Quest of the Ringbearer: What Terrain Do You Need?

Good morning gamers,

If you're like me, you were both a little surprised and kind of excited when Quest of the Ringbearer was announced. I bought the Fellowship of the Ring journeybook a few years back (Centaur and I played through it - it was great) and to see many of those scenarios get some new life breathed into them was exciting. It was also likely to field many Legendary Legions that I wanted (a Balrog-focused Moria one, a Cirith Ungol one, a Riders in Black one, a Lurtz-oriented Isengard one, and of course a scrappy Fellowship one). Yes, I'm grateful for the update to the Rangers of Ithilien too - and honestly this is the first supplement where I've looked at all of the Legendary Legions released and said, "Yep, I think I want to play ALL of these." So, needless to say, I love the book.

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

When it arrived and I started pouring over it, I noticed that there were quite a few models that one would need to buy to play everything - I did a post on that and it came up $2000+ to buy everything (AFTER you buy the Battle for Pelennor Fields box set, the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement, and the Quest of the Ringbearer sourcebook). Yikes. 

But what also struck me is that unlike most of the other sourcebooks released so far, there are a LOT of different terrain boards you'd need to build in order to play the scenarios in the book. You have the rolling hills and open spaces of the Shire, the wooded terrain of the Old Forest and Lothlorien, the rocky terrain of Moria and Cirith Ungol, and the urban terrain of Bree and Osgiliath (two VERY different places). You also have some very iconic terrain pieces like Weathertop and the King's Seat which are important for the few scenarios they actually appear in . . . so . . . with all that terrain ahead of us, how does one get started (and try to get the most out of a collection of terrain)? Well, I'm glad you asked - because that's what we're going to look into today.

We're going to break up the book into five parts (same as we did for buying miniatures) and review what terrain you need to have for each section. I will note that many of the boards are played on 48" by 48" boards, but it's good if you have four 24" by 24" boards OR sixteen 12" by 12" boards that fit into a 48" x 48" board because of the various sizes you'll need (depending on whether the board is being built for grass, rock, or cities). We'll go over why in each section. If you plan on building a 48" by 48" board that isn't broken out into sections, I recommend having natural breaks in the terrain that you can cordon off into a 24" by 24" section and a 24" by 48" section.

I'll also add that it's important to create your terrain with double-purposes in mind - this is something that the Fellowhship of the Ring Journeybook did and it will save you a lot of time trying to make duplicate terrain that is slightly different from other terrain you've made. I'll talk about different pieces you can use and highlight things you can add to them in order to help them play well in other scenarios. With that, let's dig in!

Part 1: The Shire to Rivendell

The first three scenarios (Farmer Maggot's Crop, Shortcuts Make Long Delays, and the Buckleberry Ferry) are all played on a 48" by 48" grass board (four 24" by 24" panels if you're doing it in pieces). 

Sample carpet squares are a great way to make simple fields

In the Maggot's Crop scenario, you'll need a 4" by 6" farmland piece and probably additional farmland scatter pieces to litter the board. One of those pieces could be a 3" by 3" farmland piece to be the "stash" where Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin store their stolen goods. You will also need a Hobbit Smial for Farmer Maggot's house and a small shed that can hold the three dogs. 

Additional terrain that is recommended include some hedges, trees, and bushes on the periphery - these will be used in many scenarios, but you'll want chunks of hedges that cumulatively add up to 48" in length for the Shortcuts Make Long Delays scenario. All three scenarios need bushes and trees, so have a bunch of those scatter terrain pieces available to litter the boards.

The third scenario is the Buckleberry Ferry, which will require a river that is 6" by 48" (probably best to do it in chunks - 12" sections wouldn't be bad). You'll want to build a jetty and a ferry for this scenario too, which should roughly be 2" by 2" for the jetty and 2" by 3" for the ferry (based on the picture). Honestly this seems a bit long given that the river is only 6" wide . . . but whatever.

The fourth scenario is the Old Forest, which is played on a 24" by 24" grass board - one of the four 24" by 24" boards you created for the previous three scenarios. All of the terrain on the board should be trees, bushes, and rocks - and you should have LOTS of trees, as they're used by the Evil player as units in this game. 

The fifth scenario is the Fog on the Barrow-Downs, which is played on a 48" by 48" grass board and needs four hills that will represent the barrows. Scatter terrain include trees on one side of the board and scattered rocks (and maybe some marshes?) across the rest of it. The hills are the important parts, as they'll be used by the Barrow-Wights in the scenario. Honestly, you could have these in the previous scenarios too, so long as you have a removable doorway for the barrow (which is what I intend to do with mine). You can make three of these so long as you can use the smial you used in Farmer Maggot's Crop as a barrow as well (have a cut-away section from the hill for the smial that can be closed up to look like a barrow, perhaps?).

The sixth scenario is Nazgul In Bree, which is played on a 48" by 48" city board (four 24" by 24" sections OR a 48" by 48" city board with a partitioned 24" by 24" section and a 24" by 48" section). While this city is pretty different from the other cities we'll see in Osgiliath and Cirith Ungol, you could make four 24" by 24" boards if you wanted to and use them for all three scenarios. The terrain you'll need are some Bree buildings - which in the movies would require quite a few packed together, but for this scenario might be better if they're scattered around. No templates are provided for the buildings, so you're on your own for making them (I plan on having five). You can use the shed from Farmer Maggot's Crop in this scenario as well.

I have my Weathertop broken into three sections so it can be used as ruins too . . .

Mission seven is Weathertop, which is played on a 24" by 24" grass board (once again, use one from your 48" by 48" board if you built it in removable sections). Besides Weathertop itself (12" diameter circle with ruins along the sides - a template of roughly the right size was provided in the old Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook), you just need some scattered rocks for terrain around Weathertop.

Mission eight (and the last scenario for this section) is Flight to the Ford, which requires terrain you've already made (for the most part) - scattered bushes, trees, and rocks with a 6" by 48" river (the same one you made for the Buckleberry Ferry mission). The only difference is that this time, you'll need a ford for the river - if you made four 12" sections of river, just make a fifth river section that has a ford in it and replace one of the sections. This ford will be needed for a later mission as well, so having one will be helpful.

As a recap, here's what you'll need:

• A 48" by 48" grass board that can be broken down into a 24" by 24" grass board;
• Some farmland scatter terrain pieces (one is 4" by 6" and another is 3" by 3");
• A Hobbit Smial;
• A Shed;
• Scatter Terrain for Trees, Rocks, and Bushes;
• 48" of scatter hedge pieces;
• 48" by 6" river (with the ability to have a ford);
• Jetty and Ferry;
• Four hills (three if you use the smial);
• A 48" by 48" city board that can be broken down into a 24" by 24" city board and a 24" by 36" city board (recommend three 24" by 24" sections and two 12" by 24" sections if you're building it in pieces);
• City Buildings for Bree; and
• 12" diameter Weathertop.

Part 2: Rivendell to Lothlorien

The first two scenarios (Wargs in the Night and the Gates of Moria) can be played on your 48" by 48" grass board and your 24" by 24" sub-section of your grass board. Your scatter terrain (trees, rocks, hills, and bushes) will all come in helpful on the Wargs in the Night scenario, while the Gates of Moria scenario will use some of these, but mostly it will use a 12" by 12" pool of water. You'll also want to make a rocky wall with a door in it for use in the Gates of Moria scenario - this can be used as scatter terrain in two of the upcoming missions as well, so make it look nice!

The next three missions (Balin's Tomb, Escape From Dwarrowdelf, and the Bridge of Khazad-Dum) will require a 48" by 48" rocky board, which needs to be able to be split into a 24" by 24" board (for Balin's Tomb) and a 24" by 36" board (for Escape From Dwarrowdelf). Your scatter terrain will probably include pillars (for Balin's Tomb), a well and a tomb (the Mines of Moria terrain set is great for this), and some rocks. You will also need a 48" by 6" chasm (though you could PROBABLY just use your river?!?!?!?!) and a bridge that is 2" wide to cross it.

Lastly, you'll need "the stairs." In the Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook, the stairs were made from five 12" by 2" sections of flat ground, with four 1" stair sections that joined each one in a crisscrossing pattern. There were two supports for each section, varying in height from 4" high, 3" high, 2" high, and 1" high (for eight total). There is one section of stairs near the end of the last walking area as well:

This bulletin board happened to be 2' x 3' 

I would make these stairs in multiple sections - consider using bar magnets if you want them to stick together better when constructed. I've found having raw polystyrene to be really flimsy if you don't have massive "horns" on the side to keep them in place. No "scatter terrain" is required for this map, though you can use your Moria door piece from the Gates of Moria mission if you wanted to.

One final bit of terrain you'll want are chasm markers that are 1" by 2" (the width of the stairs). You'll want a few of these and if you make them right, they can be used in normal Matched Play scenarios to create jumpable chasms that your opponents will need to jump over. Bit of black between two rocky edges should do the trick on a thin piece of card board or slim MDF. In a pinch, some black construction paper would probably do the job too.

Our final mission for this section is Lothlorien, which will require terrain you already have - a 48" by 6" river with a ford in it, scatter terrain that includes trees, bushes, rocks, and hills to litter the board. Spend your time making your Moria terrain looking good if you're doing the scenarios in batches! Here's the terrain we need:

• Previous terrain
• 12" by 12" pool of water
• Rock wall with a door
• 48" by 48" rocky board
• Pillars
• Tomb and Well
• 48" by 6" chasm
• 8"+ by 2" bridge
• Five 12" by 2" "stair" segments
• Eight "stair" supports (two 4" high, two 3" high, two 2" high, two 1" high)
• Four 1" by 1" stairwell segments
• Several 1" by 2" chasm segments

Part 3: Lothlorien to Emyn Muil

This section covers the "Amon Hen" sequence and requires your 48" by 48" grass board. The first scenario requires a 24" by 48" board, while the other two use the full 48" by 48" board. The main piece of terrain you'll need is the King's Seat, but you probably want this on a big hill to give more of a down-hill run feeling (the old Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook had a recommendation for a hill that was roughly 24" long and 12" wide, which would fit nicely on this board). 

The King's Seat from the Fellowship of the Ring Journeybook is roughly 4" by 6" in size, with a single stairway up to the top area (1" ring around the opening of the stairs). Sitting on a 6" by 8" base, it will fit with a few inches off each side of a 12" by 24" hill (enough for some rise tapering to the top). You COULD make this all one piece of terrain, but my experience has been that getting polystyrene of that size to bond with glue without warping is pretty hard to do, so you might want to make the hill be made by fitting two or four smaller hills together (that can otherwise be put on board edges if you use two of them OR in board corners if you use four of them). Naturally, you can use these in earlier scenarios as well.

Here's what we need for this segment:

• Previous terrain
• The King's Seat
• A big hill

Part 4: Emyn Muil to Cirith Ungol

Our scenarios for this segment start with the Taming of Smeagol, which is played on a 24" by 24" rock board. You will need this board size again, so either have a section of your Moria board available OR have a spare 24" by 24" board available for this scenario and the End of All Things scenario. Depending on how you make it, you can also use it later for the Cirith Ungol mission and you can even use it for the Gate of Moria mission with the Watcher in the Water. You'll want rocky scatter terrain to really make the board come alive (we'll need more later in the campaign).

The next scenario is the Dead Marshes, which is played on a 48" by 48" grass board. You'll want six marshes for the board, each roughly 6" by 6" in size. Other scatter terrain include random rocks, a few trees, and bushes - both of which you should have from the earlier missions in the campaign. You can probably also include a hill or two if you wanted.

The 48" by 48" grass board will be used in the next scenario - Ambush at Ithilien - but this time, you'll want a big open space in the middle of the board (the path for the Mumaks) and lots of trees, rocks, and bushes along the sides for the Rangers to hide in. Once again, you don't really need any new terrain for this mission (though the Mumaks are the last models I'm collecting for this book).

The Osgiliath mission requires a 24" by 48" city board (use half of the board you made for Bree) and will require at least three Minas Tirith buildings. If you want a great start on these, get the templates from Zorpazorp. The rest of the terrain needs are scattered rubble and rocks - things you may already have (though if you're trying to get your board to look different from Bree, you may want to make Gondorian-style building rubble to make the board look more authentic.

Our final scenario for this section is Shelob's Lair, which is played on a 48" by 48" rocky board - and this should work on your Moria board with lots of rocky terrain pieces and such. Honestly, you probably don't need any more terrain for this (unless you want a few more rocks and such - more than you made for the Taming of Smeagol scenario).

Our requirements for this section then are:

• Previous terrain
• Rocky scatter terrain
• Six 6" by 6" marshes
• 3+ Minas Tirith buildings
• Scatter Gondor-style Rubble/Rock terrain

Part 5: Cirith Ungol to Mount Doom

Our first mission is Cirith Ungol - and THIS is going to be a terrain project. You can watch the video by Harry Parkhill for info on how to build this from the old Battle Games in Middle-Earth days - the current mission marries up well with it (if not exactly). 

The diagram of the tower of Cirith Ungol

The mission is played on a 24" by 24" city board (you could get away with a rocky board), which has an outer wall (3" wide, 21" long, angular gateway that's roughly 3" wide), a central tower that has a base level that is 12" by 12", two stairwells that are roughly 4" long and allow entry onto the base level, and an upper terrace that is 9" by 9" with two doors that enter it and two trap doors that allow entry to the tower level. There is an octagonal tower that is roughly 6" by 6" (well, an octagon-shape that fits in a 6" by 6" area) stands up above the rest of the town. This MIGHT be better as a separate 24" by 24" city space JUST so that you don't have to worry about stuff getting knocked off.

If your base level is 2" high and the upper terrace is 2" high, you're looking at 4" height BEFORE the tower. Frankly, the inside of the tower isn't used in the scenario (and probably shouldn't be used in matched play), so I'm not sure that you need to have anything inside it. The height of the tower is not specified, but you could probably make it a good 8" high to so that it towers above the rest of the board.

The next mission is the Plateau of Gorgoroth, which is played on a 24" by 24" rocky board, which is mostly open ground (some rocky terrain). Whatever you used in the Taming of Smeagol should be more than enough for this scenario - nothing new to make.

Our final scenario is the End of All Things - this scenario is placed on a 48" by 48" rocky board AND a 24" by 24" rocky board. This second, smaller board requires a lava flow that cuts across the diagonal of the board (two right triangles that are roughly 17" by 17"). Besides the lava flow, you'll need a jutting rocky area over the lava flow that is 10-12" long and probably 2-3" wide. This piece of terrain could certainly be used in some of the previous scenarios (the Taming of Smeagol and Shelob's Lair).

You will also need to make the Black Gate as well - the open gate is roughly 16" wide, two towers will be needed as well (roughly 4" by 4") and two wall sections, each 12" long. The height is unclear - you could use the Wall terrain templates from Zorpazorp if you wanted a quick answer, but frankly I'm not sure it matters (it's a backdrop for this scenario).

With all that in mind, here's what you need:

• Previous terrain
• Two 3" by 21" wall sections
• Two 4" by 2" stairwells
• 12" by 12" base layer for the Cirith Ungol tower
• 9" by 9" upper terrace for the Cirith Ungol tower
• 6" by 6" Cirith Ungol tower
• Two 17" by 17" right triangle lava flows (or half of a 24" by 24" square)
• 10-12" by 2-3" jutting rock
• The Black Gate

Conclusion

And so . . . there you go. :) Now you know all of the terrain you need! What amazed me is that you only need three 48" by 48" boards and 1-2 24" by 24" boards (which will take up some storage space, for sure, but not THAT much). If playing with friends, each person could make one board, further reducing the terrain required for each person to make. For me, I'm looking at making it all - I'll leave updates in the coming months for how they're going. Until next time, happy hobbying!