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Sharkey's Rogues: A "Game Master" Army

Hey Reader! In preparation for the upcoming TMAT  Spring Zephyr Tournament , I've been playing around with Sharkey's Rogues, 1) beca...

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Understanding the Game: Sample Armies With Spell-Caster Focus

In an earlier post, I made a few lengthly observations about spell-casters in this game. To demonstrate how you can utilize these different types of heroes, I've included two of my armies as a reference (and would love to see your lists and some commentary if you have them), following all of the rules for warbands:

Forces of Good: 499 points


Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien - 130 points
Celeborn with Elven blade, shield, and heavy armor - 150 points
5 Wood Elf Warriors with Elven blades and throwing daggers - 50 points
11 Wood Elf Warriors with Wood Elf spears - 88 points
3 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows - 30 points
3 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows and Elven blades - 33 points
2 Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows - 18 points


26 units, 8 Elf bows, 2 heroes

This army has two expensive heroes, but Wood Elves benefit from being relatively cheap (7-10 points each) and this gives us a cushion for adding units to the army. Unlike most armies that I try to field, this force does not sport a volley team, but the two heroes in the army provide you the ability to move quickly into engagement with the enemy (or at least get within direct fire range). Galadriel's Blinding Light will protect the unarmored Wood Elf Warriors from enemy archery at close range and her aggressive spells will ensure that powerful enemy units are not able to deal their full damage against your units. In addition to the 13 ranged weapons in this list, the army includes Celeborn - the least used Elf hero I own. With 3 Attacks at Fight 6 and 3 Wounds with Defense 7, you have a very capable combat hero who can also immobilize a key unit or two that he charges.

The Denizens of Moria: 500 points

Durburz, Goblin King of Moria - 60 points
Goblin shaman - 45 points
Goblin Captain with shield - 40 points (leaping-off-a-rock guy)
1 Cave Troll - 80 points
1 Bat Swarm - 35 points
12 Goblin Warriors with shields - 60 points
12 Goblin Warriors with spears - 60 points
10 Goblin Warriors with Orc bows - 50 points
Ally: Ringwraith with 1M/8W/1F - 70 points


40 units, 10 Orc bows, 4 heroes

This army benefits from having two very cheap heroes who provide limited spell-casting abilities. Neither the shaman nor the Ringwraith have a large store of Will points, but each provides a key benefit to the army. Since heroes that thrive on killing pose the greatest threat to this army, the single cheap Ringwraith is helpful for slowing down this hero (or allowing him to be flattened into a pancake by the Troll's hammer). The shaman ensures not only that the core of your Goblins stay together, but also attempts to keep the size of the army large while the fight progresses. You could replace the Bat Swarm in this army to make your Ringwraith stronger (or choose the Witch King for your force to deal with spell-casters with staffs of power), but the Bat Swarm in this army serves not only to make your units stronger, but also distracts the enemy from shooting at/using magic against more valuable units (like your Troll).

As I mentioned in the previous post on spell-casters, we're going to be setting up a game with the two armies listed above and specifically highlight how the spell-casters worked in the scenario, so be on the look-out for that.

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