First Impressions: The Free Peoples, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Editor's Note: We got two comments last week asking for new edition content - and Rohan has answered with about 4500 words! We're rotating back to posts on every other Thursday this week, so we'll be covering the articles for the previous edition on Thursdays (along with our one-off articles) and new edition stuff on Mondays. We hope you enjoy it! ~Tiberius

We have a new edition - and instead of plowing through each of the army lists one by one for the next year and a half (and likely two-and-a-half years once we get the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement and the Legacies document), we determined that we should do a series of "first impressions" like we did back in 2018/2019 when the MESBG revamp came out. While that series looked at the new profiles and army lists together, the purpose of this series is strictly on profile changes and will only hint slightly at the army lists in which the models can be fielded. There's a lot to take in with the new edition, so we're going to start by looking at some models that have made their way into most of the army lists from the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement: the Fellowship of the Ring (and their Bree friends . . . and Smeagol).

Photo Credit: Garrettzecker.com

This post is really a revisited version (sort of) of a three-part series I did on the Fellowship back in September 2019 (on their Tactical Units, Power Units, and Hobbit units), which was a revisit of an even older series back in July 2012 (both of which you can find in our "Tactics Revisited" section on our Tactics page), where I documented the things I was finding about the Fellowship from having played with them A LOT in the preceding two years (I got started with them, after all). We won't be going through army lists or talking extensively about tactics with them - we'll be saving those for army list-specific posts - but we will be talking about how these guys have changed in the new edition and whether the changes make them more or less appealing choices than they were before (with the understanding that how you fit them into your lists is now less free-form than it used to be).

The Three Hunters: How Have They Changed?

Our first stop is Gimli, who is still 100 points and basically hasn't changed. Like, at all. He picked up an extra Fate point (so he's 3M/2W/3F - and joins a very elite group of Dwarf heroes who actually have 3 Fate points), but is otherwise the same bludgeoning stick that he used to be. While I'm glad his points cost didn't go up at all, I was kind of hoping that he'd get some improvements or a points drop, especially since his two Hunter buddies got some sweet new kit for (spoiler alert) no points increase whatsoever. 

Gimli shows up in both of the "Fellowship" lists (Moria and Amon Hen/Lothlorien), as well as a few thematic mashup lists (the Defenders of Helm's Deep, the Return of the King, and the Men of the West), but in all of these lists, he's supporting a bunch of other big-hitters, which means that for me, he's very much still in the position of "I'll take him if I have the points." Admittedly, in the main Fellowship list (and possibly in the Breaking of the Fellowship list), you might not have a choice but to run Gimli, but in the other lists, you need to make a dedicated choice to take him - and I kind of wish the decision paradigm was better (there's one list where he do cool things while mounted on the same horse as Legolas, but we'll dig into how good this is when we get to reviewing that army list). Still, in an edition where Piercing Strike isn't a thing, a Defense 8 hero with 2 Wounds/3 Fate is going to be tough to crack - and if you can get him into the melee quickly, he'll be devastating.

Hobby Bingo 2024 - Tiberius's Board

Good morning gamers,

Happy boxing day - I hope your Christmas was enjoyable and fun! 2024 has been VERY busy here at TMAT and despite not getting a lot of hobby releases (and my simultaneous investment in Star Wars Legion), hobby bingo went pretty well! While it's not as complete as last year's run (there were two boxes that just weren't going to be filled in - more on that later), things went pretty well and I got a LOT of models smashed out of my backlog. So without further ado, here's how we did!

Row #1: TV Time, Smials, and Fiefdoms

Column 1 required us to watch the Hobbit Trilogy, which was easy this year because my daughter was reading the Hobbit with her book club and was allowed to watch the films as she finished the relevant chapters. This was completed on May 26th and while the book is superior to the film trilogy, I still like it - very enjoyable.

Column 2 required watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which I did on my own (though my son and daughter made it through Fellowship in book club this year too - and they really enjoyed the extended edition of the first film). I finished watching Fellowship on my own on May 29th, Towers on June 15th, and then because life got busy, I didn't get around to King until September 15th.

The Stuff of Legends: Buhrdur's Horde

Hey Reader!

We're back, looking at more legendary legions, and today we're looking at Buhrdur's Horde from the Rise of Angmar supplement. This is one of those flavorful "creature legions" from the Rise of Angmar book, and while Tiberius did a great job of looking at the wolves/wargs list, today we're looking at the trolls/wargs version, led by none other but the big man himself (and my personal favorite leader for Angmar): Buhrdur!

Part 1: What Do You Need?

The Legion requires you to take Buhrdur, Troll Chieftain, which is 110pts. This is not a bad tax: it's right about what you'd expect from a legendary legion, and for most points levels you can use the legion with some level of effectiveness.

Of course, if you want to maximize the effectiveness of Buhrdur, you should also take at least one Hill Troll, as that gives him the reroll of a dueling dice as long as he's only fighting infantry (and no monsters), so your effective tax is 185pts. But truth be told, that's pretty low for a legendary legion, especially since you're getting two F6 monsters out of the deal.

Part 2: What Do You Get?

Legion Bonuses

Buhrdur's Horde has three special rules, and they're all really good (if a bit situational at times). The first is Masters of Terrain, I love because it's simple and all-inclusive: "Friendly models gain the Woodland Creature and Mountain Dweller special rules."

This is awesome for two reasons. First, they remembered that Mountain Dweller is a thing! That makes it easier to run through rocky terrain, so it's more all-encompassing of difficult terrain than just Woodland Creature, but also because it allows you to reroll failed Jump, Leap, and Climb tests, and while those may not come up very often, you'd be surprised how many low stone walls, edges of ruins, and fallen trees are on boards. It's always nice when you get a chance at a reroll to get your guys where they need to be, and I love that this legion's theme of exceptional bushcraft is so easily woven in.

The Stuff of Legends: The Wolf Pack of Angmar

Good morning gamers,

AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Yep, today we're tackling the Wolf Pack of Angmar Legendary Legion - and boy has this been the golden boy of the Rise of Angmar sourcebook. No, it's not the strongest of the Legions - but it's definitely got the most flavor and I think a lot of players were looking forward to being able to throw together a pack of wargs and actually have a chance of winning games (well, games that weren't heavily skewed to fast armies already).

While I haven't been playing with this Legion, my son Gorgoroth has been intrigued by it, so I've seen it mostly in the context of doubles games and I can tell you, there are strengths to this list . . . and definite drawbacks. So let's hash through this very popular, fun Legendary Legion and see what there is to like about it.

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Legion Tax: 80pts

This Legion only requires you to take a single model: a Wild Warg Chieftain. This guy gets buffed up to an "Uber Warg Chieftain," who has 3 Might, 3 Will, 2 Fate instead of the usual 2 Might, 2 Will, 1 Fate of a Warg Chieftain. Unlike the "Uber Troll Chieftain" of the Black Gate Opens LL, this guy gets no special rules to make him better, but like the Uber Troll, he gets improved to a Hero of Valour.

The Stuff of Legends: Army of Carn Dum

Hey Reader!

We're back, looking at more legendary legions, and today we're looking at The Army of Carn Dum from the Rise of Angmar supplement. This legion is interesting: it has very strong Dunland vibes, both in terms of warrior/hero profiles as well as in non-magical support characters. But the special rules do make it feel a bit different from Dunland, and by extension quite different from Vanilla Angmar as well.

Part 1: What Do You Need?

The Legion requires you to take Aldrac, Warlord of Carn Dum, which is 120pts. This is not a bad tax: it's not the smallest, but it's not the largest either. It's more than Theoden, but less than the Dragon Emperor, so not bad. It means I'd probably never play this legion below 400pts (and for reasons you'll see I'd probably not play it above 600pts), but the tax is not bad.

Of course, in reality, you need more than that: one of your special rules involves Fraecht's Incantations of Power, so if you don't take him (65pts), you're leaving special rules on the table. You also have a special rule (and a cool special rule!) involving banner ranges, so if you don't take a banner (25-50pts if you take 1-2 banners), you're also not taking full advantage of your special rules. So the "True Tax" of the legion is 210-235pts, not 120. Which...for a F3 army, is quite high. You get pretty good value out of this, but it is a high tax.

The Stuff of Legends: Army of Arnor

Hey Reader!

We're back, looking at more legendary legions, and today we're starting our deep dive into the Army of Arnor from the Rise of Angmar supplement. This legion is similar to some of the other legendary legions that have come out where they are "the legendary legion for that small minor army, so that all of them get at least one," and yet it's not for reasons that we'll discuss below. But if you are getting Army of Dale / Chief's Ruffians / Army of Dunland vibes from this legendary legion, I don't blame you!

Part 1: What Do You Need?

The Legion requires you to take Arvedui, Last King of Arnor, which is only 80pts. This is one of the smallest "Legion Taxes" for any legendary legion (Sharkey's Rogues, Wolves of Isengard, and Ugluk's Scouts come in lower, but this is still quite impressive), meaning you can technically play this legendary legion at almost any points level.

Of course, in reality, you need more than that: two of your three legion bonuses are tied to Malbeth the Seer, so effectively you need to take another 70pts to actually use all of your legion bonuses. That being said, a 150pt "True Tax" is not bad at all for a legendary legion.

Beyond this, you need "Arnor" models: Warriors of Arnor, Rangers of Arnor, the new Knights of Arnor (I recommend taking a mix of all three of these), and you can even throw in Dunedain and Rangers of the North if you like. 

You can also include Aranarth (the son of Arvedui) and Argadir (the right-hand man of Arvedui, and an auto-include in my book), and Captains of Arnor (which I'd take at least one of these guys if you can) to round out your hero choices.

The Stuff of Legends: The Battle of Fornost

Good morning gamers,

Before we get started with today's post, I just wanted to note that thanks to viewers like you, this little blog just passed 3,000,000 page views . . . so from all of us here at TMAT, thanks so much for your viewership - it means the world to us!

When we here at TMAT heard that the Rise of Angmar supplement was going to drop shortly before the new edition of MESBG was going to come out, we were like, "Yeah, there's no way we can review all of the changes that have come with this before the new edition drops." As a result, we decided to close out 2024 with an homage to the outgoing edition of the game, getting in all of the Legion reviews and army updates based on the changes that were provided for this beloved edition of the game. More old-school MESBG will follow in 2025, but intermixed with the new stuff.

We're starting off this seven-part series with a review of the Legion that I was most surprised by in the Rise of Angmar book: the Battle of Fornost LL. Obviously, this list was going to be in the book - that wasn't the surprising bit - but I was rather stunned by the options available for list building. While there are some elements of the army that I don't like, the list itself is . . . actually quite interesting. Let's take a look at what you need to run this list and what list building styles you can do with it.

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Legion Tax: 245-290pts

This list has one of the highest Legion taxes in it, since you have to take Earnur (who is probably mounted with a lance - but doesn't have to be) and Glorfindel (who is probably mounted with the Armor of Gondolin - though he doesn't have to be). On foot and with Glorfindel in his pajamas, these two heroes come in just shy of 250 points - maxed out, however they "only" cost 45pts more, so it's probably a safe bet that both will be mounted and armored.

Both are Heroes of Valour and unlike other Legendary Legions with required heroes that are the same tier (like Cirith Ungol or the Return of the King LL), you have the full flexibility of picking which of these heroes will be your army leader. Glorfindel has 3 Fate points, Fortify Spirit, an Elven-made weapon, and Lord of the West, which makes him a pretty compelling choice for your army leader, but without the lance and as the better stall-someone-who-is-big option, his place as army leader might not be a given.

Thematic List Building Challenge: The Road to Rivendell

Good morning gamers,

Last time we were in this series (just over a month ago), we looked at a highly restrictive list of units (those defending Minas Tirith in the films) and tried our best to find a way to make it competitive. Whether we succeeded or not is anyone's guess. Before that, we looked at the book-variant of the Defense of Minas Tirith, which means we had two lists from the Return of the King. The two posts prior to those were the book-variant and film-variant of the defense of the Deeping Wall of Helm's Deep . . . which means we had two posts from the Two Towers. Looks like Fellowship is due for a look, eh?

Today, we're looking at a list that I've tried to make work for years - and it involves cherry picking out desired units from SIX different army lists, all centered around the events that surrounded Frodo's departure from the Shire until his arrival in Rivendell. Can these units be run in a competitive setting? Well, let's find out . . .

The Theme

I read the Lord of the Rings every year (and by "read," I mean "listen to audiobooks" - which is kind of like reading if you have long commutes and get car sick . . . or are the one driving . . . as is the case for me). Every year when I relisten to The Fellowship of the Ring, I always come back to a list idea: bring an army that represents Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin (and I usually try to get Fatty Bolger in there too) trying to get to Rivendell. There are a HOST of characters that are introduced in the first book of Fellowship and most aren't revisited when you get to the return journey in The Return of the King.

Thematic List Building Challenge: The Walls of Minas Tirith, Part 2

Good morning gamers,

Last time we were in this series, we looked at how to replicate the defense of Minas Tirith from the books by seeing what kind of alliances we could build with Minas Tirith and the Fiefdoms. Today, we're looking to the defense of Minas Tirith in the films, which gives us far fewer profiles to work with - and whether you can make this build "competitive." Let's see what our theme is . . .

The Theme

I remember well where I was at 12:01am on December 17th, 2003 - I was sitting in the middle of a crowded movie theatre with about a dozen friends (and two dads, who drove all of us) watching the ads run before the Return of the King midnight debut in Hawaii - it was a glorious night and I'll never forget it. I remember being incredibly pumped when Gandalf assumed command of the defense of Minas Tirith and the trebuchets began to shoot back at the hordes of Mordor. While this scene got a lot of amping up with the release of the extended cut about a year later, there's plenty to enjoy about the theatrical version - and to this day, whenever I watch the films, I'll stop what I'm doing and enjoy again the masterful work that went into making that scene.

Well, in MESBG, the lowly Warrior of Minas Tirith is a "fine" profile - the bowmen are uninspired (and sub-par to their Ranger/Citadel Guard counterparts), the shield guys are good but can be eclipsed by Guards of the Fountain Court in the front rank and Guards of the Fountain Court, Citadel Guard, and Rangers with spears in the second rank. Unfortunately, while there are Guards of the Fountain Court and Citadel Guard in the films, none of them are seen actually defending the city . . . so for our purposes today, we're going to skip them.

We're also going to skip on the knights - and basically everything from the Minas Tirith list except Gandalf, Pippin, and the absolute most basic units in Minas Tirith. No fancy bells and whistles . . . can such an army be good? Let's look at the models we have and what they're going to force us to do . . .

Quest of the Ringbearer: Model Collection Update, Part IX

Good morning gamers,

My goodness, it's been a while since I updated this thread! My last collection update was in June 2023 and thanks to Star Wars Legion, the new additions for Quest of the Ringbearer have been slim. Here's what we've been up to since then . . .

After the Winter Whirlwind tournament in February 2023, I picked up 12 Warriors of Rohan (5 shields, 3 shields and throwing spears, and 4 bows) from the prize station, which got me the last of the Warriors of Rohan I needed for the End of All Things (took me a while to get them touched up and stuff), along with all the bows I needed for my shooting-heavy Men of the West lists (still need more throwing spear guys - maybe a new starter set can help with that?):

Yes, it took me over a year to get these guys looking like my other Rohan guys . . .

This year, I bought Dernhelm (Eowyn and Merry) and have used them a few times (but not at a tournament - at least not until the THRO doubles event gets rescheduled):

Work gave me a thank you gift for working hard and I used it to get this big boy:

Yep - he's pretty great. On his back are all of Clan Water - here's Clan Earth to finish the set:

Finally, I ordered a bunch of Riders of Rohan from a guy in the UK through a Facebook buy/sell page - most of the horses and spears required some minor surgery after they arrived, but I got the last throwing spear Riders I needed!

Quest of the Ringbearer models remaining:

• 6 Wargs (which will be Warg Riders)
• 2 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• The Mouth of Sauron on foot and mounted

Fantasy Fellowships: 

• Grishnakh and Snaga
• Legolas (and Gimli) on horse
• Sharku on foot and mounted
• 4 mounted Royal Guards
• Deorwine on foot and mounted
• Elfhelm on foot and mounted
• 16 Warriors of the Dead (6 as dismounts for the Riders of the Dead)
• 6 Riders of the Dead

Conclusion 

That's it for this year - and things are moving along quite nicely! I'm hopeful that I can power through the Quest of the Ringbearer stuff next year (we'll see how that jives with the changes in the new edition). While there will be plenty of matched play content on the blog in 2025, scenario play remains a big part of what we do here, so you can expect to see more from us in the coming year (though it won't be Fantasy Fellowships - need some time to get more of these models before that happens). Until next time, happy hobbying!

Thematic List Building Challenge: The Walls of Minas Tirith, Part 1

Good morning gamers,

We're back in our thematic list building challenge series and while we've looked so far at how to capture the film-accurate and book-accurate defense of the Deeping Wall of Helm's Deep, today we're headed to Gondor to look at how to represent the defense of Minas Tirith as described in the book (with special emphasis on Book V, Chapter 4 and informed by the people we know came to Minas Tirith in Book V, Chapter 1).

NOTE: a change has been made to this post based on a thread in the comments - changes are in parentheses/red.

The Theme

There are passages in the book that I love - and one of those passages comes from Book V, Chapter 4, where we read about Gandalf and Imrahil taking command of the garrison of Minas Tirith as Denethor sat paralyzed by Faramir's side:

So it was that Gandalf took command of the last defence of the City of Gondor. Wherever he came men's hearts would lift again, and the winged shadows pass from memory. Tirelessly he strode from Citadel to Gate, from north to south about the wall; and with him went the Prince of Dol Amroth in his shining mail. For he and his knights still held themselves like lords in whom the race of Numenor ran true. Men that saw them whispered saying: 'Belike the old tales speak well; there is Elvish blood in the veins of that folk, for the people of Nimrodel dwelt in that land once long ago.' And then one would sing amid the gloom some staves of the Lay of Nimrodel, or other songs of the Vale of Anduin out of vanished years.

I was recently reading this passage and was like, "Man, I should make a list that has both Gandalf the White and Imrahil in it." I've heard of players running Gandalf and Elessar together - and theoretically you can save some points by running Gandalf and Boromir together - but there's a very fascinating synergy that you can get by running Gandalf and Imrahil together, and that's that you can get the high-Fight/average-cost of the Fiefdoms to support your high-Defense/average-cost Minas Tirith warriors. Let's look and see how we can make a competitive list with ONLY the models we know are at Minas Tirith from the book.

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 16: The Battle of Bywater

Good morning gamers,

This is it - this is for all the bananas! We've reached the end of the Scouring of the Shire campaign and we're playing the Battle of Bywater scenario. This scenario is really old, but with the campaign bonuses we've been getting for winning scenarios, there are a few adjustments from what's in the book:

• Maggot with his dogs, the Gaffer, and Ted Sandyman are here;
• Holfoot Bracegirdle and Robin Smallburrow can't call heroic actions because the Ruffians won the Arrest of Folco Boffin scenario;
• Pippin has -2 Might for losing the Attack on Tuckburough; and
• Merry gets a free Heroic action from winning the Old Cotton's Farm scenario.

The Battle of Bywater

The board is set up with the Ruffians on one side and the Hobbits hemming them in on the other three board edges. As you can see, the flowers from the Gaffer have been placed near the middle . . . apparently Centaur thinks he'll be fighting there (and he would be right).

Thematic List Challenge: The Deeping Wall of Helm's Deep, Part 2

Good morning gamers,

Last week, we looked at how you could run a historical or convenient alliance between the Fellowship (or the Halls of Thranduil) with Lothlorien in order to bring the defense of the Deeping Wall of Helm's Deep to life from the silver screen. Today, we're back in Helm's Deep, but this time, we're going to try to find a thematic but competitive list that showcases the defense of the Deeping Wall based on the participants who are there from the BOOK. Let's dig into the theme of this list . . .

The Theme

We've rejected all the Elves and we're digging in hard into what Rohan has, as well as getting some heavy-hitting heroes from the Fellowship to flesh out the list. The defense of the Deeping Wall in the book is a great drama, with speeches by Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Eomer about their hard fight - as well as a lot of talking about their weapons and kill counts. Some of this made its way into the films, but most of it is strictly in the books.

Because we're focusing on one part of the battle for Helm's Deep, there are going to be some models that were clearly AT Helm's Deep who are going to be absent from this list - but we also have a lot more to work with than we did last time. I theorized running a list from this thematic army back in March for our Spring Zephyr tournament and it's been fun to run thematic lists like this one throughout the year (even though I ended up not running any of them). Let's look at the models that we're going to constrain ourselves to . . .

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 15: Old Cotton's Farm

Good morning gamers,

We're almost through the Scouring scenarios - and today, Centaur gets to use one of his favorite heroes: Farmer Cotton. The Hobbits have the Ruffians surrounded - can they keep most of their heroes alive and quarter the Ruffians? Let's find out!

Old Cotton's Farm

The Ruffians begin surrounded and the Hobbits have surrounded their circle of models. The southern ambush has Frodo and Merry in it, while the northern ambush is led by Sam and the Gaffer. Several Hobbit Archers have perched themselves on the smials on the northern side. The Gaffer's flowers are all near the southern side (to up the damage there).

Thematic List Challenge: The Deeping Wall of Helm's Deep, Part 1

Good morning gamers,

There are lots of good podcasts and blogs and such out there on the internet with players who have podiumed at the world's most prestigious tournaments - and we aren't one of those blogs. I've been playing the game for a long time, but with young kids at home, going to multi-day events that are hosted by other people (or single-day events that are run on Sundays) are just out of the question for me. Heck, I barely have time to throw/attend 2-3 events run by our local group every year!

But one distinctive that our group does have is that in one way or another, we love themey lists. We do - sometimes it's trying to run lists that play off a particular gimmick or rule in the game, and sometimes it's attempting to portray a battle force from the books or movies. As someone who's played a lot of games and doesn't really care how he does in the end, I'll say that it's the theme of a list that really sells me on using something (maybe that's why I don't win much at our events . . .).

But I had an idea last year: write a few articles about lists that are rich in theme, don't appear to be toppling the meta right now, but have a lot to offer both thematic-minded and competitive players. As such, I've set for myself a "list building challenge" to explore some new ways for players to bring theme to the tabletop (and maybe win some games along the way). Our first stop is a newly-found favorite of mine: running a "Deeping Wall" list based on the Two Towers film!

The Theme

I've said this many times before: I was a bit saddened when War in Rohan came out and you couldn't run a "Deeping Wall only" Legendary Legion (though admittedly, this is pretty much my only critique of that sourcebook - it's really great!). Running Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and a bunch of Lothlorien Elves is really fun - especially if all of the Galadhrim could take bows . . . because THAT wouldn't be broken, right? Well, I happened to pick up a bunch of Galadhrim off eBay one day, and then Centaur and I split a Galadhrim box . . . and then I got MORE Galadhrim for Christmas . . . and suddenly, I had gone from being a Wood-Elves-only Lothlorien player to having a legitimately large number of armored Elves. What was I to do with all these Elves (and basically no shields because that's how the blister works)? Why add them to my three Hunters and play around with a Deeping Wall list, of course!

The Legacies of Middle-Earth Supplement: What We Know and What It Means

Good morning gamers,

In case you didn't see the October 29th article on Warhammer Community, we got a preview of (probably all of) what's going to be in the Legacies of Middle-Earth supplement, which is supposed to be a downloadable PDF document of profiles that are being retired from MESBG officially, but will still have new-edition-compatible profiles so if your local tournament organizer wants to allow them, your collection isn't null and void (some people will rejoice, others will note care).

The recent GW articles have actually been hinting at a lot of different changes if you know to look for them (like the fact that the Isengard faction will have at least two subfactions in it, named the Army of the White Hand and the Usurpers of Edoras). The article we got on October 29th was far less hidden in its reveals - but that doesn't mean there weren't odd things included that hint at other changes to come.

What the article gave us was a long punch list of profiles that were moving to Legacies - but hidden in this list were some other gems about the new edition, so what I wanted to do today is break down a) what profiles will be free-to-download from Games Workshop (something I very much support), b) how this will change the factions that were targeted, and c) what OTHER changes have been previewed and what we should expect from the forthcoming supplements for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings, the Armies of the Hobbit, and the Armies of Middle-Earth (book-oriented supplement). Let's dive in!

What's In Legacies?

The Legacies document will be populated mostly with profiles that the GW team invented to flesh out the world of Middle-Earth. Many of these things are mentioned in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit (like Half-Trolls and everything from Khand - re-read Book V of The Return of the King if you doubt me). 

Fleshing out the Faction: Fiefdoms Revamp

Good morning gamers,

Back in June 2021, Centaur tried his hand at "revamping" the Fangorn list, providing lots of cool upgrades for Ents, profiles for Huorns, and some neat named heroes who do different things. About a month later, Centaur also tried his hand at revamping Arnor, providing flavors of units based on the major regions of Arnor that would have existed during the apex of that kingdom (the profiles offer more variety than what Rise of Angmar provided, for those interested in seeing what could have been).

In December 2022, Rythbyrt did not one but two posts on how to revamp the Rangers faction (and some Legendary Legions that surround that faction - or should include members of that faction) and like Centaur's post on Fangorn, there were some really great ideas in it.

I'm the last one to join the fray, but I gotta say, the idea for this revamp has been growing in my mind for years. Every year when I begin re-reading The Return of the King, I'm always intrigued by the end of Book V, Chapter 1 where the various fiefdoms of Gondor arrive in their hundreds to assist the garrison of Minas Tirith. While the Fiefdoms has a lot of great units in it - and a really neat theme overall - there's also a LOT of missed opportunities, I feel, for that army list. Today, we're going to walk through the profiles that already exist for the Fiefdoms, and then we'll walk through the passage in chunks and look at profile options for the various fiefs that we're told about. Let's dig in!

NOTE: it's entirely possible - however unlikely - that the Fiefdoms (probably relegated to the Armies of Middle-Earth/book-not-movies sourcebook) could get a revamp in the new edition. We already know that the Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth have been relegated to the Legacies document (and Forlong the Fat is probably losing his horse - and probably getting his war spear downgraded to a standard spear), but so far as we know, the rest of the Fiefdoms is staying as it is. Since we don't have a roadmap for GWs plans, I figured I would throw out these ideas - and who knows, maybe it'll happen!

The Fiefdoms: Existing Profiles

Dol Amroth

This is actually the eighth and final fiefdom to be mentioned in the chapter and Imrahil is described as "kinsman of the Lord, with gilded banners bearing his token of the Ship and the Silver swan" - basically, he's awesome. Imrahil does a lot in the book and leads some of the finest warriors in all of the kingdoms of men - they can trace their lineage back to Numenor and apparently that allows them to have a higher Fight Value than Eomer when they're within 3" of Imrahil and 6" of Boromir's mighty flag. #NotBitter

Imrahil's profile is super solid, with his only limitations being "just 3 Might points" and only getting his wounding bonuses on the charge. Still, with a 12" banner rule for Dol Amroth units (and this rule gets applied to all Fiefdoms units if you keep your army bonus), F6/3A with D7/3 Wounds/3 Fate, there's a lot to like about Imrahil - and many a model that I've fielded have been run over by him.

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 14: Attack on Tuckborough

Good morning gamers,

Happy Halloween - and my deepest apologies for not getting the words typed up for this before going on vacation (I've done this before and I know I will do it again). Today we have the Attack on Tuckburough scenario which is the first scenario to feel like a Matched Play scenario with a twist. This scenario has been modified in three ways because of the scenario bonuses from the linked campaign, so this may not be reflected in your games if you just play this scenario!

Attack on Tuckborough

Both forces are trying to control the five objectives on the center line and can deploy up to 12" forward (which we did). Centaur has added Will Whitfoot to his army for this scenario, thanks to winning the Mayor's Arrest scenario. Centaur also gets free priority win from Bounders Strike Back scenario. Finally, Paladin has no Might for losing the Lockholes scenario, which seems a bit harsh.

Top 5 Profile Changes - Fellowship Edition

Good morning gamers,

Do you remember where you were when you first watched The Fellowship of the Ring? Do you remember when you first read The Lord of the Rings? I was a tween when I started reading Fellowship and about seven months later (yes, it took me a while - I'm sure I'm not the only person with that story) to finish it and watch the first film of the trilogy in the summer of 2002. I remember madly reading The Two Towers so I could see it in theatres with my dad and brothers and I remember going to the theatre with them and a bunch of friends on opening night to see The Return of the King on December 17, 2003. It was . . . incredible.

Today we're wrapping up this four-part series on wish-listing for updates to beloved characters in beloved lists that just don't seem like they're quite hitting the mark and we're ending where it all started for me (thanks to the Mines of Moria starter set - and the books and films, of course): the Fellowship of the Ring. This is THE best collection of heroes in Middle-Earth - or at least, it's supposed to be. I mean, they got nine first-round draft picks from all the free people of Middle-Earth and so clearly, the units they chose should be the best . . . obviously.

Okay, so this is a balanced game and there are probably a dozen profiles that could romp all over these guys, but in general, the bones of the list are good - Aragorn is great (especially with Anduril), Legolas is great (especially if he can shoot all day), Gimli is great (especially if something really big doesn't come his way), Boromir is amazing (especially if he can just fight low-Courage models), and Gandalf has a ton of tricks he can employ. But . . .

. . . I can't help but feel like the other half of the roster lets them down a little - and there are elements of the "big five" that could use some tidying up as well. Since this faction more than any other has a high visibility for new players in MESBG, it's good if the profiles here are done right. So, without further ado, let's clean up some profiles! We'll start with an easy one . . .

Profile #1: Aragorn - Strider

Fact: there's not much to change about this profile. Aragorn has all the stats you'd expect from an excellent man-sized model and with a free Might point each turn from Mighty Hero, he's easy for any player to pick up and use. However, there's one glaring issue with this profile: Aragorn - Strider's sword should be a hand-and-a-half sword.

If you need convincing that it should be able to be wielded two-handed, let me commend our House Rules page - you can find all the photos there that will prove my point. What I'd like to focus on here is why this is a necessary change. There are only three arguments I've heard for why Aragorn's sword should stay as a one-handed sword: a) he can take Anduril, so if you want him to do damage, just buy Anduril, b) fighting two-handed without a special rule that avoid the penalty is bad and shouldn't be done, and c) there are so many other things that need fixing in the game, so why bring this up.

Top 5 Profile Changes - Mordor Edition

 Good morning gamers,

This is our third installment in this series of proposing a single change to five profiles that most players dismiss as "bad" in order to turn them into something that appears to be more worth taking. We've already looked at revamping the Minas Tirith and Thorin's Company lists and today we're turning to one of the most competitive and fleshed out factions in the game: Mordor.

Tackling Mordor is hard because there are SO many profiles and between all of them, there are units that basically do everything. If you want any mix of F4, S4, and D6, you can find an infantry model (or even cavalry model) to suit your fancy. If you want a horde of models, they have that too. Cheap, scrappy combat heroes? Got several of those. Magic casters (both on the cheap and expensive/powerful)? There's about a dozen. Nasty monsters? A few come to mind - and others will come if you dig deep enough. Siege weapons? Yes - two (and arguably both are worth buying - one of them even comes with a monster attached). Mordor's got it all . . . which is why some of its profiles fall to the wayside. 

Our goal is to find a way to make five profiles from one of the best factions in the game (if not THE best faction in the game) just that little bit more appealing to players so that the flavor of the game isn't lost. With a new edition coming out that promises more thematically-adapted profiles, here's my hopes for the changes coming to Mordor (among other things). We'll start with . . .

Profile #1: The Knight of Umbar

There are ten Ringwraith profiles available to Mordor - one generic version and nine named versions. The generic version is quite useful if you want a cheap caster to support a more expensive one (like Sauron in a Barad-Dur list) or if you want to throw out a lot of them (such as in the Black Riders Legendary Legion - and possibly in a standard Mordor list, though you have a lot more options at your disposal). Some of the named versions are also good deals - the Witch-King is a better version of the generic Ringwraith once he has the Crown of Morgul and the third Might point, the Shadow Lord can protect models near him from archery, the Dark Marshal is a VERY cheap 6" warrior-only banner with a decent fighting profile, and the Betrayer can really make a Serpent Horde list (or Serpent Horde allies) deadly beyond all reason.

Other named Ringwraiths can take some practice but also have niche ways of making things work - the Tainted is one of very few ways to shut down enemy heroic actions and stand fasts, the Dwimmerlaik can make heroes with limited heroic resources sputter out more quickly (and even those with lots of resources will be shutting down faster while he's around), the Undying can be a fantastic army leader if you don't want to cough up VPs (especially if paired with a generic Ringwraith, Kardush, and possibly the Shadow Lord), and Khamul remains a decent flex-fighter since he CAN call Heroic Strike, but doesn't HAVE to call Heroic Strike to be better than F5 grunts (so long as he's willing to pay a Will point). Theoretically, the last named Ringwraith, the Knight of Umbar, should also fit in as a good anti-hero fighter, but there are some . . . complications with his special rules.

The Board Is Set: How to Play Clash by Moonlight

Good morning gamers,

This is it, everyone - it's our last scenario for singles in the Matched Play guide (right before we get a new edition, I know)! The oddity of the scenario we have today, Clash by Moonlight, was integrated into every scenario that has the Assault on Lothlorien Legendary Legion as a participant. It's dark in this scenario - and that changes everything (and makes it a perfect time for killing heroes).

For the last time, let's look at what the main idea of Pool 6 is as a context for the Clash by Moonlight scenario (and if you've already read it, you can click here to skip ahead).

Pool 6: Killing Enemy Heroes

We've seen four scenario pools that ultimately come down to being able to get somewhere (whether that's with maelstrom deployments in Pool 1, holding multiple objective markers in Pool 2, getting to different objects in Pool 3, or starting from a corner/walking onto a board in Pool 5). We've also seen one pool that's all about killing more of the enemy than you lose in Pool 4 (which could be limited to kills by your army leader or just mass killing with your army).

Pool 6 is more like Pool 4 in that it's about killing things - but how many enemy models total you kill is usually not weighted as strongly as being able to kill enemy heroes (either one specific hero or all enemy heroes). Since heroes are generally speaking better than warriors, killing enemy heroes in Pool 6 requires some planning in the list building stage in order to avoid a "no win" scenario.

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 13: The Lockholes

Good morning gamers,

Today Centaur and I will be playing a scenario that I have been looking forward to playing - the Lockholes! This scenario has an optional rule that I mentioned back when I reviewed the lists you can make with the Scouring of the Shire scenario participants and it's required a little extra record keeping as we've been playing.

The Lockholes has four Hobbit Militia and Lobelia and Fatty "locked up", but if other heroes were carried off in a previous mission (Will Whitfoot and Folco Boffin) or were killed in a previous mission (Farmer Maggot and Gaffer Gamgee), you can replace the Militia with the heroes and rescue them instead. Centaur happened to win most of these scenarios, so only Folco Boffin has been added to the captives list. If he escapes, I'll get +3 Ruffians in the Battle of Bywater scenario.

The Lockholes

Centaur deployed with most of his guys on the road, with archers on one flank and a few Militia on the other. My Ruffians are pretty spread out to cast a big net for them.

The Board Is Set: How to Play Assassination

Good morning gamers,

This is our second post in our review of scenarios from Pool 6 (and our penultimate post in this series - at least for singles Matched Play scenarios). Last time, we looked at a really cool scenario where both players are bluffing and trying to mask their plans from their opponent (usually). Today, we're looking at a scenario that could be seen as having more or less bluffing going on, depending on who you are and what you're running: Assassination.

As we've done with all the posts in this series, we'll start off with a brief overview of the pool (but if you read this before in a different article, you can click here to skip it).

Pool 6: Killing Enemy Heroes

We've seen four scenario pools that ultimately come down to being able to get somewhere (whether that's with maelstrom deployments in Pool 1, holding multiple objective markers in Pool 2, getting to different objects in Pool 3, or starting from a corner/walking onto a board in Pool 5). We've also seen one pool that's all about killing more of the enemy than you lose in Pool 4 (which could be limited to kills by your army leader or just mass killing with your army).

Pool 6 is more like Pool 4 in that it's about killing things - but how many enemy models total you kill is usually not weighted as strongly as being able to kill enemy heroes (either one specific hero or all enemy heroes). Since heroes are generally speaking better than warriors, killing enemy heroes in Pool 6 requires some planning in the list building stage in order to avoid a "no win" scenario.

The Board Is Set: How to Play Fog of War

Good morning gamers,

We're starting our last pool of scenarios for Matched Play (singles Matched Play, that is) and it's definitely one of my favorite pools. If I had to guess, it's a favorite pool for a lot of players, with lots of guessing and surprises that can make the games memorable. Of the three scenarios in this set, the scenario we're covering today was my favorite of the scenarios released in the MESBG revamp back in 2018 and it's always a joy to play: Fog of War.

Before we delve into the specifics, let's talk about the distinctives of this pool - especially in the context of the preceding five pools. If you've already read this part in a different post, you can skip it by clicking here.

Pool 6: Killing Enemy Heroes

We've seen four scenario pools that ultimately come down to being able to get somewhere (whether that's with maelstrom deployments in Pool 1, holding multiple objective markers in Pool 2, getting to different objects in Pool 3, or starting from a corner/walking onto a board in Pool 5). We've also seen one pool that's all about killing more of the enemy than you lose in Pool 4 (which could be limited to kills by your army leader or just mass killing with your army).

Pool 6 is more like Pool 4 in that it's about killing things - but how many enemy models total you kill is usually not weighted as strongly as being able to kill enemy heroes (either one specific hero or all enemy heroes). Since heroes are generally speaking better than warriors, killing enemy heroes in Pool 6 requires some planning in the list building stage in order to avoid a "no win" scenario.

Two of the three scenarios in Pool 6 involve secretly picking an enemy hero that you want to kill - and unless your opponent has exactly one hero in their force, you'll need to pick a hero who isn't the army leader. In the third scenario, you get VPs for having at least one hero alive but additional VPs if you have at least one hero alive and you killed more enemy heroes than your opponent killed (or all enemy heroes). Lists that are good at killing enemy heroes have an advantage in these scenarios.

The Scouring of the Shire, Part 12: Brockenborings

Good morning gamers,

We're doing the Brockenborings scenario today, which is very similar to three other scenarios we've played to date - like The Mayor's Arrest, The Death of Lotho, and The Arrest of Folco Boffin, the Ruffians will be trying to capture two Hobbit heroes - and they'll just have Hobbit Militia to protect them. Like the Death of Lotho, I'll be spread out trying to guess where the Hobbits are going, but unlike that scenario, my hero (Bill Ferny) starts on the board. Like all three scenarios, the heroes given to the Shire player aren't great combatants, but unlike those three scenarios, I don't have a great hero (Bill Ferny is just sad). Let's look at the board - and cover a few caveats about the scenario before we get into it!

Brockenborings

As you can see, we have a smial in the center of the board in which Fatty, Lobelia, and eight Hobbit Militia begin in base contact. Fatty and Lobelia are trying to get off any board edge and I'm trying to capture them (using the At 'Em Lads or Put 'Em In Chains rules to Paralyze them) and get them off any board edge. If either of them are killed (or if one escapes and the other is captured), the game is a draw. Like the Folco scenario, this means that both of us want them to get close to the edge of the board - we just want to be the one moving them off. My units had to deploy at least 15" away from any Good model, so I've made a ring to hem them in as best I can, with Bill playing flex in the middle of the southern board edge.

Warning: before reading any further, you should know that your play experience in this scenario might be VERY different if you play it on your own from what you're about to read. For starters, because of the way my Shire panels are built, any smial tile we used would have allowed Centaur to travel ~12" to the north of the board to get off the board and since all of my models had to start 15" away from any Hobbit model, Centaur was like, "so I could deploy touching the northern side of the Hobbit smial, you'd have to start 15" away from me, and I could get both of my models off by moving 11" north before you could do anything . . . let's make a game of it and not do that." I appreciated that very much.

Second, thanks to Lotho not dying in the Death of Lotho scenario, Centaur adds 1 Might point to Lobelia's profile, which means Centaur goes from having 0 Might across his army to having 1 Might in his army - that's gonna be handy wherever Lobelia is. If you're playing the game normally, having 1 Might point on Bill isn't a big swing, but it does mean that the Evil player will be guaranteed to go first. Additionally, if Evil wins the Death of Lotho scenario, then Lobelia can't use her Fate point in this scenario (or any other scenario she's in for the rest of the campaign), which . . . would be huge in this scenario. The Death of Lotho scenario has big rewards for both sides if you're playing the linked campaign.

Third, because Centaur won the Bounders Strike Back scenario, he got to put 8 traps (two of each type) on the board . . . I love traps, but golly it comes with a healthy respect as well. My biggest fear is, oddly enough, that I'm going to get slowed down by them and not that I'll take damage from them. Yes, damage would be bad, but getting tied down by those Hobbit Militia will be bad (and it'll be even worse if the Hobbit Militia can write someone off as stuck in a pit instead of having to actually charge my guys).

So with all that prologue, let's see if I can bind up some Hobbits!