Council of the Wise Tournament Report

[steveguermont]

Hi Everyone I attended Council of the Wise in Kitchener this past weekend. 

This tournament was ran by OSBGL, and I played in day 2 which was 800 pt doubles.

This was a friendlier tournament as far as competitive events go. 3 Games and round missions were rolled from the doubles matched play book at the start of each round. Every table played the same scenario each round 

My List - Mordor with Dark Denizens of Mirkwood 

Witch King of Angmar 
3 might 12 Fate 3 Will, Horse, Morgul Crown 
6x Black Numenorians, Banner
1x Orc Tracker 
6x orc with shield 

The Shadow Lord on Fell Beast 
6x Black Numenorians 
3x Orc with spear 

Guritz 
2x Orc Tracker 
2x Warg Riders 
6x Orcs 3 spears 3 shields 

The Spider Queen 
Fel Warg
Bat Swarm

Game 1 Against the Balrog and Isengard Allies. Scenario 1, No Escape
Ringwraiths were able to get some huge transfixes on the Balrog who only managed to kill 1 warg rider. The Witch King secured a cheeky black dart on the Balrog as well for an extra VP. The main force of our opponents army was 2 large warbands of Uruk'Hai which struggled to get through the terror of our Black NNs. We were able to leverage the mobility of the Spider Queen to call some heroic combats and chew through the Isengard force. Our opponents had a fun and friendly list, but they did not have the ability to get the Balrog into combat against most of our force. 
Final Score 9-2 Mordor

Game 2 against Lothlorien and Rohan Alliance - Clash of Champions
This was a tough matchup for our opponents who brought Galadriel and Theoden. We Gambled and threw the Witch King into combat against a battle line of Elves, striked up to win the fight, and successfully chewed through 7 models with our general, over several turns. Theoden was assassinated by the Spider Queen, and we made a lucky resist on Galadriel's transfix on our Witch King to continue killing our opponents' battle line. We made some big gambles this game by chucking our heroes into combat early, and we made some lucky rolls. The Shadow Lord was excellent against elf shooting.
Final score 9-0 Mordor 

Game 3 Battle of Wits against a Gondor and Fiefdoms Alliance
Our opponent brought a Gondor trebuchet, which wiped 5 orcs off the table turn 1, and caused us to shuffle our models around to avoid scooping up whole warbands. Our opponents brought Boromir and Imrahil, and they did an excellent job breaking through our lines. The Spider Queen did her job and mopped up several Clansman, and a Hero which gave us the win. Transfix was able to stop boromir and imrahil from mopping up our heroes. Our two warg riders were able to successfully distract a large portion of the Gondor army because they rushed after the treb. This game really could have gone either way, but the Wraiths and the Spider Queen really showed their power by tying up and killing key targets.  
Final score 4-2 Mordor

Overall this was an excellent event and I cant recommend OSBGL tourneys enough. Awesome sportsmanship and really creative lists all over the event. We made some risky plays that worked in our favour, and The Spider Queen was excellent in each game. Terror was a big part of our list, and was a factor in each game. 

[onlurker]

Dude this sounds epic. Congrats! And way to represent!!

I haven't had much exposure to LOTR, I take a liking to the thought because it has the fantasy element, in the #1 pure, OG fantasy realm, and I get the impression it's not a rock tumbler of changing rulesets by GW?

Also the gameplay sounds sweet, and the army size is just right to keep it exciting, interesting, without an overwhelming number of models.

I assume you didn't do battle reports- you were busy helping the dark side take over Middle-earth (booo!!) but this is spurring me to check out some video batreps.

[sean]

Jun 2, 2023 6:31:43 GMT -5 onlurker said:

Dude this sounds epic. Congrats! And way to represent!!

I haven't had much exposure to LOTR, I take a liking to the thought because it has the fantasy element, in the #1 pure, OG fantasy realm, and I get the impression it's not a rock tumbler of changing rulesets by GW?

Also the gameplay sounds sweet, and the army size is just right to keep it exciting, interesting, without an overwhelming number of models.

How did I miss this post!?! I've been interested in the OSBGL but don't know anyone who has been to an event yet. I have played a few games of MESBG with folks in Kingston. Steve are you local?

Onlurker, it's a great game, the rules are quite balanced and stable and the gameplay is excellent. Heroes are suitably heroic but not overpowered, and tactically you need to keep a supported battle line as getting surrounded is catastrophic. 

[steveguermont]

Jun 2, 2023 10:51:28 GMT -5 sean said:

Jun 2, 2023 6:31:43 GMT -5 onlurker said:

Dude this sounds epic. Congrats! And way to represent!!

I haven't had much exposure to LOTR, I take a liking to the thought because it has the fantasy element, in the #1 pure, OG fantasy realm, and I get the impression it's not a rock tumbler of changing rulesets by GW?

Also the gameplay sounds sweet, and the army size is just right to keep it exciting, interesting, without an overwhelming number of models.

How did I miss this post!?! I've been interested in the OSBGL but don't know anyone who has been to an event yet. I have played a few games of MESBG with folks in Kingston. Steve are you local?

Onlurker, it's a great game, the rules are quite balanced and stable and the gameplay is excellent. Heroes are suitably heroic but not overpowered, and tactically you need to keep a supported battle line as getting surrounded is catastrophic. 

Yup I am local I got into MESBG this year. It's a fantastic system with some very dedicated players. GW has not really changed the rules much at all in the last 15 years.

 OSBGL is an excellent group and I'll definitely be going to more of their events