[Tale Telling] First Win and Lessons Learned - 650 Points

Today was my game day and I hoped to get at least two matches in since I was stymied from playing last week. The local store was pretty packed for an Age of Sigmar event but we had a few tables to run some games on. Four of us got there fairly early so we paired off, me and my Lothlórien against a Historical Alliance of Minas Tirith and the Dead of Dunharrow. I don't have the exact lists but my opponent had the King of the Dead, two Warriors of the Dead with Banners, and then a small but equal amount of Shield and Axe or just Spear. On the Minas Tirith side he had Aragorn, King Elessar, 5 Rangers of Gondor, and about 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith, half with Shields and half with Spears.

I brought Galadriel and Celeborn (kitted out), one Galadhrim Knight, one Warrior with Banner, 15 Warriors with Shield, 2 Guard of the Galadhrim Court, a Warrior with Shield and Spear, and 11 Wood Elves with Spears and Bows.

For a Scenario we rolled and struck to A Clash by Moonlight. I intentionally chose that one as I had the last veto, thinking it would be a bit more favorable to Minas Tirith. In general I like to play Scenarios I think my army will be bad at so I can see if I'm right and if I can get around that but it's not like the Scenario is a disaster either.

For a table we had a lot of scatter Terrain but no real big pieces, this was because most of the usable Terrain was co-opted by the Age of Sigmar event. There was a decent sized shallow river that ran across the table horizontally (from our Deployment Zone perspectives) and was probably in a third of the table. I ended up being given that side because while the Dead of Dunharrow can walk across water, the Minas Tirith can't. My hope was I can fight one part of the army before the other OR just wait and take more close range Shooting.

Interlude: I will post this in all further games I write about as well but nothing I say here is intended to be insulting, demeaning, or rude in any way towards my opponent. I discuss mistakes made by both players in order to flesh out the game and detail what happened, not to assert myself or tear anyone down. Resuming.....

Deployment had Aragorn and Co. drop first, on the right-middle part of the table. I took that opportunity to deploy on the left-middle where I could guard a crossing in the river and otherwise keep it between me and the living. The Dead went down on the left flank, which I matched with Galadriel. This gave me a pretty solid game-plan: if the Dead rush me I can fight them with my whole army and hopefully come out ahead before engaging the other part of the army. Otherwise I can use my Bows against the Dead once they close a bit, wounding them on 5/3 instead of the normal 6/4 due to their high Defense. I also wanted to lob Immobilize at Aragorn early and often, hopefully sapping his Will and removing the only serious threat from the combined army.

The early game played out much as I hoped, I was able to setup my line on the near side of the river and get the Bows prepared for the future. Celeborn played to the center, ready to intercept Aragorn if need be or run over and deal with the Dead instead. Aragorn spent the first few Turns calling Heroic Marches, as expected, but was still struggling to close the gap quickly.

After a few Turns I had some Bow targets and decided to throw up Blinding Light, this would let the Rangers hang back but there are only a few of them so I'd rather they hit on 6's and have the plus to Wound rather than get a bit closer but have normal To Hit. My Shooting was incredibly deadly, dropping a couple Warriors of the Dead and two Minas Tirith Warriors, I suffered no losses in return by the time our lines clashed.

As I'd hoped the river really put a damper on Minas Tirith and I was able to hold the two model wide crossing without losses. Unfortunately I placed my Knight poorly and he got Charged off a lost Priority Roll, dying to a swam of the dead. Certainly something I need to work on in the future, just got a bit too close. Losing the Knight was a big deal because if I can Prone the Warriors of the Dead I have much better odds of actually killing.

Initially I was losing most Fights on the Minas Tirith side, but not taking losses, and winning Fights against the Dead but not killing. Aragorn struggled to get into a Fight and I was able to drain all his Will with Galadriel over a few Turns, I continuously put two dice into my Immobilizes and Aragorn just wasn't able to match the rolls.I then got Celeborn into Aragorn and started bringing my numbers to bear against the Minas Tirith, netting some kills and keeping Aragorn ineffective. My spare Bows were also able to kill almost all the Rangers over two Turns, leaving me with Shooting supremacy and a serious numbers advantage (with Elves)!

Over time the Dead were able to get some kills as I didn't have a Banner on their side and they Wound me on 5's but I crushed the Minas Tirith, including killing Aragorn over two Turns by drowning him in bodies and using Celeborn for the Fight value. I was fortunate to not need to use any Heroic Strikes because Aragorn was using his Might for some early Heroic Combats and some Duel Rolls, he was also almost constantly Immobilized so if he wins I'm fine.

Once Aragorn died the game quickly wound down and I was able to get more bodies on the Dead of Duharrow, netting some cheeky kills. In the end I won 10-1 in a pretty fun game that I was happy with.

Takeaways

My biggest takeaway was that I used the Knight very poorly and I just need to work on positioning with Cavalry. I kept it away from the Minas Tirith side because the Horse would be in extreme danger against the Rangers of Gondor, my hope was to sweep from the rear and either Prone one of the Banners as often as possible or aim for a kill with a numbers advantage.

I also could have shifted harder to the left, making things harder on Minas Tirith and bringing more Bows to bear. I could have Deployed differently, throwing everything to the Minas Tirith side, but because of the 12" Bow/Spell range I think Aragorn could have held back and ruined any advantage I had. Without access to Heroic March the Dead of Dunharrow couldn't re-deploy effectively so I felt like they were more committed and that ended up working out.

For my opponent I think their list was a little too light on numbers, the Dead of Dunharrow are super expensive and Aragorn is extremely expensive for a 650 Point game. Spending literally half the points on two Heroes, and having two Banners on top of that, is a massive points sink. I think The Return of the King Legendary Legion would be better since you get a much cheaper, but basically just as good, Aragorn. Sure you don't have access to much Shooting, although Legolas is helpful at higher points, but having a free Heroic March that can oftentimes touch your whole army should close the gap quickly. I also didn't see the need for any Banners, just deploy the army together or maybe take one if Maelstrom Deployment is worrying.

Overall I enjoyed the win since I felt like it came from my use of the river and overall positioning, exploiting my opponent's own wide Deployment, and of course some hot Shooting dice. I'm a pretty big fan of the Wood Elves with Spear and Bow since you can run a very cohesive battle line for either Shooting or Combat. Not splitting them between Bows and Spears gives me more bodies and makes them more competent at a variety of roles. It does deny you ongoing Shooting once you close in but there don't often seem to be many targets for that because Good Armies can't shoot into combat. I'm sure they'd be useful against Wizards, Banners, etc. if you can get to the rear but I'm comfortable not doing that. A lot of Elves can be really intimidating to some people and it's pretty sweet being able to get flanks with an elite army.

Lastly I feel like I played Galadriel a lot better this game than my previous several. Her role seems to be putting and keeping Blinding Light up, when needed, and then just neutering the opponent's stronger Hero without Magic defense. Compel is nice too but is more situational, it gives me a way to get the Wood Elf Sentinel effect without actually bringing that model and relying on failed Courage Tests.

I'm pretty happy with this Army List as my general playing list, I still plan on taking Rivendell Knight "Swarm" for my Tournament Army though. I also have a Rohan and Lothlórien Army that I'm interested in, it might see the light of day one day. :] For now I'm back to painting and hopefully next week I can do a proper Battle Report, just still had some proxies and so on today.