New Rules, Part IX: The Free Peoples, Part II

Good morning gamers,

We’ve finally made it through the Armies of the Lord of the Rings (after this post). In this post, we’ll be covering the unconventional lists from the Free Peoples books (aka, the hero lists and the monster lists). Most of these lists haven’t seen great changes since their armies were first published in Legions, but who you can ally them with (and whether that’s even a good idea) is what we’ll focus on here.

1) The New Lists: The Fellowship, The Misty Mountains, Fangorn, and the Wanderers in the Wild

As I just said, the lists haven’t changed very much – especially since Warbands. The biggest change from the Warband books is that the Misty Mountains and Fangorn (along with the Wildmen of Druadan that we covered a few weeks ago) used to be lumped in together in a catch-all list called the “Wanderers in the Wild." The others have remained basically unchanged (can't get Gandalf the White in the Fellowship list anymore).

2) The Army Bonuses: A Particular Model Matters

The army bonuses for two of the lists we’ll be looking at today require that certain units be present in your army. First, the Fellowship army bonus is completely dependent on Frodo being alive in your army (if you didn’t bring him, feel free to take Convenient Allies – you have lots of them). Second, the Wanderers in the Wild list is really two lists (Tom & Goldberry in one, Murin & Drar in the other), both of which rely on certain models being present in order to get the full use of the list (Tom to use Goldberry, Cirion from the Minas Tirith list for Murin & Drar to be Historical allies with Minas Tirith).

The other two lists have army bonuses that will be guaranteed to be useful to whatever models you bring because they’re more race-dependent (and all your models are from a particular race). As such, the important units are really just the heroes that allow you to bring the list in the first place (Treebeard for Fangorn, Gwaihir for the Misty Mountains). Across all four lists, one model is the key to unlocking the true power of the list – so in this post, we’ll look at armies with this model and without it (where possible) to see just how important these models really are.

3) The Lists: The Fellowship

My first purchase in the Lord of the Rings SBG was the Mines of Moria starter set – the Fellowship on one side, a bucket of Goblins with a Cave Troll on the other side. Ah, those were the days. Playing with the Fellowship (and I did that A TON) was fun, not only because of the sheer number of Might you had on the table, but also because the models you had (half of them at any rate) were really, REALLY good. This list is based on a common starter Fellowship list:

List #1: The Breaking of the Fellowship
Aragorn – Strider with bow and armor – 170

Legolas Greenleaf with armor – 105

Boromir of Gondor with shield – 100

Gimli, Son of Gloin – 100

Frodo Baggins with Sting – 65

Samwise Gamgee – 40

Meriadoc Brandybuck – 10

Peregrin Took - 10

I’ll say this up-front – there are two things I would recommend to someone who tries this list: first, determine if you want Merry and Pippin – I’ve found that having them allows you to leave someone on certain objectives (yes, Legolas can hold an objective on his own, but he can only be in one place). If you decide you don’t want Merry and Pippin, consider changing them out to give horses to Legolas and Aragorn – both can shoot, so you’ll get good movement out of them AND the ability to shoot things. The second thing I haven’t decided on yet is whether or not you need Sam – he’s the same cost as Anduril, and while his profile did get better with the new army book (while only going up a little in cost), if you plan on having Frodo put the Ring on before he gets attacked, you don’t really NEED Sam’s free-heroic-combat special rule. So…there’s that. If you do go with the numbers game (as I’ve opted for here), you have eight Fearless heroes, a whopping 19 Might (plus free Might for Aragorn each turn), and half of your models are F6. That’s really good!

The downsides to this list are obvious, though: first, you’ll almost always lose the numbers game – you just don’t get a lot of troops with an all-hero army. Second, because we left Gandalf at home (would require chucking either Aragorn or Boromir with most of the Hobbits and probably the bow on Aragorn), you have to deal with tough bad guys the hard way – by fighting them directly. True, you’ve got plenty of Heroic Strike (and a good starting Fight value) across the list, but it’ll be hard all the same. Third, your army is incredibly vulnerable to archery. If we ignore all of those D3 Hobbit meat shields, you’ve got D5 on Legolas, D6 on Boromir and Aragorn, and D8 on Gimli – against S2/S3 archery, that’s still not a good prospect. Whoever their targets are, you’ll want to maneuver your team so that you can take advantage of cover and buy your team as much time as you can (a few free Heroic Marches from Aragorn should do the trick).

Our next list, however, abandons Frodo and focuses on the power the Fellowship has (and some of their better allies):

List #2: The Lords of Gondor Have Returned
Aragorn – Strider with bow and armor – 170

Boromir of Gondor with shield – 100

Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow – 85

Denethor, Steward of Gondor - 35

6 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears – 54

8 Osgiliath Veterans with shields – 72

2 Guards of the Fountain Court - 20

8 Rangers of Gondor - 64

In our second list for Minas Tirith, we highlighted what you can do with King Aragorn + Mega-Boromir in a mono-Minas Tirith list. This is the Convenient Allies version (instead of the Impossible Allies version) – using ranger Aragorn and traveler Boromir (both much cheaper, both less-aurically-helpful, both still very dangerous). Working with this team is Faramir and Denethor, allowing you to bring up to 30 warriors to the fight (we’ve decided to focus on upgrades on many of them instead of eeking out another guy or two). With 28 models, this is a pretty small list, but there are a few key advantages: first, since Denethor’s rules require that “Boromir” (not “Boromir, Captain of the White Tower”) be on the board, he won’t have to test for his Broken Mind rule until Boromir of Gondor dies – very, VERY helpful. Second, Faramir is free to lead the archers – without a horse, you can avoid a reckless charge with him into the enemy. Third, if you keep your army together, Aragorn can get your team a LOT of free movement by calling Heroic Marches, getting your troops in position sooner and allowing you to maximize those heroes. Finally, your Osgiliath Veterans also only require “Boromir” or “Faramir” to be nearby – while we have Faramir, Boromir of Gondor also triggers their rule, so you can have them deploy with Faramir and then move with Boromir (assuming you don’t Maelstrom deploy).

4) The Lists: The Misty Mountains

Owners of the Armies of the Hobbit book will recognize that the models available in this list (Gwaihir and Great Eagles) are also available in the Armies of the Hobbit book (in fact, this list is re-printed there). So, the primary difference between a “Misty Mountains” list is the allies it can take (the only Historical Ally available to Radagast’s Alliance is the Misty Mountains). So, we’ll be looking at what you can do with allies to supplement your very powerful monster models:

List #1: Smash Everything
Gwaihir – 150

3 Great Eagles – 300

Ally: Thorin’s Company

Dwalin the Dwarf – 95

Nori the Dwarf - 55

So, we haven’t covered Thorin’s Company but after looking at the Historical Allies for the Misty Mountains (The Fellowship, Radagast’s Alliance, and Thorin’s Company) the answer was pretty simple: because Gwaihir costs 150 points, we need the allied contingent to be in increments of 50 (and the Fellowship doesn’t do that). Ergo, we’re picking Dwarves and these two in particular both have weapon master (allowing them to get a +1 bonus to wound without suffering the -1 penalty to win the fight with their weapons OR get the +1 bonus to the Bash Special Strike without the -1 penalty to win the fight). Either way, you’ve got a nice punchy addition to the four highly-mobile monsters you’re fielding. Our next list relies on a handful of eagles supplementing a larger army:

List #2: The Eagles Are Coming
Gwaihir – 150

1 Great Eagle – 100

Ally: Lothlorien

Galadriel – 130

6 Galadhrim Warriors with shields – 60

6 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears – 66

4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows – 44

2 Wood Elf Sentinels - 50

We COULD have gotten more models out of Faramir and Denethor, but we already covered them. J This list uses a single warband of hard-to-beat Elves (or light, multi-attack models that can also cast quasi-magical-powers). Galadriel provides some much-needed protection (and can restore Fate points on Gwaihir if you want to be reckless with him). While you only have 21 models, you’ll find the mobility of the Eagles and the general resilience of your own troops will greatly aid you in making up for a smaller army. If Galadriel can prevent someone who is fighting one of your Eagles from doing anything, you stand a much better chance of getting the mileage you need from them.

5) The Lists: Fangorn

Like the Misty Mountains, this list isn’t that interesting. Still, it’s fun:

List #1: An Ent Moot
Treebeard with Merry and Pippin – 200

3 Ents - 360

600 points is an awkward size for this list – you’re actually giving up 40 points while running this list! Your army bonus is really good, so coughing up a few points isn’t a HUGE deal, but still. In objective-based games, this list might struggle, though if you can park your Ents on each objective, you can a) chuck rocks at people if they stay out of charge range, b) charge someone and rend him if you can only engage a single model and no other models are nearby, c) charge someone and hurl him if you can only engage a single model and there are other models nearby, or d) you can bludgeon someone if you’re engaged with more than one model. Not sure it would actually work, but it might. Here’s a list with a bit more models in it:

List #2: Trees That Could Whisper . . . Talk To Each Other . . . Even Move!
Treebeard – 190

2 Ents - 240

Ally: The Shire

Paladin Took – 25

Farmer Maggot – 45

8 Hobbit Militia with Axes – 32

8 Tookish Hunters – 48

4 Hobbit Shirriffs - 20

Instead of 4 models, we now have 28. J Yes, Shire is the ultimate answer to any problem involving small numbers of models, but recall that the key question when you’re picking any alliance is how much your army bonus matters. Yes, we’re giving up Woodland Creature on the Hobbit models in this force, but it’s a small price to pay. Unlike the last list, we have three Ents instead of four (not a huge loss from a damage-output perspective), but we’ve gained archery, pretty-fast Dogs, and a host of angry Shirelings. The problem with this list (and really any list that tries to grow the numbers of the force) is that in order to break the previous list, you needed to kill three of the four Ents (which would also end the game if you were looking for an army that reached 25% of starting force). Here, you can avoid killing any of the Ents and kill all the Hobbits instead. If you run this list, the Hobbits should sequester in the back (find a Hobbit hole and sit tight) while the Ents do the hard work. Anyone who gets close can be nicked by bows and stones, though hopefully you keep the number of models that slip past your Ents to a minimum.

6) The Lists: The Wanderers In The Wild

As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, the Wanderers in the Wild is really split into two lists: Tom Bombadil and Goldberry on the one hand, and Murin & Drar on the other. Owners of the Armies of the Hobbit book will be quick to add that Thrain the Broken got added to this list, but we’re going to cover him when we cover the White Council list for reasons that are obvious if you read his profile. J With that, let’s talk about Tom and Goldberry:

List #1: The Old Forest
Tom Bombadil – 160

Goldberry – 140

Allies: The Shire

Paladin Took – 25

Farmer Maggot – 45

Fredegar Bolger – 10

Bilbo Baggins - 40

17 Hobbit Militia with Axes – 68

2 Hobbit Archers - 10

12 Tookish Hunters – 72

6 Hobbit Shirriffs - 30

Despite half of our points being spent on Tom and Goldberry, we still managed to get 46 models in this list. While we didn’t bring Merry or Pippin (sigh), we did maximize on models in order to get the greatest benefit we could out of Tom and Goldberry. If you’ve never used the master of the Old Forest or his beloved Goldberry before, here’s a quick overview:

• You can’t cast magic (helpful or hurtful) on them, shoot them, charge them, or throw people into them with Hurl;
• You can’t enter their control zone (friend or foe) unless the controlling player allows it;
• If they run out of Will (which they’ll lose by either casting spells or charging people), they’re removed as a casualty;
• If they’re the only models left on your team, they’re removed as a casualty;
• If Tom or Goldberry charges someone, they automatically win the fight and no one in the fight is allowed to make Strikes of any kind (which I believe includes Brutal Power Attacks, which are not technically Strikes);
• All friendly models within a certain distance of them automatically pass any Courage Tests they need to make (Goldberry’s range is larger);
• The major spell they each have is Refreshing Song, which restores a lost Wound, a lost Might, a lost Will, and a lost Fate to the target – really good spell!

Tom and Goldberry can be used as shields for your army to great effect – they can stand on bridges and your opponent can’t get around them if you don’t let them, they can stand near objectives and keep enemy models from swarming them, and they can choose whether to charge someone (to keep them from calling a Stand Fast or charging someone else) if you want and will automatically win (though that does come at the cost of Will). This gives you great flexibility with your Hobbit list, as you can tie down important units if you need to, disrupt enemy lines, or forcibly change your opponent’s strategy and there’s NOTHING that can be done about it.

In the meantime, you’ve got Hobbits firing left and right with their bows, chucking rocks at anyone who gets close, and swarming the survivors with sheer numbers. As we’ve discussed with other lists, be sure to protect these guys from getting shot – you won’t get any auric benefits from many of your heroes (though you get a good Stand Fast from Paladin, decent fighting potential from Maggot/Bilbo, decent movement/Courage from the Dogs, and a cheap mini-warband from Fatty Bolger). Still, the army is fun to use, has lots of models, and as it COULD have existed on the borders of the Shire, fits very well into a thematic build. Buying all those models, however…that’s a different story. J

List #2: Friends Of Old
Murin & Drar – 140

Ally: Minas Tirith

Denethor, Steward of Gondor - 35

Cirion, Lieutenant of Amon Barad – 55

8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields – 64

8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears – 72

8 Rangers of Gondor – 64

3 Guards of the Fountain Court - 30

2 Gondor Avenger Bolt Throwers with Swift Reload - 140

We’ve decided to take a smaller team than we could have and instead bring only 35 models. While Tom and Goldberry have the ability to lock units down, Murin and Drar are more traditional fighters, Murin being the close-combat specialist (and anti-Orc, anti-Goblin, anti-Uruk slayer), while Drar lends a powerful archery presence to the team (though he its less accurately than the other multi-shot models in the game). Speaking of archery, we decided to focus almost exclusively on that, with Drar providing 2 shots each round at 18” S3, 8 Rangers of Gondor providing 8 shots each round at 24” S2, and 3 Gondor Avenger Bolt Throwers shooting 2D6 shots at 24” S7 (with rerolls). That’s…pretty ridiculous. When your enemy closes on your opposition, Cirion and Murin will be backed up by 19 D6 (possibly higher) Gondorian heavy infantry, ready to test their metal against all comers.

There. We did it. Brawler Bash was great and with tournaments in a lull for a bit, I'm moving on to discuss a few general topics from the new books (heroic actions, magical powers, and weapon swaps). After that, we delve into the Armies of the Hobbit. Until next time, happy hobbying!