Original Air Date: April 30, 2011
So today, I'm playing with my Goblins against my Dwarves. Don't know what the rules will be, but this should be interesting.
The Goblins of Moria: 261 points
Durburz, Goblin King of Moria - 60 points
2 Cave Trolls with troll chain and spear - 86 points
8 Goblin Warriors with shields - 40 points
8 Goblin Warriors with spears - 40 points
7 Goblin Warriors with shortbows - 35 points
25 units, 7 shortbows, 1 hero
Host of Erebor: 261 points
Balin, Son of Fundin with Durin's Axe - 95 points
8 Dwarf Warriors with shields - 72 points
6 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows - 54 points
5 Dwarf Warriors with two-handed weapons - 40 points
20 units, 6 Dwarf bows + 1 throwing weapon, 1 hero
We rolled to see what scenario we would play and today's scenario is a Storm the Camp game on a board that is 24" long by 24" wide. There are three bridges of varying types and styles, but they allow 1-2 units to cross over (the middle one can't be crossed by a unit whose base is bigger than 25mm). Each force has a "camp," which is 6" from a certain corner of the map, selected by starting positions. The game is won when a player has more of his own units than his opponent has units in his own base. If both bases are "captured" in the same turn, the game is a draw. You can see how each army decided to form up on the map below:
 |
The Dwarves win the roll-off and select the northwest corner. This will leave my Goblins with the southeast corner and priority.
|
Turn 1: Pouring Forth (Priority - Goblins)
 |
Both armies charge towards each other. In this sort of blurry picture, you can see an army of Goblins and a Cave Troll preparing to attack the Dwarves. In the Shoot phase, a Dwarf archer killed a Goblin with shield (the one closest to the bottom of the screen).
|
Kill count: Goblins 0/20, Dwarves 1/25.
Turn 2: Resounding Arms (P - Dwarves)
 |
As you can see, the battle is officially raging now with units in combat! During the Shoot phase, the Dwarf archers managed to only kill 1 Goblin spearman (near Durburz). The Goblins again fail to kill any.
|
 |
During the Fight phase, Balin calls a heroic combat. He kills his opponent easily and continues on towards the spearman. It is no surprise that he killed him too...
|
 |
In the rest of the fights, the Dwarves on the northern bridge shield against their foes and win decisively. In the fight with the Cave Troll, the two Dwarf warriors manage to win their fight and barely fail to wound the troll.
|
Kill count: Goblins 0/20, Dwarves 4/25.
Turn 3: The Momentum Stalls (P - Dwarves)
 |
The armies continue to clash and the Dwarves have the advantage in the north. During the Shoot phase, the Dwarf archers failed to hit any targets, while a Goblin archer did a sniper shot (6 to hit, 6 to wound) against a Dwarf with two-handed weapon (one near the troll).
|
 |
Balin calls another heroic combat, but is forced to pay his last Might point to win the fight (he wounds the enemy Goblin easily). Balin then loses his fight with the spearman near him (is not wounded) and the Dwarf with two-handed weapon is killed by the Goblin he is fighting (6 to win the fight, 6 to wound).
|
 |
At the northern bridge, both Dwarves lose and the one with red hair (bottom of the screen) is killed. This gives the Goblins a slight advantage in numbers near the Dwarf camp.
|
 |
The Cave Troll wins his fight and kills one of his Dwarf opponents and in the south, two Dwarves won by shielding, one Dwarf lost and was not killed, while the Goblin King slew his foe (without rolling for spear support...sometimes it doesn't matter if I'm forgetful).
|
Kill count: Goblins 5/20, Dwarves 5/25. Both armies have now lost around 20% of their starting force. Though a broken force only means that your units may flee the field, a major victory is won if your force is not broken by the time you take the enemy camp.
Turn 4: The Counter Rush...Of Fools (P - Goblins!)
 |
The Goblins begin to charge on all fronts, seeing their opportunity for success and glory. One spearman ties down Balin for a turn (see close-up picture later), while his swordsman friend makes a mad dash for victory. This mad dash was cut short during the Shoot phase, as a keen-eyed Dwarf archer sent a bodkin arrow straight into his belly, piercing his armor (5 to hit, 6 to kill). In the Fight phase, the Goblin King killed his opponent, but none of the other Goblins succeeded in wounding their opponents (the center Dwarf won his fight by shielding, so those Goblins were sent backwards with their tails between their legs).
|
 |
The Cave Troll manages to win his fight and kills the two-handed axeman he was facing. Unfortunately, he must still take out the Dwarf with shield who he has been fighting for 3 turns now.
|
 |
It should not surprise anyone that Balin killed this spearman. Of course, to be fair to the spearman, he did tie Balin on a 4 to win the fight...before getting cut into several pieces.
|
 |
On the northern bridge, the Goblins manage to kill the Dwarf with two-handed weapon. They failed to win the fight against the Dwarf with shield, but his killing stroke fell short of his opponent.
|
Kill count: Goblins 8/20, Dwarves 7/25. The Dwarves are 2 units away from breaking and the Goblins have a healthy 6 units before breaking. As it stands, the Goblins may be able to pass by the Dwarves on the northern bridge and get into the camp.
Turn 5: Hard Pressed (P - Dwarves)
 |
The Goblins press the Dwarves on all fronts. Balin is fighting an archer in the map above...I'll go ahead and say that he killed that archer.
|
 |
The Dwarf archer spies the Goblin with spear at the top of the picture and nails him in the head. The other Dwarves win their fights (one by shielding) and the two-handed axeman kill his opponent with a mighty blow.
|
 |
The Goblin King managed to kill his opponent, the Dwarf in the center lost but was not wounded, and the Dwarf archer won his fight and killed his opponent. The Dwarf archer at the top-right of the picture was killed in the Shoot phase.
|
Kill count: Goblins 10/20, Dwarves 11/25. The Dwarves are broken and the Goblins are 2 units away from being broken too.
Turn 6: Race to the Finish (P - Goblins)
 |
The Goblins charge most of the Dwarves. The only ones who do not need to test this round is Balin (who passes), the archer at the north bridge (who fled), and the 3 archers on the rock (who passed). The reason that this is the only picture is...nobody killed anyone this round. I'm sure this will change in a moment.
|
Kill count: Goblins 10/19, Dwarves 11/25.
Turn 7: Pressing The Camps (P - Dwarves)
 |
The Dwarves pass all their courage tests and those in the north race towards their camp. Balin is forced to charge one of the Goblins on the extremity of the camp and has attracted the attention of 6 Goblins. I'm sure he can probably cut his way through them, but I want him outnumbered there for as long as possible. During this round, the Goblin King killed the archer he was fighting, but nothing else of importance happened.
|
Kill count: Goblins 11/19, Dwarves 11/25.
Turn 8: The Hammer Falls (P - Goblins!)
 |
As of the Move phase, only two units are within 6" of the Dwarf base: a two-handed axeman and the troll he is fighting. Balin killed a Goblin archer with his throwing axe and then went on to kill one of the two archers he was fighting in the Fight phase, but this was not enough to win the game, since the Cave Troll smashed his opponent and killed him, winning the game for the Goblins. The other two Dwarves won their fights, by the way, but both shielded. On a side note, one Dwarf archer fled this round...he is wearing the "Iron Collar of Shame."
|
Kill count: Goblins 12/18, Dwarves 13/25. Just before losing the game, the Dwarves broke the Goblin force, ceding them only a minor victory.
Conclusion:
Assessment by Gaius:
The Dwarves lost a lot of units in the north...something I wasn't expecting to happen. I was also hoping that Balin wouldn't be bogged down so much, but all told, I think most of this scenario went well. For the first time, we had a bridge that limited combat to one unit ranks...which was kinda neat. I'm surprised that the Dwarves in the south held for as long as they did, but my primary focus was to squish the large force of Goblins that threatened the base early and then take that mass of troops to draw back their other Goblins back to their base. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Assessment by Tiberius:
This game was a close call for the Goblins. If we had lost a few more Goblins before the final turn, much of the attack force could have fled, seeing as the Dwarves won priority and would have charged the Goblin King. With the northern Goblins fleeing (and probably the Troll too, given my past experience with him), the game would have dragged, leaving Balin to crush the resistance in my base and freeing up other Dwarves to help in the south.
Stellar unit for Goblins: Goblin Warrior with Orc Bow
There's something about archers that occasionally pays off well. In this game, they only killed 2 or 3 units, but they were helpful in slowing down Balin (because they are expendable) and they also nailed Dwarves who were standing in defense of the other units.
Stellar unit for Dwarves: Dwarf Warrior with Shield
For starters, these guys can slow down Cave Trolls, since their defense is higher than the Cave Troll's strength value. This not only kept a Dwarf with shield against the Troll for 4 turns, but also bought valuable time for Balin to hammer through Goblins. In the fights against the Goblin King, the high defense value of these Dwarves (wounded on a 6) kept him from calling Heroic combats, which he's learned from past games never to do. This also kept the Dwarves from being swarmed, which was great.
No comments:
Post a Comment