Tournament Time: Rythbryt's Army Thoughts (Grand Tournament 2024)

Edited May 6, 2024, with tournament results

Bonus post this week. Must be something special going on... ;)

As faithful readers of the blog know, TMAT's annual GT is coming up this weekend. I generally don't post articles on the armies I'm running (I leave that to Tiberius, who's far more practiced--be sure to check out his article from yesterday, if you missed it). Nor do I generally recap how the tournament went (Centaur's your man... er... horse-man... for that). But I'm making an exception this time, for several reasons:

1. I've been light on generating content recently (and feel somewhat guilty about that);
2. I owe Tiberius at least two podcasts on tournaments that have long since wrapped (and, again, feel somewhat guilty about that);
3. I really liked a number of the lists that I batted around (and felt like sharing them); and
4. Perhaps because I really liked these lists, I actually locked into a list earlier than the final day they were due (actually, almost 2 full weeks before they were due), which meant there was actually time to write a prospective post on it. :-P

Along the way, there were twists and turns and trepidations (well, okay, actually less trepidation than usual). So yeah... if you want some musings about heavy/all-cavalry armies (or their equivalent), with a heavy dose of strategy (and maybe some obsession-bordering-on-neurosis), read on. :)

This may be a spoiler...

Photo Credit: cbr.com

Factual Background (because all of life is a story, right?)

First, a digression that's not really a digression.

About two months ago, TMAT hosted a winter "mixer" tournament designed to be a fun, pseudo-competitive way for the people in our gaming group to play some games (always fun), while also introducing new/newer players to MESBG. Because of that, we had a pretty small tournament by most standards: a 350 point cap (4-model minimum), with 5 games in one day (45 minutes per game). The five scenarios were pre-selected (though not their order), and all opponents were randomized. (For about a 72-hour period, we also thought this was going to morph into a funsies doubles-event, but we did end up having enough players for a full singles event--10 players altogether, which is also a weird number for doubles :-P).

For those of you who are familiar with the Matched Play guide, you know that 45 minutes is... kind of tight for a 350 point game (the guide recommends 1 hour 15 minutes for a game of that size, so this was definitely on the "fast" side). The pool of scenarios for the tournament (Hold Ground, Capture and Control, Destroy the Supplies, Lords of Battle, Divide and Conquer) also offered a mix of "capture objectives" and "kill models outright/around objectives," which posed some... interesting choices given the 45-minute time limit. For objective games, you wanted lots of models (and, in general, I think you want more models than less in MESBG). But more models equals longer phases, which means less rounds (which means less moving, less shooting, less fighting, less botching, etc.). And taking an army composed of slower models (goblins? hobbits?), shooting models (a 6-second shoot phase vs. a 10-minute shoot phase makes a huge difference), or models that last a long time but have trouble wounding standard (D6) shieldwalls (S3/D7 dwarves, for instance) could further complicate things.

So with those issues in mind, as I mulled my options for the tournament (and all told, I think I mulled some 200 different list ideas/variations), I kept finding myself drawn to lists that could move fast, kill very quickly, take a beating... and do all the above without relying on a lot of shooting/time-intensive roll-offs. And ultimately, it worked. I won all five of my games at the GT with a list that consisted of the Dark-Marshal on Fell Beast (F6 wraith who casts normally, on a flying monster, who can also be a 6" banner in a pinch), leading eight Morgul Knights (who I've always loved, and never brought to a tournament before), and four Black Numenoreans on foot (which I have brought to tournaments before, and never disappoint me) for a grand total of 13 models at 350. 

A portend of things to come?

TMAT Talks - Episode 16: Previewing The Hunter's Red October 2021

 

Fall breezes be breezin', which can only mean one thing: it's time for another Hunter's Red October!

Join Tiberius, Centaur, Rythbryt, and a whole lot of guests (yes--GUESTS!!!) as we discuss the scenarios and (20!) lists in this 550 point Good vs. Evil tournament.

(Spoiler alert: the evil armies are loaded).

Now streaming on Spotify, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, and (probably) wherever you get your audio content! Plus, you can head on over to the TMAT blog for more details about the tournament (and eventually full published lists), or to read Tiberius's thoughts on his Moria armies (and the armies he left behind).

tellmeatalegreatorsmall.blogspot.com
Music: Happy Haunts by Aaron Kenny

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Show Notes:

0:00 - Sauron, Wraiths, Bombs, and a Balrog (with Red Jacket and The Black Prince)

41:00 - Azog, Treebeard, Gil-Galad, and a(nother!) Balrog (with Dronak, Ikaika, and Gorgoroth)

1:01:00 - Avengers, Saruman, Theoden, and a (third!?!?) Balrog

1:46:00 - Centaur's vaunted predictions (and some parting thoughts)

COVID Painting Projects: Rohan Army Showcase

Good morning gamers,

COVID has affected all of us in different ways, but chances are if you're reading this article, you play the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. And chances are that if you were playing MESBG before COVID hit, you spent at least some time while quarantined away from friends and family painting miniatures. Well, I got the Battle for Pelennor Fields box set right around Christmas 2019, which meant that, in addition to some Riders of Rohan that I got from Centaur and some Warriors of Rohan I ordered off eBay (probably from someone else's Pelennor Fields box set), I had loads of Warriors of Rohan and Riders of Rohan to paint during quarantine.

Today's article is a highlight of the army and the different things I've done to get them all painted (most of the basing still needs to happen). I'm not the best painter (I try) and I'll tell you that painting a Rohan army looks like a deceptively small task because "you don't have a lot of models," but when you consider that each mounted model has a dismounted rider, a mounted rider, and a horse, an army of 24 warriors is actually 72 models to paint up . . . which is more than many spam infantry armies have. This took me by surprise, so here is the culmination of a LOT of work that is finally being shown to you all (though I've sneaked images of my Rohan models into tactics posts recently).

Part 1: The Heroes

Like most Rohan armies, we start with Theoden. Theoden is a great auric hero and a decent combat hero. Mounted on his armored horse, he has incredible maneuverability and can pack a punch on the charge. I prefer to have him focus on clearing out troops instead of heroes.

Next up is Eomer - because he's Eomer! I'm looking at getting the new Eomer sculpt (he's great), but for now I have the old one (with throwing spears and shield added). Eomer may not be a Top 10 hero for everyone, but he's devastating on the charge and can be hard to kill with 3 Wounds and 3 Fate (and maxes out at 125pts, though I normally leave the barding armor at home).