First Impressions: The Kingdoms of Men, Part V

Good morning gamers,

It is probably a little ambitious to try to tackle close to twenty profiles in a single post, but I couldn't find a good way to break up the Minas Tirith faction (like I did with Isengard, Mordor, or Rohan with Red Jacket's help). So, today we close out the last of the "big four" and cover ALL of Minas Tirith in one fell swoop. There's a lot of overlap between army lists in the warrior department, but many of the heroes appear in only 1-2 army lists - let's see who the big winners in the new edition are!

Minas Tirith, Osgiliath, & Ithilien: How Have They "Changed?"

Last edition, almost all of my Minas Tirith lists had Denethor in them - for 35pts, he was a SUPER cheap Hero of Valour who had enough Courage/Will points to almost never fail his Broken Mind test and his combat stats - while unimpressive - were not bad at all (F5/S4/2A, the kind of stats you'd find on upper-end mid-tier heroes who cost twice as much as he does and usually lead fewer troops). In the new edition, Denethor has gotten a price hike and a few very cool upgrades.

Photo Credit: Giphy

For 50pts, Denethor joins the Minas Tirith regulars and has heavy armor instead of normal armor, pushing him to D6 (which is great in a world where Piercing Strike is not a thing). He also picked up 2 Might/1 Fate, which means he finally has the ability to boost his arrival rolls in maelstrom missions or calling Heroic Moves/Combats - nothing special, unless you were used to him needing an escort to go where you wanted him and when you needed him to move.

He's also got a 5+ Intelligence stat, which is important because now the Broken Mind rule requires you to pass an Intelligence test instead of a Courage test (and since Intel tests can't be boosted with Will, this means you'll need that raw stat to be as high as possible - and a 5+ is pretty dang high). Assuming you remember to roll for this special rule and you don't have Boromir in your list and alive on the board, Denethor remains well-positioned to pass this test, so if it's contributing to a lower price point, I'm good with it. The Broken Mind rule itself is largely the same, but now that Denethor has Might/Fate points, there is a clarification that the opposing player can't force you to burn those resources while Denethor is under enemy control - that's nice!

He picked up two list-building special rules (Leader (Citadel Guard) and Leader (Guard of the Fountain Court)), both of which allow him to bring Bodyguard units into the list. As the only hero in the Minas Tirith army list (the only list he's in) who can lead Fountain Court Guards, this makes Denethor a shoe-in for you Fountain Court Guard fans - and he can lead 18 of them for less than 250 points (more on the changes to those guys later in the post). I think the loss of the shield option for Fountain Court Guard has made the trade space between them and Citadel Guard a bit smaller, though being D6 is a world without Piercing Strike is often superior to being D5.

Finally, Denethor picks up a Palantir rule in the Minas Tirith army list - which means that once per game, you can just claim priority (or roll for it if your opponent has a similar rule and uses it on the same turn). This is super slick - and Denethor is EASILY the cheapest guy who can do this! With the likes of Boromir and Faramir in your list (both of whom can be mounted), being able to guarantee you have priority and ram into what you want is super good. All in all, pretty happy with Denethor.

Boromir, Captain of the White Tower also saw some changes, though I don't think they're quite as drastic as his Fellowship changes. Available to Gondor players alongside his full family in the Minas Tirith list and alongside his brother in the Reclamation of Osgiliath list, this big guy is still 160pts but is now F7 base, got Leader (Citadel Guard), a new special rule that gives him +1 To Wound if he charges (sort of like the lance he used to be able to take, but it's free and also doesn't require him to be mounted), and his Horn of Gondor is a war horn now (giving him Dominant (2) if he's not your army leader and boosting the Courage of friendly models within a pretty big radius). Let me reiterate that all of this was . . . free.

The downside to this guy is that besides his horse getting more expensive ('cuz new edition fixing things like undercosted mounts), his access to the Banner of Minas Tirith is limited to the Reclamation of Osgiliath list (the scene where he actually has it). Why that was left in the White Tower when he's at home, I don't know - but it does mean that we have two different versions of Mega-Boromir - the one with his dad and the one with his banner. The banner itself changed a little - instead of making Gondor Warriors near him +1 FV, they instead get a super-Elven-weapons rule that allows them to automatically win tied fights if the Fight Values on both sides were the same. This effectively makes Gondor troops near Boromir Fight Value 4.5, but won't make them force roll-offs against Elves or Numenoreans (or a lot of heroes). This is a good change to prevent warrior power creep, but Mega-Boromir fans are probably a little put out about it.

Boromir traded out Heroic Defense for Heroic Challenge, which feels a lot more thematic to me, but also means that Boromir wants to be VERY careful when fighting monster heroes - if a Strike doesn't work or if a Strike is risky, then Boromir's gotta hope and pray that he gets a higher roll or he's going to get Rended into the Fourth Age. In the Reclamation of Osgiliath army list, he can borrow Faramir's Might, Will, and Fate (theoretically it goes the other way too, but I suspect most of your resources are headed Boromir's way) and once per game he can grant friendly Gondor Warrior models within 6" of him to get +1 To Wound, which stacks with any other sources of bonuses To Wound that they may get (more on that later).

All in all, Boromir is in a pretty good place from a changes perspective, but I think most Minas Tirith list players will lament not having a 6" banner that helps them auto-win against F4 opponents and anyone who is using the banner will lament that it doesn't give their guys F5 anymore. Perhaps not a universally better profile update than Denethor, but I think he could have seen a price hike but dodged that bullet, so I'd take it, Bozza fans, I'd take it . . .

Faramir rounds out the Steward family and is available in all three lists that we're viewing in this section (Minas Tirith, Reclamation of Osgiliath, and the Garrison of Ithilien). His cost went up by +20pts to 100pts base and he's got some nice buffs to justify the increase. He's F6 base now (instead of F5), he's got 3 Attacks base now (instead of 2), he can lead Citadel Guard (you might do that in the Minas Tirith list, but you can't take them in the Osgiliath/Ithilien lists - which is fine because you have better options), and he gained the Resistant to Magic special rule (awesome) and the Sharpshooter special rule (also awesome - though it will only matter in the Osgiliath/Ithilien lists where he can use a bow).

The "Faramir has to charge if Daddy's around" rule got moved into the Minas Tirith army list instead of his profile and in its place he got a new rule that allows him to reroll To Wound rolls when making Strikes and declaring a free Heroic Resolve each turn once you break - that's pretty slick (especially now that you can move/Charge after calling a Heroic Resolve)! His Wizard's Pupil special rule also gives you a weird incentive to give priority to your opponent if you win the roll so Faramir and friendly Warriors near him get Dominant (2), which is probably worth doing in Domination/Hold Ground scenarios where you've broken your opponent and a) want their units to have to test to stick around, and b) you need to double your size against an army that might already have fewer models than you. Otherwise . . . you probably want priority if you win it.

I've already mentioned that he can borrow Boromir's resources in the Osgiliath list (or donate his own) and in the Minas Tirith list, he supplements the "gotta-make-Dad-happy" rule with another rule (Faramir's Charge) that allows Gondor Cavalry Warrior models (so not Boromir or Faramir) who were within 6" of Faramir's starting location the Fearless special rule and +1 Fight Value. This a) not only means that Knights of Minas Tirith who start within 6" of a mounted Faramir can be F5 for the turn, but also b) they don't have to END within 6" of Faramir to get this bonus, unless they're participating in a Heroic Move. In the Garrison of Ithilien list, he can have Mountain Dweller and in the Reclamation list, he just gets Mountain Dweller . . . yaye? I guess? I know that rerolling Jump/Leap/Climb tests could make your day (as might walking through rocky ground as if it were open ground), but honestly this is a ribbon rule that feels good but won't have any effect if a) there's no rocky ground on your board, b) there's nothing to jump over, and c) if there's a lot of woods on your board and you choose to give everyone Woodland Creature instead . . . a special rule which Faramir already has.

Finally, besides the Minas Tirith list, Faramir is just a 100-point hero - no customization options available. In the Minas Tirith list, you have the option to take a horse (always do this - otherwise the Faramir's Charge rule doesn't trigger and it's worth triggering) and a shield (which you probably want as well). Do you need adjustments to Faramir in the other two lists? Maybe a horse option would be nice, but all in all, Faramir's a more impressive hero than he was before and I'm happy for the changes.

The Minas Tirith list has access to one other named hero, Irolas. He's still 65pts like he was in Gondor at War and he suffered the "gotta get rid of 3-Might supporting heroes" thing that Mordor saw. He traded 1 Might point (now has 2) for 1 Fate point (now has 2), which is . . . good but also bad. As the leader of the Citadel Guard he naturally has Leader (Citadel Guard) but pairs this with a really cool that gives Citadel Guard within 3" of him +1 To Wound when making Strikes (and not with their arrows, thank goodness). It's a pretty great rule, especially since it triggers when they're supporting as well as Engaged! Other than that, he swapped Bodyguard for Sworn Protector (Denethor) which will have no functional difference in Minas Tirith lists (always take Denethor) and might make a difference in the Atop the Walls list (if Gandalf isn't within 12" of him). With the ability to defend by shielding without a shield and still get a stab in (along with Heroic Defense for gumming up the works in someone's plan), Irolas is still a great take and I'm thinking he will back up Denethor's infantry block rather nicely.

Madril can be taken in both the Reclamation of Osgiliath list and the Garrison of Ithilien list and he saw some interesting changes - slightly for the worse. He went up by 5pts to 60pts base, has the exact same profile as before (including the third Might point!) and his Master of Reserves rule works like it used to (but with the clarification that it doesn't help you win the roll to pick deployment zones . . . I certainly never played it that way). For 5 extra points (even without any improvements), I think this guy is still worth taking - 3 Might and Heroic March is well worth it.

In the Ithilien list, you also have access to Damrod, who went from a Minor Hero to a Hero of Fortitude, got by 15pts to 40pts base (still a steal) and he picked up +1 Attack/Wound so he's 2A/2 Wounds like normal heroes and while Anborn and Mablung are departing for the Legacies document, Damrod finally has a special rule that allows him to take an Intelligence Test to pass a failed In-the-way test. With Intel 6+, those are pretty good odds and for a model without Sharpshooter, I don't know how "good" this is, but at least you can "hit what you want"? Being able to get all three Ranger heroes for 200pts in the Ithilien list is pretty sweet and while you might not have the points for Damrod until you hit the 650+ level, he's a pretty cheap addition (and gives you yet another bow).

Our generic hero for these three lists is the lowly (but sorta upgraded) Captain of Minas Tirith. This guy costs 10pts more base than he did before, which is really only a 5pt increase since he starts with a shield now. For +5 points, this Captain picked up F5 instead of F4, which is commensurate to the increase in cost and Fight Value of Warriors of Minas Tirith in this edition (more on them shortly). Besides this change . . . the Captain didn't get anything. He lost the option to be mounted and have a lance or bow, so if you were already running these guys on foot, not a lot to miss. If you used to mount him on a horse and give him a lance for extra oomph . . . be happy with F5, I guess? I'd say I'm neutral about the whole thing - he's certainly not killing as much as he was when he was mounted, but being F4 while mounted was a bit of a drawback. Compared to other factions, paying 60pts for this guy isn't bad at all (but he's not what he used to be).

Guards of the Fountain Court didn't change in price at all, but lost the option to take a banner (which nobody took?) and the option to take a shield (which everyone took). In trade for these options, they picked up for free the Protectors of the White Tree special rule, which gives them Dominant (2) when within 6" of a friendly Gondor General. This won't help them in games like Reconnoitre, but it will help them a TON in any objective missions. Of the three lists we're looking at in this section, they're only available if you have Denethor in the Minas Tirith list. As we go through other lists . . . they are similarly quite hard to get in your army. If you're taking Denethor (or a handful of other units) and like Guards of the Fountain Court, you're gonna want to pack as many of them as possible in his warband.

Citadel Guard are in a much better situation, in my humble estimation. They're still the same price they were before if equipped with a spear (9pts/model) and got a 1pt reduction in price when taken with a longbow (10pts/model). Their profile has . . . not changed at all. They are still only D5, but for 1pt less than Guards of the Fountain Court (and only losing that 1 Defense point), being available to more heroes (Denethor, Boromir, Faramir, and Irolas in the Minas Tirith list), being able to rely on Warriors of Minas Tirith in the front rank to keep them safe, and getting a bonus To Wound when supporting/being Engaged near Irolas . . . yeah, I'm liking these guys a LOT.

With the specialized Warriors out of the way, we'll go to the more pedantic Warrior profiles. Warriors of Minas Tirith were big winners in this edition, going up +1pt/model (functionally 9-10pts if taken without a banner) and getting +1 Fight Value. Being F4 is great - not everything, but certainly great. They're less customizable than before, but unless you were like me and liked to give spears (and optionally shields as well) to some of your archers, you're probably not feeling the loss that much (well, I am also feeling the loss of the spear-shield-banner combo acutely). These guys are available in all three lists and are likely to form the backbone of any of the three lists you're building - they make excellent front-line troops and are durable for a very reasonable cost.

Knights of Minas Tirith went up by +2pts/model - in part because they start with shields now, but also because they too got the boost to F4. Otherwise, they're exactly the same - except that they can benefit greatly from charging near Faramir in the Minas Tirith list. As was the case before, I'm not sure if there's a universe where you want to replace your lance/shield for a banner - yes, having a mobile banner would be swell, but without getting a price reduction on the banner, you're REALLY paying a high price for its mobility. I personally would stick to keeping it on infantry (your Knights will usually be supporting your infantry block anyway).

Rangers of Gondor are available in both the Osgiliath and Ithilien lists and got . . . absolutely no changes. None. Zero. Intelligence stat of 6+ is pretty great when it matters, but the only REAL change they have is that in these lists, they will have Woodland Creature (and/or Mountain Dweller). Yaye . . . they're still super-efficient F4 shooting units that can support with spears, so I'm not complaining at all. If these guys were available in the Minas Tirith list, there'd be an interesting trade between them and Citadel Guard with longbows (one with a stronger bow, one with a better Shoot value), but they're not available in either of those lists.

Finally, we come to Osgiliath Veterans, a profile which has been championed by Centaur and I for a long time here at TMAT and I gotta say, when I saw that these guys went up by 1pt to have F4 base, their increased Courage retained, their FV boost rule changed to give them rerolling 1s To Wound, and Hatred (Mordor) added to their profile . . . I felt like I had been heard by the makers of our beloved game. Hatred (Mordor) won't always matter - and rerolling 1s To Wound is nice but will often not matter either - but these guys are getting a Courage boost and potentially damage boosts for +1pt over their Warrior of Minas Tirith comrades. I love these guys and I think the change is good. You can run them in the Osgiliath and Ithilien lists and I think they're absolutely brilliant - if you have some points left over, upgrade some Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields into OsVets with shields (and consider a direct swap of Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears into OsVets with spears - yes, they're defense goes down, but they're solid troops even at D5).

Atop the Wall, Men of the West, & Pelennor: How Have They "Changed?"

For these three army lists, we have a few repeat profiles - Irolas and Knights of Minas Tirith are available to both Atop the Walls and Defenders of the Pelennor (but not the Men of the West) and Captains/Warriors of Minas Tirith (available to all three). In addition to these profiles, we're going to add a few more, starting with my long-time-fave Minas Tirith profile . . .

Gandalf the White has seen a LOT of changes since I got started in what is now MESBG back in 2010. In the previous edition he got a price hike but got 2 Attacks base and a super sweet suite of spells (did you see what I did within that alliteration? Yes, I write articles on the internet . . . I can do that sort of thing and get away with it). In this edition, Gandalf got a price drop to 200pts (from 220pts) and got a boost to both Fight 6 and 3 Attacks - and his price went DOWN! Shadowfax went up by 5 pts and has both the Hero keyword now and can roll two dice when performing a Jump/Leap/Swim test and pick the highest, which is also pretty great. Finally, you can pay 25pts if you take Shadowfax (250pts total for Gandalf) in order to take Pippin as a passenger, giving him many of the same rule that Eowyn receives when riding with Merry (Resistant to Magic on the whole model, Pippin counts as a model in your army but not in Gandalf's warband, Gandalf can spend Pippin's Might/Will/Fate, and Gandalf gets to reroll 1s when making Strikes). All in all, these are really good buffs . . . and also things I hoped for.

Gandalf's big changes (and the closest thing he got to a debuff) are in his magical powers. The spells he used to cast on a 2+ are now a 3+ (Blinding Light, Terrifying Aura, and Transfix), Fortify Spirit, Strengthen Will, and a new spell (Foil magic) are cast on a 4+, and Banishment, Sorcerous Blast, and Your Staff is Broken are cast on a 5+ now. He lost Command, but otherwise retained all of the other stuff he had. As we've talked about a lot in this series, magic got harder to cast - but they also got harder to resist (and with 4 Might points if Pippin is mounted on Shadowfax with him, channelling spells to go off on a 6 can make them all but impossible for enemy heroes/monsters to resist). So is this a debuff? Well, needing to cast Blinding Light every turn can be a bit of a drag and Strengthen Will can't be used to bring you above your starting Will store, but other than that, the rules are still solid and can make a real mess of your opponent's battle plan. I love this guy and can't wait to use him more this edition!

Also, at low points levels, it's not hard to fit Gandalf in with a pretty solid model count:

With Gandalf tackled, let's move on to Pippin. Peregrin Took, Guard of the Citadel is still 25pts and got both a second Wound and the option to ride with Gandalf - like Fellowship Pippin who got an extra Fate point, this is a nice boost and makes him super useful (an extra Might for channelling, an extra Will for casting a non-channelled spell, and rerollable Fate points for Gandalf). I'm not sure I'd field him without Gandalf, but golly am I excited to have him in my lists!

Both Gandalf and Pippin are available in all three lists, but the Battle Cry Trebuchets are not available in the Men of the West list (but are available in the other two). These guys went up by 20pts and no longer have the option for extra crewmen (potentially useful) or the siege captain (never useful). Their flaming ammunition upgrade got marginally cheaper (10pts instead of 15pts), but unless you plan to shoot at siege targets (like Mumaks or buildings), you're not going to use it. Otherwise, it behaves exactly as it did before - and provides an interesting force-the-enemy-to-come-to-you game for the Atop the Walls list (I'm not sure you'll see these in a Defenders of the Pelennor list).

Finally, we have Aragorn, King Elessar. He's only available in the Men of the West list which has gotten some real life breathed into it on a number of levels (more on that later in the year). Elessar is amazingly still 225 points, though his armored horse brings him up to 250pts instead of 240pts because mounts for heroes have justifiably gone up in price this edition. Like Strider, Elessar is F7 base, has the Ring of Barahir and Resistant to Magic to provide some resilience to enemy magical attacks, and still allows friendly models near him to count as in range of a banner. I am VERY much looking forward to seeing if a foot Aragorn + Gwaihir build is better than a mounted Aragorn/Eomer build for Men of the West and I like that the changes to Aragorn make him feel both awesome and familiar to seasoned players.

Battle of Fornost & Realms of Men: How Have They "Changed?"

We only have two more Gondor army lists - and two more profiles to cover! In the Battle of Fornost and the Realms of Men lists, you have access to Captains of Minas Tirith, Warriors of Minas Tirith, and Knights of Minas Tirith. The Realms of Men list is a bit more open with its timeline, so you also have access to Trebuchets, Citadel Guard, and Guards of the Fountain Court (the only list outside of Denethor-led Minas Tirith that can get these guys). While Trebuchets and Citadel Guard don't change your list building options dramatically, to get the full use of your Guards of the Fountain Court, you'll need to have your Gondor King of Men as your army leader - and that means having more Gondor keywords in your list than other keywords.

Earnur hasn't changed much in this edition - he went up by 10pts, his stats are all the same, his gear is all the same (though his horse also went up in price - it's 20pts more expensive to run him mounted/lanced than before), the boosts he gets in the Battle of Fornost army list is the same as he got in the old Legion, and the text of his special rules is nearly the same. However, those special rules did change some: A Fool's Challenge still makes him charge Heroes if he can and precludes him from rejecting a Heroic Challenge, but Challenges can now be issued BEFORE you're engaged, and Challenge now gives your opponent a boost, so not being able to reject it means stronger heroes to face. Oh well.

His other special rule, Master Duelist, is a lot better than it was. Previously, Earnur was able to increase his Fight Value to match a single non-Monster model at the start of his Fight but before Heroic Strikes were resolved. This meant you could start at the same level as a big enemy hero (like a F9 Gil-Galad), but if the opposing hero declared a Heroic Strike, Earnur would still need to declare a Strike to have a chance at the higher Fight Value. This rule was far too niche. Now, he still has this situational rule, but it ignores the non-Monster restriction it had previously - and that's good, because Monsters are in now. Additionally, Earnor can't have his Fight Value reduced by enemy special rules/magical powers, so tackling someone like Tom the Troll and the inevitable reappearance of Bat Swarms in the Armies of Middle-Earth book is much easier.

Finally, we have the King of Men. Technically speaking, this is a generic profile - but considering that you can only take one King of Men from each of the five faction keywords (Arnor, Dale, Gondor, Numenor, and Rohan), they're kind of unique. All of the variants went up by 15pts to 75pts total (a STEAL for a Hero of Legend!), lost the option for an armored horse but kept all of the other options, and gained +1 Fight Value (Fight 6!), +1 Courage (4+), +1 Might (specific to the Gondor keyword), +1 Fate, traded Heroic Defense for Heroic Resolve, and added Heroic Strike - I don't know how you tally this up, but something in that mess is free! The Gondor variant also picked up the Leader (Citadel Guard), Leader (Guard of the Fountain Court), and Shieldwall keywords, so he's a pretty hefty guy!

For 110pts fully maxed, you can get QUITE the army at 600pts - and you can even mix-and-match in another faction of Men to supplement your weaknesses (mixing in some F5 from Numenor perhaps?):

Conclusion

And that's Minas Tirith. :) Perhaps this should have been two posts, but I honestly didn't see a good way to break up the factions like we did for Rohan or Mordor - hopefully you made it to the end. All in all, I think Minas Tirith is in a pretty good place and it still has a lot of ways to "ally" with other factions (the Defenders of the Pelennor, the Men of the West, the Realms of Men, and the Battle of Fornost), so depending on what flavor of army you want, chances are good you can find solid allies to supplement an already excellent army tree.

If you enjoyed this post, have thoughts on the new Minas Tirith profiles, or have concerns over some of them, let us know in the comments below! We're swinging to evil next week and tackling the evil horrors that live in Dol Guldur - is the Necromancer any better in this edition than in the last? And has anything taken the place of Castellans? Find out next time and until then, happy hobbying!