Hey Reader!
In a stunning turn of events, we are back with ANOTHER BATTLE REPORT! I hope to get a lot more battle report content out on the blog this year, because writing battle reports has been fun, and I've missed it, so hopefully you'll be seeing more coming down the pike soon! :)
We decided to do a 600pt match today; Tiberius will be fielding his Muster of Isengard list (Saruman is BACK baby!), while I will be playing The Three Trolls, because monsters! And also this list is wildly different from the previous edition, so I figured it's worth taking them out for a spin (since I don't think I ever got to use them in the last edition thanks to the whole 400pts thing)!
Army lists are below:
Tiberius's List: Muster of Isengard
Warband 1
Saruman (Army Leader)
7 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
6 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
2 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
3 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Uruk-Hai bows
Warband 2
Uruk-Hai Captain
1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with banner
2 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
3 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
6 Uruk-Hai Scouts with Uruk-Hai bows
Enemy Warband
Grima Wormtongue
TOTAL: 600pts, 33 models, 5 Might, 1 DOPE CASTER
Centaur's List: The Three Trolls
Warband 1
Bill the Troll (Army Leader)
Warband 2
Bert the Troll
Warband 3
Tom the Troll
Troll Hoard:
Nothing Like a Warm Fire (Campfire Banner/Resistant to Magic/Courage effects are increased from 6" to 18")
Full Bellies (All trolls start with 3M / 3W / 3F)
Bowl 'Em Over (Trolls may use their throwing stones as throwing weapons, and may reroll their Hurl distance)
Cover of Darkness (the game will be played at night, and the trolls gain Cave Dweller)
TOTAL: 600pts, 3 models, 9 Might
Scenario: Our scenario for this match is Domination, which is mostly the same from last edition. Here are the scoring conditions:
- You get 3VPs for each of the 5 objectives you fully control (which is pretty much the same as last edition).
- You get 1VP for each of the 5 objectives you majority control (again, pretty similar).
- 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 20VPs (instead of 12) on the table, with 75% of those points being tied up in objectives (which is how it should be: really emphasize dominating portions of the battlefield).
We rolled for board edge, Tiberius chose his side, and after deployment it looked like this:
 |
| Maybe I should have deployed them all close, but I want to try this rock throwing thing that I invested points into |
Now since I didn't know which scenario we would play I didn't choose the Dominant Presence troll hoard bonus, as it does absolutely nothing if you don't have controlled objectives, but in this particular scenario it's hard to beat it. Playing without it is possible, but it will make it harder to have full control over objectives come the end of the game. But I think we can pull it out: he doesn't have a lot of Heroic Strike, and as long as I can overcome the magic from Saruman and keep smashing uruks every turn, we can do this.
My plan is to play hard on the center three objectives, intercept people with stones or fists if they get past, and try to end the game with me holding the center three, him having his back objective, and the fifth one being uncontrolled. If I can break him without being broken, not lose Bill, and prevent him from sole controlling two, I think I can win this one. Wounding or removing Saruman would be gravy on top of that, but I don't know that I'll be able to get him due to my large bases and limited movement. But we'll see.
And with that, to war!!!
Turn 1: Into the Fray!
Priority: Tiberius, who claims it
Move Phase: Tiberius calls a Heroic March for free with the captain (yay for army special rules), and I didn't call anything because STUPID GRIMA. Saruman also attempted to cast Transfix on Bill, but failed to cast it (on a 1, Free Will only). Bert maneuvers around the building to take a shot on a 5+ (and to stunt the onslaught of the uruks past Bill), and Tom grabs a rock to start chucking at the archers.
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase the uruk archers fail to wound Tom, and he returns fire by taking out one of the berserkers. Bert fails to hit (STUPID BERT), so we moved into combat.
Fight Phase: Bill, being unhindered, wins his fight, but rolls like a chump and only sneaks 1 wound onto the berserkers.
Turn 2: The Fighting Intensifies
Priority: Centaur, who claims it
Move Phase: I throw both Bert and Bill into combat, leaving Tom back to continue providing sole control over the second objective, but also to potentially lob rocks at uruks that run too far ahead toward the back objective.
Saruman casts Transfix again on Bill (Free + 1/6 Will): Bill attempts to resist (1/3 Will + Resistant to Magic dice) and fails, so he won't be wounding anyone this turn. It's also worth noting that Saruman picked Bill this game as the hero that suffers a -1 to resist his magic spells (unless Bill rolls a 6, in which case it's unmodified), so note that whenever Bill is trying to resist a spell he's suffering a -1. Pretty brutal, and really makes Saruman a dangerous caster.
Shoot Phase: Nothing of note happens in the Shoot Phase; missiles are exchanged, but no wounds are dealt to anyone.
Fight Phase: In the Fight Phase Bert wins his fight, opts to Hurl the right-most Uruk-Hai, and then fails his Intelligence check (STUPID BERT), so Tiberius picked the new target of the Hurl and just made it the other guy in the fight, and he removes them both.
Meanwhile Bil wins his fight, so the uruks back up, and I get a bit more room to breathe for a time.
4 kills is a small start to break an Isengard army, but on we go!
Turn 3: Crunch, Crunch Crunch
Priority: Tiberius, who claims it
Move Phase: Saruman called a Heroic Channel this turn (which, in my mind, is way more dangerous this edition - more on that in the conclusion), and spends his free Will Point alone to cast Sorcerous Blast on Bill (1/3 Might, Free Will Only). Since it was channeled, this 5+ difficulty spell is cast automatically on a 6, and Bill opted to resist with 2 Will Points (3/3 Will + Resistant to Magic), and got a 4 high after factoring in the -1 from Saruman, so I swallowed hard, looking at the number of berserkers that were around me, and opted to spend 2 Might (2/3 Might) to resist it.
The uruks do a full court press, tagging Bert and Bill, and moving up on Tom as some of their men push past us to the back objective (I needed priority this turn - I would have called a move except for STUPID GRIMA, and I panicked and decided to conserve the Might Points).
Shoot Phase: Nothing of note happened in the Shoot Phase (STUPID TOM), so we move on to fights.
Fight Phase: And boy these were big fights. Both Bert and Bill won, and between them 3 berserkers were removed, which I think makes all of Tiberius's berserkers.
That buys us some breathing room: there won't be nearly as many dice against trapped foes as there could have been. Now we just need to start clearing bodies.
Turn 4: What Mischief the Palantir Wrought
Priority: PALANTIR!!! So, Tiberius claims it without contest
Move Phase: So the palantir on this turn is actually very problematic: I needed the chance at priority so that I could maneuver Bert to help pull some of the uruks off of Bill, lest he roll trash at some point in the next few rounds and die. But with both of us swarmed and the uruks now starting to even make their way around Tom, we're in an interesting spot.
Saruman also called a Heroic Channel this turn (2/3 Might), and got Sorcerous Blast off on an automatic 6. I failed to resist that on my solo Resistant to Magic dice, which makes sense, and down goes Bill again (though he suffers no wound from the spell, which is nice).
Shoot Phase: Nothing happened, so we move on to the Fight Phase.
Fight Phase: In the Fight Phase Tom calls a Heroic Combat (1/3 Might, because we're far away from STUPID GRIMA! Yay!), and he wins the fight, and rolls two 2s and a 1 to wound against the two uruks he's up against. So instead of losing the opportunity to cut all of these guys off, I opted to make the Heroic Combat "successful" by promoting both of the 2s and keep going (3/3 Might - STUPID TOM). Looking back on it even now (almost a week later as I write out the blow-by-blow) I'm not sure if this was the right call, but it definitely helped to put some level of containment on the Isengarders running rampant around us, and at a point I do like that. We'll see how it plays out.
In the rest of the Fight Phase things don't go well: Tom loses (but suffers no injures - STUPID TOM), Bert wins and Barges his enemies so that he can work his way back toward Saruman and hopefully charge him next turn; he only moves 4" though, so I'm not sure that will be enough. But I need to start shutting down that caster now that Bill is out of Will. And even Bill loses, barely making it out alive (3/3 Fate, 2/3 Wounds).
Lesson for the kids at home: one palantir can make a HEAP of trouble. Also, it doesn't help if your trolls are dumb as rocks, :P
Turn 5: The Wiles of Saruman
Priority: Tiberius, who claims it
Move Phase: Tiberius and I checked, and Bert was, in fact, short of reaching Saruman, so we aren't going to be catching the wizard this turn. Because of this, Saruman called a Heroic Channel (3/3 Might), and with his free Will Point he got a Flameburst off on Bill. It doesn't knock people prone like Sorcerous Blast, but it does do a S6 hit, and that means it has a chance to wound on a 5+ (which would finish off Bill), but he didn't get the wound, so Bill is still holding the center (admittedly still prone, though, from losing last turn).
Tiberius then tags Tom so that he can spread the uruks (and extend the time that he's contesting if not controlling that objective), and I maneuvered Bert so that he could at least throw a rock this turn, but can't quite reach anyone.
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase Bert does hit the uruk and wounds him - so yay!
Fight Phase: In the Fight Phase Tom crushes both of the archers, and across the way Bill wins his fight (thanks to a banner reroll from the fire) and stands up. Yay!
Now for those of you counting at home, I've removed about 14 uruks, which means we're only about 8 away from breaking them. Not bad - not great, but not bad. Time to quicken the pace...
Turn 6: All In
Priority: Centaur, who claims it
Move Phase: With priority in my hands, I made two critical discoveries that I really should have noticed earlier, but I'm an idiot, so I didn't. The first is that, since Bowl Them Over lets me treat throwing stones as a throwing weapon, I could be using these on the charge. But I'm not. Because I'm dumb. Don't be like me. I tried them here and we didn't get anyone, but the point is that we could have done this as early as Turn 1. More on that in conclusion.
The second thing I did is I maneuvered Tom into two more uruks, and Bert moved up as far as he could to catch the uruks and grabbed a rock.
Tiberius countered with Saruman throwing 2 Will (plus the free dice) at a Flameburst (3/6 Will) on Bill and gets it off; I fail to resist, but it also fails to wound, so we're still in the game!
Shoot Phase: Nothing of note happens here, and we move on to the Fight Phase.
Fight Phase: Tom is able to crush the two uruks he engaged, and at the cost of 1 Might Point (3/3 Might) Bill wins his fight and throws all of his attacks into Rending the Uruk Captain, which he does (1/1 Fate, 2/2 Wounds).
The bodies are stacking up; I need to quickly finish off the guys in the center so that we can fully control these three objectives before Bill gets burned to a crisp.
Turn 7: Crunch
Priority: Centaur, who claims it
Move Phase: Back-to-back priority means we keep rolling forward, with Tom grabbing the last few uruks near his objective and Bert slamming into the uruks near him. Bill is back in the fray, and Saruman tries to get another Flameburst off on Bill but he fails the cast.
In a move that was probably wise Tiberius doesn't start peeling off other people from the two far objectives: he keeps 2-3 men on each, just in case Courage tests start coming out, though personally I probably would have pulled 1-2 away toward the middle objectives. We'll see if that pans out.
Shoot Phase: Nothing happens here, so we moved on.
Fight Phase: It's a clean sweep for the trolls: Bert finishes off his man, Tom clears his objective, and while Bill wins, he is only able to slay one model (STUPID BILL). But hey: I'll take "Not dead, sitting on 1 wound left" in this situation from Bill.
And with those dead piling up, we're actually really close to breaking him - only a few models to go!
Turn 8: The Wizard and the Brute
Priority: Tiberius, who claims it
Move Phase: Saruman attempts another Sorcerous Blast on Bill and gets it off but fails to wound him (does knock him prone, though); he pulls back to insure he's controlling the far objective, but that leaves him open for Bert to charge. So I do! As Bert goes in Tom maneuvers and grabs a rock, attempting to provide support for poor Bill from afar.
Shoot Phase: Nothing happens of note in the Shoot Phase, and we go to the Fight Phase.
Fight Phase: To start, Bill gives me a heart attack by rolling butt-awful (technical term) to win the duel, but he fails to take any wounds from it, so he's still alive (and still prone). Bert on the other hand has great success, winning the fight against Saruman and sneaking a wound onto him all in one go (3/3 Fate, 1/3 Wounds)!
Turn 9: The Tides Turn
Priority: Tiberius, who claims it
Move Phase: Saruman decides to change course (since Bill is still on the ground) and targets Bert with a Transfix. He gets the spell off, and Bert throws 2 Will Points (plus his free Resistant to Magic dice) and resists it. So we have a fighter still!
Tom prepares to throw a rock at the banner near Bill's fight, and Bert is in against the final uruk on that side, which will give me control of the objective unless Tiberius pulls men from the center (which is the idea).
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase Tom is able to lob a rock at the banner and takes him out! The banner is picked up by the guy near him, but hey: one more step closer! We're only like 2 away from breaking him at this point, so we can taste it!
Fight Phase: In the Fight Phase two big things happened: the uruk died to Bert, giving me the likely control over the side objective for the rest of the game (and bringing him to 1 away from breaking), but also Bill lost and suffered his last wound, so Bill was removed (which means we're in trouble - we're in serious trouble from a points perspective).
Turn 10: To Break an Army
Priority: Centaur, who claims it
Move Phase: At this point we need four things to go our way: 1) we need priority (which we got), 2) we need to lob enough rocks to remove 1 model (we have two, which is fine, but not great), 3) we need him to run completely off of 1-2 objectives next turn, and 4) we need to keep both Tom and Bert on the table, on fully controlled objectives. This means that staying near an objective with Grima on it really isn't an option anymore - I need to move Bert toward the center, so I start his foray there with Tom helping out.
Saruman also attempted to cast Transfix on Bert, but he failed to get it off.
Shoot Phase: In the Shoot Phase, we get our guy! Phase 2 of the plan is a success, as the army breaks!
Fight Phase: No fighting this turn: we ready ourselves to clean house in the next turn.
End Phase: As one army is now broken we are getting close to the end: the game will end when one side is quartered, which means I need to bring him from 66% casualties (where he is) to 75% casualties to end the game, but I need to do it when I have 2 objectives fully under my control.
Turn 11: The Mass Exodus
Priority: Tiberius, who claims it
Move Phase: This turn played out the way I try to make them play out when I'm in Tiberius's position with Isengard: make sure Saruman is on the board keeping a few guys at several objectives from running, and then panic off with everyone else. And that's exactly what happened: with about half of his remaining models fleeing, but at least one of his models on each objective staying (thwarting Phase 3 of my plan), meaning the battle will end in this turn's End Phase.
Saruman casts Transfix on Bert and succeeds, catching him between the two objectives and completely thwarting Phase 4 of my plan. Well played.
Tom throws himself into the one guy attempting to contest the side objective, so that I can at least claim full control over one objective.
Shoot Phase: Nothing changes with shooting, so we go to the Fight Phase...
Fight Phase: ...And unsurprisingly Tom wins his fight and crushes the pikeman, bringing us back to sole control over the objective on the right.
End Phase: With Isengard reduced to a quarter, we ended the match. Final scores were:
There's a few things that I learned from this fight (which was very fun). First, I probably should have started with 2 trolls in the center, as that would have hopefully brought the numbers down faster and maybe kept Bill in the fight longer as he wouldn't have had as many people around him. But man, when you're being knocked prone so often, it's really hard to keep a hero up. Ace playing by our resident magic user.
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