A Noob’s Perspective: Army of Thror

I’ll preface this by saying I won’t talk much about the heroes of this army here as I just wrote about them in my last article. You can find it here if you’d like to have a read. 

The Army of Thror is the smallest of the dwarven armies in terms of units available. With only 7 heroes and 2 troop selections this is much more limited than Khazad-Dum’s vast selection of specialist troops and the Iron Hills’ small but very varied options. It is also a fairly one dimensional army, with no cavalry and basically no shooting. So why play this army? Well, in my opinion, the models are amongst the nicest looking in the game. The heroes are amazing (especially Thror) and the Grim Hammers are beautifully dynamic. And they are all plastic! Winner. There are also a lot of appealing points in terms of gameplay. Everything is F4 or better and everything is D7 or better (I’m assuming you give your warriors shields because why would you not?). And yet your base troops are just 9 points (with a shield). This means that you have an army that has elite stats AND numbers to back it up. This is a rare combination indeed. So let’s have a look at a couple of lists, one pure list and one with some allies to try and add a few more tricks to our arsenal. (By the way, I’ve been traditionally building lists at 700 points in this series but the only two tournaments I currently have booked in for next year are 600 points so I’m going to go for that level today). 

Thror

15 Guardians of the King

Thorin with the Oakenshield

7 Warriors of Erebor with Spears and Shields

Captain of Erebor with Shield

6 Warriors of Erebor with Spears and Shields

600 points, 31 Models, 8 Might

Even after building several iterations of this list I still can’t quite believe you can get this much stuff at 600 points. We have a line of F4 S4 D7 troops, backed up by 2 big heroes and a captain for March. The troops can go two handed when they need to, and they can Piercing Strike too. Perfect for smashing through the enemy lines. Usually for the kind of stats we are talking about here you really hurt for numbers, but we have 31 models, and almost half the army has throwing axes! Insane! I won’t dwell on the heroes too much as I talked about them in a previous article, but they are really good, able to anchor the line in place and dish out some hurt when needed. 

Next up, we have an AoT and Iron Hills Green Alliance, which aims to try and make the list a bit more well rounded. 

Thror

12 Guardians of the King

Dain on Pig

8 Iron Hills dwarves with Shields and Spears 

3 Iron Hills dwarves with Crossbows and Spears

2 Goat Riders

599 points, 27 Models, 6 Might

Now at first this looks like a straight downgrade from the previous list (and to be fair it might be). It has only 2 heroes, not 3, fewer models, less Might, and no access to March (edit: turns out Dain has March so forget that one!). What it provides instead, is a bit of shooting, a bit of cavalry and one of the best combat heroes in the game. I should mention straight away that this is a list I am building towards, so while it might actually be better to include a few more crossbows and goats, I’m trying to keep costs down (which is fairly laughable when it comes to IH but still). 

When comparing Warriors of Erebor against Iron Hills dwarves (both with spears and shields) there is really only one winner. For an extra 2 points you get +1S and Shieldwall. These are both very valuable upgrades to have as it means your front rank can go two handed and still be backed up by a S4 attack, and should that front rank fall then your support is even tougher to take down. It is slightly awkward in this list that the back rank has higher D than the front but no list is perfect. A few crossbows give you the chance to snipe some horses before the lines clash, and they have spears for when things get messy. The goats are mostly to grab objectives but on the charge they are pretty mean. A chance to knock the enemy down before the combat begins is massive, though not something to be relied upon. 

The really valuable inclusion is Dain. He is just a monster. F6 S5 D8 with 4 attacks on the charge. Wowzers. Oh, and he has a two handed weapon and is burly. He’s literally wounding Smaug on 5s! The introduction of a mounted hero is very valuable as the Army of Thror doesn’t have access to any. Finally, Dain’s army bonus gives him Master Of Battle 4+ which helps to offset the lack of Might in the list. 

Clearly this second list has more tricks but I’m not sure it’s any better than the first list. This is all theorycrafting so I’ll have to try them both out before I can make a proper judgement. 

Stupid Bonus List: Dwarf Allstars

Thror
Thrain
Young Thorin with the Oakenshield
Young Dwalin
Dain on Pig
Jeff (Warrior of Erebor with Spear and Shield)

600 Points, 6 Models, 14 Might

Don’t run this, it’s bad. 

Overall, I’m a fan of Army of Thror. It is quite limited, which is usually a turn off for me, but what it does have is everything I love. Lovely looking and impactful heroes, troops clad in lots of armour, and decent allies for variety. I have decided to make them my second Good army and have recently acquired Thror, Thrain and a box of Grim Hammers. I’ll be putting in a large order to Forge World in the new year (my poor wallet) too so that I can try out a few different combos. If you have any advice then please get in touch!

Character Comparisons: Thror v Thrain v Thorin

This is the beginning of a new series which will take an in depth look at a few characters at a time and compare them to each other. This has come about because I have been thinking a lot about the Army of Thror recently and trying to build a 600 point list. 600 points is too small to realistically have all of the 'big 3' in it so I have really been trying to get my head around what each of them do. We'll always try to compare similar characters (there isn't much point comparing Damrod to Azog) and will try to look at them in a vacuum as well as in the bigger picture. So without further ado:

Thror v Thrain v Thorin

Rather than just describing each character we will compare them in a number of categories and try to rank them against each other. Thror and Thrain have no upgrades available but we will consider Thorin with the Oakenshield.

Hero Stuff
I think it's a good idea to discuss the 'Hero Stuff' first as it provides a context for everything else we will talk about. All three have 3 Might and 3 Will. Thror has only 1 Fate whereas the other two have 3 Fate. However, as we'll discuss below, Thror has the potential to have more Fate. All three have Heroic Strike (the big one) but that is the only one common to all of them. Thror and Thorin also have Strength and Challenge, whereas Thrain and Thorin have Defence.

Clearly the winner here is Thorin, he has all the 3's as well as the most Heroic Actions. Second place goes to Thrain, and Thror comes in last. Though Thror has the potential to get more Fate, and also passes Fate more easily, his chance of having 3 Fate (i.e. getting 2 free ones) is only 25%. Thrain on the other hand just always has his 3 points, but also his Heroics are just more useful than Thror's.

Hitting Power
The basics of Hitting Power are Attacks, Fight value and Strength. Luckily enough all three have 3A F6 S4 so that forms a good foundation. Where they differ is in their weapons. Both Thror and Thorin have a Sword and Shield so can both Feint (or Stab should someone really scary come along). This is only really useful against anyone F3 or less though (which, admittedly, is a lot of troops), as otherwise you run the risk of just losing the fight anyway. If Thorin Shields and wins then he can also make a single S4 strike thanks to the Oakenshield, very useful if you have run out of Might and are fighting a higher F model as he would be rolling 6 dice to win the duel! 

Thrain, on the other hand, has a two-handed, Master-Forged Hammer. This takes him to effectively S6 and gives him access to Bash. I can't imagine many scenarios when he would want to Bash (maybe knocking Cavalry off their horses, but then why not just strike the horse?), but being effectively S6 is huge! This makes Thrain better against pretty much everything (Feint and Stab provide less of a benefit than just a straight up +1 to wound). He also gets to reroll wounds against Azog or any army containing Azog. Niche but handy. 

Thrain is the winner here, and I am going to put Thorin in second, thanks to the Oakenshield, and Thror in third. 

Survivability
Survivability mainly relies on Defence, Wounds and Fate. All three have 3 Wounds but the big difference is that Thror is D9 compared to the D8 of the other two. This may not seem a 'big difference' but actually it's huge. It comes into play massively when fighting against S4 (i.e. most elite troops and Heroes) as S4 wounds D8 on 6s but D9 on 6/4. Having played against Durin recently I can tell you how annoying this is! This is not to say that D8 is not also excellent on the others. The vast majority of troops in the game are S3 so are wounding D8 on 6/4 too, its just when you go up to S4 that all you need is straight 6s.

We have talked a little about Fate above, but it is worth saying again that Thror has potentially unlimited Fate. However, the maths is not on your side if the game goes on for a long time or he gets trapped. Think how often you fail a Fate roll. If that happens just once then no more Fate for Thror. However Thror and Thorin can both Shield which gives you 6 dice to win the fight with, so hopefully you won't need that Fate roll too often!

The final thing to mention is Heroic Defence on Thrain and Thorin. You would never call this against S3 troops as you are actually making their lives easier, but against Aragorn, Azog or anything S6 or above (or S4 and two handed or S5 and Piercing Strike or even S3, two handed Piercing Strike!) you are getting a great benefit. You can only call it 3 times but hopefully that would be enough to get you out of danger.

This is a tricky category but I think I am going to award first place to Thror just because of how difficult he is to wound in the first place. Thrain and Thorin are remarkably similar but Thorin just pips Thrain as he can Shield.

Buffs
This is an interesting category as each of the Dwarves has a unique buff that they provide but all are very different so they are difficult to compare. Thror provides a 6" Banner effect by way of the army bonus. Obviously this means your allies are restricted but it is an incredibly powerful buff so probably worth it. Having a lot of hand-and-a-half weapons and spears in your army mean you can be much more liberal with your use of two-handed as you are backed up by an unmodified dice and a reroll. Thror also allows you to upgrade your Grim Hammers but we'll discuss this below.

Thrain provides a board-wide Stand Fast! which is crazy powerful considering his Courage 6. Get a War Horn in there to virtually assure that your army never runs away. On the other hand, considering how much D7 is in the army it is pretty hard to break in the first place so maybe this isn't as useful as it first seems. I would imagine it's one of those benefits that you rarely use but when you do it's game changing.

Thorin provides a once per game +1 Strength to all Erebor models within 3". This is really good but has to be declared in the Move Phase so needs to be carefully managed. If you call this and go two-handed Piercing Strike with your Guardians of the King then they become effectively S8!! Yeesh! Watch out Sauron!

As I say these are really hard to compare but I think the one that will be most consistently useful will be Thror so I am giving him the win. Second place goes to Thorin as being able to smash through a line can be game swinging, and the lowest courage in the army is 4 anyway so Thrain's is the "least useful".

Control
There isn't much in the way of Control with these heroes, but both Thror and Thrain have access to The Ring of Durin which allows a once per game priority reroll. Thror gets first dibs on it so he wins, Thrain second and Thorin third as he doesn't really have any control to speak of.

Magic
This is easy: no one has any. As discussed above they all have 3 Will so they are all equally good at resisting too.

Major Drawbacks
Again all three have similar drawbacks in that they are slow moving and don't have access to mounts. This is a problem for almost all Dwarf armies though (looking at you Iron Hills, it's a good job they are expensive to buy!) I guess you could argue that Thror's Banner effect being linked to the army bonus is a bit of a drawback as it really hinders you from taking allies to make up for the army's weaknesses, whereas the other two are self-contained. I suppose that means Thrain and Thorin tie for first place, but this doesn't feel that fair as you can just choose to not ally and 'git gud' with what you have available or stick to Green Allies.

The Bigger Picture
So where do these guys fit in with the rest of the army? We haven't yet mentioned that Thorin is 15 points cheaper than the other two, which is obviously something that needs to be taken into consideration. We briefly mentioned that Thror allows you to upgrade your Grim Hammers to S4 and this is pretty significant. Having played a lot of Minas Tirith I can tell you that being mostly capped at S3 makes a lot of match-ups hard work. With all troops having access to Piercing Strike it is less of a problem here, but massed S4 is often a sign of a powerful army.

I think Thror has got to take first place here. As well as providing the opportunity for troop upgrades the entire Army Bonus centres around him so he is providing a lot to the army. Thorin and Thrain are difficult to separate. On the one hand Thorin is cheaper, but on the other Thrain gives access to something not found anywhere else in the army: risk free two-handed strikes (basically access to S6). I'll leave this one to you to decide which is better.

Conclusion
I think the conclusion here was inevitable from the start; it depends what you need your hero to do. Need an immovable anchor for your force? Choose Thror. Need someone to smash through high defence? Choose Thrain. Need someone to be a cheap all-round threat? Choose Thorin. However I started this article with the intention of imposing some sort of ranking so here goes. I awarded 1 point for each first place, 2 points for each second place and 3 points for each third place. Lowest score wins. When tallying it up the totals come to:

Thror 10
Thrain 13
Thorin 12

It didn't look good for Thror at first as I put him as the worst at 'Hero Stuff' and he's the least kill-y. However he then topped every category after that so I think the conclusion is that you need to take Thror in this list. He just provides too much good stuff. Thrain and Thorin are a toss-up and should be decided on based on what you want your list to do.

I hope my analyses made some sense here. Let me know if you think I am completely off beat here, or if there is a category I have missed!

List Review: Scouring of Che-Shire

This weekend saw 61 players compete in the Scouring of Che-Shire, a 700 point GBHL event. It was fantastically run by Steve, Jay and Ben from Top Table Gaming at Element Games in Stockport. Today we are looking at the top 5 lists, so without further ado:

5th Place (Thranduil's Halls, White Council, Fellowship and Minas Tirith Yellow Alliance)

Thranduil with Heavy Armour, Additional Sword and Circlet of Kings
9 Mirkwood Elves with Shield
1 Mirkwood Elf with Glaive
2 Palace Guard with Spear and Shield

Galdariel, Lady of Light

Boromir of Gondor with Horse

Madril
2 Knights of Minas Tirith
6 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Spear and Shield
4 Rangers of Gondor with Spears

28 Models, 15 Might

A bit of a Frankenstein of a list here! It is a small force for 700 points (though not the smallest one in the Top 5!) but it contains 2 combat monsters and 2 super supporters. Boromir has 6 Might and Thranduil has 3, so once these guys are in combat they are very much able to just throw Might at things until they die! Not that they necessarily need to, both being absolute monsters anyway! Galadriel, Lady of Light is incredibly good in the current meta. She naturally has Blinding Light active (The Light of Earendil), she causes Terror and she gives a -1 to enemy courage. This also makes her Instil Fear spell better too. Banishment is good to have and Fortify Spirit is very useful, especially for Boromir who only has 1 Will and no Fate. Galadriel is also surprisingly decent in a fight herself if she ever needed to help out in other ways. Madril is an excellent hero who provides 3 Might, Heroic March and help with Maelstrom Deployment for a very cheap cost! Finally the troops are there to keep the heroes from getting swamped, but with F5 and D7 in abundance they can be a threat in themselves. 

4th Place (Arnor and Rivendell Yellow Alliance)

Arvedui
13 Warriors of Arnor
1 Warrior of Arnor with Banner

Malbeth
11 Warriors of Arnor
1 Warrior of Arnor with Banner

Captain of Arnor with Bow
6 Rangers of Arnor with Spear
6 Rangers of Arnor

Captain of Arnor

Cirdan

43 Models, 9 Might

This is a bit of a horde but not a usual one. Usually the troops in a horde army are completely disposable and pretty rubbish. Here though, the base Warriors are actually really good being F4, D6 and a built in Spear! The Rangers are only D4 but have a 3+ shoot value which is great. When these masses of troops are combined with the huge amount of buffs from the heroes they really do become formidable. Arvedui has a 12" Stand Fast, Malbeth gives everyone within 6" a 5+ Fate roll (which is disgustingly incredible) and Cirdan has his usual suite of spells to fit any occasion. The list does lack a big combat hero but Arvedui and the Captain are both reasonable, with F5 and S4. Cirdan can back them up with Enchanted Blades if need be, but I would imagine the tactic really is to just tarpit anyone too scary. It seems the whole army is built around simply outlasting the opponent and clearly it has worked!

3rd Place (Barad Dur Pure list)

Sauron
12 Black Numenoreans
10 Orcs with Spear
1 Orc with Spear and Banner
1 Warg Rider

Shelob

26 Models, 3 Might

This is smallest army in the top 5 and also the least Might-y (by which I mean it has a lack of Might points, not that it isn't powerful!) It's basically Sauron - The Army List. I can't really do more than point you in the direction of his profile if you want to know what he does - there is simply too much to describe! The rest of the list is backup/objective play. It is worth noting that over half the army causes Terror though! I am very impressed that such a small army did so well, especially considering that it lacks a lot of the tricks of the other small lists, which tend to Frankenstein together all the most powerful stuff from several lists.

2nd Place (Defenders of Helms Deep Legendary Legion)

Theoden with Heavy Armour and Shield
Gamling with Royal Standard of Rohan
Haldir with Heavy Armour and Elf Bow
Legolas
Aldor
Haleth
10 Royal Guard with Spears
10 Warriors of Rohan with Spear and Shield
10 Warriors of Rohan with Bow
(Not sure about the distribution of the warbands here)

36 Models, 14 Might

I feel like I must be missing something with this list as it seems OK but not great. Clearly I am wrong though and it has come second at a big tournament! The troops seem self explanatory, forming a F4, D6 block as the LL allows throwing spears to be used as regular spears. There are a lot of heroes in the list, which is clearly where the power comes from. We have 3 excellent archer heroes to back up the 10 troops with bows, so this has got to be a list that wins a lot of shooting battles, especially as the LL increases the range to 30". In combat, Legolas and Haldir provide some much needed F6, which Rohan lacks. Having said that, Haleth can make the troops F5 if he is engaged and Theoden also becomes F6! Haleth is a really important piece in this list, which makes the whole thing risky as he can be easily killed if you aren't careful. Gamling can help to keep him alive by refreshing his Might every turn. As you can see there are a fair few tricks that aren't immediately obvious but it still must have been played masterfully to do as well as it did! If I am missing something about the list then please let me know!

1st Place (Survivors of Lake Town Pure list)

Bard with Horse and Armour
AlfridSigrid and Tilda7 Militia with Shields7 Militia with Spears1 Militia with Spear and Shield

Gandalf the Grey12 Militia with Bows

Bilbo6 Militia with Shields6 Militia with Spears


45 Models, 9 Might (Possibly infinite Might!)

We have written about a very similar list like this before in our Scouring of Stirlingshire list review (though that was at 800 points) so I will just paraphrase that. This is a horde army headed by a big hero and supported by an excellent Magic user. Bard has all the usual buffs, including the ability to restore Alfrid's Will with Gandalf's free point of Will each turn and then give that to Bard in the form of a Might point. Essentially this gives Bard the Mighty Hero special rule in a roundabout way! Gandalf can also cast a load of other spells too if Bard isn't in need of the Might. He's also no slouch in a fight (F5 S5) but with only 1A base that certainly isn't his main use. Bilbo is a great Ringbearer as he never suffers the possible downsides of having the Ring on but he gets all the benefits (halving Fight value etc). The troops themselves are nothing to write home about but there are a lot of them! They are basically Orcs when within 6" of Bard (or Goblins when they aren't) but with better courage. Use them to tarpit enemy Heroes until Bard can deal with them. There is also a large shooting contingent in this list which, combined with Blinding Light from Gandalf, is likely to win the shooting war against most armies.

So a bit of a mixed bag here. Two Pure lists, one Legendary Legion and two Yellow Alliances. There is also a good mix of LOTR and Hobbit stuff. To me, this feels like the most varied set of lists we have reviewed so far. Perhaps 700 points is a particularly good level for lots of different armies to shine? As a newer player it was a fun puzzle to be able to have some, but not all, of the powerful toys, but at the same time trying to balance the amount of troops to bring. I haven’t been including the names of players in case they’d rather I didn’t mention them.  However,  it’s easy enough to find them, and if you do you will notice the same ones popping up again and again. This is excellent testimony to player skill being the real deciding factor when it comes to the big tournaments, which in my opinion is just as it should be!

Scouring of Che-Shire List Preview

Tomorrow (at time of writing) is the Scouring of Che-Shire, a 700 point GBHL tournament. Five intrepid noobs are all entering their first big tournament, ready to show the world what they are made of. Will they do well? Unlikely. Will they have fun? Definitely. What lists are they using? Funny you should ask....

Dan Slb: It’s theorycrafting time! Unfortunately my 5 month old baby is not the easiest baby in the world so I have been really struggling to get any practice in, let alone try out any lists! That being said I did manage to sneak in a couple of test games. I played twice with a list that was basically my 500 point list plus Angbor, 9 Clansmen and 6 Axemen. I have theorised about this list before and it did work the way I thought it would for the most part. However there were a couple of catches. Boromir’s banner, while enormous, just can’t cover everyone in a force this big. That became an issue when playing against Uruks as they were tying the Clansmen’s fight value. Also, the Clansmen did a great job of chopping things up when they won fights, but when they lost they just died immediately. Supported and with a reroll,  they expect to get a 6 about 40% of the time, but unfortunately the other 60% they have to suffer -1 to their roll. Added to this, when fighting against an equal fight value they then lose the roll off 50% of the time. Adding all that up is too complicated for my brain right now (it’s 3am, I told you this baby wasn’t easy!) but it boils down to them just not being reliable enough. Also, having only one really decent combat hero isn’t great when the enemy has any anti-hero tech. 

With all of this in mind, I changed to a different list. This one was again similar to my 500 points, except Madril became Denethor and got a full warband, and I added in Hurin and some more knights. This list definitely worked better and I think it could be genuinely quite good, but boy was it grindy! Having about 35 D7 S3 Warriors/FCG meant I was only getting wounded on 6s but also only wounding the enemy on 6s (I was playing Uruk Hai again). We played for about 2 hours and not much had died! I ended up winning because the Uruks just had no answer for Boromir (unlike in the movies!) but I just couldn’t subject myself to 6 games of grind like that! I want to do well but I also want to enjoy myself!

So what can I learn from all of these things. Well, whatever list I have need to improve the killing power of MT, needs to be reliable in combats, not too grindy, and most of all, be fun! So, putting all of that together has lead me to this:

Boromir, Flag, horse, shield

4 FCG, shields

4 Warriors, spears, shields

5 Warriors, shields

1 Knight, shield

Madril

5 Warriors, shields

3 Rangers, spears

2 Rangers

1 Knight

Legolas

Gimli 

29 Models, 15 Might

I’ve gone back to Madril. Denethor is such a cheap way to get 15 models but I realised I was only using 13 spots in his warband, and the benefits of Madril (maelstrom help, Heroic March, 3 extra Might) are just too good to pass up. Boromir is Boromir, he’s just amazing. I briefly considered Aragorn but I like the buff to troops that Boromir gives too much. Both of these guys have warbands that consist of solid lines with a healthy chunk of F4 that will be upgraded to F5. This is the reliable, slightly grindy core of the army. 

So that’s 500 points, but I need more killing power and I need some fun! Enter Legolas and Gimli. These guys are excellent heroes for their cost, bringing some much needed S4 (or 6 if Gimli goes 2 handed) to the list, as well as 6 more Might between them. Their special rules are also pretty much the most fun rules in the game in my opinion! Passing buffs to each other based on kills is so themey and awesome! Plus there is the slightly more practical concern that I only need to paint 2 more models! I would very much have liked to give Legolas some armour and even a horse but the points are just so tight! I really don’t think I can afford to lose any more models as I am already on the low side. 

This is a yellow alliance but it’s not really that big of a deal. I don’t have Frodo so Legolas and Gimli don’t have an army bonus anyway, and the MT troops will be using Boromir’s ridiculous courage of 6 for break tests. Terror causing armies could be an issue but at the end of the day I’m a shield wall, I’ll just section off a portion of the board and wait for them to come to me!

I have managed to squeeze in one practice game against Colm’s Grey Company (see below). In this I learnt that all hero armies that have Woodland Creature and deploy in a wood during Lords of Battle are just going to be impossible for me. Hey ho. It was a really fun game though and I’m happy with my choices. 

The most important thing to come from this though is GIMLIBOWL 2019. After learning that Dave was also taking Gimli and Legolas the smack talk about whose pair would do better started immediately. That drew Colm in as he loves a stupid competition. The smack talk got me a little carried away and I’ve even ended up getting a commission painted and engraved trophy for the event. It’s best not to ask how much I spent putting it together! I’m really looking forward to shouting THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE whenever Legolas or Gimli kill a monster, generally just having a laugh, and hopefully taking home the GIMLIBOWL!

The topper was painted by the excellent Enigma Wargaming

PS, it’s also my 30th birthday the day before the tournament and Dave’s lovely wife has made me an incredible cake that I can’t wait to tuck in to!

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Dave: My Scouring of Che-Shire list is pretty simple, I've gone for the Return of the King Legendary Legion. I've really enjoyed playing them recently whilst helping friends prepare for tournaments, notably a very close game with Steve's Rohan when he was preparing for the Table Top weekender not too long ago, so I figured it'd be good to give them their first outing outside of my little circle of friends I play with.

I had a 500 point list written, so I just had to add 200 points, nice and easy. I asked the lads what they think, Legolas, or Gimli. Who should be the one to go in the list? My heart said Gimli, after all, I've been brought up since I was a wee nipper being told the humble words: “The Gimz alwayz Winz”. So naturally, I expected the lads to turn around to me and tell me the dwarf would be the perfect pick to lead my next warband.

Can you believe my horror when it was pretty much a unanimous vote for the Elf instead!?

Well, with all the dwarven stubbornness I could muster, and instead of making the smart call of adding in Legolas and some more warriors, I chucked both of the boys in the list.

I don't know who came up with the idea of Gimlibowl, but it was probably Dan. And I absolutely love it, who doesn't love that bit in the film?

Oh yeah, here's my list;

Aragorn – Strider with Anduril (Leader)

3 Warriors of the Dead with Spear and Shield

3 Warriors of the Dead with Shield

1 Rider of the Dead

The King of the Dead

3 Warriors of the Dead with Spear and Shield

3 Warriors of the Dead with Shield

1 Rider of the Dead

Legolas with Elven Cloak

Gimli

18 models, 10 Might

Its not exactly numerous, but man oh man, I'm gonna have a great time with it!

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Colm:

Aragorn, Armour 

Legolas, Armour, Elven Cloak

Gimli

Elodan & Elrohir, Armour, Elf Bows

Halbarad with Banner

Ranger of the North, Spear


7 Models, 19 Might

My original plan for Scouring was to bring a combination of Azog’s Legion and Azog’s Hunters as that’s what I had in enough numbers for a 700 point game, but when Dave and Dan started talking about Gimlibowl the unpainted Three Hunters box on my shelf started calling to me. Did I want to spend two days barging Azog around or tossing a hirsute, salted pork enthusiast into the enemy hordes? There was only ever one answer. Luckily I had collected a Wanderers in the Wild warband for our Battle Companies campaign so I had plenty of rangers to take Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas up to 700 points of The Grey Company (although I did inevitably impulse buy Ellodan and Elrohir so they’ll be showing up). As an army I’m sure it’s quite good in scenarios like Lords of Battle where wounds are what matter, but lacklustre when traversing the board is concerned. I will surely find out over the course of the weekend, all in the name of Gimlibowl 2019. 

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Steve: My original intention for Scouring was to run with an Isengard force, but other hobby painting and life got in the way of me sorting an army in time so decided to go back to my roots with Rohan, only in a very different direction to my previous tournament list (i.e., flood the list with Riders). This was partly down to hearing about a list from Arda Unleashed which essentially comprised a force stacked with as many Rohan Heroes as possible. Having tried playing as the Fellowship recently, this piqued my interest and I went about designing my own hero heavy force.

Rohan has a great abundance of average heroes. Not amazing, but not terrible either. This is both a blessing and a curse as they are not a large points sink like some armies key heroes, but they also aren’t as beefy as your Aragorns, Boromirs or Azogs. Your highest fight value is 5, so you’re likely to be outclassed by a lot of the bigger names but a good few reaching defence 7 for that extra survivability. There’s also some great synergy and bubble effects going on as well to help keep your army going through the game without losing their potency. On that note, on to the list I settled on:

99 Problems But an Abundance of Might Ain’t One (Riders of Theoden LL)

Théoden, King of Rohan with Heavy Armour, Shield and Armoured Horse

2 Rohan Royal Guard with Throwing Spears and Horses

1 Rider of Rohan

Éomer, Marshal of the Riddermark with Shield and Armoured Horse

2 Rohan Royal Guard with Throwing Spears and Horses

1 Rider of Rohan

Gamling, Captain of Rohan with Royal Standard of Rohan and Horse

1 Rohan Royal Guard with Throwing Spears and Horse

1 Rider of Rohan

Déorwine, Chief of the King’s Knights with Horse

1 Rohan Royal Guard with Throwing Spears and Horse

1 Riders of Rohan

Dernhelm with Throwing Spears

3 Riders of Rohan

19 Models, Infinity Might (sort of)

Six heroes, thirteen warriors in at exactly 700pts. Yes, six heroes as the true MVP on this force is the Notorious MBB - Meriadoc Brandybuck riding shotgun on Dernhelm and as we all know, hobbit heroes do all the heavy lifting for some reason. Let’s start at the top however. Going with the Théoden’s Riders legendary legion, the King of Rohan is a must - aside from his +1 fight bubble, he also allows the Royal Guard to charge any pesky terror creatures and more importantly in this hero heavy list - Death! The ability to call up to six simultaneous Heroic Combats/Strikes without expending might is huge, and if played at the right time could easily sway the battle in my direction.

Up next is the biggest hitter in the list - Éomer. With threes in all the right places, he can hold himself in combat nicely, although most of his Might will likely be spent aiming to outclass the enemy heroes with Strike. Next we have Dernhelm, easily my favourite hero in the force. Great statline for the cost, along with carrying Merry into battle, puts a good bit of bulk into the riders. Both of these heroes also have a nice little synergy with Théoden possibly limiting them a bit, but also enhancing their combat abilities which may come in useful during the endgame.

Déorwine is a solid wall with Heroic Defence - and he gets his free Heroic Combat whenever Theoden is duking it out with someone. This makes for a good hero who can switch roles when he needs to, holding up units/heroes from getting where they need to, or carving through to protect his king. Finally, the key to this list - Gamling. With such a hero focused force, it make sense to bring the Rohan Royal Standard to keep those stores of might going, allowing more early uses of Heroic Move/March for flanking and kiting and keeping your heavy hitters hitting hard through protracted combats (I tend to stick him near Éomer in order for him to keep working through enemy heroes).

The rest of the points are filled out with a decent contingent of six Royal Guard with throwing spears to benefit from Bodyguard (largely from how much I’ve come across Army of the Dead and spiders recently). The last few filled with Riders of Rohan to add that extra bulk to the force.

Some pros of the force would be its manoeuvrability, as it can get to parts of the board faster than most others combined with Gamling’s might factory it can be very reactive. Cons however would be the lower model count along with lack of tough heroes. The key to me doing well at Scouring will be recognising when best to pull heroic movements to give myself the better engagement and calling Death! at the right moment.

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Dan Stu: Men of the East

Amdur, Lord of Blades (Leader) with armoured horse

5 Warriors with shields

5 Warriors with shields, pikes

5 Warriors with shields, pikes, black dragon upgrade

Easterling Captain

3 Warriors with shields

2 Warriors with shields, pikes

3 Warriors with shields, pikes, black dragon upgrade

1 Warrior with banner

1 Kataphrakt

1 Kataphrakt with war drum

Khandish King with Khandish chariot

3 Khandish charioteers with hand and a half axes

32 Models, 8 Might

As this list was recently featured on the blog, I won’t go into much depth on it here. It seems to be a reasonably well balanced list that has seen some success, but also struggles with the things that Easterlings normally struggle with. The inclusion of the chariots gives the list both some punching power and a nice fun factor, and both Amdur and the King are pretty hefty heroes.

The biggest skill curve to the list has been learning when to bring in the chariots on the flank (something I’m still rubbish at). Clearly, the aim is the ‘chariot sandwich’, something which has been very effective but also very hard to pull off. If you bring them in too early, they’re dead. Too late, and they lose their impact. I’m hoping to get much better at this over the weekend - the chariots are a game-winning tool that I look forward to getting to grips with.

Approaching the tournament, I have been very tempted to remove both the banner and the war drum, and place in a war priest instead, which would give both a 6” fearless bubble and a 6+ death saving throw. While this would undoubtedly be the better meta pick, I have decided against it for 2 reasons: I haven’t painted the War Priest yet; and I’ve become somewhat attached to the drummer (affectionately known as Phil Collins).

While this is definitely a heart-over-head decision, Mr. Collins has proven to be pretty great in a couple of games. A successful Easterling engagement is perhaps more dependent on scenery than any other infantry block - their strength is attacking in depth, so their battle line will almost always be narrower than their opponent’s. And their flanks are oh so squishy! If your opponent starts taking away your pike supports on the majority of your duel rolls, the odds are you’ve already lost the game. The war drum has helped me zip over to the perfect ‘hot gates’ choke point to engage in several games, so fingers crossed it does the same over the weekend.

I still expect to struggle against massive heroes such as Aragorn, any magic users, and anything that causes terror. But I genuinely really like this list, and every game I’ve played with it has been more enjoyable than the last - bring on the weekend!

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So there you have it. Five lists and the thoughts behind them. Who will do the best? Who will do the worst? And most importantly, who will win GIMLIBOWL 2019?!? Check back over the coming weeks for some tournament reports on how we all got on!

Bonus extra pictures of the GIMLIBOWL topper from the inestimable Enigma Wargaming

700(!) Under 50: Starter Set Edition

Dan Slb: As a Christmas Treat, Dave looks at how to get the most out of the Battle of Pelennor Fields Box Set, which should be on every new player's Christmas List!

Dave: In my first post I went on about how people generally only suggest getting the starter set as a viable way to get into the game affordably, and I mentioned how I'd go into the other ways to go about it...

But what if you and a couple of friends came into a little bit of money and wanted to get into the game, and it just so happened that one of you wanted to play Rohan, another Mordor, and then your third friend, by some wacky happenstance, wanted to play the Army of the Dead? Well, we'll have a look at the three way split of the starter set and how you can get them up to 700 points (Yes, 700!) for about £50 per head.

First things first, just to give us some extra leeway, we'll say that all 3 people involved in the split have decided to put £10 each in to cover the cost of the rulebook, we won't be counting this £10 as part of the budget as, like I said in the first article, buying the rulebooks is just a cost you have to make eventually. The Rohan and Mordor players will pay £25 each for their share of the starter set, and the AoTD player will only pay £10, since he gets significantly less.

And as a side note, I really do urge you to check out your local FLGS (friendly local gaming store), as they will offer you a better price on the box, and its generally available in most stores. Rebel Base Gaming, for example, will even offer you free delivery if your order is above £50,which ours certainly will be, and to top it off, the box will only set us back by £72, saving us a stonking 20%! We'll be working out the costs when buying from here, instead of GW, unless we say otherwise, as it's simply much more viable to do so, and it should be readily available. It’s also worth noting that this saves each person 20% on their share of the split too!

Alright, lets have a look at the easiest army, the Army of the Dead. To complete the army, you will need;

Starter Set Warriors of the Dead: £8

King of the Dead and Heralds: £20

The Three Hunters: £20

Total Cost: £48(!)

The list will be as follows, and we'll be using the Return of The King Legendary Legion;

Aragorn with Elven Cloak and Anduril.

5 Warriors of the Dead with Shield.

2 Warriors of the Dead with Shield and Spear.

King of The Dead

5 Warriors of the Dead with Shield.

2 Warriors of the Dead with Shield and Spear.

Legolas Greenleaf with Armour and Elven Cloak

4 Warriors of the Dead with Shield.

2 Warriors of the Dead with Shield and Spear.

OR

Gimli with Elven Cloak.

4 Warriors of the Dead with Shield.

2 Warriors of the Dead with Shield and Spear.

You'll have to choose between Legolas or Gimli in this list, or drop about 6 Warriors to fit them both in, but a you'll pretty much all you need in this army, a strong selection of heroes, and powerful set of elite warriors. The only thing you will need to add after this would be some Riders of The Dead for a bit of speed.

So where do we go with out other Good force, The Riders of Rohan? Like with the Army of the Dead, I'm going to suggest a Legendary Legion, this time, Riders of Theoden. This means all of your warriors on foot will be unable to join your army list, and will only be put on the table in the events that one of your riders if knocked off his horse, but at the end of the day, who plays Rohan for the foot soldiers!? (Edit: Well that’s what we get for trying to write articles ahead of time! Check out our War in Rohan preview here!)

To bring the list up to a neat 700 you will need;

Starter set Theoden and Riders: £20

Eomer ft & mounted: £15.50* (GW)

Gamling & Hama : £25* (GW)

12 Riders of Rohan: £26* (eBay. I was able to find sets of 6 for £13)

Total Cost: £87

*I'd really recommend getting all of these from eBay or your local trade group. I've seen plenty of people selling Eomer and Riders, and since we only need Gamling from the set with him and Hama, you should have better luck trying to find him on his own, you just need to make sure he has his banner.

Ouch, this one was expensive, but I honesty couldn't get a way to get the list any cheaper and it still be effective! The models above will let you make this list;

Theoden on Armoured Horse with Shield and Heavy Armour

8 Riders of Rohan.

4 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears

Eomer on Armoured Horse with Shield and Throwing Spears.

4 Riders of Rohan.

2 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears

Gamling with Royal Standard of Rohan on Horse

4 Riders of Rohan.

2 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears

Okay, so like I've said above I really would encourage you to look at your local trade groups for this, you'll definitely be able to find Eomer and the 12 extra riders for cheaper than I did. This is the most expensive of the lists, but boasting 24 Warriors on horse back and 3 great heroes, it's certainly able to pull its weight. Gamling's banner letting heroes recover Might is fantastic, and all of your Riders have bows, letting you kite effectively due to your 10” move. You'll need to play smart with this list, as Rohan are very reliant on their charge and the AoE from Theoden to buff the Riders is a great bonus you'll want to make sure you play for. Since we're using the Riders of Theoden legendary legion you'll be able to call “Death!” once per game giving all your heroes a free Heroic Combat or Heroic Strike, really letting you devastate your opponent when you're able to pull off that Pelennor Fields inspired charge!

Looking into the Mordor side of things we have an obscene amount of wiggle room. Out of the box you get 2 monsters in the form of a Ringwraith on Fell Beast and a Troll. This is the easiest army to bring up to a full 700 pointer.

To get your Mordor force kick started you'll need to procure;

Starter set Ringwraith on Fell Beast, Troll and Orcs: £20

Your choice of hero from the Mordor section of Games Workshops website: £X

That's it. You get about 600 points from the set alone, you just lack the heroes to get in on the table. Really, you're free to get whatever you want with this one, you could even pick up another Ringwraith on a Fell Beast for £30 from Rebel Base Gaming, or your local FLGS for a similar price. I'd recommend picking up Gorbag and Shagrat for £12.30 from Games Workshop. This will let you go up to about 800 points, but for the sake of keeping in with the article, we'll only use Shagrat and get to 700 points. But this just shows how much flexibility you'll have with Mordor as a whole. This list I came up with is below;

The Witch King on Armoured Fell Beast with the Crown of Morgul. 3/20/3*

9 Morannon Orcs with Shields.

9 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields.

Shagrat with Heavy Armour and the Shield of Cirith Ungol.

5 Morannon Orcs with Shields.

5 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields.

1 Mordor Troll.

*3/20/3 refers to the Might, Will and Fate of the Witch King, as you pay points for each point you choose to add above his starting value.

As you can see this list is pretty Orc heavy, the main focus of the list is to get in combat, and be backed up by the powerful spells of the Witch King. Morannon Orcs are really good in combat, being strength 4, backed up by a defence of 5, with the option to go to 6 if you have a shield.

Shagrat can be amazing in combat, with 3 attacks and 3 Might, he hits hard, especially at strength 5! But the real sugar is his shield, when he charges, he gains the “Knock to the ground” rule, just like a Cavalry model would, meaning if wins the ensuing duel he'll knock the enemy prone and receive double Strikes against them!

If that wasn't enough, lets not forget the Witch King is mounted on a Fell Beast, and there's a Mordor Troll knocking about too! Both of these are able to lay down some high strength attacks, and are very capable to taking out enemies heroes (or at least, forcing them to spend Might to have to deal with you) with Brutal Power Attacks (such as Rend which pits your Strength vs their Strength rather than their Defence) stick that in your shield and smoke it!

You could even think about adding Gothmog and some Commanders and then you would have enough to run The Army of Gothmog Legendary Legion

This whole article is written with splitting the box between 3 people, but should you not be able to find a third buddy to join the split with you, you can always sell the army you don't need on trade groups or eBay to make a bit of money back and help you fund the rest of the purchases in here!

Dan Slb: Thanks Dave! Splitting the box is a great way to get into the game cheaply but if you are anything like us you will want to keep all 3 armies for yourself! If you go with all of Dave's suggestions it would cost you around £190 (that's including the Core Set). Considering this gets you three 700 point armies that is an absolute bargain! I may or may not have ordered myself a Core Set after reading this...