In Defense Of: Barliman Butterbur (and Bill the Pony)

Good morning gamers,

We're in our fifth post now in our "In Defense Of" series and today I'm addressing a model that I've used a few times in the past few months in part because I like the model, in part because I'm building a board for Bree, and in part because I refuse to believe that the model is worthless: it's Barliman Butterbur, probably the character I can relate to the most in the Lord of the Rings books.

"Want a pint?"

Barliman Butterbur was released in the Quest of the Ringbearer sourcebook and can be fielded in the Wanderers in the Wild list for 40pts. Functionally, he's 50pts, since he can pay 10pts to bring Bill the Pony in his warband. He (and Bill if he comes with him) are historical allies with the Fellowship and are convenient allies with most of the armies in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book. But because of his profile (and possibly his cost), no one seems to think this guy is worth taking in matched play. Well, today I'm going to try to convince you otherwise - let's get stuck in!

Why NOT To Take Barliman Butterbur

Let's start with the stat line: Barliman Butterbur costs 40pts and has a profile very similar to Samwise Gamgee from the Fellowship or the named heroes from the Sharkey's Rogues/Chief's Ruffians LL:

Pretty Modest Profiles

A few things to note about these models: all of these models are F3-4 with 1-2 Might points (and Sam is the only one with Strike) and D3-4 with 2 Wounds/1-2 Fate. Barliman's Fight Value, compared to these other comparably-costed heroes isn't bad - and even if you expand the comparison to Captains of Rohan or Easterling Captains, being F3 or F4 isn't bad (it isn't particularly good, but it's not bad).

But F3 isn't good when fighting warriors and REALLY isn't good if you're fighting heroes. Without Strike, Barliman is probably losing fights - and even if he had Strike, with only 1 Attack, that Strike isn't likely to do much (you still need to get a high roll). With only D4, 2 Wounds, and 1 Might point, he's not going to live long should he run into anything big either. Sure, he has Heroic Defense, but with 1 Might only, he's not likely to survive more than one bout with anyone of much consequence (and if they get any natural 6s, that could place him in a bad position on the second round of fighting). If Barliman had 2 Attacks, at least he'd have a good chance at his lower Fight Value of beating someone in combat, but with only 1 Attack (apparently he's not a combatant) he's just not doing enough here. Like Gildor Inglorion (who we'll cover later in this series), you really want more Might out of this guy than he has in this list (and maybe a second Attack too).

So is Barliman Butterbur worth taking at all? Is he just a waste? I don't think so - you just need to build an army around him that will not only get the most out of him, but get the most out of his 10pt upgrade: Bill the Pony.

Why TO Take Barliman Butterbur

Let's take a step back and see what Bill the Pony does: Bill is a rockstar in Fellowship lists because he can stand in front of Legolas or Gandalf (or behind Frodo or Boromir) so that someone can attempt to get a Might, Will, or Fate point back. This isn't likely to happen (never rely on a 5+ roll), but it only has to happen a few times in order to change the tempo of the game. If you've got lots of Might already in your list, getting a little more is a big deal (and each time it works is a psychological blow to your opponent). Barliman Butterbur isn't part of the Fellowship, but he's allowed by one of his special rules to benefit from this bonus too - so that 1 Might point that you have CAN be more than one (if you can get a 5+).

But Bill the Pony has another great boost: Bill counts as a banner for Hobbit models (and Barliman Butterbur). We talked last time about Merry and Pippin - and including Bill in a Fellowship list is a great way to get a little extra bite out of those two little Hobbits (kind of like you can get with any Fellowship hero from the Breaking of the Fellowship LL). But as we talked about last time, getting Merry and Pippin into a Fellowship list is hard - and since Bill (25pts) requires you to take Sam (40pts), fitting him in is really hard. If Barliman brings Bill, he'll have 1 Attack and a banner if Bill is nearby/in base contact - and that makes him very close to a 2A hero!

But you don't just have Hobbit models in the Fellowship - you can get them by the bucket-full in a Shire list! And Bill's banner rule doesn't say they have to be members of the Fellowship list - so any and every Hobbit model within 3" of Bill will get a banner reroll. With the Shire already needing banners to keep their army fighting strong, adding an extra 2 models for 50pts (one of which is a banner) seems a valuable addition.

Barliman also has the advantage of being a healer - though like Bill's heroic stat regeneration, this healing is unreliable. Still, healing models is rare in this game and if you have D3 Hobbit heroes (or a D5 wizard), healing them is a valuable thing. He can also heal Bill the Pony, who is quite valuable to this team (being a banner and all). With the two of them able to help each other, they can be a dangerous pairing.

But beyond all, there is another model you want to bring along with Barliman Butterbur to get the most out of him: Tom Bombadil. Tom is frowned upon by a lot of players, but he's a go-to guy for any hero who has a lot of use for Might but wasn't gifted much by the rules writers. With Barliman able to call Heroic Defense reliably every round (so long as Tom can cast Refreshing Song on him), you can use him to hold up enemy heroes - and since Tom can't be charged unless he allows it (Mumaks and chariots get a pass, thanks to recent FAQs), even if your opponent moves first, you can still restore a Might point on Barliman on a 2+. If he's being wounded on 6, Barliman's 2 Wounds/2 Fate should be pretty tough to tackle - and with Tom near at hand, you can get that Might point, a Will point, a Fate point, and a Wound back with just 1 Will point from Tom!

Tom on his own has limited utility stalling enemy heroes (besides automatically beating them) - but Barliman has the potential to hit back (and if you pair him with Tom, you can hold down two heroes each turn). Based on what else you have in your Shire list (Tom + Barli + Bill only costs 210pts), you could be tying down 1-2 other heroes as well. Let's look at a few lists that show how this works . . .

Making It Work

Our first list is a 700-point list that features Tom, Barliman, and Bill and pairs them with Gandalf the Grey from the Shire list and Goldberry! You want Farmer Maggot and Holfoot Bracegirdle in any Shire list, so I'm including them too - and this brings our total cost for our heroes climb to almost 600 points! Thankfully, Hobbit models are cheap and so with the following 32-model force, we have a lot of ways of dealing with enemy heroes, as well as enemy magic and archery:

• Gandalf the Grey [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Hobbit Militia with axes
  
• 3 Hobbit Archers
  
• Farmer Maggot
• Grip, Fang, and Wolf
• 2 Hobbit Shirriffs
  
• 3 Hobbit Archers
  
• Holfoot Bracegirdle, Shirriff-Leader
• 6 Hobbit Shirriffs
  
• 3 Hobbit Archers
  
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Tom Bombadil
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Goldberry
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Barliman Butterbur
• Bill the Pony
  

This is a pretty low model count for sure, but you've got 8 Shirriffs who can two-hand without penalty and can be within the banner radius of Bill the Pony. Getting all 8 Shirriffs within range of both Holfoot and Bill is hard, so I've allocated 6 Shirriffs to Holfoot's warband (the other two are with Maggot). Getting both heroes in range of 6 Shirriffs is quite easy.

Gandalf the Grey should run with Goldberry, while Tom walks with Barliman and Holfoot (who will be Marching our army early in the game to get to good positions). If Barliman aligns himself to handle whatever heroes approach the Shirriffs, you can rely on those Shirriffs tearing through the enemy ranks with their two-handed weapons. Gandalf and the Archers, of course, need to provide whittling fire to weaken the enemy before they arrive (and you should work to get your stones shots in for a turn or two before the fighting begins).

We could adjust the list, of course, by dropping Goldberry - this would get us a few more Hobbit heroes and a lot more numbers:

• Gandalf the Grey [ARMY LEADER]
• 8 Hobbit Militia
• 4 Hobbit Archers
  
• Farmer Maggot
• Grip, Fang, and Wolf
• 2 Hobbit Militia
  
• 3 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 4 Hobbit Archers
  
• Holfoot Bracegirdle, Shirriff-Leader
• 8 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 4 Hobbit Archers
  
• Lotho Sackville-Baggins
• 8 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 4 Hobbit Archers
  
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Tom Bombadil
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Barliman Butterbur
• Bill the Pony
  

We have gained 20 models (52 models total) by dropping Goldberry, but our resources are much more constrained. You probably want Gandalf channelling Blinding Light and Terrifying Aura during your preparation rounds and you want to March with Holfoot if you need it, but now you'll rely more on Bill restoring resources for Barliman when things get tight. We've added Lotho Sackville-Baggins to make our Hobbit Shirriffs F4 for a few rounds (Will can be restored by Gandalf or Tom). The added models have padded the army's resilience quite a bit and we still have 3 ways of dealing with big heroes (Gandalf's Immobilize/Sorcerous Blast, Heroic Defense with Barliman Butterbur, and Tom Bombadil).

But there is one other way that you could run Barliman Butterbur and Bill the Pony with the Shire - and that's to leave Gandalf the Grey at home and run Merry and Frodo instead:

• Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire with shield
• 12 Battlin' Brandybucks with axes
  
• Frodo of the Nine Fingers on pony
• 5 Hobbit Militia
  
• 6 Hobbit Archers
  
• Farmer Maggot
• Grip, Fang, and Wolf
• 2 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 6 Hobbit Archers
  
• Holfoot Bracegirdle, Shirriff-Leader
• 8 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 4 Hobbit Archers
  
• Lotho Sackville-Baggins
• 8 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 4 Hobbit Archers
  
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Tom Bombadil
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Barliman Butterbur
• Bill the Pony
  

With 66 models (+14 models over the Tom-only list and +34 models over the Tom-and-Goldberry list), this list is quite large and trades magic and archery protection for additional bodies, extra Courage from Merry's horn, and a 6" banner from Frodo. Whether these are better than having Gandalf in your ranks depends on your meta, but you certainly can outnumber your opponent better this way than either of the other two lists can. You could swap Lotho Sackville-Baggins for Will Whitfoot if you wanted a third banner, but I think the F4 on the Shirriffs is worth having (so I've kept Lotho in). You could get yet-another Banner-like rule by bringing in Tolman Cotton into the ranks, but once again, we'd need to trade something (probably Lotho and one guy).

No matter how you run a Shire list, adding in Barliman Butterbur and Bill for 50pts gets you a way of dealing with heroes (something Hobbit lists struggle with), potential healing for your heroes, and a cheap banner (which you sorely need). Adding in Tom helps with some of this too - and adding in both is a surprisingly economical way of dealing with a lot of the issues that you face with the Shire. While I haven't found any other ways to make Barliman Butterbur useful, he seems quite valuable here.

Conclusion

With Barliman Butterbur behind us, we turn our attention next week to the Kingdom of Moria where we explore the great Dwarf hero Balin the Dwarf. Balin has more distinct profiles than any other character in the game (four profiles - five if you separate his Erebor Reclaimed infantry version from the Champs Chariot) and with an epic hero like Durin in the lineup, you may wonder if taking Balin is a good idea - especially at high points levels. Having played games with Balin for ages and games with Durin more recently, I have some thoughts about why you'd want to take Balin over Durin. Balin is a popular choice at/below 500pts for many players, so we'll be tailoring our discussion to points levels above 500pts and what Balin brings to the table. Join us next time - until then, happy hobbying!