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).

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.

When you look at deployment, this is the first of our scenario pools where your deployment can change between scenarios. In Pool 1, all warbands walk onto the board from randomly-determined board edges. In Pool 2, both armies have the option to start on the center line. In Pool 3, two of the scenarios have the players start within 12" of their board edges, which means you're going to need some speed in your list to get 24" across the board to the three objectives in Destroy the Supplies or 36" across the board to the enemy board edge in Seize the Prize. These paths are very rarely straight lines . . .

Retrieval is different though: a diagonal line is drawn from one corner to its opposite corner and players can deploy up to 3" away from that line. Each player's "flag" is a certain distance from their starting corner and this scenario also requires you to do quite a bit of walking - more walking than the other two if you want max VPs because you have to a) get to the enemy flag, and then b) get it back off one of your deployment zone board edges (beyond 3" of the center line). This allows armies to start more in each other's faces if they want to, but it's still going to be a walking trip.

Perhaps that's the unifying factor of these scenarios: you have 1-6 objects in each scenario, but you have to do a lot of walking with them. There are other scenarios that require a lot of travel (we'll look at those when we cover Pool 5), but any model in your army can do the walking in those scenarios. In these scenarios, where one particular model (or several models in Destroy the Supplies) goes is what's really at stake. These scenarios can be a bit of a frustration - especially for new players or slow armies - but they also require you to flex different muscles than most of the other scenario pools.

With all this in mind, let's talk about Retrieval.

Retrieval

Both armies have a "flag" (we'll be calling it a flag from hereon out) which is set 18" away from their starting corner, which in simple terms means that, if you pick a your corner, you're going 13" in and 13" up from that corner and placing an objective there (for a 45 degree right triangle, the hypotenuse is the length of any side x the square-root of 2, which is technically 12.7279" in our case). The flag is an object that doesn't have to be dug up, which means that cavalry with the Expert Rider keyword and all infantry (that aren't war beasts) can pick up the flag - no dismounting of cavalry required. If you're thinking about teaching someone the game and you're bouncing between Seize the Prize and Retrieval (for some reason), this is probably reason #1 for picking Retrieval instead of Seize the Prize - the mechanics of getting the desired object are just easier.

While getting the flag is easier, the deployment/escape conditions are bit harder to visualize (but not too hard): instead of deploying within 12" of a board edge, players identify what the diagonal "center line" is between the two player's corners and then create a 3" radius around that line that becomes "no man's land." Your deployment zone is anywhere on your half but outside of this 3" buffer zone, which means this scenario is kind of like a centerline deployment scenario.

Players can get 1VP for moving the flag from its original spot but not having control of it (e.g. the guy carrying it fled, the guy carrying it was killed and the original player hasn't returned it to its spot - more on this later), 3VPs for moving the flag and having possession of it, 5VPs for moving the flag and having possession of it in your deployment zone, and 7VPs for moving the flag off a board edge that's in your deployment zone (so not within the 3" of no-man's-land between the center diagonal line and your deployment zone). Because these VPs aren't all-or-nothing for one player, I find this scenario to be far more interesting to play than Seize the Prize.

The other VPs are tied up in a similar way as Seize the Prize - breaking the enemy army (1-3VPs) and wounding/killing the enemy army leader (1-2VPs). This is pretty standard and rewards players for actually doing the scenario-specific gimmick while still rewarding armies that want to pound the enemy into the dust. This doesn't mean the scenario is a level playing field for all factions, but it does mean that factions that aren't innately fast can still get VPs (especially if they can deny their opponent from getting to their flag).

This leads to the primary problem with this scenario: if both forces bunker up on their flag, the game is easy to become a draw. While I've had far fewer draws in this scenario than in other scenarios (like Storm the Camp, which we'll talk about later in this series), this scenario can be pretty hard for either side to win if neither invested in fast troops that can stay alive. We'll talk about this more in the strategy section, but if both armies are trying to "just break the enemy" and treat the scenario specific objectives as secondary, you should expect a 1-1 draw if you leave the enemy army leader unwounded and just focus on killing bodies.

This is doubly true because the scenario can randomly end once one army breaks - if both armies are trading blows equally, both armies might break on the same turn or one might break one or two turns before the other. If you haven't made progress towards getting to the enemy flag, you could be in some trouble and risk a draw.

However, if you keep the scenario goals in mind - and if you actually put pressure on the enemy army leader - it's certainly possible to not get a draw. Breaking the enemy and wounding the enemy army leader (either 2 or 4VPs, depending on whether you are also broken) will force your opponent to either break you/wound your army leader OR wound your army leader and move the flag while holding onto it in order to get a draw. If he does one of these things but not the other, one side will win. Similarly, you can also move the enemy's flag and hold onto it, your opponent is required to at least move the flag and get it to his side or he'll lose. In short, if you actually play the scenario - or just really roll your opponent - you shouldn't get a draw. This makes this scenario better in my book than Storm the Camp (and naturally, Seize the Prize - where it matters far more who gets into the center first than who can actually get better board control).

Okay, let's talk strategies now . . .

Strategy #1: Wide Flankers (or Flyers)

When you have the centerline drawn across the diagonal of the board, your potential deployment line is HUGE. Even though your opponent knows where you want to go, protecting all of the avenues of approach to that point can be quite difficult because of how wide some of your warbands can start. If you have a small contingent of cavalry that can start near a corner (and ideally deploys after your opponent's army is already deployed on the table), you can navigate around the enemy and threaten their flag from a wide angle. If there's a mounted hero there, you might also be able to declare a Heroic Move to get the flag - and then declare a Heroic Move on the next turn (maybe followed by a Heroic Combat as well?) to get wide of the enemy and get a free run to one of your board edges.

This strategy is very effective if you've got fast troops and your opponent doesn't - and even more so if you have flyers and your opponent doesn't. Most flyers have large bases (at least 40mm, sometimes ridiculously oblong bases), so hopping the line might be difficult (or you'll be in charge range next turn), but if you have a combat hero who happens to fly (Gwaihir, Gulavhar, or the Witch-King on Fell Beast), a good Heroic Combat could see you shooting from a fight with someone to the enemy flag in a single turn!

Once you have the flag, you have a few options - racing around the enemy flanks, flying back over both ranks, etc. The key is to avoid being caught by anything threatening. Once you're on your side of the board, your plan should change from trying to press towards the enemy flag (which is no longer in their deployment zone) to retreating to protect your own flag. While getting off the board with your opponent's flag is all well and good, he can still try to match your VPs by getting yours and escaping with it too. So . . . you need to be able to change gears.

An alternative (though not altogether different) approach is . . .

Strategy #2: Punch up the Middle

If you don't have fast troops, but you do have elite and reliable infantry, you can just try to punch up the middle. The distance between each team's flag and the centerline is not that great (about 25" from your starting line - a 48" board edge results in a roughly 68" diagonal line, which makes the halfway point of the centerline 34" into the board, which is a distance of 22" from the center to the flag, and 25" from your 3" starting zone). A 25" distance can be cleared in 4-5 turns if you can press hard enough through the enemy (Heroic Combatting through 1-2 front-line models and killing off a second-rank model, then charging into someone else in the second rank and Heroic Combatting a second time 6" towards the objective, then two to three rounds of just moving, depending on whether you can get another Heroic Combat in).

What usually happens after this amount of steam rolling is that you have Mightless heroes, but someone (either the hero or a friend) has picked up the flag. Brute-force running it off your side of the board is going to be pretty difficult if you're just infantry, but you can get nearly full VPs by just crossing back over the centerline and into your deployment area (5VPs instead of 7VPs). If you can punch a hole through the enemy and then shield your carrier until they get back (while protecting your own), you can still get a solid victory.

This strategy does work better, however, if your hero is mounted/fast. The overall strategy has advantages over the previous option if most of your army is comprised of infantry models and only a handful of your models are fast (probably heroes, maybe a few warriors) since your heroes can be inserted amongst your infantry blocks, giving them better matchup control, reducing the likelihood of being trapped (at least at first), and allowing them to have plenty of blockers when they attempt to run it back. It'll still take time to return - and you really want Expert Rider on your mounted hero so he doesn't have to dismount to pick up the flag - but you'll shave off some very precious turns just by having a little extra speed.

Some armies, however, lack both speed and an elite punch-out-the-lights kind of list . . . and for those armies, I would propose the following strategy . . .

Strategy #3: Bunkering Up

While you can certainly start as close to the centerline as possible (3" away from the diagonal), there's a LOT of space in the rear of your deployment zone where you can form up on your flag . . . and sit there. If you don't grab the enemy flag, your max VPs is going to be 5 . . . but if your opponent can't get to your flag, the max VPs they can get is 5 as well. As such, armies that are slow but shoot a lot (like the Rangers of Mirkwood) have very little incentive to line up on the center and try to wrap around or rush up the center. Instead, their game is going to be much more cagey: shoot the enemy while they sit back guarding their own flag or as they rush for your own.

While "bunkering up" is a great strategy for shooting-heavy lists that are counting on breaking the enemy without being broken (with a wounded or killed army leader thrown in for fun), they can also have some of their models go wide on the flank as a distraction - or to give them a late-game attempt at moving the enemy flag (which alone is worth 1VP - and can break a tie if both armies break/wound each other's leaders). Any clusters of units that attempt this shouldn't try to engage - they'll be tasty models for your opponent to kill and might contribute to you breaking. Instead, you want to have them threaten the rear so that your opponent has to leave models behind defending their flag - and that will make dealing with their main body of troops a lot easier.

The biggest concern with this method is that your max VPs are incredibly limited. You're hoping to get no more than 6VPs in this scenario (1VP for moving the flag, 2VPs for killing the army leader, 3VPs for breaking the enemy without being broken), but against some armies where wounding the army leader is difficult and they have to be wounded a certain number of times to be broken (pure Barad-Dur or the Depths of Moria LL), you may be looking at only 3VPs (you're probably breaking and hopefully breaking them, if you broke them you also wounded but probably didn't kill the enemy army leader, and you really HAVE to move the flag) . . . that's not great. But against a reasonable opponent, you can hope for 6VPs while denying most of the VPs to the enemy. It's risky, but it's also a viable plan.

Conclusion

Retrieval can be a pretty good scenario - and I find it a lot more enjoyable than Seize the Prize. Next time, we turn to the last scenario in Pool 3 - Destroy the Supplies. This scenario is quite different from the other two and requires your army to be in a lot of places all at once. We'll see a bunch of interesting strategies in it next time. Until next time, be safe out there and happy hobbying!