In Defense Of: Harry Goatleaf

Good morning gamers,

Today we're continuing our discussion on models that don't receive much love from the community. Today's model has been described by Matt Iverson from the Unexpected Podcast team as "the only guy we are less likely to put in an army [than Barliman Butterbur]" - yes, we're looking at Harry Goatleaf, member of the Wanders in the Wild, Sharkey's Rogues, and the Chief's Ruffians Legendary Legion.

"What do you want?"

Why NOT To Take Harry Goatleaf

Harry Goatleaf costs 40pts and is . . . well, not very impressive. Here are a few heroes that are around 40pts - and for thematic reasons, I have picked only Hobbit characters (see our post on Denethor earlier in this series for a larger sampling):

Lackluster profile much?

Harry Goatleaf gets the usual critiques that surround models from the Wanderers in the Wild list (can't lead troops, often make you lose your army bonus) - and to boot, his profile is really weak with only 1 Attack, 1 Might point with no specialized heroic actions, and Defense 3 with 2 Wounds/1 Fate. As we saw in our reviews of Denethor and Smeagol, there are heroes who have decent combat stats for 40pts or less - and Harry isn't on that list.

Harry also has a Lantern that gets some critique - like Blinding Light, it illuminates a 12" radius around Harry Goatleaf. However, unlike Blinding Light, you can't turn it off AND there is no "hit-on-6s" anti-archery bubble from it. Instead, you just illuminate an area - your models, your opponent's models, etc. This will only come into play (for good or for ill) in one scenario out of eighteen - but in that one scenario, it does nothing for you. The fact that you can't turn this off can be a huge liability - especially if you're only D3 with 2 Wounds/1 Fate in a scenario where the enemy will get +1 To Wound and can shoot at you from as far away as they wish. With all this in mind, he's more likely to be run in Sharkey's Rogues or the Chief's Ruffians LL instead of being allied into another force from the Wanderers in the Wild.

If you run all of the named heroes from the Chief's Ruffians LL, you'll spend 280pts on 8 models. After you've added 12 Hobbit Militia with Ted Sandyman and 7 Ruffians with bows (because one-third of your models rounding up can have bows), you'll have spent 370pts. Add an extra 30 Ruffians with either whips or bows and you'll be at 550pts. At 800pts, you can get up to 98 models if all of your Ruffians have either whips or bows - and four of your models can have weapon swaps (4 Hobbit Militia with flails, perhaps). The question is: does Harry Goatleaf give you anything of value that 7 more Ruffians (-2 weapon swaps or -2 whips) would give you?

For most Sharkey's Rogues players, I imagine that the answer to that is simple - we want 104 models instead of 98 with Harry Goatleaf (in the Legion, you don't have a choice - you only have room for 12 Hobbit Militia and 68 Ruffians because you can't take leaderless warbands until you take all of the named heroes). But . . . there's value in taking Harry Goatleaf in a Ruffian list (Legion or otherwise). Let's take a look at what he brings to the table.

Why TO Take Harry Goatleaf

Harry Goatleaf, like Barliman Butterbur, doesn't have an impressive profile. When you compare him to the other Ruffian heroes, he's . . . well, what you'd expect:

Harry Goatleaf: Just Another Ruffian Boy . . .

Some heroes (like Sid, Rowan, and sometimes Worm) have better combat profiles, but for the most part, you're looking at 1 Attack/2 Wound heroes (like Harry). Most are F3 as well with 1 Might point - which means Harry may not be good, but he's no worse than the other heroes in the list. Most also have daggers (which aren't as good as axes when you're low Defense) or clubs (whose special strike us really unreliable), so Harry isn't lacking in this department either.

Where most heroes gain an advantage over Harry is what they can do for the Legion/Sharkey's Rogues list. Sid Briarthorn counts as a banner (very useful), Rowan Thistlewood can set a house/wood on fire along with everyone in the piece of terrain (also really good), and Ted Sandyman can bring Hobbit Militia in your army (good against area-of-effect magic and cheap troops). Lotho Sackville-Baggins isn't a great fighter but works like a shaman - really useful when your troops have abysmal courage.

Sharkey and Worm are potentially better than Harry, but you really don't want Sharkey anywhere near the enemy (being one of the squishiest army leaders in the game) and Worm is only better than Harry if he can't be seen by anyone (which can be very hard to pull off). Bill Ferny is without a doubt the worst Ruffian hero, since he has basically the same profile as Harry, but has 1 Will (instead of 3 Will) and can potentially make one enemy warband arrive where it doesn't want to in certain scenarios maelstrom scenario (or force an extra Might point to be spent). In trade, Harry gives us two very useful rules.

The first useful rule he provides is . . . his lantern. Yes, you can illuminate your own troops in Clash by Moonlight, but a previous FAQ has clarified that walls and tall blocking terrain will keep models on the other side of said terrain from being illuminated. This means that if you have Harry moving from terrain piece to terrain piece with other terrain pieces blocking your own troops from his path, you can avoid illuminating your own troops with the light. Once any of your opponent's figures are within range of Harry's lantern, you can shoot at them from far away - and in most Ruffian lists, you're likely to have a TON of bows that are incredibly good in Clash by Moonlight.

The second rule he has is the Gatekeeper rule, which provides a unique way of dealing with many of the powerful models in the game - here's the text:

[ACTIVE] During the Priority phase, after Priority has been rolled, Harry Goatleaf may spend a point of Will to use this special rule. If he does so, select one enemy Infantry model within 6" and line of sight of Harry Goatleaf and roll a D6. On a 3+, the chosen model cannot move that turn, though they can still do anything else they would normally be able to do. Harry may use Might to influence this roll. Monster models are unaffected by this special rule.

Harry has 3 Will points - and your likelihood of getting a 3+ three times is only an ~30% chance, but since you can boost one of those rolls with Might, you have a 0.5185 probability (or ~52% chance) of getting three successful rootings during a game. Unlike an Immobilize/Transfix, the Gatekeeper rule is resolved during the Priority phase (after the priority roll, but before the Move phase begins) AND can't be resisted (like magical powers). With an effective equivalent of Immobilize on a 3+ (better in some respects, no impact on the Fight Phase though), this makes Harry Goatleaf comparable to other Auxiliary mages - though a lot cheaper than most of them. If you can root an enemy army leader or a killing machine model in place for three turns, you can buy your troops time to trap enemy models OR you can guarantee that you have a prime target that you can shoot to death (with bows, most likely - though whips and thrown stones can be useful too).

Now there are two very big limitations to this ability: first and foremost, the Gatekeeper rule doesn't work on Cavalry models. If you plan to use this to root an army leader in place for three turns, you'll need to make sure that any mount the army leader is riding is dead before he gets within 6" of Harry Goatleaf. I guess you know what you're doing with all those bows, eh?

Second, the Gatekeeper rule doesn't work on monsters. This is not surprising, but it is a bit of a pain, since some armies rely on monsters to deal the weight of their damage - and monsters tend to have high enough Defense that your archery won't do much against them. Some monsters (like Cave Trolls and Dwellers in the Dark) can probably be shot to death, but most monsters (like Cave Drakes and Gundabad Trolls) are not going to fall easily. As such, it would be nice if Harry could root these guys in place too - but alas, you can't.

The good news is that you can use the Gatekeeper rule to stop Heroic Moves from being called by certain models. In most cases, a big hero wants a smaller hero (maybe a generic Captain) to be nearby to call Heroic Moves for them so that the big hero can call Heroic Combats or Heroic Strikes. If you're not sure you can dismount the big hero, dismount the little hero (if he was mounted in the first place) and after you determine priority, you can declare, "I'm going to target that Captain of Numenor with my Gatekeeper rule . . . **rolls dice** . . . got a 5!" While the Captain isn't prevented from calling a Heroic Move, he can't move this turn, so everyone will need to stay within 6" of him if he calls a Move. This may not cause that much of an inconvenience, but it will keep the enemy from spreading out - and if you've got a horde of Ruffians running around their flanks, those Ruffians will be free to go where they please. That's useful.

It's also important to note that in a Good vs. Evil context, facing monster models is unlikely - and depending on your points level, the number of mounted model on the board may be small or none. There are plenty of Infantry heroes who made our Top 50 Slayers list and you can root any of them if you want to.

Making It Work

I'll admit that Harry Goatleaf will probably never be a competitive choice, but here are some options for getting more use out of him than your opponent thinks:

• Run him with Ruffians - the Forces of Good don't have to ally in Harry Goatleaf because they have heroes for comparable cost that can lead warriors (like Denethor) or you can just add more troops (assuming you have the warrior slots for them) or upgrade the troops you have to more elite troops. With Sharkey's Rogues, Harry may be your only option for dealing with slayers in your enemy ranks - and while he may expose models to enemy archery in one scenario, you've got more where they came from.
• Maximize your bows - Ruffians should probably do this anyway, but if you can pin someone in place, having as many bows as possible means you could have several turns of relentless shooting at a hero (or other important model) that can't do anything. You'll also need to take out horses if you want to be effective at stopping models with Gatekeeper, so make sure you bring bows!
• Always buy whips - you can save money and get a few more models (including a few more bows) if you don't take whips, but whips not only give you additional shooting options (albeit at a short range and a low Strength) but also give you some tactical options for using your Ruffians. I won't go into detail here - I don't want to stomp on our post for next week. :)

A Chief's Ruffians list writes itself most of the time - it's only how you allocate your Ruffians that gives you some choice (this list has 6 weapon swaps and 81 models at 700pts). You could get an extra Ruffian with whip, but I've opted for half of my Hobbit Militia to swap their daggers with flails:

• Sharkey
• Worm
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• 5 Ruffians with Bows
• Sid Briarthorn, Ruffian Chief
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• 4 Ruffians with Bows
• Rowan Thistlewood, Ruffian Enforcer
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• 4 Ruffians with Bows
• Bill Ferny
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• 4 Ruffians with Bows
• Harry Goatleaf
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• Lotho Sackville-Baggins
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• 4 Ruffians with Bows
• Ted Sandyman
• 6 Hobbit Militia with axes
• 6 Hobbit Militia with weapon-swapped flails
• 1 Ruffian with Whip
• 5 Ruffians with Whips
• 4 Ruffians with Bows

It's important to note that you have PLENTY of warrior slots in the hero warbands, so if you wanted to NOT have a heroless warband (or wanted Harry Goatleaf to be on his own), you could do that.

Conclusion

I'm not sure that Harry is as useful as the other models we've looked at in this series, but I think he's worth taking (if you like Ruffians). Of course, my son tells me that Ruffians are garbage, but don't listen to the nay-sayers - Ruffians are good because they have a unique way of doing the quantity-is-quality thing.

In our next post, we'll be looking at the lowly Ruffian - the backbone of any Sharkey's Rogues list or Chief's Ruffians LL. These guys look bad - and they are - but being bad troops doesn't mean you can't make them work (and having a bad profile isn't uncommon for evil forces). So what is it that turns most players off from taking these guys when Orcs and Goblins (who have similarly bad profiles for roughly the same cost) gather players by the hundreds? We'll delve into what's perceived to be lacking in this profile and how you can make up for it. See you next time - until then, happy hobbying!