Lord of The Rings SBG- Playing the new books.

Last Saturday afternoon I got the rare chance to get out to the remodeled Chicago Battle Bunker for what can best be called a LotR area players gathering. These type of casual events dont come up too often and since I haven't played any Warhammer coming up on almost a year, This is one of the only things that's going to get me out there. It was a packed Saturday afternoon at the bunkers new smaller footprint of only 22 tables. Which yes sounds like alot, but not in comparison to its previous real estate. Every table was packed, with a variety of games , we had maybe a dozen LotR players from the Chicago, Joliet and Kenosha/ WI areas all in attendance. Great to see and play some of these guys
whom I only talk to at Tournaments or online.

We were all playing the new books and scenarios. Personally I am really liking the new book for my Mordor force as it opens up my lists to be a bit more flexible and include some other stuff that was associated with other lists so they had to be taken as allies. The ones I am interested in are generic troops whom shouldnt necessarily be stuck within certain lists, but thats the way *Legions*was setup so thats way we played it. In the past, if I wanted a pure Cirith Ungol List I was shut out from taking certain troops in accordance to theme. Thats all gone now, Mordor is Mordor and building theme lists is really up to the player.

Once again I was fielding my Tower of Cirith Ungol List, and under the new *Warbands* setup my list was:

Shargat, Captain of Cirith Ungol.
4 Mordor Uruk Hai
7 Orc Warriors w/ Banner
Mordor Siege Bow

Gorbag,
9 Orc Warriors
3 Orc Trackers

Shelob

Orc Shaman on Warg
3 Giant Spiders
8 Orc Warriors
1 Spectre

Trying out new units available, like the Siege Bow as a response to shooting, the Giant Spiders to run along with Shelob as an anti-Cavalry measure and the Spectre just to be a pain in the butt was alot of fun, I have since dropped the Siege bow and added some more foot troops. The list still tops out at 40 models which is a good number under old rules, but quite low for Mordor as tournament list in the Legions era.

My first match up was against Jeff whom I recently played at last Novembers BBB, He was also running Mordor and while Evil vs Evil matches are never my favorite, its a reality of tournaments so I was glad to throw down against a Mordor list different than mine. Jeffs was essentially a Minas Morgul force led by the Dark Marshall, loaded with Black Numenorean warriors, and Morgul Knights then filled out with Orcs..he also had a 12 dozen of so Orc Trackers for shooting, and Grisnak the Orc Captain in there as well.
























It was fun match up, with things like the siege bow randomly hitting stuff and my Spectre doing wacky things like commanding one of the Morgul Knights to move out of formation so I could swarm it with Orcs on their move. We were playing the Domination scenario and we both had broken forces at the end and Jeff just squeaked out a victory over me with a Score of 8 to 7.

I must say the scoring and new deployment rules with the new books are great. GW really took a look at some of the larger issues with the game here to make it more playable in both causal and tournaments. Deployment specifically has new some great tactical decision making woven into it. especially if you find yourself facing a much larger force. Great Job here.

My Second game was against  Chris whom I have played many times now, and made the drive down with the WI contingent. Chris is great painter so always fun to get our miniatures down on the table together (although I was using some wip stuff here, sorry). He brought Gimli, Dain ironfoot and the Dwarf Rangers. We really started mixing this one up early with alot of front line deployment. I had a decent size flanking force with Shelob and Gorbag, against Dain while Shagrat and the Shaman with the Spiders took on Gimli. Chris was really sweating the courage checks for Gimli once we had the big melee going, as I was using the spectre to simply make him take a walk away from the battle. it never happened thou. We were playing "To the death" scenario...we really close to model on model attrition and both broke within a turn of each other. when it was all said and done VP were identical  and it was a solid draw and a great game.

This was basically a test list for Adepticon, I wanted to give my Mordor with Shelob one more go before I come back with good guys in fall. I have recently got my hands on bunch of old metal orcs, which a 100X better models than crappy plastic Orcs. So I am with pleasure repainting a bunch of this army, which should hopefully give this army a bump it needs in the appearance department to compete at Adepticon this year. with my current list, I only need to use about 5 plastic spearmen (and I am looking for metal OOP GW orc spears if you got them?)  and the rest of the Army is all metal, which is great...there is really no comparison when it comes to painted metals vs the early GW LotR plastics, they are just  terrible and to think they are charging almost $2 a piece for them gives me a shudder. I wont both with bitching about prices today..we all know the drill.























Great people and great games, good to see all the armies out this day, mostly good armies on the table other than a pair of Mordors (mine and Jeffs) and some Easterlings.  Adepticon this has an odd solution for the new books and that its you can run either at Adepticon this year..using the old Legions books will give players a distinct advantage over the new books because they be able to avoid the Hero ratio requirement and can spam more troops which is always the tournament "big pink elephant" in the room. Using New scenarios would really help even the playing field on that issue but as far as were told they arent being used and are using the regular Adepticon scenarios...So
I'll roll out my 40 model Mordor army and surely face huge superior numbers..not much I can do about it, I'll just go bring some good looking a well themed stuff and have a great time geeking out on Lord of the Rings.

Speaking of geeking out on LotR, this weekend is Gathering in the Desert run by my pal Tim K in Phoenix, AZ. always an awesome spectacle and event..I wish I could ever get my act together and get out there..but with it always being close to Adepticon, getting away with the wife, kids and business
has made it impossible, I will be checking in spirit looking for updates, Go Mordor!

Cirith Ungol vs Isengard

Another 600 point brawl, in preparation for the upcoming BBB tourney, My pal Jeff came by, recently being inspired by all the LotR SBG activity going on in these parts, he dusted off his Isengard and brought them over for an evil on evil tournament style match up. Jeff is a long time GW collector and hobbyist for all its systems, so its great to see him dig into the LotR case from time to time and put those models to good use. We of course had to use my new Amon Hen piece as the table centerpiece.

Jeff's test list was something close to
Saruman
Lurtz
Troll
8 Uruk Hai Scouts
8 Uruk Hai with Pikes
1 Uruk Hai with Banner
6 Feral Uruk Hai

My Cirith Ungol at 44 models has him at almost 2 to 1.
 





















Unfortunately, I had way too much confidence in my Warg Riders as I sped them across the battlefield to engage. Saruman has a whole host of nasty tricks, "The Palantir" being able to call Priority being the worst
of them, other than that he's quite similar to Gandalf. Jeff just dropped back until I was out of 10 inch range
softened me up with Bows, after winning a key priority he brought Saruman out and hit me with big Sorcerous blast...then siezed the next priority with the Palantir and mobbed my warg riders, I took enough hurt there, that they were pretty neutralized.

I had Shelob looking for an oppotunity to go after Saruman..but the troll kept her at bay, with 3 attack dice
and no getting a charge bonus, the Spider only had one attack, meaning I needed my mob of guys trudging across the battefield to help me out with the troll.





















We played the same scenario I played last game, where you have to contol 5 objective points. its very difficult to get a major victory as you need to control at least 4 at the end of game....in this shot here I have 3 but it doesnt stay the way. Shelob ends up facing off with the Troll once the mob rolls in, but I am losing guys almost 3 to 1 versus Jeff. I put a wound on the troll but dont kill it.

The troll fails a terror test and freezes, giving Shelob the in on Saruman...I got close but not quite
Shelob never took a wound herself, but used all her will to fend off Saruman, immoblization attempts
in the end both survive but the White Wizard with only one wound and out of fate.


My force was broken somewhere around here, while Jeff was still a few models away, I roll the game continued for two turns...Jeff had his troll grab an objective, but as he hoped the guys I had camping on the two objectives on my side of the board, ran away, with failed courage tests...my lone warrior passed killed on his leaving the center contested, and I killed enough guys near one of the others to make that one close.
In the end Jeff had 1 objective, 2 contested and 2 empty, another Draw. although in kill points department
he did a great job, ending the game with an unbroken force with a 2 to 1 kill ratio against me.


This a great scenario, as you need to really use your head to get a major victory, separating your force is an fine idea, unless you get broken and your guys run away, You'll need a combination of brains, mobile forces and luck to win this one...I would have been way better off holding my cav back until the end..live and learn.
Jeff realizes that while the troll had a roll in this match, it needs to go in favor of 100 more points troops, Saruman
and Lurtz are a great team..they dont need a troll.

Erebor vs Cirith Ungol

Lord of the Rings Battle Recap and SBG update

I got the rare chance to get out the Chicago battle bunker last weekend, for some LotR SBG with my fellow blogger, miniature painter and LotR enthusiast Jamie W.

Jamie's got numerous beautiful armies and this time he brought out his Erebor Dwarven force for the upcoming Bilbos Birthday Bash and I brought out the Orcs of Cirith Ungol and their Spider Queen. Its was great game and we demoed one the event scenarios. I was happy to give the dwarves a go, as their brutal defensive stats make them one of the toughest armies in the game.


I forgot my camera so grabbing pics of Jamies great army of his blog is best I can do here.


Erebor

Balin
Dwarf Captain with Shield
Dwarf Warrior w/ Banner
12 Dwarf Warriors w/ Dwarf Bow
7 Dwarf Warrios w/ Shield
8 Khazad Guard
6 Iron Guard
6 Dwarf Rangers w/ throwing axes and two-handed axes


Cirith Ungol

Shagrat, War Leader
Shelob
Orc Shaman on Warg

8 Warg Riders, w/Hand Weapon and Shield
18 Orcs w/Hand Weapon and Shield
10 Orcs w/Spears
1 Orc with Banner.
4 Uruk Hai with two handed weapons


The scenario was a "control" scenario based on 5 objective points...how many you controlled at the end of game dictate either Major, Minor win or Draw.

My deployment was very straight forward..and I cant see it particularly different in any game I play with ths Army, The Wargs on one flank the, Shelob on the other and the mob of Orcs in the middle.

Jamies deployment was a bit more nuanced he had his captain and a mix of Khazad and Iron guard with a couple rangers on the flank opposite the Wargs. the warriors with Bows in the center. Balin, The Banner Bearer and mix of remaining troops spread out on the other flank around the objective.



Worried about Volley fire directed at Shelob...I held her back and pushed hard with Wargs slamming into their brick wall of defense 6 and 7 troops by my second turn. The shaman leading the way had cast "Fury" and away they went for long struggle. My infantry need 4 full moves to really mix it up with dwarves and Jamie just waited for me to come to him in the middle. Shelob played cat and mouse with some of the dwarves that where screening for Balin, I survived many a ranged attack and during a run of many lost priorities in a row. Jamie just fed single dwarves to the spider to keep her tied up. eventually when the brawl in the middle broke out there was no where for the spider to get to that could cause alot of damage, so she just stayed on the edge, killing single dwarves hoping to break his hold on the objective. The Warg vs Khazad/Iron Guard flank was were alot of the action was...I literally charged, bounced off and charged again, and again...eventually whittling him down to the Defense 8 Captain who survived a 3 Warg Rider charged and was also trapped..by the time I killed all the dwarves on the flank I'd lost most my Warg Riders and the battle of attrition in the middle evened us up on losses and both our forces broke at exactly the same time. According the scenario when one player breaks we roll to see how many turns the game continues. I roll "1" and then win priority. I start making break checks...Shagrat and his Orcs around him via standfast all stick around, so does Shelob, but none of my Wargs or few troopers I left camping on Objectives do...I go from having 2 objectives and contesting 1, to having zero....One more turn gets me some good kills and Jamie has bad break check run too. so in the end, it winds up 1 objective for him 2 contested by me...and a Draw...but its was literally down to the last turn, and we both easliy lost 75% of our forces with our main heroes and small entourages remaining.--a bloodbath, as it should be.



It took me half the game to get my head back in the rules, While I have been playing Legends of the High seas all summer and it uses the same basic rules, LotR is alot more complicated due to alot of Might, Will and Fate being continuely used plus alot lot more special rules. I stupidly forgot that your banner bearer needs to be touching another model it keep the banner on the field if the bearer dies...and a sloppy move cost me banner at a key point toward the end. It was all good thou as a great bloody scrap like this got me pumped up to get a few more practice games in before the tournament. I was happy with my armies performance, Shagrat was a beast and Shelob had alot more staying power than I thought given her Hunting Instinct liability. Great game to Jamie, and I look forward to the next one.

With a notable crew of regional LotR players in attendance its was very cool to see the renewed interest in the game from the older players and a lot of new players too. I was totally surprised to see Brent sweating that he only had enough swag for 39 players, as he had over 20 paid with inquiries from another other people that he had to post a 1st come, 1st serve notice on the local forums in regards to swag for the event. My reaction was of course -39 players!! are you kidding me?..when I played in the original Bilbo's bash in 2009, it was 7 players and a ringer, with 300% percent bump in 2010 to 21, with a projected another 100 % attendance bump this year? If you read various popular forums you won't have to go far to find some 40K of WFB fanboy crowing about how LotR is dead and just eating resources from the other games. I don't think so guys. because when the chips are down, its the good games that have legs. It is the only low investment, high return game that GW puts out. For a tournament turnout comparison -Core, Competency one of area's bigger fall WFB tourneys only had 29 players last year (although its looking at over 40 this year) but for whatever reason, (points, scheduling) Adepticon numbers for LotR remain anemic, while other games are in triple digits..However, let be clear. Rumors of this games death are greatly exaggerated..with the Hobbit coming out next year, if you are in the IL, WI, MN, IN region, its definitely a good time to get or get back into this game.

Bilbo's Birthday Bash!, Day 2

11/7 @ Chicago Battle Bunker


This shot is pretty representative how the whole day went.

Play resumed today for the final two games. My recounts of my day 1 and lack of bad fortune unfortunately became a self fulfilling prophecy and caught up with me today.


The horde, pre game.

Game 4 vs Tim (Barad Dur/ Dwellers Below)

Durzhag the Beast Caller
Goblin Shaman
24 or so Orcs
16-20 Warg Riders
Models 56/ Break 28
(not 100% on numbers, as I didnt get a list on this one..figure 2 to 1, his favor , easy)

Scenario, Reconnoitre. When I saw the army with I think 56 models with all that Cavalry, I knew I had lost, the question is by how much. Chatting before the game I had mentioned that I somehow went three games without my army breaking and without Gandalf taking a wound, and Tim kind of snickered. I was totally unfamiliar with Durzhag and his rules (supplemented in White Dwarf) and it totally killed me. Tim was a friendly enough guy, but it was very clear he wanted a major victory here and was going to wipe the snot out of me. On turn 3, I had the chance to Fly Gwaihir off the table and force Tim's best possible result to be a minor victory, but I thought it was a cheap move so I didnt do it, Instead engaging some Warg riders which Tim then beefed up with "bestial fury" and "enrage beasts". Tim also insisted the Cavalry charges treat Gwaihir the eagle as "infantry" and thus he got the cavalry charge bonuses. Even thou I explained to him that Brent, the TO, had ruled in a previous game of mine, that they did not. He insisted he was correct, Brent was wrong and thats the way it was so I just that let it go and Gwaihir died. I figured he was dead anyway, even without all the extra attacks Tim just wanted to make damn sure he had 20 something dice to get the 4 wounds (3 +1 fate point) to make sure it was dead. Gandalf soon suffered the same fate, dead after I wiffed on a big Sorcerous blast that got 4 models and no kills and got surrounded. Sooner than later once melee began, my force was broken. I still managed to kill a good amount of models his break point was 28, I think I got up to 21 or 22..but it's "Reconnoitre" and he got bunch of Warg cav off my side of board early. I made a late rush with couple remaining Rangers, going for the minor loss, but losing priority every turn near the end made it too easy for Tim to just keep engaging me and get me closer and closer to my "7" 25% mark and the games end. On the last turn I am at 9 models, Army broken and I fail 2 courage tests with my guys running for the edge. Game Over.
I am lamenting my decision not to play it cheap and fly Gwaihir off the board early because Tim ends up winning Best General and had I of done that- he would not of because he would have lost 5 Battle Points with only a Minor Victory. As I said Tim was a friendly guy, and I would have no problem playing him again. But the Army, combined with the scenario and his lust to pile it on..left a bad taste in my mouth..kind of reminded me why I quit playing 4th Edition 40k.

Major Loss- 3 points.


as chaotic as this shot looks, the game was...



Gandalf wasn't too sure what he supposed to do here.


Game 5 vs Keith (Erebor)

Dain, King of Erebor
Siege Captain
6 Iron Guard
6 Khazad Guard
5 Rangers with long bows
2 Rangers with Bows and throwing axes
12 Warriors with Shields
Ballista
Siege Crew
35 models/ Break point 17


The Eagle got out of this mess leaving several dead dwarves behind

The final scenario "meeting engagement" usually a good one for me as I had no problems getting all my opponents on day 1 to the 25% mark..even those Dwarven Rangers game 1, my only hope was that it wasnt Dwarves, and of course I got Dwarves. If I thought Gimli was the uberlord of the Dwarves, I obviously never met Dain, whose got the same defense as the Balrog and almost as many attacks. My opponent keith was great guy and pleasure to play. We had pretty casual game and it was neck and neck until probably the last three turns were I was broken. I had him 3 or 4 models close to breaking from about 3 turns previous to that..and my while dice were shite this whole game..I had this crazy bad streak..where I seriously had 15 wounds I couldn't get a 6 on and some of them I could of got by on a "5" (might), I was so rattled by shit luck and inability to break him when I at one point I was ahead of him in kills by 6 or 7 models..I forgot to have Gandalf use his free will point to try to throw some blasts or immobilize..I could have stalled for time. played for draw, whatever, In the end I just folded...and he got me to 7 models and the game ended. The Ballista which I had heard was giving other players fits..was a non-issue. I think it killed one Ranger. I flew the Eagle into it early....tied it up, killed a crew member, we had 3 or 4 rounds of back and forth but even with Strength 6, I couldn't wound his Dwarves and eventually his Siege Captain took the Eagle down. Gandalf was also a non- factor..burned through all his Might and Will long before the game end...think he got 1 or maybe 2 kills..just not my day. Ok, I hate playing Dwarves.

Major Loss- 3 points


Eventually this fellow had nothing to do, but hang out and drink.

On to the awards..when it came to the awards..you know the one I was waiting for, Best Appearance, which I had won at this event the previous year. In my eyes It was pretty clear it was between myself and my round 2, opponent Jamie W. There were definitely a few other very well painted armies but not that had the depth of detail of mine or Jamies. During award announcement Brent starts talking about how two armies had tied exactly in paint scoring so he got a second judge and that fellow with no input from him tied it again..so it came down to Favorite opponent votes ( sports ) when I heard that- I knew I had lost. Jamie is very well known in the national LotR community and an awesome guy. I barely know any of these guys, except for Jamie, Brent and a few others. I had voted for Jamie for Favorite opponent and Favorite army, even thou I knew it was voting against myself..because he deserved it...I knew he voted for me for players choice as well..so fair is fair. Jamie deservingly won Best Appearance and Player's Choice..Talking afterward he then turns around and gives me basically half his winning swag, which while we both don't do this for the swag we do it for the trophy, I graciously accepted. I don't know too many people who would do that, and it goes to show what kind of guy he is. I appreciate that to the fact that if he ever needs a favor in the future- I got his back.

In the end another great event, I ended up 11th out of 21 as final scores are already posted (thats a new one, props Brent!) Thanks again to Brent and the Chicago Battle Bunker (who poured on the prize support so thick, that everyone in the event got a free LotR blister, new stuff too!) I'm hoping to attend Gathering in the Desert in Feb...since it looks like I can't play at Adepticon because of the event scheduling...I need to get some more locals into this game.

(edit, turns out the tie breaker for best appearance was Favorite Army votes not Favorite Opponent, I either misunderstood Brent or he misspoke, so fair is fair more people voted for his arm, including me!..congrats to JW)

Bilbo's Birthday Bash!, Day 1

11/6 @ Chicago Battle Bunker




whole lot of dwarves

So I have been home for a few hours, had some dinner and decompressed from 3 games of LotR today at the Chicago Battle Bunker. I figured I would write it up while its fresh. 21 player showed up with one drop so today was 11 tables with one ringer army. Had my work cut out for me with 27 Models and a 14 break..but I had magic and fly 12" eagle. on my side.

Game 1 vs Chris - Dwarves (Erebor)

Gimli
6 Iron Guard w/ throwing axe
16 Dwarf Rangers/ bows
16 Dwarf Rangers/ throwing axe
14 Dwarf Ranger/ two handed weapons
53 models/ 27 break


Once Gimli had the artifact getting back was going to be a tall order

My third time playing in Chris in a LotR event, awesome guy, great player. He's had a different army everytime I've faced his this times it was the kings of the LotR hierarchy..The Dwarves with their brutal defense. The Scenario was called "The Artifact" basically a dig up the football and move thru your opponents D-zone and off the board for a win. I knew I couldn't just run up and grab the thing without seriously thinning out the Dwarves. or I'd just be cut to pieces. I have faced Gimli many times before..there isn't much my Army can do to him. The tables were terrain heavy, what you want for a game like this...I spread out wide into 5 small groups, Gandalf with one and sent the Eagle full on down my right flank, right toward his archers, which I knew where the biggest threat to my army until late game. The eagle got out of a couple dicey situations but did his job tying up the archers and I keep the pressure on his archers with mine shooting for hill with some good cover. Gandalf did his thing moved around, let the magic fly a couple big "sorcerous blasts" got me some kills. The hand to hand started when Gimli dug up the "Artifact" and had to clear the way to get thru my lines..I did better that expected against the T5 dwarves in fact I broke Chris's army probably 3 turns before Gimli got off the board. The unwounded Eagle...tried to get into Gimli and tie him up for awhile but had to get thru two Iron Guard on the way, he lost the combat and his defense of "8" didnt help him when Chris rolled 3-6's to wound and I had burned my 1 point of fate on an earlier wound. The bird was dead. Gandalf was head his way as I saved a couple points to try to immoblize Gimli but he still had all his will, laughed as shot him with arrows and walked away with the Artifact. Chris got the Minor victory, as his force was broken..in a fact all but around 8 dwarves were dead...I was 12 down..2 short of break.
Minor Loss- 7 points


Gandalf, went all three games without taking a single wound


Bunkered up on this hill I was hard to dislodge



Game 2 versus Jamie (Tower of Ecthelion)

Faramir, Captain of Ithilien/ Warhorse
5 Knights of Minas Tirith
8 Warriors w/ Shields
7 Warriors w/ Spears and Shields
10 Warriors w/ Bows
5 Citadel Guard
Angbor the Fearless
5 Clansmen of Lamedon
43 Models/ 22 Break

This scrap was all Gandalf, there 8 plus the Banner to start


Jamie's one the usual organizers of LotR events in this area, aside from being an great guy he's awesome painter, bringing my hands down favorite army of the event to table. Brent the T.O. called the game a "White Dwarf Battle Report" in action, and I agree it sure looked awesome..too bad we both don't get to play much other than to hope for the occasional game. Scenario was
"contest of champions" where your main hero (Gandalf/Faramir) had to tally up the most kills.
I basically had the same strategy as last game break out into groups spread him out and send the eagle after his archers. A loss of Priority at key point led to the Eagle getting surrounded way too early by the Citadel Guard, which hurt because Jamie was rolling pretty hot with Volley fire. He brought out some warriors with the guy with the banner to engage Gandalf who got off a big "Sorcerous Blast" the follow up melee brought Gandalf up to 5 kills. The distraction with the Eagle in his back field had Jamie totally redirect his cavalry with Faramir to the opposite side of the board..my eagle again died and he start gaining ground kill some of my guys on the right flank. However I had cleaned up the whole other side of table, whittled down his archers and shot down all the Clansmen by Angbor. At this point Jamie was broken and started losing more guys..I had few remaining guys one his flank tie him up on the side, while the majority of my force shot at the stragglers from a good distance away..another big blast from Gandalf had him up 8 kills to Faramirs 3, Jamie fell below the 25% mark and I got the victory, still 4 models
short of breaking, I took 10 casualties total, including Gwaihir.
Major Victory 20 points


I gambled on priority here, and lost..getting surrounded led to Eagles death every time, but not this particular one, I survived and flew away.


Faramir, got into the mix far too late to catch up to Gandalf kill count


Faramir and his Knights to the rescue of those archers


The Dragon isnt the Balrog, but damn close

Game 3 vs Raymond (Moria)

Durburz
12 Goblins w/ Bow
13 Goblins w/Shields
13 Goblins w/Spears
Dragon, breath fire , tough hide
40 Models/ 20 Break

After practicing against the Balrog the other night, the Dragon didn't really phase me..At Defense 9 and nasty, auto kill breath weapon..I knew I had one tactic.."immobilize" the Dragon, long enough, I could break the goblins. Scenario was "Domination" which is probably my favorite scenario for this army. Same strategy again, except this time I brought the Eagle up giving the Dragon the opportunity to engage it and be tied up, it passed for the chance to use it breath weapon and killed 2 Rangers...after that I just engaged it with one model and had Gandalf "immobilize" it every round. Ray didn't want to burn up his will to defend it so kept letting the spell go to try to get the extra breath weapon shots..a critical error..he put way too many eggs in one basket with the Dragons breath weapon..he should burned up his will to stop me the 1st time, then used his free one..and just smashed the thing into me for close combat..it would have been way more effective. by tying up the Dragon for 4 turns or so...I shot the pants off the Goblins and flew the Eagle over to the far objective (where he beat 5 goblins readily even while surrounded and taking double strikes at least once). Once Ray was broken, it was all over.. Durburz hung in there and on the lucky break Raymond rolled a "2" on the 1st try to end the game..and it ended before I could kill Durburz and get control of the 4th objective. Ray was a great opponent and sport..I could tell he just hadn't dealt with problems I was giving him before.
Minor Victory 15 points


A lone model holds the immobilized Dragon at bay



At a certain point I realized it was easier to kill Goblins in hand to hand than shoot them.

With 43/60 points on day one, I am pretty happy and it was a good day. Although don't expect much from me tomorrow as know that I am in the top third scoring wise, I am going, inevitably to play some very high model count armies I am going to have really tough time with..there are few 50-60 model armies I saw that are pretty scary. Hats off to Brent S. for running such a great event. I'll wrap it up tomorrow.


Gwaihir, had no troubles handling this, especially once broke and the remaining
goblins start testing on a "2".

Grey Company vs Moria 600 points

@plasticlegions HQ 11/4



Army titles are little deceiving here, "You shall not pass" is more accurate. As I mentioned in the sidebar earlier in the week I had a game set up with my pal joe tonight to get some LotR in before the tourney this weekend. Joe has a massive Harad army that maxes out in like the 4-5K range in War of the Ring, so he said no problem to 600 points of Harad for a match with SBG rules, I even told his to bring a Mumak as I never faced on and at 275 points it reasonable one might show up this weekend. Problem was I met up with Joe, he had forgotten his Harad at home and showed up with what he had in his other case, which turned out to be Moria and a Balrog. Well I doubt at 400 points we'll be seeing a Balrog this weekend, but I have never played one of the either and since I am running Gandalf the Grey...playing against the Balrog just had to happen. We grabbed a cup of coffee, cracked open the Legions book and rolled "to Kill the King" as the scenario and let it roll.

Joes List

Goblin Captain

11 Goblin Warriors

6 Goblin Archers

Cave Troll

The Balrog



Not a very competitive army at 600 points because with a break point of "10", playing leadership "2" Goblins its all going to be about the Balrog. I dont expect to see anyone with break point less than mine at "14" this was the only game I'll be playing anytime soon I am feeling confident about numbers.

Joes choose he Goblin Captain as his "King", thinking he's be easier to defend..and the let the Balrog go nuts..I choose Gandalf and just did what I always do.

My list.

Gandalf the Grey
5 Rangers of North
20 Rangers of Arnor
Gwaihir the Great Eagle.



I won priority and the first couple turns were spent advancing, I had Gandalf Cast , "Blinding Light" and "Terrifying Aura" along the way. Being in opposite corners of a hill with all those trees took 3 turns to get into range of each other once we did it was fast and bloodly. Joe brought the Balrog right up the middle..My army breaks out very nicely in 5 groups of 4 rangers each being led by a Ranger of the North..Gandalf was off to right with two groups of rangers, two other headed toward the ruin and the Balrog and one flanked left. Gwaihir, flanked right with flying move of 12 I hope to get to the rear and go after the Goblin Captain.


The Cave Troll got a lucky break and ties up Gwaihir early but the eagle puts a wound on the troll, next turn I lose Priority so use the eagles might to make a Heroic Move and get away to rear. The Balrog moves up to bust out his whip on some of my Rangers but Gandalf casts "immobilize"..Joe throws 6 of his 10 dice to stop it but has no luck..and cant beat my 6 casting value. Balrog is held tight...I put a ton of arrows into the Balrog..needing 6's then 4's or 5's to wound at Defense 9..its nigh impossible to put a wound on him with S2 bows...I turn my fire on the Troll and put two wounds on him..my guys on the far right flank put down some goblin archers.


I win Priority this time, and Gandalf takes the troll down with Sorcerous Blast..I figure my 10 guys in the ruin will get charged by the Demon, but Joe does a 180 just manages to get the Balrog into contact with Gandalf..a big mistake on my part as I had lots of move and other men to protect him. I can't shoot the Balrog this turn to turn my attention to Goblins. Gwaihir engages a few goblins guarding the captain and most of the goblin warriors turn around, pile in and surround the great eagle. In shooting I take a few more goblin archers and lose my first ranger as a shooting casualty. Combat is a nasty affair, one on one vs the Balrog isnt like the movies its Fight 10, Str 9, Def 9 4 attacks, Vs Gandalf's 5/5/5 and 1 attack...Gandalf loses
and takes 4 wounds..but he's got three fate points which are re-rollable thanks to his ring I end up taking 1 wound but burn all my fate, I cannot take another round of that. Meanwhile Gwaihir surrounded, loses combat takes double strikes and takes two wounds.



Thankfully I won Priority again, it would be the last time of the game but the one that mattered Gandalf "Immoblized" the Balrog again, Joe tried to stop it, with four dice , tied my roll but used my first might point of the game to beat him. I then surrounded the Immoblized Balrog with 10 Rangers and Gandalf. we went thru the next 4 turns either re surrounding the Balrog or it charging Gandalf..I managed to "Immoblize" it a few more times, finally putting 6 wounds on the thing with double strikes from surrounding it and winning combat.

Meanwhile the rest of my Rangers cleaned the Goblins nicely and broke them, The Eagle was killed by a lucky goblin...but the rest of the men took down Goblins who were killed or ran off and surrounded the Goblin Captain who fended off seven of them for a few turns before going down. thankfully Gandalf managed to survive the combat with only 1 wound...and while we didnt kill it, but "you shall not pass!!"..LOL!



Not so much a practice game for the weekend other than getting my sea legs back with the ruleset but we had a great old time..we'll see how it goes this weekend.

Adepticon 2010 Report – Part 1

Adepticon 2010 has come and gone, its was great time with mostly highs and few lows. Got to reconnect and meet some great friends old and new. 3 days of great gaming at the best Wargaming event in the country hands down.

Thursday-

Coming in Thursday if you’re from out of town is a great idea. This year’s registration was open Thursday night so you could pick your swag and badge then. I live in the area about 25 miles away but having 4 events I obviously had a ton of stuff. And since three of them start very early in morning .I figured staying at hotel was good idea. Considering this is my yearly “game-cation” I sucked it up for the three day stay, got all my stuff up into the room in 4 trips and headed down to register and get my badge and swag bag. This year’s Swag bag was something else if you were within the 1^st thousand people to register. 3 very cool miniatures, promo sprues from Mantic and Warlord Games, 3 novels (one hard cover) a copy wargames illustrated (awesome mag) a free rule set (Samurai Wars)magnets, bases, assorted other bits, coupons and a T-Shirt. What more could you ask for.The swag bag is always cool, this year it really out did itself.

I quickly hooked up with Tim K and Jamie W and we hit the bar for Burgers, beers and some conversation. Tim and I followed that up with a game of LotR on one the tables we’d be using in the event Friday. We were both super rusty neither of us having played in sometime, so it was great to get a practice game in and hang out with Tim because I barely got to see him the rest of weekend (other than our coincidental match up round 3 in the tourney, but more on that in a moment) This is the second year as the Westin and I hope the event stays here, Adepticon had a lot more space this year and is a great place for the convention

Friday-

(40K Hall, early Friday morning)

Got up early and hit the main hall to see what was going on, 40K Gladiator got underway early, Registration was bustling and the vendor hall was packed. There was a ton of great stuff for sale this year, from bits sellers to Battlefoam. A strong presence by non-GW manufactures this year brought some great product to display. I got to see some Old Glory stuff I had been hesitant about buying due to being disappointed with one purchase already. Being able to see these products close up first hand is awesome for the manufacturers. I’m not sure some of people realize what a presence at Adepticon can do for you sales wise., Example- I have had customer service issues with both Old Glory and Battlefoam in the past, but seeing all the new products on display and how they improved over time, will definitely have me buying from both again, not sure I could say that if I didn’t get chance to see the kick ass stuff on display by both. Anyway I picked up a box of 28mm British Paratroopers for some WW2 Skirmish went and grabbed my stuff and headed over to the Lilac Ballroom.

Lord of the Rings Championships-

The LotR Strategy Battle Game is pretty much a GW Specialist Game now, being eclipsed in support and popularity by its inferior big brother, War of the Ring, This is the second year Its now over in the Specialist Games hall and that was fine as it was quiet with great tables and I got to see some of the other cool stuff going on over there. I’ve talked in the depth about the game and my positive feelings on it for while now and it’s a drag its not more popular but so it goes. I think the turn out was pretty good at 22. I checked in got a table assignment and I got rolling with Gandalf and The Grey Company.

Game 1 VS Dwarves- Philip.

Gandalf, not leaving himself anywhere to go, this Gimli isnt so friendly.

Philip had a smaller army also, slightly bigger than mine but not by much. He did have Gimli thou, who is a terror in close combat. The most important stat in LotR is Defense. Dwarves with Shields have a basic defense of 6, meaning my strength two bows are always needing 6’s. This was going to be a tough game, I was breaking on 8 kills to his 12. We were using objective markers for the scenario objectives. His was in his back field, I put mine in the center on table in a ruin that had high ground and choke points figuring it’d be easier to defend. I split my guys into three groups with Gandalf and 5 Rangers in the middle, and 5 Rangers on each flank. Each group of Rangers, had a Ranger of the North (minor hero) having Might, Will and Fate. So I had enough juice to Get something happening. Phil basically charged his guys up the middle with Gimli, leaving a couple guys in the backfield guarding the objective and broke a few guys out to cover his flanks. I got good start with a hot dice streak that made some head way on the flanks but in the center I wasted way too much Might on using Sorcerous Blasts, trying to kill a few Dwarves, when I should has just tried to “Immobilize” Gimli the whole game.

Immobilize goes off on a “3” and I could have just used my free point of will to cast and then an extra might to bump the die roll if I needed to. A rookie mistake I won’t make again. Anyway I started collapsing in middle, moving Gandalf up a staircase where he had great view but was trapped unless I want to jump off the building and take the chance at 4 wounds. As my middle got soft, Phil could pull his rear guard on the center away to support his flanks and I there still just too many Dwarves, once Gimli got into Gandalf I was trapped, so I was taking double wounds from that monster, wasn’t long before my Fate ran out and game over.- Major Loss, No objective points. Good game thou and Phil was a nice guy, Dwarves are the Daemons of WFB, so it was pretty much a “win at all costs’ lists which didn’t make for the best game, but good enough.

FUN 4, SPORTS 5, COMP 3

Game 2 VS Mahud- Chris

Rangers Vs Mahud!

I had player Chris before at Bilbo’s Birthday Bash when his Grey Company ripped my Orcs and new one, he’s a good player and I had my work cut out for me, especially since this scenario was absolutely horrible for me. I had to defend my objective which was easily destroyable against charging infantry, Cavalry and a Half Troll. I shot the Cavalry up good and things where going pretty well, I had a chance to break Chris before he got to me with a big Sorcerous Blast from Gandalf, unfortunately my dice were shit and I didn’t have enough might left to bump it up, so I was two guys short when the Hammer came down, I had plenty of guys left, Gandalf even surrounded was holding his own, but I could protect the objective and Chris destroyed it with a good roll on the first attempt, (he needed a 5, rolled a 5) and that was it, Game Over.- Major Loss, No Objective points.

This was good game despite, Chris is great player and I like the army and his paint

FUN 5 SPORTS 5 COMP 5

Game 3 Vs Numemoreans – Tim K

Isildur is a mean SOB with or without the ring

Tim K brought Isildur with the Ring of Power and a bunch of men of Numenor to the table. A good Army that I was fortunate to know what it did as I played him the night before. This time the scenario was also advantageous to me. It was about splitting your force in half and then rolling for the reinforcement deployment. I was able to split my force up in a good way and got a bunch of early kills and soften Tim up a bit, Terrain was also highly in my favor. While I liked all the tables, I thought for the this particular game- they were a bit terrain light, this table had a bit more than the others and I used to my advantage. Good dice of course helped, and knowing what he was capable of, I wasn’t engaging Isildur unless I was forced too.. Fortunately I broke Tim’s army before that happened and his guys started leaving the battlefield, The game ended shortly thereafter.Major Victory, 5 Objective.

Tim’s the man, and it sucks my only big win was against him, of course Tim was all 5’s In my personal score department and I gave him Favorite Opponent as well.

FUN 5 SPORTS 5 COMP 5

Game 4 Vs Cirith Ungol- Chad

I’d met Chad before as he’s local but this is the first time we have played. Chad brought Gorbag, and Orc Drummer and a Horde of angry Orcs. I was out numbered 3 to 1, and no matter of fancy footwork was going to get me out of this, as the Drummer gives them an extra 3” of move a turn so he was on me that much faster. I had bunch of guys on the roof of a building with only one point of egress; Chad did have 6 Archers that could shoot me. In retrospect I should have put Gandalf on roof with 8 guys (my break) sent the rest to kill his Archers…that way I shoot and throw spells at him from the roof try to kill the drummer to slow him down, when he got to me he have to engage me 1 at time coming up the ladder, I could have had Gandalf and two guys defend the ladder while other guys thinned the herd shooting off the roof...I could have probably won that way but that’s not the way it went down. I did not put enough guys on the roof…instead again trying to get off Sorcerous Blasts on his flanks to get the big kills from knocking down chains of guys. I got about 12 of guys (I needed 11 more so he has 46 models) before he swarmed me and I was quickly broken and my guys started fleeing too spread out from Gandalf. Major Loss, No Objective, not the most fun game because I realized what I “should have done” early on and there was no getting back there, That’s no fault of Chad’s thou.

FUN 4 SPORTS 5 COMP 5

Haradim Cav, Nice paint here!

So in the end I had a measly 29 battle points going 1 win, 3 losses. I did get max sports and paint scores. I thought I was a shoe in for Best Appearance, there were only two other armies there I really thought were in the running one was a guy who ended up winning the whole thing with some of the new Orc models with a cool display and a bunch of good conversion work and other was this guy Jeremy’s Haradim Cav. Well it turns out there was a Dwarf Army there that was amazing. But I just didn’t notice it -either it didn’t pop as you walked by ( no display base), or I just stupidly missed it, anyway I heard it was great and this guy had 31 points the same as myself (max was 30 but you got extra points for favorite army votes from fellow players) I was bummed I only got 1 favorite army vote but then again, so did the Dwarf guy. I am assuming the majority of the favorite army votes went to the Orc guy who won the overall ( I voted for him, it was very nice)

So in the end it was down to the Dwarf guy and myself, but the tie breaker is battle points, not sports (for appearance, odd??) so I lose. Then to add insult to injury I am also tied for Best Sportsman, but the tie breaker is the guy with the lower battle points! So I lose there are well! LOL!, kind of funny- but not really- as I worked my ass off on that Army and display. Anyway I had a lot of fun and Jamie who ran this is a great guy, .but can’t say I wasn’t disappointed to walk away empty handed, especially after knowing the details. Anyway with LotR concluded I was off across the hall the Nighttime Warhammer Fantasy Warband Tourney, and I’ll talk about that tomorrow!.

These guys won the whole enchilada..cool orcs!