An MESBG Trollskin Blanket

After several weeks away from gaming, and with a tournament fast approaching, Nick and I finally got a game in with our intended lists. 

It was Isengard vs Mordor at around 500 points. 

My army consisted of a Troll chieftain, leading 14 Morannon Orcs, and a Morannon Captain, leading a Troll and 8 Mordor orcs. There was one warg rider - who might try to grab and objective. 

Both Nick and I thought the double trolls would be very hard to stop ... oh how wrong we were. 

This game really showed the strength of Isengard ... or my continued tactical inability to make decent decisions in MESBG. Also, my lack of understanding in just how trolls worked. 

We played a scenario with objectives .. but I'm damned if I remember what it was. It really didn't matter in the end. There were actually two games this evening ... both were very short. 

My Mordor forces were absolutely massacred each time. 

The above game was so short, I didn't get any snaps past deployment. My trolls were smashed by Uruk heroes, beserkers and pike support. With all these models, Nick was rolling 6 or so dice in the duel rolls. Trolls roll only three, so I basically had to roll a six each time to be in the race. 

I wasn't in any race ... 

The second game, I tried to deploy up in the grill of Isengard to get away from the nasty STR 4 crossbows. It didn't work either. 

My Troll chieftain was out-rolled in duels (again - the enormous troll base size means smaller models can pile in and gets lots of dice in the duel.) Most often, the small models get a six and the troll doesn't. 

There are my trolls - above and below - looking menacing and doing absolutely fucking nothing. 

I think one of them killed an orc. WOW! Thats 240 points for 10. What a trade!

The beserkers are very deadly as well as the high fight, strength and defence of the uruks. My Mordor Orcs and Morannons are outmatched in every category. 

This game also ended very soon. But I quite like two games in one night. I do enjoy smaller points games. But, it was pretty sobering getting boxed so emphatically in both games. Isengard are tough, Nick positions his troops better than I do, and I can't use trolls. 

This didn't bode well for the coming weekend of the Riddles in the Dark 2 competition.