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.

In Pool 2, we have 4-5 objectives - and no matter which scenario you're playing, 9-10 VPs of the 12 VPs up for grabs are tied to who controls them. While the scoring rules are different for each scenario, the baseline assumption you can make is that the scenarios will give you 1 VP for having more models than your opponent around an objective or 2 VPs if you have sole control of the objective. This means that where your models end up when the clock runs out or the victory conditions are met matters a lot - as does how many models you have left at the end of the game.

It's generally considered true that if you know Pool 2 is in the mix, you want to have a pretty high model count. Low model count armies can still win a game from Pool 2, but it often requires a lot of skill, a lot of patience, and a lot of Heroic Combats (to thin out the ranks or get the extra movement you need to reach a lightly-guarded objective). If one were to generalize, factions that have an abnormally large numbers of models have a distinct advantage in these scenarios, since they can break and STILL have more models than their opponents (especially if they've been able to bring their larger numbers to bear and kill some of the enemy models).

In all three scenarios, players can deploy their warbands up to the centerline of the board, which means that armies that want to get up into your face can do so very easily. Melee-heavy/archery-lite lists will often try to start as far up as possible and start scrumming right away, especially since there will be 1-3 objectives on the center line at the start of the game. If you're a skirmish-heavy list, it's very tempting to start further back in your deployment zone, but beware of sitting back and "castling" on a rear objective or two - if the other player has control of more objectives than you, there isn't a lot of VP ground you can regain by breaking him without being broken or killing his army leader.

Finally, because so many points are wrapped up in the objectives, players will usually receive no bonus VPs for breaking the enemy without being broken or receive bonus VPs for killing the enemy army leader (usually 1 VP for breaking the enemy and 1 VP for dealing at least one wound to the enemy army leader). This means keeping your army leader safe is not as necessary as it is in other scenarios (or at least, not from a VP perspective) and if you're facing one of those difficult-to-kill army leaders (like Smaug, Sauron, or the Balrog), you really just need to get 1 wound in and then you can do your best to avoid them (focusing on killing off any friends they brought along).

With that, let's look at the specifics for Breakthrough . . .

Breakthrough

Unlike Domination (which we talked about last time) and Capture and Control (which we'll talk about next time), there is no center objective in Breakthrough. Lest you think this will make breaking the enemy and wounding the army leader more valuable in this scenario, be prepared to (mostly) think again. 9 of the possible 12 VPs are still tied to the four remaining objectives, but the value of these objectives can change for each player.

While in Domination players were able to place two objectives where they wanted, in this scenario, all of the objectives are placed 12" from the center of the board in the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west). Since both players can deploy up to the center line (like in Domination), it doesn't really matter which board edge you start with - one objective will be deep in your deployment zone, one will be deep in your opponent's deployment zone, and two will be on the centerline.

The two centerline objectives are scored like in Domination - 1 VP if you have the majority control of an objective and 2 VPs if you have sole control of them. It's not uncommon for fights to break out over these objectives at the start of the game - or for one force to avoid one side at the start and then try to sweep in at the end.

Where you really want to be is on the other two objectives. The objective that's in your deployment zone is only worth 1 VP to you if you have the majority control of it (no extra points if you have sole control), but it's worth 2VPs to your opponent for majority control and 4VPs to your opponent for sole control! Similarly, the objective in your opponent's deployment area is worth 2-4VPs to you and only 1VP to your opponent, which means that both players have an interest in getting to the objective that's held by the other player AND are incentivized to leave a defense force strong enough to protect the objective they start with. Oh, and there are some objectives on the sides too.

The remaining 3VPs are tied to wounding or killing the enemy army leader (1-2VPs) and breaking the enemy (1VP, no bonus for breaking the enemy without being broken yourself). These points are great for splitting up a tie, but most games will be won by whether you could get to the objective that's worth a lot to you and whether you could defend the objective you left behind (hopefully not unguarded).

The result of all this is that players will often feel the tug to go to all four objectives - and two of them in particular. The combination of a) there being no objective in the center of the board, b) there being two very secondary objectives on the flanks, and c) two very valuable objectives being deep in player control zones makes choosing your deployment in this scenario very, very difficult. Which leads us nicely into our strategies for this scenario . . .

Strategy #1: Up The Middle

There's no center objective - but starting on the centerline and in the middle gives you a few options: first, starting in the middle places you at the shortest possible distance from both the objective you're trying to defend as well as the objective you're trying to get to (if you do the triangle geometry). With the ability to flex to any of the four objectives quickly, starting in the middle won't start you with a lot of VPs, but it can make your opponent come and meet you (reducing the initial scoring units that challenge you right away), which could play in your favor.

Second, if you start in the middle and your opponent just places models on the side objectives, you can split your force in two - half of it moving forward to get to your opponent's rear objective and half of it moving backwards to guard your home objective and your opponent is now in an interesting bind: if he leaves models on the side objectives, he'll have up to 4VPs in his pocket, but you'll have up to 5VPs in yours. You can't stay on the side objectives and win unless you have a LOT of shooting, so anyone who starts on the side objectives will have to come to you. If you start in the center and move up quickly, you can put yourself in a strong defensive position on both of the objectives that matter.

Third, while you CAN try to defend your objective, you could also say, "nah" and just rush forward and to the side, abandoning your rear objective (or leaving a very skeleton crew to slow down the enemy or force him to commit resources there) while you focus on the other objectives. Ideally, you want to "flip the board" on your opponent, where you take and then defend the objective that you didn't start with and your opponent defends the objective you started with. This can then devolve into a fight over the center objectives, but at least you'll have 4VPs in your pocket.

Exemplar lists: any list that has strong synergistic bubbles and some speed will want to play this way. Most of these lists will be shieldwalls and the usual culprits include lists with heroes who provide banner buffs, heroes who provide archery protection buffs, or heroes who provide courage-passing buffs. Armies with big centerpiece monsters probably want to use this strategy too, sending their big monster model towards those juicy 4 VPs.

If you're a melee-heavy list, I think this is probably your best bet (with possibly one exception), but if you're a skirmish-heavy list, you probably want to look into . . .

Strategy #2: Wrap and Funnel

You know how I critiqued sitting back on the side objectives a moment ago? Yeah, that's this strategy - if you have a lot of shooting and want room to maneuver, you can start deep in your own deployment zone, work around the edges of the board, and then swoop in on the objectives. Doing this requires an army that's fast and has a lot of shooting - which generally means a cavalry archery list, but could also include lists like Lurtz's Scouts which can get incredible speed on bow-armed infantry. 

If you don't immediately challenge the objectives (except maybe your starting one), your opponent will likely spread his force out into four chunks - each guarding the precious VPs that are contained in those objectives. Chances are good that his largest contingent will be advancing towards your starting objective, which makes the side and rear objectives vulnerable to ranged damage and swift charges. If you have heroes who can use Heroic Combats effectively, you can not only clear an objective quickly, but also get a good way towards another objective, which an really set your opponent on the backfoot. If he's committed most of his forces to attacking your starting objective, getting his units out of combat and responding to your swift assault may be impossible (or at least will weaken his chances of taking your starting objective).

Using this strategy requires a lot of timing, though - if you're not careful and you shoot your opponent too much and don't leave yourself enough time to get to the objectives, you might accidentally quarter your opponent before you get where you want to go. This would be disastrous. However, this strategy does attempt to asymmetrically fight with your opponent (both by whittling down numbers at the start with archery/magic and then smashing a smaller remnant of the army with a larger part of yours).

Exemplar lists: all the shooting lists, ideally if there's some speed built into them (the Rangers of Ithilien, Rider of Rohan-heavy Rohan lists, and Rivendell Knight spams have this pretty well handled, but Rangers of Mirkwood lists will need to think about when to stop shooting and start running if they're going to compete).

Both of these strategies, however, rely heavily on being able to spread out your army - if your list wants to stay close together, however, you may need to take a different approach. For that, we have . . .

Strategy #3: Circle Up

Everything I said about staying in the center is true - it helps to sit in the center and be able to reach out and challenge any of the objectives. If you're using a "death ball" list, then this means sitting in the center and moving your deathball slowly towards the enemy's rear objective. This is worth a ton of points for you - and if you can drive the enemy off it and then pivot the ball to wrestle control of one other objective away from your opponent, you can win the game by just killing his army leader and not breaking. A slow-roll list could struggle in this scenario, but any resistance it meets is likely to not be strong enough to tackle EVERYTHING it has at one time. Risky though it be, it's usually better than splitting up and trying to be in three or four places at once. In low points level games, this is often a good strategy for almost any army as you probably don't have the model count to be in four places at the start (let alone the end) of the game.

Exemplar lists: basically any Dwarf list qualifies - but in particular those that have mobile shooting options (like Khazad-Dum lists that have focused on throwing weapons and Grim Hammer spam lists from the Army of Thror). You can also get a similar result from many all-hero or hero-heavy lists, who probably don't have a high model count or great mobility (as the highly mobile lists will probably favor the second strategy).

Conclusion

Breakthrough provides an interesting challenge for both players - you need to get across the board to score one third of the possible VPs (and usually to win the game) with enough strength to actually secure an objective WHILE trying to deny your opponent the ability to get to an objective you hold at the start. Oh, and there are more VPs on the sides as well. There's a lot to think about and my games of Breakthrough have all been really fun (though I don't think I've ever managed to pull off a win at a tournament on this scenario - some lone guy who swept onto a side objective or my primary objective always runs away).

Next time, we're wrapping up Pool 2 by talking about Capture and Control. This scenario takes elements of both of the other two and introduces a new element that makes it better for low points level games and very challenging for players who want to rely on just shooting enemy models off of objectives. Find out what this scenario is all about next time - and until then, happy hobbying!