Well, it's that time again where spooky Angmar orcs go from door to door asking for elven treats. I've been wanting to really dig into Angmar for a while and andrew obliged by running the Last Alliance list he's been tuning for some time. We rolled for scenario and got Reconnoiter. Over all, that feels like it favors Angmar a bit more, but anything is possible in the great game of MESBG!
First up is my Angmar list. You'll note that I've dropped the Dead Marsh Spectres. Honestly, I think they're just too expensive and too situational. They can definitely be awesome, but equally they can be 15 wasted points. Instead, I beefed the Witch King's Will to 16 so he can cast heavy early on and really lean into softening up big heroes for the Barrow Wights. Wonderful list building courtesy of Tabletop Admiral.
Andrew's list leans into Gil-Galad some with the King's Guard and with Cirdan is, in my opinion, an extremely well rounded tournament capable list.
In reconoitter, forces arrive somewhat scattered but not quite as bad as Maelstram. I won initial priority and all 4 of my warbands came on. Andrew had Elendil and Gil-Galad arrive but Cirdan was delayed a turn.
That's quite a distance to close. Thankful Andrew doesn't have too much shooting this game.
The Witch King and his boys.
Gulavhar and his pets- Romulus and Remus. I stick them on my flank, hoping the wargs can be my scoring units.
Gil-Galad's spear is... off. It happens to all sorts of elven kings! I had a heartbreaking drop of the Last alliance army a few days ago and most things suffered pretty bad breaks... but I just couldn't fix that spear well.
Cirdan finally arrives and the armies march forth.
Gulavhar and his dogs being cagey while the rest of the army navigates the difficult terrain. Andrew starts forming ranks and sending elf arrows at Gullie.
When finally the lines clash, I lose priority. Elendil and Gil-Galad are both just out of combat and Gulavhar is able to charge into a warrior of Numenor- passing courage despite Cirdan successfully casting Aura of Dismay. He heroic combats off it and again passes terror to charge Cirdan...
He then hurls Cirdan knocking both Elendil and Gil-Galad off their horses and killing Cirdan. Ouch. MVP play from Gulavhar right there and difficult to account for given the 12" flying. Still, Andrew realized he could have scattered a few troops to limit Gullie's landing zones and it cost him dearly... though I had every intention of making it happen with a compel from the Witch King if I needed to!
On my left flank Andrew has a force pushing past my lines; I think if I lose sight of them they could push through and across the board edge. Gullie has his work cut out for him.
On the following turn, Gulavhar is able to charge the Numenorean banner and another elf thanks to the Witch King transfixing Gil-Galad. Elendil stands up but is out of range of reaching Gullie. The lines are well and truly clashing now! King's Guards are great anti-troll tech.
Honestly, the duels weirdly go my way for a turn or two and at some point I find myself up on kills over the Last Alliance. Andrew couldn't roll a 6 to save his life.
As the game reaches the late stages, we have a counter move off- the Witch King vs Elendil. The Witch King wins the roll off and Gulavhar pulls out; not wanting to get finger trapped by Gil-Galad and Elendil. Then a Barrow Wight manages to paralyze Gil-Galad and it's looking grim for the last alliance.
Gulavhar pulls back behind my lines to pursue Andrew's forces that broke through... by the way- speaking of which my two wargs long ago snuck off the board edge! When Gil-Galad was transfixed the slunk up the right edge of the board, scoring me 2 models off Andrew's edge.
The situation on my left flank.
Gulavhar likely to see off these four or five models pushing my board edge unless Andrew gets really lucky. At the end of the previous turn Gilly recovers from his paralysis.
But finally Elendil is chopping and both forces are veering towards broken. The Witch King keeps harassing Gil-Galad, scoring a Black Dart that Gilly fails to save with fate... ouch.
With Elendil's continual choppage I am getting a little scared that he can reach the Witch King... the Witch King is down to 2 will but we're both broken at this point and careening towards quartered.
Gulavhar reports "mission accomplished" as a few of the outlying Last Alliance warriors flee the field or get eaten by the demon of Arnor.
Two elves get into combat with the Witch King, but the King manages to win the fight and kill one of the elves bringing a close to the game. The Witch King has 1 will left!
With that, Angmar got both Wild Wargs off for 5 VPs. Both forces are broken for 1 VP each. Finally, I landed a cheeky Black Dart on Gil-Galad that he did not save with fate for another 1 VP. Making this game a 7-1 for Angmar.
Closing Thoughts: Honestly, had I not gotten that amazing hurl off with Gulavhar this would have been an entirely different game. Killing Cirdan and unhorsing both Gil-Galad and Elendil in one fell swoop is absolutely insane; and something I doubt Andrew will ever allow me to pull off again!
I gotta say, Angmar is super fun. I did not miss Dead Marsh Spectres at all; but what do you think? Should I drop the troll for more bodies including some spectres?
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