The Bare Necessities, Part XXIV: Barad-Dur

Good morning gamers,

In this post, we begin the armies I'm not that interested in collecting and so don't feel qualified to do a list-building discussion on them. The good news is, I play with a few guys who LOVE armies that not only get a lot of attention on this blog, but also are factions I don't see myself owning. Like ever. :-) 

We begin the discussion of these factions by looking at Rythbryt's thoughts on Barad-Dur. I do need to say that as a Mordor/Angmar player who already has some converted-up Black Numenoreans, lots of Orc Warriors/Trackers, Warg Riders planned in the future to support my Angmar force, and plenty of Ringwraiths, that this faction wouldn't be hard for me to start (just need to pick up Sauron, right?). I should also say that given how much I love spell-casters and the fact that Sauron is easily the best evil spell-caster in the game (check out our podcast on Evil spell-casters for more), this should be a shoe-in force for me.

Most of my interest in Barad-Dur, to be honest, is because my son is starting to play MESBG and is playing with Barad-Dur (borrowing my Mordor/Angmar guys to support his Sauron model). It's fun for him to use, but I don't really see the need to collect Sauron (theoretically, I could just borrow my son's model). So in the interest of being a better coach for my son, let's talk to our resident Barad-Dur expert and see what we can do!

Rythbryt: Let me begin by saying I love Barad-Dur… but not really at this points level. The problem is Sauron, who you basically have to take to justify taking this faction over Mordor. At 400 points all by his lonesome, he’s more than half your 700 point list. And while we can squeeze another 29 models into 300 points, it’s going to present some difficult challenges for us. So let’s begin. 

Taking Stock

The goal of this exercise is to build a well-rounded list that can perform across a spectrum of different scenarios, so Tiberius gave me some parameters for the list. Since we already know we’re taking Sauron, let’s see how we’re doing on those parameters with just Sauron, in reverse order of difficulty:

• You must be able to neutralize a big enemy hero. We’ve got this one. Sauron is one of the few models with the stats to neutralize any hero (yes, even Smaug who’s only F8, and the Balrog, who can only wound Sauron on natural 5s or 6s - Ed. actually, he can Rend Sauron on 4s...because he's the Balrog and he's awesome that way. ~Tiberius). Add his superior magic (Transfix (2+), Compel (3+), and Chill Soul (4+) as staples, plus Sap Will (4+) and Resistant to Magic against casters), innate Terror / Ancient Evil to keep low-courage swarms off of him, and of course The One Ring, and they don’t get tougher than Sauron. We can neutralize anyone, and obliterate almost anyone… as long as no one shatters his mace.
• There must be at least 1 actual banner (for those banner VP scenarios). Another easy (if painful) ask. There’s no way we’re taking a F9, 4 Attack Sauron and not giving him a banner. It does eat into our remaining 300 points, though (hence why a Barad-Dur list at 700 points is a tough ask).
• There need to be at least 30 models. This may sound counter-intuitive, but I would actually try to reach this number (if not higher) even if Tiberius hadn’t required it. Yes, Barad-Dur’s army bonus makes it less important for you to horde out, provided you can keep Sauron at 3+ wounds. But the best way to keep Sauron at 3+ wounds is to surround him with as many models as you can. More models means more in-the-ways for shooting attacks, more scatter targets for siege weapons, more control zones enemy models have to cut through to engage Sauron, more disposable models you have to pull a big hero out of combat with Sauron, and (most importantly) more threats that enemy heroes have to deal with while they’re trying to deal with Sauron. You can’t “horde out” with Barad-Dur at 700 points, but with some planning and economy you can get to 35+ (thanks to Sauron’s ability to lead 24 models in his warband, and the points-efficiency of the humble orc and Orc Captain). 35 models isn't huge, but it's at least an average size force at 700 points (going off of the Green Dragon Podcast's suggestion of 1 model per 20 points as an average-size force), with a hero who is well-above-average.
• The list has to include at least 4 models who can move more than 6” (for objective grabbing). For Barad-Dur this probably means cavalry models. Again, this is something that I would want to include anyway, mostly because it’s always a good idea to have at least a few cavalry models in your army who can counter-charge enemy cavalry to negate their charge bonuses (plus having some fast objective grabbers is a must-have for several scenarios). Fortunately we have a few cavalry profiles to choose from, and even some mounted hero options.
• You need at least a few ways to augment your models (war gear options, auric boosts, army special rules, or some sort of special character synergy). We could cheat here and argue Sauron’s army bonus fits this bill; otherwise, this one is going to be the hardest, mostly because with just 275 points left (after we take Sauron and his banner) for at least 29 more models, four of which need to move fast, we just don’t have that many points left for extras. But we’ll see what we can do.

I would add to these one more, just for personal taste:

• More Might. Yes, Sauron is tough. But you really want to bank his Might for his ring saves later on, because if he goes, your army goes. Many scenarios strongly incentivize us to use Might in some fashion (moving first, heroic combats, etc.), so if we’re going to be conservative with Sauron’s, we need someone else’s to burn when we need it.

Alrighty then. Now for the fun part—theory crafting!

List Arch-Typing

Let’s start by thinking about the types of profiles we have to choose from, and which of them will help (or hinder) us in reaching our list-building goals.

The first thing we’ll need (both to reach 30+ models, and to add more Might) is at least one more hero. For just the model count, literally any minor hero or higher will work (because Sauron can lead 24 models by himself), which really opens things up. It does mean we can’t take Shelob, though (can’t bring troops). Scratch her off. I am also a huge fan of the Mordor Troll Chieftain, but at 140 points he’s literally too expensive (we can only get to 29 models max if we take him, plus the banner, and all of them would have to be 5-point orcs). So he stays in the bin, too.

As painful as those omissions are, our remaining hero choices are all pretty good, on multiple fronts:

• The Witch-King. Great profile. Unfortunately, even if we get him 'nekked (70 points, 0/10/0), he’s still borderline too expensive, and of course we’d want him to be at least 90 points (+15 for 3 Might, +5 for 1 Fate, 3/10/1), if not 100 (+10 for a horse) or 125 (+25 for the Crown of Morgul). Both builds are probably too much for 700 points, although at 800 he starts to look very tempting (and at 1000 I think he's an auto-include). I won't rule him out just yet, but his cost puts him right on the fence.
• Generic Ringwraiths. They won’t help our attack output much (1 Attack, S4, no bonuses, plus The Will of Evil), but at 80 points (2/7/1, on horse) we get some pretty good secondary spell-casting (a 3+ Transfix means we can blunt enemy heroes, even if we can’t kill them quickly). We also get help in three other categories (+1 mounted model, 2 cheap Might, plus Heroic March for added mobility), plus a reliable Courage 6 model to help hold our army together later if needed. 80 points is still on the expensive end, but we can still get to 30 models with an average cost of just under 7 points per model (6.96), which is right in Barad-Dur's sweet spot (Mordor's is usually a tad higher, I've found). Bookmark that thought.
• Black Numenorean Marshall. 85 points with the whole kit (armored horse and lance), but much more offensive-minded than the ringwraiths, with most of the same benefits minus the spell-support (+1 mounted model, 2 Might, Heroic March, Courage 5). Again, if we had more points to work with, he’d be a strong choice… but alas, we don’t, so I'm taking him out of the running.
• Orc Captain. 40 points base for 2 Might and Heroic March is pretty good. His courage is trash, so we’ll need to augment it somehow (or trust Sauron to never let our army break). But again: 40 points! Plus he can be mounted (with a shield) for 55 points, which gets us that +1 mounted model again. Very, very intriguing.
• Orc Shaman. As a minor hero, ordinarily he’d be off the table due to only being able to bring along 6 dudes. But since Sauron can bring 24, we can actually hit our target of 30 models with a shaman in tow. He can be mounted on a warg for 60 points, and of course fills a void that not even Sauron can: he can help grunt orcs charge Terror-causing models with Fury (plus that 6+ save can make our filler-troops even more annoying roadbloacks if the enemy tries to cut their way to Sauron). He does only have 1 Might, and no Heroic March, but still: very intriguing.
• Orc Taskmaster. He is a Hero of Fortitude, but not a particularly cheap one (50 points). He does have Heroic March and 1 Might, plus a 50/50 chance he (or another friendly Hero within 6” of him) can keep his Might when calling Heroic Moves, Marches, or Shoots (which I think would qualify as a hero-synergy). Also intriguing, although I fear he'll end up being a luxury we just can't afford at 700.
• Orc Drummer. He’s an independent hero (with no Might, to boot), so we couldn’t take just him. But his Mordor Orc war drum does open up some intriguing movement options for us if we lean heavily into orcs for our core troops. I’m very, very intrigued… though I fear his 30 points cost, no Might, and no Heroic March will probably make him another luxury we can’t afford in the end. On the flip-side, his War Drum surely counts as an “auric boost,” right?
• Siege engineer. The Mordor Siege Bow on its own is intriguing at only 50 points, with a siege veteran, who comes with a free point of Might. But at 90 points with the engineer, it’s just too much. And the War Catapult with the engineer is out of the question (200 points total). A shame, really, because the ranged threat of the catapult is a great way to force Terror-causing opponents to charge us (which gets around our low-courage issues).

Next, let’s think through our available troop choices:

• Orc Warriors. Not stellar, but very dependable. 5 points base, probably 6 most likely (with shield, spear, or two-handed weapon), possibly 7 if we bring some with spears and shields for formation flexibility. I expect we’ll end up with a lot of these.
• Orc Trackers. Yes, they’re only Defense 3. And yes, normally that’s bad. But I can tell you right now that in our Barad-Dur list, we’re definitely taking at least 8 of these. Why? First, as long as Sauron doesn’t take 3+ wounds, we can lose every single one of these guys and not lose a single VP for breaking (though there are a few scenarios with kill tally VPs where we'll want to avoid flinging them needlessly into the jaws of death). Second, because we may have trouble charging Terror models, we need some way to punish armies we can’t charge (or at least give them an incentive to charge us). A credible ranged attack (augmented by Sauron’s Chill Soul each turn) is probably our most reliable way we can do that. Third (and most importantly), 8 of them costs us 40 points, which means if we spend 400 on Sauron, 25 on a banner, and 40 points on eight trackers, we have a (for us) whopping 235 points left to spend on our second hero and 20 more models (which comes out to ~65 points for the hero, and up to 8.5 points per model, which really gives us some breathing room). Forego the pencil, and write these down in ink.
• Warg Riders. At just 11 points base, they offer us a lot: Strength 4, 10” movement, and potentially a mobile banner (if we want it mobile). Their courage is poor, and their 5+ shoot isn’t great, but they do get throwing spears for just 1 point (which is a bargain), or shields if we prefer D5 on the rider. I wouldn't mess with putting bows on them, though: we can almost get three trackers for the same points cost.
• Black Numenoreans. 4 more points than a basic orc gets us a shield (plus the jump from D5 to D6), F4, Courage 4, and Terror. They can also be our banner-bearer (a Terror banner bearer is great against low-courage enemies), or bring along a War Horn if we want a courage buff across our army. We’ll see how the math works out, but I generally like to take at least a few of these as bodyguards for Sauron: if you strategically place a few of these around Sauron, his Ancient Evil pairs well with their Terror to keep swarms from surrounding him, and sometimes even the occasional hero.
• Morgul Knights. These are awesome. Fight 4 cav with 10” move and Terror are great in their own right, plus they’re equipped with lances, on armored horses, with Defense 6, have Courage 4, and give us a second choice if we want a mobile banner (or a mobile war horn). Unfortunately, at 18 points, they’re probably too expensive for 700. But at 1000, I would definitely take at least a few as they're fantastic at clearing and then holding far-flung objectives (and with Sauron's 18" Ancient Evil, they'll almost always benefit from Sauron's -1 courage debuff on enemy troops).
• Mordor Troll. Again, at 1000, one of these with a Mordor War Drum (to give Sauron, your Nazgul, your trolls, etc. an extra 3” move) is tempting. But at 700, we literally can’t afford it. So he stays in the bin, too.

Moving on…

Playing with Numbers

Based on what we’ve talked about, I’ve narrowed what remains of our 235 point (after Sauron, a banner, and at least 8 Orc Trackers) to the following hero and troop choices:

• Heroes: Orc Captains, the Orc Shaman, and the Orc Drummer. The Taskmaster was the easiest to eliminate. His 50/50 rule, while cool, isn’t a guarantee, and with points being so tight I’d rather go with the guaranteed 2 Might from the Captain and the option for a warg for the same 50 points (5 more if we add the shield, which I expect we would). I do like the Black Numenorean Marshall, but at 700 I would definitely spend the 85 points on a 2/8/1 mounted Nazgul, or a 2/10/1 Witch-King on foot over him. Those were by far the hardest cuts, but when you weigh either of them against 4 Might from two orc captains (both on foot, one with shield), or one orc captain with shield on warg and one orc drummer, I think you get more mileage from the orcs (same or higher Might, plus an extra model and, in the drummer’s case, far more mobility across your force). But at 800 or above, I would try very hard to find a way to squeeze the Witch-King in: there aren’t that many heroes who can withstand a barrage of spells from the Witch-King and Sauron for long.
• Warriors: Orc Warriors, Warg Riders, and Black Numenoreans (plus more Trackers!). The Warriors and Warg Riders are cheap, sturdy, effective troops. Sprinkle in some Black Numenoreans for Terror, D6, F4, and some C4, and we improve significantly against some armies (e.g., S3 dwarves, F3 Minas Tirith, S3 Serpent Horde, and F3 Far Harad camels).

Now let’s return to our parameters and see what we can check off:

• You must be able to neutralize a big enemy hero. Sauron. Without another caster (or the Witch-King), he’s it. He’s probably enough.
• There must be at least 1 actual banner. One Black Numenorean with sword, shield, and banner. There’s an argument for putting it on a normal orc warrior (mostly so we have more models who could pick it up if the bearer is slain), but all else being equal, I prefer my banners on a higher Fight, higher Defense, Terror causing model who’ll be hanging out with Sauron and can shield. Plus I have a banner-bearer conversion that I quite like.
• More Might. There will be games I’ll regret not having the Shaman, but we’re foregoing him this time for an Orc Captain with shield on warg. 
• The list has to include at least 4 models who can move more than 6” (for objective grabbing). The Orc Captain on Warg gets us to one. We’ll pair him with 3 warg riders with throwing spears to get us to four. The throwing spears also give us at least 11 ranged models (counting the 8 trackers), plus Sauron’s Chill Soul, so we’re not bad at contesting objectives from range, either. I decided not to go with shields on these guys because of the points cost, and because I'd rather have shields on my infantry. I'm pretty confident I got the shields on the infantry choice right, but am not sure about the cavalry. We'll feel the loss most keenly against crossbows (who can wound our rider and mount on 4s, but would need 5s on the rider if we shielded up), so I guess I'm banking on the fact that crossbows are pretty rare.
• You need at least a few ways to augment your models (war gear options, auric boosts, army special rules, or some sort of special character synergy). My intrigue has won out, so I’m taking the Orc Drummer, too. Now our Orc Captain / orc warriors / orc trackers / warg riders can move 9” / 15” regularly (without eating into the Orc Captain's might), or 12” / 20” if we pair the drum with a Heroic March from our Orc Captain. That's... pretty fast. 
• There needs to be at least 30 models. Sauron, the 8 Trackers, the Orc Captain with shield on Warg, the Black Numenorean with Banner, the three warg riders with throwing spears, and the orc drummer gives us 15 models with 105 points left to play with. If we go with just 15, that’s an average of 7 points per model, which we can definitely do (either shield-spear orcs, or a mix of 5 point trackers and 9 point Black Numenoreans would fit neatly). In other words, I think we can do this…

So with all that thinking done, here’s what I’ve finally settled on:

The List

Barad-Dur Marches to War (Fast)

700/700 points, 31 Models [3 Heroes, 28 Warriors]

Warband 1 [17/24]: The Dark Lord Sauron (Army leader)

• x2 Black Numenoreans with Swords and Shields
• x1 Black Numenorean with Sword, Shield, and Banner
• x2 Orc Warriors with Picks, Shields, and Spears
• x2 Orc Warriors with Picks and Shields
• x2 Orc Warriors with Picks and Spears
• x1 Warg Rider with Sword and Throwing Spears
• x7 Orc Trackers with Daggers and Orc Bows

Warband 2 [12/12]: Orc Captain with Pick and Shield on Warg

• Orc Drummer with Mordor Orc War Drum
• x2 Orc Warriors with Picks, Shields, and Spears
• x3 Orc Warriors with Picks and Shields
• x2 Orc Warriors with Picks and Spears
• x2 Warg Riders with Swords and Throwing Spears
• x2 Orc Trackers with Daggers and Orc Bows

Some of this division was obvious. The Banner is obviously going with Sauron. So are the other two Numenoreans, since they’re supposed to protect him (and won’t benefit from the War Drum because they’re not Mordor Orcs), as well as most of the orc trackers. 

I did think it important to fully max out the Orc Captain’s warband in case the scenario has maelstrom deployment. Sauron and 17 troops will survive pretty much anything that a turn of Maelstrom can throw at them, but the Captain and drummer need to have enough around them to book it (and preferably to book it with the entire warband). I left a couple of orc trackers in his warband in case he does get stonewalled somewhere, but ideally they wouldn’t be stopping and shooting in a maelstrom scenario.

I did put a single Warg Rider in Sauron’s warband just for that sneaky counter-charge on enemy cavalry models, but for the most part I want that Orc Captain’s warband to be fast-moving and hard-hitting. I also give all my orcs picks when I can, because the option to jump to S4 is always good to have. I also have four warriors who have both shields and spears, to give me some options for how I stagger my battle line.

At 31 models we’re slightly below average in terms of size, but only just. We’re also quite a bit faster than the average army (9-15” movement on all but four of our models, for an infinite number of turns), and have an above-average number of ranged attacks. We are low on Might and killing power on our base troops, but such is life.

Now for the not-so-fun part of these write-ups: how do you actually get these models on the table top (and how much cash are you forking over)?

*gulp*

Spending cash

First, the bad news: if you want official models of this 700 point force, you’ll be parting with a lot of dough:

• Sauron: Self-explanatory. Not really a model you can (or would want to) proxy.
• 24 Mordor Orcs (x1): You’ll need to add a few shields to some of the spearmen (or proxy in some Morannons with shields and spears if your opponent will let you), but other than that you’re good to go.
• Warg Riders (x1): These are pretty easy to find (if you collect other evil armies, chances are you already have some). Do one up special for your captain on warg, give him a shield, and you’re good to go.
• Orc Trackers (x3): Unfortunately these are a bit pricey.
• Black Numenoreans (x1): These are also pricey (and, depending on where you live, may be out of stock). Even if you find one, you’ll still need to convert up a banner.
• Mordor Orc Commander’s Pack: You get the captain on foot and a banner-bearer if you’d prefer to have the banner on an orc than a Black Numenorean. Unfortunately you don’t get the drummer, though.
• Morannon Orc Commander’s Pack: Unfortunately, your only source for an official orc drummer model. You could use this banner-bearer as well if your opponent doesn’t object. Unfortunately the captain model only comes with a 2H weapon, which means it’s not a good proxy for your Orc Captain.

Here’s what I recommend if you’re on a budget:

• Stick with Sauron and the Warg Riders (if you need them), but you can drop the rest in favor of two packs of Mordor Orcs (which you may already have). You’ll have to drop a tracker, but you’ll have 8 orcs with bows that you can proxy in, and plenty of other orcs for your infantry ranks (and your warg rider dismounts). If you paint up one special for your captain on foot, and know how to form a small green-stuff cylinder for the war drum, you can save yourself the trouble of buying a couple commander packs. In a pinch you may be able to get away with using Morannons as well, if your opponent doesn’t mind (in my experience, most opponents are fine with it, especially since they prefer S3/D5 orcs to S4/D6 Morannons anyway).
• That leaves the Black Numenoreans. A lot of people use Army of the Dead to great effect. Mine are custom-made with Easterling bodies (which conveniently come with the heads off) paired with press-molded helms and shields from the Morgul Knights (since they’re supposed to be one-and-the-same), plus some sort of generic straight sword. Paint their robes black with some silver armor and red accents, and either will look the part. Both Easterlings and the Army of the Dead are pretty easy to find, and if you do pick up the Morgul Knights for helm swaps, you not only get some nifty shields but also a Minas Morgul-themed banner arm.

Now on to something more fun…

Scenario Overview

Given the enormous 425 point hole we started in (Sauron + Banner), I think we ended up with a pretty well-rounded force all things considered.

Domination: 

• No Maelstrom to worry about; the game continues until someone is quartered, and we score VPs for capturing five static objectives, breaking the enemy force, and wounding or killing the enemy leader. On those last two objectives we’re in good shape: Sauron’s 18” range Chill Soul is a constant threat to pluck wounds off an enemy leader, and unless the enemy can wound Sauron 3+ times we just ain’t breaking.
• As for capturing those objectives, 31 models isn’t a huge number, but it’ll do the part reasonably well (plus we can dismount our five warg-riding orcs in a pinch if we need more). The biggest asset we have is that if Sauron isn’t taking wounds, our orcs don’t have to courage-test for break no matter how far flung they are. We also have the War Drum to get on the center objectives early, or to push towards far flung objectives late.
• One concern we do have is against Terror opponents: with Courage 2 on most our models, we may have trouble clearing enemy objectives reliably the old-fashioned way (which is why we brought Sauron’s Chill Soul, 9 Trackers, and 3 Warg Riders with Throwing Spears). 
• Bottom-line: I think Sauron’s shenanigans coupled with our army bonus puts more pressure on our opponent than we feel. Plus, we’re the only army that can intentionally quarter ourselves to end the game without worrying about coughing up VPs to our enemy for breaking (or having to worry about those pesky post-break courage tests on far-flung objectives). 

Capture and Control: 

• A lot of this is the same: no Maelstrom, VPs for breaking the enemy, and VPs for wounding the enemy leader are all good for us. With the War Drum, we’re also only minimally affected by the 12” divisions in deployment (and not affected at all if we plan to deploy everyone along the center line anyway). So far, so good.
• The static position of the four objectives helps us in some ways: 
• We don’t have to worry about our enemy putting them waaaaaay in the back of the board, in a wood, where we’d have to overextend to reach it.
• Additionally, Sauron’s 18” Ancient Evil is likely to cover all five objectives at all times, as long as he stays relatively close to the middle. That’s not doing a whole lot of work for us (because our Terror Numenoreans are going to stick pretty close to Sauron anyway), but it may make it hard for our opponent to capture our back objective if he breaks too quickly.
• Finally, because the objectives are placed in fixed spots, we can position our trackers to set-up firing lanes on the two side objectives (or even try to position them on those objectives—which we can do surprisingly quickly if the orc drummer is running with them). Worst-case scenario, they die while harassing our opponent. Best-case scenario, our opponent can’t ever clear them off those objectives—or prevent them from tagging his other objectives—because they scoot-and-shoot around the board too fast.
• The end condition of this one is more unpredictable than Domination’s (the game ends on a 1 or 2 after someone breaks). Having said that, because we won’t break unless the enemy wounds Sauron 3+ times, we can leverage that fact to either stall the game to extend play almost indefinitely (as long as we switch to non-lethal strikes like shielding, or bashing with Sauron’s mace), or we can speed the game up if our drummer-buffed trackers are clearing the back objectives (almost every orc has a pick, so army-wide Piercing Strikes will kill a lot of models fast—either theirs, which gets us VPs, or ours, which doesn’t cough any VPs up).
• Bottom-line: with the orc drummer in the mix, coupled with already fast Warg Riders and Sauron’s magic support, I feel pretty good about our ability to reach and claim the enemy’s objectives faster than the enemy can reach and claim ours.

Hold Ground: 

• This scenario introduces several elements: maelstrom deployment, plus the game ends on a 1 or 2 after break. We score bonus VPs if we kill the enemy leader, bonus VPs if we break the enemy force without being broken, and bonus VPs for having up to 3x as many models as our opponent within 6” of the central objective. We’re in pretty good shape on all of those things.
• Sauron is about as sure a thing as you can get when it comes to having an unkillable army leader. Just scoring the 1VP off of wounding Sauron will be a tall order for most armies. Wounding him the 10+ times needed to get past The One Ring? Let’s just say most 700 point armies can’t do it in the time they’ll have. The same goes for those 3VPs for breaking us without being broken. Because ranged firepower is so ineffective against Sauron, if the enemy is charging Sauron with enough firepower to wound him three times, the odds are he’s losing troops (if not heroes) in droves. Meanwhile, if he can’t score that magical 3rd wound, we have a very good chance at scoring those 3VPs for breaking the enemy without being broken (especially if we’ve had good luck with our Tracker bow shots and Chill Soul early on).
• As for the primary objective (get to the middle and hold the middle), we’re in pretty good shape, too. At least 13 of our models (the Orc Captain and his warband with the orc drummer) can move 12” in a single turn if we get the Heroic March off, even if maelstrom forces them away from Sauron. A 17 model warband with Sauron has as good a chance as any of surviving a Maelstrom ambush. And once Sauron gets to the middle, he’s one of the more difficult models to move (everyone else just tries to hold ground around him). If both Sauron and the Orc Captain can deploy together, and both warbands can take advantage of the War Drum to get to the middle fast, we’ll be feeling pretty good.
• Bottom-line: If we can get to the middle first, and get Sauron to the middle relatively quickly, we feel pretty good about this one.

Seize the Prize: 

• Again, the name of this game is speed, and we have a good amount of that. Our warg riders can move a whopping 20” but are pretty flimsy, so our game plan will be for one of them to attempt to dig up the prize, then pass it off to our Orc Captain on warg while the rest of our infantry move 12” and set up a screen. Once he has the prize, he high-tails it off the board as Sauron casts transfixes, compels, or Chill Souls on anything in his way. Hopefully.
• Bottom-line: We have a decent plan to win this one (which is more than most armies have).

To the Death: 

• 12” deployment zones, standard deployment, game ends when one force is quartered. We get 1/3 VPs for wounding / killing the enemy leader (which we feel pretty good about), 3 / 5 VPs for breaking the enemy / breaking the enemy without breaking ourselves (which we feel very good about), 1 / 2 VPs for having a banner / the only banner at the end of the game (which we’re at least in position to contest), and 2 VPs if we reduce the enemy to 25% (which we can do by recklessly doing Piercing Strikes if necessary, especially if we aren’t at risk of being quartered ourselves). After that, Sauron goes to town.
• Bottom-line: If we’re conservative with our banner, we probably have at least a 4 VP cushion (we don’t expect we’ll break, and the odds are good that Sauron and/or our trackers get at least 1 wound on the enemy leader over the course of the game). If we can break the enemy, too, it could be larger.

Lords of Battle: 

• 24” deployment means we’ll be able to set-up together, right on the center line (which is great). If the enemy likes to shoot, most of us can march on them quickly. 1 / 2 VPs for killing the enemy leader, and 1 / 3 VPs breaking / breaking without being broken also bode well for us. On kill-count, the Orc Trackers, Wargs, and Warg Riders are the low-hanging fruit here (D3 or D4), but everything else is at least a respectable D5 with a little D6 thrown in for fun. If the enemy tries to surround Sauron with D6 or weaker troops, he could have a field day.
• Bottom-line: S4 warg riders, picks when needed, and Sauron gives us a fighting chance.

Contest of Champions: 

• Let’s see… we have Sauron, who has a 2+ Transfix (or a 3+ Compel, or a 4+ Chill Soul). Add 1 / 3 VPs if we wound / kill the enemy leader, and 1 / 2 VPs for breaking / breaking without being broken.
• Bottom-line: As long as the enemy doesn’t have 3-4 spell casters, I think we’ll be alright.

Reconnoitre: 

• We didn’t bring the War Drum, Orc Captain on Warg, and Warg Riders solely for this mission, but this is one of the missions where they could really pay off. A marching Captain and riders can clear 20” in a single turn, potentially with 12” move orcs screening them off. Sauron’s 18” Compel or Chill Soul could be helpful as well to clear the way for them. They are only D4, though, so if the enemy has elf bows (or crossbows), we could be in trouble.
• Bottom-line: If Sauron and the orcs can hold the center (or Compel the enemy’s fasted models back), and our runners can outlast the enemy’s bow fire, we can give this a good go.

Storm the Camp: 

• Again, those warg riders and war drum will prove handy. The hardest part of this mission is getting around the enemy’s flank to pressure the camp, without getting bogged down. Sauron and shielding orcs will have to be enough to hold the middle. At least we have a ton of orc trackers we can leave in the camp to shoot out enemy mounts and fallen riders (plus they’ll be Fearless in the camp, too). Don’t discount Sauron’s ability to snipe out a camp defender each turn with an 18” Chill Soul, either.
• Bottom-line: Again, I think we’re in this one.

Heirlooms of Ages Past: 

• Player controlled objective placement, plus maelstrom, plus a d6 roll to uncover the relic introduces an awful lot of chance into this scenario. 
• I have actually played this mission with Sauron. With 15” move warg riders, we have a decent shot at getting to some of the further-flung objective markers quickly. From there, it’s a matter of getting those ones ruled out as quickly as possible (hopefully without rolling any 6s), leaving the one that Sauron is camping on for the very end. If he picks up the relic, the odds of the enemy taking that relic from you are… exceedingly low… much lower than the odds that you’ll break the enemy by killing the waves of troops he’ll have to send to take it from you. The rest of the VPs (1 / 2 for wounding / killing the enemy leader, 1 / 2 for breaking / not being broken, and 1 / 2 for banners) are probably in play for us also. And, of course, an 18” Compel or Chill Soul on a model with absurd line of sight is as good a tool as any to bring down (or bring back) the enemy’s relic bearer.
• Bottom-line: of all the missions, this one is the most like a crap shoot. But Sauron can make it less of a crap shoot.

Fog of War: 

• Again, the starting positions (standard 12” deployment) and base VP condition tends to favor us (1 / 3 for breaking / not being broken). On the scenario-specific VP conditions, we’re not doing too bad. Getting to our chosen terrain feature shouldn’t be a problem either with the war drum, and with the added speed boost we can even try feinting towards the wrong terrain piece in the early game, before returning later. We have Sauron, the trackers, and our warg riders with throwing spears to try to get wounds in on our chosen target. And believe it or not, we actually do have two eligible heroes (the Orc Captain on Warg, plus the Orc Drummer) to make our opponent guess at least a little. 
• Bottom-line: Again, we’re not super-good at this scenario, but we have enough tools to make it work. This is also the sort of mission where I think you’d rather have Sauron than be fighting against him… so at least we have that going for us.

Clash by Moonlight: 

• The one mission where spamming orc trackers should pay off nicely. Since their bows are only 18” range anyway, they only lose 6” of effectiveness (instead of the normal 12”), and at effective Strength 4 they’re decently deadly. The throwing spears on the warg riders can be even more dangerous (effective Strength 5). On the flip side, the +1 to-wound on ranged weapons does make Sauron slightly more vulnerable (5+/5+ on S3 elf bows, and 5+/4+ on S4 crossbows; S2 bows remain ineffective). Having said that, the 6+ to hit on siege weapons reduces the chance Sauron will take any wounds from them. So that’s something.
• Beyond that, the rest of the scenario’s VPs favors us. The 1 / 2 VPs to wound / kill the enemy leader is hit or miss (although, again, we feel pretty good about getting at least the 1, and pretty good about not giving up the 2), but the 3 / 5 VPs for breaking / not breaking could be massive. The rest of the VPs come down to killing more heroes than we lose (or killing all the enemy’s heroes), and there aren’t many models better than Sauron at winning that battle.
• Bottom-line: if the enemy has a lot of S3 shooting things could get interesting, but unless the enemy has a way to deal significant damage to Sauron, the VP situation is very favorable for us.

Last but not least…

Modifications

I’m pretty happy with this list all told (and I think it’s pretty balanced as far as the 12 scenarios go), but here’s some changes you might consider:

• Dropping the Orc Drummer – This is the most obvious choice, as his 30 points could net us another 4-6 models, or a good amount of upgrades (i.e., giving all our warg riders shields, giving all our orcs shields and spears, giving some of our orc trackers wargs, upgrading some of our orcs into black numenoreans, or even taking a second banner). This will definitely hurt our ability to deal with certain scenarios (Reconnoitre, Seize the Prize, and Storm the Camp; possibly also Fog of War, Domination, and Capture and Control if we get pinned down off the objective(s)), but the 30 points is not insignificant, especially for a hero that has no Might and can’t bring any warriors with him. 
• Adding a Shaman – If we are going to swap out the orc drummer for something else, landing a Shaman to get around Terror is a good trade. Since we need to free up at least 20 points, we would have to drop at least the warg on the Orc Captain and one of the Warg Riders to make it work (putting us at just two models who can move more than 6”), so I’m not sure it’s worth it. 
• Picking up a second Captain – If we drop our Orc Captain on warg and Orc Drummer, we can actually do a straight-swap for two shield-less orc captains on foot (with 5 points left to spare). We lose out on the mobility, but the 4 Might and double Heroic March would be nice to have.
• Tiberius's Application: Terror - This post was very informative for me, and some of the choices (like the Orc Captain on Warg) did not surprise me. I'm of the opinion that while Black Numenoreans are not an auto-include for Mordor (see my post on Mordor for more on why that is), they are an auto-include for Barad-Dur, no matter what the points level is (you need D6 when you can it, F4 is also very useful, Terror is a nice bonus). Yes, they're more expensive, but you've got Trackers (take 10 if you want to get to 30 models) and just-plain-old-Orcs for numbers. I also agree that Warg Riders are a great investment - and their throwing spears are cheaper than normal, so take those (even if they don't hit as often as we'd like). My list also features the best supporting hero (I think) for Sauron: a generic Ringwraith. Because Sauron is only Move 6 (no mount), you need March in your army. While you can get that from an Orc Captain, you're literally paying 40-55 points for 2 Marches (and speed if you mount him). While my preferred build for a Ringwraith is 2/9/1 with a horse, spending 90 points on a hero in this list will see us dropping a lot of models. Instead, I've run him on foot at this points level with only +2 Might (no extra Will, no extra Fate). Besides the 2 Heroic Marches he can call, you get something else: another caster, who can weaken the Will store of a big hero so Sauron can finish him (or have Sauron target the hero with Sap Will and allow the Ringwraith an easier time getting the Transfix off). Either way, you can deal with enemy heroes far more easily by having a Ringwraith than an Orc Captain (and I find Ringwraiths to be more threatening than a F4/D6 Orc hero). If you want to make this guy more powerful, choose to go below 30 models (your army bonus will help you out - see my original post on numbers for more) and drop a few Orcs until you have him the way you want him (I'd be tempted to drop a Warg Rider, an Orc Spearman, and a Tracker to get him to my preferred 90-point build):
• The Dark Lord Sauron [ARMY LEADER]
• 6 Black Numenoreans
• 2 Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Orc Warriors with spears and shields
• 1 Orc Warrior with spear, shield, and banner
• 2 Orc Trackers
• Ringwraith with 2/7/0
• 8 Orc Trackers
• 4 Warg Riders with shields and throwing spears

Well, that was very informative for me - Rythbryt comes through again with a detailed analysis of yet-another-faction! If you haven't read his post on Barad-Dur in our Armies of the Lord of the Rings series, you should! Many of these thoughts (and more) can be found there (though that post goes through how using each of these kinds of units works, while this post omits a lot of the discussion of certain models because of the points-level constraint).

In our next post, we turn to a faction that I've fought a lot and most people seem to think is unable to compete at high points levels: the ancient kingdom of Arnor. One can hope that eventually the sourcebook that WAS the Ruin of Arnor will get revisited (maybe with a small supplement?), but until then, Arnor remains one of the least developed factions in the game (hindered further by a lack of any real allies besides the three Elven factions and Ents). What kind of army can you cobble up with this? Tune in next time as my good mate Centaur shares his experience with Arnor. Should be great - until next time, happy hobbying!