MESBG Christmas Lists, List #3: Angmar

Good morning gamers,

Tiberius: Our Christmas list today is from long-time friend of the blog and Aussie-tournament-winning phenomenon Sharbie from the Against All Odds blog (watch for updates from him in the side-bar or just follow his blog). Sharbie's been playing with a lot of nasty things on the table over the past year (mostly of the big, high-powered monster variety) and today he brings us a list featuring Angmar and the dreaded glass-cannon Gûlavhar - whatcha got for us today, Sharbie?

• The Witch-King of Angmar on horse with the Crown of Morgul and 3M/12W/2F [AL]
• 6 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 6 Angmar Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with Orc bow
• 1 Dead Marsh Spectre
• 1 Wild Warg
• Gûlavhar, the Terror of Arnor
• 6 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with spear and banner
• 1 Angmar Warg Rider with throwing spears
• 1 Dead Marsh Spectre
• Barrow-Wight
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Wild Warg
• Orc Captain on Warg
• 1 Wild Warg
• 1 Angmar Warg Rider with shield

750 points, 46 models, 1 Orc bow hitting on a 5+ AND 1 throwing spear hitting on a 5+, 2 D6+ models, 4 cavalry + 1 flyer + 3 fast infantry, 8 Might

Check out Sharbie's articles on Gûlavhar at the end of the post!

Sharbie: This list is hardly unique or original: variants of it have won many a tournament, and it's mostly a particular spin on a standard recipe. However, I wanted to showcase it anyway for three reasons. First, it's been easily my most successful tournament list. I've won a lot of games and several events with variants of it, and it deserves some credit for those.

MESBG Christmas Lists, List #2: Isengard

Good morning gamers,

Tiberius: One of my favorite blogs to read (both when they post new things and when I need inspiration from their older content) is the Drawn Combat blog - those guys over there are amazing and I've really enjoyed their "500 under 50" series, as well as the lovely conversion work they do. If you haven't found their blog yet - you should read what they have (it's all awesome) and if possible, attend their Valourbowl tournaments that they run (proceeds go to charity). It is my great pleasure to share with you today a list from Drawn Combat's Dan Stu - take it away, Dan!

Dan: My favourite list from this year was the list I took to Harry Parkhill’s ‘Lord of the Imps’ 805pt tournament in Lincoln. It was my second time attending, and I’ll be sure to go back again next year.

The tournament brings a particular list-building quirk; at the end of the first day, your army’s leader dies along with their warband, to be replaced your nominated Lieutenant who becomes the leader for day 2. This leaves a points gap which can be filled by adding in warbands or warriors. The format shakes things up and encourages a strong emphasis on theme, with lots of people – myself included – bringing armies they’d never normally consider.

MESBG Christmas Lists, List #1: The Host of the Dragon Emperor . . . Revamped?

Good morning gamers,

Tiberius: We're doing something special for Christmas this year - I reached out to people across the international SBG community, and asked them to pass along a "Christmas list" that they ran this year and what they liked about it. The gentleman who is providing our first list needs no introduction (but I'm giving him one anyway): if you've interacted at all with the SBG podcasting community or spent any time at all on the GBHL Facebook page or their website, you know the name Harry Parkhill. Yes, it's the Ent, the myth, the Legend himself, bringing us a very fun take on a very dominant list in SBG right now - take it away, Harry!

Harry: On the first day of advent, SBG game to me . . . "an army of Red and Gold a-gleam . . ."

It was March when I took my Dragon Emperor on his last outing before retirement. Clearly the fearsome general is an imposing sight on the tabletop, regularly reaching top tables and winning tournaments for the formerly pitiful Easterlings. The poor souls in Red and Gold had been unloved by so many for so long but the arrival of Rutabi, Brorgir, Acolytes and the Emperor changed that for certain.

Nemesis: How to Fight Against the Goblin King

Good morning gamers,

Today is our last post (for now) in this series on how-to-fight-against-those-models-that-are-not-fun-to-fight-against. Our contestant today is a model that I have never used, but have had to face many, many1 times: the Goblin King. Yes, it's the dreaded monster from Goblin-town and all his lovely entourage! While this post will be focusing primarily on the Goblin King himself, there will also be thoughts on the other models that are in his list, since their presence make him MUCH more difficult to deal with. Let's get into the discussion of one of the nastiest profiles around!

What Makes the Goblin King So Hated?

There's a lot to unpack with this guy, but it's probably best to start off with his combat profile. The Goblin King has a pretty mediocre stat line compared to most monsters, but it's a lot of the numbers you want - Fight 6 with Strength 5/3 Attacks is incredibly good for most heroes in the game, and with 3-Might-and-Strike, you're at least on-par with other heroes. This is made even better by his two-handed pick and the Burly special rule, which allows him to be S5-6 with +1 To Wound - at effectively S7-8, he's doing as well or better than most monsters in the game!

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Many of the monsters who rival him (The Balrog, Smaug, Dragons, the Watcher in the Water, Cave Drakes) have really big bases, but the Goblin King has a 40mm base (on par with Buhrdur, Sauron, and Cave Trolls - the Troll guys are envious of this guy's profile and Sauron is . . . really expensive in comparison). This gives him incredible mobility, especially since he's got the Relentless Advance rule, that allows him to move through his own models and squish/potentially squish them to get where he wants.

The greatest critique of the Goblin King can be based on his defensive stats, but even here, he cheats: he's "only D5" with 3 Wounds/1 Fate, but thanks to his Blubbery Mass rule, any wound he takes that isn't caused by a magical power or an Elven-made weapon can be saved on a 3+ BEFORE he has to spend his Fate point. While there are models out there with 6+ saves (the Bears in their Legion, Durin, Fury/Oblivious to Pain) and even one model who can give out a 5+ save (Malbeth the Seer), getting a 3+ save is not only BETTER than having infinite Fate points, but is only comparable to Thror with the Arkenstone (which will save once on a 3+ and can save multiple times on a 4+) and Goroth's "Look Out, Sir!" rule that allows him to bounce a wound onto a friendly model nearby . . . which is good for Goroth, but not great from his friends. Yep, when it comes to shrugging off punishment, there's no one who does it better than the Goblin King.

Fantasy Fellowship Deep Dive, Part 7

Good morning gamers,

There's only one scenario left in Fantasy Fellowships: The End of All Things. This scenario is nuts: it's massive, it takes all day to play, and it has a lot of rules. It's also weird because . . . the part of the board that has virtually all the models on it doesn't matter that much - and both players have a lot to think about on one board and a lot less to think about on the other. So, let's unwrap this mega scenario and see what's important for our Fellowship members as they finish their journey together!

Part 7: The End of All Things 

With the exception of Boromir (which I feel was a missed opportunity), we've got everyone - Frodo and Sam haven't had a rest point since Ithilien and everyone else is coming off the bench fully rested - but boy do we have our work cut out for us! Here's who we have to work with: 

• All eight remaining Fellowship members 
• Eomer (no extra gear) 
• 25 Warriors of Minas Tirith (standard war gear and a banner guy) 
• 25 Warriors of Rohan (standard war gear and a banner guy) 

Opposing us are the following models - many of them we've fought in the previous part: 

• Mordor Troll Chieftain (new kid on the block) 
• The Mouth of Sauron on armored horse (another new kid) 
• Gollum (NOT Smeagol, but basically the same profile) 
• 3 Morannon Orc Captains with shields 
• 50 Morannon Orcs (48 with standard gear and two banner guys) 

Oddly enough, there are actually MORE Good models at the start of the game than evil models - but as is usually the case, Evil gets to bring back its Mordor Orc models that are killed (Morannons and Morannon Orc Captains), so you'll be outnumbered eventually.