Nemesis: How to Fight Against Mordor Troll Chieftains

Good morning gamers,

Earlier this year, we were asked if we could write Nemesis articles for the Witch-King of Angmar and Mordor Troll Chieftains. A few weeks ago, we covered the Witch-King (as an extended discussion of Ringwraiths, who have already shown up generally in this series). Today, we're tackling Mordor Troll Chieftains who . . . get a bit of a bad wrap in competitive circles.

Back when I started playing MESBG (back when it was LOTR SBG and Heroic Strike wasn't a thing), Mordor Troll Chieftains were scary - they were generic heroes who had base F7, giving them an edge over basically any hero in the game. After the rise of Heroic Strike (and its proliferation on a ton of units), having a base F7 stat doesn't usually matter until those "Strike heroes" are out of Might. F7 just isn't what it used to be . . .

. . . but Troll Chieftains are still F7/S7 monsters and if you find yourself across the table from one, you could be in for it. As a result, we're going to discuss today how to beat these guys - and while we're at it, we're going to look at an interesting corollary set of units you can beat with similar strategies: most Dwarf Infantry heroes.

What Makes Mordor Troll Chieftains So Hated?

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community (and a really great article, despite its age)

While Mordor Troll Chieftains receive some censure from competitive players, a LOT of Dwarf heroes are touted as being excellent profile-for-cost units and while you may not see these guys crushing all of the top tables, a solid Dwarf list is a good gatekeeper list that will separate the "bad" lists from the "good" lists. A lot of that is tied to how points efficient their heroes (and most of their warriors) are - and if we understand what makes Dwarf heroes so good (and what they lack), we'll learn a lot about what makes Mordor Troll Chieftains good as well.

Regardless of the Dwarf list you're fielding (except Thorin's Company), it's not hard to find at least one named hero profile and at least one generic hero profile that's F5-6, effectively S6 with/without a dueling penalty (and if that's from the Khazad-Dum/Moria army list, you probably have access to Piercing Strike as well), D8-9, 2-3 Attacks, 2-3 Wounds, and either 2-Might-and-Strike or 3-Might-and-Strike (generic heroes from the Hobbit have 2-Might-and-March, but the Master of Battle (5+) on Iron Hills Captains means they CAN call Heroic Strike for free if an enemy hero nearby calls a Heroic Strike). If you went looking for this in other factions (we'll look at "the big four" of Minas Tirith, Rohan, Mordor, and Isengard), you'd be hard-pressed to find any models that meet this description at the 65-120 price point of most Dwarf heroes - even if you drop the D8 requirement that basically no one outside of Dwarves/monsters can reach (Knights of the White Tower check most of those boxes at 60pts each and add Mighty Blow to the mix - but they are quite a bit squishier than Dwarf heroes).

The Board Is Set: How to Play Destroy the Supplies

Good morning gamers,

Today is our last post in Pool 3 of the Matched Play Guide and we're looking at my personal favorite scenario from that pool: Destroy the Supplies. Games of Seize the Prize can be massively mismatched and games of Retrieval can end in a grinding draw, but every game of Destroy the Supplies has been a harrowing experience for me - and they're always a lot of fun (unless camels are involved - I hate Mahud-ridden camels so much).

So what is it about this scenario that makes it so different from those other ones? And how do you need to change your game plan if you happen to play it? Well, let's look at some general principles for Pool 3 and then we'll see how they apply to Destroy the Supplies specifically (and as we've done throughout this series, you can skip ahead to the Destroy the Supplies section by clicking here).

Pool 3: Coveting Precious Things

When I looked at the scenario pools when they were first presented in the Matched Play Guide, I was like, "Pool 6 is the the eclectic pool that the oddballs go in." Months later, Evan Iverson from the Unexpected Podcast summarized that pool of scenarios as the "hero killing" scenarios - which is an accurate way of summing up the VPs you can get from Assassination, Fog of War, and Clash by Moonlight.

The actual "oddball" pool is Pool 3 - the unifying factor of these three scenarios is that the scenarios listed here have "objects" in them, but this summary is both broadly vague as well as unexclusive. We've talked previously about Heirlooms of Ages Past (from Pool 1), which clearly has an "object" in it that contains half of the VPs available in the game to one player, which would make it a good candidate for Pool 3 . . . if it weren't for the maelstrom of battle deployment rule (which is why it's in Pool 1).

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 7: The Burning of Woody End

Good morning gamers,

It's scenario seven, baby, and we've got a flash-back to the War in Rohan village scenario today (which was actually based on the mechanics in this book because . . . you know . . . Scouring came first). We've got a 4'x4' board with over 20 Hobbits and slightly more Ruffians and it's all about setting things on fire! Also, for the 20+ viewers who saw the article without the photos in it last Thursday before I reverted/rescheduled it . . . my apologies - I was camping and forgot. Let's see how the scenario went . . .

The Burning of Woody End

The board has five Hobbit smials on it (the one in the center is a "great smial" - not a good smial, but a great smial) - the Hobbits deployed within 2" of a smial and the Ruffians deployed within 3" of any board edge. The Ruffians are trying to burn the smials by being in base contact during the End Phase of each round without shooting/fighting that round. On a 5+, the smial burns. Unlike the War in Rohan village scenario, the Ruffians can also set the smials alight with flaming arrows (needs to wound against D6 - that's 6s To Wound with the bows and 6/4+ with the whips). Hobbits can then attempt to put out the fires at the end of their Move (NOT during the End Phase), giving up their opportunity to shoot to roll a D6 and put it out on a 6 (or set it hopelessly ablaze on a 1). The game lasts for 10 turns - and with some very interesting heroes in Baldo Tulpenny and Rowan Thistlewood, we've got a great game ahead of us!

The Board Is Set: How to Play Retrieval

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we looked at Seize the Prize - a scenario that I and a lot of other players don't like playing. Today, we're still in Pool 3, but we're turning to a newer (and in my opinion, far more fun) scenario: Retrieval. This scenario still requires you to get places and it has many of the same themes as Seize the Prize, but it's very much a game of capture of the flag, where you're incentivized to play both defense and offense (instead of just offense). Let's get a quick reminder of what this pool is all about (or you can skip that by clicking here) and then we'll dig into the specifics of this scenario.

Pool 3: Coveting Precious Things

When I looked at the scenario pools when they were first presented in the Matched Play Guide, I was like, "Pool 6 is the the eclectic pool that the oddballs go in." Months later, Evan Iverson from the Unexpected Podcast summarized that pool of scenarios as the "hero killing" scenarios - which is an accurate way of summing up the VPs you can get from Assassination, Fog of War, and Clash by Moonlight.

The actual "oddball" pool is Pool 3 - the unifying factor of these three scenarios is that the scenarios listed here have "objects" in them, but this summary is both broadly vague as well as unexclusive. We've talked previously about Heirlooms of Ages Past (from Pool 1), which clearly has an "object" in it that contains half of the VPs available in the game to one player, which would make it a good candidate for Pool 3 . . . if it weren't for the maelstrom of battle deployment rule (which is why it's in Pool 1).

The Board Is Set: How to Play Seize the Prize

Good morning gamers,

We're kicking off our deep-dive into the scenarios from Pool 3, which includes one of the most polarizing scenarios in the MESBG line (and that happens to be the scenario we're looking at today). As we'll see in the overview section below, Pool 3 is a hodge-podge of different scenarios which are loosely joined together in a common theme. These scenarios have elements of other scenario pools and really test what an army can do. Let's look at the pool as a whole before we get into today's scenario (though if you're reading this after the other posts come out, you can skip ahead by clicking here).

Pool 3: Coveting Precious Things

When I looked at the scenario pools when they were first presented in the Matched Play Guide, I was like, "Pool 6 is the the eclectic pool that the oddballs go in." Months later, Evan Iverson from the Unexpected Podcast summarized that pool of scenarios as the "hero killing" scenarios - which is an accurate way of summing up the VPs you can get from Assassination, Fog of War, and Clash by Moonlight.

The actual "oddball" pool is Pool 3 - the unifying factor of these three scenarios is that the scenarios listed here have "objects" in them, but this summary is both broadly vague as well as unexclusive. We've talked previously about Heirlooms of Ages Past (from Pool 1), which clearly has an "object" in it that contains half of the VPs available in the game to one player, which would make it a good candidate for Pool 3 . . . if it weren't for the maelstrom of battle deployment rule (which is why it's in Pool 1).

Similarly, the "objects" in the Pool 3 scenarios differ in VP weight as well as in number. Seize the Prize has only one object that gives 3-7 VPs to the player that has it at the end of the game, giving more VPs based on whether the objective is on the controlling player's side of the board, on the opposing player's side of the board, or gets off the opposing player's board edge. Retrieval has not one but two objectives - one held by each player - and like Seize the Prize, you're trying to get VPs by moving it (but it's 1-7 VPs in this case - and these points are available to both players, not just one). Destroy the Supplies has three objectives for each side, each worth 2VPs if the other player can touch it without fighting/shooting/doing anything. While this means 6-7VPs in any game are tied to the object/objects, how you get these VPs differs greatly from scenario to scenario.

Nemesis: How to Fight Against the Witch-King of Angmar

Good morning gamers,

I wasn't planning on writing this article this year, but a reader asked if we could do an article on the Witch-King of Angmar. Instead of waiting until next year to do that, I decided to write this one early and delay some content I had planned instead - so if you have questions or thoughts on articles we should write, take this as your cue to tell us in the comments. :)

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

The Witch-King of Angmar is a really powerful piece - and he's probably the most flexible hero you can take in the game with lots of options for his mount, war gear, and his heroic resources (Might, Will, and Fate). With several builds that have been deemed competitive options over the years and an ever-emerging meta surrounding this guy, it makes sense that we'd want to talk about how to beat him. So join in as we pile on my favorite Ringwraith and learn how to fight this fearsome foe!

What Makes The Witch-King of Angmar So Hated?

I have to start off by pointing out that we had an in-depth article on how to beat Ringwraiths at a high level already in this series - many of the principles we talked about at length in that article apply to the Witch-King, but since releasing the article, we've had some FAQs that directly affect him and some build styles that used to be very common have gone out of vogue. As a result . . . go read the previous article if you haven't already, then come back to this one . . . I'll wait.

Dum, dum, carn-dum-dum-dum . . . bam-bam . . . ba-da-bam-bam . . . random screech . . . flappity-flap-flappy-flap . . . crownity-crown-crown . . . dramatic pause​​​ . . . KNIFE! . . . another dramatic pause​ . . . Oh, you're back? Great - let's talk about the Witch-King. :)