Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: The Easterlings in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Updated September 2023: Having wrapped the forces of good at Pelennor Fields (MinasTirith, Rohan, the Fiefdoms, the Rangers of the North, and the Dead of Dunharrow [coming!]), it’s time to get evil again. While Mordor took center stage, they had a host of allies at their beckon call. Today we look at their heavily-armored allies from the north-east, the Easterlings of Rhun (even if they only made a single, brief cameo).

I’ve always liked the look of Easterlings aesthetically (like I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for heavily-armored infantry of any kind), red-gold color palate is remarkably rich. They’ve been a staple in the TMAT group for a long time (check out our pre-MESBG resources at the end), one of my sons has played them extensively in Battle Companies (chosen solely because of the Rhunish Drake), and in 2022 the faction got several major additions in the Defense of the North supplement... so yeah, they're in a really good spot now. Marshall the gleaming  horde!

Army Quick(ish) Hits

• Strength: Combat Heroes with Renewable Might. There aren’t that many that can field multiple three-attack heroes, and the ones that can almost always have to field a bevy of expensive named legends. They’re the armies you expect: The Fellowship (Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli), Thorin’s Company (Thorin, Dwalin, Gloin, Dori), Erebor Reclaimed (Thorin, Dain, Dwalin, Gloin, Nori, Dori), the Army of Thror (Thror, Thrain, young Thorin, Dwalin), Thranduil’s Halls (Thranduil (usually), Tauriel), the White Council (Elrond, Glorfindel, Celeborn, Galadriel), Azog’s Hunters/Legion (Azog, Bolg, and potentially Ogres/Trolls), the Three Trolls (all the trolls), Minas Tirith (Aragorn, Boromir), Rohan (Eomer, Theodred), Rivendell (Gil-Galad, Elrond, Glorfindel, the twins (sometimes)), Ents, Khazad-Dum (Durin + King’s Champions), Moria (Balrog, Dragon, Drake, Watcher, Cave Trolls), Isengard (Lurtz, Mahur), Barad-Dur (Sauron, Witch-King, Troll Chieftain, Mordor Trolls), The Serpent Horde (Suladan and Raza), Angmar (Witch-King, Burhdur, Cave Trolls, usually Ghulavar), and of course Mordor (Witch-King, Khamul on Fell Beast,** Shagrat, Zagdush, Mordor Troll Chieftains, Mordor Trolls, and Gorbag sometimes). The Easterlings are on that list, too, with Amdur, Lord of Blades, Dragon Knights (plus Khamul, if you take him on Fell Beast and take the +1 Attack buff each turn), and now Rutabi and the Dragon Emperor. Plus, the fact that Dragon Knights aren’t named heroes means you can take as many of those 3 Attack heroes as your points level will allow (most other lists can’t do that, though there are some exceptions). Amdur has a fantastic stat line for dueling enemy heroes: Fight 6, Strength 4, Defense 6/7 if mounted, 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds, and 3/3/1 Heroic Stats with Heroic Strike, plus an elven-made hand-and-a-half sword for winning those crucial drawn combats. The Dragon Knights have a pretty good stat line as well (Fight 5, Strength 4, Defense 6, with 3 Attacks, 2 Wounds, 2 Might, and Heroic Strike), and are very inexpensive points-wise even when mounted on armored horses (cash-wise is a different story). Unyielding Combat Stance is great on Amdur and the Dragon Knights in case they get charged by a cavalry model or have their horse shot out from under them (4+ save whenever knocked prone, even if Knocked Flying), but the star of the show is Blood and Glory, allowing them to regain a Might point any time they slay an enemy hero. Given their stat-line, a Dragon Knight should be able to deal with most generic captains with ease, and Amdur (who gets to counter-call Heroic Strikes for free, thanks to The Lord of Blades) is a striking machine. Last but not least, those 3 Attack Striking Dragon Knights can shield, even though they have no shield (Shield of Blades), which can make them very difficult to chew through.

• Strength: High-Defense Pike Block. The second of the Easterling’s signature skills. There aren’t any other Defense 6 pikemen (with a Shield), which makes them very resilient in combat, especially if they have banner support. Their base Fight 3 is low, but you can buff it with the Black Dragon upgrade (Fight 4, Courage 4); just bear in mind that if you spam that upgrade en masse you’ll chew through points pretty quickly. You can get your pike block up to Fight 5/6 (or higher) if you have them backing up Amdur, Rutabi, or a Dragon Knight, and since all Easterling models (including the Kataphrakts) have Phalanx, you can do that without worrying about trapping your own models too much. Just remember Phalanx only applies when all the models are on foot, so if you put two pikes behind your Kataphrakt for fun (standard infantry models can’t support a model with a larger base size, like a cav model, so it would be just for fun), you’re out of luck.
• Strength: Cavalry (within limits). The third signature member of an Easterling force. Kataphrakts are very good defensive heavy cav, with Defense 6 and The Gleaming Horde special rule, which gives a +1 defense bonus to both the rider (Defense 7) and the mount (Defense 6). They’re especially resilient against enemy archer fire in this formation, as a Defense 6 horse is a pretty safe target against anything but a crossbow. They’re not cheap, and if you take the Black Dragon upgrade to boost them to Fight 4, they get downright expensive. But they’re the best source of constant damage you have in an Easterling force. They don’t have lances or Strength 4, so if they’re charged (or charge other cavalry models) they might have a hard time killing things, specially if they’re high defense (they really don’t like Fight 4, Defense 7 dwarves). But if you can get them into infantry warriors or heroes engaged with your pike block, odds are that they’re dead (between your 5-9 attacks, banner rerolls if you have any, Heroic Strike if you have Amdur or Dragon Knights in the fray, and then your double dice to wound).
• Strength: Mobility. The other advantage of Kataphrakts is that they can take a War Drum upgrade. All other war drums are on infantry models only, so the fact you can have a mounted war drum opens up all sorts of possibilities. If you have a primarily infantry force, you can use your Kataphrakt war drum to zip around the battlefield to set-up a timely free march next turn. And if you have a full mounted contingent, you can traverse the field at an alarming rate (up to 20” if you double-tap your Drum and a Heroic March). The fact that the drum’s extra movement is free is very good for Easterlings, since only their generic captains have Heroic March. The Easterlings don’t’ have the same number of high-Might heroes that other factions do, but if you’re saving Might with your War Drum, and regaining Might from Blood and Glory, you can stretch your Might out longer than most can.
• Weakness: Killing power. As I mentioned before, my son has an Easterling Battle Company. Defensively, it’s great. Defense 6 is really tough to crack through if your opponent is only Strength 3. But offensively, Fight 3 / Strength 3 is a slog, especially if you can’t get the multiple attacks from a pike formation, and don’t have many Kataphrapks for those double-dice knock-downs. If you bring allies (or are willing to sacrifice some D6 for some elite Acolytes), you can beef up your damage. But if you’re running a standard list that's heavy on generic warriors and Kataphrakts, there are some armies you'll have trouble wounding. Strength 4 / Defense 6 armies (Black Numenoreans backed up by Morannons, for example) can cause you all kinds of headaches (especially since that shieldwall causes Terror).
• Weakness: Magic Defense. Again, there’s some measure of degree here. Easterlings aren’t completely vulnerable to magic (like, say, Goblin-Town is), but their Shaman doesn’t have any defensive spells (Blinding Light, Transfix, etc.) and their high Will models cap out at just 3 apiece (Amdur, Rutabi, the War Priest, and the Dragon Emperor). Having said that, Fury (Easterling) (3+) is a good spell to have in the toolbox in case you need to deal with those aforementioned Terror walls. The other spell, Bladewrath (2+), is great at buffing your combat heroes if they have a favorable fight with an enemy hero (basically trading 1 Will for Strength 6/10 Strikes, and a chance to regain Might through Blood and Glory). The fact that Brogir can regenerate Will points (in theory) also helps... in theory.
• Weakness: Army selection. For most of their tenure, Easterlings have had really two profile choices: Warriors and Kataphrakts. Now of course, other factions are in a similar boat (Erebor Reclaimed, for instance, only has Iron Hills Warriors and Goat Riders). But part of the issue for Easterlings was always the choice of upgrades available to their core troops. Yes, pikes and shields are great (especially when you avoid the defense penalty for bearing them both, through Phalanx), but there’s a lot of difference between a Strength 2 bow and a Strength 4 crossbow, and not having an option for a two-handed weapon really limits the Easterlings’ damage output. If a Black Dragon with Pike, Sword, and Shield didn’t cost the same number of points as a Khazad Guard, Grim Hammer, Iron Hills Warrior with Shield/Mattock, or pick-your-armored-elf with Spear, Shield, and elven blade, perhaps they'd feel different. But they do. The addition of Black Dragon Acolytes helps with this somewhat; while their Defense 4 isn't fantastic, the option to have troops with 2 attacks and throwing weapons does help with your damage output (although Strength 3 still means Defense 6 is an issue). But as long as Kataphrakts can't get lances--and they don't look likely to get lances anytime soon--there will always be objectors.
• Strength: Ally Selection. The Easterlings have two historic allies—Mordor and Khand, although you can’t ally both with the Easterlings without forfeiting all their army bonuses (since Mordor and Khand aren’t historic allies with each other, for some reason). Both are great at covering up the Easterling’s primary weakness: lack of damage. Mordor brings Strength 4 Morannons / Morgul Stalkers, plus a lot of damage-oriented heroes (Gothmog orcs backed up by / backing up Easterlings come to mind). There are other advantages, too; if points are tight you can spam in cheap orcs with shields (with 3 dice to win the fight, maybe a Black Dragon pike for Fight 4, and a banner reroll, they might succumb to archer fire but should be pretty resilient in melee combat), or you could skew the other way and choose an elite front rank model (Black Numenoreans for Terror, or even Morgul Stalkers / Black Guard of Barad Dur if you wanted to really up your killing power). And if you’re worrying about enemy spell casters, few armies offer the hard-counters to magic that you find in Mordor. Khand troops are not well armored, but they do bring Fight 4 and hand-and-a-half axes to get them to effective Strength 5/6 when using two-handed Piercing Strikes (not at all shabby). Khand’s army bonus also removes Khandish Horsemen and Khandis Charioteers from your army’s bow limit, so you can go the full-mounted rout with Kataphrakts if you like (with selective free Marches for your Easterlings if you take a War Drum). And if you want even more cheap 3 Attack heroes to pair with Amdur and your Dragon Knights, you always have Khandish Kings (and their newly-upgraded chariots) in your back pocket. Finally, if you decide to invest really heavily into your Easterling Contingent with the Dragon Emperor, you can ally Fight 5 troops into your Mordor or Khandish forces. That's quite rare for evil--really only Half-Trolls and occasionally Goblin Prowlers in niche situations are Fight 5 troops for evil--and can be a nasty surprise for elf opponents.
• Strength / Weakness: Army Bonus. This army bonus is among the more strange. Like Mordor, it has two parts. First, there’s a +1 Courage buff for all Easterling models (which would include Khamul), which would normally be great. Unfortunately, it only kicks in after your force is broken, so it doesn’t help you in the early-to-mid-game as you’re trying to charge Terror models or resist spectres / Sentinels. Unless you take the Black Dragon upgrade (or that War Priest, for Fury), Courage can be a problem for Easterlings, so the fact that they don’t get this bonus until breaking is not great for them. The second bonus gives the Easterlings a free reroll on dice to end the game (usually a 1 or 2 after breaking), so long as at least one Easterling hero is still alive and on the battle field. In scenarios where this occurs (especially objective capture missions like Capture and Control), this can be absolutely massive. But if you’re not playing those sorts of missions (or never breaking), you can afford to let this army bonus go.
• Strength / Weakness: Start-up Cost. For the most part, Easterlings are easy to acquire at average prices. The exceptions are the Dragon Knights, Khamul (who is typically packaged with two other wraiths), and of course the Dragon Emperor (who is quite expensive). Some of this you can play around, of course; if you have a pressing need for Khamul, any foot/mounted/fell beast Nazgul model will do, especially if you give him a distinctive Easterling paint scheme. Dragon Knights are actually split between two sets. The foot version is one of four models in the Easterling Commanders pack (with the Captain, Banner-Bearer, and War Priest), which is great if you only want one, but if you want three or more you may want to think about converting some of the much cheaper plastic warriors. There is an official mounted model for Dragon Knights, too, but it’s significantly more expensive than most of your single-model cavalry packs. Again, not a problem if you only need one, but if you want several converting some Easterling Kataphrakts will probably save you a lot of moolah. And again, that Dragon Emperor is... not cheap (even if he's really cool).

Hero Profiles

Photo credit: Warhammer Community

• The Dragon Emperor of Rhun. The Dragon Emperor is both a hefty points investment and a bargain. 
• First off, he's on whatever the short-list is of top evil combat heroes. He's certainly not Smaug/Sauron/the Balrog, but once you add in the support buffs he gives your army (plus the extra damage you can pick up whilst he's mounted on the palaquin), he may even break into that second tier (Bolg / Gulavhar / Buhrdur), at least against troops. Throw in Fight 6, Strength 4, and 3 Attacks base with Heroic Strike with an elven-made weapon (that's part-spear, part-sword, and part-shield), and he's got plenty of tools to win fights, and then dish out punishment. Like all Strength 4 non-Burly heroes, he'll have trouble wounding Defense 7+, although with one additional S3 strike for every palaquin-bearer who's still alive (up to 6), your odds of rolling that lucky "6" against one priority target goes waaaaay up. 
• Defensively, he's actually a pretty good tank--D7 with 3 wounds is a great spot to start from. Add in 3 Might for Heroic Defense, 3 Fate points, and a 5+ in-the-way from the Palaquin against shooting attacks, and he can be remarkably tough to remove outside of combat (especially since the Palaquin is largely immune to being knocked prone, the Hurl and Barge brutal power attacks, spells like Sorcerous Blast or Call Winds, and other typical tricks that one might use to get rid of a large carrying rig). His huge base may make it difficult to throw him into something big and nasty that's man-sized, but he can definitely hold his own against most assassins (as long as you can keep his rear clear for backing away). Throw in Resistant to Magic and 3 Will points (plus the ability to call Heroic Resolve if you really need it), and you have pretty good defenses against magic, too.
• His 80mm base size, which is definitely a curse in combat, is also a very nice boost to his buff skills (and one of several reasons why you would consider taking him over the Easterlings' other beefy combat heroes--Amdur, Khamul, and Rutabi). The +1 Fight Value buff to neighboring Easterling Warriors within 6" is good on standard Easterlings, and exceptional on Black Dragons or Acolytes (both Fight 4 base, boosted to Fight 5). It would also benefit your Black Dragon Kataphrakts, too--yes, 6" isn't very far, and you probably don't want your Dragon Emperor out on a flank by his lonesome... but Fight 5 cavalry are pretty rare (even if these have trouble killing anything D6 or higher). He's also a 12" banner (which is huge on anything, and much... huge-er? ... on an 80mm base), so that takes care of a few scenario VPs in addition to buffing your Fight 4-5 elves Easterlings. 
• Last but not least, you have a Hero of Legend (auto-passing his first courage test when you break) with a battlefield-wide Stand Fast! that also affects Easterling Heroes. Easterlings are a tough out anyways (and the Emperor makes them even tougher), so you may never need it--but if you do need it, you'll be very glad to have it.
• Khamul the Easterling (Mordor, Easterlings). In a Mordor list, Khamul is a good choice, but not an obvious one (there’s so much to choose from in Mordor that I’m not sure even the Witch-King is an “obvious” choice). But in an Easterling list, he’s right there at the very top. As a combat wraith, 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. He can then regain that Will if he causes a Wound against enemy models (which is handy). He’s penalized as a caster (+1 difficulty to cast spells) with just 12 Will, but when the list has no other options for offensive magic (unless you ally in Mordor), a Transfix (4+) is better than no Transfix at all. The armored horse is probably more thematic (an Easterling Kataphrakt-esq mount would be a cool conversion), but 3 attacks on a Fell Beast with Monstrous Charge will kill a lot of things. However you run him, he’s difficult to deal with in combat (2 Might, 2 Fate, Defense 8, plus Transfix). He remains a Hero of Valor in this list, so you can bring along 15 models in his warband.
• Amdur, Lord of Blades. A slightly cheaper Hero of Valor than Khamul (and with better attack stats), Amdur was for many years the go-to hero choice in an Easterling list, and is still an exceptionally strong option. Fight 6 with 3 Attacks and 3 Might probably jumps him ahead of Khamul, and thanks to Durtuz (his silver falchion), he has an elven-made hand-and-a-half sword for getting that extra edge if you draw combats. His heroic suite is small (just Strike and Challenge), but you have that Strike for dealing with big things. He also has a handy special rule, The Lord of Blades, which lets him call a “free” counter-Strike if an enemy model he’s fighting calls a Strike. That’s particularly handy, both for saving Might for Strikes you’d call anyway, and because the general rule is that once you call a Heroic Action during a phase, you can’t go back and call a different one. Lord of Blades lets Amdur do that, which is huge (though he doesn’t get any Might back that he spent to call that cancelled Heroic Action). If he’s mounted near other Easterling Kataphrakts / mounted heroes, he can get up to Defense 7 on a Defense 6 horse (The Gleaming Horde), but on foot he’s somewhat fragile (just Defense 6, with 3 Wounds but only 1 Fate), so winning fights will be key. With constant Strikes (potentially), 3 Attacks, and Fight 6 with an elven-blade, he's quite good at that. His Herald of Victory special rule helps, too, since Amdur always gets a banner reroll (he’s an Easterling model, and always within 3” of himself, after all), and if he kills the enemy leader in combat, his 3” banner expands to 6”, which is fantastic. He’s incentivized to kill heroes anyway with Blood and Glory (+1 Might point after slaying an enemy hero), and Unyielding Combat Stance helps him keep his footing whenever he would be knocked prone (cancelled on a 4+). Last but not least, you have Phalanx. If you have Amdur mounted you won’t use this much, but if for some reason you find him on foot in melee combat surrounded by Easterling Pikemen, you’ll be glad to have it.
• Rutabi. One of three new Easterling Heroes released in War in the North, Rutabi is a super-charged infantry captain. Fight 6 (which is apparently standard for elite Easterling heroes--poor Eomer is sad), Strength 4, and Defense 7 is a solid core to pair with 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds, and Courage 5. Her heroic stats are also pretty good: 3 Might, 2 Will, and 2 Fate, with the ability to Heroic Strike (and Heroic Challenge). She also has Phalanx and Unyielding Combat Stance (both staples on elite Easterling champions), and also gains Master of Battle (3+), which is a great thing to have on a hero who will (most likely) be anchoring your main battle line. Finally, she has Show No Mercy, which allows her to reroll failed To Wound rolls against trapped models. With access to cavalry and war drums, you have a decent chance of getting opponents trapped, in which case six Strength 4 strikes with rerolls will do some damage. She is a bit on the expensive side (110 points), but is a Hero of Valor to balance things out. If you run both her and Amdur (which I admit is expensive), she can also take on your leader responsibilities, leaving your Amdur free to play the damage-dealing / assassin role (for which he's probably better suited).
• Easterling Dragon Knights. These guys are scary good. They’re among the cheapest models with 3 Attacks in the game (Zagdush and uber-Gorbag in the Mordor list edge them out slightly), their Fight 5 and 2 Might for Heroic Strike lets them take on heroes well beyond their weight class, and you can mount them on an armored horse for an absurdly cheap 80 points (yes, that gives them 4 dice on the charge, with potentially 8 dice to-wound against infantry, plus they have The Gleaming Horde, so they become Defense 7/6 mounted). They’re significantly more fragile than Amdur (2 Wounds, no Fate), so keep them protected from archers. In melee combat, they can shield with their dual-swords (Shield of Blades), so they can be deceptively difficult to beat in a straight-up brawl. And like Amdur, they also have Blood and Glory and Unyielding Combat Stance so they can take on even mounted heroes, have a good chance at keeping their feet, and reap extra Might as a reward. They are slightly restrictive when it comes to army-building: as Minor Heroes they can only take 6 warriors with them, and they all have to have the Black Dragon upgrade. But as cheap beat-sticks, they’re excellent. Oh, and they have Phalanx as well, so you can set them in front of a pike block without fearing they'll be trapped (which makes that pike block really nasty to deal with).
• Easterling Captains. With the addition of Rutabi you now have other ways to get Heroic March into a pure Easterling list, but generic captains are still valuable thanks to their Heroic March and customization options. They’re surprisingly Fight 4 (apparently they weren't Black Dragons back in the day), but everything else is pretty standard for a Man captain (Strength 4, Defense 6, 2 Attacks, 2 Wounds, 2/1/1 heroic stats), with the option for a bow or a Shield (Defense 7). They come with an Easterling Glaive (hand-and-a-half axe, but it can’t double with a spear or a pike), or you can swap it for an armored horse and a sword (for quite a bit less than most heroes pay for armored horses, which is interesting). Mounted they can get up to Defense 8 (with The Gleaming Horde and a shield) which is sneaky good, and they have Phalanx to anchor your pike block if you run them on foot (not quite as nasty as a pike block with a Dragon Knight at the head, but still pretty tough to dislodge).
• Easterling War Priest. He's one of the rare Shamans who didn't get downgraded to Minor Heroes in the new addition. He's also the very rare heavily-armored Shaman, with Defense 5 to go with 2 Wounds and 1 Fate. Fight 3, Strength 3, and 1 Attack aren’t great, but his battle stave (as opposed to a glaive, I guess) can be used as a spear or a two-handed axe, so at least you have that flexibility. He has 3 Will, 1 Might, and a couple of spells. Fury (Easterling) (3+) is great if you have to get past those annoying Terror tests with Harbinger of Evil, and if you channel the Fury a 6+ save paired with Defense 6 can make it very frustrating for your opponent if he only has Strength 3 models. The other spell is Bladewrath (2+), which is cast on a friendly model; that model then gets to resolve their strikes at Strength 6 (or Strength 10 if channeled). If you’re rolling double-strikes to wound anyway (because the target is prone or knocked down by a cavalry charge), this will significantly increase your damage potential, especially if you cast it on someone like Amdur or a Dragon Knight (or, God forbid, the Dragon Emperor) who called a Heroic Combat. As Tiberius pointed out in his post on auxiliary mages, you’ll have to choose one spell or the other to cast most likely, and will have to be very aware of enemy models who can reduce your Will. Although at least if you run out of Will, you can still mount him on an Armored Horse to have above-average killing power, and so he can keep up with the rest of your army (although he doesn’t have The Gleaming Horde, so no Defense 6).
• Lord Vader... I mean, Brorgir the Conjurer. The last of the new heroes introduced in Defense of the North and the Lord of the Force Choke (which I guess is Tremor in Middle Earth?), Brorgir the Conjurer is a super-charged War Priest. His combat stats are nothing to write home about (Fight 3, Strength 3, Defense 5, 1 Attack, 2 Wounds, Courage 4), but he comes with 2 Might, 5 Will, and 2 Fate, Heroic Channel, and of course the signature Easterling battle stave (spear or two-handed axe). The 5 Will pool alone is a nice upgrade over your standard War Priest (plus he also has Bladewrath and Fury (Easterling), so nothing's lost there), and with Sorcerous Adept he will also regain any Will he spends to cast if he rolls a natural 6 (so he's closer to 6 Will points, which is... not as much as you think/hope, but still better than the generic War Priest by a decent bit). In addition to Bladewrath and Fury, he also picks up Enchanted Blades (3+, reroll failed to-wounds) and Tremor (knock people down), which typically isn't used much because it's hard to cast (5+) and up until now hasn't been available to anyone except the Blackshield Shaman in Moria (which only has 3 Will / 1 Might, and also has the much more attractive Shatter spell competing for the shaman's resources). I don't know that Brorgir really wants to commit the resources for a Tremor either, but at least he has the resources to get off at least one Tremor reliably...

Warrior Profiles

Photo Credit: The Tolkien Forum

• Easterling Warriors. The catch-all infantry profile, though there are really two variants (standard and Black Dragons). The standard profile is exactly like a Warrior of Minas Tirith (Fight 3, Strength 3, Defense 5, Courage 3) at exactly the same cost. You can take the Shield for Defense 6, and also have the option for bows, pikes, and banners, all of which are handy. They don’t have Shieldwall, but do have Phalanx (no Defense penalty on their shield for also using a Pike, and up to two Easterling models on foot with Phalanx can Make Way for an Easterling Phalanx model on foot). That’s key, because at Defense 6 they can be very difficult for most armies to wound… unless the enemy is rolling double-dice to wound because your Easterlings are trapped. The Black Dragon upgrade is costly (usually... more on that at the end), but improves both their Fight and Courage stats to 4. Fight 4 infantry are very good, so it’s worth taking on at least one of your pike ranks. Their biggest weakness is hitting power: at Strength 3, they’ll struggle to wound most conventional shieldwalls on 6s (while absorbing wounds on a 5+ against Strength 4 armies), so anything you can do to trap the opponent or find some defensive terrain where you can deploy a 3-rank deep pike block will help.
• Easterling Kataphrakts. They’re close to a Knight of Minas Tirith (Fight 3, Strength 3, Defense 6, Courage 3) with a sword and shield. They essentially trade the lance for an armored horse (instead of a standard horse)... which, if I'm being honest, isn't the best trade. Yes, they can get up to Defense 7/6 if they can keep The Gleaming Horde up (which is basically Shieldwall for horses). But having played around with this a little, I can tell you it’s harder to get up and keep up with cavalry than it is with infantry, since most infantry-based Shieldwall tactics can keep your second-rank engaged in the fighting thanks to their spears. It is very good against enemy archer fire, though, especially crossbows (5+ to wound the mount, 6+ to kill the rider) and elf bows (6s to wound either, which is kind of insane for horses). You can upgrade these to Black Dragons, too (Fight 4, Courage 4), although they become very expensive at that point for Strength 3 cavalry with no lances--against D5 or lower, they're decent (4 dice to-wound, looking for a single "5"), but once you get to D6 and above, their odds of wounding (even on the charge, with the knock-down) hover at just over 50% (and killing even a single model, only half the time, is a really bad return for a cavalry model that costs almost 20 points). They can also take banners, which you’ll probably want to have at least one of if you go heavy-cav (even if you have Amdur, an additional 3” banner effect is very nice). Last is the War Drum, which is probably one of the main reasons you're including them in your list. It only works on Easterling models, which can open up some fun tactical options in an allied contingent. It also means your standard cav can move 15” each turn without spending Might (or 20” per turn if you throw in some Heroic Marches from your captain(s)), which is quite scary (although it'd be scarier if the cavalry could wound reliably). Lastly, it only costs 15 points for some reason... which is really good value, especially as a warrior upgrade.
• Dragon Cult Acolytes. So when these guys were originally announced (they may have been the very first spoiler for Defense of the North), I remember thinking, "So that's kind of cool, but a bit too fragile/expensive for my blood." If you thought the same thing, I don't think we were alone. At the time, they just smacked too much of "Iron Guard" for me--yes, two attacks is great, but that's a lot of points for a two-attack model that seems fragile (although in the Acolytes' case, they're an actually fragile D4, instead of the apparently fragile D6 Iron Guard). Fast-forward, and of course I've come completely around on Iron Guard. So in a move that will surprise no one, I'm also completely in on the Dragon Cult Acolytes:
• Cost-wise, yes: they're expensive. But so is everything else (worth taking) in the Easterling list. Apart from generic Easterlings with Shields (which, I grant you, people run) and Bows (which, I suspect, you've rarely seen in numbers greater than "3"), you're paying at least 9 points for a standard Easterling Warrior (Pike + Shield), and at least 10 points for a warrior who's F4 (Black Dragon with just a Shield). The Acolytes are F4 base, with 2 attacks and throwing daggers, for just a single point more. So are they more expensive? Usually, yes. Is that a point well-spent? I think so.
• As Alastair over at the GBHL opined, the Acolytes don't really fix the Easterling's damage-dealing problem (the next profile covers that), except that it offers more S3 dice (which is the Easterling's generic answer to D6+ models--just throw more dice at them, and try to out-attrition them). But what the Acolytes do offer is some much-appreciated flexibility and versatility to your list. For starters, the addition of Throwing Weapons (S3 daggers, 6" range), combined with Supreme Agility (+2 to your Jump, Leap, and Climb tests, or a 50% chance of getting a "6"), means they can be surprisingly difficult to catch / cut-off in areas with terrain. The two-attacks also means that you can either stand them in a battle-line (where they'll be okay, although without Phalanx you need to be careful of trapping them) or use them to harass a flank, either as a small objective-capturing expedition, or in larger numbers as shock infantry. If you are able to get traps, four dice to wound--even at S3--is nothing to sneeze at, and if you can get 2 or more of them into a trapped target (rolling 8+ dice to-wound, potentially rerolling 1s if you feint with one of them), suddenly you have a very high damage ceiling, to help balance out your lower strength.
• Last but not least is my favorite trick: using these guys to stall out enemy cavalry charges. As long as the cavalry you're fighting don't have throwing weapons (so use with care against Rohan), these guys offer you one of the better front-line troops for receiving a cavalry charge. At Fight 4 (potentially F5 if the Emperor is involved) with two attacks, they're pretty good anyway at winning fights against cavalry (who typically top-out at Fight 4 also, plus there's a decent amount of F3 cavalry). Back them up with a spear (3 dice to win), and a banner reroll on top of that (4 rolls to hunt the "6," or about 50% odds), and you will win a decent number of cavalry combats outright (with 3 dice to wound, needing 5s to wound almost all horses, and 5s/6s to wound all non-hero riders). But if you lose, you have your ace in the hole: Unyielding Combat Stance. A 50% chance (4+ roll) to keep your footing, instead of being knocked prone. Of course, your opponent's cavalry model will still get to make two strikes to wound (1 from the attack base, plus 1 from the cavalry charge bonus). But because the Acolyte isn't prone, those two strikes don't double again; and as any seasoned player will tell you, there's a huge difference between rolling 2 dice to wound, and 4 dice to wound. Now unfortunately, the Acolytes are lacking the final component that would complete the trifecta (D6), but even a S4 cavalry model will fail to wound the Acolyte 75% of the time with just 2 dice (needing one "4"). And if that happens, you've then got a Fight 4/5 model, with throwing daggers, ready and willing to counter-charge the following turn (backed by pike and banner, potentially). Oh... and if you stack these guys side-by-side, the enemy may have to charge two of them at once (because 40mm bases are bigger than 25mm bases). Once you start talking about 4-9 dice to win fights / wound (depending on how many pikes you commit, and banner rerolls), those are really favorable attack metrics. Sure, enemy cavalry may still charge into the fray... but even if you lose the fight (with all those dice, and potentially the higher fight value), if both your Acolytes keep their feet, you would still have a 75% chance of at least one Acolyte surviving the encounter--and a 25% chance that both do. That's pretty good.

Photo Credit: Fantasy Pics Inc

• The Rhunish Drake. Fine, fine, this guy isn’t available in points-match games (unless you’re running one of the two Battle Company points match scenarios). [Edit: Nevermind... he totally is now! (Thanks War in the North!)] But this is my series, so I figured we’d try something new. ;-) 
• In Battle Companies, this is a creature (Battle Companies p. 29) you can assign to one of your heroes (well, okay, only your Battle Company leader in this case, not sergeants), so it doesn't take up any of your company slots which is nice. It's on the expensive side (8 Influence), but boasts an above-average stat-line for a creature: Fight 4, Strength 4, Defense 4, Courage 4, with 1 Attack and 2 Wounds. It also has two special rules: Venom (reroll all failed to-wound rolls, which is fantastic) and a nasty special rule, Slow-Acting Venom: any model that suffers a Wound from the Rhunish Drake, but is not slain, reduces their Fight Value and Attacks by 1, to a minimum of 1, for the remainder of the game. Losing an Attack for the rest of any match is bad, and in Battle Companies, where you don't have that many multi-attack models to begin with (usually) it can be crippling. Even worse is that second effect: unless you're running a Battle Company of elves, Fight Value is hard to come by (and Heroic Strike is limited to a single successful roll on the Path of the Warrior, so it is very uncommon, too). And since almost every Battle Company is hard-capped at Fight 6 anyway (there are a couple, like Mordor, Minas Tirith, and Fiefdoms, who can get up to Fight 7 in certain circumstances if they're base Fight 6), having your big hero go down to Fight 5 when your opponent is still Fight 6 could cost you the game. Unfortunately the Drake can't gain experience or try to advance on the Path of the Beast... which is a shame, because it'd be scary, scary, scary if it could.
• In Matched Play, my son has used these before, and they're actually pretty nice as 

About those Legendary Legions...

War in the North brought one Legendary Legion for Easterlings (the appropriately named "Host of the Dragon Emperor"), which I'm sure someone here at TMAT will break down in the future. ;-) Suffice it to say, if you're planning to run the Dragon Emperor and spam Black Dragons, this is probably the way you want to do it:

• All warriors in the Emperor's warband or a Dragon Knight's warband get the Black Dragon update for free. You typcially don't see Black Dragons spammed in standard Easterling lists, because of the point costs (and because if you Phalanx, you really don't need all three models to have F4). Now, of course, you could do that (as long as you only take the Emperor and Dragon Knights, of course).
• Additionally, your Easterling Heroes get to reroll 1 d6 in a duel roll for free. I am 99% sure this would stack with a banner reroll (although of course you cannot reroll the same die twice).
• Speaking of heroes, you get access to almost the entire hero suite in the legion: Amdur and Khamul are elsewhere, but everyone else is in the list (the Dragon Emperor, whom you must take, along with Rutabi, Brorgir, Easetrling Captains, War Priests, and of course Dragon Knights). 
• You also have full use of the Easterling warrioir suite: Warriors, Kataphrakts, Acolytes, and Drakes, with all of their associated upgrade options. So again, no downside.
• Finally, the list retains the standard Easterling Army Bonus (+1 courage when broken, and you can reroll the 1-2 that would end the scenario if you aren't ready to be done yet). Not super awesome, but again: you're not losing anything by taking this legion

So yeah... really no reason to pass this legion up if you were already planning to run the Emperor and pass on Amdur/Khamul, and you didn't want to ally into the list. And that's all my thoughts on this legion. :-P

Concluding Thoughts

When I originally posted this article (in September 2019--boy, time flies), this is how I concluded the write-up:

That wraps up the Easterlings (for now, at least). I’ve always thought they’d make a fun inclusion in a “War Comes to the North” sourcebook dealing with Erebor, Mirkwood, Dale, and Lothlorien during the War of the Ring, where Dain and Brand hold off an army of Easterlings at the gates of Erebor (among other combats), so fingers crossed (laugh if you like, but I’m not the first person to suggest this… just sayin’). If Sharkey’s Rogues can pick up 3-4 more named heroes, it seems odd that the Easterlings couldn’t find a few more named champions to fill out their ranks. Anyways, off my soap box now. Thanks for checking out our thoughts, and let us know what you think in the comments!

Well, fast-forward almost three years, and we got our wish. There was a Northern Campaigns expansion, it did include Easterlings, and it did flesh out their faction significantly with named heroes and troop options. While a lot of these models are still relatively new (and thus haven't been play-tested extensively), there is much to be excited about if you play Easterlings (and if you've never played Easterlings, there's no time like the present to try them).

For Further Reading (and Viewing)

More from the TMAT Team:

• Defense of the North Inspired Lists: The Host of the Dragon Emperor Legendary Legion Revisited (May 2023)
• The Stuff of Legends: The Host of the Dragon Emperor (October 2022)
• So... Let's Talk about That Dragon (Emperor) (June 2022)
• In Defense Of: Easterling War Priests (May 2022)
• In Defense Of: Easterling Captains (February 2022)
• The Bare Necessities, Part XXVI: The Easterlings (June 2020)
• Axes and Shields: Easterling Tactics in MESBG (October 2019)
• Using/Fight Spellcasters: Multi-Purpose Will Mages, Revisited (August 2019) [Khamul]
• Using/Fighting Spellcasters: Auxiliary Mages, Revisited (August 2019) [Easterling War Priest]
• New Rules - Part V: The Fallen Realms, Part II (November 2018)
• Easterlings Summary, Part I – Heroes (May 2015, *Pre-MESBG)
• Easterlings Summary, Part II – Warriors (May 2015, *Pre-MESBG)
• Easterling Summary, Part III - Strategy and Tactics (June 2015, *Pre-MESBG)
• Battle Report: Hold Ground (Easterlings v. Wood Elves) (April 2015, *Pre-MESBG)
• Battle Report: Hold Ground (The Dragon Battalion v. The Chill of Angmar) (July 2014, *Pre-MESBG)
• Battle Report: Lords of Battle (The White Council vs. Easterlings) (August 2013, *Pre-MESBG)
• Hobbying: Updates from the East: Wainrider (May 2012)
• Hobbying: Enter the Dragon(s) (April 2012)
• Hobbying: The House of the Rising Sun... (April 2012)

Support your Hobby:

• Dragon Emperor of Rhun [Forgeworld]
• Rutabi and Brorgir [Forgeworld]
• Easterling Black Dragon Warriors [Forgeworld]
• Easterling Dragon Cult Acolytes [Forgeworld]
• Amdur, Lord of Blades [Games Workshop]
• Easterling Dragon Knight [Games Workshop]
• Easterling Commanders [Games Workshop]
• Easterling Warriors [Games Workshop]
• Easterling Kataphrakts [Games Workshop]

Recommended Resources:

• PODCAST: Episode 69: The Easterlings (The Green Dragon Podcast)
• IN PRINT: Fog of War, Part 2: Easterlings [Veni Vini Double]
• IN PRINT: Profile Review: The Dragon Cult Acolyte - Yay or Nay? [GBHL]
• VIDEO: Middle Earth SBG Faction Review: Easterlings [Top Table Gaming]
• VIDEO: Army Review - Part 22, The Easterlings [STF Wargaming Studio]
• VIDEO: Easterling Tactics - Middle Earth SBG (Lowlands Wargaming)
• VIDEO: Easterling Dragon Emperor Hero Review (Into the West Podcast)
• VIDEO: Easterlings Review: Have They Been Buffed? (Shadow Wraith)
• VIDEO: The Dicebearer's Podcast, Episode 7: Easterlings (The Dicebearers)
• PODCAST: Mustering an Army Ep. 8: Eastern Kingdoms [Green Dragon Podcast, *Pre-MESBG]
• VIDEO: How to Play and Buy Easterlings and List Building Tactics: Easterlings 800pts [DC Hobbit League, *Pre-MESBG]
• BAT-REP: Iron Hills vs Easterlings [Warhammer Community]
• BAT-REP: Easterlings v. Minas Tirith [BBB Wargaming]
• BAT-REP: Shire v. Khand and Easterlings [LOTR SBG Team, *pre-MESBG]
• BAT-REP: Easterlings v. Gondor, Three Hunters v. Easterlings [GBHL, *Pre-MESBG]
• HOBBYING: Easy Way to Paint: Easterlings [Jophax Painting]
• HOBBYING: Easterling Conversions  and Finishing the Army [Guardians of Wilt-Shire]
• HOBBYING: Cutting Mat Conversions: Easterling Showcase [Generation Shift]
• UNBOXING: Easterling Dragon Knight (Mounted), Easterling Commanders [Generation Shift]