Armies of Middle Earth SBG: Mordor in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game

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As a follow-up to our review of the Barad-Dur army list, I figured we'd go ahead and tackle Mordor, which represents Sauron's forces during the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age. Sauron is a disembodied puppet-master by this time, so his beefy combat profile is absent from the list, but literally every other profile in Barad-Dur finds its way over to the Mordor army list. In addition, we get eight new profiles for Ringwraiths, a bucket-load of new orc heroes, tons of 3 Might hero options, upgraded orcs, genetically modified Uruks, and even a War Beast. So if you still love slaughter and fire, and detest all things green and beautiful (at least some of the time), but prefer to direct the fate of the world from the shadows, Mordor may just be your cup of tea (or at least it's way better than maggoty bread).

(Fair warning--this is our longest army summary yet. Feel free to grab a sandwich or something. I'll wait.)

Army Quick(ish) Hits 

·       Strength: Options. While Barad-Dur lists are almost always built around The Dark Lord Sauron, the Mordor list is incredibly versatile and diverse (it used to have its own source book, after all). You can go with your standard orc-swarm build if you want, or you can go with elite orcs that are tough-as-nails to fight through (Morannons) or pack a wallop in combat (Morgul Stalkers, though Morannons are no slouch, either), you can take Uruks if you like Fight 4/Strength 4 (Mordor Uruk-Hai), or you can upgrade your infantry to uber-Uruk-Hai (Black Guard of Barad-Dur) who do all three (Fight 4, Defense 6, and Strength 5, which means they wound Defense 7 on a 5+). You can go the Black Numenorean route if you like Terror walls (backed up by cheap orcs, or Strength 4 Morannons), you can take basic or named ringwraiths if you want magic support, you can take Trolls and Troll Chieftains if you want monsters, you can field skirmish cav (orc trackers on warg), shock cav (warg riders), or heavy cav (Morgul Knights), you can field multiple siege engines (Catapult and Siege Bow), you can field several variations on all-mounted heroes (Gothmog, Orc Captains, Numenorean Marshalls, even Orc Shamans) and, of course, if your points are high enough, you can even field all-mounted Black Riders. There's very little Mordor doesn't have (pikes, Defense 7 troops, throwing/poisoned weapons I guess...) [EDIT: as Tiberius points out in the comments, I forgot about throwing spears on Warg Riders--so you can take throwing weapons if you want, too!], which means there are very few list ideas you can't realize.

·       Strength: Magic. Mordor doesn't have Sauron (any time you lose a magical monster with free Will each turn, 18" spells, and Resistant to Magic, it's a loss), but it's still on any short-list of armies with the highest magical ceiling. Unburdened by Sauron's points-sink, Mordor can easily field 2-3 casters in a single list and field 3+ full warbands of quality troops to pair with them. The Witch-King remains phenomenal, though you're more likely to bulk out his Will and Fate stats in this list than you might be in Barad-Dur (given that, as Mordor's only Hero of Legend, he's likely to be your army leader, unless you're fielding an allied faction which also has a Hero of Legend, like Suladan from the Serpent Horde). Mordor is also the only faction with access to all nine named Wraiths. They're not all created equal, but they give evil access to magic buffs (like bad Blinding Light) that can give you a major advantage against certain opponents, or make life really painful for an opposing hero (Your Staff is Broken). The Dark Marshall is also a sneaky-good caster as well, with a 6" banner effect for warriors, Instill Fear on a 4+ (same as the Witch-King), and Fight 6 with the option for an Armored Horse if he has to engage in combat late-game. If you're looking for a nominal points cost, you can field 2-4 vanilla Wraiths for under 300 points (giving you 48 warrior slots between them); there's not many armies (let alone single heroes) who will be able to shrug off 2-4 Transfix spells in a turn, every turn. And that's before you get to my main man, Kardush the Fire Caller: a Shaman who can channel fury for orcs plus cast a secondary spell way nastier than anyone should have a right to cast, way more times than anyone should have any right to cast it... but we'll get to him later (spoiler: he's fantastic).

·       Strength: Hero Options. There's no other evil faction that comes close to the breadth of heroes Mordor does (heck, most good armies don't have Mordor's level of hero customization either). As of this writing, there are 20 named heroes, plus 12 generic hero profiles. Even better, almost every single hero profile is useful (if not very good), and several of them are exceptionally scary. There’s an individual break-down for each of them below, but the Witch-King and Shagrat stand out, as you can kit them out to be both resilient and devastating in combat. Don’t underestimate the raw killing power of Gothmog and his Morannon Lieutenants, leading 2-3 full warbands of Morannon Orcs (it’s pretty scary, especially if there are some warg riders thrown in for shock charges on enemy infantry formations, or for countering enemy cavalry charges). Mordor is also one of the few evil lists where you can take, say, a top-tier beater (Shagrat), a dedicated caster (generic ringwraith), a supporting caster / combat hero (Mouth of Sauron), and a shaman (Kardush) and fill all 51 of their combined warrior slots (including some elite troop options) at just 700 points (with a banner to boot):

Servants of the Dark Towers

700/700, 55 Models (4 Heroes, 8 Might)

o      The Mouth of Sauron [Army Leader] leading 4 Black Numenoreans, 2 Orcs with Shields, 6 Orcs with Spears, and 3 Orc Trackers

o      Ringwraith (2/9/1) leading 4 Black Numenoreans, 2 Orcs with Shields, 6 Orcs with Spears

o      Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol with Heavy Armor and Shield of Cirith Ungol, leading 2 Warg Riders with Shields, 2 Orc Warriors with Shields, 4 Morannons with Shields, 3 Morannons with Spears, and 1 Morannon with Shield, Spear, and Banner

o      Kardush the Fire Caller leading 2 Orcs with Shields and 10 Orc Trackers

·       Strength: Monster Heroes. Like Barad-Dur, Mordor can also take two hero monsters. Shelob isn’t great at fighting on her own (just a single attack and no Might), but if you can pair her with a friendly banner and some friends, her Fight 7, Swift Movement, and Venom make her an excellent assassin, especially if you can get her to Monstrous Charge. Her Caught in a Web brutal power attack also gives Mordor an option to paralyze a poor hero, so your heroes can deal with it as their leisure, or ignore it while your orc grunts (or uber-orcs) bludgeon it to death. The Mordor Troll Chieftain bludgeons everything all the time. At Fight 7, 3 Attacks, Strength 7, and Defense 8 with 3 wounds, 2 Might, Heroic Strike, and access to the Rend brutal power attack, most enemy heroes will be very cautious approaching him. As with Shelob, if you can get him into a fight with friends and a banner, his odds of winning the duel (and then wounding whatever he’s fighting) are phenomenal.

·       Strength: Terror. Also like Barad-Dur, Mordor can do terror walls, but better. What’s better than a row of Fight 4, Defense 6 Black Numenoreans backed up by Orc Warriors with spears? Fight 4, Defense 6 Black Numenoreans backed up by Strength 4 Morannons. What’s better than Fight 4, Defense 6 Morgul Knights on the Charge led by a Nazgul? Fight 4, Defense 6 Morgul Knights led by the Dark Marshall (preferably on Fell Beast) with his 6” banner bonus, who has just cast Instill Fear (4+).

·       Strength: Hard-Hitting Cavalry. Warg Riders are brutally efficient for what they do: Fight 3, Strength 4, with two attacks on the charge (and double dice to wound if they win against infantry). You can also mount Orc Trackers on wargs for a decent skirmish force (and very good skirmish force for evil, as their ranged shots hit on a 5+ after movement), and they’re just as dangerous when they charge as their Warg Rider cousins. If you find orc cavalry a little light for your taste, you have the option for Morgul Knights, who are Defense 6 (Defense 5 mounts) with Strength 3 lances on the charge for some good damage. Plus they can be difficult to counter-charge, due to Terror, which makes them ideal for capturing and holding objectives (especially if they have a Nazgul in-tow).

·       Strength: Cheap core troops. We’ve talked a lot about their elite warrior upgrades (and for good reason--they’re very attractive), but you can still horde out Mordor like you can Barad-Dur by using cheap Orc Warriors and Trackers. The benefit is that you can now pair them with cheap orc captains who have 3 Might instead of 2 (Grishnakh and Gorbag can buy you 6 Might and 24 warrior slots at around 100 points, which is a steal), or Strength 5 combat heroes like Guritz (3 Might) at a bargain cost (or, if you can afford to drop a few Orc Trackers, Goroth with his 3 Might and a Burly 2-handed weapon to go with his Strength 5, at a slightly higher bargain cost). And if you wanted a true horde, you can always run with a generic orc or morannon captain, with 7 orc warriors with weapon upgrade, 4 orc trackers, and a warg rider for 115-125 points a pop (~65 models at 700 points).

·       Strength: Upgraded troop defense. This is only for more elite builds, but Mordor boasts two Defense 6 front-line options: Black Numenoreans and Morannons. They offer different things—Morannons get Strength 4 and spears at Fight 3, Numenoreans offer Fight 4 and Terror but no spears—but cost exactly the same fully bulked out (you can get Morannons with just Shields for 1 point cheaper than a Black Numenorean, though I usually give mine spears anyway. Numenoreans are also a better option against any army that wounds with Blades of the Dead (Dead of Dunharrow and the Return of the King Legendary Legion, which has been making the rounds), as they’re base Courage 4, can get up to Courage 5 if your army bonus is active (more on that shortly), and can take a War Horn to get all the way to Courage 6. Just the army bonus will be enough to make sure generic warriors needs 5s to wound (even with the King of the Dead’s Harbinger of Evil), and if you can double-stack the buffs, that’s enough to force the King of the Dead and generic warriors to wound on 5s (or 6s for the warriors, if you’re out of the King of the Dead’s Harbinger range). If your Black Numenoreans are backed up by Strength 4 Morannons, you can potentially wound the Dead on 6s while they’re wounding you on 5s or 6s. That’s a phenomenally good kill ratio against the Dead (and unthinkable for most evil armies, who usually wound the Dead on a 6/4+ while taking damage on 4s, or even 3s), especially since the Numenoreans offer you a Fight Value advantage, too (Fight 4, vs. the Dead's Fight 3).

·       Strength/Weakness: Courage. This comes down to two things: how many orcs (Orc Warriors, Morannons, Trackers) vs. non-orcs (Numenoreans, Mordor Uruk-Hai, Black Guard of Barad-Dur) do you field? And if you field a lot of orcs, do you have Kardush the Fire Caller? Mordor Uruks and Black Guard are base Courage 3, which becomes Courage 4 if you can keep your army bonus up. Numenoreans are base Courage 4 (so Courage 5 with the army bonus) and can take a War Horn for Courage 5/6 (and courage 4/5 on your Uruk-Hai/Black Guards) which is phenomenally good for evil troops, not to mention Courage 5 Shelob, Troll Chieftains, and Mordor Trolls or (Courage 6 Mordor Trolls if the army bonus is active), and Courage 7 Nazgul (except the Shadow Lord). If you go the orc route, Kardush offers you a Fury (Mordor Orcs only, no Uruks) Shaman who is a Hero of Fortitude (phenomenal, since every other Fury Shaman except the Easterling War Priest is now a Minor Hero). He can also refresh his Will pool by eating nearby friendly orcs (well, absorbing their life-essence, but it’s basically the same thing without the gore), making him harder for your opponent to counter with generic Shaman tactics (target them with spells and force them to deplete their Will store). Plus if you get to the point where you no longer need Fury (or need to power up another hero more), he can sacrifice himself to give any nearby Nazgul D6 Will points back. If you’re running Mordor Orcs, I think he’s a no-brainer, and even in a Black Numenorean/Nazgul or Nazgul/Uruk-Hai list, he’s incredibly useful (as you just spend your Will casting Flameburst at enemy heroes, preferably while mounted).

·       Strength: Army Bonus. This bonus depends on you having more models at any given time than your opponent, so it requires some bookkeeping. If you have more models on the table than your opponent, your Mordor Warrior models get two bonuses. We’ve already talked about the first, but it bears repeating: a +1 Courage buff to an army like Mordor is phenomenal, as it allows you to have decent courage on what would otherwise be a low-courage army (orcs) or phenomenal courage on what would otherwise be a decent courage army (Uruk-Hai, Numenoreans). The second bonus allows Mordor Warriors to reroll 1s to-wound when making Strikes. The value of this bump in raw probabilities varies depending on what you need to roll to-wound: if you wound on 6s, then you go from a 1-in-6 chance to-wound (~16.7%) to a 2-in-11 chance to-wound (~18%) overall, which isn't that much (although it's worth noting that if you do roll that "1" to-wound, you go from having a 0% chance to-wound to having a 16.7% chance to-wound, in which case it sounds pretty good). But if you have a Strength 4 army (and Mordor has a ton of Strength 4 warrior options) and you wound most opponents on 5s, you go from a 2-in-6 chance to-wound (33.3%) to a 4-in-11 chance (~36.4%), and your rolled "1s" go from having a 0% chance to-wound to a 33.3% chance to-wound. I'm generally of the opinion that the option to reroll is always a good thing to have, so I tend to find value in it; but it's definitely a situational bonus, so the value you assign it may vary depending on your point of view.

Hero Profiles: Nine for Mortal Men Doomed to Die

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The Black Riders are perhaps the most iconic villains in all of Tolkien’s writings. They are beings of unspeakable terror, bent to the Will of Sauron, and the bane of the free peoples of Middle Earth. Although you can take Nazgul in several evil army lists (Barad-Dur, Angmar, the Serpent Horde, the Corsairs of Umbar, the Easterlings, and Dol-Guldur), Mordor is the only list where you have access to all of the named Nazgul and their full spell-caster profiles. The Nazgul are a personal favorite of TMAT’s Tiberius, so check out his Top 10 Wraiths, Revisited for more about each of them. Here are some of the highlights.

·       The Witch-King of Angmar (Mordor, Barad-Dur, Angmar): An exceptionally good caster with an enormous Will store (up to 20 Will), the Crown of Morgul (reroll 1 die when casting or resisting spells, plus he gets 3 Attacks), and the wizard-killing trifecta of spells: Compel (4+), Your Staff is Broken (4+), and Sap Will (5+). The Morgul Blade can insta-kill any hero who is low on Fate (or doesn’t have any). As with the unnamed wraiths, you can customize his stat-line to fit your points budget (though I’d always recommend 3 Might, and it’s hard to pass up the Crown). You can take him light on Will with the crown (probably mounted) for a dangerous mobile spellcaster, or you can deck him out in full combat garb on the Fell Beast, where his beefy combat stats and magic prowess will pose a threat to even the biggest of heroes. In a Mordor list, he’s a Hero of Legend who can lead up to 18 troops, so he’ll usually be your army leader (unless you ally in another Hero of Legend). When you’re building out his stats, plan accordingly.

·       Unnamed Ringwraiths (Mordor, Barad-Dur): Good supporting spellcasters with some very good spells (Drain Courage (2+), Transfix (3+), Compel (4+)). Their stats are largely customizable, and while they’ll always be useful due to Heroic March, at full stats (2/14/2) they’re almost the same points cost as a named wraith (you pay 10 points more, give up Heroic March, and in some cases trade Might, Will, or Fate to gain the named wraith’s stats and special rules). You can mount them (on horse or Fell Beast), they’re very good supporting heroes (especially in pairs or groups of three), and their Courage 6 can hold any force that breaks well after most orc captains would have bailed. Like the Witch-King, they have Harbinger of Evil. Unlike the Witch-King, they’re only Heroes of Fortitude, which means you can take them without making them your leader (or, if you’re running all Heroes of Fortitude, you can make them your leader so you can be more aggressive with your other beater heroes of fortitude).

·       The Tainted (Mordor, Angmar): A standard spell-caster with 14 Will and a nasty special rule, Miasmic Presence: at the start of the Move Phase, before Heroic Actions are declared, he can spend a point of Will to prevent enemy warriors within 6” of him from benefiting from a hero’s heroic actions or Stand Fasts. If you win priority in the mid-game, you can pop this to it all but guarantee that your army will get to move first. And if you’re fighting low-courage opponents in the late game, it’s a great way to make sure they run. His other special rule is Seeping Decay: at the start of the Fight Phase, every model in base contact with the Tainted rolls a D6 and takes a wound on the roll of a 6 (the wound is automatic—there’s no additional to-wound roll required). It’s not very likely to fire, but if you use him more aggressively (say, on Fell Beast), it’s a nice little deterrent to your opponent surrounding him. Like all the other named wraiths (besides the Witch-King), he is a Hero of Valor (can lead 15 troops).

·       The Dwimmerlaik (Mordor, Angmar): Another standard spell caster with 16 Will, but no Might. He’ll need every point of Will if you plan to use his Sap Fortitude special rule much: every time an enemy hero spends a point of Might, Will, or Fate within 6” of the Dwimmerlaik, he may spend 1 point of Will to roll a D6. On a 4+, the hero must spend an additional point of Might, Will, or Fate to complete the deed; otherwise, the deed is cancelled and any heroic resources already spent are lost. It’s powerful when it works, but given that Will is also your life-force, it’s a real drain when it doesn’t.

·       Khamul the Easterling (Mordor, Easterlings): One of two combat-oriented named wraiths (besides the Witch-King). Khamul has access to Heroic Channel, Strike, and Challenge, and his Essence Leech allows him to boost his Fight, Strength, or Attacks by 1 for the remainder of the Fight Phase at the cost of 1 Will, which he can regain back if he causes a Wound against enemy models. He’s penalized as a caster (+1 difficulty to cast spells) with just 12 Will, but with 2 Might, 2 Fate, Defense 8, and a 4+ transfix, he can be very difficult to deal with in combat, especially if he’s mounted on a horse or Fell Beast.

·       The Knight of Umbar (Mordor, Corsairs of Umbar): Another combat-first wraith with some nerfed spells and a pool of 12 Will. Combat Mimicry is his main special rule (he can copy his opponent’s Fight, Strength, and/or Attack values for the duration of the Fight Phase at the cost of 1 Will), but it’s Armor of the Sundered Land that gives him staying power (he only loses Will from the Will of Evil special rule if he loses a combat during the Fight Phase). You definitely want to mount him on something to get full-effect from both special rules.

·       The Betrayer (Mordor, Serpent Horde): Yet another wraith with a +1 difficult to cast most spells, though he has the standard 14 Will pool of most named wraiths. He doesn’t have any obvious combat stats, but his Bane of Kings special rule allows him to reroll all failed to-wound rolls. On foot it’s not much to worry about, but on a Fell Beast (three dice to win the fight on the charge, six dice at Strength 6 to-wound, all rerollable) he’s terrifying good at killing things. His Master of Poisons special rule (poisoned weapons within 6” of him may reroll all failed to-wound rolls, at the cost of 1 Will per turn) doesn’t do much for a Mordor list, but in his other list (the Serpent Horde) it can be terrifying.

·       The Dark Marshall (Mordor only): The first of three wraiths exclusive to Mordor. His special rule, Rule through Fear, is very good if you’re running a lot of warriors: at the cost of 1 Will per turn, friendly warriors within 6” of the Dark Marshall count as being in range of a banner, which is fantastic, especially if you have higher-fight troops like Black Guards of Barad-Dur, or even better, Black Numenoreans. It’s not as great in lists that are heavy on heroes, as Rule through Fear doesn’t give rerolls to Heroes (or the Dark Marshall himself). He also has two sneaky good buffs to his profile: he’s Fight 6 (instead of Fight 5, like the other named Wraiths, including the Witch-King) and while he largely has the Wraith-standard casting profile (14 Will, Transfix on 3+, Compel on 4+, etc.), he can cast the new spell Instill Fear on a 4+ (instead of the standard 5+), on-par with the Witch-King. Combined with Harbinger of Evil, this is a great way to scatter and pin enemy troops if you win priority, or to peel off low-courage spear supports after you’ve been charged.

·       The Shadow Lord (Mordor only): Also exclusive to Mordor, and one of the more popular named wraiths prior to the new edition, due to his Pall of Darkness special rule (shooting attacks against the Shadow Lord or any friendly model within 6” of him only hit on a 6). He still has that rule (though it costs 1 Will per turn to keep up now) and it’s still very good, especially if you happen to draw one of the not-so-uncommon lists that pair archery with some form of Blinding Light (Galadriel, Gandalf, Cirdan, Radagast, etc.). He also has a sneaky change to his profile: he’s only Courage 5 (instead of the Wraith-standard Courage 6). With 14 Will it’s not usually a problem, except when it is…

·       The Undying (Mordor only): Last is the Undying, with a whopping 18 Will and two special rules to extend his effectiveness. Arcana Leech, at the cost of 1 Will per turn, allows him to regain one Will point for every Magical Power successfully cast by another model within 6” of him. Because of the 1 Will tax, you only pull even or ahead if you have at least 2 more casters who succeed on spells, but if you’re running a few budget wraiths or someone like the Witch-King (who can reroll failed spells with the Crown of Morgul), you can make it work, and if you’re running 4 or more spell casters, he can suddenly throw out a 3-4 dice spell at the end with little-to-no hit to his Will store. Eternal Willpower gives him another way to spend that extra Will: he can spend them in the same matter as Fate points (which is good, because he doesn’t have any Fate points).

·       Mounts: All wraiths have the option to mount a horse, Fell Beast, or Armored Fell Beast. Any of these will give the wraith the Cavalry keyword, which is great for giving them an extra dice on the charge to win duels, and doubling their dice to-wound if they win the duel after charging infantry models. Because all wraiths have Terror and Harbinger of Evil, they can be extremely difficult to pin-down while mounted, especially if you keep the wraiths munching on the flanks instead of throwing them into the middle. And having 10” movement is great for both casting a spell then retreating to safety, and for hunting line-of-sight to priority magic targets. About half the wraiths can also take an armored horse (the Witch-King, the Tainted, the Dwimmerlaik, Khamul, and the Dark Marshall), in case you’re worried about arrow fire (S3 bows still wound on 5s, but a crossbow needs a 5+ and standard bows only wound on a 6). For maximum combat effectiveness, you can take a Fell Beast. The standard Fell Beast will increase your wraith’s attacks from 1 to 2 (plus 1 more attack on the charge), at Strength 6 with Monstrous Charge (allowing you to bowl over enemy cavalry, unless their rider has called Heroic Strength). At Defense 6, most archery will need 6s to wound you, although if you want added protection from Crossbows and standard Strength 2 bows, you can upgrade to the Armored Fell Beast (Defense 7).

Named Orc Heroes

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Nazgul are cool and all, but when they're not around you can always resort to the sword and the spear and the iron fist of the orc. While Sauron's Second Age orcs are more annoyance than threat, his Third Age orcs are downright nasty, and the Mordor Army list puts their nastiness on full display.

·       Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron: If you’re planning to run orcs, you should always consider bringing Gothmog along to lead them. He’s pretty good in a scrap with 3 Might, Attacks, and Wounds to go with Fight 5, Strength 4, Defense 7 (with shield) and the option for a Warg. He also has access to Heroic Strike, Defense, and March, which are very good actions to have (Defense in particular is pretty rare in the Mordor list), plus he can copy any Heroic Action called within 6” of him thanks to Master of Battle (great for contesting Heroic Moves or Heroic Strikes without depleting his own Might store). His bread-and-butter support rules are The Age of Men is Over, which gives all Mordor Orc models (warriors and heroes) the Hatred (Man) special rule, which is a +1 to-wound bonus (very nasty). If you pair that with The Time of the Orc Has Come, all Mordor Orc models within 12” of Gothmog can reroll all failed to wound rolls when making Strikes during a single Fight Phase. Those special rules don’t have the same range in a Mordor list as they do in the Army of Gothmog Legendary Legion (12” and Battlefield-Wide, respectively), but they’re still very good buffs in Mordor (which, unlike the Legendary Legion, has access to two-attack Morgul Stalkers).

·       Grishnakh, Orc Captain: The first of many inexpensive, three-Might orc leaders who can lead 12 warriors. He’s dirt cheap, even if you take the Shield (which pushes him to Defense 6). He’s got your basic orc captain stats (Fight 4, Strength 4, 2 Attacks, 2 wounds) but has the option to Heroic Strike and also has the Backstabbers rule. If you manage to trap models with Grishnakh (4 dice with +1 to-wound) and orc warriors (2 to-wound dice each, rerolling 1s to-wound), you have a pretty good chance at taking them out, especially if your target is a Man and Gothmog is nearby (+1 to-wound on double-dice, rerolling 1s for the warriors; +2 to-wound on 4 dice for Grishnakh). If you’re planning to run a generic orc captain, consider Grishnakh as well. They offer different things (Grishnakh the extra Might and Heroic Strike; the Captain Heroic March and the option to mount a Warg), but both are very good choices. Just watch out for his Courage 3, as he doesn’t benefit from the +1 Courage army bonus (he’s a Hero, not a Warrior).

·       Gorbag, Orc Captain: At 5 points more than Grishnakh, he offers the same basic stats with the option for a Shield, access to Heroic Strike and Strength, and Courage 4 instead of Courage 3 (he can get to Courage 5 if you include a War Horn). He trades Backstabbers for Orcish Brawler, which gives him +1 Fight (Fight 5) and +1 Attack (3 Attacks) if he’s “outnumbered in a fight,” which means he’s in base-contact with 2+ models (spear supports on either side don’t count). If you have initiative (or are good at screening Gorbag, it’s possible to get him into base-contact with two enemy models with a spear support behind him (giving you 4 attacks to your opponent’s 2). As with Grishnakh, he gets +1 to wound Man models if Gothmog is nearby.

·       Guritz, Master of Reserves: Like most of his Morannon compatriots, he has pretty good combat stats: Fight 4, Strength 5, Defense 6, 2 Attacks, 2 Wounds, and a sword or two-handed pick (but no Burly). His special rule is Master of Reserves, which allows him to modify his own reinforcement and maelstrom rolls by +1 or -1, and then once he is deployed, all other warbands in the army (that’s army-wide, not just from the Mordor faction if you have allied contingents) also get that +1/-1 modifier. He also has access to Heroic March, so he can get his warband where you need to if you deploy split-up, or so he can move a sizeable chunk of the army forward if you deploy together.

·         Zagdush, Orc Captain: He’s got most of the standard orc captain combat stats (Fight 4, Strength 4). He trades 1 Defense (Defense 5, which isn’t great) for an extra Attack (3 Attacks, which is phenomenal), plus he has 3 Might points and access to Heroic Strike and Strength. His Reckless Fighter rule allows him to reduce his Defense by 1 (Defense 4) to increase his Strength by 1 (Strength 5). At just Fight 4 with only 2 wounds and a Fate point, it’s risky to do all the time, but if you have superior dice numbers, a trapped enemy model, and higher fight value or a way to Heroic Strike, it can be devastating (especially if he’s within 3” of Gothmog, where The Age of Men is Over will give him 4 to-wound dice at Strength 5 with +1 to wound). He also has above-average Courage 4, which means he can get up to Courage 5 if you slot a War Horn in.

·       Goroth, Captain of the Morannon: He’s more expensive than your other 3 Might orc options, but packs a wallop (literally): Strength 5 and Burly with a 2-handed mace. With 2 Attacks, he’ll have a pretty good go at even Defense 7 captains (wounding on 4s, and two wounds means they’ll need to pass their Fate to survive). It also means you’re not giving up very much if you opt to have him do a 2-handed Bash to knock a model prone (and, at Strength 5 with a two-handed weapon, he’ll start the Bash roll-off on the same footing as a Fell Beast or a Cave Troll). Like Zagdush, he can get to Courage 5 with a War Horn, and he’s also Fight 5 with Heroic Strike if you need to throw him at monsters or heroes. If he has a supporting spearman and banner nearby (3 Attacks with rerolls), he can be very difficult to beat in combat. If he is beaten, his signature special rule Come Here Maggot makes him an exceptional tank: each time he suffers a wound that would cause him to be slain (after spending his Fate point) he can roll a D6, and on a 2+, another Mordor Orc model within 1” of Goroth takes the wound instead (without the benefit of Fury, although that orc can still spend Fate points to try to survive the wound). Note as well that the model only suffers a wound (instead of being slain), so if you have multi-wound orc heroes standing around Goroth (like generic Orc Captains), you have the option to siphon a wound or two on to the Captain before you start depleting your troops. And if you have a Shaman who’s cast channeled Fury, Goroth can have as many as four lines of defense against incoming damage: a 6+ Fury save, then his Fate point, then the Fate points of nearby orc heroes, and lastly any nearby orc grunts. The 1” limitation for grunts isn’t very big, but if you keep a spearman tied to Goroth you’ll always have an eligible maggot. Remember as well that the 1” triggers when Goroth is about to take a wound that would kill him, which means after strikes are made, which means after he has to Back Away. So as long as you have nearby orcs within 2” of Goroth in a direction you can Back Away, you can set-up the sacrificial orc (even if no other Mordor Orc models are within 1” of him when the fight starts) and, if you have Priority, you can choose to resolve a combat with another Mordor Orc first, and potentially Back Away that model (or its spear support) so that it’s within 2” of Goroth (so that Goroth can then Back Away to within 1” of that model. Tricky, right?

·       Gothmog’s Enforcer: He has a standard Orc Captain combat profile (Fight 4, Strength 4, Defense 6, 2 Attacks, 2 Wounds) with just one point of Might. His primary use is as a supplement to Gothmog, who can spend the Enforcer’s 3 Will points as if they were Might points to call Heroic Moves, so long as Gothmog is within 3”. This, combined with Gothmog’s Master of Battle, can really reduce the Might Strain on Gothmog (plus you can always bring an Orc Taskmaster along, too). He also has Heroic Defense, so once his will is spent, he can still use him as a speed-bump to tie up a bigger, scarier enemy hero.

·       Kardush the Firecaller: Oh Kardush, how I love thee (sorry… now that I see that printed, I see how strange it is). So much, apparently, that he deserves his own write-up. Here’s the short(ish) version:

o      Kardush avoided most of the nerfs to Shamans in the new edition: he’s still a Hero of Fortitude (he can lead 12 dudes), and he’s one of only two Hero of Fortitude Shamans who can cast Fury that benefits the primary warriors in your army (in Kardush’s case, Mordor Orcs; the Easterling War Priest can also cast Fury (Easterling)). His Fury also affects any of the named orc heroes in the Mordor list, and there are a ton of them.

o      Kardush avoids the primary problem with Shamans: they have a limited Will store, so they can only cast their spells 2-3 times (or just once, with a single die, if you don’t want to exhaust Fury) before they become glorified warriors. Kardush is the only shaman with a replenishing Will store thanks to Heart of Darkness, which allows him to recover D3 Will points during the Priority Phase (before dice are rolled, and before the Move Phase) by draining the life force of any friendly Orc within 6” (a pretty significant range). That extra Will means Kardush can cast secondary spells or fend off Sap Will attempts far longer than other Shamans, despite his standard heroic stats (1/3/1).

o      Heart of Darkness also allows Kardush to make repeated use of his phenomenally good secondary spell: Flameburst, which he casts on a 3+. Yes, that’s not a typo: a 3+ (for reference, Saruman casts the same spell on a 5+). Flameburst does a Strength 6 hit, and if you target a cavalry model, both the rider and the mount take a Strength 6 hit if the spell isn’t resisted (see Rules p. 63, 93, 95, and 98). That makes it a phenomenal spell for pressuring Horselord heroes or a Ringwraith on Fell Beast, and since Kardush can cast it so easily (then replenish his Will store in the following Priority Phase), he can cast it indefinitely while keeping up Fury at the same time. And if you keep Might in reserve, you can threaten a channeled Flameburst which would set both the rider and mount Ablaze (Rules p. 106—they each take a Strength 9 hit instantly, then each take one Strength 5 hit in the following End Phase, then each take one Strength 5 hit in every subsequent End Phase, unless the rider dismounts, becomes prone, and crawls, or they enter a water feature). Did I mention you can refresh your Will pool to cast this spell indefinitely?

o      Finally, if you’ve bored of Kardush, or run out of cavalry models to flambé, or if he’s in a position where he’s about to be slain, you can invoke Shadow Pawn to remove Kardush as a casualty at the start of any Priority Phase. If you do, a friendly Ringwraith (that’s named and unnamed) within 6” of Kardush can consume his life force and recover D6 Will points. Which means as long as Kardush is alive and on the table, he’s a potential 4-7 Will Black Dart waiting to happen (potentially more if The Undying is nearby, generating extra Will from Kardush’s flambés (and any other spell-casters you have nearby).

So yeah. If you’re taking Mordor Orcs, strongly consider Kardush. And if you’re taking Mordor without many orcs, still strongly consider Kardush (you can throw 2-3 dice Flamebursts each turn if you don’t have to worry about exhausting Fury), especially if you’re taking a wraith (and if you’re not running any orcs in your list, let’s face it: you probably have a Ringwraith in your army somewhere). Just make sure you fit 4-6 orc grunts along to serve as Kardush’s personal bodyguards / Will batteries. If you’re on a budget, Orc Trackers on foot will fill the role nicely (and very, very cheaply).

Named (Non-Orc) Heroes

There are quite a bit less of these, but all of them are quite good. They also fill unique roles that your orc heroes can’t fill, or don’t fill nearly as well. And, of course, they present a ton of thematic options to build around.

·       The Mouth of Sauron: He’s a cheap toolbox hero who can fill a number of roles. His primary role is as a cheap Hero of Valor (15 warrior slots) if you want to bulk out a horde-ish force, plus he has that all-important Heroic March (in case you wanted to take a named Ringwraith instead of a generic one) to get your army where it needs to go if it deploys together, or help get it back together if you have an unfavorable Maelstrom deployment. He also has the tools to be a supporting combat hero, with Fight 5, 2 Attacks, Strength 4, Defense 6, and a hand-and-a-half sword, who can be mounted. He doesn’t have Heroic Strike, but does have 2 Might points to boost his duel rolls. Because he also causes Terror, he’s right at home mounted with a contingent of Morgul Knights, and can be difficult to charge or pin down if a friendly wraith is nearby with Harbinger of Evil. Finally, he can tap in if you need a secondary caster in a pinch. He has two pretty good supporting spells (Drain Courage (2+), which you can cast while closing in on enemy heroes with your Morgul Knight brigade, and Transfix (3+), in case an enemy hero has managed to close on your Morgul Knight brigade, or a random Troll has managed to close on your Morgul Knight brigade). He also has Instill Fear (5+), which is difficult to cast, but with 2 Might points, you can have a pretty good go at it if you’re willing to commit multiple dice and some Might. He has 4 Will in his store which is pretty good (better than generic shamans), and unlike Ringwraiths, he doesn’t have The Will of Evil, so he can deplete his Will store or take part in more than 4 turns of combat without being automatically removed as a casualty.

·       Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol: One of the more scary Heroes of Fortitude in any list. Shagrat in base form has combat stats that resemble those of top-tier heroes: Fight 5, Strength 5, 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds, and 3 Might / Will / Fate. If you upgrade him with Heavy Armor and the Shield of Cirith Ungol (for an absurdly low amount of points altogether), he gets boosted from Defense 5 to Defense 7 (yes, please) and gains the Knock to the Ground bonus when he charges infantry as if he were a cavalry model (if he wins a fight in which he charged, enemy infantry models, including infantry Heroes, are knocked prone when they Back Away). He has Heroic Strike, Strength, and Challenge (which, being a Hero of Fortitude, means he can challenge almost every hero worth challenging—Minor and Independent Heroes exempted, of course), and to top it all off he has Blood and Glory, so he regains 1 Might point if he defeats a hero in combat. Scary, scary, scary good for the points. Plus he makes for a thematic leader choice if you’d like to bring Fight 4 / Strength 4 Mordor Uruk-Hai, or even Fight 4 / Strength 5 Black Guards of Barad-Dur (Mordor Uruk-Hai on steroids).

·       Shelob: The silent assassin. She’s not great on her own (Fight 7, Strength 7, Defense 7, but only 1 Attack), but if you can get her into fights on the charge she can be devastating, with 2 Attacks and Monstrous Charge, giving her 4 dice to-wound infantry models of Strength 6 and below, plus Venom to reroll failed wounds. Her Survival Instinct give her a chance to run before she’s slain, but with 6 Will she tends to hang around (plus you can buff her to Courage 5 with a War Horn). Don’t forget that if she wins a duel after being charged, she has a chance to paralyze her attacker (a nasty surprise, that). She is very, very good value for her points. Keep a banner near her (or keep her near a banner) for maximum effectiveness.

Generic Heroes

Photo Credit: lotr.fandom.com

Most of these are a cut below the named heroes we just discussed (the Troll Chieftain and Great Beast of Gorgoroth being the notable exceptions), but like most everything else in the Mordor list, they have good profiles on their own and fill important roles for the army.

·       Orc Captain: Cheap and surprisingly stout (Defense 6 with a Shield, 2 Attacks, and 2 Wounds), they can pack a punch in combat if you’re not careful (Strength 4, 2 Attacks). Fight 4 is on the low end of the hero scale, but if they’re supported by a friendly Transfix (and you can pack a lot of those in a Mordor list), they can weather run-ins with far more expensive heroes. Your best bet if you want cheap Might around, and an ideal cheap bodyguard for a more expensive combat hero (like Shagrat, the Mordor Troll Chieftain, or better yet, a Nazgul on Fell Beast) so those bigger heroes can save their own Might for Heroic Strikes, boosting their dice rolls, or casting critical spells. For some of the Legendary Legions, this will be one of your few options for mounted models, and an Orc Captain on Warg is pretty good in combat in any list. If your opponent does manage to break you, watch out for their courage: it isn’t good, and isn’t boosted by your army bonus, either (although they’ll auto-pass their courage tests if Kardush or another Fury shaman is around).

·       Orc Shaman: Speaking of other Fury shamans, a generic shaman is another answer to the low courage on your orcs (though his Fury doesn’t boost your trolls). A 6+ save across the army isn’t super-reliable, but every little bit helps (every pesky orc you manage to save is another roadblock between your opponent and your heroes) and even a single well-timed Fury save can really mess up your opponent’s plans. Case in point: a hero is thinking about calling a Heroic Combat against 2 Mordor Orcs; each Orc has a 6+ Fury save; the hero wins the duel and strikes at the first orc, rolling a “4” when he needs a “5”; if he spends Might to wound the orc, the orc may still survive due to Fury; if that orc dies, the hero will have to make another wound roll against the second orc, who, if wounded, gets another 6+ save. Does the hero spend the Might to wound the first orc? Does the hero spend the Might to call the Heroic Combat at all? The generic shaman definitely loses some luster in a list with Kardush, but he does have the option to mount a warg for more speed and punch in combat, and in the Army of Gothmog legendary legion, he’s your only choice for Fury. Plus he has a spear so he can stand safely in the back and still participate in combats. Note that he’s a minor hero (can lead only 6 warriors), so if you’re looking to horde out, he’s going to hurt those efforts. Just watch out for enemy archers, especially if he’s mounted—he really doesn’t like them.

·         Orc Taskmaster: A Hero of Fortitude with 1 Might and the option to call Heroic March. His best trait is Whip of the Masters, where he and any friendly hero within 6” of him, has a 50/50 chance (4+) to recover Might spent to call a Heroic Move, Heroic March, or Heroic Shoot. Saving Might is always good, and if you can save it on someone like the Witch-King or a Ringwraith, it’s even better.

·       Orc Drummer: A minor hero who can’t lead troops, but can be slotted into another warband. His War Drum allows all Mordor orcs within 12” of him to move up to 3” more (or 5” if mounted on wargs), without spending any Might. Just be sure to read the rules on war drums carefully: you can’t charge with your extra movement, all models within 12” of the drum either can’t charge or must stay stationary, and it only affects models with the Mordor and Orc keyword (so no Black Numenoreans, Morgul Knights, Trolls, Ringwraiths, Uruk-Hai, or Black Guard).

·       Morannon Orc Captain: An upgraded Orc Captain with Strength 5, but no option for a Warg. You can take them with 2-handed weapons which is always fun. Their biggest drawback is that once you give them a shield or 2-handed weapon, they’re almost the same cost as Guritz (if you want the 2-handed weapon) or a Captain of the Black Guard (who has upgraded Fight and Courage). But if you’re trying to field an army of unnamed Orcs for thematic reasons, you could do far worse.

·       Mordor Uruk-Hai Captain: For 5 points more than a Morannon Orc Captain, they trade 1 Defense (Defense 5/6 instead of Defense 6/7) for one additional Fight and courage (Fight 5, Strength 5, Courage 4). You also have the option to give them an orc bow with a 4+ shoot value. Bows backed by Might are nice to have (especially for trying to dismount an enemy hero who has limited Fate or doesn’t have Horselord), although I’m a little miffed about the fact that they’re Uruk-Hai but have to take Strength 2 Orc Bows (instead of Strength 3 Uruk-Hai bows). Competitively, they suffer from the same issue as Morannon Orc Captains: if you just want a Strength 5 beat stick, Guritz offers more Might and a deployment special rule for the same cost, and a Captain of the Black Guard offers the same Fight with better Courage and Defense for just 5 points more. But if you were looking to re-appropriate your already-painted Isengard army into a Mordor force and already have some scout captains done up, they’re nice thematic options (and by no means have bad stats).

·       Captain of the Black Guard: These guys are particularly nasty: Fight 5, Strength 5, and Defense 7 with 2 Attacks and the option to Shield. Just remember that it can’t Heroic Strike anymore, but if you pair it with another Striking hero (they make very good bodyguards for Shagrat or a Mordor Troll Chieftain), they can do a ton of damage to even high-defense models in short order. Their advantage over Morannon Orc Captains (apart from the fact that they look awesome) is that if a friendly Ringwraith is on the board, they jump up to Courage 6 (so Courage 7 if you also have a Numenorean with a War Horn). Good luck making it fail courage tests…

·       Black Guard Drummer: Another minor hero with a War Drum, this time for Mordor Uruk-Hai (Mordor Uruk-Hai and Black Guard). In a pure Uruk-Hai force, this is the drummer you want. If you take him in a combined Orc/Uruk force, it also allows you to keep your entire force together (within 12” of the drummer) and have part of the force gain an extra 3” of movement (all Mordor Orcs or Mordor Uruk-Hai, depending on which of the drummers you take) while the rest of your force is able to charge its normal movement speed (so you can pull of charges and flanking maneuvers with infantry on the same turn). And, if your drummer is charged, your opponent now has to deal with a Fight 4, Defense 5, Strength 5 hero with Fate (instead of a lowly Fight 3, Defense 4 orc).

·       Black Numenorean Marshall: An armored captain who can tank most enemy heroes (Fight 5, Strength 4, Defense 7, 2 Attacks, 2 wounds, and a shield). Take him mounted with a lance, and he can be devastating. Add Terror to make him difficult to charge, and he’s a thorn in your opponent’s side. Keep him near(ish) a Nazgul, and he benefits from their Harbinger of Evil special rule.

·       Mordor Troll Chieftain: He’s a Fight 7, Strength 7, Defense 8 troll with 3 Attacks, Might, Terror, and the option to Heroic Strike. Even top-tier heroes will think twice about going near him. Don’t forget he can Barge if he gets pinned down by a grunt, Hurl enemy heroes who are mounted, or Rend high-defense targets. He doesn’t benefit from the Army Bonus’s +1 Courage buff (he’s a Hero, not a Warrior), but a War Horn gets him to Courage 5, which is usually good enough. For what you pay in points, he’s an exceptionally good monster hero, plus he can lead 12 troops in his warband. He is low on Will, though (1 Will point) so he’s vulnerable to enemy spell casters. I recommend keeping him in close to a Nazgul or two (who buff his Terror and can transfix big heroes who charge him), or better yet the Witch-King, as he really benefits if enemy wizards and combat heroes are facing target over-saturation.

·       Great Beast of Gorgoroth: That’s right: in addition to all the other awesome stuff Mordor gets, they also get a War Beast. It’s not as frightening as a Mumakil but still has a beefy stat line (Fight 4, Strength 6, Defense 7, 3 Attacks, and 5 Wounds) and is way, way cheaper. You also get an orc captain for free (only defense 5, but he has 2 Might) and nine orc warriors with armor and orc bows thrown in for good measure, which means you’re really only paying about 50 points for the beast itself when it’s all said and done. The shoot 5+ on the orc warriors isn’t great, but the Great Beast counts as a battle platform (so no move-and-shoot penalties unless you’re shuffling around the howda), the archers don’t count towards your bow limit (see LOTR Armies p. 146), and while the archers themselves are only Defense 4, they do get a 4+ in-the-way if they’re targeted by enemy shooting attacks, which keeps them pretty safe. Strength 3 and Strength 4 shooting attacks need 6s to wound the Beast itself (Strength 2 bows wound on 6/4+), and any shooting attacks that hit the howda instead of the archers have to chew through Defense 8 and 4 wounds (only crossbows will wound on straight 6s—everything else needs to score a second roll to wound). The War Beast itself also has Trample attached to an 8” move, which does two Strength 6 hits to models it moves into base contact with. Apart from dwarves (or Fountain Court Guard), that means you need just one 4+ to wound most enemy troops, and while two dice isn’t a ton, you still have a 75% chance of getting at least one 4+ on two dice so if you get hot, you can really roll. They don’t like charging into multi-wound, high-fight Heroes, and they can stampede easily if they take wounds, although their captains are an above-average Courage 4 with 1 Will point—plus they’re orcs, so if you have Fury nearby, they’ll auto-pass any stampede checks they have to take (which is pretty awesome). Yet another reason you might want to consider a shaman on warg, even if you have Kardush…

Warrior Profiles: Orc Warriors

Ahhh… nostalgia... Photo Credit: HM Turnbull

·       Orc Warriors: The tried-and-true grunt orc. Fight 3, Strength 3, and Defense 5 are nothing to write home about, but they’re very cheap to field, even if you kit out with shield, spear, and hand-weapon. Speaking of which, they have a ton of wargear options so you can customize them to taste: sword (stab/feint) or pick (piercing strike) for free, spears, shields, bows (on a 5+ shoot), and banners (definitely take one of these on someone). Nothing screams “evil” like hordes of orcs, and these are your best-bet to get something approximating a “horde.”

·       Orc Trackers: Cheaper ranged firepower than traditional orcs, trading 1 defense (Defense 3 instead of 4) for a better chance to hit (4+ shoot instead of 5+). Their bows are only Strength 2 with a range of 18,” so they’re not prolific marksmen and they will go down to sustained enemy fire pretty rapidly (especially Strength 3+ archery, which wounds them on 4s). But hey, they’re expendable archers. What more do you want? (Kardush likes having a few of these around as well.)

·       Morannon Orcs: Their entry point is two 2 points higher than regular orc warriors, but they give you the option for Defense 6 (with shields) and Strength 4 spears, plus a banner for good measure (which you can carry, with a spear, with no additional penalties beyond the normal -1 duel penalty for banners). You also get some nice weapon options (sword, axe, or mace for free) and if you purchased the Pelennor Fields box set, chances are you already have three full warbands of them (-ish, depending on your Hero Tiers). Their chief weaknesses are Fight 3 (which is average, but not great) and Courage 2 (which is bad all around, though the Army bonus gets you to Courage 3, which is okay). Note as well that if you field a full force of just Morannons, you won’t have any ranged options as they can’t take bows.

·       Morgul Stalkers: The basic profile of a Morgul Stalker hasn’t changed much in the new edition: they’re still Fight 3 (fine), Strength 4 (good), Defense 4 (not so good), 2 Attacks (wait, what?!), and Courage 3 (meh in general, but pretty good for orcs—it becomes Courage 4 with the army bonus and Courage 5 if you stack a War Horn). What has changed is the price, which dropped dramatically, making them one of the cheapest 2 Attack warriors in the game (Watchers of Karna with twin blades just barely edge them out). They don’t pack quite the same punch as Feral Uruk-Hai and Berserkers, but they compare favorably with them (three more points for a Feral buys you +1 Fight, +1 Courage, and Oblivious to Pain (6+ save); five more points for a Berserker gets you +1 Defense and +4 Courage, plus a hand-and-a-half sword and effective Defense 6 against ranged attacks). If you had your choice, you’d prefer Fight 4 of course and more defensive stats, but if you’re looking for cheap, efficient, brutal killing power they’ll fill that role for you pretty admirably, especially if you have other models with Fight 4 (Black Numenoreans, Mordor Uruk-Hai) elsewhere in your force. Stalk Unseen is a situational buff, but the ability to not be targeted by shooting attacks from more than 6” when at all obscured by terrain can be better than having Defense 6 if you maneuver them carefully. When all else fails, you can keep them behind your Morannons until the lines close (so enemy archers have to take multiple in-the-way tests for Defense 6 Morannons), where they excel at chewing through flanks or hewing stalled cavalry models. If you can ally in some Fight 4 spearmen (Serpent Guard from the Serpent Horde fill the role nicely) and give them banner support, they become very dangerous to Fight 3 armies.

·       Warg Riders: Hard-hitting and fast moving. Two attacks at Strength 4 on the charge (with double-dice to wound infantry) is nothing to sneeze at, and they present a conundrum if you lose fights. If the enemy goes for the warg, the orc is almost certainly staying around to cause trouble later; if the enemy goes for the rider, the warg may stay around anyway to cause havoc later. You can also do sneaky things like marching with a drum 20”, then dismounting around the enemy while almost doubling your model-count. 

Warrior Profiles: Non Orc Warriors

Photo Credit: WrocWar

·       Mordor Uruk-Hai: These are essentially Uruk-Hai Scouts, with slightly depowered wargear options (no Uruk-Hai bows… boo…). Their main benefit is they give you another option for Fight 4 beyond Black Numenoreans, and trade 1 Defense (Defense 5) and Terror for +1 Strength (Strength 4) and the option to take very cheap two-handed maces. A Strength 4 two-handed Mace has a pretty good chance at bashing a Strength 3 model (it starts with a +2 advantage, and the basher wins ties, so any roll of a 4+ is guaranteed to succeed), which will obliterate stalled cavalry charges, and of course a +1 to-wound on Strength 4 is always valuable (you can wound Defense 6 on 4s). And despite my complaining about orc bows, you can give a Mordor Uruk-Hai both an orc bow and a two-handed mace for a pretty good archer unit (4+ shoot, 18” range, Strength 2 weapon) that can hold its own against most combat armies if it’s overrun (or can pepper the enemy with bow fire as it advances, then pivot to pummeling their flanks once the lines have met).

·       Black Gurad of Barad-Dur: If you thought Saruman perfected the Fighting Uruk-Hai, he’s got nothing on disembodied Third Age Sauron: Fight 4, Defense 6, and a whopping Strength 5 that can wound defense 7 models (or heroes) on a 5+. They’re 2 points more than you’d pay for an Uruk-Hai warrior with shield, so you’re paying a premium for that Strength 5. But they’re the only basic warriors you can get to Strength 6 with a weapon swap (+1 point for an axe or pick, to Piercing Strike at Strength 6). They can get up to Courage 5 with the army bonus and a War Horn, and nothing says “stay away from my banner, bro” quite like giving a banner to a Fight 4, Strength 5 Uruk-Hai with a Shield…

·       Black Numenoreans: At a semi-elite cost, they offer a very good statline: Fight 4, Strength 3, and Defense 6. Their bread-and-butter buff is Terror, which can make them a nightmare to engage (which means you may not need to call Heroic Moves every turn in order to ensure you get a good combat position). If you have a Ringwraith nearby, they’re also very good bodyguards for your heroes: they can run interference to prevent your hero from being swarmed, and there’s a chance the enemy may not be able to swarm them in turn due to Terror and Harbinger. On the plus-courage side, we’ve mentioned War Horns quite a bit, so if you want one, this is your shot at it (well, them and Morgul Knights… but you probably want one on these guys unless you’re planning to play keep-away with your expensive heavy cavalry model). Depending on your opponent’s list, they can also be a very good choice for a banner-bearer; unless your opponent has Bodyguard or some other way to auto-pass courage tests, a Fight 4 / Defense 6 Banner-bearer with a shield and Terror can be pretty survivable.

·       Morgul Knights: Fight 4 cavalry who fix the only “meh” thing about Black Numenoreans: their average Strength 3. With a lance, Morgul Knights pack a whallop on the charge, and their Defense 5 mounts offer a challenge to bring down before they’re upon you (5+ to wound for Strength 3 bows/crossbows, 6s to wound for standard bows, blowpipes, and stones). If you do dismount them, they revert back to Numenoreans (who are still good), they can take banners and war horns as well, and they cause Terror which makes them exceptional at capturing and holding objectives. If you can keep them in range of Harbinger of Evil, even Elves and Dwarves will fail courage tests trying to charge them, and Bodyguard cavalry are pretty rare.

Warrior Profiles: Monsters and Siege Weapons

·       Mordor Trolls: They’re not as impressive as they used to be before Gundabad Trolls came along, but they still pack a wallop: Fight 7 is amazing in a world where most heroes can’t call Heroic Strike, and 3 Attacks at Strength 7 means they can rend most heroes with ease if they win combats. As with any 3 Attack, high-Fight model, they really benefit from having a friendly banner around, and if you add a couple friendly Attacks to the mix as well, they’ll have a significant fight advantage against almost any hero they face. Just watch out for Fight 6+ beat-stick heroes with Heroic Strike—they’ll need some help (or a friendly Transfix) to deal with those. Note that they also benefit from your army bonus, so they’re Courage 5 (Courage 6 if you have a War Horn) and get to reroll 1s to-wound. For a Strength 7 model with 3 Attacks that wounds most things on 4s or 3s anyway, every little bit helps.

·       Mordor Siege Bow: This is a Strength 9 siege weapon that can knock back enemy models similar to the Isengard Ballista (plus deals Strength 6 hits to anything that enemy model gets knocked into). They also have a reduced scatter (3” instead of 6”), so on the likely chance you roll a 2-5 on the scatter chart, your opponent will have fewer options as to who takes the hit. Unfortunately the issue is hitting: the crew only hit on a 5+ normally, and there are no options to reroll failed shots, but whatever you do manage to hit and wound is dead if it can’t prevent the wound with Fate. They’re also dirt cheap for a siege weapon, plus you get 3 orcs to fire it, one of whom is a Siege Veteran with a point of Might, Will, and Fate. And since you’re evil, you can use it to shoot into a big hero’s combat; if the hero is fighting a fairly isolated fight (and you manage to hit) you have a pretty good chance of knocking the hero prone (and maybe chipping in a cheeky wound, or killing the hero altogether if it fails its Fate roll or is out of Fate) due to the reduced scatter.

·       Mordor War Catapult: An expensive large siege weapon if you’re looking at the raw points cost, but if you fact in the fact that you get a Mordor Troll included (plus three orcs, one of whom is a Siege Veteran), it’s actually dirt cheap. This one will insta-kill multi-wound models if they suffer any damage (bye-bye Fellowship Boromir), and while it scatters the full 6,” it does Strength 5 hits to any models within 2” of whatever target is chosen, which makes it phenomenal at breaking-up clustered enemy formations like shieldwalls. The recent designer's notes (p. 4) also clarified that a model struck by the Catapult's area of effect damage is knocked prone, with no apparent size restriction on the models you knock down (trolls, Fell Beasts—basically anything except models that can’t be knocked prone for any reason, like War Beasts, the Iron Hills Chariot, or Smaug), which is phenomenal. The crew and troll both hit on a 4+ which is great, and the troll lets you re-roll to-hit, scatter, and to-wound rolls for free. That’s all rolls, not just failed rolls, so you can go hunting for that “6” on a scatter chart (or, if you have a Siege Vet or a Siege Captain, that “5+” or “4+” on the scatter chart). And, of course, a Fight 7 troll is also a very good deterrent to enemies who would usually try to rush your catapult to disable it. Note that the Troll goes from Courage 3 to Courage 4 with the Army bonus.

On those Legendary Legions…

Finally, it’s worth noting that you can take elements of the Mordor army list in two Legendary Legions released in Gondor at War: the Army of Gothmog, and The Black Gate Opens. Here’s some quick hits on each:

·       The Army of Gothmog is built around Gothmog and his Morannon Orcs, so you can get access to a fair bit of the named Orc heroes (no Grishnakh, Gorbag, or Kardush, but the rest are in there). Gothmog also get some very nice buffs: he becomes a Hero of Legend (18 models in his warband), the range of his The Age of Men is Over special rule (+1 to-wound by Mordor Orcs against Men) is increased from 3” to 12”, which is scary good, and the range of his The Time of the Orc has Come special rule (Mordor Orcs get to reroll all failed to-wound rolls during a single Fight Phase) is increased from 12” to Battlefield-wide (not quite as good as the first buff, but still very good). The trade-off is that you lose almost all the generic orc hero profiles (except Orc Captains, Morannon captains, and shamans, who you would strongly consider taking for their Fury) and almost all of your warrior options (with the exception of Orc Warriors, Morannon Orcs, Mordor Trolls, the Mordor Siege Bow, and the Mordor War Catapult). As a result, the force is all infantry (except heroes, if you mount them) and has no ranged options beyond siege weapons and orc warriors with orc bows (5+ shoot value at 18” range, Strength 2 hits). There are also no magic users in the force. It’s a brawl-in-your-face force, and it’s very good at doing that, but it loses a lot of the versatility that makes Mordor so unique. For more on how to make this legion work, don't forget to check-out The Stuff of Legends: The Army of Gothmog.

·       The Black Gate Opens is an even more restrictive list: you must take a Mordor Troll Chieftain (though you’re rewarded for doing so), and you have the option to take the Mouth of Sauron, Morannon and regular Orc captains, Orc Warriors, Morannon Orcs, and Mordor Trolls (that’s it). As with the Army of Gothmog, you’re limited to very few archers (5+ shoot Orc warriors with orc bows) and no cavalry (unless you take the Mouth of Sauron on armored horse, or Orc Captains on wargs), plus no named heroes (so you’re losing out on a lot of Might) and no option to take a Shaman (so Terror armies may pose significant problems). The Legion bonus buffs your Troll Chieftain leader (who gains Fearless and 1 point each of Might, Will, and Fate) and gives Mordor Orc models +1 to-wound in any fight where they outnumber their opponent in the fight (supporting models don’t count). I love the idea of an uber Mordor Troll Chieftain as much as the next guy, and an army-wide +1 to wound for orcs that isn’t tied to your model count is far better than a bonus of rerolling 1s to wound that is tied to a model count, but I’m not sure those buffs make up for as much as you’re giving up when you take this list (although at least you have the Mouth of Sauron for some magical support).

• Cirith Ungol is a legion in Quest of the Ringbearer that's built around Shagrat and Gorbag during the war of the ring. As you'd expect from any force built around Uruk-Hai and Mordor Orcs, you have a pretty solid battle-line (F3 on your orcs, F4 on your Uruks) with some shortcomings: you cap-out at D5, only have S2 orc bows--although the 4+ shoot on Mordor Uruk-Hai is nice--and if you bypass the Shaman for Fury you may struggle to deal with Terror. You pick up some neat synergies between both Shagrat and Gorbag (the one that's lagging behind in the kill-count gets a free D6 reroll to win duels, plus they both benefit from the +1 to-wound bonus if they're in the same combat as a rival orc/uruk). Shelob also gets some power boosts: +1 Attack when attacking a Man, Elf, Dwarf, or Hobbit is situationally fantastic, and if she's not engaged at the start of her move, she can kill a friendly model within 1" of her to reroll any number of duel dice (up to 3 max, if she charges a model with one of those keywords). YOu also have access to Orc and Mordor Uruk-Hai Captains for some Heroic March (and Defense 6/7 bunkers), although Orc Captains can't take Wargs in this list (which is sad). As with all these legions, this one will severely cut into your army choice options with Mordor. But if you like +1 to-wound on your orcs and uruks--and neither of those other legions will do it for you), maybe this one will be your cup of tea? For more on this legion, don't forget to check out Tiberius's thoughts in The Stuff of Legends: Cirith Ungol!

For Further Reading

If you made it all the way to the end, congratulations! We hope you liked our summary of the Army of Mordor in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. If you're on the fence between Barad-Dur and Mordor, don't forget to check out our summary of Barad-Dur. For more on Mordor, you’ll find some additional resources from the TMAT team and other members of the Middle Earth SBG Community below. And if you think we've over/understated a case, you've got tips from running Mordor to share, or there are other army lists that would be fun or helpful to go through, do let us know in the comments!

More from the TMAT Team:

• The Stuff of Legends: Cirith Ungol (March 2021)
• The Stuff of Legends: Army of Gothmog (February 2021)
• The Bare Necessities, Part IX: Mordor (March 2020)
• Workbench Update: Mordor (September 2019)
• Top 10 Wraiths, Revisited (May 2019)
• Revisiting Magic: Magic in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game (February 2019)
• New Rules - Part II: Mordor (October 2018)
• Revisiting Magic: Ringwraiths in LOTR SBG (October 2013, *Pre-MESBG)
• Riders in Black: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 (February 2013, *Pre-MESBG)

Support your Hobby!

• The Battle for Pelennor Fields Box Set (Games Workshop) [Includes the basic Rules Manual, rulers, dice, tokens, 36 Morannon Orcs, a customizable Mordor Troll, and the Witch-King (or generic Nazgul) on Fell Beast]
• Mordor Models (Games Workshop)
• Mordor Models (Forge World)

Audio/Video Resources:

• PODCAST: Episode 79: Mordor (The Green Dragon Podcast)
• IN PRINT: Fog of War Part 12: Mordor & Barad-Dur (Veni Vidi Double)
• IN PRINT: Playing with Mordor Part 1 and Part 2, The Black Gate Opens (Barad-Druin)
• PODCAST: Episode 54: Barad-Dur (The Green Dragon Podcast) [Covers cross-over models from Barad-Dur]
• VIDEO: Armies of the Lord of the Rings: Mordor Review (STF Wargaming)
• VIDEO: Das 3. Zeitalter: Barad Dur / Mordor (Der Wurfelorden)
• VIDEO: Battle Report – Mordor vs. Gondor / Rohan (The D6 Fix)
• VIDEO: Battle Report – Fiefdoms vs. Mordor (Blackfyre Productions)
• PODCAST: Know Thine Enemy: Witch-King, Ringwraiths, Shelob, Mordor Troll Chieftain  (The Green Dragon Podcast, *Pre-MESBG)