The New Age Is Begun: The Army of Lake-town

Good morning gamers,

One of our readers asked when we'd do the Army of Lake-town - and I mentioned that I needed to do Thorin's Company first. This post closes out "Dwarf month" and it features . . . exactly four Dwarves. It also has one Elf and that makes it an interesting bridge into the month of May, which will be Elf month. Yes, we're reviewing the Army of Lake-town today - an army that used to be super powerful in the last edition and now really does need to lean into the non-Lake-town elements of the list (which, if we're honest, was always the strength of the Army of Lake-town last edition - see our Bare Necessities post for more on that, which did cover adding in Gwaihir, but not from the Misty Mountains list so he didn't have to be your army leader).

Army of Lake-town: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has all of the old profiles that you'd expect - the Master of Lake-town, Alfrid, Braga, and Lake-town Guard Captains for your conventional heroes, Lake-town Guard as your only warrior option, and then Alfrid, Bard, and Bard's kids as "the rest of it." This edition, however, we have the guests of Bard's home as well - Tauriel, Kili, Fili, Oin, and Bofur (though notably . . . not Legolas . . . I guess he didn't stay long enough?). These additional heroes are the only way to "ally in" non-Lake-town bodies, which is good because Lake-town has always had fine-not-great profiles that you can buy on a budget to make space for something really strong (and something that's usually better than Bard).

Army List Bonuses

This list has some of the standard rules constraints for mixed-list armies - your Lake-town Guard can only be led by Lake-town Heroes and Bard's Family can be included either in Bard's warband or in Tauriel's warband. Tauriel's warband can also take the Dwarves, which could be useful if you know maelstrom might be a thing.

The Rise of Angmar: What Models Do You Need to Buy?

Good morning gamers,

It's been nearly three years since we were in this series, but we're finally closing out our review of what models you need to play through the scenarios in last edition's supplements. Right before the new edition dropped, The Rise of Angmar was released and boy are there some interesting models in it! Since it's been so long, I thought it might be good to review the costs of the preceding sourcebooks (keeping in mind that both inflation and made-to-order are a thing):

• Gondor At War: $3500
• The Scouring of the Shire: $1100
• War in Rohan: $3700
• Quest of the Ringbearer: $2100-$3200 (depending on whether you want to play just the scenarios from the book, Fantasy Fellowships, or both)
• Fall of the Necromancer: $1100
• Defense of the North: $4951

NOTE: we have quite a bit of Arnor and Angmar Forgeworld models in this supplement, so we should expect things to be pricey. As always, I get no kick-backs from GW for doing this post, and as such, I'll do what I can to save you some cash and then offer ways to save even more money if you're willing to do some conversions or proxying at the end. We will assume that we already have the Battle for Osgiliath starter set, since that was the starter box when the book dropped (and it's actually quite handy for a few things).

Can this supplement pass the nearly $5000 investment of Defense of the North? It's gonna be hard, but let's dig in and find out!

The New Age Is Begun: the Thorin's Company Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our last post of all-Dwarves in "Dwarf month" and we're looking at what is mostly an all-hero list: Thorin's Company. I played this list some last edition (never in a tournament) and I've got to say, it's got a lot of rules to keep track of (even more now), but it's FUN to play! The models work together better now and I kinda feel like our recommendation to fix Thorin's Company was heard by GW - but let's see what this list has to offer and what you have to think about when bringing it to the table.

Thorin's Company: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has the fifteen members of Thorin's Company, as you'd expect. For about $60 (less on eBay), you can get that whole list of models - and now that they can't take ponies (sadness), that's a good 1000-points worth of this list for an insanely small amount of money (relative to what 1000pts requires in most other lists). These units are all infantry and carry the bulk of the rules - and if you choose to just play with these guys, you'll have a jolly time for sure.

That said, the list now includes Radagast the Brown (with access to his sleigh, but it isn't required) and Gwaihir (who can bring Great Eagles, but not Fledgling Eagles). Bringing Gwaihir requires you to also bring Gandalf, which makes the investment kind of hefty - but one could argue that Gwaihir is worth it. Interestingly enough, Radagast has the Thorin's Company faction keyword, so anything that's said below about "Thorin's Company" models can affect him too . . . we'll talk about that a bit in the strategy section below.

Army List Bonuses

This list has a few restrictions in it - but they're not hard to remember. You have to take Thorin and he has to be your General. If you want to take any of the Dwarves, Wizards, or Biblo, they have to be in Thorin's warband (which is great in maelstrom missions, but also gives up a lot of deployment advantages to your opponent in virtually all other scenarios). If you want to take Gwaihir in your list, you have to have Gandalf in your list (fair enough). If you want to take Great Eagles, you have to bring them with Gwaihir. Simple, right? Everyone who isn't a bird with Thorin, get birds by taking Gandalf.

The New Age Is Begun: the Army of Erebor Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our third list in our cruise through lists that feature the Iron Hills Dwarf Warrior profile and while we've looked at Erebor Reclaimed (where the heroes were necessary to get the warriors where they wanted to go on the quick side) and the Defenders of Erebor (where we got a mix of light and heavy warriors to support some budget heroes), this list features all-Dwarves but with a more limited array of them compared to Erebor Reclaimed . . . but with some very interesting hitting power. Let's see if this list is any good - and what the potential traps are in it!

The Army of Erebor: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has very similar participants to our last list (the Defenders of Erebor), but we've traded the three Dale heroes (Brand, Bard, and a Captain) for Gimli and Dwarf Kings - which I kind of feel is a trade up! Additionally, we've lost access to the Dale warriors, but haven't lost Goat Riders (so we just have to make up for the spear-carrying, banner-carrying, and bow-carrying Dale guys with Iron Hills Warriors . . . done). 

As with the Defenders of Erebor list we looked at last time, everyone in this list gains the Erebor keyword (I assume as a replacement for the Iron Hills keyword? Or do they have both?), which is good because it means more people can be affected by Bofur's Steadfast rule. All in all, we've still got lots of Champs with solid profiles, we still have good warrior profiles, and we have some new kids on the block to shake things up. Thanks to losing the Dale guys, our numbers will be smaller . . . but we'll also be more durable, so that may end up being fine in the end.

Back to Basics Revisited: All the Tests

Good morning gamers,

We're continuing our how-to-play series and we're covering seven different tests that you may need to make in a game of MESBG. We've recently looked at how to build lists and the general flow of the game, but these are oddities that everyone should know before they have to make tactical decisions in the game - and since these rules have changed from previous editions, veterans of the game would do well to brush up on these as well (as retraining old habits can be hard).

Movement-Related Tests: Jump, Leap, and Climb Tests

There have been three types of movement-related tests in the game for ages: jump, leap, and climb tests. Depending on the era of the game, these tests would allow you to charge people or not allow you to charge people, depending on the value of the roll you got. Each test effectively works the same way: you roll a single D6 and you consult a table - a 1 is bad, a 6 is good, and a 2-5 is fine.