Fleshing out the Faction: Fiefdoms Revamp

Good morning gamers,

Back in June 2021, Centaur tried his hand at "revamping" the Fangorn list, providing lots of cool upgrades for Ents, profiles for Huorns, and some neat named heroes who do different things. About a month later, Centaur also tried his hand at revamping Arnor, providing flavors of units based on the major regions of Arnor that would have existed during the apex of that kingdom (the profiles offer more variety than what Rise of Angmar provided, for those interested in seeing what could have been).

In December 2022, Rythbyrt did not one but two posts on how to revamp the Rangers faction (and some Legendary Legions that surround that faction - or should include members of that faction) and like Centaur's post on Fangorn, there were some really great ideas in it.

I'm the last one to join the fray, but I gotta say, the idea for this revamp has been growing in my mind for years. Every year when I begin re-reading The Return of the King, I'm always intrigued by the end of Book V, Chapter 1 where the various fiefdoms of Gondor arrive in their hundreds to assist the garrison of Minas Tirith. While the Fiefdoms has a lot of great units in it - and a really neat theme overall - there's also a LOT of missed opportunities, I feel, for that army list. Today, we're going to walk through the profiles that already exist for the Fiefdoms, and then we'll walk through the passage in chunks and look at profile options for the various fiefs that we're told about. Let's dig in!

NOTE: it's entirely possible - however unlikely - that the Fiefdoms (probably relegated to the Armies of Middle-Earth/book-not-movies sourcebook) could get a revamp in the new edition. We already know that the Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth have been relegated to the Legacies document (and Forlong the Fat is probably losing his horse - and probably getting his war spear downgraded to a standard spear), but so far as we know, the rest of the Fiefdoms is staying as it is. Since we don't have a roadmap for GWs plans, I figured I would throw out these ideas - and who knows, maybe it'll happen!

The Fiefdoms: Existing Profiles

Dol Amroth

This is actually the eighth and final fiefdom to be mentioned in the chapter and Imrahil is described as "kinsman of the Lord, with gilded banners bearing his token of the Ship and the Silver swan" - basically, he's awesome. Imrahil does a lot in the book and leads some of the finest warriors in all of the kingdoms of men - they can trace their lineage back to Numenor and apparently that allows them to have a higher Fight Value than Eomer when they're within 3" of Imrahil and 6" of Boromir's mighty flag. #NotBitter

Imrahil's profile is super solid, with his only limitations being "just 3 Might points" and only getting his wounding bonuses on the charge. Still, with a 12" banner rule for Dol Amroth units (and this rule gets applied to all Fiefdoms units if you keep your army bonus), F6/3A with D7/3 Wounds/3 Fate, there's a lot to like about Imrahil - and many a model that I've fielded have been run over by him.

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 14: Attack on Tuckborough

Good morning gamers,

Happy Halloween - and my deepest apologies for not getting the words typed up for this before going on vacation (I've done this before and I know I will do it again). Today we have the Attack on Tuckburough scenario which is the first scenario to feel like a Matched Play scenario with a twist. This scenario has been modified in three ways because of the scenario bonuses from the linked campaign, so this may not be reflected in your games if you just play this scenario!

Attack on Tuckborough

Both forces are trying to control the five objectives on the center line and can deploy up to 12" forward (which we did). Centaur has added Will Whitfoot to his army for this scenario, thanks to winning the Mayor's Arrest scenario. Centaur also gets free priority win from Bounders Strike Back scenario. Finally, Paladin has no Might for losing the Lockholes scenario, which seems a bit harsh.

Top 5 Profile Changes - Fellowship Edition

Good morning gamers,

Do you remember where you were when you first watched The Fellowship of the Ring? Do you remember when you first read The Lord of the Rings? I was a tween when I started reading Fellowship and about seven months later (yes, it took me a while - I'm sure I'm not the only person with that story) to finish it and watch the first film of the trilogy in the summer of 2002. I remember madly reading The Two Towers so I could see it in theatres with my dad and brothers and I remember going to the theatre with them and a bunch of friends on opening night to see The Return of the King on December 17, 2003. It was . . . incredible.

Today we're wrapping up this four-part series on wish-listing for updates to beloved characters in beloved lists that just don't seem like they're quite hitting the mark and we're ending where it all started for me (thanks to the Mines of Moria starter set - and the books and films, of course): the Fellowship of the Ring. This is THE best collection of heroes in Middle-Earth - or at least, it's supposed to be. I mean, they got nine first-round draft picks from all the free people of Middle-Earth and so clearly, the units they chose should be the best . . . obviously.

Okay, so this is a balanced game and there are probably a dozen profiles that could romp all over these guys, but in general, the bones of the list are good - Aragorn is great (especially with Anduril), Legolas is great (especially if he can shoot all day), Gimli is great (especially if something really big doesn't come his way), Boromir is amazing (especially if he can just fight low-Courage models), and Gandalf has a ton of tricks he can employ. But . . .

. . . I can't help but feel like the other half of the roster lets them down a little - and there are elements of the "big five" that could use some tidying up as well. Since this faction more than any other has a high visibility for new players in MESBG, it's good if the profiles here are done right. So, without further ado, let's clean up some profiles! We'll start with an easy one . . .

Profile #1: Aragorn - Strider

Fact: there's not much to change about this profile. Aragorn has all the stats you'd expect from an excellent man-sized model and with a free Might point each turn from Mighty Hero, he's easy for any player to pick up and use. However, there's one glaring issue with this profile: Aragorn - Strider's sword should be a hand-and-a-half sword.

If you need convincing that it should be able to be wielded two-handed, let me commend our House Rules page - you can find all the photos there that will prove my point. What I'd like to focus on here is why this is a necessary change. There are only three arguments I've heard for why Aragorn's sword should stay as a one-handed sword: a) he can take Anduril, so if you want him to do damage, just buy Anduril, b) fighting two-handed without a special rule that avoid the penalty is bad and shouldn't be done, and c) there are so many other things that need fixing in the game, so why bring this up.

Top 5 Profile Changes - Mordor Edition

 Good morning gamers,

This is our third installment in this series of proposing a single change to five profiles that most players dismiss as "bad" in order to turn them into something that appears to be more worth taking. We've already looked at revamping the Minas Tirith and Thorin's Company lists and today we're turning to one of the most competitive and fleshed out factions in the game: Mordor.

Tackling Mordor is hard because there are SO many profiles and between all of them, there are units that basically do everything. If you want any mix of F4, S4, and D6, you can find an infantry model (or even cavalry model) to suit your fancy. If you want a horde of models, they have that too. Cheap, scrappy combat heroes? Got several of those. Magic casters (both on the cheap and expensive/powerful)? There's about a dozen. Nasty monsters? A few come to mind - and others will come if you dig deep enough. Siege weapons? Yes - two (and arguably both are worth buying - one of them even comes with a monster attached). Mordor's got it all . . . which is why some of its profiles fall to the wayside. 

Our goal is to find a way to make five profiles from one of the best factions in the game (if not THE best faction in the game) just that little bit more appealing to players so that the flavor of the game isn't lost. With a new edition coming out that promises more thematically-adapted profiles, here's my hopes for the changes coming to Mordor (among other things). We'll start with . . .

Profile #1: The Knight of Umbar

There are ten Ringwraith profiles available to Mordor - one generic version and nine named versions. The generic version is quite useful if you want a cheap caster to support a more expensive one (like Sauron in a Barad-Dur list) or if you want to throw out a lot of them (such as in the Black Riders Legendary Legion - and possibly in a standard Mordor list, though you have a lot more options at your disposal). Some of the named versions are also good deals - the Witch-King is a better version of the generic Ringwraith once he has the Crown of Morgul and the third Might point, the Shadow Lord can protect models near him from archery, the Dark Marshal is a VERY cheap 6" warrior-only banner with a decent fighting profile, and the Betrayer can really make a Serpent Horde list (or Serpent Horde allies) deadly beyond all reason.

Other named Ringwraiths can take some practice but also have niche ways of making things work - the Tainted is one of very few ways to shut down enemy heroic actions and stand fasts, the Dwimmerlaik can make heroes with limited heroic resources sputter out more quickly (and even those with lots of resources will be shutting down faster while he's around), the Undying can be a fantastic army leader if you don't want to cough up VPs (especially if paired with a generic Ringwraith, Kardush, and possibly the Shadow Lord), and Khamul remains a decent flex-fighter since he CAN call Heroic Strike, but doesn't HAVE to call Heroic Strike to be better than F5 grunts (so long as he's willing to pay a Will point). Theoretically, the last named Ringwraith, the Knight of Umbar, should also fit in as a good anti-hero fighter, but there are some . . . complications with his special rules.

The Board Is Set: How to Play Clash by Moonlight

Good morning gamers,

This is it, everyone - it's our last scenario for singles in the Matched Play guide (right before we get a new edition, I know)! The oddity of the scenario we have today, Clash by Moonlight, was integrated into every scenario that has the Assault on Lothlorien Legendary Legion as a participant. It's dark in this scenario - and that changes everything (and makes it a perfect time for killing heroes).

For the last time, let's look at what the main idea of Pool 6 is as a context for the Clash by Moonlight scenario (and if you've already read it, you can click here to skip ahead).

Pool 6: Killing Enemy Heroes

We've seen four scenario pools that ultimately come down to being able to get somewhere (whether that's with maelstrom deployments in Pool 1, holding multiple objective markers in Pool 2, getting to different objects in Pool 3, or starting from a corner/walking onto a board in Pool 5). We've also seen one pool that's all about killing more of the enemy than you lose in Pool 4 (which could be limited to kills by your army leader or just mass killing with your army).

Pool 6 is more like Pool 4 in that it's about killing things - but how many enemy models total you kill is usually not weighted as strongly as being able to kill enemy heroes (either one specific hero or all enemy heroes). Since heroes are generally speaking better than warriors, killing enemy heroes in Pool 6 requires some planning in the list building stage in order to avoid a "no win" scenario.