A few folks from my local group met up at
Battlegrounds today to try out our 800 point lists for the upcoming finale of the To War! Escalation tournament series. I squared off against my good buddy Eric (the one who got me into this game!) and he was running Azog and a whole host of hunter orcs.
By now, this list is pretty tried and true. Led by my favorite elf, Glorfindel, and supported by Cirdan and Erestor. To go to 800, I decided to try out Boromir of
Gondor Rivendell. He brings a lot of might to the table, and a heroic march which is really nice!
I forget Eric's exact list but he had:
Azog and the White warg with a bunch of hunter orcs.
Fimbul the Hunter and some hunter orcs
Yazneg leading a bunch of Fell Wargs
Narzug with a bunch of hunter orcs.
I believe his list was 42 models or so.
The mission was Fog of War.
For my target, I chose Yazneg. For my "keep alive" hero, I chose Erestor. I debated on Boromir, but I assume he is already gonna be a big target with no fate. For my terrain piece, I chose the middle, one-story ruined building on the left.
For deployment, I totally stack the left. I know this telegraphs my terrain choice, but I don't care. Elves will march inexorably forward and slaughter orcs!
Eric deploys a little more spread out with Yazneg and his Fell Wars far to his left. I assume his terrain is on my right flank- but I am willing to give it up so I can have my full force come to bear on part of his.
Azog and company swarm the terrain I am trying to get.
Elves advance slowly taking shots where they can. A few hunter orcs fall, but Eric does a good job of sticking to terrain.
Heading into turn 3. My force is split, but I intend to shift the right-most force containing Cirdan and Erestor left to form up my line and focus on one bit of his army at a time, if possible.
My two Rivendell knights are in a more precarious position than I realize with a whole host of Fell Wargs on the backside of that ruined tower...
On the left, the lines clash. Glorfindel and Azog both get into combat with chumps. Erestor defends my flank while wargs swarm my Rivendell Knights!
Azog loses his fight. How embarrasing...
Solidly in the mid game now. The terrain I need to capture is tantalizingly close. My target hero is on the right (Yazneg on the warg, holding a lance). On the right side, one knight has been dismounted, and one spear elf sprinted over to help his comrades. In the middle a small force led by Erestor prepares to defend against the reinforcements coming around the tower. My main battle line is now fully entwined with Eric's, and Cirdan is there with all of his buffing auras.
Yazneg and 2 Fell Wargs trap my Knight... but my Knight miraculously wins the fight on a 6 and survives!
We are now fully embroiled in combat. Erestor goes crazy with his daggers, cutting down multiple orcs. Boromir and Cirdan discuss 'What do we do if Azog gets into our rear?'. Glorfindel engages Fimbul and pushes through trying to create a hole so I can pour into the terrain.
The orcs on the left flank are pretty well decimated, but Azog is still able to control the battlefield. He heroic combats and swoops around ready to fight Glorfindel.
Glorfindel and Azog have their first clash! Each strike up, and both make it to 10. Both roll the 6, but Glorfindel's Elven blade sees him win the combat. He then completely fails to come even close to causing any wounds. Ouch.
Eric firmly holds his designated terrain piece with two wargs... but he is approaching his break point.
Both Rivendell Knights finally fall to Hunter orcs and wargs, but Erestor now has Yazneg in his sights. It's a bit of a gamble as Erestor is the hero I am trying to keep alive, while Yazneg is the hero I want to kill. Eric assumed Boromir was the hero I was trying to keep alive (and I am assuming Boromir is his target) so I'm not sure Eric realizes just how important this fight is.
The game ended shortly thereafter, and quickly.
- Erestor kills Yazneg.
- In the middle, Azog clobbers Glorfindel leaving him with no fate and just 1 wound remaining.
- Eric breaks and lots of orcs run away to courage... but one Warg stays in his terrain piece.
- We roll a 2 on our first "does the game continue?" roll and it comes to a close.
In the end, Rivendell scores
3 VPs for breaking the Hunters without being broken.
3 VPs for killing Yazneg, and
3 VPs for keeping Erestor alive.
The Hunters score 3 VP for holding their terrain uncontested and 3VP for Narzug surviving. The game ends a 9-6 to Rivendell, and it really came down to the final round of dice!
Closing Thoughts
Boromir is an awesome might battery. I didn't get him into combat until the very end when he charged off to slay some orcs... but he ended the game with no might. It was nice freeing up Glorfindel to save his might, as all of my moves were called with Boromir. I was maybe a bit too cautious with him, however, I assumed correctly that he was Eric's target so keeping him fully away from Azog was a good play on my part!
Is this my 800 point list? Maybe? I do like Boromir + Erestor more than I like the Twins... but I'll have to give it more of a think.
Comments
Post a Comment