)

Now my line was attacked from the front and both ends. My Morannon attack on the flank had arrived but, after a variety of early casualties to the Orcish line, Dunland could easily slide enough troops over to match this force 1-to-1. When this happened last week, the superior FV, defence and decent strength of the Morannons chopped down the Dunnish men. 

Yep, the theme returned ... my Morannon's started to fall. 

Due to Nick's several retreats, the Dunland objective could not be threatened. He'd parked his entire army directly beside it. As he had the advantage in ranged troops, a MASSIVE magical advantage, more mounted troops and flyers ... I was forced to advance away from my objective exposing it to many of those factors.

More and more Orcs fell. I had lost about 17-18 to Dunland's 4. 

Sure, the wraith won the duel ... but did not wound to anything. He couldn't! Saruman can cast spells through the crebain like little feathery fax machines. The wizard had almost battlefield-spanning range on his spells. I expended will but, as the fights were going all to Dunland, Nick's might stores could be spent on more exotic things ... like heroic strikes, heroic strength and - in this case - heroic channeling. 

Oh, how the Orcs died and died and died. It was a total massacre. 

This raised another little beef with MESBG, which I have mentioned ... but a long time ago. The victory point total was only 8-0 in Nick's favour. This was in a battle he totally dominated. I didn't try to break any sooner - I'm a grognard at heart and can't bring myself to play that way - BUT if you were so inclined, you could manipulate a scenario you were losing to minimise losses or (if you were sufficiently sneaky) draw or even win. As far as I'm concerned, I should have lost 30-0. Because my force broke (and almost quartered) so fast, it limited the VPs he could attain. 

What can I say? I was outplayed and my army selection was poor based on the foe I played. Nick's withdrawal and timing of Saruman's skills had been battle changing. In many ways, I think Saruman's powers gave me no hope of victory. These powers completely enabled him to control the battle. 

As stated above, I had a narrow advantage in numbers but disadvantage in riders/flyers - making this scenario hard. I couldn't sit back to defend as Saruman's magic and Dunnish missile troops (the total lack of any missile troops from Mordor) would result in steady losses. Having 2-3 'honesty' bows wouldn't have made any difference. I also had a narrow pool of might and Dunland has copious low cost heroes which supply quite a bit. My expenditure of might was countered by Saruman's tricks. The scary thing was, Saruman did most of his damage without actually expending will points - he had a free one each turn just to show his total superiority. The high strength of the Dunland warriors finally paid off, especially against those exposed Mordor orcs. If the duel rolls turn in their direction, their high strength troops can leave gashes in their enemy lines. The Great Eye ... was a complete non-event. I think this marker/army ability integrates well with people taking the Black Num line - which causes terror. I don't have those troops. 

My selection of a troll was flawed as it had no defence against Saruman's transfix - which he could reliably do with free will points alone. I may been better off with Shelob as she has a store of will to defend herself against spells. Alternatively, no monster all take the maximum number of Morannon Orcs eliminating all Mordor Orcs. Overall, Arnor would have been a much better choice. 

But my main crime was ignorance. I had NO idea of what Saruman was capable of. I just thought he was an ordinary type of caster like the Witch King or Gandalf. All that weather shit caught me totally off guard. I know from experience, fantasy and sci-fi games rely on their players being dedicated enough to learn every aspect and combination of their enemy armies (FOW became like this toward the end of its popularity too.) I really couldn't be arsed to spend time reading about models I don't own. This ensures that I'll fall prey to such situations as I did last night, but I can live with that. 

As Nick said at the end, this wasn't even the optimal Isengard build. This only convinces me my armies (Angmar, Mordor, Arnor) don't stand the remotest chance of standing against such MESBG dominating forces.

Hillmen target crumbling Arnor

 

This week, those violent, vengeful Dunlendings were back for more invasion. This time, they struck north to hammer the tottering kingdom of Arnor. On their way, they heard of treasures which they raced to grab. Arvedui, king of Arnor, had also heard of these caches and determined to secure them for his land. 

The sides each had 600 pts and a mix of characters to aid achieving their aims. With deployment up to the centre line, each general seemed a bit uncertain about how aggressive to be. Dunland had more commands to stretch out deployment and they stacked their right flank.

Above, Arvedui's command has nothing before it - the Dunnish had used their higher commands well to stack their forces through effective deployment decisions. They would need to march hard to the relief of their centre and left. 

The combined commands of the Dunlendings made an impressive battle line with their order - a phrase not normally associated with these barbaric tribesmen. Two swarms of crebain flapped about in addition to their human forces. 

The central command was a body of riders for Dunland. This included their general. 

A crebain took the above image. It shows the three commands of Arnor evenly spread across the bottom of the image while the Dunnish are amassed on the left with the cavalry in the centre. A shallow stream divided the battlefield. This immediately have Arvedui the willies as his line are not known for their proficiency in the pool. 

With a blast of a warhorn, which no-one was actually carrying, the line surged forward promising death to people that rode horses - completely ignoring the fact their general was on a horse!

The small line of Arnor soldiers in the centre assessed the situation ... and began to draw back. 

The Dunnish riders urged their mounts into the centre. From here, they could fall on the sides of the Arnor centre before Arvedui's command could intervene in the battle. They rode around an ancient barrow which one flock of crebain had perched atop. 

While the Arnor centre moved back slowly, Malbeth didn't need his horoscope to figure out he needed to march quickly to form a more substantial battle line. 

The Arnor centre fell back then halted at the small mound that held the rearmost of the treasures. 

Acting with great rashness, Agardir (whose name shall henceforth be Agadoo) urged his mount into the centre. At first, he crashed into the Dunnish cavalry while they were in line. He slew his first opponent but in the following turn he was engulfed by the other cavalry. Both sides expended might but the Valar were not smiling this day on the reckless. 

I knew this was a bad move from the start but just had a rush of blood and decided to throw caution to the wind. To make matters worse, Agadoo was worth added victory points in this scenario as the most expensive non-general hero on my side. 

Thrydan called a heroic combat, slew one Arnorian knight who had ridden to the rescue, then hacked up Agadoo. A cloud passed over the sun and Agadoo knew his fate was at hand. He died under repeated axe blows from the furious Dunland chieftain. 

Arvedui had also used might to hurry his forces across and rescue the bold, but rash, Agadoo. His footmen did slay some riders but it was not enough. Note the Agadoo shaped hole in the centre of the picture. 

After this first rush of charge and counter charge, the meat and potatoes of the evening were about to be served. Above shows Arvedui has moved his band across while Thrydan and the remaining two Dunnish riders had withdrawn to threaten flanks and the objectives. 

Malbeth had now formed a sturdy battle line and soon would have even more help. 

The lines then clashed ... Arnor spears struck out rending gaps in the Dunnish line. The higher fight value led to many Arnor duel victories ... and the low Dunland defence saw their warriors dying with regularity. Alternatively, the high Arnor defence - further enhanced by their shield wall - meant Malbeth wasn't even using his foresight powers to save Arnorian lives. 

Oh yes ... and on the matter of Malbeth! Like some sort of Dr Strange, Malbeth was gazing into too many futures and totally forgot about his ability to use his points to manipulate the initiative order of each turn. What a dunce! Exactly when I realised this, I'm not sure, but the battle was quite progressed. After I realised this, poor old Dunland barely won an initiative as Arnor could dominate the flow of the game. 

For me, this is the time in all battles when MESBG looks the best! Its ability to recreate a Dark Age battle line donnybrook does the rules much credit in my eyes. 

Above is a key image for several reasons. The Arnor banner has moved into a much better position to influence the fight. Also, Arvedui has splashed into the stream to threaten the flank of the Dunnish line. He was screaming with fear and prodded by his soldiers spears to overcome his fear of the water. "Isildur" is often a battle cry but this time Arvedui screamed, "Not like fucking Isildur" as he stood in the placid stream. He was pale and shaking and highly motivated to get out of the water. 

Even though Arvedui wasn't knocked prone, I rolled a dice to see if he would be swept away on a 1. He wasn't. 

Also, at the top of the above image, a skirmish has renewed with Thrydan's cavalry re-emerging to attack a small group of Arnor soldiers and one of their last knights. This was a see-sawing struggle which Thrydan was slowing winning but the high defence of Arnor made this an inexorable process. 

Thrydan battled the dwindling central forces of Arnor. 

But then, I marched more in. The Crebain was threatened and I fed soldiers into the cavalry - always keeping 3 on Thrydan to activate the shield wall rule. Malbeth's manipulation of the initiative continually gave the infantry time to charge the cavalry - this denied the riders their cavalry advantages against infantry. Thrydan grew more and more impatient by these turns of fate and his inability to pierce the Arnorian shields. Unfortunately for Thrydan, he has spent all his available stores of might early in the game to slay Agadoo. 

The soldiers of Arnor are quite cheap (for what you get) and this drives up their model count. This is handy in situations such as the above. More troops are often on hand. 

The Arnor line was clearly winning the central fight. Some Arnorians fell as the game wore on but many more Dunnish warriors had perished on their spear blades. The Arnor line was extremely durable. Arvedui, perhaps still shaken from his little dip, was less than inspiring in the fray.  

The far left of the Arnor table saw little action. Two groups of two bowmen shot rather poorly at each other for some time. One Dunnish hobo lurked around their treasure mound. One Arnor knight repeatedly charged the crebain but for each bird he stabbed, more fluttered aside as he advanced. 

If you peer closely through your palantir, gentle reader, you'll see a small scuffle on the left side of a wood's edge. A small group of 4 Arnor footmen pressed the flank of the Dunnish line. At first Dunland could oppose their advance but, after several turns, they would threaten the rear of the line and push toward the objective.

Broken by the prolonged clash of battle lines, Dunland drew back to try and organise a better defence. Arnor, urged by shouts of Arvedui - trying to put his shameful behaviour at the babbling brook behind him - pressed in to the front and both sides. Now there was no escape. 

Key to this, rather surprisingly, was Arvedui. He finally found the sharp side of his sword and led a heroic combat to battered through to the Dunnish banner bearer who he easily slew. This sealed the rot for Dunland and their soldiers lost heart ... some literally. 

In their final push, Arnor lost several brave soldiers but the Dunnish forces were routed. By this stage, Arnor contested the objectve shown, but had complete control over all other objectives. Thrydan had fallen late in the game after the three Arnorian warriors finally bested his duel roll and multiple spear stabs rent his armour and found his heart. His fate, like Agadoo's before him, deserted him at the last exposing him to cruel death. His forces were but a husk of their initial martial strength. 

Arnor had suffered around 10 casualties but not enough to threaten their success. Although, their special hero was lost, and Arvedui has suffered a wound (your ward save, when finally needed, was pissweak you prognosticating punce, Malbeth!) all other sources of victory points had favoured Arnor. In the end, it was a significant victory to Arnor. 

The Arnorian plan had reacted well to the initial deployment problem but my use of cavalry left much to be desired. I also, perhaps for the second time, was too focussed on killing crebain. These flocks are not as tough but can prove problematic if let unchecked. Bowfire did little all game - for either force. Once the battle line was formed, Arnor has clear advantages over Dunland in FV and defence, mainly, but also could match their numbers. Dunland does have quite a few minor heroes but these didn't seem too effective in breaking down the Arnor soldiers. These heroes are difficult to kill and must fight well to keep the rigidity in the Dunnish line. 

Overall, the durability and numbers of Arnor were key. Malbeth's ability to gain the initiative also was important (once remembered) and his magic bubble didn't work today, but could easily add even more durability to Arnor. The list lacks a heavy hitter but today came up against a side with similar low to mid rank heroes. It was a good game but Arnor just seemed to have the advantages where it counted. Dunland acquitted itself better than its first outing but seems to be a problematic list through its low defence combined with an average fight value. However, their strength can be quite high (perhaps too generous a word ... ) so I'm sure, they'll have their day soon - something about wolves howling and shields breaking from memory. 

Gate Guardians attack Vengeful Hillmen

This week was a return to MESBG. I traveled up to Nick's house where he would be assaulting me with his new army of evil. With a muddled head (from a cold and some bad nights sleep) I grabbed the right armies but the wrong lists. This decided I would be fighting with Black Gate against Nick's army of legend - Dunland. 

I guess its easy to explain how the forces of Mordor might clash with an army nominally under the authority of Saruman ... so we progressed to find out who was more evil??? (600 pts BTW)

We were searching for artefacts ... there were six possible candidates and, no doubt, both sides were hoping for a ring shaped treasure. The Black Gate has an uninspiring deployment with three equal battles and the Beefy Chiefy up the guts!

The men of Dunland leaped forward and ... possessing the intelligence of a man, horse, crow and orc ... managed to pick up one artefact. 

The Orcs were a little slower trudging forward and arguing endlessly about which was more intelligent to take the test when their turn arrived. 

The Mouth lead his battalion up the left. The eagle eyed among you may have noticed a flock of crow like crows trying to stay quiet just over that small hillock in the distance. Despite being as intelligent as a orc (or man or horse) this flock never quite figured out its role in the battle. It did keep the Mouth back as a mobile reserve on crow patrol for much of the game. 

On the right, the Orcs - under the command of a captain - thumped forward toward another artefact. In the background another flock of clever crows flapped about. The random rabble of Hillmen squabbled about setting the wagon afire or just buggering off. They ended up doing neither. 

The Beefy Chiefy was squarely in the centre of the board and, with considerable bravdo, was daring anyone to come near him. He had picked up an impressive pile of rocks from the field he had just passed. No doubt the farmers would be quite pleased with his field clearing efforts ... if he hadn't eaten them just before the battle. The Mouth was matching the maneuvers of the crows in some sort of deeply mediocre tango. 

Then ... bang the gong, it was on! The Morannons had lined up very neatly and the Hillmen clearly hated them for it, so they decided to try and kill them. Unfortunately, their battle plan should have involved more about reactions to their own death as the Orcs rained a flurry of early kills into their formation. The Morannon +1 FV against men was working wonders. More than that, the S4 Orcs were hitting D4 or D5 at most. 

Oh, and another thing ... you recall those rocks that the Beefy Chiefy was so proud of? He kindly decided to share two of them with the Hillmen. The first obliterated the head of their standard bearer. The second thudded into a Dunish champion robbing him of both fate. 

Now begins a tale of animal cruelty. The Morannon captain clearly hated birds - of all types and configurations. This night he made it his personal mission to eradicated all bird life on the table. Further, his cruelty infected other Orcs who decided to kill all animal life thus proving their greater capacity for evil - in their minds. In truth, this only confirmed their rampant cruelty and desire to harm those with less power than themselves (... actually ... I think that is evil, isn't it?)

Fresh from throwing stones the troll now looked for someone to kill. He didn't have to wait long as the Dunland cavalry, flushed with aggression, charged the small group of Orcs to the left side of the troll. He obliged, stepping over the stones, to smash both man and horse with unmitigated violence (and a point of might = heroic combat.) In one fell swoop, much of the Dunnish left flank was gone. 

Orc continued to battle Crow. It was shameful really, a Captain of the Black Gate embroiled in a donnybrook with a flock of crows ... but the red mist had arisen for the orc. 

Soon, the Troll had moved back to the centre. Another point of might saw him killed another couple of archers. He would soon threaten the Dunnish commanders. 

The main battle raged in the centre of the table. The Dunland forces had drawn back after suffering heavy losses. Their gods had proved false this day, robbing them of vital luck, skill and killing power. Conversely, the Orcs were emboldened as if by the presence of the Necromancer himself. Almost two men fell for any Orc slain. 

The Mouth had given up on the crows and moved into to use his sorcery to transfix the opposing heroes. He weaved spells of such power and potency, consuming his considerable will ... that each was shrugged off by the Dunland heroes. This was probably the best outcome that their gods granted them all battle long. 

The Mouth charged, the Troll charged, the Orcs swarmed in ... blow rained down on Men. Many fell. Their heroes stood strong ... well not their general who was reduced to a smear on the Beefy Chiefy's bulbous club. Otherwise, one put a wound on a very surprised troll. 

In other regions of the field, Orcs fulfilled their animal hatred hacking down the remnants of their enemies. One group broke off to try and run into the opposing deployment zone - which would have secured another VP. 

The main thing that prevent this eventuality was the collapse of the Dunland army. The Orcs had been brutally efficient in their slaughter. Even the Bird Hating Captain emerged smeared with bird blood with feathers poking from his mouth. The other Orcs looked a little bemused and let down all at once. By the end, the Black Gate had gathered 5 out of 6 artefacts and killed the Dunnish general. 

In short ... well, it had been short. Nick had barely won a trick with the dice. He had kindly reminded me of my troll's ability to throw stones, and I had repaid him by immediately killing his standard bearer. He had killed 10 orcs (and the Mouth's horse ... bad night to be an animal) but his army had suffered far worse. The early losses came fast and weakened his line badly. Overall, Dunland seems a hard army to play. We had equal numbers but I had the advantage of FV and a troll that seemed unstoppable on this night. The Dunland warriors strength seems good but their defence is very low - and my Morannons S4 was able to bite through this flimsy armour. Also, lots and lots of dice rolls went my way throughout the night. 

I guess this again proves an old wargaming maxim ... newly painted models do not like to fight on their first outing. 

But also, Dunland, it seems, is going to take a bit of figuring out ... which is (often) another rule of wargaming - new armies require a bit of breaking in and figuring out.