Fantasy Fellowship Deep-Dive, Part 3

Good morning gamers,

As we begin "Path #3" in Fantasy Fellowships (Amon Hen and the journeys through Rohan before Helm's Deep), we're getting our last hoorah with (virtually) our whole Fellowship and are going to begin splintering our group into smaller pockets. We have the epic Amon Hen mission as well as one mission with the Three Hunters and one mission with Merry and Pippin. We also get our last mission with our Boromir character and introduce a new foe that changes our force dynamics quite a bit: Uruk-Hai. Let's get stuck in!

Part 3: Amon Hen to Helm's Deep 

 

Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer
Uruks . . . I hate fighting Uruks with heroes . . .

We're not going to use our Gandalf model in any of these missions, but we get to use everyone else at least once against a game-changing foe: Uruk-Hai. Yep, get used to them, they're not going anywhere! While Uruks dominate two of the three scenarios we need to play (Ambush at Amon Hen and Ambush at Night), we also need to be ready to face Orcs and Warg Riders, so our list of potential foes is surprisingly diverse: 

• Lurtz (1 mission) 
• Ugluk (1 mission) 
• Mauhur (1 mission) 
• Uruk-Hai Scout Captain (no extra gear, 1 mission) 
• 12-24 Uruk-Hai Scouts (usual gear, 2 missions) 
• Grishnakh (1 mission) 
• Snaga (1 mission) 
• Sharku (1 mission) 
• 12 Orc Warriors (usual gear, 1 mission) 
• 18 Warg Riders (usual gear, 1 mission) 

As was already said, we don't get Gandalf, but we have everyone else at least once - and a wide cast of friendly models: 

• Frodo (1 mission) 
• Sam (1 mission); 
• Merry (2 missions); 
• Pippin (2 missions); 
• Aragorn (2 missions); 
• Legolas (2 missions);  
• Gimli (2 missions);  
• Boromir (1 mission); and 
• ALLIES: 
• Eomer on horse (1 mission) 
• Theoden on horse (1 mission) 
• Gamling on horse (no banner, 1 mission) 
• Hama (no additional gear and he only has 1 Might point, 1 mission)
• Captain of Rohan on horse with shield (1 mission) 
• 6-12 Riders of Rohan (2 missions) 
• 3 Rohan Outriders on horses (1 mission) 

This is the first part of Fantasy Fellowships where we have our Fellowship divided up into different groups - our first mission has everyone except Gandalf, but after that, we say good-bye to Boromir, Frodo, and Sam and focus on what we can do with Merry/Pippin and Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli.  

 

This brings us to something to keep in mind: our Boromir position is the least valuable slot in our Fantasy Fellowships. I talked about this when we got started: Boromir only appears in missions with 7-8 other members of your Fellowship - and in this last mission, all but the wizard will be there to help you win the mission (and he'll start with Merry/Pippin, about 24" away from Aragorn/Frodo, and potentially 12" away from Sam). So, if you like Boromir (like I do), run him in a different position so you can use him in more than just a few missions. 

 

Since this is the last part of Fantasy Fellowships that we need Boromir for, we really just need him to be able to fight F2 Goblins, F3 Wargs/Goblin Captains, F4 Uruk-Hai, F5 Uruk-Hai heroes/a Wild Warg Chieftain, a F6 Cave Troll, and a F10 Balrog - but functionally, the Boromir character should be F4+ with Heroic Strike being optional. We've already mentioned this - if you've chosen someone who is F5 without Strike, you can have your selected hero take on warriors and the generic captains, working in concert with one of your other heroes to deal with the Cave Troll and Balrog in the previous missions. Now, we just need to be able to deal with F4 Uruk-Hai (and possibly a F5 Uruk-Hai Captain). If you choose to use your Boromir slot as a "dump" slot, you want this guy nowhere near Lurtz (as is fitting thematically).

Photo Credit: War in Rohan
Eomer's gonna have to do some work in this scenario if our Merry/Pippin slots aren't great . . .

Our Merry/Pippin slots would benefit from being F4 as well - something we've also already mentioned. In this set of scenarios, being F4 will mean that Merry and Pippin will get a roll-off against Uruks/Grishnakh and will have advantage against the Orcs in the Ambush at Night scenario. Ugluk, Mauhur, Lurtz, and the Uruk-Hai Captain would have an advantage against our guys, but we have our Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli characters who might help us against Lurtz and the Uruk-Hai Captain and Eomer to help deal with Ugluk and Mauhur (unless, of course, we took him in our Fellowship - more on that later). Finding F4 heroes who cost 50pts or less isn't that hard with Thorin's Company, but if you have to settle for a F3 hero, that's fine too.

 

Photo Credit: War in Rohan
This scenario doesn't feature a lot of good guys . . .

Because Legolas/Gimli start WAY out of the way in the Amon Hen scenario, it helps if Legolas and/or Gimli has Heroic March OR one or both of them have a ranged weapon and good firing lanes. These are big heroes for you - and if you're missing both March and shooting weapons it might be a good idea for Aragorn and Frodo to drift closer to these guys (you can probably meet up within two turns). TECHNICALLY speaking, the Bow of the Galadhrim gift doesn't say it's an Elf bow, but in our Fantasy Fellowship campaign, we're playing that it is (so our Legolas characters will have a ranged weapon). In the Warg Attack scenario, these two guys might be mounted on a horse together - it's unclear if those horses cross over - and if so, the need for March/ranged weapons isn't that big of a deal, but if the horse doesn't cross over, then having March wouldn't be a bad thing (or a ranged weapon on Legolas, which again, I think he should have). 

Finally, if possible, you want your Companion to be fast (or really, really tough). This is actually quite hard to do since he has to be a) a Hobbit, or b) a cheap member of Thorin's Company if you're running "Young Bilbo." Sam's positioning in the first scenario is up to you - and Sam is actually placed AFTER you've seen the enemy's force disposition. As such, you can position Sam out of harm's way if your opponent gives you that option, but chances are good he'll be within range of somebody if the enemy has spread out. If the enemy is spread out, you want to be tough (since you might be swarmed). If the enemy is concentrated, you want to be fast so you can get to where your allies are (at least 12" away from him). Frankly, I think the toughness attribute might be better to shoot for considering what he's going to have to do in Parts 5 and 7, but we'll get to that in a future post. 

How Do Our Fellowships Compare?

So with the three new items for us to review on our score card, how are we doing?

• Is Boromir at least F4?
• Gorgoroth: Nope - Merry is in his Boromir slot and he's bad . . .
• Centaur: Actually yes, Elves always are.
• Tiberius: Why yes, he's a Champion of Erebor and happens to be really good (F5/3A with +1 To Wound).
  
• Do either Legolas or Gimli have March and/or a ranged weapon?
• Gorgoroth: With Thorin and Dori, originally no - but since we're treating the Bow of the Galadhrim gift as an Elf bow, Thorin can technically shoot. Not well, but technically yes. Neither can March though . . .
• Centaur: Yep - Halbarad and Elrohir are equipped with bows, but no March.
• Tiberius: technically no on both counts - the Champions of Erebor are great, but fast they are not and shooting isn't really their thing. However (with the Bow of the Galadhrim), if I want Dwalin to shoot something, I can. I imagine rushing my Ringbearer towards Dwalin and Gloin would be best . . .
• Is your Companion Fast/Tough?
• Gorgoroth: See below.
• Centaur: Tough yes, fast if you count the dogs.
• Tiberius: my companion isn't fast, but with 2 Wounds/2 Fate and multiple dice, he's surprisingly tough if he's not trapped. His dogs, however, are quite fast and that can help dig someone out of trouble quickly.

Conclusion

There's one last thing that bears noting: this is the first set of missions that include the kinds of named heroes that you're likely to find in a Fantasy Fellowship (Eomer, Theoden, and Gamling). While Bill the Pony was present in the last set of scenarios, these Rohan heroes provide pretty good stats for cost and if you have Gamling in your Fellowship, you can keep the Might flowing on at least one Rohan hero every turn (which is incredible - AND if you don't spend the Might point, it's Might you don't have to regain at the end of the mission). However, there's an often-overlooked rule for Fantasy Fellowships that I myself hadn't noticed until recently: if you take a hero that you would get as an ally in a mission in your Fellowship, you substitute out an appropriate Captain for that model in all the missions they show up in.

What does this mean practically for Fantasy Fellowship players? It means you might not have Eomer in Ambush at Night (that could really hurt) and you might not have Theoden, Gamling, and/or Hama in the Warg Attack scenario. You can probably deal with the latter one pretty easily - especially since you're likely to have Theoden, Gamling, and/or Hama in the Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli slots. But as we journey on through Fantasy Fellowships (specifically the Ride Out and Eomer's Return scenarios), we may miss these heroes in the scenarios they appear in . . . so . . . yeah, take that into consideration when you're planning your Fellowships.

For those of you wondering what heroes are at risk for complicating your future missions, here's the list of named heroes that can be taken as part of your Fellowship that show up in at least one mission across the entire campaign:

• Rohan: Theoden, Eomer, Gamling, Erkenbrand, Deorwine, Elfhelm, Eowyn 
• Minas Tirith: Faramir, Madril, Damrod, Anborn, Mablung, Irolas, Beregond 
• Other Factions: Haldir (Lothlorien), the King of the Dead (the Dead of Dunharrow), Bill, the Pony (the Fellowship), Smeagol (the Fellowship) 

What is unclear to me is who Smeagol and Bill get replaced by if they're in your Fellowship - the Fellowship doesn't have "captain" heroes and the next-closest model in cost is either Sam (40pts) or Merry/Pippin (10pts each). Frankly, I'd probably make it Sam (to replace Bill) and Thrain the Broken (to replace Smeagol - he has kind of a Smeagol vibe, doesn't he?), but I don't know - or maybe they swap for each other (though it begs the question who you'd add if you had both of them in your Fellowship). 

Similarly, what happens if Denethor is in your Fellowship (non-trivial question for us - he's in Gorgoroth's Fellowship)? Since you have to face him in the Pyre of Denethor scenario, is Denethor (an "enemy" model) replaced with a Captain since . . . you know . . . he might be on the other side of the room trying to save his son? Honestly, I don't know that it matters in any case - find something that seems to work for the people playing and do that - it's Fantasy Fellowships, after all.

 

Regardless of how all this is supposed to work, is it "bad" to take any of these heroes? No, but plan for it. If you take Eomer for example, then your wizard will be working with a Captain of Rohan and Erkenbrand to kill lots of Uruk-Hai in Eomer's Return . . . so take a combat wizard (like Celeborn, Elrond, or Thranduil) instead of a piddly Wizard (like Cirdan) and you'll probably be just fine. It would probably help to have a good Merry hero too, since Eomer won't be in the Ambush at Night scenario or the Ride of the Rohirrim (and depending on how Rohan-heavy you go, you could have a LOT of Captains of Rohan in that mission). Is it bad? No - just something you need to think about. 

So here we go - next time will showcase one of my favorite scenes from all the films and one of my favorite scenarios from Quest of the Ringbearer! Hope you enjoyed this and until next time, happy Easter and happy hobbying!