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.

Historical Formations in MESBG: Tercios, Testudos, and Cantabrian Circles

Good morning gamers,

Before we begin our series on magic, I thought we might take a short digression into a really fascinating thing I’ve been trying in my games recently: trying to replicate real-life military deployment formations in the MESBG system. Yes, not all things are reflected the way they work in real-life in the MESBG system (pikes don’t get any bonuses against cavalry models, for example), but the principles of real-life tactics should be able to be applied at least in part to any kind of tactical deployment game.

If you read my post on Shieldwall, I went through a few different historical formations that can be used in certain situations by units with Shieldwall (Schiltron, Warped Wall, English Formation). Those real-life examples got me thinking about how you can use other real-life formations to better effect in MESBG (or if they even work). Today, we’ll be looking at three different formations – the Spanish Tercio (mixed melee/ranged infantry formation), the Testudo (melee infantry formation), and the Cantabrian Circle (skirmish cavalry formation).

Last Month on TMAT... (September 2019 Edition)

It's been a busy September here at TMAT. After kicking off with a workbench update on converting Morgul Stalkers and Black Numenoreans, we jumped straight into reviews of more factions who fought at Pelennor Fields (the Fiefdoms, the Dead of Dunharrow, the Easterlings, Khand, and the Serpent Horde), returned to the Fellowship of the Ring for an advanced look at how to get the most out of the Fellowship's unique units (tactical units, the hobbits, and its big beatsticks), introduced a new series ("Fly you Fools!") dedicated to exploring formation and maneuvering options for our beloved and beautiful (if not always overly-bright) models, and capped it off with a descent into Moria.

"Fly you Fools!": Rethinking Shield-Spear Combat

It's been a couple months since our last dedicated post on maneuvering, but after doing so many theory-crafting posts on army lists recently, and with Tiberius about to launch a new series on Shooting, I thought it was high time to dust off some models, move them around the table-top in a photogenic-esque fashion, and see if we could get them to do interesting or unexpected things.

We're kicking off the first post of our new series on tactical maneuvering with what tends to be (for most armies, at least) the default battle-line in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game: a front rank of warriors with shields (and sometimes the occasional front-rank hero) backed up by a rank of warriors with spears. This Shield-Spear formation (not to be confused with a Viking Shield Wall formation, which lacks spears, or a Shieldwall formation, which also gets a +1 defense bonus based on its position when strikes are made) generally tends to be pretty static. But that needn't be the case. As with Shieldwall, your Shield-Spear formation can be a dynamic and flexible formation, setting you up for the next turn, frustrating your opponent's plans, and even transforming "unwinnable" combats into salvageable ones.

If that sounds intriguing to you, read on for five simple tactics you can employ to accomplish just that! (No, that doesn't sound click-baity at all...)

Warning: lots of text, photos, and maths ahead. But it's the weekend, so it's not like you have anything better to do, right? ;-)

Photo Credit: VaderFan2187

"Fly you Fools!" - Formations and Maneuvering in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Army lists, rules updates, and theory-crafting are all well and good, but as any experienced player knows (and any new player learns quickly), having troops with the greatest stat-line in the world won't save your force if it gets caught out of position, or can't bring its superior firepower to bear on the enemy. In a war game that exists in three-dimensional space, the ability to maneuver your troops into position, and adapt their position to meet the objectives around you and the enemy before you, is a critical key to success.