Quest of the Ringbearer: Model Collection Update, Part IV

Good morning gamers,

From the sections we covered last year, I still don't have the Warg Riders I need for Part II of Quest of the Ringbearer. Today, we'll be digging into the part of the book that I am missing the most from: Frodo and Sam's journey from Amon Hen to Cirith Ungol. Let's dig in!

*** SPOILER ALERT: THERE IS AN IMAGE OF A SPIDER AT THE END OF THIS POST - YE BE WARNED IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPIDERS ***

Part IV: Emyn Muil to Cirith Ungol

This was the section that I flagged in my first post in this series as "the bad one" - but I have a surprising chunk of the models now.

Purchase #21: Smeagol

Smeagol - a "hero" who shows up in more scenarios than Gandalf does . . .

I picked up a second-hand Smeagol from eBay - this one is eating a fish, which I like better than the one on the large rock slab. I am working this year on the Rangers of Ithilien LL, so Smeagol eating a fish seemed the most appropriate sculpt for that army too.

Purchase #22: Ringwraith on Fell Beast

I don't have this guy, but because of some of the other models I will need, I'm planning on getting another Battle for Pelennor Fields box set either this year or next year. We'll see.

Purchase #23: 6 Dead Marsh Spectres

Two down, four to get . . .

I converted 2 Warriors of Numenor into spectres a while ago and need to convert 4 more models into spectres. Once I get another Pelennor Fields box, I plan to convert 4 Warriors of the Dead into spectres as well. Until then, I can just use my Barrow-Wights.

In Defense Of: Shelob

Good morning gamers,

*** SPOILER ALERT: THERE ARE IMAGES OF A SPIDER THROUGHOUT THIS POST - YE BE WARNED IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPIDERS ***

We're going to cover a model that I've recently started using, mostly because I've been collecting everything from the Quest of the Ringbearer sourcebook: Shelob. When I started playing the game back in late 2010, I looked at Shelob's profile in the "One Rulebook" and said, "Well, there's a model I don't need." And I moved on.

At the time, being F7 actually meant something - with only three heroic actions (Move, Shoot, and Combat), F5 heroes like Eomer and Faramir could really struggle against F6 Cave Trolls and Aragorns. Those F6 heroes and monsters could really struggle against F7 Dwellers in the Dark and Glorfindels. Shelob had the F7 - but what she lacked was the Attacks to really make her dangerous (though she had the equivalent of Monstrous Charge - it was a profile-specific rule back then called "Pounce").

Enter the Hobbit SBG era and all heroes gained access to Heroic Strike: with 1 Attack still in her profile (and Monstrous Charge) and the benefit of F7 very much reduced, Shelob still didn't look appealing. To be fair, my gaming group thought Heroic Strike/Strength were broken (to be fair, Piercing Strike was more broken back then), so we kept the old rules until the new rules release in 2017. Still, Shelob lurked in the shadows of disuse.

My humble Shelob - who doubled as my February submission for the Drawn Combat painting challenge last year!

With a new rules set arriving and a few new rules added to her profile, Shelob looked better, but still was a LOT of points to spend on an Independent Hero. Allying her into other armies isn't that hard to do now  (the Mouth of Sauron is a pretty cheap Hero of Valor), but she's still pretty expensive. It wasn't until the Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion dropped that made me think she was worth taking. Having played with that Legion a bit now, I can say I am impressed with her - and that many who haven't used her still critique her heavily. 

But since I'm a noob to Shelob, I decided I needed to enlist the help of Mik Bakalarz (who has not only been a big fan of Shelob for ages, but also ran her at Ardacon 2021 - check out his blogpost on his tournament results here). I've been following Mik's blog since I got started in the hobby back in 2010 (and love him work on the Unexpected Podcast too) - if you haven't read his stuff yet, check it out in the sidebar! So with some very helpful commentary from him (and some really sweet pictures!), let me shed some light on what I've learned from using her - let's get stuck in (a web)!

Facilitating Fun: Thoughts On The Veto System

Good morning gamers,

If you're like me, you love the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. Maybe it's because you love Tolkien's lore from the books (having reread the four main books again recently, I can tell you that rereading the books can reveal things you missed in previous reads). Maybe it's because you loved how Peter Jackson portrayed the original trilogy (and, for fewer of you out there, the Hobbit/bits of the appendices). Maybe it's because it's got great core mechanics that allow players to interact with each other (most of the time).

But sometimes, scenarios can get in the way of a fun game. We've all been there - we've stared down gunlines in To The Death, seen a Balrog on Contest of Champions, or had to face Goblin-town on Storm the Camp. In each of these scenarios, we know it's going to be an uphill battle to get a draw - and we've kissed winning goodbye and aren't looking back for fear we'll cry. Yep, sometimes scenarios are the problem with the game - and while we can look at the 18 scenarios we have on the whole and say, "That looks pretty balanced," we still have that one scenario or two that we're like, "I don't really want to play this scenario with my army."

The Matched Play Guide helped with this some in two ways: first and foremost, there were new scenarios handed to us, which makes random generation of scenarios less likely to draw the one or two scenarios we don't want for a particular army (though let's face it: no matter what the odds are, you'll still draw Contest of Champions when you have Galadriel from Lothlorien as your army leader - it's just meant to be). Second, we received "pools" so that tournament directors can pick the "kinds of scenarios" they want to play (while simultaneously being able to justify omitting other ones that prove problematic). Thanks, GW, we're all grateful.

But if scenarios are either randomly generated or pre-determined, you still could face an army that is optimized to perform well (or "automatically win") at one or more of the selected scenarios. And if you haven't poured the time, thought, and sometimes money, into getting a similarly optimized list, you could walk out of a multi-game tournament and feel like it was a waste of your time. While we could complain about scenarios until the end of time, the Aussies came up with a solution that appears to be working around the globe: the Veto System.

In Defense Of: Mordor Uruk-Hai

Good morning gamers,

There is no faction with more unit choices (warrior or hero) than Mordor - even in previous editions, while the Kingdoms of Men, the non-Men Free Peoples, the Fallen Realms, and the northern Orc/Goblin Kingdoms all got rolled into books together, Mordor got a book all its own - because it just didn't have room to share with anyone else! The natural result of having lots of profiles is that slight differences between units tends to make some models look really good and others look less useful. And one of the units that tends to be snubbed by competitive players is Mordor Uruk-Hai.

With a resurgence of popularity surrounding the Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion (a list that thematically-minded players ran before it was cool), Mordor Uruk-Hai are back on the market and are seeing success at lower points levels. But what do these guys bring to a NORMAL Mordor army? I've been playing with the Legion some over the past few months and have taken what I've learned while playing with a far more restrictive list and have started applying it to my normal Mordor play. And I've been loving it. So let's look at what makes Mordor Uruk-Hai look bad and what they bring to the table!

Six Mordor Uruk-Hai - each with an Orc bow (these have been scavenged from Goblins and half of an Elf bow) and/or quiver of dark-feathered arrows

Why NOT To Take Mordor Uruk-Hai

Mordor is the most developed faction in the game - period. It has more NAMED hero profiles than most factions have TOTAL profiles. Within its warrior selection, you have options for infantry (both light and heavy), cavalry (both light and heavy), siege weapons (both cheap and expensive), a war beast (which is surprisingly cheap), and monsters. When you add in the hero profiles, you have expensive heroes who have incredibly dangerous profiles, mid-cost heroes who pack a punch, and cheap heroes with lots of Might. Add to that a wide variety of heroes with Heroic Strike, Heroic March, and/or Heroic Defense (and one with Master of Battle) and you have everything you really need for an army. Oh, and you can ally historically with Easterlings and the Serpent Horde (both of which have proven to be dangerous combinations both here at TMAT and in the international community).

New Gaming Board: The Spicy Board!

Hey Reader!

So in preparation for 2022 TMAT Grand Tournament, I decided to build a new gaming board. I've been storing up foam for about a year now, and as I was casually chatting with my wife about the tournament, the question of when the foam that was taking over the laundry room was going to disappear came up, and that's when I decided it was time to build a new board (in addition to trying out army lists to see what I'd take).

But this would not be just any board: it would have three elements that I've wanted to do for a while. First, it would have a few ruined walls, as walls are cool, fun to make, and I haven't made any out of foam yet, so I wanted to make some. Second, it would use variations in elevation for strategic play instead of obstructions, thereby making the board look open from an archery and movement perspective, but due to the undulating terrain there is a strategic advantage to being on a specific side of a hill to get In the Ways against archery, thereby still allowing archers to shoot and use their cool tricks, but also provide reasonable cover against ranged attacks. And finally, I wanted to use spices to create the board, instead of just using standard terrain elements like flocking, tufts, trees, etc.

And the result is a ruined Arnor town, complete with three barrow mounds. And here's how we made it.

Step 1: Sort the Foam

So many shapes, sizes, and materials!

Feast your eyes - one Amazon Fire TV, two 3D printers, and a few other random boxes all containing foam later, and you've got a wide range of foam for our use. Also, huge thanks to Home Depot for the polystyrene sheets: naturally we won't be using the foam for the base of the board, as we want something long and relatively durable for that, and for that I always turn to those pink workhorses.

Most of the foam falls into one of two categories: packing foam which is dense and relatively easy to cut into clean lines if you have a sharp knife, as it will move with the cut as it has some give in it. We'll use these for some of the hills and slopes, as well as some of the structures. We also have the "popcorn" variety made of thousands of little dots, which is lighter and easier to carve, but is difficult to make straight lines or precise cuts with due to the nature of the foam. I plan to use that for some mountain and cave terrain, where non-straight lines are ideal.

And so with that, we start work on the board.

In Defense Of: Captains of Rohan (aka "my Ode to Ordwald")

Good morning gamers,

In this series, we've looked at a lot of profiles that don't look good - either because a model has a weak statline, costs "too much", or might have to be your army leader when you'd rather have another model take that place. Today we'll be looking at a completely different model - a model that has a perfectly good statline, but is seemingly unnecessary in his faction because  . . . well, there are PLENTY of "better" named models to choose from. Yes, we're looking at Captains of Rohan.

While not the actual Captain of Rohan, Ordwald (astride his faithful and fearless steed, Fluttershy) is one of my favorite Rohan models - and has killed many, MANY foes . . .

There are two generic Rohan heroes: King's Huntsmen (available in vanilla Rohan, the Defenders of Helm's Deep LL, and Helm's Guard LL) and Captains of Rohan (available in vanilla Rohan, all 6 Rohan-centric Legendary Legions, AND the Men of the West LL). King's Huntsmen might have a place in the Defenders of Helm's Deep LL because everyone is infantry and could have a place in Helm's Guard as well (though Matt Iverson says no from experience), but with vanilla Rohan being encouraged to go all-cav and having LOTS of named heroes to choose from, it's hard to include King's Huntsmen in a vanilla Rohan list without feeling like they'll be left behind.

Captains of Rohan don't really seem to have a place in most Rohan lists either. Generally speaking, generic heroes are the only source of Heroic March in a faction (or are a better alternative for March than using the Might on a big hero like Dain or Suladan). The problem, of course, is that several named Rohan heroes have Heroic March (Theoden, Gamling, Erkenbrand, Deorwine) and their profiles are better on the whole than Captains of Rohan (permanently F5 instead of situationally F5, 3 Might instead of 2 Might, extra shenanigans on the side for all). In addition, most Rohan-oriented Legendary Legions include at least one of these guys (the Riders of Theoden and the Paths of the Druadan have Theoden, Gamling, and Deorwine; the Defenders of Helm's Deep have Theoden and Gamling - and Aragorn, of course; the Riders of Eomer have Erkenbrand), so it's not like a reduced set of heroes will cause you to "need" this guy (though Helm's Guard and Theodred's Guard will - more on that later). So if you wanted to take a Captain of Rohan on horse with heavy armor, shield, and maybe a ranged weapon (65-70pts), why not pay an extra 5-15pts for Elfhelm or Deorwine (or an extra 30-50pts for Theoden or Gamling)?

Skirmishing Against Shieldwalls: The Bayeux Tapestry and the Battle of Hastings

Good morning gamers,

In this month's formations post, we're looking at the Battle of Hastings. We actually referenced this battle a few years ago in a post on Shieldwall formations, but today we will look at the historical record as presented through an odd medium: a large hand-crafted tapestry that has been replicated at least once and tells the protracted history that led up to the Battle of Hastings. This is none other than the Bayeux Tapestry.

The Bayeux Tapestry: How the Normans and Saxons Fought

As I mentioned when we reviewed the Battle of Brunanburh, there is a tendency in these "original sources" to provide propaganda. This is true here too - the Normans built the Tapestry (Bayeux is a city in Northern France/Normandy) and so it shows many of the Norman exploits in a positive light. If you want to watch a humorous review of the entire tapestry, I highly recommend you watch Lindybeige's YouTube video on it - it's really great. The Battle of Hastings shows up near the end of the tapestry and shows us two things: first, that the Saxons created a shieldwall (the men standing close together with their shields linked and their spears raised) and that the Normans . . . didn't (or at least, that's not all they did).

Why is that? We see two things about the method of warfare for the Normans: archers on foot and cavalry charging into the fray (with spears, swords, and clubs). Now if you look at visualizations of the attack (either here or here), you'll see that the Normans did use heavy infantry (and they probably formed a shieldwall). But the emphasis of the Norman invasion wasn't primarily about the shieldwall - it was about having a toolkit of options that could harass your opponent and draw out the enemy with shooting. No "I'm gonna spending all day pressed up against the enemy shieldwall" method of fighting for the Normans - they wanted to find a more expedient alternative.

We've been talking about Shieldwalls a lot recently - and in MESBG, shieldwalls are incredibly common (and can be a quagmire for many armies). We've looked at ways to break the enemy shieldwall by concentrating your power and reforming your shieldwall to wrap-and-trap the enemy, but let's take a deeper dive into how to skirmish with enemy shieldwalls - which is particularly useful if you don't think you can survive a fight with the enemy shieldwall.

In Defense Of: Catapult Trolls

Good morning gamers,

Today we're continuing our discussion of models that get maligned by the community and our travels take us to the most expensive warrior monster in the game (since war beasts are hero selections): Catapult Trolls from Azog's Legion. While no official model has been released for this guy yet (I expect he'll get released with whatever Hobbit-equivalent-of-Quest-of-the-Ringbearer sourcebook is made), there are some alternate sculpts from other companies (one of which is shown on this blog) OR you could just strap a catapult-looking-thing to a Gundabad Troll.

However you choose to do it, there are lots of things these guys get critiqued for - probably because they're found in Azog's Legion with a lot of other monsters (and a few big heroes). To examine this unit, I've asked my son Gorgoroth to share his insights on the model, since he's been using Azog's Legion (and specifically this model) a LOT recently. Take it away mate!

No, my son doesn't own this one, but it does look cool - Photo Credit: Reddit.com

Why NOT To Take Catapult Trolls

Gorgoroth: First of all, their Courage is very low, so if you're facing Terror, you want them to shoot instead. If they fight someone (especially another Troll), they'll probably have a lower or the same Fight Value as their opponent. Like most siege weapons, they need to stand still if they want to hit you on a 4+ - otherwise, they can move and shoot, but will only hit on a 6. When compared to Gundabad Trolls (with scythe gauntlets or crushing club), the Catapult Troll has a lower Fight Value (F6 vs. F7) and otherwise has a similar profile. 

Azog's Legion has a LOT of monster warrior choices . . .

TMAT Talks: Episode 20 - And the Oscar goes to...

Happy Friday everyone! Have we got a show for YOU today!

In preparation for TMAT's upcoming Grand Tournament, Tiberius, Centaur and Rythbryt have stumbled on THE hidden gem of MESBG. Having trouble with wizards? Blinding Light? Huge heroes? Elves with sneaky cloaks? Those annoying forests that pop up everywhere?

Well, no more.

Curious? We thought you might be. So join us as we devour some spilled beans.

It's a labor of love, from us to you. Happy Friday!

Now available on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts!

Music: Happy Haunts by Aaron Kenny

For more from the TMAT team, check out tellmeatalegreatorsmall.blogspot.com!
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Uber Show Notes (in honor of today):

Intro (0:00)

The BIG reveal! (1:56)