Been thinking for a while about trying my hand at writing up some battle reports and perhaps putting down some thought about army lists. So here goes, lets make an attempt at a battle report and see how this feels.
Quick introduction first about my miniature gaming background seeing as this is the first post in the blog. Very briefly as a kiddo I played with the WFB Battle for Skull Pass set with my brother, as well as a bit of Space Hulk, but other than that I had no experience during early 2000s. Back around 2016 my friends roped me into playing Blood Bowl, after which I´ve dabbled with KT2018, KT2021, Necromunda and of course, MESBG. It wasn’t really until MESBG that I found my true enjoyment in tabletop wargames. The system just fits my preferences, with every model acting as its own entity, low lethality and focus on resource management.
As a player I enjoy the competitive side of things and I’ve been fairly happy with my performance in local tournaments. In MESBG I tend to skew towards elite forces and highly expensive heroes. Correspondingly my favorite lists are Last Alliance (and its Lothlorien variants) which can be run in a staggering number of different flavors. I do own Corsairs which have disappointed me every time, and Isengard which I do enjoy when not looking for maximal performance.
So, onto the actual battle reports.
Decided to play some chill 450p with a friend, and the battle reports reflect that. Weren't exactly aiming for a sweaty competitive nailbiter, more of a chill dice chucker.
My list:
Erestor
-8 Warriors with shield, 2 with bow&spear, 2 knights with shield
Numenor Captain with horse, lance, armour and shield
-1 warrior with spear&shield&banner, 4 with spear&shield, 4 with
spear&bow, 3 with shield
Total 26 models, 8 bows, 4 Might
I just love the blues and reds of this alliance, gotta finish my bow warriors though.
Opponent:
Thror
-18 Grim Hammers (Guardian of the King)
Thrain
Total 20 models, 6 Might
My list is very balanced with a decent number of models, good shooting, Heroic March, some mobility and Strike. The lovely F5 D6 with S4 spears usually pays dividends. Only really lacking in Might but 450p you cant get everything. Personally not a fan of Erestor, but this army was almost built for him.
Meanwhile my friend brought a complete skew list with
two unkillable heroes and D7 across the board which made my Numenoreans ineffective.Army of Thror is always a pleasure to face as its just a fun murderball whose throwing weapons can be totally ineffective or absolutely brutal.
1st scenario: Contest of Champions
Well, you can imagine I was heading into this one with trepidation. My bows would not be able to fire a single shot and the game would devolve into a murderball where the Grim Hammer spam would shine. Still, with higher Fight and bigger model count anything can happen.
Anyway, lets get going.
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| Beautiful battlelines ready to inevitably devolve into a pile of violence |
Turn 1 priority went to the dwarves who unsurprisingly slammed face first into my line. Throwing weapons would immediately pick off a Numenorean and an Elf, not a great start. Thrain would be crashing into my right flank with a dangerous looking Heroic Combat that I had to screen off, but I could set the pace on the left flank nicely. Thror chose not to engage, taunting Erestor to engage him with his control zones blocking most obvious routes. I courteously denied this and found a slightly misplaced dwarf that Erestor and a few friends could engage.
Turn 1 combats went extremely well and with twohanding I managed to drop a few of the dwarves while only losing a single elf in return. Erestor got a crucial kill for an early lead in the tally. The most impactful moment was when Thrain botched his Heroic Comhat against a shielding numenorean. Had he succeeded he could have trapped and slain some spears, and made the right flank crumple rapidly.
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| Turn 2, right flank is crumbling with more dwarves off screen. |
Turn 2 the priority went again for the dwarves and I didnt feel it worth burning my precious resources to counter. I immediadely lost 2 more models to the throwing weapons as the D5 of my Numenoreans was not standing up to a flying axe into the cranium.
After Thrain hilariously botching his combat and down one Might, I decided to go for a hail mary play with my Numenor captain. He and a Knight combatted off of a Grim Hammer with the Knight going into another warrior and the captain trying to stop Thrain from cutting through my troops. Thrain immediately rolled a big six in the duel and wounded the captain, although luckily rolled poorly enough to not flash kill him.
Elsewhere Thror killed an elf while Erestor botched to wound against a trapped Hammer. Equalizing the tally. My models were generally holding on though and through twohanding and successful cavalry charge I managed to kill a fair number of the dwarves with my warriors which kept the game in a tight balance.
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| Thror in the thick of it |
On turn 3 I went for an attempt of taking out Thror, after winning the priority and a critical Heroic Move roll-off with my remaining captain's Might, thus managing to get some duels I wanted. I thought I could get two more models in to Thror, but sadly base sizes just stopped that and I was left with just 6 models including Erestor.
I believe at this point the dwarves were broken and I wasnt yet, and things were looking decent for me. As Thror was a banner, the fight had to be resolved first. We both rolled to Fight 10 on Strikes, but for once Elven Blade paid off. But Thror is a tough as the mountain and after a twohand stabbing elf, stabbing numenorean, 3 numenorean spears and Erestors rerolling attacks I managed just 1 measely wound. However, Thror rolled a big fat 1 on the Fate netting me a nice leader wound.
Elsewhere my captain and some warriors killed a grim hammer, as did my Knight on the right. Thrain slapped aside a numenorean but otherwise nothing happened.
On Turns 4 and 5 things turned on their head though. Dwarves won the priorities and the throwing weapons made an absolute mess of my forces. I lost a staggering 4 more models to throwing weapons instantly breaking me. Thrain went on a rampage, Thror got into the wounded captain and finished him off while Erestor botched at killing a Grim Hammer that was on him for two turns. The stalwart dwarves didnt lose a single model in these turns, leading to finally Erestor getting surrounded and stomped to the dirt.
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| Final turn, elves are tied up, numenoreans have axes jutting out of them and Erestor is in the receiving end of a twohanded mastercrafted hammer |
A solid win to the dwarves which went roughly as we expected. That being said due to Thrain botching the early combat for a moment it looked like my numbers and Fight advantage were pulling their weight. But the throwing weapons were just insane with several D6 elves being dropped and majority of my numenoreans getting clapped by them.
2nd scenario: Domination
A classic multi-objective scenario where I could try to leverage my superior mobility and maybe even grab a few shooting kills. I decided to go for the cointoss play where you deploy 3 objectives to one side of the table and hope to win the roll-off. Which failed, landing me on the side with just one objective. Nevertheless, I set up my lines to try to leverage some shooting before going in.
My opponent didnt want to play time and cagily wait behind cover like in a tournament match would have probably been the play. Instead he sent a few hammers to the rear objectives and promptly started pumping those dwarven legs towards my line.
The D7 of the Hammers proved too tough for my arrows however, and only a single elf bow managed to find its mark before the murderball was in throwing weapon range. After losing an elf and a numenorean to the axes (eerily similar to the last match), the lines clashed.
Now, in retrospect I should have avoided another battleline versus battleline and instead tried to pull apart the dwarven blob. But in the moment it seemed more fun to try to plink with arrows and then try to sprint past with cavalry as the lines got tangled up in combat.
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| Thrain pressing on my right flank while I'm trying to punch on the left. |
Funnily enough, Thrain botched ANOTHER heroic combat just like last match which would have sent him barreling through my backline. Elsewhere one Knight slipped past the dwarves while my Captain and second Knight proceeded to try to get through the left flank. Sadly, the knight won but failed to wound the dwarves. Rest of the combats were uneventful with neither side doing much damage.
In the following turns of melee through traps and twohanding dwarves got thoroughly cut down while throwing axes did not cut a bloody toll through my troops. Erestor and a few friends managed to isolate Thror and got 3 wounds into him, which he all promptly saved with Arkenstone. Thrain botched a combat but afterwards started behaving like he is supposed to and lawnmovering through my troops. My plans of getting through the left flank were foiled by inability to win the priority or a Heroic Move roll-off.
However, the one Knight which slipped past sent a beautiful shot and managed to drop a dwarf holding a rear objective, and this swung the game to my favor instantly.
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| Close to the end, dwarves broken while a comfortable amount of Last Alliance still on the field. |
During this final brawl I finally got priority which allowed me to slip an elf and a numenorean to more objectives. If my forces could hold the dwarves at bay and my courage held, the game was looking good.
During the melee Erestor got trapped by Thror in a 1 on 1, and promptly got flash killed. Thror usually isnt this lethal so we were both astonished by this showing. Thrain went supersaiyan killing 2 models a turn while my captain was bouncing off a single Grim Hammer for multiple turns.
However, the dwarven heroes could not do everything by themselves and my numbers and higher Fight prevailed. As I quartered the dwarven forces the game ran to its end. A numenorean failed his courage to hold an objective, but I managed to get the middle ones while my opponent held just one on the far side of the board. This ended the game on a 5-4 to Last Alliance.
Closing thoughts
Highly enjoyed these two matches. 450p is a fun points limit that allows some less used heroes to shine. Wouldnt change anything about my list, it was a blast to play. Last Alliance style lists especially are typically only seen at higher points levels so its fun to play around with the options at this limited scale. Army of Thror is one of the most fun armies in the game to play and to face. Interesting army composition for sure though, I'd personally go for something like Thror, Captain and 26 models with some spears mixed in, but that being said if Thrain hadn't botched combats he would have cut through my lists rapidly in both matches without me having any answers against him.
Well, was an interesting experience to write these bat reps, we'll see if I get motivated to draft more in the future.
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