The Road to THRO 2021: Tiberius's Army Pairings

Good morning gamers,

As we get ready for THRO 2021 this weekend, I wanted to take a moment (as I've been doing before the last few tournaments) to talk about the armies that I considered taking to THRO and the armies I finally settled on bringing. In case you missed the announcement, THRO this year has all players bringing two 550-point armies (one good, one evil) and we're playing Good vs. Evil with the first two rounds randomly assigned and the latter two rounds being power-matched (#1 faces #2, #3 faces #4, etc.). 

Players will be awarded +1 Tournament Point if the Good and Evil armies that they bring fought each other (or could have reasonably fought each other if they include GW-invented characters) and +2 Tournament Points if the Good and Evil armies fought each other and at least one was a Legendary Legion. This led me to only consider pairings with at least one Legendary Legion (many involved two though). As a player who loves thematic lists, I'm really happy that I got to run this particular tournament. :)

What we'll be doing today is talking through the scenarios and what they reward players for and then walk through each pair of lists I considered and why I decided not to take the ones that I did. Without further ado, let's dig in!

The Bare Necessities, Part XLI: The Dark Denizens of Mirkwood

Good morning gamers,

We've talked about a lot of armies in this series that have a variety of models available to them - fast units, banner-carrying units, etc. However, in today's post, we're looking at an army that has no problem being fast, but struggles with having low defense, no spears, large bases, and average Fight Value (for the most part). We're talking about the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood - an iconic monster-mash army (that has only one monster - but lots of scary things) that features creatures of all shapes and sizes. Can you make a balanced list with this army? Well, let's see what we can whip up, shall we?

Photo credit: Tumblr

The Dark Denizens of Mirkwood: What Creatures Do You Need (And How Do You Keep Them From Dying)?

The models available to the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood list has access to several different creatures and each has a different role to play in the army. The Spider Queen is your only hero option and she's a very offensive-heavy hero. Paired with a Bat Swarm, she's capable of toppling anyone's Fight Value if you can get the Spider Queen and a Bat Swarm in the same fight, so her Heroic Defense can be used as insurance against a bad match-up.

You have two other Spider options in your army: Mirkwood Spiders have a terrible Fight Value, but can use their Spider Webs to Paralyze warrior models (and hero models who have run out of Fate or fail a Fate save) and so skip straight to the wounding roll. Giant Spiders, by contrast, are F4 with a good Strength value - miniature versions of the Spider Queen and designed for getting locked in and smashing through things.

Bat Swarms and Fell Wargs have more tactical uses - Bat Swarms aren't great in fights on their own, but since they half Fight Values, they can be deadly when paired in a fight with a Giant Spider (since Bat Swarms half your Fight Value rounding down, your opponents will need to be F10 if they want to have a higher Fight Value) or the Spider Queen (who will always have the higher Fight Value). Even if paired with Fell Wargs (who are F3), enemy models will need to be F8+ in order to have the higher Fight Value - AGAINST WARGS!!!!

Speaking of Wargs, Fell Wargs are great for grabbing objectives, charging models that are hiding behind terrain, and theoretically are good for boosting your numbers. However, since they are your only 1 Wound model and only about half the cost of Spiders (and one-fourth the cost of Bats), your total wound count isn't much different by spamming Fell Wargs than it is spamming Spiders or Bat Swarms - and I think the tactical utility of these units is much better. Having a few of these guys to dig up Prizes/Heirlooms or sitting on objectives isn't a bad thing though, so use them appropriately.

This is a light bench and you're locked in at D4 or less (even on the Spider Queen), so your number one objective is to figure out how to keep your units from dying. You don't have any Historical allies and your Convenient allies list is short but has a surprising amount of options. While allying with Smaug is probably a pipe-dream, allying with Azog's Hunters, Azog's Legion, Goblin-town, Mordor, and Moria give you options for spamming numbers and adding in heroes who can distract from the Spider Queen's danger.

It Has Come To Me (Again): Thoughts On The One Ring, Revisited

Good morning gamers,

When the new rules dropped back in late 2018, I did a post on the One Ring and how it had changed since the LOTR SBG days (when I first got started playing). Since then, we've had a few FAQ clarifications (a few very needed clarifications) and I've played a LOT with the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion and those experiences have given me some new perspectives on things you can do to both use the Ring well and fight against Ringbearers. So today, we're going to take a look at what the rules are for the Ring, how these rules have been altered by FAQs and Designer Commentaries, and ways you can use these rules to both use Ringbearers better AND fight against them.

Rules Review (With Errata and Designer Commentaries Notes Added)

There is a whole page of rules dedicated to the One Ring - thankfully it's broken up into sections for us. Let's dig in and see what's interesting in each part of the rules (I've color-coded the relevant Designer Commentary questions to the references from the rules (to include the errata that have been made on it).

Wearing the Ring

[Wearing The Ring] The model with the Ring can put it on at any time during their Move phase. As soon as they do so, they become Invisible. [ERRATA: Whilst invisible, the Ringbearer may move through friendly and enemy models, provided they do not end their move overlapping any part of another model’s base.] If a model who put on the Ring is mounted, their steed will bolt and they must immediately take a Thrown Rider test.

Q: Can a model with the One Ring put it on if they have already been charged that turn? (p.90) A: No.

Q: Do Invisible models ignore enemy Control Zones when they move? (p.90) A: Yes.  

Two things jump out at us from this section: first and foremost, as the Designer Commentary on the main rulebook has clarified, a Ringbearer cannot put on the One Ring if he has been charged already. This will require planning a turn or two ahead, but otherwise isn't a big deal. It can bite new players, though, so if you're just learning how Ringbearers work, you may want to just accept that there's an error or two that might be made when learning the game. This will probably be one of them.

Second, if your Ringbearer can take a mount (Isildur on horse or Bilbo Baggins on a pony), then you'll want to dismount BEFORE you put the Ring on. Because you can put the Ring on at any point in your movement, you can dismount, put the Ring on, and then move without penalty - but the timing does matter.

The Bare Necessities, Part XL: The Army of Lake-town

Good morning gamers,

Today we cover one of the most competitive armies for the Forces of Good in MESBG right now: the Army of Lake-town. If you're looking at running a list pure, this army . . . well, doesn't look very good. In fact, compared to their cousins (the Survivors of Lake-town, which we'll cover in a few weeks), it looks downright awful. But this army is one of the cheapest hordes that have access to spears you can find and this means you can get a healthy amount of numbers and have plenty of points to ally in big heroes. Lake-town doesn't have the suite of allies that you'll find from the Armies of the Lord of the Rings, but the options they have are solid. So how do we begin to piece together a good army from Lake-town? Let's dig in and see what we have to work with and you'll soon see.

The Army of Lake-town: Who Needs A Horde?

So when you think of horde armies, you generally think of evil factions - Goblin-town, Moria, and Sharkey's Rogues, for example. Some good factions qualify - like the Shire - but most good factions run average-cost models (or very elite/expensive models), which can keep them from "hording out" (though there are builds for Minas Tirith that can horde out by taking cheap heroes). Lake-town has only one expensive hero (Bard) and everyone else costs no more than 50 points - and with most of them (not Bard's children) able to lead 12-15 models and your warrior models costing 5-7 points each, you can get a full warband of guys for under 120 points. If you're getting that many guys for that kind of cost, you can easily get 65+ models in a 600pt game (and at 700, you're looking at over 70 models easily).

Quest of the Ringbearer: Terrain Update, Part 1

Good morning gamers,

Today we're back in Quest of the Ringbearer land and we'll be covering how the terrain is coming for the missions that are in Quest of the Ringbearer. If you haven't read the post on what terrain we need, you can check that out here. Today we're focusing on terrain that will apply to many, MANY missions and a few specialty pieces that we'll need. Here we go!

Trees

I got a bunch of trees from Centaur for my birthday last year and I have only recently started putting them to good use. I have twenty scatter terrain trees now (some tall, some short), which have been placed in 40mm circular cardboard bases, stacked with 25mm circular cardboard bases to give them some interesting rise. The flocking was a mixture of Green Scenics Burned Earth (I think) and some green flocking that I got from Amazon:

With the flocking, the trees look a little different from the normal board, making the difficult terrain visible but not too clashing. I have a bunch of other trees, but don't plan to have them as scatter-terrain (instead, they'll be added to other terrain features for variety). Speaking of which, we've also been working on . . .

Hills

I've made hills out of XPS before (I have a two-section hill that I love), but am not happy with the work required to make mounds of earth (glue causes warping if you don't press down on it hard enough). Thanks to a tutorial from the Terrain Tutor, I looked into expanding foam instead. After a few failed attempts, we have this:

Added some spackle/filler to smooth out the surface and added more flocking and a few big trees to finish the effect. Job's a good one! As playable terrain, their slopes are steep, but they all have pathways to the top and the rest will just require climb tests.

The Bare Necessities, Part XXXIX: The Garrison of Dale

 Good morning gamers,

Today we will be delving into the Garrison of Dale, the army that, until recently, had the fewest profiles of any army to date (except the Black Riders LL). With a new warrior profile and the option of 1-2 named heroes, this army might not have the depth that most competitive armies do, but you do get access to most of the common wargear options in the game (making your units fairly flexible, despite having only a few options). But this begs the question: what can you do to make this list a balanced list? Let's take a look at what is rapidly becoming my favorite army of Men from the Armies of the Hobbit book!

The Garrison of Dale: How Important is Your Army Bonus (and What's Coming Our Way)?

At the time of this writing, the models for Brand, Bard II, and the Knights of Dale were announced (and their working rules available), but with a Legion including them and the Erebor Dwarves imminent, who knows how the new profiles will be run. For our purposes today, we'll be viewing the Hobbit era Dale list and we'll come back and view these new profiles (probably in the context of whatever comes from War in the North) at a later date.

With three profiles to view, you'd expect this army to struggle at almost every points level. And yet, it doesn't. Why? Because the models that this army has, the equipment options available to these models, and the ally options this army has, give them a way to play that makes the army work at any points level.

The big question, though, is how important your army bonus is. On its face, if you compare the Garrison of Dale to Numenor (who is also profile-restricted), you have very similar profiles. Warriors of Numenor are F4/4+ (as are Warriors of Dale), S4 (+1S over Warriors of Dale), D4-5 depending on whether you have a shield or not (same as Warriors of Dale), and C4 with their army bonus (+1 over Warriors of Dale, same Courage base) for +1 point/model. This means that if you're considering allying the Garrison of Dale with Rivendell, you get either +1S or +1C for free by allying with Numenor instead of Dale.

Fall of the Necromancer: What I Want To See In The Legendary Legions

Good morning gamers,

Less than a month ago, we got a preview from Games Workshop about the next supplement coming to the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game: the Fall of the Necromancer. Unlike other supplements, there are no new models being released with this supplement - instead, the game designers have developed a scenery kit for Dol Guldur and are bringing back older sculpts back to the range (including the much-sought-after White Council blister which has the very-rare Galadriel, Lady of Light sculpt - why did I buy the old Lady of Light sculpt when it was MTO?!?!?!?!). 

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community
Another supplement I didn't know I wanted . . .

They also announced that alongside the 13 narrative scenarios (an upgrade over the 7 scenarios from the original Fall of the Necromancer sourcebook released in the early 2000s) there would be four Legendary Legions in this book with a bit of a spoiler about what they are. Like I did with Quest of the Ringbearer, let's dig in today and make our predictions for the next supplement!

The Bare Necessities, Part XXXVIII: The Misty Mountains

Good morning gamers,

Today we tackle an army that started off as its own army, then got melded into the Wanderers in the Wild during the warbands era, then got broken out into its own army again in the new edition (and is expanded in the Armies of the Hobbit book with Radagast's Alliance). While you might on first glance think that this army is unnecessary with the advent of Radagast's Alliance (I certainly did), the cool thing about this army is that it is Convenient Allies with almost everyone in the game (and Historical allies with some of the best all-hero armies in the game). While I think their army bonus isn't necessary to have (lots of competitive players agree), this army can provided much needed mobility to lots of armies (or firepower to a spam army). Let's dig in and see what's provided in this army (especially over Radagast's Alliance).

Photo Credit: Tumblr

The Misty Mountains: Built To Ally

Let's start by talking about Radagast's Alliance: with only the Misty Mountains as Historical Allies (which you'd only do to take Gwaihir as a Hero of Legend instead of a Hero of Valor), you're looking at pretty much all of the Armies of the Hobbit as your available Convenient Allies (and select others from the Armies of the Lord of the Rings): 

• You have all three of the factions of Men from the Armies of the Hobbit (the Army of Lake-town, the Survivors of Lake-town, and the Garrison of Dale);
• You also have two of the conventional Dwarf factions (the Iron Hills and Erebor Reclaimed - but NOT the Army of Thror . . . which is weird because you're convenient allies with the Garrison of Dale);
• Like everyone, you have all three of the Elven factions (Lothlorien, Rivendell, and the Halls of Thranduil) and Fangorn; and
• You have three all-hero armies (Thorin's Company, the Rangers, and the White Council). 

With the exception of the Misty Mountains, the Elven factions, and the Rangers, everyone from the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book are Impossible Allies with Radagast's Alliance. 

By contrast, the Misty Mountains are Convenient Allies with every faction except the Fellowship, Radagast's Alliance, and Thorin's Company (which are Historical Allies). This means that you only need to decide if your army bonus is worth keeping or whether you can live without it - no other considerations need be made. Some armies (like the Fiefdoms and the Army of Thror) play very differently without their army bonuses - and while they probably CAN live without them, you generally don't want to give them up (both have great historical allies they can take). Other armies (like Numenor or Minas Tirith) can live without their army bonuses - especially if you're allying in high-Courage, high-Fight/Strength models who can do most of your fighting for you (even trapping people by charging the back rank while you press with your grunt infantry).

In today's list, we'll be building a balanced list with a Convenient alliance (the only way we can get 30+ models and at least one actual banner). While there were lots of great ideas I had for this army (some will be included in this article, others will appear in future articles), I wanted the army we showcased today to have at least one Great Eagle. Many armies can benefit from "just adding Gwaihir" - but I feel like that alliance doesn't showcase the Misty Mountains well. So instead, I wanted an army that allowed me to get several Eagles, had enough staying power to hold out for the Eagles to do their damage, AND could get an actual banner (and some fast troops). In my mind, there was one clear choice - not a thematic choice, but a solid choice none the less. So here we go - darn theme and full-steam-ahead!

Unexpected Military Formations: Epic Movie Moments, Part III

Good morning gamers,

We're back with our third installment of the "epic movie moments" that no one in their right minds would try to run in MESBG! We've looked recently at the Uruk-Hai receiving a charge from Aragorn and some Galadhrim and how you can set up your Rivendell battleline to do the "windmill thing" to attack everyone with two-handed weapons and no supports. Today, we turn to a moment that is really stunning to watch but EVERYONE was thinking, "That's a really dumb move" - yes, we're looking at the Elves jumping over the Iron Hills line from the Battle of Five Armies!

Movie Moment #3: "The Elven Jumping Sequence"

Did anyone else almost cry when you saw the Dwarf shieldwall preparing to meet the Gundabad Orc charge during the Battle of Five Armies and the Elves go VAULTING over the line, landing on top of the Orcs and hacking through them? Sure, this wasn't a sound tactical decision, but it was AMAZING, right? Well, of all the things you can't do in MESBG, hopping on the heads of friendly models is not one of them (though I could see this being a rule in a scenario for the Battle of Five Armies sourcebook, whenever that's released). Somehow I doubt it will ever become part of a Legendary Legion, but how would one attempt to capture this event in the game?

Weeeeeeeee . . .