August 25th Battle Report: Minas Tirith vs Mordor

Today I played an extremely fun game of MESBG, and thought it was the perfect excuse to revisit this blog. It also featured 2 armies of my own, fully painted, so it also serves to show off some nice pictures.

Here are the armies we'll be playing:

I'll be piloting Mordor, and my rival will be playing with the MT army. My opponent is a new player, but fortunately he got the hang of the rules very quickly, and we had a great game.

The scenario we drew was Clash by Moonlight, which had me somewhat worried as I had never played it, and my assumption was that his bows would tear me a new one. 

As may be seen in the picture further down this post, there were some hay stacks that were impeding the clear advancement of my troops. My opponent also had a picnic table dividing his forces. We ruled that the picnic table wasn't an impediment for his movement, and fortunately I got the same ruling for the patch of overgrowth my Orcs had to move through.

Turn 1: Priority Evil. The forces of Mordor move forward, still being well outside of his 12" shots. MT moved forward, trying to consolidate their forces. The Shaman casts a channelled Fury.

Turn 2: Priority Evil. I inched forward, but stayed slightly over 15" from his bow shots. Having won priority, I couldn't risk him half-moving and getting a turn of shooting for free.

Turn 3: Priority Good. My opponent stayed in place. I took the opportunity to move up to very slightly out of the 12" shot range. I also swung Gothmog to the same side of the board as the Captain and the Shaman so he would be in range for a Heroic March if necessary. Next turn would be when the action starts.

The following picture is from the movement phase in Turn 1.

Turn 4: Priority Evil. I would have rather lost priority, but I decided that the time had come to move forward. The Morannon Orc Captain calls a Heroic March and leads the left flank of the Mordor army, leaping forward 9". The right flank manages to push forward as well, and gets left slightly behind. But I'm happy with the setup; I would be able to charge next turn at the latest, so I'd be receiving only 1 turn of shooting.

This is where the commander of the MT army makes an unexpected move. Boromir pivots and charges straight into my right flank, the one that was slightly further back, and which had a banner, but no Captain or Shaman. Even Gothmog was cheating more to the other side. Accompanying him comes his entire warband. About half of them manage to engage the Orc line. The other half didn't have enough movement and must stop an inch away. 

The following pictures show both flanks, one where orcs are bearing down on the lines of Warriors and Rangers, ready to charge, and the other where Boromir has surprisingly charged straight into combat.

Shooting phase goes by, one Orc Spearman is killed on the left flank. But now it's time for the combats. Boromir calls a Heroic Combat, and easily dispaches 2 Morannon Orcs. However, in a fantastic stroke of luck for Gothmog's horde, Boromir flubs his next combat against 3 Morannons, decides it's not worth it to spend 3 might to win the combat (wise choice) and loses his horse. That's where the good news ends for the forces of Evil however; another orc dies this turn, ending with 4 casualties to 0. Mordor has no Army Bonus for now.

Turn 5: Priority Evil. Boromir calls a Heroic Move. Gothmog is too far for Master of Battle, and so I decide to let him have it. Boromir pushes his warband into the Morannons on the right flank, determined to break them. Then movement goes to Evil, and some of the Orcs from the left flank decide to come at Boromir's contingent from behind. This opens the way for Gothmog to crash into a Warrior of MT. Crucially, he is now within 6" of Boromir. On the left flank, the Morannon Orc Captain leads his orcs into Denethor's warband, who is leading from the back. 

We move straight into combat where Boromir calls another Heroic Combat. Gothmog copies it. They both successfully pull it off, and Boromir keeps pushing forward, trying to cut through and get to the banner, whereas Gothmog gets behind the Minas Tirith force, attempting to take out those tasty Rangers.

On the left flank the Orcs and the Men trade blows in bloody combat. When this turn ends, MT have about 4 or 5 dead, whereas Modor have 7 or 8. Mordor caught up a bit, but the victory will be short lived.

The following pictures show Gothmog's attempt to cripple Good's advancing flank, while Boromir keeps pressing forward. On the other side, Orcs outnumber the men, but the superior fight value, and wounding Orc Warriors on 5s, has proven a valuable advantage and holes are starting to appear in the Orc lines.

Turn 6: Priority Evil. Boromir calls a Heroic Move, and naturally, Gothmog copies it for free.
The roll-off goes to Evil, and the forces of Mordor manage to tie down the forces of Good on the right flank, and the left flank re-engages. This isn't a good turn for the Gothmog's orcs however. The superior fight value and the 6" banner is proving too tough a nut to crack for the Orcs. Even though Gothmog is managing to get some kills, this turn ends with aproximately 12 dead orcs for Mordor in total, whereas Minas Tirith barely lost any troops. The plan is not working.

Here is a picture of the hero Gothmog rising over the battle, but his efforts seem not to be sufficient at this point.

Turn 7: Priority Good. Seeing that the battle is not going his way, the commander of the forces of Evil decides he must change his plan. Fortunately Gothmog is within 6" of the Morannon Orc Captain, which allows the Captain to call a Heroic Move, and leave Gothmog open to copy Boromir with Master of Battle if necessary. Noticing this, Boromir decides to save his might. Gothmog uses his 10" move to the left flank and charge into a Warrior of MT, along with another orc and his spear support. The left flank is mostly tied down by the Horoic Move from the Captain. On the right flank, Boromir's warband use their priority to select their engagements; things are not looking good for Gothmog's Morannons.

Combat phase comes around, and both Boromir and Gothmog call a Heroic Combat. Gothmog goes first and annihilates the soldier he's up against, and then, after some very careful measuring, finds he has the range to go into Denethor who was standing behing his troops. Boromir for his part wins his combat, but is forced to use a point of might to kill the Morannon he's fighting, depleting his store. He moves on into the Banner.

Gothmog and Denethor are up next. They both roll 5 high, but Gothmog still has 2 points of might and decides not to risk it, ups his roll to a 6. Needing 4s on 8 dice, he deals about 5 wounds to the Steward of Gondor, and secures some very necessary VPs. Boromir proceeds to slaughter the banner, and the rest of the combats are very bloody. The orcs seem to be getting the worse end of this though, and by the end of the turn, they have 19 dead, exactly broken. The forces of Good have about 5 or 6 more to go until they break themselves. If the game were to end right now, it would be a 6-5 victory for Good.

Turn 8: Priority Evil. Very important priority for the forces of Mordor, as this allows the Shaman to move to a central position where only 2 models would not be reached by the effects of Fury. The rest of the Orc force consolidates as best they can around the Shaman, looking to protect him as he is absolutely necessary to keep the force from fleeing. Of the 2 models unaffected by Fury, one is Gothmog who passes his courage test, and is forced to take the long way around the line of Minas Tirith. He charges a warrior at the end of the shieldwall. He's out of position, and will remain so for most of the rest of the game. But this is a fair price to pay for the kill on the enemy leader. The other unaffected model is an Orc Warrior who flees. Also very important is the Morannon Orc who charges into Boromir. The Captain of Gondor is a fair bit away from the center of the conflict, but close enough that Fury can reach that Morannon.

As expected, the forces of Good pile into the circle that the Orcs have made around their Shaman. Another Warrior of MT and a spear support is thrown at Gothmog; food for the Warg says the Orc.The combats go decently for Mordor. Gothmog manages to kill the 2 Warriors he's in combat with, and the channelled Fury comes in big: 4 Orcs are prevented from dying this turn. Another Hero of the Mordor force is the Morannon fighting Boromir since he survives as well. On the negative side, the Morannon Orc Captain takes an unfortunate wound in his combat. This was a good turn for Evil, as the forces of Good are only 2 models from breaking, and there's still some time for Mordor to reach the 27 casualties required for the game to end.

This pictures shows how both Boromir and Gothmog were left out of position, and the centralized Shaman had become the linchpin of the position.

Turn 9: Priority Good. Gothmog still has a point of might, but decides against spending it; the game should not be over this turn and that final Heroic Move is extremely important. The forces of Minas Tirith re-engage. The Shaman gets tagged, but only by a single model. And there are still enough orcs around that he can get a spear support. Another Warrior of MT is thrown at Gothmog. Boromir re-engages the heroic Morannon who is holding him at the flank.

Gothmog kills his opponent this turn, and one more model dies from Boromir's army, breaking them. Tragically, the Morannon Orc Captain takes yet another wound, fails his Fury save, and his Fate, and dies. Important death for those who are counting VPs. The Shaman survives, but the end of the turn the orcs are dangerously close to being quartered. The Morannon who was fighting Boromir survives as well.

Turn 10: Priority Good. The time has come (not The Time of the Orc, I forgot entirely about that one this game), Gothmog calls a Heroic Move with his last point of might. Only he and another Orc Warrior get affected. He uses his movement to plug a hole on the side of the Shaman. Then Boromir moves, and manages to avoid the unkillable Morannon's control zone in order to put himself in a more centralized position for that Stand Fast! Four models are out of it, and one Ranger flees.

The combats occur, and the Orcs get quartered. The unkillable Morannon actually dies to a single Warrior. The Shaman is again saved by the surounding Orcs being able to pull enemies off him and spear supporting him. But by the end of this turn, only 8 Orcs remain, and having passed the 9 model mark, the game ends at the end of the turn.

The forces of Evil get 2 VPs for slaying the enemy leader. Both sides get 3 VPs each for breaking the enemy. Both sides get 1 VP each for having a Hero alive at the end of the game, but nothing more, since we both killed the same number of Heroes. Conclusion: victory for Evil 6-4.

The following picture shows the state of the batlefield as the Orcs made their final stand.

An excellent game, where both sides could've come out victorious, if some things would've gone slightly different. Hope you've enjoyed the read!