thanesgoblins

Thane Morgan's 15mm Goblins

This was one of the first two 15mm armies I built and was used much throughout the development of Armies of Arcana. It is a little battered from years of travel, tipped storage containers, and dropping. My goblins have a notorious habit of going AWOL after a battle - nearly every time I play them, my opponent or the store I play at have a couple of figures for me the next week. Sometimes they have been stepped on, but that only serves them right!

Goblins are dirt cheap to field. If you want raw mass, this is your army. The hobgoblins are great if you want to put a backbone in your army, they are nearly as tough as Black Orcs. Goblin heroes are surprisingly nasty, as only the very best of goblins get to be heroes, the rest are killed in the process.

But... At the start of each turn, tell yourself "Some units are going to run away this turn, just deal with it." Even on the first turn. If no one runs away, you can be pleasantly surprised. Goblin morale sucks. Their best hero has the leadership of the worst dwarf. They have the only basic troops who have less than a 50% chance of rallying without a hero.

Goblin Forces

On the far flank are the Wolfriders, a unit of 20 and another unit of 20 Scouts. Beside them is a Warwagon from Reaper, a great archer or artillery platform.

In the front rank is a unit of 28 Pikes with a King and Wizard. Flanking them are two Hobgoblin units, one with spears and the other with 2-handed weapons. I usually put hobgoblin heroes with hobgoblins, and a goblin shaman with the spears.

Behind them are the mass of goblin warriors, about 140 of them. There are several ways I run goblin warriors - 24 warrior + 1 noble blocks, 50 warriors without leaders, and 16 warrior blocks when I'm using them as an irritation.

Among them are two units of 15 archers with nobles. You must put nobles in these units, or the archers will run the first time they are shot at. Archers are over twice the cost of normal warriors, and they are much more dangerous than normal goblins , so your enemies will target them.

Behind the archers are the elementals. Goblins have access to two elemental magics - Fire and Air, and both are very useful to them. Elementals give goblins some punch. Fire magic is a great source of melee strength.

On the near flank are minotaurs, flanked by goblin cannons. Minotaurs are everything goblins are not - fast, strong, and brave. A threat that the enemy won't be so quick to mock. Goblin cannons are cheap and totally unreliable, being the only artillery needing 2's to hit. Like everything else goblinoid - don't depend on them, and you should be OK.

Warriors - At 9 points each, they are the cheapest basic trooper in the game. They get that way because of their morale of 6. NEVER plan on a unit remaining after a round of combat. I mitigate their cowardly natures through formation. The basic one is the goblin block, a 5X5 RaF unit of 24 goblins plus a noble. At 306 points, it is an exceptionally cheap unit. But it has a morale bonus of 4, goblin nobles are scary, and with only a 5 wide frontage, it is both maneuverable and limiting to the opponents attacks. The second trick is to field units of 50 and enchant the tar out of them. 50 warriors = 450 points, 13 must die in a turn to take a test, and they look a lot more imposing than they really are. But, they are the perfect unit for an aura of Chaos, because even if they do freak out and kill each other, so what? Its 450 points, you opponents units probably cost twice that. And when the spell does work, you can get some cheap, uber troops.	Don't like gambling? Why are you playing goblins?! Seriously, there are plenty of other spells that are great to put on a 50 man goblin unit: Fire Breath, Berserk, Flaming Weapons being my favorites. These can easily triple the combat value of the unit used together.
Goblin Pikes - these are weaker than nearly any other pike unit in the game, for the same reason that goblin warriors are so not-mighty. They don't even have strength! But, you get a lot of them. And two ranks of pikes is always scary. Just like warriors, use that cheapness to your advantage - take a lot of them! Enchant them until they glow so bright other troops can't look at them!
Goblin Bows - These are the cheapest bow units around. Goblins think of them as longbows, but its just because goblins are short. Still, with strength and range, they are one of the best goblin units. For that reason, ALWAYS have a noble with them, because they will get shot at, and they will run away without the benefit of goblin "leadership". Air magic for Guardian Wind isn't a bad idea other. You can see from the photo a number of badly damaged goblins -these are the AWOL and stepped-upon previously mentioned.
Wolf Riders - Run them in big units, because they are all about the mass. Combat-wise, they are so weak. They don't even have long weapons, because it's embarrassing to charge a real horseman with lance and end up dangling from the lance stuck in the knights armor, wolf speeding away 50 yards off and not looking back. But, they are fast, and cheap. Keep them back, and use them against units engaged with other goblin units. A twenty wolfrider unit is 440 points, and has a 5 morale penalty in RaF. Or throw and Aura of Chaos on them, and pray :)
Goblin War Wagon This is a Reaper model. I will probably put two more together to be pull by more interesting beasts, but no matter what the beasts are, the wagon is a great place to protect archers and goblin cannons. Goblin Polearms also do well, as the cover of the wagon makes up for their lack of armor.
Hobgoblins with 2 Handed Weapons Hobgoblins are tough and strong. They provide a spine to a spineless army, units that you actually can depend on. Of course, they are also much more expensive. Use them as cores to build the weaker goblin units around. 2-handed weapon hobgoblins are great last strikers, as the 2 wounds and 2 fixed armor typically protects them long enough to get their strikes in. They have a Strength of 3, great against heavily armored enemies.
Hobgoblins with Pikes These are very good offensive units - strength 2, 2 wounds, armor 2 fixed, decent speed, 2 ranks of attacks. Most players quickly learn to fear hobgoblin units. I almost always take a hobgoblin pike unit in big games, with 20 hobgoblins, a hobgoblin hero, and a goblin shaman; and make it an objective.
Elementals These are great for purchase before the game or summoning. They have great attacks and defenses. 3 of them block archer LOS. Air elementals are perfect for tying up enemy flyers or hunting enemy archers.
Minotaurs Minotaurs are great non-elite monsters. They have a good number of wounds and attacks, and are a great spearhead force for an offensive. These are Demonworld minotaurs.