I haven't been playing much X-wing of late, besides some HotAC in our local league. However, their was a local MESBG event I attended at the end of 2023. I had settled on bringing a force of Hunter Orcs to the team event, with some Mirkwood Spiders and Gundabad Orcs to back them up.
I've had a box of 24 Hunter Orcs, and the Fimbul + Narzug captain blister sitting on my hobby pile for more than a year, so I figured it was time to finally build and paint them. I chipped away at this project over a couple of weeknights, and weekends leading up to the event. Annoyingly the hunter orc box only comes with 8/24 of the models with bows, so I had to jury rig four extra bows using some brass rod, bent into a composite bow shape. I raided some other plastic kits for some spare quivers to give the 4 new bowmen some arrows to fire. One of the plastic hunter orcs got promoted to the rank of captain. He earned himself a hero rock, and a converted 2-handed pick for this promotion.
The Mirkwood spiders were models I already had built and painted for use with the Spider Queen in another army I've been running. I've been so impressed with them that I wanted to bring them as my pseudo-cavalry in this list. The models are 3rd party miniatures using the Wargames Atlantic Giant Spider Box. It's a great box that gives you the pieces to make 12 bigger spiders (which I'm using as Mirkwood Spiders), and 12 smaller spiders (which I'll eventually put in pairs on 40mm bases to used as Giant Spiders).
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| A great quality kit, which is decently cheap (especially compared to the GW equivalent). |
The 3 Gundabad orcs are just 3D prints. Initially I was going to use the GW models, but when I saw they were a Resin 12-box for $123 I decided that proxies would do. IMO Games Workshop resin sucks big old donkey dicks. They're probably the worst resin models I've ever worked with, which is impressive I suppose. The 3D prints were close enough to the aesthetic, and were comparatively incredibly cheap.
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| The armour seems a little too "nice" for orcs, but I looked at the GW versions, and they're similarly "nicely" armoured. |
I had my army built and painted with a day to spare, so I also decided to quickly make a display board the night before. I've never actually attempted a display board, and it didn't quite work out how I intended. I ended up a little bland, but it served it's purpose, and I learnt quite a lot making it.
My List: Azog's Hunters + Dark Powers of Dol Guldur (Historical Alliance).
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| 450pts of multi-attack gloriousness, with a possibility of 66 attacks! |
6x Hunter Orcs w/ Orc Bows = 54pts2x Hunter Orcs w/ 2-Handed Picks = 18pts4x Hunter Orcs = 32pts
6x Hunter Orcs w/ Orc Bows = 54pts2x Hunter Orcs w/ 2-Handed Picks = 18pts3x Hunter Orcs = 32pts
3x Mirkwood Spiders = 60pts3x Gundabad Orc Warriors w/ Shields, Spears = 30pts32 Models, with 14 Bows @ 450 Points.
My army (and Hunter Orcs in general) had 2 glaring weaknesses; firstly, all of my models, with the exception of the Gundabads, were low defence. Defence 4 means bows were wounding me on 5's, and Crossbows, and S4 models were wounding my guys on 4's. Rough! Secondly, my army was majority courage 2, with no access to fury, and no Warhorn. This meant Terror armies were going to be difficult to fight into, and break tests would be rough for models outside my hero's standfasts. Narzug and Fimbul are both Courage 4, and the Gundabads are 3, but even that is unreliable, and objectively bad inside harbinger range.
Luckily the hunter orcs, and especially their captains, are nice and cheap. This allowed me to bring high numbers to ensure I wasn't breaking quickly, even with defence 4. It also allowed me to bring lots of bows to outshoot opponents, and stand and fire at any terror walls I came across. It's not a perfect solution, but it was good enough in my mind.
Round 1: To the Death against Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion.
1x Orc w/ Banner = 30pts
5x Mordor Uruk Hai w/ Shields = 45pts5x Mordor Uruk Hai w/ 2-Handed Maces = 45pts
3x Orcs w/ Shields = 18pts
6x Orcs w/ Spears = 36pts
1x Orc w/ Orc Bow = 6pts
1x Orc = 5pts
26 Models, with 1 Bow @ 450 Points?
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| The models were great, but the forced perspective of the display board was straight up genius! 10/10, and the (deserving) winner of best army. |
The scenario choices for Round 1 were: Destroy the Supplies, To the Death, and Domination. My opponent vetoed Destroy the Supplies, and I vetoed Domination, which left us with a straight up killing scenario. I was feeling ok with this scenario, because even though my opponent had a banner, I felt my bows would carry the day.
My opponent deployed Shagrat, and Gorbag in the centre with his whole force, and Shelob on one flank. My Captain was in the centre with the bulk of my orcs, with Narzug safely behind. Fimbul was on a flank with a handful of orcs, and 2 spiders. A single spider was opposite Shelob to attempt the paralyse, and/or stall her (it did not).
Since I had bow superiority, I half-moved up, while shooting, while the Uruks full-moved towards me. My opponent was almost broken by the times our lines clashed, and even with Shelob getting around behind my lines, I was able to encircle the Uruks and quarter them whilst remaining unbroken. Shagrat escaped being wounded, and the warriors played pass-the-parcel with the banner (2VP to opponent), so I couldn't score those points, but breaking the enemy, and being unbroken scored me big points (7VP for breaking and being unbroken).
Result: 7-2 Major Win.
Round 2: A Clash By Moonlight against The Host of the Dragon Emperor Legendary Legion.
The scenario choices for Round 2 were: Capture and Control, Contest of Champions, and A Clash By Moonlight. I vetoed Contest of Champions (duh), and my opponent chose to veto Capture and Control. This left us playing A Clash By Moonlight, which felt pretty good given my high bow count.
6x Dragon Cult Acolytes w/ Axes = 72pts
8x Easterling Black Dragons w/ Shields, Pikes = 72pts
2x Easterling Black Dragons w/ Bows = 16pts
2x Rhunish War Drakes = 40pts20 Models, with 2 Bows @ 450 Points.
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| My opponent's army wasn't fully painted, so here's a placeholder. "Faster you plebs, I want to hit them with my short sword!" |
On approach, there was quite a bit of jockeying for position before the first engagement, with both armies trying to leverage shooting before the lines clashed. There was a large hill/bluff in the middle of the table, which became an important platform for one of my Mirkwood Spiders to provide web support. This terrain piece funnelled our forces into tighter spaces (good for my opponent's pikes), but heavily restricted The Dragon Emperor's manoeuvrability.
The Emperor's warband, and my main force slowly ground each other down over the game. The only point of interest was Fimbul whiffing his first combat in a 1v1, and losing his warg. The following turn he redeemed himself by whiffing a second combat, and dying (good riddance).
A small sortie from each side fought on one of the flanks. The dragon knight lead the two drakes, while my hunter orc captain, some orcs, and two spiders countered them. There was a clutch 1/12 early paralyse on the dragon knight, which basically allowed me to pivot my game plan on the flank. This went from , and kill flank into actually winning it. The dragon knight and his 2 pet drakes valiantly tried to hold the flank, but eventually crumbled to the orcs, and spiders. This gave me the hero kill to contest the assassination part of the scenario.
By the end of the game, both my opponent and I had killed an enemy hero, and still had a hero on the board (1 VP each for a hero kill). I had broken my opponent without being broken myself (5 VP for breaking and being unbroken). Both leaders came out unscathed.
Result: 6-1 Major Win.
Round 3: Storm the Camp against Arnor.
My round 3 opponent had an absolutely beautifully painted, full-metal Arnor army. The scenario choices were: Storm the Camp, Breakthrough, and Lords of Battle. My opponent vetoed Breakthrough, and so I chose Storm the Camp. My thinking was Lords of Battle would be tough against Malbeth's saves, and Storm the Camp would allow me to make use of my bow superiority.
1x Warrior of Arnor w/ Banner = 33pts2x Rangers of Arnor = 16pts
1x Ranger of Arnor w/ Spear = 9pts
19x Warrior of Arnor = 56pts
1x Hobbit Archer w/ Warhorn = 35pts
27 Models, with 3 Bows @ 450 Points.
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| Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of this army on the board. The models were exceptionally painted, especially Arvedui in his blue cloak. |
This game was a particular hard matchup and scenario for my opponent. I had superior numbers, bow dominance, heroic march, and 4 fast models. My army slowly advanced down the middle of the board, with Fimbul peeling off on one flank with a spider, and some orcs and spiders headed down the other flank. My opponent had to hunker down closer to his deployment zone, use the terrain to try and hold and break my army. My orcs proved too vicious for that to work, and inflicted heavy losses with both their bows, and swords. This might have been manageable for my opponent, if Malbeth's saves were popping off (they were not).
To make matters worse, Fimbul charged a warrior on the flank, using his warg's Fell Sight. He then heroic combated to slingshot past my opponent's line, towards his camp defended by a single hobbit. A turn later the hobbit was dead, and I had control of my opponent's camp. The game ended soon after.
Result: 9-0 Major Win.
Round 4: Fog of war against Kingdom of Khazad Dum.
The scenario choices for Round 4 were: Lords of Battle, Domination, and Fog of war. I vetoed Lords of Battle, and my opponent vetoed Domination, which left us playing my favourite scenario: Fog of War. I cannot overstate how enjoyable this scenario is (probably my favourite scenario from all the minis games I've ever played). The AMG X-wing dev team should read it, and take notes (it's basically a game of bluff).
10x Hearthguard = 130pts2x Dwarf Rangers w/ Bows = 18pts
2x Heralds = 0pts16 Models, with 2 Bows @ 448 Points.
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| My opponent's army wasn't painted, so here's a placeholder. Man those dwarves look cool! |
I had nothing to deal with Durin this game, other than feeding him an Orc a turn to kill, however that was fine. This is one of the few scenarios in which the leader is worth no VPs, so I had no need to do anything other than stall him. My objectives were to kill one of the two Heralds, take a piece of terrain in my opponent's backfield, and keep Fimbul alive. My early bowfire (plus some might) dealt with the herald I needed dead, and with my armies speed, I easily gained control of the terrain piece I needed. Lastly, Fimbul spent the game firing his bow near the flanks, and only going into extremely favourable fights with backup.
My opponent just didn't have the numbers for this matchup. Durin with Hearthguard is a huge points investment at 450pts, and it seriously cut into his numbers, especially after adding in the mandatory King's Champion all Khazad lists want. My 32 Hunter Orcs were opposite only 16 (elite) dwarves, with no spear supports. This meant I easily engulfed his battle line, and quickly turned it into a bunch of 2v1 skirmishes, which is hugely favourable to the Hunter Orcs.
My opponent's army quickly became just Durin vs the world, which left him without the numbers to complete his objectives.
Result: 12-0 Major Win.
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| Woo! |
Overall Result: My overall score was 34 VPs scored, and only 3 VPs given away, which gave me my first ever MESBG 1st Place!
Post Tournament Thoughts:
I felt that the 14 orc bows, and hyper-efficient Hunter Orc profile carried me at 450pts. In three of my four games I essentially had complete shooting dominance. I could safely soften up my opponent before engulfing their battle line with arguably the best brawler model in the game.
The only change I'd make at 450pts is to change the Captain's 2-handed pick for an orc bow. The 4 picks I had scattered throughout my line were plenty, and the extra bow (with might) would probably be more useful. Alternatively I could just add 5x extra 2-handed picks to the Hunter Orcs.
