Today I wanted to come away from competitive MESBG and do something a bit more themey. Sometimes I like building lists that match scenes specific to the books, something that the existing lists have missed. This was much easier in previous editions, but with the fall of the Alliance Matrix we struggle if you're playing by the restrictions of current system. Soup lists are usually the answer to a lot of the conundrums, so we're not without tools, but some proxying and imagination may be required.
For today's post, I wanted to go a bit deeper into one of my favourite parts of the War of the Ring, with Aragorn's travels from Dunharrow to the fields of the Pelennor.
In the films of course, we see him lead Legolas and Gimli through the Paths of the Dead, collecting the Dead of Dunharrow along the way, before leading the ghostly army against the Corsairs and then onto Minas Tirith where they finally break the siege. As scenes go, it has some epic moments, and is certainly a cool use of the Army of the Dead, but it can also feel somewhat cheap, perhaps even a being Deus Ex Machina. In MESBG, it's served quite nicely by two existing army lists; Return of the King and Defenders of the Pelennor.
The books have it quite differently. In Rohan, Aragorn is met by Halbarad, Elrond's sons and 30 Dunedain, titling themselves The Grey Company. This much at least is already covered by the army list of the same name, but it goes further.
The Grey Company as a whole passed through the Paths of the Dead, riding onto the Stone of Erech with the Dead in tow, and as per the films, have the men of Dunharrow see off the Corsairs. The difference here is that Aragorn holds their oath fulfilled for this act alone, they never make it to Pelennor. Instead, Aragorn sets about rallying the men of the Fiefdoms. Whilst the fiefs had sent a few thousand men to the defence of Minas Tirith, the bulk of their strength remained in the South, battling the Corsairs and Haradrim there. Relieved by the Army of the Dead, Angbor the Fearless is sent by road with a few thousand men (and he's mounted!), whilst Aragorn gathers up a force from the Southern Fiefs, boards the ships and lands at Harlond with a full army of Gondorians and the Grey Company.
It is this force I want to represent on the tabletop, and there is only one way to do it... Defenders of the Pelennor. Naturally, the list needs to contain the Three Hunters, Dunedain, and Fiefdom warriors. Of course, you could represent Dunedain with other ranger-style troops, such as those in Gondor armies, but no other lists contains so succinctly the exact members of this force, so it seems silly to try anything else.
To review, DotP contains:
- Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli
- Halbarad (with Banner) and Dunedain
- Elladan and Elrohir
- All Fiefdom troops and heroes.
The only restriction here really is who leads what troops. The three hunters and Elven twins can either lead just Army of the Dead or nothing at all, so would have to be solo drops for the theme. To bring Dunedain, you have to bring Halbarad to lead them, as for this list only they can't be brought as Independant/Minor heroes for some reason. And finally to bring Fiefdom warriors, you need a Gondor or Fiefdom hero.
As a sidenote, I suppose there is a world where you could skin the Warriors of the Dead as Rangers from the Grey Company, them simply being those that left their bows (and heroic stats) at home. It's a little janky, as they're faster with the 8" move, and you'd need to ignore some parts of the Spectral Walk ability or assume they move like Talion from the Shadow games over terrain (PARKOUR!). Explaining the D7 and Blades rule is a little hard, but it's not an unfeasible option so long as Dead-Dunedain and actual Dunedain are clearly delineated.
There is some additional restrictions as well, if you're trying to stick to the books. Imrahil, Forlong and Duinhir are all at Minas Tirith and therefore cannot be used. This leaves you with Angbor (if you want to place the list before they board the ships), and Captains of Dol Amroth. Arguably the Knight of the White Tower and Captain of Minas Tirith can also be used, as they are generic and could be used to represent fiefdom warriors. The Knight works pretty well for this in particular, and could be a Captain of Lamedon simply due to his big sword. There's a tonne of third party prints and conversion ideas for representing heroes from other fiefs that can use the Captain stats out there too.
As I think on it, my initial thought was to represent Aragorn arriving at Harlond specifically, however you do have the option of it being the force that defeats the Corsairs. In the book, they arrive as Angbor is fighting, as it specifically notes that Angbor alone stood in the face of the dead (hence, "the Fearless"), This would allow to you to include the Dead and Grey Company, alongside Angbor and his warriors from Lamedon and other fiefs, if you so choose.
Pretty good so far, so let's dig a little more into the historical forces from the books. We know the makeup of the Grey Company, so that's easy and even gives us a points cap (though one well over 1000pts). Next, there is the Army of the Dead, referred to as a "Legion of Oathbreakers". No actual number is given, so we can only guess at their strength. The romans referred to Legions as 3000-6000 men with a small cavalry contingent, so that may be a safe ballpark to use.
Finally the forces of the fiefdoms. Again, no clear numbers are given, only that the force consisted of men from the southern fiefdoms. We do know that Angbor led a force of four thousand by road, all mounted and riding for Minas Tirith, though they would not arrive until much later. The men that boarded the boats are listed of being mainly of men of Lamedon, with more from Lebinnin and several other southern fiefs. We know that the Corsair fleet consisted of 50 greats ships and many smaller vessels, but how many Aragorn actually sailed up the Anduin and how many men they could carry remains a question also.
In reality, the force that assaults Harlond could be as few as hundreds and as many as thousands. It gives us scope to build a force as elite or as numerous as we desire, though the presence of so many high-costed heroes will probably be the limiter here.
With all that said, I've put together two lists to represent two separate instances of this group of combatants. I've made both at 750pts as with that feels like a comfortable level for it without going over the top.
First is the Dead's assault on the Black Ships.
Aragorn is here of course and I've included the King of the Dead and Angbor also. Though it's tight on points, Halbarad rounds out the list with some Rangers to ensure all factions are accounted for. No banner this time however, as that does not get unfurled until they reach the Pelennor.
It's light on numbers, so you're going to rely on your heroes a lot and thankfully there's six of them in the list for those free heroics. Angbor ups the effectiveness of the Clansman nicely too, effectively being a secondary (if weaker) banner for them. With the speed of the Dead, not to mention Marches from Aragorn, you have plenty of ways to get around, so this list wants to get in quick and focus down key targets.
Onto the next list, this one for the landing at Harlond.
With no Dead in the list, Aragorn becomes a solo drop but I've included Anduril to have him at full power, as this is one of his big moments. Halbarad is still here, and he now has that awesome banner of his, as well as a couple of Rangers to take advantage of the free Heroics more. With Angbor gone, leadership of the fiefdom's forces is left to a Knight of the White Tower, who as mentioned before stands in well as a Lamedon Captain, and a Captain of Minas Tirith. I maxed out the warbands for both the generic heroes, really trying to make sure the Fiefdom forces are represented, specifically the Lamedom Clansmen. The Warriors of Minas Tirith can represent soldiers from Lebinnin as an example.
Compared to the last list, this one is much less maneouvrable, but has a more traditional battleline with shieldwalls and pikes. Clansman and Axemen both provide hitting power, with the latter also offering flexibility.
This force could easily be tweaked to bring Legolas, Gimli or the twins, but that will really cut into your numbers and make the list much more of a small elite one. Likely perfectly fine if you're a Grey Company fan already!
So, how do you think I did here? In an ideal world there'd be a way for Aragorn to lead things other than Army of the Dead, or more fiefdom troop options in existence, or even a way to get non-cavalry Rohan to represent other fiefdom militias. Getting two-attack Dunedain or Anduril for free would be nice as well, but that's a bit of a pipe dream for the latter especially. As it is however, I think I've done a decent job at representing these book events within the existing confines of the game.
Do you have any input or wishlists items you'd like to see for this list? What about an actual Army list in the game, how would you represent Aragorn's book journey better?