Recently, the guys in the club got together for a fun, recreational pair of games to test our armies that we plan to take to the spring TMAT tournament. I was only able to stay for one game, but managed to remember my camera to chronicle the event. The game I got to play was against Zorro's famous Haradrim, but he was excited to try out his Reavers (WIP, see recent post here).
18 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields - 180 points
Ally: 3 Uruk Scouts with Orc bows - 27 points
The Golden Horde: 603 points
10 Serpent Guard - 80 points
Kill count: Uruks 5/47, Haradrim 12/39. Three rounds in, and the Uruks are 8 units away from breaking, while the Haradrim are at a blissful 19 units away...yeah, I need a stroke of really good luck.
Kill count: Uruks 18/47, Haradrim 26/39. Yeah, life is really not good, but we keep playing, because there is time on the clock and I'm not at 30 units yet, :-P.
Kill count: Uruks 20/47, Haradrim 33/39. I was 4 units away from breaking the enemy, so I feel good. But...final score:
The Fist of Isengard: 600 points
Saruman the Colorful - 170 points [Army Leader]
7 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes - 70 points
3 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows - 33 points
Ally: Mauhur - 60 points
Ally: 6 Uruk Marauders with shields - 60 points
39 units, 3 Orc bows + 3 crossbows, 2 heroes
The Golden Horde: 603 points
The Golden King of Abrakhan - 115 points [Army Leader]
11 Haradrim Warriors with bows and spears - 88 points
8 Abrakhan Merchant Guards - 64 points
4 Watchers of Karna - 36 points
Ally: Dalamyr, Fleetmaster of Umbar - 100 points
Ally: 8 Corsair Reavers - 80 points
Ally: 4 Corsair Arbalesters - 40 points
47 units, 11 bows + 4 crossbows, 2 heroes
To fully appreciate this game, you need to know that we were trying out various kinds of scenarios for the upcoming Grand Tournament in the spring. Here's a quick look (and description) of the tables we were trying out:
Domination game, with parts of rivers on either side but a wide open space with some littered terrain for the center objective. This differs from the set-up at the recent Hunter's Red October tournament, which had a bridge in the middle as the objective. Tavros' Dol Amroth force fought against Glenstorm's "Chill of Angmar" army - brief recap in comments, one/both of you? |
- Game-play is until one side is reduced to 25% of its starting force or 90 minutes elapses.
- 3 point if the enemy army is broken OR 5 points if the enemy army is broken and your force is unbroken;
- 2 points if the enemy army leader is slain.
- 1 point if you have a banner remaining at the end of the game. If you have a banner and your opponent has none, score 2 points.
- [Added scoring points] 3 points if the enemy army is reduced to 25% before the game ends.
- Blood-sworn Enemy: Choose an enemy hero - he is your arch enemy and they must die before the end of the game
- Future King: Your army leader must be alive at the end of the game, neither slain nor "heroically departed".
- Chivalry in battle: Your army leader must fight the enemy leader in close combat (not shielding) for at least one round and survive.
- Line in the Sand: Nominate a piece of terrain in your opponent’s deployment zone (or place a marker if there is no suitable terrain). Your leader must end its move within 3" of it at least once during the game.
Turn 1: Charge! (Priority - Uruk-Hai)
No pictures of this round, but a few things of note happened: first, Saruman successfully cast Terrifying Aura, so hopefully he won't be ganged on this game. In the Shoot phase, the famed archers of the Haradrim killed two Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields, while the crossbows who could shoot killed no one.
Kill count: Uruks 0/47, Haradrim 2/39.
Kill count: Uruks 0/47, Haradrim 2/39.
Turn 2: The Fearless March (P - Harad)
Turn 3: The White Wizard (P - tied, Uruks!)
In the Shoot phase, a Corsair Arbalester killed one of my Uruk Scouts with Orc bow and once again, no one else did anything in the Shoot phase (come on guys, do something!). |
On the far side, a Reaver-Abrakhan team killed one of my Uruks with shields (not really a surprise, right?). |
Turn 4: Smoke and Fire (P - Saruman uses his Palantir, Uruks)
Turn 5: A Powerful Shot (P - Uruks again!)
On the hill, not much changed - the Uruk Scout with Orc bow died, but so did 2 Serpent Guards (Yaye team, here we can kill more than we lose...). |
But, life is just bad over here. I lose two more units and fail to kill the Serpent Guard on the ground - I beat him, but couldn't get the needed 4s on 2 dice to kill him (that's just wrong). |
Turn 6: The Sun Sets (P - Haradrim)
Left flank: things are really getting rolled up now, but only one of my guys is killed. In return, I killed a Watcher with the Warrior on the far right. |
Yeah, lost the last of my crossbows in what was hardly a fair fight. Thankfully, I lost enough guys that the game came to an end a few minutes before the timer ran out. |
- Uruks score 0 points for failing to break the enemy army, while the Haradrim score 5 points for breaking the enemy and not being broken;
- The Haradrim score 2 points because Saruman was killed.
- No banners this game, so no points scored for either side.
- The Haradrim finally score 3 points for reducing the Uruk-Hai to 25% before the game ended.
Conclusion:
Assessment by Tiberius:
Yeah, tough game today. The Haradrim are a fearsome army to fight, but all told, I did well against them. They were nearly broken (and with Courage 4 heroes standing beside each other, others could have run off) and if I hadn't botched all my Fate rolls, Saruman probably could have survived. Breaking the enemy and keeping Saruman alive would have adjusted the points to make the score a lot closer (4-1). I'm thankful that I got this game in before the tournament, since I'm not likely to face the same mixture of volumes of archery combined with really high Fight values.
Assessment by Zorro:
Well, considering that Harad has never faced Uruks, I was a little apprehensive about how they would handle a force that wounds them on 4s. The victory was a bit hollow considering how many bad rolling streaks Tiberius had, but it was well fought on his part. Given a rematch, Harad probably would have broken, which is a contingency I really need to plan for better. Historically this army has broken so rarely (only 3-4 times in 20-30 games) that, as Tiberius mentioned, I left a large portion of my army hero-less. Rather a bad situation to be in with C3 troops. All told, a fun match. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Tiberius's army is capable of given a gambit of opponents and scenarios.
Stellar unit for the Uruk-Hai: Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
As great as Defense 6 is for keeping units alive, supporting attacks are the best way to ensure that the good opposing units die. In this particular game, I had a single pikeman kill three units - mostly on his own - which highlights another reason to give the award to these guys. I also need to note that Saruman ended up getting 33% of the army's kills - not bad for a spell-caster (and not good for the rest of the army).
Stellar unit for the Haradrim: Corsair Reavers
No question here. When you have a unit that can walk up to a Uruk pike block single-handedly and smack them in the face, you can't not give them the award. Otherwise it would be a bit of a toss-up. There was plenty of good work being done all around. The Arbalesters held their weight and more (for once), the Abrakhans did their share of cleaving, and of course the wizard-hunting Watchers of Karna certainly made a name for themselves with what was probably the most pivotal moment in the match (or in any game I've played in a while): cutting the enemy leader down to size in the first round of melee combat. But without the edge that the Reavers brought, we would have seen a lot more roll-offs, which would have lead to a lot more dead Haradrim, and in a force that has no capacity to shield, any thing that can preserve units is worth it's weight in Mithril.
No question here. When you have a unit that can walk up to a Uruk pike block single-handedly and smack them in the face, you can't not give them the award. Otherwise it would be a bit of a toss-up. There was plenty of good work being done all around. The Arbalesters held their weight and more (for once), the Abrakhans did their share of cleaving, and of course the wizard-hunting Watchers of Karna certainly made a name for themselves with what was probably the most pivotal moment in the match (or in any game I've played in a while): cutting the enemy leader down to size in the first round of melee combat. But without the edge that the Reavers brought, we would have seen a lot more roll-offs, which would have lead to a lot more dead Haradrim, and in a force that has no capacity to shield, any thing that can preserve units is worth it's weight in Mithril.
Well... Yes... Sad day for the Uruk-hia. But! I am looking forward to seeing how this works out when your dice are a little rested up, Tiberius.
ReplyDeleteNow this might just be a little naive, so feel free to educate me here, but what do you think about dropping Sauruman for some more troops and maybe another strength 5 fight 5 Uruk hero (or two)? I don't want to dis the wizard or anything, but its just a thought. When it comes to magic, I go with ringwraithes, but maybe you should try someone with a little more melee skill.
oh and the terrain looked pretty good. nice job. :P
Zorro, I am not looking forward to facing these reavers again... ok... maybe I am. but it won't be pretty. you know something is really wrong when your troops are beating a Dol Amroth captain on ties.
_It is likely that we go to our doom_
Due to the constraints that will be in place at the tournament (LOME with 200+ pts spent on heroes or warbands), the choice for Uruk-Hai players is a) Saruman and 1 Uruk Captain for 230 points or b) 4 Uruk Captains for 240 points...unless you want Orc captains or another allied group. I take Saruman 1) to keep guys from running away and 2) to burn through enemy Might points on the critical turn when I use the Palantir. Besides that, I can tackle 1 Will heroes with my Transfix (when they don't have Elven cloaks) quite easily and I like the surprise element that Sorcerous Blast gives. Captains are way too predictable for my taste, though I'll have a post up soon that goes over what I would do with them if I wanted a straight-up Uruk army.
DeleteAlthough, could you imagine, Tiberius, fronting Lurtz, Ugluk, Mauhur, and Vrasku all in the same force? Pretty beastly, if you ask me, ;)
DeleteI'd agree with Tiberius on the whole, though: having Saruman gives you a lot of options, not least of which the ability to just say in a critical round, "Priority is MINE!" I've also seen Sorcerer's Blast used quite effectively, especially when you can knock over an enemy's front line and then engage them all with F4/S4 Uruk-Hai. It works better against F3 opponents, but it has its uses against any unit, when properly deployed. The trick of course (as with any spell caster) is placement, as you are well aware, :)
heh. that would be a pretty awesome foursome. The problem of course being that everyone wounds them all on 5s. Unless you were running a raider themed army, I would probably drop one of them (Lurtz?) for an Uruk captain w HA & shield.
DeleteAny way you look at it, Uruks have a hard time meeting the hero obligations of either warbands or our modified LOME build. That is why my loaned Uruk force for the Red October tourney had so many beserkers - I had about 50 points leftover but was at max models for 3 heroes. as Tiberius mentioned, unless you bring in orc captains (which basically forfits your only strengths), you really are capped at about 37-39 models.
Fortunately for me (not so much for Tiberius), my Harad force is reasonably anti-magic. heroes either have high will stores or elven cloaks, and I have a smattering of "resistant to magic" models running around the table. Unfortunately that didn't stop Saruman from getting off several potent blasts, killing a number of key units.