The Battle of Osgiliath Box Set: Brief Review and Quick Starter Armies!

Good morning gamers,

So with a new box set in hand, I am eagerly painting up MORE Morannon Orcs, a Troll, and the new Gothmog sculpts while Centaur hastens away to the more reputable part of town with the Forces of Good models (and the terrain from the box set too). This starter set, while not as good in value as the Battle of Pelennor Fields box set, is still well worth the money if you are a) new to MESBG and want some armies to get started with quickly and are interested in collecting both Minas Tirith and Mordor, or b) already have a fairly developed collection but are interested in both the new terrain and the new hero blisters. 

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community 

A few highlights from me:

The Gothmog model is great - I embedded a magnet in the warg so I could use the same shield on his back and the warg. The surprising thing for me was that he's missing half his stomach, which at first confounded me on how to magnetize him . . . until I saw the magnet-sized circle already embedded in his leg!

With a magnetized shield, I can give my old Shagrat model the other one!

I magnetized the weapon arm too - though I didn't drill quite deep enough (nothing a little putty can't fix).

The tokens provided in the new box include new markers for Heroic Defense (awesome), Heroic March (awesome), Heroic Resolve (sure, fine), and Heroic Accuracy (well . . . okay). Not necessary for game play, but nice to have. On a similar note, the ruler is new, the dice are blue and a very dark red, and the scenarios are very similar to the style of the Mines of Moria starter set back when I got started - so that's all sort of cool (though I would have been happier if we got Gondor and Mordor dice, just saying).

What we're going to look at today, though, is three ways (under $50, under $75, under $100) to kick-start your Minas Tirith or Mordor collections to quickly get valid armies for Matched Play with a single purchase (or two or three). Oh, and if you're interested in the perspectives of other players on how to start with this new box set, check out the article from Rob on the Over the Edge of the Wild blog - those Irishmen have some good ideas.

Before we get started, let's reiterate something I say in all of these posts: I get no kick-backs from GW, these aren't affiliate links, I don't advertise for them and get paid for it - I just love the game. I also love a good deal and want to save money were I can (I'm on a budget and all), so these are my thoughts on how someone else on a budget can get excited to play the game while keeping their wallet in mind (you know, after you drop $200 on the new starter set). Let's get started!

Forces of Good 

Low Investment: Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol ($32)

Photo Credit: Games Workshop 

For $32 in the US, you can get Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol - though honestly, you can probably find Frodo and Sam for a lot less than $10/model on the second hand market. Smeagol is pretty hard to find on the second-hand market and when he does show up, you usually have to shell out $10-15 to get him (and that's if someone else isn't more determined). By picking up these three heroes, you have the now-required models for the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion (with Faramir and "the three travelers"). With 24 Warriors in tow, we've maxed out our warbands and have a very impressive 29 models (aka everyone except Damrod) at 500pts with just this purchase - though it's far fewer Rangers than you'd actually want:

• Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow
• INDEPENDENT: Frodo Baggins with Sting, Mithril Coat, and Elven cloak
• INDEPENDENT: Samwise Gamgee with Elven cloak
• INDEPENDENT: Smeagol
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 2 Rangers of Gondor
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• Madril, Captain of Ithilien
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
• 6 Rangers of Gondor
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears

Medium Investment: Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol & Rangers of Middle-Earth ($77) OR Boromir, Captain of the White Tower & Guards of the Fountain Court ($68)

Photo Credit: Games Workshop 

If you want to continue what you had in the previous set, pick up a box of Rangers - this not only allows you to replace the 12 Warriors of Minas Tirith you have with Rangers of Gondor, but also allows you to field up to 6 more Rangers if you bring Damrod (and an additional 3 Rangers if you make Frodo/Sam/Smeagol deploy on their own). The following list has an astounding 39 models at 600pts (36 of which have bows) and costs a bit over $75 to buy after you get the Osgiliath box:

• Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow [ARMY LEADER]
• 7 Rangers of Gondor
• 8 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• Madril, Captain of Ithilien
• 12 Rangers of Gondor
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien
• 3 Rangers of Gondor
• 3 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• INDEPENDENT: Frodo Baggins with Sting, Mithril Coat, and Elven cloak
• INDEPENDENT: Samwise Gamgee with Elven cloak
• INDEPENDENT: Smeagol

Alternatively, you could steer away from the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion and instead get Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (aka "Bozza" aka "Mega-Boromir") and some Guards of the Fountain Court. The goal of this force would be to go lighter on warriors and heavier into better heroes. While Boromir on horse with a shield and the Banner of Minas Tirith costs a lot (215pts), he not only allows the warriors around him to reroll a dueling die, but he also gives them +1 Fight Value - and that is HUGE on 8-9pt models. 

Guards of the Fountain Court are amazing warriors (more expensive than Warriors of Minas Tirith, but sport F4/D7 for 11pts - not a bad cost if you compare that to other models across the range), have spears built-in if you want that F4 (or F5 near Boromir) in the second rank, and have Bodyguard (so they don't run from a fight - like ever). While a more thematic pairing might be Osgiliath Veterans (you can get 2 blisters/6 guys if you do that), the more competitive option is one blister of Guards of the Fountain Court (which only has 4 guys in it). Because we aren't running the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion, our Rangers of Gondor now count towards our bow limit, so we have to run hero-heavy and warrior-light (only 22 models at 500pts - which isn't that bad, really):

• Boromir, Captain of the White Tower on horse with shield and the Banner of Minas Tirith [ARMY LEADER]
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 3 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• 4 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields
• Faramir, Captian of Gondor with bow
• 1 Ranger of Gondor
• 1 Ranger of Gondor with spear
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien
• 2 Rangers of Gondor

High Investment: The Minas Tirith Battle Host ($85) OR Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol & Rangers of Middle-Earth & Anborn and Mablung ($109)

Photo Credit: Games Workshop 

The Minas Tirith Battle Host is a great investment if you were already planning on picking up two of the three elements of the box. The 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields (4 also carrying spears) that you get in the Osgiliath Box is not anywhere near enough to take advantage of the shieldwall rule, so picking up another box of Warriors of Minas Tirith isn't a bad idea (and as we talked about last October, if you were planning on playing through Gondor at War, you need 36 Warriors of Minas Tirith - so with this box, you're good). Knights are great units as well - cheap cavalry that hit hard if they can win the fight. If you want those two units, then Gandalf/Pippin are effectively free - so pick up the box and protect your army from shooting and magic with Gandalf the White! The list below is 700pts, requires just the Battle host, and gets you 38 models (which is about what you'd want at that points level):

• Gandalf the White on Shadowfax [ARMY LEADER?]
• 3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 7 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 4 Knights of Minas Tirith with shields
• Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow [ARMY LEADER?]
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 5 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 4 Rangers of Gondor
• 1 Ranger of Gondor with spear
• Madril, Captain of Ithilien
• 4 Rangers of Gondor
• 3 Rangers of Gondor with spears

Alternatively, you could lean harder into the Rangers of Ithilien and pick up Anborn and Mablung in addition to Frodo/Sam/Smeagol and the Rangers of Middle-Earth box we picked up in the last section (which breaks the bank again - it went over $100, sorry) so that you can run even MORE Rangers for free. At 700pts, you can then run all of the Rangers you own and all the heroes you own for a total of 44 models (41 of which have bows) for 695pts (it's okay - theoretically you could give 5 spears to some of your Rangers, but since that requires buying ANOTHER box/raiding the bits bin, I'm not counting it here):

• Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow [ARMY LEADER]
• INDEPDENT: Frodo Baggins with Sting, Mithril Coat, and Elven cloak
• INDEPENDENT: Samwise Gamgee with Elven cloak
• INDEPENDENT: Smeagol
• 6 Rangers of Gondor
• 6 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• Madril, Captain of Ithilien
• 9 Rangers of Gondor
• Anborn, Ranger of Ithilien
• 3 Rangers of Gondor
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• Mablung, Ranger of Ithilien
• 3 Rangers of Gondor
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien
• 3 Rangers of Gondor
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears

Okay, that's Good out of the way - let's look at Evil now!

Forces of Evil

Low Investment: Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer OR Zagdush and Goroth OR Shagrat and Gorbag ($38)

Photo Credit: ForgeWorld 

If you're playing Mordor at any points levels, the heroes they picked up in Gondor at War are amazing - 60-80pts a piece, 3 Might (or effectively 4 Might!) on each of them, and all Heroes of Fortitude, picking up Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer (who doesn't have a name - poor guy) or Goroth and Zagdush is a great idea. From the original rules release, you could also get Shagrat and Gorbag (which comes with a spare Shagrat model for use in either scenario play OR proxy in as a Mordor Uruk-Hai Captain) for the exact same price - whichever way you go, throwing any of these hero pairs into your list would be great (though you can run the Army of Gothmog with either of the first two options). All of these blisters cost ~$40 in the US, so you're under budget a bit for a simple 500pt list which runs all the models from the box set sans one Morannon Orc and one of the two new heroes (I've opted for Guritz, but you can swap in Zagdush or Gorbag if you want a more killy hero - and you could swap out the Troll for Goroth and add in that other Morannon if you're okay with playing a few points under): 

• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron on Warg with shield
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll
• Guritz, Master of Reserves (or Zagdush)
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears

Medium Investment: Goroth and Zagdush/Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer & 6 Mordor Uruk-Hai ($76) OR Winged Nazgul ($65)

Photo Credit: Games Workshop 

If we've got a $75 budget and we want another hero, we COULD go for some of the previous heroes, but this leaves us with only $35 to get warriors (which is just shy of a plastic box). As such, we need to look at Mordor's elite warriors . . . and our options are slim. I've opted here to showcase one of the lesser-loved Mordor elite warrior choices: Mordor Uruk-Hai. Getting Uruks gives us some F4 models and gives us the option to either grab some shields from the Morannon Orc blister and give them to the Uruks OR we could get some bow bits and give them Orc bows (or just say they have Orc bows and make sure your opponent knows). Your choice on how you want to do it - I've used all but 1 Mordor Uruk-Hai and 4 Morannon Orcs:

• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron on Warg with shield [ARMY LEADER]
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 1 Mordor Uruk-Hai with shield
• 1 Mordor Troll
• Goroth, Captain of the Morannon
• 2 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 2 Mordor Uruk-Hai with shields
• Zagdush
• 2 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 5 Morannon ORcs with shields and spears
• 2 Mordor Uruk-Hai with two-handed maces

Alternatively, you could choose to rely on smaller numbers but get a BIG hero - and no one in the Mordor list compares to the Witch-King! Sitting on a Fell Beast with the Crown of Morgul and at least 3 Might/2 Fate, the Witch-King is a LOT of points. Oddly enough, if you want to hit 600 points, you probably need to keep the Mordor Troll in your list and dumb-down the Witch-King a bit more in his stats than you might like. Still, you'd have two monsters AND Gothmog, which would be a pain to fight - though I will note that you'll want a spare base (from one of your Morannons) and either use the spare Ringwraith from the Nazgul kit to be the Witch-King on foot OR use the money you haven't spent to pick up a Witch-King infantry model from the second-hand market: 

• Witch-King on Fell Beast with Crown of Morgul and 3M/13W/2F [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron on Warg with shield
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll

High Investment: Mordor Battle Host ($85) OR Goroth and Zagdush/Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer & Morannon Orcs ($85)

Photo Credit: Games Workshop 

Yes, we're back on the Battle Host route - though I will note that we're going to have WAY more Warriors than we can field with "just the Witch-King" added on the hero front. The Witch-King doesn't have his Fell Beast this time, but he's able to bulk out a bit more AND you can fill out both warbands. You also have the dismount, so that's good. I would encourage you to proxy the Warg Riders with Orc bows as Orc Trackers (and you have money to get 3 Orc Trackers on foot with your remaining cash if you can find them - they're just not in the webstore right now). You can get a pretty good Witch-King with a spam of guys in the following list by just getting the Battle host box:

• The Witch-King on horse with Crown of Morgul, Morgul Blade, and 3M/15W/2F
• 2 Orc Warriors with Orc bows
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 2 Warg Riders with shields
• 2 Warg Riders with shields and throwing spears
• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron on Warg with shield
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 2 Orc Trackers on Wargs (or 2 Warg Riders with Orc bows)
• 1 Mordor Troll

The Battle host gives you Orc Warriors, which aren't as durable or streamlined as Morannons - so if you want to steer harder into the skid, you could just pick up your preference of Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer or Goroth and Zagdush plus another box of Morannon Orcs. This won't get the "free" blister of Warg Riders that you'd get in the Battle host, but you get more Morannons, can run the Army of Gothmog Legion, and you have two mid-tier combat heroes to support Gothmog - and for the fifth list in a row, you've still got your Mordor Troll in the list:

• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron on Warg with shield [ARMY LEADER]
• 8 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 7 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll
• Goroth, Captain of the Morannon
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• Zagdush
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears

Conclusion

It's encouraging that, if you have the Battle of Osgiliath box in hand, for about $100 you could take either faction and have a decent (not VERY competitive, but decent) starter army that can play up to 700 points - and if you nab a few heroes, you can build that out pretty easily. For players that want to "just get into the game," this would be kind of pricey ($300-ish), but you'd be good to go with rules in hand and ready to play (though I've ignored the sourcebooks you'd need for your model's rules - that's roughly $100 more). If you enjoyed this (or have other thoughts on models you could get - I didn't tap into alliances at all!), let us know in the comments below! Until next time, happy hobbying!