I've been working on a Mumakil of Far Harad army as a potential army for Gamesday this year.
So far however, the results have not been good for me. I'm 0-3 in competitive games. I've got long battle reports written and posted in my
New Blog.
However, for thos that don't want to click to the blog, I've copied them over here:
Mumakil vs Minas Tirith
This is the first in what I hope will be a series of Battle Reports I hope to post here in my blog.
At the Chicago Battle Bunker last evening, I got a chance to put my Mumakil on the table and see how he'd do in a tournament scenario. I played my Far Harad Army list: 12 Mahûd Warriors (8 with blowpipes), Haradrim Chieftan (Mumak Commander) and Mumakil with Gnarled Hide, Rocks, and Rappelling Lines. Mike, one of the regulars from AWC site and the co-champion from this year's Adepticon LOTR Team Tourney, graciously offered to test me out with one of his tournament armies - Warriors of Minas Tirith (Bows, Spears, HW), a banner, a Captain of MT and Gimli. I think he had around 40-42 models.
In order to see if my army list was viable I wanted to start playing scenarios where I wasn't expected to win - Domination, Storm the Camp, Take and Hold, Contest of Champions are the ones that I expect would give me fits. We started rolling and realized it was better if I just chose a scenario - I selected Storm the Camp. We rolled for terrain and picked our corners.
I started off making a direct line towards his camp with the Mumak moving its full 8". Mike advanced straight forward as well, with the exception of his Warriors w/ Bows (10 of them). They held the camp in formation and were able to take shots at the Mumak and Crew all game long. As we both moved forward towards an inevitable clash in the center of the board, he broke off one contingent over and around a small hill to the Mumak's right side. As we got close enough, I was able to score a couple kills with blowpipes. Mike also very surprisingly got a wound on the Mumak - keep in mind that's S2 bows against a D8 - he needed 6s and then 5s to wound!
Turn 3 saw the first Mumak trample attacks - He took out 8 warriors on the trample and the thrown rocks took down one more. I also lost my first Mahûd warrior to a well aimed arrow.
Turn 4 turned into the pivotal moment of the game (and I knew it right there). I won priority and started to turn my Mumak into a charge right at Gimli's flank when Mike called a Heroic Move. I countered and called one as well with my commander. Whoever wins this roll-off is in control of the game. I knew that with only two might I couldn't outlast Gimli on the HMs and I was very worried about the contignent of Warriors coming around the terrain going towards my camp. If fact I thought long and hard before I started to turn into Gimli that I'd be better off turning away from him and securing my other flank.
Well, the dice fell and forces of good prevailed. Gimli was going to charge the Mumak and rolled his courage test - he only rolled a 3! However, using Will he passed the test and charged full force into the massive beast! Every WoMT in range passed their tests as well and all of them had spear supporting models with them. I was looking at about 10 rolls to attack the Mumak. I used the rappelling lines to drop a single Mahûd warrior and charge Gimli - at least pulling him off the fight meant that my Mumak had a higher FV than the rest of the warriors. I shielded against Gimli and won the fight. The Mumak rolled a 5 on his fight and Warriors of MT couldn't get higher than 4. After a banner re-roll, Mike pulled a 6! ( not the only time that would happen!) and I used my last point of might to turn my dice into a 6 which allowed me to win the fight and kill two WoMT. (Post game note: I realized on the drive home that the Mumak Commander is not allowed to use his might to influence rolls from the Mumak, oops, sorry Mike!)
The next turns went as expected, I either lost priority or won and was the subject to HMs from Gimli to pen my Mumak in place. I realized my only chance to recover the scenario was to disembark. My Mahûd warriors came flooding down from the Howdah - I lost one to a falling test.
We had several turns of combat with the a Mahud warrior always engaging Gimli so that he couldn't fight the Mumak. In combat the Mahûd warriors were total studs. My dice were hot as I was rolling 5s and 6s to win most every fight and following up with 5s or 6s to wound. I ended up losing two more Mahûd warriors in the middle turns but took out twice as many WoMT. I had three Mahûd warriors making a straight path to intercept the invasion force - though I knew it would be futile and they wouldn't make it there in time.
On the punultimate turn - Mike was about 4" from my base camp - I killed enough models to put him within 1 of his break point. I knew the game was over as he'd get into my camp the next turn so I just flat out attacked everything I could.
We had several 1/1 fights with Mahûd warriors and the last fight was Gimli w/ a spear support vs the Mumak and a Mahûd warrior. My five dice produced a 6 and the best Gimli's four dice could do was a 4. But wait, banner re-roll - and yep, Gimli got a 6 and his higher FV won the fight. He struck a two wounds on the Mumak (courage tests saved both from stampedes).
The final body count ended at 5 dead Mahûd warriors and 24-25 dead WoMT (I think). The forces of good won the day with a major victory.
All in all, it was great fun. I really appreciate Mike agreeing the help me test out this army. There were a few rules hiccups that we had to get out of the way - all of which involved the rappelling lines. The Mumak performed great on the turn in which he got his trample in. The rocks were less effective than I expected (only two kills) and the blowpipes were a bit more effective than expected (two kills also). The Mahûd warriors are tough as nails! I had exceptionally good rolling I think but they tore through the Warriors of Minas Tirith better than anything I've played. Shielding was also a great strategy - rolling 4 dice and having a F4 makes it easier than I though to survive.
In retrospect, I should have probably left a couple Mahûd warriors back in my home base defending or shouldn't have over-committed the Mumak too deep into my own territory.
I still like this army set up. The Mumak is a beast to try and wound. The howdah is an effective point of fate for every bow shot made at the crew. The Mahûd when they get into combat are tough as nails. I'm always going to have problems with scenarios where I have to be in multiple places but I had enough fun with this list to give it another go.
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Mumakil vs Dwarves
I had the chance to go to the Chicago Battle Bunker last evening to get some more games in with my Mumakil of Far Harad army. I got a chance to play against Kevin aka 'Drunken Mick' on the AWC LOTR Forums. Kevin was part of the Adepticon Team Champions for this year's tournament. He's a crafty player with a knack for building low might high death toll armies. He brought out the Dwarves tonight led none other than Dain (aka Superman in some circles). He had around 40 dwarves which included a mixture of Khazad Guard, Iron Guard, a ton of shield warriors and 12 pesky Dwarven Bowmen. After first rolling 'To the Death!' as a scenario we decided to re-roll and ultimately settled on Domination. This is easily one of the two hardest scenarios for my Mumakil army. It obviously favors high model count armies that can be in a lot of places at once. When I've got 14 models, all deployed on the Mumak, then I obviously can't be!!
Here's a photo of our basic deployment areas:
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/dm-01.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-01.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>
The game started with the evil side winning priority three turns in a row. The Mumakil started a steady advance towards the center of the board turning a bit towards the top right objective (the tower). The dwarves fanned out with a contingent of iron guard and dwarf warriors marching towards the tower, a contingent of warriors headed south to the wooden fort. Dain and several warriors, Khazad Guard, and Iron Guard moved towards a central position mostly hidden from view behind a large rock. I also decided that one Mahûd warrior should deploy and guard the one objective in my territory. The early turns saw a bit of uneventful bowfire from the dwarven block of 12 archers.
I wanted to trample some of the stout legged warriors without fear of Dain's retribution. I was also going after the Archers as best as I could as I really felt they were my biggest threat. However, after I'd committed a move towards the tower I decided that I probably should hang back a bit more and get the Dwarven warriors to spread out. I did shoot a couple poisoned blowdarts and much to my surprise I killed two Khazad guard (sixes followed fours!). I took that good fortune and did an about face to back to the center of the board.
The next shooting phase was a fateful turn. DM managed to get off several shots from his dwarves and scored two hits on the Mumak (also needing those same sixes and fours). Much to my chagrin, the might beast took two wounds. My first roll for stampeding came up 4! Even with all the will my commander had, it wouldn't be enough. The Mumak was stampeding the next turn!! So as expected, this next turn would be pivotal to outcome of the game. Kevin directed the stampeding towards the protected position of the dwarven king. After the trample things got ugly! I had to roll d6 to see if any models fell from the howdah. I dropped the first dice for the commander – 1. Oops. I used his first point of might to save his life but that was a very ominous sign indeed. One more Mahûd fell to his death while the others survived. The Dwarven King charged in with his fearless Khazad Guard and any IG that passed their test and were within range. The dwarves won the day and put a couple more wounds on the Mumakil. I survived those stampede tests but knew I was pinned in now.
The next turn, good won priority so I called a Heroic Move with the commander. Dain countered but I won the roll-off. The Mumak trampled ahead targeting Dain. Several models were trampled by the Str 9 attacks but Dain held strong. I only got one wound on him (not saved by fate) but I knew I was stuck for some time with the chances of the Mumak being able to move low for quite some time. Dain won the fight against the charging Mumak without scoring a wound.
The next few turns were spent with the archers firing into the Howdah and Dain and the elite dwarves pinning the Mumak in place. I started deploying Mahûd warriors to try and pull off some of the Dwarfs in the fights. However, the Mahûd and Mumakil couldn't win the fights at all. The commander took the final wound from bowfire. To top it off, at least 2 Mahûd warriors plummeted to their death trying to dismount! I'd lost 3 warriors to falls from the Howdah alone!
As can be expected, I lost the battle of attrition was broken by the combination of falls from the fights on the ground. In some ways, I was broken much earlier than Kevin would probably have liked. He wasn't even close to contesting the last objective (at least 3 turns). However, with no Mahûd heroes on the board, my warriors were going to run away very quickly. In an attempt to wrestle a draw out of the scenario, I poured all my remaining models out of the howdah and engaged the dwarves. My models were one turn from reaching the objective closest to them and if the fights went well, I had a slim chance to contest or win that objective which would secure a draw.
At the end of the turn after I'd been broken. I picked up the dice to see about the end of the scenario. The result…….. 2. The scenario ended with a Minor Victory for Kevin (3 objectives).
It was a fun game that taught me a lot about playing against Dwarves with this army. The game itself really turned on the stampede that occurred after Kevin and I each rolled wounds on models that needed 6s and 4s! Once he got me into to position to charge me with Dain, I really wasn't in a position to get my trample going. It certainly didn't help that I had to burn a might point to even stay alive on the Howdah!! The game reinforced to me that Dwarves are tough. Strength 3 Bows are tough and the Mumak is not as immune to wounds as I'd hoped!
Here's a couple more photos of our battle:
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-02.jpg"></a>
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-02.jpg"></a>
<img class="size-medium wp-image-36" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-02.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-03.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-37 aligncenter" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-03.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="161" /></a>
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-04.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-34 aligncenter" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/dm-04.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>
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Mumakil vs Rangers of Ithilien
I had the chance to go to the Chicago Battle Bunker last evening to get some more games in with my Mumakil of Far Harad army. My second game of the night was against Jay aka 'knitemare' on the AWC LOTR Forums. Jay brought along his Rangers of Ithilien list which included 40+ models led by Faramir, Ranger Captain of Gondor and Damrod. He had 14 Rangers of Ithilien and the rest was filled out with Warriors of Minas Tirith (Shields, Spears and a Banner). We drew High Ground as the scenario and selected one of the new Citadel Hills as our central hill.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">On a tactical note, this was not a good choice of a hill for my army as the Mumak would not be able to climb up it. My normal strategy for this scenario would be to have the Mumak just sit back and trample whoever gets on the hill and win the numbers game that way. However, since my Mumak couldn't get there, I realized that the Mahûd would have to fight there way to victory.</p>
first turns were rather uneventful, one round of volley fire produced no damage to my Mumakil. Jay stormed the hill with Faramir and as many of his WoMT as he could get up there.
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/km-01.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-41 aligncenter" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/km-01.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>
I brought my Mumakil to the right side of the hill and stared down the Rangers of Ithilien. Jay took that hint and moved his Rangers back into slight more protective position. My Mumak was now close enough to be in range of the hill. I started shooting poisoned blow darts and throwing rocks! The height of the hill really helped bring the WoMT into range of the rocks. I don't think Jay was counting on that as I killed a lot of warriors using those missile weapons.
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/km-03.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-40 aligncenter" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/km-03.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>
Jay used the close position of my Mumak to get lots and lots of direct fire at my Mumakil. My Commander took a wound and at least 1-2 of my Mahûd warriors were wounded and killed. He even had some success with 'In the Way' shots fired at the Howdah causing two wounds on it!! Keep in mind, that's sixes followed by sixes. He was enamored by the howdah and actually spent one turn just shooting at it.
<a href="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/km-02.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-42 aligncenter" src="http://thereandblogagain.wordpress.com/files/2008/06/km-02.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>
In the last few turns , I was close enough to the Hill to get my trample attack on some of the WoMT, killing 4 I believe. I continued to do large damage with the thrown rocks. However, all the time spent close to the direct range of the Ranges was taking its toll. My Commander took his last wound and died an uncerimous death with his full might allotment still in tact. I also lost enough Mahûd to be dangerously close to breaking. I dismounted one Mahud to at least contest the Hill. I used him to shield for two turns and stay alive. On turn 8 I knew that I needed to get some warriors onto the hill or I'd never get a chance to win, so I started to deploy all my remaining Mahûd warriors. However, the Rangers once again took aim and killed enough models to break my Mahûd army. Five Mahûd warriors were on the ground, one was still on the Howdah at the start of turn nine. I lost priority and the one Mahûd warrior on hill was charged. The other four at the base of the Mumak faced their courage rolls: fail, fail, fail, and fail. Ouch. My last Mahûd warrior (on the Howdah) automatically passed his courage and then proceeded to deploy from the Howdah. I rolled a 1 on the climb test and he fell to his death. The warrior on the hill Shielded and won the fight bringing us to the start of turn 10.
I was left with two models, a Mumak running around without any passengers and a single Mahûd warrior defending the hill. If that Mahûd warrior could survive the last turn then I'd scrape a Minor defeat. I won the priority I didn't want to win. I rolled my courage test and he failed. The free men of Gondor drove their banner into the Hill and claimed a major victory!
Whew, now I'm 0-3 with my Mumak army and seriously scratching my head. I still this this is a tough army and I should be able to win games with it. Jay played a very good game and deserved the win. I do think I made one very big tactical mistake. I should have moved my Mumak around the other part of the hill and ignored the Rangers of Ithilien. I could have stayed out his range or at least put all his warriors in the way preventing the shots. I would have had to deploy the Mahûd and take the hill by force but 12 Mahûd warriors can beat 20 WoMT.
After these three battles with my Mumakil, I'm looking at retooling the army in some fashion. I'm considering a Mumakil plus Haradrim army or perhaps just a Mahûd + Haradrim ground army without the Mumak. We'll see what happens.
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