The Scouring of the Shire, Part 6: The Death of Lotho

Good morning gamers,

This is our sixth Scouring scenario and we've taken the same four Hobbit smials from the last scenario and rearranged them a bit for the Death of Lotho. The participants are similar to what we had last time, but we've scaled down the number of warriors (nine Ruffians, three have whips; eight Hobbit Militia) and really downgraded the heroes (Lotho Sackville Baggins and Worm). There's no way to fix botched rolls (especially if Lotho uses his Might point to call a heroic action instead of boosting a roll), so every roll matters - let's see if the Ruffians can catch and kill Lotho!

The Death of Lotho

This scenario starts similarly to the previous one, with Lotho and his Hobbit Militia bodyguards starting within 3" of the center of the board. This time, however, Lotho can try to escape off any board edge instead of one in particular. The Ruffians deploy outside of 6" of a Hobbit model, so once again, I can't charge on the first turn. The Hobbits win if Lotho escapes off any board edge, while the Ruffians win if Worm kills Lotho. If any other Ruffian model kills Lotho, it's a draw.

Worm doesn't start on the board and his official location is unknown at the start. Four objective markers are placed at the center of each map tile (represented here by three sheep and a pig) and each of these can move 6" each turn. When any of these move into base contact with Lotho, a die is rolled and on a 5+, it's Worm! If the first three come up as duds, the fourth one is immediately Lotho. This does mean that the Ruffians begin with one fewer model than the Hobbits and have to guard more overall area - we'll see if they can pull it off!

The Board Is Set: How to Play Capture and Control

Good morning gamers,

Today's article addresses the final scenario in Pool 2: Capture and Control. This scenario was one of the original 12 scenarios provided in the MESBG revamp in 2018 and has similarities to both Domination and Breakthrough with a few key differences. If you're running a tournament at a low points level and want a good objective-based scenario, I think this one (and Hold Ground) are your best options. We'll get into the scenario specifics in a minute, but before we do, we're going to review what the distinctives of the Pool 2 scenarios are (though you can click here to skip to the scenario-specific section if you're already familiar with how these scenarios work - or if you've read the previous articles).

Pool 2: Objectives Are Everything

Pool 2 isn't the only pool with objectives that you need to control - we've already viewed Hold Ground (one objective in the center of the board) and the Heirloom becomes a kind of objective if no one is holding it in Heirlooms of Ages Past. The quadrants in Command the Battlefield aren't exactly "objectives," but they function in much the same way - just as really, really BIG objectives.

There are two other scenarios that have objectives as well: Divide and Conquer (three objectives) and Storm the Camp (like Command the Battlefield, there are two pretty big "objectives"). We'll cover both of these scenarios when we get to Pool 5 in a few months, but it should be clear that in these two scenarios (and the three from this pool), we have 1-4 objectives that you get points for controlling.

The Board Is Set: How to Play Breakthrough

Good morning gamers,

We're back in Pool 2 today and we're tackling the newest kid on the block (though by "newest," he's like five years old now): Breakthrough. This scenario has four objectives instead of five and the lack of that one objective marker changes a LOT about how this game is played. Before we get into the details, we're going to recap the things we need to keep in mind about the scenarios in Pool 2 (you can click here to skip to the Breakthrough section if you've recently read this in either of the other two articles).

Pool 2: Objectives Are Everything

Pool 2 isn't the only pool with objectives that you need to control - we've already viewed Hold Ground (one objective in the center of the board) and the Heirloom becomes a kind of objective if no one is holding it in Heirlooms of Ages Past. The quadrants in Command the Battlefield aren't exactly "objectives," but they function in much the same way - just as really, really BIG objectives.

There are two other scenarios that have objectives as well: Divide and Conquer (three objectives) and Storm the Camp (like Command the Battlefield, there are two pretty big "objectives"). We'll cover both of these scenarios when we get to Pool 5 in a few months, but it should be clear that in these two scenarios (and the three from this pool), we have 1-4 objectives that you get points for controlling.

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 5: The Mayor's Arrest

Good morning gamers,

We're back in the Scouring supplement today and after a pack of Hobbit Militia couldn't keep Ted Sandyman from getting into his mill last time, another brave band of Hobbit Militia will be attempting to escort the Mayor of the Shire, Will Whitfoot, to safety. Attempting to capture the Mayor today is Sid Briarthorn and a motely crew of Ruffians - let's see what happens!

The Mayor's Arrest

The board has four Hobbit smials in it and Will Whitfoot is attempting to get off the board edge at the top of the photo above. Sid arrives on that board edge with some thug friends, but also has some flankers coming in from the left and right. Both sides have 13 models (one hero and twelve warriors), so the Ruffians have a points advantage (about 30pts) over the Shire force, not to mention the Fight Value advantage they have. The only advantage for the Shire is . . . they have Centaur at the helm (who has used Hobbit Militia for years).

While the Shire player will win if Will can get off the top board edge, the Ruffians will win if they can bind Will and drag him off any board edge (including the top board edge). Let's see what happens!

The Board Is Set: How to Play Domination

Good morning gamers,

Today begins our three-part series in the second pool of scenarios from the MESBG Matched Play Guide. We've already viewed the three scenarios from Pool 1 (the Maelstrom of Battle scenarios) and today we're focusing on my favorite set of scenarios: the ones with all the objectives. These games are often quite fun and can give players the opportunity to pull out a win or a draw at the very last minute, even when their dice are quitting on them and their guys are dying. While I've struggled to win these scenarios when I've played them in our tournaments, they're always fun. Let's look first at how the pool of scenarios works and then we'll look at the particulars of the first of these scenarios: Domination (and if you've already read this section, you can skip it here).

Pool 2: Objectives Are Everything

Pool 2 isn't the only pool with objectives that you need to control - we've already viewed Hold Ground (one objective in the center of the board) and the Heirloom becomes a kind of objective if no one is holding it in Heirlooms of Ages Past. The quadrants in Command the Battlefield aren't exactly "objectives," but they function in much the same way - just as really, really BIG objectives.

There are two other scenarios that have objectives as well: Divide and Conquer (three objectives) and Storm the Camp (like Command the Battlefield, there are two pretty big "objectives"). We'll cover both of these scenarios when we get to Pool 5 in a few months, but it should be clear that in these two scenarios (and the three from this pool), we have 1-4 objectives that you get points for controlling.

Top 10 Ringwraith Profile Rankings - Centaur Edition

Hey Reader!

As I was looking at army lists for this year's TMAT Grand Tournament, I took some time to just look over the named wraith profiles again (as it's been a little while since I've looked at any beyond the Witch-King), and I realized that there are some that I really like, and some that I really, really don't like. So as I sat on my couch, and having not used wraiths nearly as much as the rest of the admins, I thought, "Why not: how about we rank these for the fun of it, and see how off we are from he real wraith players," :P

So here you go! I've named this "Centaur Edition" because the other admins may disagree (again: out of all the admins, by far I run these the least), but as a quick note before we begin, here's what I'm ranking them on:

• We are not ranking Dol Goldur Ringwraiths, mostly because 1) none of them can be mounted, so I feel like there are dramatic disadvantages from a combat perspective for these wraiths that are hard to overcome, and 2) because the whole, "We have 2 wounds, but we might come back from the dead" side of things complicates calculations for resilience, so I figure we can do a separate ranking for those in the future if you're interested (as my favorite of those is probably last on most people's lists).
• We will consider the typical considerations (resilience, combat effectiveness, casting capabilities), but we will also look at efficiency: does the wraith offer options that are an effective/efficient use of their resources? Does their ability synergize well with what they are built to do? Because wraiths can look good on paper, but then find they are only good for 3-4 turns because they burn through Will Points too quickly.
• We will not be looking at cost - they are all more or less the same cost, and inasmuch as they are not, it just means more investment if you want the benefits. So yes, that probably gives the Witch-King the biggest boost, but that's fine for this ranking.

And before you tell me, "Centaur, (fill in the blank) wraith is actually great because I played them once and won a match because (insert ability that totally worked and did good stuff for you)," yes: that does happen. That is valid, and I'm glad it worked for you! But I'm judging these based on how likely I think they will be in general to provide you with success, not on one-off exceptional performances. 

And with that, let's get to the rankings!