Cob Wargaming
The Scenario
Set up:
Line breaker is a scenario that will force you into difficult tactical situations and demand decisive action. Mark out a Deployment Zone at either end of the table and place a suitable amount of scenery in between. The amount of and location of the scenery should be agreed by both players.
Scoring:
At the end of the match the player with the most points worth of models in the opposing players deployment zone is the winner. The base of the model must be entirely within the deployment zone for it to count as a scoring model. For the purposes of the league table, each full 50 points gives the player a score and the player with the most points gets an extra. Example: if player A has 160 points in the opponents deployment zone and player B has 49 points then the final score would be 5-1
Game Length:
A game of Line breaker lasts for 10 full turns, after the end turn roll a D3 and that many extra turns are added to the game length. Might points cannot be used to influence this roll. If one team is wiped out before the game ends then the opposing team can still carry on till the end of the game to try and get as many models in the opposing deployment zone with in the turn limit. Neither side needs to make courage tests for having a reduced starting force.
Match One
VS
This was the big derby game of the tournament, these hated enemies have done battle countless times before and they will do countless times again. Could the Maulers get their first win or could the Giants continue their journey to the top. Gondor deployed first in 3 separate groups with Boromir in the middle, Faramir on his left and the Captain on the right. Mordor deployed in 2 groups, Grishnakh with a banner bearer leading the Mordor Troll, the Wargs and some Orcs on the left and Gothmog taking the larger group of Orcs on the right. Both sides advanced steadily up the board with the Wargs taking cover from bow fire by hiding behind the Troll.
The first model into combat was Faramir himself although he left himself isolated. The Maulers managed to get some of the Gondorians surrounded and the charge bonus for the Wargs but Gondor still got some counter charges in. The first round of combat saw many warriors from both sides perish and notable Faramir expending a point of might to kill an Orc and wound Grishnakh. The Mordor Maulers won the next turns Priority roll but Faramir used a heroic move to pin the Orcs down and keep the Troll away from the main mass of fighting. To add insult to injury the Troll then failed it's Jump Test and was left stranded and highly ineffective. Grishnakh lost another wound to Faramir but passed his Fate Roll. As the Turns began to disappear one brave (or cowardly) Orc left Gothmogs group and made a break for the scoring zone, he was promptly shot down which gave the Giants archers their first kill of the game. in Turn 6 Grishnakh finally went down to Faramirs blade as he cursed the Troll for being so stupid and not helping him out. Meanwhile on the other side of the board, Gohmog and some Orcs had Boromir trapped. He blew the Horn of Gondor and Gothmog was forced to use 2 Will points to be able to fight on a fair footing. Boromir had to use might to win and could only manage a kill on the spare Orc.
In Turn 7 fighting was suddenly abandoned as Faramir and his remaining men made a break for the Scoring Zone. the Mordor Troll was sent to hunt them down reasoning that it could defeat them on its own and the rest of the Orcs and Wargs should score some points. By Turn 8 Gothmog was fighting Boromir and 3 men of Gondor but this was no problem or the Orc general who won the combat and took 2 big wounds off Bormir. In the following turn Boromir used 2 Might Points to return the favour although Gothmog passed the Fate rolls. By Turn 10 the Gondor Giants were starting to take Gothmog seriously and sent the Captain and 2 men to aid Boromor but it was not enough and Gothmog killed off the Eldest son of Denethor. We rolled the D3 to see how many extra turns would be given, The Orcs would need the full 3 extra turns but were only given 1 which ended the game in Gondors favour.
The Gondor Giants won the game 132 - 6 which gave them a 4-1 victory. They elected to give the Man of the Match award to a Gondorian Spearman who had survived roughly 8 turns of combat, mostly outnumbered so he could block the path for at least 40 points worth of Maulers. The game was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests but Gondor definitely deserved a win if only for making such a great effort of keeping out of reach of a Mordor Troll whilst fighting a horde of Orcs.
Match Two
VS
This all Evil battle battle pitted the strongest warriors vs the weakest but numerically superior warriors. Uruk-Hai would be wounding the Goblins on 4+ and the mighty Cave Trolls on 5+. However they would have to kill a lot of Goblins in a very short time period to win this battle. the Oracles split into 3 main groups, Lurtz leading the Berserkers and a handful of selected warriors, the Captain leading a solid looking block of infantry with pikes and the crossbowmen taking position above the ruined gateway. The Goblins split into one main 'power' group of two Cave Trolls and the Captain, one group of Bowmen looking to volley fire and another Troll leading more goblins up the Left flank. The first turns saw Moria Heat advance as fast as they could towards the Uruk-Hai who by contrast moved into more solid defensive positions. The Goblins Volley fire was getting a surprising amount of hits but not actually getting any kills, The Uruk Crossbows scored valuable wounds on the Cave Trolls.
The Cave Trolls wounds were starting to add up and they were forced to take cover behind some statues, this had the added bonus of giving the Goblins a chance to catch up before the fighting could start. In Turn 5 Lurtz made the interesting choice of falling back further so the Crossbows could get another round of shooting in, however this took his group even further away from the Scoring Zone and almost back into his own deployment zone. this turned out to be a wise decision when one of the Cave Trolls collapsed under another disciplined hail of bolts. On the other flank, the Uruk-Hai warriors were making easy work of the Goblin mass that faced them, except for the Captain who in Turn 6 chose to use a Might point to get his first kill of the game. Whilst his Uruk warriors were breaking through the Goblin made the choice to jump down from their useless volley position and form a make-shift defence against the growing number of Uruk-Hai that were starting to break off the fighting. It took until Turn 8 for Lurtz's group to head towards the objective, they had butchered a large number of Goblins but had a long journey to complete whilst still being harassed and slowed down by more Goblins.
In the final turns of the game the Goblin Captain secured himself and the 2 remaining Cave Trolls a place in the enemies deployment zone whilst most of the remaining Goblin Warriors chased the Uruk-Hai across the board desperately trying to slow them down. The Goblin Archers tried to help and formed what was possibly the worst defensive line ever seen in Wargaming since the Wood Elves in our Lothlorien (Bat-rep LINK). they were crushed in only a single turn of fighting, but had it been enough. A D3 was rolled to see how many extra turns there would be, Moria Heat prayed for only a single extra turn and the Isenguard Oracles prayed for the full 3. It was Isenguards prayers that were answered! 3 extra turns meant 3 more turns of desperate Goblins flinging themselves at groups of Uruk-Hai, 3 more turns of Uruk-Hai trying to predict and stay spread out as they clawed for every inch in an attempt to get to the Scoring Zone.
The result of Turn 13's priority would allow either another 4 Uruk-Hai into the Scoring Zone or allow the Goblins a chance to hold them back one last time. Once again Isenguard got lucky with the crucial roll and the 4 Uruks in question strolled smugly to safety. The scores were totalled up and the game finished an incredible 224 - 220 in favour of the Isenguard Oracles. They had won by a single Goblin worth of points which gave them a 6-5 victory. The Man of the Match award went to the Uruk-Hai Crossbows which had slain the third Cave Troll and probably won them the game.
Match Three
VS
Everyone agreed that this was a terrible match up for the Elves, they were playing against the fastest team in a scenario that favoured that fastest warriors, but the bravely carried on still hoping for their first win of the competition. The Raiders split their force into a defensive option of Warriors and Archers and a main points scoring group of Elrond, a Captain, a Banner Bearer and a handful of warriors. The Royals countered this by placing Eomer, most of the Riders and some warriors against the Elven warriors and made a hit squad of Theoden, Gamling, and a mass of warriors who went to attempt to assassinate Elrond or at least block his group from entering the score zone. Both sides advanced steadily towards each other as the bowmen on each side picked each other off.
The two Elven heroes had now forced their way through the force of Rohan and were heading to the Score Zone. Theoden managed to catch the Elf Captain and almost extract revenge for the murder of his dear friend Gamling. however the Elf Captain somehow managed to survive with a single wound and no more Fate points. it took till the end of Turn 10 for Eomers men to finally break down the thin blue line of elves and push into the Scoring Zone. A total of 2 extra turns were rolled on the D3 for the end of the game. It seemed too much for Rohan now that the massive points bag of Elrond was in the Scoring Zone although with the final act of the game Theoden finally killed the Elf Captain who caused s much pain.
When both forces closed in, Elrond was presented with an opportunity to cast Natures Wrath on Eomer to knock him off his valuable horse. He managed to cast it on a 6 and so Eomer and Gamling combined all of their will power to resist the spell and only just managed. The battle lines of Elves and Riders clashed in a curiously orderly and neat duel, the combat phase of this saw 3 Riders and only 2 elves perish despite Rohan getting the Charge bonus. In Turn 5, on the second time of asking, Elrond successfully cast Natures Wrath again and managed to floor Theoden's entire gang which gave the elves a much needed fight bonus. They made use of this advantage by killing 3 men of Rohan but Elrond could not hurt Gamling. In Turn 6 Eomer called a heroic move so he could give his failed charge some much needed momentum before his riders could be counter charged by the elven line. This did work to a degree but Eomer himself lost his combat and his precious horse payed the ultimate price. Over the next few turns Elrond and Gamling traded blows, with the Elven Lord spending all of his Fate points before being rescued by the Elven Captain who killed Gamling and the Royal Guard in one round of combat.
This final act was not enough for the Rohan Royals who still lost the game 220 - 136. This surprising score gave the Rivendell Raiders a 6 - 3 win which is their first of the tournament so far. The Man of the Match award went to the Elf banner bearer whose re-rolls had let his group break through the assassination attempt and make a dash for glory.
Summary
That will be all Cobbers, round three is now complete. The Rivendell Raiders getting their first win and propelling themselves up the table. The Mordor Maulers are now rock bottom but certainly look like they can cause an upset any time now. The Gondor Giants are looking dominant at the top but can the stay there?
Line breaker was a crazy mission that put these 6 forces in very interesting positions, the sight of Lurtz running from a lone Moria Goblin as he dashed madly towards the Score Zone was brilliant. Here is a quick reminder of the scores and how the current league table looks.
Feel free to leave any comments in the box below, We would also love to hear from people who have tried our unique scenario, how did your teams get on? what were your strategies? did you anybody get less points than the Mordor Maulers measly 6? or were you shocked by a surprise victory like the Rivendell Raiders?
