The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Fiefdoms

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Why Play Fiefdoms

Fiefdoms are a collection of all the misc. allies Gondor called to it's aid in book 2. Ranging from Scottish swordsmen, typical knights, and a dozen things between these guys are the army you want to play if you want to have a truly unique looking army, or you want to show off your superiority over those movie watchers. It's also a great faction to play if you love hunting Ebay and/or converting most of your units. Beyond that, you get a wide variety of cool factions to play:

Dol Amroth: Cool guys who live in a castle by the sea. Lots of great cavalry and pikes. Lamedon: Scottish people, but in lord of the rings. Best used with a brave heart impression to irritate history buffs. Blackroot Vale: A barely defined area near the white mountains that make dudes who are great archers, the least entertaining fluff of the lot. Lossarnach: A place called the field of flowers which is inhabited by a bunch of bald men with beards or men with ponytails and beards armed with giant axes while wearing chainmail coats.

Pros

• the variety of units make you hard to counter build
• everything excels at it's assigned job
• the variety of models is great
• you get to convert most of your characters and units

Cons

• if your units get caught outside of where they excel, they fall apart quickly
• you have to convert most of your characters and units Maybe not, Forge World now offers Knights of Dol Amroth on foot and all the named characters are back on GW, so presumably the rest of the infantry will be back soon too. It's all back now

Army Bonus

"For the White City!" - All of your abilities that traditionally only effect one type of trooper (IE Imrahil's banner ability which usually only effects Dol Amroth models) now effect everyone from the Fiefdoms. This should not be underestimated, as it lets you overlap bubbles to create truly brutal troopers.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth: The single coolest guy that Jackson chose to ignore. With a very solid hero stat line and access to a horse and lance make him deadly in close combat at the very least. As well as this, he acts as a nice leadership buff by increasing his Stand Fast! range to a full foot. He also has the ability to act as a Banner to Dol Amroth models (which means it works for everyone in a Fiefdoms list if you keep your faction bonus). Even with his relatively expensive price as a fiefdom Hero he is very much worth it.

• Forlong the Fat:A man so damn fat that he is inherently 1 strength higher than most other heroes. He can take a horse, if you can find/convert a model, and his spear counts as a War Spear, IE a lance when mounted. He also lets all Axemen reroll 1s to wound (which, you guessed it, means everyone in a Fiefdom list). Combo his bubble with Imrahil's bubble to make some Knights of Dol Amroth who will eat anything they touch.

• Angbor the Fearless: William Wallace... IN HIGH FANTASY! He's a cheap hero with a nice courage and will pool, but otherwise standard stat line. His two-handed weapon doesn't take the -1 to the Duel roll if he rolls a 6 and he makes Clansman of Lamedon (IE everyone in a Fiefdoms list) Fearless within 6 inches of him. He's cheap and solid, but Forlong and Imrahil's bubbles are probably more important

• Duinhir: Best described as an expensive Ranger of Arnor, but with a bonus against Monsters with the ability to reroll wounds AND cause d3 instead of just 1. He also lets Blackroot Vale Archers reroll 1s to hit in shooting if they didn't move (himself included in a Fiefdoms list). He can theoretically drop a Cave Troll in 1 shot (which is hilarious) but while his bubble can apply to everyone, it's only really worth it for his Blackroot buddies. Take him as a cheap hero to babysit your Archers.

• Captain of Dol Amroth: Dol Amroth's answer to the captains of Minas tirith and Arnor. stat wise he's nearly identical with a similar wargear selection. what really makes him stand out is the Dol Amroth ability to get +1 Fight if he's within 3 of Imrahil. You probably need to save your points for named heroes.

Troops

• Knight of Dol Amroth: A solid infantry unit that only shines when you spring points for the horse and lance. but once you do you get a solid, if not expensive, knight unit that not only looks great, but plays great on the tabletop. On foot they do...okay, but their low strength will probably have you wishing they had a lance, and since you probably bought Imrahil a horse, they'll have trouble keeping up with his +1 Fight Value or Banner bubbles. You should probably save your points for some more models on horseback.

• Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth: Dol Amroth's actual infantry unit. They have a standard human stat line, the ability to get +1 Fight when they're within 3 of Imhrahil, but nothing that really makes them stand out, until you notice that they are one of the only human units that can take pikes, making them AMAZING supporting units when paired with their fight 4. Chances are these guys will only get to benefit from Imrahil's +1 bonus when his horse has been shot out from under him.

• Axeman of Lossarnach: Much like the Men-at-arms above, it's not their statline that make them impressive, but their weapon. With the ability to act as both a spear and a 2-handed weapon, they are amazingly versitile. This does come at the cost of their low defense value, but if you pick the fights they dive into, they will earn their points back and more.

• Clansmen of Lamedon: An army of 'scottish' stereotypes. They have decent fight 4 like nearly all the other troops in this army but with hero-level Courage all in a cheap bundle armed with a two-handed weapon. They also count as being fearless if they are within 6 of Angbar meaning that they will happily dive into a troll. Plus, their broadswords let them keep any natural roll of a 6 meaning that there is now a reason to take them.

• Blackroot Vale Archers: Rangers of Gondor who sold their spears for the ability to reroll wounds when benefiting from a Heroic Shoot. They can buy their spears back though, and can also take a Banner or a War Horn (nether of which are really worth it). Keep them near Duinhir for the reroll 1s to hit and watch them outperform a lot of similar stuff. They, along with Duinhir, also have the Mountain Dwellers role, which can let them reroll climb, leap and jump tests, as well as ignore rocky terrain. This isn't a lot of benefit, but it's also not nothing, so don't forget it.

Cavalry

• Knight of Dol Amroth: Much better on horse, where their lance can really help them overcome their Strength 3 and keep up with Imrahil's banner and +1 Fight Value bubbles (you bought a horse for him, right?). Keep them in between Imrahil and Forlong's bubbles and watch them tear through enemy models like paper.

Allies

These guys are designed to ally to anyone and everyone, but more specifically with Minas Tirith in mind. Warriors of the Dead are straight up the hardest to kill 'human' armies in the game, if not one of the hardest to kill period. It's worth noting that outside of blackroot vale, all Fiefdom armies greatly benefit from allying to elves or Arnor for ranged support.

Tactics

Fiefdoms is an army that relies on its heroes to be great. All bar one of its warriors has D6 and they are generally quite pricy in terms of points. In fact, 2/5 of your warrior choices are D4. Therefore, you need to be on the attack and ensure that your hero bubbles overlap one another to make sure that your troops are getting nearly every bonus. F4 will mean you will win most fights but when it comes to those pesky pointed ear elves or short and stubborn dwarfs, do not be surprised if you bounce off them missing half a dozen troops.

A good wedge to lead the attack is 5-10 Knights of Dol Amroth led by Imrahil alongside Forlong on a horse as well. This wedge will chew through nearly everything standing in its way and ensure that you have a few Men at Arms and Axemen to support the charge. Clansmen of Lamedon are a good choice alongside Angbar if you know there will be scary armies to face as the special rule makes them fearless and their broadswords keep natural 6's (meaning that they are actually better than Fountain Guard for trapping and wounding monsters) Also remember Forlongs warhorn. This means that many of your units will be Courage 5 (or take Angbar and not worry about courage) Remember, Knights, Captains of Dol Amroth and Men at Arms get +1 to their fight so don't be afraid to charge them into some heroes.

A word of warning however. All, of your heroes, with the exception of Imrahil, are weak. Their fate and will (aside from Angbars) is bitterly low making them vulnerable to magic and shooting. Once you start to lose heroes, your army list will stop being awesome. Be careful with the fights that you put your heroes into and if you are worried about your wedge of Knights (that takes up nearly half your army list in terms of points) is going to be shot up, take Gondor as allies and bring Gandalf to protect the wedge and to supply you with a tough as nails anvil. If you want to be really mean bring along Ingold and have a bunch of Men At Arms support his anvil, and laugh as your opponent suddenly finds out that your troops aren't trapped due to them not having to back away when they lose the fight. Another good thing to take if you have Gondor as an ally, is the Avenger Bolt Thrower. This S7 sniper will allow you to thin your enemies ranks and even kill a hero or two before the charge hits home.

Remember, if you lose one priority and get charged, be prepared to see casualties pile up unless you kept the infantry close by. F4 doesn't matter when you rolled a 1 (even after the re-roll) and your F2 enemy rolled a 2. Fiefdoms can be best described as a glass cannon, they hit damn hard, but they can easily be broken if you play them poorly.

If you want to stay all Fiefdom however, Men at Arms and Axemen of Lossarnach are your best choice for foot troops. Why you ask? Do piercing strike with the Axemen and two handed weapon as well, make sure that they have a couple of pikemen supporting them while keeping them close to Forlong and Imrahil. Against anything that is D6 they are wounding on a 4+ and re-rolling a 1 to wound (while also being able to re-roll 1's with the Men at Arms) this means that very few enemy troops are going to be able to stand up to you while the Axemen have a better rate of survival (and killing power) than the Clansmen (who against D6 will be wounding on 5's and re-rolling 1's) Clansmen are best for swarming anything that is pretty scary and due to them being pretty cheap in terms of price and can keep the natural 6's (annoying your opponent like hell when his troll gets 3 5's and you get a 6)