The Bare Necessities, Part XXX: Azog's Hunters

Good morning gamers,

In today's post, we revisit a faction that got a some coverage in our post on the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur (and got a hat-tip in our post on Azog's Legion): Azog's Hunters. Azog's Hunters doesn't have a lot of profiles (six heroes, two warriors) and there aren't a lot of equipment options for most of them (none for Fell Wargs, options for mounts for most of the heroes with an occasional other option). Still, this list has some REALLY good customizability options that can make for a high-damage team that can move at tremendous speed. Also, if you want an in-depth look at the list, please check out Rythbryt's review in the Armies of the Hobbit series that came out last week - it's really good!

If you've never fought this guy, count yourself lucky . . .

While I'm a big fan of Azog's Hunters, I'm more drawn to using them as an allied contingent more than a pure list (Azog is just better in Azog's Legion, thanks to getting access to heavy armor, to say nothing of the Signal Tower and Master of Battle if you keep your army bonus). Still, you have access to two really great power heroes, three pretty good supporting combat heroes, the cheapest three Attack model in the game, and some solid (albeit squishy) warriors. My good mate Centaur has run Azog's Hunters a lot recently and so had some light to shed on a pure Azog's Hunters list:

Army Principles with Centaur

T: In large games (700-points and above), would you ever run both Azog and Bolg (or do they cut into your points too much)? 

C: You can, though I don't. Unless you know that you're facing hero-heavy armies (Fellowship, Thorin's Company, Erebor Reclaimed, Rangers of the North) and you know that you'll want two big men to dismantle enemy heroes you probably don't need both, and you'll want the numbers because the fundamental rule of Azog's Hunters is low defense means casualties. You don't have effective anti-archery protection (you don't even have 24" range on your archers, so you can't even return fire effectively on all boards), you don't have great Fight Value (so you'll lose combats up close), and you don't get access to a shaman for Fury, so you're going to suffer a lot of wounds. This means you need numbers to keep you in the game long enough for your big man to do the job.

T: If you can only take Azog or Bolg, which do you choose (and why)?  

C: I personally run Azog, in part because 1) I got him as a gift, so I'm going to use the models I have, and 2) because while Bolg is awesome he grows more awesome as the game goes on, and some armies are such hard counters to Azog's Hunters (Army of the Dead being the big one) that you may not get a chance to get Bolg to his Uber-Bolg version. Plus the White Warg is really nice for the points, so I tend to lean toward Azog. Bolg is good and I'm looking to purchase him within the next few years (I've got other armies higher on the priority list right now), but for now Azog does the job.

T: How important is the Azog's Hunters Army Bonus? 

C: So, it is and it isn't important. It's important because it turns your archers into 4+ Shoot archers, which is nice for when you need to cover an objective as you can reliably whittle down an incoming force before they reach the objective, and then tear them a new one once they reach it as you have 2 Attacks on each model at S4. But truthfully, part of why I love Azog's Hunters more than Azog's Legion is the ability to team them up with other armies - you don't really miss the army bonus, so there's no real problem with going with an orange or red alliance (which is virtually all of their alliances).

T: Does Azog's Hunters need allies (and if so, who is your go to)? 

C: You don't technically need allies (as you can do almost everything really well), but it doesn't hurt to have them. Azog's Hunters does melee brawling very well, as you can get two-handers at S4 (S5 if you Piercing Strike) with 2 Attacks, tons of 2 Attack S4 guys, mounted versions of both, plus bannermen for very little, but what you lack is effective cover from enemies and high Courage models for charging terror models. So personally I would team them in with Angmar (no surprise to anyone as I really like Angmar) or Mordor, and for different reasons. Angmar is nice because you get the Shade and the Barrow Wight, plus access to trolls if you want something higher than F3. Mordor is really nice because you can take guys like the Shadow Lord to cover you from archery plus the wealth of anti-magic options that Mordor presents, not to mention big war beasts or siege weapons to keep you safe while your forces close.

T: Since Hunter Orcs (and Hunter Orc Captains) have the Many Blades rule (while on foot, they get +1 Attack), is there value in giving Hunter Orcs Fell Warg mounts? 

C: There is - threat radius and charging options. Now granted, this comes from a guy who plays Shire (where you use terrain to the point of almost abuse because otherwise you get shot/ripped to pieces), but a lot of people count on hiding units behind pillars/trees, lying people down, etc. as a way to hold portions of the board/guarantee that they get the charge, and fell wargs get you out of this problem. Add onto this the fact that you have a 10" range for standard movement, and now you can reach out and strike an enemy well before they can strike you.

The complication to this argument, though, is that you can also just take Fell Wargs, and since the cost of a Hunter Orc on Fell Warg is the same as buying a Fell Warg and a Hunter Orc on foot, there's little reason to take them as a single unit except the charge bonus. I run a few, but truthfully you could probably do just fine just taking fell wargs for the threat range and hunter orcs on foot for numbers.

T: Are generic Hunter Orc Captains models you take after you've taken all of the named captains? 

C: Or are they good in their own right? Oh, you should have at least 1 of these guys in your army always, and you should take him with a two-handed weapon. I think you should even take him above a number of the named heroes - my order is: Azog/Bolg -> Narzug -> Hunter Orc Captain -> Whatever else you want. Fimbul is very good, and the 3 Might with Strike means you can use him to take on enemy heroes. You should of course always mount him, and he makes for a nice strike cavalryman through forests and other difficult terrain as he gets all of his bonuses regardless of being in difficult terrain. And while Yazneg comes with an axe and high Strength, I think for the points you get more out of a Hunter Orc Captain, so personally I never take Yazneg. We would have been much better off in the list if we had a shaman rather than Yazneg.

T: What gear do you give Hunter Orc Captains? 

C: I almost always give them two-handed weapons, as I think that 1) having base 3 attacks all getting +1 to wound is just insane for the price, and 2) if you have enough numbers you don't need to worry about winning the fight: other guys can win the fight for you, and these guys are just there to mop up. You can definitely give them fell wargs, but keep in mind that you'll need to charge to make it worth it, as otherwise you'll lose attacks. So it all depends; personally I've found that the high Strength with +1 to wound and a chance to Piercing Strike is typically enough, so I save money and buy an extra warrior instead of mounting them, as I find I like the numbers more (plus it's easier to hide my heroes from archery if they are among the rank-and-file).

I don't generally give them bows; that has mostly to do with the fact that 1) orc bows aren't that good, 2) their Shoot Value isn't that good, and 3) Narzug will do the job for you well enough on his own, so why would I need a clear second fiddle? I'd much rather give the bro a two-hander and just send him wading through the enemy shieldwall.

T: How do you deal with Terror armies? 

C: So, I'll start by saying that, as I alluded to above, this is one of the issues for the army. Since your army is Courage 2 except for your heroes (and beyond Azog and Bolg it's not particularly good even among your heroes), Terror is a huge problem. You can mitigate this in two ways. First, since all of your dismounted orcs have 2 Attacks, you effectively charge two people in with one successful Courage Test, so thankfully it's not as dangerous if you don't succeed in all of your charges. More than that, it's not like charging in a person and then spear supporting them as they can't pull off the spearman into a separate combat: you always get 2 attacks. Second is numbers: if you make 30 charges on a given turn (which, ideally, is how many models you would have charging on a single turn), even at Courage 2 you'll pass with 10+ of them, probably including your heroes. This means that you have 20+ Attacks in combat, which is pretty good among c. 10+ fights. So numbers are important: you have to get a lot of people charging to insure that you can take down enough terror models that turn to whittle the enemy force down.

And on a related note, it's actually not a bad thing per se if you don't get a lot of charges in - remember: at D4 you are going to lose a lot of guys, so if you don't have a lot of fights to resolve you can't lose that many people. So there's a silver lining to failed tests, as long as you have numbers to replace fallen troops that get ganked by being alone following failed Courage tests.

Thanks Centaur - today we'll be looking at Centaur's list for Azog's Hunters - let's see what's cooking!

The List

• Azog on White Warg [ARMY LEADER]
• 1 Hunter Orc with banner
• 4 Hunter Orcs with two-handed picks
• 8 Hunter Orcs
• 4 Fell Wargs
• Narzug
• 5 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 3 Hunter Orcs with two-handed picks
• 4 Hunter Orcs
• Hunter Orc Captain with two-handed pick
• 1 Hunter Orc with banner
• 3 Hunter Orcs with two-handed weapons
• 7 Hunter Orcs

43 models, 5 Orc bows hitting on a 4+ AND 1 Orc bow with Morgul Arrows hitting on a 3+, ?? D6+ models, 1 cavalry + 4 fast infantry, 11 Might points

Tiberius: This is the kind of list I've been fighting a lot recently - Azog is a beast in combat (and hard to tackle from a distance thanks to the White Warg), the Hunter Orc Captain is a good cheap hero (F4/3A with 2 Might to boost those 2H attacks), and Narzug is a sneaky shooter (especially if he hits and passes his in-the-ways without having to spend his free Might point).

Let's look at each warband and what each is supposed to do.

Warband #1: The Pale Orc

Azog is a monster - he's got a whopping 6 Might points between him and the White Warg, alongside 4 Will points and 2 Fate points (which is a big weakness, paired with the D5 limitation on both him and his mount). With access to Heroic Strike and Heroic March to supplement the all-important Heroic Moves and Heroic Combats, Azog is a terrifying opponent to have to fight. While he costs more than Bolg, the Might he gains from the White Warg would require the purchase of another hero to come close to rivaling (and let's face it - they're going to be cost-equivalent at that point).

Supporting him are 4 Fell Wargs to keep him from getting overwhelmed (and for speed), 1 Hunter Orc with a banner (critical for making sure Azog doesn't get a fluff roll), and 12 melee-oriented Hunter Orcs (4 with two-handed weapons). If you read the battle report between Centaur's Azog's Hunters list and my Dead of Dunharrow list, you know that these two-handed weapons can pack a nasty surprise - especially when the banner helps them get a decent roll to win the duel. Underestimate this battle line at your peril (though admittedly, you want to shoot it before it arrives if at all possible).

Warband #2: The Shooting Part

Narzug is a good evil shooting model - no one is going to sniff at a free Might point to your shooting-related rolls (despite having a horrible bow). With Morgul Arrows, he becomes even more dangerous, as you can target multi-wound models and potentially kill them over time without having to spend resources cutting through them. Joining Narzug are 5 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows and 7 melee warriors (three with two-handed picks). This squad should be enough to keep Narzug protected in a maelstrom fight and buy him time to work his magic with his bow.

Warband #3: The "Anvil"

The thing I've come to respect about Hunter Orcs is that because they're average cost (low Defense and Courage balancing out the above-average Strength and additional Attack special rule), you can afford to take 2 banners in your army if you keep your hero cost down. Hunter Orc Captains are the cheapest models in the game with access to 3 Attacks, and while they only have Fight 4 and Courage 3, they're reliable damage-dealers (especially when equipped with a two-handed pick). This hero is EXTREMELY dangerous when you get him into combat because he'll probably be rolling more dice than his opponent (3 Attacks with a banner reroll) and is capable of wounding most hero models on 4s (with his two-handing benefit). That's nasty!

Paired with this captain is the second banner and 10 additional melee Hunter Orcs (3 with two-handed weapons). Centaur has chosen in this list to not favor the 50% bow limit (see his comments above during the interview), but instead focus on an army that can run up the gauntlet at its opponents and pack a punch even if they take heavy losses (which they might if they're fighting shooting-heavy armies). With 2 Might points that can be used to call a Heroic March, this captain has an important part in any battle strategy.

Scenario Overview

With one of the lowest Defense lists we've talked about to date (no one can touch Sharkey's Rogues, though), we're going to look at each scenario and see what you can do:

• Domination: You've got a handful of fast troops that can race to a far objective late in the game, so make sure they don't get locked in too quickly (your army isn't resilient). Get your Hunter Orcs chomping through your opponent's ranks as fast as possible, focusing on getting almost all your troops to the center objective. Your archers should park there (perhaps leaving one or two archers at starting objectives) so they can use their bows against models on other objectives (the shorter range of these bows dissuades them staying on objectives that will be near the back). Azog and the Captain are your pummeling team - make sure they are freed up and screened to be in the fights they want (Azog targeting heroes, the Captain targeting warriors).
• Capture and Control: Similar strategy, except that we get to start on the center-line (which is GREAT for us). If your opponent doesn't want to immediately engage a S4/2A front line, then you can begin the game solidly in control of four of the five objectives. Your Fell Wargs will want to start near one of the side objectives and maneuver towards the objective on your opponent's side of the board, while your archers park on the other side objective to harass anyone trying to get around the center. Azog and the Captain are focused on controlling the center, where they can get to any of the other objectives quickly, should your opponent try to avoid you. With lots of 2 Attack models running around (and starting half way up the board), you will be very strong in this scenario - just make sure Azog starts behind his battle line so he can guarantee a charge on the first turn (instead of being tagged).
• Hold Ground: Well, you're running - thankfully you have 2 models with Heroic March. The Maelstrom deployment might mean that your models don't come down together, so deploy Azog's warband last (so he can modify his roll to appear near one of the other warbands). While you can race to the middle (your Fell Wargs should definitely do that), it would be good for your army to try to weaken or destroy at least one enemy warband before it arrives in the center of the map - especially if you have two warbands deploying near one enemy warband (and even more so if Azog's warband is one of those warbands).
• Seize the Prize: Another race-to-the-middle scenario and your star units this time are your Fell Wargs - you have to be an infantry model to pick up the Prize (though you can hand the Prize off in this scenario), so being a 10" move infantry model helps tremendously. Azog can assist in screening the Fell Warg that gets it (should be able to get it before your opponent has infantry there to pick it up), but you want to beat a hasty retreat with it once you have it until you've been joined by your infantry. You might want to consider having Azog call a Heroic March on the first turn to get the movement you need off the Fell Wargs and move up your infantry as best you can to keep up (some may be unable to move). The Hunter Orc Captain can call a move on the following turn to get the infantry moving to catch up (which means you won't need to retreat very much).
• To The Death: The objective here is simple: kill any enemy banners and break your opponent. While the objective is simple, the greatest complicating factor is that you will probably be broken - you're D4 after all. This means you begin the game on the clock - don't bother skirmishing or waiting for your opponent: you need to get in there and kill stuff as fast as possible. Archery-heavy teams will be a distinct challenge in this scenario (if facing one of those, tuck one of your banners FAR away so you can claim points for it).
• Lords of Battle: While this might seem like a difficult scenario as well, you don't have a lot of points to cough up - your army is "large" but not that large, your heroes all have 1 Fate point, and you can deal a lot of damage as well. Since the game can end after one side is broken, your goal is to make sure you have dealt plenty of Wounds (and taken out lots of Fate) before the break comes - Azog will help you with this if you target heroes (as will Narzug and his Morgul Arrows).
• Contest of Champions: You've got Azog - kill warriors. Kill so many warriors. Have the rest of your team stall the enemy hero as much as possible, tagging him with a single Fell Warg if possible. Because this is a kill-count scenario (and not a Wound-count scenario), you want to manage how many kills your opponent gets with his hero - consider having Narzug shoot a Fell Warg or Hunter Orc that engages the enemy hero so that you can deny him potential victory points (it's sneaky, but you're Orcs man!).
• Reconnoitre: Your Fell Wargs are headed for the board edge with Azog to escort them, but the goal is going to be not racing too far ahead of your infantry. You have enough models in this list to make a Thin Red Line if you want to and breaking/getting quartered isn't that hard. So, consider getting broken/quartered quickly (just not before you get 3+ Fell Wargs off the board edge). Note: you could also get Azog off the board edge so you don't cough up VPs for losing your army leader, but you probably need him to kill things so your army doesn't let hordes of people escape off your board edge.
• Storm the Camp: Once again, Azog and the Fell Wargs can get into your opponent's camp, but most of the fighting will probably be in the center of the board. Make sure Azog is deployed first, followed by the Captain, and lastly deploy Narzug (if his warband doesn't fit, not a big deal). You have two banners in the middle of the board that can help your team do LOADS of damage - use them!
• Heirlooms of Ages Past: Another maelstrom fight - deploy Azog last so he can modify his roll to arrive near someone else. Your Fell Wargs are the rock-stars of this scenario, as they can dig up Heirlooms with a 10" move (13" if being Marched). If you find it, get the Heirloom as far away from your opponent as possible, but if your opponent gets it, form up your troops and trap them (with Azog racing in to deal mega-damage). Like in Hold Ground, I'd recommend Azog's warband (and any warband that's nearby) to focus on crushing a nearby enemy warband more than surrounding potential objectives.
• Fog of War: A tough scenario, but not too tough. For starters, pick a hero that Azog can get to easily (infantry ideally). Next, when picking a hero to protect, you can pick either Narzug (who is likely to be out of the action) OR the White Warg (if you trust Azog to stay alive). When picking an objective, any periphery objective will do (run a Fell Warg to several different objectives to keep your opponent guessing - and remember that they have Fell Sight, so you can hide behind completely-blocking-line-of-sight objectives and race around to attack enemy warriors that pursue you).
• Clash By Moonlight: We've chosen in this list to NOT focus on archery, so this scenario will be rough. March lots, get locked in, hope you aren't broken before you get there.

Modifications
There aren't a lot of options for a pure Azog's Hunters force, but there are some things you can change if you want a slightly different flavor:

• Centaur: Angmar-Azog's Hunters Force - Simple goal: add a bunch of killing power and spear supports for your Hunter Orcs, and if you need to you can screen D5 Orc Warriors in front of your softer D4 guys when up against heavy shooting armies. You get two monsters in this list (though your numbers are low and you can break easily).
• Azog on the White Warg [ARMY LEADER]
• 1 Hunter Orc with banner
• 9 Hunter Orcs
• 2 Fell Wargs
• Narzug
• 2 Hunter Orcs with two-handed weapons
• IMPOSSIBLE ALLY: Buhrdur
• 1 Cave Troll with hand-and-a-half hammer
• 10 Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• Tiberius: Angmar-Azog's Hunters Force - I faced Centaur's "Chill of Angmar" list during the Warbands era that paired Angmar Orc spearmen and Barrow-Wights (with the Dwimmerlaik) with Hunter Orcs in the front line. SO many rounds of painful, painful beatings. On paper, it doesn't look that good - F3/D4 all over the place, very little Might, and not a lot of power heroes. But let me tell you, this force is deceptively good at what it does. This list is an homage to that force, though I've striven to keep the forces roughly the same size, since it's an Impossible alliance. We need Azog or Bolg from Azog's Hunters, so we've gone for Bolg (because he's cheaper). We also need Gulavhar, Buhrdur, or a named Ringwraith, so I've gone with the Dwimmerlaik because that's how Centaur used to run it (old times sake for the win - he's also neat to have when you have Bolg around, since you KNOW people will be spending resources). We've chosen to make Bolg the Army Leader (in case we draw Contest of Champions) and have 41 models (20 from Azog's Hunters, 21 from Angmar):
• Bolg with Fell Warg [ARMY LEADER]
• 6 Fell Wargs
• Hunter Orc Captain
• 12 Hunter Orcs
• IMPOSSIBLE ALLY: Barrow-Wight
• 11 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• IMPOSSIBLE ALLY: The Dwimmerlaik on Horse
• 2 Angmar Orc Warrior with shield
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• Centaur: Mordor-Azog's Hunters Alliance - This list gives you a war beast which will absorb a lot of archery for you, not to mention send havoc into any shieldwall in front of you. More importantly, it's a good answer to Terror units, as you aren't charging them when you Trample. Add onto this a Transfix option and a few spears for adding +1 Attack to an already 2 Attack fight, and you get a more well-rounded army (and comes in at 37 models, 15 of which are from Mordor).
• Azog on the White Warg [ARMY LEADER]
• 1 Hunter Orc with banner
• 3 Hunter Orcs with two-handed picks
• 8 Hunter Orcs
• 2 Fell Wargs
• Narzug
• 4 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 2 Hunter Orcs with two-handed picks
• The Mouth of Sauron
• 3 Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• Great Beast of Gorgoroth
• Tiberius: Pure Shooting Force – Your army bonus boosts your shooting and Bolg allows all your bows to benefit from Morgul Arrows. So . . . seems to me like you want to be doing some shooting (despite how "horrible" Orc bows are)! Fell Wargs are really useful here not only because they're fast, but also because they allow more of your Hunter Orcs (proportionally) to take bows - true, those bows only have 18" range, but they're a niche way of dealing with multi-wound models. Here's a list that maximizes on the number of bows in your force - and any army with as many bows as we're packing will dictate how your opponent plays the game (39 models, 22 Orc bows with Morgul Arrows, 15 models with 10" move):
• Bolg with everything [ARMY LEADER]
• 3 Hunter Orcs
• 2 Hunter Orcs with two-handed pics
• 4 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 1 Hunter Orc with Orc bow and banner
• 4 Fell Wargs
• Narzug on Fell Warg
• 2 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 4 Fell Wargs
• Fimbul the Hunter on Fell Warg
• 2 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 4 Fell Wargs
• Hunter Orc Captain with Orc bow
• 8 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 1 Hunter Orc with Orc bow and banner
• Tiberius: Azog's Legion Alliance – As I mentioned at the start, Azog is much better in the Azog's Legion list because of what he can bring. While I think bringing a host of Hunter Orcs with him is scary, he himself is far more dangerous if he's been equipped with heavy armor. So, this is a list that showcases Azog leading some heavily-armored troops from Azog's Legion alongside some of his choice captains from Azog's Hunters (37 models, 11 Orc bows, 13 D6+ models, 2 cavalry + 6 fast infantry, 11+ Might points). If this list looks eerily like my Dol Guldur list, there's a reason for that . . . it's because I think Azog's Hunters makes a good allied contingent over a pure one:
• Fimbul the Hunter on Fell Warg
• 5 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 6 Fell Wargs
• Hunter Orc Captain with two-handed pick
• 4 Hunter Orcs
• 4 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 1 Hunter Orc with Orc bow and banner
• HISTORICAL ALLY: Azog on White Warg with heavy armor [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields
• 6 Gundabad Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Gundabad Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 2 Gundabad Berserkers with axes

Our next post takes us to the great mountain of Erebor. We have already looked at the Army of Thror, but this time, we'll be looking at the Erebor Reclaimed faction. Our resident Iron-Hills-and-Erebor-Reclaimed player, Rythbryt, takes us through building a balanced army with one of the factions with the most named hero choices in the game. If you haven't read Rythbryt's review of Erebor Reclaimed already, I highly encourage you give it a look. You can also look at my review of Erebor Reclaimed (and my comparison between the Erebor Reclaimed vs. Thorin's Company profiles). Should be fun - until then, happy hobbying!