Defence of the North: What Models Do You Need?

Good morning gamers,

We're reviewing the most recent MESBG supplement to be released and boy was Centaur (and I more belatedly) excited to get it: Defence of the North. By now, you probably know the drill for these posts: I walk though the models you need for the scenarios, provide a cost at the end of each section to make you cry, and give advice on how to save money where you can along the way. Since this sourcebook has lots of models from the Armies of the Hobbit (and lots of ForgeWorld purchases from both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings range), I thought it might be good to review the costs of the preceding sourcebooks:

• 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

NOTE: we should expect the prices in this post to be a bit higher than the other books because since writing those what-do-you-need posts, there's been a price hike on some of the models in the range. Still, since many of the models we need are from the Armies of the Hobbit (some of which didn't see a lot of movement), I don't think it'll have moved the needle too far to make the comparison ridiculous.

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

As you can see, there's quite a bit of variation, with the Gondor and Rohan supplements being very pricey, the Shire and Mirkwood supplements being "fairly inexpensive", and Quest of the Ringbearer falling in the middle (or near the top if you invest in everything you need for Fantasy Fellowships . . . which is a good chunk of what you'd need for the Gondor at War/War in Rohan supplements too). Will Defence of the North be the nastiest surprise yet? Let's dig in and find out!

Fall of the Necromancer Inspired Lists: The Rise of the Necromancer Revisited

Good morning gamers,

We've come to the last post in this series (mostly because I didn't want to tackle the Vanquishers of the Necromancer) and we're ending with one of my favorite Legions ever: the Rise of the Necromancer LL. Often hailed as a horrible all-hero army because it's slow and has far too few numbers, this Legion his a PAIN for many armies to deal with because everything in it can just refuse to die. Yes, you might be able to outmaneuver them, but don't underestimate them. Thanks to getting several missions in the Fall of the Necromancer sourcebook with Castellans in them, we actually have a very healthy list of models to use:

• The Necromancer of Dol Guldur
• The Keeper of the Dungeons
  
• 9 Nazgul of Dol Guldur
• 6 Castellans of Dol Guldur with Morgul Blades
  

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Today's discussion will not only be on the list itself, but also a short treatise on the points levels that it plays well at - let's dig in!

Fantasy Fellowships: The Erebor Reunion, Part 3a

Good morning gamers,

Today we're kicking off Part 3 of our Fantasy Fellowship campaign where my "Erebor Reunion" Fellowship is playing its last game with (almost) all of its members - Dori will have his last mission (as the Boromir character doesn't get to go on) and such an array of heroes will not be seen again in this campaign until we get to the Black Gate (and even then, Bilbo/Maggot will be apart from the rest). If you've been following my conversion series for the Champions of Erebor, this is the first post where you'll get to see those models in action!

Mission #1: Ambush at Amon Hen

Okay, so my thought going into this was simple: Gloin and Dwalin are two of our best fighters and they start WAY out of position. So, what we want to do is move towards them with Bilbo/Nori as much as we can and THEN advance towards the boats. If we can use Heroic Combats between these guys to get some extra movement for them (and Bilbo), we can do this. 

I'm also going to lean heavily into a few pieces of war gear that we picked up in Lothlorien: Nori will be using his new dagger (which gives him the Elven-made keyword, allows him to Feint if he Strikes well above his opponent's Fight Value, and deals D3 wounds for every unsaved wound - perfect for clearing out Uruk-Hai Captains). Bifur will be using his "nice shiny dagger" whenever he's not spear-supporting someone with his boar spear (since the rerolling all failed To Wounds is often better than two-handing) and Bofur FINALLY has a one-handed weapon that he can use (which is also often better than two-handing - though I'll probably two-hand if I'm only fighting one shield-armed guy so I have the option to Piercing Strike up to S5). Finally, if Gloin gets in a tight spot, I've got three full rerolls for him thanks to the three locks of hair he got from Galadriel. The other items are unlikely to see much use (I like the Light of Earendil, but I plan to have the Ring on the whole mission, so I can't use it).

Okay, let's get stuck in!

Grim Champs: Converting the Champions of Erebor, Part 1

Good morning gamers,

I mentioned at the start of the year that I was going to take a bunch of Champions of Erebor in my Fantasy Fellowship this year. The champs are kinda expensive (like everything in the Erebor Reclaimed list), so I wanted to look for conversion options. While I was puzzling through this, I got the Dain and Thorin set from Rythbyrt and I noticed how similar the shield design on Thorin was to the cheaper Warriors of Erebor. Picking up a box of Warriors, Grim Hammers, and Thorin's Company costs the same as the champs, but also nets me a bunch more models - so I began a neat endeavor to convert up our Heroes from these models. Let's start with the six Dwarves in our Fellowship.

The War of the Ring Era Champs

These are the bits we're going to need for our War of the Ring champions (I didn't end up needing Dwalin's hammer). We mostly need their heads, but we're going to also borrow some other bits too. Let's start with the Champ that's being used by both me and my son for Fantasy Fellowships this season, Dori!

Fall of the Necromancer Inspired Lists: The Dark Denizens of Mirkwood Revisited

Good morning gamers,

Warning: There will be references to Spiders in this post (and a picture below). Mythopoeia, stop reading now - you've been warned!

In our third article in this series on the Fall of the Necromancer, we turn to an army that . . . doesn't have a Legendary Legion: the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood! Yes, we're looking today at an army of beasts - bats, Wargs, and SO many Spiders.

Photo Credit: Fall of the Necromancer 

The Fall of the Necromancer includes several missions that focus on the spiders (and other creatures) that flooded into Mirkwood and were fought off by the Elves who lived there. This means we have a fairly large collection of models to use in Matched Play:

• The Spider Queen (with her Broodlings)
• 2 Bat Swarms
• 6 Giant Spiders
• 6 Mirkwood Spiders
• 6 Fell Wargs
  

Since the Spiders are 240pts cumulatively, the Bat Swarms are 70pts together, the Spider Queen is 115pts, and the Fell Wargs are 48pts, you can get all of these models for 473pts - but I don't think this list wants to go in 27pts down into a 500-point game. So instead, we're going to ally in another army today and up the points level to 700 points - let's look at the list!