Appendix A: Alternate Shieldwall Formations

Good morning gamers,

So Rythbryt recently did an AMAZING post on Shieldwall tactics - read it if you haven't already. While he puts forth some great formations, I'd like to address a few variants on some of the Shieldwall formations Rythbryt discussed (since he got the nerdy-geeky-historical-warfare-formation juices flowing).

Rythbryt's Formations: Standard, Crescents, Halos, and "4s"

Rythbryt covers four basic formations in his post (with variants on some of them): a “standard” Shieldwall (where you have two neat ranks of troops), a “crescent” Shieldwall (either forming a bubble for your opponent to charge or forming a curve for your opponent to charge), a “halo” Shieldwall (an enclosed circle with either lots of space or not a lot of space between models), and a “4s” Shieldwall (where your models are clumped into groups of 4 so that their blocks remain maneuverable but their models remain protected at the same time.

Let’s start with this from the get-go: these are all useful formations in their own way (though some have innate risk, as Rythbryt points out). While I personally like the 4s formations the best, there are times when each might be useful (and times when some might be unwieldy). My purpose today is to address three different variants of three of the formations presented by Rythbryt (the 4s, Halos, and Crescents), complete with historical examples.

Alternate Formation #1: The Schiltron (or “7s” formation, Alternate 4s formation)

Rythbryt brings up the use of 4s both at the beginning of the post (to show how Shieldwall works) and at the end of the post (to show yet another Shieldwall formation that can be used). While this is a great formation to use once you’re engaged in combat, it’s not very resilient when you’re plodding down the field while suffering the archery of your opponent. Losing a single model in this formation (be he in the front or back) makes Shieldwall disappear for two other models (and the loss of one of those models removes Shieldwall from the remaining two).

For Iron Hills Dwarves who go from D7 to D8, Strength 3 archery shots (quite a few ranged weapons fall in this category now) all go from wounding you on 6s to 6/4+ - which is a good half of their would-be wounds deflecting off your armor. Losing this bonus is bad (note that Strength 2 archery shots suffer the same effect when a D6 Warrior of Minas Tirith uses Shieldwall to get to D7).

To compensate for this (but still keeping the flexibility of the 4s formation), I present the Schiltron formation (though following Rythbryt’s terminology, it should be called the 7s formation or the 8s, if you want to be able to break apart into two 4s formations later). This formation is not too different, really, from the various Halo formations that Rythbryt covered and was used historically by Scotland more than anyone else. For our purposes today, we’ll be calling a 7s formation a “pure” Schiltron, while an 8s is still a Schiltron, but not a pure one.

This formation, while used historically, is VERY BAD once you’re in combat in MESBG, so you’ll want to break into a shieldwall or two 4s formation once you get close, but the idea is simple: no single model can be killed to make another model lose Shieldwall (except for the single guy in the WAY back, who will lose Shieldwall if one of the two guys he’s touching falls – though hitting one of these guys is hard without passing in-the-way tests). In a true 7s Schiltron formation, two models must be killed to deny any model Shieldwall (but even this only removes Shieldwall from 0-2 models – the other 3-5 retain their +1 Defense bonus).

Lest you think this doesn’t make a difference from running the 4s, think again: if you have two 4s blocks advancing on your position, your archers only need to kill a single model at the 6/4+ difficulty in one block before they can revert to killing the 3 other models in the block on 6s (as outlined above). It’s unlikely that you’ll even need to work on the second set of 4s in the same Shoot phase (unless you’re rolling a lot of 6s), but if you do, you’ll only need to kill one more model on 6/4+ before you’re back to wounding on 6s.

With a pure Schiltron formation, you need to kill 2 models on 6/4+ from the start, then you get an option to kill up to two others on 6s (though killing any of these will result in at least one other model being wounded on 6s). Unlike the last formation, you’d need to kill two models on 6/4+ in a single shoot phase before you saw any benefits from it – and most armies aren’t going to be able to do that (statistically, you should need 24 hits from archery to kill these two guys). In the subsequent Move phase, a good commander would make his Shieldwall move ~1” slower in order to reform the block, making his models less vulnerable again and minimizing his losses.

An added benefit, of course, is that since this formation is shaped like a ball, it technically has no flanks – all models are equally resilient until someone falls. This makes it a great formation to charge an enemy archer position because if someone tries to outflank you, you can easily face your models the opposite direction and not have to lose precious movement turning a line (assuming that everyone in the formation has the same gear). I will reiterate that you don’t want to get caught fighting in this formation (at least not from multiple sides) as you’re liable to trap yourself (and that would be bad).

The obvious goal of running formations like this is to have several 7s supporting each other – able to sling an extra fighter or two into another group to keep it strong if it sustains losses. The great thing about this formation is that no matter what angle you have on it, it blocks a good 3” of visibility, making it a great means of denying your opponent open firing lanes to other parts of your army. In this example, the Rangers can only be shot at from the front  (and even then, only by a few archers) without having in-the-way rolls for the D7 Schiltrons in front.

Alternate Formation #2: The Warped Wall (Alternate Crescent)

A "Shieldwall" was used all over in history (from ancient times well through the Early Middle Ages), but most notably by the Saxons at Hastings - note that at Hastings, the Saxon Shieldwall held against the Normans so long as the warriors in the Shieldwall didn’t break ranks and expose their flanks to counter-attack (MESBG commanders would do well to remember this lesson from history). At Hastings, the Saxons were sitting on a hill, curving their Shieldwall slightly in order to prevent their lines from being flanked. While flank attacks are the WORST for Shieldwall formations, how you angle your line to protect your flanks while keeping up Shieldwall is difficult (as Rythbryt points out over and over again). As a result, I’m going to provide the following formation: the Warped Wall.

I learned long ago in geometry/calculus that all curved lines, when you zoom in really, REALLY close to them, are actually straight (at least for a time). We’re going to apply this sample theory to MESBG and create a line that is actually straight, but functions as a curved line (this is probably called a reticulated line instead of a curve, but whatever).

As Rythbryt notes in his post, the biggest challenge for a bending Shieldwall is keeping your models from trapping each other – doubling dice is often more dangerous for you than the bonus you get from Shieldwall. Our theory, then, is to be able to insert a hero with Shieldwall to stand in the gap WITHOUT A SUPPORTING MODEL (Ingold is the best example of this since he doesn’t have to back away if he loses, though Captains of Minas Tirith and Iron Hills Captains are also quite good).

The lack of a supporting model makes it so that there is some space for models to back up that will not lead to traps (except for perhaps the hero’s fight). Heroes not only have higher stats across the board than warriors do, but they often arrive in combat with at least 1 Might point remaining. While most Might points get channeled towards Heroic Strikes, Moves, or Marches, don’t underestimate the power of “just promoting a die” by boosting your highest die from a 5 to a 6. This can keep your captain alive against the toughest of swarms and allow your shieldwall to protect its flanks better without running into the issue of backing up into other models.

Critical to this success (as with any such strategy) is to have a banner nearby each hero. Not only will this keep your Shieldwall alive longer, but it will also make your hero that much more likely to roll a much-needed 6 to win the fight without spending Might. I will note that you can actually bend your line a bit more if the hero you place at these corners doesn’t have Shieldwall (keeping him from having to touch his nearby comrades). As Rythbryt notes, don’t make the gaps too big, or the supporting models will get charged.

Alternate Formation #3: The "English" Formation (Alternate Inverted Crescent)

The English during the Late Middle Ages had a strategy of putting a melee force in the middle of their battle formation with two bands of archers facing inwards to cover them - you'll see this used both at Agincourt and Crecy. Those not trying to use archery will see this same strategy used in an inverted wedge formation like that used by Hannibal at the Battle of Cannae. In this case, the “Shieldwall” is formed in the center, but it could also be formed on either/both flanks, herding the enemy towards the Shieldwall found in the center. An archery-oriented Shieldwall in MESBG can only be done right now by Minas Tirith, though you could embed non-Shieldwall models (like Iron Hills Warriors with crossbows) behind Shieldwall models on the flanks.

In this image, we have 3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and bows backing up 3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields on the left flank. I’m planning on giving these bowmen spears at some point, but those didn’t make the picture. On the right flank, we have 6 Rangers of Gondor (who do not have Shieldwall at all). In the middle, we have 10 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears in a Standard Shieldwall formation.

Like the Inverted Crescent formation Rythbryt talked about, you want your opponent to charge into the center. However, your opponent is more likely to charge into your flanks (since their flanks are exposed and they’re closer) rather than the middle. So how do you get him to charge the center?

The answer is simple: your flanks can fade backwards while they shoot. As your opponent comes towards you, the “wings” of your inverted crescent can fade away from the fighting, backing up 3” each turn while your opponent tries to close. This will take a small hit to their Shoot value, but will hopefully still allow you to pick off a few models here and there (and generally frustrate the formation of the enemy).

At the same time, your central line stays put – don’t advance too far ahead because you will a) expose your flanks, b) leave your supporting archers behind, and c) interrupt their firing lanes as the enemy ranks advance. With fire coming from both sides, your opponent is given the choice between either a) pursuing the redeploying forces on the flanks and splitting up his own army or b) advancing towards the center en masse … which is exactly where you want him. As he begins to commit, you can move your wings to join the center, fanning out slightly to lure them in. Then, as they near your ranks, set up the inverted crescent formation (I do it more  slanted rather than curved) to hem them in. ALWAYS have a plan for protecting your flanks from this position.

The critical thing for this formation (and with all Shieldwall formations, really) is that you want to make sure any of your Shieldwalls can charge to support each other. If you drift too far away from one of them, your opponent can get a single turn (or maybe two) focusing on breaking one Shieldwall while the other races to help (and ultimately shows up too late to turn the tide).

Not sure how original these thoughts are, but I thought they bore mentioning (and a special thanks to Rythbryt for getting this conversation started). I myself have used Shieldwall with my Warriors of Minas Tirith a few times recently (I tend to prefer Osgiliath Veterans for the F4/D6 instead of the potential for F3/D7). In the testing I've done, I've decided that Shieldwall is very useful in certain parts of the battlefield (wherever S4 opponents tend to congregate) though it's very tough to keep active. Hopefully I can get a game in soon to practice some of this new-found knowledge. 

Our next post kicks off a series where we'll be revisiting posts we did a long time ago - the first of which will be a post we did three years ago on the Last Alliance (since we recently did a workbench update on both Rivendell and Numenor). Until then, happy hobbying!