MESBG Cirith Ungol invades Osgiliath

 

It was another warm and sweaty Tuesday in the wargaming dojo and Nick had joined me for MESBG after about 3 weeks without a game. It was 700 points with Reclamation of Osgiliath versus Cirith Ungol. To my great shame, my Shelob was not on the new correct base size basically because GW can get fucked. 

Nick rolled up a scenario and got one with five equidistant objectives in the centre of the table. Our aim was to occupy the objectives and accrue victory points each round - more if we held each uncontested. 

Nick deployed in the centre and on his right while my forces were more evenly spread across the table ... but then again, I had 49 models to about 34 or 35.

Shelob, most famous spawn on Ungoliant, ranged about on my left together with 10 orcs led by a captain and the first of two banners. 

Shagrat, or 'Shaggers', was in the middle with 10 two handed weapon armed uruks. 

Faramir led one force mixed with tin cans, rangers and 2 knights. In their midst was an Osgiliath veteran or two.

Then, Big Bad Boromir had a more tanky army group. On the far end of Nick's line, Madril had a small group of 4 rangers. 

Evil sprang away advancing up the table. The usual tactic of making your opponent move first was in effect ... as is traditional in any game of MESBG. Shelob climbed a nearby barrow and threatened to charge knights or rangers. I wanted the knights dead as these could threaten my flanks and steal objectives. It was a mistake to put Shelob on the side of the terrain as it delayed her ability to charge by a turn as Nick would back away from the nasty arachnid. 

The armies advanced ready to push and shove over the objectives. Atop this image, my orc forces being to align and intermingle into two strong forces. My centre was thinning. 

The taskmaster cracked his whip to drive the orc maggots forward. 

My evil orcs began to crab across on both sides. This enables me to link up and mix Uruks and Orcs to try and take advantage of the animosity special rule (which I didn't do once all evening.) Also, it allowed my less well protected uruks to advance behind my wall of orcs - whose front line had marginally better defence. I didn't want my uruks dead from ranger fire. Moving slightly outward on each side formed my force into a pincer formation allowing me to claim the two outer objectives. 

The Minas Tirith warriors moved closer together to form a mighty battle line. Also, being closer allowed them to unite under the powerful effects of Boromir's banner. This choice would effect the course of the game. 

The orcs claimed the left objective uncontested and Shelob was now in the right place. A couple of arrows chinked harmlessly off her chitinous hide. However, soon several shafts would pierce the Orc Captain taking his fate point and one wound. 

The lines always look great in MESBG the moment before the big clash ... I matched the length of the Gondor line, positioning Uruks at each end of my Orc line. 

Madril's rangers assumed a commanding position on a steep hilltop, ready to rain down fire. My orcs were presented with a tough choice to ignore this small force as inconsequential or attack and drive it off. This orcish force was also threatened by two knights but it did have many more numbers directly on the right objective. Points were being amassed each turn. 

The centre of the battle was now formed. 

And the orcs charged ... Boromir was out of position for the first combat but soon moved to engage for the second and subsequent turns. Shagrat had charged directly into warriors. The Osgiliath forces had been forced into an 'L' shape to defend itself and maintain a shieldwall. At the top left of the image, the rangers of Faramir had fallen back to form up with the shieldwall. The orcs quickly engaged here, pouncing on the lowest defence value Osgiliath troops. 

Orcs leapt up to attack the rangers while others ringed the objective to keep the knights away. If they charged, orcs would swarm over and around them. It was here that Gorbag stayed all night. 

Ah, the MESBG drone captures the main battle. The Osgiliath forces were in defensive formation while Orcs attacked at all points seeking to work around the edges. Shelob had charged down to murder the knights while orcs killed the rangers. The evil left flank had been secured. 

Boromir battled on the end of the shieldwall. I really had no hope against this juggernaut of might, banner and horn. All I could do was slow his efforts. To this end, I engaged with a single orc then placed enough orcs around him to limit his kills to two per turn. 

It was then that the skies darkened as a thick fume from Mordor arose. At this, Orcs hurled themselves at the Osgiliath warriors and wicked scimitars cut down 3-4. This doesn't seem like much but it served to break up the battle line. For the next couple of turns, it felt like evil had the momentum with several initiative wins - and a roll off or two when heroic moves were called - allowing evil to press their advantage. 

Above shows the result. The shieldwall was broken open and Orcs surged through. Shagrat was an indomitable monster who slashed straight through the good line using a heroic combat. Boromir moved slightly away from the centre and the orcs enjoyed the absence of his banner's special power. 

At this time in the game, good seemed to be regularly losing warriors - not in a flurry but a steady drip that drained their army's life blood. Evil also lost warriors but had a much larger buffer to their morale tipping point. Superior numbers seemed to weigh heavily tipping the scales of battle. 

Orcs threw themselves over the rocks to kill the rangers but this had little effect. One knight threatened the objective but evil still contested it. Climbing the rocky slope protected them from the knights charge. Boromir fought to reduce orc numbers on this flank but even he lost a duel roll which only seemed to further dull his impact. 

Unfortunately, the arrows from the rangers had done little damage on this side. Many had targeted the orcish banners but to little avail. Now, the rangers fought for their lives and their archery fell silent. 

Faramir furiously yelled orders trying to reform the line and hold on against the vicious orcs. Steadily, orcs slew warriors. Now, without the shieldwall, the Osgiliath defence value was lower. The Orc captain and the Taskmaster joined the fray. Shagrat kept up his efforts regularly claiming life after life. Good losses were mounting. To the right side of the above image Shagrat can be seen, axe raised glorifying in carnage. 

Faramir was forced to engage Shagrat. I had feared facing Boromir but eagerly accepted the change to slay Faramir. I decided to heroic strike giving me the duel advantage and I subsequently won. Shagrat then rolled two sixes which doubled my wounds on Faramir who crumpled to the dust, his armour rent and sword broken. At the time, and even now, I'm not sure Nick did this correctly as Faramir did save one wound with his fate.(Actually, Nick has a better grasp of the rules than I, so he probably did do this properly.) Regardless, the killing power of Shagrat held me in thrall. 

On the far right of the above image, Boromir stands tall and undefeated. But, he was ringed by orc warriors who stood about in a checkered pattern to slow any of his heroic combat charges. Boromir had killed several orcs but this was not enough to deplete the forces of Cirith Ungol. 

Also, my forces on the left had demolished their opposition and now joined on the attack in the centre. At times, it was challenging to get all into the melee. Orcs gibbered and howled sensing victory. They were eager to despoil the corpses of their hated foes. 

The remaining warriors held onto the middle objective but three had now been claimed conclusively for evil and the other was constantly contested. Victory points were being steadily amassed. Also, good was reaching its break point for morale. Evil still had many soldiers to lose. The orcs would die for Sauron without question. 

Even the centre was lost and orcs amassed to kill the last few warriors to quarter the Osgiliath forces and claim victory. At this late hour, a veteran warrior plunged his spear into the heart of the Orc captain claiming his life. A nearby orc smirked at this opportunity for promotion ... 

By now, evil was out of might but the damage had been done. 

Boromir was ringed with orcs but was unable to fell a sufficient number of his foes. The rangers, likewise, had survived but their arrows had not proven deadly. Their swords were kept busy defending themselves rather than being able to launch a rear attack to threaten the right objective. 

Okay, these pictures are just gratuitous shots of Orcs hunting down the shattered remnants of the Osgiliath forces. The battle was now a foregone conclusion. 

With more surging forth and hacking down ... 

... the battle was now done. Boromir would cut a path out and ride back to the White Tower, but his forces were left dead on the field. Shelob was sated as she dragged the dying into the nearby woods. 

Good was quartered and the result was 13 vs 0 VPs (i think.) 

As Nick said at the end, it was a tough battle for his army with so many (5) objectives to try and cover. His army is great in choke points but their advantages do not favour wide coverage of the board. Cirith Ungol was able to form a pincer claiming objectives and attacking each end of the line. It could also monster the small forces on each side ... well, it didn't 'monster' the rangers but it did keep them busy for a limited investment of troops. 

As I reflected, evil seemed to claim the initiative at several pivotal times and won a couple of 'roll offs' when might was spent. Shelob and Shagrat were simply on a rampage of death. The Taskmaster saved around 3-4 might for the evil side stretching the expenditure of good resources to match evil's extra might bounty.

 

The below image really highlights the predicament of the Osgiliath forces. Evil matched their frontal combat numbers while striking at each end of their line, and the hinge, with significant forces to gain an objective. In the end, Boromir could only be in one place at one time and his effect was blunted. He simply can't cut down orcs and keep the line bolstered all at once. I was able to keep my heroes away from him allowing them to kill rank+file with impunity, dragging good toward their morale limits before being finally quartered. 

My only regrets were poor positioning of Shelob for a turn and being unable to get Gorbag into the fight. I should have used him to dislodge the rangers from the heights but he was useful in defending the right objective. I think my right hand banner placement also left something to be desired (or it may have just saved my orcs from dying quickly as they hurled themselves at the ranger defended rocky outcrop.)

MESBG wargaming again triumphed with a fun game. I really thought that the killing power of the Reclamation of Osgiliath (against Mordor specifically) combined with their higher FV and Boromir's banner (and a round of 'For Gondor') would be too much for my low defence force (most orcs were only D4 or D5.) This night, enough Strength 3 orc spear struck home and my heroes/monster accounted for around 12-14 dead. The rest seemed down to numbers, momentum, some effective placement and a friendly scenario for a horde of mediocre orcs.

MESBG Men of the West fight Black Gate

 

It was around SA 2100 when the last MESBG game was played at my wargaming dojo. It was a welcome return but I felt fragile. I selected the bludgeoning force, low might, low magic and few profiles of the Black Gate to sooth my return. 

I was up against Nick's Men of the West ... with just men and no eagles. Oh, Legolas was jiggering about somewhere ... 

I only had two battlegroups. The larger deployed in a central position, while the smaller, above, went to the left. This smaller force had the Mouth and a troll. 

Aragorn himself marched with some clanking tin cans. Elsewhere, Pippin and a guard hero (Beregond?) led another force. Legolam was jumping about like a right solo tool. 

The Black Gate went up the guts. The Troll Chieftain was concerned about Aragorn and waited behind the line to discerns his foe's movement. 

We got closer and closer ... 

The Men of the Tower were ready. 

Wait for it ....

Pow! I charged in. Going 2nd helped as Aragorn was out of the first round. One Man went down and no Orcs. Good start. 

When I catch the bastard eagle that took the above image ... Seriously, it shows the battle line. On the top (left flank) the Orcs had secured one objective. In the centre, they had grabbed a second. A whirling melee rages in the bottom (right flank.) Here the Men have secured the third objective. 

But, as only a hobbit and a Beregond (?) hold one flank, I shift the troll around to the centre. I secretly hoped to double team Aragorn with both trolls OR just smash tin cans. This is what the Troll Chieftain was engaged in atm. 

A few more men fell ... things looked good. The red marker at the back is an objective in possession of the Men of Minas Tirith. 

Orcs totally surrounded the two heroes on the left. But, they were beaten back with loss each time. 

The melee on the right now swung around and a succession of Orcs fell. At the very top of the image, Legolas has climbed the ruins and he peppered the Morannon battleline with arrows. He was actually pretty ineffective. My orc banner was his main target but this would eventually fall in combat. 

Aragorn killed a few Orcs then made the fatal choice to fight the troll leader. The other troll appeared just in time to reduce numbers against the troll, meaning it would be a general vs general fight. 

Both used might to strike up ... 

Aragorn staggered back ... less a couple of fate and might. The other troll began to hurl warriors around. He did this with deadly accuracy. One plugged Aragorn, knocking him prone. However, the opportunity escaped as Good won the priority and the heroic move roll off. 

The  Orc main line numbers had been greatly depleted, but so had the men. On the far right, one warrior is running away with the objective. 

Again and again, men and Orcs clashed. Then, Aragorn lost another duel and relentless rending blows tore his armour asunder and battered his body into a lifeless state. 

While certainly whittled, the Mouth finally wore down Pippin's fate and wounds while the orcs eventually cut down the Minas Tirith hero. 

And thereafter, men fell like corn stalks before the scythe. Aragorn's banner effect and fearlessness robbed them of many bonuses. His death exposed the men to the savage fury of the orcs and trolls - both of whom were completely unscathed. The Trolls collected many kills. The objective had now been dropped. 

And the Mouth had won on his side too. Two orcs had been furiously running for turns with the objectives. They hugged terrain to prevent Legolas's unerring volleys from cutting them down (this did happen once.) But, the men were too few to prevent the Black Gate from securing the objectives, quartering their opponent, killing the general and narrowly avoiding their own break point. It was a crushing win to the forces of the Dark Lord. 

Nick and I both had lots of fun. My trolls did good work but the Mouth's magic achieved nothing. The biggest disappointment of the night was Legolas. He only killed a couple (2-3) but, no doubt, in his next game he'll slaughter a whole battalion. Aragorn lost all his duels against the Troll Chieftain - who, in his defence, is a mightily, dangerous beast. The other troll killed 5 or 6 warriors by throwing them about. The Morannons probably were a little disappointing but did account for a number of warriors. 

MESBG supplies another great night of wargaming. Bring on the next one (which will be frustratingly delayed due to a mass of marking and family events for the next three weeks of Mad March!) 

ADLG Feudal Germans vs Seljuk Turk

This week was back to ADLG for a Medieval Feudal period fight. I was running Eastern Seljuk while Ian was running Germans. I out scouted him and chose to attack on plains. Some brush narrowed the battlefield on each side. I pressed up in turn 1 to slow his advances. 

On my left was my foot command - medium elite impact with an elephant - my Mussaphant! Two bases of HC bow swung out to the far left to flank. This command faced knights backed up with some foot of variable quality. As usual, Ian struggled to get his troops into a line. 

My centre was mostly HC bow but one cataphract and one bowmen mediocre did appear. 

Ah, my mussaphant! What deeds will you do tonight?

My right fanned out and rushed up at full speed. This was a mix of LC bow and MC bow. It faced Ian's homage to Richard I - a mass of crossbow support with heavy spear ... in one big blob. 

Frederick Barbarossa led the German heavy knights. 

ON the left, my HC bow flanked the Germans and faced down two bases of MC crossbow. 

Then Frederick lost his mind and charged the mussaphant. 

The centre stopped for a while as the Germans were confident their large block of crossbow would achieve serious wounds on the Seljuks. My light cavalry were pushed forward to absorb the blows. Unfortunately, my cataphract took an early bow wound then another when charged by knights. 

The right was working for me. My LC were flanking the whole line while others poured fire onto a plodding spear unit. The MC waited for a tasty flanks to present itself. 

And my mighty mussaphant ... dear Allah! It annihilated the elite knights of Christendom while the swordsmen did the same. Frederick narrowly escaped by a flanking charge was ready to employ. 

And yet the centre ... where the Germans had the advantage ... looked on with little action. The sultan did manage to rally a point from the cataphracts. They were back in the fight! 

The right progressed. My LC bow were closing on the German camp. 

Brown trousers time for Germany! The knights were dead, Frederick had fallen and now this marauding death star smashed into bowmen. 

The Germans in the centre pulled their finger out and charged but ... as you can see ... the double line formation of German foot simply could not deploy in such as way as to bring its power to bear. This totaled about 40-45% of the total German force. My HC bow in the centre were getting beaten ... but they had the strength to die slowly. This enabled me to press my advantage elsewhere. 

And the Sultan fell in battle. It had only lost him and one base of HC thus far. 

Then my centre was all gone ... I'd now lost 4 bases ... but Germany's damage was insurmountable. 

My right wing skirmishing continued quite well soaking up units that could be elsewhere. 

Look at the back ... the camp has received the sack!

And now the mussaphant crushed the bowmen utterly (with elite impact swordsmen friends) and this formation was not getting tucked into the German spear. In the far background, my HC bow had decimated two MC crossbow. Both German flanks were gone. 

Well, Germany held most of the centre but elsewhere their forces had been scattered and battered. Seljuk losses were about 55% of their 23 morale. The Germans were crushed. Their general killed (the sultan had died too) and their camp sacked. The death star of mussaphant and elite impact sword had been traumatisting. Frederick had charged directly into the teeth of a horrible threat and paid the highest price ... his life was forfeit and all his knights were dead. This exposed the underbelly of the German force which could only mount a piecemeal defence against a rampaging force of Turks. 

A typical horse archer army victory with wins on the flanks while losing the centre. You can never win without loss with the old horse archers. The German force had all the tools to beat my Seljuks but could not bring these forces to bear to their own advantage. Initial deployment did significant harm and the mussaphant fought as well as any such beastie can fight ... and they are very hit and miss in ADLG - which is exactly as they should be. The panic the mussaphant spread among the knights was a real slap that made them vulnerable to the charging foot. A victory that will be hard to repeat as the turbaned cat is most definitely out of the bag ... but then again ... such as deathstar is always a potent tool.