Battle Report: MeSBG 9/8/2018 The Kingdom Of Khazad-Dum vs Minas Tirith

Last night my son and I broke out our Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game armies and had our first game with the new rules that were released last weekend.  We elected to start off with a smaller point game (400 Points) just to get our feet wet in the water again, and since it has been about 7 years since I last played a game.

In our lists, we had no Monsters nor Cavalry, so honestly to me, it did not seem much had really changed.  Yes, the Heroes did get some some new abilities, which I did not get to use because of the scenario that we rolled.  So to me it felt like the same game I left years ago (the part of the game I did not enjoy).

It probably was because of the scenario we rolled, but it was just a big scrum in the middle of the battlefield with who can roll higher for Combat, then who can roll a 6 to Wound...rinse and repeat.

The scenario we rolled was "Contest Of Champions" which honestly I fell is a very bad scenario.  I remember the name of this scenario from years ago, but they changed the deployment.  Both leaders and their warbands are deployed within 3" of the center.  You score Victory Points based on how many kills your leader does throughout the course of the battle.  My problem with this scenario, is that you can lose the game on Turn 1.  Charge into your enemy leader, you score 3 Victory Points right off the bat for killing the enemy leader, then another 3-7 depending on how many more models your leader kills.  Once you kill the enemy leader, there is no way for your opponent to win the game.  It is possible to still score 2 Victory Points based on being Broken, but no way to win the game.  Like I said, I feel it is a bad scenario.  Our game lasted 3 Turns since we had some bad dice rolling for Wounds, but my 'Dwarf King' finally fell to 'Boromir'.

I have not yet had a chance to look over all the other scenarios, but I am hoping they are better than this one with at last some objectives in the game.

Here are the two lists we played, since we were just playing for fun again, we let it slide to be a few points over 400.

400 Pts - The Kingdom Of Khazad-Dum - 401

1 Warband, 204 pts
   1 Dwarf King (Army Leader; Hand Weapon; Two-handed axe; Heavy Dwarf Armour)
   8 Khazâd Guard (Hand Weapon; Two-handed axe; Heavy Dwarf Armour; Bodyguard)
   4 Dwarf Warrior (Hand Weapon; Dwarf Bow; Dwarf Armour)

1 Warband, 197 pts
   1 Dwarf Captain (Hand Weapon; Dwarf Armour; Shield)
   6 Dwarf Warrior (Hand Weapon; Dwarf Armour; Shield)
   3 Dwarf Warrior (Hand Weapon; Two-Handed Weapon; Dwarf Armour)
   2 Dwarf Warrior (Hand Weapon; Dwarf Bow; Dwarf Armour)
   1 Dwarf Warrior (Hand Weapon; Dwarf Armour; Banner)

Total Roster Cost: 401

400 Pts - Minas Tirith - 404

1 Warband, 267 pts
   1 Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Horn of Gondor; Shield)
   6 Warrior of Minas Tirith (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield)
   6 Warrior of Minas Tirith (Hand Weapon; Spear; Heavy Armour; Shield)

1 Warband, 137 pts
   1 Captain of Minas Tirith (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield)
   4 Warrior of Minas Tirith (Hand Weapon; Bow; Heavy Armour)
   4 Warrior of Minas Tirith (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield)
   2 Citadel Guard (Hand Weapon; Spear; Heavy Armour; Bodyguard)

Total Roster Cost: 404

 Getting the battlefield setup with our 2D terrain.  Makes for a quick setup and easy storage.

The scrum in the middle of the battlefield, with the Dwarf King losing to Boromir.