Gondor At War: What Do You Need To Buy?

Good morning gamers,

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

We did a two-part series a while ago for what models you need to play all of the scenarios from Quest of the Ringbearer (both the models for the scenarios in the supplement as well as for Fantasy Fellowships). Not too long ago, we had a reader ask us in a comment whether we could do something similar for the other sourcebooks and since I've been preparing a Minas Tirith/Osgiliath board and we have a new Osgiliath-based starter box coming out (which Centaur and I plan to go in on together), I figured reviewing what was needed for Gondor at War was a logical next step. So, today we're going to look at the models you'll need in your collection to play everything in Gondor at War (and where you can save some money along the way). Let's get into it!

Part 1: The Defence of Osgiliath to the White Rider (6 scenarios)

Most of these scenarios focus on the city of Osgiliath and as we saw in the old Fellowship of the Ring journeybook, the first two scenarios (the Defence of Osgiliath and the Retaking of Osgiliath - and for the Forces of Good, the fifth scenario) have different scenario objectives (one is objective-based, one is total destruction of the enemy, and one is a get-somewhere mission) but have basically the same map setup and the same participants. We then have three other scenarios with some overlap in models (one with some Mumaks, one with some Fell Beasts, and one with a bunch of Corsairs and Clansmen of Lamedon). Here are the purchases you'll need.

Purchase #1: the Battle of Osgiliath Box Set (or its component parts)

When Gondor at War was originally released, you'd need to pick up the Ranger hero pack (Faramir, Madril, and Damrod), half a box of Warriors of Minas Tirith (more on that later), half a box of Rangers of Gondor (more on that later), and Boromir, Captain of the White Tower to play the first two missions. Now, you can save yourself some time and just pick up the new box set and Boromir. For Evil, you'll have a jump start on a lot of the models you'd need (24 Morannon Orcs, Gothmog, and a Mordor Troll) - and this, added to the cost of the Ranger Heroes, is most of the cost of the new box. Once you factor in the rulebook and terrain, at least the 24 Good warriors you're picking up are free - so it's a pretty good deal if you need these models (though it's not the same value as the Pelennor Fields box set).

Purchase #2: 36 Mordor Orcs (so 2 boxes of Mordor Orcs)

Yep, you need 1.5 boxes of Mordor Orcs - but don't think that the 12 Mordor Orcs you'd be getting from the second box are wasted. Our next purchase requires 3 Orc Captains with shields, which you could easily get from this box (as well as doing a conversion for Zagdush and Orc Trackers). You're probably going to end up with Orcs you don't need for these scenarios, but Orcs are useful for many factions in Matched Play (namely Angmar and Barad-Dur, sometimes for Mordor and Isengard), so just get two boxes (whether you do conversions or not).

Purchase #3: 3 Mordor Orc Captains with shields

As was mentioned previously, you need 3 Mordor Orc Captains - these could be three copies of the "official" Orc Captain sculpt (the one with the pick held in the air), converted Orc Warrior models (which I have done), or purchasing the out-of-production two-pack of Orc Captains paired with one copy of the "official" one if you got that in the last made-to-order round (or whenever it's offered again). Frankly, I think the Mordor Orc blister is one of the most versatile blisters they've come out with and the conversion potential from it is outstanding, so I'd just convert them, honestly.

Purchase #4: Boromir, Captain of the White Tower with the Banner of Minas Tirith

If you plan to play Minas Tirith and you aren't me, chances are good you want to pick up Boromir. We'll be using Boromir for exactly one scenario and the man will be on foot (not mounted) with his banner (which you probably want to take anyway - unless you want to up his killing power instead of his supporting power) and no shield. That's right - he has no horse and no shield. In basically any other context, I think you'll want the shield and the horse, so consider affixing the shield with a magnet/blue tack so you can remove it (or just remember he doesn't have the shield in the scenario).

Purchase #5: 12 Rangers of Gondor

While we get 12 Rangers of Gondor in the Battle of Osgiliath box set, we need 24 Rangers of Gondor for the Ambush in Ithilien Scenario. Since you have the makings of a nice Ranger horde, you might as well pick up another 24 Rangers of Gondor so you can use the Rangers in Ithilien Legendary Legion - it's fun to play with (and more fun to play against now that they have to take the three travelers).

Purchase #6: 2 War Mumaks of Harad

Oof, this is a pricey purchase for most people - but since Mumaks will be showing up again in Gondor at War, you should just bite the bullet and get two. A while ago, if you wanted to save a few bucks, you could get the Mumak War Herd three-pack from Forgeworld since we'll be needing a third Mumak later in the campaign . . . and as we all know, ForgeWorld has your best interests (and your wallet) at heart. :-)

Purchase #7: 24 Haradrim Warriors

Each War Mumak comes with 12 Haradrim Warriors (6 bows, 6 spears) and so our two Mumaks together give us 12 bows and 12 spears. Getting another box of Haradrim gets us the remaining 12 bows and 12 spears that we need, so for about $250, you can have the evil contingent you need for the Ambush in Ithilien scenario . . . cheap, huh?

Purchase #8: The Heroes of the Fiefdoms

As we move to the Raiding of Pelargir, we need Angbor the Fearless - and we can purchase him with Forlong the Fat and Duinhir (who we don't need now but will need later - and probably want if we intend to play Fiefdoms in Matched Play). Angbor is a great hero (albeit a squishy one), and these heroes aren't that expensive to run.

Purchase #9: 24 Clansmen of Lamedon

Speaking of expensive - OUCH!!!! This one scenario requires you to run TWENTY-FOUR Clansmen of Lamedon - WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS (watch as Rythbyrt makes some reference to this in the comments) WOULD RUN TWENTY-FOUR CLANSMEN OF LAMEDON!!!! Getting the actual models for this would require EIGHT blisters of the Warriors of the Fiefdoms (giving you 24 Axemen of Lossarnach too), so you can either a) talk about how bad Clansmen of Lamedon are to your friend who's looking into buying Fiefdoms, talk up the Axemen of Lossarnach, buy 6 blisters of guys, and then offer to trade 6 Axemen for 6 Clansmen so you can buy fewer boxes (this will give you 24 Clansmen and 12 Axemen), or b) you can just get 4 boxes of the Warriors of the Fiefdoms and use your Axemen as Clansmen for this mission. Or, you can support Medbury Miniatures, buy his clansmen STL files, and 3D print 12-24 Clansmen and use them in this one scenario alongside the 0-12 Clansmen you buy in the 0-4 Fiefdoms Warriors boxes you pick up.

Purchase #10: The Heroes of Umbar

For the evil side of the Pelargir fight, you'll need Dalamyr - and he currently comes in a blister with 2 Hasharin (who you don't need in this campaign). Because you're getting two additional models, you could choose to do some light conversion on these two Hasharin to make Delgamar and Raza models - this would save you some money and the conversions aren't hard to do (Raza already looks like a Hasharin - he just needs a spear - and Delgamar could do a head-swap with a Corsair and exchange a dagger for a whip).

"Purchase" #11: Delgamar & Raza?

If you do the conversion above, you don't need these guys - otherwise you do. If you plan to run Corsairs in matched play, Delgamar is really good (maybe even essential, since he's the only 3 Might hero they have). Raza's utility in matched play is hotly contested - it probably won't matter if you don't have him. 'Nuff said about these guys.

Purchase #12: 24 Corsairs of Umbar (but actually 48 Corsairs)

The actual number of Corsair models you need for this scenario is 24, but we need to increase this to 36 Corsairs in a later scenario AND we need up to 12 Reavers later in the campaign and those guys have no sculpts. So . . . pick up another box of these guys while you're at it and take your time getting to 18 of the additional 24 guys. The first six from the box will be needed for . . .

"Purchase" #13: 6 Corsair Reavers

These guys have never had a model - in fact, the model that's displayed in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book is a Corsair of Umbar with a hand-swap. As such, use the Corsair models for these conversions - extra sword bits (or axe bits if you want to pay extra for axes in Matched Play) required. For how to do this, I recommend Zorro's post from ages ago as well as a more recent post (but still a bit aged) from the Drawn Combat blog - with a hobby knife, some spare bits, and some green stuff, it's not that hard.

Purchase #14: 6 Corsair Arbalesters (but actually 12 Corsair Arbalesters)

You only need 6 of these guys for the first mission, but you'll need 6 more for a later mission. Frankly, if you're going into the Corsair business, you probably want at least 12 of these guys anyway, so get them.

Purchase #15: Gothmog's Enforcer & Guritz

Guritz is a really great hero and Gothmog's Enforcer isn't (in my book, at any rate). Getting this blister from Forgeworld is fine if you want the actual Guritz model, but there's an old Morannon Orc Captain model that looked like Guritz BEFORE Gondor at War gave him a profile and if you can find that one online, it's a much more dynamic sculpt. Alternatively, you can raid those Orc Warriors you have and convert up a Morannon Orc to have a two-handed pick and you're golden. Gothmog's Enforcer can be converted pretty easily by taking the "fat head" Morannon Orc body and head-swapping with the "spear-and-shield-with-spear-sticking-out-sideways" Morannon Orc (a conversion I plan to do soon). Do a sword swap if you want to be more realistic.

Purchase #16: 24 Morannon Orcs

We already have 24 Morannon Orcs, but we need 24 more (12 more for the Fall of Osgiliath scenario and most of the Minas Tirith/Pelennor scenarios, but 24 more for the Black Gate scenarios). These guys are great models and having a bunch doesn't hurt. You might want to pick up a few more if you want to save money on the banners and Orc heroes we're going to need (like Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer).

Purchase #17: Faramir on horse with bow

So this is a model they never released, so you'll need to get creative with it. I got a spare metal Faramir off ebay, cut into a spare Rohan horse (because it was easier than sawing through the metal cloak on Faramir), and glued them together. The final result wasn't horrible. Alternatively, you could probably make a green-stuff molded version of Faramir's head and put it on a Rider of Rohan.

Purchase #18: The Minas Tirith Battlehost

Our last scenario (the White Rider) requires us to have both Gandalf the White and more than 6 Knights of Minas Tirith. As we'll be needing 24 more Warriors of Minas Tirith for the upcoming scenarios, we might as well get a Battlehost box (since the cost of Gandalf and the Knights alone is the same as the box). Save some money, people, and get the big box. We'll need Pippin later in the campaign as well, so if you already have a Gandalf the White without Pippin . . . look for a stray Pippin online (or just get the Battlehost).

Purchase #19: 6 Knights of Minas Tirith

Alas, the White Rider scenario requires us to have 12 Knights of Minas Tirith, so we need another box . . . oh well . . . at least we have the dismounts for these guys (barely with the 12 Warriors of Minas Tirith with swords and shields that we now have).

Purchase #20: 3 Ringwraiths on Fell Beasts

While not as expensive as 2 Mumaks, having to buy 3 Fell Beasts is no treat - and since these are all generic Ringwraiths, I'd recommend you have a magnetized saddle on one of them so you can body-swap for the Witch-King later.

Part 2: Faramir's Charge to the Witch-King's Arrival (6 scenarios)

As we go into the next few scenarios, we're getting a mix of Minas Tirith missions and "the stuff that happened at the same time." These missions will be relying heavily on the models we picked up for Part 1, but we still need QUITE a few models. Let's see what we're getting . . .

Purchase #21: 12 Orc Trackers

Okay, true talk: no one can tell the difference (nor will they care) between Orc Warriors with Orc bows and Orc Trackers. You already have at least 6 Orc bowmen (probably 8) from the Orc Warriors you needed to pick up and so pick up 2 blisters of Orc Trackers instead of 4. You could get 4 blisters if you really like the models, but if you want to save yourself ~$30, just use your Orcs. If you want, replace Orc Warriors with Orc Trackers whenever a "real" Tracker model is killed.

Purchase #22: The Three Hunters

This pack was released with Gondor at War and has absolutely stunning sculpts for Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. There are countless other sculpts for these heroes, of course, but we need them (so buy them).

Purchase #23: The Heroes of the Dunedain

This set is actually . . . out of production now. Thankfully, you can probably find a Halbarad out there (and it will probably be reissued or made-to-order) whenever the Ruin of Arnor supplement is revisited. Halbarad can also be converted from a Ranger (which we have extras of, you may recall). But get Halbarad - he's great.

Purchase #24: Elladan & Elrohir

While there is a version of these guys on foot without armor, you should probably just drop the money and get the foot-and-mounted versions of these guys. The "monkey twin" sculpts may not have the best faces, but they're going to be more useful in matched play if you're planning on running Rivendell.

Purchase #25: The King of the Dead and Heralds of the Dead

This pack was also released with Gondor at War and the models are really great. You could also easily convert your own Heralds of the Dead from Warriors of the Dead and the old King of the Dead sculpt is everywhere (and you could do some conversion work on one of the many Warrior of the Dead sculpts if you wanted).

Purchase #26: 20 Warriors of the Dead

So you might be thinking, "Right, just get a box of Warriors of the Dead." Yes, the box comes with 20 guys in it, but you'd actually be wrong: you don't need 20 Warriors of the Dead with whatever-gear-they-have-in-the-box - you need 20 Warriors of the Dead with just hand weapons. That's right - no shields, no spears. So you need not one, but TWO boxes of Warriors of the Dead for the Battle for Pelargir mission. Now lest you think that this is unreasonable, we'd actually need another box anyway for the Rider of the Dead dismounts we're going to need in the Docks of Harlond scenario, so you could save some money by getting a second box and converting your own King of the Dead (1 sword) and Heralds of the Dead (2 spearmen), while reserving some Warriors of the Dead with swords and shields to be cavalry dismounts (6 swords), and 20 Warriors of the Dead to be used in this mission (with 14 shields that can be blue-tacked to them later) . . . and you'll just barely make it. :-)

Purchase #27: Two Cosair Command blisters (and those other Corsairs)

As has already been mentioned, you'll need 18 more Corsairs of Umbar (12 Corsairs, 6 Reavers) as well as 6 Corsair Arbalesters for the Battle For Pelargir scenario. If you've already bought these in Part 1, you're good to go on the warriors. What you'll also need to get are two copies of the Corsair command blister (which comes with a Captain and a Bosun) because you'll need two of them. The good news is that these models are really great in Matched Play, so you'll want them anyway. What is unfortunate for the scenario is that neither the Captains nor the Bo'suns have additional gear . . . so no crossbows or two-handed weapons on them . . . boooooo . . .

Purchase #28: Irolas and Denethor

Irolas and Denethor are both really useful heroes in matched play - cheap heroes who can lead lots of troops (for Denethor) and can March your army around (for Irolas). They're quite affordable at low points levels and I like them both. Irolas is used in three missions during this segment (Denethor comes up later), so paint the model well - you're going to see him a lot!

Purchase #29: Beregond and Cirion

We need Beregond for a lot of missions, but we don't need Cirion. If you wanted, you could have Cirion substitute for someone else (like Irolas if you already have an old Denethor sculpt). Or you could look for a loose Beregond model (though most people don't seem to be selling him) OR you could just do a head-swap with a bare-headed model and a Citadel Guard with Longbow (more on that later).

Purchase #30: Zagdush and Goroth

Like Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer, you could convert these guys up from Morannon Orcs/Orc Warriors if you wanted (the two-handing Orc Warrior with the axe raised lending both arms to the Morannon Orc with the spear held above his head would be great for Goroth, while a Morannon Orc with sword that's been given a second sword would work just fine for Zagdush). Alternatively, you could just get these two guys from Forgeworld - they aren't that expensive (again, relatively speaking). Both heroes are good budget heroes for Matched Play (and you probably want to run at least one of them in an Army of Gothmog LL - unless you're going the double-War-Catapult route).

Purchase #31: Hurin and Ingold

Two great heroes to use, two great heroes to paint. These guys have amazing rules, are well-costed, and are used throughout this campaign - get them, paint them up well, and enjoy using them.

Purchase #32: 3 Morannon Orc Captains with shields

Like the Mordor Orc Captains, these guys had a made-to-order blister floating around, but honestly, you can convert your own from extra Morannon Orcs if you have some lying about. The Command blister comes with 1 Morannon Orc Captain, but he doesn't have a shield, so even if you get the Command blister, you'll need to give out some shields (which the Morannon Orc sprues have TONS of). The scenarios in this section only require 2 Morannon Orc Captains, but we'll actually need 3 Captains for later in the campaign - you could consider saving even more money by just using the Orc Captains you acquired/converted earlier in the campaign . . . just saying . . .

Purchase #33: 2 more Mordor Trolls

Yes, the Gate is Breached scenario requires you to run 3 Mordor Trolls. Now I can tell you that you will NEVER run this many Trolls in matched play, so I would encourage you to either a) get some War Catapults and use the Trolls that come from those (we don't actually need the War Catapults for Gondor at War, but they are fun models to use - especially in the Army of Gothmog), or b) get two Mordor Troll Chieftains, since we'll need one for the Black Gate missions (and if you use the Black Gate Opens LL, you'll probably want a second one). Save some money, get one of these options instead.

Okay, we've now thoroughly spent lots of money - surely we must be getting to the end of the purchases, right? Wait, is that a horn blowing in the distance? Yes - Rohan must have come . . . and with it . . . a BUNCH more models to buy. Oh . . . snap . . .

Part 3: The Charge of the Rohirrim to the Final Fate of the Witch-King (6 scenarios)

Yep, we're starting the Rohan/Haradrim part of the campaign - but take heart, there are ways for us to save some money yet! Let's dig in and find out what we need to get.

Purchase #34: Theoden, King of Rohan

You need Theoden - but most Rohan armies begin with Theoden anyway, so he's a good purchase all around. There were tons of this guy floating around eBay (there might still be) since he was the only purely-unique character released in the Battle of Pelennor Fields box set (since the Witch-King on Fell Beast could be made up as a generic Ringwraith on Fell Beast), so who knows - you could find a good deal on him second-hand.

Purchase #35: The Rohan Battlehost

We need Eomer, we need Riders of Rohan (lots of them), and we need dismounts for said riders - so just like the Minas Tirith Battlehost, we're getting at least something for free by buying this, so we might as well.

Purchase #36: Dernhelm

Perhaps the most points-efficient offensive hero Rohan has (Centaur, upon reading this, will yell, "NO - THAT'S EOMER!"), Dernhelm is a beautiful model, an excellent killing piece (for her cost), and gives you bare-headed options that you can give to other models for conversions/making Captains distinct. She's got a great kit - get her. One thing I will note: you'll need the Eowyn dismount to have her shield removable later in the campaign (for the Death of Gothmog scenario), so consider either blue-tacking her shield on OR magnetize it.

Purchase #37: Gamling and Hama

Gamling and Hama got repackaged together when War in Rohan came out and Gamling got nerfed shortly after Gondor at War came out because his banner was "too strong." Still, Gamling is a great hero and while he doesn't show up much in these missions, he's still quite useful in matched play. Hama doesn't show up in these missions, but due to a technicality, his model could be used quite often as a substitute for . . .

Purchase #38: Deorwine?

So the Middle-Earth team doesn't like to add scenario changes into their semi-annual errata drops (but they HAVE revisited a few notes for the scenarios - more on that below), but in three of these scenarios, they really messed up. If you look at the three scenarios that Deorwine is in (the Charge of the Rohirrim, the War Beasts from the South, and the Horse and the Serpent), Deorwine is listed as just "Deorwine, Chief of the King's Knights; " - not "Deorwine, Chief of the King's Knights on horse; " as he is in the big Battle for Pelennor Fields mission. So . . . TECHNICALLY speaking . . . he's dismounted in every single mission (besides the big one). You doubt me? Look it up and see - I was surprised when I read it too! If you have a shield handy, you can blue tack it to Hama and he can serve as a very inexpensive stand-in for Deorwine . . . but seriously, get the real model - it's great (the shield is thick, but that's all you can critique about it). Whether you and your friends allow him to be mounted in these scenarios is a different debate - and one where the intent of the authors should be pretty clear . . .

Purchase #39: Elfhelm

Another great Rohan hero - and another expensive Forgeworld purchase. Oh well - get him anyway (or do what I plan to do which is get the Rohan Royal Guard foot and mounted blisters and convert your own versions of Elfhelm and Deorwine - maybe using those bare-headed versions of Eomer and Theoden?).

Purchase #40: Rohan Mounted Command Blister

We need a Captain of Rohan with just a horse . . . yeah, no one is EVER going to do that in matched play, so just get the normal foot-and-mounted Captain - and since we need a banner-carrying Rohan guy later anyway, we might as well get the foot-and-mounted banner guy that comes with the Captain. For matched play, you're realistically going to see banners on Riders of Rohan only in a Riders of Eomer list - chances are good Gamling or some infantry guy will be your banner otherwise (if you have one at all).

Purchase #41: 18 Riders of Rohan

Thanks to the Battlehost, we only need 18 Riders of Rohan - these guys used to be all over eBay when the Pelennor Fields box set came out, but now they've gone up to normal costs, so just bite the bullet and get these guys. They're great for conversion work too - the Drawn Combat blog has a post on how to green-stuff your own Rohan Royal Guards from these guys if you want to use them as Royal Guards in matched play.

Purchase #42: 4 Citadel Guard

As I mentioned in my review of Fantasy Fellowship needs, you technically need 2 blisters of Citadel Guard to get the right number of Citadel Guard for the missions . . . so if you want to save some money, consider getting 4 Guards of the Fountain Court instead - most people prefer them in matched play anyway, the models look really great, and it'll save you some cash. The argument in favor of getting 6 Citadel Guard (and pretending 2 of the bowmen are spearmen) is that you could probably convert up an Irolas and certainly a Beregond from the Citadel Guard you don't need . . . Beregond in particular would be a nice cost-saving (and Irolas too if you already have Denethor).

Purchase #43: Mumak War Leader?

Did you buy the war herd earlier? If not, buy this guy . . .

Purchase #44: 24 Haradrim Warriors

You're going to need 12 Haradrim Warriors with bows for the Mumak War Leader's howdah - and you'll later need 12 Serpent Rider dismounts which you can convert from the spearman half of the blister. This requires you 0.5-1 Haradrim Warrior packs (depending on what comes in the Mumak War Leader kit).

Purchase #45: Suladan

If you plan to run the Serpent Horde, Suladan is about as close to an auto-include as you're going to get - he's well-costed, can bring a lot of guys, and has a banner that doesn't hinder his fighting. He's great - get him.

Purchase #46: Haradrim Command blister

We need a Haradrim Chieftain, which you could substitute out for a Hasharin model if you wanted to. We need both a Haradrim Chieftain and Raza in the Horse and the Serpent scenario, so if you actually bought Raza and Delgamar, you can do this pretty easily. Otherwise, buy either the Raza/Delgamar blister or the Command blister.

I will note that you'll want to hang onto that Horn-blower Haradrim guy: if you play the Black Gate: The Left Hill scenario (which is coming up), we'll be needing 2 Haradrim Chieftains. While getting a second blister would be grand (read, you don't need two - seriously, you don't), you can have your Horn-blower guy stand in as the second Captain - no one is going to be confused about it.

Purchase #47: 12 Serpent Riders

Yeah, you could buy 6 two-pack blisters of Serpent Riders . . . or you could save a bunch of money and get 2 six-pack blisters of Haradrim Raiders and give them all spears . . . or you could make up the Haradrim Raiders the way you'd use them in matched play (and mix/match 6 Haradrim Raiders and 6 Serpent Riders) and just use them all as Serpent Riders in the scenario. Frankly, I don't think it matters what you do here so long as it's clear to the people playing . . .

Well, we're nearing the end of the book, but the battle on the Pelennor is raging and at long last, we have some Fiefdoms models joining the frey who aren't from Lamedon. Strap in, kids, because when you read "Fiefdoms," you need to also read "expensive" . . .

Part 4: The Ride of the Fiefdoms to The Dead Arrive (7 scenarios)

Now thanks to having to get Angbor and Clansmen of Lamedon, we're already ahead of where we need to be for these scenarios (since we have Forlong, 12 Axemen of Lossarnach, and Duinhir). If you have that third Morannon Orc Captain already, you actually don't need any more evil models and if you bought a second Warriors of the Dead box, you're good on most of their stuff too. So . . . this section will be short, but it won't be cheap.

Purchase #48: Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth

Ah, Imrahil - may a warrior under my command has been killed by his lance (but not for a while - Tavros stopped playing ages ago). He's got all the stats you'd want and a 12" banner effect (and 3" +1 FV effect) for the Knights of Dol Amroth in his care. This guy is great and you should get him (but once again, I'll make a plug for Medbury Miniatures - his sculpt looks great).

Purchase #49: 12 Knights of Dol Amroth on foot and mounted

Well . . . this isn't going to be cheap - and there's no way you run the 12 mounted guys in matched play, ever. Still, to get it, we'd need to get 2 blisters of the mounted Knights of Dol Amroth and 2 blisters of the Forgeworld dismounted Knights of Dol Amroth. I would highly recommend that one of your infantry Knights of Dol Amroth have a magnetized arm so that he can have a banner for the Black Gate missions that are coming up (though this may be unnecessary - more on that in a minute). Once again, if you have access to a 3D printer, check out Medbury Miniatures and check out his selection of Knights of Dol Amroth sculpts - they're really good and the cost of these models alone is probably about the same as the cost of a basic-but-decent 3D printer . . .

"Purchase" #50: 12 Blackroot Vale Archers

Do you remember how we got 24 Rangers of Gondor to supplement our existing 12 Rangers of Gondor for the Ambush in Ithilien scenario? Well, if you're willing to hack off some spears (or just reuse Rangers of Gondor - it's fine), you already have the Blackroot Vale archers you need for this campaign. For those of you who looked ahead, an early FAQ did clarify that the "big" Battle for Pelennor Fields scenario (which comes up in our next section) requires 12 Blackroot Vale Archers (despite originally providing an unspecified number of the guys). So we're good on this one - no money required (unless you did some conversion work).

Purchase #51: 6 Riders of the Dead

Okay, so buying 6 ACTUAL Riders of the Dead is quite costly (about $90) - so I recommend you save yourself a good chunk of money and pick up a six-pack of Morgul Knights instead. These guys have been a conversion choice for many players - just do a top-half swap of the models with some Warriors of the Dead (which you have in the second Warriors of the Dead box you picked up earlier) and magentize the waists of the cavalry and infantry lower-halves so you don't need 12 infantry to make up 6 cavalry models. Job's a good one!

Okay, hang in there - we've got one more part to go (and we've already got most of it - well, kind of) - to the BLACK GATE!

Part 5: The Battle for Pelennor Fields to The Black Gate: The Right Hill (4 scenarios - red models are only needed for the Battle for Pelennor Fields scenario)

Okay, I'm not going to go through everything you need in detail for the Battle for Pelennor Fields big scenario - the short answer is that you'll need to add a few things, but you should probably see if there are friends who can help with their collections. But if you happen to be the guy providing all the minis (or have a lot of time/money on your hands), here's what ELSE you need besides the previous 51 purchases already listed:

• GOOD:
• +12 Riders of Rohan (though it's actually +20 because these guys aren't supposed to have throwing spears for whatever reason)
• 12 Rangers of the North (no spears - so that'll begin as 4 packs of now-discontinued-models, but could be more . . . unless, of course, you just grab 12 Ranger of Gondor models since there aren't any Rangers of Gondor in this mission)
• EVIL:
• The Golden King of Abrakhan
• 12 Haradrim Raiders (who have no bows or war spears - which is probably to make up for the Riders of Rohan having no throwing spears?)
• 12 Abrakhan Guards
• 12 Mahud Raiders
• Amdur, Lord of Blades (on foot and mounted)
• Khandish King on Chariot
• Khandish Chieftain (no mount/chariot for this guy - he's on foot!)
• 12 Easterling Kataphrakts
• 9 Khandish Warriors (6 with axes and 3 with bows)
• 6 Khandish Horsemen
• 2 Khandish Charioteers (no extra gear - so they have no bows)

Okay, so if you ignore that big scenario, all we need to get for the Black Gate missions is a handful of Good models and a decent pile of Evil models. I will be assuming that you already got the extra 12 Morannon Orcs we need for the Black Gate scenarios - and I'm going to further assume that you're using your horn-blower as the second Haradrim Chieftain we need - so I won't be listing them here. Let's wrap this up quickly, shall we?

Purchase #52: Aragorn, King Elessar

King Aragorn on foot - I love this guy a lot (though my model tends to want to abandon me at critical moments and Strike up 1-2 pips of Fight Value and not roll higher than a 3). Still, I love the guy and you should get him (both on foot and mounted - he's better when mounted).

"Purchase" #53: 1-2 more Knights of Dol Amroth on foot

Perhaps the greatest reason to support Medbury Miniatures is if you want to get into the Fiefdoms, because not only do we need to buy 2 blisters of mounted Knights of Dol Amroth (many of whom we won't use outside of scenario play), but because the Captain of Dol Amroth isn't included in the Fiefdoms heroes blister, we need not one, not two, but THREE blisters of Knights of Dol Amroth on foot for use in The Black Gate: The Right Hill scenario. Good news though: if you do choose to drop $60 on a third blister of Knights of Dol Amroth (and the Forgeworld sculpts are gorgeous), you don't need to do the magnet thing to have an optional banner on anyone . . . yaye . . .

There is an easy way you can save some cash, though, without doing the 3D printing thing: if you just play the movie version and not the books version, you don't need this Captain (or the banner guy), so the third box becomes unnecessary. If, however, you want the "actual GW/FW models" and you want to be able to play either the book or movie versions, you're in for another money sink into the Fiefdoms . . . the things we do for "officialness," huh?

Purchase #54: Easterling Command blister

While you technically need 2 Easterling Command blisters to field the 2 Easterling Captains with shields for this scenario, I think running the Dragon Knight that comes in this blister as a Captain would be more than acceptable. Alternatively, you could get some of those Easterling Black Dragons and use two of those as your heroes. Of course, none of these guys have the hand-and-a-half axe that the Easterling Captain has, but whatever - details . . .

Purchase #55: 20 Easterling Warriors

While you would ALWAYS want more pikes than are provided here, you are only required to get 1 box of Easterling Warriors to play with Easterlings in this game (and it's only required if you're going to play the Right Hill scenario and the big Pelennor Fields mission, so if you skip those two, you don't even need this!).

"Purchase" #56: Mordor Troll Chieftain

Did you take my advice and pick up 1-2 Troll Chieftains instead of "two more Mordor Trolls" earlier? If you did, you're good here. Otherwise, get one - they're cool and fun to use!

Purchase #57: The Mouth of Sauron

This guy isn't that expensive, he's quite useful for allying/flex-casting-and-fight, as well as a go-to in the Black Gate Opens Legendary Legion. If you took my advice on the body-swapping of Morgul Knights for Warriors of the Dead to make Riders of the Dead, you probaby have an upper-half you could use to proxy this guy - and if you paint one Rider of the Dead to ride a fairly-normal-looking black steed, you may not even need to buy this guy . . . just saying, it's an option . . .

UPDATE on 2022-10-24: Because of the outcry that I didn't compute the actual cost . . . I decided to do so - here's the grand total of what you'd need to spend (with my modifications I recommended to "save you some money"):

• Part 1: $642+$792.5 = $1434.50 (assumes conversion of 3 Orc Captains with shields from spare Orcs, only 4 blisters of Warriors of the Fiefdoms instead of 8 blisters, and that you wanted to use your 2 Hasharin as Raza and Delgamar)
• Part 2: $286+$228.5 = $514.50 (Orc Trackers, Heroes of the Dunedain, Beregond & Cirion aren't in the web store right now, assumes you spent $4 more to get 2 Mordor Troll Chieftains instead of +2 Mordor Trolls)
• Part 3: $491+$428 = $919.00 (Dernhelm isn't in the web store right now, assumes one blister of Citadel Guard and 6 Haradrim Raiders with war spears to stand in for 6 of the 12 Serpent Riders)
• Part 4: $283+$0 = $283.00 (assumes one blister of Morgul Knights instead of 6 Riders of the Dead)
• Part 5: $99+$77 = $ 176.00 (Easterling Command blister isn't in the web store right now)

GRAND TOTAL: $3327.00 with ~$200 worth of models that aren't in the web store right now . . . ouch . . .

Conclusion: Why Quest of the Ringbearer is Such a Good Supplement

Well, that was a lot of money spent, wasn't it? The funny thing is that a good number of these models we would already have if we had invested in the Quest of the Ringbearer supplement - not only because we need to play some of these missions in Fantasy Fellowships, but because their models overlap with missions we find in that sourcebook. This isn't intuitively evident, since only the Ambush in Ithilien, Osgiliath, and the End of All Things scenarios directly overlap from Quest of the Ringbearer itself, but in that we get all the Mordor Orcs/Morannon Orcs/various Captains, a Troll Chieftain/the Mouth of Sauron, a Fell Beast Ringwraith, a bunch of Rangers/Warriors of Minas Tirith, the named Gondor Ranger heroes, and all of the named heroes we see at the Black Gate.

When you tack on that the four missions Fantasy Fellowships give us all the Rohan models we were otherwise missing, Denethor/Irolas, the King/Riders/Warriors of the Dead, and Gothmog/his Enforcer, there's quite a bit we already have. AND we have models from a lot of other places in Middle-Earth as well (which we might need for . . . I don't know . . . War in Rohan, perhaps). Gondor at War is a great supplement - and if you get it first, you'll be well on your way to a lot of the late-game stuff in Quest of the Ringbearer . . . but there are some unique factions in this book (such as the Fiefdoms, the Dead of Dunharrow, and Corsairs), so getting what you need for it will get you started on a lot of great armies, but won't poise you to play any of the other supplements very well.

Hopefully you enjoyed this - if you have any other money-saving tips (or other thoughts), let us know in the comments below! Throughout November, our main series will be covering how to take the models you collect from Gondor at War and use them in Matched Play (similar to what we did for Quest of the Ringbearer - because let's face it, most of us aren't in this game for the scenario play), so stay tuned for more Gondor at War fun as we eagerly await the arrival of the new Battle of Osgiliath box set at Christmasttime. Our first post in the series (dropping on Monday) will look to the walls of Minas Tirith and see what kind of Minas Tirith army you can create from the various forces you have to command in this book! Until next time, happy hobbying!