Clash of kings Tournament with the DC Hobbit League

One of our members, Chris H, contacted Devin of the DC Hobbit League and in conjunction the two devised a tournament to highlight mighty heroes.  This involved the generation of unique scenarios (pdf) which centered around the king in your army.  This was a charity event held at our awesome FLGS Battlegrounds, which opened early and provided us with exclusive use of as many tables as we needed.  We had a total of 14 players so we took over their tabletop room which has 8 6x4 tables.  Good enough for us.  I brought 2 dozen donuts from Sugar Shack which originated here in Richmond and we started gaming about 10am.
My army list:
Warband 1
The Knight of Umbar with Fell Beast;
6 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
6 Castellan of Umbar

Warband 2  
Suladân the Serpent Lord with Horse;
6 Serpent Guard
6 Castellan of Umbar

Warband 3
Haradrim Chieftain with Spear;
1 Haradrim Warrior with Banner;
11 Haradrim Warrior with Bow; Spear;

Warband 4  
Corsair Bo'sun with Spear;
1 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
5 Haradrim Warrior with Bow; Spear;
5 Corsair Reaver

51 models, break at 25, 16 bows with poison as well as some poison with the serpent guard.

The first game was the Behind enemy lines scenario, I faced Cole, who brought an army led by Gulahvar with a cave troll, 3 spectres and 8 orcs in his leaders war band, then a shade and more orcs and the dwimmerlaik and black numenoreans.   Made the mistake of casting too much too close to the dwimmerlaik and my Knight of Umbar went poof.  I reduced his leaders war band to 2 and I put two wounds on gulahvar, which ended up being regenerated ( more on this later ).  we totally calculated points wrong in this game.  We stated he scored 4 for killing my king ( although Cole did not, my king lost all his will and dissipated) and I scored 2 for killing more than half his kings war band.  I should have scored 2 more since I wounded his king, but forgot.  Goes to show you, read the scenario and calculate the points correctly.
Second game was the scenario grudge match, I played Joel B who brought Elrond on horse, storm caller, captain and a mix of kings guard and regular high elves.  We started with about six or seven rounds of our kings slapping each other and not wounding, managing to remove both of our heroes mounts.  In the end Elrond removed all the fate on my king and the knight of Umber had to limp off the field. Which he did, earning me five points.  I was going to keep my kings war band back but decided to risk them in order to garner more points. I then managed to kill half Joel's king's war band earning me a further 3 points.  No one was broken so I ended with 8 points.
Third game was Regicide, I played Jacob brought the mouth of sauron( king) 6 black numenoreans, 6 morannons w/ shield and spear, a dragon with fly and breathe fire, the dwimmerlaik on fell beast and an unnamed wraith on horse.  This scenario really hurt me due to my king not being able to kill things and the two wraiths attempting to sap will my king ( and the dwimmerlaks special rule would have cost roughly 50% more will to resist).I kept the dwimmerlaik tied up in the middle with all my bowman, while chasing his king with my other units.  Jacob moved his king and favorites into the corner, I did the same in my corner.  His dragon chewed on some harad/numenoreans while I tried to chase his king with reavers and more numenoreans. Between the wraiths, the dragon and their terror a lot of my models were frozen in fear.  I finally managed to get his king trapped next to a building but with only 4-5 units, while he still had his full war band ( and his king acted as a banner).  He tried like hell to kill suladan, but never pulled it off.  I could win some fights but could not kill very well.  Ended up zero zero, no one broken and I lost only one kings favorite( black dart).
Now during this game we realized that Gulavhar should not have regenerated wounds from throwing a model, which means my fights with Gulavhar in my first game should have gone differently and I probably would have killed him.  Oh well.
My last game was against Alex ( I think, I was pretty burned out by this point ) who brought Durburz, Gundabad captain and shaman, the spider queen and a drums, spiders, marauders and goblins.  First thing I did was try and shoot the spiders and kill the spider queen.  Two turns and the knight of umber killed the spider queen, I then lost the knight of umber after rolling two 1's for a fate roll.  That did not cost me points though. I knew losing my king was not points worthy for me and used him aggressively.  His shaman got off earthquake which was very effective at killing, I will watch out for that one in later games.  So I killed his highest point, non king model with my king and it was more than half my kings cost, plus his king was still alive at the end, earning me 7 points.  I almost broke him, one more turn and I would have, but we ran out of time.
Overall I earned a 3rd place, not bad, probably could have been higher had I paid closer attention to the scenario victory points.
I will link to photos when Devin post them
Thanks for reading.

Historicon, the good, the bad and the trolls

I am always amazed that there are so many great games that go on under one roof during Historicon.  Part of the reasoning behind this revolves around the fact that they cover all ranges; fantasy, historic, modern, sci fi and include land, air and naval battles.  Seeing those 1:200 scale WWII air combat games was really neat as well as seeing the huge composite battles with so many well painted armies.
This event hosted a doubles tournament with five tables.  Most players had completely painted armies which is always a plus from an aesthetic point of view.  I was surprised by the number of evil players, I think there were three all good army, and one mixed out of 11.    Our player extraordinaire, Mr. Snack Crumbs, actually took time to take pictures during his two games (there was a oversight, his team only played twice) and posted about it here.  I did not play the same teams as they did.  This was a warm up event before the Grand Tournament up at NoVA at the beginning of September.  The rules and event for which can be found here.  Now, on to the comments and info..... More beyond the break.....

Size Comparison, alternatives to GW

So, I wanted some Men of Dale but I refuse to buy them from GW, specifically because Men of Dale only come 10 to a box.  Really?  Ten?  Were these for some kind of special set and then just sort of thrown into a  box, with the rules?  I am sure Peter Jackson probably screwed GW's plan for The Hobbit by changing from 2 to 3 movies, but really?  Ten?  Your entire army building rules revolve around groups (warbands) of 12 warriors lead by a hero.  Not even an option to build a captain.  Anyway, I wanted Men of Dale, so with a little help of another blog I found out about Thunderbolt Mountain.  You can read about them on their about us page, but I was blown away by their great miniatures, and I found my Men of Dale.  The byzantine warriors with spear and shield fit the bill.  So I ordered some up.  While trimming away the base is a little painful it really only takes about a minute with clippers.  So far I am happy with them, they are a little skinny but are the right height which to me is more important.  Below you will see a size comparison of some Games Workshop Lord of The Rings, some Thunderbolt Mountain, and a Red Box Games mini( soon to be my Men of Dale Captain).

Reward for the campaign

The diligence of participating in our current campaign will be rewarded.  Winning the most hex tiles, and therefore having the most Kingdom Points will bring you fame and fortune throughout Middle Earth!  Which means we will know who won.  To that end I wanted to bring in something that was unique and allowed everyone to have a shot at the ultimate reward.  Okay, maybe not ultimate but a prize anyway.  So at the end of the campaign we will raffle off a pair of unique dice.


Every KP you have will get you one raffle entry.  They are machined out of a single piece of aluminum and are slightly smaller than your typical 16mm dice.  Not a lot, but I thought it would be a nice unique piece to add some incentive to the bunch.

Last week's roundup

If you haven't had a chance to stop by FTW Games in awhile, I recommend trying to make a Thursday game night some time soon. There's always fun to be had, and this past Thursday, we had an action packed game! The game was a total of 4000 points between 4 players.



 I originally started collecting the GW Lord of the Rings miniatures as a hobby to paint and play SBG. I never got around to playing SBG much, and after 7 years in mothballs I resurrected what I could find of my collection and started to finish painting and collecting them again. My wife purchased me a box set of Riders of Rohan after I broke my collar bone as a way to ease the pain of not mountain biking, and the addiction started again!

 

These pictures include models from the battle that took place on 1/24/2013. It is always fun to watch the armies of Middle Earth clash together and see the outcome of an army build against someone else's.



I hope this inspires some of the "retired" folk to come out of their Hobbit holes and get down to FTW this Thursday for an adventure in Middle Earth again!



An album of all pictures taken during the game.

Februa...wwhhhhaaatttttt!!???

So, here we are nearing February and GW has put up some advanced order for The Hobbit.  Now, let me say these are some nice looking plastic models, you can't tell from the paint jobs ( especially when you compare them to the Warriors of Chaos ) but looking at the sprues shows they have a great level of detail.
Great job GW, those elf cavalry look great, as do the grim hammers.

Now, if only I could afford them. Okay,I can afford them, but I can not justify them.  Wargames factory offers 12 cavalry or 32 infantry models for less than $20.  Gripping Beast offers 44 infantry for @ $30 and Perry miniatures offers at least 12 cavalry for @ $30. True mulitpart, variable models.  Do they look as good as GW do in relation to the Hobbit?  No, but they are more than usable, and a good paint job will take them far.   We also do not play in a GW store, so no one cares what miniature represents rohan, elves or orcs.

I can not, for the life of me, figure out how 6 Rivendell Knights can be more expensive than 6 Morgul Knights when they are all made out of the same material.  They are almost 30% more, where does that price difference come from?  Those 2 dead extra models? I was really looking forward to these, was planning on buying them too.  Will I now? No.  I simply can not justify the price.  I thought the grim hammers might be less expensive than the hunter orcs. I know, I know that was a pipe dream but I really wanted them, I still want the hunter orcs on wargs, but I will not pay this price.

Some will say, " just go on the internet and get them for at least 15% off".   No, If I do that then there is no reason for Rob to have a game store, he could just stick to internet sales.  Then I will not have a place to throw dice.  My friends and I do not have the space to hold all the warmancers and game at the same time.

More to come.....

January releases and Red Box Games Kickstarter

The eagles will be released in January, thanks to those at Warseer for the pics of the 40k stuff that did not exactly cut off The Hobbit releases from the next page.  Looks like Gwahir will be finecast and the regular giant eagles will be plastic.   Based on pics from the hardcover rulebook the plastic eagles look pretty nice.
I participated in Red Box Games Kickstarter earlier in the year and just recieved my pledge packs.   They are very well detailed minis.   Cast in what appears to be something similar to finecast.  I will take some pics and post them up once I am done ....multitasking.  These minis are exactly the same scale as GW LoTr and would make excellent replacements for some elites from GW.
Below are front and back pics as well as pics of a size comparison.

Good overview of Dystopian Legions and Hobbit SBG

Here is the link.

Our group has really enjoyed Dystopian Wars, I hope to view a game of the skirmish based Dystopian Legions one day.  There seems to be a great deal of depth ( i.e. complexity...I mean come on, it uses 3 different colors of dice!) especially when cards get involved.  That is not a bad thing but it can put a bit of a barrier between newbs picking up the game when there are none around to give demos.

GW has released updated FAQ's for The Hobbit ( that was fast) as well as the older Army Codices
Here, just click on the left hand side menu.
A couple of interesting things.
Riders of Rohan no longer count toward bow limit!
Same thing for the Rivendell knights.

Still pretty upset over the cost of the new hardcover rulebook.  Smaller than all the other core game systems and really filled with some obvious fluff.  There is a section that is just pictures of minis, no new pics, just copied and pasted into a section.  The hobby section is also really really lacking, nothing about building terrain and a very limited number of painting examples.
$85 for this?  Come on GW.  Your raising prices all the time, while your sales are going down.  Coincidence? I think not.  People are really not seeing the value in your miniatures, especially finecast.  You make great mini's GW, you really do, but the cost of finecast along with it's quality problems as well as the constant price increases on everything else are driving people away from your products.  There is a lot more competition in the table top gaming business.  You will not win in the direction you are going.  Low Price, quality, quantity.....pick two.   I really only see you, GW, picking one.

The Hobbit Starter set:Escape from Goblin Town

So, I already posted the contents of the starter set, but a few more details have become apparent as some early sets have leaked out.  Well, there are apparently no POINTS VALUES FOR ANY OF THE MODELS IN THE STARTER SET.  Profiles, yes, points value, no.  Now I thought the price of the starter set was a bit high, but within reason as the set contains 55 models, scenery, rulers, dice and a mini rule book.
To put this into perspective:
Well, it is more than that. I personally spent $185.00 on the source books that were released earlier in the year so I could play with the latest army building changes and have all the point values for the models I already own. Well, I purchased the starter set so I could incorporate some of the starter models that I wanted to use/like into the armies that I already have, as well as get a handle on the new rules. If there are truly no points values for any of the models in the starter set anywhere in the starter set, then I will just send it back.  Let me tell you something Games Workshop, a starter set is not just for getting people into the game, you are revamping the game and a lot of us who are long time players are interested in those revamps.  Well, this starter set is not good for anything other then the couple of scenarios that you, GW, have in the set. How will this get people to buy more models?  Oh, you want them to buy the $85 dollar rule book?  They will not do that, you might sell one or the other but not both a rule book and a starter set.

Maybe that is your plan.

Hey all you vets, just get the rule book, don't buy the starter set.

Hey all you people interested in starting the game, don't buy the rule book, just buy a starter set. Which does not really lend itself to other purchases without getting the full size rule book or a LoTR source book, which you may not understand.

Updating later

SBG rules changes we know about

I will update this as I learn more:

There is hero synergy, i.e. two heroes next to each other increase each other effectiveness in some way.
There are The Hobbit specific scenarios in the new rule book as well as some from The War of The Ring period ( not rule book/company/formation rules)

There are four new heroic actions:
Heroic Channeling, which gives access to more powerful spells
Heroic Accuracy, which gives an accuracy boost to archery
Heroic Strike, which gives a boost in combat
Heroic March, which gives a movement boost

All monsters gain three power attacks: Barge, Hurl and Rend.
Apparently, Hurl gives you the ability to pick up enemies and throw them.
Rend is apparently useful against models with high defense.

Hand weapons such as swords and daggers allow you to Feint (no clue on what it does)
Two-handed weapons allow you to Bash.

The game remains fully compatible with the current source books.

Hobbit info

So, this is what the tubes with cats say: edited 11-20 fyi 1 euro is about 1.25 dollars

Escape from Goblin Town Limited Edition: 100€ (56 figures!)
Hobbit Rulebook: 65€ (288 pages)
Hobbit Paint Set: 35€
Custom Figure Case: 50€
The White Council: 60€ (4 fig box)
The Trolls: 65€ (3 figure box)
Goblins of the Misty Mountains: 30€ (18 figure box)
Goblin Town: 45€ (scenery set?)
Hunter Orcs: 30€ (12 fig box)
Hunter Orcs on Fell Wargs: 35€ (6 fig box)
Bolg: 20€ (clampack)
Narzug: 15€ (clampack)
Goblin Captain: 13€ (clampack)
Fimbul the Hunter (ft & mtd): 35€

Everything is plastic except the clampacks and the White Council. Yes, the Trolls are plastic.

LoTR:SBG will be renamed The Hobbit:SBG

There will be a new boxed set : Escape from Goblin Town, which will have about 48 miniatures a mini rule book and some scenery.  It will be about $100,

There will be some changes to the rules, but I do not know what they will be and they are supposed to be minor.

Radagast in plastic

Thanks to some one ring members and a Russian site we have our first look at a new Hobbit mini. http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23932&start=40#p292755
You will have to click the link until I get the pics up.

Battle company blog and news

So, word on the street ( kids effect on my brain......I can only picture Murray from sesame street when I type that ) ........
anyway, The Hobbit minis from games workshop will be out on Nov. 3rd.  There will probably be a journey book ( ala The Fellowhip/TTT/RotK ) and maybe a new version of the core  rule book as well.  Looking forward to seeing what kind of starter set gets released.

Also, there is a battle companies blog.  It has the core upgrade/company requirements as well as some other  companies outside the originals.

Someone somewhere may be in some trouble...

This is posted elsewhere, and may be complete rubbish, but when have we ever shied away from rubbish?

This is a lost, of supposedly leaked names of units/boxes from GW coming out next year for their The Hobbit range.

This does not contain sets that are already in production.
Seems like I will have to save some money, since GW stuff is so expensive now.
Some will be finecast as well......"shiver"
GOOD

Dwarves: Kili & Fili & Longbeard Archers 
Dwarves: Bombur with Kettle 
Dwarves: Drogo Baggins & The Tavern Maid 
Dwarves: Dáin & Iron Hill Berserkers 
Dwarves: King Thráin & Longbeard Vanguard 
Dwarves: Young Thorin & Longbeard Mattockguard 
Dwarves: King Thrór 
Dwarves: Dragon Mithril Company of Dwarves 
Dwarves: Dáin Ironfoot & Iron Hill Boar Riders 
Dwarves: Dís, Mother of Kili and Fili 
Dwarves: Gimli (Stubble) 
Dwarves: Samwise Gamgee (Red Book) 

White Council: Mounted Rivendell Nobles 
White Council: Lindir the Harper 
White Council: Arwen & Estel 
White Council: Galadriel (Barrel) 
White Council: Radagast with Roäc & Swoop 
White Council: Galadriel (Water Steed) 
White Council: The War Council 
White Council: Galadriel & Lórien Drumhooves 
White Council: Chief Aravir & Dúnedain Rangers 
White Council: Dúnedain Runecaster 
White Council: Elrond & Rivendell Spearguard 
White Council: Elros & Rivendell Outriders 
White Council: Radagast's Chariot / Spellfire Cart 
White Council: Cirdan the Shipwright 

Men of Esgaroth: King Girion 
Men of Esgaroth: Fram the Watchman 
Men of Esgaroth: The Master of Lake-Town 
Men of Esgaroth: Bard & Greystreak Bowmen 
Men of Esgaroth: Bain & Quickstrings Gang / Trout Guild Militia 
Men of Esgaroth: Alfrid & Loyal Town Guard 
Men of Esgaroth: Garf & Footsoldiers of the Dale 


Beornings: Woodmen Healer 
Beornings: Fair Daughter 
Beornings: Meneldor & Swiftbeak Flock 
Beornings: Gorm & Woodmen Axethrowers / Skin-Changers 
Beornings: Whisperbark / Gnarlfir 
Beornings: Black Bear Pack 
Beornings: Enraged Beorn 
Beornings: Grimbeorn (Greataxe) 

Silvan Elves: Legolas & Mirkwood Fire Archers 
Silvan Elves: Mirkwood Warhost 
Silvan Elves: King Thranduil (Battle Garb) 
Silvan Elves: Tauriel (Mounted) 
Silvan Elves: Castellan Amroth 

Smaug the Golden 
Gandalf (Dual Sword) 
Turin, The Dragonslayer 

EVIL

Smaug the Golden 

Mountain Orcs: Azog & Orc Needlers 
Mountain Orcs: Azog (Wounded) 
Mountain Orcs: Bolg & Great Goblin Bodyguard 
Mountain Orcs: Armoured Hill-Trolls / Frenzied Trolls 
Mountain Orcs: Orc Stone Thrower 

Wargs: Dire Warg 
Wargs: Grinnah & Mirkwood Werewolves 
Wargs: Feral Wolf Pack 
Wargs: The Werebeast 
Wargs: Lagdush & Orc Wolfcloak Warriors 
Wargs: Narzug & Orc Warg-Riders 
Wargs: Dol Guldur Orc Overlords 
Wargs: Orc Chieftain on Warg 
Wargs: Orc Wolfbone Shaman 

Dol Guldur: Leaping Spiders / Shiverfang Spiders 
Dol Guldur: Spiderlings 
Dol Guldur: The Willowhags 
Dol Guldur: Bloodwraiths 
Dol Guldur: Gwethil 
Dol Guldur: The Necromancer / Flesh Avatar 
Dol Guldur: Narzug & Orc Summoner Coven 
Dol Guldur: Tomb Wights 
Dol Guldur: Mounted Tomb Wights 
Dol Guldur: Saruman & The Ringwraiths 
Dol Guldur: Vampire Bat Swarms 

Grey Mountain Dragons: Fire-wyrms 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Braga & Goldscale Worshippers 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Venomblade Assassin 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Goldscale Priest 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Bofur on Cold-Drake 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Dragon Thrall 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Money Bags & Hired Knives 
Grey Mountain Dragons: Fell Hatchlings 

ADVENTURES

Adventure: Gandalf's Quest 
Adventure: The Battle at the East Gate 
Adventure: The Fall of Dale 
Adventure: The Belltower 
Adventure: A Thief in the Night 
Adventure: The Clearing of Foul Roots 
Adventure: Assault on the Barrows 
Adventure: Clash of the Beasts 
Adventure: The Last Stand 
Adventure: The Raven Hill 
Adventure: Thorin's Folly 
Adventure: The Battle of Five Armies 
Adventure: Breaking the Siege 
Adventure: Revenge of the Goblin King 
Adventure: Blacksoil Slope 
Adventure: The Final Onslaught 
Adventure: The Clouds Burst 
Adventure: The Ritual 
Adventure: The Haunted Tombs 
Adventure: The Blight Breach 
Adventure: Gollum's Escape