Unexpected Military Formations: 3 Formations for Fighting Against War Beasts

Good morning gamers,

Today we've got a very special formations post for you - different formations you can use to fight against war beasts (and particularly Mumaks)! War beasts are a special kind of unit in MESBG (see my Back to Basics article from a few months ago for what makes these guys special) and it's often daunting to fight them, since you know they could walk all over your army (quite literally!) and wreck your day.

In preparation for our recent The Hunter's Red October (THRO) tournament, I very strongly considered borrowing a Mumak and running two of these things - and BOY was that fun (and scary for my poor testing buddy, Gorgoroth). But as scary as being stepped on is, there are actually some very simple formations you can employ to defeat them - and they're primarily based on the following principle: manage how many models can be stepped on. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Formation #1: The Scattered Triangles

I've referenced an article about running "skirmish triangles" a lot this year - and it's because I love shooting and I love not having my shooting be constricted by the way I deploy/maneuver my models. Any three shooting models that are standing base-to-base in a triangle have 360 degrees of visibility (since you can "look over the shoulder" of a friendly model that you're in base contact with) and so skirmish triangles are a great starting point for whatever archers you want to run to harass a Mumak.

Having three models standing together and moving around the Mumak does a few things for you. First and foremost, they present enough of a threat that the Mumak has to deal with them (either with the guys in the howdah or by moving the Mumak itself). Having a lone warrior here or there isn't going to pose much of a threat, but having two or three triangles (6-9 shots) coming from a single direction can force a Mumak to actually do something (and this is especially true if the war beast is a Great Beast of Gorgoroth, since it has fewer wounds and its shorter height could mean that elevated archers don't have the howdah in-the-way for the Orc archers on its back - I was wrong, the howdah is always counted as in-the-way).

Fyrd Formations: The Gap Tooth Grin

Good morning gamers,

Over the past year, I've been playing with a bunch of different armies, ranging from men from Rohan and Gondor to many, MANY lists featuring huge rabbles of Orcs and Uruk-Hai from Mordor and Angmar (and some Isengard). For many of the lists I've been toying with for the Winter Whirlwind tournament, this year's TMAT Grand Tournament, and the recent TMAT THRO tournament, I've looked at lists that can run (and often do run) your traditional shieldwall formations - a line of guys in the front (usually with shields) backed up by a line of spears/pikes to increase their damage. Most factions in MESBG function this way.

But some don't - in fact, whether it's by choice or necessity, there are several excellent factions that don't end up having spears once you've fleshed everything out. For these factions, you have to get a bit creative when you want to tackle a list that sports a traditional shieldwall formation. For new players, doing this can feel like running at a sliding glass door - hitting the enemy line as hard as you can and hoping it breaks before you do. In general, this isn't a recipe for success - and it can discourage players from using certain factions or Legendary Legions because "it's just better to have a shieldwall."

Well, I disagree - strongly. Very strongly. In today's formation post, we're exploring a simple formation that you can use when you're fielding a list that doesn't have spears - let's dig into it!

The Gap Tooth Grin: Beating Shieldwalls By Not Playing Their Games

Here's the dirty little secret about shieldwall armies: shieldwalls want to fight other shieldwalls. They do - they just do. Any time you rank up your army in a nice two-rank line with spears in the back and shields in the front, you dare your opponent to run on you . . . and ideally, he ranks up in two nice lines as well and you see who has the better wall. Some armies are better at this than others, but lots of armies play this way. Here's an example of a very functional shieldwall:

This shieldwall can be brutal to fight - it's got spearmen with F4 "on a stick" and D7 across both lines of the formation. If you're a S3 army (or even a S4 army), you've got to be wondering how you're going to crack through this - especially without spears. Well, the answer is simple: you don't fight it with a shieldwall - you fight it with archery . . . and by spreading out.

Cavalry Charge: The Importance of Reserves and the Battle of Tinchebray

Good morning gamers,

Today we're wrapping up (at least for now) our series on cavalry by talking about the most important principle for using cavalry in MEBG: reserves. If cavalry models can get the charge in MESBG, they can be absolutely devastating - often doubling their Attacks when dueling and doubling THOSE dice when fighting most infantry models. A well-timed charge can be absolutely crushing for an enemy force, but it's that NEXT turn that can really seal the deal. If you commit all of your cavalry on one big charge, you may be forced on the following turn to risk several Heroic Moves just to have the chance of getting in a few charges. Since counter-calling Heroic Moves can be a waste of Might points, it's better to have some cavalry who can't be charged on the following turn so that someone can get charges in if you don't get to move first. To illustrate this, we turn to an important battle in history - the Battle of Tinchebray!

The Battle of Tinchebray

As usual, you can find a great visual summary of the battle on the BazBattles channel on YouTube - I absolutely love their stuff! In 1100, the ruling King of England, William Rufus, the son of William the Conqueror, was killed in a hunting accident. With no heir of his own, the bid for the rule of England was up for grabs between his brothers Robert Curthose of Normandy (who was on the First Crusade at the time) and Henry Beauclerc (who was in England at the time and was crowned in Robert's absence). When Robert got back to England in 1101, Robert got some concessions from Henry, but also identified lords who were unhappy with Henry's rule. Robert had difficulties managing his duchy and from 1105-1106, Henry "invaded" Normandy and took various castles from Robert. When Henry besieged Tinchebray castle in 1106, Robert mustered his nobles to drive Henry off.

Robert formed two lines - one with a mix of heavy cavalry and infantry, the other with infantry held in reserve. Henry formed three groups - one with dismounted knights, one with infantry reserves, and the final with heavy cavalry in deep reserves. As Henry's first corps began to falter, the infantry reserves were ordered to support the main line while the heavy cavalry swept around the exposed flanks of Robert's line. Robert saw that his forces were being flanked and called in his reserve forces - but seeing the losses mounting up on Robert's side, his reserves decided not to engage and fled the field. This led to a rout of Robert's forces, but Robert himself was taken captive and imprisoned for life.

We talk about this a lot in these formations posts, but real life isn't always reflected well in MESBG. However, the importance of cavalry reserves is a HUGE deal in MESBG and historically. It's very tempting when you have cavalry to commit them all in one big charge - but that isn't always the best plan. In this formations post, we're going to look at several different formations that will give you cavalry reserves so that you can make sure you get in a good charge on two consecutive turns. Let's take a look!

If Tiberius Were King For A Day: Top 5 Rules Changes I'd Make

Good morning gamers,

In our last post in this mini-series, I looked at five profiles (well, four profiles and a unit upgrade) that I would "fix" in order to make thematic profiles/upgrades more competitive. All of these involved a minor tweak that would give the unit/upgrade a place among its current competitors - and I don't think any of them were THAT earth-shattering or meta-breaking. Today, we turn our attention to five rules changes that I would make that fix known problems in the game or make things viable that should be (but aren't right now). Like the last post, I wanted my changes to be minor in nature (no big overhauls) but have actual consequences - and I think only one of these is an actual overhaul of a major system (maybe two of them), but I think all of them make the game just a bit better. Let's take a look!

Rule #1: Barriers 

If you talk to competitive players, this is the thing that gets people - picture a board with a barrier between two armies as shown below:

If the Orcs get to move first, they can move into base contact with the barrier and gain an in-the-way bonus from shooting attacks AND an in-the-way bonus from strikes in melee. All you have to do is touch it, like this: 

This is really good and this is how people are "supposed" to play with barriers. However, what you can ACTUALLY do in the game is move near the barrier without touching it - and this will not only still give you the in-the-way from the barrier (probably), but it will also prevent your opponent from charging you (since he can't fit his bases on your side of the barrier) AND it will prevent him from reaching the barrier because your control zones extend beyond the barrier:

The Orcs are all showing off different ways of not touching the barrier - and only the second guy from the top is chargeable . . . if the charging model gets a 6 . . .

The Dwarves, in this situation, can only rely on shooting to clear out the Orcs - and with the barrier in the way, that's really hard. Dwarf Rangers have a better chance than most of actually getting the 6 to Jump, but it's still going to be hard. Most competitive players will tell you, "Yeah, we all know it's a thing, but we don't do it because we want to be good sports and have a good game." This has been a known glitch in the game and I propose a really simple fix to the problem: a model may not come within 2" of an obstacle without coming into base contact with it. Theoretically, you can do something similar with a wall, keeping a model next to a wall to prevent an opponent from getting too close to an objective marker or something - but the principle is the same: force players to either defend the barrier or not go near it. I chose a 2" restriction so that the new rules change that requires you to get a 6 to charge after a Jump/Leap wouldn't continue to preclude models from jumping barriers. This seems like a simple and easy change to me, but drop me a note in the comments if you think this is too simple or misses something.

Unexpected Military Formations: The Terror-V Formation

Good morning gamers,

Just over a month ago, I brought a nasty four-Barrow-Wight Angmar list to our TMAT Grand Tournament - and while I had a lot of fun with it, I also learned a lot about battle lines with Terror while playing with the list. It was really fun to have 47 models running around, most of which could cause Terror because I had FOUR Spirit heroes leading them (and a Warg Chieftain - who didn't grant Terror, but had it innately).

While I learned that Terror without Harbinger played very differently from Terror WITH Harbinger (man, I would have loved to have had the Witch-King in any form in my list), I also learned one very surprising fact: a straight line of battle isn't that great for a Terror-causing horde. "Wait," I hear you say, "Isn't fighting in a battle line a good idea when you have lots of Terror-causing models? I mean, isn't it great when you expose no flank and force your opponent to charge your lines where you probably have spear-supports and all?" Well, yes - these can be good. But they also restrict your maneuverability a lot. So I found a better way to deploy - let's dive into that.

The Problem With Terror "Battle Lines"

There's nothing wrong with a battle line - it's good to provide a solid line to the enemy to charge into as it makes sure your supporting units (spears generally, but in Angmar's case, this also includes those Spirit heroes who provide the Terror to the Orcs in the first place). But take the following 140-point warband as an example:

I love this warband so much . . . but they're better when you've copy/pasted them a few times . . .

This warband has a five-man frontage that can all benefit from Terror from the Barrow-Wight and they are all easily within range of the banner in the center of the formation. We could have Warg Riders with throwing spears or just Wild Wargs guarding our flanks as well. Let's assume at the start that this warband is operating on its own - what happens when it runs into a 141-point warband like this:

"Bridge Four!" I mean, "For Numenor!"

Unexpected Military Formations: The Deployable Meat Shield

Good morning gamers,

I've been playing a lot of games with average Defense models leading up to our recent GT. One of the armies I tested at 623 points (I know, it's weird) was the Cirith Ungol LL, which had a mix of Orcs with shields and Uruk-Hai with Orc bows:

• Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol with heavy armor and the Shield of Cirith Ungol [ARMY LEADER]
• 9 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows
• 3 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows and two-handed maces
• Gorbag, Orc Captain
• 3 Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 2 Orc Warriors with two-handed weapons
• Orc Captain with pick and shield
• 3 Orc Warriors with shields
• 7 Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 1 Orc Warrior with two-handed weapon
• Shelob

39 models, 12 Orc bows hitting on a 4+, 4 D6+ models, 1 fast infantry AND 2 Might for Heroic March, 8 Might

The problem is that if you're up against S2 archery, those D4 Uruk-Hai look far more tempting as targets than those D5 Orcs. So how do you protect your investment while still getting good archers in the Legion? Well, you channel your inner Mordor overlord and prepare a line of Orcs to save the day! Let's see how we do this with the Deployable Meat Shield!

Cavalry Charge: The Checker Board Formation and the Battle of Lechfeld

Good morning gamers,

In today's formations post, we're tackling an ancient and difficult problem: how do you tackle skirmish cavalry in MESBG? As a brief review, there are several different classes of cavalry in MESBG (see our first article in the Cavalry Charge mini-series for what these are) and by "skirmish cavalry," we're referring to any cavalry model that has a ranged weapon.

Before we dig into the MESBG theory, let's look at a historical battle that featured some very interesting tactics for catching enemy cavalry archers - the battle of Lechfeld.

The Battle of Lechfeld: Cutting Off Escape Routes

Per the usual for this series, you can see a visualization of this battle over on the BazBattles YouTube channel - and per the usual, it's great. In the early Tenth Century AD, the King of Germany, Otto I, faced an invasion by Magyar horse archers from Hungary. These invaders pillaged and burned most places that they invaded, never staying long in one area. Since they used their horses to avoid pitched battles, they were some of the most devastating invading forces that plagued central Europe. In 910, the first Battle of Lechfeld featured Magyar horse archers destroying a German army that tried to drive them away from Augsburg, luring the German units forward in pursuit of them and then swarming them in a furious charge. This isn't the battle we're going to focus on today (you can read about it here though), but it does serve as a cruel reminder of what skirmish cavalry can do to you if they can whittle down your numbers.

In 955, however, the Magyars settled in the German duchy of Bavaria and laid siege to Augsburg instead of just raiding - they were here to stay. Otto I mobilized troops from various other duchies in Germany and met them outside the city. The Magyars attacked one of the divisions under Otto's command and began to plunder their belongings. When the Germans launched a counter-attack with their heavy cavalry, the Magyars retreated. Otto didn't race to pursue them with his forces, however - he advanced his infantry blocks steadily and pursued the enemy until they ran out of room to maneuver (in part because harsh weather conditions made maneuvering difficult). Without the ability to fade away from the enemy, the Magyar forces were eventually caught and defeated soundly by the heavy infantry and cavalry of the Germans.

Reality isn't always mirrored well in MESBG - but the nature of skirmish cavalry is captured pretty well (well, everything except the Cantabrian Circle, at any rate). Let's look at some of the specific tools we'll need to combat skirmish cavalry - and a neat little formation that almost any army can use to break them.

Cavalry Charge: Heavy Cavalry and the Battle of Kressenbrun

Good morning gamers,

We're continuing our discussion of cavalry tactics today and we're going to hone-in on heavy cavalry today. Whether they're lancers in heavy armor (like Morgul Knights or Knights of Minas Tirith) or cavalry with high defense but no lances (like Easterling Kataphrakts or Rohan Royal Guards), heavy cavalry are hard to shoot and can pack a punch on the charge (usually). But how do you get these units to get their points worth? Well, let's dig in and find out!

The Battle of Kressenbrun: How to Tip the Scales with Heavy Cavalry

A few months ago, we looked at the Battle of the Marchfeld, which was fought between the Bohemian king Ottokar II and the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I and featured German heavy cavalry (as well as some Hungarian skirmish cavalry supporting Rudolph's forces). Today, we're looking at a battle earlier in Ottokar's reign, not long after becoming King of Bohemia. While he would later run up against the elected Holy Roman Emperor, his great enemy early in his reign was the Hungarian king Bela IV. For an excellent visualization of this battle, check out the BazBattles video on YouTube - as always, their stuff is excellent! You can also read a bit about it here.

Both kings contested the rule of the region of Stygia and after a series of revolts drove the Hungarian prince Stephen out, Ottokar was quick to sail in and bring the territory of Stygia back under Bohemian rule. Bela rallied a great host of soldiers from many of the neighboring countries and camped on one side of the Morava river while a Bohemian-allied force led by Ottokar encamped on the other side. With neither side wishing to be caught in the river, Ottokar issued an invitation for Bela's forces to be given free passage over the river and meet on the opposite side in a fair fight. If this sounds like the Battle of Maldon, it should - the situation is nearly the same (you know, if Brythnoth was the one to invite Olaf I to come onto his side of the shore).

While the crossing was happening, young Prince Stephen of Hungary attacked the redeploying Bohemian troops, prompting the Bohemian heavy cavalry to launch a counter-attack. The Hungarian forces that had crossed the river were quickly repulsed and the Hungarian forces lost many units to the charging onslaught and the river itself. The Hungarians were in retreat and didn't pose an external threat to Ottokar during the rest of his reign.

Whether some Bohemian troops lagged behind the rest of the Bohemian force in order to bait Stephen's attack is unclear, but what is evident is that the heavy cavalry in the Bohemian force were able to devastate the mostly light cavalry/light troops fielded by the Hungarians. In MESBG, there are several factions that can field heavy cavalry - and they're often quite expensive. When they see use, getting them to have the impact you want can also be really difficult. So today, we're going to use the principles of this battle to give us some insights into how to use heavy cavalry in SBG. Let's take a look.

Cavalry Charge: Heroic Combats and the Battle of Lewes

Good morning gamers,

Last month, we looked at a useful tactic for using Heroic Combats with cavalry models (the wag) - today, we're digging deeper into some principles for using Heroic Combats with cavalry models. Cavalry models gain a lot from the increased movement they get from their mount (and the greater damage output they get when fighting infantry), but to capitalize on this movement, there are a few principles we should keep in mind. We'll be deriving these based on a battle fought in 1264 in England: the Battle of Lewes.

The Battle of Lewes: When Hot-Heads Run Off

The Battle of Lewes was part of a larger war between several prominent English barons who sought a greater role in running the English government and King Henry III. You can read about it here or can watch one of the excellent battle reports on YouTube from BazBattles. Henry III and his son Edward Plantagenet (later known as Edward "Longshanks") led the royalist forces, while Simon de Montfort (a hero of the crusades and dubbed "the wisest and stoutest warrior in England") was the most prominent of the barons opposing him.

As both armies chased each other, laying siege to various towns, the barons finally caught up to Henry's force at the town of Lewes. The baronial army had a numerical disadvantage against the royalists (estimates put them outnumbered 2:1) and one of the baronial flanks was composed of militia - poorly-trained men from London led by Simon de Montfort's son, Sir Henry de Montfort. When the Royalist forces finally arrayed and engaged, Prince Edward led his cavalry into the undisciplined right flank of the baronial army and broke them quickly. As the Londoners fled, the fury of Prince Edward burned hot and he led his horsemen to pursue and kill as many of the scattering soldiers as he could. They eventually found the baronial baggage train and began looting, assuming the battle was well in hand.

Meanwhile, the rest of the lines clashed with the baronial forces pressing the attack hard to gain an advantage. The barons' army fought well and put the royalists to route, capturing King Henry's brother and later capturing Prince Edward when he returned to find the battlefield held by the enemy. A foolhardy pursuit and looting certainly played an important factor in the success of the royalist forces on that day.

Now all of this is a nice story and all, but what can we learn about this incident and apply it to how we use mounted heroes in MESBG (including those famous monster heroes, as we were asked recently in a comment)? I think there are four things we can learn - and some of them are quite positive.

Cavalry Charge: The Wag and the Battle of Val-es-Dunes

Good morning gamers,

Last month, we looked at some of the basic principles for using cavalry in MESBG and today we're going to look at one of the most common tricks a cavalry army has up its sleeves: the "wag". The term is used regularly here by Centaur and showcases how a cavalry force (usually down-handed in the model count comparison to other armies) can utilize the mounts they've paid so much for when faced with overwhelming odds. To see this, though, we're going to look at a battle fought by William the Conqueror in the Eleventh Century which showcased Duke William's great command of cavalry and strategic battlefield control. Let's take a look.

The Battle of Val-es-Dunes

You can learn more about this battle here and you can view two different visuals of this here and here. Almost 20 years before the battle of Hastings in 1066, Duke William of Normandy (later to be known as William the Conqueror) found some of his vassal nobles preparing to revolt and petitioned the King of France (Henry I) to support him in suppressing the rebellion. Henry would support William in this conflict, though would later fight against William before he departed for England. William and the King managed to rally about 10,000 men to fight the rebel nobles, who had amassed for themselves about 25,000 men - this didn't look good. William and Henry advanced to Caen and began to engage the rebels (though at least one noble changed sides from the rebels to the crown's forces before the battle began and launched a treacherous surprise attack).

William had his cavalry engage in small fights with the enemy, maneuvering and coordinating his forces to fight in one area, then retreat to break another division of the enemy army. With this hit-and-run method, the royal forces were able to rout the rebels and they pursued their retreat to kill many more. The victory was attributed to both the tactical acumen of William and the skill of the King's knights and secured William's holdings in Normandy in the immediate future (though he'd be putting down rebellions and invasions of Normandy for many years).

In MESBG, we pay a lot of points for our cavalry models and if we're not careful with them, we'll miss out on the most important benefit of these models: their increased speed. Let's take a look at how we can use our increased speed to our greatest advantage - and we'll do this by showing off "the wag."

Fyrd Formations: The Battle of Maldon

Good morning gamers,

Today we're going to look in this formation post at a battle that occurred in Northern England during the tenth century, which featured a "gambit-gone-right" by the Norse against the English: the Battle of Maldon. You can check out an excellent visualization of it here as well as read about it further here. Depending on when you read this, you may also have access to a re-released translation that Tolkien did of the Battle of Maldon for Oxford (check out the announcement here). Many players seek to use shieldwalls to their advantage in SBG and this battle has some interesting insights into how to use shieldwalls effectively - and what to very much avoid at all costs. Let's take a look!

The Battle of Maldon

In 991 AD, the English lord Bryhtnoth prepared an army of Fyrdmen to resist an invasion by a Viking lord believed to be Olaf Tryggvason (the eventual king of Norway) near the town of Maldon, which controlled a major riverway into Nuthumbria. Bryhtnoth held his troops on the mainland, while Olaf's forces were encamped on an island that would be soon connected to the mainland when the tide ebbed. From the translation of the old poem by Karl Seigfried, we read:

The tide went out; the seamen stood ready, Vikings many, eager for battle. The protector of the warriors then commanded the war-­hard warrior to hold the bridge, he was called Wulfstan, brave with his kin, that was the son of Ceola, who shot the first man with his spear who stepped there most boldly on the bridge. There stood with Wulfstan warriors unafraid, Ælfere and Maccus, two bold men, who would not take flight at the ford, but they steadfastly defended against the enemies, as long as they were allowed to wield weapons.

That last bit seems ominous . . . anyway, an initial assault by Olaf when the land bridge emerged was repulsed by Bryhtnoth, but Olaf issued a challenge to Bryhtnoth, requesting that his troops be allowed to cross the passage to fight on equal terms. From Seigfried's translation (emphasis added):

When they perceived and readily saw that they found bitter bridge-­wardens there, the hateful strangers began to use guile, asked that they might have passage to land, to fare over the ford, to lead the foot-troop. Then the nobleman began because of his overconfidence to allow too much land to hateful people.

Then the son or Byrhtelm began to call out over the cold water (warriors listened):

“Now a way is opened to you, walk quickly to us, men to battle; God alone knows who may control the place of slaughter.”

The slaughter­-wolves waded (not mourning because of water), the Viking troop, west over the Pante, carried shields over gleaming water, ship-men bore shields to land. Byrhtnoth with his warriors stood there ready against the hostile ones; he commanded them to form the battle-­wall with shields, and to hold that formation fast against the enemies.

Three Easy Anti-Flyer Formations

Good morning gamers,

This formations post is dedicated to Rythbyrt - why? Because he loves to field big, flying monsters. Flying monsters can be tricky to deal with - they can charge auric heroes by hopping over your battle line, they can Hurl one of the models on the end of your line through the rest of your ranks, and can Heroic Combat from one place to another to avoid getting swarmed (if they have enough notice).

I have faced Rythbyrt three times in our tournaments here at TMAT when he's fielded flying monstrosities: once when coaching my son (The Witch-King of Angmar on Fell Beast) and at our two most recent TMAT GTs (both times with Gwaihir). Preparing for the second time led to a few formations that can mitigate the effectiveness of a flying monster (and preparing for the third led to some refining of the strategies) - let's take a look at how they work.

Formation #1: The Backward Bubble

Let's assume we have the following forces on the table:

Lothlorien - 500pts, 26 models

• Galadriel
• 3 Wood Elf Warriors with throwing daggers
• 5 Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows
• 4 Wood Elf Warriors with Wood Elf spears
• 1 Wood Elf Warrior with Elf bow, Wood Elf spear, and banner
• Galadhrim Captain on armored horse with Elf bow
• 5 Wood Elf Warriors with throwing daggers
• 4 Wood Elf Warriors Wood Elf spears
• 2 Galadhrim Knights with shields and Elf bows

Mordor - 500pts, 29 models

• The Witch-King of Angmar on fell beast with the Crown of Morgul, Morgul blade, 3M/15W/2F
• 7 Morannon Orc with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Morannon Orc with shield, spear, and banner
• 3 Orc Trackers
• Orc Captain with shield
• 5 Morannon Orcs
• 7 Morannon Orcs with spears

The Lothlorien list has two heroes who are vulnerable to a charge by the Witch-King - and since Galadriel doesn't want to be on the front line, she could be charged from behind if we don't protect her properly. With the Witch-King able to Compel models as well, we need to have at least 2 models forming a bubble around Galadriel so the large base of the Witch-King can't fit.

You can see here that we've placed archers behind Galadriel and have left gaps in our lines for them to shoot at the approaching Orcs. The models in the rear have a simple purpose: keep the flying monster from being able to charge Galadriel immediately. Yes, a charge-and-Barge could mean Galadriel gets engaged, but you can control an immediate charge this way.

Unexpected Military Formations: The Quagmire and the Battle on the Ice

Good morning gamers,

We're back with another formations post - and this time, it seeks to answer the question: how do I try to handle an elite infantry force with a less elite mixed arms force? Unless you run Elves all the time (some players do), chances are good that you may find yourself with an army that has lower Fight Value and possibly lower Defense than your opponent. So the question is begged: how can you take a lower-quality battle line and beat a higher-quality enemy? To address this, let's look at a battle that was fought in the frozen north of Europe and served as the last battle in the Northern Crusades during the thirteenth century: the Battle on the Ice.

The Historical Record: The Battle on the Ice

You can read an exposition on this battle with old iconographic paintings here (though beware the propaganda in the article, as usual), but the gist of the road to this battle is as follows: the Orthodox Novgorod Republic (modern day northern Russia) had a long-standing feud with the Catholic German Holy Roman Empire during the 1220s - so much so, that Pope Honorius III wrote letters to Catholic lords in northern Europe to place embargoes against Novgorod sea towns. By 1240 (while the Mongols were oppressing the Novgorod Republic from the east, tools of soft power were abandoned by the Teutonic orders and German/Danish kingdoms in modern-day Estonia and they began to attack Novgorod tributary lords. In reply, former Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky (called "Aleksandr Iaroslavich" in the text listed above) was recalled from his banishment to lead the armies of the Novgorod and drive out the Teutons.

Both armies postured for a while, harassing towns along the way, until they both came to Lake Chudskoe. Though the Teutons were outnumbered 2:1 by conservative estimates (~2600 Teutons vs. ~5000 Novgorodians), their elite training made them a more fearsome force than those of the Novgorod. The battle, however, took place on the icy surface of Lake Chudskoe and when the Teutons advanced against the Novgorod militia (by far and away less skilled than the Teutonic knights), their charge was slowed and their progress halted because they had problems keeping their footing on the ice (and couldn't bring the weight of their charge to bear).

Unexpected Military Formations: Trapping Your Own Heroes?!?!?!?!

Good morning gamers,

Today we're covering a formation that I've been trying out with the new Defenders of Erebor Legendary Legion: a way to trap your heroes so they can proctor free Heroic Combats. In general, trapping your own models is a horrible idea - but in that Legion specifically, you can turn heroes with fairly run-of-the-mill profiles into absolute monstrosities. However, as we'll see later in this post, this formation actually has applicability to lists outside this Legion for those of you who want to add an extra dimension of cunning to your game play (an innocent mind game with your opponent, if you will). Let's get right into it!

The Objectives of the Formation

In the new Defenders of Erebor Legendary Legion, there are two Legion bonuses that grant free Heroic Combats to the four "royal" heroes from the Legion - and they're triggered if the corresponding hero of the pair is trapped:

[A Bond Forged in War] If either Dain or Brand would be Trapped at the start of the Fight phase, then the other may declare a Heroic Combat without spending Might. If successful, they must join their Trapped ally's fight if possible. If this is not possible, then they must move as close as possible to their Trapped ally.

[The Heirs of the Kingdoms] If either Thorin III Stonehelm or Bard II would be Trapped at the start of the Fight phase, then the other may declare a Heroic Combat without spending Might. If successful, they must join their Trapped ally's fight if possible. If this is not possible, then they must move as close as possible to their Trapped ally.

If you've taken Brand, he has the Stoic Fighter special rule in his profile which gives him still MORE bonuses when he's trapped:

ACTIVE - At the start of a Fight involving Brand, check to see if he would be Trapped should his side lose the Duel roll, with the exception of if a friendly model can Make Way for Brand. If Brand would be Trapped, he may reroll a single D6 to win the Duel roll, and a single D6 when rolling To Wound.

These rules paired together gives us an interesting incentive to . . . well, actually trap our own guys. Trapping a model is actually quite easy in the game if you only have one avenue of retreat, as a model must Back Away if it can, but friendly models don't have to Make Way (that's optional). Prior to the August 2022 FAQ, since any model that can't Back Away is trapped, a player could legitimately declare after moving a friendly model (we'll say he has a spear) to block the retreat of Dain, Brand, Bard, or Thorin, that the spearman is "not going to make way" and the hero would be trapped.

Unexpected Military Formations: The Gear Tooth Formation

Hey Reader!

In my last post I talked about the Army of Dale legendary legion, and near the end I had an offhanded comment about how I think you can maximize your use of the Wall of Blades special rule on your Knights of Dale and Bard II through an effective formation, and that is what we're going to discuss today! Look at me actually completing a project. Hyperfocus ADHD for the win.

I'll be presenting two variations on the "Gear Tooth" formation, the first being the one that I suspect the designers of the game had in mind (or at least it's a standard deviation from what the game designers had in mind), and then I'll follow up with what I think is actually a more effective version that does all of the same things but better.

Now it's worth noting before we go into this that the Gear Tooth formation is really only effective as a defensive formation, which makes sense since Wall of Blades can only be used when you are charged. So keep in mind that if you're looking for an offensive formation there are better options out there, like the Boar Snout or a similar formation.

Unexpected Military Formations: Epic Movie Moments, Part V

Good morning gamers,

Over the past year and a half, I've been playing some with Mordor Troll Chieftains - models that are commonly critiqued as being too slow and on too large of a base to be truly effective. During my games with multiple Trolls, I've found it quite difficult to make sure my Trolls get into the action instead of being side-stepped (see this formations post for an example). Because I like Troll Chieftains (and Mordor Troll Drummers), I decided to go back to the source material and take a look at how Trolls are employed in the films - and how we can apply that information to getting more out of Trolls in our games. Let's dig in!

Epic Movie Moment #5: The Main Gate of Minas Tirith

Though the Black Gate Opens Legendary Legion will be our source army for today's post, Trolls play a very small part in that battle. While it is undoubtedly the best list for running Trolls in (you don't have any other options, really), if you want to see how Trolls are used in the films, you actually need to turn to the Siege of Minas Tirith. The obvious place to start is when the non-catapult-manning Trolls are first observed in action: the opening of the gates of Minas Tirith:

Later during the siege, we see a Troll throwing someone in a street:

And we also see a Troll battering down a door to the third level (it could be a higher level, it's unclear from the shot):

These three relatively short scenes give us a few tips for how to use Trolls. First and foremost, Trolls are sent to the front of the lines to batter a hole through the basic guys or draw out resources from the more important pieces of the enemy. In the clips above, we see the Trolls out in front, absorbing archery and forcing the attention of the enemy onto themselves. In the game, Mordor Trolls and Mordor Troll Chieftains are incredibly resilient, wounded by most archery on no better than a 6+ (and often times on double dice). Magic can pose a problem for these guys, but even if they lose a fight, they are usually tough enough to not be one-turn-gronked by anyone (even Aragorn) so long as the Troll can back up.

Unexpected Military Formations: Skirmish Triangles and the Battle of Dunnichen

Good morning gamers,

In today's formation post, we're departing from shieldwalls (well, not departing far) and Marching people around and turning towards skirmisher formations. Shooting armies are on the rise and new players who want to get into these armies may be tempted to "just rank up" their models in order to use the formations they already know and apply them to shooting lists. Unfortunately, this can have unintended consequences on their firing lanes and cause their faith in shooting to wane. Never fear, though, we'll go over a very simple formation you can use which is inspired by a strategy used by the Picts back in the seventh century.

The Battle of Dunnichen (and its various other names)

You can watch a short video about the battle here and a longer, more academic video here, but what you'll find from both of these is that scholars disagree on where this battle was actually fought. What we do know for sure is provided in the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation by Bede, who wrote the following ("that same king" refers to Egfrid, king of the Northumbrians):

. . . for the very next year, that same king, rashly leading his army to ravage the province of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends, and particularly of Cuthbert, of blessed memory, who had been lately ordained his op, the enemy made show as if they fled, and the king was drawn into the straits of inaccessible mountains, and slain with the greatest part of his forces, on the 20th of May, in the fortieth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign. His friends, as has been said, advised him not to engage in this war; but he having the year before refused to listen to the most reverend father, Egbert, advising him not to attack the Scots, who did him no harm, it was laid upon him as a punishment for his sin, that he "should not now regard those who would have prevented his death."

You can also see notations about the battle in the Annuls of Tigernach (here, click on T668, then go to T686.4) and the Annuls of Ulster (here, click on U686), though neither is very informative about the battle itself (just that it happened). Ignoring some of the propaganda/commentary from Bede, we see something very simple: the Picts, who didn't use shieldwalls (like the Northumbrians did) pretended to flee so as to draw the enemy into bad terrain and cut them down. Instead of playing to the advantage of the shieldwall, the Picts used their better knowledge of the terrain and maneuverability to force the Northumbrians to fight differently than they would have preferred. The idea of using terrain to slow down an enemy advance so that you can kill them slowly is an all-too-common strategy in MESBG and something that skirmishing armies do quite well.

So how do you do it? How do you make your opponent come after you when he KNOWS you're just going to shoot him? The answer is . . . you change the way your army is formed up to make your army both more flexible and (ironically enough) more inviting to crush.

Unexpected Military Formations: The Bow-Tie Formation

Good morning gamers,

In today's formations post, we're returning to a topic we've covered several times already: ways to set up your army to march across the board more effectively. We've seen already how to maximize the total area you can cover with your March (which translates into more models moving faster) with the Millennium Falcon or Pac-Man formations, but today we look at a more versatile variation of these concepts: the Bow-Tie Formation.

Marching And Adaptability

To illustrate the formations today, we'll be using the following army, an 800-point variant of the Men of the West LL that I ran at our most recent tournament here at TMAT:

• Aragorn, King Elessar [ARMY LEADER]
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 10 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
• Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark with shield
• 3 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 3 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 8 Warriors of Rohan with bows
• Gandalf the White

It turns out that most Marching formations are inflexible - both in MESBG and in real life. Most players probably have a formation like this to March around:

Aragorn provides the Heroic March - everyone is in range, but where they can go will be heavily restricted

This formation loses almost half of its possible Marching area and will find it difficult to change directions without giving up drastic amounts of movement. We can fix the first problem (maximizing possible space) with a Millennium Falcon formation:

Aragorn's Marching straight forward, but everyone around him has more flexibility (and we can pack into March range in this formation)

Skirmishing Against Shieldwalls: The Bayeux Tapestry and the Battle of Hastings

Good morning gamers,

In this month's formations post, we're looking at the Battle of Hastings. We actually referenced this battle a few years ago in a post on Shieldwall formations, but today we will look at the historical record as presented through an odd medium: a large hand-crafted tapestry that has been replicated at least once and tells the protracted history that led up to the Battle of Hastings. This is none other than the Bayeux Tapestry.

The Bayeux Tapestry: How the Normans and Saxons Fought

As I mentioned when we reviewed the Battle of Brunanburh, there is a tendency in these "original sources" to provide propaganda. This is true here too - the Normans built the Tapestry (Bayeux is a city in Northern France/Normandy) and so it shows many of the Norman exploits in a positive light. If you want to watch a humorous review of the entire tapestry, I highly recommend you watch Lindybeige's YouTube video on it - it's really great. The Battle of Hastings shows up near the end of the tapestry and shows us two things: first, that the Saxons created a shieldwall (the men standing close together with their shields linked and their spears raised) and that the Normans . . . didn't (or at least, that's not all they did).

Why is that? We see two things about the method of warfare for the Normans: archers on foot and cavalry charging into the fray (with spears, swords, and clubs). Now if you look at visualizations of the attack (either here or here), you'll see that the Normans did use heavy infantry (and they probably formed a shieldwall). But the emphasis of the Norman invasion wasn't primarily about the shieldwall - it was about having a toolkit of options that could harass your opponent and draw out the enemy with shooting. No "I'm gonna spending all day pressed up against the enemy shieldwall" method of fighting for the Normans - they wanted to find a more expedient alternative.

We've been talking about Shieldwalls a lot recently - and in MESBG, shieldwalls are incredibly common (and can be a quagmire for many armies). We've looked at ways to break the enemy shieldwall by concentrating your power and reforming your shieldwall to wrap-and-trap the enemy, but let's take a deeper dive into how to skirmish with enemy shieldwalls - which is particularly useful if you don't think you can survive a fight with the enemy shieldwall.

Fyrd Formations: Reforming Shieldwalls

Good morning gamers,

In some of the recent formations articles (fighting on the ground and how to fight against shieldwalls), we've looked at shieldwall formations and how to both use them unexpectedly and how to fight against them. Today, we look at how to evolve your shieldwall formation to gain an advantage against an enemy shieldwall formation (or how to use a smaller shieldwall to take on a larger shieldwall). While we'll be using Minas Tirith and Mordor armies to illustrate, any armies that have warriors with spears and shields can do what we're going to do here.

Note: many of the principles we're going to cover here have already been brought up by Rythbyrt almost two years ago in one of his posts on spears and shield formations - check it out here. We're going to take some of the thoughts Rythbyrt brought up way back when he wrote that article and apply it using the principles that were used historically with the Fyrds in Saxon England.

What Were Fyrds?

A "fyrd" was basically a militia force of farmers that were trained by a local lord in Saxon/Mercian England. The Anglo-Saxons trained their local militias to fight in blocks with shields held tightly together and spears to thrust outwards at anyone who tried to break the shieldwall. The fyrd system worked really well against Scots/Picts, Irish, Welsh, and Danes - but didn't work particularly well against the Normans (something we'll actually be looking at next month).

In England during the first millennium, the usual modus operandi of military forces (be they Anglo-Saxon, Dane, or otherwise) was to form a shieldwall and ram up against the other guy's wall. You then strove with them all day, hoping to break a hole in it. If you managed that, then you could attack the men who were shoving with all their might against your fellows and kill them without them being able to put up a fight. If your wall broke, you were probably dead before you knew the wall had been breached. While there were formations designed to break through shieldwalls (like the Svinfilking), as a general rule, you just shoved our shieldwall against your opponent's.

Most of the time, shieldwalls succeeded or failed based on their length or depth - have either factor out of proportion to your opponent and your line could end up breaking quickly. If you had a short shieldwall and your opponent had a longer shieldwall that had the same depth as yours, your opponent would start to wrap around your men and kill you from the sides (bad day). If the shieldwalls of two armies were the same length but one was deeper than the other, the mass and strength of the deeper rank might break through the thinner wall. Either way, it pays to have numbers.

This principle (longer battle lines or larger numbers) actually does translate into victory in MESBG - but it is possible for a smaller force to defeat a larger one if it positions its troops well. To understand how that works, let's look at three different ways you can form up a shieldwall and why they might be useful depending on the size of the shieldwall your opponent brings to the table.