Troops Arriving from Harlond

Levies of South Gondor: Light Infantry with Javelins. Morale Class B.

This is the first unit of four that make up Aragorn's contingent, that arrived at Harlond, of about 4500 men and at 32 figures strong it is also the largest.

Collectively referred to as levies of South Gondor in the scenario, according to JRRT they were "...the dour-handed Dunedain, Rangers of the North, leading a great valour of the folk of Lebennin and Lamedon and the fiefs of the South." To my mind that description gives us; a unit of Rangers, a unit from Lebennin, a unit from Lamedon and one of an amalgam of lesser fiefs - ergo four units.

As this unit is LI with javelin I have used Bidowers from "The Age of Knights" range by Magister Militum to represent it.

As for a colour scheme, I am going, on a whim, with green for the entire contingent. The white you see on the shields and banner is for the white tree of Gondor - a symbol of their allegiance.

The second unit of the levies of South Gondor are the Men of Lamedon. Medium Infantry Spearmen. Morale class B.

We hear most about Lamedon when Legolas and Gimli recount the tale, to Merry and Pippin, of how Aragorn and the Grey Host defeat the Corsairs of Umbar and arrive at Harlond.

The men of Lamedon, under their Lord, Angbor feature early in the tale as the Grey Host comes upon them defending the fords of the river Gilrain near the town of Linhir against Corsairs and men of Harad. So terrifying are the Dead Men of Dunharrow that both the enemy and the men of Lamedon flee as they approach. Only Angbor stands fast.

It is worth mentioning (in case confusion should arise) that JRRT refers to Aragorn and the Dunedain rangers as the Grey Company, but while they are joined by the Oath Breakers of Dunharrow he refers to them collectively as the Grey Host.

I have used the green and white colour scheme again, but the green is a slightly darker shade than that used before. The figures are amorphic medieval medium infantry from Magister Militum's 'Age of Knights' range.

Levies of South Gondor: Men of Lebennin. Heavy Infantry Spearmen. Morale Class B.

Here we come to the penultimate unit in Aragorn's contingent, the men of Lebennin. You may not remember Lebennin but I am sure you remember the destruction of the Corsairs of Umbar by the Dead Men of Dunharrow. Well, that takes place at the port city of Pelagir which is in the fiefdom of Lebennin.

As usual we see the green and white colours on the shields but to that I have added blue in reference to Pelagir. The port city (and its assumed wealth) is also why this, being HI Spear, is the best equipped unit in the contingent. The figures are (yet again) from Magister Militum and are generic "Heavy Infantry" from the 'Age of Knights' range. The command figures are from the MM generic AoK command pack - as are all the command figures in every infantry unit I have so far shown you.

Whilst I have mentioned the Dead Men of Dunharrow you won't see them in this collection. This is because I strongly object to the Peter Jackson interpretation (reinforced by Games Workshop) whereby they turn up on the Pelennor Fields themselves.

What Jackson seems incapable of grasping, which JRRT clearly understood, was that if Aragorn and the invincible army of ghosts could go anywhere then the LotR is a very short book indeed and goes something like this "Aragorn raises an invincible army of ghosts, leads them into Mordor and slays absolutely everything. The end".

Last up is the Grey Company. Light or medium infantry, bowmen. Morale Class A.

Here we come to the last unit in Aragorn's contingent, the Grey Company. According to JRRT comprising 30 Dunadan Rangers of the North led by Halbarad and accompanied by the sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir.

Halbarad carries Aragorn's standard which is the one Games Workshop and Peter Jackson incorrectly used as a general Gondor banner. It features the white tree, seven stars and a crown. In game terms this unit is described as Aragorn's bodyguard and the classification of LI or MI is up to the player.

As you can see, at eight figures strong it represents 500 troops rather than 30 but as Theoden says upon seeing them "...my lord Aragorn, thirty such knights will be a strength that cannot be counted by heads."

The banner bearer (Halbarad) is from the Age of Knights general command pack by Magister Militum and the rest of the company are Rangers from Copplestone. Halbarad's shield is painted black as a nod to the passage in RotK when Aragorn's standard is first unfurled and was said to be so black that no device could be seen upon it.

And finally, Heroes of the West: Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli

Heroes have three stats, minor heros have two stats and notable unit leaders get one stat:
CRT = when in melee the CRT number is an adjuster on the melee dice score and can be taken as a plus or minus.
Save = a destiny saving throw against any eliminated result in combat. +1 would save on a 6, +2 on a 5 or 6 etc to a maximum of +5.
LDR = when leading a unit this is the amount by which the units morale test throw can be adjusted by by the hero's presence.

Aragorn: +2 CRT, +5 Save, +3 LDR

Gandalf: +0 CRT, +5 Save, +0 LDR
Gandalf is an "event figure" which means that he is effectively an NPC.

Legolas and Gimli: On the day the player will roll 1d4 per hero and get that many points to place in the hero's stats. Legolas and Gimli will not get an LDR rating.

All figures are by Copplestone.

And that concludes the Gondorian factions of the Army of the West.