'History became Legend' - Theme and Legendary Legions

"Where now are the Dúnedain, Elessar, Elessar?

Why do thy kinsfolk wander afar?

Near is the hour when the Lost should come forth,

And the Grey Company ride from the North.

But dark is the path appointed for thee:

The Dead watch the road that leads to the Sea."

Passing of the Grey Company by JeiWo on Deviant Art

Legendary Legions have generated a lot discussion over the last few months, especially regarding their place in competitive matched play situations. This discussion has become more and more prevalent as more and more Legions get released in new supplements. Admittedly some of that fervour will potentially die down following the changes made to the Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legion in the latest round of FAQ's. However, I do still feel that there is still enough of a discussion to be had here about their wider impact.

This increased focus on Legendary Legions has also led onto a wider discussion on the role of theme in general within the game. Theme is something I feel passionately about, it's the main reason I play this game as opposed to the multitude of other wargames on the market. The magic of Tolkien captured my teenage imagination and never truly let go. All of my army lists are heavily rooted within this and I generally make list writing decisions based upon whether or not they fit in with the lore of Middle Earth. And so anything that encourages others to subscribe to the same philosophy and encourage the promotion of thematic armies (which Legendary Legions are supposed to do) should be good, right?

Personally, despite the fact that I love thematic armies, I am not a great fan of the Legendary Legions. Obviously there's the balance issue that has generated such discussion within the community regarding several Legions being either too powerful (eg. Vanquishers, Ithilien Rangers etc) or too weak (eg. Men of the West etc). With me not being a competitive gamer and Games Workshop's seeming willingness to 'fix' the most egregious examples of poor balance via Erratas I'll not focus too long on this point. Yes, balance is important, but as long as GW stay on top of the problem and power creep doesn't set in to the detriment of the game then fine by me.

Instead I want to focus more on the theme side of the Legions. After all, that's supposed to be the reason for their creation. I  have long been a believer that everyone is entitled to have their own interpretation of Middle Earth, whether that's influenced by the books, or the movies, or some of the Tolkien inspired artwork, or any combination of these. One of the issues I see with the Legendary Legions is that they don't fit with that view, and instead take a very narrow view of what a themed army should be, which doesn't always fit with other interpretations. 

For example, the Defenders of Helm's Deep only focuses on the movie version of the battle instead of the book version which saw Aragorn and Eomer rallying the Rohirrim upon the Deeping Wall. Indeed, this idea for an army is only considered to be Convenient Allies, or as Games Workshop describe it 'armies that were around at the same point in time, but never actually fought together'. JRR Tolkien disagrees.

"Éomer and Aragorn stood together on the Deeping Wall. They heard the roar of voices and the thudding of the rams; and then in a sudden flash of light they beheld the peril of the gates.

'Come!' said Aragorn. 'This is the hour when we draw swords together!'"

There are other examples of Legions that, to me personally at least, stray away from the lore of Middle Earth; Mauhur being included in Lurtz's Scouts despite not joining the Scouts until they reached Fangorn on the way back to Isengard, the Grey Company having no horses when they rode to the Anduin, Trolls being included but Dunland excluded in the Assault on Helm's Deep, Men of the West being all infantry etc. 

'This is an evil door,' said Halbarad, 'and my death lies beyond it. I will dare to pass it nonetheless; but no horse will enter.'

'But we must go in, and therefore the horses must go too,' said Aragorn. 'For if ever we come through this darkness, many leagues lie beyond, and every hour that is lost there will bring the triumph of Sauron nearer. Follow me!'

"I bid you stand! Men of the West!"

"Snarled Uglúk, '... these Whiteskins have better night-eyes than most Men, from all I've heard; and don't forget their horses! They can see the night-breeze, or so it's said. Still there's one thing the fine fellows don't know: Mauhúr and his lads are in the forest, and they should turn up any time now.'"

Each of these armies (and others besides, I'm sure) could be written just as, if not more, thematically outside the limitations of the Legendary Legions, but also without the benefits of Legion special rules. Indeed, the history of Middle Earth is so vast and rich that it is impossible for Legendary Legions to fully encapsulate everything that is thematic. Indeed it is the creativity of writing a unique army list that's personalized to me that I enjoy most about army building, whereas I feel that the Legions stifle that creativity and can feel a bit cookie cutter and samey.

Instead I encourage everyone to put aside the Legendary Legions, dig deep into the lore of Middle Earth and create your own individualised interpretation and craft some unique themed army lists.