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). 

The full list of models that are being moved to Legacies is in the link provided above, but here's the 30,000 foot overview:

• Basically everything from the Far Harad army list (not the Mumak War Leader, who is presumably moving to the main Harad list);
• Everything from the Khand list;
• Basically everything from the Dunland subfaction of Isengard (not the Oathmaker, Crebain, and Wildmen of Dunland - all of whom appear in the extended editions of the Two Towers);
• GW-created specialist profiles (Haradrim Kings, the Golden King of Abrakhan, Abrakhan Guards, Watchers of Karna, Corsair Reavers, Black Guard of Barad-Dur heroes/warriors, Morgul Stalkers, Orc Trackers, Castellans of Dol Guldur, The Spider Queen, Feral Uruk-Hai, Knights of the White Tower, Cirion, Dwellers in the Dark, all Moria Blackshield units, Warg Marauders, Stormcallers, Rohan Outriders, Sons of Eorl, King's Huntsmen, Murin and Drar, King's Champions, and Shieldbearers);
• Basically all GW-created Orc/Uruk/Goblin profiles that don't appear in the books/movies (Goroth, Zagdush, Kardush, Razgush, Muzgur, Vrasku, Groblog, Ashrak - but not Druzhag and Durburz, more on that later);
• Characters who are mentioned in the books but I guess were revamped too much by GW to be kept in the range (Golfimbul, Bullroarer, Mauhur, Anborn, Mablung, Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth, Gildor Inglorion, Erestor, Grimbold, Eorl the Young, Erkenbrand, King Balin, Floi Stonehand, possibly Great Beasts of Gorgoroth);
• All named Ringwraiths except the Witch-King (I'm hoping this means that Ringwraiths get the Nazgul-of-Dol-Guldur-treatment to be individualized instead of getting separate profiles); and
• Unarmored versions of characters that should take armor all the time (Elladan/Elrohir, Glorfindel).

This is . . . quite the list. For those of you struck with awe about the whole thing, I get it - but also keep in mind that these profiles (or something like them) will be retained at least in the near-future for TOs to allow for use if they want (but if you play in official GW events, that's gonna be a no-go).

To summarize what all this means, who's hit the most? Well, I'm glad you asked . . .

Who's Hurt (or Helped) the Most?

DISCLAIMER: this assessment is being made with the current version of the game (and a collector's mindset) in mind - without a clear picture of how list building will work (and specifically the alliance matrix), what scenarios will be in play (how many and what types), and points/profile adjustments for each of the factions, we simply cannot make an informed decision about the impact of losing profiles from the game. However, I'm going to try to make an assessment anyway - and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

FURTHER DISCLAIMER: Our least popular posts (at least by readership feedback) are the ones with open negativity (either in the form of satire or being critical of other gaming systems when compared to MESBG). That's not the goal of this post. Yes, there are many reasons for negative feelings from players who love these models - and I love many of them myself - but I'm not here to rant about how terrible the game is, how careless the game design team was with this release, or even the fairly unfeeling way in which it was communicated. No, my goal is to rise above the emotions for a moment and try to see how the actual game (with the previous disclaimer in mind) is being affected - if you feel like I'm being overly negative, I'm sorry. If you feel like I'm being overly positive . . . I guess I'm sorry about that too.

With this in mind, deep breath in (*long inhale*) . . . and dive!

Our first stop (and the units hit the most) are spammable impact hits/trample damage units. I don't know how many people only collected Far Harad and Khand models, but they're definitely the hardest factions to be hit (with the exception of the Mumak War Leader, both factions are just gone from the three other supplements). When these models have been available for purchase, it's been all-metal, all the time - which has led to the rise of proxy models from both historical and fantastical ranges during periods when the actual models weren't available on the GW website. I know Rythbyrt has invested heavily in Far Harad and our friend MinutemanKirk has been a long-time Khand player and has a decent collection of those, so our expanded community here feels this loss acutely.

Both of these were factions I didn't even try to collect because of the expense of doing so - but they are also the two factions most dependent on impact hits to deal quick damage to enemy models. I'm certain that their loss will be felt . . . perhaps in a positive way from people tired of being run over by chariots and camels. As it happens, Great Beasts of Gorgoroth were also banished to Legacies, which was the only other spammable impact hit unit in the game. While more expensive than the Troll Brutes in Azog's Legion (affectionally called "Stumpy Trolls"), it's pretty rare to see a horde of Troll Brutes on the board because they cost 100pts and net you one warrior model, while a herd of Great Beasts gets you 11 models for 150 points . . . and most of them have bows. Without the Legacies profiles, impact hits will be limited to Troll Brutes and Mumaks (who are super expensive) unless something changes, which effectively removes one skew list type from the main three sourcebooks.

Isengard players who have leaned hard into the Dunland subfaction were also hit hard. Crebain and Wildmen (along with the Oathmaker) will still be in the game - and it's possible that with the new Hillmen unit from the core set (which can apparently be used as Wildmen of Dunland) having access to spears and bows, a Dunland-oriented Force might do alright (it's not just going to be a melee-only force, but we don't know enough about the profiles yet). Still, if you bought all those beautiful ForgeWorld and metal models, you're going to be understandably upset if Legacies isn't allowed in your local tournament scene.

Khazad-Dum lists were also hit hard, not only because the existence of the Kingdom of Moria faction is in peril, but also because the King's Champion profile is being removed - and the access to cheap banners was a primary tool for offsetting the downside of not having access to cheap spears. Frankly, I expected the entire Khazad-Dum range to move to Legacies because of the aesthetic differences between the Khazad-Dum Dwarves and the Erebor/Iron Hills Dwarves, but even with these profile hits, the faction has suffered a severe blow. As a guy who got his start with Khazad-Dum (and has been playing with Floi a lot recently), I have some serious questions about what this faction will look like in the new edition . . .

Mordor players lost access to a bunch of Ringwraiths (more on that later), as well as the Spider Queen profile as an ally (which is a huge hit, despite her being in a different army list). Some players, apparently, spammed Morgul Stalkers at one time and I've seen posts on Facebook of players with 12+ Black Guard of Barad-Dur, but I think both of these units on the whole were underutilized in Mordor lists. Orc Trackers, on the other hand, were heavily used in Mordor/Barad-Dur lists and will be missed from a few Legendary Legions (I'm sure Tim Hixon can use his dozens of converted mounted Orc Trackers as Warg Riders with Orc bows . . . you know, because that profile is exactly the same as the Orc Tracker one).

The loss of named Orc heroes will depend very much on how much you liked the different heroes - if you thought Muzgur, Goroth, and Razgush were too expensive, you probably don't care if they disappear. However, if you are like Sharbie and Rythbyrt and used Zagdush or Kardush (respectively) a lot, you will probably lament the loss of both (but then probably turn almost immediately to Gorbag or an Orc Shaman if you want a slightly-less-good consolation prize).

While I can look at the list of Orc heroes and be like, "Sure, these guys were all GW creations," it's very surprising to me that Razgush and Muzgur are on the list. There are named heroes like Raza and Delgamar who seem to have escaped the axe, are clearly GW creations (they're not in the films or books), and if they're needed in the game, then heroes like Razgush and Muzgur who represent unnamed heroes who led two miliary campaigns against the Elven kingdoms during the War of the Ring should get to stay too. I'm just saying, this one doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

While not immediately obvious, Rohan took some huge hits for certain list types. Moving Eorl and his sons to the Legacies book makes some sense, but I'd have expected them to get their own list in the Armies of Middle-Earth (book-oriented) supplement. I don't know how many players will moan the loss of the King's Huntsman, but Rohan Outriders (or "Outwalkers" if they aren't give horses) were a prized gem in a lot of Rohan lists - especially infantry spam lists - and will definitely be missed. Perhaps these guys, like Orc Trackers, stomped on the core warrior type with bows (Orc Warriors with Orc Bows and Warriors of Rohan with bows) and were deemed unfit for the game for that reason? I don't know.

Both Grimbold and Erkenbrand were pretty niche heroes, mostly fielded in Legions where your hero options were more limited, but gone is the hope that Grimbold gets a horse . . . or is it? You see, Theodred did not join the list of Legacy models and this leaves a very big question mark in my mind for the future of Grimbold. He was clearly fighting over the body of Theodred at the Fords of Isen, so perhaps this profile is being sunset and he'll be given a different profile (perhaps inheriting the Captain of Rohan sculpt) that allows him to be fielded in Theodred/Theoden-oriented lists? I simply don't know, but it's possible.

Similarly, Erkenbrand is mentioned only in the books, but so is Deorwine who wasn't on the list. Perhaps Erkenbrand's model was deemed too flamboyant/grand compared to the rest of the Rohan sculpts and they're going to issue him a new profile to reflect him being one of the greatest heroes of Rohan during the time of the War of the Ring. It's unclear to me, but hope remains. While the hits to Rohan are certainly there, anyone who was running the Riders of Theoden Legendary Legion will be basically unaffected (unless you had Outriders in your list). 

There was some impact (mostly minor, in my opinion) on the Serpent Horde and Corsair lists. Haradrim Kings probably live in the same space as Outriders and Trackers (just better than Haradrim Chieftains - plus a different aesthetic) and players who liked Watchers of Karna and Abrakhan Guards as their front-line troops will be sad. Similarly, most Corsair players probably had a few Reavers in the mix - but Serpent Guards/Serpent Riders are still in the game and Corsair Arbalesters were retained too, so the bones of these factions are still in a good place. I'm not sure who was building lists with the Golden King, but if anyone was trying to figure out how to make him work . . . well, play with Legacies, I guess? Morgul Knights are being renamed to Black Numenorean Knights, which means Corsairs might actually get a mounted warrior unit . . . that could end up being a net positive for them, but time will tell.

The bigger hit to both factions is the loss of the non-Witch-King named Ringwraiths. This affects Mordor and Angmar too, of course (and technically the Easterlings), but I'm hopeful that the models are leaving (and perhaps their special rules) and the generic Ringwraith profile gets some kind of customization option like Nazgul of Dol Guldur can do. Even if the special rules for these named wraiths are permanently gone, about half of them were heavily favored in competitve play (the Shadow Lord, the Betrayer, the Tainted, and for some players, the Dark Marshal). The others (the Undying, the Knight of Umbar, the Dwimmerlaik, and Khamul) were in a pretty tight spot and they'd require some serious profile fixing to make them stand out against the other options in their lists.

Moria took a pretty big hit on paper, but the actual impact on the faction is very much play-style dependent. Yes, losing Groblog and Ashrak will have clear impacts on some lists (like Goblin-spam Moria lists and spider-heavy Assault on Lothlorien lists), but retaining Durburz and Druzhag still gives them a lot of flexibility. Most players were avoiding Blackshield units anyway, so the loss of these guys will be felt by a minority of players (except for their mobile drum, perhaps - and Moria Blackshield Captains for me). Losing Warg Marauders will make some people mad (and I'm a little sad about that), but Bat Swarms still exist (or likely still exist) and so Moria will still have an expensive, multi-wound, fast model option.

I never ran Dwellers in the Dark, so I can't say that I'm sad to see them go, but it'll be interesting to see if Cave Trolls can find a new space to live in with their closest competitor gone. But if you were running the Depths of Moria Legendary Legion like me, you probably don't care that much about the units that have been taken out of the main range. If you were allying Durburz/Druzhag (maybe Ashrak) with the Mouth of Sauron/Shelob (and definitely if you were allying in the Spider Queen), you care a lot more. I will note that the Watcher in the Water has stayed in the range and the big question I have about the Moria changes is whether I can run the Balrog and the Watcher together in my Moria Legion . . . more on this later, I hope.

But it's particularly weird to me that Razgush and Muzgur were cut (yes, we're back to this) when Durburz and Druzhag were kept. Durburz isn't named in the books, so he's in exactly the same boat as these guys - they're characters that were created to reflect leaders who clearly existed during the War of the Ring. If you compare Durburz's sculpt to the other two, he looks far more cartoonish and fits the range less . . . yet he stayed? While I really like Druzhag, the only reason I can see for him staying in the range is because he's the only profile with access to Enrage Beast. That's not enough of a reason for me if most of the other profiles that GW made up are leaving for Legacies. Love the guy, but that's just how I feel. End negative now, moving on . . .

Other list-bulding-specific hits were suffered by Isengard (who has already lost most of their Dunland contingent), in that they can't take Feral Uruk-Hai anymore (Centaur was probably the only person fielding them), Vrasku (lots of people will be upset about this - but not me, as I find crossbows to be incredibly clunky on Uruk-Hai), and Mauhur (which is a HUGE surprise to me, since he's mentioned in the books and provides some interesting maneuverability options for Uurk-Hai Scouts). I wouldn't be surprised if Uruk-Hai Scout and their associated heroes get boosted to 8" movement by default - and if that's the case, I'll take my converted Mauhur model and use him as an Uruk-Hai Scout Captain and almost be happy about it. If you already avoided the Dunland, Feral, Vrasku, and Mauhur models (like, say, if you fielded the Assault Upon Helm's Deep list), your lists are fine.

Minas Tirith suffered some pretty light hits - Cirion was a go-to choice in recent years for a cheap Strike/Resolve hero and Knights of the White Tower might have seen a renaissance alongside Earnur (though I have my doubts about how well he can carry a list - he's no Helm Hammerhand or Azog), but it would appear that they're disappearing as well. If the other Rangers of Ithilien players were not taken aback by the loss of Anborn and Mablung as much as I was, I'd be surprised - both of these guys have beautiful ForgeWorld sculpts, they provide some pretty cool rules, and they're cheap heroes. On the whole, the list is unchanged - though what all this means for their upcoming list building options is anyone's guess. I will confess that I don't know what to make of the Kings of Men profile not being listed - especially since Eorl is moving to Legacies. Will these guys be moving to the Arnor faction (like they were in the Rise of Angmar sourcebook scenarios)? Will they be double-listed in both Arnor and Minas Tirith? Who knows . . .

While not exactly Minas Tirith, the Fiefdoms took a hit with the loss of Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth. This was a HUGE surprise to me, since they're mentioned in the books and fulfill a very important role in the Fiefdoms army list. While you wouldn't think one profile would hit a list that hard, the specialized nature of the Fiefdoms list makes a single profile hit a big deal. The Fiefdoms now has expensive heavy infantry/cavalry with Knights of Dol Amroth, two-handed light infantry with Clansmen of Lamedon, bowmen who can spear-support with Blackroot Vale Archers, and sorta-heavy infantry who can fight two-handed or support with Axemen of Lossarnach. Men-at-arms did run the risk of being the best supporting option in the Fiefdoms (and generally running the Knights of Dol Amroth out of business for Imrahil's +1 FV boost) - and they were really good supporting options for Minas Tirith and Rohan allied lists - but I don't know that sending them to the Legacies book was the right idea. Can the Fiefdoms recover with these guys? Yes . . . sorta, but yes.

Rivendell also took some seemingly minor hits - the Twins and Glorfindel have to be armored all the time, but this was probably the case anyway. They also lost access to Stormcallers (was anyone using these guys?), Gildor (which makes me sad - probably very few others), Noldorin Exiles (since Gildor's out of the picture), and Erestor (huge surprise there). Erestor was definitely the most competitive choice of these units, since he's a high Defense, fairly cheap, mid-level beater hero - and since he has throwing weapons, I like him. Since these heroes were all pretty cost comparable to High Elf Captains, some players just skipped on them and took Captains instead . . . but now the Captain is the only mid-tier combat hero in Rivendell, which leaves them in quite the lurch. That said, it's unclear to me how much of a lurch Rivendell lists are left in with these losses, but if they were already running one of the four expensive choices (Gil-Galad, Elrond, Glorfindel, or the Twins), Cirdan (for auric support), and a Captain (for March), the effects will be minor.

Now for some winners. The Iron Hills lost Murin and Drar, but perhaps unsurprisingly, they lost nothing else. Frankly, I was concerned about the future of siege engines in this edition of the game, but with all that staying in the list, losing just Murin and Drar is pretty good. I know some Iron Hills players liked adding Murin and Drar to lists to get a little more Might on the board, but in general, Iron Hills Captains (and siege veterans) are plenty good to justify their inclusion in a list without these guys. On the whole, I think they're doing okay.

The Dark Powers of Dol Guldur lost Castellans of Dol Guldur (which has made Rythbyrt sad, but most people who haven't read our stuff are pretty down on these guys anyway, so I expect the pain to be fairly localized). Since the Spider Queen has met an untimely demise, it'll be interesting to see whether this list picks up some beasts from Mirkwood or not - all of whom live in other lists. If the Dark Powers list trades Castellans for Wild Wargs, Giant Spiders, and Bat Swarms, I think they're in a good place. It's also unclear if this list will remain a list and not just broken up into Pits of Dol Guldur/Rise of the Necromancer subfactions, but it's too early to tell at any rate.

The Shire lost Bullroarer . . . this will cause much roaring in some quarters, but most Shire players weren't taking him because of the restrictions he placed on taking named Hobbit heroes (and let's be honest, the other Hobbits bring far more to the table than Bullroarer does).

Finally, Golfimbul and the two non-Witch-King wraiths go struck from the Angmar list - but in a weird turn of events, Gullavhar wasn't on the list. Now I don't know about you (gonna let a little surprised negativity show here - but bear with me), but I've scoured the Lord of the Rings and I have never found a single mention of Gullavhar, vampires, or even a bat. Cite the Silmarillion if you like (GW doesn't have rights to that), but this is a GW creation pure and simple - yet it would seem that banishing Angmar's golden boy to Legacies was a bridge too far to cross. Competitive players, you have your advice from me: run Gullavhar because he's a big winner here, which brings us nicely to . . .

The Actual Big News

While a list of models that are moving to Legacies is nice and all (or not nice, depending on your perspective), there were some other hidden gems in the article - some that will be good and others that will be less so. First off, we were told that profiles that can currently take mounts but don't have mounted sculpts will be losing their mount options. Some of this was mixed into the lists of models moving to Legacies were notations of mount options that won't exist anymore. On the list were Thranduil on horse (who has a sculpt) and Grima on horse (who does not have a sculpt).

For those thinking, "Well, that doesn't sound like a big deal," consider the following models that (best I can tell) have a mount option but don't have a sculpt with a mount (I've omitted Captains who match the aesthetic of warrior cavalry models, like Captains of Minas Tirith, but understand that some of these guys might be on the chopping block as well):

• Halbarad
• Rangers of the North
• Elendil
• Captains of Numenor
• Beregond
• Kings of Men
• Citadel Guard
• Forlong the Fat
• Hama
• Gil-Galad
• Lindir
• The 14 members of Thorin's Company that are below 5' tall
• King Thorin
• Champ Dwalin/Kili/Fili
• Radagast (horse only)
• Saruman the White (unless the Saruman sculpt counts)
• Narzug

Whether this will apply to horse/armored horse options will be affected as well is anyone's guess, but you get the idea: there's actually quite a few models that are being affected. To take it a bit further, I had kind of hoped that a new edition might make access to mounts more ubiquitous - allowing heroes like Celeborn, Grimbold, and Tauriel to take mounts. Instead, it would appear that the mount club is going to become more restrictive. I hope the cost of mounts goes up a bit on heroes (hopefully on a sliding scale based on how good the hero is) - if it doesn't, there are going to be some pretty clear losers in the list above. Time will tell - hold to hope . . .

If you look in the Mordor section of the Legacies list, you'll see that the Shagrat (War Leader) profile is disappearing. I actually called this one - I was driving down to Florida for a family vacation a few weeks ago with Centaur and Gorgoroth and we were talking about changes we expected to see in the new edition. I mentioned that I suspected that the cleansing of GW-created profiles might include the War Leader profile going away and that Shagrat would get a massive points reduction to become an Uruk-Hai Captain with +1 Might, Heroic Strike, and Blood and Glory. While many players are probably like, "NO!" I put it to you that many Mordor players have been avoiding Shagrat because he costs so much - and you can get a pretty decent equivalent of strength for about half the points with Zagdush (entering Legacies) or Gorbag (who's here to stay). A cheaper Shagrat might slide into the slot that Zagdush previously held, so this might actually be "good" for Mordor players. That said, the War Leader will be missed - but he was also the only Orc-kind hero with 3 Fate points (and one of a handful with 3 Will), so he was already a bit of an oddity profile.

What was surprising to me - and a real winner from this announcement - is that Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are NOT moving to Legacies. These two characters, alongside Smaug (who I totally thought was moving to Legacies), are usually singled out among the host of other profiles in the game as "bad for competitive play." If you were going to create a supplement of out-of-date, can't-be-used-in-GW-official-tournaments profiles, you'd think Tom and Goldberry would be on the cover. So good news, Tom and Goldberry fans: you can still run your shenanigans in the new edition (and in a world where chariots and Great Beasts might be less prominent - these being the most common units that could charge you despite your can't-be-charged-without-permission rule).

There were also some other GW-machination profiles that didn't show up on the good-bye list (besides Raza, Delgamar, Gullavhar, Durburz, and Druzhag), to include Gondor Bolt Throwers, Mordor Siege Bows, and everything from the Rise of Angmar supplement (but in particular the Carn Dum guys). This list could also include the Beornings, who I know are mentioned in the books, but woodsmen who are better than Dunedain are certainly NOT in the book. They're not - but don't get us started on that one.

If the plan was to standardize on "what's on film" and "what's clearly in the books" with everything else moving to Legacies, most of the Arnor and Angmar models that were released in the supplement would immediately disappear. I know, I know, that would be bad - and I'm not advocating that - but let's be real, folks: if we're losing book-based characters with bad aesthetic sculpts like Gildor, then some consistency should be had and we should move most of this stuff to the Legacies book as well. I won't get any more bitter than that . . . moving on.

Other units that escaped the chopping block are models that were given profiles by GW but never got sculpts. I was frankly a bit surprised that Catapult Trolls and Beechbone weren't axed from the game like the Shagrat (War Leader) profile was - and they didn't get sent to Legacies like the Reavers were. Perhaps this means that we could get a revisit of the Hobbit franchise after the War of the Rohirrim fandom has passed? Who knows . . .

But the biggest news of all comes at the very end of the article: Quickbeam is being renamed to Birchseed. This might mean that they were told that the sculpt that they didn't assign the right name to the right Ent (which I saw an image supporting that on Facebook) - or it could mean that Beechbone will get a sculpt and there will be a new Quickbeam profile/sculpt released as well. It's very unclear, but what is clear to me is that the community will no doubt call this guy "birdseed" instead of Birchseed" because . . . well, that's what we do (or we'll call him Birdseed McBirdface - I can see that too). Please see the sarcasm and irony in this paragraph - I'm not always good at flagging it.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article stayed neutral enough to convey my thoughts on how good or bad the legacies announcement actually was to the game. For any tournaments I'm running, Legacies will be in place - not just because some of the staples of our tournaments were on the list, but because I'm a huge fan of Atomic Mass Games' strategy of allowing profiles to be available for free online so all players can access their unit rules from their website. If you have thoughts about these changes, let us know in the comments below - we're all trying our best to reserve judgement here at TMAT until we see the final products of the release, but we're certainly entering a new period of the game . . . we'll see what happens. Until next time, happy hobbying!