CJ's "More will come" Legions: The Reclamation of Osgiliath

The Reclamation of Osgiliath

Participants:

Boromir Captain of the White Tower (Banner, Horse, Shield)

Faramir (Ahorse, Horse, Bow, Heavy Armour, Lance, Shield)

Madril

Knight of the White Tower

Captain of Minas Tirith (Horse, Bow, Lance, Shield)

Warrior of Minas Tirith (Options)

Knight of Minas Tirith (Options)

Ranger of Gondor (Spear)

Osgiliath Veteran (Options)

 

Additional rules:

Boromir and Faramir must be taken, Boromir is the Leader, and must have the Banner of Minas Tirith.

Special rules:

Street fighters

Osgiliath Veterans in this list do not roll in the ways for fighting over a barrier or through a doorway. They do not roll to go prone if retreating down stairs.

Additionally, they do not treat rocky ground as difficult terrain, and cannot be trapped against terrain- enemy models must back away instead!

Osgiliath must be retaken

Boromir, Faramir, and Osgiliath Veterans gain +1 Strength on the charge. If Faramir moves as part of a Heroic move called by Boromir, he also counts as having called a Heroic Move. This happens immediately, and Faramir may call With Me!

For Gondor! For Gondor! For Gondor!

Boromir’s Stand Fast! Is increased to 12” and affects friendly Hero models. Friendly models count as having line of sight to Boromir if they can see the Banner of Minas Tirith.

The Horn of Gondor

If Boromir uses the horn of Gondor in a Duel, it counts as a Warhorn until the end of the following turn. Additionally, friendly models do not require line of sight to be affected by the Stand Fast! Or Heroic Actions of Boromir until the end of the following turn.

Designer’s Commentary:

As an antithesis to the defensive Gondor Legion from last time, here’s one which is storming the city of Osgiliath to reclaim it…For Gondor! There isn’t much source material to go off here- Boromir discusses the reclaiming during the council of Elrond in the FOTR book, and there are some token references during the ROTK book. From the films, we don’t even get to see the battle, just the celebratory aftermath. But the history that is known is that the Witch-King lead an army of Mordor into the city, and captured it on both sides of the river Anduin. During the retreat, the men of Gondor destroyed the bridges connecting the East half of the city to the West. Shortly afterwards, a force lead by Boromir and Faramir forced the orcs back across the river. And there they were held, until a fleet of boats were constructed in secret by the Enemy and the forces of Mordor retaliated, forcing Faramir and his garrison to flee back to Minas Tirith whilst pursued by the Fell Beasts.

This presents an entirely Gondor affair, and a defining campaign for the brothers Boromir and Faramir. So, in writing this Legion, it seemed clear this would be one of those with a restricted participants list in exchange for some thematic bonuses. It is not clear whether many of the named Heroes including Anborn, Mablung, Damrod, Hurin, Ingold, or any of the Fiefdoms were present based on the information that we have, so to keep the Legion simple the only other Heroes included are Madril (you can JUST spot him in the film!), the standard Captain of Minas Tirith and the Knight of the White Tower, one of which had trained Boromir and Faramir in sword play. With the fountain court guard and citadel guard remaining at their posts in the White City, the options are based on those we see in the film: Warriors of Minas Tirith, and Rangers of Gondor. We can also assume that Knights of Minas Tirith may have been involved. But the real focus of this list is on that characterful but often overlooked profile: Osgiliath Veterans.

Arguably, you could suggest that Osg Vets are meant to represent those who survived the campaign that this Legion represents. This interpretation extends that a little to suggest that these are survivors of the first assault that drove the assigned Osgiliath garrison back to Minas Tirith before the reclamation took place. As a result, these warriors know the layout of the city, have experience in street battles, and are those most motivated to reclaim their home from the enemy. This little backstory inspires most of the thematic special rules for this Legion:

“Street fighters” is a concept I’ve always wanted to see implemented somewhere in the game, but that would only really make sense to those who live in stone, cramped urban areas. Osgiliath presents a perfect opportunity, as a ruined city with many storeys, archways and doors for cover, and rubble terrain. So to represent the experience that would be relatively unique in Middle-Earth, Osgiliath Veterans do not roll to fall if retreating down stairs, and do not roll in-the-ways when striking against enemy models defending a barrier or on a raised platform. This allows the models to aggressively drive the enemy out from terrain cover.

To further illustrate adapting a fighting style to an urban environment, a little rule about not being trapped against terrain ties loosely to Ingold’s ability and makes it harder for an opponent to use their home terrain against them. It also allows a unit of them to fill an entire street side to side without being concerned about getting isolated and pinned against a wall. To complete the familiarity with fighting in rubble and ruin, they are not slowed by rocky terrain.

This aggressive style of driving enemy models out of terrain features is complimented by allowing Bozza, Fazza, and Veterans to increase their Strength on the charge. This gives Gondor troops a little bit of entirely needed killing potential, compensates a little for the compulsory Banner blocking Boromir from using a Lance, and makes Faramir just a tiny bit scary from Horseback with Lance! To represent the brotherly connection, and increase the threat range of a successful Heroic Move, Faramir is allowed to effectively extend the bubble of a Heroic Move called by Boromir, allowing more crucial charges for Gondor!

Boromir is rightly the focus of the final rules- they say he almost defeated the enemy single-handedly! Extending his Stand Fast! and affecting his captains of Gondor seemed an obvious little symbolic bonus, but I also wanted to give attention to his unique pieces of Wargear. In real battles, Banners and Warhorns can be used as rallying points, and to signal advances and retreats. In the streets and ruins of Osgiliath, there’s a decent chance that having the direct line of sight to your Leader to partake in Heroic Moves and Stand Fast!s won’t be possible. So to symbolise the fact that Gondor are essentially the only trained militia with experience of years of current warfare to call upon, the Banner and Warhorn can be used as signals to help direct troops even with only partial or non-existent lines of sight. Giving this Legion a permanent free Warhorn would have been a tad overkill and it’s not what Boromir’s dedicated job is on the battlefield like a usual hornblower. So, by making it situational where it only counts as such when he uses it in combat as he normally would, it also encourages the aggressive, advancing playstyle- he can either charge into two enemies to use it, or call a Heroic Combat against one to reach another two and use it then.

Overall, this Legion wants Gondor to play in a slightly different way. Rangers of Ithilien and the main Gondor list can use Siege Engines and strong shooting to pull enemies into a high Defence line. This one encourages the liberating a city attacking mindset. But in homage to traditional Gondor values, there is a big killy Hero expected to do a decent amount of the heavy lifting! With Boromir and Faramir as your starting point, and Faramir able to piggyback Boromir’s HMoves, this Legion plays to the unique Might profile of Boromir. Madril is also a cheap 3-Might option who can bring the handy Heroic March, as well as saving you Might points in Scenarios that require rolls to deploy. So, after a while, you should still have Might where your opponent doesn’t, and that should allow plenty of charges with S4, F5 Gondor soldiers to finish the job, and your opponents may think twice about hiding from your ranged threats in terrain where your soldiers have a fighting advantage. 

The drawbacks include having a restricted selection of Gondor models (including no Bodyguard), being a relatively bubble-focussed Legion, and the “Leaders Tax” means that this Legion may not be easy to write a list for at low points without sacrificing numbers or tactical options. At say 600+pts, it’s one of those armies that could probably beat up a lot of other armies, but perhaps not achieve all the objectives for the Scenario. As much as Madril helps with random deployment Scenarios, he’s also a weaker liability Hero for the Specials Pool. There is also a weakness to Monsters especially, and the main Heroes have only the 3 Will each to deal with Magic. Which, in fairness, is generally true of the Gondor playstyle anyway. I think I’d have a lot of fun with this thematic Legion, and I hope it gets made for real someday.