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| If you find yourself alone, riding the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled |
After a manic week of painting horses and Riders of Rohan (with a severe case of jet lag to boot) there is nothing quite like an early morning rise, and a several hour car drive up to Birmingham to get the 2024 season of MESBG off to a start!*
So as discussed in my previous post I am trying a "new" style of RoT, and so this tournament here will be my first outing with this Rider heavy style.
First things first the list I shall be bringing which was the same one used in the previous post:
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The tournament was the "Return of the King 2024" a GBHL 90 held in the Board in Brum in Birmingham.
650 of your finest points over a series of 6 games using random veto system for scenarios.
While veto is not especially great for RoT it does mean that hopefully I can avoid contest (Théoden, while not terrible, is a bit too vulnerable for my liking and possibly more importantly not starting in charge range of the enemy). Veto often ends up with the obviously strong scenarios for each army being removed and we end up playing a fairly middling game, which again is not as great for Riders as it is for other armies since they have many great scenarios they would like to play and only a few bad ones they will remove, but it's fine.
Since this was my first time bringing RoT to a tourney and it had what I would call a slightly higher caliber of player for a GBHL 90 I was not expecting to do great things here. The first RoT podium at a GBHL 90 for over a year was probably not going to be my first event with them (even if my heart kept telling me there was a chance all car ride up).
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| 28 models in total, 16 of these being riders with bows! |
Game 1: Mordor / Harad, Reconnoitre
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| Some nice chunky terrain to hide behind |
I would be playing Sam Barker and his Mordor/Harad (But not the Mordor/Harad you are thinking of).
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| No WK, but 45 Models with 17 bows with rerolling to wound! |
Game 1 and the veto options were:
- Destroy the supplies
- Lords of Battle
- Reconnoitre
I can't complain about these scenarios! I think both me and my opponent knew that I was going to remove Lords (extra wounds from targeting horses means RoT generally will not want Lords, and the other scenarios are built for RoT) so that it was going to be his choice on what we play. In the end he decided with his bow heavy Harad gun line, that just blocking the back board edge with his large numbers and breaking me with shooting was going to be better than trying to defend all three supplies, so he opted for Reconnoitre.
The first turn started with both Théoden and Deowine turning up, and shifting forwards, with Théoden looking to take cover in the centre, and a small breakaway group looking to run down the right flank. Sadly for my opponent, lady luck was not smiling upon him as none of his warbands turned up on the first turn!
Turn 2 Dernhelm showed up and raced forward, Deowine's warband moved half, hoping to snipe some Harad as they turn up, which thankfully for my opponent they did! Though the Betrayer still refused to turn up. Only for me to then find I had moved half for no reason as I was well out of range...
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| After the opening turns, cav spread out and in cover, waiting to make a break down a flank |
The plan from here was to shuffle forward, five inches at a time, trying to utilise my bows to cut down the low defence Harad, this was in hindsight a mistake, with the Betrayer coming onto the board he clearly outshot me and I should have just closed faster and look to hammer the Harad line. But I shuffled around and sent most of the riders to my right while hiding my heros in a very fashionable conga line behind some ruins.
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| Here we have the tactical breakdown with crayons that you read this blog for :P |
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| The breakout is afoot! or should I say ahoof? |
So we swing the army down the left hand side and the game hinges on how well this segment does, the Harad king gets caught and we call Death! Combating into the morannon orcs and manage to smash through. But my opponent wisely keeps some morannons behind the building, and then he marches over with the betrayer and Sully. Next turn I charge the morannons with Theodean and a Royal Guard, and another orc with Dernhelm, and we both realise if I can combat, I can run straight off the board. Trying to stop this my opponent fires all his shots into the combats, Théoden's orc dies and so he will have to remain on the board, but Derhelms orc lives! Well not for long as she combats right off the board edge! I try to dismount her and Merry to count as two models leaving but my opponent tells me I can only do this during movement phase and not the combat step even via a heroic combat. I'm not sure if that's right but he insists, and so I don't dismount and just get one model off. (For future reference you 100% can dismount as part of a heroic combat, I should have taken it to the TO, but new army in a novel situation meant that I did not put my foot down).
After this it comes down to a move off, if I win there is a small channel where Théoden can escape, otherwise Sully will tie him down and the remaining orcs will tag all the riders. Luckily I win the move off and run Théoden off, though its here I learn that if he calls "With Me" and leaves the board no one else can move as its impossible to end within six inches of him now. So with no reason to call "With Me", EDIT -- This has been FAQ'd you actually can follow a hero off the board, it's the models that can't follow off the board that have to forfeit their move --
I just saunter Theodean off and the rest of my forces gets tied up.
The last turn was uneventful as Sully had might for a move, and my heroes had largely left the battle! So I got tied up again and then time was called.
In the end I got two models off (should have been three) and got broken while I did not break my opponent.
End result: 5:3 Win
What I learned
- Simply because you have 16 bows does not mean that shuffling five inches at a time is always a wise idea, It would have been far better to close that gap faster and hit him harder with more cav alive.
- If in doubt ask a TO, that way both can learn how its meant to be played.
- The movement of being able to wait, lose priority and then fling yourself 10 inches (15 with march!) and then possibly heroic combating to move even further! It's hard to react to an army that can move like that.
Game 2: Minas Tirith, To the Death!
Onto game 2, where I find myself vs Tom McConnell and his Minas Tirith.
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| Some big cliffs, forests, brush and large ruins made it a little tight for the Riders |
He did not put his list up on Longshank's (Boo) so I shall put down what he roughly had.
Denethor *Leader*
Big Bozza with a banner and horse
Madril
Front line of Warrior tin cans, backed up by mainly Rangers with spears and a sprinkling of Fountain court guard with shield's. A Citadel guard with bow on horse and a knight rounded off the list
38 or 39 models in total
The scenarios we had to pick from were as follows:
- To the Death!
- Divide and Conquer
- Hold Ground
I got to veto first again and so I removed Hold Ground, on the basis that while RoT could be good in a chaotic maelstrom scenario, it could also mean I get caught by his infantry in the opening turn. Also with him having Madril the chances of him having a bad time in a maelstrom is less likely. Finally big bozza making a rush for the middle is bad news, my list wants to take things out piece by piece, if he is allowed to ball up, it gets tough, and Hold Ground rewards balling up at the centre.
My opponent here, umm'd and arr'd but ultimately decided that the movement of the Riders would too easily catch and eliminate one of his warbands, and that he would be late to the middle in Divide so he went for To the Death!
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| Post deployment I was happy to see the Minas Tirith set up defensively, as it gives me some room to canter |
My opponent was relatively new to the game and was a lovely person to play against, but this was apprently his first game vs Rohan and he did seem to be under the impression that I would just smash my force head long into his defensive set up. Something that I had no intention of doing as I realised early on that I out shot him. This was exacerbated by the fact that by being very deliberate with my movement I could fire into his front rank of Warriors and not received a single shot back from his rangers who out of range in the second rank.
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| Gonna try for the semi circle surround |
This forced him forward, but he was still being cautious looking to get some shots with his rangers. I moved my forces up the right flank but kept my left side still to get better shots, but this also meant I was out of range of his rangers on my left, and meant I was hopefully going to be able to stretch his force thin, reducing the effectiveness of Bozza and his big banner.
I will say it now, my shooting this game was disgusting. While now aiming for the easier to kill rangers on the second row I still managed to kill three Warriors and a pair of Fountain court guard, and some rangers before then deciding to take aim at Denethor. He had the double ranked battle line in front of him. I would need 4's to hit then 4's to get passed the first rank, then 4's again to get past the second before needing 6's to wound. But that would not stop the snipers who had clearly replaced my riders, as after 6 shots, Denethor, his leader, lay dead, and one of the warriors who caught an "in the way" in the front rank died to add insult to injury.
My opponent to his credit took this all in good humour but clearly the tactics needed to change.
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| It's all been building to this! |
With my opponent needing to do something to get the game back, he surged forward, threatening to charge my right flank, which had Dernhelm in, with Bozza if nothing else, so it would now come down to a roll off to see he would move first. To be perfectly clear, I was not sure what I wanted to do, I could have if I won the move off pulled back up into the corner with Dernhelm, and continued to pepper the Minas Tirith with shooting, and if he tried to follow Dernhelm I could easily mop up the centre with Théoden and Deowine. On the other hand if I lost the move, and Dernhelm got charged I could strike up, buy some time while I counter charge the Minas Tirith, again with Bozza not being able to aid the centre it would be fairly easy for that plan to work too.
In the end I won the move off and decided that while moving back with Dernhelm might be the best idea it was time to hammer home, I was only ten kills of breaking him thanks to my incredible shooting, and if I was able to get Derhelm into some lads at the top, combat through and just burn her might to cause some damage, while Deowine and Théoden do the same in the centre, I would not only break him but quickly end the game with a quartering. The only fly in the ointment was that it meant Bozza was still central enough for his banner to effect most fights, a slight misplay by me I think (in hindsight), a little more principled this turn would have made the clean up a little easier as Bozza would be too far to aid the central fight.
Once I commited with Dernhelm the rest of my force crashed home. The fights went as you would expect, the ones near Bozza did well for my opponent but the centre crumpled, and soon my opponent was broken and looking to try and scramble some points by killing Théoden and the banner before he got quartered.
This caused an interesting position where I made a mistake. Bozza was in combat with a sacrificial Rider and Dernhelm was close by, looking to combat through the pair of rangers she had charged. I knew that Bozza would combat, and at this point going into Théoden was really my opponents only chance to claw some points back. So I decided to combat with Théoden , the plan was to just run him far away from Bozza but still within 12 inches for the charge bonus. I then struck with Deowine, looking to dissuade Bozza from coming into him and therefore closer to Théoden (though importantly he could not get to Théoden this turn either way).
I won the roll off, and could have chosen to do Derhelms combat first, killing the rangers, and either just running into more lads to get the quartering quicker or run her into Bozza, while she would not win that fight it would hold him in place while Théoden could safely do his combat and slink away. Instead thinking that Derhelm was safe because of the line of Minas Tirith bodies between her and Bozza I opted to let Théoden's combat go first, which meant that Bozza went second and he was able to kill his rider which opened a gap and combat into Dernhelm..... not my brightest moment. Dernhelm then took a beating from Bozza and the rangers so only Merry was left after it was all said and done.
What made it even worse is because I thought Derhelm had been safe from Bozza, I had assumed Bozza would go after either Deowine or riders in the area, so when I combated Théoden I ran him to the right of my force, near Dernhelm, well near now just Merry and a very angry Bozza.
I had to do a heroic move just to make sure Théoden could get out alive, and luckily it went my way (who needs skill when you have luck I suppose). But with that the game was all but over, the Riders carried on demolishing the Warriors of the white tree until they were quartered and the game ended.
End Result: 11:1 Win
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| The aftermath of the lines clashing, Bozza still fighting the good fight at the bottom, while I screen off Théoden |
My opponent was took it very well and I would look forward to playing again at another tournament! He reckoned that he chose the wrong scenario, To the Death! allowed me to skirmish too much, forcing me to an objective via Divide he thought might have given him a better chance.
What I learned
- When allowed to shoot, this list can really force an opponent to them, 16 bows and 9 throwing spears can do work. It meant I had nearly half my kills needed to break, and a leader kill before the lines even met!
- I need to be more careful when looking at enemy heroic combats, they will leave holes which they can then move through!
Game 3: Goblin Town, Domination
- Clash by Moonlight
- Domination
- Command the Battlefield
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| I felt very boxed in |
The deployment was tough, I noticed only too late just how much the terrain had hemmed my riders in. (Even though it was the SAME BOARD AS LAST GAME)
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| Managed to box my own leader out of hitting combat.... |
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| Green and blue have blocked me in, and the King in red threatens to hurl down the line |
What I learned
- This army needs, needs to scoot and shoot, it can't just charge headlong and expect to do well, unless you expect to win move offs without fail.
- In Domination defending an objective like the way I would if I had a shield wall is a mistake, I have movement, I need to pull my opponent apart, I need to get round them, take the objectives that start in their board half.
- Choosing Domination when there are forests, my opponent can just put the objective in the forests... perhaps put my own nearby to block the "fully in the forest" drop.
* March was not quite the starting point, I did have one GBHL 90 tourney in early Jan, managed to snag 2nd place with Minas Tirith and Depths LL
Excellent write up, look forward to Part 2.
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