MESBG Defenders of Amon Hen

 

I have recently started to play the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG) fortunately my old friend Red Orc also plays and brough along his accidental Rohan Army to play against Lurtz's Scouts.  Given we were both new to the latest edition of the rules we started with a simple 400 point game.  These were the lists we went with.  We rolled randomly for scenario and got Domination!


Legolas arrived first and positioned, with his archers, on the NE objective; Theoden and his Spearmen held the NW while Gamling held the centre.  Lurtz and Captain Vau both deployed on the western side to be out of range of the Rohan archers.  While Team Evil started with no objectives three Uruk-Hai ran south to secure both those in the south.

This set up resulted in Legolas having to march most of his unit west while the Uruk-Hai archers were able to release several volleys of fire into Theoden.  The first of which killed two Spearmen and then did very little for the rest of the game.  In the centre Lurtz was able to charge into Gamling and, with a free Heroic Combat every turn, chop through the warriors.  


Theoden was forced to advance on the archers with his Spearmen.  With the only visible Uruk's moving west to stay out of bow shot range Legolas headed south to get to the other objectives.  Lurtz however used another Heroic Combat to springboard across the open space towards the archers and having manged to tag one of them charge Legolas the next turn.  His shield knocked the elven prince prone but he was not able to win the dual for Legolas was still a mighty hero!


Over to the West King Theoden was happily chopping through Uruk-Hai but his royal guard were not managing so well.  Lots of one-on-one combats were lost due to the lower fight value of Men.  This allowed a single Uruk-Hai to slip past the dwindling defenders and claim the seat of Amon Hen (NW Objective).

As soon as the Accidental Rohan Army were broken the Uruk's started to Shield to ensure they were not quartered in the same round.  This forced them to take courage tests the next round.  Sadly, for them, the single Warrior holding the forest (NE Objective) fled the battle as did a couple of others.

Captain Vau chopped down the last of the Rohan soldiers holding the central objective.  Legolas was able to hold Lurtz at bay preventing him or his followers from reaching the forest.  Theoden could not kill the Uruk-Hai quick enough to move back and the game ended with Isengard holding four objectives to zero and being unbroken for a score of 15-0.  Amusingly neither General took a single wound which would have been the other victory points.


In retrospect this showed the tactical disadvantage of having all the Rohan archers in one warband.  Positioning meant they were shut out for most of the game spending three out of six turns moving.  They did manage to snipe a couple of Scouts but it was Legolas and Theoden who killed most of the enemy.  While I was winning draws in the single combats my dice did roll a lot of fives and sixes followed by another five for the kill.  A permanent 8" move on the Scouts was really helpful for getting them into combat and causing problems for the Rohan force.


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