MESBG Battle Report Arnor against Isengard

After a few weeks off, MESBG was back at 700 points - Isengard versus Arnor. I was playing the good guys and I'd long wanted to play Arnor. They had a good range of special rules and several interesting named characters that do not break the bank or cause opponents to question why they ever played wargames. 

In lore terms, this game made no fucking sense as Arnor was all dead long before Saruman went bad. I can only assume some form of Timewarp had occurred leading to this bizarre situation. Maybe two palantirs in one place resulted in a flux capacitor situation ... ???

My good friend, Nick, supplied the battle mat and scenery for this evening. He has some great looking Sarissa mdf buildings that he'd assembled. He put together a little market area within a medieval town. I particularly liked the slime covered roofs hinting at decay and sinister themes within this community. In MESBG terms, it may have been Tharbad. 

We played a scenario using 6 heirlooms laid in a hexagon pattern, 12 inches apart. Deployment was by maelstrom and the first to flip over the numbered tile had an advantage. Players rolled a dice to determine where their forces marched on. This provided some danger as a larger warband could monster a smaller one. Neither of us decided to do this. 

Isengard included Saurman on horse and a troll with around 5 berserkers. It was high points and lower model count. Nick had but two heroes although he did have about 6 crossbows. The Isengard rule that I find challenging is the 2/3 break point limit. This makes them a tough nut to crack fighting to the last. 

Arnor consisted of Arvedui, Malbeth, Agadoo and a captain. The Arnor pre-battle meeting can be seen above. In total there were 46 models including 10 rangers and 4 knights. Numbers were definitely on the side of good. 

With simply more warbands within the company, Arnor approached 4 of the heirloom markers. I decided to keep my knights at the rear to save for later purposes. My warriors ran forward to try to uncover the location of the heirloom. My 3 initial attempts to uncover it were not fruitful then Isengard found it on the left hand side of the table. 

This was quite fortunate as Arvedui's large command was in this area. Isengard could reach it first, by I could - and did - quickly charge to wrest it away. I also had many more warriors in this part of the table. Although the terrain offered limited spaces to deploy archers and lots of blocking terrain. For two armies with significant missile forces, shooting would play a limited effect in this game. 

Saruman searched in vain. 

The drone shot. On the left, a small Isengard force takes the objective. Their troll is nearby but would take two turns to become impactful. Crossbows held the centre and Saruman was on the right. Arnor forces were just beyond the left of the image with two groups of around 10-12 warriors at the bottom of the photo. They advanced cautiously looking for the best opportunity to commit. 

Arvedui ordered a charge. He had a banner and his own fighting skills to bolster his force. Here Arnor outnumbered the Orcs and, with a quick strike, could remove the objective from evil. I also began funneling warriors around to the left to support. 

The forces of Arnor slew several foes. Arvedui fought well slaying several. The troll loomed but as yet was impotent. The forces of good press back evil and threaten the model carrying the objective. 

My knight continued to wait for an opportunity. Would this prove to be an error?

Malbeth, his foresight throbbing, directed his troops toward a key choke point. From this stage, the central market square terrain would prove decisive. It limited bow shots and stopped the flow of Isengard troops forward - especially in coming turns. This would allow Arnor to move the objective to safety. 

Isengard repositions. Saruman swings around to the left while crossbows - and Rascu - hold the centre and try to shoot down Arnor warriors. The scatter terrain made this near impossible. 

Arnor continues to slowly bring warriors toward the front but delaying enough to force Isengard to commit. I was looking for a place to strike at the lower defence of the crossbowmen or lap around a side. 

The troll reaches combat. Agadoo sits off to the side looking for a chance to charge. 

And then it was a palantir battle with both Saruman and Arvedui looking deep into their crystal balls for the future. In this battle of the philosophers, Saruman won out. Then the might battles started with both sides throwing in heroic moves. Arnor won several duels, killing Isengard orcs, and isolating the objective carrier. Over several priorities, Arnor tied up Isengard's troops and this led to slow attrition. 

Arnors centre and right crept closer. With my left fully engaged it was time to throw in my remaining forces to stretch the smaller Isengard force and disallow them to concentrate their troops. 

The objective carrying orc fell and and Arnor warrior snatched it up, then ,protected by several warriors, began to fall back. Arvedui was left to hold back the tide, but he did still have 6-7 warriors to help - supported by a banner. He stood mightily thrusting back the forces of evil. A ray of  sun from the West fell upon this shining helm, bringing despair to the forces of Isengard. 

Saruman rode over to the main fight and hurled a sorcerous blast or two. One was willed away by Arvedui but another unhorsed Agadoo. Further transfix spells were thrown against the Arnor king. But he stood tall and regularly felled 1-2 orcs each turn. More than this, his 6 inch 'For the King' ability ensured warriors could charge the troll without courage tests - and they were also immune to Saruman's terrifying magics. 

Arnor warriors filled choke points while Arvedui held the line to prevent any evil forces pursuing the objective marker that was withdrawing in every turn. It soon was beyond the range of Isengard to strike at it. Rangers shots whizzed between market stalls trying to fell evil's banner with limited success. 

Malbeth's insight of the Eldar points were golden in this phase of the battle. It enabled around 3 key priority wins in the row. This allowed one off warrior attacks on the troll - tying it up - by also allowed Arnor warriors the chance to attack orcs advantageously. Isengard losses were mounting. 

Arvedui stands on a handy rock and brandishes his axe - hewing down the foe. 

Arnor holds back Isengard doing regular casualties. Evil's small model count was beginning to tell as was Arnor's high break point. We were in no danger of reaching 50% losses. In the foreground, Arnor warriors fought against berserkers supported by pike - a nasty combo. But, Malbeth - he who always knows exactly which card you drew from the deck - used his foresight powers to prevent the deaths of 4-5 warriors. This led to the continued repulsion of evil attacks, while steadily Isengard forces fell. 

Each of the Arnor heroes made important contributions to the victory. Agadoo fought alone against the troll and I wonder if, with his horse, he could have been even better. Oh well, Saruman left that nag a smoldering pile of dust not fit for the knackery. 

And now my forces from the right assailed the centre, striking into the lower defence of the crossbowmen. Saruman, growing desperate, strayed too close to the combat. 

The troll threw successive warriors at the Arnor banner. Low rolls provided protection from these attacks. The troll was under-performing. Meanwhile, Arvedui surged through the orcs before him and fought Saruman directly. In one turn, the king's axe struck multiple times forcing the wizard to spend all available fate. Agadoo engaged in several turns of combat against the troll - even having the audacity to wound it before he succumbed to its blows. 

By now, the small group of three Arnor warriors had escorted the objective far beyond the range of Isengard. Arvedui threatened Saruman and I still hard enough warriors to tie up the troll. The Isengard crossbow centre were all killed and the forces of my right were about to join the melee elsewhere. Arnor knights and rangers remained in reserve too. 

We called the game just after this image. Arnor was still 10 casualties away from breaking but Isengard had hit this point. Although it is difficult to press Isengard hard enough to reach  this point, at 66^ they are also close to routing too. I had lost Agadoo and expended most of my might, but Arnor was still strong with Arvedui still eager for more dueling. Saruman's fate was expended and he had lost a wound. 

In the final tally, it was a big win to Arnor. I had expected something much different as Isengard is a very powerful list. I suspect their strenght lies in orcs rather than trolls. Largely, it was terrain that played a part in victory, reducing the effectiveness of missiles and giving many choke points to prevent larger number attacks - but this did effect both sides. Having the objective appear at that place and time was unfortunate for the forces of Isengard. Arvedui's larger force was able to overwhelm and take it. Numbers again allowed Arnor to spirit this away and prevent breaking. The troll did not do its assigned tasks well - Malbeth's forsight points robbed his chances to be more impactful. Malbeth also did a good job in the centre with his magic aura. I made a couple of errors in missing another chance to strike down Saruman with Arvedui but that's my silly fault. 

Arnor is a very good army list ... that's my summation. 

 

MESBG Battle Report Angmar Versus Gondor

It is with a fading memory that I complete this post. Its been a long week at work ...

We played a scenario = name unknown. We had to cross the board to get troops and, hopefully, a hero into each other's corner. The game was 700 points and I was trying Angmar against a more established and experienced Gondor list. I find Angmar tricky as there are so many rules. Also, Angmar seems very dependent on your opponent failing courage and intelligence checks (by the way ... what a useless stat intelligence is. No wonder they canned it after the first couple of editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.) 

We lined up and I hoped to move into the corner on my left with my largest group while I held the centre with two groups and my final group would guard me corner. This would be difficult as I had no bows and few mounted troops. The Gondorians had a large mounted force led by Faramir. 

Gondor played a little cagey, holding their cavalry force in the centre for a couple of turns before shifting across to their left. This didn't open any opportunities for my foot force as - if I committed too early - the cavalry could just shift back and annihilate my forward elements. 

The Gondorian centre sat pretty still and peppered my line with fire. Sure, it wasn't that deadly but it did force movement from me due to potential threat. As numbers were pretty equal, I couldn't afford to lose many orcs as the average Angmar Orc is much inferior to a Gondorian tin can. 

The battlefield above showing both playing a thoughtful game. I moved one werewolf into a forward position to threaten. With a 10 inch move and the ability to charge without line of sight, these are effective threat causing troops. 

I moved my right flank around slowly. I planned to retreat to this choke point if the full force of enemy cavalry advanced. If not, I could come forward and receive support from my centre. 

Gondor decided to sit in a big blob and shoot. I cunning ploy. They could afford this as they had 6 bows to none. I would need to get closer if my magic was going to play an effect. Bows had a 2 foot range while magic has 1 foot at best. 

I brought up my left side. I couldn't over commit this force otherwise Gondor could swamp this easily. Gondor was playing the defensive game first. 

My centre force was ready to go either way. 

Then my spectre's drew a guardsman or two forward and Gondor came up. I didn't really see the point of this action - as the attack was piecemeal but it gave me what I was looking for. I committed my centre and left forces to attack. If I could kill 3-6 enemy, I would be ahead and with a better ratio of worthless orcs to useful Gondor warriors. 

Angmar's main trick is terror. As most of the Gondorian centre were citadel guard or fountain court guard with the bodyguard rule - they were essential fearless. There were 16 or so such models. This meant the whole main threat of my army was useless. Added to this, Nick rolled like a man possesses and almost no-one failed their courage test. All night, Denethor did not flunk a single insanity test. All up these results totally undermined the Angmar's army faction rules. 

I moved over on the right ready to overwhelm a mounted assault. 

Which was on its way ... 

Brace for it!

This now skips a bit. I failed completely to kill any Gondorians in the first centre fight. They poured troops in (the Gondor army only had around 5 troops less than I did!) and Angmar pulled back. Gondor advanced and I was happy to engaged them in this space. I had the Witch King, a Barrow Wight and an Orc captain all in the central space fighting. I also had a werewolf. 

We fought and ... I had the advantage but wasn't killing much at all. The reasons ... Angmar are bloody toothless. With poor FV and only strength 3 they need sixes upon sixes to cause any harm. And that's just not going to happen very often. 

The fight was long but Gondor often had the priority. I was forced to burn through might to try and seize the initiative. This sometimes worked but when Gondor won, my magic was useless. With poor melee hitting power, Angmar is forced to engage with the Witch King. This reduces his casting ability. The poor barrow wight was dropped without a single Paralyse being cast or wound caused in combat. What a joker!

The cavalry also attacked piecemeal. With superior numbers here, Angmar's chances looked good. 

But on the far left, Angmar was cut apart. Two regular tin cans killed a werewolf in a single round of combat. Orcs dropped ... like Orcs. 

As the spectres weren't doing anything (the Gondorian just didn't fail courage or intelligence tests tonight), they charged and did okay in combat. At least they had 'blades of the dead' and could wound on less than a 6. 

The Witch King won against Irolas but couldn't land a wound. Great fate rolls and a STR of only 4 meant wounding was unlikely. I wasted the Morgul Blade for no impact. 

Orcs and werewolves swarmed the Gondorian knights. In some cases, I had a four on one advantage. But this didn't matter as Angmar Orcs can't wound anything. Also, Faramir was an unstoppable beast. Honestly, I thought I was facing Boromir. In fact, he was fighting like Tulkas. In every duel, Faramir rolled a six. He probably killed 10-12 Orcs alone and a werewolf. I mopped up the cavalry but Faramir could do no wrong. He threw fistfuls of dice slaying left and right with a avalanche of fantastic rolls. I just stopped rolling in duels for quite a bit of the game. 

Orcs were falling fast, my might was gone and no Gondorian hero had suffered any wounds. I was down two werewolves, an Orc captain and a barrow wight plus I'd almost hit my break point. If this happened, I would lose all my forces outside those shown above. The night had turned to mush with all my attacks leading to little (I had killed about 16 Gondorians which was heartening.) 

But, it had been a long week and I couldn't face the 6-storm of Faramir's dice any longer. I pulled the pin. 

Angmar just felt entirely without threat and unable to wound its foe. Nick's Gondor forces totally ignored my Terror causing faction abilities and my FV and STR were just poor in comparison to troops I barely outnumbered. Two of my werewolves had died on first impact and had largely done little. While I felt I'd engaged in three large combats with an advantage, I didn't have much to show for it. 

It was a shitty night to fight for Angmar. 

So what do I think? Angmar is a bit of a pain in the arse. Many of their abilities require the enemy to fail courage or intelligence rolls rather than supplying an inherent advantage (eg: like the Black Gate's +1 FV vs Men.) The faction abilities can be easily bypassed with simple army list choices. The army itself has so many rules and miniatures with abilities remembering it all on a weekday after work is just a headache. Compared to my recent games with Minas Morgul and the Black Gate ... this force just feels weak and bothersome. Those other armies can really hurt their foes. Angmar does a bit of ineffectual, annoying stuff then bends over and gets pumped in combat. 

While I wouldn't say I'm done with Angmar (I do love the lore and theme of the army), this is not a force to take if your feeling frustrated or seeking a relaxing game. It operates in a surgical manner, that often does not come off, and requires patience. 

Playing Angmar builds resilence ... or hastens heart attacks ... I'm not sure which. 

MESBG Battle Report - Osgiliath Under Black Gate Assault

 

Last night saw a 700 point between the Army of Osgiliath, led by the Wonder Twins (shown below), and the forces of the Black Gate. The only real feature of the Black Gate was the inclusion of a Task Master. Otherwise the list was the compulsory heroes with as many Morannon Orcs as possible. The Gondorian forces included but two cavalry, which did sterling work, a good smattering of rangers, a few veterans then some tin cans. 

(Not sure which is Faramir ... nah, I think we all do.)

The scenario was out of a book I don't have but consisted of three objectives across the centre. Points were gained for having heroes close to the objectives by the end of the game ... which, of course, was reached when someone was quartered. 

In what was revolutionary strategy in an MESBG game, I won first turn priority and chose to actually keep it. With this, I spent a point of might to heroic march and shuffled down the middle of the battlefield (see image #1 above) as fast as our misshapen orcs legs could carry us. I know, I'm a modern Pyrrhus! 

The Black Gate kept up this bold strategy while taking a faceful of arrows from the rangers. This produced a lot more hits than it did wounds and only around 2-3 orcs fell to this arrow storm (around 10 shots per turn really.) 

"Up the guts!" cried the troll chieftain. 

Boromir, with the large force of Osgiliath veterans, liked the look of the smaller force of Orcs led by the Mouth of Sauron. The Mouth simply obeyed the troll, and went 'up the guts.'

The Troll was thinking about breaking off toward Boromir's force but really didn't want to contact the Wonder Twin with infinity might. He wanted to just crush the rank and file. I was betting I could kill the Gondorians faster than they could kill me and I had a slight number advantage. With one more hero, I hoped I could gain the objective advantage. 

Then, it was on. The battle lines met and foes began to fall. Losses mounted on each side but with a slight advantage to the Black Gate. Morannon Orc Strength 4 and defence 6 was paying off, as was the added FV gained by dueling men. Even the Mouth charged ... but did nothing. His main purpose is to Transfix Boromir at key moments (which happened but once - he's no Mandrake.) 

By now, the Task Master was beginning to really pay off. After the first failed roll, the Task Master stayed with 6 inches of the Mouth, and Troll, and ended up saving around 5 might for the game. With these I called more heroic moves - and an occasional heroic combat, forcing the Wonder Twins to tap into their enormous stores. But today, the sun shone too bright and even might did not lead to evil winning the ascendancy in such tight rolls. 

The Troll would have dearly loved to throw a warrior at Boromir knocking him from his horse but, in my head, I thought I would need to pass 'in the way tests' for a thrown person. Pays to check the rules, and I didn't - to my detriment. 

Above shows the two battle lines clashing. The troll made his way around the back, trying to strike down supports alleviating threats to the orcs front line. Blows rained down on each side and many fell. Boromir's standard is truly horrific to fight against with its large area and tipping the scales when FV duel rolls are drawn. Added to this, the Osgiliath veterans +1 to wound against Mordor meant the Gondorians were just as lethal as the Morannons with their Strength of 4. 

The Task Master ... what an Orc. After one game, I adore him. (No doubt he'll brutally kick me in the nuts in the next game ... I'll still persevere.)

The knights rode around the back sniping away at any stragglers. On many occasions, I thought I had thrown enough orcs to do them harm only to be disappointed. Again, these are a ripe target for the troll, throwing enemies in combat, and I should have done this earlier to save me later pain. 

Increasingly, all sense of battle lines was being lost and a churning melee broke out. Boromir was everywhere and his banner was leading to many losses ... but the orcs also slew their foes. Numbers of Gondorian dead reached their break point. 

Boromir used successive heroic combats to kill an orc and then charge the Troll. The Troll was unscathed despite these attacks and soon it would claim Boromir's horse. (I wish I'd done that a LOT sooner greatly limiting the heroes ability to influence combats.) The heroic combat rolls were going the way of Boromir quite often. This mitigated the trolls damage potential. 

Faramir's command was being cut apart. They were surrounded by bloodthirsty orcs who spared not one soul ... save Faramir who barely lost a duel roll and has more fate than an ent has leaves. 

On the other flank the opposite was occurring. The rangers stood in manly fashion and slew their foes. Although numbers here had been roughly even, the rangers proved to be deadly. The orcs pictured above were soon finished off. 

The victorious orcs from the centre charged across to take out this small force. I felt that killing rangers should be easy with their low defence. On this left side, this was not the case. Damrod, or some other minor ranger hero, stood defiant on the objective. This required attention. 

Then, Boromir charged the Mouth. Also, Faramir fought desperately - and very successfully against a Morannon Captain and 3-4 orcs. It was here that the Wonder Twins began to trade off points to the benefit of both. The Task Master watched on, sticking to his objective in the centre of the table. A hail of arrows aimed at him was prevented by a low stone wall (not picture above.) 

As Boromir moved away, the men now were being cut down. I regret not pointing the Troll at the cavalry but I was thinking about claiming the right objective. The Osgiliath Reclaimed break had arrived and their quartered level was rapidly approaching. The knights continued to fend off any attacks and strike down some foes.

Then I did something I slightly regret. The Troll chieftain fought Boromir. With massive stores of fate and might, realistically I stood little chance at killing him. I gave it a damn good go by inflicting two wounds. Boromir staggered back not broken. I guess this did stop him from killing anyone else. Without his horse, and with little support, I felt that the troll had the upper hand. Again, Wonder Twin powers prevent death. This was mainly due to Faramir not needed any Fate (or might) as he was winning all his combats. 

Now both forces were low but the Men would be quartered first. In a final turn flurry, a knight charged and slew the Task Master and Faramir cut down my Morannan Captain. Just like that, the Black Gate was broken (doesn't mean the same in MESBG as ANY other wargame - only means half casualties) but the game was done. The Troll Chieftain had positioned himself close to the central objective. The left objective looked like it would be claimed for good but the ranger hero fled after failing a leadership test. It would be a victory to evil by 6 points to 2. The wounds to Boromir, quartering the foe and holding one objective decided the game. 

As the above lithograph indicates, it was a torrid battle of considerable blood letting. The Black Gate had lost - neatly - half their forces. Good suffered worse. The Troll remains a beast and the Mouth of Sauron proved an able defender - even thought he didn't kill much in this game. In terms of magic, he was limited from less priority wins and, as Boromir charged him, he was unable to use his tranfix at key moments. He didn't die though and that's something. 

The Task Master was a beast ... not in combat ... but did great work buffing (?) the forces of evil with extra might. He was worth 4-6 might to our side and that was significant. I really like the Black Gate list and have learned to value the troops (I'm looking at you Morannons) that performed so badly for so many games but are now frightful beasts in combat. Its a great one dimensional list that I love for week night play when the brain is a little too tired for complex strategy. 

But, with new models painted, I need to summon my Angmar forces once more from the frozen north ... and that will be a challenge to remember all the special rules. (And will likely involve chucking out a lot of pissweak powers - easily resisted - then trying to kill much superior warriors with shit-house orcs. Ah, if the Angmar lore wasn't so appealing ... would anyone play them? Certainly no-one who needs a shorter game length.)