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Thursday, September 17, 2020

Quest for the Ringbearer: What I REALLY Want From The Legendary Legions

 Good morning gamers,

Earlier this week, we were given a few hints from the Warhammer Community Team via Jay Clare about what was officially coming in Quest for the Ringbearer. If you haven't read the article yet, you should. As a long-time lover of the Felllowship of the Ring movie (and as a proud owner of the old Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook), Quest for the Ringbearer has been the sourcebook I've been most excited about to date. While I've been guessing for a while about the Legendary Legions that were coming (I had seven in mind, five-and-a-half of which showed up in the book), I figured I'd get my guesses on paper before they're spoiled so I can either say "I called it!" or "But I had this really great idea . . ." Without futher ado, let's get into those Legendary Legions!

1) The Rangers of Ithilien

Credit: LOTR Fandom

This was my "and-a-half" legion - I knew they were releasing two new Rangers (Anborn and Mablung), but I was thinking there would be a pure-Ranger list that wouldn't include any of the Minas Tirith "tin-cans" in it. Imagine my surprise when the one Legendary Legion I really like from Gondor at War (which I don't own) is getting re-cast in this book! Two new Minor heroes to join Damrod as great-Ranger-leading-guys, yes please! I assume there'll be no new rules for the Legion, except that these two guys can bring 12 MORE Rangers that don't count towards your bow limit. I may have to get more Rangers (currently I have enough for Faramir and Damrod to have full warbands, but I might have to get Madril, Anborn, Mablung, and 24 more Rangers of Gondor . . . or maybe not).

2) The Breaking of the Fellowship

Credit: Slashfilm.com

I heard a lot of people on the Facebook groups saying that the Fellowship wasn't getting a Legion because their army already WAS a Legion. The problem is that the Fellowship list includes characters and gear items that cover its entire lifetime - Gandalf, Bill, Smeagol, and Arwen (available if you include Aragorn in your list thanks to the February 2020 Errata) only appeared for a short time in the Fellowship but are available to be taken alongside the "big eight" who are at Amon Hen. Similarly, Aragorn and Legolas are always given armor (at least, I always give them armor), but they don't have this gear until after the Fellowship splits up. One of the most thematic ways to take the list is the "Breaking of the Fellowship" at Amon Hen, so here's what I expect:

  • Units/Gear:
    • Frodo Baggins with Sting, Mithril Coat, Elven cloak, and the Ring (no optional gear)
    • Samwise Gamgee with Elven cloak
    • Meriadoc Brandybuck with Elven Cloak
    • Peregrin Took with Elven Cloak
    • Aragorn - Strider with Elven Cloak (option for bow, perhaps option for Anduril if they go with the book version, but I doubt it)
    • Legolas Greenleaf with Elven cloak
    • Gimli, Son of Gloin with Elven cloak
    • Boromir of Gondor with Elven cloak (option for shield)
    • NOTE: I think because they're going with the post-Lothlorien version of the Fellowship (vs. Moria), I think the Elven Cloaks won't be optional. For 40 points, it's a good way of making due without Gandalf when dealing with archery-heavy armies (like Lurtz's Scouts probably will be - more on that in a few). The biggest hit to this Legendary Legion (besides not getting Gandalf or Bill) is that Aragorn and Legolas won't have options for armor (which they pick up at Helm's Deep after the Fellowship is broken) - this makes both of these heroes REALLY squishy.
  • Rules:
    • I Wish the Ring Had Never Come To Me: You have to bring Frodo and he has to be your Army Leader - we all want Frodo as our army leader anyway if there's not chance we're playing Contest of Champions (but even then, as all Hobbits do, he might surprise you).
    • The Fellowship Is Broken: Heroes from this Legendary Legion may deploy as a single warband or may deploy in the folowing groups:
      • Frodo Baggins & Aragorn - Strider
      • Legolas Greenleaf & Gimli, Son of Gloin
      • Boromir of Gondor, Meriadoc Brandybuck, & Peregrin Took
      • Samwise Gamgee
    • I Would Have Gone With You To The End: All members of the Fellowship gain the Fearless rule while Frodo is alive and on the battlefield (or escapes off the board edge in relevant scenarios). Additionally, the force never counts as being broken while Frodo is alive and on the battlefield (or escapes off the board edge in relevant scenarios) - basically, giving the Fellowship its normal army bonus.
    • Gifts of the Elves:
      • Nice Shiny Daggers: Merry and Pippin have Elven-made daggers (in addition to their normal daggers).
      • Real Elven Rope: Samwise Gamgee (and any friendly figure within 3" of Sam) gain +1 to Climbing tests they need to make. Additionally, when Sam wins a fight, he may attempt to tie up his opponent: both players roll a D6 and add the Strength of their characters: if Sam's roll ties/beats his opponent, they suffer the effects of the Paralyze magical power.
      • The Light of Earendil: At the start of the Move phase, Frodo may choose to pull out the Light of Earendil or put it away. For the duration of the round, while Frodo has the Light of Earendil out, he gains the benefits of Blinding Light (including its illumination bonuses).
      • The Bow of the Galadhrim: Legolas may reroll one To Hit, In-The-Way, or To Wound roll he makes during the Shoot phase.
      • Three Locks of Hair: Gimli's player has to wax eloquently about the beauty of Galadriel the entire game (I have no idea what the benefits of this would be in-game, probably a 6+ Fate save or something, but I like my previous thing better). 
      • Elven Throwing Dagger: Once per game, Boromir may make a shooting attack with a throwing dagger. When using it, he may reroll failed to Wound rolls (basically Erestor's throwing-dagger-oriented rule).
      • Elven Dagger: Whenever Aragorn loses a fight, he may choose to use his Elven dagger to make one Strength 4 strike against one of the models that was Engaged with him. He will not benefit from any bonuses that come from his war gear.
        • Admission: Aragorn shows up in 4 Legendary legions and 3 army lists - so how do you make him good in this list when he doesn't get Anduril and he can't take armor? You allow him to attack when he loses . . . from the movies, we see this in his fight with Lurtz, his fight with Sharku, and his fight with the Mordor Troll Chieftain - he loses a fight, grabs his dagger, and stabs someone with it, hoping to get a reprieve, so I think it's good.

3) Lurtz and "All Those Uruks"

Credit: Comicvine

In the Fellowship of the Ring movie, we all got excited to see the horde of Uruks fighting our beloved heroes. With lots of Uruks to kill, the heroes are trying and trying and TRYING to cut through everyone in their way to not only buy time for Frodo, but to save Boromir, Merry, and Pippin. What a great sequence, am I right? In the books, we know that Boromir was pierced by may arrows, so depending on which story they're going off of, here's what I expect to see:

  • Units/Gear:
    • Lurtz (option for shield, but might come with it standard)
    • Maybe Vrasku because he doesn't show up in the Ugluk's Scouts LL, but I'm not sure about this
    • Uruk-Hai Captain (standard wargear options)
    • Uruk-Hai Shaman (no armor option)
    • Uruk-Hai Scouts (standard wargear options)
  • Rules:
    • My Fighting Uruk-Hai: Your army must include Lurtz and he must be your Army Leader (no duh, here, right?).
    • You Do Not Know Pain, You Do Not Know Fear: Uruk-Hai models from this force do not need to test for being broken until they are reduced below 66% of their starting number. Additionally, everyone has Woodland Creature.
    • Relentless Pursuit: Uruk-Hai Captains in this list may call a Heroic March each turn for free. In addition, if an Uruk-Hai Captain calls a Heroic Move, he may roll a D6: on a 4+, the Heroic Move is free.
    • Hordes Without Number: When an Uruk-Hai Scout from this list is killed, place him on the side. On the following turn after Priority is rolled but before the Move phase starts, roll a D6 for each Uruk-Hai Scout that was killed on the previous turn: on a 6, that model may walk onto the board from the controlling player's board edge.
      • Admission: this sounds REALLY powerful - getting free Uruks is great, after all. I'm not sure that the controlling players' board edge would be THAT unreasonable (it's not a Goblin-town pop-up-everywhere thing), but they might dumb it down to Oblivious to Pain on everyone. Or they may not do anything like this at all. Given that this army is D4-5 and has no spears, I think they need something to help them out - and this is what I'm predicting.

4) The Mines of Moria

Credit: Filmmusiccentral

This list to me is pretty simple: cut out all of the named Goblins, cut out all the weird creatures, and just go with what's in the movie - the Balrog, some Captains, Moria Goblin Warriors/Drum, and Cave Trolls. Simple, straight-forward, fun. My thought is that since the Balrog already works as a super-Shaman with regard to his auto-passing Courage bubble, why not extend that a bit to make him a true uber-Shaman. Also, no shamans in this list (don't need them).

  • Units/Gear:
    • The Balrog
    • Moria Goblin Captain (standard wargear)
    • Moria Goblin Warrior (standard wargear)
    • Moria Goblin Drum
    • Cave Troll (standard wargear)
  • Rules:
    • A Demon of the Ancient World: Your army must include the Balrog and he must be your Army Leader (exactly where he belongs).
    • Attack from the Ceiling: Before deployment begins, you may set aside one warband of models led by a Moria Goblin Captain: starting on turn 3, you may choose a terrain object on the board and the Moria Goblin Captain and his warband deploys completely within that terrain piece. Any models that cannot do so are removed from play and count as casualties.
    • Fear of Failure: Whenever a Moria Goblin model suffers a wound while within 12" of the Balrog, roll a D6: on a 6, the wound is ignored exactly as if a point of Fate were spent.
    • A Foe Beyond Any Of You: The Balrog counts as in range of a banner if he is within 18" of at least one Moria Goblin Drum.
      • Admission: I want to give the Balrog Might in this Legendary Legion (and perhaps a point of Fate), but he doesn't need Might for much (except Heroic Moves/Marches). He really needs help getting his high dice boosted, which can be managed pretty well with a banner-like reroll. So that's what I've chosen here.

5) Cirith Ungol

Credit: Tumblr

Thematic players have been using this list for ages with no Legendary Legion, so obviously it was showing up in this supplement. On paper, my thoughts are trending the same way that the Ugluk's Scouts Legendary Legion went, where there's competition between the Uruks and the Orcs for "who is better." I've taken it a step farther to allow outright animosity, which could be a fun little back-fire and cause more strategic decisions.

  • Units/Gear:
    • Shagrat, Warleader (standard wargear options, nothing by default)
    • Gorbag (option for shield)
    • Mordor Uruk-Hai Captain (standard wargear options)
    • Orc Captain (option for shield or bow)
    • Orc Shaman (no warg option)
    • Shelob (still an Independent Hero)
    • Mordor Uurk-Hai (standard wargear options)
    • Orc Warrior (standard wargear options)
  • Rules:
    • Rival Leaders: Your force must include Shagrat and Gorbag and one of them must be your army leader.
    • Hands Off That Shiny Shirt - That's Mine! Shagrat will never take part in a Heroic Action called by Gorbag, and Gorbag will never take part in a Heroic Action called by Shagrat.
    • Animosity: When a Mordor Uruk-Hai in this list is within 3" of a Mordor Orc Warrior in this list and there are no heroes within 6" of either of them, they must charge each other and attempt to kill each other in the ensuing duel (neither may use the Shielding rule if they have shields).
    • Two Factions: Keep count of how many models have been killed by Mordor Uruk-Hai models and Mordor Orc models: while more models have been killed by Mordor Uruk-Hai models, Mordor Orc models gain +1 FV. While more models have been killed by Mordor Orc models, Mordor Uruk-Hai models gain +1 To Wound when making Strikes.
    • Ancient Terror: Shelob gains an additional Might point, an additional Fate point, and an additional Attack.
      • Admission: a lot of people complain that Shelob isn't good. Most of them have never used her. This boost might be unnecessary, but would at least silence objections.

6) The Riders in Black

Credit: Fumichronicles

Okay, I love Ringwraiths and we all knew this was coming - so here's my very moderated, very hopeful prediction: an all-Ringwraith army needs more Attacks (hence why the Flying Circus was a thing in previous editions) and it needs ways to manage its Will. The old Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook also had a Cry of the Nazgul special rule in every mission they were used in, so I expect that to be here too:

  • Units/Gear:
    • The Witch-King on horse (standard M/W/F options, option for Morgul blade)
    • Ringwraith on horse (standard M/W/F options, max of 8 choices)
  • Rules:
    • The Lord of the Nazgul: The Witch-King of Angmar must be included in your force and must be your army leader. He remains a Hero of Valor and may reroll a die when making casting or resisting attempts.
    • The Nine: Unlike other armies, all heroes in this warband deploy together in a single warband. Additionally, all heroes in this army list must have the cavalry keyword.
    • Minions of the Dark Lord: All Ringwraith heroes gain +1 Attack if they did not charge this round. Additionally, all Ringwraiths in this list only lose Will points for the Will of Evil special rule if they lose a fight.
    • Cry of the Nazgul: Once per game, at the start of the Move phase, the controlling player may declare that he is using the Cry of the Nazgul: all Ringwraiths that choose to use the Instill Fear spell during this round get a +1 bonus to cast the spell, may channel the spell for free, and get +1 die to cast the spell if they spend at least 1 Will from their Will store to cast the spell.
      • Admission: I doubt that the Crown of Morgul will make it into the list, so Ringwraiths need a way of getting more attacks to be viable. This set of rules makes them all 2A models, which is better than normal, but not as strong for the Witch-King as having the Crown. Whatever . . .

7) BONUS LEGENDARY LEGION SPECULATION: The Guardians of the Road

When War in Rohan came out, there were two Legendary Legions that were not spoiled for us: Dunland and Helm's Guard. One of these showed up in the Appendices in the back, since it didn't fit in the timeline of the rest of the book (Helm lived a LONG time ago, right?). With a Wanderers in the Wild Battle Company that includes Wood Elves, Rangers of Gondor, Dwarf Rangers, and a Hobbit Militia, as well as appendix-worthy scenarios in other books (like the Scouring of the Shire) AND because of how influential characters like Gildor Inglorion and Glorfindel were in the books to the early stages of the Ringbearer's journey, I would LOVE to see a "Guardians of the Road" Legendary Legion that showcases these characters. Here's how I figure it'd work:

  • Units/Gear:
    • Glorfindel, Lord of the West on Asfaloth
    • Aragorn - Strider
    • Barliman Butterbur
    • Dunedain
    • Gildor Inglorion
    • Noldorin Exile (standard wargear options)
  • Rules:
    • The Dunedan: Dunedain may be included in Aragorn - Strider's warband as if they were Independent Heroes.
    • The Exiles: Noldorin Exiles may only be taken as part of Gildor Inglorion's warband.
    • The Lord of the West: Glorfindel has spent many nights dueling with Ringwraiths to keep them from getting to Imladris. Glorfindel gets +1 To Wound against Spirit models.
      • Admission: I want to put Tom and Goldberry in this list, but have a feeling that the prejudice against them will cause them to be omitted. Still, I wants it!

Well, those are my guesses for the Quest of the Ringbearer Legendary Legions - I fully expect most of the Legendary Legion rules to be spoiled a head of time. For now, here are my predictions, leave your thoughts below if you like. Until next time, happy hobbying!

13 comments:

  1. I had a similar thought re the Nine, that they'd need some sort of combat boost and an aid to the Will of Evil special rule to be competitive. For the latter, I agree that losing Will only when they lose fights would be the most logical choice, although some sort of Hobbit-nazgul-style rule could be intriguing (if they run out of Will, remove them, and at the start of the next turn they come back with 1 W remaining within 6" of where they winked out on the roll of a 3+).

    I agree a WK + generic nazgul list is most likely, but I'm not 100% sure they'll lock out the named wraiths or the crown of morgul. As great as the classic ringwraith sculpts are, GW has put a lot of effort into repackaging the named wraiths, and something like this would be a great way to sell more of those if their rules are good.

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    1. I dabbled with the Witch-King also counting as a banner - honestly, they could really use one. I'd be totally down with the named wraiths being included as options, though I think the price point to field all nine would be far too high once they're all mounted on horses. Perhaps they'll have the generic Ringwraith profile and assign titles to them (like you can with the Nazgul of Dol Guldur) and so get the special rules of the named ones while being able to configure their M/W/F to make them more affordable as a group?

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    2. I definitely like the idea of the titles being assigned like for the Hobbit wraiths. Even just having the Shadow Lord around to stop their horses getting shot out from under them would be amazing. And it's probably a rare situation where the Undying's will regeneration ability is actually good this edition

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  2. I really like your thoughts on a lot of these, and would be pretty happy with most of them. I actually think that the Ringwraith one can go harder with it's special rules; an all Ringwraith army is kind of just bad by default, so it needs some really big benefits to make it worthwhile. I'm personally enamoured by the idea of just letting their Harbinger of EVil rules stack. It would make them almost impossible to charge, which creates one hell of a scalpel army, but they'd still really struggle to actually carve their way through an enemy army (as is probably fair).
    They'd definitely need some other way to increase their Will, and I think you're onto something with giving them the Knight of Umbar's special rule. It steps on his toes too much to work if you're allowed to include named wraiths, but I'm uncertain as to whether they will be included. One free Will point per turn would be amazing, but maybe slightly too strong in combination with the stacking Harbinger rule to be unchargeable. Overall, I think I just want the Nine to be a scalpel list that gets to pick it's fights and win them, but struggles a bit with killing hordes (as they will almost automatically)

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    1. I've play-tested having their Harbinger rules stack - you're encouraged at that point to just throw troops at them and hope to get a 10+ on your roll (since your Courage will be 0). Against armies that auto-pass Courage tests, you won't see it come into play at all until the hero that causes the auto-pass is dead (good luck killing that Balrog while his Goblin friends are jumping on you).

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    2. Yeah, that would definitely be a big weakness. Having a hard counter is probably inevitable for such a skew list as all Ringwraiths anyway, but it would seem like it'd help with the horde matchup anyway. It'd mean that 5/6 enemies would fail their charges, which probably means that they'll only get charged by one or two models a turn. Combine it with Instill Fear (in a similar vein to what you've got going on) and it could be a really fun way to make up for the fact that your army is made up of 5-7 poor combatants.

      Alternatively, having your Instill Fear idea just be something that happens every turn could be worthwhile. I really like all of the things you suggested, I just think they need a bit more power overall if you want to actually win games with them. As it is, I'm not sure I can think of a matchup for them that would be even an okay one. Maybe an all hero list would struggle with that much magic?

      More generally, I think that the bonuses a LL should receive are inversely proportional to how good an army you can make with those restrictions. Theoden's Riders are basically what most Rohan armies were fielding anyway, so their bonus is pretty minor (free Heroic Actions for an army with Gamling? Definitely useful, but not that necessary). Pure Ringwraiths, on the other hand, is playing with both hands tied behind your back, so I think it needs some huge bonuses.

      If anything, I'd genuinely be tempted to tack the Harbinger stacking onto what you've got listed there and call it a day. It'd still be a list with definite weaknesses, but now I think it would have enough strengths to compete

      Just my two cents. I should also say that I really liked your other LL suggestions, particularly the Gimli rules. Maybe give the Fellowship player a bonus victory point if they manage to wax eloquently enough?

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    3. A channelled Instill Fear will cause models with C5 or less (reduced to C4 with a single Harbinger rule) to be more likely to run than stay. Have a few Ringwraiths do that on one turn and they should get the enemy lines torn up pretty well. Without warriors to tie down the wraiths, most heroes will be hit with the weight of the remaining wraith magic and you could see some heavy hitters fall in a single round. Once that happens, the army just needs to isolate a few models to kill and it can win.

      Stacking Harbinger would also be useful (why not, right?) but I'm not sure it would be necessary. At the end of the day, I'm running this list as soon as I can.

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    4. That's definitely true, and I really like the idea. If anything, I'd be tempted to have that be something they can do every turn so that you have more than one turn to actually take out enemy heavy-hitters. With F5 and very limited access to Strike, they're just so unreliable at killing enemy heroes, even once they're transfixed, that I feel like you're going to need multiple turns to do it.

      Either way, totally agree that it sounds like a fun list, that I'd be really keen to try as well. Just hopefully not against an all-Bodyguard Rohan list

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  3. Well, we seem to have guessed most of what the Ringwraiths get. Stacking Harbinger (though not quite to the extent I had suggested, which is probably fair enough), no Will lost in combat ever (an even stronger version of what you had suggested!), and a freely cast once per Ringwraith channeled Transfix (a kind of similar idea to your Instill Fear one).

    I'm overall pretty happy with those rules, they clearly realised that they needed to make the bonuses pretty huge to make up for the obvious issues with the army. It will rip hero-heavy armies to pieces, and won't be quite as doomed against hordes as before. Any list with lots of shooting will be a nightmare, but I guess they had to leave at least one weakness.

    The bonuses for the Breaking of the Fellowship are also pretty similar to those you've come up with, if the guy on reddit's transcription of ZorpaZorp's video is to be relied upon. Most of the gifts are pretty similar: Merry and Pippin getting to reroll to-wound rolls is pretty neat; Frodo is basically exactly as predicted; Aragorn gets Uruk-bane instead of a Riding Dagger effect; Sam auto-passes jump, climb and leap tests instead of a bonus to them; Boromir gets Woodland Creature; Legolas rerolls all hits if within 3" of another ally; and Gimli gets to reroll all hits and wounds thrice per game (though the comment was unclear as to how much the player needs to praise Galadriel if the rerolls come up with sixes).

    These get supplemented by a free Fortify Spirit, which reduces the magic vulnerability without Gandalf around, and all members get to treat any other member as a banner! That last one is honestly so huge, and probably starts to make this Legion competitive with just fielding the big heroes on horses and calling it a day. I can't wait to field Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir and Merry and Pippin in a 500 point list now. Free Heroic Marches for moblity, free elven cloaks against range, Legolas and Gimli get powered up even more, and they all get a banner! Shame there's no way to fit Frodo and the four big heroes into a 500 point list.

    Edit: deleted and republished because of some bizarre grammatical errors that I was too embarrassed to see beneath my name

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    1. I'm pretty sure You cannot take horses in this version of the Fellowship.

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    2. No horses was my take too for the Fellowship. The Ringwraiths will struggle against horde lists if they're charged, as their attacks didn't get a boost (though stacking Harbinger will be useful) and while they can certainly win fights against heroes who have been Channelled-Transfixed, I'm not sure how well they'll kill them. All told, can't wait to get the book and try them out!

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  4. Dang, looking back at this post from two years ago, and I'll say this: as much as I love the legendary legions from QotR, I really do wish we got a Guardians of the Road legion. That thing looks awesome, :)

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