In Defense Of: Ted Sandyman

 Hey Reader!

Today we're continuing the In Defense Of series, and Tiberius asked me to jump in and chat about Ted Sandyman, as we're finishing out "Ruffian Month," and the In Defense Of series wouldn't be complete without referencing one of the models I referred to as one of the ten worst evil slayers in the game. We will start by looking at why people tell you not to take him, then we'll discuss why you should take him, and then close out by discussing how to make him work effectively in your army list.

Why NOT To Take Ted Sandyman

Was planning on painting these guys this month, but
I've been working on stuff for the tournament. April, though!

Most of this comes down to profile: if you're going to get a hero, you should be getting someone that will be useful to you, either by providing a useful special rule to aid your team (like the Goblin Scribe, who sucks at everything except one thing: flooding your enemy with free guys), or calling useful heroic actions (like captains calling Heroic March), or having good stats (like the combat heroes and wizards have).

Ted has none of these: he has no special heroic actions, which means you can use his 1 Might Point to call a Heroic Move (or maybe a Heroic Combat if you happen to be in a fight you like with, say, Sid Briarthorn or Rowan Thistlewood), but other than that, he's not helping on that score. He has no auric or helpful special rules (beyond the one that limits his warband to F1 S2 models), unless you count Resistant to Magic which is more of a personal bonus than anything else unless you happen to fight a wizard with an area of effect spell.

And as a hobbit, it's not surprising when I say that he has bad heroic stats: for +15 points you could get a Moria Goblin Captain who is +1 Fight, +1 Strength, +1 Defense, +1" of movement, +1 Wound, +1 Might, and access to Heroic March - almost a straight +1 across the board over Ted in every category (in exchange for slightly better shooting with a S1 stationary 8" throwing weapon and Resistant to Magic).

That's bad.

He's even bad compared to other hobbit heroes: there's a reason that Shire armies don't miss this guy. Robin Smallburrow costs the same number of points, but he gets +1 Fight Value, a hand-and-a-half club (which means he can stun people on a 5+ instead of trying to bash them starting from S2), +1 Courage, access to Heroic March, the Woodland Creature special rule (if you keep the army bonus), and a useful deployment advantage for his warband when you roll for deployment. And in exchange, you lose...nothing. Literally nothing. You get all of the same benefits as you get from Ted but more (as you can take more than just militia in his warband, and you're also a Hero of Fortitude).

Folco Boffin also costs the same amount of points, and while he's unarmed, you exchange the hammer that Ted has and 1 Might Point for 2 Will Points but also the ability to spend your 3 Will Points to allow Frodo to call a Heroic Move - which is HUGE because both Folco and Frodo shouldn't be fighting in the first place, so their unarmed status really shouldn't come into play at all.

But wait, it gets worse! Ted is arguably worse than hobbits that cost less than him. Consider the lowly Fredegar Bolger - the cheapest hero in the game at 10 points (well, tied with Sigrid and Tilda I suppose, but you have to buy them as a pair, so technically if you look at it that way he's cheaper), and Ted Sandyman (who costs +10 points) gives you +1 Might, +1 Will, and a hammer (compared to unarmed) in exchange for the Woodland Creature special rule (assuming you keep the army bonus) and a wide body (which makes Fatty Bolger a great In the Way for protecting your heroes from archery - thereby also employing his 1 Fate Point quite effectively). 

Like...I can see the argument as to why you'd say he's better than Fredegar, but is he +10 points better than ol' Fatty? I'm not sure he is.

Forget the fact that there are other hobbits that are only 5-10 points more than him that get access to 2 Might instead of 1, better Fight Value, better Strength, and can lead just as many men if not more men (in the case of Paladin Took) with useful bonuses, and you can see that Ted, even for value, is not high on the list of hobbits in the game. Let alone if we start comparing him to goblins or even the ruffians he joins.

So should you take Ted? Absolutely!

Why TO Take Ted Sandyman

Now I'll be honest: when Tiberius said I should make this post, I wondered who in their right mind wouldn't take this guy, as he was the add-on to Sharkey's Rogues I got most excited about when I first read the book (then I reread Rowan's special rule, and I got more excited about that, but that's not what this post is about, so moving on). I've been a Shire player for a while, and while hobbit militia don't have great stats, in large numbers they are reliable fight winners and you can feed them to your opponent without worrying about losing much of anything.

Ted offers you three benefits as a Sharkey's Rogues player. First, he's a 20 point Fortitude hero, allowing you to add 12 guys to your army without a heavy tax to add the hero. And in an army of 40-60 point heroes, this also makes him a discount over every other hero in the list, which is saying something as these are some of the cheapest evil heroes in the game.

Second, he must lead hobbit militia, which means he's leading 4pt models in his warband (5 if you give them a weapon swap, but personally I think their axes are perfectly serviceable). This means you can get a full warband of 13 models for 68 points - that is a bargain, especially since all of them are coming into it with Resistant to Magic and throwing stones (not great, but hey - free throwing weapons with an 8" range. Not bad).

And finally, like many of Sharkey's Rogues, he's not a fighter. Yes, you heard that right: the benefit of Ted is that he's not a warrior. That means you can use his Might Point to call Heroic Moves, possibly a Heroic Combat if you feel good about him and those in his fight killing the guy they are fighting, and not feel bad about spending that Might Point.

Ted gives you access to good magic defense against area of effect spells, both through his Will Point and Resistant to Magic, as well as through giving you hobbits you can sprinkle around the area where the caster is at to use their Resistant to Magic to help you. And for dirt cheap so that you can fit it into any points level of games. That's fantastic.

Making It Work

Thankfully Ted is about as blunt an instrument on the battlefield as his hammer, so using him is pretty simple: spread out your hobbits so you get a wider range of magic defense, more coverage for throwing stones, and sprinkle in your S2 so you don't feel the impact as much as you combine them with your S3 ruffians. Then bull rush the enemy at 4" a turn and roll for 6s - which your ruffians at F2 were probably needing anyway to have a chance to win the fight, so a F2 hero and F1 warriors really doesn't change much in that regard.

In terms of list building, though, I am not going to make a pure Sharkey's Rogues list, as frankly that's pretty straightforward: you take most of the heroes in the list, flesh them out with troops, and you're done. And we've already talked about most of the heroes this month in one way or another, so instead I'm going to do something different.

The real benefit of Ted is that he doesn't have any bonuses that are unique to Sharkey's Rogues - he doesn't even get any benefits from the Sharkey's Rogues army bonus. So we're going to build a small hit squad that you can ally into any Forces of Evil army that gives you the following four things: access to a 2+ Immobilize 3-4 times per game (which I think every Forces of Evil army would like to have), increased magic defense from hobbits, long range bows, and 31 bodies for dirt cheap. So here's the list:

Warband 1

-Sharkey and Worm: 60pts

-6 Ruffians with Whips: 36pts

-10 Ruffians with Bows: 60pts

Warband 2

-Ted Sandyman: 20pts

-12 Hobbit Militia with Axes: 48pts

TOTAL: 224 pts, 31 models, 2 Might, 1 Spellcaster, 10 Bows, 13 Resistant to Magic models

Now it's worth noting you can do this for cheaper - you can drop the whips (and 1 bow), and you could trade out Sharkey and Worm for Sid Briarthorn (as he's Valour, so he can be allied with any army, and that would give you a banner effect for your ruffians, but not your hobbits). I went with Sharkey and Worm, though, in part because spellcasting (especially with such a useful spell on a 2+) is more rare than a partial army banner effect, but also because I wanted an even 30 models for the army, and Sid can only get you to 29. So I went with Sharkey and Worm.

But for just under 225 points you can add 31 models, 2 Might Points, a spellcaster, a potential F4 3 Attack S3 model (so basically Gollum), a wide array of magic defense, 10 bows (which is +6" over an orc bow with the same Shoot Value and Strength value), and almost 20 throwing weapons (admittedly with some of them being stationary, but hey: 3+ Shoot Value on most of those). Not a bad value add to any army.

And since you're looking at an Impossible Alliance any which way you cut it, you might as well throw this into your Barad Dur army to pad the numbers for Sauron. Or tack it onto William and Tom from The Trolls for a 500pt tournament (and add in the other two ruffians you can fit in Sharkey's warband to get you to a perfect 500), giving you Immobilize on top of sneezes and William's overwhelming damage potential.

And why stop there? Tack these guys onto Smaug and add in another hero like Sid leading a few guys for a 1000pt match. What's better than Immobilize combined with fire (well, there are things, but hey - work with me here)? This little squad is super useful, and it gets to the numbers and the value that it offers thanks to Ted.

So take Ted.

Conclusion

This month has been so interesting for me, because I've always loved the Shire armies and I've always found Sharkey's Rogues fascinating. I'm slowly collecting them, and someday I hope to run them, but at the very least I can see the value of what they offer. I hope you see some of it too through this part of our series.

Until next time, you know where to find me,

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"Trivial hurts, tiny human accidents," said Firenze, as his hooves thudded over the mossy floor.  "These are no more significant than the scurrying of ants to the wide universe, and are unaffected by planetary movements." ~ Firenze, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix