Faction Focus - Minas Tirith

 'Have you ever seen it, Aragorn? The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?'

The stalwart defenders of Minas Tirith have long been a popular force in ME:SBG and it's not hard to see why. This is an army that is iconic in the Return of the King and the army list in SBG features a lot of great options.

'Gondor has no king, Gondor needs no king'

Minas Tirith has access to some of the biggest Heroes available to the Good side in Aragorn King Elessar, Gandalf the White and Boromir Captain of the White Tower. Generally you will be limited to taking just one of these three heroes, unless you are playing a very high points level game, because of how many points they take up in your army. Therefore picking which of these to use is usually the 1st step in writing an army list. Any of the three is a viable pick to build an army around.

They all bring different strengths to the army. Aragorn is one of the best killers in the game thanks to Anduril always wounding on 4s and his Mighty Hero rule. Boromir, while not quite as potent as Aragorn, is still a top Combat Hero who also has the bonus of being able to carry the Banner of Minas Tirith to buff the Fight value of nearby troops. And Gandalf has the benefit of his magical powers which offset his slightly inferior fighting prowess.

'A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality!'

Minas Tirith has access to a wide array of mid and low tier heroes and they can all offer something different for the army. I'm not going to go through all of them in depth here (there's plenty of other places that have though) but the important point to think about is what each Hero can bring to the army to fill out the gaps in your list.

For example, neither Boromir or Gandalf have Heroic March so a Hero like Madril is a very good pick to fill that gap. Faramir or Hurin offer a good secondary combat Hero to back up your big Hero and take some pressure off them. Ingold is good for holding your battleline in place and making the most of Shieldwall. And the cheaper heroes such as Damrod or Beregond can allow you to bulk up your numbers with cheap warband drops (special mention to Denethor in this role who can do this with a warband of 15 men, and by being the army leader removes some of the pressure on your big hitters).

That's just scratching the surface of the heroes available within the Minas Tirith army list.

'You are soldiers of Gondor! No matter what comes through that gate you will stand your ground!'

Like with the Hero options, Minas Tirith has plenty of options in their warriors. The most basic of these is the Warrior of Minas Tirith, who can provide a very solid battleline thanks to the ability to reach D7 with the Shieldwall special rule. The 2 Guard models in the Minas Tirith list both offer F4 spear support as well as Bodyguard, although Guards of the Fountain Court edge the contest due to their shield option allowing them to reach D7 as opposed to the Citadel Guard's D5.

As for cavalry, Minas Tirith's only options are their Knights or Mounted Citadel Guard. The knights have more hitting power thanks to their lances but only have F3, which can leave them losing more fights.

'Aim for the Trolls! Kill the Trolls'

Within the Minas Tirith list there are several different options for ranged warfare. Rangers have the important 3+ Shoot value to set them above most of the other options such as Warriors or Osgiliath Veterans with bows. As well they can also be used as F4 spear support for your more heavily armoured battleline. In my opinion these points make them the better option for shooting, however, Citadel Guard with Longbows can be a reasonable option because of the S3 Longbows that they carry.

The other ranged option is to bring along a seige engine or two. I'll not go into too much detail here because I don't personally have much experience with seige engines but both Trebuchets and Bolt Throwers are options for ranged fire support. A trebuchet will force your opponent to come towards your army for fear of a direct hit on a key model, whereas the Bolt Thrower functions more like a group of high strength archers.

Example Army List

Here's an example 750 point army list that I threw together that hopefully covers all the points above. Boromir is the Big Hero, Faramir and Madril the supporting cast, then a solid block of Fountain Court Guard and Warriors of Minas Tirith with Rangers providing ranged fire.

Boromir Captain of the White Tower (horse, shield and Banner)
8 Guard of the Fountain Court with shields
7 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields

Faramir (Heavy armour, horse, lance and shield)
3 Knights of Minas Tirith with shields
6 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
6 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears

Madril
7 Rangers of Gondor with spears
3 Rangers of Gondor

Army Showcase - The Fellowship of the Ring

"Nine companions. So be it. You shall be the fellowship of the ring."

It may be a surprise for some but despite being involved with ME:SBG for a decade I had never painted the Fellowship. In fact I had never painted a Fellowship model (unless you count the Escape From Goblin Town Gandalf, who is more Thorin's Company than Fellowship). Well last year I decided to rectify that fact and finished off painting them last month. 

Now hopefully I'll get a chance to use these models sooner rather than later, especially now that we have so many fun looking scenarios and a Legendary Legion for them in the Quest of the Ringbearer book. 

50th Post Special

 

So this is officially my 50th post on this blog. There's been some bumps along the way but we made it to 50. To celebrate this I decided to continue my interview series but instead of being the interviewer I asked members of the IHL community what questions they wanted to ask me. So here goes.

How did you become a Wargamer?

My journey into wargaming started way back in secondary school when some of my friends were playing 40K and a bit of Lord of the Rings. They let me read their copy of White Dwarf and watch a game or two, even bought me my first models as a birthday present. At the time I had the mistaken believe that I was too cool for this (bear in mind I became the school chess captain shortly after this) and it passed out of all knowledge.

That is until I hit my early 20s. I was suffering from depression at the time and my girlfriend suggested that I find myself a hobby to help motivate me. It was then that I remembered about these little figures that my old school mates used to paint. So I went and bought myself a few models and a starter paint set and that's where it started. Since then, luckily I've left depression behind me but wargaming has helped me get through some difficult times, by helping me to relax for an hour or two. Just being able to sit down with a handful of models and some paint with your only concern being getting that highlight in just the right place and forgetting about all the other stuff going on around you is it's own form of therapy.

Why did you create your blog?

To be honest I initially created this blog with the intention that it would be more of a painting log than anything. However, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I am an incredibly slow painter so I had nowhere near enough content for a regular blog so I branched out from there to other areas such as tournament reporting and beginners guides.

What tips can you give to those starting out?

My main tip is to just get stuck in. Pick an army you like the look of, buy a box or two of models and a couple of heroes and give it a go. Play a few games, find out what you enjoy and build from there.

How did your involvement with the IHL at the beginning start?

I 1st found out about the IHL when someone being interviewed on the GBHL Podcast mentioned that some lads had set up a Facebook page for players in Ireland shortly after moving here. So I joined the group and a few months later they ran a small tournament in Dublin which I decided to head along to for the craic. I took a 500 point force of Thorin's Company who acquitted themselves well, with Ori starting on the path of infamy by taking out Balin and 6 Erebor Dwarves in one game with his slingshot. It wasn't long before I was TOing my own tournament at the Desolation of Derry later that year and the rest is history as they say.

How did a Brit end up staying in Donegal?

There's basically only 2 reasons why people live in Donegal. Either they grew up in the county, or they married someone who grew up in the county. I fall into that 2nd category.

For those who don't know Irish geography, Donegal is a county in the extreme North West of the island of Ireland that while part of the Republic of Ireland shares most of it's border with Northern Ireland, which leaves it's somewhat cut off, remote and forgotten about (it's nicknamed the Forgotten County). Having said that it is a great place, filled with stunning coastlines, majestic mountains and sensational countryside and at times it feels like you've stepped over the edge of the wild and into Middle Earth itself (hence the name of the blog). It is clearly the best county in Ireland and well worth a visit.*

Donegal, Ireland's best county

Why are Thorin's Company the best faction in the game?

Why would they not be?

Why are you so interested in theme in your army selections?

I love the Middle Earth lore and the reason I play this game is because of the lore created by Tolkein. If that theme wasn't important to me and I just wanted to play a tabletop wargame then I could go and pick up any amount of other games. It's the love of that theme that has ensured that MESBG has remained my main game even though only 1 other person occasionally plays it locally and I generally have to travel 2+ hours for any other games.

Ultimately we're playing Middle Earth SBG, not Generic Fantasy SBG and therefore I feel that the choices we make should reflect that Tolkeinian lore.

And there we go, 50 posts published on the blog, now onto the next 50...

*Honestly this post is not sponsored by the Donegal Tourist Board, but if anyone from there is reading this I am open to donations.

New Year, New Stuff

 "Still around the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though we pass them by today,

Tomorrow we may come this way

And take the hidden paths that run

Towards the Moon or to the Sun."

Well, I got through 2020 and now proves an ideal time to look back at what I've achieved hobby-wise over the last 12 months.

Firstly, let's address the elephant in the room, Covid-19. This stopped a lot of gaming and tournaments, all told I only got to attend 1 in the whole year and that was way back in January. Even during the couple of months over the Summer when IHL events were able to resume in a limited capacity I had to pull out of the 2 I was due to attend (the 1st due to being in a significant car crash and the 2nd when I caught the virus a week before and had to isolate). Hopefully tournaments can resume at some point in the coming months and I can end this drought.

Although my overall painted model count is vastly outnumbered by some members of the community I'm pretty pleased with what I did get done in 2020. Finishing off my Thorin's Company, painting up a Fellowship and making good progress on both Lake Town and Khand (among other things) as well as terrain making represent a decent return for me. My favourite piece is probably my Lake Town tavern  that I scratch built with a lot of patience and a ton of coffee stirrers. 

In the Warhammer Community Hobby Bingo I didn't quite do as well as I had initially hoped, but I did do fairly well with most of the painting squares although there's a few I had hoped to get but missed out on and the gaming squares were stopped due to Covid. Hopefully I can beat my score in the 2021 Bingo.

Looking ahead at this years painting, I'm planning on participating in Hobby Bingo again. The 2 big squares I want to cross off are the 600 point Good and Evil squares, so to that end I'm starting work on 600 points of Khazad Dum which will keep me occupied for the foreseeable (along with a few other bits and pieces along the way).

As well as attempting Hobby Bingo again I'm also planning to take part in the Drawn Combat blog's painting challenge (found here) which involves painting a model based on a particular theme each month, first up Rohanuary.

The other big highlight of the year was this blog. I feel that there have been some great articles over the past 12 months and I hope to continue with that going forward. At times it's proved challenging to come up with ideas for content, particularly due to the cronic lack of gaming, but I have a few ideas brewing that I hope to unveil in the coming weeks and months (we might even get to go on a Quest).

Well there's a lot of stuff to be getting on with so I'd better get cracking.

IHL Interviews - Dave Coleman

(Rob) After a short hiatus from the blog we're back with an interview with the new Irish Hobbit League Champion for 2020, Dave Coleman.

Welcome to the blog Dave. Could you start by introducing yourself and giving a little bit of background into your time in the hobby?

(Dave) Thanks for having me on Rob. My name is Dave and I've been completely hooked back into the ME:SBG sphere thanks to the new edition. For as long as I can remember I've been collecting and playing Warhammer since about 3rd Ed 40k but as soon as the Lord of the Rings movies came out I was hooked on the franchise. I had collected years ago when the DeAgostini magazines were in production but didn't play any games or collect since about 2005 so it's been great to be back into it!

So, you are the new 2020 Irish Hobbit League Champion, how does that feel?

It feels good, especially to have two Cork winners in back to back years! Even though 2020 has been a bit of a write off of a year we still managed to get quite a decent amount of tournaments going on our little island and I attended the majority of them. It was great to learn there was a competitive scene here in Ireland when a few friends and I restarted and given we were all competitive 40k players it came naturally.

Are there any particular types of armies that have helped you to achieve this League Title?

I suppose the two main armies I am known for bringing is both Barad-Dur and Rohan. Rohan are extremely strong edition and especially so until the recent nerf to Gamlings banner but in my eyes they're still a top tier army. I ran Riders of Theoden nearly exclusively until I turned my eye to a Rohan/Lothlorien alliance with Galadriel which certainly confused some people! I've always loved Rohan as the scene that always gives me goosebumps is the Charge of the Rohirrim on the Pelennor.

Barad-Dur have been another staple for me, consistently able to place highly with them. They're a fantastic army based around the Dark Lord Sauron but require a good bit of finesse to get them running right as you can very easily overstretch your forces allowing either your army to fold around you or getting Sauron bogged down for the game.

Any little tips or tricks to get the most out of these armies?

I think when it comes to the armies I've picked the main takeaway from them is just to practice, practice, practice. When it came to figuring out how an army like Barad-Dur worked it took multiple losses before you may realise where you can and can't engage an enemy and how you should engage them. Oh, take Shelob!

With Rohan, they're an army that can be a bit of a glass hammer (mostly a solid hammer though) due to the fact they generally rely on getting the correct Move-Off's but thankfully they have the Might to keep consistently moving and marching. With Rohan it's hugely important to correctly time when you hit your opponent and where alogn with using tactics like the Yo-Yo against low shoot volume armies where you can just send in your heros, kill 10-12 models and Heroic Combat away from them only to do that again next turn.

Are we likely to see more of the same as you attempt to defend your title next year, or are there any new projects we'll likely see?

I reckon I will definitely still have Barad-Dur and Rohan take to the field but I am currently working on getting my Army of Thror/Iron Hills list finalized along with some playing around with a Easterling/Khand alliance and a Cirith Ungol list.

I am lucky to have such a good regular gaming partner with Ivan Sheehan, last years IHL Champion where we very regularly play games, at least once a week along with rattling off our lists trying to see where the others could be improved.

Finally before you go, what's the one piece of advice you would give to a new player in the game?

I think the main piece of advice I would tell a new player would be to just pick whatever army you like the look of and go with it. With ME:SBG being such a generally balanced game, you wont particularly have any unfun games along with the whole reason we all play this game, the lore, the world, the characters, the stories. That's what it's all about.

Thank you Dave for taking the time to take part in this interview and we'll see if you can defend your new title in the 2021 IHL season.

Thanks again for having me on!

My Fantasy Fellowship

I'm sure most of my readers will by now be aware of the Fantasy Fellowship rules from the new Quest of the Ringbearer book. These rules offer people the chance to create their own Fellowship to go on the campaign to destroy the Ring and save Middle Earth from the Dark Lord. Naturally I felt like I had to jump on the band wagon and form my own Fellowship. I did set myself a couple of extra rules when starting out on this mission; firstly theme had to come first in all selections and secondly, I wouldn't use any members of the original Fellowship. So after many hours of deliberations here is my pick for a Fantasy Fellowship.

The Ring Bearer

Old Bilbo Baggins

The selection of a Ring Bearer was highly important for determining the overall theme of this Fellowship. In the end I decided on a 'what if' scenario where Bilbo didn't leave the Ring to Frodo after the Long Expected Party. So that makes Bilbo my Ring Bearer, and I gave him both Sting and the Mithril Coat because he did carry them with him when leaving the Shire.

The Three Hobbits

Dori the Dwarf (the Companion)

Bifur the Dwarf

Bofur the Dwarf

Ok, so this is bending the rules slightly, but it's done purely based on theme driven motivation. We're told in the book that Bilbo was accompanied by 3 Dwarves when he left the Shire:

"Three dwarves came out of different rooms where they had been busy.

'Is everything ready?' asked Bilbo. 'Everything packed and labelled?'

'Everything,' they answered.

'Well, let's start then!' He stepped out of the front-door."

So, with that in mind I looked into which Dwarves would have been alive at that point and were below the points limits within the rules. Those restrictions ruled out all but 5 Dwarves; Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur (the Party taking place after Balin's doomed expedition). I then discounted Bombur as he's described as being too fat to walk by the time of the Council of Elrond, leaving only 2 options for Merry and Pippin's replacements, Bifur and Bofur. Out of the remaining Dwarves Dori was the more obvious choice as the companion and his special rule will help out Bilbo in his journey.

Aragorn

Gildor

When replacing Aragorn I needed someone who could have met Bilbo and the Dwarves in the area around Bree. After some digging I found this quotation that provided the perfect solution.

"At last Frodo asked the question that was nearest to his heart:

'Tell me, Gildor, have you ever seen Bilbo since he left us?'

Gildor smiled. 'Yes,' he answered. 'Twice. He said farewell to us on this very spot. But I saw him once again, far from here.' He would say no more about Bilbo, and Frodo fell silent."

This passage shows that Gildor did actually meet Bilbo on his journey towards Rivendell, so he is an ideal thematic replacement for Aragorn.

The Wizard

Galadriel

For my Wizard I worked by process of elimination. Gandalf was out because he was in the original Fellowship, Saruman had already been turned by the time of the Party, Radagast was more interested in trees and animals than the quest, and I felt that the leader of the quest should be a powerful Hero, ruling out some of the smaller spell casters. This process left me with Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn to choose from. Out of those I simply picked Galadriel as my favourite.

Legolas and Gimli

Arwen and Halbarad

When picking these two my first choice was that I wanted to use the gorgeous Arwen model, so she got added. At this point I considered that I had no representative from the race of Man, so looking at who would have been around that area at that time and the best person who met my needs was Halbarad. These 2, i imagine, are on their own mission to find Aragorn who was off in the wilds hunting Gollum at the time. I decided that Halbarad's 2 Attacks would make better use of the gift of Galadriel's 3 hairs than Arwen's single Attack, while having a 2nd archer in Arwen with the Galadrim bow would also be useful.

Boromir

Glorfindel

And finally we have the last member of the Fellowship. My Fellowship up to now was lacking a big combat Hero, so I opted for one of the top combat oriented Elves knocking around Rivendell, Glorfindel. It's a shame that he's doomed to fall at Amon Hen but his combat prowess will certainly help in getting the Fellowship that far.

So there we have it, my Fantasy Fellowship. It's maybe not the most powerful Fantasy Fellowship around but I love it.

Into the Wild: Beyond the Pelennor

 

A question I see a number of new players ask when starting out is what would be good next purchases for someone looking at expanding from the Pelennor Fields starter set. So I'm have set myself the challenge to create an army list for each of the three factions included in the box set plus a maximum of £50 for each army of additional models from the Games Workshop store (it will probably be possible to do these cheaper using independent retailers, eBay or buy and sell sights, but by sticking to GW it'll provide a level playing field).

Before I get stuck in a quick note on books. All three of the armies within the Pelennor Fields box will require the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book to provide rules profiles. The Gondor at War book would also be a useful addition with all three armies gaining additional profiles and Legendary Legions, so I'd also recommend picking that up too if possible.

Dead of Dunharrow

Suggested purchases:

King of the Dead £25

Three Hunters £25

We'll start with the easiest list to write. The starter set comes with a supply of Warriors of the Dead but no heroes that can lead them. There's only two options for an army list to build from, either the Dead of Dunharrow list from the Armies book or The Return of the King Legendary Legion from Gondor at War. In both of these the King of the Dead is an essential purchase so it was 1st on the shopping list. After that the Three Hunters are an excellent option, unlocking the chance to use the Legion and is probably the better of the two options.

Return of the King

Aragorn

5 Warriors

King of the Dead

5 Warriors

Gimli 

5 Warriors

Legolas

4 Warriors

745 points

Mordor

Suggested purchases:

Morannon Orc Commanders £24

Witch King on Foot (eBay or trade groups)

Again the starter set provides plenty of Warriors in the form of 36 Morannon Orcs and a Mordor Troll. However, the only Hero available is a Nazgul on Fell Beast (who I'd suggest using as the Witchking). So again we have to purchase some heroes. Firstly, you will need a dismounted Ring Wraith, and rather than using most of our £50 budget to get one from GW then they show up on trade groups or eBay fairly frequently. To this I'd suggest adding some Orc Heroes in the form the Morannon Orc Commanders set (providing a Captain, Shaman, Drummer and Banner). These will help to bolster your Orc horde by providing sufficient warband spaces and help support the Fell Beast and Troll in damage dealing. I opted against providing any further suggestions primarily because Mordor has such variety within it's selections and therefore it depends heavily on personal preference but the suggestions above will still allow you to create a solid army.

Mordor

Witch King on Fell Beast with Crown, Morgul Blade, Flail and max stats

Mordor Troll

Morannon Orc with Banner

16 Morannon Orcs (8 with shield, 8 with shield and spear)

Morannon Orc Captain with Shield

Orc Drummer

11 Morannon Orcs (5 with shield, 6 with shield and spear) 

Orc Shaman

6 Morannon Orcs (3 with shield, 3 with shield and spear)

794 points

Rohan

Suggested purchases (if you don't mind waiting until things get restocked):

Eomer £20

Gamling and Hama £25

Suggested purchases (if you want to get stuck in straight away):

???

Rohan has a huge array of options for different armies thanks to a wide selection of Legendary Legions to choose from. For example, you could pick up Helm Hammerhand from Forge World and a Rohan Command set to run Helm's Guard, or Theodred and Grimbold to run Theodred's Guard, both for £50 or below. However, if you are willing to wait for a restock then picking up the gorgeous new Eomer and a Gamling and Hama pack will provide a solid start to the muster of the Rohirrim, with both of them frequently appearing in top lists within IHL events.

Rohan

Theoden with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour and Shield

4 Riders with throwing spears

Gamling with Royal Standard

4 Riders

Eomer with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour and Shield

4 Riders

Hama 

10 Warriors (4 with throwing spears and shield, 6 with shield

650 points

Bonus list

Another option with the Rohan models is to opt to go for the Defense of Helm's Deep Legion from the War in Rohan book. For this I'd suggest getting the Three Hunters (getting some extra utility from your purchases as they also work well with the Dead of Dunharrow) and a box of Galadrim Warriors*. This option gives you a start on another army while still allowing you to play with the models you have. 

Defence of Helm's Deep

Theoden with Heavy Armour

18 Warriors of Rohan (8 with shield and spear, 8 with shield, 2 with bow)

Aragorn with Armour

Gimli

Legolas with Armour

9 Galadrim Warriors (7 bows, 2 shield and spear)

700 points

* Ok, they technically come to a total of £51, but who's going to quibble over a pound?