In Defense Of: Smeagol

Good morning gamers,

Before we get into today's post, I just wanted to highlight that this is our 600th article on the blog and we just passed 900,000 total site views (if you trust the Google analytics) . . . thanks for reading our articles everyone - it means a lot to us!

We've looked recently at how you can build your lists around Galadriel and Denethor to get more mileage out of them and mitigate some of the weaknesses that many players decry in the global community. Today, we turn our attention to a model that . . . well, pretty much all players don't want to take in their lists (especially the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion): Smeagol.

Smeagol is probably the least-often included member of the Fellowship army list and while there are at least perceived benefits to taking Frodo (who probably carries the Ring) and Sam (who might be able to get free Heroic Combats) in the Rangers of Ithilien LL, Smeagol doesn't look like much of an add - especially since he costs nearly the same amount as 4 Rangers of Gondor. With an errata requiring Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol to be included in the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion, Smeagol has been thrust into the spotlight - or more appropriately, he WOULD have been thrust into the spotlight if basically everyone in the community hadn't stopped playing with this Legion. :-)

The skulker has emerged - hiding in the basing box because he insisted on being based before being photographed!

I'm preparing to play games with this Legion (looking at procuring Anborn, Mablung, and another box of Rangers of Gondor either later this year or next year) and I'm going to go out on a limb with the following claim: the Legion is still good and hasn't gotten worse now that the three travelers are required in it. Even at lower points levels, they're worth it. Why? Not just because Frodo and Sam are useful (some players in the UK have claimed that from the beginning) - but because Smeagol is useful too. Let's find out why.

Why NOT To Take Smeagol

The first and probably most fair critique of Smeagol is that he's not as good as Gollum. Gollum, available to Goblin-town for 35pts, is an Independent Hero who can carry the Ring (so long as no other Ringbearers are on the board). Gollum is often viewed as an auto-include for Goblin-town armies, as his pairing with the Goblin King makes him an incredibly potent Ringbearer and he's incredibly cheap. Let's compare the two profiles:

See, pretty much the same . . .

As you can see, the 5pt difference is only for the Heroic March on Gollum and the opportunity to have the One Ring. For 5pts, getting March alone would be useful - though on a 1 Might hero, I'm not sure that March is all that valuable on Gollum (especially since you probably have a Goblin-town Captain or three near him). However, the Ring changes everything. If Smeagol could have the Ring when Frodo dies, he'd probably be viewed as really good too - but alas, he can't.

Smeagol and Gollum do have a few concerns in their profiles - both have 1 Might and 1 Fate, which means that they could lose fights that they can't boost and won't be able to save more than 1 wound if they lose a fight. With "only" F4, dealing with warriors can be difficult and with only Defense 4 (and no Heroic Defense), shrugging off wounds just isn't going to happen. Yes, there's some stats lacking on these guys.

Smeagol and Gollum are also slow - only Move 5" - though not as slow as Frodo and Sam. When Marching, Smeagol is fast enough, but still not as fast as most of your army when moving at full speed. Cave Dweller is a nice addition if you need to make jumping/climbing tests, but most of the time, it won't do anything for you.

Finally, Smeagol doesn't have access to any specialized heroic actions - and while Gollum's Heroic March can be situationally useful (adding March to the Goblin King's warband), not having any specialized heroic actions means that Smeagol can only use Might to call a Heroic Move, Heroic Shoot, Heroic Combat, or boost a die roll (probably a dueling roll, but could also be a wounding roll or Fate roll). Heroic Striking from F4 would be useful in this list (only Faramir and Sam can Strike), though Striking from F4 generally speaking isn't good. Heroic Defense with D4 and 2 Wounds/1 Fate would be very useful too. Not having either of these skills might make you wonder if he's even worth taking.

But he is - he just is. Yes, it was a surprise for me too - let's dig into what Smeagol brings to the table.

Why TO Take Smeagol

We looked at Smeagol last week in comparison to Denethor - and compared to Gollum, he's probably not at Denethor's level. However, it's important to keep in mind what Gollum CAN do for only 30 points. First off, Smeagol is a F4/S4/2A hero, which is the same offensive firepower as Madril or an unmounted Captain of Minas Tirith - but you pay about half of what either of these guys are going to cost.

A mounted Captain of Minas Tirith has better offensive stats than Smeagol (+1 Attack, double-dice when wounding with +1 To Wound), but a Captain of Minas Tirith still needs to win the fight with F4 (same as Smeagol) and will find it harder to be in range of a banner (and can't be spear-supported). He'll also cost more than double Smeagol's cost (70pts vs. 30pts) and costs almost double the cost of Smeagol supported by a Ranger of Gondor (which would give Smeagol 3 dice to win the fight, no automatic double-dice to wound - unless you get a trap - and no +1 To Wound).

Smeagol's offensive profile is better than the Minor Ranger heroes (Anborn, Mablung, and Damrod are all F4/S4/1A heroes with 1 Might while Smeagol has F4/S4/2A with 1 Might) and costs about the same - and since you want these heroes shooting for as long as possible, Smeagol can slip towards their warbands if they're being pursued in order to lend a slightly stronger attack profile to the fight.

Smeagol is also one of four hero profiles in this list with 2 Attacks - the others being Faramir (F5/S4/2A, potentially 3A if mounted and on the charge), Captains of Minas Tirith (viewed earlier), and Madril (F4/S4/2A) - and since he doesn't have a bow and doesn't have Strike, Defense, or March, he's the most likely hero to have 1 Might point by the time fighting begins to actually boost his die rolls, making getting 6s more likely and having an edge over enemy warriors.

Unlike Frodo and Sam, Smeagol is S4 with 2 Attacks, which means that he can actually kill warriors. When backed by a spearman, he's even more deadly, since he gets more dice to win the fight (and it's easier for his fight to be in banner range if he's on the extremity of the battle line) and he has the spearman's die to try to wound the enemy as well. Depending on how you spear-support your units (or how you use Frodo and Sam), you may even be able to trap the enemy, which would be epic.

While most people compare him (and Sam - and sometimes Frodo) to the equivalent cost of Rangers that you're losing, Smeagol gives you something these Rangers just don't provide: a Might point. When your opponent is nearing your ranks and you want to skirmish a little longer, you may want to call a Heroic Move - do you really want Anborn, Mablung, or Damrod to have to spend their only Might to call a Heroic Move? Do you want Madril to do it? How about Faramir? Does your Captain want to call a Move now or on the turn after he's charged in with his lance to get another charge in? Smeagol doesn't really need his Might for a specific purpose - so that purpose becomes Heroic Moves! You could also call Heroic Combats with him - and as was just stated, he's pretty decent at killing a warrior in combat (especially if he has backup).

While you can get almost 4 F4/S3/1A warriors who all come with bows if you don't take Smeagol, you may not have the warrior slots to fit additional Rangers! Before the errata, you could swap Smeagol and Sam for a fully-decked Captain (and Frodo for 10 Rangers of Gondor/Warriors of Minas Tirith), but you couldn't get the warriors BEFORE getting the Captain - you just didn't have the room for them! Sure, those 11 models may have been better than the 3 we have now, but we have +3 Might and that does matter as the game drags on.

Smeagol is never going to have an impressive profile - he's only 30 points, after all. But his points efficiency is pretty good - he kills things well for being under 50pts - and if you compare him to the heroes we looked at in the last post, he stacks up pretty well against most of them in combat. Before you knock the little guy, run him - he might surprise you too.

Making It Work

Chances are good that if you're using Smeagol, it's in the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion. As such, you'll want to first and foremost identify if you need Smeagol, Sam, and Frodo in Faramir's warband or on their own. If you choose to have them with Faramir, you'll have 5 Might points embedded in your army leader's warband (with Sam's Might and Smeagol's Might ready to use for Heroic Moves so Frodo and Faramir can use theirs for Heroic Defense - or Strike for Faramir, though you may not need it for that).

This does reduce the number of Rangers you can include without them counting towards your bow limit, though, so depending on your points limit, you may want to run the travelers in their own warband instead of with Faramir just so you can include more Rangers with Faramir. At 800pts, I plan to run the following list - as you'll see, I don't have the warband space for Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol with Faramir, so I have to run them on their own:

• Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow [ARMY LEADER]
• 1 Warrior of Minas Tirith with shield, spear, and banner
• 8 Rangers of Gondor
  
• 6 Rangers of Gondor with spears
  
• Madril, Captain of Ithilien
• 6 Rangers of Gondor
  
• 5 Rangers of Gondor with spears
  
• Anborn, Ranger of Ithilien
• 4 Rangers of Gondor
  
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
  
• Mablung, Ranger of Ithilien
• 4 Rangers of Gondor
  
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
  
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien
• 4 Rangers of Gondor
  
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
  
• Frodo Baggins with Sting, Mithril coat, and Elven cloak
• Samwise Gamgee with Elven cloak
• Smeagol
  

800pts, 52 models, 48 bows hitting on a 3+ AND 2 thrown stones hitting on a 3+, 2 D6+ models, no fast models but 3 Might and March, 14 Might points

One of the biggest downsides of deploying the three travelers separately is if you have a maelstrom scenario and they're left to themselves, they could get swarmed and killed. Madril makes this less likely to occur, as you can surround them with other models by having better control over where your army arrives. If you know the scenarios you'll be playing ahead of time, you will know if this is even a concern - but if it is, just make sure that Madril goes down first, then the travelers, then Faramir, then everyone else (so they can react to where your three other warbands are).

Now those of you who play competitively will say, "but what about Lady of Light and other anti-archery models?" Well, with 48 bows (one of which gets a free Might point to use on a shooting roll each round), I'm expecting to get 8 hits/round - and 8 hits per round will still deal 1-2 wounds. With over 50 models, even anti-archery bubbles will see the enemy at a numbers disadvantage by the time we engage. Sure, I won't be dealing the outlandish hits I should, but I'll still be dealing a lot.

It's important to note that having the Captain and +10 models (4 of which could be Rangers) would only marginally increase this damage - we're getting 8% more firepower and less than one expected hit past Blinding Light. If Blinding Light isn't present on the other side, the 48 bows innately in the list are expected to get 32 hits and 5-6 kills if they need to wound on 6s. Boosting this by 4 extra bows would add an extra half kill, making 6 kills more likely each round. Again, not that much lost here.

At lower points levels, you can basically start dropping the supporting Ranger warbands - each of the smaller warbands (led by Damrod, then Mablung, then Anborn) costs 75-85pts, which means you can start dropping them (and maybe a few Rangers from Faramir's warband if you need a few more points) to get under the points limit. Where possible, I'd deploy Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol with Faramir, but if you don't have the warrior slots available, just deploy them on their own.

Conclusion

Well, that was fun. Smeagol isn't much to look at (profile or personage), but he packs a punch for his cost. In our next post, we're going to look at not one but TWO profiles that suffer similar critique: Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. These two heroes are some of the cheapest heroes in the game (and are available in two lists and a Legendary Legion) and while their profiles are, well, not very good, they can be surprising additions in several different kinds of lists. Are these guys useful? Or would it be better to just include more gear on your heroes? Let's find out next time - until then, happy hobbying!