It Has Come To Me - The One Ring: Thoughts on the Ring (and how it's changed)

Hey there readers,

I know I said that my next post would be on Minas Tirith - and I've almost got that one ready - but during the intervening time, I decided to do a little research on something I've been thinking about for a while...

A LONG time ago, I did a series of games where I played all six scenarios from the warbands sourcebooks with the Fellowship. Those were good times. During that time, I got to spend a lot of time playing around with the first Forces of Good team I ever owned (not hard, since they were in the starter set at the time): the Fellowship of the Ring. Within that force, I very quickly came to enjoy playing with Aragorn (AWESOME), Legolas (AWESOME), Gimli (AWESOME), and Boromir (AWESOME). Occasionally, I'd have the points for Gandalf, but we played at the 500-pt level back then and let's just say that with these four guys in your team, you're hard-pressed to get Gandalf in there too (even at 600-pts it's a bit of a stretch).

But during those games, the one model I enjoyed using (though I didn't think he was worth his points all the time) was Frodo. Yes, he had the Ring, but other than that, he was very expensive and wasn't good in melee.

But he had the Ring. And this made him awesome (for reasons we'll see a little later).

Fast-forward a few years and now we've got new rules. If you read through the rulebook as quickly as I did, there were a few things you skipped because there was no way they would change. And if you were like me, you probably assumed that the full-page rules for the One Ring didn't have any major changes either. Well, I was wrong. And THAT's what we're going to be talking about today - what the Ring used to be and what it is now. While some things haven't changed much, how you use the Ringbearer has changed dramatically.



History Lesson: How Things Used To Be

The rules for the Ring used to be "simple" - I wrote up a short summary on my post on the hobbits here. It all came down to the following:

The Ring is a very useful tool and not used very often because only three (obscure) units can wield it (Frodo, Isildur, and the Dark Lord Sauron). The Ring can be put on or taken off during Frodo's Move phase (that is, the Good player's move phase) and while Frodo wears it, he may only be attacked by Nazgul (he can't put it on at all if Sauron is present) and is otherwise ignored. He can move through units and enter enemy control zones, but he cannot charge or be fought while wearing the Ring. Even if Frodo is charged, he can put on the Ring so long as the Evil player charges Frodo before the Good player moves Frodo. While wearing the Ring, Frodo rolls a dice at the start of the Good player's Move phase and on the roll of a 3+, the Good player can move Frodo normally. On the roll of a 1-2, Frodo is moved by the Evil player, who may move him as he wishes so long as he doesn't run off a board edge, jump off a cliff, or take the Ring off. Finally, if Frodo is wearing the Ring and is the only unit alive on his team, he succumbs to grief and is removed as a casualty - it's the price for being untouchable if the enemy doesn't have a Ringwraith. To take off the Ring, Frodo needs to pass a Courage test, which is greatly aided by his rating of Courage 6.

Since Frodo (and later Bilbo) was the only model with access to it, most armies didn't have to worry about the Ring's effects. Bilbo and Frodo were both pretty inexpensive, but were unlikely to be fielded in 500-600pt games unless you wanted the Fellowship army bonus (which was auto-passing break tests, not all Courage tests like it is now).

Modernity: How Things Are Now

The rules for the One Ring in the current edition can be found on page 90 of the main rulebook. Like I said above, the Ring gets its own page for its rules - and for this reason, I doubt many people care to know all the ins-and-outs of the One Ring. But if you plan to play Fellowship anytime soon (or use Isildur at the head of a Numenor allied contingent for your Rivendell army - or use Bilbo Baggins in a Survivors of Lake-town/Thorin's Company list), you might want to know this.

I will note that this discussion only applies to those who use the normal rules for the One Ring (not the Dark Lord Sauron) and when we mention "the Ringbearer" below, we imply that he's not just bearing the Ring, but actually wearing it. Here's the to-do (new things highlighted in green):

1. You still put the One Ring on during your Move phase;
2. If you're mounted and you put on the One Ring, your mount bolts and you're thrown (makes sense - only affects Isildur and Thorin's Company Bilbo since they're the only ones who can take mounts);
3. The Ringbearer cannot be "directly targeted" by magical powers or shooting attacks (though this would imply that the Ringbearer could be affected by area of effect magical powers/shooting, such as Wrath of Bruinen or Trebuchet fire);
4. The Ringbearer has no control zone and models can move through him;
5. Models can charge the Ringbearer, but must pass a Courage test (suffering a -1 modifier for each 1" distance between the Ringbearer and the charging model - and models cannot auto-pass this Courage test with a special rule);
6. Models engaged with the Ringbearer halve their Fight Value;
7. You need to pass a Courage test to take off the Ring;
8. Ringwraiths/Sauron can do whatever they want to you (and can receive bonuses);
9. The Ringbearer (not young Bilbo) needs to roll a D6 at the start of his move (even if he doesn't move) to see if he's under the control of the owning player vs. the opposing player (3+ to pass, can be modified with Might);
10. The Ringbearer can charge enemy models;
11. The Ringbearer (not young Bilbo) cannot "perform" heroic actions (I assume that means "call" them, not that he can't participate in a Heroic March if it's called by someone else) and cannot pick up or put down other items;
12. You are not automatically corrupted if you're the last model alive on your team (or at least, that doesn't show up in the rules section, so I assume it's struck); and last but not least
13. There's a hierarchy for who gets to wear the One Ring (since there can only be one...unless two people bring the same model).

Nothing to it, right? :)

So What: Developing a Strategy for The One Ring

Let's begin with this: we're going to address the non-young-Bilbos of the world (Frodo, Isildur, old Bilbo) first, then address young Bilbo later (since ignoring that Sauron's Will section is HUGE). In general, here how your strategy can shape up:

• The One Ring provides a unique way of dealing with high Fight value models. While you used to be immune to attack from anyone who wasn't a Ringwraith/Sauron, now people can charge you and if they win, they can even wound you. While this MIGHT make you think that you're more vulnerable than you used to be, it simply isn't so - since anyone who charges you halves their Fight value, the trick is to make sure that there aren't any spear supports ruining your day with a high Fight value. With Isildur, your Fight 6 will automatically be higher than anyone you Engage, so charge into the biggest foes they have (Glorfindel, Gil-Galad, Mordor Troll Chieftains, or Balrogs) and even if they can Heroic Strike all the way to Fight 10, they'll still be only Fight 5 against you. Frodo has it a bit harder, but if you equip him with Sting, any model that begins at Fight 6 or lower will only tie Fight values with Frodo (and with an Elven-made weapon, Frodo has advantage over non-Elven-made weapons and even chances against the Elven-made sort). His single Attack does pose a bit of a problem, so I recommend holding Frodo back and charging him into a fight where Aragorn/Boromir/Gimli is around so you can make sure their Fight 6 automatically wins the day.
• Keep your distance. While you can run through enemy ranks to get to vulnerable auric heroes, the fact that anyone within 1" of your final position needs to pass a normal Courage Test is really, REALLY bad news. While being 2-3" away might cause problems for some models, only one needs to succeed and after that, spear-supports will be able to enter the combat without having to test at all. While Isildur can handle that kind of punishment, no version of Bilbo or Frodo is going to handle that kind of pressure for long. A Ringbearer who keeps his distance can be an immune model holding an objective and even when enemy models arrive, you can use that halving Fight Value bonus to your advantage and make it tough to shift you. Against low Courage armies, you'll have a distinct advantage.
• Charge archers. While this is certainly true for Isildur (who will wound most archers on 4s normally and is likely to be able to fell quite a few without difficulty), even the other Ringbearers will find that the auto-immunity to direct fire from archery will allow them to bring trouble to any archers they charge. While your opponent can wait for you to charge and get close, he'll have this nagging feeling that he should get away, perhaps trying to get clean shots against other parts of your army. However it works, get to the archers and harass them (worst case scenario, you can hang back a safe distance and wait for him to spread himself thin).
• Run young Bilbo if you're given the chance. Young Bilbo is the only model who ignores the "Sauron's Will" section of the Ring's rules. This not only means that Bilbo doesn't have to roll to see if he's controlled by his owning player (which might cut into the hero's Might store), but he also is allowed to call Heroic Actions - like Heroic Strike. While Bilbo's low Might store makes calling any heroic action a little risky, you can keep Dori around to give him (effectively) 4 Might to use (or 5 Might if you're using the Master Burglar version). This allows Bilbo to very easily replicate what you get with Isildur (auto-winning ties), but with the added benefit of having an Elven-made weapon (just in case a Cave Troll spear-supports) and the ability to get higher than Fight 6 (though statistically, you'd expect Fight 6-7 to be the result).

The Other Side of the Coin: Fighting A Ringbearer

Let's face it: young Bilbo and Isildur are scary. Frodo and old Bilbo are less scary, but they're still going to be tricky to deal with. So how do you do it? Here are some thoughts:

• Have some high-Courage models (or Ringwraiths) in your army. If you just run Morannon Orcs and Mordor Trolls, you'll be in for a surprise: yes, you can get lucky with a Courage 2 model, but that guy's going to have Courage 0 in all likelihood when trying to pass the roll. I will say that 1/6 rolls are automatically successful, but you're still faced with the problem of lots of models getting rooted to deal with a single model. So, solve this by prioritizing Courage as a stat. Ringwraiths can do all kinds of things - they make great models for charging (and weakening) Ringbearers.
• Spear supports and banners are crucial. It's important to note that only models engaged with the Ringbearer halve their Fight values - spear supports do not. In Isildur/young Bilbo's case, you'd still need to tie/beat Fight 6, which is really hard to do with spear supports. In most cases, though, you don't care about the Fight value you get - you care about the additional die you're rolling. The more dice you roll, the more likely the Ringbearer needs to spend precious Might promoting his dice rolls instead of passing his 3+ roll to move under your control (or calling heroic actions in the case of young Bilbo). 
• Drain Courage baby. Ringwraiths are bad for Ringbearers - but not just because they don't lose a Will point for fighting the Ringbearer, but because they can Drain Courage on the Ringbearer. Drain Courage is very underrated, but with the inability to take the Ring off, the Ringbearer will always face the risk of not being controlled by the owning player - and that's not good (since they can be moved off of objectives, closer to big enemy models, charge a really big monster, etc.). While all Ringbearers have Resistant to Magic thanks to various special rules, casting spells against them is difficult, but will drain them quickly. So cast away!

Not much has changed if you count them (6/13 are the same), but the strategy is very, VERY different now. I hope to get in a few games with the Fellowship and Thorin's Company in the coming months, but in the meantime, I welcome any thoughts you have on the One Ring and whether you've used it in your own games. It's a neat part of the rules to use and can be quite useful - though very asymmetric and far too much to teach someone who's just learning the game.

Next time, we continue our tour-de-good-forces and pop over to my beloved Numenor and see the changes that have shaped up there. Until next time, happy hobbying!