Battle Report: (pre-nerf) Vanquishers of the Necromancer v Depths of Moria

I wrote this battle report up ages ago and never got around to publishing it before the nerfs. It then became pretty outdated, so I never got around to pressing publish. Still, I thought I'd put it out into the world for people to enjoy if they're interested, as one last testament to how bonkers this LL was on release. I haven't edited it since that point or anything, so this post reflects the views of Past Me, which may or may not be the same as those held by Present Me. 

In any case, hope you enjoy!

I'll admit, I haven't even played the Rise of the Necromance Legion once. There's some definite favouratism at work here

Over the last few weeks I’ve been frantically fitting in as many games with the new Vanquishers Legion as possible. This is partly because they’re new and interesting, partly because I plan on taking them to a tournament soon and partly just that they are incredibly exciting to play. Genuinely, if you haven’t gotten the message from my last few posts: give these guys a go, they’re absolutely wild.

Since my last battle report I’ve played a relatively unexciting game against Ugluk’s Scouts, in which the Vanquishers moved up to hold the central objective in Divide and Conquer, then quartered the Uruk force at breakneck pace while using magic to blast anyone standing on the other two objectives. 

The good guys look pretty outmatched here. That didn't last long

I then played a much more exciting game against Rowan May, in which I took on his Lothlorien/Rohan alliance that we’d crafted to be the hardest counter we could think of— 4 Sentinels, heaps of Royal Guard and Helmingas backed by F6 pikes, and no Galadriel to waste points against a Fortify Spirit wall. It ended up coming down to the very last dice roll in a tense Domination game, with Rohan pulling out a narrow win at the end. Sadly, I forgot to take any screenshots of that game, so this (equally exciting) battle is the one I’m writing up.

Out of all the armies the Vanquishers had faced so far, none had had anything truly big. They’d killed Aragorn easily enough, and Azog had been put down without much exertion, but I was thinking something bigger. Enter, the Balrog.

 

Depths of Moria Legendary Legion

Lots of Goblins, a Drum, and a Balrog. What could go wrong?

Warband 1

The Balrog (Army Leader)

Goblin Drum

11 Goblins (4 spears, 4 shields, 3 bows)

 

Warband 2

Goblin Captain

10 Goblins (5 shields, 5 spears)

 

Warband 3

Goblin Captain

10 Goblins (5 shields, 5 spears)

 

36 models, 4 Might, 3 bows, no fast models.

This is probably the standard way to build this Legion for 650: the Balrog, a Drum, a couple Captains then as many Goblins as you can fit. It’s not particularly subtle, and I haven’t had uniformly good experiences with it at this points level, but it’s still got a lot of power. And the Balrog is about as close to an unstoppable force as this game has.

 

Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legendary Legion

Even after watching these guys shred everything they've faced, I'm still spooked by how unintimidating they look

Warband 1

Saruman the White (Army Leader)

Galadriel, Lady of Light

Radagast the Brown

Elrond, Master of Rivendell with heavy armour

 

4 models, 12 Might, no fast models, no bows.

This will be the list I take to my next tournament, so no tweaks. I’ll probably try out Gandalf instead of Radagast soon, but I just know I’ll miss his healing and Nature’s Wrath so much. At any rate, it’s a nasty, nasty little list, way more so than it looks; check out my last two battle reports for some examples of what it can do.

 

As a matchup, Evil has some big advantages here. The Balrog is more than a match for any of the Good heroes, even if they can use Heroic Defence to hold it up a little while. Goblins that auto-pass Courage tests and get banner rerolls are also a huge annoyance to the White Council, and they outnumber their foe 9:1. Good does still have an enormous Might and magic advantage however, and even the Balrog is likely to start failing Resist tests when it’s facing 3-4 spells per turn.

 

Scenario

Hold Ground doesn't seem that winnable for Good, but I have a sneaky trick to play

Today I was picking from Pool 1, with Evil immediately vetoing Heirlooms because it was the only scenario that didn’t depend on outnumbering the enemy within a specific area. Good then picked Hold Ground, because it was at least better to try and hold the middle of the battlefield than all the quarters away from it. They also had a sneaky plan to not initially reduce the Balrog beneath six Wounds. If they could do that then they would avoid Breaking the Moria force, allowing them to wipe out the Goblins at their leisure (well, aside from the fiery demon breathing down their neck), not needing to worry about the game ending.

 

Deployment

Houses and trees, with a central objective

The board was a pretty standard competitive setup, with some houses and trees but lots of open space. No one deployed, instead moving on turn 1.

Turn 1: Where is Everyone?

'If they don't show up in 15 minutes we're legally allowed to leave'

On turn 1, Evil ‘won’ Priority and moved the Balrog’s warband on in the centre of the north edge. Then both Captains failed to arrive and so did the Vanquishers, who decided they didn’t want to spend Might to get placed next to the Balrog!

 

Turns 2-5: Ambush and Pursuit

Good managed to lose Priority again, with one Goblin warband arriving behind the Balrog and the other being placed over in the far corner. Then the Vanquishers showed up behind them, Wounding the Captain with a Banishment, knocking down some Goblins with Sorcerous Blast and having Radagast’s Nature’s Wrath Resisted.

'Surprise!'

Turn 3 started with a Heroic Move-off, Radagast losing to the Captain who ran for the centre with his warband. The other Goblins either followed him or tried to tie up the Vanquishers, although Galadriel Banished the one that had charged Radagast and Elrond to allow them to keep them moving forward. Saruman killed a Goblin with Sorcerous Blast, then Radagast fluffed his Wrath roll. 

Fleeeeeeeee!

Combat saw another couple of Goblins cut down, although Saruman rolled triple ones to let his opponent escape unharmed.

Lovely

On Turns 4 and 5, the Goblins in the west continued to try and escape after Evil won Priority again, although the Good heroes were able to keep blasting them with magic and getting into combat with their slower opponents. The Goblin Captain’s Heroic Moves to stay ahead of them eventually ended on Turn 5, when Galadriel Banished the Goblin screening him and smashed him to pieces. The Balrog was starting to loom though, so the real fight was about to begin.

Balrog v the Vanquishers

Turn 6: Go Back to The Darkness!

Evil was down to a couple of Goblins from the west warband, while their horde had enveloped the central objective. The Balrog was nearly alone against the Council, hoping to block them from ignoring it and wiping out his Goblins. Good started their turn by Banishing one Goblin and charging another with Galadriel, before Radagast succeeded in knocking down the Balrog with Nature’s Wrath after it failed to get the ‘6’ it needed. Radagast, Saruman and Elrond then piled into the demon, deciding to take advantage of the opportunity to potentially chip a few Wounds off it.

Not quite what the Balrog was expecting

Elrond failed to Strike up to F10, but it ended up not mattering as the Balrog capped out at a ‘5’ on its duel rolls (as I’ve found it does a disturbing amount of the time). Good decided to swing hard, figuring they might as well seize the moment to pick up the VP for Wounding it, but the vast swathe of sixes in their 19 dice to Wound ended up inflicting 5 Wounds on the Balrog! This initially seemed great, until I realised that now the Goblins could be Broken, putting me on a clock to clear the centre.

That's a lot of dice and a lot of sixes

Turn 7: Stay Down!

The Balrog is taking a breather for a bit

Good decided to expend their single Foresight point on winning Priority this round, using it to Immobilise the Balrog and keep it on the ground while the four heroes piled into the last two Goblins from the western warband. Radagast knocked them down just for overkill’s sake, and that was that.

 

Turns 8-9: The Swarm Descends

Apparently Fearless hordes are a rough time

Good won Priority, charging Galadriel into the second Captain while blasting it with Banishment. Radagast and Saruman both attempted to Immobilise the Balrog to keep it from standing up, but good Resist rolls allowed it to begin stalking over. In return, the Goblins swarmed the heroes, managing to knock some Fate off Saruman after he botched his rolls before Galadriel obliterated the Captain after spending Might on her duel rolls.

That Balrog is looking for Round 2

On turn 9 Radagast called a Heroic Move to make sure that the Balrog couldn’t charge anyone this turn. Again it shrugged off both Immobilise attempts, before moving close to Saruman and setting him on fire, Wounding him once with the S9 hit and then again with the S5 hit in the End Phase. Elsewhere the Goblins continued to pile into combat, with Saruman facing 8 enemies with only two Attacks. Thankfully everyone managed to pull through and win their combats, smashing down a handful of Goblins for no reply.

 

Turns 10-11: Desperate Times

Elrond is the MVP and Saruman Stops, Drops and Rolls

Elrond declared a Heroic Move this turn, managing to knock down the Balrog with Wrath of Bruinen before charging in to keep it pinned. Galadriel managed to Banish a key Goblin, allowing Saruman to stop, drop and roll to extinguish his flames. By my reading of the rules he could stand up again after crawling for 1”, but I may have misread this and it didn’t really matter anyway (Edit: I’ve now realised why this wasn’t legal, as a model cannot both lie down and stand up in a turn. Saruman won his fight and failed to Wound anyone this turn anyway, so he’d have just stood up in the Fight phase). Finally Radagast failed to heal Saruman with his special ability, cast Renew to heal him anyway then charged into two prone Goblins and killed them both. However, things went downhill in combat as Elrond lost his fight to the Balrog, allowing it to get back on its feet. More concerningly, Galadriel was defeated by the Goblins she was facing and Wounded 5 times, needing to spend Might to pass her third Fate roll and survive. In the north, the Goblin archers that had been guarding the Drum began to run towards the centre to contribute their numbers. With the Balrog about to pounce and several heroes badly Wounded, things were looking bleak for the Vanquishers.

Some nasty Wound rolls against Galadriel. Who knew D3 was such an issue?

Good Priority in Turn 11 allowed Radagast to heal (via Renew and his special rule) Wounds on both Saruman and Galadriel, but a combo of Wrath of Bruinen and Immobilise were both Resisted by the Balrog (which was now out of Will). In return it piled into Elrond, ready to slaughter him and roll onwards, while the Goblins continued to swarm the other three heroes. Elrond contemplated calling a Heroic Defence before realising that he was facing so many foes that he’d quite possibly die anyway. So instead he called a Strike, hitting F10 and rolling a ‘6’ on his duel rolls. As it happened, the Balrog and 4 Goblins (with a Drum reroll!) failed to roll a single ‘6’, allowing Elrond to scythe down three Goblins and Break the Evil force. 

Evil was pretty unhappy with these dice 

Elsewhere the three other heroes also contributed to the slaughter, with 4 more Goblins falling across the 3 combats. A quick tally of points showed that Good would narrowly win on points if the game ended, but the dice roll showed a 5 and we continued.

Evil outnumbers Good in the centre, but isn't double their numbers, so Good is winning

Turns 12-13: The Final Moments

Good lost Priority this turn, but a Heroic Move from Galadriel allowed her to Banish a Goblin while Radagast cast Nature’s Wrath and knocked down the Balrog for Elrond to pin it again.

Radagast gets that clutch '6' to knock down the Balrog

 The other heroes charged into the remaining Goblins in the centre, although Saruman failed to cast on two dice with a reroll. One Drummer fled the table, as did two of the archers, and several more Goblins were hacked down in the centre. The Balrog managed to win his roll-off against Elrond to stand up again, ready for a final charge. The dice decided to give it the chance, as the game again continued.

The Balrog needs a kill this turn to turn the game around

On the final turn Evil retained Priority, with the lone Drummer in the north continuing to stick around and play his drum. 

This dude was loving life. Everyone else gets slaughtered, but he just gets to do a drum solo

The Balrog charged into Saruman to try and claim the Army Leader VPs, while the remaining two Goblins in the centre pinned down the other three heroes. As the last Goblin archer fled, Evil was now down to 3 models in the centre and 1 in the north, putting them well behind on points unless the Balrog could get some kills this turn. However, with only its Resistant to Magic die against multiple spellcasters, it was going to take some good Resist rolls to pull through. 

First spell Resisted, maybe the dream is alive

Things started well with a six to Resist Saruman, but Radagast managed to overcome it and get off an Immobilise. 

The dream is dead, magic is OP

Radagast then lost his combat against the Goblin he was facing, although Elrond and Galadriel effortlessly slew their opponent. Saruman even managed to beat back the Balrog, making all of the effort to Immobilise it feel a little wasted. 

Saruman casually fighting off the Balrog

With Evil reduced to only 3 models, the game at last ended, giving Good a decisive 9:1 victory!

3 VPs for Breaking, 1 for Wounding the Army Leader and 5 for doubling model count in the middle. Wow

 

Strategy Review

Both sides’ basic strategies were fundamentally sound, I think. Good’s plan to neutralise the Balrog with magic while slaughtering the Goblins was distinctly their most reliable way to get enough numbers in the middle when the game ended. Similarly, the Evil plan to throw the Balrog into Good’s path was a good counter to that, even if it did end up pinned down and out of the fight for a couple of turns.

Good’s biggest mistake was a failure to be thorough in the first combat against the Balrog. Elrond should have rolled his dice to Wound last and kept his reroll handy instead of just rolling it as an extra dice to Wound. If I’d done that I would have been able to reroll one of my successes to inflict only 4 Wounds on the Balrog so the Goblins wouldn’t have Broken. I managed to kill enough Goblins on the turn they were Broken for it not to really matter, but that would have been a safer option. 

In fairness to me, my luck isn't normally good enough to expect these dice

I also tended to spread out the 4 heroes a little too much, so they weren’t always benefiting from each other’s auras as much as they could have been.

For Evil, the only awful call was forgetting about the archers on the north flank. They normally tend to be best just sitting around to support the Drum, but I really should have brought them in to the middle a couple of turns earlier. I’m not used to thinking about Breaking with this army, but I really needed to get those three models into the Balrog’s Fearless aura before they had to start passing Break tests. That would have also meant a few more models in the middle, letting me potentially flip the scoring on a couple of turns the game could have ended.

You can see them starting to move this turn, but it's several turns too late

Army Reviews

Depths of Moria is a powerful Legion, and this matchup really did show off a lot of what it can do. 35 Goblins felt like a lot here in a way that they don’t against more conventional lists, and the combo of the Drum and Fearless for the Goblins makes them an absolute pain to deal with. And the Balrog makes for a great centrepiece model, as it really does feel unstoppable at points.

In saying that, it was distinctly stopped here. It failed to kill a single model, and the closest it got to doing so was when it set Saruman on fire after he lost his Fate points to Goblins. It Resisted a lot of spells, but it still got knocked down and/or Immobilised more turns than not. In fact, it only had a single turn when it was in combat and able to make Strikes, and it didn’t even roll a ‘6’ on its duel roll to take advantage of that! This is probably a pretty bad matchup for the Balrog itself, but it still feels pretty bad to kill nothing with a 350-point monster. And while the Goblins put up a remarkably solid fight and felt like they could have ground down the Good heroes if they had a couple dozen more models, Goblins are always going to struggle to overcome a quartet of powerful heroes without support.

Those basic Goblins really did try their hardest though

This was what I’d call an actively hostile matchup for the Vanquishers: facing a centrepiece model that’s as close to immune to magic as you can get while vastly outnumbered by a Fearless horde with banner rerolls. And the scenario— cunning tricks around not Breaking the enemy aside— is a really difficult one for them. While it at least allows them all to stick together, the win condition is model count in an area, which is pretty rough. The Vanquishers took this hostile matchup and smashed it wide open, killing almost every Goblin on the field and badly wounding the Balrog. In fact, if the fight had gone on another couple of turns I would have been very confident in their capacity to bring the demon down.

A few more turns of this would probably have done the trick

In particular, this scenario really showed (again) how unstoppable that magical bombardment is. a monster with 10 Will and Resistant to Magic still had its defences overwhelmed and was Immobilised/ knocked prone more turns than not. If I had been trying to kill the Balrog, then Galadriel would probably have taken it down with Banishment well before the game ended. I really don’t think that there is any matchup, except possibly the mirror, in which you can rely on a single model holding out against these spellcasters. You might be able to do enough damage fast enough that it doesn’t matter, but those spells will be getting through eventually.

Having said all of that, this game did also show how annoying Fearless troops are to this Legion when they’re present en masse. Getting Trapped every single turn was what nearly did in for Galadriel, and it definitely exposed how much they rely on that constant stream of failed Courage checks to stop the enemy overwhelming them.

One more 4 on those dice and I would have been down a hero

A Shaman may not be the perfect solution, as they’re probably a bit too vulnerable to being Banished/Sorcerous Blasted into oblivion, but that would at least force the Vanquishers to target them. If you were contemplating fielding a Shaman anyway, take this (and the article I wrote on Shamans awhile back) as reasons why you should. And if you have access to some other way to make your troops Fearless or effectively so— Bodyguard being the obvious option— then bear that in mind as a good choice as well.

 

Final stats. Everyone is low on resources, not least the Balrog

I hope you enjoyed my third battle report with the new Vanquishers Legendary Legion! I’m loving how these guys play, so keep your eyes peeled for more articles on both using and defeating them.

Vanquishers v Fiefdoms/Gondor in Retrieval. Place your bets here!

Until then, I’d love to hear what matchups you think these guys would struggle with. Do you think a hero-heavy list would ramp up the pressure fast enough to get some kills? What about a pure, Fearless horde? Maybe an Isengard Demolition Team? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

May the game always end on a turn that you’re ahead!