This is my first battle report for SBG for what was my second ever game that I played a while ago but never posted,
A bit of background – I was the Isengard opponent in Mertaals superbly written narrative battle report “The Battle of Dunafon Pass: Rohan vs Isengard” and I sadly could not match his writing skill so bit less thematic than his.
While receiving a bit of a spanking from those pesky Rohirim it was an excellent game and my first proper one of SBG so plenty learnt. We swapped around for our next game so I was good and chose to bring Gondor led by their finest captains Boromir and Faramir. Facing me was the Goblin king and a horde of Goblins, backed up by Tom the troll and a Fell Warg.
We got Domination (I think that’s scenario 2?) and placed objectives, a Rohan statue was at the center of the board, with a piece of impassable terrain to its right forming what I called the “eastern pass”. A second objective was placed to the right of the eastern pass, on a hill while the other three objectives were placed back in our deployment zones.
Good forcesBoromir with Shield;
5 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shield, 5 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Spear, 1 Guard of the Fountain Court with Shield
Faramir with Heavy armour & Shield
5 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shield, 5 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Spear
Damrod
6 Rangers of Gondor
Evil forcesThe Goblin King
10 Goblin Warriors, 2 Goblin Warrior with Two-handed axe
Grinnah
10 Goblin Warriors, 2 Goblin Warrior with Two-handed axe
Goblin Captain
10 Goblin Warriors, 2 Goblin Warrior with Two-handed axe;
Gollum
Tom the Troll
1 Fell Warg
I deployed with Boromir and his warband by the central statue, Faramir and his warband near the eastern pass and Damrod and the rangers on the hill. I had the idea of using Faramir to block the pass and bottle up the goblins to negate their numbers while Boromir swung round to the left. Damrod and his rangers would use the high ground to try and hit the goblin rear ranks.
Of course this plan didn’t survive past turn one....
Turn 1 - Good wins priorityThe Goblin captain on the right calls a heroic march straight away, his warband moves around the objective and into the front rank of rangers, in response Damrod and the remaining Rangers moved up to engage. As strategy fails go this has to be a winner as losing the only ranged option I have at the start of turn one is really quite amazing when I think back on it!
Faramir and most of his warband moved to block the eastern pass, while several of his warriors climbed to support the rangers, with one falling back down.
Boromir and his warriors moved forward towards the Goblin King and “Tom the Troll” near the Rohan statue objective in the middle of the board. In response the Goblin warbands move forward to meet them while the two trolls hung back, the left hand warband led by Grinnah begin to look at flanking Boromir.
In the combat on the hill one Goblin is slain but two rangers are killed in return and Damrod fluffs his damage rolls when he hits. In the Eastern Pass Gollum slays a lone Warrior of Minis Tirith.
Casualties
Good - 2 Rangers, 1 Warrior of Minis Tirith
Evil - 1 Goblin
Turn two - Evil wins priorityThe Goblin King and Tom move together towards Boromir and his warriors while two Goblins move out in front to screen them. Gollum leaves the rocks and engages Faramir while the other Goblins pile in as well. On the hill the remaining rangers and the warriors that joined them are all engaged by the Goblins.
While Boromir continues forward past the ruined statue to attack the nearest Goblins, three warriors leave the warband to move back and block the approaching Grinnah and his Goblin warband
Two more rangers are slain on the hill but two Goblins are killed by the survivors, again Damrod fails to kill the Goblin he is fighting.
Faramir is attacked by Gollum, taking two wounds in the fight which he is forced to use both fate points to negate them. In the nearby combat a Goblin is slain by a warrior of Minis Tirith.
Boromir and his warriors slay the two Goblins they attacked with ease and now are face to face with the Goblin King and Tom.
Casualties
Good- 4 Rangers, 1 Warrior of Minis Tirith
Evil- 5 Goblins
Turn three- Good wins PriorityBoromir charges the Goblin King along with the Guard of the Fountain court and another spearman, three other warriors charge Tom. Everyone but Boromir pass their courage tests and he is forced to use a will point. Two more warriors run to engage the Warg which is lurking at the rear, the three warriors blocking Grinnah shuffled right to block any advance.
Damrod and his rangers cut their losses on the hill and retreat, the warriors and Damrod form a blocking position at its base near Faramirs right flank while the two rangers move away to take a shot for the first time in the battle.
Faramir and his warriors reform another battle line in the eastern pass to receive the charging Goblins
Grinnah and his Goblins move forward again to close in on Boromir, a single Goblin peels off to seize the objective in the woods.
Gollum and the Goblins swarm down the pass and engage Faramir again, while the Goblins on the hill jump down to try and outflank Damrod and the remaining warriors
Having a chance to shoot, the two remaining rangers take aim, I roll a 6,5 to kill the first Goblin at the front of Grinnahs group. The second shot goes on the Goblin by the objective, I roll a 6,6,6 to kill him – truly I had the number of that beast!
Boromir wins the first fight and uses two might to inflict three wounds on the Goblin King, his blubbery hide absorbs two of the wounds so he only taken a single wound, however he does also use up a fate point.
Faramir and the warriors wins his fight against Gollum, however I roll 1,1,1,1 for damage much to Mertaals amusement. Another Warrior of Minis Tirith and a Goblin are killed in the melee at the eastern pass. The Goblin that Damrod is fighting is slain by his supporting spearman.
The Warg survives a blow from a warrior with another 1 rolled on for damage.
Tom wins the fight against the Warriors who engaged him; he throws one of them through my lines, which kills him and two others (ouch)
Casualties
Good- 4 Rangers, 5 Warriors of Minis Tirith
Evil- 9 Goblins
Turn four - Evil wins priorityThe Goblin King and his warband advance and engage Boromir and the Guard of the Fountain court while Tom charges the remaining warriors.
Grinnah and his warband tries to charge the warriors blocking him but is a little short, they only catch one warrior but he overwhelmed and killed by Grinnah.
Boromir blows the horn of Gondor but the Goblin King holds his nerve, his blows are fearsome and Boromir is forced to use two fate but still takes a wound.
Tom attacks the warriors facing him, but they shield and drive him back.
Gollum and the Goblins in the pass continue to press Faramir; he loses the fight and takes a wound. The other two warriors beside him have better luck however and each slays a Goblin.
The Goblins which swarmed down against Damrod and his line of warriors by the hill attack, I lose a single warrior in the first fight but the two surviving rangers then double up and kill a Goblin while two more are felled by the Warriors of Minis Tirith.
Damrod for good measure finally kills a Goblin, but has to use his might to do it. This round of fighting swung very much in favour of Gondor.
Casualties
Good- 4 Rangers, 6 Warriors of Minis Tirith
Evil- 15 Goblins
Turn five - Evil wins priority
Evil keeps the initiative; sensing a chance to kill the finest captain of Gondor the Goblin King once again engages Boromir while Tom attacked the warriors who drove him back in the last fight. Everywhere else the Goblins close into combat to try and force the good side to its break point of 15.
Boromir once again blew the horn of Gondor but the Goblin King makes another successful courage test. However this time Boromir wins the fight handily and lands two blows on Goblin King (he uses 2 might) but one of the wounds is saved by the blubbery hide. The Goblin King is now down to a single wound.
Tom wins his fight and kills two of the warriors who engaged him, the final warrior was driven back and Boromir was now cut off from the rest of his warband.
As Boromir stared down the wounded Goblin King, the Guard of the Fountain Court has been surrounded by four Goblins and is backed up against the statue. He wins the fight but he won’t last long. Nearby a single warrior which pursued the Warg is now attacked by two Goblins but survives by shielding, he is also likely doomed.
Finally Grinnah slays another warrior and Boromirs warband is now in desperate trouble.
Faramir finally lands a blow upon the slippery Gollum but only does one wound; the other fights leave a single Warrior of Minis Tirith dead.
Behind Faramirs battle line Damrod and his warriors have held off the attempted flank attack, they kill three Goblins with another kill being chalked up by the two remaining rangers who had now killed five Goblins between them
Casualties
Good- 4 Rangers, 10 Warriors of Minis Tirith
Evil- 18 Goblins
Turn six - Evil wins priorityWith Boromir now cut off from his fellow warriors the Goblin King, a Goblin warrior and Tom close in to go after Boromir and leave him backed up against the statue unable to retreat. The favourite son of Gondor is in real danger! With almost everyone engaged a single Warrior of Minis Tirith makes his courage check and engages Tom and we move quickly to combat.
In the combat on the other side of the statue, Grinnah is beaten by a Warrior of Minis Tirith but uses fate to avoid a wound while another Goblin in this fight is killed in a one on one duel.
Boromir then once more sounds the Horn of Gondor, this time the Goblin King fails his courage test and Boromir puts two wounds on him (using his final point of might) and he dies when he fails a blubbery hide roll.
The Guard of the Fountain court and the surrounded Warrior of Minis Tirith once again win their fights by shielding. The Warg runs off towards the objective on the evil side of the board.
Tom the troll wins his fight against the brave warrior of Minas Tirith and throws him at my remaining warriors to try and make me reach my break point. It kills one Warrior of Minis Tirith but the distance thrown makes him land on one Goblin which kills him. Amazingly the thrown warrior survives!
In the eastern pass, Faramir fails to wound Gollum again while the other fights result in no wounds. Behind them Damrod and Warrior of Minis Tirith kill two more Goblins and that makes 22 dead which is over the break point for evil!
Casualties
Good - 4 Rangers, 11 Warriors of Minis Tirith
Evil – Goblin King, 22 Goblins
Turn seven - Evil wins priorityThe Goblin and the Fell Warg who are now both by objectives run away which is bad news for evil side; all the remaining Goblins run from the group fighting Damrod freeing them up. They move to support Faramir and his group but considering the objectives of the battle, a single Warrior of Minis Tirith breaks off to climb the hill with the objective, where the Rangers were slaughtered at the start of the battle.
Grinnah and the other Goblin captain both make a successful courage tests (Grinnah uses 1 point of might to pass) so Tom and the other Goblins stand fast.
Tom moved to attack Boromir as Mertaal desperately looks to kill a single good model to force me to make courage rolls and get the victory points for killing my general. He scores a wound but it is negated by his last point of fate, this keeps Boromir chugging along with 2 wounds left, admittedly with no might or fate remaining.
The fighting is fierce in the eastern pass, in a blow to the forces of good Faramir is killed by Gollum after a poor roll. This also left the forces of good broken.
The Guard of the fountain court and the surrounded Warrior of Minis Tirith are both beaten in combat and killed by the vengeful Goblins.
A single Warrior of Minis Tirith is killed by Grinnah using his second point of might, while the remaining fights result in no casualties.
Casualties
Good – Faramir, 4 Rangers, Guard of fountain court, 13 Warriors of Minis Tirith
Evil – Goblin King, Fell Warg, 25 Goblins
Turn eight - Good wins priorityBoromir and Damrod both make successful courage tests and as everyone is within 6” they all stand fast.
For the evil side, another Goblin out of command range fails his courage test but Grinnah and Goblin captain again both make theirs so the remaining force fight on.
The single Warrior of Minis Tirith reaches the hilltop objective without incident.
Boromir makes the first move to attack Tom the troll, engaging one on one he wins the fight and does two wounds to the troll (rolling 1,1,6)
On the other side of the statue, Grinnah is unable to slay the two Warriors of Minis Tirith he was engaging but drove them both back
The two remaining Rangers bolster the eastern pass where they gang up to kill a Goblin which had broken through, which brings them to a total of six kills in the battle.
Damrod can’t move into the combat so he climbs the hill and kills a supporting Goblin with a well placed arrow (rolling a 5,6,6)
In the eastern pass itself the combat is fierce over the body of Faramir, Gollum avoids taking a wound but a Warrior of Minis Tirith slays a Goblin with a well placed spear thrust.
As the Goblins are now at less than 25% of their starting strength they break and flee
Final Casualties
Good – Faramir, Guard of Fountain Court, 4 Rangers, 13 Warriors of Minis Tirith
Evil – Goblin King, Fell Warg, 28 Goblins
ConclusionGood wins 8-2 on VPs; however the game was much closer than that!
Had Mertaal got some better luck in the final turns, especially turn six, the game could have easily gone the other way entirely as we both hovered over the breakpoint. I also probably had the most extreme dice in a game ever! Between rolling four 1’s for damage to rolling 6,6,6 for a single bow shot it was all over the place, I didn’t really do average rolls at all.
On my side, I think Boromir did his job admirably - while he did not make his points back he successfully kept the attention of both the Goblin King and Tom the troll for most of the battle and spared my main troops from being hurled about.
The Two Rangers were pretty epic, both of them surviving the massacre on the hill and then avenging their fellows pretty admirable. However the Rangers shooting seems underwhelming, probably I will go about taking them with spears and making use of their superior F4!
Also I like how durable the average WOMT is with his D6, its nice they could hold up most troops and not feel that I needed to upgrade everyone to elites like the fountain court.
On the evil side, the Goblin King was a great tar-pit to hold up Boromir, I guess Boromir and the Goblin King both did their jobs which was to stop the other hero from wading through the rank and file. Gollum was the surprise of the game, he tied up Faramir for the early game (and then killed him) which stopped him from taking out the Goblins in the eastern pass. For 35 points I think any Goblin Town list would want him!
Tactically I made some mistakes, probably the biggest one was positioning the rangers so far forward – I had a vision of them raining arrows down from the high ground but it now seems obvious that Mertaal was going to detail a warband to take that hill (and the objective) especially as he had 6 warbands to my 3 so could position the main ones after I had deployed. Deploying several of them 5” away was the icing on that particular badly thought out cake!
Also it didn’t help that I was thinking for some reason that the Goblins were defence 4 rather than 3. Should have made a big difference trying to roll 5’s rather than 4’s but my dice were so odd I don’t think it mattered so much!
I made the above notes a while ago, after taking Boromir to “The Best Event Ever” in East Grinstead I found his high points meant I got outnumbered and overwhelmed in several games so decided to drop him which is a shame as he is such a beast!
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