Army List Review: Defenders of the Pelennor

Dan Stu: In a change from the last 2 weeks of highly restrictive army lists, review #4 takes us over to the Pelennor for one of the most iconic last stands in all of fiction! 

The sales pitch: An honest to goodness, traditional salad-type army list with tons of crunchy variety and only a light, low-calorie dressing. By which I mean this army is heavy on the roster size, light on the special rules. If you’ve got the old Pelennor box set, if you’ve built up a sizeable collection of Good models and want to run a supergroup, or if you want the closest experience to the old allies matrix but in the new edition, this is the list for you.

Credit Games Workshop

What makes it tick?

Disclaimer – as this is such a massive roster, we won’t be doing a deep dive on any of the specific units, which will be covered in much more detail in future instalments.

Remember list building? Like, actual list building, with tough decisions and opportunity costs? That’s what this roster offers. The beating heart of this list is its unbelievably good selection of top and middle tier heroes. Whereas most lists in ‘new SBG’ revolve around a single main hero and a smattering of named or generic captains, Defenders exudes so much star power it would make Varda herself blush. Your massive hitters are Aragorn, Gandalf and Eomer, supported by Legolas, Gimli, the King of the Dead, Theoden, Eowyn, Gamling, Irolas… The list goes on. Whereas a lot of new edition army lists can be accused of building themselves, that is certainly not the case for Defenders.

The troop selection is equally varied, with a broad selection of warriors including cavalry options from Rohan, great all-rounders from Gondor and super-heavy brawlers from Dunharrow. You’ve even got really robust ranged options from skirmishing Riders, longbow-wielding Citadel Guard, and even a trebuchet if you’re feeling frisky.

And while your army bonus only gives you one special rule, it’s a good one – a free heroic combat, once per game, per hero. If we compare this with Riders of Theoden’s ‘Death’, it’s very favourable – the free heroics aren’t gated by your General being alive and within range, and don’t all have to be called on the same turn. Definitely powerful, and potentially game-deciding if used well, either to blitz enemy troops to even up the model count, or to make a play for a key enemy hero.

However, there is a slight catch. Not only do your troops not get any special rules - there is an opportunity cost in that they are also not gaining value from army bonuses they would have had in other lists. It means no +1 strength on the charge for your Rohan cavalry, no  +1 fight value bonus for your ghosts, no fearless Minas Tirith troops. Your rank and file are strictly limited to what is on their profiles, which may cause them to struggle in a world where a lot of armies' special rules give their troops an edge. This isn’t terrible for Minas Tirith warriors with their very robust stat lines and shieldwall, and they should probably make up the bulk of your troops allowing you to mitigate this shortcoming. However, it can sting for your more elite options.

A cool feature of Defenders is that it shares many units with other lists, so that you can often take a list built under a different army (e.g. Atop the Wall) and run it as Defenders. It's a nice change of pace - you can even 'ally in' a new hero to keep things fresh – again, trading in that list’s army bonuses to do so.

Some people have expressed a bit of disappointment in this list and in its evil counterpart, the Legions of Mordor, and their limited and fairly generic special rules. I think this criticism is fair, and speaks to the designers being cautious around armies with lots of list building options in a new world of highly restrictive armies. Still, I wouldn't have minded something a bit more thematic in an army list that covers so many memorable cinematic moments.

So all in all, what you lose in specialism and army bonuses, you’ll need to make up for in versatility, or by making some off-kilter skew lists at low points that might catch your opponent off-guard. It’s a supervised outing for old-school SBG list building.

Credit Games Workshop

Assembling your Army

Putting together a Defenders list is surprisingly tricky. The high cost of your big heroes puts you squarely in to ‘lean army’ territory (by which I mean you'll likely be running at a below-average model count), which is exacerbated by some of your key units (Aragorn, Legolas and Eomer) only being able to bring along expensive ghosts and cavalry in their warband. This means that if you want to assemble a strong shieldwall, which you probably do, you’ll need to ‘pay the Gondor tax’ by bringing the likes of Gandalf or another Gondorian hero. Their defensive troops just need to stand still and die slowly, as it’s the beefy & mounted heroes that will do most of the work, in what's known as a hammer and anvil playstyle. The doughty Irolas is a good choice to helm the battle line while your big hitters get to hitting.

A more elite infantry approach, if you're OK with added complexity in your deployment and being at the mercy of terrain and maelstrom, is a front rank of shield ghosts backed up by F4 WOMT or Citadel Guard with spears. The complexity is due to these troops coming from separate warbands, something I'm often hesitant to do as any disruption in your deployment can torpedo your game or force your heroes to deploy in restrictive locations. 2 of the current 6 matched play scenarios have irregular deployment, and scrambling to assemble your battleline at the start of a third of your games is not ideal - it can and will cost you games. That said, bumping up from a D7-when-in-shieldwall MT warrior to a D8-all-the-time ghost for 6pts is steep, but you get terror and blades of the dead in the bargain, as well as a convenient F4 support to sidestep the ghosts' lack of fight value. This sort of list building chicanery to mitigate units' weaknesses feels really reminiscent of old SBG, and I'm here for it. If you add Irolas and Citadel Guard with spears in the mix, then you're looking at a really potent infantry centrepiece. 

In terms of collecting models for a Defenders army, there are no wrong answers. Use the models you already have, followed by the models you want the most. Almost every named hero in this list is available in glorious new plastic sets, the only outliers being metal Gamling and resin Irolas, although they’re both lovely models. Each represented faction has at least one plastic troop option, with a few metal models still lurking about, like the Rohan Royal Guard and the Citadel Guard  - both still readily available. The Three Hunters gets you your unmounted plastic heroes, and Legolas and Gimli should probably find their way in to a lot of Defenders lists due to their outstanding value and versatility. You’ll need a banner, which can come from Gondor (Minas Tirith Commanders), Rohan (Mounted Rohan Commanders) or Dunharrow (Army of the Dead banner bearer). The army is ludicrously scaleable, to the point where you can use it for massive narrative 5000pt Pelennor re-enactments without even spamming generic heroes, so grab your favourite troops and go from there.

However, it’s worth saying that this army really comes in to its own at very high points. Defenders will still be adding named heroes when most other armies are spamming captains and banners. Its natural habitat is at points levels that are rarely, if ever, seen in competitive play - so it's really half way between a narrative and matched play army. If you want to run this list to its fullest cinematic potential, with all factions and their heroes fully represented, you’re looking at a huge number of purchases and hobby hours. Taking every named hero comes to over 1300 points before adding troops - that’s serious SBG endgame stuff. Bonus points if you’ve roped in a friend to do the same for the Evil half, with a massive Legions of Mordor list. Even more bonus points if you send us pictures of it.

Possible Pivots

Honestly, for newer players, I’d say this is really a list to pivot to, not from. It’s something you would run because you have the models to run it, not the other way around. Once you have a good chunk of the models, it’s not a bad army to aim towards at higher points.

The obvious counterpoint is that if you’ve managed to snag an out-of-print Battle of Pelennor Fields box set, in which case this list becomes a fantastic starting point, and I’d just pick up the Three Hunters to have a hero lead the ghost contingent.

If you’ve bought and painted models with specifically Defenders in mind, then you can take your Rohan, Gondor or Dunharrow troops and be well on your way to a full army. If you’ve gone for Rohan, for example, Riders of Theoden/Eomer are easily done. On the Gondor side you’ve got lists like Minas Tirith and Atop the Wall which are easily assembled if you’ve already got your block of troops. Return of the King is a particularly straightforward pivot from the ghosts, only needing a couple of heroes and a banner.

Credit Games Workshop

Pros:

Massive unit selection

Legolas

Proper old school list building

Multiple strong combat heroes

Access to Magic

Legolas

Free heroic combats

Cons:

No special rules to help troops

Cannot capitalise on the huge roster at low or medium points

Legolas (oops, this one is a Pro)

Lack of specialisation

Expensive troop options for most of your best heroes

  

Lists & Discussion

In these reviews, we’ll start with an ‘entry level’ list that you might want to aim for as you start collecting the army, then move on to something more fleshed out.

These aren’t necessarily super-optimised lists, but they will be built in a sensible way that capitalizes on what think are the strengths of the list – and where possible, in a way that doesn’t mandate buying a whole box of infantry for a single model!

List #1:

This fun little kickabout was a happy accident from a slow-grow league in which our own Dan Slob wanted to run Return of the King at 400pts - only to find that , after including the mandatory Aragorn and King of the Dead, he was left with a pitiful 140pts to spend on ghosts (and any Dunharrow player will tell you that 140pts does not a lot of ghosties buy). However, ghosts are also present in Defenders, and Leggy and Gimmz come in at a really reasonable 200pts, offering up a huge amount of utility and resources for that cost – especially if you can keep Legolas ahead on kills, thus turning Gimli in to an effective 3A S6 F6 dervish. You could also easily add in Irolas, a banner, and a bunch of citadel guard to this list for a higher points option. 

Is this list in the ‘spirit’ (excuse the pun) of this Army? Debatable, but this is just the type of skew list building that’s often absent in the new version of SBG.

List #2:

Definitely more what you have in mind when you think of Defenders of the Pelennor! It’s all heroes, all the time. For 1000pts this list is very lean (our regular benchmark for 1000pts is 50 models), but with 5 free heroic combats (edit: 6 free combats, we forgot Pippin!), magic, several mega brawly heroes and a rather tanky (if small) battle line, it can do a lot of damage quickly. The 6 Citadel Guard could be equipped with bows, but the added punch they get from spear supporting near Irolas gives your shield wall a bit of teeth, something they're sorely lacking. Your plan here would be to anchor your 13-wide battle line against terrain, protect the flanks the best you can, and hope they last long enough that your heroes can win you the game.

On to the scores! Each category is scored out of ten, and we’ll explain below each score what it is we’re looking for.

Theme: 6 at low points, 10 at high points – we’ll call it an 8.

How well does this army encapsulate a moment from the books or films? Are all the right models present and does it feel like the moment it’s based on?

Power: 6

How well does it fare against other armies? We’ll be assuming that this is based on the Army’s ‘preferred’ points range, as it’s not very useful to assess how Lurtz’s Scouts performs at 1000pts, or Barad Dur at 300pts.

Cost & Collectability: 7

We’re looking at entry level cost to the army, how many purchases are needed, and are the models available off the shelf?

Hobby factor: 8

How good are the models? Are we dealing with shiny new plastics or stinky old finecast? Does the army require any converting, and does it lend itself to cool and unique paintjobs?

Fun factor: 6

How fun is that army to play, and crucially, how fun is it to play against?

Total: 35

A tough army to score! Theme may be controversial, but I think in most standard points levels, only a small subset of the Pelennor will be represented. The power may look a bit on the low side, but in the hands of a skilled player, strong heroes, Magic, and free Heroic Combats will always create opportunities – as will list building options. Collectability scores reasonably well, as you can collect this army in all plastics, but the cost can seriously balloon if you want all of the options. The hobby factor scores high - a fully realized Defenders army is a serious hobby goal. The fun of this army really stems from its mass of list building possibilities. And from Legolas, of course.

Army List Review: Fangorn

The sales pitch: 

Does being hasty fill you with dread? Do you have an overwhelming hatred of Orcs? Do you enjoy painting brown? Then do we have the army for you! An all monster list that has become surprisingly effective in this edition with some very fun new rules to keep it interesting.

What makes it tick?

Fangorn has had a bit of a glow up this edition. All monster lists have really benefitted from the reduction in Magic, the introduction of the Dominant rule and an increase in powerful thematic special rules. In particular now being able to make a strike at supporting models if they kill the model in base contact with them, making them much more effective at clearing out chaff. These all come together in Fangorn to make a really fun army that is super quick to get on the tabletop.

A standard Ent is F7, S8, D8, with 3 attacks and 3 wounds. This is already great for 100 points but then you add in, Fearless, Terror, Dominant 3 and an obscene S10 Throw Stones attack with 18" range!! That is truly insane and means that opposing Monsters and Heroes can be dealt with at range instead of in combat. You can also assign a particular flavour to each Ent in your army and each one comes with a fun special rule:

Beech lets you reroll 1s to wound

Oak gives you +1 wound

Chestnut gives Mighty Blow

Ash gives you a 3+ shoot value and lets you move half and shoot

All of these are great, with perhaps Chestnut being slightly situational. I don't think there is a wrong answer to which you pick but my personal order would be Beech, Ash, Oak, Chestnut, just because I think the Throw Stones is so much fun. The caveat to these is you can't take multiple of them until you have 1 of each etc, so no entire forest of models wounding on 3s rerolling 1s which would be a bit much.

Then come the heroes. there are 3 to choose from, though Treebeard is compulsory. You'll want him anyway though as he gets upgraded to F8 with 4 wounds and 4 attacks, as well as Dominant 5. He also has his shoulder mounted gatling cannons in Merry and Pippin (they have a S1 Throw Stones which is very funny when they wound something). They also count as models for your army's model count so breaking the army is difficult as you have to kill multiple Ents to do so!

Beechbone is also F8 and 4 wounds but only 3 attacks. However he gets rerolls to wound against Orcs, Goblins, Uruks and Isengard making him especially good for Good v Evil tournaments. You have to be careful with him though as he always has to charge these models if able and he doesn't have any Fate so can be liable to getting swarmed.

Finally Birchseed (he'll always be Quickbeam to me), is only F7, S7 and 3 wounds. He also has only 1 Might but 3 Fate so he's another one that you need to be careful with. You do get free Heroic Moves of the opponent chose to take Priority, which is pretty good but as Ents don't have Monstrous Charge it's also not the end of the world for you to move second so this guy is definitely the third choice out of the heroes.

Lastly let's look at the army list special rules. Ents have a bunch of immunities to Magic, including, most notably, Transfix. They also get a unique Brutal Power Attack called Bludgeon (not technically an army rule but they all get it). It's the same as last edition but for the uninitiated you pick up an enemy model in base contact and use it to whack all the other models in your combat. Each time you do both the whacker and the whackee suffer a S8 hit. If your whacking stick dies that doesn't matter and the attack keeps going until you fail to kill a model in base contact. However, it is important to note that this does not combo with the new Monster rule of being able to hurt supports as it is not a Strike but a Brutal Power Attack. I think there is definitely less use for Bludgeon now as the ability to hit supports is just so good when you attack normally. You can max out at 6 Strikes (assuming spears not pikes) when attacking normally whereas Bludgeon only targets those in base contact. You'll need to make a decision as to which is better situationally but it is worth noting that Bludgeon could stop before you have killed anything whereas with Strikes you'll always get all of them.

Assembling your Army

This is very easy, GW literally only sell 3 models for Fangorn: Treebeard, Birchseed and an Ent (though Beechbone has literally just been announced this week!). The Ent kit is very customisable though so you can definitely make a variety of different looking Ents from it. There is also a metal Ent that occasionally goes on Made To Order so keep an eye out for that. See how I converted one here.

Possible Pivots

None! Currently Fangorn is Fangorn and that's it.

 

Pros:

Every one of your models is high quality and can duke it out with the best of them.

Very strong ranged attack.

Dominant means they actually have play in objective scenarios.

Cons:

Low model count.

No access to fight rerolls. Once you are out of Might and fluff your roll you may be in for a bad time!

Some scenarios are very tricky for them (Recon and Destroy the Supplies in particular)

 

Lists & Discussion

As with all of these reviews, we’ll start with an ‘entry level’ list that you might want to aim for as you start collecting the army, and then move on to something more fleshed out.

These aren’t necessarily super-optimised lists, but they will be built in a sensible way that capitalizes on what think are the strengths of the list – and where possible, in a way that doesn’t mandate buying a whole box of infantry for a single model!

List #1:

At 500 points the choice is between the 3 heroes or Treebeard and 3 friends. I think I lean towards the extra body as at 500 points there aren't going to be a huge array of threats across from you and an extra body is really helpful in most scenarios. It also means to be broken all of your Ents have to die which is a tall order for other forces at 500 points.

 

List #2:

Here I have just added the two extra heroes. At 800 you really need the Might so they are a bit of a must at this point. I've split them into 3 squads. You have your all rounder squad in Treebeard and the Ash. They are happy to power forward or hang back and be on rock duty as needed. Beechbone and Beech Jnr are your angry squad, they want to get stuck in and use their rerolls. Birchseed and the Oak are the speed squad using Heroic Moves to get where they need to. The Oak here also gives an extra bit of bulk to this portion. Really though you want to keep them all together as much as possible to stop yourself being surrounded and taken out. 

 

 

On to the scores! Each category is scored out of ten, and we’ll explain below each score what it is we’re looking for.

Theme: 5

How well does this army encapsulate a moment from the books or films? Are all the right models present and does it feel like the moment it’s based on?

Power: 9

How well does it fare against other armies? We’ll be assuming that this is based on the Army’s ‘preferred’ points range, as it’s not very useful to assess how Lurtz’s Scouts performs at 1000pts, or Barad Dur at 300pts.

Cost & Collectability: 8

We’re looking at entry level cost to the army, how many purchases are needed, and are the models available off the shelf?

Hobby factor: 7

How good are the models? Are we dealing with shiny new plastics or stinky old finecast? Does the army require any converting, and does it lend itself to cool and unique paintjobs?

Fun factor: 7

How fun is that army to play, and crucially, how fun is it to play against?

Total: 36/50

Scoring this was tricky as every time I went to write a high number I had a thought that stopped me doing so. Theme-wise, obviously they are Ents but there isn't really anything to capture their biggest moment in the story: The Last March of the Ents. I like that they lob stones and can't be moved but it seems odd they don't have a fear of fire or get extra wounded by it. In terms of Power, from what I have seen they are just really good so they get a high score! Cost & Collectability and Hobby factor both have ups and downs. Ents are cheap and are really fun to convert, but that conversion is pretty much mandatory over 500 points so depends on how you feel about it. Plastic Treebeard is really lovely though. Finally Fun factor, they are super fun to play with but I am not convinced they are fun to play against. I have in the past just stood 3 Ents still and killed off two out of three heroes with rocks before they even got to me. I felt bad about that! There is something about playing by the seat of your pants that I really like though, and I've never had a bad time with the Ents!

Army List Review: Lurtz's Scouts

Dan Stu: This week we're looking at our first Evil army, and it's a great one to begin with - easy to collect, and has really had a glow up in the new edition. It's Lurtz's Scouts!

The sales pitch:

The clue’s in the name! Lurtz and scouts. It goes really fast, it hits pretty hard, has great numbers and, thanks to some massive buffs, Lurtz is now the rockstar he was always meant to be. Find the halflings!

Credit Games Workshop

What makes it tick?

While this list keeps the 66% break point common to other Isengard lists, there are really two rules that define it.

First and most important is the 8” move across the whole list. Add to this the free march from your drum and you’re looking at 11” moves during the opening turns of the game thanks to a War Drum – make no mistake, these are some speedy boys and will get you to your objectives fast, so you're looking strong in missions like Hold Ground and Recon. 

The second defining rule is Lurtz’s flashy new free heroic combat once per turn. Used correctly in tandem with Lurtz’s very healthy combat profile of F6 3A S5, this makes it a really dynamic army, capable of some really big flashy plays. A big heroic combat in which Lurtz and a handful of scouts can move 8” can do some really unpredictable things.

Lurtz also has a really fun ‘assassination protocol’ built in to his toolkit. It goes something like this:

• Use sharpshooter to kill the enemy General’s mount, if applicable and possible.
• Use free heroic combats to chew a path to the enemy general.
• Charge in to the enemy general, using your rerollable shield throw (75% chance) to knock them prone on the way in.
• Heroic strike and attempt to kill them in one turn of combat, burning might if necessary - 6 attacks at S5 should put a dent in most Generals.
• Regain might from General Hunter if you kill them.

Sure, it takes a few stars aligning to make it happen, but it’ll feel mighty slick when it does!

Ugluk is somewhat less convincing in this list. At first glance he has a ton of brilliant special rules – which he does – but the best of these does not apply in this army as it needs Orcs present to activate. That means the 20pt differential between him and a captain is buying you a point of might, a hand weapon instead of a 2H (important when you have no spear supports), his special rule, and a second heroic strike. Not great, not terrible, and still probably worth bringing.

Thanks to the very lean selection of models, it would be fair to call Lurtz’s Scouts a one-trick pony. It does what it does well, but it is definitely not a varied toolkit and will run out of options to deal with armies that have lots of toys at higher points levels. Your games will usually involve you trying to encircle your opponent with your high move value – given their lack of spears, this is really the only way to bring your body count to bear, meaning that they really struggle in dense or urban terrain where they have no option but to throw themselves against an entrenched shield wall.

Rounding out your special rules is a board-wide Woodland Creature, giving you options to be very tricky on certain boards.

Credit Games Workshop

Assembling your Army

On the hobby & collectability side of things, it’s a very newcomer-friendly army. You can run it with 3 purchases – scouts, which you can source on their own or in the Isengard Battlehost – Lurtz & Ugluk, and the Uruk Scout commanders, from which you’ll use every model except the Shaman. Past a certain points level, you will most likely need more scouts, another captain and another banner, but there’s a real argument for just running this list at low points. It’s a really cheap army, doesn’t require any converting (unless you want to add shields to your shieldless scouts), and all models should be easily available. Sadly we have no plastic heroes (yet) so we’re stuck with metal characters and a really wonky-looking Ugluk, but there are far worse in the Middle-Earth range. The Scout models are a little long in the tooth at this point but they’re still extremely serviceable.

Possible Pivots

With a suite of painted scouts, you can easily run Ugluk’s Scouts by adding a handful of orcs, Snaga & Grishnakh. Alternatively, if you picked up the Isengard Battlehost, you’re well on your way to taking Muster of Isengard (add Saruman & Uruk Warriors) or Army of the White Hand (Saruman and Hill Tribesmen).

 

Pros

Fast & excellent scenario play

Great objective holders

Great model count

Decent shooting inc. Sharpshooter on Lurtz

Robust combat stat lines

Great at low points

Very good at Maelstrom deployment

Easy to collect

Powerful at flanking

Cons

A one-trick pony

No spear supports

Struggles against big heroes

Low defense across the board

Need to be able to flank – weak against strong infantry lines

Bad at higher points

Where’s Mauhur!?!

RIP
Credit Games Workshop

 

Lists & Discussion

As with all of these reviews, we’ll start with an ‘entry level’ list that you might want to aim for as you start collecting the army, and then move on to something more fleshed out. However, in this case, the entry level list might be as far as you want to go!

These aren’t necessarily super-optimised lists, but they will be built in a sensible way that capitalizes on what think are the strengths of the list – and where possible, in a way that doesn’t mandate buying a whole box of infantry for a single model!

List #1:

You’ll struggle to find a more natural fit than Lurtz’s scouts at 450pts. This army can be made with 3 purchases, assuming you’re able to source a few extra Uruk shields and add them to the naked scouts – it’s probably worthwhile, as D5 is a big step up from D4, and is often the difference maker for denying an enemy S4 hero a successful heroic combat. The main reason I’ve gone for Ugluk over a captain here is because it allowed us to hit 450pts without needing to buy a second box of scouts, but that’s less of a concern at, say, 400pts.

List #2:

As we’ve said, the list really tapers off at higher points levels. Beyond 500 or so, you’re firmly in the ‘spam captains and troops’ territory and, what’s more, you’re really looking at including a second banner to cover you army’s extremely large footprint. At higher points, more armies are able to gum up the board with their infantry lines too, meaning that the shine really wears off on the Scouts’ flanking strategy.

 

On to the scores! This being our first evil instalment, we’ll explain below each score out of ten, and what it is we’re looking for.

Theme: 9

How well does this army encapsulate a moment from the books or films? Are all the right models present and does it feel like the moment it’s based on?

Power: 6

How well does it fare against other armies? We’ll be assuming that this is based on the Army’s ‘preferred’ points range, as it’s not very useful to assess how Lurtz’s Scouts performs at 1000pts, or Barad Dur at 300pts.

Cost & Collectability: 10

We’re looking at entry level cost to the army, how many purchases are needed, and are the models available off the shelf?

Hobby factor: 6

How good are the models? Are we dealing with shiny new plastics or stinky old finecast? Does the army require any converting, and does it lend itself to cool and unique paintjobs?

Fun factor: 8

How fun is that army to play, and crucially, how fun is it to play against?

Total: 39/50

A very robust 39 for the Scouts! Very high scores on theme and collectability, as this army wants for nothing in those areas. The small roster of fast and strong lads will always be something you're happy to get out on the table, too. 

Join us next week for a trip to everybody's favourite spooky forest!