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| Can you spot the deployment mistake from here? My opponent could! |
Here we are part 2 of the "Return of the King 2024" tournament up in the great venue that is the Board in Brum.
Last we left off, I was 2-1 after just being boxed in and crushed by goblin town, lets see if we can still fight for those top spots!
Game 4: Angmar, Assassination
Big ooof. Angmar was one of the few matchup that Mik (The person who first showed and taught me this Rider heavy style of RoT) said was almost unwinnable. Gulavhar will just threaten to go into your heroes and you can't screen them, as the screen will very literally be hurled into you heros face, dismounting all involved and making an easy kill next turn. All this while the barrow wights paralyzes your heros to the ground and the Witch King black darts any remaining horses or just compels them away. Oh and of course the specteres "fell light" any non royal guard up to 10 inches out of position. This was going to be a rough game and I knew it.
To make matters worse I had barely played against angmar, twice I believe, but that was with bodyguard heavy Minas Tirith, this had given me a false sense of safety when playing Angmar.
The list was being piloted by vegan mayo despiser and great player Bruce Brown but was another list that was not on longshanks (Boo) so shall have to roughly summarise:
WK with 3/15/3 with crown and on Fell Beast
Burdur
Shade
Shade
With about 4-5 Fell wargs and the rest were all orcs
Total model count = 32
The scenarios we had to choose from were as follows:
- Assassination
- Contest of Champions
- Storm the Camp
So contest has reared its ugly head, and I knew this was one scenario I was looking to veto, but I was talking to another Angmar player just before we moved tables, Sophie Bennetts, who was currently 3-0 and she emphasised that you never should let Angmar play Assassination, they have far too many tools to make sure the target dies, and there killer will be Gully and they will get the full 7 VP's it's just a matter of time. (Fun fact, Sophie went on the play my previous opponent from game 3, John Partridge, and his goblin town! They ended up playing Assassination and she got the win, she clearly knows what she's talking about)
While this was rattling around in my head I did not fully appreciate what my opponent had actually brought! I just assumed it was going to be standard WK, Gully, BW Angmar. So much so that I actually vetoed Assassination, and my opponent did a double take and clarifies that if we play contest his WK does have a Fell beast. I was thrown by this and now realised that Contest was a no go, and without a Gully, Assassination was very playable.
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| A small but very powerful and ticksy Angmar list |
Now I need to stress that this was the 4th game of the day, a long day that started at 6am with a 2+ hour drive. I say this because for some reason I thought that Assassination was all about the target and the killer, and was the one scenario in the book that does not reward any VP's for leader wounds or death.
That is not correct, that's Fog of War
With this in mind I was less than dutiful in my placement of Theoden, in fact I put him right on the front line, not boxed in at all, vs fell light's and compels.... This is very bad for many reasons, even if the leader was not worth any VP's like I was incorrectly thinking, the loss of Theoden means the loss of +1F on the charge and the loss of Death! It was only when my opponent called a turn one move when in my mind he was clearly out of charge range, did something twig in my mind. I first thought he might just want to secure a black dart on Snowmane, but all the extra pre measuring and tactical movement of the WK the reality of how badly I had deployed dawned on me.
The WK threw 3 dice on a compel and got a 6, if I did not match Theoden would go 5 inches forward and then the WK would finish his move and charge the now transfixed King of Rohan. With that in mind I threw all 3 and managed to get the 6 high (phew!).
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| One Rider was fell lighted forward and was charged by a line of orcs |
I pulled my line back to try and avoid another potentially disastrous magic round from my opponent. and got ready to open fire.
You see my plan was fairly simple, while the Angmar player had many scary monsters and shades, he only had 4 more models than me. If i could pump those low defence wargs with arrows and then drop a few orcs with throwing spears and a few more with bow fire, that would set up a single big charge and Death! While burning might to undo the Shade's effect. I could just look to get the break then run away. It would be a small 3-0 win since I don't think killing my target (Burdur) was feasible, though Dernhelm getting a wound via throwing spear on the big brute was something I would angle for and of course I was thinking killing leaders was pointless.
The opening volley was less than ideal with only a few hits that amounted to nothing but I had the movement and knew that it would be really hard for him to ever catch me, so I was not too concerned.
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| pre measuring my doom |
I won the next priority and swung everything round the right hand side, I was going to push up to the top side of the board and try and full surround my opponents ball of wargs and orcs. I made sure that Théoden and the other heros were fully behind the line of horses as not to get pulled out, and was fairly happy to let the skirmishing continue.
My opponent had other ideas. One of the Riders at the bottom that I had left to make him have to spilt up slightly failed a "fell light" test and got pulled 10 inches forward, only to be charged by the WK and a gaggle of orcs. It was now clear that he could heroic combat, get his orcs right into the face of the pair of riders at the bottom and easily charge them, if I lost priority. But far more concerningly the WK on his Fell Beast could hop over the ruins and charge into my riders!
These pictures are from the same turn!
My opponent was spoiled for choice with this and decided to try and maximise hurl damage. He could of gone into Deowine (which could be his target) but in his haste to jump on my rider he had forgotten to cast a spell (It could also have been out of range) and I called a defencive strike with Deowine. So just going for the most hurl damage it was.
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| Rohan bowling was a very popular Angmar pass time |
After it was all said and done, Theoden and Dernhelm were dismounted, one rider and a royal guard were also dismounted and then a further rider and my banner bearer got killed.
While this was not great, it did mean the WK was horribly out of position and alone, I charged everything I could in, trapping him and calling both a strike with Theoden and Deowine via Death! The WK counter struck with his last might, and it was on!
WK up to F10, Deowine F9 and Theoden F9
That stung, but it was not over by a long shot, as the WK failed to roll the 6, and with no might left was unable to do anything about it! I managed to roll 6 high and got ready to slay the leader of the Nazgul.
I just needed a single wound to get through and not be saved by fate. The 5 Riders / Royal guard manged to scrape a single wound between them, but it was saved by the first fate roll.
Now Deowine steps forward, wounding on straight 6's with 4 dice... no six's, but a 5 high. I might that up to a 6 and see the WK save it with his second point of fate. It all comes down to Theoden, 4 dice, and he still has 3 might left, I just need to get 2 six's to guarantee the kill or one to bring it to a 50/50 with the WK's last point of fate.
I roll 3 high.
I contemplated using all 3 might to force the fate save, but decided with the WK so out of position it would be better to spend the might on a move next turn and locking the WK down for a second turn.
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| I did not take another photo, so just imagine this but fully surrounding the WK :) |
The next turn a few orcs with a heroic move managed to peel off a few of the Riders who were on the WK and this actually meant he was no longer trapped. I struck up with Théoden and the combined strikes of him, Deowine and 2 Riders.... were still not enough! I did not even cause the last fate to be used.
I looked around and the Angmar lines had now fallen on top of my hero's who were trying to smother the WK with a pool noodle for all the good it was doing.
I had to pull back, with the shade and now Burdur next to my heros I felt it was a lost cause. my only hope had been while this debacle had been going on with my heros and the WK, the rest of my force had been pelting the proverbial shit out the Angmar lines to get me close to breaking him. Well let me tell you so far a single orc had been all that had fallen over 5 rounds of shooting... in fact that's all I had killed full stop, we were getting close to time and I had killed a single orc and he had killed a small handful of Riders.
In a game my opponent would describe as a "playing against a wet bag of a Rohan" I pulled back and saw my only chance would be to chip a wound off Burdur with shooting and take a lukewarm 1-0 win.
The only obstacle was that Burdur could charge a few Riders this turn, so I pulled back with them, but there was one that he would have to part his line to charge, I saw this and knew I needed to move this rider to keep Burdur out of combat, then I got distracted moving heros and such and promptly forgot to move that lone rider....
That rider got charged, so there goes my only lifeline to not have a draw. But oh no it's worse than that, Burdur heroic combats off that rider and into Theoden, who was left at the front guarding Deowine and Eowyn/Merry because I thought leader kills were not worth anything!
Burdur predictably murders Theoden and time gets called, I think its a draw only to look in horror as I re read the VP's for assassination.
End Result 0:2 Loss
What I learned
- So much to learn from this game
- Always thinking about fell light when playing angmar and how it can catapult heros when combined with heroic combat
- Spread out more vs big monsters to minimise the damage from a hurl
- Don't deploy with your hero on a mount in the front rank vs magic
- Make sure you don't leave a model within charge range of the model you need to shoot!
- re read the VP's for each mission!
Game 5: Army of Gothmog, Capture and Control
Down to the midtables on a 2-2 scoreline for a brand new day, refreshed from the long day that was the day before. I find myself against Ben Russ and his Army of Gothmog.
Another army not on longshanks (Boo) so from memory here we go!
Gothmog
Goroth
Zagdush
Orc Shaman on warg
Almost all morannon orcs with a couple of orc archers
Total Models = 40 / 41
The choice of scenarios' were as follows:
- Seize
- Heirloom's
- Capture and Control
I was in two minds if Seize is good for RoT or not, I would get there first and I could ring the prize off with Riders, dismount a rider, and attempt to pick up the prize. But if I don't win the next move off I get charged and possibly eaten alive. Any scenario thats allows the opponent to ball up, and seize is definitely one of those, is generally not good for this list.
Not that it mattered as my opponent not liking the idea of me potentially digging up the prize turn one and then being unreachable vetoed seize. I did not like maelstrom and dismounting to have to look for heirlooms, so I vetoed that. So Capture and Control it was.
My opponent mainly deployed in the centre, looking to castle up, using the terrain to make natural chokes and then I assume charge out to take the objectives late into the game.
This was fine by me, as it meant I got to flip my back objective and the two sides objectives, and even had time to send a few Riders round the back to threaten my opponents back objective. My opponent just seemed to turtle up harder and wait for the inevitable charge.
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| How to crack the orc fortress, Riders edition! |
Next turn I lost priority and after seeing his heros and forces in general move further to the right to make sure the pair of royal guard I sent in would die, I should have fully committed. His heros were all together on the right, he would not be able to move to respond until next turn. This would have meant Theoden down the centre and Deowine on the left would have been able to combat through and really punch some holes in the orc lines, while still being safe from reproach from his heros in the upcoming turn. Instead I held my ground and shot a bit more, the royal guard died but I was still in a good position.
Also important to note I was very concerned about the right side objective:
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| Look at the red box and despair! |
You see the objective was right next to a forest, something his orcs could drag themselves through and my horses would not really be able to stop them, I would have to sort of sit on it and just receive an orc charge if I wanted to hold this objective, not a great proposition.
The next turn I won priority and feeling my mistake last turn of not pulling the trigger I charged. Though now it was far worse as the orc hero's got to move in response and come right back into the centre and charge an overly ambitious Rider, this would allow a combat into more Riders and if those Riders fell, a path to Theoden would be open for a move off next turn. Seeing that my opponent was clearly aiming for a leader kill and then could push to my back objective I called a combat with Théoden just to move him back to safety.
The next few turns went great for the Riders, with Theoden out of danger the orc hero's seemed to lose any momentum that they had wanted and both flanks of the orcs forces now hero-less began to crumble under the charging hooves of the Rohirrim.
At the end of the game, a plucky charge from 2 riders into the back objective secured it for Rohan and and charge from the left and right forces coming together cleared out the central one the orcs had tried so hard to hold.
End result 11:0 Win
What I learned
- When you have the option to charge and it's not you with priority, double check, this might be the best charge you will get.
- If all the opponent heros ball together and look to group combat cannon ball around, just smashing the flanks were they are not works a treat.
- If you just sit back and wait for the charge, this list with all its mobility and shooting will punish you for it.
Game 6: Azog's Legion, Fog of War
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| Nice big spaces to play around, and barely any god damm forests! (ignore the right handside) |
It all comes down to this! Will I go 3-3 and live in midtable mediocrity winning as many as I lose, or will I rise to the occasion, and go 4-2, winning twice as many? Let's find out!
So my opponent for this game would be Dan Adams and his Azog's Legion, yet another army list not on Longshanks (Boo!) so here we go:
Azog on White Warg
Gundabad Captain
Mercenary Captain
Bunch of Gundabad orcs and about a dozen golin mercs
Total models = 41
and the scenarios to choose were as follows:
- Fog of War
- Breakthrough
- Retrieval
I was not sure yet again what to veto, both Fog and Retrieval were good for the Mercs as they could just appear on a terrain piece, if it was Retrieval and my opponent won board edge, he could have forced my relic to be right next to a big forest, one I could not stop the Mercs turning up on unless I dismounted several Riders to block it.
Forests had really be a thorn in my side all tournament as they seemed to be 1-2 large forests on every board.
But it's equally bad in Fog were the Mercs just spawn in on the forest and boom, its claimed unless I dismount to get "fully within the terrain piece". But with Fog I can just run around shooting, keep my heros away and safe and then late game just rush to claim my own objective and possibly rush back to contest my opponents.
In the end I decided to veto Retrieval, my opponent removed Breakthrough, as he felt he needed to be focused around Azog and did not want to split up. so Fog it was.
Here is where I think I made a blunder, one I only realise looking back at the photos of the game, I chose the board edge, and I chose the one with the big forest to the right.... I did this because it would give me loads of options on what to claim as mine and only 3 to defend. But with the big forest, I think in hindsight it was a mistake. EDIT -- Looking further, the massive cliff on the right hand side could have been almost impossible to take if he ringed it with mercs so the forest still might have been the right call. --
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| Opening moves after deployment |
Knowing the the merc captain was probably going to be deep in the forest I chose to kill the Gundabad captain,
Seeing were he had deployed Azog and were Dernhelm was I suspected he was just going to beline over to her, so I had a feeling he had chosen Eowyn to kill and so I wanted to protect Merry so I could just run away with them both and deny vp's.
Assuming that the mercs were going to be in the right hand side forest I put a line of riders to stop the Gundabads meeting up with the mercs. My plan to hammer them and then late game fall back and dismount into the forest to contest the terrain piece.
Thinking all the action would be happening in and around the forest I decided to try and take the Tower on my left, it should be out of the way enough to easily send a loan rider too late game, and I also sent some of my Riders flying down the right flank to attempt to bluff me wanting a terrain piece on the same side I had set up all my riders
The game began with the line of Gundabads moving towards my riders, but interestingly Azog went down my left hand side. I was concerned that he had suspected I had chosen a terrain piece on that side and was going to use Azog to block it all game. On the Rohans turn a pair of riders charged towards the right hand terrain pieces to rather obviously try and sell a terrain grab, and I largely shuffled up and shot the Gundabad line. Worth noting that the opening volley managed to stick a wound on the Pale Orc!
The next turn the mercs came in, and they did not go were I expected!
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| Mercs in the house!? |
That's right, mercs in the house. This threw me but was not actually terrible for me, you see I could now park some riders under the house and just easily contest it that way. But it did make sense why Azog was so focused on this flank and now had ended up boxing me out of my terrain piece (Tower)
I continued to just shoot into the Gundabad line, Azog charged and killed off a few riders, and the mercs spilled down to tag some more.
I ran Denhelm back to the right to keep what I assumed his target was safe and sound, and just continued shooting into him, his line backed up, not wanting to give me an easy charge, and Azog swung back to the middle to threaten charging into the pack of Riders.I was very scared by this move, Azog could have combated into the middle of the board in front of the Riders and then win a move off to charge Dernhelm, I was kicking myself for allowing her to be exposed in this fashion.
A move my opponent decided was too risky, since Azog would be against multiple strikers and almost certainly surrounded in my return counter charge.
While Azog was away in the middle of the board I snuck a few riders near the house, put pressure on the mercs that had spilled down the stairs ( I really did not want them killing my sneaky under the stairs horses, and I REALLY did not want them catching and killing the horse that I planned to get the tower with) I managed to win a fight vs the merc captain and two mercs, I had the choice to put the attacks on the captain and possibly kill the hero he was almost certainly protecting. But this had slipped my mind, and I just wanted the goblins dead to make it harder for him to contest my other Riders so I rode down two mercs when I could have killed his merc captain.....
My shooting had been good to me this game with many kills chipping away at the flank of the orcs line, meaning when I went for it I could wrap around the back of the line. And the time was fast approaching, with Azog looking to get back into the mix I had to pull the trigger, I charged Azog put a screen of riders behind the brave royal guard who went in to stop him combating into anything valuable and managed to connect with all three of my heros into his line as well as most of my riders, I called Death! I had a decision on whether to combat with Theoden who was in range of Azog's "master of battle effect", in the end with a good screen I realized he could only kill an extra rider, so I decided to combat with all three of my heros, it was time to go big.
Azog won the roll off and his combat went first, but the dice failed him and he lost to the lone royal guard! He could have thrown lots of might at it, but also seeing that it would only get him a single kill he decided against it.
The following combat I can only describe as a Rohan players dream scenario, every single hero won their fight, killed who they hit, went into more and killed them too! the Riders with F4 smashed the Gundabad line apart, and in a single turn the line was not just smashed but no longer existed. With only the captain and one or two orcs left. I had gone from high single digit kills to breaking him in one glorious charge.
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| Aftermath of the first big charge of the game |
All that was left was to mop up the Gundabad Captain which was easy enough, sneak one rider to the tower and another to sit under the house.
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In the end Azog pulled back to the mercs, and tried to find a way to kill the sneaky Riders but could not find it.
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| Sneaky riders going for objectives |
In the end Azog pulled back to the mercs, and tried to find a way to kill the sneaky Riders but could not find it.
The game ended with me claiming the tower, contesting the house and I had killed my target and kept my hero safe but he had also kept his merc captain safe.
End Result 12:4 Win
What I learned
- When playing Fog always think of heros to kill, I forgot and had a chance to kill his merc captain and did not take it
- chipping away orcs from the edges to allow a "better" charge were I could loop round the back seemed to work well
- Being overly obvious with my bluff with the early riders was apparently too obvious and he never bit on it
- When you win three heroic combats and then kill in the follow up combats while higher fight S4 riders are hitting into the enemy, their army just evaporates.
- Don't put your hero's on the front ranks, Azog can run forward and force a 50/50 move off, very scary in something like Fog, RoT has the movement to not need to do heroic moves vs a line of infantry so no need to have heros front and centre.
Tournament Review
What a weekend! I came here to learn how to play some rider heavy Rohan and we might have just done that! The venue was great and I could not complain about the event. (maybe a few less forests :P ) Each of my opponents were great and luckily did not take getting kitted by rohan for 2 hours too badly.
The list performed about as well as I expected, but I did notice that when my shooting dipped below average or I just could not find multiple turns of shooting, the list really seemed to struggle. and I felt that its very easy to misplace a hero or two and suddenly your in danger, it's not the easiest army to play for sure.
So I went 4-2 and managed to snag 7th place (would have been 6th if I got the extra VP's for Dernhelm dismounting in game 1) which with a new army and some strong opponents I will take! The losses I feel were all due to my inexperience with the list and just general inattentiveness at key moments, and I have much to learn from.
Well onto the next one!
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