Part 5: The Journey to Mordor
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| Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer |
In this section, our only Fellowship heroes are our Ringbearer and Companion - and boy do we need to get some work out of them! We have the following five missions to complete with them, though you should note that the first two scenarios give us allies while the latter two scenarios require our Ringbearer and Companion to work alone (and this changes the requirements for these characters dramatically):
- The Dead Marshes (ally: Smeagol)
- REST POINT!
- Osgiliath (allies: Smeagol, lots of Minas Tirith guys)
- Shelob's Lair (no allies)
- Cirith Ungol (you're basically not playing with your Fellowship on this one!)
- Plateau of Gorgoroth (no allies)
For these missions, we have the following models to help us:
- The Ringbearer (effectively 4 scenarios)
- The Companion (4-5 scenarios, depending on how often you win priority)
- ALLIES:
- Smeagol (2 scenarios)
- Faramir, Captain of Gondor with bow (1 scenario)
- Madril, Captain of Ithilien (1 scenario)
- Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien (1 scenario)
- Anborn, Ranger of Ithilien (1 scenario)
- Mablung, Ranger of Ithilien (1 scenario)
- 13 Warriors of Minas Tirith (standard gear and 1 with banner, 1 scenario)
- 12 Rangers of Gondor (standard gear, 1 scenario)
- 6 Osgiliath Veterans (standard gear, 1 scenario)
- PSEUDO-ALLIES:
- Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol
- 15 Mordor Uruk-Hai with no additional gear
We’ll be facing the following models – basically a bunch of Orcs with some scattered other bad guys to fight:
- Ringwraith on Fell Beast with 0-2 Might, 10 Will, and 0-2 Fate (2 scenarios)
- 6 Dead Marsh Spectres (1 scenario)
- 3 Orc Captains with shields (1-2 scenarios)
- 12-37 Orc Warriors (4-12 shields, 4-12 spears, 2-6 two-handed weapons, 2-6 Orc bows, 1 with banner, 1-3 scenarios)
- Smeagol (NOT Gollum, 1 scenario)
- Shelob (1 scenario)
- Gorbag, Orc Captain (1 scenario)
- Orc Taskmaster (1 scenario)
We have four missions in a row without a rest (which is really five missions because these guys don’t get a rest before the End of All Things either) but this should tell us one really important thing: burn through your resources in the Dead Marshes scenario. Since the enemy list in that scenario is small (6 spectres and a no-Might, no-Fate Ringwraith on Fell Beast), we want to hurry to kill each spectre as quickly as possible. The spectres act like Sentries, but they don't alert each other - so kill them off one at a time as quickly as you can!
The exception to this is the Ringwraith: you need to stay out of his line of sight for as long as possible. If he gets the charge on you, you could be in a HUGE amount of trouble - 3 Attacks at F5/S6 with the knock-down could be devastating to your Ringbearer if he doesn't have Heroic Defense, which will be the case if you took either of the budget Ringbearers (Old Bilbo or Smeagol). If you can get the charge on him (and trap him), he's not that hard to kill - D8 with 1 Wound/0 Fate can be beatable if Smeagol can just get a 5+. But this highlights another thing to keep in mind: starting in these scenarios, you can’t use the Ring. In this scenario in particular, it immediately makes the Ringwraith stop being a Sentry and he'll start coming for you! Of course, once he's dead, you can put it on, but all of the other scenarios you’ll be playing with these guys you’ll either lose the game (Osgiliath), you don’t have the Ringbearer as an active model (Cirith Ungol), or you’re forbidden from putting on the Ring (the other two). :-)
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| Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer |
In the Osgiliath scenario, we have TONS of help in the form of Ranger heroes (Faramir, Madril, Damrod, Anborn, and Mablung) and 31 Warriors to screen the passage of our travel - and the most useful of these models is Madril by far. Why? Because he's got 3-Might-and-March to slingshot our Hobbits towards the board edge we need to exit off of. If we keep troops in the way of the enemy to shield the Travelers from harm, with ~36" of ground to cross, we can move incredibly quickly and hopefully get within 12" of the board edge before the Ringwraith arrives on Turn 3. I will note that if you brought any of the Minor Ranger heroes with you (Anborn, Mablung, or Damrod), you will have a second March hero, since the missing Ranger will be replaced with a Captain of Minas Tirith.
While having only two Fellowship members in these missions is going to be difficult, it does come with a very useful perk: one of our two Fellowship members is going to be picked as the Bravest Companion and recover D6 resources - and so long as they're both pulling their weight, the other will recover D3 resources (which is really good).
But there's a similar concern: Evil can win all of these scenarios by killing one or both of our Fellowship members (usually the Ringbearer) - so don't let them do that. Death in Fantasy Fellowships is rarely final, but it does hurt (on a 4+ you can regain resources normally, on a 2-3 you only regain resources if you were selected as the Bravest Companion, and on a 1 you die - which could mean the end of the road for you). So, don't let that happen. :-) This will often require you to control match-ups, but as was the case in the real Fellowship, don't be brash and race out into the open, daring all comers - it probably won't work out too well for you. Winning scenarios can be hard, but if you do manage to win, any casualties can’t die . . . though again, chances are good that if you’re taking casualties, you’ve lost.
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| Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer |
In the last three sceanrios, we don't really have help for our Fellowship. In Shelob's Lair, our Companion may find himself working alone. Frodo can't put on the Ring, but can auto-wound Shelob with Sting every turn. Because of how the deployment is set up, our Ringbearer could be fighting both Shelob and Smeagol if our Companion doesn't reach him quickly. Thankfully, Frodo can move, so it's imperative that our Ringbearer and our Companion get to each other as quickly as possible in the Shelob's Lair scenario.
Our Companion should work to dispatch Smeagol as quickly as possible, which means it would be good if our Companion was F5+ (or F1-4 with Heroic Strike) and ideally would have 2 Attacks. You're unlikely to get F5/2A without having Young Bilbo as your Ringbearer (and then picking a 50-55pt hero from Thorin's Company to be your Companion), but there are Hobbits (like Sam, Rohan-Merry, and Gondor-Pippin) who have access to Strike but not 2 Attacks. In an odd twist, Smeagol (since he has the Hobbit keyword) is actually not a bad Ringbearer or Companion hero to take (what with F4/S4/2A). In some ways, Farmer Maggot is a great option for a player to look at, since he'll be bringing dogs to the fight to out-dice Smeagol, trap him, and then see that scythe wound him on 3s if he uses Piercing Strike (and 4s if he doesn’t)!
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| Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer |
When you make it to the Cirith Ungol mission, your Companion isn't always going to be yours to control - he'll be moved by whoever has priority! In addition, he'll also get +1 Attack, Terror, and a free Might point each turn . . . that could really backfire for you. As such, you want to keep the Uruks out of his path as much as possible - kill Orcs where you can, gang up where possible, and if you can get the Orcs to come between your Uruks and your Companion, so much the better.
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| Photo Credit: Quest of the Ringbearer |
On the Plateau of Gorgoroth scenario, you'll get +1 Defense on each of your models, but you might not be fighting. If you're willing to play for a draw, you can move directly down the western board edge at the start of the game and stay away from the enemy by hugging the board edge and stay out of the 6" spotting range of the Orcs. Since the game ends after 10 turns and you're playing on a 24" wide board, you'll need to move ~2.5" towards the board edge each turn to win . . . so if you want to win the scenario, you'll need to book it as much as possible (instead of skirting along the side). If you happen to have Heroic March in your arsenal (which is VERY hard to get), you might be able to get a jump on the enemy a bit, but it's still going to be a gamble. Since winning the scenario in Fantasy Fellowships only makes it more likely that you recover from a campaign injury, not being attacked and pulling a draw will have almost the exact same result as winning.
How Do Our Fellowships Compare?
There's really only one question about list building to consider here - can our Companion make it to our Ringbearer quickly? Let's see how we stack up:
- Can our Companion Meet our Ringbearer Quickly?
- All Three Fellowships: Maggot is the Companion for all three Fellowships - and he's slow, BUT the dogs are fast - and if at least one of them can buy time so the other models can circle up, we should be able to get everyone together.
Conclusion
With that, we leave an unrested Ringbearer and Companion for the End of All Things and turn to the six remaining members of our Fellowship! After we do the walk-throughs for the next five missions, we'll return to this deep-dive series and cover the four scenarios that feature the saga of the Pelennor Fields and the siege of Minas Tirith. We're getting back to the "fun" characters in our Fellowship with some straight-up, Orc-slaying (well, not in all the missions - one of them has a crazy man in it). It'll be great - until next time, happy hobbying!
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