Post Christmas MESBG Mini Tournament

 Its Becoming a Bit of Regular Feature 

After 2023's mini tournament, we did it again last year between Christmas and New Year, This time there was five players taking turns over four different armies.  This year Stevie turned up with his own Moria goblins* so I only had to provide three armies. Again the armies were quite small (225 pts) but actually that is enough to provide a nice mix of troops and a fast game. 

*He actually used a very similar army to the one I built last year with a troll and goblin captain as the key elements. 

Sharkey didn't have much of an impact in the tournament until the last game when he faced the troll and was able to immobilise it at a key turning point in the game.  

The chittering hordes and mountain dweller rules, made these goblins very tough to beat in spite of their low profiles. 

Looking at the mix of my Grenadier Halfling army and the few MESBG Hobbits, was one of the spurs to get a few more hobbits this year. So, I can build a completely separate army for next year. As the minis don't quite match up. 

I did theme both the armies and the battle boards with the Escape from Goblin Town scenery on one board and Scouring of the Shire terrain on the either. I did also work a way to squeeze the company of Thorin into a 225pt force but with Stevie bringing his Moria goblins we didn't use it. It was a bit of challenge but it would have been interesting to see how it would have fared against the more numerous opponents. 

For each of the games we placed three objectives on the board and then rolled for sudden death after each of the objectives had been claimed. Starting with a 6 on the first turn after the objectives had been claimed, followed by a 5+ on the second turn and so on until the game finished. This made for a number of tense game as one side hung on for sudden death and victory. 

Game 1 - Goblins vs. Sharkey's Rogues

Objectives - Two tree stumps and the log pile (Yes I need to make some proper objective markers!). 

Here the goblins were able to use their numbers and chittering hordes rule to good effect and slowly whittled down the rogues. 

Worm bravely seizes the middle objective. But not for long.

In the end Sid was surrounded and the goblins claimed the victory. 

Game 2 - Goblins vs. Hobbits of the Shire

Objectives - The cart, the statue and the out house.

In the end the objectives were a bit to far towards the goblins the hobbits couldn't quite make the gap before the goblins won in sudden death. 

Game 3 - Moria Goblins vs. Sharkey's Rogues

Objectives - The cart, the statue and the out house.

With Stevie's arrival the Moria goblins took on the Sharkey's rogues. With a troll in play, Sharkey finally had something to target with his Immobilise.  This time the Rogues are victorious by keeping the troll out of play by a combination of Sharkey's Immobilise and a few brave rogues. 

A brave rogue pins down for the rogues to just about hold on to claim a victory in sudden death. 

Game 4 - Goblins vs. Hobbits of the Shire

Objectives - Two tree stumps and the log pile 

Obviously concentration was failing at this point and i didn't take too many pictures of the final game. But in a tense final game, the hobbits managed to overcome the goblins but grabbing the objectives and running out the clock. 

Rob