The New Age Is Begun: the Defenders of the Pelennor Army List

Good morning gamers,

This month is "Pelennor month" and we've covered the Fiefdoms (lots of Gondor units with special take-this-hero-to-get-these-warriors rules), the Grief of Eomer (a mix of Gondor and Rohan units, led by two smashy heroes), and the Return of the King (all of the ghosts with the Three Hunters thrown in). Today, we're taking all of those units - plus a bunch of others who show up in the Atop the Walls list - and putting them into one monster list! In trade for this greatly expanded roster, we're going to have a single special rule . . . but don't let that knowledge cramp your style. The list is very strong and gives veteran players a lot of options for list building. Let's see what we have to work with today!

The Defenders of the Pelennor: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

There are a ton of profiles in this list - the full list is provided in the profile adjustment section below. Suffice it to say that if you're looking for someone from Minas Tirith, the Fiefdoms, Rohan, or the Rangers who was fighting in the War of the Ring, chances are good that you'll find them in this list.

Army List Bonuses

This list has some army building restrictions - none of which are unique to this list. Your Rohan Warriors have to be led by Rohan Heroes, your Gondor Warriors need to be led by Gondor Heroes, and your Dunharrow Warriors have to be led by a Dunharrow Hero or one of the Three Hunters. The omission in this list is that the Rangers don't have the ability to lead anyone - they're included because of their appearance in the Return of the King book, where they led Clansmen of Lamedon (and other Fiefdoms militia from the coast), so it seems to me that they should be able to lead other units (maybe if there are no Dunharrow units in your list to be book-accurate?).

Beyond this, there's only one rule: each Hero in your army gets to declare a free Heroic Combat once per game. This is a really great rule since a) it's free, so Grima can't make it cost extra Might, b) it affects all heroes regardless of their affiliations, and c) it's easy to keep track of for both you and your opponent. On its face, this is weaker than the Riders of Theoden army list (where you get a once-per-game Heroic Combat on a single turn if Theoden is still alive, but also get +1 Strength on the Charge) and probably weaker than the Return of the King (where you get Anduril for free and F4 on some of your Warriors), but overall, it helps this list a lot in that you can take the list in any direction and you won't be fighting against the army list bonus.

So It Begins, Part 3: Plant the Charges

Good morning gamers,

We're back for our third scenario in our custom Helm's Deep campaign. Today, the Uruk-Hai are trying to blow up the culvert with some fancy explosives! Can Aragorn and his friends kill all three torch-bearing Berserkers before the wall is blown?

Plant the Charges (War in Rohan, p. 28)

We're using the actual scenario participants in this scenario:

• Forces of Good: Mostly The Defenders of Helm's Deep
• Aragorn - Strider with armor
• Legolas Greenleaf with armor
• Gimli, Son of Gloin
• Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with bows
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
• Forces of Evil: The Assault Upon Helm's Deep 
• 4 Uruk-Hai Captains
• 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
• 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 8 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
• 3 Demolition Teams

This scenario requires Evil to blow up the Deeping Wall via the culvert, while Good needs to kill all three of the torch-carrying Berserkers (hereafter referred to as "torch-boyz"). I will say from the outset that Gorgoroth was watching us set up, and he told Centaur, "You know, you should just keep one of your Berserkers with a torch really far back." Centaur was like, "Yes, I should - but this is scenario play." So . . . for you meta gamers out there, enjoy the resulting fireworks display as both Centaur and I go all-out for not-a-draw!

The New Age Is Begun: the Return of the King Army List

Good morning gamers,

One of the most popular Legendary Legions last edition was one of the first Legendary Legions that was released: the Return of the King. This list is really easy to collect - just get the Three Hunters, the King of the Dead with Heralds, and a box of the Warriors of the Dead and you're pretty much golden (especially if you use one of the Heralds as a banner-carrying Warrior of the Dead). When all is said and done, that's not a lot to spend (by wargaming standards) and you have a perfectly functional, durable army. Today, we're looking to see if that inexpensive army is actually worth taking - and if so, how you do it. Let's dive in and see what's cooking in the Vale of Erech!

The Return of the King: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list requires us to take both Aragorn and the King of the Dead - these are two heroes that we'd probably want to take anyway (and if you don't want to take the King of the Dead, consider the list that we're looking at next week instead). In addition to these two, we have Legolas, Gimli, and Heralds of the Dead as our heroes (Heralds being the only generic hero option) and we have Warriors of the Dead and Riders of the Dead for our warrior choices.

I think this list lost a real opportunity by not including other options - namely Dunedain/Rangers of the North as heroes in any list and Angbor the Fearless as a required choice (instead of the King of the Dead) and Clansmen of Lamedon if you don't take the Dead. The addition of the Lamedon contingent allows you to do the Book-accurate part of Aragorn and his men arriving at the Pelennor (the Dead help them get the black ships from the Corsairs, but don't actually come to the Pelennor). I guess if you want to play with that list . . . come back next week. :)

Army List Bonuses

There are two army list bonuses that center around Aragorn and one for the King of the Dead. Aragorn gets Anduril for free (a 40pt value) and this helps him keep up with the absurdly low wounding difficulties of the Dead. Additionally, friendly Dunharrow Warriors will get +1 Fight Value while within 3" of him, which means some of your warriors (but not many at all) will be F4 . . . that's something that you used to have to get with spearmen before and now you're getting it for free - yaye!

The King of the Dead picks up a niche rule that allows him to spend a Will point when he Charges to force each enemy model within 3" of him to pass a Courage test or move as far as possible directly away from the King of the Dead. This is what Instill Fear used to do last edition - and if you're not keeping the King of the Dead from being shut down by magic, this gives you a good use for his 6 Will points.

So It Begins, Part 2: The Walls of Helm's Deep

Good morning gamers,

We're back for another scenario in our custom Helm's Deep campaign. Today, the Uruk-Hai have made it to the walls and they'll be battling through the defenders, trying to get a hold of the walls. Can Aragorn and his friends kill 35 Uruk-Hai in 12 rounds? Can we keep Aragorn alive? We'll see - here are our participants . . .

The Walls of Helm's Deep (War in Rohan, p. 26)

We're using the actual scenario participants in this scenario:

• Forces of Good: Mostly The Defenders of Helm's Deep
• Aragorn - Strider with armor
• Legolas Greenleaf with armor
• Gimli, Son of Gloin
• Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
• Aldor
• Haleth, Son of Hama
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with bows
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
• Forces of Evil: The Assault Upon Helm's Deep 
• 4 Uruk-Hai Captains
• 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
• 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 12 Uruk-Hai Berserkers

The record keeping for this scenario is tricky - we tried our best to keep a faithful tally. You will see how this went shortly . . .

So It Begins, Part 1: Raise the Ladders

Good morning gamers,

Every year, Centaur and I try to do some kind of scenario thing - in recent years, we've played through Fantasy Fellowships, the Scouring of the Shire, and a custom campaign through all the Osgiliath missions. Today, we're starting this year's campaign, which will be playing through the scenarios related to Helm's Deep from the War in Rohan supplement. We'll be using the new profiles, but we won't be altering the scenario participants to make legal Matched Play lists (it just doesn't work for Good this time around). We'll also be showing off the amazing terrain from Conquest Creations' Kingdom of Saxonia, Volume II - Jacob has really outdone himself and boy was making the terrain a ton easier than before!

The Walls of Helm's Deep (War in Rohan, p. 26)

We're using the actual scenario participants in this scenario:

• Forces of Good: Mostly The Defenders of Helm's Deep
• Aragorn - Strider with armor
• Legolas Greenleaf with armor
• Gimli, Son of Gloin
• Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
• Aldor
• Haleth, Son of Hama
• 8 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 8 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 8 Warriors of Rohan with bows
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
• Forces of Evil: The Assault Upon Helm's Deep 
• 4 Uruk-Hai Captains
• 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
• 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 12 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
• 5 Siege Ladders

We could have made this a Matched Play game by adding Theoden to the good side - the points are one-sided towards the Forces of Good and they have the walls . . . we'll see how this goes. The victory conditions for this scenario are based on how many ladders Evil can keep up - if Good can knock down 4+ of the 5 ladders, they win. If Evil can keep up 4+ of the ladders, they win. If there are 3 ladders left standing, it's a draw. 

The New Age Is Begun: the Road to Rivendell Army List

Good morning gamers,

We're delving into another army list today and this one I'm SUPER excited about. Why? Because the Road to Rivendell army list (our topic for today) is a list that I have been running for AGES. I've run them as:

• A battle company (the Wanderers in the Wild);
• A low-points level historical alliance between the Fellowship and Rivendell;
• A mid-points level historical alliance between the Fellowship, Rivendell, and Lothlorien;
• A mid-points level convenient alliance between the Fellowship, the Shire, and the Wanderers in the Wild (Barliman and Bill); and
• A high-points level convenient alliance between Rivendell (Glorfindel, Gildor, Arwen), the Fellowship (Aragorn, Hobbits), and the Wanderers in the Wild (Tom and Goldberry) . . .
• . . . oh, right, and I made up a custom legendary legion for them a few Christmases ago.

Yeah, I've played this list kind of a lot. When I saw that it was becoming its own thing, I was both very excited AND very pleased that this list got Gildor and Noldorin Exiles from the Legacies document and picked up Tom Bombadil and Goldberry from the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement! All told, this began as a low-points level, all-hero list and with the two newest adds, it can now reach high points levels too! Let's see what's new in 2025 with this army list . . .

The Road to Rivendell: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

Five of the heroes in this list have already been reviewed not once, but twice in the Fellowship and Breaking of the Fellowship articles - check those out for the full run-down. One other hero has been reviewed once, and the remaining three profiles are "brand new". Here's how the profiles have been adjusted without rehashing all that I've written there:

• The list is focused on the Fellowship coming to Bree, leaving Bree, and journeying to Rivendell - so naturally, we have Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin with very little gear available. Amazingly, Frodo has access to Sting and the Mithril Coat, which he certainly didn't have in the films (Weathertop would have gone VERY differently, I think, if there was Mithril between Frodo and the Morgul Blade - or was it a spiritual piercing?);
• You also have Aragorn in the list, which is good because without him, you couldn't kill much of anything with this list (one model excepted);
• From the Bree contingent, we have Barliman Butterbur, Harry Goatleaf, and Bill the Pony - all of which were either previously in the Fellowship army list or were part of the Wanderers in the Wild list and historical allies with the Fellowship;
• We have Arwen, who was both historical allies with the Fellowship in the Rivendell list and was later errata'd to be part of the Fellowship list if you had Aragorn in the list:
• New to the scene are Tom and Goldberry, who were Convenient Allies with everyone in the old edition - they were an expensive dynamic duo, but oh so much fun; and 
• If your tournament setting allows the Legacy documents, you have access to Gildor Inglorion and up to 12 Noldorin Exiles (because they are the only Warrior models in the list, if you have at least 10 of them, you can have 4 with bows and 4 with throwing weapons).

The original nine characters come in with all their available upgrades (bow for Aragorn, Sting and Mithril Coat for Frodo) at a tidy 500 points, but Tom and Goldberry allow you to hit 700 points and Gildor and Company can hit 222 (very satisfying) with a banner, 3 Wood Elf spears, 4 throwing daggers, and 4 Elf bows. 

The New Age Is Begun: The Breaking of the Fellowship Army List

Good morning gamers,

We're back in our in-depth reviews of the new army lists for MESBG and today we're looking at "the other Fellowship list" (really it's one of four, but we'll get to the others soon): the Breaking of the Fellowship. This list has kept a lot of what the old Legendary Legion had, but it's been changed in a few profound ways to give those of us who enjoyed using it something new to tinker with.

I covered the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion in our Stuff of Legends series back in April 2021 and I gotta say, there are both not a lot of changes to this list and some very BIG changes to this list. Let's dig into what's new in 2025 . . .

The Breaking of the Fellowship: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

In the previous edition, we had eight profiles - the Fellowship members who were alive when the fighting at Amon Hen started. For the most part, the wargear they had in the films was accurately conveyed in the wargear options for the models (Aragorn's bow was at the boats with Boromir's shield, but Boromir got his shield and Aragorn's bow was noticably absent). I mentioned this to GW several times and in this edition of the game, Aragorn has his bow. Yes, I am taking credit for that change (though hopefully not sole credit for it - surely someone else was thinking the same thing I was).

The New Age Is Begun: The Fellowship Army List

Good morning gamers,

In case you're new here, the TMAT team loves to do list-building. Back in October 2018, I embarked on a "first impressions" series to evaluate the factions from the revamped Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game (aka, the previous edition - and hereafter MESBG). In July 2019, Rythbyrt began his Armies of Middle-Earth series, walking through many of the factions in MESBG. In January 2020, I started my "Bare Necessities" series, which walked through how to build balanced lists that optimized for possible VP scoring with each faction in the game. In 2021, I started our "Stuff of Legends" series, where we walked through most of the Legendary Legions that were released in the various sourcebooks (we're getting the last few out this year, despite a new edition eclipsing our timeline).

So naturally, when the new edition of MESBG dropped last December, I started planning out the next series of list-building reviews by "faction" (or more appropriately, "army list") and so begins a new series specific to the 2024 revamp of MESBG. I've entitled it "The New Age Is Begun," which comes from a line in the Return of the King, where Aragorn is talking with Gandalf about rebuilding Middle-Earth after the defeat of Sauron. While overlooking the realm of Gondor, Gandalf says,

This is your realm, and the heart of the greater realm that shall be. The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what may be preserved. For though much has been saved, much must now pass away . . .

The new edition does feel like the older edition, but it also feels new (and some things have been lost), so the quote above seemed to be a fair summation of where we're at. In this series, I'll be walking through the various army lists that are now available to us (roping in my fellow admins to weigh in on their favorites) and talking not only about how the list works, but also how it's changed from the previous edition of MESBG. We start off where it all began for me: with the Fellowship of the Ring.

I covered the Fellowship of the Ring previously in a tandem Bare Necessities post with Thorin's Company back in April 2020 and Rythbyrt covered them in the Armies of Middle-Earth series WAY back in July 2019 (basically when he started the series). Despite their ages, both articles aged well with very little changes that affected them since their writing (which is also a bit of an indictment, but whatever - we're in a new age right now, remember?). I got my start with the Fellowship back when I started playing SBG in September 2010, so these guys have always been near and dear to me. Let's see what they're up to and how the list has changed . . .

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 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 . . .

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!

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.

2023 Hobby Bingo: Tiberius's Board

Good morning gamers,

Well, 2023 has been a year - and it's been full of hobby fun! With Fantasy Fellowships, the Minas Tirith board, several tournaments, and lots and lots and LOTS of Morannon Orcs, there's been a lot to keep me busy during my off nights. I haven't officially done the hobby bingo challenge before, though I've always looked at the boards and thought, "I should do that." Well, this year, I said, "Darn it, we're gonna do it this year" - and I am proud to say that it turned out pretty well. Let's have a look!

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Row #1: Lots of New Models (and some movies and a tournament)

Our first square in the first row requires us to start a new army, and for me this year, that was easy: Corsairs of Umbar! Throwing weapons are my thing and these guys have them everywhere. I also had these models sitting around for a while, so I don't have all the guys I painted shown here because . . . well, I need a guy for another bingo box:

Box two is easy - watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Yes, I watch the extended cuts every year at least once, usually while I'm working on batch painting something or working on a terrain project. It took me longer than usual to watch them this year, since I had to catch up on a bunch of Star Wars shows, but I finished watching the extended editions of The Fellowship of the Ring on June 28th, The Two Towers on August 14th, and The Return of the King on September 9th.

Box three was checked off on June 24th when I attended our annual Grand Tournament - I got last place with a Quest of the Ringbearer Angmar army (you can read about my process of picking that list here and some thoughts on the scoring system - and a brief overview of my games - here).

Box 4 requires scenic bases for one of my armies and I decided to showcase my basing style for my Erebor Dwarves, as shown on Ori. The bases were done by painting white through a dryer sheet, then washing in black, then spot-highlighting in black, and then making piles of gold and emeralds from green glitter, PVA glue, and gold paint:

Finally, I needed to finish a Good army of at least 600 points. Because of the way Hobby Bingo works, I wanted to have a list that "just" reached 600pts (because I need elements of this project to cover multiple boxes, and you can't double-count a model) and since I spent quite a bit of time this year converting up Grim Hammers, Warriors of Erebor, and Thorin's Company heads into a War of the Ring era Erebor Reclaimed list, I figured I'd grab over 600 points from them. You can see here Thorin III Stonehelm, Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Nori, Dori, Gloin, and 7 converted Iron Hills Dwarves with shields and spears:

Nemesis: How to Fight Against Legolas

Good morning gamers,

We're back to the Forces of Good and this time, we're looking at one of the first heroes I used in the game (and a hero who remains one of my favorites to put on the board): Legolas Greenleaf. Legolas has two profiles in the game (one for the Fellowship and a "slightly better" profile in the Halls of Thranduil - more on this later) and appears in SIX Legendary Legions (the Grey Company, the Return of the King, the Men of the West, the Breaking of the Fellowship, the Defenders of Helm's Deep, and the Rangers of Mirkwood) - and with the Halls of Thranduil being Historical or Convenient allies with basically everything in the game (a Halls of Thranduil list without Thranduil will be Impossible Allies with Grimbeorn and his squad of Beornings . . . why?!?!?!?!), it's not hard to see Legolas at an event or on the other side of the table, regardless of your points level.

The famed archer who was epic in the Lord of the Rings films and defied all natural laws in the Hobbit films is easily the best archer in the game (though I ranked the Bolt Thrower higher when we did our Sniper podcast) and knowing how to beat him is something every general should know. What makes this guy such a powerful piece, such a great leader for an allied contingent, and so annoying in certain scenarios? Well, let's take a look at this Elf among Elves and find out . . .

What Makes Legolas So Hated?

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community 

It should come as no surprise that Legolas is most dangerous when he's shooting. Shooting has been critiqued by various crowds in MESBG as contributing to a negative play experience, mostly because your opponent has no say about it once he's done moving his models. There's no opposed dueling roll, there's no resist test, and there's no armor save (for most units - some units grant saves of various kinds and heroes might have Fate points) - once you're done moving models, the other guy gets to shoot at you . . . and you have to take it. Legolas does this better than any other model, since his Deadly Shot special rule allows him to either perform three shots hitting on his normal Shoot Value (3+ if he hasn't moved, 4+ if he's moved up to half his max movement) OR perform a single shot that hits on a 2+ and ignores all modifiers (to include the move-and-shoot penalty, negative modifiers like Blinding Light, in-the-way rolls, and even the rule that prevents a Good model from shooting into a friendly combat). Yes, Legolas can do the shooting thing all the time.

While getting 3 shots each turn would appear to be his most deadly quality (and I've killed 2-3 models in a single turn plenty of times with him), it's the second part of his Deadly Shot rule that gives most competitive players pause. Usually, if you have an important support piece that you don't want to lose (a Goblin Scribe, a Dead Marsh Spectre, or a low-Defense/low-Wound army leader), you just tuck them behind 3-4 guys or a wall/rock and you're feeling pretty good about them not getting hit from enemy archers. But if Legolas can see the model, he can hit the model on a 2+ - even if he's moved that turn! Furthermore, if Legolas wants to hit the MOUNT of a big hero, he can choose which part of the model to target with the 2+ To Hit and if he's willing to spend Might to make it work, there are very few mounts in the game that can survive for long when Legolas is on the other side of the board. This is particularly true for any of the multitude of heroes who lacks Horse Lord and has no way to prevent wounds on their mounts. Oh, and Blinding Light won't make that mount any more safe . . . it's annoying.

If Tiberius Were King For A Day: Top 5 Profile Changes I'd Make

Good morning gamers,

Any person who reads Tolkien or watches the films is bound to love something about Middle-Earth (assuming they're the fall-in-love-with-Fantasy type). For some players, this often rears its head in MESBG with cool custom profiles being proposed for characters that show up Tolkien's works that aren't the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, custom Legendary Legions, or occasionally cool scenarios that try to recreate events from Middle-Earth's history.

But more often than not, I see this love for characters, profiles, and factions displayed in a request for updates to existing profiles. Questions like, "How do you get Osgiliath Veterans to work? I love the sculpts and I think they're so cool, but they just don't seem to be worth it - what do you do to make them work?" Have you seen these questions? And have you asked them?

Well, I've decided to compile my list of five profiles that I like (for various reasons) and what I would change about them to make them "better" if I were the King of SBG for a day. I will say that the profiles I've chosen are not only models that I like and think need a slight alteration, but they're also models I play with regularly (and would play with more if their rules were tweaked ever so slightly). With that, let's dive into . . .

Profile #1: Osgiliath Veterans 

Let's start with a profile that everyone struggles to see the point of or a use for (though I tried really hard last year): Osgiliath Veterans. "OsVets" cost +1pt more than Warriors of Minas Tirith and have an identical profile to them with two exceptions: first, they get +1 Courage (which makes them C5 with the Minas Tirith army bonus), and second, they trade the chance of having +1 Defense with the Shieldwall special rule for the chance of having +1 Fight Value if they're near Faramir or Boromir (which is actually easier to do than keeping Shieldwall up). 

Fantasy Fellowships: The Erebor Reunion, Part 5a

Good morning gamers,

Today kicks off the scenarios for Part 5 of Fantasy Fellowships and it's all about Frodo/Old Bilbo Baggins and Sam/Farmer Maggot and his dogs. Oh, and Smeagol. :) The first scenario we have on the docket is the Dead Marshes - a scenario I played before and knew could take a long time or a short time depending on the participants involved. While Frodo and Sam don't really want to tangle with a Nazgul on Fell Beast, Smeagol can wound the Nazgul on a 6 (5 if he uses his Might point) and Maggot can use Piercing Strike with his two-handed scythe to wound him on 5s (4s if he has his Might point). Old Bilbo wants nothing to do with this guy. So . . . while I intend to not fight a Nazgul if I can help it, I'm feeling better about it than with the normal participants (where you have to hope that Sam can Strike up high enough to beat the wraith's Fight Value and someone can get a wound in). Let's get into the scenario!

The Dead Marshes 

The board is a 48" x 48" setup, with six spectres in six marshes, the Fell Beast on one side, and my Fellowship of six models on the other:

My plan was to go towards the northern board edge to make two of the spectres non-players in the game - here's how we got on!

Turn 1-3: Priority Good, then Evil, then Good

The first three turns of the game were all about maneuvering - in Turn 1, three of the spectres were under my control (top-left, bottom-right, right-most), two spectres were under Centaur's control (bottom-left moved 3" through the swamp, top-right moved full and got out of his swamp), one spectre didn't move at all (center), and the Nazgul flitted 3" forward:

On Turn 2, I continued to advance northwards, while two spectres didn't move (bottom-left and right-most), three spectres moved under my control (top-left, center, top-right), and one moved under Centaur's control (bottom-right - he got out of the marsh and moved to intercept). The Nazgul moved 6" under my control and decided that there was something very interesting in the southeast corner of the board:

On Turn 3, I started to near some of the spectres, but things looked pretty good for me again - I got to move two of the spectres (top-left - he's looking for mushrooms around that hill - and bottom-right), two spectres didn't move (top-right and bottom-left), and two moved under Centaur's control (center moved full, rightmost moved through the marsh a bit). The big swing here was that the Fell Beast got to move fully under Centaur's control - and boy can that guy close a gap fast:

In Defense Of: Merry and Pippin

Good morning gamers,

Today we're viewing two characters that I've been using since I started playing MESBG (back when it was LOTR SBG): Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. Merry and Pippin are two of the cheapest hero profiles in the game and have . . . well, some of the worst hero profiles in the game too (unsurprisingly). Far weaker than warriors who are cheaper or the same cost as them and by far and away the most vulnerable and fragile models in their army lists, you may wonder if bringing these little imps is even worth doing.

"You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission . . . quest . . . thing . . ."

Today, we'll be looking at these two guys who I have gotten a lot of mileage out of in the past few years. With three different ways to run these guys, we've got a lot to dig into - so let's get started!

In Defense Of: Smeagol

Good morning gamers,

Before we get into today's post, I just wanted to highlight that this is our 600th article on the blog and we just passed 900,000 total site views (if you trust the Google analytics) . . . thanks for reading our articles everyone - it means a lot to us!

We've looked recently at how you can build your lists around Galadriel and Denethor to get more mileage out of them and mitigate some of the weaknesses that many players decry in the global community. Today, we turn our attention to a model that . . . well, pretty much all players don't want to take in their lists (especially the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion): Smeagol.

Smeagol is probably the least-often included member of the Fellowship army list and while there are at least perceived benefits to taking Frodo (who probably carries the Ring) and Sam (who might be able to get free Heroic Combats) in the Rangers of Ithilien LL, Smeagol doesn't look like much of an add - especially since he costs nearly the same amount as 4 Rangers of Gondor. With an errata requiring Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol to be included in the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion, Smeagol has been thrust into the spotlight - or more appropriately, he WOULD have been thrust into the spotlight if basically everyone in the community hadn't stopped playing with this Legion. :-)

The skulker has emerged - hiding in the basing box because he insisted on being based before being photographed!

I'm preparing to play games with this Legion (looking at procuring Anborn, Mablung, and another box of Rangers of Gondor either later this year or next year) and I'm going to go out on a limb with the following claim: the Legion is still good and hasn't gotten worse now that the three travelers are required in it. Even at lower points levels, they're worth it. Why? Not just because Frodo and Sam are useful (some players in the UK have claimed that from the beginning) - but because Smeagol is useful too. Let's find out why.

Quest of the Ringbearer Inspired Lists: The Breaking of the Fellowship LL

Good morning gamers,

As we close out the year, we'll be looking at 700-point lists that are built around models you collect from the Quest of the Ringbearer book. If you haven't seen the articles recently, I've been collecting all the models from that book and since I've been working on painting up a bunch of models toward that end, I figured I should get them on the tabletop and start using them. The first list that we have is . . . well, not at 700 points, but it works just fine with a 100-point handicap for your opponent. It's the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion - a Legion that has rapidly risen to be one of my favorite Legions in the game!

The List

This list, as we've mentioned in the Stuff of Legends series, writes itself at/above 600 points:

• Aragorn - Strider with Elven cloak [ARMY LEADER]
• Frodo Baggins with Sting, Mithril coat, and Elven cloak
• Samwise Gamgee with Elven cloak
• Meriadoc Brandybuck with Elven cloak
• Peregrin Took with Elven cloak
• Boromir of Gondor with shield and Elven cloak
• Legolas Greenleaf with Elven cloak
• Gimli, Son of Gloin with Elven cloak

This list may not look like much (only 8 models, half of which are D4 and below), but the Legion rules for this list are bonkers:

• Those Elven cloaks are free, so this army has built-in defense from long-range archery and magic so long as there's some terrain in the way;
• Each model counts as a banner for friendly models;
• Each model counts as having the Fortify Spirit magical power on them (+2 free dice to resist magical powers, which means the Hobbits are all rolling 3 free dice thanks to Resistant to Magic); 
• The army is Fearless and doesn't count as being broken while Frodo is alive (the usual Fellowship bonus); and
• Each model has a "gift of Lothlorien" to help them be better:
• Aragorn has an Elven-made Dagger with Uruk-Haibane (the Elven-made keyword is quite useful, Uruk-Haibane is often overkill, but means you can kill an Uruk hero with a single successful wounding roll most of the time);
• Frodo gets the Light of Earendil which allows him to cast a normal version of Blinding Light on a free dice while not wearing the Ring on a 3+ as a means of minimizing enemy archery damage (no channeling to keep it up forever - this is probably the best gift in the bunch);
• Sam has Elven Rope that makes him automatically pass jump, leap, and climb tests (used it once only because I could - not because I had to);
• Merry and Pippin have Noldorin Daggers that allow them to reroll failed To Wound rolls (but don't count as Elven-made weapons - sad, but really good value on them);
• Boromir has a Golden Belt that gives him the Woodland Creature special rule (very situational, but occasionally quite good to have - better than Sam's gift at any rate);
• Legolas has the Bow of the Galadhrim, which allows him to reroll failed To Hit rolls so long as a friendly model is within 3" of him (this is the only gift that really vies for first place against Frodo's Light of Earendil); and
• Gimli has the Three Locks of Hair from Galadriel - each of which can be spent once per game to reroll all of his dueling dice (this was viewed by me to be incredibly good and it can be, but because he already gets 1 reroll if someone is nearby, the value of this is really 1-2 more dice rerolled depending on the weapon you choose to use and what you get on your first 3-4 dice).

These bonuses are great - but let's see the kinds of things we need to be able to do with this army in practice.

It Has Come To Me (Again): Thoughts On The One Ring, Revisited

Good morning gamers,

When the new rules dropped back in late 2018, I did a post on the One Ring and how it had changed since the LOTR SBG days (when I first got started playing). Since then, we've had a few FAQ clarifications (a few very needed clarifications) and I've played a LOT with the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion and those experiences have given me some new perspectives on things you can do to both use the Ring well and fight against Ringbearers. So today, we're going to take a look at what the rules are for the Ring, how these rules have been altered by FAQs and Designer Commentaries, and ways you can use these rules to both use Ringbearers better AND fight against them.

Rules Review (With Errata and Designer Commentaries Notes Added)

There is a whole page of rules dedicated to the One Ring - thankfully it's broken up into sections for us. Let's dig in and see what's interesting in each part of the rules (I've color-coded the relevant Designer Commentary questions to the references from the rules (to include the errata that have been made on it).

Wearing the Ring

[Wearing The Ring] The model with the Ring can put it on at any time during their Move phase. As soon as they do so, they become Invisible. [ERRATA: Whilst invisible, the Ringbearer may move through friendly and enemy models, provided they do not end their move overlapping any part of another model’s base.] If a model who put on the Ring is mounted, their steed will bolt and they must immediately take a Thrown Rider test.

Q: Can a model with the One Ring put it on if they have already been charged that turn? (p.90) A: No.

Q: Do Invisible models ignore enemy Control Zones when they move? (p.90) A: Yes.  

Two things jump out at us from this section: first and foremost, as the Designer Commentary on the main rulebook has clarified, a Ringbearer cannot put on the One Ring if he has been charged already. This will require planning a turn or two ahead, but otherwise isn't a big deal. It can bite new players, though, so if you're just learning how Ringbearers work, you may want to just accept that there's an error or two that might be made when learning the game. This will probably be one of them.

Second, if your Ringbearer can take a mount (Isildur on horse or Bilbo Baggins on a pony), then you'll want to dismount BEFORE you put the Ring on. Because you can put the Ring on at any point in your movement, you can dismount, put the Ring on, and then move without penalty - but the timing does matter.