The Rise of Angmar: What Models Do You Need to Buy?

Good morning gamers,

It's been nearly three years since we were in this series, but we're finally closing out our review of what models you need to play through the scenarios in last edition's supplements. Right before the new edition dropped, The Rise of Angmar was released and boy are there some interesting models in it! Since it's been so long, I thought it might be good to review the costs of the preceding sourcebooks (keeping in mind that both inflation and made-to-order are a thing):

• Gondor At War: $3500
• The Scouring of the Shire: $1100
• War in Rohan: $3700
• Quest of the Ringbearer: $2100-$3200 (depending on whether you want to play just the scenarios from the book, Fantasy Fellowships, or both)
• Fall of the Necromancer: $1100
• Defense of the North: $4951

NOTE: we have quite a bit of Arnor and Angmar Forgeworld models in this supplement, so we should expect things to be pricey. As always, I get no kick-backs from GW for doing this post, and as such, I'll do what I can to save you some cash and then offer ways to save even more money if you're willing to do some conversions or proxying at the end. We will assume that we already have the Battle for Osgiliath starter set, since that was the starter box when the book dropped (and it's actually quite handy for a few things).

Can this supplement pass the nearly $5000 investment of Defense of the North? It's gonna be hard, but let's dig in and find out!

Part 1: The Early Arnor Campaign

The scenarios break nicely into three eras: pre-Arvedui, during-Arvedui, and post-Arvedui. This section involves a lot of unnamed characters.

Purchase #1: 3x Warriors of Arnor Blisters (or 2 blisters and 1x Kings of Men)

Well, here's something you definitely won't need for Matched Play. :) If you want to be particular about the rules, you need not one, not two, but THREE command blisters, just for the Captains. Since you never need more than one banner and 24 Warriors, you do have the option of proxying one Captain with a King of Men OR converting a third Captain from a banner model instead, which will probably be a better idea on all counts. You'll also have everything you need for the Warriors of Arnor in this supplement.

These two boxes are also nearly $200 - and yes, I do have an idea for making this cheaper later in the article. These models are fabulous and you get 12 in each of the blisters above . . . but at $96 for 14 models, these are expensive (and always have been).

Purchase #2: 16 Rangers of Arnor (one box)

We have 12 Rangers from the starter set, we're getting 24 more models with one box, and we only need 4 with spears and 12 without, but don't worry - this will give us twenty guys for some cost-saving options later.

Purchase #3: 2 Mordor Battle Host Boxes

We need the Witch-King on horse without the crown for the first scenario, along with 36 Orc Warriors and 12 Warg Riders - but having a free Witch-King will serve us well later in this post, so plan to hold onto this mini. Getting two boxes doesn't technically get us all the models we need - two of our Warg Rider dismounts will need to be two-handers, but worry not . . . we're buying a third battle host box later in the campaign (so if you really care, you can buy that here). That's a lot of Orcs . . . welcome to Angmar.

Purchase #4: 2 Mordor Command Blisters

We need two Angmar Orc Captains and two banners, and while you could convert those up from Orc Warriors (or Morannon Orcs from the starter set), having two banners is really useful in Angmar (and we will need two of them for the Battle of Fornost), so at least consider getting two.

Purchase #5: Elrond with banner bearer

Elrond is awesome and this sculpt is macho! You don't technically need the mounted version for the campaign, but you definitely want it for Matched Play. This blister has a banner too, which is super useful (both for the scenarios and in Matched Play).

Purchase #6: Erestor and Cirdan

These beloved models are excellent and you'll need both in the campaign. They're expensive, but hey, they're heroes.

Purchase #7: 1 Warriors of the Last Alliance box

I have heard a lot of players ask when the Elves and Numenoreans are going to be split into separate boxes - and fair enough. In this particular scenario, the extra eight Numenoreans don't look useful, but they'll actually save us some cash in the end. We need all the Elves, as well as . . . 

Purchase #8: 8 High Elf Warriors with shields and spears (2 blisters)

When I got started, this was a three-model box and now it's a four-model box - hooray, we don't have to buy three! It's a bit awkward for scenario play that the spearmen get shields and there are vanilla Elves, but I championed the vanilla "windmill" Elves long ago. The Elves are great units, but the Elrond scenario looks pretty stacked against them (oh well).

Purchase #9: 26 Carn Dum models (five blisters)

With each kit of six models, you can build a Captain, a banner, shield guys, or shield and spear guys. We need two Captains, 12 shields, and 12 shield/spear guys. This leaves us with four left over, so you probably want 1 additional banner and 3 spearmen. These kits are $72 each right now, so all five kits cost almost as much as four battle host boxes . . . I think that says something about both the value of the battle host boxes and the price of Forgeworld kits.

Purchase #10: Kings of Men

You get four cool sculpts in this kit, which means that you can use one as Argeleb (needs a shield), one as Arveleg (needs a shield), one as the Prince of Cardolan, and one as your third Captain of Arnor from the first mission - the shields can be stolen from Warriors of Numenor OR from Morannon Orcs in the starter set. However you do it, consider getting a set of these guys - the Realms of Men list is super cool with them!

"Purchase" #11: 3 Rangers of the North (but really 9 - or none if you convert 9 Rangers of Arnor)

If you include the scenarios in the Appendices, you need 9 Rangers of the North - and the Rangers of the North pack comes with 6 per box. Since half of the Rangers come with spears and the scenarios don't use any spears . . . you should buy three boxes, but we have a bunch of leftover Rangers from earlier that we could use instead. For our purposes today, we're going to buy one box (knowing that this is a bit optional).

Purchase #12: 3 Dunedain (but really 9 - 2-3 blisters)

Dunedain don't have armor, so technically speaking, we shouldn't substitute Rangers of Arnor for these guys. Their blister comes with 2 with spears and 4 without, so something on the order of two boxes (if you cut off a spear) or three boxes (if you don't) is in your future. If you wanted to do some heavy conversion work, you might be able to use the Rangers you already have.

Purchase #13: Glorfindel on foot and mounted

Glorfindel is a fabulous hero and you should totally own him. He won't always be mounted in these scenarios, but you will need the mounted version done up for the Battle of Fornost scenario.

Purchase #14: 3 Dead Marsh Spectres (but really 12 - OR six!)

So, Spectres are sold in boxes of 3 models and they have an Orc, an Elf, and a Numenorean . . . which means if you buy two blisters, you can take the six Warriors of Numenor with shields that you have left over, paint them up all spooky, and you're good to go!

Well, even if we didn't buy a blister of Rangers of the North (which I did include in the calculation below), we've still managed to spend a heap of cash - but unlike the other sourcebooks we've looked at so far, by getting these 14 purchases, you can play about half of the Angmar main campaign - and that's pretty great!

Part 1: $192+53+192+70+53+26+53+70+360+40+64+128+55+34.50=$1390.50

Total: $1390.50 (once again , we have blown past the Scouring of the Shire and Fall of the Necromancer supplements)

Part 2: The Arvedui Campaign

The first scenario in this section involves Tom Bombadil, but after that, we're getting into all the Arvedui missions, which means bring on the Forgeworld kits!

Purchase #15: Tom and Goldberry

I own these models and absolutely ADORE them! Buy them, paint them with your kids, and have fun with them on the table!

Purchase #16: 4 Barrow-Wights

Four Barrow-Wights are a rush on the tabletop - no, you won't make any friends, but they're good fun all the same. Two kits and you're good to go!

Purchase #17: Arvedui and Malbeth

These are the OG Arnor heroes and having played against them a bunch of times, I can say they're very useful. Having them in your collection is definitely a must if you plan to go anywhere deep with Arnor.

Purchase #18: Aranarth and Argadir

These are the new Arnor heroes - both are good in different ways, though I feel like Aranarth is a bit overcosted. Argadir is fabulous though and an excellent addition to any Arnor army. If you have one mounted model, though, you will definitely want . . .

Purchase #19: 6 Knights of Arnor

OOOOFF! $150 for six models (without dismounts) doesn't feel good. Technically speaking, if we want the dismounts for these guys we need to get a third Warriors of Arnor blister . . . but I won't be doing that today. 

Purchase #20: Aldrac and Fraecht

Aldrac is great and - oh look, Fraecht comes in the same pack! I don't know what Fraecht brings to the team, but Aldrac is brilliant and his helmet is macho! Also, if you want them to lead troops in Marched Play, you don't need to buy more of those overpriced Carn Dum guys . . . yaye for that!

Purchase #21: Nazthak and the Shadow of Rhaudhar

Well, these are two models I would not willing buy - kinda like Grishnakh and Snaga. Still, you need them for one scenario, so . . . how's $40 sound for two models?!?!?!

Purchase #22: 4 Werewolves

Well . . . we need two packs of werewolves and they're $78 each . . . ouch . . . but if you want to save a HEAP of cash, you can spend $11 on six 50mm bases and $21-44 on Wild Wargs, Fell Wargs, or Fenrisian Wolves from 40K to put on those bases . . . that'd get you more than you need for half the price? They will look more wolfish than manlike, but it would save you a lot . . . 

Purchase #23: 2 Hill Trolls

These guys are also $78, but that's not that much higher than Cave Trolls or Mordor Trolls. I don't think you want to spam these guys, but having one or two around can be helpful.

Purchase #24: Ghulavhar

I mean, the guy is back in stock and he's awesome . . . buy him? These monster purchases are really adding up . . .

Purchase #25: 12 Hobbit Archers

Just when you thought we were done buying metal models, we buy three blisters of Hobbits! These lads are fun to paint and fun to use on the tabletop - and they cost about one-third as much as those Werewolves we needed above . . .

Purchase #26: Earnur

This guy is a load of fun - and he can double as a mounted King of Men with all the fixings in Matched Play! I've proxied him and he's a really hard hitting hero and if you get him, I hope you enjoy it!

Purchase #27: Minas Tirith command blister

Okay, chances are good you may have this already - and great if you do! If not, it's got a Captain, a banner, and a horn blower that you can totally turn into a Captain - what's not to like?

Purchase #28: 24 Warriors of Minas Tirith (but really a Minas Tirith Battle Host box)

We need 36 Warriors and we already have 12 from the Battle for Osgiliath starter set. We also need Knights, so we're getting the battle host box! Gandalf is also really fun to use and he's effectively free in this set. We need 12 Knights and this gets us six, so we also need . . .

Purchase #29: 6 Knights of Minas Tirith (or another Minas Tirith Battle Host box)

The second box is really unnecessary, but if you ever have a mind to run Gandalf on Shadowfax with and without Pippin (or if your Minas Tirith and Rohan armies have different bases), then the extra cash spent on a second box is definitely worth it. You could also save yourself some cash on Warriors of Arnor by converting 14 Warriors of Minas Tirith into Warriors of Arnor, a Captain of Arnor, and a banner guy (a band around each helmet ought to do it) - using some of your Ranger spears should do the trick.

Purchase #30: a third Mordor Battle Host

I mentioned above that the dismounts required for an earlier scenario required a third battle host box - you may already have this box. If you delayed until now, get a third one - it will save you money in the long run because we don't have to buy . . .

"Purchase" #31: The Tainted & The Dwimmerlaik (or convert your other Witch-Kings?)

So you know how we have three Witch-King sculpts? Well, we need three Ringwraiths and we have three models for them! Some conversion work might be in order, but the Dwimmerlaik and the Tainted are two of the most normal of the Ringwraiths, so special painting might be all you need. If you want the mounted models to look different, you can get the three mounted Ringwraiths box, but I won't be adding that to the total cost below.

Purchase #32: Faramir foot and mounted

Technically we need a Captain of Minas Tirith on horse with shield, but we don't actually have one of those - but we do have a Faramir and probably a Warrior of Numenor shield lying around. This will be a great proxy for a King of Men on horse for Matched Play as well, so we're knocking out needs across the board (plus Faramir is really good in the Minas Tirith army list).

That does it for the main scenarios - and while we didn't quite double our cost, we came very close:

Part 1: $1390.50

Part 2: $32.75+34.50+29+73+156+41+41+156+78+69+51.75+52+35+96+48+96+35=1124

Total: $2514.50 (or put a different way, more than the normal scenarios for Quest of the Ringbearer)

Part 3: The Appendices

We're wrapping things up with the appendices - and we only have five purchases left . . .

Purchase #33: Arathorn and Halbarad

I will be honest, I have always loved the banner-holding Halbarad and I have always LOVED the Arathorn model. These guys are very affordable in Matched Play and show up a little in the appendices. They're great - try them out sometime.

Purchase #34: Buhrdur

This big guy just got a new base size and a new sculpt and boy is he . . . hard to maneuver. Yes, it's easier than some things, but it's not a 40mm base anymore and you'd be surprised how much that matters. Still, if he gets into whatever he wants, it's truly terrifying!

Purchase #35: Wild Warg Chieftain

This is my boy - and I love him! He's fast, hits hard, occasionally plays the diva, and ultimately makes you wish you had the points for Gulavhar instead. And yet, I love the guy - and he's an old sculpt, so he's not as expensive as some.

Purchase #36: Aragorn with bow

I looked for the cheapest version of Aragorn, but to be technically correct, you probably want to pay $60 for the Fellowship version of Aragorn (though the old Three Hunters pack looks the most like he's with his Ranger buddies and the new Three Hunters pack has Anduril and no bow). That said, I included the price for the Three Hunters pack because I was tired of spending money on things.

Purchase #37: Elladan and Elrohir

These are the last guys we need - and they're not cheap, but they are good. The sculpts get some critique, but hopefully they put in work for you on the tabletop!

Well, that wraps up all the scenarios, and the cost was surprisingly low(ish)!

Part 1: $1390.50

Part 2: $1124

Part 3: $48+49+17.25+48+64=226.25

Total: $2740.75 (or put a different way, solidly in the middle of all the other sourcebooks)

Conclusion: Why Quest of the Ringbearer is Such a Good Supplement

If you already have an extensive Quest of the Ringbearer collection (especially the Fantasy Fellowships set), there are a ton of models you already have: Warriors of Minas Tirith, Orc Warriors, Captains of various kinds, and Rangers. You also have a bunch of heroes that you can use as proxies for the Ranger heroes and the Kings of Men, like Denethor, Elessar, or Eomer if you don't want to buy some of the models.

But you can also proxy many of the other models - Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears aren't far off from Warriors of Arnor, Morannons aren't that different from Warriors of Carn Dum, and all those Angmar heroes are pretty easy to supplement with your named Orcs and Ringwraiths. All in all, that sourcebook goes a long way to getting you into these scenarios . . . #bestsourcebookbyfar

Hopefully you enjoyed this series - and thank you to the patient few who waited a year and a half for this to come out! I don't know if we'll do this for the new supplements that are coming out, but I won't say never. Until next time, happy hobbying!