Fantasy Fellowship Deep-Dive, Part 1

Good morning gamers,

As you'll know if you've been following us for the past few weeks, our gaming group here at TMAT is walking through Fantasy Fellowships right now. When I was helping my son, Gorgoroth, pick his Fellowship, I found myself wondering, "So what are we actually going to face?" Unlike Matched Play, we can know our opponent's force ahead of time (and can even know the scenarios we're going to play), so this allows us to do something that you generally don't find in a Matched Play environment: you can meta-game things a bit - even if you're being theme-y.

Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer
So how dangerous are these guys really?

And so, this mini-series in Fantasy Fellowships was born. For all you meta-gamers out there who were curious about how to optimize your Fantasy Fellowships (even if you want to stick to a theme), this series is for you! To start off with, we're going to look at what your opponents are going to be - and how good each of your heroes needs to actually be. Let's dig in!

Part 1: The Journey to Rivendell

In the three scenarios we have in this section (Buckleberry Ferry, Fog on the Barrow-Downs, and Weathertop), we have three profiles that we'll be fighting:

• The Witch-King of Angmar (no mount but does have a Morgul Blade, 0M/10W/0F, 1 scenario only);
• 3-4 Ringwraiths (no mounts, 0M/7W/0F, 2 scenarios); and
• 4 Barrow-Wights (1 scenario only).

To combat these models, you have your substitutes for:

• Frodo (3 missions);
• Sam (3 missions);
• Merry (3 missions);
• Pippin (3 missions);
• Aragorn (1 mission); and
• ALLIES:
• Tom Bombadil (1 mission)
• Goldberry (1 mission)

So what does this mean? First off, your opponents will either be F5 or F3 with 1 Attack - so you want to either be F5/1A OR F1-4 with 2+ Attacks on each of your guys if possible. While Hobbit models struggle to get more than 1 Attack, a lot of 50pt or less heroes can get 2 Attacks - and some models that are 50pts or less (including some Hobbits and one Ringbearer) can declare a Heroic Strike. This means it's not that hard to get the advantage in a duel against these guys.

Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer
Barrow-Wights are nasty . . . but not as nasty when they're all by themselves!

Second, all of the enemy models are casters, but they can only cast for a limited time. The Ringwraiths can probably only cast 2-4 spells before they die because they need to save Will points for fighting - and with 1 Attack each, they've got a 50/50 chance of wounding D3-4 models (including most Hobbits), so even when fighting the worst heroes in the game, their ability to KILL those heroes is pretty difficult without a trap. Magic might help the Barrow-Wights (who are lucky if they get more than two successes each when not near a barrow), but the Ringwraiths are a lot less dangerous (not only because they lack Might and Fate, but because in both scenarios, they lack horses). You can prioritize magic defense on your four Hobbit slots if you want to, but you don't really have to - especially since most of the subsequent missions omit enemy casters entirely (hint: there are two other casters in the entire rest of your Fantasy Fellowship journey and your Frodo/Sam pair will hit one, while your Merry/Pippin characters will hit the other).

Third, the enemy is D7-8 - so get to S3 if you can (and S4 is even better). Most Hobbits are S2 - and this means you'll wound a Barrow-Wight on a 6/4+ and a Ringwraith on a 6/5+. If you have to pick someone who's S2 (because you need cheap Hobbit heroes to make way for expensive heroes in your other slots OR because there are models you like that a S2), don't worry too much - in the three scenarios you have in this section, you can actually be quite free with the flow of Might. After the first and third scenarios, you have full Rest Points, so everyone is going to get their resources back before the next scenario. In the second scenario (Fog on the Barrow-Downs), you can have your four-model Fellowship go Barrow-Wight hunting and wait for Tom Bombadil (and possibly Goldberry) to restore your stats back to full with Refreshing Song. Don't waste resources, obviously, but you can be a little free with it (and certainly freer than any other part of the campaign).

Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer
Yeah, this never happens in Fantasy Fellowships . . . but it does look cool, no?

Finally, your Aragorn model needs to be able to pass Courage tests. This is probably a given (most combat heroes can), but since everyone he'll be charging causes Terror - and Harbinger will be in play - it helps if he can pass Courage tests. Being F5+ with 2+ Attacks is probably also a given, but you want at least those levels of stats if you expect your Aragorn model to be any good at winning fights. As far as killing stuff goes, being S4 with +1 To Wound is nice (or use your other models to get traps off) because a single wound will dispatch these Ringwraiths - and chances are good you can get a 5+ on 2-4 dice.

How Do Our Fellowships Compare?

I'll be doing walk-throughs of these three missions in the next post for my Fellowship, but with just the knowledge of who's in our Fellowships, here's how my Fellowship stacks up to the advice I've given here:

• F4/2A or F5/1A?
• Gorgoroth: Most of Gorgoroth's Fellowship don't meet this bill, but a F5/2A Denethor is pretty good at killing Nazgul. Maggot has 2A, but not at F4. Damrod and Bilbo aren't great combatants, but if paired with the dogs, you can get F4/2A (effectively) with Damrod.
• Centaur: Frodo and Maggot aren't checking this box, but few Companions or Ringbearers can. Beregond, like Damrod, isn't going to check the box on his own either. Eowyn, however, is F5/2A just like Denethor, but with Might at her command, she can win fights reliably.
• Tiberius: My Fellowship has Farmer Maggot, who is F3/2A with a two-handed Piercing Strike weapon - the wounding part he's good on, but I'll have the dice advantage against Barrow-Wights (I might need to boost my dueling roll) and I have my dogs for extra dice and traps. Bifur and Bofur are both F4/2A models and Bifur has Strike, so we should be great against Barrow-Wights (Bofur needs to save Might to boost wounding rolls too) and Ringwraiths. Old Bilbo has a pretty wretched profile, but not much worse than most of the Hobbits he's compared to.
• S3+ on Everyone?
• Gorgoroth: Bilbo isn't F3 yet, but everyone else (including the dogs) is S3 or higher. This gives them a reliable wounding capability.
• Centaur: Frodo doesn't have Sting yet, but everyone else is good.
• Tiberius: Thanks to Bilbo being so cheap, everyone is S3 (Bilbo with Sting, Maggot, and the dogs) or S4 (Maggot when he Piercing Strikes and Bifur/Bofur). I'm alright here.
• Aragorn Passing Courage Tests?
• Gorgoroth: Um, it's Elessar - he should pass his Courage tests!
• Centaur: Well, it's Aragorn . . . he should be fine.
• Tiberius: Nori isn't Fearless like Dwalin, but like everyone else in my list, his Courage is good. He isn't great at resisting magic either, so that would be the big concern (but frankly that's a big concern for most heroes when there are five casters on the board - even if they're on a limited timer). Still, if I can just get into the wraiths, I should be fine (effectively four dueling dice with the same FV and effectively four wounding dice needing 6s).

Conclusion

Next time, we'll do a walk-through of how my Fellowship did in these three missions - I will say in preview that Centaur and I were able to get both of our Buckleberry Ferry missions and our Fog on the Barrow-Downs missions finished up in about two hours one night (and we both completed Weathertop in roughly 30 minutes each on two separate days), so these three scenarios play VERY quickly thanks to not having a lot of models (and pretty straight-forward victory conditions). Gorgoroth finished all three in almost one sitting as well. Lots of fun was had and I'll do a breakdown of lessons learned from the scenarios afterwards. Until next time, happy hobbying!