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)!

Why NOT To Take Shelob

So let's start with the simple stuff: Shelob has a lot of eye-sore stats. She's just under 100pts, but with 1 Attack, 0 Might, 0 Fate, and "only" Courage 4, a Shelob that hasn't charged and is trapped could be in some massive trouble. She's got 6 Will points to help her pass those Survival Instinct checks, but with no Resistant to Magic, she runs the real risk of having that store reduced by enemy magic before she starts taking damage. She's got pretty good Defense for being a monster (D7), but without the ability to make Fate saves, you're gonna be taking those Courage tests as soon as any S3+ glancing blow gets a 6 (or less). Oh, and insta-kills will apply to you (whether it's Drain Soul, Dragon fire, or a siege weapon) - so if you face one of those, there's a high possibility that an opponent's dangerous piece will pay for itself after it deals a single wound to you. Ouch . . .

Mik's Shelob from SBG Magazine - vastly superior to what I do . . .

Shelob has great movement, but she's incredibly hard to hide from view - she's got a very bulbous abdomen and if you go with her natural pose, she's reared up to be even more visible. Sure, you can put models in the way of her (if they can keep up), but she's gonna attract all the archery attention of the enemy - and has no answers to avoiding whatever damage is dealt besides "passing Courage tests." Now Mik will tell you that it's okay if your opponent wastes his archery on her - D7 with 6 Wounds (and 6 Will to pass Survival Instinct checks) doesn't go down easily. Still, if you have insta-kill siege weapons on the other side of the board, it's a problem.

Third, at 90 points, you have a lot of competitive killing options in the Mordor army list that may just be better than her. Mik mentioned in his review of his experience at Ardacon 2021 that he may have done better if he'd left Shelob and 25pts of warriors at home and brought Shagrat instead - and this is probably the root of the problem that Mordor players face: with so many good, budget heroes available to Mordor, you wonder whether or not you should field Shelob instead of one of these bruiser Orcs/Uruks. With new heroes like Razgush bringing Bat Swarms to the table, old heroes like Shagrat with 3M/3W/3F, and those 60-80pt Orc heroes from Gondor at War (to say nothing of alliance options), the question is begged if Shelob even has a place anymore in a normal Mordor list. Here's a side-by-side comparison with some of the heroes mentioned above (blue cells indicate that the hero has Heroic Strike, orange cells indicate whether the hero has something that will help him wound better):

Shelob compared to Shagrat, the "Orc fighty heroes" who are under 100pts, and Mordor's Troll options . . .

As you can see above, while Shelob has a Fight Value/Strength advantage over most of her opponents, all of them have Heroic Strike (and have at least a 50% chance of getting a better FV than Shelob) and most (not Gorbag) have some kind of rule that gives them bonuses To Wound (either knocking stuff over with a special shield, +1 Strength, or +1 To Wound). The Trolls have a few stats that are worse and are ultimately more expensive, but their combat stats are the same/better than Shelob's. I agree with Mik there may be other options that are more competitive than Shelob, but (as Mik himself mentioned in his tournament review) Shelob does bring a few things to the party that her budget comparisons just don't bring - let's look at those.

Why TO Take Shelob

As a slight digression, if you haven't looked at Shelob in her Legion, check out the article I wrote about it here - she's great there (though I do think you need an Orc/Uruk Captain with Heroic March before you get her). Our focus today, though, is in a pure Mordor list, since that's really where she's competing for a slot. First off, Shelob's a Monster - which means you have some very interesting options with Brutal Power Attacks. Yes, Shelob has Monstrous Charge - and when you're on the Charge, you become a 2A model (decent, but not great) and double those dice when you ram into stuff that's S6 or below (which is basically anyone who isn't a monster or a hero who has called Heroic Strength). There are times when this will be very helpful.

But if you've been charged and you only have 1 Attack, dealing 1 S7 hit isn't that likely to do anything. So instead, you should remember you're a monster and look to your Brutal Power Attacks. Rend is . . . not going to be great for you (unless you're facing something you won't knock over with Monstrous Charge), but Hurl will be awesome. Hurling from S7 means that your average S3-4 opponent will be thrown D3+(3 or 4)" away from you - which is 4-7" away, depending on your opponent and your roll. Since you were charged, it's probably too much to hope that you get to do this down a battle line, but if you're careful with your positioning, you probably won't be charged until the second round of combat (you come sweeping in to devastate people on the first round and then get "locked down" during the second round). If you Hurled during the first turn (assuming you didn't have a juicy Captain to run over on your first charge), your opponent may already be wary of a Hurl, but as Centaur loves to teach us with his Cave Troll horde army, sometimes there's nothing you can do about it once you've committed to combat.

If you don't have a great Hurl opportunity, Barge can be your friend. Again, if you're careful with your maneuvering, you've probably only been engaged after you've slammed into the enemy - which means someone is around. If you can slam into 1-2 spearmen and trap them for your opponent, you can not only kill the guys you charge (Monstrous Charge anyone?), but you can also make it easier to kill other enemy models too. Oh, and if you are charged away from the action, Barge gets you your charge back on and you can knock the bloke over. Remember though: you can't both Barge and Hurl on the same turn, so don't worry about lining up a good Hurl with your extra movement.

But if you don't have a great Hurl line and you aren't likely to Barge into anyone, you can always try to use Caught in a Web, a unique Brutal Power Attack for Shelob that allows her to target a non-Monster, multi-wound model (effectively) in her fight and if the model suffers a wound from a single S7 hit (what she'd be rolling if she wounded normally) and the wound isn't blocked by Fate, the model becomes Paralyzed. If you're out of position, this can be a great way to dismount one of those 0-1 Fate heroes who decided to tag you before you could get into the fray - though in general, I think she'll find few situations where this BPA is useful.

Talk about hard to hide from archery, am I right?

Additionally, Shelob is F7/S7 with 1-2 Attacks thanks to Monstrous Charge (and she becomes even more deadly in her Legion - with +1 Attack against Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits, as well as the ability to reroll as many dueling die as she wants if she eats a friendly model at the start of her move) - and 2 Attacks at F7/S7 with knock-down is pretty good. Yes, she doesn't have Strike - and that is a risk - but heroes who Strike from F5 run the real risk of tying (or not reaching) her FV and if a F7 monster is in range of a banner, you're in trouble (even if it has 1 Attack). I admit there may be more optimal choices with Strike-based heroes (Shagrat comes to mind), but these heroes tend to rely on Strike to make a so-so FV into a good FV - and if there's a caster on the other side of the board, Strike may not be an option for you.

Even if Shelob doesn't get the charge off, a D7/6 Wound monster doesn't get killed easily (ask any Cave Drake). Sure, you might be in for some trouble if your opponent piles on mega heroes (Dain + Thorin + Dwalin for example), but if you have her flanks protected by enemy warriors, she'll be alright. Keep her fights managed and that F7/S7 will come in handy. But even if she does go down (and insta-kills are a thing), Shelob isn't worth VPs in most scenarios (unless your opponent chooses to target her in Assassination or Fog of War) - and she's going to take dedicated resources to kill (usually 1+ Might for Striking, and often 100+ pts worth of heroes for 1+ turns). Yep, she's mean and nasty - and not worth much for dedicating the effort. And if she does get tied down by the enemy, Mik will tell you that a D7/6 Wound monster basically becomes an impassable terrain object - and that has value in anchoring your battle lines!

Shelob is also really fast - with 10" movement that ignores all difficult terrain, she's got crazy amounts of movement potential and this gives her a distinct advantage when trying to set up Hurls. If she lurks on the exterior until she's ready to race in, she will either a) drag enemy models away from the main battle line, or b) race in quickly and Hurl down the line - both of which can be good for you if you can prepare properly.

I had Trolls in the comparison above - and while their stats look a lot better than Shelob's for roughly the same price, their speed and large bases make them VERY difficult to maneuver. Shelob . . . does not lack for maneuverability in any way. Being super fast (and moving easily over all terrain) allows her to get her large base into the places you want her - and if she's able to work around the flanks of the enemy, she's can be nearly impossible to deal with.

Making It Work

Shelob has no Might - so she needs lots of 3 Might heroes. Thankfully, Mordor has TONS of these guys. Thematically, Shagrat and Gorbag (both 3 Might heroes) are excellent choices - and taking them and Shelob doesn't break the bank (265pts with all the gear). Need March in your army? Take Guritz and/or Gothmog (both 3 Might heroes, 60 + 145pts) to keep your army going. Need a cheap bruiser hero? Goroth or Zagdush are excellent choices (80 + 60pts). Can you get all of these guys? No. Do you need all of these guys? No. Pick 3-4 heroes, fill their warbands, and watch Shelob sail in and deal mass carnage to whatever you're fighting.

An interesting alternate approach would also be to take the new Razgush model (110pt Hero of Valor) who can take Giant Spiders and Mirkwood Spiders with Shelob ("her babies"), but also opens up access to Fell Wargs (good fast infantry that can support/shield Shelob) and Bat Swarms (also fast units, negates Strike benefits against her, lots of extra Attacks so you can get the 6 more reliably). Since Orc Captains in his army (2 Might with March) can also take these fast units, you could do a "Dol Guldur meets Cirith Ungol" list with some really interesting beast options.

Glamour Shot!!!!

This highlights the second thing Shelob needs: bodies. Everywhere. All of the place. Want to avoid insta-kills? Have guys in the way. Want to avoid being swarmed by big heroes? Have guys in the way. Want to deal with mass archery? Have guys in the way. Shelob is fast - and ideally she'll have something fast running with her to screen her (could be Fell Wargs, could be Warg Riders, could be Morgul Knights - though they're expensive). In her Legion, having bodies that you can consume for die rerolls is important too (this article isn't about the Legion, but I love it so much I can't stop talking about it - can you tell?).

Finally, Shelob needs something else in the list to distract your opponent's attention away from her. In part, you can do this by having a juicy army leader (who's actually worth victory points) - someone like Gothmog, the Witch-King, Suladan (historical ally), or Amdur (historical ally). Having another hero like Shagrat, Goroth, Kardush, or the new Easterling hero Rubatai (historical ally) who you can talk up to your opponent is another way you can distract from a really dangerous (but not seemingly so) monster. Got a Mordor Troll Chieftain or two on the board? Yeah, Shelob will look dangerous, but not THAT dangerous. Ideally, Shelob wants isolated fights where she has the freedom to do what she wants - and the only way she's going to get that is if she's left alone.

Mik would note, however, that it's okay for Shelob to distract attention away from the other stuff in your list - as was mentioned before, Shelob is probably not worth any VPs, so if your opponent is trying to take her out, he's NOT devoting those resources to dealing with your other units. So, if you want to keep your Shagrat/Rubatai/Gothmog/Witch-King safe . . . maybe you play more aggressively with Shelob. :)

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this - I love Shelob (though I didn't like putting her together - and I don't like fixing her when her limbs snap off) and she's grown on me more than most of the characters in the range. Many thanks to Mik for his help reviewing the article (he caught some really important things) - and do please check out his stuff! He's one of the greats in the GBHL and his blog long predates mine and was a great inspiration for what I write here.

Next time, my good mate Centaur revisits everyone's "new hot faction" and walks through the utility of Easterling War Priests. With a new mega-war-priest coming out in the next supplement, is there a place for the "old war priest"? Yes there is - find out more next week. Until then, happy hobbying!