Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: Azog's Hunters in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

As promised, the forces of Evil have arisen to beat back the upstart collection of men, elves, and dwarves who have dared to lay claim to the title of "greatest Hobbit army" (and their oddly-isolated mountain fortress). Today we deal with their light-weight brigade, that soften up the enemy before the weight of the full army crushes them.

That would be Azog's hunters. They're particularly brutal--even to each other.

Boo!
Photo Credit: hole-intheground.blogspot.com

Army Quick(ish) Hits

• Strength: The ultimate hit-and-run army. I know what you're thinking: what about Rohan, and Rivendell knights, and Haradrim / Mahud Raiders? Yes, yes, those are all great, too. I'm not talking about "skirmish" armies (which, by the way, hunter orcs can still do with their great-for-evil-orcs 4+ shoot value), I'm talking about hit-and-run armies who can charge into you, deal damage, and then withdraw. Sure, any mounted army can charge their enemies, but only Hunter Orcs can charge enemies they cannot see, thanks to Fell Sight on their Fell Wargs. No force can duck and weave around buildings, rock clumps, and forest patches like these guys can, while preserving their ability to go on the offense at a moment's notice. That random shed you think has saved you? It hasn't. Oh, and if you manage to unseat their riders? That Fell Sight warg may still stick around (which is something none of the other hit-and-run armies offer, unless you count Sharku's legendary legion). Last but not least, if you do choose to skirmish, consider bringing Bolg along to give your hunter orcs the Morgul Arrows special rule, at no additional cost (multi-wound models who are wounded by any of your bow shots, but not slain, suffer another wound at the end of each turn if they roll a 1--so far as I know, there's no way to remove that effect, either).
• Strength: Named heroes with Might, Might, and more Might... Might out the whazoo! Taking all five named heroes is very pricey, but if you managed to do it, you could have up to 18 Might for your army--almost as much as the Fellowship! More realistically, you'll only have about 3 of these heroes in your force, but even so--that's twelve Might if one of those is Azog astride the White Warg (and Yazneg, Narzung, and Fimbul are cheap enough even on wargs, that there's really no excuse to not take Azog, unless you're very partial to Bolg).
• Strength: You move fast and hit hard. Let's just set aside the absurd profiles for Azog and Bolg. Everything else in the army is at least Strength 4 with two attacks (including 8-point hunter orcs on foot), except for your Fell Wargs (who, lest you forgot, have Fell Sight). Fell Wargs move 10", plus you have Heroic March on Azog, Bolg, and your Captains if you need some additional oomph.
• Weakness: Defense and Fight. It's a good thing you can move around, because outside of Bolg, your defense with this force is not great (Defense 4 for hunter orcs and fell wargs, Defense 5 for your other named heroes, including Azog). Your Fight Value (again, outside of Azog and Bolg, who are insane) is also on the low end--Fight 3 for your wargs and orcs, and Fight 4 for your named heroes (except Fimbul, who's pretty broken). If you get stuck in one-on-one fights, especially if you haven't charged, you could have a rough go. So getting those charges off, and ganging up fights, are the name of the game.
• Strength / Weakness: Numbers. This is entirely dependent on what heroes you take. Azog or Bolg pretty much foreclose a proper "spam," although you can get 30-40 models if you take Bolg, two named heroes, and a mix of hunter orcs mounted, hunter orcs on foot, and fell wargs. If you go with just the three cheap named heroes and a captain, however, you can get close to 50 models (or more, if you're light on cavalry), while still having 11 Might to play with. Not too shabby.
• Strength: Ally options. Oh look--it's another Hobbit-era army with fantastic ally synergies! Azog's legion is the attention-getter (D6! Berserkers! Very large trolls! Random goblin dudes!), but don't sleep on the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur. The Necromancer isn't cheap, but him backing up Azog or Bolg is plain scary. The Dol Guldur nazgul are cheap, and of course they can lead D6 troops as well if you need them (or more hunter orcs and fell wargs, if you're feeling like you need... more hunter orcs and fell wargs). Or, even scarier, Mirkwood Spiders.
• Strength / Weakness... but mostly a weakness: cost. The troops aren't bad: hunter orcs and fell wargs, in all their foot-cav variants, are all available in plastic for normal-ish prices (the no-mount fell wargs seem a tad pricey to me). But the heroes will set you back. If you wanted to be economical, I'd focus on either just the three cheap named heroes (Narzug, Fimbul, and Yazneg) or just the two power heroes (Azog and Bolg, who you can re-use if you decide you want to bite another bullet and collect Azog's Legion). Collecting all five will cost you close to $200 USD... and that's before you have to make a Narzung coversion.

Photo Credit: Tolkiengateway.net

Named Hero Profiles

• Azog the Defiler. Azog isn't quite in his uber form (more on that next time), but even without the option for heavy armor, stone flail, or signal tower, he's still a beast. Fight 7, Strength 5, and Burly cover a lot of sins. Then there's his 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds, 3/3/1 stats, and of course I am the Master, which allows him to wound hero models on a 3+ (because sometimes Strength 5 with a Burly two-handed weapon just isn't enough). I'm pretty sure you always want him on the White Warg in either list, but for Azog's Hunters it's more of a no-brainer. That provides Azog with another 3 Might (which he can spend whilst mounted), a 2 Wound/1 Fate meat shield (who becomes Fearless if you manage to knock Azog off), and an additional point of Will (4 total) to try to shrug off enemy spells. The White Warg has Fell Sight (because of course it does), making Azog perhaps the most dangerous hero-hunter in the game (depending on how you feel about the Balrog's Fiery Lash, Gil-Galad's Fight 9 Aeglos, or Aragorn two-handing with Anduril like there's no tomorrow). Add a 12" Stand Fast! that affects other Orc Hero models, Terror from the White Warg, and Heroic Strike / March / Strength / Challenge, and you may have the beefiest 25mm model that money can buy (a lot of money...). Just watch out for his Defense 5 with only one Fate... don't put him in a position to flub combat, and then die a dishonorable death. At Courage 5, he's also not a lock to pass his courage tests (once you get pas this auto-pass for break, as a Hero of Legend), especially if the enemy has Harbinger of Evil nearby.
• Bolg. If you're not hero-hunting, Bolg is pretty much just as good as Azog at killing whatever you need killed. Also Fight 7, Strength 5, and Burly, he adds a two-handed pick (so he can get to effective Strength 8 if you Piercing Strike), plus is base Defense 7 (if you don't Piercing Strike). He also has Ancient Enemies, which allows him to reroll 1s against all dwarf and elf models (pretty great if you only need a 3+ or 4+ to wound them), and can take an orc bow with Morgul Arrows (and a 4+ shoot value in this army) if you want a ranged threat with Might behind it. But the biggest game-changer is The Bringer of Death, which gives Bolg tiered bonuses as he racks up kills during the match. 2+ kills nets him Terror; at 5+ kills, he gains Harbinger of Evil; and at 10+ kills, he gains Mighty Hero, giving him a free Might point each turn to spend as he wills. So while Azog prefers to overpower the enemy's heroes, Bolg prefers to munch on troops... at least for a while.
• Yazneg. If Yazneg (or for that matter, Narzug and Fimbul) just had their stat profiles, they'd be bargains at their points costs. Yazneg has your basic orc captain profile (Fight 4, Strength 4, Defense 5, 2 Attacks, 2 Wounds, Courage 3), but picks up an extra point of Might to go with his single Will and Fate points (3/1/1). You also pick up Expert Rider, the option for a lance (nifty), Heroic Strike, and The Price of Failure special rule, which gives you a way to get around your hunter orcs' low courage (at the cost of Yazneg's life, unfortunately--and only if you also have Azog in tow). It's not a perfect solution by any stretch (it only applies to courage tests after your army is broken, not to charge Terror-causing models), but at least all your surviving orcs get to reroll failed courage tests (including, critically, Azog, with his 12" hero-affecting Stand Fast!).
• Narzug. Narzug has the same stats as Yazneg, but trades the lance option for an orc bow, Morgul Arrows (even if you don't have Bolg), and Lethal Aim, which gives him a free point of Might each turn to modify his to-hit, in-the-way, and to-wound rolls whilst shooting. Add his three Might, and he's better than most models at being able to take out a leader's horse, banner, or other priority target. You also have Heroic Accuracy instead of Heroic Strike... that's not ideal, but everything else is pretty good.
• Fimbul the Hunter. Fimbul has an orc bow as well (base), and picks up an extra Fight (Fight 5) and Courage (Courage 4), plus Heroic Strike, for no more points than Narzug (or Yazneg on warg with lance). We're already doing phenomenally. His special trick is Hunt Master, which combines the Fell Sight from his Fell Warg with ignoring all penalties that Cavalry models usually suffer for moving in difficult terrain. That's ALL difficult terrain, folks--he can move 10", then charge enemy models, in every single type of difficult terrain. Did I mention he's Fight 5 with Heroic Strike and 3 Might?

Unnamed Hero Profiles

• Hunter Orc Captain. These guys seem a little bit of a let-down after the three named heroes (especially Fimbul), until you realize they're 3 Attack heroes on foot (at Fight 4, Strength 4) for a paltry 45 points (plus they have Heroic March). You can add a bow as well if you like, although you're probably better off with Narzug in that capacity. If you're feeling especially brave, you can give them a two-handed pick as well (for effective Strength 7, if you piercing strike).

Ooo, they look tasty!
Photo Credit: lotr.fandom.com

Warrior Profiles

• Hunter Orcs. For lowly orcs, these guys have a surprising number of options: in addition to a banner (great), orc bow (pretty good if you keep your army bonus), two-handed pick (again, the chance for effective Strength 7) on just 9 point models, and of course the Fell Warg mount, you also have the option for a War Horn, which is crazy for orcs. Your bread-and-butter orcs are still Courage 3 with it, but your heroes are Courage 4 (or Courage 6 if they're Azog or Bolg), which is pretty good for orcs. They don't have spears or shields, though, so if you want those, you'll need to ally them in (both Azog's Legion and the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur can take D5-6 Gundabad Orcs with spears).
• Fell Wargs. Fell warg mounts have more oomph, but if you're just looking for Fell Sight on the cheap, the infantry version will do just fine. 10" move, Strength / Defense 4, and Courage 2 are stock-standard for wargs. If Azog happens to get separated from the White Warg, they can do some very interesting shenanigans.

Concluding Thoughts

So that's the Hobbit's evil-army-lite. Next time, we bring on the heavies. 

It will be epic. 

(And painful, if you are an elf or dwarf.)

Ouch time!  (wait, that's the wrong prequel film...)
Photo Credit: Modding Union

More from the TMAT Team

• Armies of the Hobbit, Part 1: Orcs! (March 2019)
• Heirlooms of Ages Past: Battle Report (Minas Tirith vs. Azog's Hunters) (May 2020)
• Howls in the Night... (January 2014, *Pre-MESBG)

Support your Hobby

• Azog's Hunters Model Range [Games Workshop]
• Fell Wargs [Games Workshop]

Recommended Resources

• VIDEO: Armies of Middle Earth: Azog's Hunters (ERRA Cuin Caladrim)
• VIDEO: Review of the Armies of the Hobbit, Part 2 - Azog's Hunters (STF Wargaming Studio)
• VIDEO: Middle-Earth SBG - Azog's Legion (+Azog's Hunters, Dol Guldur) (Dicey Lab)
• PODCAST: Mustering an Army, Ep. 21 - Azog's Hunters (The Lost Episode) (The Green Dragon Podcast, *Pre-MESBG)
• IN PRINT: Tactica - Azog's Hunters (Sam Page, SBG Fanzine)
• BATTLE REPORT: Azog's Hunters vs. Army of Thror (Failed Charge Games)
• BATTLE REPORT: Azog's Hunters vs. Thranduil's Halls (Top Table Gaming)
• BATTLE REPORT: Azog's Hunters vs. Khazad-Dum (MWG Studios)
• BATTLE REPORT: Azog's Hunters vs. Harad & Umbar (The Grey Company)
• BATTLE REPORT: Azog's Hunters vs. Fellowship (Copenhagen Middle-Earth Battle Gamers, *Pre-MESBG)
• BATTLE REPORT: Azog's Hunters vs. Survivors of Lake-Town (Blackfyre Productions, *Pre-MESBG)