Goblin Town Tactics

Isilduhrr · **Posted:** Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:33 pm

I'm playing with my new Goblin Town Army, but worried that my lack of experience with them, coupled with my general ineptitude for deep tactics, could badly skew my chances in games. I'd imagine that the defense three is a difficult add-on.
I'm not usually very competitive at all, but my opponent is something of a rule-bender, and he's very competitive about this. I really badly want to win a few games, as I've been struggling lately, (fiddling with lists).
He usually plays with Moria Dwarves, with a single captain (we don't use war bands) and perhaps a banner. He focuses mostly on numbers, perhaps with 5-8 Khazad Guard.
Any help you could offer would be appreciated.

Hill-Troll · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 1:06 am

Well, the main tactic with goblins is to mob the enemy. Because of the special rule you should not sent many goblins into the fight and let them be supported.

JamesR · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 3:09 am

Trap enemies and use other Goblins as support. Your troops quite frankly are garbage as individuals but they are cheap and expendable, take advantage of that. Swarms need very little in the way of tactics, just imagine your troops are a bulldozer and run them over! Lol
Also try to keep the fights in more open areas where your numbers will be an advantage.

One of the best strategies I believe for swarms is to try and split your opponent and send a group of troops to just die and keep the two squads from rejoining while you throw the bulk of your troops kills the other group

ChrisC · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:32 am

Try not to let him wall, what I mean by this, is if you are charging his straight line of troops you're at a disadvantage.

D= Dwarf, G = Goblin

DDDDDDDDD
GGGGGGGGG

In this situation, you're going to get spanked. It's a literal meat grinder, one or two Dwarfs will go down, but you'll just keep feeding Goblins to the machine until you break.

Ideally, you want to split the line. This can be done two ways, Champions (heroes) or hard hitting elites like Wargs. I'm not 100% familiary with the new Goblin town list (more with Moria goblins, but same difference) but I imagine you have access to the new fell Wargs? If you do, try something like this.

DDDDDDDDDD
.........W
......WWW
....WWWWW
GGGGGGGGGGG
GGGGGGGGGGG

The idea is, the Warg's hit a small point of the line. Hopefully on the charge they will kill off enough Dwarfs or at least push them back to make a hole, allowing you Goblins to then charge and overwhelm the two smaller portion, trying to swing around the flanks like thus;

........DDD.......DDD
GGDDDDDWWWDDDDDDGG
GGGGGGGWWWGGGGGGGG

Alternatively, use the Goblins as a meat shield similar to a Dwarf line to keep the Dwarfs in one place, then hit them from one flank with a Warg charge. You have the better movement rate and Dwarfs are naturally quite defensive, so you should have the advantage of trying to get around the sides of him and overwhelming him with 2v1 attacks.

.........................WWW
GGDDDDDDDDDDDDDWWW
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Hope I helped some!

Isilduhrr · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:32 am

I've got no Fell Wargs, but I have ordinary Wargs Riders, and a single Warg Marauder. I'd imagine that they would do the trick, if I coupled the Goblin King with them?

Grungehog · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 3:36 pm

I take it, since your not playing warbands, that anything goes in which case go for it, mix it up a bit, you want to use the goblin king to divide, and your little dudes to conquer.
field as many gobos as possible the gk, and grinnah, if you have gollum throw him in the lot too, just have fun whatever you do

Isilduhrr · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:00 pm

Quote:

if you have gollum throw him in

I have a gollum, but I don't exactly see how much help he'd be!

Grungehog · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:32 pm

he can wear the ring, and get behind enemy lines before charging them in the back and halving the enemy fight value.
Great for breaking up enemy lines from behind, and taking out bannermen

SSneaky!

Edit: he is part of the goblin town list and has fight 5

Isilduhrr · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 7:56 pm

That's actually a great idea, but can't you only include him as an opponent for Frodo? If not, how many points does he cost?

EDIT: Remembered that this isn't allowed. Are you allowed PM me about it?

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 8:05 pm

Goblin town gollum can be taken for Points X

he isnt supposed to be a good as he is but it was an oversight by the dev team :lol:

cereal_theif · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:27 pm

Ok here is Owen Captain of Goblin town.

Key things
1) Ally in a horn!! C3 heroes are going to run away
2) Scribe is compulsory
3) Use special strikes especially Axes!
4) Heroic march if htey are far away

Bilbo · **Posted:** Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:25 pm

Will you be playing on Goblin Town scenery? If so you are laughing.
The Goblin King can fling enemies as well as his own to absolutely devastating effect. If you are playing on Goblin Town gang ways, he can literally throw enemy heroes off the board straight to there deaths!

The Scribe is naturally essential, and his roll for reinforcements can be boosted by an allied horn blower. Gollum is definitely worth his points and can be critical in winning fights with his high fight value of 5.

Damian · **Joined:** Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:59 pm **Posts:** 246

Goblin Town goblins are D3 and don't have Shamans, so it's very easy to break them. To win with Goblin Town you need to kill stuff faster than it can kill you. So......

1) Monsters. Bill Bert and Tom or Burdhur and Cave Trolls work nicely. Along with the Goblin King these guys will rack up kills and mess up battle lines.

2) A Shade (or two... you can afford them, Goblin Town troops cost very few points).

3) Ringwraiths. Transfix heroes and banners, then chop them up with goblins. Swarm the rest of your opponents army. You can't go wrong with a fellbeast either.

Incidentally, 'warbands' made the game so much better. Having to take a hero for every 12 warriors means that you're not penalised for taking allies...... and Goblin Town needs them. Plus you get more might for the additional heroic actions that the current rules introduced.

Isilduhrr · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:21 pm

I'm not playing in a Goblin Town, unfortunately :-X

that would put paid to his evil tricks!
SoutherDunedain, I don't know what you mean by "Points X"

JamesR · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:29 pm

Damian wrote:

Goblin Town goblins are D3 and don't have Shamans, so it's very easy to break the.

True but you can ally in a standard shaman and his fury can benefit them as they are the same race of creature

cereal_theif · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:47 pm

No fury needed.
I did well with The Three Trolls, Goblin King, Grinnah< Scribe, lots of goblins... mostly with axes.
AXE AXE AXE

JamesR · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:52 pm

Fury may not be "needed" but it is the greatest strength of orcs, goblins, and uruks

cereal_theif · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 10:37 pm

Nah, numbers is the greatest strength of goblins and strength is the greatest strength of uraks.

Fury is nice, don't get me wrong but I would not sacrifice too much for the fury. If fury doesn't come off, or you fail them etc etc you need to be able to do the business. So I plan without fury and add it in later if the points allow.

JamesR · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 10:45 pm

You're correct in the what-ifs, I'm speaking from a purely mathematical perspective. Fury when channeled will basically add 33% more wounds to your army for roughly 45 points (I know it's different for diff races its just an approximate) and with heroes the extra saves on top of fate are invaluable.
Suddenly your 30 goblins become 40, or those 24 Uruks become 32. Again it's not always going to happen exactly like that it's just the mathematical probabilities of it

Damian · **Joined:** Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:59 pm **Posts:** 246

It's only 33% more wounds for your whole army if you cluster every model within 6" of your shaman. And it's only (insert points here) if you only take one shamen, so you figures are misleading.

Getting fury for Goblin Town costs more than the points cost of one Shaman. You'll bring a warband with him for a bit of protection, so you need to factor them in. Is it worth it for just one shaman, you'd really want 2 for more table coverage (you can't swarm people effectively if you bunch up around 1 shaman)...... now you might as well just play Moria instead.

Forget allied Moria shamans, they won't help you win fights and kill things. The more fights you win and the more stuff you kill the less rolls get made against your low defence value and the more goblins stay alive.

Trolls and Shades will do the business.

Goblin Town Tactics

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