Ugluk’s Scouts at Australia’s premier event: Clash tournament report part 1

 

Glorfindel takes on Ugluk and his horde at the climactic moment of Game 3

A year ago I took Witch King/Sully to Clash in the meta-that-was; now, everything has changed but my tendency to bring filthy meta lists. And so it was that I headed up to Sydney on Friday afternoon, with a carry-case full of Ugluk’s Scouts and a lot of excitement for the weekend to come.

Also, my spouse suggested that I title this article 'Putting my meat back on the menu at Clash.' Let me know in the comments if the more risqué title was the way to go.

Tournament Format

The format this year was as down-the-line competitive as it comes: 6 rounds at 600 points, with 2 hours apiece, in which all 6 standard scenarios would be played in a random order. No frills, just a straight test of competitive skill. Exactly what the doctor ordered!

Listbuilding

I went back and forth between quite a few different lists over the course of preparing for this event. Three different Depths of Moria combos were considered, as well as Men of the West, Army of the White Hand, and (of course) the Eagles. But in the end, I felt that there was nothing quite as consistent and powerful as my beloved Uruks, so it was time for Ugluk’s Scouts to make their second tournament appearance (if you don’t count this event from way back in the day)…

48 models at 600 is one hell of a drug

I talked about this list a lot in my last tournament report here, where it carried me to an undefeated finish through some tough games. I’ve also got two separate tactics articles coming out for the faction in the coming weeks, so I won’t spend too much time discussing the list here.

In short, it’s got incredible numbers, huge killing power, great shooting and mobility, and way more tricks than might first appear. It’s a dominant list in certain scenarios (sometimes literally), and has excellent tools in all the others. It hard-counters some lists and has play into just about everything, and there’s a reason that it was one of the most popular lists at the event.

With my army all sorted, and almost no hobbying required, I had time to fit in a whopping 45 practice games with the list before the event. A big thank you to everyone who put up with game after game of being swarmed by 48 Orcs and Uruks, it made all the difference against the tough games of this weekend.

Meta analysis

Mountain Goat Gaming made an excellent list review video over on their channel (it’s shorter than their last one, because they didn’t have me yapping away on it), but I naturally supplemented it with my own spreadsheet. Some big take aways were a total lack of Army of the White Hand and Eagles, alongside a huge showing from Halls of Thranduil (unsurprising), Ugluk’s Scouts (even less surprising) and Battle of Fornost (quite the shock!). 

It's Legolas' world and the rest of us are just living in it

Total Eagle numbers were down from 44 at Cancon to 3 at Clash, despite similar player numbers. Part of this was undoubtedly due to the relentless bullying campaign in the classic pre-Clash meme competition, which also seems to have driven down Dale numbers. Many a joke was made this weekend about the effectiveness of bullying in producing positive social outcomes, all of which were made a little bit less tasteful by the event taking place in a school. Never change, MESBG community, never change.  

There was lots of this sort of thing (credit to Samuel Josiah)

After a 3-hour drive up to Sydney on Friday evening, I was staying with friends Pat and Katt, plus the same Gladstone-based Callan that I faced in my first ever tournament. All four of us were attending the event, with Pat bringing all-cav Mirkwood, Katt Radagast’s Alliance, and Cal borrowing Pat’s Balrog-and-boys list as a nice and simple hammer. Dinners and drives to the event with these 3 made for a very funny dynamic, and the post-game discussions were excellent.

Alas, there was a mixed commitment to punctuality amongst the group, so we arrived a little late on Day 1. As such, I was facing the ringer, fielding…

Round 1: Depths of Moria in Supplies, 17:6

I’d faced Liam before in an extremely silly game of doubles at Cancon, in which Pat and I had 14 monsters and he and Jack had 3 Mumaks. Bonkers stuff.

When the Eagles feel like ordinary warriors, you know the scale of the game is crazy

This time around he was running a legitimately-strong Moria list with the Watcher and 4 full warbands of Goblins, but with the stipulation that he simply would not spend Might points. There were a few points throughout the game where I made calls on the assumption that surely he’d call the Move this time, but Liam stuck to his guns and ended the event with 54 unspent Might. Great stuff, and a really interesting way to run a ringer list that I actually quite appreciated.

In any case, Supplies is always an excellent scenario for Ugluk’s Scouts (probably their best), and against a list with no banners and slow models it’s a very winnable matchup. I managed to shoot out Liam’s leader early, but my initial complacency was somewhat complicated by the board being crisscrossed by shallow water and the Watcher getting some comical boosts from it. 

Scouts and Goblins spread out across the board as the Watcher speeds along its nice waterways

I’d been doing an excellent job of shutting it down (turns out that Fearless warriors with 8” Movement are very useful for stopping the Watcher from rampaging), but its ability to insta-kill a model within 6” of a water feature and then return to the depths made it hilariously mobile.

The Watcher teleports into my backfield, but gets countercharged by a Fearless Scout

In the end, it did manage to find its way onto an objective in my backfield and scare off the Orc defending it, but by this stage I had broken through to the right objective and destroyed it. I then made the call to send Ugluk Combatting through a gap in the Goblin line with some buddies, destroying one last supply on the left. This had required me to leave him in a slightly-exposed position, but he had a Might point left and could only be charged by 3 Goblins. So naturally, Liam scored 3 VPs for leader kill that turn. #justuglukthings

The Orcs and Uruks clean up this flank after the Watcher abandons his Goblin buddies

This was a delightful game, and Liam really did play it very well (with the obvious caveat that not spending Might points is an unconventional strategy). I think the ringer approach of having an experienced player use a fairly meta list and play to win (but with a huge handicap) is actually really clever, and I enjoyed it a lot. 10/10, would play ZZZ Gumbie again.

 

Round 2: Rivendell Knights in Reconnoitre, 1:7

A pretty dire matchup for Recon all things considered

Up next was Kenneth in Reconnoitre, which was a somewhat unfortunate matchup for me. To start with, his Rivendell Knights are at least as fast as me, and his double Wrath of Bruinen combo is devastating against my D4 horde.

Moreover, all-cavalry matchups are frequently very swingy, which is the opposite of what you want in the early rounds of an event at which you’re hoping to do well. As such, it was likely that whoever won the most Move-offs and Priority rolls was going to absolutely stomp the other player. I like to play on the assumption that my opponent will get the edge in that sort of thing, so I would be gunning it for the board edge at top speed in order to hopefully sneak a group of models off before I got quartered.

Things started as poorly as they could have, with both of Kenneth’s warbands in on the first turn and all four of mine rolling beneath a 4+. It didn’t feel good, but I ended up burning half of my Might just to get 3 of them on the field: every turn that a warband is off the field meant that the lines would clash 6-8” closer to my board edge, which I just couldn’t afford if I was going to get models off here.

The Scouts hustle up, trying to put the Elves under pressure and break through to the board edge

Shooting was a mixed experience, with a couple of clutch kills for me (including on a Knight cantering off down my flank) and some heavy attrition back. 

Shooting out this Knight was one of the few things to go right for me this game

I did manage to get off some cheeky initial charges with Scouts after Kenneth forgot their extra movement speed, but a lost Move-off and some devastating Wrath of Bruinens and I was haemorrhaging models. 

Man, Wrath of Bruinen is devastating against a D4 horde

I split things into three separate clashes, with Ugluk and a band trying to break through a trio of pinned Knights, while Elrond carved through me in the centre and Arwen got clutch natty-six after clutch-natty six to hang in on the right flank for far longer than I’d hoped.

This flank looks great for me, but sometimes the dice just don't feel like complying

I pulled off some great plays, including a Heroic Combat pile-on that let me tear through Arwen’s flank and set things up to Break Rivendell. I also did a great job of using lone warriors to perfectly block off 4” gaps, such that a cavalry base couldn’t quite fit through on either side. 

The two Knights on top there are both facing a single Orc, thanks to my cunning use of terrain

But things continued to go against me a bit faster than I could handle, with only one Priority win after the first turn and a frustrating number of small catastrophes. Ugluk and two warriors went into a Knight only to lose the fight, have Ugluk be wounded, and have him fail his Fate roll, ready to die next turn and remove my ability to hold my army together. 

Again, a front that looks great for me, but that swiftly costs me my leader and several casualties. Urgh

My Scout Captain was a frustrating half-inch off getting off the board, before both he and my Orc Captain on that flank fled to finally leave me quartered. I managed to do enough damage to Break the Elves and prevent them getting more than one model off, but overall it ended up as an unfortunate 7:1 minor loss.

I never like to blame dice for losses, because it isn’t fair to either an opponent or yourself. Kenneth played a perfectly solid game, and experienced the occasional bit of bad luck himself throughout the battle (particularly Elrond doing classic hero things and being dismounted by two Uruks). I also made a couple of tiny positioning errors in places, although overall I think I played a very tight game.

In the end though, this sort of matchup tends to be very swingy. I didn’t get to move first on the turns I needed to against a F5 cavalry list with double casters, and the classic Recon deployment rolls meant I didn’t have the resources to mitigate it. I quartered about 6” too far from the enemy board edge to have a shot, and sometimes that’s just how it goes.

In any case, I was sure that this was just the start of my submarine to the top, so it was on to Round 3…

Round 3: Battle of Fornost in Fog of War, 15:0

Only 26 models is great, but having to kill Glorfindel in this scenario is not

That submarine was apparently starting off with Battle of Fornost, one of the most popular lists at the event (as will be made very apparent in Day 2’s writeup!). I quite like my matchup into the classic Earnur/Glorfindel buddy-cop combo, as their model count puts them at a huge disadvantage in the grind and their heroes don’t have any amazing targets for chopping through.

Fog did complicate this somewhat, as my path to victory was likely to run straight through Will’s Glorfindel (or at least Asfaloth, his horse, who is a hero this edition; I learned things from the last time I played this army in Fog!). Protecting my heroes is normally not too hard, but actually killing a F8 hero with Lord of the West is always going to be a bit challenging!

The initial turns were very cagey, with me taking advantage of my superior shooting to draw Will to me, chip down some models and strip Asfaloth’s Fate. 

Uruks form a rough crescent shape to try to bring their numbers to bear

'Alright boys, you go fight the Elves and I'll be right behind you. Good luck!'

The approach into this army is always difficult when you’re down on model count and shooting, and Will made a few small positioning errors that let me swarm his two warriors blocks and tag up Earnur with a surprise Scout move. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell people that half your warriors move 8”, they’ll always instinctively underestimate it at least once.

Things aren't looking good for Fornost here, but Glorfindel is about to make the play of the century

At this point, I think it was clear to both of us that if Will played a ‘standard’ game, I would crush his warriors and probably win 13:5 (break/unbroken, both of us protecting our heroes, and probably me getting my terrain piece and him not getting his). The onus was on Will to make something happen to avoid a major loss, so he made something happen.

This pic really makes it clear quite how doomed the Fornost warriors were here

In one of those beautiful moves that makes up for any number of prior positioning errors, Glorfindel ran 12” around a ruin, through a doorway that was just wide enough for Asfaloth and into two spear supports, off whom he Combatted another 12” round another ruin and through another just-wide-enough doorway into one of my Orc Captains, who got promptly ridden down. I’d picked this Captain to protect, and he’d thus been a full 6 rows behind the frontlines, but that was no protection from Glorfindel suddenly appearing behind me! It was technically a positioning error on my part to have not blocked off this route, but honestly I think I could have played this game a hundred times and not spotted that angle. It was beautiful to watch, and I wasn’t even (too) mad.

Glorfindel sprints all the way around those ruins to kill the Orc Captain. Ouch!

That left us with a clutch Move-off, with Glorfindel burning his last Might to win it and slam straight into Ugluk. I called the Strike and poured a heap of other models into the combat, but I was mostly hoping he just didn’t get the natural six he needed. He got it (a roughly 60% chance), but I had managed to Strike up to F8 and get my own 6, so there was a chance. I rolled the clutch 1 and the Elven-made roll-off went my way, with the Orcs and Uruks dismounting and wounding Glorfindel before Ugluk put a crisp 4 wounds straight onto him to bring down the Lord of the West. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.

Sometimes you've just gotta roll your dice and hope

If I lose that fight (and thus Ugluk) then I do think it was still quite plausible for me to win this game. Glorfindel was Mightless in my backfield, and this list is really good at killing Mightless and isolated heroes. But it was nonetheless an enormous swing, and one that basically sealed the game for me. Earnur and his warriors put up a heroic fight but eventually succumbed, and the two Knights on the flank weren’t quite able to get to Will’s terrain feature before my tide of Orcs and Uruks dragged them down.

With Glorfindel down, Fornost gets absolutely swarmed

This was a really great game, and Will was an excellent opponent. The Glorfindel move obviously went catastrophically wrong, and was inherently pretty risky, but I think it showed a heap of skill to pull off. Even spotting the opening required some excellent positional play, but more important was the strategic sense that the risk needed to be taken. If Will didn’t make some big plays then I was going to win the game; therefore, big plays needed to be made, no matter how risky. This sort of strategic sense is exactly what you need to do well at events, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Will on the top tables sometime soon.

The last Elf that could contest my objective gets absolutely rinsed

After that delightful end to the day, it was off to the social night. Huge Melbourne and Queensland contingents had made the trek to the event, and it was delightful catching up with them all. None of the Ugluk’s Scouts had gone undefeated, interestingly, despite being played by some very experienced players, but a few of the people in my circle were on the up-and-up: my practice partner Ned was on 3:0 with his Reclamation, showing that there is more to MESBG than getting swamped by my Ugluk’s Scouts, while Cal had come to the realisation that his fun little Balrog list is actually a hyper-competitive powerhouse. I’d thought his pre-event dreams of wooden spoon were a little unrealistic, and his initial 3:0 certainly vindicated that view.

The company was delightful, the food was pretty good, and we all managed to make it out of the place without getting stabbed (something that felt concerningly-plausible at times). Another solid drive back to Pat and Katt’s place and we were zonked, crashing at a surprisingly-reasonable hour in the end.

We’ll leave our tale there for the moment, because I know that 6000-word reports are a bit much for most people. But do let me know in the comments: would you rather two-day events be covered in two parts, or would they be more readable in one big report? The latter would honestly be easier for me (I find the formatting and sharing of articles by far the least-enjoyable part of blogging; writing is the easy bit!), but this blog is only partly for me, so I want to make it as readable as possible.

Until next time, may you always win the Priority rolls you need against all-cavalry lists!