"The veiling shadow that glowers in the East takes shape" - Gandalf in The Two Towers
The time has come for a battle report! This time it is a play test game with my 500pt Moria Horde which I outlined here.
I was playing against at my local store vs a really fun army themed around a Shadow in the East/Evil Men. I have played against his Easterling force before and a very scary Serpent Horde poison list but have never played against his Khand chariots before.
The Shadow in the East list:
Amdur on Ft
13 Easterling pikeblock (mix of black dragons and standard warriors)
Khand King on Chariot
Khand Chieftain on Chariot
3 Khandish Horsemen
Looking at the list as we started the game I knew I would be in trouble, he can out maneuver me with the chariots and horsemen and the pike block would be tough for me to deal with.
Scenario
Rolled up the scenario and it was Heirlooms of Ages Past. Not the best scenario for either of us but the Shadow in the East list had the movement advantage. The objectives were placed around the board mainly in open ground, except for one that I placed on a hill outcropping, hoping that would prevent me getting attacked by the chariots and cavalry.
Turn #1
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
The maelstrom of battle deployment really changed how the game went from turn #1. Easterling pike block was placed on west board edge while the Khandish King and 3 horsemen deployed on the eastern board edge, the Chieftain failed to enter the board turn #1.
Moria maelstrom was not what I had planned at all when it came to this army list. Groblog's unit failed to enter the board, Shaman was placed on the eastern board edge 6" from the corner. The captain's warband which included the drum was unfortunately placed a little more than 6" from the south-west corner so I was facing down the scary pike block right away! I then rolled east/west and was able to put my Durburz warband on the opposite side of the pike block on the western board edge. I was hoping I would be able to attack the pike block from both sides and make use out of the Moria army bonus for trapped models and the prowlers I had on the list.
Turn #2
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
The Chariot and the horsemen started moving from east to west across the board toward the pikeblock and my 2 warbands. The chariot that didn't make it onto the board, made it on started moving it's way across the board with the other chariot.
Moria movement, I started to move Durburz toward the pikeblock, as fast as I could which is so slow with moria! The Captains warband shuffled over to 1" away from the pikeblock so they could avoid the chariots for at least another turn and prepare for the pikeblocks attack. The drum also moved to the corner to try and survive.
Shamans warband split up to try and dig up heirloms in the next turn while Groblog made it onto the board and was dropped in the middle of the north board edge, selected by the opponent.
Shooting:
The Khanish King and horsemen were able to kill a goblin spearmen and a shield goblin with shooting in the first turn. The first casualties!
Turn #3
Priority: Moria
Movement:
Moria - I needed to decide what to do, the pike block was a big threat to my Captains warband and the chariots were coming across the battlefield very quickly. I decided to leave the drum in place and charge my Captains warband into the pike block, since I wanted to stop them from moving any further away from Durburz's warband. I needed to be able to catch the rear with Durburz's warband so I moved his warband up and put a few goblins behind a wall of a small building and left a prowler out to the side to try and get a lucky shot on the Kings chariot with my throwing weapon.
The Moria Shamans group was able to get to the one objective atop the rock outcropping and dug it up, not the Heirloom. There was 2 more objectives out of the frame in the above photo on just to the bottom left of the photo and another just on the flat terrain on the other side of the rock outcropping. The goblins remaining in the shamans warband began to move towards those two objectives.
The Easterling pike block slammed into the Moria Captains line and the two chariots turned towards the rear of Durburz's warband.
Shooting:
It is the prowlers time to shine as he stands in the face of a Khanish King on his menacing Chariot!
Turns into a flop roll and he can't even hit with his throwing weapon. My other 2 prowlers also attempted to throw their throwing daggers at the back of the pike block, one missing completely and the other throwing through 2 friendly goblins, passing both in the ways but failing to wound an Easterling.
Combat:
I decided to shield with my captain who was facing up against Amdur and in a single turn Amdur completely demolished my captain so he was gone. The rest of the pike block won all but 1 combat and was able to kill a number of goblins. The one combat that my goblins one failed to wound.
Turn #4
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
This is where the power of chariots and lack of D6 for goblins turned out well for the evil men. The chariots moved and crushed a number of my goblins, including my brave prowler! The King on chariot was able to destroy a fair amount of Durburz's warband, 3 or 4 goblins just through movement.
Moria - Durburz was able to tri-point the Khandish King and one goblin tagged the chieftain to allow this by taking away his control zone.
The shaman and Groblogs crew began moving up the board and was able to uncover 2 more objectives, both were not the relic. The one goblin from Durburz's crew tagged on as well and it was not the relic. That left 2 objectives left, both in the open field.
Combat:
Durburz called a heroic combat to try and neutralize the Khandish King, no other heroics were called.
Durburz and a single prowler with a spear support went up against the King, with a reroll from the drum, I hoped I would be able to squeak out a win! Unfortunately for me I couldn't match the rolls of the Khandish King and Druburz had to use his two fate rolls, failing one so Durburz took a wound (+1 VP for Shadow in the East)
The rest of the combat went as expected with the Easterlings killing a ton of goblins, even when shielding with a reroll from the drum, and the chieftain destroying my lone goblin with a spear.
Turn #5
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
Durburz called a heroic move to attempt to stop the chariots from destroying my remaining goblins on his side of the table. The Kahnish King countered with a move of his own. The rolloff goooooes tooooo......MORIA!
I was able to move Durburz into the Chieftain along with a prowler and spearmen to tripoint him and trap him. The other goblins were able to tripoint the King as well.
Evil men movement turned out bad for Moria. The Easterlings counter charged and a key play was the Khandish horsemen being able to make its way to Durburz! The third Khandish horsemen charged a lowly goblin with a spear in the centre of the table.
Moria then was able to move and turnover the second last objective, which was not the relic either! Thta mean the relic was near the centre of the board, out in the wide open!
Combat:
Durburz only had 1 Might left in his store so Moria called no heroics and the armies of the Shaodw in the East didn't call any either since Amdur was facing off against a single goblin with a spear and the Khandish King was up against a single prowler who would be fighting at -1 with his 2 handed axe.
Lots of dead goblins in this turn but Moria scored it's first kill when Durburz was able to kill the horsemen he was against.
Turn #6
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
The evil men lines clashed with the goblins again, this time targeting the drum, Durburz and the rest of the goblins.
Groblog and the Shamans warbands both moved towards the center objective and one of the goblins from the shamans warband was able to uncover and grab the relic.
Combat:
Durburz was killed, the drummers were both killed and every other goblin near the Easterlings were killed except one poor goblin with a spear was left!
Turn #7
Priority: Shadow in the East
Goblin holding the objective rolled a 3 so was good to move normally
Movement:
The Khanish chariots and horsemen were bearing down on the Moria lines, Moria was broken but both heroes were able to make their stand fasts but both Groblog and the Shaman had to expend one Will each, meaning Groblog was down to 0 will. The lone goblin with a spear was charged by a pair of Easterlings.
Shooting:
Khandish horsemen attempted to shot the goblin holding the objective but failed to hit. The two remaining prowlers attempted to throw a few daggers at the chieftain but failed to even hit.
Combat:
There was a lone goblin spearmen who attempted to get into combat against 2 Easterlings in the far corner of the board and the goblin somehow survived.
Turn #8
Priority: Shadow in the East
The goblin holding the objective rolled a 6 and was luckily not transfixed
Movement:
Knowing I held the objective and that my force was close to breaking I decided to not call a heroic move with Durburz to allow the chariots to come in and destroy my lines.
The chariots moved in and were able to kill about half of Groblog's warband.
I was able to make a stand fast with both Groblog and the Shaman and I moved the object back towards the rock outcropping.
Shooting:
Khandish horsemen tried to shoot the objective holding goblin and again were unable to hit.
Combat:
Moria scored it's SECOND kill of the game by killing the Khandish horsemen. The Chariots killed almost my entire goblin line leaving only Groblog and a single goblin on that flank remaining.
Turn #9
Priority: Shadow in the East
Moria was 1 model away from 25% so turn #9 would be the last turn. The goblin holding the objective rolled a 5 and was not transfixed again.
Movement:
Both chariots moved into Groblog and a few of the goblins, killing one and stopping on another.
The pikeblock and Amdur were coming for the objective.
Moria's movment. The spearmen in the far corner failed it's courage test and fled the board cutting the army below 25%, this was the final game turn. The shaman was able to make his standfast, using another Will point to succeed. Two of his goblins charged Amdur and the rest fell back.
Combat:
Somehow Groblog survived combat but failed to wound the Khandish cheiftain. The Khandish King rolled over the single goblin in his combat. In the Amdur combat I decided to stab with the two goblins, just for fun and they were both cut down by Amdur!
Shadow in the East: 4 VP total (2 for breaking Moria and being unbroken, 2 for killing Moria's leader)
Moria: 6 VP total for holding the relic
Endgame Discussion:
This game was a wild game, first time facing chariots and also first time playing as a full horde Moria list. The chariots were devastating against my army, especially since goblins with shields are only D5 the chariots wound on 5s which happened quite a bit.
The goblins were dropping like flies to a stiff breeze, which is fine considering I had 49 models
The Shadow in the East list had low numbers but they had the defense and movement to be able to destroy my army. I also found that the goblins 5" move was a big detriment, giving the 6" move Easterlings advantage on charges and it took one turn too many for the Moria goblins to get to the rear of the pike block.
I was extremely lucky that my goblin heroes were able to make their stand fasts to keep the relic on the board, if the Shaman failed I am 99% sure my remaining goblins would have ran away which may have meant a Shadow in the East victory.
I think the Moria list really needs at least one or two bigger threats. Both Durburz and Groblog aren't a big threat but having a troll in there would have been beneficial. The shaman didn't need to use his Fury during this game but I think it is still a worthwhile investment just in case, although in this game having him roll for deployment on the opposite side of the other warbands wasn't great.
Overall I think it was a fun list to play and we were able to finish the game in about 1hr 40 minutes which was reasonable for the number of models in my army, I was thinking it would really slow my play down.
Next list to try out will be my Mordor list with the Great Beast of Gorgoroth, Kardush and Shagrat which will most likely be at the tournament since I don't have enough time to play test that list but I think it will stand a better chance than this Moria list.
Hope you enjoyed the battle report!
Moria - I needed to decide what to do, the pike block was a big threat to my Captains warband and the chariots were coming across the battlefield very quickly. I decided to leave the drum in place and charge my Captains warband into the pike block, since I wanted to stop them from moving any further away from Durburz's warband. I needed to be able to catch the rear with Durburz's warband so I moved his warband up and put a few goblins behind a wall of a small building and left a prowler out to the side to try and get a lucky shot on the Kings chariot with my throwing weapon.
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| Start of Turn #3 - The shamn's warband is just out of the photo behind that large rock outcropping |
The Easterling pike block slammed into the Moria Captains line and the two chariots turned towards the rear of Durburz's warband.
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| End of movement turn #3. The single prowler is ready to take on the Khandish king! |
Shooting:
It is the prowlers time to shine as he stands in the face of a Khanish King on his menacing Chariot!
Turns into a flop roll and he can't even hit with his throwing weapon. My other 2 prowlers also attempted to throw their throwing daggers at the back of the pike block, one missing completely and the other throwing through 2 friendly goblins, passing both in the ways but failing to wound an Easterling.
Combat:
I decided to shield with my captain who was facing up against Amdur and in a single turn Amdur completely demolished my captain so he was gone. The rest of the pike block won all but 1 combat and was able to kill a number of goblins. The one combat that my goblins one failed to wound.
Turn #4
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
This is where the power of chariots and lack of D6 for goblins turned out well for the evil men. The chariots moved and crushed a number of my goblins, including my brave prowler! The King on chariot was able to destroy a fair amount of Durburz's warband, 3 or 4 goblins just through movement.
Moria - Durburz was able to tri-point the Khandish King and one goblin tagged the chieftain to allow this by taking away his control zone.
The shaman and Groblogs crew began moving up the board and was able to uncover 2 more objectives, both were not the relic. The one goblin from Durburz's crew tagged on as well and it was not the relic. That left 2 objectives left, both in the open field.
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| Turn #4 after all moves were done the moria lines were depleted. My only hope was to kill the Khandish King and heroic combat into the Chieftains chariot. |
Durburz called a heroic combat to try and neutralize the Khandish King, no other heroics were called.
Durburz and a single prowler with a spear support went up against the King, with a reroll from the drum, I hoped I would be able to squeak out a win! Unfortunately for me I couldn't match the rolls of the Khandish King and Druburz had to use his two fate rolls, failing one so Durburz took a wound (+1 VP for Shadow in the East)
The rest of the combat went as expected with the Easterlings killing a ton of goblins, even when shielding with a reroll from the drum, and the chieftain destroying my lone goblin with a spear.
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| End of combat in Turn #4 |
Turn #5
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
Durburz called a heroic move to attempt to stop the chariots from destroying my remaining goblins on his side of the table. The Kahnish King countered with a move of his own. The rolloff goooooes tooooo......MORIA!
I was able to move Durburz into the Chieftain along with a prowler and spearmen to tripoint him and trap him. The other goblins were able to tripoint the King as well.
Evil men movement turned out bad for Moria. The Easterlings counter charged and a key play was the Khandish horsemen being able to make its way to Durburz! The third Khandish horsemen charged a lowly goblin with a spear in the centre of the table.
Moria then was able to move and turnover the second last objective, which was not the relic either! Thta mean the relic was near the centre of the board, out in the wide open!
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| The end of movement on Turn #5 meant Durburz was no longer going to be attacking the Khandish Chieftain but a lowly horsemen instead. |
Durburz only had 1 Might left in his store so Moria called no heroics and the armies of the Shaodw in the East didn't call any either since Amdur was facing off against a single goblin with a spear and the Khandish King was up against a single prowler who would be fighting at -1 with his 2 handed axe.
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| Durburz after his move onto the Khandish Chieftain and the charge by the horsemen |
Lots of dead goblins in this turn but Moria scored it's first kill when Durburz was able to kill the horsemen he was against.
Turn #6
Priority: Shadow in the East
Movement:
The evil men lines clashed with the goblins again, this time targeting the drum, Durburz and the rest of the goblins.
Groblog and the Shamans warbands both moved towards the center objective and one of the goblins from the shamans warband was able to uncover and grab the relic.
Combat:
Durburz was killed, the drummers were both killed and every other goblin near the Easterlings were killed except one poor goblin with a spear was left!
Turn #7
Priority: Shadow in the East
Goblin holding the objective rolled a 3 so was good to move normally
Movement:
The Khanish chariots and horsemen were bearing down on the Moria lines, Moria was broken but both heroes were able to make their stand fasts but both Groblog and the Shaman had to expend one Will each, meaning Groblog was down to 0 will. The lone goblin with a spear was charged by a pair of Easterlings.
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| The goblins hold the objective but the chariots are about the destroy my goblin line! |
Khandish horsemen attempted to shot the goblin holding the objective but failed to hit. The two remaining prowlers attempted to throw a few daggers at the chieftain but failed to even hit.
Combat:
There was a lone goblin spearmen who attempted to get into combat against 2 Easterlings in the far corner of the board and the goblin somehow survived.
Turn #8
Priority: Shadow in the East
The goblin holding the objective rolled a 6 and was luckily not transfixed
Movement:
Knowing I held the objective and that my force was close to breaking I decided to not call a heroic move with Durburz to allow the chariots to come in and destroy my lines.
The chariots moved in and were able to kill about half of Groblog's warband.
I was able to make a stand fast with both Groblog and the Shaman and I moved the object back towards the rock outcropping.
Shooting:
Khandish horsemen tried to shoot the objective holding goblin and again were unable to hit.
Combat:
Moria scored it's SECOND kill of the game by killing the Khandish horsemen. The Chariots killed almost my entire goblin line leaving only Groblog and a single goblin on that flank remaining.
Turn #9
Priority: Shadow in the East
Moria was 1 model away from 25% so turn #9 would be the last turn. The goblin holding the objective rolled a 5 and was not transfixed again.
Movement:
Both chariots moved into Groblog and a few of the goblins, killing one and stopping on another.
The pikeblock and Amdur were coming for the objective.
Moria's movment. The spearmen in the far corner failed it's courage test and fled the board cutting the army below 25%, this was the final game turn. The shaman was able to make his standfast, using another Will point to succeed. Two of his goblins charged Amdur and the rest fell back.
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| Groblogs Final Stand! |
Combat:
Somehow Groblog survived combat but failed to wound the Khandish cheiftain. The Khandish King rolled over the single goblin in his combat. In the Amdur combat I decided to stab with the two goblins, just for fun and they were both cut down by Amdur!
END OF THE GAME!
Final VPs 6-4 for Moria
Moria: 6 VP total for holding the relic
Endgame Discussion:
This game was a wild game, first time facing chariots and also first time playing as a full horde Moria list. The chariots were devastating against my army, especially since goblins with shields are only D5 the chariots wound on 5s which happened quite a bit.
The goblins were dropping like flies to a stiff breeze, which is fine considering I had 49 models
The Shadow in the East list had low numbers but they had the defense and movement to be able to destroy my army. I also found that the goblins 5" move was a big detriment, giving the 6" move Easterlings advantage on charges and it took one turn too many for the Moria goblins to get to the rear of the pike block.
I was extremely lucky that my goblin heroes were able to make their stand fasts to keep the relic on the board, if the Shaman failed I am 99% sure my remaining goblins would have ran away which may have meant a Shadow in the East victory.
I think the Moria list really needs at least one or two bigger threats. Both Durburz and Groblog aren't a big threat but having a troll in there would have been beneficial. The shaman didn't need to use his Fury during this game but I think it is still a worthwhile investment just in case, although in this game having him roll for deployment on the opposite side of the other warbands wasn't great.
Overall I think it was a fun list to play and we were able to finish the game in about 1hr 40 minutes which was reasonable for the number of models in my army, I was thinking it would really slow my play down.
Next list to try out will be my Mordor list with the Great Beast of Gorgoroth, Kardush and Shagrat which will most likely be at the tournament since I don't have enough time to play test that list but I think it will stand a better chance than this Moria list.
Hope you enjoyed the battle report!
