The Citadel of the Stars, Part II: The Retaking of Osgiliath

Good morning gamers,

We're back for Part 2 in our custom Osgiliath campaing and we're back in Gondor at War to see if Boromir - without his horse or shield - can retake Osgiliath! As we said last time, we're going to change up the scenario participants to make it Matched Play legal for the new edition - and while we could have been truer to the listed participants by sticking with the Army of the White Hand (now that they have access to Trolls), we decided to shake things up a bit and make it a roughly 525pt game between the Reclamation of Osgiliath and the Legions of Mordor!

The Retaking of Osgiliath (Gondor at War, p. 10)

We've decided to use the following models in today's game:

• Forces of Good: The Reclamation of Osgiliath
• Boromir, Captain of the White Tower with the Banner of Minas Tirith
• Faramir, Captain of Ithilien
• 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 9 Rangers of Gondor
• Forces of Evil: The Legions of Mordor
• 3 Morannon Orc Captains with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs
• 8 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 8 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 6 Morannon Orcs with spears
• 1 Mordor Troll

I wanted to make two notes about the Legions of Mordor list (which we reviewed recently in our New Age is Begun series): this list can be run with just the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book and has 32 models at 525 - and so at 550, you could add a banner to it and it would be quite strong, in my opinion. You could also drop 1 Morannon Orc with no extra gear to get shields on 8 people - that would be good too.

The Citadel of the Stars, Part I: The Defence of Osgiliath

Good morning gamers,

Centaur and I are pleased to be bringing you another campaign series this year, running on alternate Thursdays through the rest of the year! While we've done Fantasy Fellowships as well as the Scouring of the Shire, we decided this year to show off the Kingdom of Tor Ithilas terrain that I picked up last year and play through eight scenarios centered around the city of Osgiliath (home of the Citadel of the Stars). Three of these scenarios will be from the old Gondor at War supplement (including today's scenario), four will come from the Battle of Osgiliath starter box, and we'll be replaying the Osgiliath scenario from Quest of the Ringbearer as well.

Normally, we follow the scenario participants list closely, but we decided to have some fun with this and a) use the new ruleset instead of the old one, and b) use the scenario participants to provide a baseline for two game-legal army lists from the new edition. As such, the models we'll be using might change slightly from the original list - but where we could stick to what was originally given to us, we have. Let's see who we have for the Fall of Osgiliath scenario!

The Defence of Osgiliath (Gondor at War, p. 8)

We've decided to use the following models in today's game:

• Forces of Good: The Garrison of Ithilien
• Faramir, Captain of Gondor
• Madril, Captain of Ithilien
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien
• 6 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 6 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
• 8 Rangers of Gondor
• 4 Rangers of Gondor with spears
• Forces of Evil: The Army of the White Hand (I know, right?)
• 3 Orc Captains
• 12 Orc Warriors with shields
• 12 Orc Warriors with spears
• 6 Orc Warriors with two-handed weapons
• 6 Orc Warriors with Orc bows

The board is a 48"x48" setup, with the Orcs within 12" of one side of the board, and the Gondorian models within 6" of the center of the board. There are three objectives that the Orcs are going to try to destroy (in base contact without fighting or shooting) before 10 turns have passed - one objective is set up in the center and the other two are space equidistant from the center objective and the left/right board edges:

Damrod is up on the second level of the building near the center (this was a mistake - I forgot he had 2 Attacks!), Faramir was right in the center, and Madril was over to the left, ready to lead some of my troops towards that objective. Centaur deployed his Orcs with the majority in the middle, but a solid hit-squad of guys ready to attack each of the side objectives (the Captains don't have the whispy bases). The Orcs can come back in this scenario on a 5+, so the model disparity is going to be seriously high by the end! With the units deployed, we started Turn 1!

Turn 1: Priority Good

I had three of my Rangers stand and shoot while the other units began to fade towards the side objectives. I don't have any cover near the center objective, but I'm counting on those bows not being very effective. Centaur pushed up the board but didn't March towards me.

I shot a lot of bows (15 in total) and killed . . . two guys. Not bad, all told, but . . .

. . . those dang Orc bows hit with like four guys (out of SIX!) and killed two of my Rangers in the middle . . . not what I wanted when starting this game! Without any fights to resolve, we moved to Turn 2!

Top 10 Ranking: Middle Earth SBG Supplements

Hey Reader!

In a continuation of our Top 10 series, we're looking today at...all of the supplements for the recent edition of the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game! I'd been holding out hope for an actual Top 10 (as we don't have 10 supplements - but more on that below), but since this is the twilight of the old edition, maybe now is a great time to rank them, as we have the complete list now.

Our ranking is going to gauge the quality of the supplements in five categories, designed to reward the various aspects of these disparate books. First, we're looking at the epic factor of the campaign: how cool/vast/epic is the scenario lineup in the book? Unsurprisingly, if your supplement includes an attack on Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep, Balin's Tomb, or assaults on one or more capitol cities, those books will get higher scores in this category than, say, smaller skirmishes in less visible conflicts.

Second, we look at cost: how much money does it cost to buy the book and all the models you need to play through the campaign. So supplements that involve smaller numbers of models, smaller numbers of Forgeworld/metal models, and require less specialized/out of production kits, will score higher than, say, supplements that require you to buy 2-3 Mumakil and/or a dozen Forgeworld resin heroes, for example.

Third, we rate the content in the book for balance: are the scenarios written in such a way that the scenarios are lopsided (either always to one side or the other, or just lopsided back and forth between the Good/Evil forces)? Are the legendary legions imbalanced, and likely to be FAQed? Having powerful legendary legions doesn't necessarily grant a lower score, but a book with legendary legions that are likely to be changed alongside scenarios that may not be fun to play due to too many uphill battles, will rank lower in this category than a book that shows signs of heavy testing and evenness in its design and execution.

Fourth, we rate the scenarios for variety: are most of the scenarios just a mix of "kill things or get units off the board," or do they include interesting/unique scenario objectives? Do they do anything interesting with forces, deployment, and/or scenario special rules? The more variety there is in the campaign, the higher the score.

And finally, we look at new options: how many new profiles, legendary legions, terrain kits, and/or ways to play the game (really only applicable with Fantasy Fellowships in Quest of the Ringbearer, but we did want to reward that supplement for creating a very interesting new way to play the game!) are in the supplement? Some supplements are heavier or lighter on material (guided by the content in the book), so supplements with more "goodies" will rate higher than ones with less.

So with that, let's take a look at the books we've come to love over the past decade!

Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain, Part VI

Good morning gamers,

In update #6, we're looking at the first level walls, which we probably won't be using for Matched Play, but will need for scenarios in Fantasy Fellowships (and who knows - we may have something brewing that would require these . . . ). We will be looking at the walls, as well as the gatehouse, the stairwells to the walls, and the baseplate panels - there's lots to cover, let's get to it!

Photo Credit: Sott.net

Wall Sections with Battlements 

I got the walls (two 12" long segments and two 3" long segments) painted in a black mod podge mix, sealing the foam in. I wasn't confident that the spray paint wouldn't eat through the foam, so I hand-painted some of the bricks different colors and then over-brushed with white:

These are the 12" segments - the 3" segments show up at the end!

Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain, Part V

Good morning gamers,

It's our fifth post in this terrain mini-series on our Minas Tirith/Osgiliath board. As we talked about last time, we're just working on some buildings today, fleshing out our boards so we can have more whole buildings when we play (instead of only half-buildings or open plinths). We'll be kit-bashing the Zorpazorp templates for Lachie's Minas Tirith project, so if you already have your templates printed, you can follow along!

Photo Credit: Sott.net

Four New Buildings

Our first building that we're making is based on the wider tower structure - originally, this thing has a double-arch side, a single-arch side, and two closed sides. This modification will be simple - we're going to have one single-arch side and three double-arch sides, which will not only make this building different from its original design, but when we split it in half, each half will not only be different from its brother, but will ALSO be different from either of the other halves from the previous building:

Building #1 - lots of doorways so the building can be rotated in any direction (based on how I want the arches below to face)

I've also modified the top of the building significantly - each side has a door-like arch. This is because this building is intended to have a walkway bridge OVER part of the map, similar to one of the buildings in Lachie's Tuber-Town - so let's look at where he's going to connect to next.

Gondor At War Inspired Lists: The Men of the West LL Revisited

Good morning gamers,

This is our last post in the how-to-use-your-scenario-focused-units-in-Matched-Play series for Gondor at War - and the last of our army reviews for the year (we have something very special planned for December, but more on that next time). So far in this series, I've avoided covering Legendary Legions - even though I could have cobbled together pseudo-competitive lists for the Return of the King, the Riders of Theoden, and the Army of Gothmog quite easily. Today, that all changes - because we're going to look at a Legion that is uniformly dismissed across the community and commonly held to be one of the worst Legions ever made: yes, it's my boys - the Men of the West (you didn't REALLY think I'd talk about Gondor at War without mentioning these guys, right?)!

With this being our last post in this series, I thought it fitting to cover a Legion that shows up at the end of the films and books. The list has the models you'd expect from both the books and the films in scenario play - mostly because you're allowed to play the Black Gate mission as either one game based on the "movies" (mostly) or two games based on the books. Here are the models we have:

• Aragorn, King Elessar
• Legolas Greenleaf with armor
• Gimli, Son of Gloin
• Gandalf the White
• Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark
• Meriadoc, Knight of the Mark
• Peregrin Took, Guard of the Citadel
• Elladan & Elrohir
• Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth
• Captain of Dol Amroth
• Captain of Rohan with shield
• 13 Knights of Dol Amroth (12 vanilla, 1 with banner)
  
• 37 Warriors of Minas Tirith (12 shields, 12 spears and shields, 12 bows, 1 banner)
• 25 Warriors of Rohan (8 shields, 8 throwing spears and shields, 8 bows, 1 banner)
  

This is (actually) the most models we've had to date - which is pretty crazy, when you think about it. In theory, this list has it all when it comes to heroes - it has one of the best casters in the game (Gandalf the White), arguably the best archer in the game (Legolas Greenleaf), one of the best slayers in the game (Aragorn, King Elessar), and an assorted cast of some of the best F5-6 slaying heroes in the game for 100-140pts (Gimli, Eomer, Imrahil, and Elladan/Elrohir) - but since none of these guys can be mounted (and five of these guys can't lead troops), this list is often looked down upon because "you should just ally." Tack onto that the lackluster warrior profiles and it's pretty easy to see why people wouldn't be excited about this Legion.

While I've gone in depth before on why the cost-savings that you get in this Legion can make it playable, the world still seems against these guys - and my recent experience running them against two Aragorn lists at our TMAT GT of 2022 demonstrated to me why most people think this: if you get a tough matchup or your killing heroes are divas, you'll probably lose.

Photo Credit: Gondor at War

So, in this post, we're going to do something different: we're going to look at how to use this list at LOWER points levels (where your points are more limited, but your success rate seems to increase because the counters to your army are more limited too). Let's take a look at two 600-point lists instead of the usual 700-point lists (technically three lists - yeah, I really like these guys) to get an idea of how to bring the pain with this Legion, all while living within the constraints of the Gondor At War scenario participants!

Gondor At War Inspired Lists: The Dead of Dunharrow Revisited

Good morning gamers,

Today we're digging into one of the easiest factions to start collecting: the Dead of Dunharrow. An incredibly popular faction for those who started playing the game when the Pelennor Fields box set was released (with Gondor at War providing a new King of the Dead sculpt/a new hero profile in Heralds of the Dead) and a cool Legendary Legion that allows Aragorn to join the Army of the Dead and get Anduril/a 6" banner rule for free, the Dead of Dunharrow are an oddity for the Forces of Good: a low-Fight, Terror-heavy list that absolutely shreds any army to pieces if they can just win fights. Oh, and they don't have any shooting or power heroes of their own - they're an expensive spam team.

When I was preparing for this series, I originally had in mind to actually review the Return of the King LL (Rythbyrt did it for me in our Stuff of Legends series because I don't like it - and I omitted covering it in the main part of our Bare Necessities series by going with an Elessar-led Minas Tirith contingent allied with some Dead of Dunharrow). I don't like the Legion and I was clawing for ANYTHING that would remotely compete with it for this article.

And then, like a gift from the skies, Sharbie on his Against All Odds blog released not one article but TWO articles on using the Dead of Dunharrow as a pure list at recent tournaments in Australia - and I immediately went to see if I could do it for a Gondor at War piece. As it turns out, we actually have over 700pts of models from Gondor at War to work with, so I thought, "Scrap the Legion - we're going pure!" Here are the models we can pick from:

• The King of the Dead
• 2 Heralds of the Dead
• 20 Warriors of the Dead
• 14 Warriors of the Dead with shields*
• 6 Warriors of the Dead with spears*
• 6 Riders of the Dead
  

*As we noted in our what-you-need-to-collect post, you can choose to:

• Have 20 infantry the way you like them and ignore their shields and spears for the scenarios;
• Have 26 Warriors of the Dead - 20 with nothing that can have up to 14 Warriors of the Dead with blue-tacked shields and 6 spearmen; or
• Have 40 Warriors of the Dead - 20 vanilla, 14 with shields, and 6 with spears.

We, as it happens, will be doing a modified version of the third option today. :-)

Sharbie's work on his blog is incredible - check it out if you haven't already (though he's not an exclusive MESBG content guy - though I will say his reviews of 40K are also quite interesting, even though most of it goes over my head due to not really knowing how the gaming system works, #Uninitiated). To summarize his experience with pure Dunharrow, here's what we want:

• Get into 1-on-1 combats as much as you can (to make it unlikely that you'll be wounded and mitigate whatever liability F3 provides);
• Get around the enemy flanks (keeping a two-rank shieldwall works sometimes, but usually isn't as good as wrapping);
• Avoid getting stuck against big heroes and focus on killing grunts;
  
• Fight in the open (so you can bring your numbers to bear/wrap the enemy); and
• Don't bother with Heralds (you want the numbers and you don't need the heroic actions/Resistant to Magic).
  

With this in mind, let's dig into the list!

Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain, Part IV

Good morning gamers,

Today brings us to Part IV in our series on building Minas Tirith/Osgiliath terrain and today, we're turning to the walls and plinths and doing the monotonous job of detail work . . . ugh. Easily the least fun part of any terrain task is adding rote detail to things - not adding cracks, impressions, colored washes to simulate filth and such, but the drawing of brickwork lines, the indentation of certain bricks to add character, that sort of thing. Yes, it's important to the end result of the build, but it sure . . . is . . . boring.

So today, we're going to do all that dull stuff, but to keep our sanity, we're also going to do other things - namely adding our water features to two of our panels, spraying the board so it isn't pink/black, and prepare the board for use in Osgiliath missions! Let's get into it!

Photo Credit: Sott.net

Detailing The Outer Wall 

If you've seen Lachie's videos on YouTube for the Minas Tirith project, you know what this entails: running an aluminum foil ball around the faces of the wall to add texture, followed up by depressing certain stones with something solid (I've chosen the box for my utility knife blades, like Lachie does), adding some cracks to some of the stonework, and noting where I'm going to add green bits for moss growth. I then slathered these guys in a mix of Mod Podge and black paint so they'd be protected from the spraying that's coming:

I need to paint a few bricks here and there green, black, or grey (specifically choosing sections that were thinly mod-podged) and then spray a gentle white primer coat over it, but I plan to do that after I have the crenellations done. Once they're sprayed and have been washed in black, I think they're going to be great, but I don't want to start washing until I have the gatehouse done too.

Gondor At War Inspired Lists: The Corsairs of Umbar Revisited

Good morning gamers,

We're almost done with this mini-series on how to take your Gondor at War collection and use it in Matched Play and today we look at one of the nastiest, shooty-est armies that Evil has to offer: the Corsairs of Umbar. A mix of light-defense horde models, high-defense shooting models, and throwing weapons on nearly every model (and Backstabbers - don't forget those Backstabbers if you keep your army bonus), this army can be a pain to deal with whether you're running a spam horde or a smaller, elite force. But while Corsair players have access to nearly all the models they'd usually want in their army, the limits on force construction imposed by Gondor at War's two missions that feature Corsairs leaves us with some interesting choices. Here are the models we can take:

• Dalamyr, Fleet Master of Umbar
• Delgamar, Gatemaster of Umbar
• 2 Corsair Captains with no additional gear
• 2 Corsair Bo'suns with no additional gear
• 12 Corsairs of Umbar with shields
• 12 Corsairs of Umbar with spears
• 12 Corsairs of Umbar with bows
• 12 Corsair Arbalesters
• 12 Corsair Reavers

That's a whopping 66 models - though bow limit makes it a still-impressive 61 models. What you're missing from a normal Corsair list is a) Hasharins as pinch-hitter heroes (though as I noted in the what-you-need-for-Gondor-at-War post, you could take the two Hasharins you get with Dalamyr and convert them up into Delgamar and Raza pretty easily if you want to save some money), b) Black Numenoreans for high-Defense Terror models, c) the Knight of Umbar (if you like the guy - I don't), and d) Black Numenorean Marshals (if you like these guys - I do).

We're also TECHNICALLY missing any gear options on the Captains and Bo'suns as listed above, but quite frankly, I'm not going to worry about that. Bo'suns probably don't NEED extra gear if they intend to stand around as banners, but having a spear for 1pt is always a good thing - and having a crossbow on either a Captain or a Bo'sun for 5pts is a really good deal. So . . . I'm going to ignore this constraint as we delve into the list - our first pure list of this series!

Gondor At War Inspired Lists: Rohan Revisited

Good morning gamers,

In this our third post on how to turn your scenario-oriented Gondor at War collection into a Matched Play fighting force, we come to the plains of Rohan. Ah, Rohan - an army that has dominated top tables with its spam of heroes and horde of Rohan Royal Guards. While new Legions in War in Rohan opened up a variety of ways to play Rohan competitively, when Gondor at War was released, there was exactly one hyper-competitive way to build a Rohan list: run the Riders of Theoden. This makes sense, since the models you have in Gondor at War all appear in the Riders of Theoden list:

• Theoden, King of Rohan with everything
• Eomer with everything
• Dernhelm
• Gamling with everything
• Deorwine (as we mentioned in the what-do-you-need post, he TECHNICALLY doesn't have his horse except in the big Pelennor Fields scenario, but surely this is an oversight)
• Elfhelm with horse
• Captain of Rohan on foot with shield
  
• 16-36 Riders of Rohan (with 8 shield/8 bow dismounts - the 36 number reflects the big Pelennor Fields scenario)
  
• 8 Riders of Rohan with throwing spears (with 8 throwing spear and shield dismounts)
• 1 Warrior of Rohan with banner
  

Photo Credit: Gondor At War

We certainly have the heroes for a Riders of Theoden list (6 named heroes - and if we have a Captain of Rohan on foot, we probably have a mounted one too), but what we're lacking that the Riders of Theoden usually have is Rohan Royal Guards. Those guys are absolutely monstrous on the tabletop (F5/S4/2A on the charge with Bodyguard and fielded for 15-17pts each), but we have precisely . . . 0 Royal Guards (of any type) in this list. In fact, the War in Rohan scenarios only give you up to 4 of them in the main scenarios (to get more, you have to dig into the appendices), so it's fair to say that if you're looking at Scenario Play vs. Matched Play, Rohan has a pretty different feel if you're running the all-cavalry approach.

So what, then, would be an interesting army to view today? Should we run the Riders of Theoden anyway and just run Riders of Rohan? I don't think so - instead, let's look at what the books would have shown us happened at the Black Gate, where the White Horse of Rohan flew alongside the White Swan of Dol Amroth!

Gondor At War Inspired Lists: Mordor Revisited

Good morning gamers (and happy Halloween),

Last time we talked about Minas Tirith - and Minas Tirith has quite a few options available to it in MESBG. But you can probably double your options with a generic Mordor list - and even with the restricted model selection of Gondor at War, there's still a crushing number of models to choose from (at least for heroes - the warriors are pretty stock-standard). Here are the models we have to work with:

• The Witch-King on Fell Beast with the Crown of Morgul and flail
  
• Gothmog (on foot and mounted)
• Guritz and Gothmog's Enforcer
• Zagdush and Goroth
• The Mouth of Sauron (on foot and mounted)
  
• 2 (technically 3) Ringwraiths on Fell Beasts
  
• 3 Mordor Orc Captains with shields
• 3 Morannon Orc Captains with shields
• 1 Mordor Troll Chieftain
  
• 36 Mordor Orc Warriors (12 shields, 12 spears, 6 two-handed weapons, 6 Orc bows)
• 48 Morannon Orcs (12 vanilla, 12 shields, 12 spears, 12 shields and spears)
• 12 Orc Trackers
  
• 3 Mordor Trolls
  

Photo Credit: Gondor At War

While we could certainly kludge together a 700-point list from this, it would probably reflect a list from our review of the Army of Gothmog or perhaps our list from the Mordor army review in our Bare Necessities series. So today, I've decided to tap into allies again and go for something that gets Orc-level cheapness with a bit more punch - let's look at the list!

Gondor At War Inspired Lists: Minas Tirith Revisited

Good morning gamers,

Today begins a new series that we'll be running through November on how to take your Gondor at War collection (NOTE: I updated the post on what you need to get with the money totals at the end due to the outcry that I didn't do that this time - comes out to about $3500, as I expected) and use it in Matched Play. Gondor at War has several factions that could be run pure (Minas Tirith, Rohan, the Serpent Horde, and of course Mordor) or as any of the Legendary Legions from that book (most notably the Riders of Theoden, the Return of the King, the Army of Gothmog, and the Black Gate Opens), but most of those kinds of builds either a) don't have all the models you'd want in your army/Legendary Legion (no Rohan Royal Guards, up to 6 Warriors of the Dead with spears, etc.) or b) have already been covered in our Bare Necessities series. So instead of re-hashing lists that we've already looked at, for some of these factions, we're going to look at competitive alliances you can make to make your game more interesting!

Photo Credit: Gondor at War

Today we begin with one of the focal-point factions: Minas Tirith. Naturally, this means we're going to have a lot of models to work with - in the scenarios we have:

• Faramir, Madril, and Damrod (but no Anborn or Mablung)
• Mega-Boromir
• Gandalf the White and Peregrin Took (Minas Tirith version)
• Denethor and Irolas
• Beregond
• Hurin and Ingold
• 37 Warriors of Minas Tirith (12 shields, 12 shields and spears, 12 bows, 1 banner)
• 24 Rangers of Gondor (16 bows, 8 bows and spears)
• 12 Knights of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 Citadel Guard

This is one of the most versatile factions in the game and usually doesn't have a problem getting a horde of F4 infantry (usually with Boromir nearby to make a good chunk of them F5). In Gondor at War, though, we have up to 24 Rangers of Gondor at our disposal (but they'll be eating into our bow limit) and 4 Citadel Guard . . . and that's it. No OsVets (and more importantly no Fountain Court Guard) included, so we're looking at a pretty rough go of it if we wanted to have our usual F4 battle line with just our Minas Tirith troops. So instead, we'll be looking at a list today that allies some cheap F4 models into Minas Tirith - and still sticks to the theme of defending Minas Tirith from invasion. Let's dig into the list!

Gondor At War: What Do You Need To Buy?

Good morning gamers,

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

We did a two-part series a while ago for what models you need to play all of the scenarios from Quest of the Ringbearer (both the models for the scenarios in the supplement as well as for Fantasy Fellowships). Not too long ago, we had a reader ask us in a comment whether we could do something similar for the other sourcebooks and since I've been preparing a Minas Tirith/Osgiliath board and we have a new Osgiliath-based starter box coming out (which Centaur and I plan to go in on together), I figured reviewing what was needed for Gondor at War was a logical next step. So, today we're going to look at the models you'll need in your collection to play everything in Gondor at War (and where you can save some money along the way). Let's get into it!

Part 1: The Defence of Osgiliath to the White Rider (6 scenarios)

Most of these scenarios focus on the city of Osgiliath and as we saw in the old Fellowship of the Ring journeybook, the first two scenarios (the Defence of Osgiliath and the Retaking of Osgiliath - and for the Forces of Good, the fifth scenario) have different scenario objectives (one is objective-based, one is total destruction of the enemy, and one is a get-somewhere mission) but have basically the same map setup and the same participants. We then have three other scenarios with some overlap in models (one with some Mumaks, one with some Fell Beasts, and one with a bunch of Corsairs and Clansmen of Lamedon). Here are the purchases you'll need.

Purchase #1: the Battle of Osgiliath Box Set (or its component parts)

When Gondor at War was originally released, you'd need to pick up the Ranger hero pack (Faramir, Madril, and Damrod), half a box of Warriors of Minas Tirith (more on that later), half a box of Rangers of Gondor (more on that later), and Boromir, Captain of the White Tower to play the first two missions. Now, you can save yourself some time and just pick up the new box set and Boromir. For Evil, you'll have a jump start on a lot of the models you'd need (24 Morannon Orcs, Gothmog, and a Mordor Troll) - and this, added to the cost of the Ranger Heroes, is most of the cost of the new box. Once you factor in the rulebook and terrain, at least the 24 Good warriors you're picking up are free - so it's a pretty good deal if you need these models (though it's not the same value as the Pelennor Fields box set).

Purchase #2: 36 Mordor Orcs (so 2 boxes of Mordor Orcs)

Yep, you need 1.5 boxes of Mordor Orcs - but don't think that the 12 Mordor Orcs you'd be getting from the second box are wasted. Our next purchase requires 3 Orc Captains with shields, which you could easily get from this box (as well as doing a conversion for Zagdush and Orc Trackers). You're probably going to end up with Orcs you don't need for these scenarios, but Orcs are useful for many factions in Matched Play (namely Angmar and Barad-Dur, sometimes for Mordor and Isengard), so just get two boxes (whether you do conversions or not).

Purchase #3: 3 Mordor Orc Captains with shields

As was mentioned previously, you need 3 Mordor Orc Captains - these could be three copies of the "official" Orc Captain sculpt (the one with the pick held in the air), converted Orc Warrior models (which I have done), or purchasing the out-of-production two-pack of Orc Captains paired with one copy of the "official" one if you got that in the last made-to-order round (or whenever it's offered again). Frankly, I think the Mordor Orc blister is one of the most versatile blisters they've come out with and the conversion potential from it is outstanding, so I'd just convert them, honestly.

Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain, Part III

Good morning gamers,

If you haven't read the last two updates in this mini-series (here and here), we've got twelve 24" x 12" board panels that can be used for the Osgiliath and Minas Tirith missions from Gondor at War and Quest of the Ringbearer. I'd like to note before we continue that I had NO IDEA when I started this project that we'd be getting a new starter box with an Osgiliath emphasis - and boy am I happy I got started building this already! Centaur and I plan to go in on a box together (I need the evil stuff, he needs the good stuff), so Christmas and early 2023 should be a very exciting time!

With the instructional help of Zorpazorp (both from videos and various wall and building templates), we are well on our way to having the outer wall completed. Today we will be finishing the gatehouse (and the walls next to it) and working on getting the our first 48" x 48" of board not looking so pink. Let's get into it!

Photo Credit: Sott.net

The Outer Wall 

Lachie from Zorpazorp hasn't gotten to the main gate of Minas Tirith yet, but he's given us templates for trebuchet towers which stick out ahead of the wall, just like the two ramparts guarding the main gate do. So I started by making two modified versions of the trebuchet tower, each having 9 panels that are 5" deep and 4" wide (only had 16 panels, so I had to use a few off-cuts that will get integrated into the second-from-the-bottom level of each tower). I then marked out a 1" x 1" right triangle on each of the outer corners so I can taper the front of each a bit - these all got cut off and will be used for broken pillars for the Osgiliath, Pelargir, and Harlond port/water sections:

Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain, Part II

Good morning gamers,

We're back for Part II in this series, in which we'll be talking about the walls and buildings we're making for the Minas Tirith board. Last time, I showed the modular layout for the board and this time we're going vertical with some of the buildings and structures that will be on it. Keep in mind that Fantasy Fellowship from Quest of the Ringbearer are on my mind while reading - I'll be coming back to that a lot in this article!

Photo Credit: Sott.net

The Outer Wall

If you've seen the tutorials from Zorpazorp, you know how this begins - big blocks of polystyrene bonded together into a big mass. Well, we're doing a 9" high wall instead of a 12" wall because it will work better with the buildings we have and the storage constraints we're looking at (and because of Fantasy Fellowships - more on that in a moment). It all begins with polystyrene sheets:

Lots of cutting going on . . . the wife has been very patient with the polystyrene bits . . .

Once they were cut into 9"x12" panels, it was time to line them up and start skewering them:

Skewers and glue, man, skewers and glue . . .

Glue added to both sides, smash the other two panels around the skewered one, and boom - 3" thick wall in action. In Fantasy Fellowships, you have the Pyre of Denethor Scenario, which is played on a 24" x 24" board and has two 9" x 12" blocked-off sections that makes a 6" corridor for Gandalf and Pippin to come down into the tomb . . . conveniently, our walls will be able to lay down on their sides to accommodate this. Of course, a wall that high is going to need stairs . . . so I made a staircase:

It will need a bannister around the sides to protect those on the stairs from being shot, but that'll come later . . .

The stairs are 7" switch-backs that would allow some models to try to climb a few steps up (or leap a few steps down) to save some movement. Each stair is 1" long and will be treated as adjacent to each neighboring stair (for the purpose of supporting and engaging). As you can tell from the image, these stairs are going to need some filler to clean up the joins, but it's well on its way.

Added to the two 12" long strips of wall (and a few buildings - more on that in a bit), here's what we have:

A mostly empty board, but it's coming together . . .

These two wall sections can be placed together for the Atop the Walls scenario from Gondor at War/Fantasy Fellowships, so we're ready for that when we get to it! The next big project will be the gatehouse. . . which I have a rough design for and have started the process of carving up the pieces. The board and walls will eventually be coated in something (probably mod podge) before being sprayed a more natural color, but I need to settle on where the buildings will be first.

The Inner Wall

As we move into the rear of the board, I glued down the panels we cut last time for the second level and also made a ramp way to get to the second level:

The second level is being bonded with the aid of Doyle, Shakespeare, and Hugo - I owe them so much . . .

I plan to use the Trebuchet tower template for the gateway of the second level (and one other Trebuchet tower to make the other panel of the wall more interesting). The ramp is shown above running along the second level, but the gate will require the ramp to run straight out instead. The same structure will be used for the gatehouse of the main gate - just wider at the doorway and taller. Not much of an update here I'm afraid - but we can now move on to the buildings!

The Buildings

So I started building these by getting blinds for my house . . . and then saving the boxes. :-) Blinds, as it turns out, are delivered in massive boxes that are super sturdy - perfect for what we need (if we can hide the corrugations). It started off like this:

I then traced the templates for the five buildings I got from Zorpazorp on the box (went through the entire front of the box and part of the side) and started glueing the buildings together. After some coats of spray paint for an initial pass, here's what we have:

An important thing I wanted to do was make as many of the buildings as possible splittable into two pieces - this is not just so I can have partial buildings for Osgiliath/a mid-siege Minas Tirith, but also because nestled buildings store better than blocky, bulky ones. The buildings will be enhanced with details later, but what we have now is a good start.

Conclusion

While the boards are intended to be usable for all the Osgiliath and Minas Tirith scenarios in Gondor at War as well, Quest of the Ringbearer is hard on our minds right now (more on that next month) - and as you can see, we have enough to get started with the Osgiliath scenario late in the campaign:

Just need some scatter terrain ruin/rocky bits and we'll be good to go . . . that and painting, of course . . .

So . . . to finish the buildings, all I need to do is just repeat all the tracing and cutting and glueing and spraying two more times (at least, I think I need to see how full the board is with the projected amount of terrain on it - it may end up being more than that). :-) Hopefully you enjoyed this update - and if you haven't gotten your templates from Zorpazorp yet, you should do that right away! Next time, we'll see if we can get a gatehouse built and prep segments of the board for painting - but until then, happy hobbying!

Minas Tirith Me Up: Osgiliath/Minas Tirith Terrain Project, Part I

Good morning gamers,

When COVID hit, Lachlan Linton-Keane from Zorpazorp started a gargantuan project (his forte, if we're honest) to create a scale wargaming model of Minas Tirith and have members of his community share in the building of walls, buildings, and siege towers for a massive battle for Minas Tirith when COVID restrictions were removed. As part of that effort, he released templates for walls and buildings of various kinds, and with the help of others, has available for purchase in his web store STL files for siege towers and siege rafts. It's a good time to be a Middle-Earth fan with guys like Lachie around.

Photo Credit: Sott.net
Make no mistake - our endgame is not as grande as Lachie's . . .

I've been looking to build a Minas Tirith-themed board for a long time and when the templates first came out, I swept them up and started planning. With Gondor at War giving us a bunch of scenarios in Osgiliath and Minas Tirith (and some of those being required for Fantasy Fellowships in Quest of the Ringbearer), I wanted my board to be able to work as an Osgiliath board, a Minas Tirith board, and be able to accommodate any scenario from either of these books. And while it's taken me nearly two years to get started, there's been a LOT of planning that is finally coming together. Let's dig in and start building!