The Bare Necessities, Part XXI: Azog's Legion

Good morning gamers,

If you live in the States, happy Memorial Day. In the words of King Theoden, "Tonight we remember those who gave their blood for this country - hail the victorious dead!"

In today's post, we're continuing our discussion on armies I'm still purchasing. We've already covered the Halls of Thranduil, the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur, and the Shire and today we come to one of the newest armies that has crossed my mind with some neat ideas: Azog's Legion. While we mentioned that the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur list is the most flexible evil army from the Armies of the Hobbit book, Azog's Legion has a wide variety of units that all basically do the same thing: kill things in melee and shrug off damage with pretty good Defense (some don't have great Defense, but the majority do). For the opinions of the experts, you want to check out the recent podcast from the Green Dragon Podcast on this army (I differ in opinion from them a little bit in this post).

Azog's Legion: If You Bring Azog, When Do You Bring The Signal Tower?

When I first looked at Azog's Legion, I saw a) no shooting apart from Catapult Trolls, and b) very few hero choices (Azog, Bolg, various generic captains). To me, this made them worse than Azog's Hunters and MUCH worse than the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur. When you factor in that some of the models haven't been made yet, many of the models are available exclusively through Forge World, and the handful from GW are pretty expensive, this army was a no-go for me (possibly as an alliance).

When I looked at the list the first time, I also glossed over the Signal Tower - like the One Ring or War Beasts, when you have a whole page of rules (or two) dedicated to one thing in the game (something you may rarely/never face), new players and experienced players alike probably say "Huh, that's nice" and turn the page before digging too far into it. When I first looked at the list, I had no interest in the Signal Tower because a) there's no model for it yet, and b) it costs 200 points - and why in the heck would you spend 200 points for an upgrade?

Well, I'm glad you asked - because after looking into the Signal Tower, it's actually a really good bargain. Let's break it down:

• The Signal Tower includes 7 Azog's Lieutenants, who have profiles very similar to Rangers of the North (no bows and lower Courage, but otherwise their gear and stats are exactly the same). Rangers of the North are 30 points each, so let's assume that Azog's Lieutenants would each be worth 20-25 points. With 7 of them included in the price of the tower, you've got 140-175 points of the Signal Tower covered (25-60 points more to make up).
• The Signal Tower comes with 3 banners (that count as banners in scenarios that give you victory points for having a banner on the board at the end of the game), one of which counts as a battlefield-wide banner for all Gundabad models - that's worth at least 25 points, but probably worth more than that.
• The Signal Tower also has the Horn of Gorgoroth, which counts as a war horn for you (+1 Courage), but also applies a -1 Courage penalty on enemy models all over the battlefield. This, added to the battlefield-wide banner, is basically what you get from a Moria Goblin Drum (which is worth 75 points to Moria and doesn't actually cover the entire battlefield). At the very least, this horn and the battlefield-wide banner are worth 75 points together (which is more than the rest of the cost we need to make up).
• One of the other banners on the signal tower allows you to call free Heroic Marches - each time you call a free Heroic March, that's worth 5 points (as a Might point adds roughly 5 points to a normal profile). Since you don't have shooting, getting across the board is important - and if you want to have Might left over for Heroic Moves on your Captains (and Strike on Azog), this tower is your friend.
• The third banner gives all of the Gundabad models on the battlefield a 6+ save against taking wounds (which turns the 6+ Oblivious To Pain save on your Gundabad Berserkers into a 5+ save) - this is not only a nice surprise for your warriors, but also is great because both Azog and Bolg (all your heroes, actually) have a single Fate point. Having a non-zero probability of stopping every wound is nice to have when you give up points for having wounds on your Army Leader.
• Finally, the Signal Tower is placed at the beginning of the game anywhere on the battlefield - which means you can place it safely behind your lines in most scenarios OR place it in your opponent's side of the board in scenarios where you need to get somewhere. Even if your opponent tries to take the tower, you'll have 7 mini-heroes to defend the banners and distract while the rest of your army gets in position - PERFECT!

In large games, you're getting well over 200 points worth of value for "only" 200 points. The tax comes in this: you need to take Azog in order to take this - so you're spending at least 365 points on Azog and this upgrade (though I don't think you'd leave the White Warg at home or the heavy armor - so realistically, it's 425 points). At lower point levels, Bolg with a Goblin Mercenary warband is probably the better option, but at games at/above 700 points, I think Azog is well worth bringing with the Signal Tower.

One final note on the Signal Tower: if you don't have enough models to man all of the elements, I'd prioritize the signal tower elements as follows:

• Battlefield-wide banner (because you're going to want this).
• Battlefield-wide 6+ save (not a great save, but your army has basically no archery, so every little bit helps as you slog across the map - more important during the middle/end of the game OR from the very beginning if you get to deploy on the center-line).
• Battlefield-wide free Heroic Marches (not really necessary during the middle of the game, essential early in the game, sometimes necessary late in the game).
• War Horn with Battlefield-wide Courage debuff (unless you're facing a Terror/Harbinger army, you can often get away with losing this during the early/middle of the game).

Currently, I have the following models:

• Azog F&M
• Gundabad Troll with Club
• The makings of a Signal Tower

Early picture of my Signal Tower in the works - the tower stands roughly 7" high and is roughly 6" in diameter with a circular stairway that goes around the outside of the tower (total travel distance is 19" up the stairs). There is a tunnel on the ground level and an open landing on the second level (which provide some options for fighting if desired and also makes it more usable as a generic ruin piece in a game where I'm not playing with the Signal Tower).

Perhaps I've already shown my hand, but here's our list today:

The List

• Azog on the White Warg with heavy armor and the Signal Tower [Army Leader]
• 3 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields
• 6 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 2 Gundabad Berserkers with axe and two-handed picks
• 1 Gundabad Berserker with axe
• Gundabad Orc Captain with shield
• 4 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears

30 models, no shooting, 20 D6+ models, 1 cavalry + 3 fast infantry, 15 Might points

The purchases required to get these units are as follows:

• I already have Azog and I'm finishing work on the Signal Tower - the plan is coming together.
• As I mentioned in my Dol Guldur post, I'm looking at converting up Gundabad Orcs - $65 for 12 models is a tax too high - especially if you're looking at getting 8 heroes and 18 warriors (I'd need to get 3 blisters). Currently, I'm looking at Uruk-Hai Warriors or Morannon Orcs (both have the same gear options).
• I need 3 Gundabad Berserkers - $35 for three of them with lots of extra bits, I'll take that.

Buying this from scratch with the actual models is ~$240 plus the cost of the Signal Tower construction. Not cheap in the slightest, but it's FAR more affordable if you get 26 models to convert into Gundabad Orc Warriors, your Gundabad Orc Captain, and Azog's Lieutenants. The Berserkers you should get the actual models for - $12/model is a lot, but the models are well worth it. Let's look at each of the warbands and see what they bring to the team.

Warband #1: The Smashy Bit

Azog is crazy - any hero who has 6 Might points is going to do work, but pairing with that free Heroic Marches early in the game (and possibly other free Heroic Actions during the game thanks to Master of Battle), the ability to wound enemy heroes on a 3+, and the fact that his mount is another hero who auto-passes Courage tests when separated from Azog, you've got a NASTY hero. I come down hard on Boromir a lot (and it's unfair, I know - he's good, alright?) and the primary reason I do so is because he has problems killing things, despite winning a lot of fights. Azog has the same amount of Might as Boromir (provided he has the White Warg with him), gets free Heroic Marches via the Signal Tower (and don't forget about Master of Battle), and wounds heroes on a 3+ (most warriors are wounded pretty easily with S5 and the potential for knock-down). Boromir does have a nice banner, which Azog can make up with the Signal Tower (not the FV boost, though). The cost difference between these two heroes is . . . surprisingly small, if you're not factoring in the Signal Tower - and the only thing Boromir has on Azog is 3 Fate points (vs. 2 Fate on Azog and several 6+ saves if the right banner on the Signal Tower is manned).

Azog is great, but won't defeat your opponent's force on his own. Supporting him are twelve infantry, three of which are fast, high-Courage, multi-Attack infantry. While we could have gotten +1 model if we left these guys at home, having a 5+ save on a few models and more aggregate attacks is going to be really nice. It also means that Azog doesn't have to race off on his own when he Marches (someone will keep up pretty well). The other infantry are glorified Morannon Orcs (+1 cost to get +1 Courage and rerolling 1s against Elves/Dwarves, in trade for more flexible hand weapon options). The rerolling of 1s against Dwarves and Elves means we never have to Stab against them (though being wounded on 6s by the Stab isn't horrible).

Warband #2: The Tower

Our unexpected second warband is actually the Signal Tower - with 7 models deployed "on" it, you've got some quirky things you can do with this. As mentioned before, you can deploy it safely behind your lines in some games OR on your opponent's side of the board if you need to for a certain scenario. The other great thing about this warband is that even though the Lieutenants start "on" the Signal Tower, they aren't required to stay near it (like siege engineers are), so you could have three of the seven Lieutenants join the rest of the army if you need them to (providing extra Marches and a niche Might point here and there).

Warband #3: The Anvil

Azog's Legion doesn't have very many heroes - but their Gundabad Captains make for great bunker captains: with 4 Attacks and a banner reroll when they shield (and D7 to contend with if they do lose), Gundabad Captains are great for throwing into enemy heroes and stalling them until Azog can make his way over. Enemy heroes will also have to weigh the cost of spending heroic resources against this hero instead of using it whenever Azog shows up. Supporting him are 9 Gundabad Orcs, who can have their captain in the middle of their formation and hold a position if required. With a free March each turn early in the game, these guys are amazing.

Scenario Overview

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

• Domination: Place your Signal Tower next to a sheltered objective on your side of the board so you can hold it at the start of the game. So long as it remains a periphery objective, you should be fine (3 of your Lieutenants can claim the objective while the other four man the elements of the Signal Tower). Should your opponent come for the tower, you can stall them for a little while, but make sure Azog and his Berserkers (or some of your Gundabad Orcs if Azog/the Berserkers are running around on the other side of the board) stay within reach. Your other models should work to hold the center early in the game, with Azog and the Berserkers hunting down models that race to far-flung objectives.
• Capture and Control: Place the Signal Tower near the objective in the back of your deployment zone with at least one Lieutenant standing next to it. The rest of your army should be deployed on the center line (Azog in the third rank to make sure he can charge and not be counter-charged), ready for action quickly. Until the late-game, you probably won't need any Heroic Marches, so you really only need 3 of the Signal Tower elements manned, so you could have three Lieutenants head out to help with the attack, while the other four man the three important tower elements and hold the objective.
• Hold Ground: There is only one place that makes sense for the Signal Tower: right in the very center. You'll be starting the game with 3+ models within range of the objective (so if you get broken as you advance, you're likely to be winning the game or at least minimizing your opponent's points). Azog and his warband should focus on cutting down at least one enemy warband before they reach the center (assuming you deploy near one), while the Captain and his warband should focus on pushing for the center. If they get held up, that's fine - shield if outnumbered (2 dice with a reroll to win the fight), support/crush if you have numerical advantage. And don't forget to call those free Heroic Marches if you need them!
• Seize the Prize: Similar strategy to the plan above: start with the Signal Tower in the center of the board and have three of your Azog's Lieutenants surround (and try to pick up) the Prize on the first turn. If you manage to do it (you should), whoever grabs it races towards your army (should be easy, since he can call a free Heroic March and Azog/the Captain can also call free Heroic Marches). The other two Lieutenants head up the tower to defend it - because your opponent is coming! You can have the Lieutenant continue to carry the Prize, but I'll recommend that you hand it off to the Captain - he has +2 Defense and +1 Health, so he'll be harder to kill and just as fast. While you could hand it off to Azog, you probably need him to hold down/distract your opponent's army instead of playing running back.
• To The Death: Your tower should be deployed in the backfield to keep it safe (though again, you could send 1-3 of your Lieutenants to join the main force). You need to break your opponent first and foremost - and the boosts from the Signal Tower are good for that. You also should get bonuses for having a banner if you can keep at least one of the banners in the Signal Tower manned, so make sure you target your opponent's banners as quickly as possible. Do your best to keep Azog from being wounded, but he's going to need to wade through your opponent's warriors (and any vulnerable heroes) in order to give your troops a numerical edge.
• Lords of Battle: A decent mission for you - you're trying to kill heroes as quickly as possible. Have Azog focus (as much as he can) on enemy heroes so you can score points for both Wounds and Fate. Since your army is S4, make sure you wound any mounts you come across, as those Wounds will count as well.
• Contest of Champions: Azog is great at this - and will kill lots of troops. Neutralizing your opponent's army leader is basically impossible, so my recommendation is to kill him as quickly as possible with Azog. If that's not possible, your Berserkers are great too - not only are they great on offense, but with a 5+ save (and D5 might be wounded on 5s), you might be able to deny some kills as well. Your Captain is a great bunker too - D7 with 4 Attacks while shielding (with a reroll) and 2 Might points can hold out for a while.
• Reconnoitre: Ah, a glorious scenario for you because you have the Signal Tower. Place the Signal Tower right next to your opponent's board edge at the start of the game. On the first turn (before anyone arrives), call 4 Heroic Moves with 4 of the Lieutenants and move them (without calling With Me - one of the few times I recommend avoiding that call) off the board edge (their Might points are going to be lost if they just walk off the board, so might as well use them). The only element of the Signal Tower that you NEED in this scenario is the free Heroic March one. I don't think you need the War Horn, because you want your army to flee so you get down to 25% as quickly as possible. You also don't need the battlefield-wide banner or save, because you're trying to get down to 25% as quickly as possible. So, you could actually walk off 5-6 of your Lieutenants if you wanted, leaving 1-2 to man the tower for as long as possible. Leaving only 1-2 models up in your tower, however, means only a few enemy models might move up to the tower to attack it - and I think it would be better to have more of their models tied up in the back of the board instead of moving towards your board edge.
• Storm the Camp: DON'T start your tower in your opponent's camp - you want the speed, the Courage buff (especially against Terror armies), the 6+ save, and the banner bonus (definitely the banner bonus). You could deploy it in the center of the map (so your army can meet up with it) OR you can deploy it on a side corner so you can drag enemy models out of the action. You'd probably want to get Azog and your Berserkers that way to make sure the tower isn't lost (or to drag models away from the tower). Alternatively, if your opponent ignores the tower, you can run a few Lieutenants towards their camp (calling free Heroic Marches all the way).
• Heirlooms of Ages Past: A great scenario for the Signal Tower: the three heirloom drop points you get to place should go in a ring around the center of the map - and once they're placed, the Signal Tower gets placed right in the center of  the map with three Lieutenants at the base of the tower, ready to move into contact with the heirlooms. Your other warbands can come on from whatever sides they want, but ideally they'll appear as close to the other heirloom drop points as possible (in a perfect world, your opponent placed his in the center of the map too, but we probably can't hope for that). Keep the tower protected, as you get extra points in this scenario for keeping your banner(s) alive - and head-hunt any enemy banner-men you see!
• Fog of War: Okay, so every army has a least-favorite scenario, and this one is probably yours: your opponent will have 7 Lieutenants, 1 Captain, and the White Warg to choose from as far as heroes to kill. You simultaneously have the same NINE characters to choose to keep alive. Guessing who he'll choose is nigh-impossible, so what I recommend is that you pick one of the Lieutenants to keep alive and have him safely tucked away from harm in the tower (manning the global banner or something). You should probably plan on coughing up the VPs to your opponent for killing their targeted hero, but you have a decent shot at keeping your own hero alive (which is worth an equal amount of VPs). I recommend keeping the Signal Tower tucked away on your side of the board so that your opponent has to work to get to one of those heroes if he selects them. As far as heroes you want to kill, that's easy: pick whoever you think Azog will have the easiest time crushing. To make sure your opponent doesn't get VPs for keeping his hero alive, let Azog run rampant on every hero EXCEPT your opponent's army leader. When it comes to terrain pieces to hold, pick something central, as you want  to hole-up there with most of your army and hold it against all comers. Keep your Berserkers on the flanks and watch for models that are running towards objectives you have on your end so you can hunt down enemy models that are trying to secure their secret terrain objective.
• Clash By Moonlight: Not a great scenario for you (as you have no archery), but you do get free Heroic Marches and a 6+ save, so race into combat as quickly as you can, enduring whatever archery comes your way. Let Azog clear through chaff on his way to dealing with enemy heroes to give your warriors a bit of a reprieve.

Modifications

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

• Ally with Azog's Hunters – Azog's Legion isn't a shooting army - but Azog's Hunters is a shooting army. The thing about allying in other factions is that Hunter Orcs don't have the Gundabad keyword, so the Signal Tower becomes almost useless. So, if you like shooting (as I do), this list might be more up your alley (in an interesting turn of events, we're still at 30 models, but we've traded battlefield-wide boosts to get a greater number of fast models, some shooting models who are also multi-attack models, and a better supporting hero):
• Azog on the White Warg with heavy armor [Army Leader]
• 6 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Gundabad Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 3 Gundabad Berserkers with axes
• HISTORICAL ALLY - Azog's Hunters: Bolg on Fell Warg with Orc bow and Morgul Arrows
• 7 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows and Morgul Arrows
• 6 Fell Wargs
• Run Azog's Legion but drop the Tower – the Signal Tower is great value for points, but if you don't fancy a building project, I can see you wanting to run something else. If you're not going to have battlefield-wide banners, you need at least 1 banner and you probably need 2 Captains to keep your Might up. Because you lack archery, I think there's a major tactical advantage from running a full warband of Goblin Mercenaries led by a Goblin Mercenary Captain, so we've included a warband of that (which bolsters our army to a healthy 42 models):
• Azog on the White Warg with heavy armor [Army Leader]
• 4 Gundabad Berserkers with axes and two-handed picks
• 5 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields
• 8 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Gundabad Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• Gundabad Orc Captain with shield
• 4 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• Goblin Mercenary Captain
• 12 Goblin Mercenaries
• Get Some Monsters – the centerpiece models for any Gundabad team are going to be its trolls - be they the scythe-blade variety, or the crushing-club variety, or the "stumpy" Brute variety, or the unreleased-maybe-we'll-get-it-someday catapult variety. You also have Ogres and War Bats - and with 700 points being VERY restrictive, we've dropped Azog and the Signal Tower in this one and are running Bolg instead with an emphasis on the supporting models that will kill stuff (at 700 points, we are only at 27 models, so personally I think the killing things are better at 800+ points):
• Bolg on Fell Warg
• 8 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Gundabad Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 3 Ogres
• 1 Gundabad Troll with Scythe Gauntlets
• Goblin Mercenary Captain
• 12 Goblin Mercenaries

I would have loved to see War Bats in some of these lists - you could add them into the army with the monsters, I guess, but we are pushing warband limits right now, so we'd probably need to drop the Gundabad Troll in order to get some War Bats and another Captain (and let's face it, we wanted a Troll to show up). If you've run Azog's Legion before and have thoughts on this list, please let me know in the comments below - lots of time to figure out what I'm getting!

In our next post, we go across the field from Ravenhill (where the Signal Tower was placed) to the great Dwarf realm of Erebor. When the Army of Thror was first released, I bemoaned the fact that they had no shooting (and Dwarf lists are shooting lists), even though many of my mates really liked the addition of spears to their force. Erebor is a lot like Azog's Legion, in that their hero selection is kind of limited (though not as limited as Azog's Legion) and they don't really get shooting models. If you're curious how I plan to rectify this, tune in next week. Until then, happy hobbying!