Axes and Shields: Easterling Tactics in MESBG

Hey Reader!

A few weeks ago we got a question on our Easterling army post from Memento, who noted that he was having trouble keeping up with kill count with Easterlings, as they have some of the fighting stats and capabilities of Gondor, but with less power units (and, when you consider the heroes that Gondor has access to, that makes a lot of sense). And truthfully, this has always been a problem in our gaming group, and I suspect across the globe: how do you kill stuff with Easterlings?

Some have just teamed in a power hero or an alliance (Shagrat has made an appearance in our group, and Khandish chariots are a natural choice), but in today's post I want to stick with a fully Easterling force for two reasons. First, I don't know what models you have access to, so I'll plan on you just having access to Easterling models. Second, I don't want you to think, "Easterlings have a massive flaw, so I need to supplement it": Easterling just fight differently from other forces, and that's something that it took me a while to discern.

Easterlings are a very forgiving army, with D6-7 on most of your units so you don't die easily (and even against units that wound on Courage, you're sitting on C4+ for everyone, and +1 after your army breaks). What frustrates Easterling players is that, while their army can hold in a slog against most everyone, they can't kill things very quickly, which results in a brutal loss after a valiant attempt to hold the line. And that's what we're going to address today.

So let's begin with the nuances of how Easterling combat differs from other groups, and then discuss some specific tactics and unit combos to make this happen.

I.  Rhun: The Children of the Dragon

Think for a moment about a dragon: how does a dragon fight?

Dragons are large, heavily armored, and strike from a distance before coming in for the kill. They use their jaws and claws to shred opponents, fire to consume them, with the tail and wings to crush whatever remains.

Now some of you are probably thinking, "Are you serious, Centaur? You're going to tell me to use archers to win?" Well, against some forces, maybe (you'll do a great job winnowing down Harad and The Rangers faster than they can winnow down you), but that's not what we're speaking of here.

By "strike from a distance," think about the units on the board. What is the "threat range" of your average model on the battlefield (aka, how far can they move to engage an enemy)? The average is 6" as the average movement range is 6" with no throwing weapon or ranged weapon to add to the 6" range. So as an Easterling force, we need to have options for attacking from further away than that, and as it happens, we have that.

But as any dragon knows, you can't just do one of these - a creature that attacks with just its jaws is not a dragon - it's a drake. A creature that just attacks with fire is a chimera, not a dragon. So when thinking through the Children of the Dragon (a term Tolkien never uses, but they use dragons all over in their profile and it sounds good, so we're going to use it), we need to think like a dragon: lots of ways to attain a single objective, namely killing the enemy.

II.  How to Kill with Easterlings

This section will involve a walkthrough of how to kill things with each of the Easterling heroes and warrior profiles (which is only seven, so don't freak out!). But you'll notice that they all fit into this paradigm: they are the jaws, claws, or tail of the dragon.

Khamul: The Jaws of the Dragon

Khamul is an interesting nazgul - he is a weaker caster, and has the ability to boost his Strength, Fight Value, or Attacks each combat round. He is also among a select few nazgul with the ability to replenish his Will (for wounds he causes, not his mount - that's important when considering what mount to pick), pointing toward Khamul being a combat nazgul, not a caster nazgul.

Khamul also is rewarded for dealing more wounds, so he's the kind of hero that you want charging several opponents each turn, knocking them over with a mount, and thus boosting his chances at dealing wounds. And with four options for mounts (fell beast, armored fell beast, horse, and armored horse), Khamul has an array of these.

Khamul is the jaws of the dragon - you rush him into the enemy and gorge yourself on them. When on a horse, you should spend a Will Point to boost your Strength or Attacks, depending on whether the boost to Strength will make a difference in wounding. If you are in a fight with an opponent who is Fight 6, you might consider boosting your Fight Value, though he also gets access to Heroic Strike, so it might be worth it to just spend a Might Point to boost your Fight Value by +D6, win ties, and spend the Will Point to boost your Strength or Attacks.

On a fell beast, your Fight Value in the fight is already high, so I'd boost your Attacks. You have a few attacks at high Strength from the fell beast, so there's a good chance you'll kill stuff no matter what, and you just want more chances of getting in wounds to replenish your Will from Khamul. The other advantage of taking a fell beast is that you likely don't need to spend Might to finish off a power hero or enemy in a Heroic Combat, as you have a large number of high damage attacks from the creature.

Also, don't forget: Khamul has access to Heroic Challenge - you can challenge a hero and slay them (not hard to do when you can pluck off Fate points and the first few wounds with a fell beast) to regain Might Points.

You use Khamul like you would a power hero: run him into units he can slaughter to break a portion of the enemy line.

Amdur: The Heart of the Dragon

The only F6 hero in your list (and the ability to call a free Heroic Strike if your opponent calls one), Amdur is the center of any Easterling army, and I'd argue an auto-include for any Easterling force. A fighting hero with an elven weapon that also counts as a banner (that increases its effect range to 6" if Amdur kills the enemy leader, which is circumstantial but good to remember), if Amdur gets a 6 to win the duel roll, there's a good chance he'll get to roll to wound.

Add onto this the fact that you can mount him on an armored horse, he has the Gleaming Horde special rule (so he gains Shieldwall while mounted), and the ability to shrug off being knocked over if on foot, Amdur is hard to kill.

Amdur forms the core of your battle line. The men near him can hold firmly against the harshest enemy, as he is likely to win his fight (especially if pike supported, as 3-5 Attacks is likely to get a 6), and serves as a banner to everyone around him. So if you use a Flying Columns or Wag formation (which I'll discuss in more depth in a future post, using Easterlings as one of the example armies as they do them both well), Amdur at the center of your troop can hold the center for you.

Dragon Knights: The Claws of the Dragon

Raw killing power with little staying power, the Dragon Knight boasts 3 Attacks at F5 S4, giving him a vast amount of killing power for only 65 pts (80 pts if you mount him, which is worth the points). His survivability goes up a bit if you mount him, as he gains Shieldwall while mounted, plus you get a chance of an arrow hitting the horse instead of him from far away.

The big thing to keep in mind about the Dragon Knight is that he has only 2 Wounds with no Fate, so even though he can shield (6 dice to shield at 65 pts - not too shabby), a single combat could remove him from the field. This is why I see him as the claws of the dragon: he attacks from the flanks, softens and overruns the enemy, but doesn't have the staying power to hold the center like Amdur does. So don't put them there: keep them on the fringe, and whittle down the enemy where they have not committed enough strength to neutralize him.

And if a power hero gets peeled away to tackle this guy (freeing up the main body of the army to slaughter more of the enemy's rank and file), so much the better. Heroic Strike plus high killing power (and parrying if you really feel bad), and you can handle a hero in the 100-140 pt range (which is roughly twice your point cost).

Captains: The Blood of the Dragon

Captains, like in all armies, are the most flexible units you can field, so they meet a lot of needs. If you need a bunker to hold the center, you can build a D7 "bunker captain." If you want an archer with decent Shoot Value that has Might points to bump up a critical shot? Here you go.

But what most people forget about the Easterling Captain is what you get for free - a hand-and-a-half axe. And you can swap this for an armored horse and a sword (plus 10 pts). So you have a lot of killing power: either +1 Strength (which, with halberd support, there's a good chance on 4 dice that you will win your average fight) for S5, or a +1 to wound with your full defense. 

And if you are pike supported and you don't think you'll lose, take the S5 with a +1 to wound. You'll kill Mirkwood Rangers on 2s. You'll kill heavy dwarf warriors on 4s. Now that's power. From a captain. At 50 pts base cost. What other army can do this?

When I see people not killing with Easterlings (and I'm pointing the finger at myself here), it's because they don't use the Easterling Captain to kill things. So don't shaft these guys - they're your loyal sergeants, and they'll kill humans, elves, dwarves, orcs - whatever you desire of them.

War Priests: The Backbone of the Dragon

The war priest is likely the most killy of all shamans, for two reasons. First, he has a battle stave, which counts either as a spear (like most shamans, allowing him to spear support instead of fighting in the front rank, though you can't also support with a pike in the same fight, so keep that in mind) or a two-handed axe, so if you find yourself in close combat and really want to kill things, why not hit a D5 unit with wounding on 4s (or heck, a D6 unit wounding on 4s if you choose to Piercing Strike on the attack).

But second, with access to the Bladewrath spell, the war priest can turn any person in your force into a killing machine, dramatically improving your Strength. This is a great way to conserve Will on Khamul, help Amdur wreck a whole section of the frontline, help a Dragon Knight who is engaging a hero, or just assist a warrior who has a chance to slay a bannerman or a critical warrior in the battle line.

And with access to Fury, he can keep your men in the field for a very long time if needed as well. So the war priest is a support hero, but one that supports you to do one thing: kill things.

Warriors: The Body of the Dragon

The rank-and-file of your army, warriors have the ability to purchase the Black Dragon upgrade (which increases your Fight Value and Courage to 4). This gives you a F4 D6 warrior, and you could hypothetically forego this on your swordsmen and just take it on your pikemen (as you'll feint with the swordsman so that you can reroll 1s to wound), but the problem with doing this is that against F4+ you'll be stabbing instead of feinting, and you might need the Courage to charge a terror unit. So personally I'd pay the points - it's typically worth it.

The pikes are straightforward: they provide those supporting S3 attacks that help you win the duel roll and maybe contribute damage. But the big thing that they do is they provide your insurance: if your high-damage characters or units don't roll high on the duel roll, they provide more chances to get a high roll. They aren't actually there to kill things: they are there to make sure the front guy kills things.

And don't neglect Easterling archers - you don't get the 50% bow limit that they had under the old rules, but your archers are still serviceable. You have a 4+ Shoot Value with a S2 bow at 24", which is okay, but you also have heavy armor. So you are more resilient, have a greater chance at shrugging off ranged attacks than the average archer, and double as a decent swordsman in close combat.

So the warrior is not great (this is not an Uruk-Hai or Iron Hills Warrior), but you are serviceable at 9-11 pts/model. And you form the "anvil" upon which the other units strike: hold the enemy down so that the team can carry the day.

Kataphracts: The Claws of the Dragon

These are among the heaviest cavalry in the game: with D6-7 on D5-6 horses, the ability to be F4 with the extra attack on the charge, and the ability to take a war drum or banner, these guys provide both damage and support options in your force.

It also means, though, that your kataphracts (whether led by a Black Dragon or Captain) can be fully self-sustainable. You can run troops of 4-7 guys (the ideal for Shieldwall, as Rythbryt notes in his post on it, and Tiberius adds to in his post on it), one carrying a banner, and if you really want to, one can carry a war drum, allowing you to move insanely fast when not charging, especially if led by an Easterling Captain who can call Heroic March. So you don't need these guys to be near your infantry block - you can table roll a flank, quickly dash to objectives - whatever you need.

III.  Tactics for Optimized Killing

We will keep this part short because of the length of this post, but I'll note in passing that I think the most useful formations for optimizing killing with Easterlings is the Flying Columns formation:

Less than 450 pts shown here, so your force can round out a
lot from this. R2D2 salt shaker not included - my wife has great
taste in home decor, what can I say

Used in history by Hannibal at Cannae, Joshua at Ai, and others across the ages, the flying columns formation relies on a firm body of infantry holding the center or slowly making way while the wings close in to crush the enemy from the flanks.

You can do this in several ways. The most direct way is to have Khamul on one end and another killing hero (Dragon Knight is ideal) coming in from both sides, with Amdur (as Army Leader) holding the center. Support Amdur with a war priest and a second banner to help hold the center (as your battle line will be longer than the one shown here, so I've included him here as I think it's an auto-include to take a second banner), so that everyone in the center is getting a reroll.

Fights you have: 5 attacks with an elven weapon for Amdur
against Balin (good chance you win that), 5 attacks with the
Dragon Knight to cleave through the left flank, 4 cav on the
charge, and several duels with you up 2:1 on dice. The
conservative estimate: 3-4 kills, potentially including Balin.

Then the crushing begins: anyone with a glaive, horse, or S4+ goes for the kill, with pikes supporting them to insure that they get the high rolls to win a fight (or at least stand a good chance). The rest of the men shield, holding the formation and keeping the pressure on the enemy, slowly chipping away at the enemy while minimizing your losses.

But truthfully, you can do this with all infantry as well if you have enough captains. An Easterling Captain leading a troop can probably have himself and another swordsman going for kills every turn, and the rest of the units around them can shield. That means that, if Amdur, a few of his swordsmen, the captains, and one swordsman in each of their warbands are going for kills, you can get in 5+ kills per round, assuming that you lose fights where you have more dice. And if you are shielding, you can keep your casualties lower than 5 per round, allowing you to outstrip your opponent in kills.

But you have to realize that, like a dragon, you're not going to kill swaths of people every turn. You're going to slowly crush them, darting in with cavalry or arrow fire to deal damage, but relying on that resilient, hardened battle line to tie them up and pick away at them, until eventually you can overrun them with a hardened phalanx ready to crush what remains. And in that moment, unleash the fury of the dragon.

Conclusion

I think Easterlings are a more advanced army to build, as you need to put the right elements in your army and deploy them effectively. But once you are on the table they can be relatively easy to use: shield with the main body, go for the kill in picked fights with quality heroes and supported warriors.

I'll be taking a step back from tactics posts for a bit, as I'll be working on a terrain project and giving a step-by-step post on that. My wife got me a hobbit hole kit from Forge World, so I'm excited to show that to you all! Until then, you know where to find me,

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens.  Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?" ~ Bane, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone