Tiberius Battle Company Log, Entry #1

Good morning reader,

Yep I know what you're thinking - Tiberius, what are you doing posting today? It's not Monday!?!?!?! I know, I know. That's because today's post begins an irregular series that I'm starting on Battle Companies.

This year's TMAT GT is going to be Battle Companies themed, where we all pick one (or more) Battle Companies, play against each other "regularly," and include one Battle Company that we developed this season to use in a larger army (points limit still TBD because people are lobbying for a higher points level, whether the alliance matrix is allowed is also being debated). All in all, it should be fun.

For my first battle company, I've decided to do the Last Alliance. Those of you who have followed the blog for a while know that I got started with Rivendell thanks to the White Council units (Elrond, Arwen, old Glorfindel model, Erestor proxy, thought about getting Cirdan for a while). I originally got a few High Elf Warriors just so I could run a handful of bodyguards around my Elf/wizard heroes because they were getting overwhelmed. That then led to a larger contingent that is now a full-fledged army.

Numenor took off at about the same time: I picked up a boatload of Numenor warriors from eBay (and traded/bought a bunch from some friends who were eager to get rid of the Numenoreans that came with their High Elves) and acquired Elendil and Isildur in a large hero lot on eBay. With a recently converted Captain of Numenor on horse and a lot of conversions to turn the all-sword-and-board army into a more diversified force, Numenor has been chomping at the bit to be used.I


I took a Last Alliance army to Brawler Bash last January and had a pretty rough go of it - Elrond could never get more than 2 Foresight points, we had a match against a mono-Rivendell army that saw Elendil surrounded by Elves while facing off against Gil-Galad and both Elronds trying to Wrath of Bruinen each other (with me on the losing end, of course). My other match was against an ally-Hero alliance that featured mega-Dwalin, mega-Thorin, mega-Boromir, Gil-Galad, and (the worst of the set) Rumil (whose sole job was to make my guys reroll important dice). Third round was a bye. Yeah, pretty rough day.

So naturally, when I was looking for the first Battle Company I was going to build up this season (I've been playing with Wanderers in the Wild and Moria Expedition prior to the season start), all of the voices of Men and Elves clamored in one shout, demanding vengeance for leading them so poorly into the only tournament either had participated in. So, I gave in.

Starting Battle Company: 6 models, Rating of 101

As a quick aside, all of my Warriors/Captains of Numenor are named from members of Bridge 4 from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives (not Elendil or Isildur, because they have names already). Sanderson is a masterful storyteller, renowned for finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, finishing 6 books in the Mistborn series, and 3 of the promised 5 books in the Stormlight Archives (though it sounds like there might be 10 books by the time he's done unless he does first). Can't recommend the series enough. All that to say, the three heroes I'm running (Kaladin, Rock, and Teft) are major characters in that series, so it adds an emotional tie for me.

The Elves got their names from characters in the Imladris region of Lord of the Rings Online. I played the game for a bit (only got into Moria, not nearly as far as Rythbryt or Centaur did), but several of my forces (Rivendell, Lothlorien, Kingdom of Moria, Shire) get their names from characters in the game. So, it's a nice way to not have to think up Elven-sounding names and give some grounding to those who know/love LOTRO. As a note, as the wargear of these models change, their names will have to change too, so just be aware.

With all that background, here's how things went:

Game#1: The To-The-Death One vs. Centaur's Dark Powers of Dol Guldur listI

I missed the first get-together of the season and so Centaur had gotten some experience on his guys prior to the match. My army of six units was up against six Hunter Orcs and two Fell Wargs. On paper, if you look at the F3/D4 on Centaur's units and the F4-5/S3-4 on my side (plus nearly-even numbers), you'd think this fight was going to be one-sided. But boy would that be a mistake.

For starters, I hadn't anticipated my lone Elf archer (Hemeldir) to be disgruntled about being a hero. No doubt he'd heard from the other Battle Companies units in the box that my general love for archers (and the knowledge that cheeky wounds matter when the numbers are small) tends to lead me to make archers my heroes (because they acquire XP so much faster). Since Elves can't get War Dogs and Men can, all of the Numenorean melee troops got picked to be heroes, while the Elves were relegated to being the warriors. As such, for 3-4 turns, Hemeldir shot from the highest point on the battlefield at a Fell Warg that was racing up to engage him. And after firing arrow after arrow, the Fell Warg arrived ready to fight with not a single scratch on him. Why!?!?!?!?!

On the ground, the story was further complicated by the fact that Hunter Orcs have 2 Attacks each when not mounted. This means that though the Hunter Orcs had a lower Fight Value than my troops, they got more chances to roll a 6 in each fight. Plus, since my units were all D5, they only needed 5s to wound if they used single-handed weapons, but only needed 4s to wound if they hand two-handed weapons (and since this was Centaur, he was two-handing every single round).

It wasn't long before my army of six became an army of three (with Hemeldir up top Feinting every turn and beating the Fell Warg and failing to wound him and Kaladin and Rock down below fighting for their lives against the Orc horde). I decided pretty early on that I couldn't shield against the Orcs - that would only hasten my demise, since the scenario ended when someone was quartered and I couldn't quarter the Orcs if I was shielding. So, I was bold and daring and against all odds, I managed to break the Orcs as Rock fell. With two models left, I was one model away from being quartered and the Orcs won priority and started testing.

And they started running away, until there was only one model left (the Fell Warg that Hemeldir couldn't/wouldn't kill decided he'd had enough fun and ran off too - Centaur's army was quartered). Hemeldir decided he had enough decency not to run away, so if Kaladin could manage not to die, we'd win the game. In an act of incredible suspense, I lost the fight and the Orc scored 1 Wound against Kaladin - but Kaladin rolled for Fate and got a 4. Victory saved from the jaws of a draw.

In the aftermath of the battle, Teft suffered a leg wound and one of my Elves (Rifair) would be injured for the next game, but otherwise we got Full Recoveries from Rock and Forgamdir. Both Kaladin and Teft got upgrades and both swapped their results for the army specific upgrade (which is amazing).

With the Influence I won from the match (1 for being 15-29 points lower than Centaur's force, 4 for winning), I was torn between getting a Rally Horn (the only reliable way to get Elves and the best way to avoid wasting 3 Influence on a bad reinforcement roll) and getting extra gear for my guys. In the end, I decided that making my guys better for the next round was more important, so I spent 2 Influence (which I'd get back simply for participating in the next round) on an Elf bow for Forgamdir, transforming him into Lamhador.

Game#2: The Assassination One vs. Rythbryt's Rangers list

As a general rule, I think playing against a battle company that's a hefty amount more than 150 points above your weight is a bad idea (since you only get a maximum of +10 Influence and +10 Rerolls in a game). With Rythbryt's Rangers weighing in at around 350 points and with my company weakened by the loss of one of members for the match, we were a good 250 points below Rythbryt's force. With the scenario picked, we rolled to see who would be the assassins and who would be the defenders. I managed to be the assassins (the game would have gone much faster, I think, if it had gone the other way).I

It was my plan at the beginning to use my Elf bows to just snipe the Ranger Lieutenant - D5 with 1 Wound and 1 Fate is pretty squishy. As luck would have it, the Elves were still miffed at not being selected as heroes (news spreads quickly, apparently), and the Elves refused to hit anyone - at all - with their archery. In turn, they got shot by Rangers who were "standing guard as sentries" (dudes, they weren't even trying to be in the right position to hit you!). This left me in an uncomfortable position, as I had three melee units (one with a sore leg and -1" of movement) to try to engage the enemy. So naturally, I gave the game up for lost and just charged into a Ranger that was moving closer to me.

Despite having the numbers advantage against the model, I lost the fight (roll-off I believe), and though neither of my models was killed, the alarm sounded and the Rangers started to charge. And boy did they charge - I worked quickly to keep my guys from being surrounded (calling a Heroic Move with a precious Might point just to avoid being trapped), but we in a pretty bad situation after two rounds of fighting (with Rock falling in the second round, leaving Kaladin and Teft alone against 9 Rangers).

To my astonishment, though, Rythbryt made a decision that almost cost him the game: his Lieutenant charged into combat on his gallant steed and called a Heroic Combat against Teft. Teft fell easily to the Lieutenant and the 2-3 Rangers who were also in the fight and proceeded to ride his horse straight into Kaladin. Kaladin decided that this was the best chance he'd have to slaying the Lieutenant and decided not to shield - and WON the fight! With a back-handed swing, he successfully wounded Rythbryt's lieutenant, but just as Kaladin was saved from a draw in the previous game by a single Fate point, so Rythbryt's leader was saved as well. Fitting, I guess, but a draw was so close...

The aftermath went much better this time around: Teft had a Full Recovery (losing his Leg Wound) but Rock got one this time (boo). NEW_LONG_NAME and ARCHER both got Full Recoveries, so we had our full force ready to rock again.

With 12 Influence under my belt and 3 Influence saved from the last round, I bought the Rally Horn for 5 Influence and Heavy Armor for all three of my heroes for 3 more Influence (since Captains of Numenor can get Heavy Armor). This meant I had 7 Influence left, so I made 2 reinforcement rolls - both rolls were 6s, so I got 2 more Elves with whatever gear I wanted (I went with a High Elf Warrior with spear and Elf bow - NEW_BOW - and a High Elf Warrior with a spear and shield - THE_NEW_GUY). With 1 Influence left in the basket, I got a shield for WHOEVER, making him my fifth D6 model (joining the ranks of Kaladin, Rock, Teft, and Pethelen)!

Battle Company after Game 2: 8 models, Rating of 145

So after two games, I have 8 members in my Battle Company. My XP is nothing to write home about, but I do have two good upgrades on my heroes that will hopefully synergize well now that we have Elves with spears that can support us nearby. The next time I play will probably be after Christmas, and I've got a wonderful Hobbit and some faithful dogs that will need to get painted up before my next recruitment, but more on them in a later post.

For now, that's it. Expect to see more Battle Companies summaries as the season continues (who knows - the other admins might contribute too). If you like Battle Companies (and the tactics we're posting), I'm hoping to get a series going next year on the different Battle Companies factions, tapping into the wisdom of my fellow players to say what's your best starting investment and things to think about. Should be fun.

Until next time, happy hobbying!