The Board Is Set: How to Play Storm the Camp

Good morning gamers,

Today we're viewing the second scenario in Pool 5 - and it's an old one: Storm the Camp. So far in this series, we've seen scenarios that are pretty fun (like Hold Ground, Domination, or Destroy the Supplies) and scenarios that can be very one-sided (like Seize the Prize, Contest of Champions, and Heirlooms of Ages Past). Today's scenario is commonly seen as the hardest scenario to not get a draw in . . . and it also involves a lot of walking (Pool 5 scenarios generally do). As a result, it's not hard to chalk this scenario up as an "unfun" scenario for many lists . . .

. . . but the scenario is actually quite interesting and while draws can easily be a thing, it's a good "gatekeeper" scenario for helping novice players become expert players - and to keep us long-time players constantly thinking and re-thinking about our army strategies. We're going to review first what Pool 5 is all about (if you've already read this, you can skip it by clicking here) and then we'll get into the specifics of Storm the Camp (and the strategies you can employ to win the scenario).

Pool 5: Going Places (And Usually Far-Off Places)

Pool 1 scenarios have odd deployment rules which can make your army show up all over the board (sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad). Pool 2 requires you to control (or at least contest the control of) 4-5 different objectives. Pool 3 involves reaching one or more objects somewhere on the board (and in two of those scenarios, there's some element of offense and defense that needs to be played). Pool 4 scenarios are about how much killing your army (or your army leader) can do.

Pool 5 is about getting places, which means that it's very similar to Pools 1, 2, and 3. In Pool 1, most models will be walking onto the board from the board edges and will need to make their way to some part of the board (the center of the board in Hold Ground or to various quadrants/objective markers in the other two scenarios). Pool 2 doesn't need to require traveling far if you start on the center, but depending on your army's play style, you might be walking a lot (usually to play keep-away from an enemy shieldwall or spam horde). Pool 3 has all kinds of things that require you to travel a quarter of the board length or half of the length of the board.

Pool 5 is a very different story - if you're playing any of these scenarios, moving over half the board length is going to be common and required for maximum scoring. In two of these scenarios (Divide and Conquer and Storm the Camp), you'll have one or two table corners that your force will deploy in and you'll be trying to get to the middle of the board (Divide and Conquer) or to the other player's table corner (opposite yours in Storm the Camp). In Reconnoitre, your models don't even start on the board - they walk on from your board edge and you're trying to get at least a few of them off your opponent's board edge . . . yeah, legging it is hard in these scenarios.

The scoring for these scenarios is, however, pretty standard - the scenarios will give you 1-2 (or in one of them, 1-3) VPs for wounding/killing the enemy army leader and will give you at least 1 VP for breaking the enemy (two of them will give you 3 VPs for breaking the enemy without being broken). This means that even slow armies stand a chance of getting a few VPs if they can just do the killing thing. This is good for us Dwarf players - though even Dwarf players should try to bake in ways to get the movement they need to score more than 3-5 VPs in a game.

The majority of the VPs up for grabs are based on getting more models off the enemy's board edge (up to 7 VPs in Reconnoitre), having more models in both player's deployment corners (up to 6 VPs in Storm the Camp), and having more models than your opponent around three objectives (cumulatively worth 9 VPs, but split up into 2/2/5 VPs for the side/side/center objectives in Divide and Conquer). The player who actually plays to the scenario and doesn't settle for just making things a killing fest will win - usually (there is one scenario that serves as an exception to this).

But this underscores something big about these scenarios: if no one has a fast enough army (or enough time) to actually DO the scenario requirements, the VP scores will often be low and draws are very common. If you're trying to get to the enemy camp or if you're trying to get models off the enemy board edge, you may just run out of time to reach your destination and you'll be left with minimal if any points to show for it. This is the primary driver for why two of these scenarios are not well loved amongst most players.

With Divide and Conquer already covered in this series, let's look at a similar but different (and in my opinion, worse/inferior) scenario: Storm the Camp . . .

Storm the Camp

To understand what's "wrong" with Storm the Camp, it helps to start off by viewing how you score Victory Points in it (since, you know, VPs are essential to winning). Like other scenarios, you can get VPs for wounding/killing the enemy army leader (1-3 VPs) and VPs for breaking the enemy/breaking the enemy and not being broken yourself (1-3 VPs). If both sides manage to mirror each other on these two scoring categories, the game can be a draw.

The other 6 VPs are tied to who controls the "camps." Each player has a starting board corner and has a "camp" that serves as their deployment area (12" radius from the corner). A 12" radius from a table corner for each army means that there's a no-man's-land between the two camps on the table's diagonal that is roughly 44" long . . . which is BASICALLY like starting with no models on the table and having to walk across the entire board. That's too far for most armies - and frankly, it can be quite hard to do for any army that doesn't have a trick up its sleeve. Oh, and you have to do all this before either side is quartered or the timer rings - don't forget that.

To score 3 VPs, you need to have more models within your opponent's camp than your opponent does. Since there's a scenario special rule that allows friendly models to automatically pass their Courage test to stick around once their side is broken if they're fully within their camp, getting a few models across the board might not be enough to take your opponent's camp unless a) your opponent doesn't have a lot of models in their camp to begin with, b) the handful of models you do get across are good at fighting (and probably have Heroic Combats to kill multiple clusters of models in a turn), or c) are one of those special models that can spawn additional bodies near them when they arrive (we'll get into this a bit more in the strategies section).

To score 6 VPs, you need to not only control your opponent's camp, but you need to also retain control of your own. So . . . you are doubly-encouraged to play defense as well as offense. Like any good soccer (internationally, that would be "football" or "futball") team, this means you need to have units that can play defense, offense, and handle the midfield . . . and that's a tall order. For many armies, you might be able to do one or two of these things well, but doing all three is going to be difficult.

Furthermore, an army that spreads itself too thin in the midfield (either by over-extending on their attack or leaving too many models to defend their camp) could find itself in the awkward position of having its forces too spread out to support each other. If your opponent gets a break-away rush for your camp and too many of your units are attacking his camp, getting your forces back to defend your camp is going to be quite difficult if not impossible. Conversely, you might be able to hold the enemy away from your camp, but if you didn't send anyone (or not enough guys) to harass your opponent's camp, a quick break-through could mean you will be losing VPs to your opponent without having the ability to snatch up some more in return. It's a delicate balance . . .

. . . and for these reasons, games of Storm the Camp can often end in a draw (0-0, 1-1, 2-2, or 4-4). If two armies look at the other and say, "There's no way I can breach that army," then they're very much incentivised to sit back and shoot at each other, hoping they don't break when the other guy does or that their army leader doesn't take a wound while the other army leader is safely out of sight. If you ever get stuck in a sit-back-and-shoot game of Storm the Camp, chances are good you're angling for a draw (or a very, VERY narrow win).

But I think this is a missed opportunity - and the ball is usually dropped in the list building phase, not in deployment or early turns of the game. Unlike a lot of other scenarios that award 3-5-7 VPs to someone for doing something (having more guys near the center objective or killing more models with their army leader), this scenario can award you with 6 VPs if you can just break the enemy without being broken and by killing their army leader. Having fast troops is very helpful too, but an army that can grind up the enemy quickly can win a major victory at most tournaments (6+ VPs is the strictest requirement, while other tournaments just require you to double your opponent's VPs) without sending a single model into the enemy's camp. So, if we want to do well at this scenario, what kind of strategies can we employ (and what does that mean for our list-building)? Well, let's look at the most straight-forward of them . . .

Strategy #1: Double Time!

Yep, you guessed it - move everyone forward. I mentioned that playing the attack/defend/midfield was hard, but it turns out that stopping an enemy unit from breaking away from your midfield is much, MUCH easier if you engage with your opponent on their half of the table (crossing the perpendicular diagonal line between the two camps). Once you get on your opponent's side of the table, the board tapers inwards, making it easier for you to guard your flanks and charge units that are trying to work around your lines - especially if you have some fast models or units with throwing weapons. Whether you're running a cavalry-heavy list or have several heroes with Heroic March/warriors with War Drums to press your army forward, moving up the field and engaging as much as you can on your opponent's side of the board is a great way to prevent your opponent from getting to your side of the board (and with it, your camp).

Some models should be left in your camp - archers are usually a good choice, but so are army leaders/auric heroes who aren't great at fighting. This includes heroes like Denethor (who has no Fate) and the Goblin Scribe (who we'll talk about in greater detail later), but might also include a hero like Galadriel or Theoden in the Defenders of Helm's Deep LL who might take some damage from a stray arrow (or a marauding beater hero). Denying access to the 6VPs for the camps as well as the 1-3VPs for wounding/killing your leader will hamstring your opponent's scoring potential (though these heroes might need to begin by moving up to the mid-field and then retreating to safety as the battle gets more heated).

Finally, while getting up the field is all well and good, the units you include in your army need to be able to punch through the enemy (at least breaking them, but ideally are able to force a gap in the enemy line for faster troops/heroes to make their way past the defenses of the enemy and towards the enemy camp). Flying units of all kinds and mounted heroes are great for this, as they can get clear of enemy infantry and go surging forward towards the enemy camp (skipping one or two turns of archery that might lead to a lucky hit). If your opponent is trying to punch a hole through your lines with a big hero, it might be better for you to avoid that hero with your big heroes and punch a hole of your own in your opponent's ranks so that you can at least counter the 3VPs they'll get for taking your camp by capturing the opposing camp.

Of course, not all armies are fast enough to do this (and sometimes you might not have access to fast troops innately or through a historical/convenient alliance). When this is the case, you probably want to look into . . .

Strategy #2: Turtle and Snipe

This strategy takes the opposite approach: advance to the mid-field carefully (mostly to just build a buffer between your opponent and your camp) and then rely on shooting and concentrated power to hold out against your opponent. If you can keep your army leader safe and wound the enemy army leader, you'll get a win. If you can break your opponent without being broken yourself, you can get a win. At the very least, if you and your opponent trade blows equally and both break each other, you'll get a draw (or a win if you can eek out a wound on the enemy army leader).

This strategy effectively says, "6 VPs are off the table for both of us - and that might mean I can't get a major victory, but I think I can still get a minor victory." While the risks are smaller with this strategy (you're basically just playing the mid-field game), the rewards are generally smaller too - and this is especially true if both players decide that they're better off turtling than engaging.

Most of the armies that will do well with this strategy have a mix of high-Defense units or Stalk Unseen and a high volume of shooting/high quality shooting. The Iron Hills, either of the Ranger-based Legendary Legions, mass spams of Woses if they can find enough cover, and Blinding Light/Pall of Darkness armies that invested heavily in shooting can sit back and harass from the mid-field to try to get a break before the enemy can either engage them (if they decided to try Strategy 1 and rush up the field) or pivot into an engagement (if they tried to turtle with Strategy 2). If you can get your opponent to have fewer models than you AND have a tough-as-nails army once your opponent arrives, breaking the enemy really isn't that hard.

But there are other armies that can do well with this strategy, even if they don't have a lot of shooting or high Defense - but they usually have a gimmick in play, which leads us to our third strategy . . .

Strategy #3: Sneaky, Sneaky Shenanigans

Perhaps the best army at playing Storm the Camp is Goblin-town - I mean, they can keep piling in models every turn into your camp with the Goblin Scribe if you leave it unattended - or if you chose to turtle up, they can fuel their own camp with guys while their main horde advances on your position. With Goblin Mercenary Captains able to spawn warbands on the battlefield in various kinds of terrain, it's possible that they can get models into the mid-field quickly OR surround and trap models that are in your camp even if you choose to circle up and try to hold it. Patience on behalf of the Goblin-town player is key here, but a competent Goblin-town commander is probably the scariest match-up you can face.

There are a few other lists that can do similar things but not at the scale of Goblin-town - Azog's Legion has access to Goblin Mercenary Captains, which means that any mix of Azog's Legion, Azog's Hunters, and the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur can get a warband or two next to or in your camp on a turn when you don't have it protected - and that changes the game. Similarly, a warband of Hobbits (probably led by Farmer Maggot) can appear near your camp in the Defenders of the Shire Legendary Legion, which might not seem threatening, until you consider that it has three fast infantry in it, a 2 Attack hero, and potentially 9 bowmen . . . yeah, they can smoke out a lightly-defending camp for sure.

One of my favorite strategies when I'm running vanilla Isengard is to take Grima and embed him in an enemy warband. If the opposing army doesn't have a magical power that does damage, Grima can literally sit in the camp the entire game, requiring at least two enemy models to "baby sit him" or he has the potential to reveal his true nature and snatch the game up . . . all while Saruman and a host of Uruk-Hai are moving up the field! I love it so much . . . unless there's a Sauron or Gandalf on the opposing side of the board . . .

If you can't spawn models on the map, bringing a war beast laden with models in the howdah is another way to force your opponent to not turtle up and actually play the game. If you read our post on war beasts last year, you know what I'm talking about - dropping 12-14 models into your opponent's camp is probably going to wrestle control away from him, and any models that stand in the way without actually charging the war beast are probably a smear by the time the war beast is done. While this strategy is limited to the Forces of Evil, Mordor and the Serpent Horde are pretty easy allies into most of the armies of the Lord of the Rings.

While not exactly the same strategy, the Spider Queen can turn herself into four models by spending 3 Will to summon 3 Broodlings - and while these little piles of wriggling spiders won't count towards your break point (for or against), they will count for the purposes of control. She has Monstrous Charge (and Heroic Combat, like every hero), so if she gets the charge into a single model on the flank, spawns her Broodlings within 3" of her, and then those Broodlings (and later herself) advance 10" toward the enemy camp . . . I mean, that's a pretty quick swing and you may not be able to do much against it. Other models that can do this include Warg Marauders, Azog on the White Warg, and any model that has a mount with an Attack value greater than 1, since you can test to see if the mount stays and becomes yet another body to contest the objective. You cannot, however, do this with Iron Hills Chariots, since they are not counted as individual models (like people riding in the Howdah) and cannot dismount from the chariot once they're in it.

Besides showing up in force with a bunch of models, you can also do some sneaky point denials by having heroes who don't make your army count as broken until they're killed or "mostly dead" (which we know is totally different from "all dead"). The Dark Lord Sauron has to be wounded 3 times in order for a pure Barad-Dur list to remotely count as being broken - and with an 18" range on Chill Soul, any enemy army leaders that get close to where he's operating (read, he's in the mid-field and advancing towards your camp!) are at risk of coughing up 1-3 VPs to the Barad-Dur player . . . oh, and until they deal with Sauron, they can't get ANY VPs for killing off those Orc bodies that are accompanying him! If you accidentally quarter the Barad-Dur list before you can deal with Sauron, he might get a 1-0 win against you (or a 3-0 if Sauron kills of the army leader). Oh, and if Sauron has as a Ringwraith as a helper hero (this very much depends on the points level), you might not be able to sneak past him either . . .

Theoretically, a similar strategy can be employed by the Balrog in the Depths of Moria LL and by the Fellowship in the Breaking of the Fellowship LL, but the former of these isn't going to have the long-range sniping options of Barad-Dur (though they will be able to March up the Balrog pretty quickly - and will probably have a drum and some bowmen to pick up the drumsticks in their camp) and the latter won't have the numbers to hold you off (though a creative use of Heroic Combats from Aragorn, Gimli, and Boromir might be able to break you if you're playing at the 550-650pt level).

And then . . . there are super hordes. You know what I'm talking about - those 100+ model no-Goblin-King Goblin-town lists, the non-LL Shire lists, any pure Druadan list, and any Sharkey's Rogues list (Legion or vanilla) that can't possibly be broken if they stay away from you and have army leaders that they can tuck safely in the back behind a big piece of blocking terrain. I mean . . . if these guys decide to turtle up in their camp, they can LITERALLY make sure that there's no space available in their deployment zones (there's only 113.1 square inches of space in the quarter of a 12" radius circle - so if there's any terrain within 12" of the camp, a 100-model force can fill it without an issue). And if they're sitting back with bows . . . I mean, what are you going to do? Hope you don't break/get your army leader wounded, I guess . . .

Conclusion

Some of these strategies might not be fun - and I'll admit, this is one of my least favorite scenarios - but I like it better than To The Death, which rewards turtling at least as much (and doubly-so if the turtling side has a banner and their opponent doesn't). I don't know that I like it more than Contest of Champions, Heirlooms of Ages Past, or Seize the Prize where a lot of VPs are tied to one model doing a particular thing (especially if you don't seem to have an answer for it). Still, the scenario is a thinker - and if you don't mind settling for a draw or a minor win, it's really not that challenging. If you're going for the 12-0 in all your games, however, you need a plan for this scenario - and an army that can do well at this scenario has a good chance of being good at any scenario in Pool 5 (and Pools 1, 2, and 3 for that matter).

Next time, we're wrapping up Pool 5 by talking about the scenario that was chosen to be the representative scenario for Pool 5 in the new Main Rulebook: Reconnoitre. This scenario might be the oldest scenario in the game - and boy do a lot of people not like it! If you thought having to walk half-way across a board diagonal for Divide and Conquer was too far to walk, that's completely understandable (but probably still doable). If you thought having to walk 44" across a diagonal in Storm the Camp was too far, I think most armies would agree. But now pretend that no one starts on the board and you're trying to traverse 48" of ground . . . well, you've got Reconnoitre. :) Find out how to do well at this scenario next time (and how the strategies for this scenario differs from the ones we've already talked about). Until then, happy hobbying!