Quest of the Ringbearer: What Models Do You Need For Fantasy Fellowships?

Good morning gamers,

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

If you've been following our blog for the last few months, you know that I'm gearing up for the Quest of the Ringbearer campaign and trying to collect everything from it over the next few years. In the pursuit of that, I've done posts on what models you need to buy and what terrain you need. After you've spent a ton of money on models and terrain, you're good to go (though if you're willing to proxy/borrow models from friends, you can probably play the campaign for much, MUCH less money).

I was talking to my son the other day and I asked him if he wanted to do a Fantasy Fellowship campaign with me and he said he'd love to. That got me thinking though - since you don't do certain scenarios in Fantasy Fellowships from the Quest of the Ringbearer book (and you grab nine scenarios from War in Rohan/Gondor at War), I was curious how the models that you need (and the terrain that you need) changes. Today we're going to focus on the models that you need - let's start off by looking at the scenarios you play in Fantasy Fellowships!

What scenarios do you play (and don't play)?

Here's the list of scenarios that you play in order - Quest of the Ringbearer scenarios are in blue, War in Rohan scenarios are in red, and Gondor at War scenarios are in green:

• Buckleberry Ferry
• Fog on the Barrow-Downs
• Weathertop
• Wargs in the Night
• Balin's Tomb
• Escape from Dwarrowdelf
• The Bridge of Khazad-Dum
• Ambush at Amon Hen
• Ambush at Night (War in Rohan)
• Warg Attack (War in Rohan)
• The Deeping Wall (War in Rohan)
• Ride Out (War in Rohan)
• Eomer's Return (War in Rohan)
• The Dead Marshes
• Osgiliath
• Shelob's Lair
• Cirith Ungol
• Atop the Walls (Gondor at War)
• Charge of the Rohirrim (Gondor at War)
• Denethor's Madness (Gondor at War)
• The Docks of Harlond (Gondor at War)
• Plateau of Gorgoroth
• The End of All Things

So . . . what scenarios do you NOT do from Quest of the Ringbearer then? Here's the list (with cash savings measured in $50 increments provided):

• Farmer Maggot's Crop ($)
• Short Cuts Make Long Delays ($)
• The Old Forest
• Nazgul In Bree
• Flight to the Ford ($$)
• Pass of Caradhras (card game)
• The Gates of Moria ($$)
• Lothlorien ($)
• Aragorn's Stand/Boromir's Redemption/Breaking of the Fellowship
• The Taming of Smeagol
• Ambush at Ithilien ($$$$$)
• Smeagol's Treachery (card game)

Since our last post, some really important models have come back to the store, so the total cost of the original Quest of the Ringbearer missions has increased. With this in mind, let's dig into what you need to get (and don't need to get)!

Part I: The Shire to Rivendell

Originally covering eight scenarios, the beginning of the campaign is now only three scenarios. With Buckleberry Ferry, Fog on the Barrow-Downs, and Weathertop as your scenarios, a bunch of models are no longer necessary.

Purchase #1: The Fellowship of the Ring ($50)

You only need this set if you're going to run members of the Fellowship in your Fantasy Fellowship. The fellowship is a pretty good Fantasy Fellowship (with its only weak points being Merry and Pippin - it's hard to do better than Frodo and Sam, possible to do better than Gandalf, usually Boromir gets nerfed because he's not in a lot of missions). For the purposes of this post, I'm going to leave these guys in here - but know that you can easily swap them with the Thorin's Company set or grab models from around your collection. This CAN get really pricey depending on what you need. If you run Gandalf, you will need to get Gandalf the White for later in the campaign.

Purchase #2: Farmer Maggot ($15)

You don't play Farmer Maggot's Crop, so you don't need this guy.

Purchase #3: 5 Ringwraiths on foot and 3 mounted ($75 + $50)

Well, you only need five of these guys - and you need 3 mounts instead of 9 mounts. So . . . buy a box of Ringwraiths on foot and a box of riders and you're good to go (saving you $100 on the mounts with 4 Ringwraith dismounts extra).

Purchase #4: Gildor Inglorion ($35)

Skipped his mission, don't need him.

Purchase #5: Tom Bombadil and Goldberry ($22)

Tom and Goldberry are needed for one scenario, and you play it, so you still need them.

Purchase #6: 4 Barrow-Wights ($30)

These guys are still needed - and let's face it, you want four of these guys for Angmar armies anyway.

Purchase #7: Barliman Butterbur, Harry Goatleaf, and Bill the Pony ($39)

While you don't need Barliman and Harry, you will need Bill the Pony (or a suitable substitute) for the Wargs in the Night scenario. He's well worth it (and the other two guys are interesting).

Purchase #8: Arwen on foot and mounted ($25)

The Flight to the Ford scenario isn't in the campaign, so you don't need Arwen (unless she's in your Fellowship).

• QOTR TOTAL: $441
• Fantasy Fellowship Total: $266 ($175 in savings)

Part II: Rivendell to Lothlorien

The original set of seven missions has shrunk to four missions, and with it we find some incredible savings!

Purchase #9: A Wild Warg Chieftain ($15)

While you don't play the Lothlorien scenario, you do play the Wargs in the Night mission, so you need this guy. Since we added the Warg Attack scenario from War in Rohan, this might make a good Sharku Warg dismount if you need one.

Purchase #10: 18 Wild Wargs ($54)

Lots of wargs required - though you'll see later on a cost savings approach that you can do to forego buying these guys.

Purchase #11: The Watcher in the Water ($71)

Skipped his mission - great savings!

Purchase #12: A Cave Troll with hammer and chain ($30)

Great model, get him.

Purchase #13: 24 Goblins ($42)

Great models, get them.

Purchase #14: 2 Goblin Captains ($40)

Get them OR convert your own by buying more Goblins (roughly cost equivalent).

Purchase #15: The Balrog ($60)

Great model, get him.

Purchase #16: Haldir and Celeborn ($25)

You don't have the Lothlorien mission, but you DO have the Deeping Wall mission, so you will still need Haldir. No savings here.

Purchase #17: 6 Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows ($42)

You may still need Haldir, but you don't need these guys (though we will need their armored kin).

• QOTR TOTAL: $441+379
• Fantasy Fellowship Total: $266+266 ($175+113 in savings)

Part III: Lothlorien to Emyn Muil

Instead of doing three missions that make up the Amon Hen sequence, we're playing the "big scenario" from Quest of the Ringbearer, which uses . . . all of the same models. So - no savings here. :)

Purchase #18: Lurtz and Ugluk ($25)

You need Lurtz, so buy him.

Purchase #19: Uruk-Hai Captain with 2h ($40)

You need a Captain, so buy him too.

Purchase #20: 24 Uruk-Hai Scouts ($42)

You need these guys too, so buy them.

• QOTR TOTAL: $441+379+107
• Fantasy Fellowship Total: $266+266+107 ($175+113+0 in savings)

Part IV: Emyn Muil to Cirith Ungol

In this section, we bring in five scenarios from War in Rohan - thankfully not the big scenario for Helm's Deep, which gives us quite a bit of savings. :) We're going to focus on the Quest of the Ringbearer missions for now, but we'll get to the extra missions at the end of the post.

Purchase #21: Smeagol ($25)

We only need him for three scenarios in this section, but we still need him.

Purchase #22: Ringwraith on Fell Beast

We need this guy too, but again, we're assuming that you own the Battle for Pelennor Fields box set, so you should already have one.

Purchase #23: 6 Dead Marsh Spectres ($30)

Still have this scenario, so yes, you need these guys too.

Purchase #24: 2 Mumakil ($216)

Blessedly, for those of you who want to save some cash, you don't need these guys. :)

Purchase #25: 24 Haradrim Warriors ($42)

You also don't need these guys - so that's nice. :)

Purchase #26: Faramir, Madril, and Damrod ($35)

You will need these guys for the Osgiliath mission (and the Legendary Legion if you run it). You'll want these guys (even though they won't have to kill any Mumaks).

Purchase #27: Anborn and Mablung ($33)

Again, you need these guys for the Osgiliath mission - and the Rangers of Ithilien LL if you run it.

Purchase #28: 24 Rangers of Gondor ($42)

Osgiliath has a handful of Rangers in it - you'll need them for that mission only. Technically, you could probably proxy/convert the heroes you need from this set if you wanted some serious savings.

Purchase #29: 37 Orc Warriors + 3 Orc Captains + 1 Orc Warrior with banner ($84 + $40)

You'll need these guys for the Osgiliath mission, Atop the Walls, the Plateau of Gorgoroth, and Cirith Ungol - plus, if you have 4 Barrow-Wights, it's probably not a bad idea to have lots of Orcs to run with them in an Angmar host. If you're willing to convert, the command blister is unnecessary.

Purchase #30: 24 Warriors of Minas Tirith and 1 Warrior of Minas Tirith with Banner ($42 + $40)

While you'll need some Warriors of Minas Tirith for the Osgiliath and End of All Things scenarios, we're going to Minas Tirith in the campaign, so you'll need them for that too.

Purchase #31: 6 Osgiliath Veterans ($30)

You'll need this for the Osgiliath mission - see our original post for more information on how to get these guys for cheaper out of 6 Warriors of Minas Tirith you already have.

Purchase #32: Shelob ($40)

Yep, you'll need Shelob still. Like I said last time, I don't know why Smeagol isn't in this set, but whatever . . .

• QOTR TOTAL: $441+379+107+699
• Fantasy Fellowship Total: $266+266+107+441 ($175+113+0+258 in savings)

Part V: Cirith Ungol to Mount Doom

The Fantasy Fellowship campaign has all three of these missions, so guess what . . . this is going to be very short. :)

Purchase #33: Shagrat and Gorbag ($35)

You still need these guys - they're great heroes anyway, so you should probably own them if you plan to run Mordor at all.

Purchase #34: 15 Mordor Uruk-Hai ($105)

Once again, you can proxy Uruk-Hai Scouts for these guys - the high ticket cost reflects the need for three blisters of these guys (since they come in packs of 6), though you'd need five packs to get 15 without extra weapons (like they are in the scenario) - but that would be extortion, right? ;-)

Purchase #35: Mordor Orc Taskmaster

Got this guy already (either from the command blister or conversion).

Purchase #36: Orc armor versions of Frodo and Sam

Like I said in the first post, these are unnecessary models, but really cool models to have (and good for immersive game play). They are probably even less necessary, though, for Fantasy Fellowships, since you may not have Frodo or Sam in your Fantasy Fellowship. It does beg the question of whether you can hack up some Orc Warriors to make Orc armor versions of your ringbearer and companion . . . now there's an idea . . .

Purchase #37: Mordor Troll Chieftain ($41)

You want this guy - he's really fun to use!

Purchase #38: Mouth of Sauron F&M ($25)

You also want this guy - also really fun to use!

Purchase #39: 24 Morannons + 3 Morannon Orc Captains ($42)

You have lots of these guys already, but you really need more of them for the last scenario.

Purchase #40: King Aragorn on foot ($36 - or nothing?)

If you're running Aragorn, you'll need this guy - if you leave him at home, you won't.

Purchase #41: Eomer on foot ($35)

I mentioned in my first post that you really only need Eomer on foot - but since we're doing Fantasy Fellowships, you'll also need Eomer mounted for a few missions, so it helps to just buy him and use him for those. Plus, the new sculpt is lovely.

Purchase #42: Gandalf the White & Pippin ($40 - or nothing?)

As was mentioned at the beginning, you may need Gandalf the White for your Fantasy Fellowship - you might not. If you choose to not run Gandalf as your wizard, you don't.

Purchase #43: Eowyn and Merry ($40)

Eowyn isn't needed in the normal Quest of the Ringbearer campaign, but she is needed for The Charge of the Rohirrim. Merry is only needed for the End of All Things (and The Charge of the Rohirrim), so he won't be needed if you've swapped him out for someone else.

Purchase #44: 24 Warriors of Rohan + 1 Warrior of Rohan with banner ($42 + $40)

You'll need another batch of these guys (especially if you're converting Rohan Outriders and Rohan Royal Guards).

With the required purchases for this iconic scene come in at just over $100, here's what we're looking at for the price:

• QOTR TOTAL: $441+379+107+699+481 = $2,107
• Fantasy Fellowship Total: $266+266+107+441+481 = $1,561 ($175+113+0+258+0 = $546 in savings)

Part VI: The New Stuff!

What we saw before now was a direct comparison of what you need and what you don't need from Quest of the Ringbearer. The new missions from Gondor At War and War in Rohan, however, require us to use some additional units, but if you did the purchases I mentioned above, you've already got some of them:

• If you got Eomer on foot and mounted, you don't need to get him (you'll need him for Ambush at Night, Eomer's Return, and The Charge of the Rohirrim);
• You have Theoden, 20 Warriors of the Dead, and 12 Riders of Rohan from the Battle of Pelennor Fields, which is enough for most of the scenarios.
• You bought Lurtz and you need Ugluk, so you're good to go with him.
• You'll need Uruk-Hai Scouts and Orcs for the Ambush at Night and Atop the Walls scenarios (and Orcs as dismounts in the Warg Attack scenario) - both of which you have aplenty from the Amon Hen mission and the Osgiliath mission.

Purchase #45: Rohan Mounted Command (+$10 if you omit the Rohan Command blister from Purchase #44)

We calculated the Rohan infantry command blister before - but if you swap that out for the Rohan mounted Command blister, you're good to go here. This is required for the Ambush at Night scenario (and Charge of the Rohirrim), so if you needed to proxy with a specially-painted Rider of Rohan, you could. To get the $40 savings, you will need to plan ahead on your purchases, however.

Purchase #46: 3 Rohan Outriders on Horse ($100)

So this is a bit frustrating . . . you need 3 guys and they currently come in packs of 2 (foot and mounted) for $50 . . . so that stinks. If you want to save some cash, get a pack of Riders of Rohan and cut off the shield nibs on the knees of three Riders of Rohan with their bows out a voila, we have three Rohan Outriders for a fraction of the price!

Purchase #47: Mauhur and Vrasku ($25)

You probably want these guys anyway, since Mauhur is a must-have for the Lurtz's Scouts Legendary Legion (and the Ugluk's Scouts Legendary Legion, since you have the War in Rohan book out) and Vrasku is . . . well, a pretty good shooting hero (and probably one of the best shooting heroes Evil has). Cheap captains with 3 Might and 2 crossbow shots on Vrasku and 2 Might and 3 Attacks on Mauhur, both are bargains for Isengard forces across the board (though neither has Strike - which is probably their biggest detraction).

Purchase #48: Grishnakh and Snaga ($33)

Again, these are two very cheap captains with 3 Might each that you probably want to have if you're looking at running an Ugluk's Scouts Legion force (or need an extra attacker for Isengard or Mordor). The Forgeworld set is currently unavailable (at the time of this writing), but you can usually find older Grishnakh sculpts on the second-hand market.

Purchase #49: Mounted Aragorn and Legolas ($50)

While you can certainly use your mounted Aragorn, King Elessar model for Aragorn, you might consider getting the mounted Hunters set. The models look great and horses are great bargains for heroes in this game. It is very expensive though (of course if you don't run Aragorn and Legolas, you can always use whatever mounted models you want).

Purchase #50: Gamling and Hama ($40)

Technically Gamling doesn't have the banner in the Warg Attack scenario, but let's just ignore that, shall we? These guys are great heroes for Rohan armies to take - Bodyguard on both of them, Heroic Defense with 3 Might on both of them, and both are Fortitude heroes to lead troops. In the scenario, you don't have a lot of guys, so it's good to have two Captains who are relatively durable (even though Hama starts in a bad position).

Purchase #51: Sharku ($25)

Well, you need Sharku for one scenario. He's a pretty decent hero, but not a great one - but he does have a Legion that you can run at low points levels pretty well if you've bought the next purchase . . .

Purchase #52: 18 Warg Riders ($120, or +$66 if you buy these instead of Wild Wargs)

Good news, we already have the Warg dismounts if you want to glue your Warg Riders to their wargs. Alternatively, you can just buy 18 Warg Riders instead of the Wild Wargs and not glue your riders down (or ignore the riders in the Wild Warg scenarios). Your choice - regardless, this is pretty expensive.

Purchase #53: 12 Galadhrim Warriors ($42)

Chances are good that if you have the War in Rohan book that you'll want to get Galadhrim Warriors for the Defenders of Helm's Deep LL, but like we said above, you're getting these guys instead of the Wood Elf Warriors from the Lothlorien mission. Good investments, I'd say.

Purchase #54: 30 Uruk-Hai Warriors ($84)

You'll need 30 Uruk-Hai Warriors (15 with shields and 15 with spears), so if you get two Uruk-Hai Warrior blisters, you'll have 20 of each - don't worry, those extra Uruks won't go to waste . . .

Purchase #55: 3 Uruk-Hai Captains ($120 - or nothing?)

So if you REALLY wanted the ACTUAL Uruk-Hai Captains with shields, you'd need three copies of the command blister - but I can't justify telling you to do that. The thing is, you need 30 Uruk-Hai Warriors for the Eomer's Return mission (15 shields and 15 pikes), so because I already factored the cost of buying 40 Uruk-Hai into that bucket (20 shields and 20 pikes), you could technically turn the hand poses of some of the Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields into something special (maybe do head-swaps with some of your Uruk-Hai Scouts?) in order to convert up three Uruk-Hai Captains with shields. Honestly, I think it's a really great option (AND the Captain from the command blister doesn't have a shield, so you'd still need to do some converting to make that happen . . . save yourself a bunch of trouble and just convert warriors). :-)

Purchase #56: 8 Uruk-Hai Berserkers ($52)

Berserkers are great - I put down two boxes of Uruk-Hai Berserkers, though the cheapest way to get them is to buy extra Berserkers from the Siege Troops sets (usually you can find batches of them being sold on the second-hand market OR just buy a lot of the siege sets and convert Uruk-Hai Siege Troops into crossbowmen and hack the flaming brands off the Berserkers. This was the cheapest option for this post (and the poses look cooler), so that's what I've done, but since you don't need any crossbowmen for the missions we're covering, you'd probably save money by NOT buying crossbowmen and doing the conversion thing.

Purchase #57: 4 Rohan Royal Guards on horses ($100 + $30 for dismounts)

So you know how we needed to buy two blisters of Outriders because we needed 3 and the blister comes with 2? Well now we need 4 Royal Guards and the blister for them comes with 3 . . . come on, GW! Those of you looking to save some money should just convert some of your Riders/Warriors of Rohan into Royal Guards - it's not that hard if you have a little green stuff.

Purchase #58: Erkenbrand, Captain of Rohan ($36 - or nothing?)

A decent Rohan hero, Erkenbrand is available to only one Legion and so doesn't see a lot of use by most of the competitive world. Red Jacket, one of our frequent players, loves this guy, so I can say from experience that he's a pain to deal with. He's also only slightly more expensive than a regular Captain of Rohan, so he's well worth it. If you've already bought the mounted command blister, you can proxy the captain as Erkenbrand if you want to save some cash.

Purchase #59: Denethor and Irolas ($33)

I love Denethor and Irolas comes well recommended. Get these guys because they're great.

Purchase #60: Goroth and Zagdush ($33)

Two good budget Orc Captains - get them.

Purchase #61: 6 Citadel Guards ($70)

If you want to save some money, you could proxy 3 Citadel Guards with longbows for Citadel Guards with spears, but if you want the actual participants, you need two blisters.

Purchase #62: Gothmog ($36)

Honestly, I don't know what to say about this guy - theoretically his Master of Battle is great, but I don't think he gets nearly as much mileage out of it than you do with Azog or Bolg. Still, you need him, so there.

Purchase #63: Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer ($33)

Guritz is great, the Enforcer not so much. You need them both so deal with it.

Purchase #64: Deorwine, Chief of the King's Knights ($41)

Deorwine is a relatively cheap Rohan hero who can get free Heroic Combats when he's near Theoden - and he's got Bodyguard and Heroic Strike if you need him to deal with big scary things. Coming in at about the same cost as Dernhelm and a good 40-points cheaper than Eomer, he's a good bargain at low points levels.

Purchase #65: Elfhelm, Captain of Rohan ($41)

Another fairly cheap Rohan hero, Elfhelm lacks the Heroic Strike that Deorwine does, but gives you a free Might point to promote his throwing spear (which is awesome) and he's got 3 Might and Heroic Defense if he runs into something big.

Purchase #66: King of the Dead (and heralds) ($40)

If you already own the Pelennor Fields box set, chances are good that you want to buy this guy so you can field the Warriors of the Dead that come in the box. The heralds can be nice too.

Purchase #67: 6 Riders of the Dead ($80)

These guys are some of the most expensive warriors in the game - one-man blisters are painful sometimes. Getting six of them will cost you a lot . . . and you still need dismounts. Thankfully, it costs the same amount of money to get 20 Warriors of the Dead and 6 Morgul Knights, which would give us the dismounts we need AND 8 extra guys (six of which could easily be turned into Dead Marsh Spectres) . . . so if you're up for some torso-hacking, I think you can save yourself quite a bit of money (especially if you look for the Warriors of the Dead on the second hand market). :-)

Well, all of these models are things you won't buy in Quest of the Ringbearer, so here's the final (true) comparison between the two campaigns:

• QOTR TOTAL: $441+379+107+699+481+0 = $2,107
• Fantasy Fellowship Total: $266+266+107+441+481+$1,133 = $2,696 ($175+113+0+258+0-1142 = $587 MORE)

Conclusion

Don't be put-off by the up-tick in price - by doing this, you actually cover most of the expense you'd need to pay if you were collecting all of the required models for all three books (ignoring the "big scenarios" for Helm's Deep and Pelennor Fields - those scenarios have CRAZY amounts of models in them). 

One other expense that I'll highlight here is that we assumed in the cost calculation that you ran the Fellowship - if you buy models from across the range, you're likely to spend even more money than was listed here on your models (though it is possible to save a little if you run Thorin's Company).

If you're getting ready to play Fantasy Fellowships with your mates, remember that as you progress through the campaign, two players probably can't play with each of their Fellowships each meeting (unless you block out a whole day, I guess), which means you'll have time between tag-ups to get more models (or figure out who has models you can borrow/proxy). If you wish to have a complete collection, however, hopefully this post was informative for you.

In a few weeks, we will revisit the terrain requirements - with some scenarios dropping out, there are some scenario pieces you can delay building - but as expected, the terrain requirements increase quite a bit (since we've got Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith to deal with). See you next time and happy hobbying!