Original Air Date: June 6, 2011
Apology: while archiving this blog post, I lost all the pictures - sorry, makes the post a little less awesome than it was. ~Tiberius
Apology: while archiving this blog post, I lost all the pictures - sorry, makes the post a little less awesome than it was. ~Tiberius
So Glenstorm and I had time for another battle a while ago, this time a small game between my recently victorious Goblins and his ardent men of Rohan. This was played during the same evening as a similar battle report, shown here. The fair-haired folk challenge the green skins in what can only be identified as...a bloody battle. Here are our combatants today:
The Denizens of Moria: 402 points
Durburz, Goblin King of Moria - 60 points
2 Cave Trolls with Troll chain and spear - 172 points
12 Goblin Warriors with shields - 60 points
12 Goblin Warriors with spears - 60 points
10 Goblin Warriors with Orc bows - 50 points
37 units, 10 bows + 2 throwing weapons, 1 hero
Defenders of the Westfold: 402 points
Eomer with horse, shield, and throwing spears - 95 points
3 Rohan Royal Guards with throwing spears - 36 points
8 Warriors of Rohan with shields - 56 points
6 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears - 54 points
5 Warriors of Rohan with bows - 35 points
1 Warrior of Rohan with banner - 31 points
Ally: Legolas with armor - 95 points
25 units, 4 bows + 7 throwing weapons, 1 hero
The scenario we will be playing is a To The Death game on a board that is 48" long by 48" wide. As described in a past To The Death game, we will roll to see where half of our army is placed: on the roll of a 1-3, the selected half of the army is placed within 3" of your selected board edge. On the roll of a 4+, the half of your army is placed within 18" and 24" of your board edge. We rolled to see which board edge was claimed by who and Glenstorm chose the side that had the largest wooded portion (see map later).
I don't have enough Goblins to make this work, so I've substituted some of Glenstorm's Mordor Orcs for Goblins. As Goblins die, I'll be removing the Orcs and replacing them with similar models, just so that the archery targeting is accurate as the game goes on. I also don't have enough Cave Trolls, so you'll see a blank base that is the proper size for a Cave Troll as another place marker. Should the visible (as opposed to "invisible") Cave Troll be killed first, he'll take the place of the invisible one.
I'll also just highlight that some of the pictures are sideways...haven't fixed that yet...
Turn 1: The Advance (Priority - Goblins)
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Both armies charge towards each other...nothing interesting. So...we'll take some time to look at a few formations and units for artistic pleasure.
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You can see that the Goblins have a huge battle line...hopefully this will keep them from getting flanked.
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Eomer charges boldly towards the center.
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Turn 2: Arrows Fly (P - tied, Rohan)
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Forces continue to move towards each other and the Rohan archers have stopped to prepare for archery. The Goblin archers are also ready to fire, since they can volley with their Orc bows.
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In the Shoot phase, two Rohan archers (behind the center rank) both manage to hit and wound (on 6s!) two Goblins with shields in the center of the rank. Legolas wounds one of the Cave Trolls (the invisible one). The Goblins respond by volleying and they kill one of the archers who slew a Goblin with shield. Vengeance!
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Kill count: Rohan 2, Goblins 1.
Turn 3: Forming Ranks (P - Goblins)
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The Goblins charge and volley, as they did before. They hit no one. Let's hope that Rohan isn't very effective in their archery phase...
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Eomer pays 2 Might points to wound the invisible troll again, and Legolas hits him automatically, but fails to wound him. Bummer. BUT...one of the archers beside Legolas hits and kills the Troll...epic end there as the Rohan warriors send up a shout of rejoicing.
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Kill count: Rohan 3, Goblins 1.
Turn 4: The Deep Breath...The Last Breath... (P - tied, Rohan)
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Rohan prepares for the Goblin advance and begins to fire against the ranks one last time. They kill 2 Goblins with shield and 1 Goblin with spear. The Goblins answer with...nothing. In combat, the Cave Troll wins and kills both of the guards he's fighting.
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Kill count: Rohan 6, Goblins 3.
Turn 5: A Rush of Men and Goblins (P - Goblins)
Charge! Unfortunately, there are many Rohan warriors, so the the Rohan are able to spread across my ranks and get past some of my swordsmen into the spearmen behind them. My Troll is also swarmed, which could be really bad. In the Shoot phase, the volleys of the Goblin archers are able to land a wound on Legolas (not saved by Fate). In response, Legolas pays a Might point (his first) to kill a Goblin with shield. The Rohan archers then kill the Goblin with spear behind him. A Rohan Warrior with throwing spear kills another Goblin with spear, bringing the total Goblin casualties so far to 9...ouch.
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In the Fight phase, Durburz calls a Heroic combat and kills his man (paying another Might point to kill him). He then charges into a nearby fight and kills that man too...good work.
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The Cave Troll wins his fight and kills only one Rohan Warrior with shield. Come on, you brute...
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In the other fights, the Goblins killed 2 Rohan Warriors with shields and 1 with spear.
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Kill count: Rohan 9, Goblins 9.
Turn 6: Reforming Ranks (P - Rohan)
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As the Rohan Warriors reform their ranks, a few charge, killing 1 Goblin with shield with a throwing spear.
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In the Fight phase, Eomer loses his fight and is dismounted (his horse got whacked), but rises to his feet. The Warriors of Rohan win most fights, but only kill 1 Goblin swordsman. The only other fight won by the Goblins this round was the Troll fight, but he failed to wound...miserably.
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In the Shoot phase for this round, the most interesting part of the turn happened: In the Shoot phase, the Rohan archers fire at Goblin spearmen, but it is Legolas who nails 2 Goblin spearmen this round. The Goblins respond by doing nothing...again. Time to get in close range.
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Kill count: Rohan 13, Goblins 9.
Turn 7: The Valiant Stand (P - Rohan)
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The Rohan charge the Goblins and kill 1 Goblin with shield with a throwing spear. During the Shoot phase, the Rohan kill a Goblin with spear.
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In the Fight phase, the Goblin beats the Royal guard, but fails to wound him. Eomer wins against the Troll and pays his last Might point to wound him.
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In the fights above, the Goblins kill 1 Rohan Warrior with shield and 1 with spear. In the other fights, the Rohan kill 2 Goblins with shield and the Goblins kill another Rohan warrior with shield. Durburz loses his fight but is not wounded.
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Kill count: Rohan 17, Goblins 12.
Turn 8: Death After Death (P - Goblins)
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Both forces are close to breaking and charge each other! In the Shoot phase, Legolas pays a Might point to kill a Goblin archer. In the Fight phase, the Goblin King kills a Rohan spearman, but the Goblin Warriors lost every fight...pity. BUT, the Cave Troll lands 1 wound (2 fate points failed) on Eomer.
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Kill count: Rohan 18, Goblins 13. The Rohan force is broken and the Goblins are 1 away from being broken.
Turn 9: Lots and Lots of Goblins (P - tied, Rohan)
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Legolas and Eomer both pass their Stand Fast rolls, allowing all but 2 of their friendly units (those two fled) to stay in the field. The Goblins try to overwhelm them as they anticipate needing to test on the following turn. The Cave Troll killed Eomer with his troll chain, which was really neat. In the Shoot phase, Legolas nails 1 Goblin archer. In the Fight phase, the Cave Troll kills the banner bearer and 2 Goblin spearmen kill the Rohan Royal Guard.
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Kill count: Rohan 19, Goblins 16. Both forces are now broken.
Turn 10: The Final Blow (P - Rohan)
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Legolas keeps the rest of the army together and calls a retreat. The Goblin King keeps his men in the field and they try to pursue. In the Shoot phase, the Goblin archers kill 2 Rohan archers.
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It was at this point that the Rohan were brought below 25% strength, making the Goblins victorious.
Conclusion
Assessment by Glenstorm:
Moria played very well. The twin set of trolls was harder to deal with than I initially thought, and my heroes were unable to bring them down. With most of Legolas's kills coming late in the game, Rohan found itself being torn apart by a larger, fiercer force. I'm still not completely sold on cavalry, but they may be a good investment, at least for getting around the battle lines and striking the weaker parts of the opposing battle line early in the game, coupled with a strong battle line to keep the enemy main formation from turning to assist them. Perhaps a longer battle line dotted with royal guards would do the trick....
Assessment by Tiberius:
The Goblins on the whole did well, considering how many troops they had. When my Goblin force is completed (hopefully December 2011), they will replace the invisible troll and the Orc warriors with Goblin Warriors and the Dark Marshal, bringing the total force size to 50 units at 501 points (with a Troll spear). Today's game showed me that I really like having a lot of Goblin warriors, especially archers. Though I've heard a lot of critique about them on forums and the like, the random factor that the archers could hit someone without fighting them is really, really nice. In the last round alone, the archers finished the game without a melee fight, killing 2 Rohan archers. I think I'll keep them...and I'm looking forward to when that number is increased to 15 archers and 16 swords and spears. As for the trolls, I was greatly impressed with how much damage they can take - and with two of them, at least one is likely to make it into combat.
Stellar unit for Rohan: Rohan Warrior with bow
Though the Rohan Warriors with bows killed approximately the same number of units as the Rohan Warriors with throwing spears (or a little less), their kills include dealing the final blow to the invisible Cave Troll. This not only provided double the number of points spent on the archers, but prevented two bludgeoning beasts from walking through the ranks of the Rohan warriors. Though their effectiveness through the rest of the battle may have been minor, their lethality early in the game deserves some special recognition.
Stellar unit for Goblins: Goblin Warrior with spear
As I've learned from fighting the Dwarves, spears are amazing weapons - probably my favorite item of all. Not only can they be used with shields (just not by the Goblins), but they allow more units to engage in a fight than would be able to otherwise. The Rohan tended to counter this well by engaging my spearmen around the flanks OR by throwing their weapons at my spearmen so they couldn't assist in the fight. Still, the spears did well whether supporting other units (namely Durburz) or fighting on their own.
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