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Thursday, October 8, 2020

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: Angmar in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Photo Credit: Game Art on Pinterest

Yes, we're back from hibernation with another Armies of Middle-Earth write-up! The Fall semester is usually pretty full for me (because life), so I wouldn't get your hopes up for more of these in the near-future. But I thought I'd make an exception for everyone's favorite faction to play against (just kidding): Angmar.

Those of you who have been following this series probably noticed that we skipped over Angmar when we did our cadre of evil army reviews last year. That was intentional, because my own experience in Angmar was... basically non-existent. And while there's a lot of stuff in Angmar that looks good on-paper, I had a suspicion that to truly appreciate what it can do, you had to experience it. So that's what I did, over the course of this summer, as I got ready for TMAT's THRO tournament (where I took an Angmar army). Now that the tourney is over--and armed with all the things I learned--I finally feel like I can do Angmar justice.

Spoiler alert: this army is crazy good, and I'm hardly the first person to say that. You'll find our standard list of recommended resources in the back, but I'll flag a few that I particularly liked--and used a lot when preparing my own Angmar force for THRO--here at the outset. Taylor over at The Nazgul Times has a great break-down of all the profile choices in the army. My take is slightly different than his on some things (mostly the Dwimmerlaik and Warg Riders), but his insights are fantastic. For a panoply of list-building ideas, check out Mik's Fog of War post on Angmar with Dave Nolan (Dave's instincts are more in-line with mine--WK and barrow-wight spam--while Mik loves the trolls, wargs, and especially Gulavhar that can make Angmar particularly scary). Tiberius posted his own thoughts on balanced Angmar lists last Spring in his Bare Necessities SeriesLastly, if you have painting projects and are looking for something to play in the background, I would highly recommend the Green Dragon Podcast's recap of Ardacon 2019's Masters Tournament (featuring Kylie's Angmar army), supplemented if you like by video coverage of three of her rounds courtesy of STF Wargaming Studio (though I don't know that you'll get much painting done if you have that on in the background). Tiberius, Centaur, and I also talked about Angmar quite a bit in our lengthy recap of the THRO tournament (complete with some battle reports), in the highly unlikely event you want to hear anything more from me. Edit: And, as a special treat, you can now listen to the Green Dragon's full faction break-down of Angmar. Plus a whole bunch of other links to other community resources at the end!

Alright, here we go... 

(although for full thematic effect, you'll have to run this music track in the background)


Army Quick(ish) Hits
  • Strength: All the spooks. Angmar isn't the only army that you can build around Terror shenanigans: Mordor and the Corsairs of Umbar have access to Black Numenoreans, Far Harad has the dreaded Half-Trolls, several elves (plus Radagast) can cast Aura of Dismay, and of course (as I forgot, until my sons reminded me) the Dead of Dunharrow. But I'm not sure any army does Terror better than Angmar, and there's absolutely no army that does Terror cheaper than Angmar. Your army bonus is the key: all Angmar Orc models within 3" of a Spirit Hero gain the Terror special rule, making it so that even a humble 5-point orc can cause real problems for certain armies (including their heroes). You also have access to four spectacular Spirit Heroes who also have the Harbinger of Evil special rule (the Witch-King, the Tainted, the Dwimmerlaik, and Gulavhar), so the odds are that however you decide to build your force, you'll have at least one -1 Courage bubble to make your run-of-the-mill orcs even harder to charge. You have options for non-Spirit Hero heroes, too, of course, both of whom also cause Terror (Buhrdur and the Wild Warg Chieftain), as do your Dead Marsh Spectres (who do other nasty things to your opponents), Barrow-Wights, and of course the dreaded Shade.
  • Strength: You have list-building options to neutralize... well, pretty much everything in spurts (and occasionally everything at once).  
    • Let's start with the front-line of defense: if you're doing things right, your orc grunts probably cause Terror. You'd be surprised how much that changes how your opponents play. If they're a low-courage army to start with (goblins, orcs, and even non-elite C3 men), you could find half the enemy army locked out of combat because they failed a courage test, leaving them unable to chew through your army--or unable to hold back your advance. And even mid-courage armies (like dwarves, elite men, elves, and armies with a War Horn) can find themselves in trouble (after all, a Courage 5 elf still needs a roll of "6" or more if he's within Harbinger range). It's particularly devastating for low-courage cavalry armies (Riders of Rohan, Haradrim/Mahud Raiders, Knights of Minas Tirith), who need to go first--and may even spend one or more points of Might to go first--only to find out that they can't get their charges off consistently.
    • Next we have the precision pieces. Between Dead Marsh Spectres and a Ringwraith with Compel, you have ways to move your enemy around the battle (or plunge them heedlessly into the battle, or make them run away from the battle like a cowardly chicken), often to their disadvantage (if not danger). That random orc holding a banner in the center line? He may bolt six inches away from the fray. Or follow one of his friends into the midst of the no-man's land, to be ganked by a Fell Beast. And if you benefited from any movement buffs during your turn (like a Heroic March, a War Drum, or--God forbid--both on the same turn), you could move as far as 20" after you thought your movement was done.
    • Then you have the blunt-force disruptors. Three wraiths means you have plenty of options for Instill Fear to scatter the middle of an enemy battle line, send spear-supports packing, or clear important objectives in the endgame. Monsters like Cave Trolls and their leader, Buhrdur, are always a threat to hurl cavalry models into their unsuspecting mates, and if you're packing any high-Strength Monsters with Fly (like Fell Beasts, or Gulavhar), it can be even worse. 
    • And then... on top of all that... there's the Shade. -1 to any non-Angmar duel rolls within 6" is, frankly, disgusting. Your regular orcs out-fight Uruks. They out-fight Fiefdoms. They out-fight elves. They out-fight monsters. They out-fight heroes. They out-fight enormous heroes. If you want to win combats, you need to outroll regular orcs by 1+. If you can't--if the orcs roll a "6"--you may need to spend your precious Might to win the duel (just the duel, mind you--you could still fail to wound). And if you can't spend Might--because you're out, or you're just a warrior, not a hero--there's not a dang thing you can do about it. Which, like I said before, is frankly disgusting.
  • Strength: Neutralizing "everything" includes big enemy heroes (and sometimes multiple heroes). Many armies are dependent on their heroes to do certain things--deal with big monsters, carve their way to objectives, or keep the enemy's big heroes in check. And for the vast majority of armies that aren't "all-hero" armies, they have access to only one or two "big" heroes who can put serious pressure on their opponents. Unfortunately, most of these big heroes are susceptible to magic (because they only have 1-3 Will, with no built-in defenses against magic like Resistant to Magic or Fortify Spirit), and have to be in-combat--and able to make strikes in combat--to make back their points. Angmar has some of those heroes, too (Buhrdur and the Wild Warg Chieftain are like that, and to a lesser extent Gulavhar, although he has Resistant to Magic). But most of its big heroes either have enormous will-pools and the ability to cast offensive magic against their opponents and have ways to make back their points without being in combat (the Tainted and the Dwimmerlaik, plus the Witch-King who is no worse than a top-5 caster in the entire game), or they have special abilities that are tailor-made to blunt the effectiveness of big combat heroes (the Shade, with 8 Will and a 6" -1 duel roll bubble; and Barrow-Wights with 5 Will and Paralyze on a 4+). Barrow-Wights in particular are an extremely cheap hard-counter (or at least a threat to hard-counter) even the most powerful combat hero whose Will is a little sketchy (there are plenty of 3/1/1 combat heroes running around), and even 3/3/3 heroes may find their Will (and even their Might) depleted if they're taking a Spectre test in Harbinger of Evil range, followed by a Compel from the Witch-King, followed by 2-3 Paralyzes from some barrow-wights. The constant threat of Paralyze may even mean that you let a random Drain Courage or Transfix through to conserve your Will... although if you do that too much, your hero may not be able to get into combat at all. Even armies who have 2 or even 3 big heroes may run into trouble, if the Angmar player has invested heavily in a Nazgul and some barrow-wights (who, again, are extremely cheap). And then there's the conventional threats Angmar can throw at big heroes--Burly cave trolls, a 3-Attack 10" move Warg, a Striking troll hero, a Wraith (or two) on flying monster, or a Fight 7, Strength 8, 4 Attack Monstrous Charge vampire demon.
  • Strength: You fight most armies asymetrically. I forget who coined this phrase (I'll post a shout-out if I discover it, though I expect it was Kylie from the Green Dragon), but one of the things that makes Angmar so hard for most armies to deal with is that they do a lot of the things that other armies do, but they can go about doing those things in ways that are quite different from how other armies would do it. Consider this relatively common objective: "Neutralizing big heroes." Most armies neutralize big heroes by employing one or more of the following tactics. Option a: they avoid them entirely (the Green Dragon's "halo"/"bubble" tactic), or feed them a single model each turn so they either end up killing only one model per turn (not a great way to make back their points) or have to spend heroic resources like Might to do Heroic Combats (which, for any hero not named Aragorn, Helm Hammerhand, or powered-up Bolg, isn't a sustainable strategy). Option b, they shoot the hero to death, if they have a lot of bows, and if the hero's defense isn't so great that this becomes a futile endeavor. Option c, they use a wizard to transfix so it's not killing anything (or better yet, compel it away so it's not a threat to kill anything for a couple of turns). Option d, you send your biggest, baddest hero against it, and hope your biggest, baddest hero is bigger and badder than your opponent's. Now Angmar can do all those things if it wants to. But it can also has other options, too, which are weirdly enough almost the opposite of these tactics. Sure, you can keep your orcs backed by barrow-wight out of charge-range of a big hero if you want to. But if that hero is low-courage (or if you've been working on his courage), you may actually want to move toward that hero instead, essentially daring him to charge, and banking on the fact that since he doesn't want to be charged by you on the next turn, he'll probably decide to move away from you... accomplishing the Halo for you (whilst you're shrinking the battlefield, advancing on objectives, etc). You can peg enemy heroes with shooting as well, which is great (see our discussion of orcs below), but most of the time your window of shooting enemy heroes is limited to a couple of rounds, until they charge. Angmar, of course, like any evil army, can shoot into combat--so that's not the end of the world for you. But the combination of Terror, Spectre tests, Compel, and the threat of Paralyze when your opponent finally does charge your battle line means you may get a couple more rounds of shooting than most armies would. Speaking of Compel, you can always Compel or Transfix an enemy hero as a way of ignoring them, but if you have Paralyze your magical salvo can be far more debilitating: instead of just "neutralizing" an enemy hero for a round, you may be able to kill it outright (and the odds are that, eventually, you will be able to kill most heroes in most games). Which leads me to the final option: big-bad against big-bad. Again, Angmar can do this, too--the Witch-King (supported by his spells, Strike, and a Fell Beast) and Gulavhar (with Heroic Defense, Fly, F7/S8, and his ability to regenerate wounds) are beefy enough that they can take on most big-bads under any conditions, and Burhdur can take on most big bads under the right conditions. But you can also "neutralize" most big-bads with a contingent of Terror orcs and a Barrow-Wight. Or a contingent of Terror orcs and a Shade. Or, if the enemy hero is out of Might, a single orc and a shade. Or, if the enemy hero is Paralyzed, a single orc (or ten). All of which probably cost less points than the big bad you're trying to bring down, and all while your big bads are accomplishing other objectives. Asymmetry. You accomplish the same thing, but how you do so is vastly different. There's something special about your cheap stuff that lets it deal with your opponent's expensive stuff (with a decent chance that you'll come out on-top), so your expensive stuff can deal with your opponent's cheap stuff (where you expect to clean house). And it does so by making things that are usually pretty rare in most armies (Terror, magic, area buffs/debuffs, heroic resource drain) and makes them army-wide (or at least they have huge areas of effect). While the counters to those rare things (auto-passing courage tests, army-wide magic defense, regenerating heroic stats) remain, well, rare (and very expensive to ally in, if you can ally them in at all). And dealing with enemy heroes is just one example. Another is dealing with mass cavalry: for most armies, their best answer is to win priority a ton, and call Heroic Moves a ton, and win 50/50 heroic move-offs a ton. Angmar can do that, too (though the move-offs get old after a while), or it can cop a charge (especially if the enemy cav have poor courage) and then react by swarming whatever enemy cavalry managed to complete their charges (preferably with cavalry models of their own--more on that below). What makes it asymmetrical is that either winning or losing priority is an okay outcome for Angmar (it can survive either way, at least for a few turns), while neither outcome is particularly great for the enemy. Yes, you want to charge to unlock all your wonderful cavalry special rules that you paid so many points for, but going first also means you have to take Terror checks... and then you could be counter-charged or swarmed or hurled or transfixed or paralyzed or who knows what else. And if you go second... well, that's probably worse.
  • Strength: Flexibility in play styles. There are some armies that just have to be played a certain way to reach their full potential. Armies that are all-cav without skirmishing options (heavy Royal Guards without throwing spears, Knights of Minas Tirith, or Serpent Riders) are like this: if they're not charging, they're not doing much of anything. Other armies are best when they're on the defensive: hyper-elite Iron Hills, with the Ballista, crossbows, and a heavy Shieldwall would prefer you charge them (and has enough ranged firepower and defensive staying power to make most armies do just that). Because Angmar is such a flexible and developed list, it's an army that can be tailored to different playing styles, either during list-building or mid-game. In my (albeit limited) experience, Angmar benefits a lot from being aggressive. You have so much stuff that's going to force your opponent into making hard choices anyway, that mental fatigue on the part of your opponent is almost a given. If you compliment those tough choices with aggressive play (your Terror orcs are always advancing, you're constantly pressuring the enemy's flanks or back line with your cav or Fly models, you piercing-strike anytime you have a model trapped, etc.), it can start to feel almost oppressive. If that's not who you are (or the situation calls for something different), you can also play more defensively and reactively, allowing you to get more use out of your Terror and Harbinger, get critical counter-charges in on enemy cavalry, and line up the perfect hurl. You can also do both at the same time, at different parts of the board (pressing the assault on one flank, while the other flank settles in to hold an objective for the next three turns). And unlike some armies, where your list-building choices may force you into one option or the other (Morgul Stalkers in Mordor favor offense, Black Nums favor defense), your core troops and heroes can do either (orcs backed by a Barrow-Wight or a Shade, and supported by some Warg Riders, can press an assault or blunt one as the situation demands).
  • Weakness: The core of your army are basic orcs. This isn't a terrible weakness--"regular" orcs are quite solid troops, after all--but if you're used to playing armies built around "elite" troops like I am (Iron Hills, elves, armored men, Uruk-Hai--basically, anyone who's Fight 4+, S4, and/or D6+) it may take some getting used to. Fight 3 means you're usually drawing combats (best case scenario), Strength 3 means 6s to wound elite (D6 or above) troops, and Defense 5 means means average troops (S3 or above) wound you on 5s. It also means the bulk of your army is Courage 2 across the Board (Courage 1 in Harbinger range), with no Shamans who can cast Fury, so if your enemy has tons of Terror to match yours, you'll have a lot of trouble dealing with them. Even your archers--one of the best ways to deal with Terror armies--are sub-par, with one of the worst shoot values in the game (5+, unless you move, in which case you hit on 6s, paired with a S2, 18" range orc bow). Sometimes you can get around these limitations with raw numbers (just take courage tests until you succeed) or by playing to the scenario's objectives, but again--if you're used to playing with elite troops, this will take some getting used to. Thankfully...
  • Strength: A pseudo-horde! (If you want it). I will caveat this by saying that you will probably never see--or want to run yourself--a full-on Angmar horde, because Angmar has so many cool/powerful elite troops (spectres, cave trolls) and heroes (the three wraiths (perhaps on fell beasts), Gulavhar, Burhdur, the Shade, and the Chieftain). In fact, with so many cool things to choose from, it's very easy to end up building a very elite force by accident (really, it's not hard to do at all: a 3/16/3 Witch-King on FB/horse with either Buhrdur or Gulavhar, plus a barrow-wight, banner, and three spectres costs between 400 and 500 points). As tempting as this is, my sense is that you generally want to have at least an average-size army (Jeremy Hunthor's Rule of 20 is a good barometer--at 700 points, 35 models is around average; 40 models at 800 points, 30 models at 600, etc.). The reason (as we discussed above) is that your core troops are just orcs, who have terrible courage that you can't augment (apart from Stand Fasts! with your heroes, assuming you have Priority so they aren't tagged before they get to courage test). When your army consists mostly of orcs, your best defense against failing courage tests for breaking is just not to break, which means you want to do everything you can to keep your model count is high. Which means you want to supplement your elite choices with a healthy smattering of orcs, wild wargs, warg riders, and barrow-wights, all of which are great value for what you get. At 700 points, it's possible to get over fifty models while still taking some of the fun goodies (a 3/16/3 Witch-King with crown on horse, an orc captain with shield on warg, three barrow-wights, three spectres, and five warg riders). Fifty models isn't a true horde (Goblin-Town can push 100 at 700 points, even with most of its heroes), but it's quite a bit larger than average, and most horde armies (which are low-fight and low-courage) will struggle to make much headway against it, especially if you anchor your army off of defensive terrain. Most armies will struggle to kill 26 models in two hours, especially if they don't auto-pass courage tests. If they can't do it, you won't break.
  • Strength/Weakness: Defense 5. This sort of depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, Defense 5 on a pseudo-horde is pretty good (on-par with Moria Goblins and Warriors of Rohan/Lake-Town, better than Shire / Goblin-Town). On the other hand, it's not Defense 6... which means we'll be wounded on a 5+ by anything that's S3... which is a lot of things (most basic troops, elf-bows, and throwing spears in particular). It also means that we can't cop a cavalry charge, even from Easterlings (or other S3 cav with no +1 to-wound bonuses).
  • Weakness: Allies. Very simple: you don't have any historic allies, and your only convenient allies are Moria (which is intriguing) and the Desolator of the North (who is not). Unless you really want a bat swarm, or Ashrak leading a bunch of venemous Giant Spiders, or Druzhag powering up your Wild Warg Chieftain, or the unholy unity of the Balrog and the Witch-King, don't bother. Because...
  • Strength: Army Bonus. I'll caveat this by saying that courage bonuses (like Minas Tirith's and the Easterlings') are by definition situationally useful. If your opponent doesn't have Terror, and/or you never break, you won't need it. Both of those things are probably more likely than not (the former because Terror in armies is relatively rare, and the latter because Minas Tirith and Easterlings are pretty hearty factions, and in Minas Tirith's case, you can also pseudo-spam if you forego a lot of their elite troop and hero options). Having said that, ALWAYS TAKE THIS ARMY BONUS. Three reasons. First, like we mentioned before, Terror is rare, and army-wide Terror is extremely rare, unless you're the Army of the Dead--and let's face it, hardly anyone runs pure Army of the Dead anymore. So right off the bat, your army has a unique strength that opponents may not have planned for (in fact, there are many armies who will have hardly any tools to deal with it, without allying something else in). Second, while Terror is rare, Fearless Sworn Protector Bodyguard / Aura of Command / Fury are almost as rare (with the exception of Fury, they're almost always limited to elite armies), and any army that has army-wide auto-passes on courage tests is going to be hyper-elite (Iron Hills with Dain, full Minas Tirith Fountain Court / Citadel Guard, Mirkwood with heavy Palace Guard, Khazad-Dum with heavy Khazad Guard, etc.). Your army can be hyper-elite as well, but doesn't have to be (and probably shouldn't), which means you should have a numbers advantage against any auto-pass force, and most high-courage forces (i.e., you can field 5-6 orcs--or 3-4 orcs and a warg rider--for every 3 high elves with weapon upgrade(s) that your opponent takes). Third, while Sworn Protector, Bodyguard, Aura of Command, and Fury are fantastic abilities on paper, the thing about them in practice is that they only last as long as you can keep your army leader / person your protecting / wizard alive (and, in Aura of Command and Fury's case, with at least 1 Will left in their store). And if you have to kill a single model (or strip it of Will), Angmar may have more tools in its toolbox to kill that model than any other army in the game, especially if you outnumber your opponent (multiple barrow-wights for Paralyze, backed up by troops to swarm the paralyzed model and pin any nearby models or pull them into separate fights).
  • Strength/Weakness: Buy-in cost. You can still get a decent amount of the Angmar range from Games Workshop (the Witch-King, Buhrdur, orcs, warg riders, and wild wargs are usually available; as of this writing, cave trolls and the Wild Warg Chieftain are out of stock), but a bunch of the elite models and heroes currently aren't (notably Barrow-Wights, spectres, and the Shade, in addition to Gulavhar). If you're very fortunate, you may be able to pick-up some of them from third-party sellers (watch out for price gouging, though). If your local tournament scene is open to proxies or conversions, you can probably find something that will suit your needs. The official spectres come in three variants--high elf, numenorean, and orc--so a pose conversion and glow-y paint job would probably do the trick. And there are plenty of other spirit miniatures (wights, banshees, and the like) who can step-in for your barrow-wights and shade if you wish (although if you leave the shade at home because you don't have the model, I don't think your opponents will mind much). If you're looking for creative ideas, Tiberius recently did some up, and you can check out my own conversions from TMAT's The Hunter's Red October Tournament here. Hopefully these classic models will make a come-back soon.
This is where I'd usually end my overview, and we'd jump into the profiles. Which we'll do momentarily. The vast majority of this (and most of what you're about to read, if you're still reading this) has been and is going to be incredibly positive about Angmar. And I think that's appropriate: despite its weaknesses, Angmar is a very strong, flexible, competitive list. But before going on, I felt I needed to make two additional observations that you should know if you're thinking about making Angmar one of your primary factions. 
  • Weakness: "Fun-Level". If you're going to play Angmar, you need to be aware that playing against an optimized Angmar army is almost never a fun experience for your opponent. Like, at all. Now in competitive events, that's fine, because the expectations are different. But for casual games in a gaming group, you may want to stick with only some of Angmar's shut-down stuff (choose a Shade, or a couple Barrow-Wights, or the Dwimmerlaik, but not all three at once), build a list that's clearly thematic (maybe around Golfimbul, or a hill troll expedition built around Buhrdur), or steer clear of Angmar entirely (or at least give your opponent your list beforehand, and offer him or her a chance to build a list that can mitigate at least some of what it wants to do). There are plenty of armies where you can bring exactly what you want, and both you and your opponent will have fun. Angmar isn't one of them.
  • Weakness: High Degree of Difficulty. After reading this through, you may be thinking: Angmar is awesome! Just a point-and-click kind of army that auto-wins! I gotta get into this! Make no mistake, Angmar is very powerful, especially when optimized. But it's not a particularly forgiving list--your basic troops are pretty squishy after all, and figuring out how to weave your barrow-wights in and out of your orc lines while maintaining their Terror bubbles, and what order to move your heroes/spectres, and when/when not to commit your monsters, and all the decisions that you have to make takes time and, frankly, can be really draining. Both players are usually fatigued (mentally, if not physically) after playing a game involving Angmar. At times, the sheer volume of things you can do can feel overwhelming (especially if you're not sure in what order to do them). Practice is your friend, especially practice against a lot of different kind of armies. So if you're looking at taking an Angmar army to a competitive event, try to convince a friend (probably a good one) to help you prepare by getting in the reps you'll need to learn your army. Let him build a force tailor-made to beat yours. Give him some extra points, or choose the scenario. Whatever it takes to get someone to play against you. You need those reps, and you need to build endurance to handle multiple games in a row where your brain is taxed and strained.


Named Hero Profiles
  • The Witch-King of Angmar: We've already covered him extensively in the Barad-Dur and Mordor army lists, and all his stats, upgrade options, and spells are exactly the same in an Angmar list (and, of course, ALWAYS TAKE THE CROWN OF MORGUL!!!). That said, some of his tricks are worth highlighting, because they become even more effective in an Angmar list (if you can believe that): 
    • Let's start with that 12" Harbinger of Evil bubble. Unless you're running a large contingent of Black Numenoreans in Barad-Dur (probably unlikely at low points levels, because Sauron costs so much) or Mordor (possible, although Mordor has so many great troop options that Black Nums are hardly the go-to in that list), you probably don't get much use out of Harbinger until you get to the end-game (where, don't get me wrong, it's great). For most of your Angmar games, that -1 courage penalty for enemy models will be huge from the opening jump, so make sure you keep your Witch-King near-ish to the center of your troops--at least to start with--to make those Terror checks as hard as possible for your opponent.
    • Pairing Harbinger with Drain Courage is a very efficient way to put pressure on your opponent's combat heroes right from the jump (or their cavalry models, banners, or anything else that your opponent wants to control). It's only a 2+ to cast (rerollable if you take the Crown), which means your odds of getting it off on a single die are crazy high with the reroll. A single success is effectively a -2 penalty to your opponent's Courage (once you factor Harbinger in), which means Courage 6 heroes (like Boromir and Aragorn) are suddenly in that dicey Courage 4 range, while Courage 5 heroes like Eomer or Azog are now Courage 3 (or Courage 2 if you get a second cast off). You also have a 3+ Transfix and 4+ Compel to prevent an enemy hero from striking, calling Heroic Actions or Stand Fasts!, and potentially move that hero against his will into the open. If you're dealing with enemy Fury, you always have Sap Will in your back pocket (5+ to cast), Instill Fear on a 4+ is yet another weapon you can deploy against low-courage armies, and you have Your Staff is Broken (4+) to deal with enemy wizards. 
    • While all these spells are exactly the same as they are in Mordor and Barad-Dur, I have found that they tend to go off a lot more in an Angmar army because of the secondary spell-threats posed by other models in your force (specifically, enemy heroes tend to let a Transfix cast on a "4" through, or to let a Drain Courage on a "2" go off uncontested, in order to save their Will for the 1-2 Barrow-Wights nearby who can still cast Paralyze). The result is that your Witch-King--who is already no worse than a top-5 caster in the whole game--gets to do almost anything he wants unless your opponent has brought the rare army with multiple wizards. 
    • While you may be able to get by with a low-stat Witch-King in Barad-Dur (where Sauron will always be demanding the bulk of your enemy's attention), you probably want at least a 3/15/3 Witch-King in Angmar (and that 15 Will is probably low if you plan to run a Fell-Beast or fear you may hit an enemy wizard). You really don't want him fleeing before the battle is done (so give him lots of Will and Fate), and he's probably the most cost-effective of your 3 Might hero options (as he's a top-tier combat model/wizard with the Crown, a Spirit hero providing a 3" Terror bubble to friendly Angmar Orcs, and potentially an assassin if yout ake him on Fell-Beast). The only thing I'll add is that if you go heavy into Barrow-Wights (or pair him with Gulavhar), you probably won't need the Morgul Blade--and are probably better off with an extra two Will points (or two more orcs).
    • Don't forget that the Crown also gives him a free reroll when resisting enemy spells and that if you resist a spell with a natural 6 you get that Will point back. That reroll means you won't always have to spend 2 Will to resist spells (you can get a 4+ to resist pretty reliably with just one Will, especially if you're willing to spend some Might), but if you do spend two Will ALWAYS attempt the reroll to resist on your lower die to hunt that natural 6, even if your high die roll is already enough to resist the spell (any Will you regain is another opportunity to cast, fight a combat, or stave off The Will of Evil). And ALWAYS TAKE THE CROWN!
    • You may not always want a Fell-Beast but... if you're not taking Gulavhar, I think you should at least strongly consider it. The ability to duck over the top of an enemy line and get at an important model you've paralyzed on a critical turn can't be underestimated. If you've never played against a monster with Fly, you should try it sometime. Many of our conventional tactics assume that models move only on a two dimensional plane--so if I position my models just here, and have their control zones overlapping like so, no model can get to this point back here (and thus my army leader / wizard / banner / prize-carrier / etc. is safe). Those tactics work against the Witch-King on horse, or the Wild Warg Chieftain. And they're very effective against models like Buhrdur who, while fantastic, only moves 6" (maybe more if you Barge or Heroic Combat, provided your enemy's surrounding models leave gaps large enough for him to move through...) Models with Fly ignore much of that plane, because they can jump over control zones and get to that spot in the back where you'd usually be safe. Monster models with Fly can do that, and then wreak havoc on your army (hurling, rending, or just straight-up killing if they have Monstrous Charge, like Gulavhar and a Fell Beast do). And, of course, monster models with Fly and heroic stats can do all sorts of things on the way in (casting spells in the WK's case) or do it a couple times in the same round (via a Heroic Combat). Keeping your back models safe against fliers requires you to physically occupy the space around those models, so that the Flying model's base can't physically fit next to your base. Practically speaking, this either means you hang out in terrain all the time (and therefore your army becomes static, which Angmar likes and which the objectives may disfavor), or you have to keep other models in the back in an anti-fly formation (which means less models on your front line, which again, Angmar likes). Worst of all, the uncertainty posed by a flying model actually counsels against something you usually want: winning priority. Most armies prefer to win priority most of the time, because it gives you more control over your own pieces (nothing is tagged when you start moving), and of course there are some armies that depend on winning priority to function at max-capacity (all-cav armies in particular, though there are others). If Gulavhar or a Fell-Beast are exposed, going first isn't a problem (assuming you can get past their Terror to charge them, which some armies will struggle with). But if they aren't--they're still lurking behind the enemy's main battle line, and you're blocked from charging them due to Angmar's smart deployment with overlapping control zones--going first means you have to commit your models to combats (or non-combats) without having any idea where that flying monster is going to end up. So where do you move your banner? Where's Theoden going? Do we commit to a full-on charge on his suspiciously straight battle-line, which is screaming HURL! HURL! HURL!? Ironically, losing priority actually makes things simpler for us, because if the monster has already moved, we know exactly where it is, and what it's doing, and while we still have to watch out for Heroic Combats, at least we have more intel as we set-up our anti-fly formation. In sum, Gulavhar is a fantastic model, and pairing him with a Witch-King (who you probably don't need on Fell Beast at that point, but hey--if you want both flying monsters, do what you find fun) opens up all sorts of tricks for dealing with the biggest heroes in the game. But if you find your numbers are low, spending another 50 points for a Fell-Beast gets you 75% of what Gulavhar offers (S6 instead of S8, 3-4 attacks on the charge instead of 5 max for Gully) at 25% of the price. And having 75% of Gulavhar's threat as yet another thing your opponent has to worry about is well-worth 50 points.
    • I hesitate to say any model is an auto-take in any army list (unless it's a list, like Barad-Dur, where there's no point in running it over, say, Mordor, if you're not including Sauron), but I kind of think the Witch-King is an auto-take in Angmar (even if he's not in Mordor or Barad-Dur). When you have him, he does so much for you just by being there. If you don't have him, I'm not sure your Angmar list will every live up to its full potential.
  • The Tainted: He offers you a lot of what the Witch-King does (with 1 less Might/Fate, no reroll when casting/resisting spells), with Terror, Harbinger, and a 2+ Drain Courage. In addition, he offers you an added layer of protection with something Angmar struggles with--counter-calling Heroic Moves by your opponent. A spirit hero-heavy Angmar force tends to run low on Might (Shades and Barrow-Wights, both staples of competitive Angmar lists, have none), so every point you have is precious. If you win Priority (and need to keep it), being able to cut troops out of participating in a Heroic Move--or Heroic Combat in the Fight Phase--can go a long way to mitigating what your opponent wants to do. It does cost you a Will point (you only have 14 total) and will cut both ways (both friendly and enemy troops within 6" of the Tainted are barred from participating in Heroic Actions or Stand Fasts! for the duration of the turn) so you have to be slightly careful with that. But there's no roll to see if it works or not (like the Mumak War Leader's 4+ check to cancel Heroic Moves), and when deployed in a clutch moment it can win you the game.
  • The Dwimmerlaik: Your standard-fare Angmar army (Witch-King, Barrow-Wight, Shade, and spectres) is plenty choke-y as-is, making it very hard for your opponent to do the things they want to do (and which are usually very easy to do). But if you don't particularly like your opponent, you could amp the difficulty level up to "11" (maybe higher) by taking the Dwimmerlaik. He has no Might, but gains 2 more Will (taking him to 16) which he'll mostly spend on Sap Fortitude... maybe (more on that in a minute). This rule is on par with the craziest special rules in the game because it's one of those rules that fundamentally alters a fundamental mechanic of the game: in this case, heroic resources. Every time an enemy hero spends a point of Might, Will, or Fate within 6” of the Dwimmerlaik, you can spend 1 point of Will to roll a D6, and if you roll a 4+ the hero must spend an additional point of Might, Will, or Fate to complete the deed; otherwise, the deed is cancelled and any heroic resources already spent are lost. In my write-up on Mordor I was somewhat down on this ability, writing that "It’s powerful when it works, but given that Will is also your life-force, it’s a real drain when it doesn’t." But that was more than a year ago, and I am wiser now (I hope). Two addenda in an Angmar list: first, most Mordor armies don't impose nearly the resource drain that most Angmar armies will. An Angmar opponent's hero may have to pass a Terror check to charge anything, shrug off a Spectre test, bat away a Compel, survive 1-3 ParalyzesHeroic Strike against a Burly Cave Troll, have to boost their "6" in a duel back to a 6, and take a fate-save if they lose a 50/50 combat roll-off... all in one turn. And then rinse-and-repeat the following turn. Even if he rolls phenomenally well, that's a huge drain on his Will (and Might), and if he rolls badly, he may be out of both (or close to it) in a single round. Now stack a 50% chance that he'll have to spend double resources to do any--or most, or perhaps even all--of those things and... you get the point. Second, the dirty little secret about the Dwimmerlaik is that yes, if you Sap Fortitude all the time against every hero, the Dwimmerlaik will wink out fast. But the 15 Will available in his pool (we almost want to save the 1 to stay alive, of course) is probably more than the Might available in most opponent's armies (you need 5 heroes at 3 Might each to match it, which is pretty rare), and, depending on if he went with predominantly 3/1/1 heroes, may be more than his combined M/W/F stores. Practically, this often means that the mere threat of Sap Fortitude is enough to prevent heroes from spending Might or Will that they otherwise would spend without thinking about it. Every decision to Heroic Move, or Strike, or resist a spell (or more accurately, this particular spell... because I know more are coming...), is suddenly a complicated, mentally-taxing decision for your opponent because there's a 50% chance it'll either cost double, or not go off at all. And it's a decision they have to make first, before you have to decide anything. If they sweat it out for 2 minutes, then finally decide to commit to a Heroic Move, you can quickly decide not to do anything about it and move on (you could even say something ominous like "I guess I'll let that through... this time," and the head-games commence). In other words, while you can contest everything all the time, you can also save Sap Fortitude for the turn when you're bringing everything to bear on a single model--and make every successful courage test, effort to resist a spell, Might to win the duel, and fate save an enervating experience. So yeah... like the shade, you'll have more friends if you leave him at home.
  • Gulavhar, the Terror of Arnor: Speaking of models your friends will want you to leave at home... Let's get the eyesore stats out of the way first (there are a few). Yes, he's only Defense 5 which looks bad (and, if he's trapped and loses a combat, is bad), but you can get around that if (a) you're careful not to plunge him heedlessly into the enemy army without screening him off, (b) you're playing a good shooting army and charge him into combat (because good armies can't shoot into combat), (c) you make sure he's killing a steady diet of troops, which regenerates any wounds he's lost earlier in the match, and (d) you pop Heroic Defense if you've ended up trapped and surrounded by the enemy (which, again, you should try not to do if possible). His Courage is also equal to the number of wounds he has remaining, which means he'll only ever top-out at Courage 4 (no war horn option in Angmar), or Courage 3 in Harbinger range. So if you're fighting enemies with Terror you may want to send him at something else. Third, while he's Fight 7 (phenomenal), he doesn't have Heroic Strike, so make sure you've taken something else in your list to drain your opponent's Might (like a shade), lock them out of calling Heroic Actions in the Fight Phase (any wraith with Transfix will do), or make them auto-lose fights (Barrow-Wights). He's also on a 60mm base, which isn't terrible but does mean you may not be able to get into quite the model you want if the area around him or her is densely covered with terrain or models. Lastly, he has no Fate, so any wounds you take will (a) de-power Gulavhar, and (b) push him closer to death. Again, you can mitigate this by munching on troops (it turns out he's pretty good at winning fights against warriors), but a siege engine can auto-kill him so make sure you keep him tucked away safely until you can eliminate that threat (if the siege engine is good, it's as simple as getting into combat range). Are all those shortcomings worth it? Heck yes. Once you get used to playing around those limitations, what's left may be, point-for-point, the most dangerous monster in the game. You get the Monster keyword like Buhrdur, the 12" fly of a Fell Beast, the Strength 8 of Sauron, the 4 Attacks of the Balrog, and the Monstrous Charge of a Dragon, for a steal points cost. The result is 5 dice to win the duel if you charge at full health, and ten dice to wound anything you knock prone at Strength 8 (which will wound all but the most elite troops and heroes on a 4+ or better, or Hurl a standard S3 model a minimum of 6 inches, or Rend a S6 hero on 3s). Add 3 Might and 3 Will, plus Resistant to Magic, backed up by a wraith and/or a Shade and/or a Barrow-Wight, and no enemy hero is feeling safe. Lastly, he's both a Hero of Valour and a Spirit Hero, so he can bring along a large contingent of Orc Warriors and give them a Terror bubble and has Harbinger of Evil. Win-win-win.
  • Buhrdur, Troll Chieftain: Or, for the same points cost as Gulavhar, you can pick up Buhrdur and a full warband of orcs with weapon upgrade (he's also a Hero of Valour, so that's fifteen troops). He's a very different model from Gulavhar to be sure (for one, he's not a Spirit, so he doesn't provide nearby orcs with Terror, and for another he doesn't have nearly the threat range with just a 6" move). But he does have 3 Might, access to Heroic Strike (with a base Fight of 6), and is a Strength 6 monster (so he's Rending most heroes on a 3+, can Hurl S3 troops a minimum of 4 inches, and won't be knocked down by enemy cavalry). His special rule (he becomes a 6" banner for the remainder of any fight phase where he kills an enemy hero or monster) sounds good on paper, but would be better if it persisted into the following Fight Phase (if you don't have priority, your opponent just resolves his fight last, and his banner bonus never benefits you). But if you're looking to bulk up your numbers he's a hard-hitting hero who will bump up your Might and make enemy heroes think twice before they take him on (especially if you have a Shade or Barrow-Wight lurking), Buhrdur's your man! (Er, troll.)
  • Golfimbul: Admit it--you totally forgot he was an Angmar hero, right? So did I... I was literally about to send this off to the interwebs to be published, thinking I was done, and then stumbled on a random internet resource that reminded me, hey, there's this random named orc in the Angmar list, too! So here he is. His statline is slightly de-powered for an orc captain (only F3 and D5, to go along with S4, 2 Attacks / Wounds, and 2/2/0 Heroic Stats), but he is Courage 4 (pretty good for an Orc hero), has the option to Heroic Strike (not great from a base FV of 3, but certainly better than being capped at F3), and has a 5+ save against any wounds not caused by magical powers (because of his impressiver girth). The other thing he has going for him is his cost: at just 40 points (50 mounted), he's a very inexpensive hero choice for Angmar, with the option to take up to twelve models in his warband (Hero of Fortitude). His lack of Heroic March and -1 Defense leaves the door open for a generic Orc Captain on Warg to take his spot, but if you have the model and want to build something thematic, he's available in an Angmar list (and will pick up Terror, too, if he's within 3" of a Spirit Hero).


Unnamed Hero Profiles
  • The Shade: Spoiler alert--the Shade is so good / nasty that he topped not only our list of top-10 evil support models and our top-50 draft of evil magic/support models, but was recently nerfed hard to prevent other factions from bringing it as a one-drop impossible ally (which happened a lot, including the winning list at the Ardacon 2019 Grand Tournament). He's very much a one-trick pony: he can't fight (although with Blades of the Dead, he can wound things if someone else helps him win a fight), he's got abysmal courage, and no Might/Fate. But he's pretty hardy (Defense 8, 3 Wounds) and has 8 Will points to shrug off a spell or two from a mini-caster (a full-blown wizard will give him trouble, especially if it's a Nazgul or any other model with Sap Will). But 99% of the time, you'll use his Will for one purpose, and one purpose only: to make any non-Angmar models within 6" suffer a -1 penalty to their duel roll (friend or foe now--again, to discourage him as a one-drop impossible ally). If your enemy doesn't have any Might left (or is a warrior), they have to beat your duel roll to win the fight (which is another way of saying you auto-win the fight if you roll the 6). Which makes your orcs a lot tougher to deal with (and your big heroes, like Gulavhar, Buhrdur, or the Witch-King on Fell Beast, almost impossible to contain--and if you can contain them, you usually can't do it for long). Your greatest danger are enemy wizards (CompelSap Will, and Banishment in particular) or anything that can manipulate your courage to make you move that nasty 6" bubble away from the fight (like Wood Elf Sentinels, or Dead Marsh Spectres in an Angmar mirror match). You can mitigate the latter by bracketing your Shade with other friendly models (so the enemy has to move 2-3 orcs out of the way before they can move your shade. The former is much harder if you can't pull off the tried-and-true way of shrugging off any wizard for the entire game (roll natural 6s on all your dice every time to resist a spell, and you'll never suffer a spell or lose Will for resist tests). Realistically, your best chance is to go heavy-magic in your own list, so you can drain an enemy wizard by making him resist spells of your own. Again, taking the Witch-King (and his access to Your Staff is Broken) gives you a huge advantage here, unless you run into the rare wizard like Galadriel who doesn't have a staff.
  • Barrow-Wights: If the Witch-King is an auto-include in any Angmar army (and I think he probably is), these guys are your next buy, every single time. Think about it this way: you get a 3" Terror bubble for your Angmar Orcs, a Courage 6 Stand Fast!, Defense 7 with two wounds, and 5 Will points to spend shrugging off enemy AOE spells (like Wrath of Bruinen or Nature's Wrathor cast what may be the most devastating spell in the game if it goes off successfully (Paralyze on a freaking 4+). All for only 5 more points than a Moria shaman, who's got lower Fight, lower defense, only 3 Will--maybe less if you want to keep Fury up-- plus no Terror, abysmal courage, and whose spells are nowhere near as threatening. In other words, these guys are the second-cheapest spellcasters in the whole game, and certainly aren't the second-worst when it comes to threat. So for that reason alone, these guys are awesome. Here are some others:
    • Another benefit Barrow-Wights have over similarly-priced shamans? They're Heroes of Fortitude (still), which means they can lead 12 warriors. A full-warband of these guys can cost as little as 110 points (if you take twelve five-point orcs), or under 140 if you take ten orcs with weapon of your choice, a spectre, and a warg rider with weapon upgrade. That's 400 points or so for three full warbands, chock-full of Terror infantry, spectre shenanigans, and some supporting cavalry (who may have Terror as well), on top of three rock-solid heroes to hold your main battle line (leaving 200-400 points for other goodies, depending on the points level you're playing at). That'd be crazy good value for any regular army with normal captains, who don't have Paralyze. 
    • Factor the Paralyze in, and these guys are crazy, crazy efficient. 5 Will, with a 4+ cast, means you have a good shot at getting a single 3M/3W hero Paralyzed by the end of the game (and are almost guaranteed to get a 3M/1W hero Paralyzed by the end). Two barrow-wights can bring down almost any 3/3/3 hero at some point (and can even wear down bigger heroes with larger Might stores, or some built-in magic defense like Resistant to Magic). And 150 points of barrow-wights (with their 15 Will points) can hold off more than twice that number of points worth of heroes, either making them stay away from your army or punishing them when they close. They synergize really well with the Witch-King, because if your opponent has 8-10 Will points across his army for defending against magic, and you have 25 Will points across your army to cast magic (3/16/3 WK + two Barrow-Wights)... you're probably going to win. And if you have 40 points of Will to cast (3 barrows plus a 3/18/3 WK)... you get the idea. 
    • The other advantage Barrow-Wights have over traditional shamans (and certainly any shamans at their price point) is that unlike most shamans (and wizards), they don't have to successfully cast their spells--or even cast spells at all--to benefit your Angmar force. If an enemy hero won't charge your army because he doesn't want to take Terror tests to charge a six-point orc, fantastic! Your basic, fodder-for-big-heroes-in-combat-anyway troops get to beat up on troops (which they like to do). If that big hero stays away because he doesn't want to be Paralyzed (thereby losing his mount, and not being able to move or fight, and probably getting swarmed by your normally-fodder-for-big-heroes-in-combat-but-now-invincible-orcs-who-are-all-now-recklessly-calling-piercing-strikes-with-two-handed-axes), that's awesome, too! (And if your barrow-wights are patrolling a core objective or keeping the enemy away from a model you have to protect in a scenario, it may be game-winning). Even if you never cast a Paralyze, you're still contributing all those things that make Angmar better: your orcs cause Terror, you're changing the way your enemy wants to play, and you're a Courage 6 Stand Fast! if you break (although that's going to be harder for your enemy to do to you if he won't charge your battle line with his big heroes). And even if you can't get the Paralyze to land, successful casts that are resisted usually drain your enemy's heroes of their precious Will Points (opening them up to the Witch-King's spells in the late-game, or vice-versa if you pressure them with the Witch-King early on), and occasionally Might points, too. If faced with the prospect of spending 1, 2, or even 3 Might to avoid being Paralyzed, or taking the Paralyze to hold the 1/2/3 Might in reserve for later... almost every opponent is going to fork over the Might points to block Paralyze immediately. That's 1/2/3 Might points that can't be used later for Heroic Moves, Combats, or Strikes, to do battle with your shade, to resist the Paralyze(s) you're going to throw next turn, or to pass a Fate Save. Those are all huge, game-altering wins. So yeah... take Barrow-Wights (plural)--they're well-worth it.
  • Angmar Orc Shaman: So... normally shamans are great, and this one is great, too. But he's not great for the reason orc shamans are normally great, because this shaman doesn't have Fury (in fact, no one in Angmar does). Or Transfix, as it happens (although who casts Transfix with a shaman anyway, unless it's a desperate Hail Mary play?). Instead, he picks up two spells: Instill Fear on a 5+ (which you'd almost never cast with him as opposed to, say, a named nazgul or the Witch-King) and Wither on a 3+ (12" range). The Wither spell is fascinating, in that it's yet another very debilitating spell if it goes off (not quite Paralyze, but if you drop a big hero down from S4 to S2 over a couple of turns (maybe more if you channel the spell to drop him by d3 Strength), he'll usually struggle to kill things. The problem is that at most points levels, I don't think you'd want him over a Barrow-Wight, who costs the same amount of points (no in-built Terror, no Terror bubble, only 3W vs. 5W, D4 instead of D7, C3 instead of C6, and Paralyze is just so. dang. good.). You can take him on a warg, though... so there's that.
  • Wild Warg Chieftains: This guy gets overlooked in Angmar lists (which makes Tiberius sad). I think there are three reasons for this. First, Angmar has so many other attractive mega-heroes who are actually Monsters (any wraith on Fell-Beast, Gulavhar, and Buhrdur), plus Burly Cave Trolls. The Wild Warg Chieftain isn't a Monster and doesn't have Monstrous Charge (even though he's Strength 6... again, don't get Tiberius started on this). This means he can't do the cool things that those other choices can do--mostly Rend and Hurl, though at S6 he's immune to cavalry knock-downs (except from S7+ Monstrous Charge models) and hurls-into-his-combat (plus, as long as he's not directly hit by the hurled model, he won't take any wounds from the Hurl either, which is awesome). Second, his two Might points can only be spent on Heroic Actions that benefit Warg models, and for some reason, (a) most Angmar armies don't field Wild Wargs, and (b) Warg Riders don't have the Warg keyword, even though they're clearly mounted on wargs (again, don't get Tiberius started). In an army that's usually low on Might anyway (because Barrow-Wights and Shades don't have any Might), losing out on two potential army-wide Heroic Marches, Moves, or Combats seems like a major penalty. Sometimes it is (I end up for the most part saving his Might to win fights and wound, which isn't the worst thing in the world), although if you do run a decent-sized contingent of Wild Wargs you can do some cool-stuff with it (like using a Heroic Move to lock-down part of an enemy's battle line--maybe his cav models--while still leaving the rest of your army free to counter-charge after he does his regular move... Angmar very much likes to react). Third, he doesn't have Heroic Strike. Now, like Gulavhar (who also can't Strike), this isn't actually as bad as it looks if you build your army smartly (some combination of Transfix/Compel from the Witch-King, and a Paralyze goes a long way toward mitigating your need to worry about Heroic Strike). But given that you have Burhdur sitting there, at slightly higher points but more Might, Strike, Defense, and the Monster keyword, I think the Chieftain gets overlooked. The case for the Chieftain is that he's 3 Attacks at Strength 6 for 80 points, and unlike Buhrdur, he's got a 10" move (while still keeping that 40mm base). Which means he's a budget version of what Gulavhar and the Witch-King on Fell Beast give you: a way to get into high-defense Paralyzed models and dispatch them (6 dice to-wound at S6 will take care of most heroes in one go, especially if you have other supporting orcs in the "combat" that you auto-win thanks to Paralyze). He can't Fly, so you still need to worry about control zones, but a 40mm base that moves 10" is better than a 40mm base that moves only 6" (and, if you pull off the Heroic Combat ahead of time, you may be able to move up to 20"--again, assuming your opponent has some control-zone gaps--which is crazy). While your WK with Crown is usually going to be your primary damage threat (especially on FB), you want to have a second option in your army in case you hit another wizard and your WK needs to spend the match keeping him at bay (instead of fighting). Gulavhar is definitely better in that role than the Chieftain (but at 120 more points, he certainly should be), but the Chieftain and Buhrdur are pretty even second choices (once you factor in their 30-point cost differential) and the Chieftain is a much bigger threat than your only other option: an Orc Captain on Warg (a 10" move F5/S6/3A model is better than a 10" move F4/S4/2-3A). Lastly, he's a good option for dealing with something your run-of-the-mill orcs will struggle with: enemy cavalry. Elf-cavalry pose some problems (F5 + an elven-made weapon, and they wound him on 5s), but generic cav (F4 or below) are nice targets for him because he almost always wounds them on 4s (Easterling Kataphracts with Gleaming Horde up would be the exception), and even if they manage to counter-charge him the following turn and beat him in a fight, they can't knock him down (so no double-dice to wound unless they trap him). I wouldn't send him off alone (because he doesn't like traps), but if he's the point-man (or Warg) of your Warg Rider contingent, you can deal with most cavalry contingents pretty well. 


Warrior Profiles
Photo Credit: Millennium Games

  • Angmar Orc Warriors: Another profile we've talked about a ton in our discussions of Barad-Dur and Mordor (plus Isengard). F3, S3, and D5 (with shield) are all solid, dependable stats. Your Courage 2 (C1 in Harbinger range) is not, so you'll need some way to deal with enemy Terror models. My preferred solution is to take a larger-than-you'd-prefer contingent of Orc Warriors with orc bows than you'd prefer (think around 6-8 at 700 points), just so you have some way to force the enemy to come at you. Spears are also a good option--if you do manage to charge a Terror model, a spear gets an extra attack into the fight without needing to take another courage test. Both bows and spears are also useful additions in an army, even if the enemy doesn't have Terror. Even with a 5+ base shoot value, 6-8 bow shots over two rounds is probably enough to snipe an enemy hero's horse (or a few horses from under cav models in an all-mounted force), which can change how your opponent plays (and spears, of course, are always handy to have). And depending on the size of your orc horde you may be able to take quite a bit more than 8. A fifty-model Angmar force can get 15+ orc bows into a list--orc bows aren't scary on their own (S2, 18" range, 5+ to hit), but 10+ of any ranged weapon is a threat that your enemy will have to deal with eventually. They're also your only option if you want a banner in your army. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't need it... unless you're bringing the Shade, in which case you definitely want a banner to hunt that "6" that you need to win the fight (or "5," or "3," or "2"). Keeping your Spirit Heroes within 3" of our orc archers makes them cause Terror, which makes them harder to charge (upping their survivability). Backed by a Shade, they become extremely difficult to drive off objectives (it turns out that if the enemy has trouble charging you, and then can't beat you in duels, you tend not to die nearly as much...). Unlike Mordor and Isengard (and to a certain extent Barad-Dur), where generic orc warriors are almost always a part of your infantry army (mostly cheap supplements to your main-line troops), these guys are the mainstay of your Angmar battle line. Take lots of them, buff them, and watch them drive back enemy troops who would otherwise cut them to ribbons.
  • Wild Wargs: These guys are more expensive than your orcs (the same if you give your orcs two weapon options, like a shield+spear or spear+bow), but still pretty economical. What they offer over your orcs are S4 (so 5s to wound D6, instead of 6s), a 40mm base to clog up space, and 10" of movement so you can get places fast. They're still Infantry models, so cavalry on the charge will knock them down, at at just D4 they can die pretty quickly. They're also only Courage 2, so they're not a reliable answer to enemy Terror walls. But they're pretty good objective runners as long as your break point is high. I would strongly consider at least a few of these in every force, if you're building for balance across the 18 matched play scenarios.
  • Cave Trolls: We already covered these guys in our write-up on Moria, so I'll keep it simple: these are awesome in a scrap (with F6, S6, D6, 3 Attacks, and Burly if you take the hand-and-a-half hammer, which you should), and don't like anything that prevents them from scrapping (which is code for magic, especially Transfix and Compel, and occasionally concentrated ranged shots from things like crossbows), or mega-heroes who are F6+ with Strike and elven-made weapons. The bad news is that ranged attacks are still a problem in Angmar (your solution is the same as Moria's--put lots of cheap warriors in the way, and hope). They also don't have the Angmar keyword, so if you're bringing the Shade along, just be aware that your cave troll suffers the -1 duel penalty, too, under the new errata (although if you have plenty of Angmar Orcs or Warg Riders in the fight, you should be okay). The good news is that Angmar is far less worried about mega-combat heroes than Moria, provided you've brought the auto-includes (the Witch-King and Barrow-Wights). A cave troll by himself can be singled out by an enemy hero. Most heroes have no interest in charging a cave troll if they could be transfixed when their opponent moves next. And the few who do are probably second-guessing themselves if they might have to brush off 1-3 Paralyzes after the Transfix. Long-story short: your cave trolls are almost never going to be the most threatening thing to your opponent, even if they're doing the most damage to their army. That gives them a tremendous amount of cover to do what they do best: smash, rend, and hurl.
  • Angmar Warg Riders: I feel like my list of "auto-includes" keeps growing, but I'd include these guys on it. Why them over, say, a Burly cave troll who's likely to skate through without getting much attention from my opponent's heroes? Well, because they're substantially cheaper. 11 points base is really good value, and if you pay the point for the shield (for D5), you essentially get a Wild Warg, plus an Orc, who either gets the shield for free (7+5 = 12) or gets throwing spears for free. I don't personally bother with orc bows on them (I take orc bows on infantry), but if you wanted an option to kite you could do so (they won't be great at kiting, but if your opponent has no kiting troops of his own, bad kiting troops is still better than no kiting troops). The thing that makes them auto-includes for me is that cheap cavalry troops are your best defense against the bane of your orcs' existence: mass cavalry charges by high-fight Fearless / Bodyguard cavalry (i.e., Rohan). At just D5, your orcs can't cop more than a couple charges by Black Dragon Kataphracts (who are rolling 4 dice to-wound, needing a single 5+), much less the heavy-hitters like Knights of Minas Tirith, Mahud Raiders, or Iron Hills Goat Riders (who will all wound if they score a single 4+ on four dice). Counter-charging a cavalry model your own cavalry model strips them of their extra attack bonus on the charge (so they go from having 2 dice to win the duel to just 1), and more importantly prevents them from knocking your orc down even if they do win the fight (so they go from 4 dice to-wound to just 1). It turns out, your odds of surviving the fight go up substantially if you halve the opponent's duel dice, and quarter his to-wound dice. And that's before you factor in the additional attack you're gaining from your own cavalry model: your orc goes from 1 attack to win the fight to 2 with the warg rider (potentially 3 if your infantry orc is supported by a friendly spear), which is at least as good as he would have had otherwise (say, if he shields). Better still, you'll have at least 2 dice to-wound if you win the combat (something else you couldn't do if you just shielded), one of which is going to be S4 (enough to wound most horses on 4s, and most riders on 5s). Even better still (yes, there's more), if you can manage to trap that cavalry model with your charging warg rider, you may be able to skew the wounding dice severely in your favor: instead of having 4 dice to wound your shielding orc (versus 0 dice to wound if you prevail, because shielding), your opponent now has only a single die to wound if he wins... if you win, you'll have four dice to wound him). That swing--going from likely losing an orc to likely killing a cavalry model--is well worth 12 points. So take at least some of these guys every time... and if you're like me, you may find out that the more you play, the more you keep adding to your force.
  • Dead Marsh Spectres: And now my auto-include list is complete. They're not great in a scrap (S3 with Blades of the Dead is good, F2 and D5 are not), and as with the army bonus in general, the effectiveness of anything courage-related is going to fluctuate depending on what your opponent brings. If the only courage shenanigan you could run as Angmar was spectres, I don't know that I'd take them all the time. But they're not the only courage shenanigan you can run in Angmar, and as annoying as they'll prove to your opponent, the reality is that they're just nowhere near the top of the list when it comes to "threats your opponent has to deal with" (and if they are, as opposed to your nazgul, or your barrow-wights, or your Shade, or Gulavhar, or Burhdur, or your cave troll(s), or your cavalry models, or the fourteen orcs you have walling off the center objective... that's probably a good thing for you). The other thing they do is they help with the escalation (and eventually overload) of threat that you can bring to bear on your opponent. Every time a spectre targets your enemy army leader, or his banner, or that model he's tried to position to keep you from pulling Shagrat out of a fight with your Witch-King, your opponent cringes. Because if he flubs, you may create a seam in his otherwise well-laid plans. And that's part of the psychological game: like flubbing Terror tests, or failing resist rolls on spells, the outcome is ultimately in his hands, not yours. He rolls the dice to fall victim to the spectre, or not. And if he flubbs, he has to decide if he's spending Will, or Might, or occasionally both--with all the lost opportunity costs that come with doing that--or let his model make a full move, under your control. And he's making that decision in the midst of 5-10 other decisions he's already had to make, and 5-10 more decisions he'll have to make in the next round or two. And so the pressure builds. And builds. And builds. Until at last something breaks. Most of the time, it's your opponent's hero. Or his banner. Or her prize-runner. Or the final model who could contest or control the objective he needs to secure a win or force a tie. 


About those Legendary Legions

Just kidding... there aren't any for Angmar (as of this writing, at any rate). Centaur is still hoping for one, mostly because he wants a named Barrow-Wight with Might who can finally throw a channeled Paralyze...

(For the good of the universe, I hope we don't get one.)



Concluding Thoughts

I'll be honest--this section is usually something pretty generic about why such-and-such an army is great, and here's what's coming next, and don't forget to check out the links at the end that I've spent hours collecting just for you (I did do that by the way, and you should check them out--there's a ton of great community resources on Angmar). But I don't think you need much convincing that I think Angmar is great, I have no idea what we're covering next or when (I will consider requests, though), and I've already tipped the major resources you should check out above.

So instead, I'll say this: if you've never played Angmar before, you should really try it. 

Now I know everyone says that about every army, but I mean it in the not-cliche way. Because I think with this army in particular, there's a huge difference between knowing what it can do, and experiencing what it can do. To feel the safety that comes from army-wide Terror; the freedom you gain when you can move enemy models around at will; the confidence your generic orcs gain as they fight in the Shade; the impending inevitability as you fire spell after spell after devastating spell at a single, embattled enemy hero; the resignation in your opponent's eyes as you pick up ten dice to wound their paralyzed army leader; the tingling excitement you get as you unleash your flying monster, knowing your enemy has already moved and can't do a dang thing to stop it; and the sense of exhaustion and accomplishment you feel when a match is over, win, lose, or draw. Then, do yourself a favor, and flip the table. Give your opponent the experience of playing with all of Angmar's toys, while challenging yourself to endure the depths of its doom and gloom.

Like, do it now. Odds are you already have most of the models you need to proxy a game. You probably have orcs of some sort, wargs or warg riders (if not, any cavalry model will do), some Warriors of the Dead to stand-in for your spirit heroes, a Witch-King on Fell Beast, and maybe a troll from the Starter Box on a 60mm base. Throw something together, and see. Experience. Feel. Because if your first experience with Angmar is across the table in a tournament, you have no idea what's coming... even if you know what's coming. 

Just give your true friends a little warning first.



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42 comments:

  1. Great article, I feel like you really nailed the horror (the Terror?) of facing an Angmar army in full swing. The only things I'd maybe quibble at are some of your conclusions on the three Ringwraiths. I don't think the Witch King is obligatory at 500 points (though I'd agree at 700+), simply because he eats up so many of your points and can make it hard to get that overwhelming numbers advantage that Angmar loves. At 500 points you can easily field 4 Barrow Wights and almost fifty models, and that sort of list really does not need any help dealing with enemy heroes. Even Wizards are likely to be worn down by 20 dice worth of Paralyses, and that many Orcs and Wargs gives you so many more options than if you've sunk 1/3 of your points into a Ringwraith. He's obviously amazing, and probably an auto-include at 700, but I think he's a luxury beneath that.

    Similarly, I think your initial thoughts on the Dwimmerlaik were closer to the mark, purely because of the range on his ability. Needing to be within 6" of the enemy hero can be really tricky to pull off reliably, and unlike with your Barrow Wights you're really relying on them spending much of the game in that bubble in order to get value from the psychological element of it. If you only have the option to use his ability once or twice, then your enemy doesn't have to endure any mindgames when he's expending heroic resources. It's a really cool ability, and I really want it to work, but I've just never been able to get it to pay off in the way it should. Plus, Angmar is normally incredibly low on Might, and picking the only Ringwraith that doesn't bring any seems like a shame.

    Finally, I think the Tainted also deserves a little more credit for his ability to shut down Stand Fasts! It's obviously a niche trick that you can only use once or twice a game, but the payoff can be so incredibly high that I rate it for those couple of uses. If you're unbroken (and you usually are), then you can leverage it to totally devastate what's left of the enemy army with Break tests. Given that he's got Harbinger too to lock in those failed tests, it can be a huge swing. To my mind, both that ability and his Heroic Move blocking ability are the sort of powers that you only use a handful of times a game, but can totally win a battle for you when they go off. That raw power (which also means you only need him near the front occasionally, unlike the "basically every turn" requirement of old Dimmy), combined with bringing a couple of Might along of your own, puts him solidly above the Dwimmerlaik in my mind. I even think that you could contemplate fitting him in instead of the Witch King if you were looking to save points and had lots of magic already, though that's obviously a bit more dicey.

    That's all just from my own experience with Angmar, they're a varied enough army that lots of different models can find their niche. Really great article, thank you

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    1. While 50+ models with 4 Barrow-Wights would be scary, giving up Might can be a huge deal. While Barrow-Wights are good captains, whichever one is your army leader is going down (and going down fast). Your army will also be pretty slow (unless you take some Warg Riders) and will be dependent on how your opponent plays. Centaur used to run a very low Might Angmar army ages ago - and won quite a few games, so it certainly can be done. Personally, I think at 500 points, the Witch-King is a great choice, but you run him without a Fell Beast if you care about points (for 165, you can get him on a horse with 3M/15W/2F and a Morgul Blade). Assuming you have 2 Barrow-Wights and 10 Orcs in each warband (5 shields, 5 spears and shields), you're spending 128pts/ warband, giving you a grand total of 421 points, allowing you to get a banner and 9 more Orcs in the Witch-King's warband. While 32 models doesn't sound like much, at 500 points, there isn't much the Witch-King won't be able to deal with (even if he has passed on the Fell Beast) and many armies won't have good anti-Terror stuff.

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    2. Great observations. The points value thing is something I hadn't considered, and is worth thinking about. At 500 points, I think you're probably right that the WK is too much, at least if you take him anywhere near optimal. A 70 point WK--or 90 if you take him 2/10/2--is pretty good value for a Hero of Legend who auto-passes his Stand Fast, but obviously without the Crown and a lower Will store he won't be anywhere near the combat model he can be, and probably has to be a more reluctant caster. You probably need at least 150 to make him pseudo-dangerous (3/14/2, crown, on horse), which you could do with barrow wights (because they're so cheap): adding three barrow-wights would leave 200 points flat, which is enough for around 30 troops, which isn't 50, but is still going to be above-average for a 500 point force (and I expect most heroes in an opposing 500 point force won't be able to deal with the WK and four Barrow-Wights). At 600 points, you could add 40-50 troops, though (perhaps getting to 50 models overall), with more versatility.

      The other thing I'd say in the WK's favor is that while barrow-wights are awesome, at some point you probably need something that can kill, because (a) if you stack Barrow-Wights Paralyze eventually goes off usually, but since the resister wins ties there's always a chance it won't; and (b) even if paralyze does go off, if the enemy hero is S8 or above, your normal troops may not be able to wound him before he wakes up. The Witch-King is great because he can flex between god-tier wizard and very good combat model (especially if the model he's fighting is paralyzed), in a way that a barrow-wight cannot. But at lower points, I expect a cave troll backed by 4-5 barrow-wights could probably take on that role in a pinch. ;-)

      Your point on the stand fasts is absolutely correct, and also underrated. Even elf courage tests in Harbinger range is not a sure thing, and depending on the scenario even 1-2 failed courage tests could make a huge difference. On the movement aspect (which is mostly what I was looking at), ironically, I tend to think the Tainted makes more sense/does more for you in the Mordor list in the Angmar list (just like I like the Dwimmerlaik more in an Angmar list than a Mordor list), just because Mordor usually doesn't have army-wide terror, so moving second isn't really a benefit for it. Angmar does, so in some perverted way, you almost want the enemy to go first most of the time (especially if they are low-courage) so you can pick-and-choose the fights you want to take, and leave everyone else alone for a turn. You also, sort of perversely, want most armies to burn their Might to call Heroic Moves (because they don't want to be charged), hoping they'll fluff some Courage tests _and_ be down a Might point (which is a win-win). The Tainted being in the vicinity makes them less likely to burn that Might, which is great if you want to move first, but if I'm indifferent to movement order I'd prefer to get a Might point out of my opponent. Having said all that, there are plenty of situations where it'd be great to have just a single Hero move into combat before any of his friends do (much easier to surround and trap that way), and one of the least-damaging (to you) ways he could spend that Might. So yeah, he's awesome.

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    3. The Dwimmerlaik is the hardest to evaluate, I think. He's undoubtedly worse than he was in the previous edition (between the 6" range to his Sap Fortitude, and the fact that it now costs 1 Will, and only goes off on a 4+), and also has no Might, which as you pointed out isn't bad in itself, but becomes a compound problem if you've invested heavily in barrow-wights. Unlike the Tainted--who I agree, you could think about as a replacement for the Witch-King and probably be okay as long as you have some other model who can kill things for you--I don't know that the Dwimmerlaik is a good replacement for the Witch-King in an optimized list, just because that lack of Might (which affects his ability to cast spells, too, not just call heroic actions) from 3 to 0 is so huge.

      You're correct as well that any sort of bubble-effect is something you can play around. The Shade is an example that's often cited: if a shade applies an oppressive -1 duel penalty, just don't fight where the Shade is--fight somewhere else. That's great advice in theory, and if you can make it work in practice it's a great way to create an inefficiency in your opponent's army. But how easy or hard a 6" bubble is to play around depends, most of the time, on whether your opponent goes first or second. If you're moving first all the time, and you have to guess where your opponent is going to be, it's much harder to get it where you need to. Pinning your opponent will help with that, though (if you pin heroes X and Y before you move the Dwimmerlaik or the Shade or the Tainted or whoever, you'll know with 100% certainty that X and Y will at least start the shoot phase and Fight phase within 6" if I move him to position Z... and unless they call a Heroic Combat, pull it off, and then move outside of this range, they'll likely start the next move phase within 6" as well, so long as they can't back away out of his range if they lose a combat). If your opponent moves first, however, all their models will be locked-into their final position before you commit to moving your bubble effect piece, which means you know with 100% certainty where he'll need to be before you move him (and before you move the WK, or the barrow-wights, or any other supporting pieces you hope will be able to leverage his ability). And barring the Heroic Combat/backing-away thing, those particular heroes should still be in his range when the next move phase starts. At just 6", it's unlikely Sap Fortitude will cover _all_ of an opponent's heroes (unless you have one of those scenarios where you know exactly where everyone's going to end up, like Hold Ground), but if you're targeting one hero at a time to burn them out, you should be able to get them within 6" at some point (at which point, a tag-team with the WK / barrows / shade / cave troll / Gully / etc. should force them to use at least some of their stats).

      That's been my experience anyway. But like I said, I don't think opponents will complain much if you go in a different direction. ;-)

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    4. You definitely make a lot of good points. I definitely agree that that sort of level Witch King is the best way to fit him in at 500 points, though I personally can never seem to get enough value from the Morgul Blade. He definitely brings a lot to the force, and I don't think he's a trap choice by any means. In fact, I'd actually be quite tempted by 70 point WK (or maybe 80 with some Might) as a Barrow Wight alternative that also brings Harbinger and some more varied spell selections.

      My experience with the pure horde Angmar hasn't been quite as negative as all that though. Mobility isn't really a huge issue, just because Wild Wargs are so ridiculously cheap. I see them as basically a 1pt mobility upgrade for orcs, and you can easily fit in up to a dozen or so without impacting numbers at all really. They not only make objective games a breeze but are great for helping you leverage superior numbers into traps. I think if you have at least 6-10 of them, mobility isn't a problem.

      Might definitely is though, and you're totally right in that regard. It's mitigated a lot by numbers, Terror and Paralyse though, all of which mean you don't much care who moves first most of the time. Obviously still a big issue though, and one of the big draws for the Witch King and other Nazgul.

      I actually disagree around the risk of losing your leader though. Barrow Wights are shockingly tough (D8 and W2), so well and truly capable of surviving a little bit of rough and tumble. More importantly though, there's no reason to ever put them on the front line (unless they've run out of Will and you're willing to sacrifice them). Your leader in particular should always be well -hidden behind some of your 30-50 orcs. No smart opponent is going to send their big heroes into the middle of your orc horde when there's a prospect of them facing 3-4 Paralyses on the next turn. As such, your leader is only likely to end up in combat once your army is well and truly broken. And if your opponent has successfully killed their way through 30-50 orcs, then you probably have bigger problems than a victory point or two from your leader dying. In contrast, the Witch King is quite likely to end up on the front lines at some point or another. At ~150 points, you're probably reliant on him to kill some stuff, seeing as you tooled him up specifically to do that, and you likely have many less models for him to hide behind if he wanted to. As such, he's much more likely, to my mind, to actually lose combats and get killed.

      The one exception to all of that, where the Witch King is far and away better to a huge degree, is Clash of Champions. Even then, a cheeky Paralyse can save you, but it's a way harder sell than in other missions.


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    5. Definitely some great points there about the Tainted and Dwimmerlaik as well. I'd probably agree that the Tainted's ability is almost better in Mordor, though I do think it merits attention as a specific counter to Theoden's Riders, who I've always found tend to massacre my poor orcs when I play them. I think you made reference to him as a cavalry counter in the article, and that's definitely a good niche for him in Angmar.

      I also hadn't really considered the possibility of just bringing in the Dwimmerlaik within 6" of one enemy hero when you need it, rather than aiming to have him within 6" all the time. It definitely makes him a bit more tempting, though again that lack of Might is such an issue for an army like Angmar. When a decent Witch King is only 20 points more it's a real hard sell (probably true for the Tainted as well if I'm honest). The Witch King is also probably less likely to make your opponent start throwing your models at you, so he's maybe more efficient from a monetary perspective too.

      I will also say in regards to actually killing things that numbers and massed Paralyse make it less of a stress than it would normally be. When your opponent is outnumbered two-to-one and you have wargs hitting them from behind, your orcs can actually get quite a lot of kills through traps. Certainly, I trust a Barrow Wight and 16 Orcs to get a lot more kills than the Witch King. And while enemy heroes surviving a Paralyse can be an issue, they're probably out of Will now anyway, and thus ripe for round two. I also give most of my orcs picks to deal with D8 anyway, so it's just Thror and Durin who are really likely to survive.

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    6. Having thought about it a little more, I'm actually growing more enamoured with the idea of an 80 point WK at 500 points. You could run something like:
      -WK with M2 W10
      -3* Barrow Wights
      -35 Orcs (17 w/shield, 17 w/spear, 1 w/spear and banner)
      -5 Wild Wargs.

      You'd be losing about 4/5 models from fielding the WK instead of another Barrow Wight, but instead you're gaining a more versatile spell suite, a guaranteed Stand Fast! for a turn, Harbinger of Evil and two Might. Harbinger is absolutely huge for an army like this, and Might is definitely a very tempting pickup. The list is still at 44 models, which is pretty scary when they're quite hard to charge, and the magic output is absolutely terrifying. Only five wargs makes me stressed about mobility, so could maybe trade 4 orcs for two warg riders. Would still be 42 models, which is enough to get a lot of 2-on-1 combats against most lists. And 500 points is a great level to be going heavy on the terror, as most armies aren't bringing Courage-boosting tools until 700 or so. I think maybe you were right in saying the Witch King was an auto-include, he just needs to be built differently at lower points levels. What do you think?

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    7. Great points all around. If you see a lot of Rohan LLs, the Tainted is a really strong choice. Royal Guards are very dangerous to Angmar (especially if they’re equipped with throwing spears) because Terror doesn’t work on them until you eliminate Theoden (which you can do eventually, but it takes a few turns). They’re quite a bit easier to deal with if you can charge them first (no F5, no S4, no bonus attack/knock down, and of course no throwing spears). As powerful as the Dwimmerlaik can be, I agree he’s almost always the third wraith choice, unless you’re fully committed to a mega-resource-drain approach (BWs + Shade + Dwimmerlaik + something really scary, like Gulavhar, who’s almost impossible to deal with in combat if he’s fighting in a shade bubble within 6” of the Dwimmerlaik, with a barrow-Wight lurking). But that kind of army looks a lot more like a conventional death-ball army, and you certainly don’t have to play Angmar that way.

      Your 500 point list looks really scary. I love Wild Wargs also for their speed (a must-have in certain missions), and the Harbinger alone from the WK can make a big difference on its own (especially against C3 armies), in addition to the Might and spells. Even Drain Courage, which you can cast very reliably on just 1 die, can really mess with the “big” heroes you’ll likely see at 500 (cheap 3M heroes usually top-out at C5 or below, which is C3 of below with DC + Harbinger). With the WK being the AL, you may want at least 1F, though: with only one wound, he could be killed early on by someone like Legolas (a 2+ to auto-hit, with no in-the-ways, followed by a 3+/1+ to wound if he throws his 3 might at the wound roll, would do it). Legolas isn’t everywhere, but he is somewhere. :)

      35 orcs looks really great also—most elite armies can’t kill 20+ models in combat in the time you have to play 500 point matches, and with the Wargs you have the speed. The list is also a great core for scaling up to higher points levels, too. I tend to lean towards your second instinct about the warg riders. All-Cav armies are harder to pull off at 500, and you should outnumber them badly. But having at least a couple Cav of your own in reserve to cancel a couple charge bonuses per turn can be really useful (in our most recent tournament, tho Warg riders managed to keep a barrow-wight alive the whole game, despite losing priority and being charged in three successive turns by cav—it turns out they’re very hard to kill if the enemy only rolls 1 die to win the fight, and then 1 die to wound). As a cost-saving technique, you can swap out an Orc with spear and a Wild Warg (13 points) for a Warg Rider (11 points), give him throwing spear (12 points), and either pocket the 1 point you save or give him a shield as well and call it even (13 points). Doing it too much will reduce your break point, but if your Wargs manage to stick around it matters less (mine, unfortunately, do not). I probably wouldn’t spam them, but having a couple in addition to some Wild Wargs opens up some nice options.

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    8. Totally agree with all of that. I do wish that the Dwimmerlaik came with a couple of Might, because he would be so fun to include in a list like this. Alas, maybe next edition.

      You do make a compelling point around the WK maybe wanting a Fate point. Legolas is definitely a potential worry, and he could be quite hard to counter without some Fate. I wonder whether he could be shielded from LoS if I stuck the warg riders in the way (and hid them all behind the orc frontline). He could still poke his nose out and cast spells, and his Harbinger aura would be relevant still, but it could get very difficult to pick him out. Of course, if Legolas could get LoS then he might well die in a single turn, so maybe it's better to bite the bullet and ditch an Orc for a Fate point. I'd probably then want to ditch another for a third Might point to guarantee that it can actually save him though, at which point we're approaching 2x Barrow Wight prices. Hmmmm.

      Interesting thought about the Wargs, though swapping Wargs out for Warg Riders doesn't really improve my mobility at all. In fact, it may worsen it, because I'm more reliant on charging the Warg Riders into combat while the Wild Wargs are much happier just chilling on a faraway objective. If I were to swap out four Orcs for 2 Warg Riders, I'd retain 31 infantry, which is probably enough with Harbinger of Evil, Terror and a little cavalry support. 42 models total, which as you pointed out should hopefully save me from breaking. If I were to do this, would you recommend the Warg Riders have throwing spears or shields? The extra bit of damage is very tempting, as is the kiting, but maybe D5 is too important to leave out.

      I think I'll have to give this a playtest and see how it compares to the 4x Barrow Wight version. Hopefully my gaming partner doesn't bring a Bodyguard army

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    9. Two quick things: first, I think the marginal benefit you get from 2 Orcs instead of making the Witch-King 3/10/1 won't be very great - though this brings him closer to the cost of 2 Barrow-Wights, he's filling a very different role (long-range casting, Sap Will/Compel to make people more vulnerable to Paralyze, Harbinger to protect your troops).

      Second, Barrow-Wights are D7, not D8 - which means they're still tough, but not against S3 archery. While bodyguard could be bad, I think shooting-heavy armies (Lothlorien Wood Elf armies in particular) would be far more devastating. Plus, if you run into a Gandalf the White/Denethor team, Banishment will be painful for an all-Barrow-Wight hero corps . . . pays to have the Witch-King.

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    10. A Minas Tirith list might look like the following - only 24 models, but the numbers will be pretty even by the time Minas Tirith needs to engage:
      Denethor
      Gandalf on Shadowfax
      3 Knights with shields
      5 WoMT with shields
      5 WoMT with shields and spears
      1 WoMT with shield, spear, and banner
      8 Rangers

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    11. The Lorien prospect is even worse (24 models, everyone can shoot with S3 weapons or cast Command, everyone is Resistant to Magic):
      Galadriel
      Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
      7 Wood Elves with throwing daggers
      5 Wood Elves with Elf bows
      6 Wood Elves with throwing daggers and spears
      1 Wood Elf with throwing daggers, spear, and banner
      3 Galadhrim Knights with shields and Elf bows

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    12. @Sharbie Please do! Let us know how the play test goes. I’m very intrigued by the prospect of a horde-style Angmar list!

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  2. Definitely raise some interesting points. You are probably right around the extra Might and Fate points, two orcs probably won't make a huge difference. I actually have been playing the Wights as D7, just hit the wrong key. I think it's probably only that relevant against Legolas, as I think the Wights are best behind the lines where there's probably 2-3 In The Way tests to save them before they get hit. Still vulnerable to him, but that's true for most caster heroes I guess.

    Both of those lists are definitely really scary prospects for a list like this. To be honest, I think they're both pretty terrifying for horde Angmar as a whole. I've noticed in my games with variations on the list I shared above that to win I basically need to be able to neutralise my enemy's heroes and be able to overwhelm their troops with mine. Gandalf would be an absolute nightmare to neutralise (unless you get lucky with a couple of Paralyse casts), and it could be touch and go on whose troops get the win. I think saying the numbers would be even when you engage is a little harsh though; assuming the Rangers don't move, they'll kill a bit less than 1.5 models a turn if they aim for the spearmen and you keep the Wargs hidden. If it takes you four turns to get into close combat, you'll have lost an average of 5-6 models, and still outnumber the Gondor force 3:2. They'll have Shieldwall, but those odds feel doable to me. And I think 4 turns before the lines clash is probably a generous assumption, given they probably need to be moving towards you to claim objectives etc... Lords of Battle would be a whitewash of course, but that's playing a horde army I guess. I definitely see how having the WK along would make life a lot easier, being able to Your Staff is Broken! Gandalf would be a huge deal. Still leaves you with a leader that can die to a single Banishment (and doesn't even need it to be channelled!), but definitely a worry. I've found Barrow Wights aren't quite as stressed about Banishment as I expected them to be though. I've fought Galadriel LoL a few times (because she's universally present in Good armies apparently) and she often seemed to end up needing to cast Fortify Spirit instead to protect other heroes or herself from Paralyse, or to save her Will points to survive the magical barrage. That might be a product of how much she ends up on the frontline though, maybe a hero like Gandalf who's happier to stick 11.9" away would be able to chip away at them without having to take Paralyses back. Definitely not a model I'd be keen to face with an Angmar army anyway!

    That Lothlorien army does kind of give me nightmares though. I don't think I'd be too stressed about Galadriel (all she can really do to the 4x Barrow Wight list is move your Wights or banner around a bit, as long as you don't waste Will resisting her casts), but that many S3 bows and throwing weapons would do a number on my poor little Orcs if the mission let them keep skirmishing. I'm probably missing something (not having had that many games with the Witch King), but I'm not sure that he would change the situation that much. If anything, I'd now have a model that I couldn't let be Commanded/Immobilise, whereas before I was pretty unfussed about it. He could do the same back to her, but that doesn't really seem to help with the two dozen elves pelting you with knives and arrows. Not sure what I'm missing there. Either way, it's definitely a list that would scare any low-defense horde a lot.

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    1. The Minas Tirith list will get extra kills from Gandalf either through channelled Banishment (you can do it twice against this kind of list, after channelling Terrifying Aura), which will force the Barrow-Wights to either throw Will to resist it or die on the D3 roll on a 3+. Once one Wight is down, the line will be easier to deal with. To shrink the numbers, Gandalf can also get 1-2 kills per round with Sorcerous Blast (Angmar will need to pack in tight to benefit from their army bonus and if someone bounces into a Barrow-Wight, you can slow the advance, even if you don't wound the Wight. You're right though - the numbers probably won't be even, but they'll be much closer than it starts and the Orcs will be wounding on 6s without a banner to help them.

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    2. The biggest fear when facing Galadriel in the Lorien list has less to do with Command as it does Immobilize. Because the melee troops have throwing weapons, no one needs to stick around and fight. With some of the archers on horses, they can move around the lines and harass from behind (D6 riders on D5 mounts makes them resilient to any return fire). This means that only the archers on foot present a possible direction for you to charge - but what do you do if one of the Wights can't go anywhere? Well, he (and anyone who wants to stay with him) get shot up . . . the army can die in chunks pretty quickly. Of course, once the numbers are about even, those throwing weapon guys can charge, and now you're facing F5 Elves backed by spears with a banner...

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    3. Gandalf is great, don't get me wrong. And on paper, he's a very strong counter to Angmar. Banishment, Terrifying Aura, Fortify Spirit, Compel, Transfix, and Strengthen Will are all great tools to have against Angmar (or any list, really).

      Having said all that, I suspect Gandalf (or Galadriel, or any top-tier wizard) will still have a hard time in _practice_ against a list that features multiple barrow-wights. While all those tools are great to have on paper, you can only cast one of them per turn. If you cast Terrifying Aura on Gandalf turn 1, that's all he's doing Turn 1 (while the Barrow-Wights advance 6" and, if you have an Orc Captain in the list, potentially Heroic March 9"). If the Barrow-Wights deploy on the center line, Turn 2 may be your final turn before they're in Paralyze range (they may already be in it if they Marched turn 1--and may almost certainly be in it if they March again on Turn 2, then cast). That presents a conundrum. The smart play is to cast Fortify Spirit at that point, because the Paralyze is coming. But again, you only get one cast: who do you cast it on? Again, Gandalf is the smart play (if he's paralyzed, your odds of being able to deal with the Barrow-Wights--or anything else in Angmar's list--takes a huge hit, if for no other reason than no other models are getting Fortify Spirit cast on them). But that means no Fortify Spirit on your big combat hero (leaving him potentially exposed if you don't move first next round). If you cast Fortify Spirit on your combat hero the following turn, now you're three turns into the game without casting any Banishments, compels, or any offensive magic against the Barrow-Wights (99% of the time, that means they're at full Will still, minus any Will they've spent trying to Paralyze whatever you haven't protected yet).

      That means, realistically, you're looking at Turn 3-4 at the earliest when you start working on the Barrow-Wights. Best-case scenario, Gandalf has two Might left (after channeling the Terrifying Aura), which means at most two channeled Banishments. Assuming none of them are resisted (which is highly dependent on how many Will points you commit, how you roll, and how much the Barrow feels like spending to resist), you may get two of them off on turns 4 and 5, and assuming neither is resisted by their target, _and_ you don't roll a "1" or "2" on the d3 wounds either time, you may kill two Barrow-Wights over two turns. That's a fantastic "best-case" scenario... and if you're facing _three_ or more Barrow-Wights, even in the best-case scenario, it means there's still at least one Barrow-Wight left on turn 6, when your Might store (and perhaps also your disposable Will store) is gone.

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    4. The worst-case scenario is bad: Gandalf is down to 3 or 4 Will in his store by the time he casts that first Banishment (if you channel a spell like Terrifying Aura, I tend to think you'll spend the extra Will to make sure it goes off, so as to avoid a 2-Might sink, and you may do the same with at least one Fortify Spirit as well--Gandalf's Will store is at least in theory renewable, unlike his Might store). If there's any pressure on Gandalf from the Witch-King or other 12" caster on turn 1 or 2 (an Immobilize, unblocked, will prevent Gandalf from casting anything for the turn, so you _have_ to resist it on turn 1 or 2 if Angmar moves first, right?), you could be below half Will before you cast your first Channeled Banishment. Channeling that spell also presents some questions: obviously if you're channeling a spell (1 Might spent), you want it to go off. How much Will from your store do you spend to hunt the "6"? One? Two? If you spend two Will plus your free one on the first Channeled Banishment, do you have any left for the second one? Do you spend your final Might point to promote a 5-high to the "6," instead of saving it for the channel? What if you only roll a 4 high on your first channeled Banishment? And what happens if the Barrow-Wight throws four Will to resist and blocks it on the "6"? Spending that last Might point to Channel (or promote) also means any of Gandalf's own resist tests against Paralyze have to be resisted by natural rolls (i.e., an natural 6 to block a Paralyze cast on a 6), which is dicey to say the least.

      I guess my point is this: any spell-caster, no matter how much better they _are_ than barrow-wights, is going to struggle to actually "lock down" multiple barrow-wights because there's no "Expert Cast" special rule that lets you throw more than one spell per turn. Even Gandalf the White needs a minimum of four turns to take out three barrow-wights (Fortify Spirit, Banishment, Banishment, Banishment), assuming no whiffs on casts, no resists, no 1s/2s on your d3 wound rolls, no incoming spells he has to shrug off, and no whiffs on his own attempts to resist Paralyze. Even if he succeeds in all those things, that's four turns when Gandalf is doing basically nothing else--ignoring the Witch-King, or Gulavhar, or your orc horde, or whatever else--and the odds are that his heroic resources are so depleted that he won't be able to deal with whatever's left (typically you need both Might _and_ Will to deal with the Witch-King, Gulavhar, or Buhrdur, especially if they have some Might and Will left over--which, if Gandalf has left them alone for four turns, they probably have).

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    5. I think I agree with those points Rythbryt. My experience facing Galadriel LoL (who plays pretty similarly to Gandalf in this matchup I imagine) has definitely been that she struggles to whittle down the Wights without using too much Will/Might and exposing herself or other heroes to Paralyse. It's just so hard to take on three or four casters with only one, no matter how well-tuned that one caster is to the job. Once the lines clash, Gandalf is probably at risk of taking around two Paralyse casts, and likely a Your Staff is Broken! cast from the Witch King as well in that variant. If any of those spells get through he's basically out of the game. He can recover from Paralyse, but it will often take a few turns without any unengaged buddies to help out. And with a substantial numbers and mobility advantage, I'd say it'd probably qualify as an Angmar misplay to let him get revived by other models. So he basically has to block all three of those spells, at least one of which is likely cast on a "6." Fortify Spirit will definitely help, and I'd probably even say it's worthwhile channeling it in a matchup like this, but it still seems likely that you're going to have to burn through a lot of Might/Will reserves just to resist. And then you probably won't be able to kill them off in your turn because you don't want to risk channeling a Banishment when you need your Might to avoid being Paralysed or having your staff broken, so it will all happen again next turn.

      I think the main point there is not that Gandalf can't overcome those four casters singlehandedly. I think he quite possibly can, especially if he manages to fluke a Banishment against the WK early on. It's more that he's going to struggle to do that AND have much of an impact on the main battle. His Sorcerous Blasts would be a big deal, but he can't really afford to use them if he's being bombarded by magic and needs to fire back with Banishments to try to reduce the tempo of the enemy casting. Without Gandalf's help, I think that the Shieldwall is too vulnerable to being flanked, and the substantial numbers advantage of the Orcs and Wargs will probably set up quite a few traps unless you've got some amazing positioning skills to hold them off. My second game with this modified list was against an Iron Hills shieldwall with about the numbers of that Minas Tirith list, and they got dragged down once the orcs were able to bring their numbers to bear. That's despite having higher Defence, Strength and Fight values than this list. I also assume that when you said "without banner rerolls" you were presuming Gandalf would have knocked it down. That's certainly a possibility, but it seems unlikely to have happened early enough to make a difference if you're also trying to survive the Wights and WK.

      I see what you mean about the Lothlorien force though. Immobilise would be pretty annoying in concert with that massed bowfire and those throwing weapons, and I don't think any version of horde Angmar really has the tools to deal with it (except maybe if they include a captain, which is a little tempting). It'd definitely come down to the scenario I think. If the mission was something objective focused, then time spent skirmishing and whittling down the orcs could leave not enough time to reclaim the positonal advantage. On the other hand, Lords of Battle or To The Death would both be heavily tilted towards Lothlorien I imagine. I'm not too fussed though; almost every 500 point list has to deal with the fact that Rangers of Ithilien will massacre it in any killing scenario, so adding "bow heavy Lothlorien" to the list of armies that would trounce horde Angmar in those games is probably fine. There's nothing I can really think of to improve those matchups without substantially weakening other matchups, so I think I probably have to accept it. Unless you reckon a Captain would be worthwhile ditching a Barrow WIght for?

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  3. I did get a couple of playtests in today and last night.

    The first was with a slightly modified version that had a 150 point Witch King and two Barrow Wights leading 250 points of Orcs and Wargs. I took on a pretty brutal Minas Tirith/Dol Amroth list with Imrahil leading 18 pikes and Ingold with a frontline of Warriors of Minas Tirith and a few Knights. It was pretty brutal, ending in a draw. Imrahil duelled the WK briefly, then died to a Paralyse and some Orcs, but that F4 pike block with Shieldwall and no need to back away was pretty brutal. Held most of the objectives most of the game (Capture and Control), but once I got broken I lost a couple that had been well-garrisoned. The WK did okay (lowered Imrahil's Courage and duelled him for a turn, alongside killing some footsoldiers), but I really felt the absence of 50 points of Orcs. I realised afterwards that I should have been trying to Compel Imrahil in to get Paralysed, so part of the issue was probably me misplaying him. I'll try big WK again before getting too down on him, but an extra 8 models would have definitely been the better option in this game.

    The second match was with the list I shared above, with four orcs swapped for warg riders. My mate brought Erebor Reclaimed with Thorin, Dwalin and twenty dwarves. We played Reconnoitre, and that really gave me control of the game from early on. Turns out dwarves are slow, huh. My opponent did a good job of stemming the tide and massacring my orcs, but the floating Barrow Wights made it really hard for him to commit with Dwalin or Thorin. Harbinger of Evil was good value this game, saving me from a bunch of charges at key points, and Drain Courage had the potential to be amazing (though of course C2 Thorin passed every Courage test with ease, as is the way of things). In the end Thorin went on a rampage and mowed down the WK, but by that point I had 7 models off the board and was busy suiciding my remaining orcs into dwarven spears for a fairly comfortable win. The list performed pretty well, but was mostly just a mobility advantage for a scenario that demands it. It did go toe-to-toe with the dwarves fairly successfully though, and I think if I'd focussed on killing them rather than running for the edge I could have broken them fairly easily. Hard to tell whether I'd have been better off with another Wight and some more orcs or the WK, but his Harbinger was really useful. And having a couple of Might was helpful, not that either really did anything. One lost Heroic Move-off to stop Thorin charging him and one Heroic Strike afterwards, which I followed up by rolling no higher than a three on my four duel rolls. The dice are cruel sometimes.

    I can definitely say from these games (and a bunch with variations of the 4x Wight lists) that horde Angmar is fun to play though. Maybe not to play against, but Paralyse and Terror are one hell of a drug for a horde army

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    1. Just realised I used the word "brutal" three times in two sentences. I guess essay-writing season has really taken its toll

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    2. I also had another test today of the same army. This time it was taking on a Serpent Horde list with 15 archers, Suladan and the Betrayer, and a good mix of elite close combat troops and cavalry. It was To The Death, which was pretty awful for me, and things definitely started pretty badly. As identifed, the army has a bit of a weakness to range, and 15 bows with rerolls to wound managed to kill off 10(!) orcs before we even made it to combat. I was pretty sure I was doomed at that point, facing troops with a quality and quantity advantage, but Harbinger and Terror really came through for me. My opponent really struggled to get off charges, so my right flank was able to hold out for way longer than expected while my left overwhelmed his. In the end the game was decided by a turn in which I was one model off breaking the Serpent Horde. Both their heroes were paralysed, so if they'd been broken they would have been expected to lose around 7 models in the next turn, and probably would have been beneath 25% by the end of it. In the end though, I broke him one turn too late and got reduced to 25% to lose 6:4.

      The main takeaway from the game was that Terror and Harbinger is a really huge deal against Evil armies. The WK didn't do that much otherwise (mostly just harassed the Betrayer into spending Will on Resist rolls instead of his special rule), but Harbinger was so incredibly clutch that I couldn't complain. The game was also encouraging for my chances of taking on Rangers of Ithilien, who are definitely the scariest list around 500 points. This Angmar force took on an army with almost as much shooting power and much more close combat ability in a scenario where they could just sit and shoot, and it was a close game until the very last turn. That gives me hope that a more objective-focused game would be an Angmar win, which is very encouraging.

      Again, of course, the Barrow Wights were amazing though. Suladan spent the entre game on the floor, and the Betrayer couldn't use his ability for the last 4 turns because he was either Paralysed or desperately trying to avoid being Paralysed. The Wights even killed quite a few Haradirim with their Blades of the Dead!

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    3. That’s very encouraging. Serpent Horde may have the best gun line in the game, between cheap archers, the Rerolls, and 50% bow limit. I assume you didn’t have Heroic March either, which makes it that much more impressive.

      The Barrow-Wights are tailor-made to give combat heroes like Suladan a tough game, but the WK (even a de-powered one) or another wraith is probably the only model who can really pressure a support piece like the Betrayer, who otherwise might stay outside your paralyze range (or at least try to). Every Will you cheat out with him means less of him doing what he’d rather be doing.

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    4. It was definitely a painful few turns walking into the face of it, and definitely made me wish I had a captain. I was able to use cover a little bit to force him to move some of his archers around, but there's only so much you can do against 15 bows with rerolls. But once I got there it was really astonishing how big a deal that Terror made. I've mostly played this army against C4 or 5 armies like Gondor and Elves, and it's been more of a neat bonus than anything else. But against C3 men, it was the only thing holding me in the game. My opponent was getting very frustrated by the end, outnumbering me substantially on one flank but still ending up in one-on-one combats.

      You're definitely right in terms of harassing the Betrayer. I did manage to Paralyse him a couple of times though, his ability requires him to be pretty close to the frontlines to use and I often have my Wights fighting in close combat if there's nothing that's a huge threat to them floating around (or at least, nothing that I haven't already paralysed). I did wonder whether perhaps my opponent should have kept the Betrayer on one flank once the lines clashed so he could have used his ability and still dodged my Paralyses, but it did definitely boost his damage output having his whole army covered by the reroll bubble

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    5. Tiberius mentioned the channeled Fortify Spirit as well today, in an offline e-mail thread (because we're obsessed, I guess). I think that'd be a Might point well-spent (it only has to promote a single failed resist to a success to break even). At that point, though, I think you're probably settling in with Gandalf for a lot of single-wound Banishment attempts (rather than trying to channel them), which will take a long time to chew through multiple Barrow-Wights (and will have a very hard time chewing through the WK, especially if he has the crown and multiple fate at larger points levels).

      At just 500, I think your inclination to take a third barrow-wight over the captain is right, especially if you're hording out. I've done Angmar with just three Spirit heroes before, but if you lose one early-on in a freak accident (two random bow shots, a compel backwards away from your troops, or a sneaky Heroic Combat you couldn't thwart) it causes all sorts of problems. The added redundancy you get from 3 barrows (4 Terror bubbles if you need them, plus of course another 5 Will for potential paralyzes) is likely to be more useful more often, I think... even though those few scenarios where you miss the March will hurt.

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    6. I feel the need to be more charitable to Barrow-Wights everywhere - both lists I provided wouldn't enjoy the match either (and most lists aren't going to be that heavily focused on causing problems for Angmar). At 500 points, it's a good list and will make a lot of people think twice about how to approach it.

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    7. I don't think anyone really likes facing Barrow Wights; all it takes is for you to fluff a Resist roll and then your big hero is out of the game (maybe permanently if you don't roll well on the rolls to recover either). It's always a bit terrifying to know that one swing of bad luck can end your game then and there. Similarly, Terror everywhere will occasionally cause your opponent's C6 hero to fail a Terror test and stand still like an idiot for a turn.

      It's a lot of opportunities for something unlucky to go wrong, and that's never fun to play. Particularly in a tournament game, the more chances for things to go wrong the less you want to face the army.

      I think that's a good insight about the need for a fourth Spirit Hero Rythbryt. I would desperately like some March in the list, but I guess I just have to rely on the Wargs to do that job. I suppose that if I did have a Captain I'd probably be pretty tight-fisted with his Might anyway, so maybe it wouldn't be worth it

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  4. Good afternoon. I am a novice to this wargame system - I am painting my army (about 600 pts painted) and has already bought two another armies. I do like a system, earlier played Confrontation Rackham (10 years ago).
    We have a community in which not everyone knows English - can I please take your articles to translate into our language?
    I do like them, they are brilliant.

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    1. Hey there Meliador - glad you're enjoying the content. Instead of translating our work, I recommend you use Google Translate to get a rough translation of it for you (https://seniorplanet.org/how-do-i-translate-a-webpage-into-a-different-language/). Not only do we like having our work on our website only, but this should make your life a bit easier. :)

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  5. Would you recommend any Angmar list for beginner in middle-earth sbg?
    I only found 700pts lists on your blog, and I was thinking about 500pts with shade and 2x barrow wights

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  6. A Shade and two barrows is a good starting point—you’ll have 36 warrior spots, and have an advantage against most heroes you’ll likely face at that points level, provided you can stall them from getting to your heroes for a few turns (buying you time to paralyze them/bleed some might out of them with the shade).

    The “problem” is that the 300 points you have left over are almost too many for 36 warriors—even if you take a couple of spectres (30), four Warg Riders with shields (48), and a banner (25), the 197 points you have left amount to an average of just over 6.5 points for your remaining 30 models. I’d probably lean towards 6 Orcs with bow (36), 2 with 2H weapon (12), 5 with shields (30), and 13 with shields and Spears (91), which would give you some nice formation flexibility, a decent amount of hitting power, and a relatively high model count at 500 (39). You could also swap some of the 18 spear/shield Orcs for Wild Wargs, if you want even more speed.

    The other “problem” is that two barrows and a Shade have no Might, so you won’t have any way to contest Heroic Moves and such. That’s less of a problem than it’d be for most armies (between the Terror on most of your models, and the Shade encouraging most heroes to hold onto their Might to win fights), but if you like to have Might on the board you could swap in an Orc Captain with shield for some of your Orc grunts, and still have a model count above 30.

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  7. Than you very much for such a long response! Well, I am not convinced in 100% to make a list with barrows and shade, it was just my first idea - > As the winter/undead theme attracted me to Angmar.

    As i wrote before, I just started diving into the game. I definitely want to use shade, as I love the model, but I'm not sure what to use apart from him. From your post, I assume Dwimmerlaik or Witch King, would be a good choice? I also have 2 models of cave trolls, but As far as I understand, they do not work well with the Shade.

    My questions may be a bit trivial, but I cannot find any good source of army list for small points, so It's a bit hard to start the hobby

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    1. I don't think there are trivial questions when it comes to list building. :) There are a few lists buried in the comments here at 500 points - well worth looking into. My concern about 2 Barrow-Wights + 1 Shade is that you don't have killing power in your heroes. If you don't want to run someone like the Witch-King instead of a Barrow-Wight (still got that undead feel), you could run a Cave Troll or a Wild Warg Chieftain and STILL get good numbers out of your army:

      Barrow-Wight - 50
      4 Orcs with shields - 24
      4 Orcs with shields and spears - 28

      Barrow-Wight - 50
      Cave Troll with hammer - 80
      4 Orcs with shields - 24
      3 Orcs with shields and spears - 21
      1 Orc with shield, spear, and banner - 32

      Shade - 100
      2 Orcs with two-handed axes - 12
      4 Orcs with Orc bows - 24
      4 Warg Riders with shields - 48

      31 models, 1 Cave Troll + 1 Shade + 2 Barrow-Wights + 4 Warg Riders + 1 banner - that's a lot of stuff! You also have a handful of bows just because.

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    2. One other note: we're starting a new series on the Legendary Legions that have been released to date - those posts will have 500-pt sample lists in them to help you get started with them!

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    3. Thanks! Alright, could you also suggest something with Witch King?
      Well, as I am not deep into the game, I am not sure what Legendary Legions are. I checked on youtube, and it seems that they are 'some sort of certain lists' am I right? Could you please provide me a link? Is it on this blog?

      Thank you once more @Tiberius and @Rythbryt

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    4. There are several supplement books that have been released (Gondor at War, Scouring of the Shire, War in Rohan, and Quest of the Ringbearer). Each of these sourcebooks gives you a pared-down list of what you would originally have access to, sometimes adds units that you wouldn't otherwise get, and gives you new special rules. For example, the "Return of the King Legendary Legion" gives you access to Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, the King of the Dead, Heralds of the Dead (heroes released in the Gondor at War book), Warriors of the Dead, and Riders of the Dead. If you run the Legion, you have to take both Aragorn and the King of the Dead, but you get Anduril for free and Aragorn counts as a 6" banner for all Spirit models (all of the Dunharrow units). We'll be taking the better part of the next 6 months walking through them - it should be a good introduction to the Legions if you haven't picked up any of the supplements yet!

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    5. As for the Witch-King (who I think is an auto-include for Angmar), you can modify the last list I wrote up by dropping the Cave Troll and a Barrow-Wight along with a few guys (it's also not very expensive to collect). The power comes from the Witch-King, which will require some patience as you don't want him getting thrown in somewhere without help:

      Witch-King of Angmar on horse with Crown of Morgul, 3M/15W/2F - 155
      3 Warg Riders with shields - 36
      5 Orcs with Orc bows - 30

      Shade - 100
      4 Orcs with shields - 24
      3 Orcs with shields and spears - 21
      1 Orc with shield, spear, and banner - 32

      Barrow-Wight - 50
      4 Orcs with shields - 24
      4 Orcs with shields and spears - 28

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  8. this is a list i am thinking of running at a 700 pt event in a month or so and i wanted to see your input. i already know the list does have some struggles but ik the armies that are played around here and i personally think it is pretty solid all around as of now but definitely room for improvement as with any army list

    (L) Shade
    1 banner spear shield
    7 spear shield
    1 two handed
    1 bow
    1 spectre

    Shade
    6 spear shield
    2 two handed
    1 bow

    Wild Warg Chieftain (overlooked by most but i find him one of the best heros in the game almost put two in here)
    8 wild wargs (for sending to pair off spears)

    Barrowwight
    5 spear shield
    2 bow

    Captain Shield
    3 spear shield
    3 bow

    hits 700 on the dot. the hitting power comes from not any hero but is caused by it. i have all warriors with Picks so they can piercing strike at all times when needed and the neg 1 duel roll means they will be winning almost the entire time with the banner flowing around and the warg chieftain quickly taking out troops left and right. the barrow wight can help neutralize hero's and having two shades protects the lure of sapping the will because now there is 16 to sap on top of protecting your own hero from a paralyze the spectres are the bread and butter mainly have them in their for objectives which was previously the big struggle with evil. low courage but theses guys dont htey have better than elf courage then they have ranged ways of attacking via the fell light is in them so keeping those objectives protected isnt as hard and wont risk his own skin if played right, what is your thoughts?

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  9. So as a list, the list appears solid--46 models is a decent count for 700, there's a banner, you have the WWC and 8 wargs for speed, and Heroic March as well. A few things to flag would be:
    - Only 4 Might (only 2 of which, on the Captain, can be used to move all your models, as the WWC's Might only works on Wargs)
    - I generally prefer 2-3 spectres, but if you're strapped for models a single one is fine
    - I'm not sure you need spears and shields on all your orcs, but it does allow your line to be more flexible.

    Finally, a question: I genuinely can't remember if the Shade is a named hero or a generic hero (I don't have my army book on me at the moment). If generic, then the list is fine as-is, but if it's unique then you have 100 points to play with. ;-) Personally, I might lean towards a second barrow-wight and a Captain (or upgrading your WWC to the Tainted with the extra points) just to get some additional might and casting in, but the double-shade bubble does lend an air of inevitability to the whole affair...

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    Replies
    1. Shades are generic, so the list is fine as-is. Be aware that the WWC doesn't have the Angmar keyword and per the Erratas for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book, the Shade penalty will penalize the WWC and his Warg brothers.

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    2. i have 2 shades becaus ein my area its all magic or gil galads so i need protection from the magic so i just put in two to help with that. i might still do that though. I made a mistake when writing that in the first comment there is indeed 2 spectres and it is 47 models. im not scared of the might. the wiold warg will use it ASAP because according to the math he has a 54% chance of rolling a 6 every turn and then with a combat on d6 models he has a 60% chance of killing both so with that if he can indeed get two combats fully successful on say morranons he will gain 70 points worth back in just the first two turns let alone the rest of the game.

      @tiberius interesting point regarding the wargs. i actually just asked the faq email about that. In the rules it does say that every model has a army keyword and in one of the other FAQs it mentions how infantry warg models have the angmar keyword... idk though it will be played as -1 until stated otherwise for me tho.

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    3. The FAQs are here - you can find it in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings one (erratas are at the end): https://www.warhammer-community.com/middle-earth-strategy-battle-game-downloads/

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