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 . . .