The Vanquishers Return: War in the Southlands Tournament Report

 

The Vanquishers carve their way through some hapless Gondorians

It’s my last tournament of the year, and also my last Queensland tournament before I move down south. As such, I decided to bring a bit of a throwback list: the Vanquishers of the Necromancer. These guys have fallen a long way since I took them to a tournament shortly after they came out, and they’re certainly far from the top of the meta. But I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for their crazy shenanigans, and it would be interesting to see how they fared in this brave new meta. So, can the Vanquishers of the Necromancer live up to their past glories, or will I crash and burn at my last Queensland tournament? Read on and find out!

 

Tournament Format

This tournament was 700 points, with pre-randomised pools for scenario veto that were released a little before the tournament. The particular missions rolled happened to skew towards killing power a lot, which really reinforced my desire to bring the Vanquishers: if there was ever going to be a tournament to bring them to, this seemed to be it. 700 points is obviously not ideal for them (50-point handicaps are an amusing flex) but the scenario pools were definitely an advantage for hero-hammer like this.

Don’t get much better scenarios for all-hero lists than those!

Listbuilding

I’d contemplated a few other builds for this tournament, including two different variants of my Watcher in the Water build, the 700-point version of my Mordor/Harad alliance, and even Assault on Lothlorien Spider-spam again. But I wanted to take the Vanquishers at some point, and this tournament would clearly be the best opportunity I’d get for a long time. With that in mind, the list largely wrote itself:

It's only 4 models, but they’re very good models!

Warband 1

Saruman the White (Army Leader)

Galadriel, Lady of Light

Gandalf the Grey

Elrond, Master of Rivendell in heavy armour

650/700 points, 4 models, 0 bows, 12 Might, no fast models

The only real choice for me to make at 700-points was whether to take Radagast or Elrond. Radagast brings a lot more healing, a bit more mobility, more ranged magic and more Nature’s Wraths when he’s not tagged in combat. Elrond, on the other hand, is a much better fighter, bringing a banner reroll and a free Heroic Strike. I do think both are probably quite viable, but in the end I decided that Elrond was the simpler option. Radagast relies on me being able to ‘unlock’ him by Banishing whatever model he’s fighting so he can cast Nature’s Wrath, while Elrond is more capable of operating independently of that magical support. Plus I don’t actually own Radagast’s sleigh, so Elrond was the much simpler option from a hobby perspective.

Magic is absolutely at the core of how this list plays. Even post-nerf, the barrage of magic moving first or second can cripple opponents’ offensive threats and target out their key models, allowing your powerful heroes to rampage as your opponent runs out of resources. It’s a list with surprising damage output and durability (even if both have been rightfully reduced from their bonkers heights), and I’m hopeful that people will underestimate the tricks it can pull. In saying that, I got tabled in one practice game and nearly-tabled in another, so I was a bit nervous about a potential day of wipeouts. Beornings in particular were a bit of a concerning proposition that I was just praying not to face.

 

Game 1: Gondor in Fog of War, 12:3

Ethan had brought along a cool Gondorian list, with Faramir (mounted with all the toys) backed up by Hurin, Cirion, Anborn and Mablung plus around 40 Gondorians of various kinds. I immediately vetoed Storm the Camp for about 10 different reasons (not least that it’s a pretty bad scenario), while he vetoed Lords of Battle to leave us with Fog of War. I opted to protect Elrond (my toughest model), claim a pillar on the far side of the bridge, and kill Cirion (as Ethan had deployed him directly opposite me).

My 4 little heroes look very outnumbered, but this chokepoint will help a lot

The map had a cool Khazad-dûm theme, and was dominated by a central river of lava with one ford and a central bridge. Ethan and I agreed to play it as lava because that’s awesome, and I promptly spent the whole game trying to Sorcerous Blast someone into it. My various (failed) attempts produced a great deal of laughter, and when I finally knocked a Warrior of Minas Tirith in on the last turn we celebrated together.

Battle was joined quite early on as my Vanquishers surged forwards along the bridge, getting peppered with arrows and needing to spend 5 Fate across Gandalf and Galadriel to escape unharmed. Not the start I wanted! My magic failed to really accomplish much initially, as an attempt to Blast Cirion off the bridge was Resisted, while the Gondorian banner survived two more Blasts and a Banishment (Resisted on a 6!). It was quite amusing watching the banner get smashed backwards 5”, pick itself up and run forwards, then get Blasted and repeat the same process.

Cirion survives a potential lava-related accident, while the banner gets blasted backwards again by Saruman

Combat sufficed where magic had failed, however, and I was able to rapidly cut my way through Cirion’s warband and take him out with Elrond and Gandalf. One more Sorcerous Blast also took out Anborn after he opted not to Resist and bungled his Fate, which was a nice surprise.

Cirion and Anborn both fall this turn, with a lot of prone Gondorians from a Wrath of Bruinen

By this point the game had basically turned into a survival game for my Vanquishers, with wave after wave of Gondorians coming in from both sides and being dispatched. Hurin had led his warband across the ford and around the back of the bridge, but failed his Terror check to charge Elrond (although my return volley of spells only managed to strip a Wound and his Will point).

Hurin’s troops flood around to provide another wave of threats

On the next turn I was then able to Command him forward and get in with both Elrond and Saruman, smashing him down to reduce the Gondorians to two heroes. I then ping-ponged back to the centre of the bridge and won a Move-off to charge Faramir, cutting him down in a single turn with the same Elrond/Saruman combo. These guys are lethal!

Faramir falls and the Gondorians are Broken

By this point Ethan was Broken, and I was now trying to push my way through to the terrain piece I was trying to hold. Mablung narrowly passed his Break test to hold the Gondorians together, and Ethan’s models generally showed remarkable bravery in the face of the slaughter. An amusing gambit took place on the turn after the Gondorians broke, in which I was attempting to Heroic Combat off a Warrior of Minas Tirith to get Elrond to the pillar I’d chosen as my terrain piece. The warrior was too far away from the pillar, so I wanted to move him to within 6” of it to make the Heroic Combat work. But because he was prone from a previous Wrath of Bruinen I couldn’t Command him any distance, so my only option was Sorcerous Blast and hoping he didn’t die. The spell went off and he survived the S5 hit, only for the Blast to shoot him the full 6” backwards and outside Elrond’s charge range! Ethan was very amused.

Elsewhere Gandalf hacked his way through the Gondorians and cut down Mablung, and the game didn’t end on the first turn. As a result I was able to claim my terrain piece with Elrond, and– finally– Sorcerous Blast a warrior into the lava. Much rejoicing was heard by all, except presumably the warrior.

This Sorcerous Blast was my highlight of the tournament

When the game finally came to a close the last Gondorians were standing tall on Ethan’s terrain piece, but the Vanquishers had taken a comfortable 12:3 win.

This game was an absolute blast, and was my favourite of the tournament. Ethan was delightful to play, and got a well-deserved Best Sportsman award at the end of the tournament.

 

Game 2: The Rangers in To the Death, 10:0

Up next was Sean Rossato, the current Queensland champion, who I’ve faced five times before. In fact, my first ever tournament saw me matched up against Sean’s Rangers (and my second saw him facing my Vanquishers!), so it’d be a real nostalgia trip (and probably a very hard game!).

I vetoed Breakthrough, and Sean correctly identified that To the Death was a better option than Assassination. After all, ‘stop the Vanquishers killing one specific Dúnedain’ was always going to be a hard ask. Sean had brought along Halbarad, Arathorn and 20 Dúnedain, and they promptly formed up on a building and shot at me for two turns as I advanced. This was a bit nerve-wracking, but Galadriel’s Phial and some good use of cover meant I only copped a Wound on Gandalf. Elrond promptly healed that with Renew, then Gandalf restored Elrond’s Will with Strengthen Will. Sean saw all this and decided he needed to get into combat.

The Ranger castle, shortly before they swarm down and swamp me

As the lines clashed, I soon found myself surrounded by the Rangers. This was actually really scary, as Sean was rolling 6-9 dice in every fight with heaps of Might behind them. I needed to win every single fight to stay alive, and thus had to burn Might whenever I failed to get the 6 I needed. That was quite costly, and after two turns of combat I was down to 3 Might across the whole force! This had come at the cost of about 8 Rangers though, and my magical barrage had also reduced Halbarad to one Wound and forced him into combat with Galadriel. She promptly punched him in the face, and Sean lost his immunity to Courage.

The third turn of combat was thus critical: with Saruman and Elrond out of Might and Gandalf down to one, all it would take would be a couple of botches from my heroes for things to rapidly snowball and for Sean to cleanup. Instead the Rangers struggled with their Terror checks, allowing Saruman and Galadriel to share a Heroic Combat and take out several Rangers, while both Gandalf and Elrond got the sixes they needed. After the slaughter Sean was well and truly Broken, and from there it was largely just cleanup as the Vanquishers tabled him.

A closer view of Sean’s awesome Rangers

The game ended with a 10:0 my way, but that scoreline in no way reflects how close it was. Sean had done a great job of identifying his win condition– putting me under overwhelming pressure and taking out 1-2 Vanquishers early– and the dice very nearly complied. If Turn 3 of combat had gone even slightly different then we’d probably have been looking at a 10:0 the other way.

In any case, Sean was a delightful opponent as ever, and did his best to overcome the residual trauma from the last time I faced him with the Vanquishers. I imagine he’ll probably do an event recap over on his channel (The Last Alliance of Noobs and Men), so definitely check that out when it releases.

 

Game 3: Azog’s Legion/Hunters in Contest of Champions, 9:0

My final game saw me facing David Thompson, whose Azog’s Legion I’ve faced once before in this tournament. He’s won a few events with it too, so it was unlikely to be an easy fight. David had brought along Bolg, Fimbul, a Troll Brute, an Ogre, lots of Berserkers and some Goblin Mercenaries, which was quite the array of threats for me to face.

This game ultimately came down to one unfortunate strategic error on David’s part: out of a scenario pool of Breakthrough, Seize the Prize and Contest of Champions, he chose to veto Breakthrough.  I naturally picked Contest of Champions, and David seemed fairly confident that I’d made the wrong choice. I gather that he wanted to get stuck in on Turn 1 to stop me picking away with magic from a distance, but the scenario objectives in Contest were so skewed in my favour that a close deployment was totally fine.

That immediately turned the game into nearly an auto-win, especially as the central terrain was dominated by a pair of buildings creating a tight chokepoint. Much of David’s army spent several turns running around those buildings, allowing me to leverage all my list against a portion of his.

The battle started with Bolg charging straight into Elrond alongside a Berserker, burning all his Will to Resist an Immobilise from Gandalf and a Banish from Galadriel. Galadriel also copped a Wound from a charging Troll Brute, having to burn two Might to win the fight and Wound it back.

Bolg storms in, but the Vanquishers are about to hit back

I responded by Blasting the Berserker in combat with Elrond, killing it and dismounting Bolg to prevent him doing any damage. Saruman also dragged a mounted Hunter Orc forward and smashed it from the saddle, getting an early lead in kills.

On the next turn I won a Move-off (the only one of the 4 total in this game) and was able to Command the Brute, sending it smashing through several of David’s Wargs. Bolg was Immobilised and out for the turn, while the rest of the team hacked their way through some Berserkers and Saruman got up to 3 kills. Elrond botched a Strike-off against Fimbul and was Wounded once, but I still had all his Fate to keep him safe.

There are two Bolgs on the field here, because Bolg’s Warg had stuck around when he was dismounted and it still needs the silly limo base

Turn 3 saw David call a Move and got Bolg into Gandalf, although I Immobilised him again in response. The Brute went into Galadriel again, wounding her once more before she wounded it back in combat. Two Hunter Orcs trapped Saruman, but he managed to win the fight and hack his way through them to put me up to 5 leader kills.

Gandalf then managed to win his fight against (an Immobilised) Bolg, and the Orc could only back away a half-inch at most. I pointed out that he was trapped, but David pushed back hard, saying that we hadn’t been exactly measuring an inch on all the previous back-away moves in the game. That was certainly true, but was because in every other fight it was clear that the model backing away wasn’t trapped. It seemed normal to me to have only measured things exactly when the exact distance was going to matter, but David was determined not to let his leader be trapped here.

In the end I decided I couldn’t be bothered calling the TO over and I let it go, basically because Bolg’s lack of Will meant he was never going to be able to kill any of my models (i.e. the game was already over in every practical sense). In hindsight I probably should have stood my ground there, but it just didn’t feel worth it in the moment. There were quite a few other ‘challenging’ rules interactions throughout the game, and it ended up being a bit of an unpleasant experience overall.

In any case, within two turns Bolg had been Banished by Galadriel’s chip damage, Elrond had taken out Fimbul, Saruman had killed an Ogre and gotten to 6 kills and Galadriel had killed the Brute at last. With no real threats left on the table and his leader dead, David called it there for a 9:0 win to the Vanquishers!

An after-action shot of the gang celebrating their victories

After three big wins, I took out first place for my final Queensland tournament! Much banter was had about the filthiness of the Vanquishers, which is always good for a few laughs. I picked up a nice store voucher, which I immediately cashed in for a bunch of new Contrast paints. They’ll be very handy for the Pits of Dol Guldur army I’m planning to work on next year, which I find a little ironic: in the end the Vanquishers of the Necromancer are helping me get Azog’s forces together. Ha.

 

Tournament Review

Scott did a great job of hosting, with great terrain, everything running on time and pizza at the halfway mark. I do think the scenario pools were perhaps a little too favoured towards elite armies, which did skew the results towards armies like mine. One player went into the third round undefeated with Smaug, despite only having played a handful of games beforehand! Still, it was a great event, and a good one to close out my Queensland MESBG ‘career’.

This map was honestly so fun to play on, 10/10

List review

Well, the Vanquishers definitely can still pull out the wins! The scenario pools obviously made a huge difference here, and I’m sure I would have found my games way harder if they were objective-based. But at least in terms of raw killing power and durability, the list still felt insane. The ability to reach out and whittle down enemy heroes was amazing, while the A3 heroes sliced their way through the enemy lines. The contrast with the Breaking of the Fellowship (which I ran at this tournament recently) was quite noticeable; this time around I felt like I had tools to actually impact the game and put my opponent under pressure, rather than just slogging forwards and hoping to roll enough sixes to win. Unlike the Fellowship, the Vanquishers felt genuinely strong, at least when they didn’t have to do anything more complicated that move forward and kill stuff.

Getting to harass enemy backline heroes while chopping through troops is a huge win over the Fellowship

In saying all that, I really felt the Vanquisher nerfs in all my games, and the list felt way less oppressive than it used to. With Radagast swapped out for Gandalf and my strongest spells not castable in combat, the list had vastly less staying power than in the past. That is, to be clear, a good thing; the combination of all the healing it used to be able to do and the constant Nature’s Wrath spam was definitely A Bit Much. In contrast, in these games (particularly the second one) I often felt under pressure of actually being taken out. In practice games I did get tabled or nearly-tabled several times, and that was a real possibility against Sean. The list now felt like I had to play well to use it, and I was grateful to all the practice games I played with the Vanquishers back in the day. It turns out the muscle memory of sequencing my casting had stuck around over several years of not touching the army!

I do recommend trying out the Vanquishers at least once: they’re challenging to play, but the deep list of options available to them means you always feel like you’ve got a chance in any situation. Well, any non-Reconnoitre situation, of course.

 

Tournament Wrap-up

One last great event before the big move south, only slightly marred by the final game. It was a somewhat bittersweet experience, as I’ll definitely miss being a part of the Queensland scene. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it back for at least some tournaments next year, but with a heap of leave being locked in for little things like ‘getting married’ I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to fit in trips up for things like the Queensland GT.

Gûlavhar does need to protect his crown though, so I’ll see if I can make it to at least the GT

Thanks to Scott for organising, and thanks to everyone who’s made the Queensland league so welcoming over the last couple years.

Until next time, may the scenario pools always favour the army you wanted to play!