A Noob's Perspective: Moria

It has been a while since we did a Noob's Perspective article but all this isolation has had me thinking about armies I wouldn't normally consider. During some of the time between rounds at Desolation of Stockport a few weeks ago we were chatting about meme monster lists and these were mostly centered around Moria so I thought I would expand that discussion into an article.

Let's start out with a two sentence review of each entry in the army list. This is going to be tricky!

Heroes:

The Balrog: Probably the best Monster in the game: F10, S9, D9 and 10 Wounds with a free heroic combat each turn. Need I say more?

Durburz: The best Goblin "brawler" with a mighty F4 S4 and access to Strike. Also the only Hero of Valour besides a Dragon so a must take if you want to bring a horde army.

Groblog: A very cheap way of getting 3 Might on the table, and can stick around a surprisingly long time with Heroic Defence. Also has access to Strike and a 50/50 chance of boosting the Fight value of those around him.

Druzhag the Beastcaller: Can bring Wargs and Spiders as part of a Moria list and can also pump them up with Enrage Beast. A good way of getting some heavier hitters into a Moria army.

Ashrak: Another way of getting Spiders into Moria and can make them Fearless through Fury. His chance to Paralyse things makes him a good way to rebuff heroes as they will want to avoid him.

Moria Goblin Captain: Very cheap Might and March. Only F3 but at S4 and D6 with shield he is fairly good for a Goblin.

Moria Goblin Shaman: Good for Fury as your Courage is pretty lacking , however Moria has a lot of ways of boosting Courage and this is one of the more expensive ways to help it. Ultimately probably not worth it.

Moria Blackshield Captain: You are paying 5 points more than a regular Captain with Shield for Hatred (Dwarf) and an extra point of Courage. However having to always go two handed is a pretty big downside for someone who is only F3.

Moria Blackshield Shaman: This guy has access to what could be the best spell in the game, Shatter (that's a nice Banner you have there Gamling....). He also has access to Tremor, which, while difficult to cast, knocks people prone so they count as trapped.

Dragon: The only other Hero of Valour with a pick and mix of upgrades. They can get expensive really fast if you take too many of these though (probably just Fly is the way to go).

Cave Drake: For 100 points less than a Dragon you get one fewer Fight, one fewer Wound, and two fewer Might and Fate. However you do also get the chance to kill multi-wound models outright and a little Fearless bubble around its eggs.

The Watcher in the Water: Pretty much the only example of 'Deep Strike' in the game. Also becomes utterly terrifying if it is in water (those pretty Lake Town boards suddenly become a whole lot scarier). [Bonus 3rd sentence: In my opinion the biggest victim of the allies changes; adding one in to a random other Evil list was hilarious]

Troops:

Moria Goblin Warrior: Your basic troop with emphasis on the basic. F2, S3 and D4 but what do you want for 4 points?!

Moria Blackshield: An extra 2 Defence, 1 Courage and Hatred (Dwarf) for double the price of a regular Goblin? Pass.

Moria Goblin Drum: Moria's equivalent of Banners except with an 18" range and they add 1 to your courage and minus 1 to the enemy's on the entire battlefield. Seems like a must have!

Moria Blackshield Drum: The banner effect is reduced by 6" in exchange for being able to move it and still play it. Possibly a decent trade off but I think i'd rather have the bigger Banner if you have a lot of troops.

Moria Goblin Prowler: Do not get trapped with these guys around as they become F4 and have +2 to wound! Ouch!

Cave Troll: A pretty tasty way to get some punch into the list. However for the same points cost as a Dweller I'm not sure that I wouldn't rather just have one of those.

Bat Swarm: 35 points to make Sauron's Fight value go down to 4?! Oh my.

Warg Marauder: Maybe the craziest model in the game. Have a look at our Cavalry Comparison article for more info.

Dweller in the Dark: Aww, it's a little baby Balrog! F7 is amazing and getting wounds back is pretty great too.

As you can see Moria is a funny force which only really has things on either end of the power spectrum, and very little in the middle. So what lists can we put together? Well there are pretty much 3 archetypes: Horde, Monster Mash, or a mix of the two. Let's have a look at some examples.

Horde

Durburz
3 Prowlers
6 Warriors with Shields
6 Warriors with Spear

Druzhag
2 Bat Swarms
2 Fell Wargs
2 Giant Spiders
5 Warriors with Shields

Groblog
2 Prowlers
5 Warriors with Shields
5 Warriors with Spears

Blackshield Shaman
1 Prowler
3 Warriors with Shield
2 Warriors with Spear

Moria Goblin Shaman
2 Prowlers
5 Warriors with Shields
5 Warriors with Spears

700 points, 56 Models, 10 Might

A large amount of models with some variety thrown in from all the beasties. The beasties actually play an important roll though as they are objective grabbers (Wargs), hero debuffers (Bats) and some much needed punch (Spiders). In fact they can all become pretty good punchers if Druhzag casts Enrage Beasts on them. There are also a smattering of Prowlers thrown in to take advantage of all those lovely traps you will be able to set up. Character wise, you haven't got much in the way of fighters but you have some tasty options with Fury and, most importantly, Shatter. What's that Gil-Galad? You're F9? Well it'd be a real shame if that spear of your got Shattered and you had -1 to all duel rolls. And you're trapped with 2 Prowlers in the fight? This is going to hurt mate.

Monster Mash

Dragon with Fly
Cave Drake
The Watcher in the Water
Dweller in the Dark
Dweller in the Dark

800 points, 5 Models, 5 Might

I mean, this is probably bad, but just look at it. Everything is F6 or higher so it can trouble heroes, everything has Terror so it has control, everything is Resistant to Magic so it's hard to deal with it that way too. It has Fly, it has a Deep Strike, and the other models have an 8" move so it's mobile too. You have to kill 3 of the 5 models to break it and 4 to quarter it. I kind of love it to be honest.

A Balanced Force

The Balrog
Bat Swarm
8 Warriors with Shields
8 Warriors with Spears

Durburz
6 Warriors with Shields
5 Warriors with Spears
1 Warrior

Groblog
3 Prowlers
2 Warriors with Shields
5 Warriors with Spears

700 Points, 42 Models, 6 Might

Here you have plenty of Warriors and a couple of middling heroes to back up the big man himself; The Balrog. It is a little low on Might but the 'Rog gets a free Heroic Combat every turn so he can really churn through the enemy. The Balrog presents that classic problem of a super powerful figure that you cannot ignore but is going to take a disproportionate amount of your resources to deal with. Combined with the previously talked about Bats and Prowlers you have a force that can do a bit of everything.

So that is Moria. Hordes, monsters, magic, it can do a bit of everything. It is also a Yellow Alliance with all other Evil armies (except Barad-dur and Sharkey's Rogues which are Red) so if you are happy to give up the ok-ish army bonus to get some other allies in there you can do. However if you do so you'll have to take The Balrog, Durburz or a Dragon because of the new allies rules!