Building on your Battlehost: Isengard

Dan Stu: 

This is the first in a new blog series, in which we'll be talking through each of the new-ish Battlehost boxes, and giving advice on how to build out your collections. 

One of the blog series that kicked off our humble blog was our 500 under 50 series. Sadly though, in a post-price-hike world, that series is now looking a little out of date - if you’re looking to get in to the game for £50, our new blog series may as well be a tutorial on how to walk in to a shop and buy a Battlehost. 

I have noticed, however, that there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of buying guides since the release of the Battlehosts. And as they are, alongside the new starter set, now the most cost-effective way of buying in to the game, I decided to put together this guide for people who are relatively new to the game and may be baffled by where to go next.  

A particularly confusing aspect for new players is the large number of Legendary Legions now in existence, and without buying a lot of books, it can be unintuitive to figure out what your most sensible purchases are. We won’t be going in to detail about the particular pros and cons of each Legion (that is extremely well covered by our friends over at Tell Me A Tale, Great Or Small) but we will be presenting a sensible order of purchases to be able to field each one. 

As is always the case in our buying guides, we won’t be going for the most optimized or competitive lists – the focus will be on the minimum number of purchases you can get away with to get your toys on the table. And where we discuss prices, we’ll be using the direct from GW costs. However, you can often find models cheaper than this, and for the older armies in particular, my first place to check would always be the online trade groups, where you can very often find job lots of older factions for very good prices - as long as you’re happy with a bit of hobby DIY. 

Speaking of hobby DIY – I’ve written the lists below so that the weapon options match what you’ll find in the various troop boxes. However, you may find that other wargear options are preferable, particularly when it comes to shields and 2-handed weapons (the rule of thumb: shields good, 2h weapons bad). With a bit of light hobbying, it’s possible to make changes – for example, adding shields to the shieldless models. For the sake of friendliness to new players, the lists below don't necessitate any such conversion work and are all made from off-the-shelf models.

And a final point - the most important rule to bear in mind is that you should always buy that models that look fun or appealing to you (as long as you can afford them!) We've taken a bare bones approach on how to get each Legion on the table with minimum purchases and not too many fancy toys, but if a troll or ballista looks like a good time, then that should be your  next purchase - don't deny yourself some of the joys of the hobby just because of something you read on a blog or forum. 

I suppose the first point to address is that while the Isengard Battlehost is a great place to start in the faction, it is also in an odd spot, in that most Isengard lists and especially the Legendary Legions will use either Uruk Scouts or Warriors, but rarely both - especially if you’re looking to optimize your list. In addition, Saruman is not present in any of the Legendary Legions. That being said, the Battlehost is still a great place to start, because it will set you up for a large number of options – so unless you’ve got your mind set on a particular Legendary Legion and would prefer to purchase only the troop type needed, the Battlehost is a much more cost effective option. And, given that the troop boxes currently retail for £30 and the Battlehost (consisting of 2 troop boxes and a character) for £55, it seems like a no brainer to cover yourself for any lists you may wish to pivot to in the future - so we'll assume that's where you're starting. 

Pure Isengard Path 

Credit: Andrew King, as featured on Warhammer Community

We'll talk in this blog about Legendary Legions, but don't be fooled in to thinking that they're the logical endpoint when collecting Isengard. Pure Isengard is just as fun and competitive as any LL, and gives you by far the most versatility, as well as access to some units that you're locked out of otherwise. 

List 1: 400pts Battlehost only

Shopping list: Isengard Battlehost, Armies of the LOTR book

  Warband 1    18/18  

  Saruman with Horse;  

  8 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  10 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    0/0  

  Gríma Wormtongue  

 ----

395pts, 20 Units

   

This list is worth taking for a spin if you’ve just dipped your toe in to the game and bought your first battlehost. It’s good for getting toys on the table quickly, or if you and a friend both bought a battlehost together and want to play with those exclusively - but I’d strongly recommend moving on to your next purchases. Sadly we're not able to fill the last 5 points as there is no space in any of our warbands!

List 2: 650pts Pure Isengard

Shopping list: Uruk-Hai Commanders box

  Warband 1    14/18  

  Saruman with Horse;  

        4 Uruk-hai Scout with Uruk-hai bow;

            4 Uruk-hai Scout with Shield;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  1 Uruk-hai Warrior with Banner;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    0/0  

  Gríma Wormtongue  

  ----  

  Warband 3    10/12  

  Uruk-hai Captain with Shield;  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Uruk-hai bow;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  ----  

  Warband 4    6/6  

  Uruk-hai Shaman with Armour;  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Uruk-hai bow;  

  2 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

 2 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike; 

650pts, 34 units, 8 Bows

   

With the commanders box, things are starting to come together, and this is a perfectly decent army. You’ve got a nice mix of magic, a banner and some shooting. This is a good set of models that you can field for plenty of games. If you are a newer player, this is an excellent 'tutorial' army - a good option to get quite a few games in while you learn the ropes, before deciding the style of army you want to buy in to next. (If you want our take on 'tutorial' armies, we have a blog post about that here, too!)

You can really pick your poison from this point, too – some more named heroes, and some specialist troops like crossbows or berzerkers will give you a much more varied toolbox and will help to build towards bigger, scarier Isengard lists.  

List 3: 800pts Pure Isengard 

Shopping list: Lurtz & Ugluk, Warg Riders

  Warband 1    17/18  

  Saruman with Horse;  

  4 Uruk-hai Scout with Uruk-hai bow;  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Shield;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  1 Uruk-hai Warrior with Banner;  

  2 Warg Rider with Throwing spears;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    0/0  

  Gríma Wormtongue  

  ----  

  Warband 3    12/15  

  Lurtz with Shield;  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Uruk-hai bow;  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  1 Warg Rider with Orc bow;  

  1 Warg Rider  

  ----  

  Warband 4    12/12  

  Uglúk  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Uruk-hai bow;  

  2 Uruk-hai Scout with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  1 Warg Rider with Orc bow;  

 1 Warg Rider

800pts, 45 units, 10 Bows 

 

Optional Extras: Literally everything else from the Isengard army list!

This is still a really basic Isengard list, but it’ll get you to 800pts with minimum purchases. It’s ticking similar boxes to the 650pts list, but with the addition of some named heroes and some cavalry threat. You can really season this to taste, with Mauhur & Vrasku being logical options, as well as some bigger threats such as specialist troops or trolls. Sharku would also fit right in with the warg riders.

This list really isn't doing anything all that fancy, but it's a fantastic backbone that you can add almost anything to. 

Legendary Legions

So once you’ve got a decent Isengard backbone sorted and a few games under your belt, you will most likely start thinking about Isengard Legendary Legions. These are a double edged sword, because while they offer highly specialized and powerful lists, they will lock you out of many options – the most notable being Saruman himself. It is definitely a good idea to treat them as optional sidegrades, and after some time with the vanilla Isengard list you’ll get a handle on the style of play that suits you. 

Assault on Helm’s Deep LL

Charles Lin's stunning AoHD army display. 

Why you’d like it: Tons of shooting, big siege weapons with Legion bonuses, and hordes of generic infantry and captains. 

For AoHD, you’re best off branching out from your basic Battlehost + Commanders box, (List 2) as you’ll mostly be needing Uruk Captains and Uruk Warriors. Keep in mind that if you’re looking to play Assault on Helm’s Deep exclusively, none of the other named Isengard heroes will be any use here, so buy with that in mind. 

Shopping list: Uruk-Hai Warriors, 2x Uruk Hai with Crossbows, Uruk-Hai Siege Assault Ballista, Uruk-Hai Siege Troops, 1x Uruk Hai Captain, War in Rohan book

A pretty hefty shopping list, but all stuff that you’ll be able to use in vanilla Isengard should you desire. 2 squads of crossbows isn’t exactly the bare minimum and you can play AoHD without these, but they are such a core part of how this legion is played that it feels necessary to include at least 8 of them. For a more ‘meta’ list, you can swap out the demolition team for a second Siege Ballista, although you’re not likely to earn many friends by doing this. 

You’ll need a second Captain to play this list too, but I wouldn’t advise buying a second pack of Uruk-Hai Commanders just for this – I would recommend either converting one from a regular warrior, or checking the trade groups as there are a number of old metal Captain models that can prevent you from doubling up on the same Captain sculpt. 

List 4: 800pts Assault on Helm’s Deep Legendary Legion

  Warband 1    18/18  

  Uruk-hai Commander with Shield;  

  6 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  6 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Warrior with Crossbow;  

  1 Uruk-hai Demolition Team with Flaming Brand;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    17/18  

  Uruk-hai Captain with Shield;  

  6 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  6 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  1 Uruk-hai Warrior with Banner; Shield;  

  4 Uruk-hai Warrior with Crossbow;  

  ----  

  Warband 3    12/12  

  Uruk-hai Shaman  

  5 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  6 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  1 Uruk-hai Warrior with Crossbow;  

  ----  

  Warband 4    2/12  

  Uruk-hai Siege Veteran  

 Isengard Assault Ballista

                   

                     799pts, 53 Units, 8 Crossbows  

Optional extras: More Crossbows, Berzerkers, Trolls, second Siege Ballista

This list will give any experienced SBG player cause for pause. You can probably optimise it by including more siege bows and crossbows, but this is a great starting point and will do well on the table. 

Scouts Path

The scouts path will only be building on the 24 scout models from the Battlehost, so if you desire to run only these lists, you could probably just jump in and buy Scouts directly. However, for the reasons we talked about earlier, I still think the Battlehost is such good value that you’d be better off just shelving the other models until you feel like playing a different list – so we’ll be branching off from list 1. 

Lurtz’ Scouts LL

Credit: Warhammer Community

Why you’d like it: Lots of fast guys, lots of bows, it’s very cinematic, good deployment control, and you get to throw a shield. 

Lurtz’s scouts is often maligned, and it may be treated as a stepping stone to playing the scouts list that is generally regarded as being better. However, it doesn’t require all that many purchases, so it’s an easy recommendation to follow on from the Battlehost. 

Shopping list: Lurtz & Ugluk, Mauhur & Vrasku, Uruk-Hai Scouts Commanders, Quest of the Ringbearer book

We’ll need both Lurtz and Mauhur in the list, as Mauhur allows you to upgrade your entire army to an 8” move, which is pretty much the main reason to take this list. 

I’ve also put in a single extra scout with shield, beyond what is provided in the Battlehost. If you can’t beg / borrow / steal a scout from a friend, I’m sure most people would be happy with you using an Uruk-Hai warrior as a proxy. 

If you plan on passing over this list and going straight to Ugluk’s Scouts, you can probably forego the Quest of the Ringbearer book, too – although there is a lot of other fun stuff in there. 

List 5: 500pts Lurtz’s Scouts Legendary Legion

  Warband 1    11/15  

  Lurtz with Shield;  

  Uruk-hai Drummer  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Uruk-hai bow;  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder  

  1 Uruk-hai Marauder with Banner;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    9/12  

  Uglúk  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Uruk-hai bow;  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder  

  ----  

  Warband 3    7/12  

  Mauhúr  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Shield;  

  2 Uruk-hai Marauder with Uruk-hai bow;  

  2 Uruk-hai Marauder  

----

                    500pts, 30 Units, 8 Bows  

Optional extras: Uruk-Hai Scouts (particularly with bows)

The only way you can build on this list is by adding more Captains and Scouts. As the list probably shines most around the 500-600pts mark, and as the second set of Scouts isn’t needed to Ugluk’s scouts, you’d have to really want to play this list at higher points values to justify this purchase, so I wouldn’t recommend it immediately.  

If we were to optimise this list you'd want to hit your bow limit - but that's not something we've done here as we're limited by the number of bows in the battlehost. If you are happy to convert some of the shieldless Scouts to have bows, the list would certainly benefit. 

Ugluk’s Scouts LL

Fellow Drawn Combat writer Steve Thorley's lovely Ugluk's Scouts army. 

Why you’d like it: Tons of very fast guys, fun interactions between your troops, high model count.

Shopping List: Snaga & Grishnakh, Mordor Orcs, War in Rohan book

List 6: 700pts Ugluk’s Scouts Legendary Legion

  Warband 1    11/12  

  Uglúk  

  Uruk-hai Drummer  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Uruk-hai bow;  

  1 Uruk-hai Marauder with Banner;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    9/12  

  Mauhúr  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Shield;  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder  

  3 Uruk-hai Marauder with Uruk-hai bow;  

  ----  

  Warband 3    6/12  

  Uruk-hai Scout Captain with Shield;  

  2 Uruk-hai Marauder with Shield;  

  2 Uruk-hai Marauder  

  2 Uruk-hai Marauder with Uruk-hai bow;  

  ----  

  Warband 4    12/12  

  Grishnákh, Orc Captain with Shield;  

  4 Orc Warrior with Spear;  

  4 Orc Warrior with Shield;  

  2 Orc Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  2 Orc Warrior with Orc bow;  

  ----  

  Warband 5    10/12  

  Snaga, Orc Captain  

  4 Orc Warrior with Spear;  

  4 Orc Warrior with Shield;  

  1 Orc Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  1 Orc Warrior with Orc bow;  

  ----  

698pts, 53 Units, 11 Bows

Optional extras: Uruk-Hai Scouts, more banners

There is probably an argument for another banner in here, if you can find one or don’t mind shelling out for a second pack of Scout Commanders. We’ve used all the Uruk Scouts we own in this list, so if we want to go beyond 700pts, you’d need another box of Scouts or Orcs. However, as we’ve already included all the named heroes, this list is probably best around 700pts or less – you could pad it out with more Captains and warriors if you wanted to, but you're not really adding any new tricks at that point.

Dunland Path

My own Dunland army!

You might notice that we haven’t touched a Dunland model until now. Dunland function a bit like an army within an army, especially when you consider their Legendary lLegion which shares no models with the Isengard Battlehost. This path assumes that you’d want to collect general Isengard models with a few Dunland options, and then want to have the ability to run the pure Dunland LL. 

If your aim is to beeline to the Dunland Legendary Legion, then you’re better off just skipping the Battlehost completely and collecting Dunland from the ground up – which is actually what I did. before retroactively buying the Isengard Battlehost. But don’t get me wrong – a lot of the Dunland models are a great boon to a ‘vanilla’ Isengard list and are worth picking up even if you have no intention of running the Legion. 

Isengard & Dunland

Technically this is still pure Isengard, but we’re on a  slightly different trajectory to the ‘Pure Isengard’ lists, so I’ve separated this option out as it’s a very different way to run the army. 

Why you’d like it: Dunland has got some of the coolest toys in the game. They’re strong, cheap and very angry. Some of the heroes fit seamlessly in to the Isengard roster. You don’t get any insane heroes, but they each bring a lot of bang for their buck. 

Shopping List: Heroes of Dunland, Dunlending Warriors, Crebain

We’ve gone for the Heroes of Dunland pack here as they give great bang for your buck – three heroes that all bring something different as well as buffing some of your troops. Gorulf in particular is an absolute powerhouse in any army.

Disclaimer: I’ve recommended Wildmen and Dunlending Warriors, but it must be said that these boxes are absolutely terrible value. The way they are packaged is rubbish too – they come with as many 2 handed weapons as single, and in the case of Warriors, you get a grand total of 4 with axe & shield. Given that these make up the backbone of your Dunland troops, this is frankly a terrible value  that I would not advise purchasing - it's right up there with Easterling warriors for troop packs that make no sense.  

I’ve tried to stay away from any conversion work or third party models, but this really is a situation in which I’d recommend giving either one of them a look – both to save your wallet and to avoid duplicate sculpts (there are two poses for a Dunland warrior with axe & shield, your go-to troop type). There are a large number of historical miniatures companies out there, and several product ranges are suitable for padding or proxying Dunland troops. Of course, the ideal situation is finding a Dunland job lot on a trade group, but given the list’s relative popularity, this might be tricky to find at a good price. 

I’ve written these lists assuming you’re happy to buy multiple boxes of GW’s Dunland troops, but I’d strongly recommend keep the alternatives in mind.

List 7: Isengard & Dunland 700pts 

  Warband 1    18/18  

  Saruman with Horse;  

  7 Uruk-hai Warrior with Shield;  

  10 Uruk-hai Warrior with Pike;  

  1 Uruk-hai Warrior with Banner;  

  ----  

  Warband 2    8/12  

  Gorûlf Ironskin  

  1 Dunlending Warrior with Banner;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Bow;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Shield;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  1 Crebain  

  ----  

  Warband 3    7/12  

  Frida Tallspear  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Bow;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Shield;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  1 Crebain  

----

                       697pts, 36 units  

I’ve built the list with the models you get in the Warrior and Wildman packs, but you should keep in mind that this is pretty sub-optimal, and the list is instantly improved if you replace all 2h weapons with their single handed equivalent (and a shield where possible.) Hopefully Games Workshop give us a way of buying Dunland troops that actually makes sense in the near future, but I wouldn’t count on it. 

It's worth noting that you’ve got a whole load of Scouts from your Battlehost untouched here, as well as some spare Dunland and Uruk heroes – so you could easily pad this list to 800pts or beyond. 

Optional Extras: Thrydan Wolfsbane is the obvious omission here and he is absolutely worth picking up, especially if you plan to eventually run the Dunland LL. I've gone for Gorulf and Frida but Thrydan is brilliant. You will also have the Wilman Oathmaker who pairs very nicely with Wildmen of Dunland if you want some cheap fearless troops. 

Army of Dunland LL

Credit: Warhammer Community

Why you’d like it: If you already like the Dunland units, you get to take a LOT of them, and you get a few nice bonuses to boost their effectiveness and killing power. Tons of might and tons of toys – you can read our hot take about it here. 

Shopping List: Thrydan Wolfsbane, Dunlending Horsemen, Dunlending Warriors, Wildmen of Dunland, Dunlending Huscarls x2

The main caveat of Dunland is that it doesn’t come cheap – and as we’re not sharing any models with the Isengard Battlehost or even the rest of Isengard at all, if you want to only run Dunland, it’s more practical to forego buying anything Uruk-related. Fortunately, Dunlending Horsemen and Huscarls  - both eye wateringly expensive if purchased in multiples – can be easily proxied by third party miniatures. If you can get past the price tag though, Dunland are very fun indeed. 

List 8: Army of Dunland 700pts

  Warband 1    11/15  

  Thrydan Wolfsbane with Horse;  

  1 Dunlending Warrior with Banner;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Bow;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Shield;  

  2 Dunlending Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  2 Dunlending Horseman  

  2 Dunlending Huscarl  

  ----  

  Warband 2    11/12  

  Gorûlf Ironskin  

  1 Dunlending Warrior with Banner;  

  3 Dunlending Warrior with Bow;  

  3 Dunlending Warrior with Shield;  

  1 Dunlending Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  2 Dunlending Huscarl  

  1 Crebain  

  ----  

  Warband 3    10/12  

  Frida Tallspear  

  3 Dunlending Warrior with Bow;  

  3 Dunlending Warrior with Shield;  

  1 Dunlending Warrior with Two-handed weapon;  

  2 Dunlending Huscarl  

  1 Crebain  

  ----  

  Warband 4    11/12  

  The Wild Man Oathmaker  

  5 Wild Man of Dunland  

  6 Wild Man of Dunland with Two-handed weapon;  

 ----

                    700pts, 47 units  

Aside from the over-abundance of two-handed weapons, this actually looks pretty great. Dunland tends to shine around the 600-700pt mark so there’s not much to change, other than perhaps buying a few more of the ‘premium’ units such as Huscarls or Horsemen – but these are best taken in moderation anyway. There’s also a strong argument to take a Dunland Chieftain over one of the named heroes too, just to have access to Heroic March - happily, these come included with the Warriors box, which is one of the few nice things that can be said about it.  

Optional Extras: More Huscarls, Horsemen, and more Warriors with axe & shield instead of bow or 2h weapon. 

Wrap-up

Some of you may have spotted that we have not addressed the Mumak in the room - the ‘Wolves of Isengard’ Legendary Legion. This is a super niche Isengard legion that shares no models with the Battlehost, so there really is no logical way to pivot in to it – it really is its own beast, and if you want to run it, more power to you! 

As we can see pretty clearly in the flowchart, it’s possible to get 800pts or higher of Isengard on the table with really very few purchases. The Legendary Legions pivot out of this core quite nicely but tend to be more purchase-heavy, so it’s really a case of picking your poison – or just keep accumulating enough models that you can run them all!

Keep your eyes peeled - this is the first blog in the series and we will be following up with our next Battlehost shortly. 

Wake up honey, new Chariot tech just dropped

Dan Stu:

I came across a combo on the GBHL group a while ago that I hadn’t considered before. Considering my love of both chariots and Brorgir, I was a little taken aback that I hadn’t spotted the potential combo when the Defence in the North supplement was first released – but in fairness, it is not the kind of wonky rules interaction we’d normally expect to see in SBG, which has done a very good job of keeping 40k-esque power combos in check. The setup goes like this:

• Prerequisites: Brorgir the conjurer and at least one (but preferably 2) Khandish heroes mounted on chariots. 

• In the movement phase, Brorgir calls a heroic channeling. Ideally you want to do this on a turn in which the opponent has priority. 

• The Khandish hero on chariot (or both chariots) must charge in to enemy warriors. The aim is to NOT kill all your targets with impact hits here – you need to remain combat with ideally a single warrior model. You can potentially use a heroic march for added movement to ensure this. 

• After one or both chariots have moved, Brorgir casts channeled enchanted blades (12", line of sight) on whichever one was left in the best position. 

• In the combat phase, the chariot with channeled enchanted blades calls and must win a heroic combat. 

So if you pull off all of the above – admittedly a hefty amount of setup – you are left with an absolute cannonball of a chariot which is free to move another 10” in the combat phase. 

This combo can comfortably delete an entire battle line in one turn, and the reason why is the way in which enchanted blades is worded: 

“This power targets one friendly model within range. In the Fight phase, the target may re-roll all failed To Wound rolls. 

Channelled – additionally, the target may add 1 to all To Wound rolls.”

The entire combo hinges on the fact that enchanted blades affects wound rolls, and not strikes, during the fight phase - meaning all your impact hits are resolved at +1 to wound, with a reroll. 

Against D5 or D6, that's a 15/16 chance to kill, or 94%.

To put it in to context, that's a whisker less killing power than a Mumak (96% chance to kill for the mumak vs 94% for the chariot), on a dramatically more flexible and much cheaper platform, without the need to win a heroic move off. If you brought 2 chariots, it's like being able to teleport a mumak to wherever it can do the most damage. 

Before we get too excited, here are some obvious caveats:

• It takes 2 might (channel + combat) and 2+ will to set up reliably. You can do it a maximum of 2 times per game, and potentially less if Brorgir ends up spending a point of might to guarantee the cast. 

• You need to use a bit of range management and get a clean engagement to ensure one of your chariots is able to call a successful heroic combat (hence why I’d bring two). It's helpful if your opponent has priority so your buffed chariot doesn't get swamped. 

• The combo can be hard countered by: high defense (7+), all-hero lists (vanquishers), smart hero placement, multi-wound models (beornings etc), maelstrom deployment, F5 troops, magic, terrain, and anything that can kill Brorgir from range.   

• And of course, there’s always the chance that you whiff on the cast, or whiff on the heroic combat. So, with such an involved setup, is this combo really viable?

My answer would be – absolutely yes, and it is way too strong.

It certainly doesn’t work in every game. In fact, I took it to a 6-game tournament recently as a form of litmus test, and the combo only went off in 2 out of 6 games. This was due to a combination of the wrong matchups (ents and vanquishers) and scenario (divide and conquer and a bad maelstrom deployment). I’d go so far as to say that the combo only really shines against ‘basic’ style armies consisting of a standard battleline & heroes, with a standard deployment.

But if it goes off, and you’re facing off against an average D5-D6 army, oh boy. Your chariot will be rolling effectively 4 dice to wound (2 dice with a reroll on each), needing only a 4 on a single die (5 with a +1 to wound) in order to kill a warrior and move on to the next, which it can feasibly do many, many times in a row. And with ten inches to trundle through your opponent’s back lines, as long as you can avoid heroes, you can rack up a shocking number of kills - although 2 wound, 1 fate heroes are still very much at risk. I’ve plotted the data to visualise this more clearly - 'Regular' refers to the non-channeled version of enchanted blades:

 

A few things crop up when we plot the data (we're paying attention mostly to the channelled version of the combo). Firstly – you have a 52.5% chance of killing at least ten D5-6 warriors (don't forget that you can kill enemy warriors with impact hits even if they're engaged in combat). In most games against D5-6 armies, this will be enough to swing the game wildly in your favour, especially if you get to do it twice. Very often, this will break the opponent very quickly. 

Secondly – the difference between the channeled and non-channeled version of the spell (the orange and yellow lines) is enormous. I don’t think there’s any point trying to get this combo to go off if you’re not channeling – your combo is too likely to fizzle out early. (This curve is the same for channeled enchanted blades rolling to wound against D7-8). 

Thirdly – this is an auto-win against D4 (dark blue), with a staggering 70% chance to kill around 30 models - assuming you can reach them (goblin town, anyone?) D4 armies admittedly struggle against chariots anyway (the grey line) but this just makes it unfair. 

If you have any doubts about the potency of this combo, I would encourage you to grab your nearest 4 dice, and roll for a single 4+ as if you were wounding against D6 warriors. You might be shocked at how far your imaginary chariot gets. 

So this combo can win games outright, but will it win tournaments? 

I don’t think so. It’s too easily countered by too many things. And of course, its main advantage of this combo is how much of a ‘gotcha’ it is – not many people are aware of the specific rules interaction that allows it, and a savvy player could potentially shut it down by using their heroes cleverly. If this ever started making rumblings in the competitive scene, it could be meta'd against very easily.

It may not be strictly overpowered in the competitive gaming sense, but I think it has the potential to be such a dominant force in the right matchups, and such a negative play experience – particularly for new players – that I'm not sure if it belongs in the game. Anecdotally, in the 4 or so games I’ve pulled off this combo in, the game was effectively over on the turn the combo went off, with the charging chariot killing at least twelve – and in one case, over twenty models. The wins felt free and unearned. When asking my opponents if they thought the combo was broken, there was little doubt.

I think what makes this combo a little different, and a little more problematic, is that fact that unlike most power combos there is no real upper limit to its effectiveness. Even the most powerful heroes in the game will struggle to kill more than a handful of models in a turn - whereas if the stars align, a buffed chariot will delete your opponent's entire fighting force and pretty much render the game pointless. In terms of negative play experiences, I'd put this right up there with the self-destructing Assault on Helm's Deep lists before the bomb squads were nerfed. 

I’m drawing attention to this combo because I genuinely believe that its inclusion may have been a rules oversight when giving Brorgir access to enchanted blades. I’m not a believer in ‘security by obscurity’ and think the more people that know about this combo, the more likely it is to be addressed.  It would be extremely easy to shut it down via errata in a way that doesn’t nerf anything meaningful outside of the combo:

• Give enchanted blades the ‘Easterling’ keyword so that it cannot be cast on chariots

• Edit the wording on enchanted blades so that it affects Strikes in the fight phase, and not all wound rolls

If you have any doubts about the potency of this combo, I certainly encourage you to give it a whirl against a sporting opponent - though be warned, it's not likely to earn you many friends!

So, what do you think? Is a 94% effective impact hit on a chariot busted, or is it kept in check by its natural predators? Does it even work in the first place or is there some rules interpretation that we missed? Does it need to be axed in the next errata? Let us know in the comments!

Valourbowl II: A Fortudious Twist - Top 10 Evil Heroes

Last time we covered who we at DCHQ thought would be the best Good Heroes of Fortitude. This wasn't generalisation - it's based on who we thought would come out on top of our annual charity tournament, Valourbowl. The criteria the winner? Whichever Hero of Fortitude over the course of 4 games could rack up the most kills. Last year a Good hero took the crown, but could an Evil one usurp them this time around?

We at DC banded together to pick who we think would be the best hero for the job over 4 games with their best loadout, more or less considered in isolation (not really thinking too hard about what lists they'd be in). It's worth noting we also aren't accepting Heroes of Fortitude who are then promoted to Valour via special rules in a Legendary Legion and we also aren't counting impact hits towards scoring.

The way we went about this was each of the team choosing their top 10 Evil heroes for the job. We assigned 10pts to 1st place, 9 points to 2nd and so on, after which we'd add up everyone's scores to get an amalgamated top 10.

10th Place - Goroth, Captain of the Morannon, 7pts

To get us started, the only Mordor Orc to make it to the list but a pretty impressive Orc at that. One of the highest Fights of the Orcs but his true killing power comes from a combo of his two-handed mace and Burly. He does suffer from only two wounds and one fate, but his "Come here Maggot!" special rule does allow him to prolong his killing spree and potentially rack up a decent score. Just maybe not as good as the top 9 places...

9th Place - Mauhur, 10pts

Ah Mauhur, the glass cannon of Isengard. He has a great killing profile with a tremendous Strength of 5 and 3 Attacks. The downside being his low durability of two wounds and one fate with a lower defence and his lack of Strike - if a hero comes up against him he has a good chance of being taken out. He is however a great troop killing machine, the question is however - will he last?

8th Place - Keeper of the Dungeons, 17pts

There's a small theme going on with the Orc heroes on this list, as the Keeper also has access to Burly. Given that he's also Strength 5 and his Torturer special, he becomes a force to be reckoned with if he wins his duel rolls, almost guaranteeing kills in every combat he wins - he's got good potential to score well. So why isn't he any higher? Two wounds, and zero fate - the only model on this list to not have any! One bad duel roll could easily spell defeat for this towering orc. 

7th Place - Thrydan Wolfsbane, 22pts

The first of two Dunland heroes to make the list and one of the only two on this list to access to a mount really adds to Thrydan's killing potential - add Mighty Blow to that as well and even lesser heroes will be taken down by him. Boasting a decent statline with Strength 5, 3 Might and 2 Fate means he has good staying power and the ability to take down quite a few troops.

6th Place - Gorulf Ironskin, 23pts

Pipping in just above his chieftain, Gorulf is regarded as a great hero for his cost in general - 3 attacks at Strength 5 is nothing to sniff at with a decent Fight of 5. He's also one of the few heroes on this list who has access to Heroic Defence, and the only one at that to have access to a free version of it. Usually heroes on this list may be targeted by other, stronger heroes to take them out of the running early, but getting a free Heroic Defense (which you can read as free piercing strike, too) means he could stick around for a while and do some big damage!

5th Place - Wild Warg Chieftain, 27pts

What a profile this Warg has: 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds and Strength 6? Average troops will really struggle against this beast of Angmar, with the potential to rip through a battle line if the rolls go its way. That's a big 'if' though, and with only 2 Might and a Defence of 5 and no Strike it could be stopped early in its tracks.

4th Place - Bert the Troll, 34pts

Boasting one of the most impressive statlines in this list, Bert is a tough customer - even for enemy heroes as he comes in at Fight 7. The same goes for his Strength and Defence, meaning he'll stick around for awhile whilst taking out a good amount of models on the way. If he's feeling spicy, he can also paralyse troublesome heroes so he can continue on his rampage. Having only one fate could be a big detriment to him however!

3rd Place - Shagrat, 36pts

The head honcho of Cirith Ungol himself. Whilst he may not be as strong as Bert, he does however have 3's in all the right places and a pseudo cavalry charge when equipped with the Shield of Cirith Ungol. In general he's just quite a dependable hero to stick around and clear up in combats, especially with his Blood and Glory rule taking advantage of enemy heroes to replace his might stores meaning he can get off a good amount of Heroic Combats - and keeping heroes moving can be the difference when it comes to kill counts.

2nd Place - Mordor Troll Chieftain, 37pts

Whilst not as good as his Black Gate Opens counterpart, the vanilla Mordor Troll Chieftain is still quite a tough one to deal with, a Strength and Fight of 7 along with 3 attacks means he's likely to be killing whatever he fights against, provided it's not a massive hero - though he can potentially deal with them too, having access to Heroic Strike himself. 

1st Place - Ringwraith, 48pts

Some of you may be thinking right now "A Wraith? They only have one wound and at most, two fate. How are they getting enough kills?" Well, a flying mount has a lot to do with that. The ability to pick and choose any fight you want (providing you have priority/move) cannot be understated, especially using the Fellbeasts profile to attack results in a good amount of dead enemy troops while skirting around the main scrum. Also, despite Black Dart not having the best hit rate, it's still a strong spell to take out models from afar and add to your tally. The combo of Harbinger of Evil and Terror also mean that you're less likely to be ganged up on by enemy models and taken out early. Perhaps not the tactics you want to use to win games... But to win the Valourbowl? We'll have to see!

There we have the top 10 Evil Heroes of Fortitude for Valourbowl. Do you think anyone would be better suite to the job? If you want to attend the tournament, please check out this link. If you can't attend but want to donate to our fundraiser in aid of Cancer Research UK,we appreciate every small donation! https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/steves-giving-page-2420

Valourbowl II: A Fortudious Twist - Top 10 Good Heroes

 

That time of year is drawing near to us once again, here at DCHQ we're gearing up for our annual charity ME:SBG tournament! (Event Link) For those of you who missed out on last year, we held a little tournament at Element Games in Stockport to try and raise some money for a good cause (for that particular year, we had MIND as our chosen charity) and we ended up raising over £1,000 in a spectacular show of generosity by our players. In this tournament there was a little twist however, as we weren't looking for whomever won the most games in the day. Instead, we wanted to see who's nominated Hero of Valour would take home the crown by killing the most of their enemies. Last year, Boromir, Captain of the White Tower secured the win with a staggering 37 kills over 4 games, incredible stuff!

This year however, we're delving lower into the ranks and we want to see who's Hero of Fortitude will be the one to come out on top! With that in mind, the DC lot have banded together to pick who we think would be the best hero for the job over 4 games with their best loadout, more or less considered in isolation (not really thinking too hard about what lists they'd be in). It's worth noting we also aren't accepting Heroes of Fortitude who are then promoted to Valour via special rules in a Legendary Legion and we also aren't counting impact hits towards scoring.

The way we went about this was each of the team choosing their top 10 heroes for the job. We assigned 10pts to 1st place, 9 points to 2nd and so on, after which we'd add up everyone's scores to get an amalgamated top 10.

(Just a reminder that these are Good heroes only, our Evil Top 10 will follow)

10th Place - Tauriel, 11pts

Coming in last on the list, but by no means last out of all the Fortitude heroes comes Tauriel. She shows good promise - the ability to shoot adds to her killing potential and can have access to an insane amount of attacks if ganged up on. To get her even Kili-er, throw Kili into your list and get him killed so Tauriel can soar to strength 5. Even with a great fate score of 3, she does suffer from one of the lowest defence scores on this list which could end up with her dying before she's truly able to contribute to the Valourbowl score. 

Joint 8th Place - Erestor, 12pts

A humble profile for this lesser known Elven hero, but when it comes to killing models he has good shout; his daggers whether thrown or used in combat always re-roll failed wounds. With him also being one of the few heroes on this list with the ability to kill outside of combat means he has good potential. Sadly like many Elven models, one bad fight can take him out of the running quite early and only two attacks hurts his chances a little in the long run.

Joint 8th Place - Iron Hills Captain, 12pts

The only generic Captain to make the list, so what makes him different from the rest? Decent fight (matching other, named heroes on this list) and incredible defence keep him going, but access to a war spear and war goat mean this this humble captain has the potential to inflict some real damage on the battlefield, backed up by Master of Battle (5+). That being said, he still is a captain and suffers from a lower amount of attacks and might than others on this list.

7th Place - Deorwine, 14pts

The only entrant from the race of Men on this list, and with a modest Rohirrim hero statline he's certainly not the best. Where he shines however is his For Theoden! special rule, allowing him to call free heroic combats to go help Theoden out. The ability to potentially have two fights, free of might cost per turn could lead to a decent amount of kills from horseback for this particular horse lord. The aforementioned standard Rohan statline, however, does hold him back a bit.

6th Place - Galadriel, Lady of Light, 24pts

With the recent errata to the Lady of Light profile, she may now being kept out of a lot of lists, but on the flip side she's now a part of this one! The mistress of Lothlorien is a foe to be reckoned with, especially with a host of spells at her disposal, a decent attacking stat line due to her war aspect and if taken as part of a Vanquishers list (the boost to her Banish spell being a good way at picking models off). Whilst she has the potential to take out a lot of models, her very low defence means that if she's caught in a trap with a bad duel roll, it could be curtains for her, but not before getting a few hits in herself. 

5th Place - King's Champion, 26pts

This hero is quite interesting, as he automatically comes backed up with two other models who are there purely to support and keep him alive - a model who survives for longer, can kill for longer. On top of that he boasts a good attacking stat line - 3 attacks at strength 5 with a a fight of 6, almost always backed up by a banner mean he's not going to find it hard to carve up some lowly warriors. Where he falters however is his smaller stack of might - with only two to call upon, he could be found lacking. Also if his Heralds fall or get separated from him, he can be caught in quite a tricky situation.

4th Place - Young Dwalin the Dwarf, 27pts

Whilst not as good as his older counterpart, Young Dwalin can still tally up his kills with an impressive strength of 5 and three attacks, backed up by by his risk/reward play of sacrificing fight to re-roll wounds. His lower fight and defence however does keep him from a higher spot, namely due to the next Dwarf on our list...

3rd Place - Gloin, Champion of Erebor, 35pts

Not someone you'd generally expect on a list like this - he's not exactly a big ticket hero, but then again not many on this list are. Gloin brings the highest fight out of the Dwarven Champions of Erebor (in the Fortitude class), a permanent +1 to wound and always re-rolling 1s to wound mean that if he wins a fight, he's likely to be taking down his opponent(s). Having a high defence also means he's likely to chug along nicely and weather any fights he does lose. 

2nd Place - Quickbeam, 47pts

The fight for first place was pretty fierce, with only one point between both Quickbeam and 1st place. Each of the DC members put him in either first or second on their respective top ten's, so it could have gone either way! What makes Quickbeam so good for Valourbowl though? The impressive statline is nothing to sniff at; three attacks at strength 8, chucking big hefty rocks a massive 18 inches, his 8 inch movement and a healthy supply of might, will and fate will keep this tree going to rack up those kills.

1st Place - Beechbone - 48pts

So Beechbone -may- not have an official model just yet. This however is the Official Drawn Combat model for him! (You too can make your own with this handy guide...). In the end was a toss up between Beechbone and Quickbeam with only one point between them. The latter may outpace Beechbone, but the added Deep Rooted Hatred for Orcs, Uruks, Isengard and Goblins just means that he's a much more reliable stomper of enemy troops. Being able to Strike and Strength when in a sticky situation also offers a branch of comfort if he gets tangled with a hero!

There we have Team Drawn Combat's top ten Good Heroes of Fortitude who may take home the coveted Valourbowl trophy this year. Do you agree with the choices? Let us know your thoughts!

Tickets available via the link.

Community Challenge: Battle Companies

In what now seems an age ago, a few of the guys here at DC headquarters decided to get involved in a community project ran by Dewi over at Guardians of Wiltshire. The brief? To create a battle company. Simple enough, no? It did however come with a twist. Every participant - around twenty of us from various blogs, Youtube channels and podcasts (there will be a list at the end along with links) would be assigned a company at random. Not only that, but each of us also submitted two colours that had to form the basis of a colour scheme for whomever it was randomly assigned to. Some were absolutely devilish with the colours they suggested, some you wouldn't expect in Middle-Earth for sure! 

With the project in mind, Steve, Dan Slob, Dan Stu, Colm and Dave all took up the Battle Company Community Challenge - prepare yourselves for images galore!

Steve: During the video call where all the armies and colours were drawn up my name came up first and boy was I in for....okay there's no sugar coating this or way of making it sound more interesting. I got Minas Tirith and my 'colours' were grey and black. Not the most inspiring and I won't lie - I was quite underwhelmed to begin with. However, I got thinking about how to make this into something fun and also push my painting ability more. How about the entire project is just in greyscale? Thus, Minas Tirith Noir was born. 

Within the challenge we were allowed to 'promote' our starting battle company within the list, so I decided to opt for what models would look best as part of a diorama. Changing up the initial list of two Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields, two with spears and shields and two with bows I instead went with three Citadel Guard, one Ranger of Gondor, keeping one warrior with a shield and one with a bow. 

The setting would be in Minas Tirith, with a dastardly murder having just occurred - the miniatures investigating/guarding the crime scene. The display would be the biggest job to work on (a full image reel of the production can be found on Instagram @stevethorleyphotography) and would showcase a small corner of the white city. This was accomplished with a mix of foamboard, plasticard, milliput and modelling paste all then sealed with a mix of watered down ModPodge and black acrylic paint. Once undercoated, it was time to spray the OSL to get a sense of where I'd need to paint the various lights and shadows.

After the initial spray it was time work into the setting and models with brushes to smooth it all out. It's worth noting that there's three separate light sources (two braziers and one hand held torch) so there's a fair amount to consider! Working entirely in greyscale did make the process a lot easier however, without having to worry about the colour of fire. I decided to go a fair bit brighter than what normal torchlight would show however, otherwise there would be hardly any detail, nor would you be able to tell what was going on. On that note however, let's crack on with the photos of the finished product!

Dan Slob: For my Battle Company I was assigned Mordor and for my colours I got green and purple. So basically just a standard Mordor scheme. I was a bit sad about this as I was looking forward to doing something a bit funky, so instead I decided to jazz them up a bit by converting the models quite heavily. I started with the 4 Osgilliath Veteran models and chopped them up a bit. I mostly changed the heads (using 3D printed ones) and swapped out the weapons. I also chipped and scratched up the armour a fair bit to make them seem like they had scavenged it after a battle. I did the same thing with a Minas Tirith Banner bearer to make a two handed weapon Orc. The final 4 were made from normal Orcs, but I tried to swap out as many arms/legs as possible for ones from Warriors of Minas Tirith. Finally I added some modelling chain and a trophy rack on the back of the archer and I was done. 

Painting-wise, I decided to go fairly traditional with green skin and purple robes. I'm not the best painter but I think I did a decent job. Finally for bases I used some nice Generation Shift ones to match the display board I made for them. 

Speaking of the display board, that was probably the most fun part of the project! I used a square of foam board as the base and used the old-school LOTR ruins as well as some tree stumps from Green Stuff World. I then covered it with modelling compound and New Zealand Plains Base Ready (both from Geek Gaming Scenics) as well as a metric tonne of foliage from various places. I'm particularly happy with the creepers over the ruins which are from Diorama Presepe. Here is the finished product:

Dave: For my company I drew Fiefdoms, an army I've been tempted by for a long time! I was assigned a fairly traditional pair of colours for them, Purple and White, a stone's from from their traditional scheme of Blue and White. Whilst I thought about going outside the box and trying my hand at some pearlescent white armour, after a few test models I realised that was something I wasn't happy with how it was looking so I decided to go with a more classic approach.

So what did I have to paint for my company then? A single Knight of Dol Amroth, 2 Blackroot Vale archers and 3 (we'll get back to this later...) Men-at-arms. Nice and simple! I started on my Knight to begin with. I splashed the purple onto his cloak and shield, and the white was the accent for the shield, helmet and the insides of his cloak.

I was pretty happy how this guy came out and was keen to get started on the rest of them, but I was annoyingly hit by a fairly large degree of hobby burnout and I couldn't bring myself to start on the rest of them. They got pushed back into my painting pile for a few weeks until I could face them again.

After the short period of burnout I began on my Men-at-arms. Their scheme was simple enough. Purple for the gloves and wrapping around their chest, and white for the helmet and swan icons on the armour. It was here where, like an idiot, I completely misread how many MAA I had to paint. For some reason I had it in my head that I only need to paint two, and not three... So the end product is missing a bloke, but I'm sure I'll get around to him again at some point!

Finally for the Blackroot Vale Archers I wanted to have something a bit more eye catching that just the generic archers. After some searching I came across the OOP Blackroot Vale command and they were a perfect fit for the two archers I needed. I kept their main leather armour brown, but gave them purple under their chainmail and purple cloaks (as well as the banner). The white again was on the inside of the cloak and on the little bit around their waist. 

I really like how these have all turned out, the Knight is definitely the highlight for me as that was the model I easily put the most time in to!

Dan Stu: For my battle company, I got Survivors of Lake Town, along with the colours Orange and Maroon.

As by far the slowest painter on the DC crew, it was a little unlucky to draw the largest Battle Company - but I really liked the colour pairing! The army - less so, I'm not a huge fan of the models and they've never really been on my short list of things I want to paint. However, the whole point of the challenge is to do something you wouldn't normally consider, so I was happy to give them a bash!

I can't say these are my favourite ever paintjobs, but it was quite fun to throw caution to the wind and power through some painting on a deadline. Normally, I will try to figure out every detail of a paint scheme before I put brush to model, which was not at all the case here, so these were nice models to kick me out of my hobby analysis paralysis. I do like the rusty colours and think they work well enough for Lake Town. If I were to expand the theme to the whole army, I'd vary the colours up between models a lot more. I think a lot of the visual appeal for Lake Town - especially the militia - comes from their hodge podge of colours, so I think a few contrasting blue or green clothed models would pump up the visual interest quite a bit. 

This was a fun challenge, and I'll be keen for the next! I think for the next one, I'll try something really outside of the box. 

Colm: I was hoping for something a bit weird coming to this challenge to help get the creative juices flowing, but I ended up with the rather classic combo of Dunland in red and gold! I always like to try something new when starting a new project (whether that be a painting technique, or converting models, or whatever) so I racked my brains to think of what I could do, finally ending on two results.

The first was using 3D printed models. I have only ever dabbled very slightly with 3D printed minis and my experience is very limited. I used Ridermercia miniatures sculpted by The Printing Goes Ever On which clearly shared inspiration with GW’s Dunland figures.

The second was to use oil paints to paint an OSL effect with the reds and golds coming from red firelight reflecting off a group of warriors at night. To say this is something I came up with would be a complete lie as I directly copied a tutorial from one of the painting greats, James Wappel. This tutorial in fact: https://youtu.be/64poNwlZIZM. The process is quite tricky and it wasn’t detailed in how the fluorescent oil paints are created, but I had a pop and I’m quite pleased with the results. It is surprisingly quick to create a convincing look and an extremely fun way to paint. I’d recommend having a go if it interests you and similar methods could be used in a variety of scenarios. 

The whole community challenge was great and I loved seeing everyone’s stuff come together behind the scenes, especially in the different ways that people interpreted their brief (I found it especially interesting that Steve and I both came to use OSL to achieve our effect!). I’d be quite keen to have a go again.

And with that the fellowship of content creators, was over. This was a great idea set up by Dewi, and certainly inspired some good back and forth between the various content creators. If you have a group of friends or gaming clubs that would like to have a crack at this format, go for it! Here's a full list of all the content that's come out:

Dewi Evans - Guardians of Wiltshire - https://youtube.com/c/GuardiansofWilt... Dene Paints Things - https://youtube.com/c/Denepaintsthings Steve Crowe - Top Table Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/c/TopTableWar... PaintsOnA4Up - https://www.youtube.com/c/PaintsOnA4Up Battle Streams in Middle-earth - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDeT... Battle Camper: https://youtu.be/hPDRGl0pMNE Battle Games in Middle-earth Battle Games in Middle Earth - YouTube & Entmoot https://soundcloud.com/entmootpodcast

Benji's Hobbies - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyR9tXuJpeLx5H-HaWAE1cQ Sam Huddy/James Willson/CJ Millar?- At Dawn, Look to the East- https://eastangliasbg.blogspot.com/ Rob Conroy-Máigheóc - Over the Edge of the Wild - https://edgeofthewildsbg.blogspot.com

Drawn Combat’s Direct Conversations: An Interview with Harry Moore

There has been a lot of discussion recently about how the Galadriel nerf (going from Valour to Fortitude and therefore not being able to ally in to other armies easily) will make some armies like Angmar too good as she was a key piece that kept them in check. This has been compounded by The Gates of Gondolin, an 844 point GBHL 100 event in which Angmar took 1st and 2nd. We decided to get the scoop on the tournament and Angmar in general from the winner, Harry Moore:

Congrats on your win! What was your list and how did you choose it?

The Witchking of Angmar with Crown and Horse
4 Orcs with shield
5 Orcs with spear
1 Orc with shield and banner

Gulavhar
5 Orcs with shield
5 Orcs with spear
1 Spectre

Barrow Wight
5 Orcs with shield
5 Orcs with spear

Barrow Wight
5 Orcs with shield
5 Orcs with spear

Orc Captain on Warg
2 Warg Riders with shield
2 Wild Wargs

This was built around the Witchking and Gully via past experiences as I've been running Angmar competitively since the start of the new edition. I felt I needed a balance of numbers and key components to maximise board control and objective play. And of course to get the best out of Gully!

Who was your MVP and why? And did any units not perform as expected?

Across the weekend it has to be Gully for MVP however it is definitely a team event. The Barrow Wights and Witchking are crucial to Gully's success. The army compliments itself so well, I love the synergy between everything. The army bonus, Harbinger and having 4 Spirits works great. The Captain was also great for the March and additional charging trickery. The Spectre is always a nuisance and the Warg Riders offer manoeuvrability. I can't really think of anything didn't perform as hoped.

What was your biggest game winning/ game losing moment of the tournament?

There were a few crucial moments in a bunch of games. I lost to the War Leader in game 2 at Heirlooms. I lost priority and so the Mumak came on and squashed the Witchking turn 2 for my opponent to then pick up the relic turn 3. The Mumak then won a roll off and trampled 2 warbands of orcs, a Wight, the Captain and then Gully in one go. So that was that 🤣

In game 3 I played the storm the camp against the new Mirkwood Rangers LL. Running across the board against 42 elf bows was grim. I used a cunning 17" March then the Witchking used compel to get Gully across the board and subsequently hurl through the bow line. Without that I'm sure Gully would not have got to combat!

In game 5 I won a crucial roll off where my opponent's Gully charged my own. We both rolled a 6 but the roll off went my way and killed him in 1. That essentially decided the game.

In game 6, Seize the Prize, my Spectre forced an elf with the prize into open ground where he got munched by Gully and that decided the game.

A lot of big moments went my way. They say you need luck on your side to win a tournament and I definitely had that!

When playing as Angmar, what matchup or scenario scares you the most?

As an Angmar player I think shooting heavy armies where I have to get across the board scare me the most. Terror and def 6 are also a pain, as well as any mirror matches. F7+ big heroes and monsters which are hard to shut down are also a problem! And of course the Vanquishers. So plenty to fear, Angmar definitely aren't the whole package.

With regards to scenarios, I don't mind so much, the army is versatile enough to do well at most. What I think decides it is which army you plan on certain scenarios and you can't really plan for that so you've just got to give it your best and have fun!

Angmar seem strong at the moment, what is it that makes them so good?

Angmar are strong and have lots of powerful, game changing heroes however they also have a lot of vulnerability. Low Fight, Def and particularly low courage. Same with Gully, as strong as he is, one mistake and he can die. I definitely feel you need to be experienced at the game to run them well. Personally I love the challenge with them.

I think this event is an anomaly, Angmar have always been around but I don't think there is anything to be concerned about presently. I think they get better at higher points. This event was 844 points which means you can take all the big hitters and still get a lot of troops. Typically tournaments run at a lower points level so you can't take the same builds.

Has the Galadriel nerf helped them?

Personally, Galadriel never truly bothered me as an Angmar player, there are enough components in the list to tackle her. Admittedly the Vanquishers were a bit intimidating but I've never played them competitively with Angmar so can't really comment.

I think it's easy to look for the correlation between the Galadriel nerf and an Angmar win, long term I don't think it will be an issue but I suppose time will tell.

Do you think Angmar needs toning down and if so how would you do it?

I don't think Angmar need any changes, people have been running them for a long time and lots of armies can undo them. Angmar have always had a particular way of playing similar to other factions and to change that would be a shame. I remember Jamie G took no might Angmar to a GT many years ago, it is a unique component to Angmar.

I suppose if I would change one thing it would be the Shade. I would make the rule Active as opposed to Passive. I say this as even with all the tricks in my army; Transfixes and Paralyzes and I still couldn't turn the bloody thing off!

What are your thoughts on the state of magic in the game at the moment?

Compared to previous editions magic is now certainly more balanced and for a long time in the new addition you didn't really see it. I think the LLs have a lot to do with that! In the previous edition if you wanted to be competitive, magic was a must, I don't think that's the case at all now. There are many competitive, tournament winning armies that don't need magic. Like I mentioned earlier, this tourney was 844 points which make it a lot easier to include a caster.

I've always been a big fan as magic gives such good game control but equally I run a few armies without magic and do well and still enjoy using them.

What other armies do you rate at the moment?

In the past couple of years I've really enjoyed using Halls of Thranduil as I think it can be a challenging army to use right. I also really like using my Far Harad and Mumak Warleader. My next challenge is to run an all hero Mordor army using just the low to mid tier heroes.

What’s next on the agenda for you? 

I've got a bit of a gap now as I get married in the summer and so real life gets in the way of hobby life! In going to a 1 day-er in July and then nothing until the Autumn where I will have to pick and choose what I can attend. The years of going to 10+ events have long gone!

You also won best sports which is pretty amazing, how do you make sure both you and your opponent have a fun but competitive game?

My number one priority is to always have an enjoyable game, whether I win or lose. I think it's important to be gracious in victory as well as in defeat. At the end of the day we are all here to play toys and that should always be fun! I like helping my opponents whether newbies or veterans, I feel it enhances my own game.

As an Angmar player I'm conscious that I don't want to create a negative playing experiences so making the game as fun as possible is really important, especially when my strategy is to shut down and kill heroes 1 at a time! 🤣

Thanks for your time, Harry, and congrats again!

NEW EASTERLING HERO STATS LEAKED (April Fool's Article)

Here at Drawn Combat we have had an exclusive on some new Easterling models coming soon! No not this trash....

As we all know, the Easterling and Dale supplement is imminent. However, we have not seen much speculation about what the remaining unannounced 3 or 4 profiles might be. We know that the Dragon Emperor was recently revealed, but we had a feeling that there was more in store for the Easterlings.

So, we have consulted our Palantirs (bribed the middle earth team), and have received counsel (a leaked copy of the new book) and are happy to reveal that not one, but TWO more heroes are headed to the Easterling faction!

So without further ado, we are happy to unveil the final two profiles for the Easterlings:

Easterling Rock-Looker – 30pts
M6" F3/4+ S3 D6 A1 W1 C3 M1 W1 F0

Wargear: Shield, Pike, Heavy Armour
Categories: Minor Hero, Easterling, Man

Once per turn, during its movement, the Easterling Rock-Looker may spend a point of will to examine a piece of terrain within 6" in line of sight.

Once the point of will has been spent, the Rock-Looker may make no further actions this turn. If the model is charged or moved outside of 6", the check is cancelled and the point of will is lost.

At the beginning of the following movement phase, roll a D6; on a roll of a 1-5, the Easterling Rock-Looker does not notice anything out of the ordinary and must then move up to 6" directly away from the piece of terrain, ending at least 6" away, and may not move again this turn.

On a roll of a 6, the object of terrain is revealed to be an elven cloak! Tricksy Hobbitses! The terrain piece is removed from the board for the remainder of the game. Place a Frodo and Sam model in the centre of the space where the terrain was. Any models occupying the terrain piece are placed on the board underneath, taking falling tests if necessary.

If this terrain counts for an objective, for example in the Fog of War scenario, neither side may score points for it.

Might and Will points may be used to influence this roll.

This roll may be attempted without spending a point of Will, if no will points are available. However, if the check is failed, the Rock-Looker must make a courage check. If this is failed, the Rock-Looker and, if present, the Rock-Looker's assistant are removed from the board as a casualty.




Easterling Rock-Looker's Assistant – 20pts
M6" F3/4+ S3 D6 A1 W1 C3 M0 W1 F0

Wargear: Shield, Pike, Heavy Armour
Categories: Minor Hero, Easterling, Man

If the Easterling Rock-Looker's Assistant is within 3" of the Easterling Rock-Looker when he looks at terrain, the Rock-Looker may reroll a result of a 1.

If the Rock-Looker fails his terrain check, the Rock-Looker's Assistant will make a full move away from the terrain in the same direction as the Rock-Looker.

If they are within 3", the Rock Looker may use the Rock Looker's Assistant’s Will points as if they were their own.




Incredible! Elven opponents hiding in the forest? Get rid of it! Archers hiding behind a wall? It’s gone! Enemy army occupying a castle? Not any more, hope they like fall damage! Unless, of course, you whiff your rock-checking roll…

Looking back, it was obvious that these two would be included eventually. In honesty, it’s amazing that these unforgettable characters weren’t included sooner. Their pivotal scene by the Black Gate is really one of the cornerstones of the movie trilogy, and it is hard to imagine that Peter Jackson’s films would have been so well received if it were not for the deep and complex characters of the Easterling Rook-Looker and Assistant. Their complicated, emotional dilemma really gets to the heart of what Lord of the Rings is all about, and I for one cannot wait to get them out on the tabletop to replay the drama of that scene.



Certainly, these new heroes look to bring some competitiveness and theme back to the Easterlings after what I’m sure we can all agree were the very meager and disappointing reveals of Brorgir, Rutabi and the Dragon Emperor. Thanks but no thanks GW – you can keep your Master of Battle and your incredibly nice battle palanquin models. If you need me, I’ll be over there checking rocks to see if there are hobbits underneath.



























Happy April Fools, everybody!

An Unexpected Journey Part 1: We're Going on an Adventure!

Depending on if your certain brand of nerdery extends to tiny plastic spaceships, Tom Reed is a name you will either hold in high regard, or not know at all. Tom is one of the UK's very best X Wing players, and would feature on any list of the top 5 players in the country you asked anyone to put together. Recently he has been trying his hand at SBG with the aim of becoming the same level of competitor as he is in X Wing. We thought we would take the opportunity to get him to document his journey to see what we can all learn from it. Hopefully this will become a regular column so we can journey together! 


Its competition, but not as I know it

Welcome all to what will hopefully be the first of many contributions to Drawn Combat who have been kind enough to offer a platform for me to share some words. I cannot promise there will be much wisdom but it will hopefully offer you a new player's view into competitive Middle Earth.

How did we end up here, well it’s a long story many months in the making and laced with large amounts of salt, as X-wing moved into the new world of version 2.5 it was a move that really turned off and lost many of its competitive players. So I was on the hunt for a new game, as an incredibly competitive person there were some specific requirements that I was looking for in choosing this new hobby to dump my time. The first of which was how critical decision making is over luck. I desperately want it to be my fault when I lose but equally when I win. Next up, I wanted there to be a competitive scene to test myself, and finally it would be a nice benefit if the IP was good and something I already enjoyed.

Step up Elysium Games (cheeky plug: www.elysiumwargames.com) based in the small Yorkshire town of Pontefract right opposite the HQ of Haribo if you need another excuse, and its growing Middle Earth community there, they welcomed me in with open arms and have proven to be a fantastic new little gaming family to be apart of.

 

I am now two events in and the main reason for this article was to share the really early days of competitive Middle Earth. Event one was a 550 point day down in the midlands at Board In Brum, another fantastic venue if you’re able to make it there, and a bit of a baptism of fire. Round one vs Rowan May, if Carlsberg did round 1 opponents I think Rowan would be it. Obviously incredibly good at the game but also very willing to teach a new guy the ropes. Lesson one: Spend your Resources. Might, and how it is used is obviously a nuance to competitive Middle Earth and a skill to learn, however, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that finishing a game with 3 or 4 of it left on your main hero is a waste, one for the notebook. Lesson two. Again you’d think it goes without saying but spelling it out, read the mission, how you gain these much coveted points and the end condition, this will generally be a 33% chance once a force is broken or a 100% once a force reaches 25%, make sure you know which and play towards it.

 

The following week saw my first Great British Hobbit League 80 event at the aforementioned Elysium Games, a 2 day 5 round event at the big boy points limit of 800. Lesson three, comes from game one of the weekend, work out your win condition, play to it, and accept the pain. That weekend I used a 800 point Gundabad force with zero bows (more on that in a future article if the wonderful lads running this blog will have me back) using both Azog and Bolg. I was faced by Corsairs and a wall of Crossbow, so I hid and hid and well you get it. Losing models slowly without making much progress forward meant my strength and 50% of my points in Azog and Bolg did not get to do much. As I discussed with my opponent Aaron, who got 3rd overall, it would have been considerably better to call that Heroic march early and get some Orcs in their face sooner rather than later. The final lesson for today was highlighted in the first round of day 2. Pre-measuring; information is king and having it and understanding it is key. In this example vs Isengard scouts I moved my Orcs up the 6 inches to get me closer to charging next turn. What that actually meant was my opponent could wrap around my line and get the flank and traps he wanted, if I'd just pre-measured those distances and stayed the 7 inches away we could have fought on much more equal footing.

 


So far the step into the competitive world of the Middle Earth Strategy Game has been phenomenal, and has me without a doubt hooked. The community has been excellent and very welcoming and the game itself has proven to be deep and challenging. I appreciate I am preaching to the choir here but I couldn’t let this opportunity pass without pointing it out. It would be great to hear from people who’re taking the first steps themselves, or if talking about Middle Earth strategy and lists is something you enjoy, throw me a line and help shape future articles. Tune in again soon as I discuss the lists I used, the choices that led me there and what I learnt about them.