Good morning gamers,
Today we're viewing two characters that I've been using since I started playing MESBG (back when it was LOTR SBG): Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. Merry and Pippin are two of the cheapest hero profiles in the game and have . . . well, some of the worst hero profiles in the game too (unsurprisingly). Far weaker than warriors who are cheaper or the same cost as them and by far and away the most vulnerable and fragile models in their army lists, you may wonder if bringing these little imps is even worth doing.
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| "You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission . . . quest . . . thing . . ." |
Today, we'll be looking at these two guys who I have gotten a lot of mileage out of in the past few years. With three different ways to run these guys, we've got a lot to dig into - so let's get started!
First off, we should establish that there are not one, not two, but three different profiles for Merry and Pippin - each has a profile in the Fellowship (the ones we're looking at today), each has an improved (but more expensive) version that is available in Rohan or Minas Tirith, and each has a much improved (and even more expensive) version that's available in the Shire. Let's see how they stack up:
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| 6 versions of 2 models . . . |
The Fellowship versions of Merry and Pippin cost 10pts each and like all of the other versions of Merry and Pippin, they are F3/3+ (with thrown stones) and S2. No matter what kind of hero you are, being F3/S2 isn't good. The Fellowship versions of Merry and Pippin have no boost to their Defense (D3), while all of the other versions get at least armor and most have options for a shield (bringing them up to D5). Until you get to the Shire versions of these heroes, these guys have 1 Attack and 1 Wound (the Shire versions have 2 Attacks/Wound - and are the only 2A Hobbit heroes in the game besides Bullroarer Took, Farmer Maggot, Samwise the Brave near Rosie, and Smeagol/Gollum). With Courage 4 on their Fellowship versions and usually C5 for their advanced versions (Rohan Merry is also C4), these guys are decently brave no matter which one you choose.
The heroic stats, though, are probably why the Fellowship versions of Merry and Pippin get so much critique - with 0 Might, 0 Will (though they are Resistant to Magic), and 1 Fate point, these guys lose fights easily and they die easily. By paying +15 points, you get +1 Might/Will/Fate (1/1/2) and +1 Defense on the Rohan/Minas Tirith versions, which is insanely good value (Merry can pay +5 additional points to get a shield for +1 more Defense). Compared to their Shire forms, you're feeling jipped, as a mere +40pts gets you +2 Might, +2 Will, +1 Fate, +1 Courage, and +2 Defense in addition to a Hobbit-only war horn on Merry (normally 30pts in value) and a special rule that allows Pippin to reroll all failed To Wound rolls against heroes and monsters. It's not even a contest what variety of Merry or Pippin you'd prefer to have.
We're going to skate past the fact that Rohan Merry can be fielded in the Dernhelm profile as part of Rohan's most cost-effective offensive heroes - it's not really a fair comparison, since Merry is largely riding on the profile of Eowyn (pun intended) . . . but, you know, it's yet another reason why Merry and Pippin from the Fellowship are just not comparable to their "more improved" selves.
Apart from having worse profiles than other versions of themselves, when running the Fellowship, you almost never have all the points you want to field the models you love. Between getting expensive heroes (Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Gimli, Gandalf, maybe Arwen) and getting gear for those heroes (mounts for all of them, armor for Aragorn/Legolas, bow/Anduril for Aragorn, shield for Boromir), you're often left wondering if you even have 10-20pts left over for these little guys.
You're also left wondering if it's worth bringing along 1-2 4" move infantry models who can be easily killed - it might be better just to run a smaller number of bigger, tougher heroes who won't be killed as easily. As soon as Merry and Pippin enter the list, your opponent has two heroes that, if he can catch them, are going to die quickly. That's +2 models closer to breaking your army if you're not guarding them and, if you've gone with the mounted Fellowship approach, these guys won't be keeping up with you, so stranding them and not being able to protect them is a real concern.
As awful as these profiles look, they're actually not that bad. These guys have very useful places and can be surprisingly good assets to your force - let's see why.
Why TO Take Merry & Pippin
Let's start with the weak profiles. Merry and Pippin in the Fellowship have pretty bad profiles, but when compared to all of the other Hobbits in the game, they're pretty points-efficient - let's look at all the profiles we have to compare them too, shall we?
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| Wow, that's a lot of Hobbits . . . |
There are five "really good" combatants (by Hobbit standards) that Hobbits can get in the forms of Bullroarer (+30pts, MUCH better), Farmer Maggot (+35pts for a much better profile and 3 dogs), Merry/Pippin in their Shire forms (already talked about how much better they are), and Smeagol (who we talked about last time). While these guys boast such things as multiple Attacks/Wounds/Might and higher Strength and/or Defense, the profile boosts for these guys (Bullroarer excepted) are about what you'd expect to pay - some get a rule or a stat "for free," but the cost efficiency is about the same. Maggot might be an exception depending on how you price his dogs (if each dog is valued at 5pts, he's +20pts for +1S, +1A, +1H, +1C, +1M/+2W/+1F, but does need to use his scythe two-handed instead of the one-handed weapons that Merry/Pippin have).
There are nine 1-Attack Hobbit heroes who are about as resilient as Merry/Pippin (D3/1-2 Wounds/1-2 Fate) and cost a chunk more in order to get special rules. With three of these models being unarmed (Folco Boffin, Rosie Cotton, and Fredegar 'Fatty' Bolger - all of which are also only C3), one of them unable to make Strikes (Lobelia Sackville-Baggins), and four of the others being F2 (Will Whitfoot, Hamfast 'the Gaffer' Gamgee, Paladin Took, and Lotho Sackville-Baggins), Merry and Pippin will do about as much damage as these guys, if not more (Robin Smallburrow can probably do more damage than them - especially if he's near Holfoot Bracegirdle since he can two-hand without penalty). Robin is probably the best compared to these guys as he only costs 20pts (+10pts to get +1 Might/Will and Heroic March), but still not a great bargain. Compared to these guys, Merry and Pippin don't look that bad.
There are three 1 Attack/2 Wound heroes in this list who are pretty good compared to Merry and Pippin despite costing more (though they do cost more). Heroes like Farmer Tolman Cotton (+25pts) might only be F2, but with +1 Wound, +1 Courage, +2 Might, +1 Will, a pseudo-banner rule, and the ability to spear-support with his pitchfork, I think he's a really good bargain compared to Merry and Pippin (and a bargain generally for the Shire). Holfoot Bracegirdle (+20pts) similarly gives you good value for his cost (+1 Strength, +1 Wound, +1 Might, +1 Will, access to Heroic March, and no penalty to two-handing for +20pts) and is definitely better than Merry and Pippin, despite costing three times as much (though I will say there's a big difference between costing three times as much as a 50pt hero and three times as much as a 10pt hero). Baldo Tulpenny (+30pts) is also a pretty decent comparison to Merry and Pippin (+1 Wound, +1 Might, +1 Will, +1 Fate, the ability to auto-wound with his throwing stone, +8 traps), but is VERY expensive relative to the other options in the list.
There are seven 1-Attack profiles who are much more resilient than Merry and Pippin - which happen to be versions of Frodo, Sam, and Bilbo. Most of these profiles (not the two Sam profiles) are the only Hobbit profiles that cost significantly more than Merry or Pippin (50+ points). Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar from the Survivors of Lake-town list is the most expensive Hobbit profile. With +3 Defense, +1 Wound, +2 Courage, +3 Might, +3 Will, +2 Fate, Sting, and access to the Ring (as well as Strike/Defense), he's getting a lot of stats, but it comes at a heavy cost (+80pts) - though with the Ring, he's probably worth it in the long run since the Ring makes the F3 (with Strike) quite manageable. With S3 (thanks to Sting), he's a pretty decent hero for being a Hobbit, but at twice the cost of a Lake-town Captain, it's hard to fit him into a list (something Merry and Pippin don't necessarily suffer from).
Bilbo Baggins from Thorin's Company doesn't have the Mithril Coat and only has 2 Might, but for 25pts less, he's a better value than his later self (if you can stand the D3 - which the Ring and Heroic Defense help with a lot). He also picks up March and seems to be a much better value over Merry and Pippin (+55pts for +1 Wound, +2 Courage, +2 Might, +3 Will, +2 Fate, Sting, access to the Ring, Strike/Defense/potentially March). Apparently, that extra Might point is expensive . . .
Old Bilbo Baggins from the Shire/Rivendell lists is . . . well, not as good. Age has finally caught up to him and he's got a pretty decent profile (especially with Sting and the Mithril Coat), but he's not as points efficient as his Thorin's Company version (+50pts for +2 Defense, +1 Wound, +1 Courage, +1 Might, +2 Wil, +1 Fate, Sting, and access to the Ring). For 60pts max (45pts with just Sting), Bilbo isn't a bad slot-in to a list just so you can have the Ring - but you really need him supporting a model who can benefit from it (like a F6+ Elf hero in a Rivendell list or a F5 Gandalf/allied Dunedain hero in a Shire list). Without that, I'm not sure how much better he is than Merry or Pippin given his cost.
We then turn to Samwise Gamgee from the Fellowship, who is the most likely Fellowship model to be excluded from a Fellowship list than Merry and Pippin. Sam costs +30pts more than either Merry or Pippin (and +20pts more than both of them) and "only" gives you +1 Wound, +2 Courage, +2 Might, +2 Will, +1 Fate, access to Strike, and potentially free Heroic Combats. This isn't bad at all, but since the Fellowship is already trying to decide if they have room for all of the gear they want (and all of the killing pieces they want), sparing 40pts for a F3/S2/1A model just doesn't seem like a good investment when you could get TWO F3/S2/1A models (who, granted, don't live nearly as long or have any Might, but still). Sam is a light tank and I have used him to great effect in the Breaking of the Fellowship LL, but he's usually the last model I take.
Samwise the Brave from the Shire list gains Sting and +1 Fate for +5pts over his Fellowship version (pretty good bargain) and if he's near Rosie Cotton, he also gains +1 Attack and potentially free Heroic Combats (which he can get so long as Rosie is within 4" of him - unlike Frodo, she doesn't need to be in combat to trigger the free heroic action). With Rosie in tow, this version of Sam (especially if he's on a pony for extra speed) is a really good Hobbit Hero, but like evaluating Bard with his daughters and Alfrid, this makes Sam REALLY expensive just to get +1 Attack. I could be argued either way that this version of Sam is better or worse than Merry and Pippin from the Fellowship because of his cost.
Frodo of the Nine Fingers is a bit more resilient and provides a nice banner boost, but can't make Strikes or throw stones, which negates his damage output. He's also unarmed, which makes the 60-65pts you pay for him really dependent on how much use you get out of that banner (for +50-55pts, you get +3 Defense, +1 Wound, +2 Courage, +1 Might, +3 Will, and access to Heroic Resolve). Banners Merry and Pippin are not (or are they?), wounded more easily they certainly are, but "worse" they may not be.
Finally, we have Frodo Baggins from the Fellowship, who is the center of the Fellowship's army bonus and the second most expensive Hobbit profile in the game when fully equipped (behind Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar). He does get a mega boost to his profile over Merry and Pippin (+3 Defense, +1 Wound, +2 Courage, +2 Might, +3 Will, +2 Fate, Sting, Heroic Defense, and access to the Ring - not to mention team-wide Fearless and the ability to not be broken unless he dies if you're running pure Fellowship). That's pretty good, but it's also more expensive than many heroes - something that many Rangers of Ithilien players regret now that you need to take him (instead of being able to take a Captain of Minas Tirith on horse with shield and lance and 2 Rangers). Frodo's really good, but at nearly the same cost as Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli (85pts maxed out), I'm not sure that he's bringing 8x the value of either Merry or Pippin to the table (or 4x the value of both of these guys) EXCEPT for the ability to not cough up points for being broken (which is devalued in some control-based scenarios).
The second thing to consider is that when you field Merry and Pippin, their profiles aren't necessarily the only stats in play. If fielded in the Fellowship, Merry and Pippin may not have any Might, but they can use Boromir's Might if he's nearby (and with them on his flanks, Boromir can get the match-ups he wants instead of the match-ups your opponent gives him). You don't want them burning through all his Might, but if those Uruks only get a 5-high against Merry or Pippin and the Hobbit gets a 5-high as well, a single Might point from Boromir will see those Uruks backing up and giving Boromir (and the thankful Hobbit) some breathing space.
In the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion, these guys not only get access to Boromir's Might, but they also get Elven daggers (which aren't Elven-made, mind you) that allow them to reroll all failed To Wound rolls, which drastically improves their damage output. This isn't visible in their profiles normally but makes them very effective killing machines against warriors (many of whom they may wound on 5s rerollable or 6s rerollable - 30-56% chance of killing each turn). For 10pts/model, that's on-par with many elite warriors who cost 10+ points each.
Similarly, if you field them as a 10-point upgrade in a Fangorn list, you can't target Merry or Pippin with magic, archery, or melee attacks until Treebeard is dead - and that means that they have a F8/S8/D8 3 Wound/3 Fate hero between them and certain doom. Not as vulnerable as you'd think, eh?
The final thing that you'll want to remember about these guys is that their presence on the board does something for the models they're near. In the Breaking of the Fellowship LL, leaving one of them near Legolas means that Legolas can use his Bow of the Galadhrim gift to reroll failed To Hit rolls when shooting - which is CRAZY good when shooting three times (3+ or 4+ rerollable depending on whether you moved or not) and RIDICULOUSLY good when shooting with your single-shot (2+ rerollable regardless of whether you moved or not). Having one of these Hobbits near any of your heroes (Legolas or otherwise) means they get the benefits of a banner, which is great for making sure those botched combat rolls happen with very little frequency. Would Aragorn or Boromir like to get a 5-high 80% of the time? Just have one of these guys nearby and they've got it!
In a normal Fellowship list, having these guys run around with Elven Cloaks can allow them to tag objectives (or hold objectives) without you having to worry about leaving an important hero behind (Legolas wouldn't mind in most cases, but Gandalf, Boromir, and Aragorn definitely would). Yes, Merry and Pippin might get out-paced by a cavalry contingent of some of Middle-Earth's finest heroes, but they can still fulfill roles in the army that these bigger guys don't want to do. With Elven Cloaks, your opponent needs to start his movement within 6" of these guys in order to charge them, shoot at them, or cast magic against them - which means if you can take advantage of terrain, you can make these guys disappear and not be valid targets until you can send them aid.
In a Fangorn list, these guys give Treebeard Resistant to Magic while sitting in his boughs and can dismount from him in order to charge and trap a model fighting Treebeard. With the ability to remount Treebeard later, this can be a nasty surprise for someone who thought they could tie the big tree up for a round. For only 10pts for the two little guys, this is probably the best deal you can get on these guys (though I am biased towards them in the Breaking of the Fellowship LL).
Making It Work
All three lists that feature Merry and Pippin (the Fellowship, the Breaking of the Fellowship LL, and Fangorn) actually have interesting points levels where taking Merry and Pippin becomes a legitimate question. While the Breaking of the Fellowhip LL might look straight-forward (you get everyone at 600+ pts), there's an interesting question at the 400pt level as to whether you bring Merry and Pippin or Sam (since you have to take Aragorn and you probably want Legolas and either Gimli or Boromir). You could, of course, take Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin with Aragorn for 300pts, but then you'd have to say good-bye to two of your killers and rely on all four of your Hobbits contributing to the kill-count. While I'd be inclined to say take Legolas in that instance, I think Boromir makes Merry and Pippin more likely to survive (but then again, you're basically a melee-only army at that point, so I'm not sure how well that would work).
For Fangorn, if you're playing a points level that ends in 50, you will need to either run down-handed in points or leave Merry and Pippin at home so that Treebeard + Beechbone or Treebeard + 3 Ents can get you to an even X50pts. When you escalate every 50pts, you see Merry and Pippin being included or not included mostly based on how efficiently you can spend the points (and they show up in half of the lists below:
- 150pts: Quickbeam only
- 200pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin
- 250pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin (same list, actually)
- 300pts: Quickbeam, Beechbone
- 350pts: Treebeard, Beechbone
- 400pts: Beechbone, 2 Ents
- 450pts: Treebeard, Quickbeam, 1 Ent
- 500pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin, Quickbeam, Beechbone
- 550pts: Treebeard, 3 Ents
- 600pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin, Beechbone, 2 Ents
- 650pts: Beechbone, 4 Ents
- 700pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin, Quickbeam, 3 Ents
- 750pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin, Quickbeam, Beechbone, 2 Ents
- 800pts: Treebeard with Merry and Pippin, 5 Ents
The original Fellowship list is really where Merry and Pippin are competing for placement. The following list doesn't run Gimli (which makes me sad), but it does run 6 really useful models and Merry and Pippin:
- Gandalf the Grey on horse [ARMY LEADER]
- Aragorn - Strider on horse with Anduril, bow, and armor
- Boromir of Gondor on horse with shield
- Legolas Greenleaf on horse with armor
- Frodo Baggins
- Meriadoc Brandybuck
- Peregrin Took
Besides not having Gimli (which makes me very sad - could have gotten him and Arwen in place of Gandalf), this list has one major flaw in it: Frodo is incredibly vulnerable. Should he not have the Ring, he's going down hard and fast (no cloak to keep him from being spotted, no Ring to make him invisible, no armor to make him harder to kill). However, we do have four power-heroes on horses who can engage quickly and far ahead of the Hobbits if we need them too. With these little guys sitting on objectives in the back (and Frodo keeping us from being broken by staying out of the action), Aragorn, Boromir, and Legolas are free to be grenades against the enemy, moving swiftly on their horses to keep the fighting on the opponent's side of the board for as long as possible. If they're needed in the fight, the Hobbits are okay in combat, but not nearly as good (or as useful) as they are in the Breaking of the Fellowship LL.
Conclusion
"Barli" is a 1A hero with a profile and cost that is surprisingly similar to Samwise Gamgee (who is also critiqued as being too expensive in the competitive scene) and as a member of the Wanderers in the Wild, he can't lead anyone to battle except an old, abused pony. So is Butterbur worthy of the censure he gets? Or is there something we've missed about him that deserves exploiting? Find out next time - until then, happy hobbying!
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