Good morning gamers,
We're starting our way through the fifth sourcebook released for the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, which is a follow-up to an older sourcebook from a previous edition of the game (also bearing the same name): The Fall of the Necromancer. While the original book was inspired by Elves and Wizards who would have been around during the time of the Necromancer (to include Cirdan and Arwen . . . you know, because THEY would be larking about in Mirkwood during the time of Thorin's epic journey to Erebor), the current rendition follows the storyline of the Hobbit trilogy, including some interesting missions which appeared off-camera but were mentioned in the film franchise.
The book is also critiqued for being VERY thin compared to other sourcebooks of similar pricing - the book is similar in size to the Scouring of the Shire supplement, which is priced a lot less than the other supplements that have been released to date. The other limitations to this sourcebook will be viewed as we go through it, but let's get this out of the way first: this was the first supplement released that featured Armies of the Hobbit models in the scenarios - and while Defence of the North also features some models from the Armies of the Hobbit, Fall of the Necromancer is the only sourcebook to date that contains exclusively Armies of the Hobbit Legendary Legions (there are two in Defence of the North - one of which might be redundant). While we'll be focusing on the scenario side of the house, this sourcebook has released Legions that have been dominant on top tables (both before and after nerfing was done) at a variety of different points levels and is still valuable for both Matched Play enthusiasts and scenario-driven players. Let's dig in!
Part 1: The Founding of Dol Guldur to Lurking in the Shadows
In the first four scenarios, we have quite a few models - they'll form the basis for most of the campaign. While most of the scenarios will involve models from the Armies of the Hobbit, we begin, actually, with a few from the Armies of the Lord of the Rings. Let's see what we need.
Purchase #1: Rohan Command blister (or Rohan Mounted Command blister)
It's funny that, in a book devoted to the Armies of the Hobbit, we start off with some Rohan models. :) While profiles could have been made (even if just for scenario play) for the woodmen of Rhovanion, we are just using nomadic Rohan guys . . . okay, fine.
Personally, I think giving us "Mirkwood Woodsmen" with a basic profile akin to the Bree Villagers we saw in the Scouring of the Shire (and incorporated into our Watchers of the Roads LL last December) would have been great. As it happens, because we only need a Captain of Rohan on foot, you can get either the foot Command blister or the mounted Command blister - whichever you like better (or think you'll use).
Purchase #2: 12 Warriors of Rohan (or the Rohan Battle Host)
Well, look at that - we also need 12 Warriors of Rohan to join our Captain. Funny, in order to get 12 of these guys, we need to get 24 of them. But if we're willing to pay ~$45 for the Warriors of Rohan and ~$50 for the Command blister . . . we could save some cash and use Eomer as our "Woodsman Chieftain" (or paint up one of our extra Warriors of Rohan to look more elite than the others) and 12 Warriors of Rohan and just get the Rohan Battle Host and get some Riders of Rohan for free. Chances are good we'll want a Battle Host if we want to get started in Rohan anyway, so while it's a pricey bit of kit, it's actually a far better value for us than trying to get the exact models we want (though adding the Rohan Mounted Command blister to the Rohan Battle Host is a really good option too).
Since we only need these woodsman for a single scenario, I still think giving us custom profiles for a Woodsman Chieftain and Woodsmen for the scenario (like they did for Bree Villagers) would have been the right call. Just saying . . .