With less than a week until my upcoming tournament it was time to take my partially painted army out for a test run.
I submitted my Minas Tirith list to the TO on Monday, but realized I had not yet played a game with it. On Tuesday night I got together with George from the local club (who will also be at the tournament) to play a friendly game. George is an old hand with MESBG and was still fine tuning his list, but he is also a former High School History Teacher (the same as Yours Truly) and thus a very patient and helpful tutor when it comes to learning the game. Since I have not used the physical minis for a game since High School, George was the perfect opponent and an absolute gentleman. It was an ideal way to get back into things.
George brought a Lindon list that he was excited to try out. Gil-Galad lead the army and the largest warband of 8 elves with swords and shields, 8 with spears and a banner, Cirdan the Shipwright led a cadre of archers and Erestor on his own (our tournament allows legacy entries). We decided to play Breakthrough since it is one of the three scenarios that will be played at the tournament and neither of us were very familiar with it. Two objectives are set up on the center line of the board and one farther back in each deployment zone. Both players may deploy up to 24″ forward. There VPs for controlling the objectives as well as wounding or killing the enemy general and removing their banners. The board had several hills but almost nothing in the way of difficult terrain or barriers.
George won the roll off and had me deploy first. I plunked one of my Captains’ warbands down on one of the central objectives. George placed Cirdan and his archers on a hill in his rear and I put my other Captain on the other central objective. Erestor deployed opposite of the warband containing my banner, out of charge range. I placed Faramir and his knights in the center, with his lone bowman guarding my rear objective. Gil-Galad deployed out of charge range. In retrospect, my deployment was not idea. My infantry were split with my banner isolated on one end of the line, and my cavalry were in the center where they had the least maneuverability. My opponent, had a small force on one flank that could delay the union of my warbands, and the rest of his units stacked on his right flank, ready to destroy me in detail.
The opening turn saw our forces peppering one another with arrows and the forces on my left positioning for a charge. The elf bows drastically outclassed their Gondorian counterparts, taking down a couple warriors. Cirdan tried to unhorse Faramir with a spell that was countered but required all of Faramir’s 3 will points to do so. The second turn saw the Gondorians get the charge on both flanks. The elves largely pushed back the Gondorians, though Faramir and the knights got several kills. Gil-Galad is a monster and sliced through warriors like butter. With no hero able to match his prowess and too many models on the table to trap him my strategy quickly became one of stalling him, one unfortunate soldier at a time.
In the third turn Cirdan was able to cast his spell, flinging Faramir into a friendly soldier, unhorsing him and knocking him prone. Several elves quickly pounced on him, but enough warriors of Gondor were able to come to his aid that he won his combat and stood up. Gondorians were falling quickly, however. The high fight value of the elves gave them the edge in duel rolls and their high defense made them very difficult to kill. The Gondorians have high defense as well, but the higher fight value and presence of a banner gave the elves far more opportunities to make wound rolls. And of course, Gil-Galad with three attacks and a spear with +1 to wound rolls did not hurt.
With casualties mounting every turn, Faramir was eventually surrounded and cut down. The warriors on my right who had not engaged Erestor went to contest the objective in the enemy’s territory, but eventually fell a mixed force of archers and spears with Cirdan assisting them. A lucky bow shot took out my lone bowman guarding my rear objective. After ten turns I was quartered and the game ended. The Lindon army controlled their objective and outnumbered me on one of the center objectives. I controlled a center objective and contested the other. My general was dead and my banner removed. I had managed to wound Gil-Galad when he foolishly took on two warriors at once and the dice gods smiled upon me. The game ended with a 9-6 Lindon victory.
All in all it was a very good game, due entirely to the affability and advice from George, who was the perfect opponent for such a match. In retrospect, I wish I had put my cavalry on a flank to take advantage of their maneuverability. Perhaps they could have dealt with those pesky archers. I got one effective charge off, but that was it, and from there I mostly lost my cavalry advantage. I also wish I had been more focused with the force on my right. Erestor was still alive at the end of the game and very nearly took the objective on his side because I did not make a point of surrounding and crushing him. Instead, I bypassed him and got more of my soldiers isolated. The Gondorian Infantry is not going to be doing a lot of killing, but they can take a lot of punishment. Lastly, my archers had a dismally poor showing. Despite moving only once and firing every turn they combined for zero kills over ten turns.
The rest of this week I will be slapping as much paint on my models as I can before Sunday’s tournament. Until next time!
