With a shrinking sense of enthusiasm, I played the Riddles in the Dark II tournament for MESBG. It was held locally and was a 500 (or 550) pt day with 4 intended games. I took Mordor ... almost Black Gate. The rules concerning army lists were a bit confusing with making up your own heroes - and lists too really as it turned out. Just think of a list, and a thinly veiled reason, and take it along.
I only invested 15 points on upgrading my heroes and, as it turned out, I was alone in doing this.
14 people played the day. Game 1 was against an all hero list ... the type of thing I just don't like in wargames. The game lasted an hour and much to everyone's surprise ... I won. I won't lie - the game just wasn't fun as my opponent had designed a list where he rolled dice each turn to get more abilities and might. There was a slight chance something 'bad' would happen but even these were things like 'charge the enemy' which he was going to do in any case.
It didn't bother me too much as I don't view such situations as actual games. It was more just for my opponent to kill some figures. I was just there to paint and supply an army for him to defeat. My input was not required. He stomped the shit out of my army BUT I had decided to run enough orcs at the objectives and well ... Sucked in hero-hammer dude, I won! (By the skin of my teeth but still ... my victory was a result tactics and actually investing in troops not heroes!)
These images are all game 1. Just try to spot the opposing army .. its fucking hard when you only deploy 4 figures and they're all heroes. Needless to say, I don't think I'll play a game like that again.
The game just wasn't fun as my opponent used boundless stores of might to totally control all priorities and heroic moves. Even if I won a roll, I then lost initiative due to some rule that he created for his over powered hero army. My only action of any note was my general killing just one of his models in the final turn of the game. This game illustrated the bad side of MESBG. However, this was not the rules but in the application of the lists. The result of a victory driven approach to gaming.
Game 2 was a Mordor grudge match. This was my favourite game ... and another lucky win. Why was this the best? Because I played against someone who took a fucking army and not heroes! My opponent was also very nice and knowledgeable - while I was rules careless and hung over. I got smashed with my army being 'quartered' which is MESBG speak for routed or broken in every other wargame ever written. This game showed the true limitations of trolls in MESBG. Not enough attack dice to win roll offs and too easy to simple tie up with one model.
My aim for the day was to try and work out how to use trolls. What did I discover? Trolls are shit.
The base size is too big and the wounds and attacks are too few. But, I listened all day to my opponents saying how scary they were. The experienced MESBG players seemed to know exactly how to blunt trolls on the battlefield.
(NOTE: In this game, my opponent also fielded a Mordor troll. He agreed, trolls are not worth the points.)
However, their trepidation prevented a serious threat to 'Vark the Insertor' my leader - all day! He saved this game by repeatedly throwing enemies at the opposing general until he died. Got me the win as my opponent didn't press the victory conditions. That's twice now a more knowledgeable opponent didn't press the objectives. They were just mesmerised with killing my troops.
MESBG is a very odd wargame that often involves getting a positive benefit from your army being routed at the right time. If you're ahead in the game, putting your figures in poor positions to die in combat, or fail a courage test, is actually good tactics. Who could invent such bullshit? Only Games Workshop.
But fun does lie within this game. The clash of battle lines (as I experienced in Game 2) really scratches a medieval itch. Game 2 was tactical and felt fun as it appeared I actually had a chance to win.
(I really didn't as my opponent was a lot better at MESBG than me - and I didn't have enough heroes. His three heroes cut a swathe of death through my army.)
And then Game 3 came along ...
Why the fuck would you put a river across the centre that was incredibly difficult to cross and only had one narrow ford and one single file bridge?
Answer = you want the small elite and/or missile heavy armies to win.
And guess what? That's what happened!
I used every might point I had to heroic march and rush the ford and get across. Then I lost 3-4 priorities losing the initiative OR had it ripped away when might was used. I tried using might too but I was seriously outclassed by an army that had 4 times the might I did.
Yep, I was facing another hero heavy force.
The smaller army formed a ring around the ford and just hacked the shit out of my army as it limped across piecemeal ... And my opponent talked about how threatening my trolls were as he won every fight and killed my whole army (except Vark the Insertor) for only 2-3 models lost. I didn't kill a single model until the last turns of the game.
Unfortunately, I felt like a useless appendage again. After those first turns of movement, I lost all player decision making ability. I stood trapped on the ford - my only large crossing point and died.
This game didn't even have the manners to end. It went on and on with only Vark the Insertor (my general) left. And still my opponent still had the might to rip any priority wins away.
But, somehow I walked away still enthused. My opponents were all nice guys - two of which just loved to create elite armies that robbed their opponents of the ability to take a turn. Everyone was helpful throughout the games (its easy to be positively disposed when your massacring the enemy.)
I still like MESBG. Despite being quartered in every game (I lost about 25 models out of 29 in all games) I won two games. I had spent the least on characters out of all players. The day also revealed that I still don't comprehend how to move my troops effectively especially when lines meet.
What does the day tell me? In MESBG, heroes matter far more than I would like and Trolls are shit.
I have a better understanding of troll use and limitations but I'm not sure the other games provided the learning experiences for troop tactics I was hoping to gain. It didn't seem to matter what I did - especially in game 1.
