A Noob's Perspective - the Army of Dunland

This week, Dan Stu takes a look at the current hotness that is the Army of Dunland Legendary Legion from the recent Rohan at War book!

That’s right, it’s time for another Noob’s Perspective! With the ‘you-know-what’ still at large, the team here at Drawn Combat have had a lot of time to get through our painting piles, and just like Steve in his recent article, I’ve started to look at what’s next! As always – this is a Noob’s Perspective, so I’m going purely on the models’ profiles, having never seen this army on a table.

I’m not alone in eyeing up Dunland - ever since the Legendary Legion dropped, the army has exploded in popularity thanks to some beautiful sculpts, a well-designed and competitive rule set, and the fact that they’ve been a real underdog for a long time! Like many others I’m itching for Forge World to reopen so I can order those amazing new models!

For this article we’ll be looking exclusively at the Legendary Legion. The odds are that if you’re running Dunland these days, it will be in this legion. Not only is it really well designed, with every unit having a unique, important job – it’s also really powerful (at least in theory- but some recent tournament results seem to back this up too.)

I think my favourite thing about this Legendary Legion is how almost nothing treads on each other’s toes. Everything is varied, unique and useful – the Legendary Legions seem to be getting better with every release, and the team has really nailed it with this one. So that being said, let’s take a look at the Legion perks, and then dive straight in to the units!

The Army of Dunland

Death to the Forgoil!  - Hatred of Rohan has been included across the entire list. This is really great, and more than just a fluffy inclusion, for reasons we’ll see later!
Dunlending Pride – Dunlending Banners are now 6” instead of 3”, which almost quadruples their area of effect. For a largely Fight 3 army, this is a massive help.
Dunlending War Cry – for one turn, models within 12” of Thrydan roll to wound at a +1. Spicy! For an army that really doesn’t struggle for ways to amp up their killing power - as we’ll see -this ability could be devastating if timed correctly.

Army Quick Hits:
Race: Men
Strength: Base 4 for warriors, 3 for Wildmen
Defense: Base 4 for warriors, 3 for Wildmen
Fight: Base 3 for Warriors & Wildmen
Courage: Base 3 across the board
Kit: Lots of axes and access to 2 handed weapons. Limited access to spears.

Heroes

Thrydan Wolfsbane
He’s a mandatory hero in this list – but let’s be honest, you’d be taking him 99 percent of the time anyway. He has a solid profile for his cost – but it’s his toolbox that really makes him shine (this is going to be a recurring theme here!) The star of the show is Mighty Blow, which doubles his damage output when wounding. He has both a sword and a two-handed axe for flexibility, meaning that when he really wants to pile on the pain, he can call a two handed piercing strike – giving him a whopping Strength 6, +1 to wound, and double wounds. He’s also got the option to take a mount (unique among the Dunland heroes) – meaning that when the stars align, his potential damage output is crazy, even to high-defense models. He does only have 2 Attacks to make up for this, meaning that he’ll rely on getting the charge and being supported to be reach his full potential. 3 Might is very healthy, too, and will mostly be going towards his Heroic Strike addiction.

Absolutely amazing job on these sculpts. Well done, SBG team!

Gorulf Ironskin
The first of the new heroes is a really solid addition, as well as being an absolutely gorgeous model. 3 Attacks at Fight 5 is always going to be good. His best trick is his Ironskin ability, granting him a free Heroic Defense. I initially thought this was a bit of a trap and would just allow him to ‘lose more slowly’ – but combining with piercing strike is definitely the way to go, totally cancelling out the penalty that comes with the +1 Strength. All of a sudden you’ve got a Strength 6 monster that’s only being wounded on 6s, with 3 Might to swing fights his way – this guy punches above his weight in terms of grinding out duels. It’s tempered a little by his 2 Wounds and 1 Fate, meaning that even with Heroic Defense, he’s still only 1 bad roll away from death – but for 70 points this seems more than fair.

Frida Tallspear
I love this hero. One of the Legion’s main weaknesses is its lack of access to mounted heroes, which really opens you up to charges by mounted enemy heroes. Frida’s inclusion gives you a tool to mitigate that weakness – but only if you use her well. It’s pitch perfect design, and turns an army's blind spot in to an opportunity for engaging gameplay. Frida will cancel out the enemy charge bonuses of any fight that she is supporting, as well as giving all nearby troops rerolls to wound against mounts. She’s a spear support on steroids!

If you keep Frida mobile in your back ranks, all of a sudden you’ll almost want to lose the priority rolls just to bait your opponent in to wasting their big hero charge! Similarly, enemy mounted heroes will really have to think twice about when and where to charge if there is a chance that Frida will come and join the fight – an opportunistic charge could easily turn in to a Dunlending ambush, and without their charge bonuses, the larger cavalry bases can become a big liability. Frida gives tons of play and counter-play options to both sides, and might be my favourite new addition to the list.

Oops – we haven’t even got to her profile yet! She’s another really solid hitter, bringing yet another 3 Might. You’ll want to keep her mobile in the second rank, so she can mostly be thought of as a Fight 5, Strength 4 supporting Spear attack – nothing to sniff at. No Heroic Strike – but I’ll let her off.

The Wildman Oathmaker & Wildmen of Dunland
I’ve grouped these together, as it doesn’t make much sense to discuss them separately.

The Oathmaker is another iconic model, with great rules to match. At first glance, 3 Might (yes, another 3) and a decent combat profile for 55 points is an absolute bargain. He probably has the least use for his Might out of any of the heroes, with only Strength - I’d have loved to see March here, but alas. He’ll probably be your main man for Heroic Move a lot of the time – but this isn’t an easy decision either, as most of the time I think he’ll be run outside your main fighting force and in a blob of Wildmen of Dunland, to whom he gives a 6” fearless bubble – permanent Fury for free!

This turns your Wildmen in to a bit of a swiss army blob – especially if you mix in a few axes and 2h weapons to let them scare some bigger targets. At 5pts each (6 with a 2 handed axe), you can really throw them around – and at only Defense 3, your axes and two handers will be piercing striking often, especially if you’re up against Strength 4+ (I dropped from defense 3 to defense 1? Who cares, I was dead anyway!) They’re a great cheap horde that you won’t care about preserving all that much, and they can really blunt the fangs of some terror-causing lists. With Fight and Courage of 3, these are actually a really good counter to Dunharrow Ghosts, too – tying up a 14pt Ghost with a 5pt Wildman is a great trade (and a very frustrating one for the Ghost player!)

I think there’s also a good argument for including a Dunlending Warrior with Banner in this blob, too- cheap attacks en masse really enjoy banner effects – especially big juicy 6” ones.

Dunlending Chieftain
Expectedly, the only non-named hero is also now the least exciting. But he still has his place, with a good combat stat line and a scary Strength 5. In larger lists I think he’s worth taking just to have access to Heroic March. He comes with a 2-handed axe, but I think I’d trade this for the 1h axe and shield at no cost. This makes him the only Defense 6 model in the list alongside Frida - useful if you need to anchor a location down.

Warriors

Dunlending Warriors
Your bread-and-butter troop choice – but in typical Dunland fashion, you’ve still got plenty of versatility here. Strength 4 with an axe for Piercing Strike is great. Their Defense is average, maxing at 5 with a shield, so running axe and shield should be your default. Access to bows is good, and I think I’d usually include a few. Two-handed axes are slightly less convincing but still nice to have. These are also your source for the Dunland Super-Banners, which I’d always take two of in an average sized army – they really help with the Fight 3.

The Warrior profile lays the groundwork for a really solid Horde-type army. However, the Army of Dunland is not nearly that straightforward in its playstyle, thanks to our next troop choice…

Dunlending Huscarls
These are my second-favourite addition to the list. I’ve heard people say that these models are over-costed – but I couldn’t disagree more! The are expensive, sure - in a vacuum, 11 points for a Strength 4 Defense 5 spear support is a lot. But you’ve got to consider that these guys are your only non-hero access to Spears and Fight 4 in the whole army! 

But what I love about them is that they don’t give the Fight bonus consistently – it’s only when they’re within 3” of a hero. Want Frida to go and cancel out Aragorn’s charge? Or want Thrydan to go and mow down that vulnerable captain? Well, you’d better think about whether or not their sections of your line can cope without Fight 4 for a round or two! Huscarls hammer home the positioning-heavy theme of this army, and their high price point means that you have to be smart with them. Their high cost is an intrinsic part of their design. They aren’t intended as a replacement for your warriors!

Bodyguard as a counter to Terror, and the option to go two-handed axe also means that you also have the flexibility to put them on the front rank if the situation calls for it.

I think efficient positioning of Huscarls and Heroes will be this army’s biggest skill curve – and it’s a little sad that against Elves, this aspect goes out of the window, turning the army in to a more 2-dimensional horde list. But that’s a really minor nitpick.

Also, those models. Phwoar.

Dunlending Horsemen
Dunland’s only Cavalry aren’t amazing, but they’re not really supposed to be. Fight 3 on a Cavalry model is always a little painful, and they won’t be getting any Huscarl support either. But 12 points for a mounted model is a steal! (Also, I think it means that these guys are the only SBG models that cost more in pounds than points…If you can think of any others let us know!)

Still, cavalry with the potential to Piercing Strike up to Strength 5 can never be ignored – and while they won’t be forming the ‘hammer’ of your list, they still have their place. They certainly seem more suited to the counter-charge than the charge. I think their best home is on one of your flanks in a defensive / reactive position – they reroll 1s to wound against horses, which will make mounted enemy heroes think twice about swooping in. They could also serve as late game objective grabbers – but they are quite fragile, and might be fighting with our next choice for that role!

Crebain
Another new addition and they’ve knocked it out of the park yet again. While the models seems to be a little bit more divisive, the rules are great, and open up a ton of possibilities. Easy access to a durable, large base flying model means that you’ll always be on the lookout for potential traps, and your opponent will really have to work hard to prevent this. Of course, if you throw them behind enemy lines too soon they will be trapped themselves – so I think they’ll mostly be used to punish models that overextend.

They can also negate the Stalk Unseen special rule, which is probably situational at best.

But their other logical use is as objective grabbers. 12” of movement will see you flapping over to wherever you need to be - and when bows only hit you on a 6, 4 wounds means that you’re all but immune to ranged fire. And with 2 attacks, they even have a decent shot at taking over control of an objective if it’s only tagged by a single enemy warrior. Even if they can’t get the kill, it’ll take an enemy at least 4 turns to whittle you down, making them great objective deniers.


The List

OK! Now that we’ve got a feel for this insane toolbox full of axes, let’s see if we can put something together.

Thrydan Wolfsbane – Horse
7 Dunlending Warriors with axe and shield
1 Dunlending Warrior with banner
5 Dunlending Huscarls
2 Crebain

Frida Tallspear
3 Dunlending Warriors with axe and shield
2 Dunlending Warriors with bow
2 Dunlending Huscarls
3 Dunlending Horsemen
1 Crebain

Gorulf Ironskin
4 Dunlending Warriors with axe and shield
2 Dunlending Warriors with bow
2 Dunlending Huscarls
3 Dunlending Horsemen
1 Crebain

The Wild Man Oathmaker
1 Dunlending Warrior with banner
5 Wildmen of Dunland with sword
5 Wildmen of Dunland with axe
1 Wildman of Dunland with 2 handed axe

800pts, 54 models, 12 Might

Every unit type other than the Dunlending Chieftain is represented here – not because I was aiming for that, but because I think they all bring something important. I think that’s the sign of a really well designed army list! Looking at it, I would expect it to play somewhere between a horde and a standard battle line army, and the great thing is that you’ve got the flexibility to do either depending on the scenario.

I am a little torn on putting the second banner in with the Wildmen, and might switch it over to Frida’s warband. But in theory, Thrydan, Frida and Gorulf should all be fighting nearby, with a group of Wildmen on one flank, so hopefully 2 banners will cover almost everything. I’ll also have to see how the horsemen get on being split across 2 warbands – they might be better off deploying together. But I wanted to leave the most solid block of troops with the most Huscarl support to be in Thrydan’s warband, just in case of Contest of Champions – an early Dunlending War Cry with all of your best fighters in the centre of the board could be devastating!

It’s a very area-buff-heavy army, similar to the Fiefdoms (a comparison also made on the Green Dragon podcast!) But unlike the Fiefdoms, it’s very dynamic – you can't just keep everything in one blob that gets all the buffs all the time. You’ll be constantly assessing where each unit can provide the most benefit and balancing that against what the scenario requires. You can turn it in to a really efficient killing machine, but you have to work for it. You’ll want to keep Heroes and Huscarls distributed across the line, banners spread out, horses ready to pounce, Frida mobile, and hopefully everything centred around Thrydan ready for that War Cry!

A couple of things I haven’t covered in the profiles above are some of the main things I think this list will struggle against. The most obvious thing missing is a massive hero like Gil-Galad or Elessar- Dunland has great heroes but they cap at Fight 5, and you don’t really have a hero-seeking missile that you can fire-and-forget at your opponent. You’ll be really reliant on Heroic Strike (fortunately you have a lot of might to throw at it), and will probably struggle in the more hero-centric scenarios.
The other blind spot is ranged weaponry. With their archers maxing at Defense 4, you’re not likely to win any shootouts – the bows you do take should just be for opportunistic potshots. Skirmish armies could cause you a real headache. Fortunately against Rohan you’ve got Hatred to even the odds, but against other skirmish armies like Khand and (Valinor forbid) mounted Rivendell, you could have a really frustrating matchup on your hands.

Finally, you have no magic to speak of whatsoever. This is helped a tiny bit by the fact that you’re likely to have will points scattered across the entire army as your heroes will be spread out – so you could always score that lucky 6 to deny. However, the flip side to not having a single massive hero is that your list won’t be crippled if your opponent does score a Transfix or Paralyse.

These are really nicely designed weaknesses; none of them are outright blind spots, and all of them can be mitigated through smart play and using the tools available to you – hopefully making for an army that’s really fun to play, and to play against!

To wrap up, let’s just go over what I think the strengths and weaknesses will be when I get these beautiful models on the table to march on the Westfold:

Strengths
- Incredible damage potential
- Good numbers
- Flexible weaponry, lots of Piercing Strike
- Area buffs for smart positioning
- Lots of Might
- Lots of options against Terror

Weaknesses
- Fight value, especially against Elves
- Lack of an indestructible beatstick hero
- Low-ish defense
- Poor ranged ability and weakness to Skirmish armies
- Lack of mounted heroes – but Frida helps!
- No magic, and not much Will
- Limited access to Heroic March

So there it is! What did I get right or wrong, and what did I miss entirely? Let us know!