The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Goblin Town
Why Play Goblin Town
fancy a large never ending horde army where your infantry is so cheap and expendable you can use them as ammunition to be literally thrown at the enemy? Then welcome to Goblin Town, here you can bring an army that will swamp your opponent in a tide of fleshy lumps, by the time your enemy has freed his units from combat you are already controlling the objectives and made back on the numbers you have lost.
Pros
- Possibly endless supply of goblins
- Ridiculously cheap units & Heroes
- Easily able to outflank your opponent
Cons
- Very Limited options
- Only one source of ranged fire
- Very low courage
Army Bonus
A Goblin hero can add six extra models to its warband size.
Unit Analysis
Heroes
- The Goblin King: Dame Edna has seen better days. The Goblin King is the only real choice to lead your army, though he is only defence 5 he can ignore a wound on a 3+ unless it was caused by a magical power or an Elven-made weapon. he can also run though his own men to get into combat, you may loose a few goblins but who cares as long as you have the scribe. Finally he has the ability to use his own troops as projectiles that hit at strength 8, and automatically knock prone any model it hits!
- Grinnah The Goblin: A slightly more survivable captain with a unique weapon and an extra point of might. He is the only goblin that has a throwing weapon (aside from the goblin king who throws goblins). He can call a heroic action at the start of any phase to swap places with a goblin that is within 3 of him, this can be useful when getting him out of tight spots or unwanted combats.
- The Goblin scribe: ALWAYS BRING THIS! This guy is the sole reason you get a never ending tide of goblins. He brings more goblins on the board by passing a courage test at the star of the movement phase, if he passe you get D3 + 1 goblins for each point of the courage tes passed, then you can bring them on the field from any edge chosen by the controlling player, this opens up a load of chances for flanking and capturing objectives that were though to be out of reach. the downside is that he cannot move and he has only one 1 wound so make sure to place him somewhere he will be safe.
- Goblin Mercenary Captain: The Armoured version Of a Goblin Captain, with D5 he can stand up a soldier of gondor if he's lucky, but you didn't bring him for that you wanted him because of his special rule Ambush, this allows you to be kept in reserve, along with with a warband of goblin mercenaries, then from turn 2 see if you can come on by passing a courage test, then setup your warband on any eligible terrain piece on the board that is not in your enemies Control zone, if there isn't any eligible terrain simply set them up on a chosen board edge.
- Goblin Captain: Possibly the cheapest captain ever and for good reason, only slightly better stats that the average goblin, they wont stand a change against even some of the basic troops from other lists. he's here to fill one roll, and that's to help you bring more goblins to the game.
- Gollum:
Only bring him for fluff games or as an objective. No point or benefit for you bringing him in a goblin town list.When he's wearing the Ring, he halves the fight value of anyone he's in combat with, meaning that if you keep him near the Goblin King, the King will be borderline invincible in close combat. This alone makes him worth considering, especially since he's a pain in the ass to charge while invisible and only costs 35 points.
Troops
- Goblin Warrior: Cheap & expendale are the only things really going for these guys, the Chittering hordes rule allows them to support other Goblins from their town in a fight even if they don't have spears. they can be equipped with a two handed axe which can make their attacks hit just a little bit harder and since you will have so many some of those hits might actually land. as soon as possible mob your opponents units with as many goblins as possible. take a note that their courage is very low so keep an eye out for enemy units that can use terror.
- Goblin Mercenary: Goblin Warrior but with armour, they can still support other goblins even if they don't have armour. make sure you have a Goblin Captain to lead them so you can use the ambush rule
Allies
Convenient Allies
Moria
The Eastern Kingdoms
The Nazgul of Dol Guldur
Azog's Hunters
Azog's Legion
The Trolls
Smaug
Impossible Allies
Angmar
The Serpent Horde
Far Harad
Corsairs of Umbar
Isengard
Sharkey's Rogues
Variags of Khand
Mordor
The Eastern Kingdoms