The Last Alliance vs Moria in To the Death! A 700pt Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Battle Report

[@noahkennedy8975]

Fly is fun, But that Breathe Fire........ Gil-galad fails one fate and he gone.

[@DesmondDentresti]

Dragons are the kings of sunk cost fallacy, they start at 300 and just keep going up. You don't think you can even justify the Dragon unless it has the Hide upgrade. The Defence 9 halves the number of wounds you take which means half the number of courage checks. Thats basically its base cost then you look at the other upgrades and decide if you want one of them... Which OF COURSE you do, its Flight so you can get anywhere (that your enemy lets you) and the Hide lets you feel more comfortable about flying because throwing spears, crossbows and longbows arent going to shred you nearly as badly... So thats 350 points. Maybe the Breathe Fire and try to go for that big AOE, control more space, with flight you actually have as much threat range as bows but with so much more lethality! Costs a Will point but you are so hard to wound now with all them scales maybe its worth that one singular crumb of Will from your stores. Most enemies will spread out just because of the threat and get less value from their auras... But not that Cirdan with his blasted Blinding Light. Wyrmtongue is unreliable, especially if you intend to actually be engaged ever. However, being able to nullify a 100 point enemy hero on a 3+ once per turn to try to earn the value back when you would not be doing anything noteworthy otherwise, or to pull someone into threat range to set up a trap, a heroic combat or a hurl. So clutch when the enemy is determined to turtle up... Maybe we take ALL of them. Only 450 points - why not, right? We're well over half a Smaug so why stop!? Yeah, probably too much. Or we can just commit to being a waddling roadblock dragon. Even with 6" movement its base size lets it threaten two objectives at once. Gets the In-The Ways from infantry, and can hide under trees from siege weapons, very hard to commit to fighting it in melee when most heroes need to spend Might to Strike and are only wounding on 6/4s even if they win. They need probably 5 won combats to actually kill it and if they flub the roll it Rends them for 4 strikes at 3+, that smarts. Easier to ignore that entire side of the board and kill goblins. I kind of wish you could pick from a more 'mise en place' list of upgrades, 25 for +1 Defence and +1 Wound is way more comfortable than 50 for +2 +2. Maybe you pay 25 points for one instance of fire and another 25 for another use. 25 points to be a fast dragon with a 10" walk speed then another 25 points on top if you want the Flight. That would be nice.

[@NowForWrathGaming]

Yeah, the 50 points is way too much for... really ALL of the upgrades, but most of them aren't even worth considering. Good points!

[@TeaMsGu]

Insane that the elf bows wound the dragon on just 6’s. So brutal

[@NowForWrathGaming]

I COULD have upped his defence, but that 50 points at 700 felt too steep!

[@sharbie9540]

Fun report! One thing to note on the Dragon is that it doesn’t actually have any magic unless you upgrade it with Wyrmtongue (which probably isn’t worthwhile), so it’s actually worse in that way than you were assuming. You obviously didn’t cast with it anyway, but I thought you’d be interested in the extra little nerf. Speaking of magic, that was the one saving grace for the Dragon this game (and the reason there are much worse matchups available): it absolutely hates enemy offensive spellcasters and there weren’t any here. When you need your Will to stay alive, a classic double-caster Mordor or Angmar list is nightmarish for it. Drain Courage sucks, Sap Will sucks, Compel and Transfix suck, Black Dart can just kill you once you’re out of Will and Fate… It’s rough. I want to like the Dragon, but magic (and that base size) really makes it so much worse than it looks

[@NowForWrathGaming]

Ugh yeah. Dragon sucks.

[@atanvarno732]

that british and aussie slang just creeps into every day life

[@Simon-gc6uf]

Keep using those evenstar white dice Andrew, they work well for you.

[@freerundjs]

For water features: I use the river from Dungeons and lazers. You might want to get two sets.

[@NowForWrathGaming]

Thank you, that looks pretty good! Easily usable n the table?

[@freerundjs]

@@NowForWrathGaming For the most part the rocks on the side can cause slight issues for models who end up halfway on them but thats about it.

[@JMACCSArmiesOfMiddleEarth]

What an swarm of gobbos xD, dragons are absolute mince, they are soooo overcosted

[@NowForWrathGaming]

@@JMACCSArmiesOfMiddleEarth garbage

[@Phoenixstryke]

I really enjoy your videos, they are really well put together and clear. The one thing that stops me LOVING them, the Moria player finds somrthing to complain about in nearly every game I've watched for you. It's a little tiresome.

[@NowForWrathGaming]

It's true- I do tend to get caught up in the moment and complain! Hey- I'll work on myself and try to do better :) It's just toy soldiers after all.

[@Phoenixstryke]

@@NowForWrathGaming It's easily done! As I said, I love the videos regardless of this, it's just the one thing that I have reservations about. It is an easy thing to have happen. I can suffer from it myself, I can make a little mistake, get frustrated at myself, which leads to me making another etc. Watching someone else do it really gives perspective on how it can come across. I hope this doesn't come across really negatively, I do mean it as feedback to help improve the videos.

[@BrickWann]

Did you guys forget the Dragon has Fate?

[@NowForWrathGaming]

Yes. Yes I did. I think jumping right to the survival instinct roll saw me just breeze past it. It was a late game and I was fried! Good catch!

[@BrickWann]

@@NowForWrathGaming Yeah it happens. If you're planning on playing the Dragon in the future, I'd say you played it too conservatively. That moment when you decided to back off because Gil-Galad could charge him seemed iffy to me. Like, if you're scared of Gil-Galad when you're on the charge, what's the point of the Dragon? If you went through with that combat, if Gil-Galad wins, you cop a couple wounds tops as long as your not trapped. If you win a fight on the charge, that's pretty much a dead leader for him. And in the process, you're trading might with Gil-Galad, which is favorable to you, because Gil-Galad with no might is just a strong elf, a Dragon with no might is still a frigging Dragon. Just my opinions on this.

[@NowForWrathGaming]

@@BrickWann Yeah! All good stuff! Weird model that takes a bit to get used to- but not I definitely want a dragon redemption game!

[@doubleoblit]

@@BrickWann the problem with this idea is that Gil-Galad wants to be fighting the dragon while the elves and Numenoreans fight the goblins. You are much better off letting Gil-Galad fight shitty goblins all day while the dragon eats the troops. Paying 300 points for a flying beatstick means you need to pick your engagements. Otherwise, just don't bother paying 50 points for that ability.

[@BrickWann]

@@doubleoblit I disagree, in fact the opposite is true. Gil-Galad wants to avoid the Dragon. Why would he want to fight it? Statistically, if he wins he deals 1 wound, whereas if he loses he takes 2 at least himself if the Dragon rends while not on the charge. On the charge, honestly might just kill him outright. No, there's no reason why you should be afraid of Gil-Galad while you're on the charge, unless you're trapped. But he wasn't even close to being trapped. Yes, you pay 50 points to pick your engagements. And this engagement would be a perfect pick. And I think that the argument of holding the Dragon off while the troops do the killing is sily. I mean, sure, that scenario might end up being good for the Last Alliance troops, but what else do you want the Dragon to do? Kill 2 Numenoreans a turn? How is that a better use of the Dragon, than draining the resources of Gil-Galad, potentially killing him, winning VPs, and then having nothing that can challenge it on the battlefield? No, the idea that the Dragon would be better used doing anything else other than killing the enemy leader makes no sense at all.

[@Simon-gc6uf]

23:23 Did Steven forget to take off a dead goblin?

[@NowForWrathGaming]

Looks like it! Hard to say with the quick cuts Andrew has added but clearly I needed all the help I could get! -S

[@Josh-w4k]

Do you have access to a 3d printer? Have some leads on some great modular water terrain options.

[@NowForWrathGaming]

I definitely do! I've looked at some, but nothing's blown me away yet.

[@Josh-w4k]

Do you have a better way of reaching out? ​@@NowForWrathGaming

[@Josh-w4k]

I've messaged table top Admiral! Check inbox

[@NowForWrathGaming]

@@Josh-w4k Thanks, I've received it! Appreciate ya!

[@nukeman4048]

doesnt the dragon have 3 fate as well or did they change the profile from when it was in the LOTR armies book?

[@NowForWrathGaming]

It does- def forgot about it! Used to high wound profiles not having any.

[@Competentetyler]

19:50 DRAGONS AWFUL. 😭

[@NowForWrathGaming]

I DID forget it had Fate, so in fairness- he probably should have been fine there!

[@Competentetyler]

@@NowForWrathGaming Oh no worries. I just loved the melt down moment. 😂

[@NowForWrathGaming]

@@Competentetyler hahaha yeah just… ugh.