Tiberius's Top 10 Ranking - Best Middle-Earth Film Adaptation

Good morning gamers,

Usually, Centaur does our "top ten" posts, but I've been thinking a lot about the various film adaptations that we have for Middle-Earth and figured someone on this platform ought to finally put them in a ranking. Those of us who are excited for new Middle-Earth content and "going back to Middle-Earth" are probably at least a little interested in how the Hunt for Gollum is going to go, so in preparation for that, feast on the following Top Ten list, though I will begin with a couple of quick caveats . . .

First, this is NOT going to include TV shows - which means you will not be seeing either seasons of Rings of Power in this article. Telling a story through 6-8hrs of TV time isn't a fair comparison to the 1.5-4hrs that a film can cover - that, and I know people can have polarizing views on the series. I will keep my opinion about the series to myself (though I think I will not be alone in sharing that I thought the storytelling in Season 2 was tighter than Season 1, perhaps because it had most of its characters introduced in Season 1), but as most of you might be able to guess if you've read this blog for any period of time, I'm generally pretty optimistic and positive about things - and if I can search for good in something, I usually find it.

Second, just because I rank a film on the lower side of the scale doesn't mean there's nothing good in it. Building off the previous thought, there are good things to be found in all of the films we're about to view - but it appears to me that the greatest reason people rank things poorly is because of the "deviation from expectation". If you came to a film like The Desolation of Smaug and expected it to cover just what was in the Hobbit (more on this later), you were probably disappointed - and if you're like my wife, you probably thought that much of the fighting in the Battle of Five Armies and the extra-canonical relationship stuff from the Desolation of Smaug could have been dropped to make the trilogy into two films. Fair enough - those were deviations from your expectations and you're more than justified in feeling that way.

While I will try to manage my criticisms of the films, please understand going into this that my reviews will still be pretty positive - I'm not here to bash someone else's creative genius and I certainly don't think I could have made any of these films better than their creators. I am a fan of all things Middle-Earth and I love a good story - so the films that get me the most immersed into the world and that tell a well-contained story are going to rate well . . . and those that don't will rate less well. With that in mind, let's start off with . . .

The New Age Is Begun: The Cirith Ungol Army List

Good morning gamers,

One of the last podcasts that the TMAT team has done (we don't have a lot of time for podcasting these days) was a draft of the various Legendary Legions that were available for both the Forces of Good and the Forces of Evil. If you haven't listened to the episode, I'll drop this spoiler: one of the Evil Legions that I drafted was the Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion. In many ways, this Legion was like Ugluk's Scouts - you had different unit keywords that could trigger the Animosity special rule, but giving speed/Courage buffs to one group meant NOT giving those boosts to another group of units. How is one to know how hard to lean into each group?

In this post, we'll be digging into the newly revamped Cirith Ungol army list - which is honestly not THAT different from the Legion of the previous edition. Some of the units have changed, but the bones are mostly the same and I think the play-style is very similar. Let's see what we have to work with.

Cirith Ungol: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

We have all of the old profiles that were available to the Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion (Shagrat, Gorbag, Shelob, Orc/Mordor Uruk-Hai Captains, Orc Shamans, Mordor Uruk-Hai, and Orc Warriors), but have also added Orc Taskmasters and Orc Drummers. How much these additions change the list is anyone's guess, but some additional options (at least for the Taskmaster) makes things interesting.

Compared to many of the other Mordor lists, this . . . is a serious step back in options. You have some list building constraints that are typical to army lists (Orc heroes lead Orc warriors, Uruk-Hai heroes lead Uruk-Hai warriors) and you're missing access to any kind of heavy infantry (D6), cavalry (Mordor is pretty limited in general on this, but there are options), spellcasters who aren't Orc Shamans (especially of the Nazgul variety, but don't sleep on your other options), siege weapons/decent shooting options, and war beasts (which, to be fair, are pretty rare in the game). Still, if you compare this list to the Army of the Great Eye (we're building up to this guy) or the Legions of Mordor, you're going to find that what those lists give up in rules seems like a pretty small price to pay for the vastly greater selection of profiles.

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

Good morning gamers,

This February will be "Mordor Month" and we're kicking off our review of four Mordor army lists by looking at the Army of Gothmog. This was one of two Mordor-oriented Legendary Legions that hit the meta when it came out . . . and it really struggled to go anywhere because you could run basically everything in it (without the "big man" you were required to take) in the generic Mordor list last edition. In this current game, this list might suffer from a similar fate with the appearance of the Army of the Great Eye army list from the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement, but time will tell if this old list still has some life in it. Let's see what it does and why you would want to run it over other Mordor lists.

The Army of Gothmog: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The list of models you can take in this list is not that different from last edition - you still have the quad-fecta of Gothmog, Guritz, Goroth, and Zagdush (if you're playing with Legacies) for your named heroes, "Gothmog's Enforcer" for your named-without-a-name hero option, and Morannon Orc Captains, Mordor Orc Shamans, and siege veterans for the siege weapons as your generic heroes. What we've lost in this edition are the Orc Taskmasters and Orc Drummers that you could take. For warriors, we have Morannon Orcs and Mordor Trolls . . . and if that seems like a scant list, that's just because it is - not having Mordor Orcs actually punishes this list a bit from how I was running it last edition, since the Orc Warriors provided you with the option for cheaper bowmen or spear supports for your Morannon Orc frontline. Still, Morannons are good and Mordor Trolls got a lot better, so this list is . . . well, it was never in a great place, but it's in an okay place now.

Back to Basics, Revisited: The Shoot Phase

Good morning gamers,

We're in our third post on how to play the game and we're tackling one of my favorite aspects of the game: the Shoot phase. This phase of the game is the only phase where your opponent doesn't really get a say in what happens - sure, he can maneuver his troops during the Move phase to make his units harder to hit (or impossible to see) OR even use special rules that make shooting at his troops harder, but once he's done moving, it's all in your hands. For a game that is heavily dependent on "rolling better than your opponent," it's nice that at least one aspect of the game doesn't involve that kind of competition. This also makes armies that focus too heavily on shooting hated by some members of the community, so just be aware of that before delving headlong into it. Let's understand what you can do in the Shoot phase!

The New Age Is Begun: The Riders of Theoden Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is it for Rohan (for the now, anyway) and we're wrapping up two months of Rohan lists with the one that started it all, really: the Riders of Theoden. Back when the MESBG revamp happened, Rohan was . . . well, it's always been a popular list, but it was really popular: the new starter set landed a lot of people with new Theoden models and lots of Riders of Rohan and anyone who didn't already have a host of Rohan models got to enjoy painting three models (a rider, a horse, and a dismount) for every 14-17pts they wanted to spend on warriors . . . good times. A few months after the revamp, the Gondor at War supplement dropped and with it came a host of new Legendary Legions - and while the Black Gate Opens and Return of the King Legendary Legions were incredibly popular, neither of these Legions was as popular or as dominant on the top-tables as the Riders of Theoden. It was, quite honestly, one of very few Legions that looked like it was an improvement on a trimmed-down army list - and from a game design perspective, it was basically the poster boy for what any Legendary Legion was supposed to be.

Fast-forward six years and we've got the Riders of Theoden army list, which hasn't seemed to dominate quite as much as it did back in the day (even as new Legions and a host of new models were introduced to the game). Is this list still worth running? And if so, what's making people shy away from it? Well, let's take a look and find out what we have to work with vis-a-vis last edition!

The Riders of Theoden: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The profile selection is essentially the same as we had before - we have all the named heroes you'd expect with Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn/Merry (formerly Dernhelm), Deorwine, Elfhelm, and Gamling. Joining the fight we have Captains of Rohan (one of whom you can name as Grimbold - give him heavy armor and a shield why don't ya?), Riders of Rohan, and Rohan Royal Guards (who can be led by Theoden, Eomer, Deorwine, and Gamling . . . so you can field a lot of them, if you don't want throwing spears on all of them. This is the same list as in the previous edition and honestly, it doesn't need any changes . . . you know, unless you wanted to make a mounted Grimbold model and a revamped profile to go with it, GW? :)

Army List Bonuses

Two of your army special rules are the same as they were before - your mounted models get Strength +1 on the charge and once per game, Theoden can cry "DEATH!" and your heroes get to declare free Heroic Combats or Strikes. Getting in a good DEATH! turn has always been the way this list has stood above standard Rohan lists and if you really lean into the heroes, you can have an absolutely devastating turn with this rule (much like the once-per-game Look to the Sun ability for the Riders of Eomer).

There is a new rule, however: any friendly Cavalry Warrior models near Theoden and Eomer get Dominant (2), which is a situationally useful (but the situation is present in most of the scenarios) ability that makes your all-cavalry force feel larger than it is. Like some of the Erebor and Dale rules, however, this is a rule that competes with DEATH! a bit in that the harder you lean into your heroes, the less this rule will be useful. Also, staying within 3" of Theoden and Eomer is not that big of a radius - but in a scenario like Hold Ground, Command the Battlefield, or Divide and Conquer where you really want to be in one or two places, it can be super useful.