Case Study: Goblin Archery Tactica, Revisited

Good morning gamers,

In our last post, we looked at how adding skirmish elements to a Kingdoms of Moria army can make it more flexible in dealing with enemy models than a pure line-em-up-and-hit-em list. Today, we’ll be doing the same thing, but looking at their primary antagonists: Moria. In a way, this will revisit a post we did back in June 2013 on Moria tactics. Things have really, REALLY changed for my Greenskins since then…

Moria: What Are Our Skirmishing Options?

Despite not having that many warrior profiles (and fewer hero profiles than many other factions), there are a surprising number of choices for skirmishing with Moria – let’s look at the Warrior choices first.

Most of the Warrior options in this list have some kind of skirmishing abilities (with varying levels of effectiveness). Moria Goblin Warriors (the backbone of any Moria army, now that Blackshields aren’t S4) can get Orc Bows, which limits their Defense, but allows them to “do something” from a distance (more on them in a bit). Those wishing to boost the numbers of Moria can also include Moria Goblin Prowlers, who have throwing daggers and a decent Shoot value (more on them in a bit too). Like Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows, your Defense is limited.

But beyond these two obvious choices, there are two other skirmishers you can include (both of whom can be very, VERY dangerous. The first are Warg Marauders, who can shoot with two Orc Bows even when engaged in combat (though there are penalties to fighting if you do so). Unlike the other Moria models, this unit is FAST, able to move its full speed and shoot in the same turn. Sure, you only hit on a 6, but still – it’s fast. Yet another poor shooter (but interesting addition) is giving Cave Trolls Troll Chains for 5 extra points, giving them a Strength 4 3” throwing weapon. While unreliable to hit, a Troll Chain does allow a Cave Troll the opportunity to do some damage BEFORE it starts smashing things. When dealing with warrior swarms, you only need it to work once and it’ll have paid for itself, so if you get a second Wound out of it, it’s all gravy.

Moving onto the heroes of the list, you’ve got a few options. Besides Moria Goblin Captains with Orc Bows (who suck – you should run them with shields), you've got three very powerful shooting options: the first (and cheapest) is the Watcher in the Water, who not only can pop up behind (or in?) enemy lines, but can even shoot while engaged in combat (like the Warg Marauders). We'll be talking more about the Watcher later in the post.

Coming in at the next least expensive, you’ve got Dragons with Breathe Fire (and Wings – because you always take Wings). Unlike some other special abilities, Dragon Fire is a shooting attack, using a Dragon’s very impressive 2+ Shoot value (gets reduced to a 3+) and does an area-of-effect attack that kills anyone who doesn’t save a Wound suffered from the fire. While only usable up to three times in a game (less if you need to spend Will to pass a Courage test or get extra Will to resist a magical power), Dragon Fire is one of the most expensive and lethal shooting options in the game. It’s also one of the only upgrades you can take on a Dragon that forces your opponent to change the way he plays (besides Wings – because you should always take Wings).

Finally, the most expensive (and arguably most powerful) skirmisher in the list is The Balrog. With an 8” range Strength 7 throwing weapon, the Balrog can March 9” each turn (if there’s a Captain who has the courage to do is lord’s will) and still shoot with this weapon AND if he hits his target (3+ if he’s on the charge/doesn’t move, 4+ if he scoots-and-shoots) the target is dragged into base contact with him (assuming it’s able to do so). Like the Watcher in the Water, the advantage of this kind of skirmishing is that you don’t have to be able to charge someone in order to use the models’ combat profile – you just need to be able to shoot things. While killing this is pretty easy with the lash, in many ways, you’re better off NOT killing things with the lash, and instead killing them in melee (for reasons we’ll look into later).

Okay, so hopefully you see that Moria has quite a few skirmish options available to it. With this as a backdrop, we’re going to take a look at what you gain by emphasizing skirmishing troops in a Moria list over the more traditional melee-only designs that we see in competitive lists.

Skirmish Troops vs. “Traditional Moria Shieldwalls” of Warriors/Blackshields: D4 vs. D5/6

There are four “grunt” warrior choices for Moria: Wild Wargs (up to 12) if you run Druzhag, Moria Goblin Warriors (very cheap, reasonably average profile in all but two categories), Moria Blackshields (increased Defense, increased Courage, increased price, bonus damage vs. Dwarves), and Moria Goblin Prowlers (who have seen dramatic changes across the different versions of the rules). Of these four options (three if you don’t include the Wild Wargs), only the Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows and the Moria Goblin Prowlers can skirmish with enemy models. Before getting into Moria Goblin Prowlers (who are awesome), let’s take a quick look at Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows (who are not).

If you read the post we’re revisiting today, you’ll know that I’ve long believed that Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows are the worst bowmen in the game (and across all of the rules changes, this has remained true). While they cost about half of what other archers can cost (or nearly half), they suffer from four critical problems: a) a 5+ shoot value, b) Strength 2 bows, c) 18” range, and d) 5” movement. No other models suffer from all four of these ailments.

Orc Warriors with Orc bows (and Warg Riders with Orc bows) – whether fielded by Angmar or Mordor – suffer from a 5+ Shoot value, Strength 2 bows, and 18” range, but they have better movement (allowing them to move slightly more (or a lot more in the case of Warg Riders) than Goblins. This added speed can mean the difference between getting to your favorite shooting spot a turn early or a turn too late.

Many models have Strength 2 bows, but most of those archers have 24” range on their bows (not to mention higher Shoot values and higher movement). Many of the models that have 18” range have bows that are Strength 3 (and thankfully, Uruk-Hai Scouts have joined this group – hurray for them!). Finally, only Dwarves have 5” movement and shooting weapons and depending on the Dwarf civ you’re playing, you’ll have access to no bows (which doesn’t make you a candidate for worst archer in the game), Dwarf bows (18” range at Strength 3), Dwarf longbows (24” range at Strength 2), or crossbows (24” range at Strength 4 with no scoot-and-shoot).

The only models one could argue are worse than Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows are Hobbit Archers, as both models cost 5 points, Hobbit Archers have a weaker profile (-1” Movement, -1 Strength, -1 Defense, and +1 Courage), and both now have 18” Strength 2 bows. The reason Hobbit Archers are better, however is the auric buffs they can get from their heroes. While Goblin archers can’t be improved by the heroes you bring (bonus Fight value in melee from Groblog and Fearless from the Balrog being critical exceptions), Hobbit archers have lots of heroes who can make them better:

• Peregrin Took and Paladin Took can upgrade these guys to Tookish Hunters which boosts their Fight value (which is kind of like bringing Groblog along);
• Dunedain can be fielded alongside your archers to give them access to Heroic Accuracy (which I generally find isn’t worth calling, but if you’re trying to hit D4 Goblin spearmen behind a D5 Goblin shieldwall, it might be worth calling);
• The Gaffer can give your guys boosted damage output when trying to kill guys near flowers (which is both very theme-y and very awesome); and
• If you have both Meriadoc Brandybuck (who has a horn but not a war horn) and a war horn on one of your archers, you get +2 Courage on them (which brings them to Courage 5). Both of these are battlefield-wide benefits, so you can spread your archers out all over the board if you like and get RIDICULOUS staying power!

With all that said, I think some Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc Bows are worth having – because as awful as they are, I always get a few kills with them in games (even against high Defense armies). Why? Because you can field over 10 of them easily and still have points for whatever else you want. I also find them to be useful to surround/protect Moria Goblin Drums, which not only boost their Courage and give them banner effects should they get engaged, but they are able to pick up the drum sticks of fallen drummers if you keep them close (and since you don’t care about the bowmen and you DO care about the drummers, it’s always a good trade).

While Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows aren’t good, Moria Goblin Prowlers are good. Despite their low Defense, these guys cost only a little more than Warriors and 1 point less than Blackshields and here’s what they provide:

• Access to throwing daggers with a 4+ Shoot value – with a normal Shoot value and access to 6” throwing daggers, Moria Goblin Prowlers can “do stuff” with 11” potency, which is great for having short legs. While other Goblin Warriors might be forced to slog after archers, Moria Goblin Prowlers can run the pursuit AND fire back (though they’re probably going to take a pounding if not protected properly);
• Base Fight 3 – while the Moria army bonus is potentially good at getting your Moria Goblin Warriors/Blackshields to a decent Fight 3, Prowlers begin at Fight 3 and get promoted to Fight 4 (which is where you ACTUALLY want to be) when facing someone who’s trapped. In the event that you can’t get traps (more on how to do that later), you can always have Groblog lead a warband of 6 Prowlers and 6 Warriors with spears in order to give the Prowlers F4 on turns when they can’t trap their foes (and Fight 5 when they can trap them);
• Two-handed axes with Backstabbers – While the boosted Fight value of a Prowler when facing a trapped model is great, it becomes even better when paired with the Backstabbers rule (+1 To Wound when rolling against a trapped model) and the fact that a Prowler only has a two-handed axe (so he’ll get +1 To Wound when facing an un-trapped model and +2 To Wound when facing a trapped one). Since it’s an axe, you can also Piercing Strike to get to Strength 4 (instead of Strength 3), which means you’ll wound your traditional D6 shieldwall on 5s normally, 4s with the axe, and 3s with the axe when the target is trapped. THREES TO WOUND! Blackshields can do better than Moria Goblins at wounding if they’re fighting Dwarves (thanks to Hatred), but against a D6 front line, unless you convert up axes on them, even Hatred only makes them wound on 5s. Moria Prowlers have the potential to wound on 3s against any race…

So, in my opinion, Moria Goblin Prowlers should play an integral role in any Moria army (even though their Defense isn’t as great as their shield-toting cousins). I think the shield-carrying Warriors do play an important role in the army, but we’ll be looking more at how to use Prowlers/bow-armed-Warriors today – specifically in a formation that I love to use, known as the Foxhole.

Skirmishing Tactics: The Foxhole

I talked about this years ago in the original post and I still use it today in parts of a board with choke points. The idea behind the formation is simple: find a choke point and be able to swap archers in and out with spearmen so that you can whittle down your opponent for a bit, and then phase in your spearmen (while your archers create a third line to break later).

Notice that this squad is being run with 12 models: 1 Moria Goblin Captain with shield, 3 Prowlers, 4 Warriors with spears, 3 Warriors with Orc bows, and a Moria Goblin Drum. All three Orc bows begin behind the Prowlers (one of the spearmen stands behind the Captain), able to shoot directly ahead without having to risk killing their front-line Prowler in the process (which is good for you). The remaining spearmen are in a line 1.5” behind the spearman and all-but-one of the bowmen for reasons we’ll get into in a moment. I recommend having the three spearmen adjacent to the two Moria Goblin Drummers (just in case something bad happens).

Assuming you’ve Marched this formation to an important place on the map (use a Moria Goblin Captain or a Moria Blackshield Captain to call ONE March – more on what your other Might point is for later), your formation can stand still and brace between fat rocks for the upcoming fight. In scenarios where you start close to your opponent, this can be used to call a Heroic Move on the first turn if required to get to where you want to be OR you can save it for later (more on that in a second).

As the enemy draws nearer, the shooting output increases from 3 models to 6 models with the introduction of the Prowler’s throwing daggers. The beauty of having these guys in the front line (assuming they don’t get shot up) is that if your opponent moves first and comes within 5” if you, you can charge AND shoot in the same turn (instead of skirmishing and waiting for him to get closer). Alternatively, you can stand still and get one turn of shooting in. Should the next turn’s priority go poorly (whether you charged or stood your ground), you can spend your second Might point on your captain to call a Heroic Move and rush this group into combat (getting in one more shot). Note: if you get charged before you can execute your maneuver, your third rank of models haven’t trapped any of your models – you’ll be able to last one round (but still, try to think two turns ahead and see what’s coming).

Whenever you engage, your back line shifts (thinking two turns ahead, of course), with one of your archers dropping back 2.5” into the slot reserved for him (white dice guy - line him up with your spearmen). The spearman standing next to the bowman (red dice to show start/end locations) now takes the bowman’s old slot (able to move up to 5”, so he’ll be able to get there with ease). His slot has now opened up a space for the next bowman, and you continue doing this trade all the way down the line until your bowmen are all near the Drum.

By this point, you’ve got your drummers drumming, your four-file Battle line arrayed, and some random archers to take pot shots/guard flanks/pick-up-sticks. Depending on how the battle is going, the eight melee-oriented models should hold for 2-3 turns against enemy models (I don’t recommend this formation to try to stop someone like Elendil/Aragorn/Thorin, King under the Mountain). During that time, if the battle appears to be going ill (aka, most of your front line is dead), have the drummers make a mad dash away, while your archers continue to screen. While they can back up 2.5” and still shoot, decide whether the shooting is likely to do anything whilst moving (hitting on 6s bites) or decide if it’s just better to run at full speed and make sure you can pick up drumsticks should your opponent shoot at your drummers as they retreat to safety.

While you could just align your Moria Goblin Prowlers in a normal battle line, this particular formation is cheap (96 points without the drum, which isn’t going to stay with this formation if it’s in trouble), so you can probably have two of these in your army without cramping your style much. You can also save 6 points/squad by running Moria Goblin Warriors with shields, which would make the formation more resilient against even-Strength attacks, but less capable on the skirmish end. With this formation discussed, let’s dig into the most fun throwing weapon in the game: the Balrog’s Fiery Lash!

Skirmishing Tactics: The Balrog

When I first got started in the game, I ALWAYS equipped the Cave Troll with a Troll Chain (5+ shoot value isn’t great, 3” range with a Strength 4 hit isn’t bad). There’s nothing like being able to wound a D8 model on a single die with a shooting weapon (or a D4 model on 4s). While Troll Chains are “good,” they’re nothing compared to the Fiery Lash: with a 3+ shoot value, 8” range, and a Strength 7 hit, you have some ridiculous potency:

• With a normal 6” move, any models within 14” of you (and that massive base you have) can be targeted in a given round if you can avoid not being engaged (which, if you hit someone, means you’ll still get your free Heroic Combat);
• With a Heroic March active from a lowly Captain, any models within 17” of you (and that massive base you have) can be targeted in a given round if you can avoid not being engaged;
• A Strength 7 hit is pretty rare in the game, but it wounds most models on 3s (D1-D5), “heavily armored” models on 4s (D6/D7), “really heavily armored” models on 5s (D8/D9) and The Dark Lord Sauron on 6s (D10). Unless you face a lot of Dwarves/Dead of Dunharrow, it’s unlikely that you face any D8/D9 models, so you’re probably wounding the models you target on 3s or 4s, which is WAY more reliable at wounding than a throwing weapon has any right to be; and
• With a 3+ Shoot value (despite not having Might), the Balrog is insanely good at hitting targets with his lash even if he moves. While there are times when you don’t want that S7 hit to kill your target (when you want to lasso someone into base contact with you so you can call a free Heroic Combat and get some extra movement this turn), it’s still nice to be able to reach out and slap someone (a mount, an auric hero, a banner-carrier) to make life harder for the rest of the forces you’re fighting.

The key to getting the most out of the Balrog is Heroic March – Moria Goblin Captains and Moria Blackshield Captains retain a niche place in this army for this reason. Not only does Heroic March mean your Goblins get into action faster, but it also means that the Balrog can up his potency of range from 14” to 17” from his starting position. Since most armies need to get 2/3 of their models into melee in order to do anything with them, it’ll be hard for enemy units (especially enemy heroes) to stay out of 17” range of the Balrog. If you get to move second, measure how far it is to your opponent and go the most direct way you can towards his ranks.

Once you’ve moved towards the enemy ranks, roll to hit with your lash (hitting on 4s because you moved). With a 50/50 shot at bringing someone into base contact with you, this isn’t THAT reliable when you move, but it’s better than nothing. If you don’t hit, you’ll likely be in range of them again on the following turn (and eventually you’ll get someone). If you do hit the target, one of three things will happen: a) you’ll wound and kill the target model, b) the model will be wounded but not killed, or c) you’ll fail to Wound the model. In the former case, you’ve chalked up a kill (which is good, but not great). In either of the other cases, the Balrog now has someone to fight in melee (where he REALLY excels).

Once the Fight phase begins, the Balrog will call a Heroic Combat for free, prompting your opponent to think about doing something in that fight. If the Balrog is up against a lowly warrior, there’s not much that can be done except take what’s coming and hope for the best (which won’t be much). When the Balrog’s Heroic Combat begins, he’ll want to check the Fight value of his foe (especially if the target model called a Heroic Strike). Recall that Heroic Actions (like Strike) are resolved before you declare special strikes (like shielding or Feint), so the Balrog will know the difference in Fight value before he decides whether or not to Feint. If your opponent is F6 or below, you don’t lose anything by Feinting, so always do that.

The Balrog wins almost all fights he’s in and wounding is pretty easy (at Strength 9, you’ll probably we wounding on 3s and rerolling 1s if you Feint). Killing most models will be easy for him, so once you squash whatever you’re fighting, charge into someone else if you can (or get as close to the model you want to fight for the next turn). In this picture, I've chosen to charge a model on the flank, angling so that I have as many models on a 6" line so that I can hit them with a Hurl (in this picture, there are 10 models that are guaranteed to be in the Hurl line...can you spot them?).

While charging with the Balrog (and sling-shotting into other models) is fun, there’s a second way you can use the Balrog: if you keep him behind your lines, you can lash at support troops and finish them off before dealing with the main part of the enemy line. In this scenario, the Balrog could probably go toe-to-toe with the King’s Champion model, but it’ll be easier to deal with him if his heralds have been taken care of already!

Skirmishing Tactics: The Watcher in the Water

Let me begin by saying I don’t own this guy and have no interest in paying over $70 to get one. I’m probably going to try to make one out of expanding foam, wire, and putty, but we’ll see how that goes. Without any experience using him, let’s just review what the Watcher in the Water can do for you:

• Like the Balrog, he has a special shooting attack that works like a throwing weapon – except that it’s better. Like the Balrog, the Watcher has a 3+ Shoot value, but he can make D6 shooting attacks (instead of 1).
• In addition to the larger number of attacks it can generate, these shots can be made even if the Watcher is engaged in combat (much like Gandalf’s Cart or the Warg Marauder).
• While the Strength of these shooting attacks is only Strength 3, the Watcher in the Water drags anyone it hit but did not kill into base contact with it to fight in the Fight phase (much like the Fiery Lash). This means that even if the Watcher gets tagged by one model, you can still have a chance at pulling in other models for it to munch (to include nearby auric heroes, banners, spear-supports, and cavalry models that are trying to get better positioning) so long as they start the Shoot phase within 6” of the Watcher.
• An interesting thing about having D6 shooting attacks is that the rule doesn’t specify that you can only target a model with one shooting attack – if you really want a particular model to be engaged with you (a nearby auric hero, a banner, a spear-support in an important fight), you can keep shooting at it until you hit it. Then, even if you don’t kill it, you drag it away from what it was doing and make it fight you instead. Brilliant!
• Finally, because the Watcher can choose where it emerges (once you roll a 3+ in the Move phase), you can make it arrive in the second rank of an enemy battle line, which will force the models he arrives under to move around him (1” away). The other models, however, will be counted as trapped if you’re already fighting them, which is good for your Goblins. You’ll also be guaranteed a few shooting targets if the models you’re displacing have already moved.

While the Watcher in the Water is pretty cool as a shooting model, at 200 points (and as an Independent Hero), he’s either going to be a substitute for the Balrog OR (if you take the Balrog AND the Watcher) you’re going to be running down-handed in the model count. While the Balrog and the Watcher certainly kill enough models between them to make anyone happy, I’m not sure Moria has the resilience in its troops to survive being down-handed by 20+ models. Perhaps I should test this before I speak. J

The primary reason I don’t have the Watcher in the Water (and instead chose the Balrog) is primarily because of the auric boosts the Balrog gives that the Watcher does not (12” Fearless for Goblin models) and the special rules he has that makes him great at dealing with all kinds of problems (F10 without Heroic Strike and with a sword, Fearless on himself, free Heroic Combats to sling-shot other units into things, immune to auto-kills, 10 Will with Resistant to Magic). And there’s the little fact that I got my Balrog for $45 including tax, while the Watcher costs $75+ once you factor in tax…

Conclusion: Skirmishing with Moria

Moria is a fun list (now – didn’t always feel that way) and has some incredible skirmishing potential. With discussions on both this list and the Kingdom of Moria in our last post, I hope to get some games in with these guys sometime to illustrate the principles. Should be fun.

In our next post, we’ll be looking at skirmish units as a whole (which includes not just throwing weapon models, but many bow-armed models) and how skirmish armies differ from the more traditional run-at-em-and-beat-them-up armies. To assist with this post, I’ve invited my good mates Rythbryt, Centaur, Zorro, and Red Jacket to showcase different army lists that feature skirmish units prominently. Until then, happy hobbying!