Initial Thoughts:
This will be my third game against DiceDadSteve Forster’s Goblins. The first two were solid victories, but he’s made some significant changes to the list. One change is that he’s added more mawbeast troops, and he also included 2 Luggit gangs. I’m just not sure about goblins with crushing strength. As he laid out his army, I started to feel like most of my opponents feel about mine; there’s so many drops. He has 20 drops to my 18. But they’re goblins, so should be okay, right?
Set Up.
We rolled plunder for the scenario. This little gem involves 5 loot tokens, all on the center line, 2 of which are worth 2 points, the rest are 1. The crowns are the 2 pointers, the red dots are the ones. One of the things I’m able to do with this army that I couldn’t do with my Abyss or Herd is position in depth. Because I’m fighting goblins this game, I chose not to do that so much, instead, I wanted to cover the whole board in units so that the goblins might have trouble figuring out who is going to do what. The fun part of my list is that there is lots of units, none of which is overly threatening by itself. The synergy I’m achieving comes from the combinations of units and how they intermix on the field. I won the roll off for sides and chose the top. The battlefield is pretty open and neither of us is really fast, so I figured I could take advantage of the open ground to set up some combination charges, and use the hill in the center right for a lightning sniper position. The hill on the bottom left would make a nice dam to keep my phantoms hidden as they swoop out into the flank. Thus, I opted for a standard echelon left formation based on the terrain and mission. I wasn’t sure how the goblins would line up when I figured it out, but I was hoping they’d be more centric.
My Army, lined up from left to right is: 3 Phantom troops in the woods, a scarecrow regiment, a shade with Blade of the Beastslayer, a reaper troop angled to clear the 2 woods on their first move, another scarecrow regiment, 2 reaper troops, a scarecrow horde, the blue horror (Lightning 3, aura, and bane chant, plus conjuring staff.) Next comes a reaper regiment with Gaze of the Gods behind the hill. This unit is terrifying if used right. It can roll a bucket of dice to hit and to wound, and re-roll both if I keep my Horror close by. Then comes a dread fiend with Slashing blade, a mind screech, another scarecrow regiment, another reaper regiment (no items) followed by the pink horror (Aura and bane chant), and, finally, another phantom troop.
Steve did end up going centric as I hoped, but without any real flanking force he went more with a modified wedge with supporting fire in the bottom left. His army from left to right: mawbeast troop, 3 rock lobbers, a wiz with boomstick (hard to see in the field,) and Magwa and Joos followed by a luggit gang. His center is strongly built with units in depth. Starting with mawbeast troop, basic wiz, and a troll horde with Potion of the caterpillar, in the bottom center is a goblin king with Jareth’s Pendant, and the Sacred Horn. Next is a mawbeast troop followed by a troll horde with Jessie’s Boots of Striding. The next stack is a rabble horde followed by a mincer regiment with brew of sharpness, and another luggit gang hidden discretely under the dice roll control. His right flank consists of 2 rabble regiments, a wiz with inspiring pendant, and a mawbeast troop.
Turn 1:
I win the roll-off for firsties and take it. First, let me speak of the plan. The scarecrows on the left are going to work their way through the woods to grab a token, and, if they’re viewed as no threat, I may even send them for the other one. The reaper troop is there to provide some bully support for the phantom flanking element. this is set as a classic echelon formation.So, with turn 1, I send the phantoms out using the new rules about hills to be in position to threaten the whole goblin flank, but their first mission is to take out the guns, then sweep in from behind. The right flank is a show of force to be held back to grab the loot tokens in the late game if possible. The center is going right up the middle to get into a rumble.
My phantom flank boogies down to threaten everything on the left. The shade scoots into the woods for a little bit of extra protection while the reapers run between the trees and the crows stop short of the woods. (I really should have moved the Shade forward his full 10 inches, but I was being cautious.) My center advances mostly on line, but the 2 reaper troops hold back a touch. In this area, all his units are wider than mine, so keeping the reapers tucked in ensures they will be able to get charges without being charged (if they don’t get shot to hell first.) The right side advances more cautiously, since neither of us has a lot of force over her, it is clear we both plan to try to sweep in and grab the 2 point tokens. My lightning zaps the 2 middle mawbeast troops, but neither wants to waver at this time. It is fair to mention at this point, I made an error, and forgot that mawbeasts have wild charge. But more on that in a minute.
Remember that error I said I made? Yeah, the far left mawbeasts charge my far left phantoms over the hill. That will delay my attack just a bit. I was hoping to hit all 3 rock lobbers on turn 2, and I was just a bit too cautious with the shade, in keeping him too far back in the woods. Nobody else charges, and they all hold back to shoot. Between the 3 rock lobbers, they manage a single wound on the mind screech. The lightning 6 wiz gets 2 wounds on a phantom troop, and the vanilla wiz gets 1 wound on the reaper regiment on the hill. All 3 units are just fine despite having bad hair days. In close combat, the mawbeasts cause 2 wounds to the phantoms, but they are just fine.
Turn 2:
The left phantoms can no longer go after a lobber, so counter charge instead, but with a reaper troop in the mawbeast flank, they feel pretty secure. The other phantom troops charge the left and center lobbers. The Shade is short of the 3rd lobber because I was too cautious with him, but he flies on down anyways to add some dread to the party. The scarecrows advance through the woods towards the loot token. The scarecrow regiment in the center is feeling really frisky, and with the boost of a wild charge 3 roll, they smack head on into the left center mawbeast pack. The horde falls short however, and just advances. The center is where the fight is really going to be, it appears. The right advances again cautiously, but the phantoms assume the roll of bait for the rabble on the right. The mind screech stays on the hill for a clear field of fire. Between the screech and the blue horror, they manage 5 wounds on the luggit gang by the building. I don’t zap the mawbeasts because they are actually protecting my units a bit by being where they are, or at least, I think they are. Steve’s left flank mostly collapses in close combat. The frisky scarecrows deftly slaughter the mawbeasts and align to make sure they’re not showing their flanks.
Magwa charges the Shade from the field. The luggits move into the same field to try to protect the flank that is collapsing fast. The pathfinder trolls charge the scarecrows, the center mawbeasts and luggit gang charge the reapers, and the rabble horde charges the scarecrow horde. On the right, the 2 rabble regiments charge the phantom troop. The shooting is mostly ineffectual as the combined wiz lightning and last lobber manage a whole 2 wounds on the mindscreech. In Close combat, Steve has some fantastic rolls, magwa wavers the shade, the trolls crush the scarecrows, and the hindered luggits and the mawbeasts slaughter the elite reapers, ouch! I did not see that one coming. The hindered rabble horde bounce ineffectually off the scarecrow horde, but the 2 regiments eradicate the phtantoms on the right. One unit advances to block the reaper regiment, while the other stays put, but angles slightly. Suddenly, this battle is not going precisely how I’d like it to.
Turn 3
Well, that last turn left me in a bit of a spot on the right, so I’m going to try to clean up the center and left. The scarecrows in the woods grab the loot token. You remember those things? Yeah, it’s what the scenario is supposed to be. The left side reaper troop rushes towards the fray instead of moving back and grabbing the token on the far left. The left side phantoms charge Magwa after the shade backs away from him. The rear phantom troop charges the 3rd lobber. Then we have the infamous triple charge. You rarely get to do a triple charge in this game, so I say take it when you can. The 2 reaper troops charge the front of the PF trolls, while the phantom troop hits them in the flank. The crow horde counter charges the rabble horde, the right side crow regiment flanks the luggits, the dread fiend charges a rabble horde, and the reaper regiment takes on the other ones. This brings me to shooting. Everyone is now in the fray except the screech and the 2 horrors, oh and the crow regiment in the woods with the token. The pink horror bane chants the crow regiment, the blue horror bane chants one of the reaper troops, and the mind screech wipes out the mawbeast pack. In close combat Magwa gets wavered, whoo hoo! And the last lobber falls. The triple charge does what it is supposed to, and the trolls are chopped into little pieces. The 3 units reform to block the J-Boot trolls from charging anything without hitting the rabble horde first. The scarecrow horde even gets into the act, and after a mere 5 wounds, scores a box cars and wavers the rabble horde. The crow regiment erases the luggit gang, as do the reapers remove the rabble. Sadly, the dread fiend whiffs his attack rolls completely, and only scores a single hit and wound thanks to the slashing blade, my favorite 5 point item.
Steve pulls off his best move of the game by disengaging the rabble from the dreadfiend, and combination charges the reaper regiment with the mawbeasts. The mincers then take the dreadfiend in the flank. The wavered rabble horde fail their headstrong roll, and are stuck, as are the trolls behind them, who rotate slightly to face my reapers head on. Jareth charges the phantoms to keep them from flanking. Magwa breaks contact and backs up, while the luggits charge across the field into the reaper troop. The Boomstick wiz does 2 points of damage and a waver on the right reaper troop, the vanilla wiz does a point of damage on the mindscreech for shooting, I need to shut down the lightning bolts now. In combat, the luggits do only three damage, and fail to wave or kill the reapers, they will pay for that. Jareth does 3 points of damage but fails to break the phantoms. The Mincers clean up the dread fiend, but the rabble and mawbeasts are stuck facing an angry bunch of reapers. This game is really hanging in the balance right now. At the mid-way point, It’s anybody’s game.
Turn 4
Well, hell! What do I do now? I really need to shut down the lightning bolts, so I prioritize the 2 wiz and Magwa. The scarecrows emerge from the woods to take on the vanilla wiz, the bottom phantoms take on the boomstick wiz, and the injured phantoms take on Magwa again. In the center, the phantoms counter charge Jareth, and the crow horde are aided by a reaper troop in the flank of the rabble horde. I really don’t want to be stuck in a pillow fight. The right flank has the scarecrow regiment jumping in front of the mincers to try to slow them down, and the reapers take on the rabble regiment. I move the mindscreech back onto the hill for a clean shot, and zap away at the last mawbeasts. Sadly, my zapper seems to lack zap, and no wounds are done. Oops, I may be in trouble. The pink horror bane chants the scarecrow regiment, and the blue horror bane chants the phantoms on Jareth. I start combat on the left, and the phantoms completely whiff their attacks on Magwa. Now, I’m starting to worry that my UB Dice curse is turning on. But the phantoms wound and waver the bomstick wiz, and the scarecrows wound and waver the vanilla wiz, so I guess it’s okay after all. The reaper troop slices and dices the luggits into obscurity, but hang back where they are. The rabble horde die a cruel and horrible death under the ministrations of the reaper troop in the flank. (For the record, if you’re reading this, don’t ever let reapers hit your flank, they really are pretty nasty.) The scarecrow regiment manages to wound (once) the mincers, and the reaper regiment eradicates the rabble, then turns to face the unscratched mawbeasts. (Don’t let those get into your flank either.)
Jareth and the boomstick wiz both make their headstrong tests, but the vanilla wiz fails miserably. The trolls run in to help their king, Magwa counter charges the phantoms, the mincers counter charge the scarecrows, and the mawbeasts charge the reapers. That’s movement out of the way, so the inspiring wiz is the only one capable of shooting now, and he manages to waver the pink horror. The mawbeasts manage 5 out of 6 possible wounds and a waver on the reaper troop. The mincers reap the scarecrows. The trolls and Jareth see off the phantoms, and Magwa does the same to the other troop.
Turn 5
Wow, I get a second triple charge in a game as both reaper troops and the scarecrow horde pile in on the trolls. The remaining phantom troop moves across the field to threaten the flanks of the mincers or assist the reaper regiment. The remaining scarecrow regiment again attacks the vanilla wiz, and the shade charges Magwa. The reaper regiment is luckily out of the mincers’ charge arc, so remain locked with the mawbeasts. The mindscreech unleashes heck (that’s softer than hell,) against the mawbeasts, but they stand strong in their resolve. The undamaged reaper troop draws a bane chant again, and the trolls are prepared as hors d’oeuvres for the traditional after battle feast. The scarecrows again wound the vanilla wiz, so he won’t be throwing any zaps around. The shade finishes off Magwa and makes a necklace out of Joos’ teeth. It looks like it is now my battle to lose. I am officially scoring 4 right now, but Steve has a solid chance to grab both of the two pointers and take them across the line. It’s going to be close.
(Okay, I was really into this game at this point, and forgot to grab a happy snap.) Jareth charges the reapers with 3 wounds. The vanilla wiz tries to fight back against the scarecrows and the mawbeasts again charge the reaper regiment. The mincers swing up and grab the 2 point loot counter, but stay south of the line to protect their flanks from a lot of scary stuff. The inspiring wiz and the boomstick wiz finally get their acts together and zap the mindscreech out of existence, and the maw beasts finish off the reaper troop, spin, and grab the 2 point loot token. (Man, why couldn’t I have wavered them with 2 rounds of lightning. I suck.) Jareth wavers the reaper troop. The score is now 4 to 4 going into turn 6. This is still tight, and anybody’s game.
Turn 6
The reaper troop with 2 wounds was facing back towards the 2 wiz, and they attack decide to slaughter Jareth, so much for my inspiring on that side. The scarecrows again have a dig at the vanilla wiz, and the shade charges the boomstick wiz. Both attacks result in wavered wizzes. The Scarecrow horde attacks the mincers, and the remaining phantoms move to where they can take on the mawbeasts with the token, or the flank of the mincers. The blue horror fails to bane chant the reapers, but they’re cool enough and wipe the floor with Jareth. The pink horror does bane chant the crow horde, but it doesn’t matter since they can’t even manage a hit, much less a wound with 30 attacks.
The mincers counter charge the scarecrow horde, and the mawbeasts decide their best chance to live is by trying to charge through the pink horror into the scarecrows. He actually was shooting for the phantoms I think, but it just wouldn’t line up right. The pink Horror goes down, but 1 inch of over run accomplishes nothing. This is the scary part. At the end of turn 6, Steve is up on points 5 to 3. Will there be a turn 7? The die roll falls; a 5!!! Yep Turn 7 it shall be.
Turn 7:
The line in the sand is drawn! With a turn 7, I stand a solid chance of pulling this thing out. I am nervous though. The big choice I have is to charge the phantoms into the front of the mawbeasts with the token, which if I can end them, would take 3 points from Steve and add 2 to me, or the mincers. The Mincers are more of a fright. If I commit the Phantoms to the mincer flank, I could rid him of 2 points and add 3 to me, but there’s no guarantee I can finish off a -16 big shield unit. My dread is on the other side of the field, so no help from that direction. My blue horror is too far out to lend his aura for vicious, so that doesn’t help. Tough call. I decide to take the mawbeasts with the phantoms. I send the reaper troop into the front of the mincers with the scarecrow horde, who drop, pick up, and drop again the loot token. I really had to think this through. If I kill the mincers with a lucky roll, I can sidestep the crows down and pick up the token again, but if I fail to break them, then the mincers can’t automatically pick up the token. Best choice in the end. The scarecrows get some help from the reapers in attacking the vanilla iwz, and the shade has another go at the boomstick wiz. This leaves just the inspiring wiz unengaged, so I think my (inspired) phantoms can survive a lightning 3. The phantoms easily dispatch the mawpups. Something no one else in the army could so. The Blue horror Bane chants the reapers, who go on to only score 8 hits out of 20 on a 3 plus, and 3 wounds on a 4 plus. Yuck! The 30 attacks from the scarecrows on 5/6 add 1 more wound. It’s gonna be close. I need an 8 twice. First roll gets a 9, That’s enough, but the jnspiring wiz says try again. A 5!!! Boo! The mincers get to fight back and keep their loot. The double charge on the vanilla wiz sees him finally die, that’s after 3 rounds of combat on a 9/11 hero. The shade makes his attacks. He flubs 4 and hits 1. The 1 fails to wound, so the boomstick wiz is free to blast away. This is still not looking good. If the combined lightning of the 2 wiz can do enough damage to kill the phantoms, the game could end up 2 to 2.
The Mincers elect to counter charge the crows. It was a wise choice to drop the token. The two zappers position themselves and let fly. Resulting in 4 wounds. They need an 8 twice for the draw. The first roll is a 10. Ooh! Nail Biter. The next roll: … a 6! Not enough. He mincers finish off the scarecrows and advance, but this is the end. Final score is 4 to 2, Night Stalkers favor.
After Thoughts:
Good Lord, that was a close one. His previous list had 2 mincers troops and 2 rabble regiments instead of 1 mincer regiment and 2 luggit gangs. I think the new configuration makes his goblins more of a threat to a lot of armies. The terrain kept his luggits from doing more damage to me, but they still managed a hindered charge to take out the elite reaper regiment. The -/16 mincers are something to actually fear in the goblin world. In the middle of the game, I kind of lost sight of the mission, and got caught up in trying to take down the shooting threat. That vanilla wiz was incredibly resilient. I had no intention of taking out the inspiring wiz, because, let’s face it, I needed him, too. In the end, I had less than 700 points left on the board, and he had less than 350. That was a bloody battle. With every game I play against him, Steve is getting better. This goblin list should be very formidable by the time we can get back to playing on the tables.
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