Armies of Middle Earth SBG: Minas Tirith in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Warning: You are passing into the realm of Gondor…

After a brief sojourn into the Armies of the Hobbit and a long dalliance with the forces of Evil (plus a returning post from Centaur on the Rangers of the North--check that out, too, if you haven't already), we’re returning to the armies of Good with one of the most iconic armies in all of Middle-Earth: the defenders of Minas Tirith. I’ve always been drawn to heavily-armored troops (no doubt stemming from my fascination with armored knights since childhood), plus Gondor boasts the most powerful profile of my favorite hero from the books/films (Aragorn). So it has a lot aesthetically going for it. Plus, with the new additions in the new rule set, Army book, and Gondor at War supplement, they've received a power boost on the table-top, too!

I’ll preface our thoughts on Minas Tirith by saying that if you want an in-depth discussion of all this faction has to offer, I strongly recommend you check out The Green Dragon Podcast’s recent episode on revamped Minas Tirith, as well as David Clubley’s thoughts over on Blackmist’s Veni Vidi Double blog. Both are excellent (like, really, really excellent). With those ringing endorsements, if you still want to know what we think, read on. ;-)

Photo Credit: Hannibal & Kaemon

Photo Credit: steamcommunity.com

Army Quick(ish) Hits

·       Strength: Army Customization. Minas Tirith is right up there with Mordor (plus Rohan, Moria, and quite possibly the Shire now) when it comes to the options you have for both heroes (named and unnamed) and troops (either troop profiles, or customization options within profiles). If you want all-mounted, you can do that. If you want a skirmish army, you can do that. If you want an all-mounted skirmish army, you can do that. You name it, Gondor probably has it: iconic named heroes with top-tier combat stats, an array of 3-Might support heroes, beat-stick heroes, heroes that allow you to spam troops, high-defense troops/heroes, low-defense troops/heroes, siege weapons, even a wizard (who can lead troops). You even have generic hero profiles (including kings) that will allow you to play any thematic army from the death of Isildur through the dawn of the Fourth Age. That customization can be overwhelming at times—there’s so much good stuff in Minas Tirith that it’s impossible to fit everything in (at least in a normal points-match game). But it also means that every Gondor army has the potential at least to be unique (even if competitive armies tend to feature the same models repeatedly).

·       Strength: Hero Options. We’ll cover them individually below, but Gondor has five centerpiece profiles. Three of them would be in the running for “best profile” in any army list in the game: Aragorn, King Elessar (the poster-child for Heroes of Legend, and the core of any force he’s in); Gandalf the White (on whatever shortlist there is of “top wizards in the game,” plus a dangerous and resilient fighter in his own right); and Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (who adds 6 Might, the Banner of Minas Tirith, and the Horn of Gondor to what would already be a beastly combat profile). All three are named characters who are central to the War of the Ring, and any one of them have the ability to fully control any game they’re in. Then there’s the father and son: Faramir (who you can customize to fill a variety of roles, at a very low points cost) and Denethor (who allows you to flood your army with swarm-lite numbers of troops who are head and shoulders better stat-wise than actual swarm troops). Beyond those core 5 (most MT armies tend to include at least one of them), there are tons of supporting heroes, almost all of which have 3 Might (Hurin the Tall, Madril, Cirion, Ingold, Irolas) or are very cheap supporting heroes who can either lead troops on their own, albeit in smaller numbers (Damrod, Beregond) or can slot into another hero’s warband to offer some objective-grabbing and magic resistance in a pinch (Peregrin Took). Last but not least are those generic hero concepts: Kings of Men, Captains of Minas Tirith, and Knights of the White Tower. All are very cheap, and either resilient in combat (Kings of Men with Heroic Defense, Captains of Gondor with up to Defense 8 with a Shield and Shieldwall) or sneaky-dangerous in close-combat (Knights of the White Tower, with Fight 5, Strength 4, Heroic Strike, and Mighty Blow).

·       Strength: Resilient Troops. Not all Gondor troops are equally resilient, but all of them have some tricks to keep them alive. The addition of Shieldwall for Warriors of Minas Tirith gives them the option to get to Defense 7, which is a big deal against Strength 2 bows (wound on a 6/4+ instead of a 6) and Strength 4 troops, like Morannon Orcs or Uruk-Hai (wound on a 6 instead of a 5). A Shieldwall formation can be tricky to keep up, although it needn’t be static, and even a Warrior of Minas Tirith with Bow, Spear, and Shield will be a resilient Defense 6 in a Shieldwall (good enough to force Strength 3 opponents to roll 6s to wound). Rangers of Gondor may look fragile by comparison, but their Defense 4 is still pretty good if you don’t have much Strength 4 in your meta (Strength 3 still needs a 5+ to wound Defense 4), and at Fight 4, they’ll have the Fight Value advantage against a good bit of Strength 4 troops (orcs) and at least force 50/50 roll-offs against most others (Uruk-Hai, elite Dwarves). Citadel Guard get that same advantage with the added defense boost (Defense 5, Fight 4) plus Bodyguard, and then there’s always Guard of the Fountain Court if you want the entire package for a bargain price (Fight 4, Defense 7 with a Shield, Bodyguard, plus spears to boot). If your army also has Boromir with the Banner of Minas Tirith, your generic Warriors jump up to Fight 4 within 6” of Boromir (as to Knights of Minas Tirith), while your Rangers, Citadel Guard, and Fountain Court warriors jump to Fight 5. Above-average Fight + Defense backed up by a 6” banner is a pretty good recipe for staying alive.

·       Strength: Dependable Courage. We talked quite a bit about courage when we looked at Goblin-Town, Barad-Dur, and Mordor, all of which mostly have below-average-to-low Courage (although it’s possible to make high Courage armies in Mordor, especially). Gondor fares much better in this department, due to fourth factors. First, the men of Gondor have pretty good courage values to start with. The lowest profiles in the list (Warriors, Knights, Rangers, Citadel Guard, and Fountain Court) all have base Courage 3, which means they’re more likely than not to pass any courage tests they have to take. Second, Warriors of Minas Tirith have the option to take a War Horn, which will boost all Courage within the army up by +1. Third, there’s the army bonus: a pure (or historically-allied) Gondor army gets +1 Courage for all friendly Gondor models (heroes and warriors), which means it’s possible for Gondor’s core troops to jump from Courage 3 to Courage 5 if you stack both the army bonus and the banner, and Osgiliath Veterans can jump to Courage 6 (which means even Strength 4 heroes with Blades of the Dead and Harbinger of Evil will still need 5s to wound). It also means your biggest of big heroes (like Aragorn, Boromir, or Faramir, who are all base Courage 6) can get to Courage 7 or even 8 if you buff them fully. Fourth, there’s tons and tons of Bodyguard troop options (Citadel Guard and Fountain Court Guard) who can be customized for a standard battle line, ranged firepower (S3 Longbows on Citadel Guard) and even mounted (Citadel Guard, with or without bows). Sure, a Courage 4-5 model has a pretty good chance of passing a courage test. But why settle for “pretty good” when you can have “guaranteed”?

·       Strength: Mobility. After talking about 5” move Goblins last time, it’s worth noting that Minas Tirith has both standard-move infantry (6”) as well as quite a few mounted options for both troops and heroes. Standard Warriors of Minas Tirith can be mounted with horses at a bargain price (Knights of Minas Tirith, though note their Shieldwall doesn’t work if they’re mounted—assuming you give your Knights a shield, which I would do all the time), and come with lances (more on those later). You also have the option for mounted Citadel Guards who can take either a spear or a longbow. I’d go the longbow route personally if you plan to mount them (since only Infantry models can spear-support now, see Rules p. 84): a Strength 3 bow with 24” range on a 10” move horse (or 5” move if you Scoot-n-Shoot / 7.5” move if you March-Scoot-n-Shoot) is pretty good at skirmishing against enemy infantry (especially if they have little-to-no bow fire of their own), and with Fight 4 and Bodyguard, they’re very good at capturing and holding far-flung objectives, while still supporting your main battle line with supporting ranged fire. Don’t forget about the heroes Minas Tirith can mount, either—there are a ton of them (Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir, Faramir, Hurin, Captains, Kings, Beregond, and hopefully Pippen someday *fingers crossed*). Finally, while many army lists have to rely on either generic heroes (Captains) or a big hero (like Dain in an Erebor Reclaimed list) to get access to Heroic March, Minas Tirith has two captain-cost mid-tier heroes with 3 Might who can March when necessary (Madril and Irolas), and who also have unique special rules that are very handy to have (Madril’s Master of Ambush for +1/-1 army-wide on your Maelstrom/ Reinforcement rolls, and Irolas’s Bodyguard, Heroic Defense, and Defend the White City special rule, which allows him to shield without a shield, and make a single Strength 4 Strike if he shields and wins the ensuing Duel). Plus you always have Aragorn’s free Might each turn to Heroic March, if you take him.

·       Strength / Weakness: Fight Value. This depends (as always) on the make-up of your army and your opponent’s army. If you fight against Fight 2 goblins, your models all have fantastic Fight (Fight 3+). If you fight a lot of Fight 3 orcs, your core troops (Warriors of Minas Tirith) may struggle to win fights on their own, but the problem can be easily remedied since there’s a ton of cheap Fight 4 you can add (the tried-and-true back line of Gondor Rangers with spears comes to mind). And if you have a lot of Fight 4/Fight 5, you can exceed/match it with Boromir’s banner. Getting Fight 6 is possible, but requires some help (namely, help from Imrahil… but more on that coming soon ;-) ).

·       Strength / Weakness: Shooting Wars. As a whole, Gondor performs pretty well when it comes to shooting wars, provided you take certain units. Your bread-and-butter archers are either Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows, or Rangers of Gondor. Both have a Strength 2 bow (which is usually fine, but not fantastic), and trade defense (D5 for WoMTs, D4 for Rangers) for shoot value (4+ shoot for WoMTs, 3+ for Rangers) and Fight Value (F3 for the WoMTs, F4 for Rangers). Both can take spears, so they’re equally good in your second rank, especially backing up a front rank of WOMTs with shields. A second-rank of Rangers with spears bumps your Fight Value from “3” to “4” (or from “4” to “5” if you have Boromir’s Banner within 6”), which is nothing to sneeze at. A second rank of WOMTs who have bows, spears, and shields won’t boost your front line’s Fight Value (though Boromir’s banner still can, from F3 to F4), but it will help you keep up Shieldwall (bumping your front-line WOMTs with shields from D6 to D7, which is huge, and bumping your back-line WOMTs with shields, spears, and bows from D5 to D6, which is also huge). If you want stronger bows, Citadel Guard are an option (S3 Longbows), although they now have to swap their spears to take the longbow, so you can’t also spear-support with them as archers like you can with Rangers or WOMTs (which is why I prefer CGs as mounted archers, personally, and Rangers/ WOMTs on foot). You also have access to mega-archery with the Bolt Thrower, which not only gets a minor hero with 1 point of Might/Will/Fate (siege veteran), but also gets a third crewman for free in its base cost, thanks to the recent Armies of LOTR errata. D6 bow shots (or the highest of 2d6 bow shots if you take Swift Reload) at 24” and S7 will cut through most troops (and heroes) with ease, and absolutely mow through most enemy archers and horses on a 3+ (WOMT archers with Shieldwall, Corsair arbelests, and Iron Hills crossbowmen excepted). Plus you don’t have to roll to scatter, which is huge. Finally, don’t forget that if you take Gandalf along, you have access to a 2+ channeled Blinding Light if you need it to give you a huge edge in any shooting war—along with all his other very useful spells.

·       Weakness: Cracking High-Defense Opponents. If there is one weakness Gondor has, it’s that it doesn’t have access to Strength 4 warriors, which means (much like Elves) any sort of shieldwall-to-shieldwall scrap against Defense 6 or higher is likely to be a slog. Unlike elves, Minas Tirith troops don’t have any elven-made swords that they can use as two-handed weapons, which means you’re stuck needing 6s to wound. The boost from Defense 6 to Defense 7 from Shieldwall helps Minas Tirith in these battles of attrition (as Strength 4 opponents, like Morannon orcs, will also need 6s to wound your WOMTs), but doesn’t help reduce the slog (if anything it extends it). Your only real answer to this are (1) high-damage ranged weapons (like the trebuchet and bolt thrower) thinning out the enemy’s battle line before it reaches you, (2) Strength 4 heroes to help cut through Defense 6 front ranks (though you’ll still generally need a 5+ to wound, unless you have Aragorn in tow), and (3) cavalry charges with WOMTs (where Strength 3 with a lance on the charge will have four to-wound dice, needing a single 5+ to wound a Defense 6/7 model). If you don’t have any of either, you’re going to be in for a grind.

·       Strength: Fantastic Alliances. Minas Tirith is a strong and versatile faction on its own, but it also has some fantastic historic alliance options available to it (though not quite as many fantastic historic alliance options as Rohan has). The obvious first-choice is Rohan, which can bring a bevy of high-powered mounted heroes, high-fight/defense front rank fighters who can skirmish (Royal Guards on foot), and high-fight/high Strength cavalry on the charge (Royal Guards on horse, especially if Theoden is nearby). Rohan also has fantastic skirmish options in Riders of Rohan (24” bows on a 10” horse, plus Expert Rider so they can get to Defense 5 whilst mounted), and even a Bodyguard bow model for skirmishing while holding objectives (Outriders, as opposed to Outwalkers, which are much cheaper than mounted Citadel Guard with longbows and hit on a 3+, although you do end up with a Strength 2 bow and F3 instead of F4). You can also ally with the Fiefdoms, which allows you to get in heavily armored knights, either on foot or with armored horses and lances (Knights of Dol Amroth), Pikemen (Men-at-arms), two-handed weapons who get to keep any “6s” they roll while dueling (Clansmen), and 3+ shoot archers with Strength 2 bows who can potentially reroll any failed to-wound rolls and 1s to hit (Blackroot Vale Archers near Duinhir), any of which will help you kill things faster. All of these models start at base Fight 4 (except the archers), and because they’re Gondor Warriors they benefit from Boromir’s Banner (taking them to Fight 5 within 6” of Boromir). If you also have Imrahil (his 12” banner effect is reason enough to strongly consider him), any Dol Amroth models within 3” of Imrahil and 6” of Boromir will also get to Fight 6, making them the highest-fight Man troops in the game. In addition to Imrahil, Forlong the Fat and Angbor the Fearless are both very inexpensive Heroes of Valor (you can get Angbor and a full warband of Clansmen for under 200 points, which is pretty good for 15 warriors and a hero with a 2H weapon who can Heroic Strike). Last are the Dead of Dunharrow. You have to take Aragorn, King Elessar (otherwise it’s an impossible alliance) and the King of the Dead, but the Warriors of the Dead offer another way to kill things fast (or at least faster if you’re fighting Defense 6 / Courage 5 elves) since they wound on Courage instead of Defense, they have Terror to make life difficult on your opponent, and the Riders of the Dead are among the best warriors in the game when it comes capturing and holding objectives. Just be aware that if you take the Dead, you can’t take Fiefdoms and/or Rohan without losing your army bonuses (Minas Tirith, Rohan, and Fiefdoms are all historical allies with each other, so all their army bonuses stay if you take them together).

·       Strength: Cost / Availability. This is both good and bad. The good news is that Minas Tirith models are in pretty good supply these days. All the heroes, warriors, and siege engines are available through Games Workshop or Forge World (for the newer heroes), and if they go out of stock online they’re usually back in short order. You can also get official GW models for most of the troops online through secondary resellers. The Forgeworld hero sets are on the pricier side (especially if you don’t reside in the UK), but the models through GW are standard priced, and the Warriors and Knights are generally available in boxed sets at FLGS’s who carry MESBG products. The bad news is that if you want a full set of Gondor, you have a ton of models you have to buy, so even at average prices it will add up. If you’re looking for a basic set to get started, I’d recommend a box of Knights (6, including a banner bearer option) and WOMTs (24 total; 8 shield/sword, 8 shield/spear/sword, and 8 bow/sword) which will take you to about $75 USD. If you convert some of the mounted/foot warriors as captains (and take the banner), you can get a 500 point list on the field with just those two boxes (which isn’t bad), and if you already have the Pelennor Fields starter box, you can get to 700 easily if you add an allied contingent of Theoden and 12 Riders of Rohan. From there, I’d recommend one of the hero sets: Aragorn, Boromir, Gandalf, Faramir/Madril, or the set of four commanders (Captain, Banner Bearer on foot, War Horn on foot, and Knight of the White Tower) are between $35-40 USD, and should take you to 700 pretty easily. A box of Rangers is a decent buy as well ($42 USD), as you get 24 of them, which will flesh out both your numbers and your points. If you want the elite troop options (Guards of the Fountain Court, Citadel Guard, siege weapons) you pay quite a bit more per model, so it might be a good idea to try them out beforehand with proxies (or borrow from a friend) before you take the plunge (although I will say that I’ve never regretted taking a few Fountain Court Guards along). OsVets are the exception, as it’s pretty easy to convert them out of MT warriors (a head/weapon swap with some sculpted cloaks out of green stuff works well), and WOMTs are pretty cheap to come by in bulk.

Hero Profiles: Centerpiece Heroes

Photo Credit: NanakoAC on deviantart.com

·       Aragorn, King Elessar. We talked about all Aragorn offers your army list when we looked at the Fellowship, but I think it’s safe to say that you get even more out of Minas Tirith’s uber-Aragorn profile. He’s a beast in combat: Fight 6 with 3 Attacks and an elven-made hand-and-a-half sword, so he wins drawn combats on a 3+ (unless the enemy also has an elven-made weapon), and wounds any model in the game regardless of its defense on a 4+ (or a 3+ if he two-hands with Anduril). You can take him mounted on an Armored Horse for 4 dice on the charge to win the duel (with Anduril), and 8 dice to-wound against infantry (again, with Anduril), plus he has Horse Lord so if your horse takes a lucky wound early in the game, you can spend one of Aragorn’s 3 Fate points (plus Might to improve your Fate roll if you need it) to keep the horse around. You have every offensive Heroic Action available in the game (Combat, Strike, Strength, and Challenge), with a free Might point to spend each turn thanks to Mighty Hero. If Aragorn happens to lose the duel, he has Defense 7 to force most troops (and heroes) to wound him on 6s, plus you can call Heroic Defense if you’re concerned about two-handed weapons, lances, Uruk-Hai heroes with Might, or monsters. He also has fantastic utility heroic actions: Resolve if you need magic resistance, March if you have to get your army somewhere in a hurry, and of course Heroic Move (to pressure your opponent to burn Might early to counter you, or for that clutch uncontested Heroic Move late, when everyone’s Might stores have run dry) and Heroic Shoot (if you have nothing else to do). (Did I mention he can call one of these Heroic Actions each turn, indefinitely?) If you have the Army bonus active, he jumps up to Courage 7, plus he’s a Hero of Legend, so if your army does break he’ll auto-pass the first courage test for breaking (plus he can lead 18 warriors in his warband). Last but not least is Stand Men of the West! which lets friendly models (warriors or heroes, no Gondor-specific keyword) treat Aragorn as a 6” banner (plus Aragorn himself, since he’s both friendly to himself and within 6” of himself). With the armored horse, Aragorn is among the most expensive heroes in the game. But once you start ticking off the value you’re getting for his points (10+ Might, the equivalent of two 3” banners, effective Strength 10-12 if you two-hand with Anduril, free Heroic Moves/Combats each turn, etc.), he’s incredibly good value. Just make sure you have some way to protect him from magic; with 3 Will and a free Might point per turn, he can shrug off a spell or two, but if you’re facing 2+ casters (or one super-charged wizard), he’ll need some help (or spend a lot of time immobilized), although getting free Heroic Moves each turn can help if you can tag the casters before your opponent’s Move Phase (or taking a turn to call a free Heroic Resolve and get 1 free dice to resist spells; very useful if your opponent won priority or you can’t tag enemy spell-casters, and you anticipate a bunch of magical powers being cast at Aragorn). Properly support him, and he can go toe-to-toe with just about anything in Middle Earth (maybe not Smaug… but I know from personal experience that he can kill Sauron and survive the Balrog… and those were with his Fellowship profile ;-) ).

·       Gandalf the White. Speaking of magic defense, Gandalf the White may not be the best offensive caster in the game (he’s up there, though Sauron is probably better, and the Witch-King could be in any given game, too), but he’s hands-down the best source of magic defense in the game, both for heroes and your army as a whole. Tiberius has covered Gandalf’s array of spells (in detail), so check those two posts out if you haven’t already. To hit just the high points, Gandalf’s spells are all very easy to cast (three spells cast on a 2+, three spells on a 3+, and three spells on a 4+… yes, you read that right… he has nine spells), and offer a nice blend of self-buff spells (Terrifying Aura 2+), troop buffs (Blinding Light 2+), and control (Immobilize 2+, Command 3+). But where he really comes into his own are the tools he has to combat enemy wizards (and enabling your heroes to do the same). Fortify Spirit and Strengthen Will (both cast on a 3+) are the best combination of spells you could cast on someone like Aragorn to protect him from the wiles of the Witch-King (apart from Protection of the Valar, I guess): Aragorn gets 2 free dice to resist each turn (as long as Gandalf has Will remaining in his store), and Gandalf can refresh Aragorn’s Will pool if it ever gets depleted (or refresh his own Will store, so Aragorn can continue to enjoy the two free dice from Fortify Spirit). There’s also no limit to the number of Fortify Spirit spells you can cast during the game, which means Gandalf can cast it on other beat-stick heroes (Boromir, Faramir), mid-tier heroes who are holding objectives (Ingold) or trying to cut their way to a back-line sorcerer (Hurin), or even a very important soldier (like a banner bearer), or even a random pleb infantryman in your Shieldwall formation, who can get 2 free dice to resist a Nature’s Wrath or Wrath of Bruinen. Once your heroes and important troops are secure, Gandalf can switch to offensive-magic mode, where he excels against enemy casters. A successfully-cast Banishment 4+ is essentially a free wound (or more) on a Ringwraith, as it either does an auto-wound if it’s not resisted (all Wraiths only have 1 wound, so anything that auto-wounds them is a real problem) or it forces them to resist using 1+ Will (which reduces their Will store for casting their own spells—and potentially their life-force as well--as Tiberius pointed out recently, spending Will unexpectedly can become a real problem quickly for Ringwraiths). Your Staff is Broken 4+ is a devastating spell against enemy wizards (Saruman, Radagast, other Gandalfs, especially Gandalf the Grey), especially if Gandalf has been able to keep up his own steady barrage of offensive magic to force the enemy wizard to dig into his own will store (say, Gandalf has cast Fortify Spirit on himself, allowing him to use his own Will store and Staff of Power offensively, while getting 2 free dice to resist any incoming spells cast against him). Last but not least is Sorcerous Blast 4+, great for chopping holes in enemy lines, knocking down Fell Beasts, dismounting enemy heroes, etc. Add that to a pretty good combat stat line (Fight 5 with Heroic Strike and 2 Attacks with a Strength 5 elven-made hand-and-a-half sword), good survivability (Defense 6, with 3 wounds and 3 rerollable Fate), and an excellent 12” move mount (who has 2 Will of his own that can be used to resist spells cast at Gandalf whilst mounted, see Rules p. 63, plus 1 Wound with 1 Fate), and you have a mobile top-tier caster who is pretty good in combat, and can lead 15 troops in his warband. Just be aware that since he’s not a Gondor model, he doesn’t benefit from the Minas Tirith army bonus (so no auto-passing tests with Courage 8… unless you take a War Horn).

Photo Credit: LOTRO Wiki

·       Boromir, Captain of the White Tower. I’ll be honest… I’ve been all over the map with Boromir, Captain of the White Tower. If you checked out our Fellowship discussion, you’ll recall I’m a big fan of Boromir’s profile: Fight 6, Strength 4, Defense 6, with 3 Attacks, 6 Might, and the Horn of Gondor (plus the option to take a horse) is phenomenally good. 1 Will and 0 Fate is not good, although Fellowship Gandalf can cover a lot of those weaknesses. Minas Tirith Boromir doesn’t have those weak stats, as he’s got the full 6/3/3 heroic stats, plus he gets a jump from Defense 6 to Defense 7 if you take the shield (with the option for the horse). Despite those boosts, I struggled to figure out why Minas Tirith Boromir cost so many more points than Fellowship Boromir. The increased Defense, Will, and Fate only generated about 30 points of added value, which is only half of the points cost increase. Where were the other 30 points going? The answer, I think, is an opportunity cost tax to take the Banner of Minas Tirith. You still pay separate points for that banner (and it’s not cheap), but a 6” banner in and of itself is phenomenally good (especially if Boromir is leading a cavalry charge, where the models you’re fighting with have larger bases that are harder to squeeze within a 3” radius). Add the Fight Value bonus for your troops, and you can get a fairly large chunk of your army to Fight 5 (potentially also Strength 3 and Defense 7, if you have a large compliment of Guards of the Fountain Court), plus rerolls within 6” (Fight 5 + spear support + banner reroll + Defense 7 front rank = minimal casualties, especially if you have Fight 4/5 cavalry to counter-charge enemy cavalry that charge your shield wall / Shieldwall formation). Plus Boromir himself gets to Fight 7 when carrying the banner (with the option to Strike), plus no -1 duel penalty for carrying the banner, plus he has Heroic Defense (plus 3 Wounds, plus 3 Fate, plus 3 Attacks, plus a Shield) so you can keep the banner around for a veeeeeeeeeeeeery looooooooooong time if you play ultra-conservative. He doesn’t quite have the staying power of Aragorn (Mighty Hero to keep things moving late-game, Horse Lord to protect his horse, or access to Heroic March / Resolve if you have to get somewhere quickly / hunker down), and like Aragorn he’ll succumb to magic eventually if unsupported (although with 6 Might, you have a pretty good chance at resisting spells with just 1 Will point if you have to), but he’s just as good if not better at buffing your core troops as Aragorn is (depending on how much you value Aragorn’s free Heroic Move/ March/ Resolve/ Shoot each turn, compared to Boromir’s +1 Fight Value boost).

·       Faramir, Captain of Gondor. He’s not Boromir, but he’s still an excellent hero choice at a much cheaper price. Faramir’s strength (much like Minas Tirith’s as a whole) is flexibility. His core combat stats are pretty good (Fight 5/3+, Strength 4, with 2 Attacks and Heroic Strike). You can keep him as-is (probably with a Bow) for a very cheap Hero of Valor who’s sturdy enough to be your army leader (2 wounds, 2 Fate, Courage 6/7 with army bonus), or you can bulk him out in heavy armor, a shield, a lance, and a horse/armored horse to get a very good mounted hero (Fight 5, Strength 4 + lance, Defense 7, 3 Attacks on the charge, 3 Might). He also has access to Heroic Resolve (for magic resistance for himself or his troops), Heroic Accuracy (if you want to try fishing for banners or spear supports with your 3+ shoot rangers), and Heroic Defense to go with Heroic Strike, which is a nice suite of heroic actions to have. On foot he’s a Woodland Creature (doesn’t apply to his mount, though), and as a Hero of Valor he can lead 15 troops in his warband. Just watch out if you take Denethor with him, as Faramir tends to get a bit reckless. Speaking of which…

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·       Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Unlike the other four “centerpiece” heroes, Denethor doesn’t look anything like… well, a centerpiece. For one thing, he’s dirt cheap. For another he has no Might points at all. For another-nother he has just 2 Wounds and no Fate. And then there’s Broken Mind, where you can actually lose control of Denethor for a turn… every turn… and he can do stupid stuff like attack your own guys (or heroes… or heroes’ horses…). So why is he here? Because of The Rule of Gondor is Mine, and no other’s! If Denethor’s in your army, he has to be your army leader (and he may also have to be your leader if you have an allied contingent, too…). And anyone who has to be your army leader is going to be a centerpiece hero that you have to build around--except here, instead of building around our centerpiece’s strengths (like we would with Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir, or Faramir), we’re actually building around his weaknesses. What might this look like? Well, here are some possibilities:

o   Denethor has no Might, so any hero with 3+ Might is immediately attractive. Thankfully Gondor has a lot of those, including Boromir, who not only gets our Might to a respectable “6” on two heroes, but also fixes Denethor’s Broken Mind weakness as long as we can keep Boromir alive (which, with Fight 6, 3 Attacks, a Shield, 3 Wounds, 3 Fate, Heroic Defense, the Horn of Gondor, and a metal army at his back, he’s pretty good at doing). If we wanted to go cheaper, some combination of Madril / Cirion / Ingold / Irolas / Hurin the Tall would get us a decent chunk of Might as well, and Hurin has the added advantage of at least saving us some VPs if Denethor is slain unexpectedly in combat (Line of Command), while also getting some combat buffs if he’s within 3” of Denethor (In Defence of the King).

o   Denethor has no Fate and only two wounds, so generally we don’t want him in combat unless the odds are so significantly stacked in our favor that he’s got little-to-no chance of losing the fight. Fortunately, Denethor’s cheap points cost helps us here, as we can take a full-warband (15 warriors) of Fountain Court Guards with Shields (Fight 4, Strength 3, Defense 7, and Bodyguard) plus Denethor for right around 200 points (which is an unheard-of cost for 15 elite-stat warriors). FWIW, you could also pair that warband with all of the named 3 Might heroes we named above (Madril, Cirion, Ingold, Irolas, and Hurin the Tall on horse) plus a banner, and squeeze another 20-22 WoMTs/Rangers (or 18 WOMTs/Rangers and 2 Knights) into the list at 750 points. Yes, that’s six heroes (15 Might between them), 20-22 WOMTs with various weapons, and 15 Fountain Court Guard with shields, and a banner, led by Denethor (40-43 models all together, depending on what filler units you end up settling on). Drop Hurin and one of the 65 point heroes (Irolas or Ingold) and you can get four full-warbands (15 with Denethor, plus 36 with the heroes of fortitude) and a couple of banners at 750 (55 models altogether, including a good contingent of mounted Knights and Fountain Court Guard to go with your core WOMTs/Rangers). If you can keep 2-4 heroes and 40-50 warriors between Denethor and your opponent’s troops, he tends to stay alive.

o   Lastly, Denethor’s cheap price, large warband size, and even his Rule of Gondor special rule opens up some intriguing alliance possibilities. If you stay historic, there’s a good argument to be made that Denethor has to be the army leader of a united Gondor/Rohan/Fiefdoms force, which is great if you were planning to run one of Rohan/Fiefdom’s heroes of legend (Theoden and Imrahil, respectively). Theoden in particular can be somewhat fragile as an army leader (only 2 Attacks and 1 Fate), even though he’s at his best leading the charge; if he’s not your army leader, you still want to be careful committing him to combat, but you don’t have to worry about coughing up VPs if he’s slain on the front lines (though your Royal Guards will lose Bodyguard, in addition to Theoden’s charge buffs, neither of which is good). Same goes for Imrahil: he’s more resilient than Theoden, and his 12” banner effect is crazy-huge, but even so, there’s just less of a load on your mind having him up front where the fighting is fierce, if you know your army leader Denethor is safely tucked away in the back of the board. Denethor even opens up the possibility of pairing strong heroes in a convenient alliance with what would normally be a hero-based force, that can be backed up by a good number of elite troops. The Fellowship has lots of strong heroes who can hold their own in two-on-one (and sometimes even 3-on-1) fights, but don’t like being swarmed. Pair them with some hearty Gondor troops, however, and suddenly your heroes have room to do what they do best (which also happens to be something Gondor can struggle with): high-courage (or Fearless / Bodyguard) models who can kill things very quickly:

The Ring Comes to Gondor

Convenient Alliance (Minas Tirith / Fiefdoms / Fellowship)

Warband 1: Denethor [Army Leader]

   x8 Fountain Court Guard with Shields and Spears

   x1 Fountain Court Guard with Shield and Banner

Warband 2: Angbor the Fearless

   x12 Clansmen of Lamedon

Warband 3: Boromir of Gondor with Shield and Horse

   Legolas

   Gimli

   Frodo with Mithril Coat, Sting, and the One Ring

   Samwise Gamgee

750/750, 28 Models

7 Heroes (18 Might), 21 Warriors (1 Banner).

It scales nicely to 1000, too: just swap Denethor for Aragorn and add Fountain Court to taste. ;-)

Hero Profiles: Supporting Named Heroes

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·       Hurin the Tall. Hurin is a budget combat beatstick: Fight 5, Strength 4 with a master-forged 2-handed sword (so effectively Strength 6), with 2 Attacks, 3 Might, Heroic Strike, Heroic Strength, and an option to mount a horse. At Defense 6 with just 2 Wounds and 1 Fate he will die if stranded/ surrounded, so use him to bring overwhelming force to bear at the point of attack, and be sure to back him up with solid troops. He can be exceptionally difficult to beat in combat if he’s within 3” of Aragorn or Denethor, since he becomes Fearless and gets to reroll a single d6 when trying to win the duel, in addition to any reroll you also get from a banner (or Aragorn’s 6” banner effect) (In Defence of the King). Line of Command makes him a good companion for Denethor (since you don’t give up any VPs for your army leader dying unless Hurin is also slain), and a scary companion for Aragorn, Boromir, or Faramir—the former two are difficult enough to beat in combat, let alone kill, under normal circumstances; if your opponent also has to kill Hurin in order to notch the points for leader kill, he/she may not even attempt it, especially if Hurin and Aragorn/ Boromir are close enough to call Heroic Combats into the other’s fight, or pair up for Heroic Combat/ Heroic Strike slingshots. Heroic Resolve is a nice utility spell to have—you’ll probably end up using your Might for other things, but if you have him with Boromir, he’s being focused down by magic, and you didn’t bring Gandalf along, a well-timed Resolve from Hurin can buy Boromir a turn of much needed relief. Strongly consider the horse under any circumstances: six dice to-wound at Strength 4 with a +1-to wound will cleave through Defense 6 infantry on a 4+. Plus his mounted model may be the single-coolest model in the entire Minas Tirith range.

·       Madril, Captain of Ithilien. Simple, dependable, economical. If Madril did nothing else than provide you with 3 inexpensive Might points and 12 warrior slots, he’d be worth considering. On top of that, he’s got a bow with a 3+ shoot value, and Woodland Creature to keep up with Faramir on foot, plus Heroic March (which Faramir doesn’t have, and may want at some point, especially if it helps a contingent of Gondor Rangers get an extra turn of ranged damage in by backing up 4.5” then hitting on a 4+). His Master of Ambush is one of the few special rules that will let you modify Maelstrom and reinforcement rolls in certain scenarios without dipping into your precious Might stores before your models hit the table, plus once he’s on board, his +1/-1 bonus applies to all other warbands from the same army list (but not to allied contingents… he’s not sharing his master knowledge with others, apparently). He’s a definite take if you’re running the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion from Gondor at War, and a strong candidate to lead a warband if you’re going for a bulkier model count with Denethor or Faramir.

·       Cirion, Lieutenant of Amon Barad. Another one of the original cheap 3 Might heroes. He doesn’t have quite the same army-wide utility that Madril has, although his ability to spend Might on Heroic Strike and Heroic Resolve is a big deal if you’re spamming Gondor troops without a traditional centerpiece hero. His Boldest of the Bold gives him good protection against both Blades of the Dead and charging models with Terror (he counts as having Courage 6 base when charging a model with Terror, Courage 7 if your army bonus is active, and a whopping Courage 8 if you also have a war horn), and at Fight 4 base, he has a decent chance (67%) of beating a Cave Troll or Fell Beast at Fight 6, and tying or exceeding a Mordor Troll at Fight 7. He doesn’t have Heroic Defense, but does have a Shield, so if for some reason the Strike doesn’t go off, he can get a decent amount of dice to win the combat, especially if you have a banner nearby.

·       Ingold, Warden of the Rammas Echor. Ingold (along with Gondor Captains) have the ability to get to Defense 8 with Shieldwall, which is nothing to sneeze at. Pair this with Heroic Defense (plus 3 Might points), and he can be downright difficult to remove from the table, even for monsters and heroes, especially if he goes into shielding mode. On offense, he can call Heroic Strike as well (from Fight 4), so Fight 5 heroes who can’t strike themselves can have a very hard time dealing with him, especially if they’re only Strength 4 or have no option to use a 2-handed weapon (wound him on 6s if Shieldwall is active). His Shieldwall is also remarkably easy to pull off thanks to Resolute Fighter: neither Ingold nor friendly Gondor Warrior models have to back away if they lose a fight within 3” of Ingold—the opponent backs away instead. This means that as long as your Shieldwall is up when combat begins, Ingold is going to get its benefit unless the enemy physically kills the models in base-contact with him (also hard to do when those models are Defense 7 themselves). And even if the enemy manages to kill Ingold, opponent’s models are going to have to back away from Ingold before they make strikes, which makes he and his mates phenomenally good at contesting, claiming, and then holding objectives. Just watch out for enemy cavalry charges—they’ll deprive Ingold Shieldwall eventually, and even at Defense 8, a Strength 3 cavalry model with a lance has a pretty good chance at getting a 5+/3+ to wound if they’re rolling 4 dice (Strength 4 cavalry with a lance/war spear need only a single 5 on 4 dice to kill a Defense 8 model). I recommend you keep a few Knights of Minas Tirith (KOMT) nearby to counter-charge if Ingold gets flooded by cavalry. Keep that Shieldwall upright and stationary!

·       Irolas, Captain of the Guard. The last of Gondor’s 3 Might heroes, who has a phenomenally well-rounded profile. He has very good combat stats (Fight 5, Strength 4, Defense 6, 2 Attacks), plus the ability to Shield (even though he hasn’t got a shield) and call Heroic Defense if things get hairy. He’s not great at taking out monsters (no Strike), although the combination of Bodyguard, Heroic Defense, and shielding with Defend the White City! means he can have a decent go at tanking monsters (or big heroes) for a turn or two until your own big heroes can deal with them. And if Irolas happens to win the Fight while shielding, he gets a chance to make a single Strength 4 strike in return (ala Thorin’s Oakenshield), perfect for taking out a standard horse (4+ to wound) if Ingold was charged by, and then rebuffed, a mounted hero. Last, he has access to Heroic March, making him a great sidekick to Boromir, Faramir, or Gandalf, who don’t have March in their toolbox.

·       Beregond, Guard of the Citadel. He’s a Minor Hero now (6 model warband), so he’s no longer phenomenally good at spamming, just very good at it. He still has Bodyguard and the option for a horse, plus a longbow, Defense 6, and a point of Might, Will, and Fate for when you need them. His only Heroic Action is Accuracy, so you’ll probably want to save the Might for other things (like a clutch Heroic Move in the early game if you think he won’t survive, or in the late-game if your opponent forgot about him in his mad rush to deal with your beatstick heroes). And even if the hero you’re Bodyguarding should die, with Courage 4 (Courage 5/6 with the army bonus and/or war horn), he has a pretty good chance at keeping your force together through break tests.

·       Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien. Cheaper than Beregond, and less resilient. He trades Defense 6, longbow, 4+ shoot value, and Bodyguard for Defense 5, a regular bow, a 3+ shoot value, and Woodland Creature. Like Beregond he also has Heroic Accuracy, which you may or may not use. Unfortunately he's not an option to mount. His best asset is that you can field him, and six rangers with spears, for well under 100 points. Definitely find a spot for him if you're running the Rangers of Ithilien legendary legion (it won't be difficult).

·       Peregrin Took. He’s much upgraded over his Fellowship profile, and accordingly costs quite a bit more (plus no Might-sharing synergies with Boromir this time around). He’s picked up an extra point of Fate (2 Fate), Defense (Defense 4), and still has the option for an Elven Cloak. His unique features are his 3+ Throw Stones (8” range, Strength 1) and Resistant to Magic, the latter being the stronger contribution (Pippen, within range of a Heroic Resolve from Cirion, Hurin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Faramir, etc.) gets 2 free dice to resist spells for a full round, which can be a surprisingly good speed-bump if your opponent is trying to get a Nature’s Wrath to fire. In most lists you probably get more mileage with Damrod for the same points (or Beregond if you’re taking Pippen’s Elven Cloak), but if you left Gandalf at home and expect to be playing against some AOE magic… and then still leave Gandalf at home… he’s a cheap insurance policy that your opponent will at least have to account for.

Hero Profiles: Unnamed Heroes

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·       King of Men. An upgrade on the generic Captain, a King of men pays an extra 10 points for an extra Fight (5 vs. 4), Courage (5 vs. 4), and Will (2 vs. 1), which is a pretty good value. They also have access to March (like all Captains), plus Defense (unlike all Captains), both of which are phenomenal. And you can bulk them out in full combat mode, with heavy armor, shield, lance, and horse/armored horse, for a F5, Strength 4 + lance, Defense 7 mounted beatstick with 3 Attacks on the charge, for under 100 points. Unfortunately they’re still just Heroes of Fortitude (so they can only lead 12 troops), and the biggest thing is that if you take them, you have to leave all your other named Gondor heroes (i.e., all the models we’ve talked about so far) at home. I think that restriction alone knocks them down a couple tiers below generic Captains, unless you’re playing a thematic army representing a post-Isildur/pre-Stewards Gondor force.

·       Captain of Minas Tirith. A perfectly good profile, although they don’t have quite the luster that captains normally have given how many great mid-tier heroes Minas Tirith has access to, for roughly the same points cost. If you take them with shield, they’re on-par with what you’d pay for Madril (who can March) and Cirion (who can Strike), so the question is whether you want to trade that extra Might point (2 Might vs. 3 Might) for Defense 7/Defense 8 with Shieldwall (and a Shield, in Madril’s case). The fact that you can pick up March with Irolas as well (plus Aragorn) means a generic captain’s ability to call Heroic March isn’t as unique as it usually is. You can give them a bow as well (bows with Might are always nice, in case you need to focus-fire an opponent’s mount), or kit them up with a regular horse and lance for some added oomph on the charge, although the latter will push them past most of your named mid-tier heroes in terms of points cost, and just slightly less than Hurin mounted on a horse (who, apart from trading Defense 7 for Defense 6 when mounted, is better than a generic captain whilst mounted in every conceivable way). If you’re looking to spam the maximum amount of models with Denethor, you might go their direction, but in most cases, I tend to gravitate towards a named hero or two with March. But they’re fantastic in the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion (where they’re your only option to bulk out your numbers once you’ve filled Faramir, Madril, and Damrod’s warbands).

·       Knight of the White Tower. This profile received two significant buffs in the new edition: the Knight of the White Tower kept Heroic Strike (which, paired with Fight 5 base, gives him an excellent chance at matching or exceeding Fight 7 monsters like trolls) and The Bladelord’s Skill lets him keep any “6s” he rolls while using the White Sword of Gondor (a 2H sword with the Mighty Blow special rule). Strength 4 two-handed weapons are dangerous enough on their own, and doubly-so when any unsaved wounds they land count as 2 wounds for purposes of dealing damage. Get him into a trapped troll, supported by a couple ranks of infantry and a banner, and his four to-wound dice at effective Strength 6 will leave a mark. Fight 5 heroes, and even Fight 6 heroes who can’t Strike, will have to think long and hard before they approach him. As a Hero of Fortitude, he can also lead 12 troops—make sure they stick closely to him, give him plenty of support, and he can hold the line against a significantly more expensive hero. And if you do go the King-of-Men route with no named heroes, be sure to bring at least one of these guys along--you won't have access to Heroic Strike without him.

Warrior Profiles

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(also, can you spot the Easterlings?)

·       Warriors of Minas Tirith. With the addition of Shieldwall, they have a clearly-defined role in Gondor’s toolbox: (relatively) cheap meat-shield. Fight 3 base is fine (not good), though they can get to Fight 4 if Boromir’s banner is nearby (which is good, not great). Defense 6 is usually fine, too, although any time you have Strength 3/Defense 6 armies facing off against Strength 3/Defense 6 armies, you should expect a slog (everyone wounds everyone else on 6s, which means most times, no one is dying unless they’re severely outnumbered). When it isn’t fine is when your opponent is Strength 4/Defense 6 (Morannon Orcs, Uruk-Hai) or your opponent is Strength 4/Defense 7 (dwarves), as you take damage on a 5+ while only dealing damage on a 6 (it gets old fast). The jump to Defense 7 (with Shieldwall) means for the most part, everyone will still be wounding on 6s all the time… so at least you’re back to equal slogging for all! (Iron Hills Dwarves in Shieldwall are the exception, wounding on 6s while being wounded on a 6/4+… but they’re the exception to a lot of things). As we’ve discussed on several occasions, Shieldwall requires some thought to keep up, although there are more ways to keep it up than your standard line-behind-line formation. Don’t forget that Shieldwall can buff your WOMTs with bows, too (as long as they have shields). They don’t get all the way to Defense 7 (because you don’t get the defense bonus from having a Shield if you’re also packing a bow, unless you have Expert Rider whilst mounted), but a Defense 6 archer is still difficult to deal with, especially at range. If you’re dealing with elf-bows, your Shieldwall archers will still be Defense 6 (wounded on 6s), so you can keep them in the front rank if you like (front-rank archers with shields and swords, backed up by a second-rank with shields and spears, can also be a nasty surprise for opponents; usually the defense gets lower after you chew through the front rank into the back, it doesn’t increase from D6 to D7!). You can put them in the front against regular bows as well, although the jump from Defense 6 to Defense 7 will make those bows less effective (they go from a 6 to wound to a 6/4+ to-wound), and it makes a huge difference against crossbows (5s to wound vs. D6, 6s to wound vs. D7), so if you’re a min-maxer, keep them in the back I guess. Finally, you can still back WOMTs up with Rangers with spears or Fountain Court Guard if you like (for Fight 4/5), just bear in mind that you won’t have Shieldwall up all the time. Remember as well that for your front-rank guys, the jump from D6 to D7 only matters against even-strength opponents, so if you’re facing a wood-elf spam (S3 warriors, throwing weapons, etc., with very few Strength 4 heroes), you can afford to let it go (since S3 wins D6 or D7 on a 6); against the Rangers of the North (S4 heroes, S2 bows), it’s probably worth trying to keep it up (S4 wounds D6 on a 5+, but D6 on a 6).

·       Osgiliath Veterans. They’re 1 point more than a generic WOMT. That one point buys you a WOMT (with the options for a bow, spear, and shield, but not a war horn or a banner) with one extra Courage (4 vs. 3). With the army bonus / war horn (though you’ll need to import it on a generic WOMT), you can bump your Courage to 5 / 6, which is phenomenally good for any faction, and particularly good for men (the full Courage 6 kit means even Strength 4 opponents with Blades of the Dead will still need a 5+ to wound you, which is crazy good). You also swap the Shieldwall special rule for a +1 Fight Value special rule if they are within 6” of Boromir or Faramir. Fight 4, S3, D6, C5 is a pretty good stat-line for the points you pay. If you have Boromir’s banner, too, it’s a phenomenally good stat-line for the points (F5, S3, D6, C5). As Jeremy mentioned in the Green Dragon Podcast, they’re also a very thematic choice if you like doing weapon swaps on your Minas Tirith troops (axes, clubs, or maces probably; flails if you’re brave or have a death wish). And if you don’t care about your Shieldwall, they’re a good choice for a second rank behind your normal warriors, as they can take spears/bows/shields. A Fight 4/5 shielding warrior at D5/D6 with Courage 5/6 is a tough-out in the late game.

·       Citadel Guard. The first of three standard Fight 4 models, and the first of two models with Bodyguard. They have real competition now from the WOMT archers, who can get to Defense 6 with a Strength 2 bow (and help with Shieldwall), to compete with the Citadel Guard’s Defense 5 with a Strength 3 longbow. A couple of them mounted make for great objective-holders if you have a sturdy army leader for them to Bodyguard, although they’re very expensive for S3 cavalry on D4 horses (if you’re looking for an all-mounted force that can skirmish, consider allying in Riders of Rohan and Rohan Royal Guards to compliment your Knights of Minas Tirith—all three are significantly cheaper than a Citadel Guard with longbow on horse). If you’re running more of an infantry swarm with smaller, more vulnerable heroes, you might consider Rangers in their place, as they are still Fight 4, plus the rangers can take spears and bows (while the Citadel Guard have to pick one or the other). The rangers’ 3+ shoot with a Strength 2 weapon usually gives them a comparable-if-not-better kill rating at range than 4+ shoot / Strength 3 longbows, especially if the enemy has an even defense value (S2 and S3 both wound D6 on 6s, only a 3+ shoot has a ~17% better chance of hitting to begin with).

·       Guards of the Fountain Court. Defense 7 from Shieldwall is great and all; so is Fight 4 within 6” of Boromir (or Faramir), and Courage 4/5 instead of Courage 3. But if you have the points (and really, they’re kind of absurdly cheap), strongly consider the standard Guard of the Fountain Court, who's base Defense 7 (Defense 6 + a shield), base Fight 4 (Fight 5 within 6” of Boromir), and has Bodyguard (to bypass courage tests altogether, at least early). They’re still Strength 3 and they didn’t get 2 Attacks like Morgul Stalkers did, but apart from that their statline is fantastic. If you’re running Aragorn or Denethor, you basically need at least a few of them for thematic reasons, and they’re the sort of model that once you start playing with them, you tend to find yourself adding more in as you refine your lists. A Bodyguard banner-bearer is phenomenal as well—no having to worry about Wood Elf sentinels, Spectres, Instill Fear, etc. Just be aware that you have to swap your spear for a banner on a Fountain Court Guard (lots of mandatory weapon swaps on Gondor’s elite troops), so your banner bearer won’t be helping much in the combat phase (I’d still take the shield, though). Probably the best warrior profile in the entire army list (which, in a force like Minas Tirith that has lots of very good warrior profiles, is saying something). Just be prepared to shell out some cash if you want to field full armies of them—the buggers are expensive, even on the secondary market…

·       Rangers of Gondor. The cheapest of the Fight 4 staple options, plus they can take 3+ shoot bows and spears (no banners, though). Their Defense 4 looks low if they get into combat, but you can mitigate it somewhat by making sure they get into 1-on-1 fights (or 2-on-1 fights in your favor) and have a banner nearby (plus Strength 3 still needs a 5+ to wound Defense 4, so if you manage to get a one-on-one, you have a greater than 50% chance that your ranger will live to fight another day, even if he loses the fight). They’re particularly dangerous in large numbers (which Gondor can do with a list comprised of Denethor, cheap captains, and a whole lot of models), and are a staple of the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion (where the first 33 of them don’t count towards your bow limit if you field Faramir, Madril, and Damrod). And unlike Citadel Guard or Guards of the Fountain Court, you can pick up 24 of them in plastic for a much lower cost per model. Unfortunately they can’t be mounted, which means if you want Fight 4 cavalry, you’ll be looking at Citadel Guard (or Boromir’s banner) instead. Speaking of cavalry…

·       Knights of Minas Tirith. Dirt, dirt cheap for heavy cavalry, and they are heavy: Fight 3 (meh), Strength 3 (fine) with a lance (yay!) and Defense 5 (good) with an option for a shield (always) and banner (if you don’t already have one, always) on a Defense 4 horse (not great, but cheap, which is great). They’re exceptionally good at running down Defense 5 infantry (4 dice to-wound on a 4+), and counter-charging enemy cavalry who are trying to knock your Shieldwall prone (in addition to knocking out enemy charge bonuses with a counter-charge, they also have the offensive stats to wound an enemy horse or armored horse easily, enough armor on the rider that they’re likely to survive an attack if the enemy rider wins, and the riders have Shieldwall so you can plug them into your front-rank if they do lose their mount). Near Boromir’s banner they jump to Fight 4, at which point they’re absurdly under-costed (but it’s made up for in the opportunity cost points you pay for uber-Boromir, so don’t feel guilty or anything…). Even without ranged weapons, they're a strong candidate over mounted Citadel Guard due to the points you save. I always try to take at least a couple for running objectives and fending off enemy cavalry. You can pick up a mounted Captain (with horse, lance, and shield) and two Knights with shields and lances for just under 100 points. They almost always make up their points, and then some.

Siege Engines

Photo Credit: Games Workshop

·       Gondor Avenger Bolt Thrower. So this is a siege weapon that does Strength 7 hits. It has a reduced range (24” instead of 48” or 96”) and doesn’t insta-kill its targets, but those two negatives are counter-balanced by two enormous positives. First, a bolt thrower gets to take d6 shots each turn, instead of just one, for an average of 3.5 shots per turn. If you also take the Swift Reload upgrade (Rules p. 119), you get two roll 2d6 and choose the highest result instead for your number of shots, which is great (instead of having to decide whether to reroll a “3” and risk getting a lower number, you just get both roll outcomes simultaneously and pick the best). For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a 30.6% chance of getting at least one “6” (up from 16.7% with just 1d6) and a 55.6% chance of getting at least one “5” or “6” (up from 33.3% with just 1d6). The second advantage is that the Bolt Thrower doesn’t roll on the scatter table. Which means that if you get 5-6 shots from Swift Reload, you can expect between 2-3 Strength 7 shots to hit each round, and 2-3 Strength 7 shots are pretty good at tearing holes through enemy troops, wounding heroes/mounts, and generally wreaking havoc (especially if interspersed by a large contingent of rangers, WOMTs with bows, or Citadel Guard longbows). They’re also extremely cheap (even with Swift Reload), plus the August 2019 errata clarified that you now get 3 crew (instead of 2), including a Siege Veteran (with a point of Might, Will, and Fate) at no extra points cost. Get them while they last! (And consider multiples if you saved points with Denethor--plus they beef up your model count!)

·       Gondor Battlecry Trebuchet. If the bolt thrower is a precision weapon of destruction, the trebuchet is a long-range bludgeon of death. With a 12-96” range (the latter of which you’ll almost never need) and volley fire, you can reach just about any target you can see (unless they’re protected by an overhanging roof, tree foliage, etc., in which case you can still hit them if you pass some in-the-ways). Actually hitting that target is sketchier than it is with the bolt thrower, as (a) you only get one shot attempt per shoot phase (hitting on a 4+), and (b) you have to roll on the scatter chart (with a 6" scatter range). Scattering is more forgiving this edition than it was in the past, but there’s still a 1/6 chance that you won’t hit anything (or hit your own men), and a 4/6 chance (or 3/6 chance if you have Might to spend) that you’ll hit some other enemy target within 6” of what you tried to shoot at. If you do manage to get that “6” on the scatter chart (or a “5+” if you have Might on your siege veteran or engineer captain, or a 2+ if there are no other enemy units within 6" to scatter onto) and you manage to score a wound (at Strength 10, it’s pretty much always a “3,” although occasionally you’ll hit something and fail to wound it, which is sad), whatever you hit needs to pass a Fate save or it’s insta-dead (outside of models with 10+ wounds or 10+ Defense). Nearby models may be in danger, too, since the trebuchet also inflicts a Strength 5 wound on every model within 2” of whatever target is hit, plus all those models are knocked Prone (regardless of size—which means prone trolls, and thrown riders if cavalry models are hit). Even with the reduced chance to hit their primary target (due to their shoot value, scatter roll, and 6” scatter radius), they’re still a major psychological danger to your opponent (because you always could roll a 6 on the scatter chart, even if you're unlikely to do so), who’s less inclined to keep his models clumped closely together if there’s a chance they could take high-strength damage and be knocked Prone. As with the Iron Hills Ballista, armies with Shieldwall like it when they can fight as a unit, while their enemies stagger in piece-meal. The splash damage from a trebuchet is a great way to force opponents to spread out, which means they hit your Shieldwall over 2-3 turns, instead of all at the same time (allowing you to defeat them in detail). Finally, don’t forget that trebuchets have two advantages when targeting Siege targets: they get to roll two dice to-wound and pick the highest (Wall-Breaker, included in their base cost), and they can purchase the Flaming Ammunition upgrade to reroll to-wound rolls of 1 against Siege targets (which would cover any “1s” you happen to roll with Wall-Breaker). Keep in mind that other large siege weapons (Mordor Catapults, the Iron Hills Ballista, etc.) are siege targets (so you can duel them at range with some advantages), as are large gates, houses, boats, and even the Mumakil (Rules p. 114), so these siege-related rules could have more applications than originally thought. I’m not sure I’d fork over the points for Flaming Ammunition unless I had advanced intel about a game, but if you’re playing in heavily-ruinous/fortified terrain, or your opponent plops a Mumak on the table, be sure to write “Wall-Breaker” in large, colorful letters and put it somewhere on the table where you’ll see it early and often.

About those Legendary Legions…

·       Rangers of Ithilien. Thank God rangers only have Strength 2 bows, because if their bows were Strength 3, this list would be ludicrous (as you can take up to 33 rangers who don’t count toward your bow limit if you field Faramir, Madril, and Damrod—and every one of those 36 models is dirt, dirt cheap). Once you fill their warbands with rangers, you can start adding Minas Tirith Captains to fill out your numbers, who can take a mix of Rangers, WOMTs, and Knights depending on your taste (which means you can take banners, war horns, heavy cavalry, Shieldwall infantry, and more bows/spears if you need them!). Plus you can even sneak a ringbearer (Frodo), free Heroic Combats each turn (Sam), and a stealthy strangler (Gollum) either in their own separate warband or in Faramir’s warband. To top it all off, Rangers in this Legion all get the Woodland Creature special rule, which means you’ll have a good chance at dominating any wooded terrain you encounter. Plus Faramir can be mounted (though not arrayed in heavy armor or shield). If you were planning to field a healthy ranger contingent anyway, this legion gives you plenty of incentives to field them this way (instead of in a standard Minas Tirith list). 

·       Men of the West. This legion is sort of the opposite of the Rangers legion: you get a reduced selection of troops from a faction (except it’s three factions: Minas Tirith, Rohan, and the Fiefdoms), only there’s almost no incentive for taking that limited selection in this list as opposed to the core lists. For starters, you don’t have access to any mounted models, which means both your Minas Tirith and Rohan components are going to struggle to wound things (Strength 3, with no option to take Helmingas in Rohan). Without Knights of Minas Tirith, the bolt thrower, Rangers/ Citadel Guard with longbows, or even Clansmen of Lamedon, you don’t have much you can do to up your damage without leaning on your heroes (who also can’t be mounted). In exchange, Aragorn gets a single-use +1 Fight Value buff for all friendly models within 12” of him (including himself), which would be phenomenal if it applied every turn, but only applies once. All models do get Fearless as long as Aragorn is alive (so that’s cool, and vital since you don’t have any Bodyguard models—Citadel Guard, Fountain Court, Rohan Royal Guards), and it’s nice to be able to fit some of the better combat heroes (Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Eomer, Imrahil, the elven twins) into a list with lots of troop options, but even at 1000 points, you’re going to struggle to squeeze in just Aragorn, Eomer, and Imrahil with full warbands of troops (adding Gimli and Legolas leaves room for 32-38 warriors at 1000 points, which is fine but not great). Since none of the heroes are discounted when it comes to points (unlike other legions), there aren’t many incentives to take the legion over, say, a combined historic alliance of Minas Tirith, Rohan, and Fiefdoms (with your preferred heroes, warriors, and mounts). But maybe I’m missing something… :)

Concluding Thoughts

Thanks for checking out our overview of Minas Tirith! If you made it this far, here’s a prize for you (sorry, Minas Tirith doesn’t have any metal songs to link to like Goblin-Town does). As always, you’ll find a list of recommended resources below (that we try to update as often as we find something), and let us know what you think in the comments!

Photo Credit: reddit.com

Recommended Resources

More from the TMAT Team:

• In Defense of: Gondor Battlecry Trebuchets (July 2023)
• The Battle of Osgiliath Box Set: Brief Review and Quick Starter Armies (January 2023)
• Gondor At War Inspired Lists: Minas Tirith Revisited (October 2022)
• Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain, Parts I, II, III, IV, V, and VI (June 2022-Present)
• In Defense of: Osgiliath Veterans (July 2022)
• In Defense of: Denethor (January 2022)
• The Stuff of Legends: The Rangers of Ithilien (June 2021)
• Overly Pedantic Stats: Improving Minas Tirith (December 2020)
• The Bare Necessities, Part VI: Minas Tirith (February 2020)
• Appendix A: Alternate Shieldwall Formations (July 2019)
• Shieldwall Tactics: Making it Work (July 2019)
• A Pocket Full of Power, Revisited (June 2019)
• Workbench Update: Minas Tirith [Osgiliath Veterans and Bases] (June 2019)
• Magic in Minas Tirith (Gandalf the White), continued (April 2019)
• Magic in Minas Tirith (Gandalf the White) (April 2019)
• Workbench Update: Minas Tirith (March 2019)
• New Rules, Part VII: The Kingdoms of Men, Part II (December 2018)
• kah-CHUNKa! [Bolt Thrower Conversation from Scratch, in case you didn’t get that from the title ;-) ] (January 2013, *pre-MESBG)

Support your hobby!

• Minas Tirith Model Range [Games Workshop]
• Minas Tirith Model Range [Forge World]

Recommended Resources:

• PODCAST: Episode 56: Minas Tirith (The Green Dragon Podcast)
• READING: Fog of War, Part 7: Gondor (Veni, Vidi, Double)
• READING: Playing with Minas Tirith: REDUX (Barad Druin)
• VIDEO: Review of the Middle-Earth SBG Armies of the Lord of the Rings - Part 5, Minas Tirith, Review of Gondor at War, Part II (Profiles), and Review of Gondor at War, Part III (Legendary Legions) and (STF Wargaming Studio)
• VIDEO: Dunharrow and Minas Tirith Live Faction Review and Top 5 – Minas Tirith Heroes (Top Table Gaming)
• VIDEO: Minas Tirith Faction Review (Shadow Wraith)
• VIDEO: Minas Tirith Tactics - Middle Earth SBG (Lowlands Wargaming)
• VIDEO: Tier List Revision: Minas Tirith (The Last Alliance of Noobs and Men)
• VIDEO: Minas Tirith 600 Point Army: Desolation of Stockport 2019 Review (Seven Rings Gaming)
• VIDEO: How to Play and Buy: Minas Tirith (DC Hobbit League, *pre-MESBG)
• VIDEO: LOTR SBG – Heroes of Minas Tirith / Gondor and Warriors of Minas Tirith (GBHL Podcast, *pre-MESBG)
• VIDEO: Tactics Talk: Gondor (LOTR SBG Team, *pre-MESBG)
• READING: Top Units by Faction: Minas Tirith (Hobbit SBG Strategy Battle Guide, *pre-MESBG
• BAT-REP: The Walls of Minas Tirith (RoTK Journey Book) (Dave Townsend)
• BAT-REP: Minas Tirith vs. Wargmar (Angmar) (W.A.R.G. / Last Alliance of Noobs and Men)
• BAT-REP: Easterlings v. Minas Tirith (BBB Wargaming)
• BAT-REP: Hobbits v. Minas Tirith (Battle Games in Middle Earth)
• BAT-REP: Tales of Middle Earth Ep. 118: Minas Tirith vs. Corsairs (Blackfyre Productions)
• BAT-REP: Minas Tirith vs. Rivendell - 800pt MESBG Battle Report (Any Heroics)
• BAT-REP: Lord of the Rings Battle Report – Mordor v. Gondor (East Grinstead War Gamers, *pre-MESBG)
• HOBBY: How to Build Basic Minas Tirith Buildings, Minas Tirith Towers, and Minas Tirith Walls and Gates (Tales of Middle Earth)
• HOBBY: How to: Paint a Warrior of Minas Tirith (The Painter’s Room)
• HOBBY: Three Ways to Paint a Minas Tirith Warrior (Swords and Brushes)
• HOBBY: How to paint: Warrior of Minas Tirith (SlokosPainstation)
• HOBBY: How to Paint Ingold (Battle Games in Middle Earth)