Community Content: My Experiences Using Gondor In MESBG

Dan Slob: Today we have our very first Community Content article from Joe O'Mahony, in which he gives a brief overview of Minas Tirith. If you would like to contribute to the blog in any way please get in touch via DrawnCombat@gmail.com

Joe: Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog post! Today, I’ll be talking about my experiences using Gondor in the MESBG, including how I’ve found their performance on the field, how fun they are to use, and some tips for beginners. 

Image from: https://speakfriendandenter.weebly.com/lord-of-the-rings.html

When it comes to choosing my army list, I tend to play 500-600 point games, and therefore steer away from the top tier Heroes (Aragorn King Elessar, Boromir Captain of the White Tower), as that’s around 40-50% of my points gone in one model, which tends to leave your forces lacking in strength across the tabletop; especially if the enemy can find a way to hold up Aragorn/Boromir. However, these heroes are great fun to use, and can usually cause a good amount of damage to the enemy! Faramir offers a good mid-tier hero option, coming in at a reasonable points cost whilst certainly being able to hold his own on the tabletop against other mid-tier heroes. Faramir also offers versatility, in that you can choose to take him as a Ranger, or alternatively his more combat friendly heavy armoured version. Once you’ve played a few games, you may want to experiment with the more specialist heroes Gondor offers, such as the Ingold, Hurin and to a lesser extent, the Knight of the White Tower (if only for how cool the model looks!). Gondor also offer a lot of lower tier heroes, which come in useful in smaller games for the purposes of warbands. I would recommend reading up on the stat lines of these heroes and seeing which special rules you think would benefit you the most, Gondor has no shortage of unique hero choices!

A warrior of Minas Tirith warband I have recently completed

In terms of infantry choices, a lot depends on your play style and who your opponent is. For Strength 4 armies (Isenguard, Morannon Orc lists etc), taking Guards of the Fountain Court with shields are a must. A D7 front line will stand up to a lot more damage than D6 Warriors, as you’re now being wounded 16.7% of the time, as opposed to 33.3%. This can be crucial in objective based games, or for simply holding up enemy troops. I also enjoy taking at least one warband of Rangers in my lists. Not only do they have better Fight and shoot values than most of your troops, but they are incredibly versatile, and can perform a number of roles on the tabletop. One point of note, however, is their low Defence value; make sure they don’t get outnumbered, or they will quickly end up dead against Strength 4 troops. Warriors of Minas Tirith are a safe choice for your basic infantry; a shield-wall of these can be a stubborn enemy to shift, whilst spear support is always a bonus. I do, however, tend to avoid taking the archers in large numbers, as Rangers simply do their job better.

An example of some mid/lower tier heroes available to Minas Tirith

For those looking at starting a Gondor army, there are a few ways to begin. I would recommend picking up a WoMT box and a Rangers of Middle Earth box. These boxes will provide you with a good number of troops to create a few lists, whilst also allowing you to get a feel for how the core units of Gondor perform in the game. As for heroes, Gondor provides a wide range of choices. Personally, I would avoid the top tier heroes to begin with and grab some mid/low tier heroes to experiment with. Once you have played a few games, you will begin to find out what works for you and what you want to add to your forces for bigger games; Gondor has plenty of options, so you won’t be lacking in choice at all! 

That wraps up everything I wanted to cover today. I hope this has been both enjoyable and helpful. 

-Joe 

Thanks Joe! We have recently featured Minas Tirith in our 500 Under 50 and Follow on 50 series! Check them out too if you are interested in getting in to Gondor! You can also see how Dan Slob created his MT army in our very first blog post here! Ah to be young again!