Next elves vs goblins battle

[andyskinner]

The ping-pong table has been cleared, so I hope to get in another game.  Looks like I don't have enough goblins to make a 1000 point battle, so I think I'll go for 800.  I know I've got a ton of the things, but I don't remember how many.  If I went down and counted, maybe I'd get to it, but I'm currently planning but what I'm pretty sure I can do.

So the sides look like:
Elves
Captain: High Elf prince with heavy armor and great weapon
Unicorn: Wood Elf Druid + Wizard(2) mounted on Unicorn
10 spear with sergeant

10 spear with sergeant
10 archers with sergeant (2 combined)
Ent: Wood Elf Tree Giant
either a second Ent or a unit of 10 Sword Masters

Goblins
King: Boss with great weapon
Shaman: Shaman with wizard(2)
20 Goblins with sergeant (combined)
20 Goblins w/spear and sergeant (combined)
10 Goblin archers w/sergeant (combined)
10 Goblin archers w/sergeant (combined)

5 wolf riders with spear  (they don't really have spear, but the stats don't look strong enough, and spear gives Impact)
5 wolf riders with shortbows
5 giant wolves (stats for orc boarboyz + 2x hand weapons)
3 trolls

I'm going to have to paint some elf cavalry and some miscellaneous elf lords.  On the goblin side, I need to paint some orcs (I have the Uruk Hai scouts for that).  I've got a Mordor Troll who is bigger than the cave trolls (half my trolls are from Reaper), but I need two more to have them play the part of the larger trolls from the orc list.

andy

[andyskinner]

We have set up the terrain, but not objectives.  There are some figures on the board, but they are just setting out the armies.  I've got to replace a figure or two after picking figs by memory, but we're close to ready.

First a question: My unicorn is a wood elf druid + unicorn, minus flying.  Does it matter whether he uses high elf spells or wood elf spells?  I assume I have to choose one or the other.

And another: Why does the Unicorn have Tough(3) as well as the Druid?  I just saw the Druid's defense of 2+, and that worries me.  It isn't what I want for the Unicorn.  So does the Unicorn take Tough to 6?  Or is it redundant?

First, 4 views from different corners:












A goblin cave:



The goblins, ready to emerge from the cave:



The elves:



Game is tomorrow!

andy

[onepagerules]

Theoretically it should use the Wood Elf spells, but it doesn't really matter.

If the mount has Tough(3) then you add it to your hero's Tough.

[andyskinner]

Thanks. If one list is more powerful than another, it would matter. But I hope the number you have to roll handles that.

andy

[andyskinner]

We played the game tonight. We had a little door in a central island of stone, and decided we'd fight over that. We talked about moving it closer to the middle, but my son wanted the challenge.



First our questions:

1) Can units with Phalanx use this rule when Wavering?

2) We still wrestle with the morale rules. Does the first part of the last sentence of the Morale section clarify/contradict the first sentence of that section? The wording just feels awkward to us.

3) If a Hero joins a unit with Fear, and they attack a unit with Fear, does the Hero have to make a morale roll? We decided he did not, in the same way that he uses their defense roll.

4) In melee, the attacked unit gets to move 3". Can they move away as well? Can models in contact move? If the defender surrounds the attacker, what happens with the 1" move away? Is the 1" move just intended to separate?



Pictures of the Goblin setup:









Elf setup:






Battlefield from one end:


Other end:


The Goblins ran their giant wolves (using Orc boar riders rules, though I think I should have used Savage Boar Boys) up to contest the door that was the objective.  The Unicorn (Wood Elf Druid with Unicorn mount, though we used High Elf spells) cast Tempest and got rid of one.







Sorry, wife wants me to go to bed, so you'll get the rest later.

andy

[onepagerules]

This looks like an epic giant battle, can't wait to read the rest!

Onto the questions:

1) Yes

2) Yes it does. There are basically two types of morale test: from melee and from anything else (shooting, spells, dangerous terrain, etc.).

3) I'd say that for simplicity he doesn't.

4) They have to move to get into melee, and models in contact can move. Basically it's a way to try and make sure as many models as possible are within the 2" attack range for melee. The 1" move is intended to separate the units, if you manage to surround the opponent then you'll have to make way so that the two units can separate.

Hope this helps.

[andyskinner]

Thanks for answers.  We pretty much follow most of the rules, ignore what we want (using figure from one list with spells from another, don't bother with all unit within 6", and don't have hero use stats from the unit as the unit is being destroyed).  So we take flexibility and simplicity and combine them as we want.

OK, starting where we left off...
The Unicorn blasted a giant wolf.  Here he prances about happily, proud of his accomplishment:


The Elven archers send a volley that dispatches several goblins.


Here we see their pierced bodies.


We stopped taking pictures after every attack, so now we have summaries.  That means I'm going to have to make up the details a bit more.

The gray die on the plinth is counting turns.  Other markers: green marks units that have been activated.  Yellow marks wavering units.  Red is a buff applied by shaman or unicorn.

The rest of the wolves charged the elves with spears, who lost some warriors and began to waver.  The ent moved in and killed several wolves and sent the last one yelping away.  Goblin wolf riders with bows (off picture below) shot an elf in the spear unit in the ruins.



On the elven left, some goblin archers moved up to the woods and were able to hit an elf archer.  The goblins on that side moved forward.


The view from the goblin side.  I was really worried about those trolls.


Scaredy-cat wolf running away.  Troll considers pounding him.



Back on the other end.  It looks like the elf archers have hit the goblins in the foreground again, because they are down to 12 out of 20.  But the wolf riders are closing in.


Between the archers and elves with swords, the wolf riders are dispatched.  But elf numbers are starting to dwindle on this end.


Looks like we really should have been taking pictures all along, because a lot has happened here.  A horde of goblins moved into the ruins, and were charged by the elf spear.  While the goblins also were carrying spears, the Phalanx rule didn't help much, and the elves lost a single figure.  Then the difference in quality (increased by the elf captain (prince))) made the difference, and the remaining goblins routed.  The unicorn is up front doing various spells.  The trolls have charged in but they took more wounds than the ent.  You can't see well, but the goblin king joined the troll unit and is just behind them.



From the other side.  The foreground wolf riders also got blasted by the (very useful) unicorn.



We blew it taking pictures to sum up at the end of the turn, because you'll miss all the specific fights.  As I remember, the ent charged the trolls, as did the elves with the captain.  When there was one troll and the goblin king left, the unicorn decided to try his big impale attack.  It was a perfect opportunity, since there was one big target and not much support around.  But he rolled a 1 on the Defense roll.  The troll gave him a big scratch, and the unicorn fled off to his forest.  The elves finished off the troll and routed the king.  Sorry about the lack of action.  A picture of the result is not the same thing as a picture of the fight!

Here is the king running back to his cave:



The elves took up a defensive position around The Door:



And this end of the battle at turn four was almost empty of goblins:



On the other end, the goblin archers have been whittling down some elves.  Two elves charged some of the archers at the end, but that was just because the game was over and it was fun.  One survived.




Here is the unicorn running off to his woods.





STOP THE DRUMS ALREADY!!!

[onepagerules]

Really cool batrep, too bad to see the goblins get beat.

[andyskinner]

They are even (1 win, 1 loss) now in games with the elves, though they did get beaten pretty bad here.

On the other hand, they did have a challenge of getting to the objective closer to my side. We talked about moving it to the center, but my son really wanted the challenge. He normally wins games, thinking through tactics more than I do. This time, however, I think his attempt to get those wolves in far out in front of their friends did him in. And I did get good results from the Unicorn's magic, though not from his big chance at Impale. His goblin archers were sweeping elves in front of them on the left at the end of the game. I think they could have done more, though with my ent still alive, I don't think they could have won.

andy

[spencer]

Thanks for a great batrep! I love the LotR High Elf models.

[andyskinner]

I discovered that you can add text to Google Photos albums. Now I can do the report right there where the pictures are already. I'll still post teaser pictures and basics here.

This is the above report in that format. While it might not be better than the above, it will be a lot less work.

goo.gl/photos/obY2hCYy1dqi42Dr5

andy