April 20th Battle Report: Mordor vs Minas Tirith and Fellowship Alliance

Today I had a great game of MESBG, so I thought I'd share. (I know, I need to paint my Gothmog and WK, and the banner bearer too).

These were the armies:

We were playing Domination, and this is what the board looked like after deployment. Basically, on my left flank, Gothmog and his warband facing off against Famamir with the majority of his bows, and a Captain with a fair amount of warriors. On my right flank the WK was facing Boromir and a Captain, and some warriors of MT.

Turn 1: Priority Evil. Gothmog calls a heroic March to try to reduce the impact of the bows. The WK and his warband move forward and uses compel on Boromir in order to move him to a more convenient position and to prevent him from charging this turn. On Gothmog's flank some warriors of MT engage with the orcs, but the lines do not fully crash. By the end of this turn only one orc and one warrior of MT had died.

Turn 2: Priority Good. WK calls a move, and Boromir responds. Roll-off goes Evil. WK casts transfix on Boromir, but he uses his only point of Will and one Might to resist. WK charges into a warrior, and orcs charge into Boromir and some warriors. Those who cannot get into combat, position themselves around the WK to prevent him from being bogged down. On the other flank, lines fully crash. Two warriors of MT charge into Gothmog, and Faramir charges into the line of Orcs along with his troops. At the beggininng of the Combat Phase Boromir calls a heroic combat, forcing the WK to Strike. He wins his combat, but has to spend another point of Might to slay the orc he's fighting. He decides against charging the WK, and moves on to charge another Orc. By the end of this turn, around 5 models have been killed a side.

Pictures show the situation at the end of Move Phase of turn 2.

Turn 3: Priority Evil. The Minas Tirith Captain on the right flank calls a move, which catches Boromir and most of his troops. However, after watching two Warriors of MT fail the courage test to charge the WK, Boromir decides against charging him alone, and moves in the opposite direction, charging an orc. On the opposite flank, Gothmog's Master of Battle deters the Good player from calling any Moves. Gothmog siezes the opportunity to charge into Faramir. Around him, his orcs close lines, leaving no room for any models from the Good side to get to Gothmog. Seeing this, the WK has a choice to make. He can transfix a willess Boromir and attempt to slay him. However, he only has one Might left against Boromir's two, and if he fails to kill, he might easily fall victim to his prey, granting VPs. Alternatively, he can forfeit his flank in order to help out Gothmog. He chooses the latter and does a complete pivot. He charges a warrior of MT that was engaged in a fight between the two flanks. First, however, he shoots a transfix at Faramir. Faramir rolls all 3 Will, and gets one natural 6. During this combat phase, the Mordor army gains the benefit of it's army bonus, having slayed 9 enemies, to their 5 casualties. This boon is short-lived however, and by the end of the turn, it's already gone. Crucially, Faramir wins his combat and manages to slay Gothmog's Warg. At the end of the turn, the death toll is about 9 for Good to 7 for Evil.

Turn 4: Priority Good. No Moves are called. The Good player engages favorably on the right flank; with the WK gone Boromir charges with less care. The rest of his Warriors manage to get traps on several orcs. On the opposite flank, Faramir, emboldened by his previous success, charges straight into Gothmog. Gothmog's small dismounted base and his surrounding orcs make it impossible to get more models into Gothmog. It seems like a 1v1... or is it? After failing to Charge the WK with another two warrios of MT, the Good player gives up, and ends up tagging pretty much everything except him. The WK takes the opportunity to charge a warrior that was fighting an orc next to Faramir. He throws another Transfix at Faramir, which of course he resists on a natural 6. In the combat phase he calls a heroic combat, and slaughters the Warrior. The Orc, benefiting from the heroic combat, moves out of the way for the large cavalry base to fit, and the WK charges into Faramir. In this epic combat, Faramir rolls a 4 high, and his 1 remaining Might point isn't enough. The WK and Gothmog slay the enemy leader. Notably, however, both Captains of MT invest a Might point to slay the orcs they're fighting, and Boromir performs as well. By the end of this turn, the Evil Player is broken, and only about 4 from quartered, which would end the game. At the moment, Good holds one objective, and no other objectives are under anyone's control. The current score is 2-1 Good.

The pictures are from the end of the Move Phase of Turn 4, and the following slaying of Faramir.

Turn 5: Priority Good. Gothmog calls a Move. The is no counter-call. Gothmog's stand-fast catches everyone except 2 Orcs on the other flank. Gothmog and the WK charge into a Captain on this flank, not without first shooting a long range transfix at Boromir. Their surrounding Orcs tag every warrior in the area. When the Move is finished, Good troops start funneling towards the right to the left flank, in an attempt to help their crumbling allies. Of the 2 Orcs that were left outside the stand fast, one gets charged and surrounded by 3 Warriors, and one is left to take a courage test. He does indeed fail and flees. In the combat phase the Good player pick the combats. Evil is 3 from quartered, and if the game ends this turn, Good wins 3-1, since evil was not able to get to any objectives this move phase. The dice are on the good player's side: 2 orcs are killed outright. It comes down to the last favorable engagement for Good: the 3 Warriors of MT vs the lone Orc. He loses the fight, all seems lost. But Good fails to roll a 6 to wound on six dice! The battle continues. The following engagements go favorably for the Orcs, culminating in the death of the Captain, which breaks the Good force.

Picture from the end of the Move Phase turn 5.

Turn 6: Priority Evil. Gothmog calls a March with his final point of Might. The extra range in the movement allows the WK to get close enough to the back objective, the one that Good had been controlling this entire time. During his move, the WK transfixes Boromir, preventing him from using his stand fast. All the Orcs near Gothmog manage to get close to the objective that was close to their flank, on the left side, and form a sort of wall to prevent the Good models from getting in range. Finally, the last standing Orc on the other side of the board fails his courage test and flees. This quarters the Mordor force. The game ends this turn.

Good's turn to take to take courage tests. The archer who had been holding the back objective the entire game flees. The WK's Harbringer of Evil is large enough that it catches every relevant model close to this objective. One by one, they all flee. The back objective is claimed for Evil definitely. One of the Warriors of MT close to the center passes his courage test, and moves close enough to claim the center objective. On the left flank, the Captain fails his courage test. However, one of the warriors passes, and has enough movement to go around the Orcs and make that objective contested.

The combats this turn are irrelevant. The left objective is contested. The back objective goes to Evil, and the center one to Good. Both forces a broken. This makes it 4-4. Crucially, Faramir is dead, scoring one more point for Evil, and giving the Evil player the victory.

Pictures show what the board looked like at the end of the game.