The Council of Evil

Listening to the excellent Entmoot podcast recently, Harry replayed one of his older interviews where he played an opponent who was taking a 'Council of Evil' list. This consisted of an all Character list of some of the biggest Evil threats in the game. This got me thinking, The Fellowship costs about 800 points to field every character with a few upgrades thrown in, so what could we conjure up on the Evil side as an equivalent? I threw it out to the Drawn Combat team with the following caveats: the list must be all characters, must be 800 points and must be legal to play (so must follow the allies rules). It can also have a maximum of 9 characters but doesn't have to have that many. I let them pick their line up however they wanted: theme, gamey-ness, or just the characters they like best! Here is what we came up with:

Dan Slob:

The Witch King (3/15/3), Crown of Morgul, Morgul Blade, Horse
The Shadow Lord, Horse
Ringwraith (2/7/2), Horse
Amdur, Armoured Horse
Khandish King, Chariot
Mahud King, War Camel, Shield, War Spear
Orc Captain, Shield, Warg

7 Models, 16 Might

I almost always write lists with gameplay in mind, so I knew straight away that I wanted to do an all mounted force and I didn't want any repeated models. I also knew that I wanted at least 7 models for the theme (I had found trying to get 9 was too hard as they have to average under 90 points each). So what have I got? Three Ringwraiths for Magic dominance, two characters with impact hits for mowing through troops, Amdur to deal with Heroes, and a Captain as support/objective grabber. The Witch King is a machine, I have used him a fair bit and I couldn't not have him in the list. The Shadow Lord is mostly there to protect the horses! With so few models those cavalry bonuses are too important to be shot out from under me so his main job is to make it hard for them to be killed! The Ringwraith is mainly for casting Transfix and calling Moves/Marches without depleting the stores of the bigger characters. As I said before, Amdur is to deal with Heroes as he is just about the best duelist that Evil has. The Kings are there for their impact hits and because they are relatively cheap! Finally the support Captain will also call Moves and Marches whenever needed and scoot of to grab objectives if he is still alive at the end! Overall I think it is straight up bad but it does look like fun at least!


Colm: 

The driving factors behind my Evil Fellowship were to discard the idea of in-game effectiveness and make something I think would be somewhat thematic and likely to lead to interesting stories (and I’m opting out of the easy thematic choice of the Black Riders), whilst slightly mirroring the Good Fellowship by representing various factions within Middle Earth.  Without further ado my selected nine are as follows:

Saruman

Grima

Lurtz

Gothmog

Goblin King

Gollum

Grishnakh

Wild Warg Chieftan

Witch King

Saruman is a powerful wizard, much like Gandalf, and Sauron believes him to be a trusted lieutenant. By embarking on a quest to find and attain the ring Saruman is taking a more direct approach than in canon, but he will be a valuable asset on the road able to compel the denizens of Middle Earth with his powerful voice and obviously able to abley assist in any fights they come across. Saruman, however, is consumed with avarice and a lust for power. He will surely betray Sauron and spark conflict within the factions of his 8 companions. Grima and Lurtz accompany Saruman to aid and defend him however they can. Saruman has a history of using spies and Grima can be dispatched to villages/towns to pursue their quest in a way that won’t attract much attention. Lurtz is a powerful fighter who can act as bodyguard and a hunter.

Gothmog is another member of this Fellowship that Sauron trusts, but rather than directing forces at the assault on Minis Tirith, Gothmog will travel through Middle Earth on his behalf. Gothmog also has his own motives . . . perhaps by getting hold of the ring he can bring about the time of the orc in a way that he sees fit. Grishnakh is another Mordor Orc, but with a different set of skills to Gothmog. He has experience in working with the forces of Isengard and the role entrusted to him by Sauron is to keep a watchful eye for any suspicious activity from Saruman or his disciples. After all, Saruman seems loyal, but Sauron has become paranoid.

The Witch King and the Wild Warg Chieftain both come from the Angmar list. I put the Wild Warg in the list first as he would be able to range far and wide and speed and would be a powerful hunter. I was going to add a generic Ringwraith to lead him as the Witch King would surely be entrusted to leading Sauron’s forces against Gondor, but as Dan (editor/tyrant-in-chief) asked for a legal list I needed a hero of valour or higher. The Witch King is a Hero of Legend and also very cheap if you don’t buy him many items, so he was added to the list (but lets pretend he’s not quite who he seems). A Ringwraith is obviously a fitting choice to hunt for the ring due to their ability to sense and see ring bearers when the ring is worn and will work unceasingly to accomplish Sauron’s goals.

The last additions to the Fellowship come as something as a duo. Gollum knows of The Shire and has met Bilbo, it makes perfect sense for him to join the hunt. He of course has his own, ulterior motives. The Goblin King allows for Gollum to join the fray, but is also a powerful figure and will hold sway with the Goblins of the mountains and influence them to assist and is also a powerful fighter who can take on the best the world of men has to offer. He was all too happy to join in  in order to gain Sauron’s favour.

It ended up a motley crew of goblins, men and more, but they are all powerful models in their own way. They all also have their own reasons for joining the quest for the ring and will surely clash along the way. It seems to me that it would be doomed to fail due to competition and a lack of trust, but it would doubtlessly be entertaining to see them forge their way across Middle Earth.

Will: 

So what I tried to do with this list is collect some of the iconic models and leaders that the Fellowship encounter throughout their journey. This was difficult assembling different parts. If I had 1000 points to work with I was golden. As it is 800 I needed to sacrifice my list in places, much to my dismay at leaving out some of my favorite models.

My list:

Witch king on Fellbeast 1/10/3  - This is one of the all time most iconic characters and images for me. The screech of the Fell Beast and the visual dominance of the Witch King striking fear in everyone on the receiving end.

Cave Troll -  One of the first biggest threats to the Fellowship was this monster crashing through Balin’s tomb door and is such a bargain I couldn’t not put this in. (Balrog was far too expensive!)

Saruman  - Sauron's trusted commander of Isenguard. As another strong caster he was a definite addition to my list. If he can get some magic off it could leave the WK to get stuck in and do some of the heavy lifting in terms of combat

Grima - He’s here to add up the numbers but more importantly be that sneaky little lizard who could pop up at the right time and turn on an opponent.

Lurtz - I know all you book readers won’t like this one but in the films this is the Uruk that kills Boromir and for this reason alone deserves a spot in my list (I’m not a fan of Boromir).

Sharku on Warg with Shield - He is here for some maneuverability and March and because I couldn’t afford my beloved Shelob. To be fair though his special rule is pretty good when hitting other heroes and the shield helps get it triggered.

Gothmog on Warg  - I mean come on, how can you not put in the Big G, with his Master of Battle on the field this could be a game changer and if you look to our previous blog you can see he is an all round great hero. I have opted to go without shield, I know it’s a brave move but I think the 5 points was better spent on the WK.

Gorbag with Shield - I had to get one character in from Cirith Ungol. Due to the size of this group he is more than likely going to be outnumbered. Also the fact he is pretty much the only one that survives the mass brawl he deserves a worthy spot.

So there we have it coming in at exactly 800 pts. Is it any good? Probably not, but it seems like it would be a lot of fun. I could have filled it out with some lesser models or gone superbig with the likes of Balrog etc but I wanted to be a bit themey and try and diverse across the options.


Dave: 

When it came to making my Evil Fellowship, I thought it'd be cool to just see if I could find an Evil equivalent of each member. More so in how they look, rather than their rules, for example all 4 of the Hobbits are Goblins in my list.

My Gandalf is Saruman since they're both Wizards.
Aragorn is Gothmog, both are good fighters and leaders!
Gimli is Mauhur... They both have two weapons!
Legolas is Vraksku because shootyshooty
Boromir is Lurtz because I couldn't resist!
Merry and Pippin are lowly Goblin Captains
Sam is Durburz, since he's the real hero.
And finally, Frodo is Groblog since they both have Mithril.


Steve:  Witchking's Nine.

Like every good caper, you've got to have a team. A team with very specific skills in order to pull the job off and it just so happens that ol'WK has put the right team together for just such a job - reclaiming the One Ring.

First up, the brains and mastermind of the operation - the WitchKing of Angmar. Willing to do anything to get the job done.

His partner in crime and old friend with the handsome face? The Mouth of Sauron can sweet talk anyone. We wouldn't be anywhere without a conman though, would we? Good old faithful Grima 'Wormtongue' Wormtongue knows just how to smooth talk all the court into his favour. Who's going to back him up though when a little muscle is needed? Buhrdur is your troll and he ain't taking no ****.

Whilst they've got the talents, you need the guy who's going to get you whatever you need. A ten thousand strong army? A new race of super orcs? A handy snowfall? Saruman ‘Wizard of Many Colours’ is the man you want to be talking to.  Want  to avoid some rival tricksy thieveses and you go right for Gollum with his sticky fingered ways and knack for climbing. Now the safe cracker or rather city cracker Gothmog may not make a pretty job, but damn he gets results.

So who's the guy you're leaving behind? The guy to take a fall...Well no-one is better to lose their head but Snaga once he goes to plant the knife in your back. Finally, the key part to staying out of fantasy jail - the getaway driver. The team have the Ring, they're running out of Bag End and who should show up but the Khandish King drifting in on his chariot - all to ride off into the Sunset in preparation for the next last job they'll ever need to do.

(Editors Note: Steve is disqualified as this is not technically a legal list (Gollum isn't a Hero of Valour) but we'll let him off as he made such pretty pictures to go with the article)


Sean: 

Khamul The Easterling
The Mouth of Sauron
Saruman
Grima Wormtongue
Lurtz
Amdur
Khandish Chieftain

Suladan

When Dan set the challenge of the Evil fellowship I was instantly drawn to the idea of having nine characters - three from each main evil areas in the films (Moria, Isenguard and Mordor). But sadly due to points it just wasn't possible. I also started to think about having some of the main evil characters they meet, but I really dislike Gothmog both in the films and the game.

In the end I decided to focus on what the fellowship was (a bunch of people of different lands in middle Earth) and with the help of the Allies tables, decide that I would focus on picking fewer people, but from as many different "lands" as possible.

Isengard was the exception as I felt Saruman and Lurtz are general stand out characters with their relationship with the Fellowship. Lurtz is the only character to kill a member of the Fellowship (not getting in the Gandalf debate) and Saruman, because without him we would never have Gandalf and his wonderful leveling up in the book! Wormtongue is just too good to miss out.

Amdur, Suladan and a Khandish Chieftain really represent Boromir, Legolas and Gimli, as well as the other people of the lands of Sauron. Khamul could have been the Witch King, but it's a nice change as the WK is always included, and the Mouth as the representative of Sauron in the party.

There are some points left over for upgrades, but I'm keen for none of them to have horses...mainly as the fellowship didn't.

So there we have it. What would your Council of Evil look like? We'd love to see your suggestions in the comments!

The Conversion Corner: Orc Shaman

Today we have a guest article from the extremely talented @Top_Table_Painter! You should definitely follow his excellent work on Instagram here: @table_top_painter.

Continuing the theme of quick and simple conversions, in this article we'll show you how an orc spearman can easily be promoted to a powerful shaman.

All you'll need for this conversion is a Mordor Orc spearman. Any of the three variations will do but I've gone with this version as I like his facial expression the best. Some Green Stuff or equivalent moulding material is also useful, but not necessary.

Firstly you want to start by cutting away the handle of the spear from between the orc's hands. Be careful to remove this in one piece as it will be used later on in the conversion.

Next you're going to need to make two separate cuts to remove the orc's right arm and left hand (as pictured). Fortunately if you are doing this from an orc that is still on the sprue, you will not have to remove these.

With the arm and hand removed, it is now time to stick them into their new positions on the model.
Ensure the arm and hand and the area where you are going to reposition them have been filed so the area is flatter, and will adhere easier.

Once the arm and hand are glued in place it's now time to add the piece of spear handle that you removed earlier. Simply glue it to the underside of the orc's left hand to create a shaman's staff.

Now you could stop here, paint him up and away you go! However, you can add a few extra details with some Green Stuff to make your shaman stand out amongst the other rank and file orcs.
Here, I've added a warg pelt, magic scroll, waist pouch and a finial to the top of his staff.

All that's left to do is to base coat him and paint him up to whatever colour scheme matches the rest of your army and away you go. You'll be casting Fury and Transfix spells in no time! Thanks a lot.

For more conversions like these and other MESBG content please follow my Instagram  table_top_painter

Character Comparisons: Evil Combat Heroes

Today we have another edition of Character Comparisons and we have gone for a big one!

Evil Combat Heroes

When looking for some Evil characters for comparison they seem to come in a few different categories which there isn't much point looking between. No one needs to know that Saruman is better at Magic than a Troll Chieftain but the Troll is better in combat. So with that in mind we have tried to pick characters than all have a similar use, what I am calling Utility Beatsticks. I am defining this as characters whose main use is in combat but that provide other utility to the army too. So today's contenders are: Gothmog, Shagrat, Amdur, Suladan and a Khandish King on Chariot. Everyone has all the upgrades they can have, so Gothmog has Warg and Shield, Shagrat has Heavy Armour and Shield of Cirith Ungol, Amdur has an Armoured Horse, Suladan has a Horse and Bow with Poisoned Arrows and finally the King has a Chariot. So without further ado:

Police Lineup: Please can you identify the model that ruined your army

Hero Stuff

1st: Gothmog
2nd: Amdur
3rd: Shagrat
4th: Suladan
5th: King

This is a tricky one straight away as there guys have a plethora of special rules between them. I have to give 1st place to Gothmog here. Though he only has 3/3/1 for M/W/F (which is not the best of these guys) I think that Master of Battle just makes him too good in this category, especially as it is automatic and doesn't even need a dice roll. In practice this gives him way more than 3 Might in games as he can automatically counter call any Moves in particular. He also has what I think are the 3 best Heroic Actions in the game: March, Strike and Defence. 2nd place goes to Amdur. He is also a 3/3/1 character but more importantly he has Blood and Glory (meaning he gets a point of Might back whenever he kills a Hero) and The Lord of Blades. The Lord of Blades allows Amdur to call a free Strike if his opponent does so. This is huge as Amdur is already F6 with an Elven weapon, making it much more risky for the opponent to call a Strike. In practice what it actually does is stops your opponent from calling Strikes in the first place, allowing Amdur to beat up mid tier characters with ease. 3rd place is Shagrat, mostly because he also has Blood and Glory, however he is the only one of these characters to have the full 3/3/3 stats so that is a point in his favour. 4th goes to Suladan for also being 3/3/1 and having access to Stirke, March, Resolve and Challenge but nothing else fancy going on. Last place is the King who only has a measly 2/2/1 but does also have Strike and March (as well as the less useful Resolve).

Hitting Power

1st: Amdur
2nd: King
3rd: Shagrat
4th: Suladan
5th: Gothmog

This is another tricky one. Everyone here is mounted apart from Shagrat, but he also gets the knockdown bonus thanks to his big Shield. They also all have 3 attacks base too. Everyone is S4 apart from Shagrat at S5, and everyone is F5 apart from Amdur at F6. For that reason I am giving 1st place to Amdur. He is just more likely to win fights so I am valuing this more than Shagrat's S5 as you have to win fights to be able to hurt things. Amdur also has an Elven Blade and is a Banner for himself, making him hit even harder. I initially had Shagrat in 2nd but when I remembered about the King's Impact Hits that tipped things in his favour. Two S4 hits before the combat even starts is huge, especially against Cavalry. Also, as Shagrat is not mounted he doesn't have the opportunity to get the extra attack on the charge. That being said, Shagrat is still definitely in 3rd place thanks to his high Strength. Suladan and Gothmog are identical in terms of Fight and Strength but Suladan has Poison on his weapons so he gets 4th place and Gothmog comes last. It is also worth mentioning that both Suladan and the King have a Bow too, allowing them to do damage outside of combat.

Dan's lovely Amdur on the right

Survivability

1st: Shagrat
2nd: King
3rd: Amdur
4th: Gothmog
5th: Suladan

1st place here goes to Shagrat. He is D7 and is the only one who has 3F. All the characters have 3 wounds which makes life easy. I did struggle to quantify the King's Chariot here as the fact he has an In The Way for everything, and it is on a 5+ definitely is a huge bonus. However as he only has D6 and 1F I have awarded him 2nd behind Shagrat. 3rd place is Amdur and 4th is Gothmog. Amdur has lower Defence than Gothmog (6 v 7) but he does have an Armoured Horse and, more importantly, his higher Fight and Lord of Blades rules are also defensive as he is less likely to lose fights in the first place. Last place is Suladan. With only D5, an unarmoured Horse and 1F this guy will not be sticking around long if his rolls go badly.

Buffs

1st: Gothmog
2nd: Suladan
3rd: King
4th: Amdur
5th: Shagrat

Gothmog is the obvious winner here. His The Age of Man is Over and The Time of the Orc has Come are so good and get even better in his LL. He is leagues ahead of everyone else in this category. 2nd place goes to Suladan who has a 6" Banner which everyone can use, as well as a 12" Stand Fast. The King comes in 3rd. He also has a 6" Banner (which is even bigger thanks to his larger base) but it can only be used by Khandish models. 4th is Amdur as he has a 3" Banner which has the potential to go up to 6" if Amdur kills the enemy Leader. This is situational at best. Last place is Shagrat who has no buffs to speak of at all.

Control

1st: Gothmog
2nd: King
3rd: Amdur
4th: Suladan
5th: Shagrat

There isn't a huge amount going on in this category but there are a few subtle things. Gothmog wins this one again thanks to his Master of Battle. This is a pretty good control piece as it can stop your opponent from calling Heroics, or even just mitigate them a bit if it goes to a roll off. 2nd goes to the King. His control element is his impact hits, meaning people want to stay out of range of where they could be hit and hence controlling what they do. 3rd is Amdur for his Lord of Blades rule, which makes your opponent think twice before Striking. 4th and 5th are a bit of a toss up really. I put Suladan in 4th just because I guess his Banner might give your opponent more to consider. Shagrat is last again. The poor lad just wants to murder things.

Can I kill stuff now?

Magic

1st: Suladan
2nd: King
3rd: Gothmog/Shagrat/Amdur

Nothing going on here in terms of casting but in terms of resisting Suladan and the King have Heroic Resolve. Suladan gets 1st place as he also has 3 Will whereas the King only has 2. Everyone else is joint 3rd as they all have 3 Will points and nothing else to talk about.

Major Drawbacks
The major drawbacks are all pretty varied here so I haven't bothered ranking them. Gothmog's is his lack of Fate, as is Amdur's. If you roll badly with these guys they can get in trouble quickly since they don't have that Fate cushion to fall back on. To be fair, Suladan and the King also only have 1 Fate but they have bigger problems. Suladan is super squishy at D5, he is a real glass cannon since if he wins fights he has Poison to do a lot of damage, but if he loses he is going down fast. The King has a lack of Heroic stats as well as limited movement potential because of the way the chariot works. Also limited by movement is Shagrat as he can't be mounted. He also has the lowest Courage of all of them too. As you can see, these are way too varied to rank. I guess you could say Gothmog and Amdur have the fewest major drawbacks but I'm not assigning numbers as it is too situational.

The Bigger Picture

1st: Gothmog
2nd: Suladan
3rd: Amdur
4th: King
5th: Shagrat

This category is all about how they fit into their respective armies. Gothmog has to take this one as he is the linchpin of any Orc based list. 2nd is Suladan as he is a super cheap Hero of Legend (the only one here) which is useful for 2 reasons. First because he can bring a lot of troops and second because he can be your leader and allow you to be more reckless with any other HoLs you might have, e.g. The Witch King. 3rd is Amdur because he has both Phalanx and Gleaming Horde, meaning he can fit well into your pike block or Kataphrakt wing. 4th is the King because of his big Banner and last is Shagrat because he is only a Hero of Fortitude.

And the winner is....

Conclusion
So the totals are in. Remember the scoring here is like Golf, lower is better.

Winner: Gothmog (16 points)
2nd: Amdur (19 points)
3rd: Khandish King (20 points)
4th: Suladan (22 points)
5th: Shagrat (25 points)

So it turns out that if you also rank these guys in order of points they cost (highest to lowest) you also get the same order. I guess we could have saved ourselves some time and just done that! It is nice to see that our analysis fits in with what the game designers value too though! Shagrat got off to a strong start, being good in the Heroics and the Hitting Power categories, but then he tailed off as really that is all he does. Don't get me wrong, he is still a great character and an absolute bargain but he is a bit one dimensional. Suladan is a strong piece but let down by his weak defence and average hitting power. The King is surprisingly high up the rankings but I also think he is the most susceptible to variance. If you roll well with him he will murder most things and live forever, but if you roll below average he is in big trouble. Amdur is probably the best duelist that Evil has (barring super-Heroes like Azog) and offers some decent buffs too. Gothmog is the other way around. He is an average fighter (for a Hero) but his buffs are game changing enough to put him at the top of the list.

So that's that! What do you think? Anything you would disagree with? Let us know and please let us know if you have suggestions for other Comparisons in the future!

Mordor Commanders

So after looking at the troop choices I now want to look at commanding them. With at least 27 options on my hands I need to break this down. I am not going to include the Wraiths in this just yet, they will be for a later blog.

With such choice how to choose is ultimately up to you, but I will say each one has their place. Let's look at commanders/captains in base cost points order, highest to lowest, for the named and then the generics:

Gothmog - Is always a solid choice especially in his own legendary legion. His special rules when fighting against humans can be devastating as well as the Master of Battle special rule, getting free, endless heroics is a big plus. Positioning is key with him, mounting him on a Warg so he can be put in the right place to activate his Time Of The Orc special rule is really important (outside of the LL). In combat he is solid, F5 with 3 attacks and D7 with a shield, but unfortunately lacking on strength at a fairly standard 4. He isn't the most hard hitting at this price point but with all his rules it makes him worth it. Beware though as he only has 1 Fate so don't hang him out to dry and think he can powerhouse on his own.

Shagrat - Apart from my favorite name, this Captain for the points is a power house and well worth looking at in all lists, especially those at lower points value. This guy is a hero killer and this is reinforced by the Blood and Glory rule (kill a hero, regain a might). Armed with his shield of Cirith Ungol he can also get the knockdown rule on the charge, which only amplifies his impressive F5 S5 and 3 attacks (see I told you he was a beast). As if all this wasn't enough he comes with a whopping 3M 3W 3F. Overall a great piece!

Goroth - Here we have another heavy hitter. Wielding a two handed mace with Burly when he is already S5, he is pretty much going to wound most things on a 4+ or better. At D6 and 2 wounds he is still tough enough to stick around for a bit in the fight.....but wait, he can also use other orcs within 1 inch as human shields on a 2+. In any sort of list (well one with at least a few orcs) this is a strong choice and definitely one I will be using.

Mouth of Sauron - With 4 Will points this is a cheap model for Drain Courage and Transfix, perfect to synergise with terror (It's almost like he was a BN himself...hmmmm). His base stats are pretty good with F5 S4 D6 and 2 attacks he can definitely hold his own in combat. With the option for March and an armoured horse, he can get himself and others to where they need to be quickly. Paired with a Wraith so you have two casters, he is a very strong contender for my go to commander. As an added extra he is the cheapest allying model available to Mordor.

Guritz - Around this price there is a bit of competition but this guy is my favorite. In a tournament setting this commander is great. As well as his access to March he can add or subtract one from your reserve roll for Maelstrom style deployments, not just for his warband but for others when he is on the table. At my last tournament this was crucial and saved me every time. F4 S5 D6 so not too shabby, he has an option to go two handed with a pick but beware he doesn't have Burly so it could hurt you.

Gothmog's Enforcer- Only worth the points if you're taking Gothmog.....and even then it's debatable. He allows Gothmog to use his Will points (3) as Might. The fact the Big G already gets lots for free I'm not convinced by him. At F4 S4 D6 he isn't anything to shout about compared to a lot of the other commanders at a similar price point.

Zagdush - Not bad a shout with 3 attacks and access to Strike and Strength at this price. He has access to the Reckless Fighter rule where he can increase his Strength but lower his Defence by 1. He is only F4 S4 D5 so you do need to be careful when you decide to do this...but I suppose that is why it is called "reckless".

Try to ignore the photobomb by Shagrat.

Gorbag - I love this little guy. F4 S4 D5 with option for shield. Again a situational rule with getting an extra point of Fight and Attack if outnumbered certainly makes people think twice about multi-model attacks. With access to Strike and Strength you may be the one charging other heroes but he is better suited as a troop killer.

Grishnakh - F4 S4 D5, but does get options for a shield. His special rule is getting an extra attack against trapped models. Quite situational really, I would take him if points were tight and I'd generally prefer him over a generic Captain. His woodland creature rule doesn't really appeal to me, on the odd occasion a relic is in a wood it would come in handy. Cool looking model though.

Now we get on to the Generics

Black Numenorean Marshall - F5 S4 D7 with Terror, to be fair for a generic these aren't bad stats at all. However named heroes at lesser points cost are more attractive. 2M 1W 1F - standard for a generic.

Captain of the Black Guard - F5 S5 D7 A more hard hitting generic than previous, this has the standard MWF but has a special rule if you take a Wraith you get +2 courage while it's alive. Meh.

Mordor Uruk-hai Captain - F5 S5 D5- you can kit these out with shields, two handed weapons or bows for extra utility. Given the options above I don't know why you would take one.

Orc Taskmaster - Now I can't decide whether these guys are worth it or not. If you are taking him alongside a commander that is always calling heroics then maybe he is, having a 50% chance of not using your Might if you are within 6 inches seems good. He is F4 S4 D6 and can use a whip in a fight if he chooses. The whip can target ALL models in the fight but reduces your fight to 1. Probably not then eh?!

Morannon Orc Captain - No special rules here, access to March F4 S5 D6- option for shield and 2 handed weapon. With the named commanders coming in at similar points I really don't see a place for this in my armies apart for the D7 option if I was tailoring a list.

Orc Captain - Woodland creature and March F4 S4 D5 - This guy can be put on a Warg, have a shield and bow. There is an argument for having him for mobility and the cheap March, maybe as the commander of a group of Warg Riders. Other than that I think you are better off with other named heroes, though there is something to be said for him being so cheap!

As you can see, there are a lot of options available, even more if you count Ringwraith's, Kardush and the Orc Shaman but I will cover these in later blogs. Let us know what your favorite is or what you think is essential to your list.

The Conversion Corner: Moria Goblin Captain with Shield

In our last edition of “500 under 50” we looked at Moria, and the list we threw together had a Goblin Captain leading a small warband. Rather than suggesting you buy the Commanders pack and spend another £20, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to start of a small and most likely infrequent series “The Conversion Corner”, in which we'll have a look at some interesting conversion ideas.

Kicking it off we have the aforementioned Goblin Captain. The conversion was in an old copy of Battle Games in Middle Earth Magazine, just in case anyone think I'm trying to take credit for it!

This is my captain painted up:

If you want to have a go at making your own, you'll need 2 Goblin Warriors. One armed with a bow, specifically one of the model who has just fired an arrow (if you're following our 500u50, you'll notice I left 1 Goblin with a bow out of the list) and one goblin armed with a sword, specifically the one holding his sword up in the air. (You'll need to source this goblin yourself as our list used up all of the sword toting Goblins, but even if you don't your list will only be 5 points down).

First thing we're going to do, is cut the arm off our sword Goblin. I cut it at his shoulder, just to make sure we don't damage the arm in anyway.

Once you've cut the arm off, you'll want to trim it down to the right size. We're going to cut the arm so we're just left with the bracer and sword. You should have this once you've cut it.

Next, we're go to very simply cut off the bow of out warrior, and cut his right arm just where his arm meets his bracer. This is what you want to have after you've cut:

You can see that it's starting to take shape now. Lets have a look at we should have now:

Next, we just need to attach everything. Add a small drop of your chosen glue to the arm and attach the arm in whatever position you like. You'll see that I've stuck my model into a bit of blu-tac on an old paint pot, this is just so I can move the model around without touching it directly and accidentally risk touching and moving the piece as it dries.

It's starting to look the part now! We only have one more step to do! I forgot to get a picture of it, but the small plug at the back of the shield needs to come off so it fits to our goblin. This is easily done with a hobby knife and a pair of clippers. Just clip it off and make sure its nice and smooth so the shield and arm can touch each other to form a nice contact point.

This is the bit to remove

Glue on the shield and once it dries, you should have this:

And here he is! I made an unhelmeted version, just so I don't have 2 identical models, and you'll notice I cut the sword arm a little different aswell, just to show you have a few options! I had a blast making this captain, I even threw together a third one! This one, I cut the bowman's arm at his sleeve and used the whole sword arm to give him a different pose, and glued the shield on at a different angle. I also cut the arrows out of his quiver, since he doesn't have a bow, and I gave him a modelled base I had in my bits box, I think it's from Warhammer AoS Shadespire.

Well, I hope you have a go at making your own Goblin captain! If you do, feel free to show us, I'd love to see what you come up with!

500 Under 50: Moria

In today's 500 Under 50, we're going to be having a look at Moria! Hordes of Goblins, clad in rusty armour in almost endless quantities!.... Well, that's not what we're looking at! We're going to have a look at making a list with one of the best beat sticks in the game, The Balrog.

The Balrog is obviously a great centrepiece to any Moria army, and if you're looking at starting
them you'll probably get him eventually, so why not get him straight away? Let's be honest, he is the reason you are starting this army anyway! The list will be pretty simple, since the Balrog is going to eat up most of the cost, in points and pounds. The list is as follows:

The Balrog
8 Moria Goblins with Shields
8 Moria Goblins with Spears

Goblin Captain with Shield
6 Goblins with Orc Bows

See what I mean? Pretty simple list. To put it on the table you're going to need to pick up:

The Balrog: £37.50
1 Box of Goblin Warriors: £26
Total cost: £63 from Games Workshop

Or £55 if you order from our new partner at Rebel Base Gaming! Just click here to get it all in one bundle with free postage!

The astute among you might notice that we've chucked a Goblin Captain in the list as well, without including on in the buying section. That's because Goblin Captains are really quite easy and fun to convert, and we'll have a blog post coming out very soon which will show you how I converted my
Goblin Captain.

So, in case you haven't seen what The Balrog brings to the table, he's an absolute beast. What he lacks in Might points, he makes up for in raw strength. With 4 Strength 9 attacks, he's going to make short work of pretty much anything he gets into a fight with, and with an equally impressive Defence of 9, he's fairly safe should he lose the duel roll (since you have no banner or rerolls in the list). He has a throwing weapon which can pull models into base contact with him, and he gets a free Heroic Combat each turn! He's an absolute tank. You're going to want to make sure you can take out enemy heroes, so make good use of the Fiery Lash to try and pull them from behind their line. He offers your Goblins a 12” bubble of Fearless, which is very handy, since you'll be at such a low model count. You'll need to make the most of the few Goblins you have when it comes to eating control zones and allowing the Balrog to dominate the field, setting up traps where possible.

The real icing on the cake for the Balrog comes in the form of his FREE Heroic Combat each turn. You're opponent is likely to try and send a single model each turn into the Balrog to try and stop him from being able to charge, but thanks to the Heroic, you should be able to make short work of the sacrificial model and move onto a juicier target! Just watch out for over committing, you don't want to end up trapped yourself!

The 6 Goblin Archers can make a small force of objective grabbers but don't expect them to win you games! If your opponent decides to dedicate some of his list to killing them, they'll probably die.  Goblin shooting is not the best.

Look out for our “Conversion Corner” article coming soon showing you how to convert your own Captain!