The New Age Is Begun: the Army of Dunland Army List

Good morning gamers,

Editor's Note: this article does reflect the new gear options for Wild Men of Dunland, but the army lists do not - feel free to retool the lists if you want to.

We're back in the Legacy documents today with a review of the Army of Dunland (which is the last "wild man" list we need to cover this month - next week's article is a by-request article). This list features the way Dunland lists looked in the last edition, with heroes who were released in the War in Rohan supplement joining the ranks of the OG Dunland creations by GW a long, long time ago. This army list features a lot of profiles that are only available in the Legacy document, but there are a few familiar faces. Let's see how this list has changed from its Legendary Legion version last edition . . .

The Army of Dunland: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has ALMOST all of the Dunland profiles in the game - it has the named heroes from the last edition (Thrydan, Gorulf, Frida, and the Oathmaker), Dunlending Chieftains as your generic hero option, and Wild Men, Dunlending Warriors, Dunlending Cavalry, and Crebain for your warriors.

The profile it's missing, however, is the generic Wild Man Chieftain - a profile that you'll find in the Army of the White Hand (and a mirror profile for Hill Tribesman Chieftains is available in the War of the Rohirrim lists that we viewed earlier this month) but that is absent here. In a way, it's weird that this option isn't available here . . . and in another way, it's good that it doesn't appear in this list, as it would probably ace the Dunlending Chieftain out of a job (more on that in the profile discussion below).

FAQ Time: Unpacking the July 2026 FAQ

Good morning gamers,

We usually have to wait until August for a balance update, but we got the update a month early (maybe because the new Dunland banner/war horn models wouldn't be legal without it?) - and I for one am not complaining. :-) There's a lot that saw change and I think most of them are pretty positive.

Photo Credit: Reddit

What Worked Like We Thought It Did

Due to the wide nature of players who play the game (from brand new to grizzled veterans), there's always going to be a few questions that you read in an FAQ and say, "yeah, that makes sense" or "yeah, that's how we've always played it." As is usually the case, there were a few of these for us here at TMAT - most of these are extensions of existing rules or previous FAQs, catching some minor nuances that may have been left as open doors:

Q: Can Beast models try to uncover Artefacts? A: No.

Q: If a Cavalry model had charged, fought and became Unengaged, and is subsequently Charged, does it maintain the Cavalry Charge Bonuses? A: Yes, so long as they still meet all of the conditions listed under Cavalry Charge on page 72. 

Q: If a model forgoes its Activation as part of a Heroic Move, does it skip taking a Courage Test for being part of a Broken Army? A: No.

Q: If a Hero is involved in a Heroic Challenge against a Hero with the Survival Instinct special rule and causes a Wound that results in the Hero being removed as a casualty due to a failed Courage test as per the Survival Instinct special rule, does the Hero gain 1 Might Point for slaying their target? A: Yes, as the other Hero involved in the Heroic Challenge caused the Wound that forced the Hero with Survival Instincts to flee – a sure sign of victory!

Q: Can a Monster choose to make a Brutal Power Attack if there is no possibility of making Strikes? For example: if a Monster was prone and wins a Combat, normally they would not be allowed to make Strikes as they have stood up, but could they make a Brutal Power Attack? Or, if the Monster is Transfixed and wins a Combat? A: No. A Monster may only perform a Brutal Power Attack if they would be able to make Strikes.

Q: How many Heavy Objects can a Monster model or a model with the Burly special rule carry at one time? A: Only one at a time.

Q: If a single model is within range of multiple Objective Markers, can it control more than one at once? A: Yes.

Q: In Scenarios where Objective Markers can be carried, how do you measure from the Objective Marker for any special rules that come into play for being within X" of an Objective Marker, such as the Besiegers of the Hornburg Army’s The Promise of Wealth special rule? A: Measure from the base of the model carrying the Objective Marker instead of the Objective Marker.

Q: If Beorn the Bear uses the Barge Brutal Power Attack, does he have to charge if able to because of the Berserk special rule? A: Yes 

Q: Can Boromir use the Protect the Little Ones! special rule if Frodo is wearing the One Ring and is the only friendly Hobbit model within 3"? A: Yes.

Q: Can a Spectre’s “A fell light is in them”, or the King of the Dead’s Visions of Terror, or a similar special rule be used to Move a model that is already engaged in combat? A: No.

Q: Does Brôrgir regain Will from his Sorcerous Adept special rule when using Heroic Channeling? A: No, a Hero that declares a Heroic Channeling will count the result of their next Casting Test that turn as a 6, not a Natural 6.

These are good clarifications and they follow the direct reading of the rules or formalize the way things have worked in past editions, so that's good. Now on to the new things . . .

The New Age Is Begun: The Besiegers of the Hornburg Army List

Good morning gamers,

In last week's article, we looked at the Usurpers of Edoras. Today, we're continuing "Dunland" month and looking at the Besiegers of the Hornburg. This list has a lot of familiar faces from the last list, but it's missing a lot of its previous identity. In trade . . . it gets one of the most interesting and fun profiles in the game! Let's see what this list has to offer (and whether it's any good).

The Besiegers of the Hornburg: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

We have fewer options, but surprisingly the same number of profiles in this list as we had in the Usurpers of Edoras last week. We still have Wulf, Target, Hill Tribes Chieftains, Hill Tribesmen, and Crebain, but we've lost Freca, Lord Thorne, and Rohirrim Traitors. In trade, we gain, Shank, Wrot, and their Snow Troll "pet". The list feels like it has a lot less going for it - the Rohirrim Traitors were the only means of getting a banner and war horn (also throwing weapons) into an Usurpers of Edoras list, so our Hill Tribesmen are going to be patently worse than before (oh, and there's no Freca to make them F4). Yep, our bench is thin, but hopefully we have some slick special rules to equal things out?

The New Age Is Begun: The Usurpers of Edoras Army List

Good morning gamers,

This July, we'll be digging into the wild men of Dunland - we've already looked at the Army of the White Hand (which is really mercenary Dunland to Isengard), but this month, we'll be pivoting to Dunland as a primary faction and mostly focusing on the armies from the War of the Rohirrim. These guys are really fun to run and the new sculpts that they have are gorgeous! Let's dig in and see the first of these lists (and one that has been very strong in the international meta): the Usurpers of Edoras.

Editor's Note: this article has been updated for the 2026 July FAQ. I have not updated the lists at the bottom, but you could easily move the banner and war horn to other models if you want to.

The Usurpers of Edoras: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

Before the July FAQ, this list only had five hero profiles and three warrior profiles. The good news is that these profiles, generally speaking, are just fine for what we need. We have Freca and Thorne who provide tactical bonuses, we have Targg for some tactical and some combat bonuses (more on him throughout), Hill Tribes Chieftains for Marching your army around, and Wulf for hammering through the enemy.

From a warrior profile perspective, we have fast strategic units with Crebain and we have two very flexible unit options for our grunts with Rohirrim Traitors (max of 12) and Hill Tribesmen. With the changes that have been made this edition to the old Wild Man of Dunland profile, these two unit options give us basically everything we'd want except mounted warriors (and heavy infantry - that was never going to be on the table). The bench was light, until the FAQ provided the option for a Mumaks and up to six Haradrim (all of whom can have bows if you take at least ten melee troops) if you don't have Freca. This means there are slightly more profiles than before, but still not many.

Stupidly Fun Lists, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Recently, we had a "longtime reader" send us the following comment:

I have 2 rather stupid but fun list ideas. This is already a suggestion for a category for you guys ;) "Just dumb fun lists" or so.

Anyway: List 1: All artillery gondor (3 Trebuchet,, 3 avenger bolt throwers, flesh out with whatever.

List 2: All fellbeast mounted nazgul, air superiority fighters. Welcome to the black dart missile age.

I always wanted to run this with allied dol guldur nazguls or castellans if somehow possible, but well.

Alternatively: Troll-only Barad dur squad. I still have to paint my trolls though

I began writing a reply when I decided that the "comments section" of an old post wasn't the right place to do it. This got me thinking as well about what lists would be "stupidly fun" to run - and maybe these thoughts will give you things to think about as well. With that, let's kick off a new series on "stupidly fun" lists to run - and how to make them viable (if not competitive). For the sake of starting somewhere, our lists today will all be 650pts - this should mean that you're probably 100-150pts off of whatever game you're playing, since many events are still run at the 500-800pt level.