The Bare Necessities, Part XIV: The Kingdom of Moria

Good morning gamers,

In our series on list-building, we’ve covered eight armies so far that showcase ways you can optimize your list to do well in five potential scoring areas: a) having fast models, b) having at least one banner, c) having “enough numbers,” d) having ways of neutralizing enemy heroes, and e) having ways to augment your own heroes. We’ve looked at different army builds that you can do for Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Lothlorien, and Numenor from the Forces of Good, as well as Isengard, Mordor, Angmar, and Moria from the Forces of Evil.

But before we begin discussing one of my favorite factions in the game, I feel a need to make note of a recent acquisition...

Four hobbits, ready for an adventure!

I'm calling him Samwise - more of a Hobbit than a Dwarf, but the lil' tyke decided to surprise us a week early. Looks like we're going to keep him. :)

Anyway, today we turn to my beloved bearded fellows, the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum/Moria, and see how you can take this army (which has no cavalry options to speak of – and only has access to cavalry through a Yellow alliance, which causes you to lose a REALLY big army bonus) and tailor it to play better in these five areas. One of the best decisions I’ve made on this blog in a long time, I think, was waiting to cover this army until I ironed out all my thoughts on it, so here’s to three months of mulling over Dwarves!

Kingdom of Khazad-Dum/Moria: Marcha-Marcha-Marcha!

When I first got started playing Dwarves, most of our players thought they were cheat – they were average-cost, had really-high Defense, had above-average Fight, and had above-average Courage. Add this to the fact that their heroes were killing machines (and most were under 100-points/model), and you had a list that was really, REALLY hard to beat.

Contributing to this was that me and my mates were new to the game – so we had limited terrain, we played straight-forward scenarios (like the ones that preceded To The Death and Domination – still favorites in our group), and an army that can stake out an area and last forever is a really, REALLY daunting challenge. With most of us favoring infantry armies, moving 5" each turn instead of 6" each turn meant that the Dwarves showed up one turn too late (sometimes) to the party, but their reduced speed was rarely an issue. Let’s just say, as much as I enjoyed playing with my Dwarves, I always felt a little bad when I fielded them.

Then my friends and I started playing a lot – and the weaknesses of the Dwarves became evident. On terrain boards with lots of woods, some armies had definite advantages over the Dwarves (especially those pointy-eared, woodland sprites who have those nasty bows that could shoot the Dwarves to pieces if they were able to concentrate fire over time). We played scenarios that required getting places more (Hold Ground mostly, a few Reconnoitre games) and I learned that arriving second could mean being at a great disadvantage. My friends also started playing with heroes who neutralized the effectiveness of enemy heroes (Ringwraiths and Dalamyr), which can turn a cheap Dwarf hero into an expensive do-nothing-and-maybe-get-killed. Yep, we determined that fighting Dwarves didn't have to be hard, but it did require building your army a certain way.

During this time, I decided pretty quickly that there was one feature of the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum that made them distinctive from other heavily-armored armies (especially their cousins, the Dwarves of Erebor, as found in the Army of Thror): Dwarves from Khazad-Dum were pretty good at shooting. As such, I started relying on Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes (as well as their bows) in order to even the odds a bit, pluck off lone warriors holding objectives, and generally being more threatening while running as fast as possible towards a far-flung objective. With many heroes also having access to throwing axes, many of the old tricks for fighting my Dwarves began to fail and I started to have fun with my Dwarves again.

Then the new rules hit, and a few changes occurred: first, we included all of the new heroic actions, and the Dwarves now had access (on MANY heroes) to Heroic March – critical for supplementing our greatest weakness (speed). While enemy forces could March as well, shaving off more than a full turn of movement every two turns does make a difference. Second, while shooting got a nerf with the scoot-and-shoot penalty, shooting remained more or less unchanged (except, of course, that volley fire was no longer a thing – but this meant that we couldn’t lose a random Dwarf when we were on the other side of the board). Third, while the Dwarf heroes only changed slightly (Balin got some good buffs, lost his throwing axes), magic got weaker (Transfix no longer reduced us to FV1 with 1 Attack), so our Dwarf heroes are now harder to kill with magic (they’re already pretty resilient against archery, decently resilient in melee). But of all the changes that happened, the biggest by far was access to Heroic March, which not only was placed on most of our generic heroes (Kings and Captains), but also showed up on Balin, who was already the crux of my army.

I’m going to be controversial today and just say that while Durin is a fabulous hero, he didn’t make today’s list. This is probably a mistake – and well-intentioned, clever, competitive people will disagree with me here. Does Durin augment your army well? Yes. Is Durin tough to take down? Yes. Does he kill lots of things? Yes. Does he kill more things (and is tougher to beat) than Balin? Yes.

But he isn’t Balin – and since we’re looking at well-rounded lists today, I deemed the tactical benefits that Balin provides (most importantly rerolling your Priority roll and access to Heroic March - though cost is also a factor) contribute to a more balanced list than Durin’s benefits (which include a War Horn and a more resilient army leader, to say nothing of being able to buff out your Khazad Guards). Have no fear, Dwarf-friends, we’ll talk about Durin at the end of this post. For now, let’s look at the Dwarf list I’ve chosen for today.

The List

The Moria Expedition: 700pts

• Balin, Lord of Moria [Army Leader]
• 2 Khazad Guards
• 7 Dwarf Warriors with shields
• 5 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows
• 4 Dwarf Rangers with bows (I refer to these as simply “bows” since a “Dwarf Long Bow” has the exact same stats as a “bow” – why didn’t this just get renamed with the rules revamp?!?!?!?!)
• King’s Champion
• 2 Heralds (included in cost with the Champion)
• 2 Khazad Guards (1 with two-handed mace weapon-swap)
• 4 Dwarf Warriors with shields
• 2 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows
• 2 Dwarf Rangers with bows
• Dwarf King with throwing axes and two-handed axe
• 2 Khazad Guards
• 8 Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes
• 1 Dwarf Ranger with throwing axes and two-handed axe

44 models, 7 Dwarf bows hitting on a 4+ and 6 bows hitting on a 3+, 29 D6+ models, no cavalry, 7 Might points

Dwarves have always been able to take lots of models – when they run Balin, that is. Durin’s extra points cost (+50 points) will lower your model count by at least 5 models, though his actual impact when you start upgrading Khazad Guards to Hearthguard will see you probably drop even more models (depending on how many Hearthguard you choose to take). Since I’m running Dwarf Rangers (by far the most flexible warrior choice available to the Dwarves - and who have the lowest Defense), I decided that having more numbers was important, since I didn’t want my army to break too quickly. With 44 models, I need to lose 23 models (and from experience, even when 15 of those are Rangers, it’s hard to do).

Those familiar with Khazad-Dum/Moria lists will notice I also have a nearly-equal number of Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows and Dwarf Rangers with bows – this is because, as I’ve mentioned before, most enemy forces have a mix of even-Defense and odd-Defense units, so depending on who you’re shooting at, the Strength of your bow might not matter. Rangers hit slightly more often, Warriors have slightly less Range and have slightly higher Defense. Both are useful, so we’ve included both.

Let’s look at each warband and what it’s bringing to the table.

Warband #1: The Lord of Moria

The Lord of Moria: 276pts of heavy armor and shooting

The centerpiece of your army is Balin – Balin not only has 3 Might points with access to Heroic March (the only named Dwarf hero in this list with access to March), but he can also call Heroic Defense, Heroic Strike, and Heroic Resolve. If you’re only going to have 4 specialized Heroic Actions to call, that’s not a bad list. With only 2 Wounds and 1 Fate point, Balin is a bit fragile as an army leader, but with Defense 8, effectively 3 Attacks at Fight 6, and some caution, Balin doesn’t have to be an easy target. Should Balin have to out-kill an enemy hero, getting +1 To Wound (along with that reroll to his Dueling roll) will come in really handy. I’ve long believed that Balin is best employed against grunt models, where his need to call Heroic Strike is subservient to his need to call Heroic Combats (which are pretty easy to get off if you get +1 To Wound and reroll 1s thanks to your army bonus).

With him is a full complement of 18 warriors, half are D7 melee troops (7 Dwarf Warriors with shields and 2 Khazad Guards), while the other half are bow-armed troops (nearly-even mix of Warriors and Rangers). While the Khazad Guards should probably flank Balin (so he can help them out in a fight if required OR to reduce the number of models ganging up on them), the rest of your Warriors are intended for one critical thing: shielding. While Dwarf Warriors with shields don’t innately have 2 Attacks, the ability to shield can keep waves of opponents tied down fighting models they probably wound on 6s for a long time. Meanwhile, the archers are free to either wrap around the battle line OR shoot at spear supports from between fights – though ideally you’ve cut down some of the front-line guys before they get to you.

Warband #2: The Champion

The Champion: 235pts of slashing axes and waving banners

If you need to kill an enemy hero, Balin isn’t your guy – the King’s Champion is. With 3 Attacks base (and probably access to at least 1 banner – making that 4 dice to win the fight) at Fight 6 and Strength 5, there’s little the King’s Champion can’t hack down (while killing a Balrog is going to be nearly impossible to do, a King's Champion can reliably get 1 Wound against the Balrog, which will give you some victory points in most scenarios). While his “average” resources of 2M/1W/1F seem low, if his Heralds are nearby, he can have up to 5 Fate points to block damage (which will also raise his Defense up to D8/9 depending on how many of them are in base contact with him). Yep, the King’s Champion is where it’s at when it comes to killing big things (though don’t assume he’s wasted against waves of grunts…).

Supporting him are his two heralds (included in his cost – making either the Champion himself incredibly cheap OR making the banners the heralds carry ridiculously cheap), 6 high-Defense units (2 Khazads, 4 Dwarf Warriors with shields), and 4 shooting models. The addition of the shooting units in this warband makes it so that this line can sit in an important area and still be dangerous (plucking off a model each turn) if left alone. What you’re really trying to do with these warriors is to thin the warriors assigned to protect an enemy hero so that the Champion has a chance to slay the hero quickly. While the Champion can do lots of damage to enemy warriors, he’s best used as an anti-hero model.

Note: one of the Khazad Guards has been equipped with a two-handed mace for +1 point, so you can get him in the same fight as a King’s Champion, call a Bash special strike, and knock any man-sized or smaller model the King’s Champion is fighting on the ground so the King's Champion can roll 6 dice to wound at Strength 5 – absolutely brutal…

Warband #3: The “Fast Squad”

The Fast Squad: 189pts of throwing weapons and Khazad Guards

This third squad is the least defensible, but that’s because its job is very different: as we discussed in our post on fast models, 7 of the 12 scenarios provided in the Main Rules Manual require you to get somewhere by the end of the game (which could end as soon as one army is broken OR could stretch out until an army is reduced to 25% of its starting models). As such, while Balin could March your army forward at the start of the game, you need to be able to continue to March in order to have a chance at winning certain scenarios. As a result, we need a Dwarf King or a Dwarf Captain (which is to say, we need a Dwarf King).

Of all the generic heroes in the game, the Dwarf King is one of the best (behind the King’s Champion and the Mordor Troll Chieftain for sure) – and he’s a lot better than a Dwarf Captain. For +15 points, you get access to Heroic Resolve, +1 Will, +1 Fight Value, +1 Defense, and +1 Courage (and with the February 2020 errata, +3 Warrior slots due to his promotion to a Hero of Valor). At least two of those things are effectively free (besides the heroic tier increase), which is huge! This is also a second generic hero option that the Dwarves have that is Fight 6, which means in really big games, you could spam King’s Champions and Dwarf Kings and get lots of Fight 6 heroes (all of which also have very high Defense).

Supporting him are our runners – 9 Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes (one of which was equipped with a two-handed axe for extra damage potential). Since the King himself has throwing axes (and a two-handed axe), these 10 models can all shoot at nearby models that they pass while they run – and they can run 8” each turn for 2 turns BESIDES any extra turns they get from faster movement if they are near Balin (who, as we mentioned before, also has Heroic March). This squad is also sufficiently large that getting less than half of them off the board in a Reconnoitre game can get you the required 4 models you need to make losing the game more difficult. With up to 5 Might spent on getting +15” of movement, you can save yourself 3 turns of running and get your guys off the board in 7-9 turns (depending on how straight a shot you can make it). Oh, and did I mention that anyone who tries to catch up and tag them might get shot with throwing axes that hit on a 4+ (or a 5+ for the Dwarf King)? Ridiculous…

Scenario Overview

Let’s take a look at each of the available scenarios and see some thoughts/considerations for using this list:

• Domination: This is perhaps the most straight-forward of the scenarios for you: both of your large warrior blocks (Balin’s Boys and the King’s Champion’s Retinue) can leave archers at objectives that they pass if they want to, while the Dwarf King and his Rangers can move towards farther objectives and harass enemy units that are making their way towards Balin or the Champion. Once you’ve gotten to an important place on the board, dig-in and let the heroes do their thing. Beware of mages – they should be your primary targets for archery (especially your Rangers with throwing axes, who can shoot at them and later charge them). With 44 models, this is the second largest list we’ve built so far (only behind Angmar) – so get your guys on as many objectives as you can and even if you break, you have a good shot at keeping the game close (if not winning)!
• Capture and Control: Similar strategy to Domination, but tagging things is much more difficult with a slow army than with a fast army. Still, your entire squad of Rangers is free to do “objective-grabbing,” using their throwing weapons (or the threat of them) to clear lone models off of them. Your archers should focus on whittling down the enemy ranks and then later charging in as swordsmen to supplement your ranks.
• Hold Ground: Everyone deploys as close together as Maelstrom will allow. If possible get Balin or the Dwarf King near the King’s Champion (deploy the King’s Champion’s Warband first, then choose where to place Balin or the King – OR BOTH – based on where the King’s Champion deploys). Once at least two of your warbands are close together, Heroic March towards the center. When your archers are within shooting range, move them wide of the rest of the army so they will have clean firing lanes as the melee troops prepare to engage. Heroic Combats are more important here than Heroic Strikes, because chances are, we’re arriving second…
• Seize the Prize: Another rough game, but at least this one isn’t a Maelstrom. Deploy everyone together, with room for Balin to lead and the Dwarf King deployed next to him. Both of these heroes can call Heroic March, so alternate with them so you can push your entire army up 8” each turn until you reach the center. The extremities of your battle line should have your archers, so they can peel off and shoot at any enemy models that try to get around your block of troops. Near them should be your Rangers, who will be needed to run other units down that are proving too evasive for your archers.
• To The Death: Sweet and simple – go kill things! Be conservative with your Rangers, as you want to do everything you can not to break. With roughly 1/3 of your army at D5, you’re not as vulnerable as most armies, but this is still a good way to go down below 50%. Balin, the King’s Champion, and the King, should again prioritize Heroic Combats to get your enemy broken as quickly as possible (though if your opponent has something big, kill it with the King’s Champion).
• Lords of Battle: Similar story, except this is a Wound-count scenario. The King’s Champion is actually your most vulnerable piece, since his Heralds provide an extra +4 Fate and +2 Wounds, so if all three of them are killed, you’ll cough up 10 points for the Fate/Wounds they lost. That’s a lot – a whole lot. Rangers will be targeted as well, so use your units to get good match-ups, skirmish as long as you can with as much cover as you can, and don’t engage unless you have the upper hand (where possible, of course).
• Contest of Champions: Balin’s not bad at this one, but look for ways to neutralize your enemy’s army leader. Archery is a good starting point, though ramming the King’s Champion into him is also a good idea. Remember to do that Bash trick with the Khazad Guard wielding the two-handed mace as well, as putting an enemy army leader on the ground will see him not dealing damage next turn (and could result in him dying)!
• Reconnoitre: One of the roughest scenarios for you, but we’ve already talked about this a lot – use the 2 Marches from the Dwarf King late in the game and 2-3 Marches from Balin early in the game to spring those Dwarf Rangers into action. Yes, spending most of Balin's Might to call Heroic March will see him unable to call Heroic Strike, but remember that you win automatically if you get 3-4 models off the board and can keep your opponent down to 0-1 models escaping (and will get a draw in the worst case if your opponent gets 2 models off the board). Where possible find a route at the beginning of the game with good rocky ground you can put between your Rangers and your opponent’s pursuers. March as one block early in the game, then split apart. Archers should protect the extremities of the board, as your opponent will probably try to get models around your major heroes.
• Storm the Camp: The actual hardest scenario for you, as you need to go from corner to corner (and lining up your travel line for your Rangers is much harder). That said, I’ve played this scenario a few times with an army like this and it’s “not that different” from playing Reconnoitre: March early with Balin, break off your Rangers with the Dwarf King, then run the Dwarf King and the Rangers like mad towards the enemy camp. Throwing axes are a beauty, as you just need to stay outside of charge range and you can get a lucky hit on enemy models trying to pursue you (read my article on throwing weapons for how to do this). Getting lots of models in the enemy camp can end the game early with you having the victory, so have fun with it!
• Heirlooms of Ages Past: I don’t like this one either with this team – Maelstroms are awful. That said, deploy the same way, hope you pick up the Heirloom, then run whatever model picks it up (hopefully a Ranger with throwing axes) as far away from enemy models as possible and puppy-guard him as best you can until the game ends.
• Fog of War: Okay, so because of your stumpy legs, you can pick a piece of terrain in near the center of the board so that it’s easy for you to advance towards and hold. That being said, your Ranger squad is pretty maneuverable, so you could choose an outlying piece of terrain and run them towards it. The hero you want to protect is the King’s Champion – keep both Heralds with him at all times so he can keep coherency with them. The hero you want to kill should be the weakest infantry hero they have – target that hero with the King’s Champion as quickly as possible. That being said, make sure your Dwarf King stays mobile (your opponent is probably picking him or one of your heralds – though they should be pretty safe with Balin and the Champion).
• Clash By Moonlight: YOU LOVE THIS SCENARIO! Sure, your units will get wounded a little more easily, but with more than half of your army able to shoot, you’ve got loads of damage coming out when you get within 12” of the enemy (and especially when those Rangers get to charging with their throwing axes - wounding D4-5 models on 4s and D6-7 models on 5s before you actually get to fight is CRAZY GOOD). Your units can race along with impunity early in the scenario, as no one will be able to shoot at them – lovely day that!

Modifications

While I’ve already addressed some of this, let’s just recap on the modifications I wouldn’t be surprised to see:

• Drop Balin – Most Khazad-Dum/Moria players seem to prefer to use Durin over Balin (though on Mik's blog, you'll see lists from Mik and the great Callum Edens who choose to use Balin - so recommendation!). With +1 Defense, +1 Attack, +1 Wound, a war horn (that makes him cause Terror), a 6+ save against all wounds (before spending your 1 Fate point), and the ability to upgrade your Khazad-Guards to Hearthguard is huge. For “only” 50 extra points, Durin seems like a really good bargain, but there are three important things that Balin provides that Durin does not (some of this has already been mentioned). First and foremost, he has Heroic Defense, which can be a niche way to keep a really good slayer hero (like Azog or Aragorn) from killing your army leader. Second, Balin allows you to reroll your Priority roll, which gives you a non-zero probability (maybe even a high probability) of getting priority when you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten it (which is huge if you’re relying on your throwing weapons to do work for you). Third and most importantly, Balin gives you 3 Might points for Heroic March – and if you need to get somewhere, you’ll exhaust the Might points on your Dwarf King pretty quickly. We’ll cover a sample list with Durin in it shortly.
• Add Gimli – While the Dwarf King is good, Gimli is better in combat – for 15 extra points (if you gave the Dwarf King a two-handed axe and throwing axes - both of which Gimli has by default in his profile), Gimli gives you +1 Might and +1 Fate, as well as the ability to use his two hand axes to get +1 Attack OR use his master-forged two-handed axe (so no penalty for Gimli vs. having a -1 penalty to your Duel roll for the Dwarf King). Whether you need to get more attacks because you’re overwhelmed or you need to crack through the toughest armor, Gimli’s got a good shot at giving you that extra punch that you need. Since he’s only 15 points more than a Dwarf King, you’ll lose 2 models to fit him in (and might have some extra points to upgrade a warrior or two into more elite units). The draw-back is that Gimli doesn’t have Heroic March (or Heroic Resolve), but you get a better killing hero (three heroes with Heroic Strike!) and Balin still retains the ability to give you 3 Heroic Marches in a game. With Gimli on the table, you might not need Balin to use Might in combat as much (Strike/Combat), since you’ll have three heavy-hitters to rely on dealing damage.
• Add Durin and Elite Infantry (and drop the Rangers) – Dwarves have great elite infantry – and my army has basically stuck with the core warrior choices instead (Dwarf Warriors and Dwarf Rangers). While my list has a few Khazad Guards (+2 Points over a Dwarf Warrior with two-handed axe for +1 Strength and +1 Defense AND Bodyguard makes it no contest), the other elite options work against the flow of the team in many ways. If you compare 2 Dwarf Warriors with shields to a Vault Warden Team, the Vault Wardens will have definite advantages (spear-supporting, S4, a D9 model defending a D6 model, immunity to standard Monster Brutal Power Attacks) but also have certain disadvantages as well (+7 points/pair, but more importantly, the Foe Spear must support the Foe Shield or the Foe Shield gets a penalty to winning its fight – this makes flank-attacks much more dangerous for your Dwarves). While I’ve faced VWTs in the past and can speak from experience that they can hurt a lot, each time I’ve faced them, I’ve managed to get around them with my forces, attack the spearmen, and then piece-meal rampage through the shields once they’re trapped. It’s hard work, but it’s not that hard to do. In my mind, Khazad Guards are still very tough to beat, but not as restricted in their required formations (so I use them). You’ll also note that Iron Guard are missing – getting 2 Attacks on any warrior is really good (plus throwing weapons!) but at +7 points over a Dwarf Ranger with throwing axes (Iron Guard properly run cost 16 points/model if you keep your army bonus because their swords are redundant and you want a weapon-swap for an axe instead) and with a lower shooting value for their throwing weapons, Iron Guard can be deadly, but you can get almost 2 Rangers with throwing axes for the same cost. While the Rangers aren’t S4 (though they can be with Piercing Strike), and they aren’t D6 (though that won’t matter against S4 opponents), and they don’t have 2 Attacks (though that’s remedied by the nearly 2:1 cost ratio), Rangers also boast better freedom of movement over some kinds of difficult terrain and a greater likelihood of passing jump/leap tests. Still, Iron Guard are hard-as-they-come Dwarves and should show up in some list, so take a look at a list below that features Durin and some elite warriors choices instead of the core ones (I left some core choices in as archers because Dwarves are a shooting army after all):
• Durin, King of Khazad-Dum [Army Leader]
• 8 Hearthguard
• 4 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows
• King’s Champion
• 4 Vault Warden Teams
• 2 Iron Guard
• Dwarf King with throwing axes and two-handed axe
• 5 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows

32 models, 9 Dwarf bows hitting on a 4+, 32 D6+ models, no cavalry, 7 Might points

This list sports 12 fewer units (all the Rangers are gone – did this for the Defense consideration since we have far fewer models), but the units we’ve gotten are very tough. Hearthguard can form a nice protective bubble around Durin, hacking through things with their two-handed weapons with impunity, while a handful of archers hide behind them and pluck a few wounds on the enemy as they advance. Despite the awesomeness that can come from having both Heralds next to the King's Champion, I think you want one of them in this warband so the Hearthguard get a chance at a reroll (I wasn't going to drop 2-3 more models to get a banner when I already have two in the list).

The King’s Champion is now supported by 4 teams of Vault Wardens, all of which will benefit from a banner if only one of the Heralds is behind the King’s Champion (as just mentioned, the other should float over to grant rerolls to the Hearthguard/Durin – keep the KC nearby though so that the heralds can switch places if the KC needs more Fate points). The flanks of the Vault Wardens are a little exposed, but with 2 Iron Guard to cap off the battle line, your enemy will need to walk around a fair distance to get to your spears. 

With Durin’s warband on one side of the KC, the other flank should be protected by the Dwarf King (OR place his warband in front of the other two if you need to get somewhere quick), using his archers to take up a defensive position somewhere to thin the herd out (and the King himself to protect the King’s Champion). This list will really feel the reduction in numbers, but your units will be much harder to kill than the previous list we viewed (though after 17 models die, you’re facing a tough end-game).

In our next post, We will be looking at my finally-completed-and-largely-untested newest army of Good - Rohan! Those who have followed us for a while will know that I started a Rohan army back in 2013, but swapped my Riders for Orc Warriors that my mate The Black Prince got in a big lot on eBay. Now that I own the Battle for Pelennor Fields box (and acquired 12 more Riders of Rohan), I’ve got loads of Riders to use and some really cool heroes. The trick will be to determine what list to run – Riders of Theoden? Riders of Eomer? Defenders of Helm’s Deep? Is "vanilla Rohan" even viable anymore? Find out next time – until then, happy hobbying!