Cob Wargaming
Round Four
Wipeout
The Scenario
Set up:
Wipe out is the simplest scenario in the League of LOTR series. Both sides have a deployment zone of 12" from their board edge. In between the deployment zones there is a 24" square of bare ground or no mans land. There is no scenery! There is no where to hide in Wipeout!
Game length and Scoring
A game of Wipe out lasts as long as it needs to. The game ends at the end of the turn where one side is reduced to below 25% of the starting miniatures. Both sides may be taken below the threshold in the same turn, if so the result is a draw and the final score is 1-1. The winning sides score is dependant on the percentage of their starting force but the losing sides score will always be nil.
If the winning side has:
25% - 33% of starting force then the score is 1-0
33% - 50% of starting force then the score is 2-0
50% - 66% of starting force then the score is 3-0
66% - 75% of starting force then the score is 4-0
75% + of starting force then the score is 5-0
Match One
VS
Gondor deployed first in one large clump of warriors looking to utilise their rock hard defence. The archers deployed to the side with the intention of whittling away some of the Goblins while Boromir and the other heroes would get into combat as quickly as possible. The Goblins deployed in small groups with the intention on outmanoeuvring and surrounding the much smaller Gondor force. The Captain was bravely at the back to get some Heroic Moves in and the Trolls lined up opposite the Gondorian archers. The Goblin Bowmen set up behind the main group looking to volley fire from safety. The first turn saw the usual advancing of the warriors, the Gondor Bowmen falling back and shooting at the Goblins rather than the Trolls, it's a numbers game after all. Moria's volley fire killed an archer and a ranger in the first turn.
Just before combat was joined the Trolls took a turn to try and tease the Gondorian force to break ranks but the bait was not taken so they threw stones instead killing a man in the process. Combat was finally joined with a cautious clash of blades, the only kills came from heroes from both sides with Faramir, the captain of Gondor and the Goblin Captain making kills. The mighty Boromir however lost his fight and a wound, next time he would forgo the support and use the Horn of Gondor instead. It did not take the Trolls long to pile into the fight and the Goblins began to surround and to try and cut off the use of the Spearmen. The 14 Goblin Archers now revealed the next part of their sinister plan, after a couple of turns of edging to the side they now had a clear view of Boromir. 14 arrows went towards him, and took another wound without hurting the Goblins he was duelling with. In retaliation he blew his horn and killed the cowering Goblins. In Turn 6 the Gondor Giants archers ran in to help, they had nothing else to do! The priority for Turn 7 was crucial for Boromir and everyone knew it, but he lost the Heroic move roll off and was pinned in Combat as another 14 arrows came at him and took his final wound as well as his opponents.
It wasn't until the final turns that it dawned on the Gondor Giants that the Goblin bowmen had been kept back because if 11 of them could survive then Gondor could never bring them down to below the 25% mark. The Gondorian bowmen had so far failed to even tickle so it would have to be done hand to hand. 14 shots came at the Captain of Gondor and 7 hit but none could penetrate his thicker armour. Moria Heat were losing the squabble in the middle but because the Archers were safe all they needed was the Trolls to keep picking off the men. Faramir ran head long towards the Archers looking to avenge his brother. The Goblins pooed their pants and missed with every arrow. But it was too late before he could get their the Trolls had squished enough men to win the game.
A great 2-0 victory for Moria Heat against top of the table, to bring themselves level with the Gondor Giants in the league. Man of the Match was awarded to the Goblin Archers, they had cunningly kept out of danger, killed a handful of men and brought down Boromir. Priceless! On the other hand the Giants archers had deployed badly, they ended up being blocked by their own men, and hardly got any kills. If they had deployed on the other side of the board they would had been able to shoot at Goblin bowmen for a lot more turns, perhaps making a big enough dent to affect the final score.
Match Two
VS
The Rohan Royals deployed first with a broad wall of cavalry backed up by the footmen and heroes in support. They would be hoping to rattle off a few shots before charging in. This would put Mordor on the back foot because they had no range weapons. With this in mind the Mordor Maulers set up with the Wargs on one side and the Mordor Troll on the other with the infantry in the middle. In the opening turns the Warg riders stuck to the extreme flank which forced Theoden to take a contingent of troops away from the main group to deal with this threat before they could disrupt the cavalry charge. Both sides suffering a few casualties as a result. On the other flank, a few more Riders of Rohan broke off in an effort to surround the Orcs and pick off a few spearmen which could be deadly against the foot soldiers of Rohan who had no spear support of their own.
In a well timed attack, the Riders charged into the Orc battle line led by Eomer and Theoden managed to get the Warg Riders pinned in place. The Mordor Troll thundered into the main fight rather than spend his time chasing loose cavalry around. The same cavalry managed to shoot the Orc banner bearer before the Maulers could even get single re-roll from it. The first turn of combat was severely bloodthirsty with a total of 12 casualties and a wound taken off Gothmog. In turn 4, Theoden called an heroic action to ensure that the Wargs he was fighting would not get a charge bonus, Gothmogs presence prevented Eomer from doing the same so he was in turn surrounded. In the Combat phase Eomer had to use all of his Might points to draw the combat against Gothmog and his cronies, he lost the roll off and Gothmog made 8 strikes against him. These strikes resulted in only 1 wound but the Orc general used 2 of his own Might points to make it 3 wounds forcing Eomer to use his Fate points. Eomer failed every one of them and because he had used his Might he could not change this. Gothmog had killed Eomer! In turn 5 Gamling called a heroic move to allow the remaining cavalry a charge bonus, Gothmog was not happy about this and so set his beady eyes on the champion of Rohan. The resulting combat phase saw Gamling roll a 'snake eyes' and Gothmog took his opportunity to butcher another Rohan hero, two in two turns! Thankfully for Rohan they were still edging into the lead on the score sheet, Theoden had finished killing the Wargs and could now head into the main combat but the game was very close and every combat roll was beginning to count. Turn 7 was a strange one, the Troll lost it's 3rd combat in a row although nothing could hurt it, Gothmog and Grishnakh each lost to single measly man of Rohan and the only kill of the whole turn came from the elderly King Theoden.
The game was now turning into a real grind of a battle with both sides keeping a close eye on the score board. It was all about careful manoeuvres, avoiding the Mordor Troll or getting charged by Riders of Rohan and trying to outnumber and surround single Warriors to guarantee an easy kill. It all came down to turn 10. Both sides only needed a single kill to win but had to avoid losing one of their own. The Mordor Maulers won this crucial priority roll. Theoden called a heroic move but Gothmog's special rule meant that the Orc could call a free one and it would go to a roll-off which the Maulers won. This allowed them to completely control the final turn. The dreaded Troll, Gothmog and Grishnakh each took on a clump of Rohan which allowed the easily killed Orcs to get out of the danger zone. The Troll and Gothmog easily slew 2 men each so the Rohan Royals would need to kill Grishnakh to get a draw. No chance!
A win for the Mordor Maulers! Albeit a very close 1-0 win but it was still valuable for them. The Rohan Royals had somehow led the match right till the last turn but in reality they should have done more with the cavalry and the ranged weapon advantage. Man of the Match award went to Gothmog, he finally proved himself after an embarrassing early exit in the Champions League to a Cave Troll by killing both Eomer, Gamling and a handful of Warriors of Rohan, also his special rule preventing the Rohan Royals from utilising Heroic Moves and gifting his team a win in a match that should have been a draw.
Match Three
VS
Buoyed by their first win in the last round the Rivendell Raiders had high hopes of a repeat affair against a Isenguard force that had caused them problems in our first ever LOTR battle report. The Elven archers deployed just behind the front rank of swordsmen as the Raiders looked to make full use of their ranged capabilities. The Isenguard Oracles placed the Crossbowmen on the Flank so they would hopefully get some shots off without slowing their own force down. The Elves showed their colours early on as they backed away 3" allowing their archers to shoot without fear of retaliation from the Crossbowmen who are not allowed to move and shoot. The Dice Gods paid them back for this cowardice by making them miss with all 6 shots, they only needed a 3+. The second turn was far better, this time getting 5 hits and 2 kills! Turn 4 rolled around and still there was no fighting although the crossbowmen could finally get some shooting thanks to the block of Uruk-Hai warriors moving forwards on a diagonal for a few turns, only a single elf died but it was a start.
The fighting finally started in turn 5 and the pikemen were put into action helping to take out a couple of Elves. The Berserkers were poor but the High Elves could not get through the high defence and as always the Wildman of Dunland was brutal, butchering the first Elf he saw. Twice Elrond called a heroic move but Lurtz called one of his own and won the roll off, this was done to stop the Elf Lord from using Natures Wrath which would have devastating consequences on the tightly packed Uruk-Hai. With every Elf in combat the Uruk-hai Crossbowmen chose not to risk hitting their own troops and headed eagerly for the scrap. Lurtz and the Uruk captain burned a couple of Might points for some kills which not only added to the scoreboard but wedged an opening in the Elven battle line. Lurtz burned his last Might point on once again preventing Elrond from using Natures Wrath. The Elven Captain, realising his team needed a boost tried to do a Heroic Combat to get the scoreboard ticking over, unfortunately he couldn't get the first set of kills. Eventually in Turn 8 Elrond used a Heroic Move to successfully cast Natures Wrath which Lurtz completely failed to resist and as a result most of the Oracles were suddenly lying down. The Crossbowmen were nearly there but were still too far away to assist the Uruks left squirming on the ground. The High Elves utilised their advantage and took apart some of the Uruks. Elrond stepped up next and dissected Lurtz with his double hits advantage, taking 5 wounds. Despite these recent successes for the Raiders, victory seemed a long way off.
In Turn 9 the Uruk Captain called a Heroic Move with Isenguards last point of might to once again deny Elrond the chance to use another Natures Wrath. To compound the Elven woes the Crossbowmen finally made it into combat, helping to surround the High Elves and now outnumber them 3-1 in most fights. Rivendell would not go down without a fight however, the last of the Uruks with shields was slain which meant that the Uruk-Hai were going to be much easier killed. Also the Elven Captain picked up a pair of kills to help his teams tally. In Turn 10 the Elven captain got another pair of kills but it was too little too late, the Elven Warriors simply could not stand being ganged up on and perished under the Uruk-Hai onslaught.
The Isenguard Oracles got themselves another win, the final score was calculated as a 2-0 victory. The actions of the Elf Captain had spared some blushes for the Raiders, at least he had reduced this from a 3-0, goal difference was looking likely to be a major player in deciding a tournament victor. The Man of the Match award went to the Wild Man of Dunland, he was the first man into combat and survived the whole game despite being surrounded a couple of times, he even got two kills, not bad for only 6 points! For the Elves to win this game they should of perhaps tried to break up the block of Uruk-Hai infantry into smaller chunks but this is difficult on a board with no scenery.
Summary
What a turn out for the books! The Mordor Maulers finally getting their first win and the Gondor Giants finally suffering their first loss. The league table is now firmly split down the middle with goal difference the only thing separating the teams. The final round promises to shake things up a bit with 3 teams vying for the top spot and 3 teams trying to avoid the wooden spoon, anything could happen! Here is a quick reminder of the scores and how the current league table looks.
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Wipeout is a simple but challenging mission, asking the players to make the most of a bad situation, no scenery means some teams have to completely adapt their tactics. This mission undoubtedly favours some types of teams who have struggled so far with large amounts of scenery or are used to having ranged forces hiding high up in cover. Swarms of Goblins and blocks of infantry definitely proved their worth today.
Feel free to leave any comments in the box below, We would also love to hear from people who have tried this back to basics scenario, how did your teams get on? what were your strategies? did you manage to avoid the dreaded trolls? were you shocked by a surprise victory or defeat like the Gondor Giants?
