Hey Reader!
Who coulda guessed: not only a battle report (which we haven't done in a while), but also a battle report testing out some of the new army lists from the new edition (which I'm going to call 5th Edition, based on The One Rulebook, Warbands, The Hobbit, MESBG, and now the newest 2024-2025 edition, which is what we're playing), showcasing armies that we both think are interesting and are quite different from their previous iterations. So what better way to show you some new content than by crushing our foes on the field of battle!
Tiberius and I had a Saturday morning free (well, watching the children, but they also love the game, so we have fans watching and playing at smaller tables), so we decided to meet up for a 700pt match! Tiberius will be fielding his Numenoreans (with some proxy elves, as he hasn't built enough spearmen yet), while I will be playing Fangorn, because monsters!
Army lists are below:
Tiberius's List: Numenor
Warband 1
Elendil (Army Leader)
7 Warriors of Numenor with shields and spears
6 Warriors of Numenor with shields
4 Warriors of Numenor with longbows
Warband 2
Numenorean Captain #1 (Kaladin)
4 Warriors of Numenor with shields and spears
3 Warriors of Numenor with shields
3 Warriors of Numenor with longbows
Warband 3
Numenorean Captain #2 (Not Kaladin)
4 Warriors of Numenor with shields and spears
3 Warriors of Numenor with shields
3 Warriors of Numenor with longbows
TOTAL: 700pts, 40 models, 7 Might*
Centaur's List: Fangorn
Warband 1
Treebeard with Merry and Pippin (Army Leader)
Beech Ent (Ent Warrior with reroll 1s to wound in close combat)
Oak Ent (Ent Warrior with 4 Wounds instead of 3)
Warband 2
Birchseed (new Ent hero that can call a free Heroic Move each turn if you 1) don't win priority, and 2) your opponent chooses to claim priority. So situational, but very useful for covering bases)
Ash Ent (Ent Warrior with 3+ Shoot Value, and may move up to 3" and still stoop to throw a stone)
TOTAL: 700pts, 7 models, 4 Might*
Scenario: Our scenario for this match is Fog of War, which has changed since the last edition. Not by much, but it has changed. Here are the scoring conditions:
- You get 5VPs if the friendly non-army leader hero you nominate has suffered no wounds, lost no fate, and is still alive at the end of the game; you gain 3VPs if the hero has lost Fate but hasn't suffered any wounds and is still alive at the end of the game, and you gain 1VP if the hero has been wounded, has lost Fate, but is still alive at the end of the game (which is a nice change from the last edition: there's always a reason to go for wounds against heroes).
- You get 5VPs if the hostile non-army leader hero you nominate is slain in melee at the end of the game (full honesty: I forgot about this change specifying that it has to be in close combat during the game - I had a lot going on), 3VPs if the hero has suffered at least one wound at the end of the game, and 1VP if the hero has lost at least one Fate Point at the end of the game.
- You get 5VPs if you have at least 2 models and the enemy has no models within or touching a terrain feature you specify that is fully within the enemy's half of the board (the "fully within" is also new this edition, and does cut down on the number of potential terrain features someone might choose as those straddling the middle line aren't options anymore - not a bad change, either, especially since it solve issues for big bases that wouldn't fit nicely on terrain features by allowing you to be in base contact instead of having to go into it, so yay for mumaks and Ents having more options); you get 3VPs if you have at least 2 models and at least double the number of models within or touching said terrain feature, and you get 1VP if you have more models within or touching said terrain feature.
- You get 2VPs if you slay the enemy army leader, and you get 1VP if you wound the enemy army leader.
- And finally, you get 1VP if you break the opponent, and 3VPs if you break the enemy without being broken.
So all told there are now 20VPs (instead of 12) on the table, and it's generally easier to get VPs, especially against those notoriously hard to remove models, which I think is healthy.
We rolled for board edge, and I won the roll; I chose the lower board edge, and after deployment it looked like this:
For this game, I'm choosing to protect Merry, as I don't think Tiberius is going to try to kill Treebeard: I think he's going to speedbump Treebeard as long as possible, and throw Elendil at Birchseed. I am going to slay the Non-Kaladin Captain, in part because he looks like a warrior, so I'm more likely to just rush him, and also because Tiberius likes Kaladin, so he's more likely to keep him safe, lol. And I'm going to attempt to get to the stable (top-right ruin building near the bridge), relying on Birchseed's free heroic moves if I don't get priority to tie down enemies and give me a (hopefully) competitive advantage in getting to and holding the objective.
And with that, to war!!!
Turn 1: All Forces March
Priority: Tiberius, who passes priority to Centaur
Move Phase: The armies move up, with Tiberius moving some of his archers up 3" but keeping three stationary in the building for that better Shoot Value. Otherwise nothing crazy going on here; I make sure to have Treebeard behind the building so that he gets an In the Way from archery.
 |
| Totally forgot to only move up 3" with my Ash Ent. Oh well |
Shoot Phase: The S3 longbow upgrade for Numenor also means he's only wounding on 6/4+ instead of 6/5+ like in the old edition. This is a nice bonus for Numenor! Tiberius gets a number of hits, but can't land a single 6 to wound, so no wounds are done at range. I don't have any shots, so we move to the Fight Phase.
Fight Phase: There are no fights this turn, so we move to the End Phase, nothing to score here, so we move on to the next turn.
Turn 2: Rocks Ahead!
Priority: Tiberius, who passes priority to Centaur
Move Phase: In the Move Phase I don't move at all on the left flank: the target I need to kill is on that side, and I figure if I can at least get some Fate off of the captain (if not Elendil) then that's probably worthwhile. On the right side the Ash Ent moves up 3" but prepares to throw a rock, while Birchseed moves up fully because I need to get across the board to the stable (top-right building).
Shoot Phase: The Shoot Phase goes...honestly much better than I could have expected: all 4 of the Ents hit, and all 4 of the Ents wounded, removing 1 Fate from Elendil, 1 Fate and 1 Wound from the captain (my target to slay down to 1 wound!) (this was . . . very unfortunate for me, for reasons that will be revealed later):
 |
| Tiberius rolling Fate Saves like a BOSS! |
And then on the other flank, I wounded yet again with the Ash Ent, removing a random dude:
Fight Phase: There are no fights this turn, so we move to the End Phase, nothing to score here, so we move on to the next turn.
Turn 3: Things Get Serious
Priority: Centaur, who takes priority
Move Phase: At this point the shenanigans were up, and I made a critical decision (probably a mistake, but we'll see): I opted to chuck rocks for one more turn instead of shuffling around the line so that I can get Treebeard out in the open. Tiberius hid Elendil on approach, so he's not really a target, but I figured I needed to thin the herd, so taking a turn to just stand, shoot, and remove some bodies can't be a bad idea. Plus I have no banner, so thinning potential melee dice is probably wise.
Tiberius also managed to tie down just the Ash Ent in combat, ignoring Birchseed (so I won't be able to Combat/Barge to get aid to the Ash Ent - a good move):
 |
| Tiberius failed 3 Terror checks though: Law of Averages says he should have gotten more guys in |
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase my gambit pays off: one of the Ents wounds a guy, as does Merry with his S1 throwing stone! In reply, Tiberius deals a wound with a longbow against the Beech Ent:
.jpg)
Fight Phase: We only had the one fight with the Ash Ent, and upon rolling the 6 on the dueling roll I won the fight, and bonked a dude and dealt a wound to Kaladin (who Fate Saved):
 |
| Achievement Unlocked: Tiberius going 100% on passing Fate Saves for his entire army in one game! (this never happens) |
With nothing going on in the End Phase, we're ready to move to Turn 4, and I'm actually feeling okay about this: if he blocks out Treebeard I'll just use Treebeard to tag/tear down to the guys running up the center, and plan to just speedbump Elendil with a 4-wound F8 D8 Ent, which means I think I can go roughly 2 rounds with him (maybe 3 if I win a fight).
Turn 4: O Captains, My Captains
Priority: Tiberius, who keeps priority
Move Phase: Birchseed calls a Heroic Move (for free; this one only affects him, so it doesn't matter that much) which he uses to tie down a Numenorean near him that could sneak into the stable, and Tiberius does exactly what you expect: throws everything into wiping out the Ash Ent on the right flank, ties down Birchseed, and then jumps into the fray without engaging Treebeard. Elendil is in for the win against the Oak Ent:
 |
| Treebeard is locked out of combat, but an opportunity to score some VPs presents itself (especially when you're dumb) |
Now at this point I completely space on the fact that to get 5VPs for headhunting your target you have to kill him in close combat: I just thought I need to slay him. So Treebeard grabs a rock, Merry and Pippin grab rocks to aim at spear supports, and we head into the Shoot Phase with a skip in our step.
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase Tiberius doesn't have much going on, but I do! Treebeard lobs his rock, hits, and with 1 Might Point (1/3M) he wounds the already wounded captain (my target), and I'm on Cloud Nine: the slow Ent army hunted our target! Of course, I think it's 5VPs when it's 3, but hey: technically speaking we're up on points right now! :P
 |
| Sorry for the blurry picture: camera went out of focus |
Fight Phase: As we go into the Fight Phase Elendil calls a Heroic Combat (for free), and Birchseed also calls a Heroic Combat (1/1M, as I need to polish off the one guy I'm on and get back to being in base contact with the building, as I'm sure those archers are going to slide over toward us); we resolve Elendil's combat first, and while Elendil wins the fight (at the cost of 1 Might Point) (1/3M) he's only able to pluck 2 wounds off the 4-wound Oak Ent (I'm really missing that mount - Isildur would not have failed me, I'm convinced). Meanwhile (since we're in the neighborhood we'll jump past the other combat for now) the Beech Ent loses his fight as well, but doesn't get hurt:
 |
| Coulda been worse, to be honest |
On the other side, the Ash Ent wins the fight, and spends his time crushing Kaladin (as he, like the other captain, still has all of his Might Points, so getting those off the board is probably the best play):
As we head into Turn 5, we're actually doing okay: I need to use the Ash Ent to track down anyone that could sneak past us to the objectives in our half of the board, but Birchseed is looking fine holding the top against the few Numenoreans still up here. So we're looking very good so far, as long as we can speedbump Elendil and his horde of men.
Turn 5: Never Tell Me the Odds
Priority: Centaur, who takes priority
Move Phase: Tiberius calls a Heroic Move with Elendil (2/3M) and unsurprisingly commits on this turn: there's like no shooting, everyone is getting where they need to go and jumping into combat. The back archers on the building start heading to the right to contest Birchseed at the stables (who stoops to grab a rock: the easiest way, I think to defend the building I'm currently fully controlling), and Elendil and his boys (while making sure that Treebeard can't get through the gap) jump into the Oak Ent and the Beech Ent. The Ash Ent is tied down (probably to make sure I don't have 2 Ents holding the stable, and/or to keep me from sending him to reinforce my other boys), and some of the Numenoreans are running toward that little ruined artisan house - I wonder why? ;) (it's totally a ruse - ignore them)
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase my unhastiness with Birchseed pays off: he chucks a rock at the Numenorean and takes him down:
 |
| BooRAHrum!!! |
Fight Phase: In the Fight Phase Elendil calls a Heroic Combat (for free), and Treebeard also calls a Heroic Combat (1/3M). In a stunning turn of events the Oak Ent rolls a 6 and beats Elendil and his men (high of 5, and Elendil has like a high of 3), and decides to Rend Elendil, dealing 2 wounds to him (2/3H on Elendil). Possibly should have gone for the guys just to remove dice, but I figured if I have the chance to take out Elendil I should take that chance.
 |
| This, ladies and gents, is called, "It's better to the lucky than good" |
And then Treebeard won his fight, unsurprisingly wounded the 1 guy he was against, and then moved back to tag one (couldn't grab the other) guy that was trying to sneak behind us.
In the remaining fights it's a clean sweep for Fangorn: we won all three fights, and wounded the guys we were in combat with:
 |
| Worth noting that the Beech Ent rolled two 1s, so he could reroll those; didn't matter as he wounded with the other, though |
As we head into Turn 6, currently we've scored 3VPs for slaying the captain, 1VP for wounding Elendil, and 5VPs for full control of the stables, and Tiberius has yet to get on the scoreboard. So believe it or not, Fangorn can compete on objective missions now!
Turn 6: Chaos Reigns
Priority: Tiberius, who claims priority
Move Phase: Since Tiberius won priority I called a Heroic Move with Birchseed (for free), and tags one of the Numenoreans from Kaladin's warband so that the Ash Ent is free to headhunt the lone runner with his rocks (which is what Ash Ents love to do). Tiberius goes all-in on taking down the Ents, with like 12 guys involved in the fight with the Oak Ent:
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase no wounds are dealt so the board doesn't change (Merry and Pippin failed me, as did the Ash Ent, but hey: we've been pretty lucky so far with the rocks, so can't complain).
Fight Phase: Heroic Combats are called by Treebeard (2/3M) and Elendil (for free), and Treebeard goes first; he wins the fight (upon spending a Might Point - 3/3M) but fails to slay both of the people in his fight (Davib, or something like that, just refused to die on 3s) (Dabbid - in the books, he's a mute . . . sorta), and then, in Elendil's fight, this happened:
The Oak Ent rolls a 6 high, the Numenoreans roll a high of 5, with Elendil's dice (the red ones) rolling a high of 3 yet again, so the Ent WINS! This, my friends, is not just luck: this is an absolute train wreck of rolls for Numenor. Do NOT assume that this will ever happen for you, and I am not assuming it will ever happen again for me. Crazy stuff (I still contend that Isildur would not have failed me).
I should have done a Rend against Elendil, but I didn't: I got greedy and went for wounding normally (in the hopes I could snatch that one wound left on him and then bonk some dudes), so I struck normally, and would you know it I couldn't get a single wound against Elendil. So it's a wash of a fight, but you know, I'll take the Oak Ent still standing on 2 wounds over the likelihood of him dying and Elendil removing yet another model this turn.
Meanwhile, next door, the Numenorean Warriors - normal dudes just doing their job - sneak two 6s against the Beech Ent that they beat in combat and take him down:
The first casualty caused to Fangorn: Numenor has broken through the lines! Up top we remove the last Numenorean up there, clearing the way for Birchseed to headhunt the archers that are running over:
Turn 7: The Tide Turns
Priority: Centaur, who claims priority
Move Phase: Tiberius decides to use Elendil's last Might Point (3/3M) to call a Heroic Move; this is probably the right decision, but it also means my gambit about using Might early and not being able to Strike up turns out to be an okay decision. The Numenoreans come crashing into the Oak Ent and Treebeard, locking us down so that we can't stop a few Numenoreans from heading into the building:
 |
| That...is a lot of dudes in Elendil's combat... |
Up top the Numenoreans are just running for the stable, so Birchseed gets in base contact, while the Ash Ent hefts a stone (after moving 3", as he's allowed to do) to see if we can pluck off a guy before they run into the building.
Shoot Phase: No wounds are done in the Shoot Phase (we didn't get the guy, and Merry and Pippin are back to not hitting again), so we move into the Fight Phase.
Fight Phase: As we all expected, Elendil calls his Heroic Combat (for free), and as that's the only Might on the table, it goes first. Elendil and his boys win the duel and polish off the dourhearted Oak Ent:
And then run into Treebeard for the double whammy: both of us get 6s to win the duel, we go to a roll-off, and on a 6 it goes to Numenor:
 |
| 2 Ents in 1 turn: the tide has turned swiftly! |
And with 5 wounds out of the gate from the Numenorean Warriors alone, Treebeard isn't able to save enough wounds with Fate and falls as well (I have only seen Treebeard fail two Fate saves once before - and it HURTS to watch!)!
And with that, the tide has turned immensely: Tiberius is back on the board in a big way, having taken out my general (2VPs to my 1VP for wounding Elendil), is likely to have full control over his terrain feature (5VPs to my 3-5VPs if I can get rid of these archers), and if he can slay Merry (not hard to do, considering he has, you know, Elendil and a ton of dudes), he'll deny me points for keeping guys alive while possibly slaying his charge, which will even up and/or pass the VPs I've made in those categories. It's going to be very, very tight as we round out the last few turns! Also, I'm 1 from breaking (he's like 4 from breaking, so it's actually still pretty close).
Turn 8: Cleaning Up
Priority: Tiberius who claims priority
Move Phase: There is one good thing about my position: whether I won priority or not, I had the ability to charge 2 of the archers running toward the stable. In this case, because I didn't win priority and wasn't given priority, once again Birchseed gets his free Heroic Move. So he runs in and tags two of them, with the third able to slip away into the ruin.
Seeing that I need to slay more models than are present on this side of the board, I send the Ash Ent down toward where Merry and Pippin are in the hopes that I can headhunt some Numenoreans with some rocks to eek out enough wounds to break him, all while hoping that Birchseed has enough time to beat his two guys (hopefully this turn), get back in contact with the terrain feature (plan for next turn), and then crush the last guy with a rock (two turns from now). So ideally, after Merry and Pippin likely meet their demise this turn, we need the game to continue another two turns. We'll see how this goes.
Tiberius sends his guys both into the house and anywhere and everywhere to get cover from throwing stones (which is the right play). The board looks like this:
 |
| This is a long shot, but it's all we have... |
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase the Ash Ent takes down another dude with his rock:
 |
| BooRAHrum!!! |
Man, I love this guy! More on that in the conclusion, but this guy has been coming in CLUTCH this game!
Fight Phase: And in the Fight Phase Elendil calls a Heroic Combat (for free, as we expected), and after polishing off Pippin down goes Merry:
 |
| (Getting Pippin was actually very, VERY important for me - but I'll take Merry as well) |
Up top Birchseed does his job and finishes off the two Numenoreans he charged, pulling us within 1 model of breaking the Numenoreans as we are broken:
Next turn we'll start rolling to see if the scenario ends.
Turn 9: The Final Turn
Priority: Centaur who claims priority
Move Phase: Our moves are simple: Birchseed moves into base contact with the stable (so that we score points for it, and hopefully the next turn we'll be able to throw a stone), while the Ash Ent rounds the corner to headhunt a kill with his rock. Numenor takes cover in preparation for the assault, having firmly secured their terrain objective:
Shoot Phase: The Ash Ent takes aim at the only guy who does not have an In the Way and misses, so nothing happens there.
Fight Phase: No fights, which means we go to the End Phase.
End Phase: I roll the die (as I have priority), and I roll a 1, so the game ends.
This was a lot of fun, and I've got to say: I felt much better about my odds going into this due to the changes from the new edition. The addition of Dominant (3) on the Ents and Dominant (5) for Treebeard makes it possible to give your opponent a run for their money on objectives, and the variety of Ent warrior types gives you tactical options and interesting choices which we didn't have before. There are a few changes I would have made (might have been a better idea to not hide Treebeard as much and take my chances with archery rather than have him be aced out of fighting for a few turns), but on the whole, can't really complain: great game, great opponent, and loving some of the changes with the new edition.
No comments:
Post a Comment