The Stuff of Legends: The Black Gate Opens

Good morning gamers,

We're returning today to the Gondor at War supplement and covering (what I believe is) the most popular evil Legion from that book: the Black Gate Opens. Chances are that if you own the Battle for Pelennor Fields box set, you can all-but-run this Legion. All you need to get started is a Mordor Troll Chieftain, the Mouth of Sauron (highly recommend), and probably a Morannon Orc/Mordor Orc command blister - boom, you're done (roughly $250 for the core set and all this).

But how do you make this Legion work without the usual named heroes that a Mordor army has access to? And can you function without Fury? Taking us through this Legion is Rythbyrt - take it away man!

Legion Tax: 140pts

Rythbryt: As I may have told you elsewhere (and perhaps a few times already), my first tournament experience featured a Troll Chieftain, Kardush, Gorbag, and a bunch of Morannons and Mordor Orcs (roughly 25 models at 450, which isn't bad all things considered). If you're just starting out (like I was), the Troll Chieftain is a great hero to start with: he's tough as nails, quite scary, very forgiving, and a joy to play. Highly, highly recommended.

As it turns out, the bulk of my list was also (unwittingly) a fore-runner of The Black Gate Opens legendary legion, which consists (primarily) of a Troll Chieftain, supported by Mordor and Morannon Orcs. There are some important differences (no Kardush / Fury for one, and no 3 Might orc heroes for another), but if you love the Troll Chieftain as I do, he really comes into his own in this list. And while the unit choices look limited to start with, underestimate this list at your peril: it may not be broad enough to be "competitive," but properly built and run, it will hit almost everything like a truck.

Part 1: What do you need?

The only required model in this list is a Troll Chieftain. These guys are usually bargains anyway at 140 points, but this one picks up FIVE buffs for free: an extra point of Might, Will, and Fate (making him a 3/2/2 troll), plus Fearless, plus he becomes a Hero of Valour. Add that to Strength 7, Defense 8, 3 Attacks with 3 Wounds, the ability to Heroic Strike from Fight 7, and all the special boosts that come from being a Monster, and there are few heroes who feel confident about charging him.

That said, there are at least four other things you want to strongly consider adding to this force. I'll list them in descending order of importance:

• Numbers: The other army bonus gives your Mordor Orc models +1 to-wound when they outnumber an opponent in a fight (supporting models don't count). Depending on your user preference, you may prefer the cheaper, generic, S3 Mordor Orc Warriors (5-7 points when upgraded) or the more powerful, expensive, S4 Morannon Orc Warriors, both of which you can take in this list. But either of them is plenty good when you give them a +1 to wound (effective S5 and S6), especially if you give them picks (Mordor Orc Warriors) or axes (Morannon Orc Warriors) for free (effectively S6 and S7 if you piercing strike, in combination with the +1 to-wound bonus). But again, you only get this bonus if you outnumber your opponent in a fight, so numbers is important. Numbers also helps with one of your weaknesses: surviving break tests, and charging models with Terror. Orc Courage is notoriously poor, but so is the courage of Mordor Trolls and Orc Captains (the only other spammable profiles you have in this list). There's no option for an Orc Shaman, either, so if you have to charge into models with Terror, your best bet is to have tons of chances to charge them (which means more numbers). Throw enough dice, and eventually you'll roll that 9+ you need to charge that Harbinger wraith... right? Meanwhile, the best anecdote to failing break tests is just not to break, so having a strong model count pushes off the odds of breaking as far as possible (especially if you're using Piercing Strike to reach that effective S6 or S7 across your lines).
• Bows: Yes, I know what you're thinking: orc archers are terrible. And I don't disagree. But just to reiterate--you have NO Terror-bypass other than your Fearless chieftain. You also have NO cavalry (except for a few hero options), so most of the time you'll have a pretty slow-moving army, and no way to force the enemy to come to you... unless you take masses of orc bows. So while Mordor Orcs with Orc Bows may feel like a "waste" of points, they're not: remember, those terrible orc archers are potentially S5-6 in combat, and the rest of your army is S5-7 (plus you have at least one monstrous troll, maybe more). There are very few enemies who want to fight you in close combat... and if the scenario doesn't require them to do so, they probably won't. So think of those 10-20 points you're spending on 10-20 bows (yes, that many sounds like overkill, but they're orc bows--you need 10-20 of them to make the enemy react to you) as 10-20 points you're spending to (probably) force the enemy to charge you. In the grand scheme of things, that's not much an investment, right?
• A banner: In addition to needing this for VPs, you have a huge Troll who's likely to attract the biggest, baddest thing in the enemy's army (and even if he doesn't you may want to throw him into the biggest, baddest thing in the enemy's army). It's hard to say you "waste" Might when you fix a duel roll to win a fight, but if you don't have to spend the Might to win the fight, that's better, right? Generally, you'll want your banner to hug the Troll Chieftain pretty tightly--in addition to helping him win fights, it tends to stay pretty safe tucked under his armpit. Oh, and it helps your nearby S3-7 orcs win fights, too.
• At least one secondary threat (preferably, one who bring something else to the table besides damage): Most of the time, your games will be decided by how well your Troll Chieftain neutralizes the enemy's biggest hero, and how well your troops neutralize (or, ideally, "obliterate") everything else. But it's not a bad idea to have something else in your army that can deal with a second-tier hero, or beat up on troops if your Troll gets stuck (and at very high points levels, you probably want at least a couple of them). You have a few options: the Mouth of Sauron is the most flexible, since he's pretty good in Combat (F5, S4, 2 Attacks, 2/4/1 stats, and a hand-and-a-half weapon), plus you pick up the option for magic. Most of the time that'll be Transfix, which can take a lot of pressure off your Chieftain, since Transfixed heroes can't call Heroic Actions or make strikes. He's also one of the only cavalry options in this list, which can be helpful to turn off charge bonuses on enemy heroes. An Orc Captain on Warg can do that as well, for slightly fewer points, although with only Fight 4 (and no option to Transfix whoever he's fighting), there's a lower limit to the heroes he feels good about charging. Morannon Captains are still only Fight 4, but with Strength 5 (potentially bolstered by a two-handed axe or pick, for high damage, a two-handed mace or hammer for Bash, or a Shield to get to D7), they're more threatening in combat. Last but not least, you have the option for a Mordor troll (with the option of a Mordor War Drum to move all your models an extra 3 inches) or even a second Troll Chieftain if the points are high enough (because why diversify when you can double- or even triple-down?). 

Part 2: Why take this legion over "normal" allied forces?

This is pretty simple: there are only two reasons to take this force over a generic Mordor army, and they're the two army bonuses. If you don't feel you need an uber-Troll Chieftain (and truth be told, the generic ones are plenty scary), or if you don't plan on spamming Mordor Orcs, my advice is that you go the traditional Mordor route. Not only do you get every model in this army list, but you pick up a ton of utility pieces (Kardush / a shaman, any of the ten LOTR nazgul profiles (with or without Fell Beast), tons of 3 Might orcs with Strike, Black Nums on foot/horse with Terror, cheap Orc Trackers, Warg Riders, Great Beasts, even Shelob).

That said, the uber chieftain is an absolute boss (and very fun to play), and if you do run lots of orcs (as I strongly recommend you do), that +1 to wound is among the better army bonuses you can pick up for orcs. Plus it's one of the rare lists where you might actually see a Mordor Troll with War Drum.

This is also the part of the write-up where we tackle the legion's strengths and weaknesses, so here we go:

Weakness #1: Limited unit selection / limited cavalry / almost no Terror bypass. No surprises here: we've discussed all this already, so this is just to reiterate: there are some serious holes in this legion. Can you play around them? Sure. Most of the time. Against most lists. 

Weakness #2: The tension between "numbers" and "quality." I suppose most lists struggle with this (well, except Goblin-Town), but because this legion rewards you for numbers and offers you two options of Orc Warriors (one who favors spam, and the other who's pretty elite, especially if you start giving them gear), I think you feel this tension more in this list than you do in, say, generic Mordor. You want to outnumber the enemy in fights, but it's also hard to go with just generic orcs when you have S6 Morannons staring you in the face. The same goes with your hero choices: after the Troll Chieftain, your secondary options are a second Chieftain (who's expensive), a generic Orc Captain (who's cheap, but nowhere near as dangerous), or someone in-between (usually the Mouth). 

Weakness #3: It's easy to be slow and predictable. Unless you pack a War Drum, your army is basically moving only 6" per turn. And unless you take a large number of S2, 18" range orc bows that hit on a 5+ (which, for the record, I recommend you do), the vast majority of your army poses no damage threat whatsoever if the enemy is more than 6.001" away from you. The War Drum helps to a point--but of course, you can't charge on the same turn when you beat the Drum (plus the Drum affects all models within 12" of the drum at the start of the move phase, so you can't play with its timing the same way you can play with the timing of a Heroic March). So while it allows you to keep up with (most) cavalry, it may not help you actually catch them (unless they start your move phase within 6" of you). It also means ranged armies will get at least one more turn of shooting (because, again, you can't charge them in the same turn you use the drum). Oh... and it costs 130 points to field. So again: it's very easy for this army to turn into Troll Chieftain + mounted hero + foot hero + 30-45 orcs on foot with spears and shields. Which is a perfectly good army in combat... if you can get into combat. It feels like you have to be more deliberate to build a well-rounded army.

Weakness #4: Low heroic resources. There are three culprits here: first, you have to take the Uber Troll Chieftain--while he's awesome, he's also 140 points, so he's not exactly cheap. Second, the army bonus rewards numbers, and is so good, that you're going to be much more tempted towards troops than heroes in this list. Third, all of your secondary hero options only have 2 Might (Mouth, Orc Captains, Morannon Captains, even other Troll Chieftains), so even if you were inclined to go hero-heavy, it takes a lot of heroes (4 in total, minimum of 260 points invested) before you get to the 9 Might threshold. Other armies--like generic Mordor, or Minas Tirith, or Rohan--can reach that same Might threshold for close to a hundred points less.

In exchange you pick up:

Strength #1: The most dangerous troops in the game (for their cost). Morannons are already up there, with just S4 and D6: their Fight value (3) is fine, S4 is fantastic (the option for S5 with the axe is awesome), and D6 is super-reliable. Plus, you can field them for just 8 points with shield (or spear). Add a +1 to wound on top of that, and you're in "Half-Troll with two-handed club" territory, for a third of the points. And if that's still too many points for you, 6 points for a shield orc gets you the same hitting power as Hearthguard if you piercing strike (S4 with +1 to-wound) for almost one-third of the cost (albeit, with less Fight and much less defense :-P).

Strength #2: A bargain centerpiece hero. Again, no need to belabor this--troll chieftains are great, and this one is even greater for no added points cost. If you attend a standard points-level tournament (600-800), you can probably count the number of enemy heroes who can go toe-to-toe with yours on one hand. The rest of them will want nothing to do with him.

Strength #3: If you play Mordor often, it's something different. I don't mean to make it sound like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, but... as I said at the beginning, those two strengths--which are huge strengths--are the reasons why you'd run this over generic Mordor... unless you run generic Mordor ALL THE TIME and are looking for something different. In which case, it does offer you a new challenge. ;-)

(Okay, after working thru the army lists, I thought of a few more. :-P )

Strength #4:  There's (literally) nothing you can't crack if you want to crack it. S5-S7 is good enough to wound almost anything in the game on 5s or better (often a lot better). But... if that's still not enough for you, you can always get a Mordor Orc with two-handed pick. Those little buggers can piercing strike to S4, which doesn't sound like much... except when you tack on their +2 to-wound (one from the army bonus, and the other from the two-hander), you get to effective S8 against most things. The exception are things that are really low defense (you actually wound D4 on a 2+, instead of the 3+ that S8 would normally wound them on), and really high defense (although that 6/5+ you'd normally need to wound Sauron becomes a 4+/3+... which, for just 6 points, you can live with... provided you can charge him, of course). 

Strength #5: A horde worthy of Mordor. There's an argument to be made that Sauron perfected goblins (orcs, right? no? okay...). He certainly perfected Uruk-Hai (Black Guard > Uruk-Hai... if you leave their cost out of it). And I think he's perfected hordes. Because if you run this legion like a horde (and I have some sample lists coming up that do this), you can actually come up with lists that offer the melee killing power of something like the corsairs (no throwing weapons, though), on surprisingly durable troops who can cost quite a bit less (Mordor Orcs) or hit even harder for the points cost (Morannons). And all led by one of the more powerful heroes in the game, to boot.

(Can you tell this list has started to grow on me?)

Part 3: Legendary Legion Improvements

There's one obvious one: since this legion is specifically drawn from the films (see designer's notes) and it includes the Mouth of Sauron (who--spoiler alert--didn't last very long in the battle in the films), it should include at least the option for mounted generic ringwraiths on fell beasts. That would solve quite a few "problems" with the list--speed, magic defense for more than the few turns you'll get from the Mouth--while keeping with the overall theme of the list (it's a combat army that hits really hard). And, of course, a wraith on fell beast would be an awesome second-punch hero to pair with your uber troll chieftain.

Second, I do feel this legion is going to struggle against certain lists (specifically, Terror), which will cap its competitiveness at some level. So some sort of Courage bypass would be helpful. Adding the option for an Orc Shaman would be the easiest fix (hey, if the Cirith Ungol legion can take a shaman without breaking the lore, surely there was at least one shaman on the plain of Gorogoroth), but so would a smaller buff. My favorite would be a variation on the Warrior Pride rule from Far Harad, say, something like friendly Mordor Orcs within 6" of a friendly Mordor Troll who is in combat automatically pass all Courage tests they are required to take). That would incentivize taking not only a second Mordor Troll Chieftain, but also a generic Mordor Troll as well.

The last comment I'll make is not so much an addition, but a clarification about how spears work in this army (and specifically, do they get the +1 to wound bonus?). The Hordes of Mordor says: 

Mordor Orcs gain a bonus of +1 To Wound in a Duel in which they outnumber their opponent in the Fight. Note that supporting models do not count for either side for the purpose of this rule. 

Now I read that rule to mean that when you're calculating whether an enemy model is outnumbered, you don't count spear and pike supports (or Chittering Hordes). That makes perfect sense. What is less clear is whether a Mordor Orc with a spear gets +1 to-wound a single opponent, when that single opponent is engaged by two of your other models (one of whom is then supported by your spear).

I think the answer is "yes, they do get the +1 to wound," because (a) they're Mordor Orcs, (b) supporting models contribute dice to a Duel, (c) the opponent is outnumbered, and (d) the limiting language about supporting models talks about them not "count[ing]," and given that the core of the rule is about counting (whether the enemy is outnumbered), that seems the fairest construction to me. But I admit the wording is a little wonky: the rule talks about "models get[ting] a bonus of +1 To Wound in a Duel," but of course the rules draw a distinction between the "duel" and "making strikes" (so no one actually gets a +1 To Wound in a "duel"). And if the intent was to limit the +1 To Wound effect just to models who are engaged, there were a few clearer ways to say that.

That said, if they can just clarify if spears get the +1 to-wound against outnumbered opponents, I'll be happy. And if they do (as I suspect they do), that's crazy good.

Tiberius: I completely agree with everything that was just said - though I will note that another way to get past the no-Shaman problem would be to allow Orc Taskmasters to try to whip a friendly model and allow friendly models near the Taskmaster to pass Courage tests they need to take (increasing the radius if you kill your own guy?). Taskmasters don't get used much and this would give them more of a place.

Part 4: Army Showcase

Rythbyrt: I'm deviating from the normal order here, because I think it's worth exploring the ways you could build this army before delving into the strategies for how to make it work. So here are three traditional ways you can build this force (and one that's kind of crazy)...

Option 1: Troll-Heavy

550 Points, 20 Models (Breaks at 11 casualties, Quartered at 15 casualties)

Uber Troll Chieftain

• x1 Morannon Orc with Axe, Shield, Spear, & Banner
• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes & Shields
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x1 Mordor Troll with War Drum

Mordor Troll Chieftain

• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes & Shields
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• x4 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows

This is the "blink-and-you'll-miss-the-three-trolls" list. But there are three of them in there. 

This is a variation on a list that Tiberius discussed in our recent TMAT Talks episode on list building (I think the mix of orcs is different, but the concept is basically the same). The model count is very low (as one would expect in a 550 point list that features three 130-140 point trolls), and if you draw the right kind of army that can kill you from range, you'll have a rough go. But three trolls at 550 points will be a handful for basically any army you'll see once you close (and you should severely outnumber any enemy forces who can handle three trolls at once). 

As I mentioned above, the War Drum is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it should help in closing against enemy armies (and also means we don't necessarily need a hero who can Heroic March). But you also can't charge in a turn that you've Marched, so each turn you bang the drum is a turn you may very well be shot at (or cav can slip away, or charge you with impunity). You also can't play around with the timing of a war drum the same way you can with Heroic March (i.e., by moving some of your models before you activate your hero with March, so any models you activate first can charge). Speaking of which... there's also no option for Heroic March in this force (so you can't do Tiberius's plan of throwing your orcs and troll forwards 12" in a single turn, which is admittedly terrifying).

This list also features the things I think you need to make this list viable, at any "normal" points level: there's a banner, plus one-third bows (7 Orc bows). Seven bows isn't a ton, but it should be enough to encourage at least some armies to come at you. Lastly, you have 6-7 shields you can put in the front rank (depending on how much you need the banner's shield). That may not sound like much, but when you add six 25mm bases to three 60mm bases on the trolls (who are D7 or D8), you actually cover quite a bit of real estate.

Personally, I think 550 is probably too low a points level to run this many trolls. And we're very unlikely to leverage arguably the legion's greatest strength (that juicy +1 to-wound on our orcs, because we're unlikely to outnumber much of anything with just 20 models). But if you're fleshing this legion out for 800 points (which I think is closer to its sweet spot), and throw an extra 110 points at a couple of orc captains, plus 140 points for 20+ orcs (and maybe a second banner), I think you've got something really scary.

Option 2: The Burning Anvil

550 Points, 34 Models (Breaks at 18 casualties, Quartered at 26 casualties)

Uber Troll Chieftain

• x1 Morannon Orc with Axe, Shield, Spear, & Banner
• x4 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields & Spears 
• x4 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Orc Bows

The Mouth of Sauron on Armored Horse

• x5 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Orc Bows

Orc Captain with Shield on Warg

• x4 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Orc Bows

I trust you're familiar with the concept of a "hammer-and-anvil" force. You have a component that's tough as nails, and a component that hits really hard--the idea is that one group forces the enemy into the other, and you crush them between both groups.

Truth be told, I'm not sure this legion has anything that counts as a "hammer" other than the Troll Chieftain (and I'm not sure he's fast enough to count as a "hammer"). But D6 Morannons flanking a troll make a really nice anvil (and we have a ton of them in this list, considering we're just at 550 points). Instead, the anvil is really, really hot because unlike traditional anvils, this one has a ton of offensive punch to it.

This is the variation of the list that looks the most well-rounded, and also looks like your "standard" orc army. We have a mix of Morannons and Mordor Orcs to get the numbers up (if that annoys you, you can always pick one or the other). And we have plenty of all the wargear options you'd expect: spears, shields, and orc bows (plus axes and picks, with one banner).

The advantage of these particular units is flexibility, both in our heroes and our warriors. The Mouth on Horse and an Orc Captain on Warg give us the most options when it comes to second- and third-heroes in this force. Neither is the damage threat the Troll Chieftain is (or that a second Chieftain would be), but they cover some of the things he doesn't like (magic support from the Mouth, and both offer Heroic March if you need it / Might to call Heroic Combats if you don't). The option to knock-down whoever the Troll Chieftain is fighting (if the enemy is on foot) is a nice bonus, plus we get some situational speed for scenarios like Seize the Prize (which we may need). 

The warriors are built to fill multiple roles, too. All the Morannons come with axes (so they can piercing strike), shields (so they get to D6), and spears (so we can put them in the back rank if we wish--or into Terror causing models if we must). All the Mordor Orc Warriors either have picks, shields, and spears (same as the Morannons) or picks, orc bows, and spears (so they can support whoever's in the front-line or charge and wrap them for more damage at effective S5/S6). In fact, every single orc has a spear, to maximize the number of +1s to-wound we can get into fights (and into Terror models). Lastly, there are ten Orc Bows in this list, which is a credible threat especially against cavalry armies with D4 horses (we'll only need a 5+ to wound the mounts on most all-cav armies, and quite a few partial-cav armies).

Of course, if you wanted to increase the numbers slightly you could drop some of the spears on your Morannons, and/or some of the spears or shields on the Mordor Orcs, and go with more one-dimensional troops. But the numbers if you do that end up being an extra 3-4 models (depending on if you go for more Morannons or more regular orcs), which I personally don't feel is worth it (especially if your spear-supporting orcs can get that +1 to-wound--in which case, I think you probably want S5 or S6 on a stick wherever possible, especially if you run into a Terror wall).

Option 3: The Morannon Emptied

So I mentioned earlier that an 8-point Morannon Orc Warrior is already very good value before you stack the +1 to wound onto him (at which point he becomes insanely good value if he can get into combat). Same for regular Mordor Orcs--does anyone else get effective S5 for 5 points with no duel penalty against anyone? (yes, I'm ruling out Wildmen of Dunland with their situational Hatred (Rohan) rule). And the army listed above takes full advantage of that fact.

But... if you're looking to dial that insane value up to "11," we don't actually need shields or spears to get to S4-7, do we? No... actually, we don't. And while the Mouth is nice, he's not actually gaining anything from the Army Bonus... and it would be nice to get at least a few more models into this force, if we could.

So here's an alternate list that basically crams as many orcs as we can into 550 points... by dropping some "dead weight" in wargear to bolster our number of orcs (and to maximize our kill power):

550 Points, 42 Models (Breaks at 23 casualties, Quartered at 32 casualties)

Uber Troll Chieftain

• x1 Morannon Orc with Axe, Shield, Spear, & Banner
• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• x4 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields & Spears 
• x4 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x1 Morannon Orc with Axe
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks 

Orc Captain with Shield on Warg

• x4 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x1 Morannon Orc with Axe
• x1 Mordor Orc with Pick 

Orc Captain with Shield on Warg

• x4 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x1 Morannon Orc with Axe
• x1 Mordor Orc with Pick 

Now I'm not sure this comes across with the lists split up into warbands, so here's the army broken up by profile type:

• 1 Uber Troll Chieftain
• 2 Orc Captains with Shields on Warg
• 1 Morannon Orc with Axe, Shield, Spear, & Banner
• 10 Morannon Orcs with Axes, Shields, & Spears
• 10 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• 10 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• 3 Morannon Orcs with Axes
• 5 Mordor Orcs with Picks

That's a grand total of 42 models (which, with these three heroes, is the maximum we can field). If you're keeping score, that's significantly more than the "average" you'll see at this points level (somewhere between 25 and 30). And that's with a Troll Chieftain (who's an above-average hero for his points), two Orc Captains on wargs (so we get to 7 Might, plus we have some speed and the option for Heroic March), a banner for VPs, and a ton of spears and shields (on 21 of our 39 orcs).

The last three line-items are where things get interesting. We still have 10 Orc Bows, which isn't a ton, but it's probably more than you wanted to bring when you started reading this post (for the record, it's more than I wanted to bring, too). For what it's worth, it's also more than most 25-30 model armies will bring (and more than most 25-30 model armies can bring under normal bow-limit restrictions, unless they have heroes with bows). As always, these orcs are primarily there to force other armies to charge us (plus they help to slow down most all-cav armies). But they also happen to be very cheap S5-6 models in combat. 

I've chosen to pair those 10 orc archers with 8 other orcs who come with axes (3 Morannons) or picks (5 Mordor Orcs), and no additional wargear. 

Why? 

Because a S5/S6 Orc Warrior (who can get to S6/S7 if you piercing strike) for 5/7 points is plenty good without a shield. And because doing so pushes up our breakpoint by a whopping 4 models (from 18 to 22). That may not sound like much, but in practice it's a big deal: horde armies bank on the idea that if we substantially outnumber outnumber the enemy, and we hit them aggressively with superior numbers, it'll be a tall order for them to break us faster than we break them. That order is even taller if we're wounding everything other than the Army of the Dead (or Iron Hills Warriors in Shieldwall, or Vault Wardens) on no worse than a 4+.

Finally, I should note that while this army is designed to be a pseudo-horde--if our orcs die, they die, and so long as the casualty rate is "acceptable" we're good with that--we still have quite a bit of D6-8 (between the Chieftain and the 10 front-rank Morannons). So unlike most horde armies, which will be shredded if they hit mass S3 archery, this army is actually okay doing that (between all that D6-8, and four Might we can spend to March, we ought to be able to close with okay casualties). And against S2 bows, our additional 10 Mordor Orcs with Shields (D5) will also only be wounded on 6s (which is important against, say, the Rangers of Ithilien). So we can be quite a bit tougher than your normal 40+ model horde at 550 (spam Gondor with Denethor excepted, I suppose), while hitting a lot harder than they will. 

Okay, fine... one more...

Option 4: The Min-Max Bender

So remember how I said that 42-model list was the most orcs we could cram into 550 points? 

Well, I lied...

550 Points, 50 Models (Breaks at 26 casualties, Quartered at 38 casualties)

Mordor Troll Chieftain

• x5 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Shields
• x5 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks
• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes

Mordor Orc Captain

• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Shields
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks
• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes
• x1 Mordor Orc with 2-Handed Pick

Mordor Orc Captain

• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Shields
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks
• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes
• x1 Mordor Orc with 2-Handed Pick

Mordor Orc Captain

• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Spears, & Shields
• x3 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• x2 Mordor Orcs with Picks
• x2 Morannon Orcs with Axes
• x1 Mordor Orc with 2-Handed Pick

In my defense, I originally wasn't going to post this list (I thought springing it in a friendly game with Tiberius could be a lot of fun), but I found the concept interesting enough that it was worth spoiling the surprise. Once again, here's the composition by unit type:

• 1 Uber Troll Chieftain
• 3 Orc Captains (nekked)
• 14 Mordor Orcs with Picks, Shields, & Spears
• 14 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Orc Bows
• 2 Mordor Orcs with Picks & Two-Handed Picks
• 8 Morannon Orcs with Axes
• 8 Mordor Orcs with Picks

First off, I acknowledge we're making sacrifices here: there's no banner anymore, we don't have any D6 (even on our orc captains), no cavalry, still don't have any magic (or much magic defense), and the number of spears and shields are down significantly. The 42 model list is definitely more well-rounded, and probably more competitive.

That said...

Let's not bury the lead: this army has 50 models at 550 points, which is about what you'll see from any horde army at this size (for reference, the Goblin-Town list I'm looking at for 550 has 56 models total, and only slightly more Might). And the models we have are pretty competitive compared to what you'd normally see in a horde: they're all Fight 3+ (better than base goblins), D4-D5 (as good or better than goblins), we're up to 9 Might now, and we still have the Uber Troll Chieftain (who is better than the Goblin King in my view, and significantly better than any hero that a horde-Moria force is likely to have). And that's before you add the potential killing power, which is miles ahead of a standard horde army (every model can wound Goblin-Town Warriors on 3s or better, and Moria Goblins on 4s or better--and with Piercing Strike, there's the chance of getting to 3s across the board, and even 2s--Morannons vs. D3 Goblin-Town Warriors, for example, if the to-wound bonus is active).

[Side note: I've also added two of those Mordor Orcs with two-handed picks in this force--I wouldn't go crazy with these, but again--they're very nice for cracking open really high-defense models, and are super-affordable.]

Is this a one-trick pony kind of force? Sure. Will it struggle against certain types of armies? Absolutely. But as far as one-trick armies go, this one is perhaps the most lethal. Does any combat army want to face an army of forty-nine orcs who could be S5-7 and a Troll Chieftain? At 550 points?

Lastly, we could have crammed even more S5-7 orcs into this list if we just decided: to heck with it, let's throw as many orcs with bows and spears as we can into the list, and then add as many generic Orcs without gear as we have warrior slots and points. I got up to 55 models that way (with 17 orcs with bows and spears, I might add), but I walked away from it after I ran the shooting numbers against everyone's meta-check army: the Rangers of Ithilien. Turns out, if you have to weather three turns of shooting from forty-five S2 bows (which you likely will, even if you March each turn), the average number of casualties you'll take is a whopping 35 casualties... which is not only enough to break us comfortably, but is almost enough to quarter a 55-model army (the magic number is "42"--read into that what you will). So if we face the Rangers (or any other force with a lot of S2 shooting), we'll want a fair bit of D5 to protect us as we close--we'll still take a ton of casualties (17.5 on average), but let's face it: any D5-D6 army is going to take those casualties against that particular legion. And arriving with 31 orcs (or so) and a Troll is much better than arriving with 19 orcs (or so) and a Troll.

In other words, even when we're blatantly min-maxing, there are limits. :-P

Having said all that, if you're playing at 800 points instead of 550...

Tiberius: Rythbyrt pretty much covered what I was going to cover with the lists, but I did want to make a plug for the triple Troll list before we leave this section: 60mm bases are big - and as we said in the posts on Cirith Ungol and Ugluk's Scouts, getting more than one model into a fight is difficult (and if you're counting on getting that +1 To Wound on your engaged (and spear-supporting) models, you'll want to get as many doubled-up fights as possible. With Trolls on your flanks, you can engage multiple models with them and set up doubled-up fights in the fights to their right and left (just because of how your base denies enemies access to enemy models).

Getting vanilla Orcs (of the Mordor or Morannon varieties) are good for increasing your numbers - and I do think that having archers in your army is worth it (especially if you're running three Trolls, who add 3 S8 shots with 12" range). If you're running a few Trolls with your battleline, you can get more doubled-up fights than you otherwise might with fewer Trolls and more Orcs. Oh, and dealing with 3 Trolls is hard to do (especially for those heroes who are only S4 with no bonuses to Wound).

Part 5: Army Strategies

Rythbryt: For this section, I'm going to assume you've taken my advice and have built a well-rounded force that falls into one of the four archetypes I've laid out above. (If you ignore my recommendations, and build a pure infantry block with no shooting whatsoever, you're on your own.) Here's a few general strategies to think about if you're approaching this force for the first time:

Strategy #1: I think you want to think of this army as a horde, especially at low points levels. As you may have noticed from the army lists, I began thinking of this army as a small, elite, heavy-punching army with lots of monsters and heroes, plus some solid, very hard-hitting troops to support them. And to be clear, I think you can run the force that way (although I also think it works better at higher points levels, because at the end of the day, the bulk of your army is always going to be orcs, and orc armies like to be at least "average" in size). But as I've experimented with the force, I do think this legion works much better as a pseudo-horde, and maybe even as a full horde. Yes, in theory, it's nice to have a second--and even third--hard-hitting hero to take some pressure off your Chieftain. And at higher points levels, you can definitely squeeze that in. But you know what else takes pressure off your Troll Chieftain? Fifty dudes who are S5, running everywhere and butchering everything. When half the models in your army can reach S7 if they want to, that Transfix on your Chieftain just hurts less.

Strategy #2: At the risk of beating a dead horse: bring orc bows aplenty. I cannot overstate this often enough: you're so good at killing things that no experienced player will fight your army in a straight-up brawl unless you force them to (or unless they cause Terror). And the only way you can force them to fight you is (a) burn a ton of Might (and maybe bring a Drum) to blitz them, or (b) shoot them and shoot them and shoot them until they charge you. Look: you're going to be bringing Mordor Orcs anyway. So don't be Ebenezer Scrooge: cough up a point to give a third of them bows, and then make your other wargear purchases. It makes life so much easier.

Strategy #3: If you get to pick where the fighting occurs, favor open terrain with open formations. There are exceptions to this rule: if you're fighting all-cav, for example, you may not want to deploy in an open space (although an open formation may help you weather the storm). But in general, the entire strength of this legion comes from (a) your Chieftain, who has a huge 60mm base, and (b) your orcs, but only if you can get more than one of them into the enemy. So even if you run this as more of a standard "shieldwall" kind of force (half shields, one-sixth spears, and of course a third with spears and bows), your best chance to overwhelm the enemy is still to surround and trap them--in particular, collapsing their flanks and getting into their back ranks of spearmen. If the enemy hunkers down in difficult terrain, or shields his flank with a rocky outcrop or building (or even if you do the same), your options will be much more limited. Which, coincidentally, is another reason why you want that third of your army to have bows: if you don't have them, how else will you dislodge the enemy from an unfavorable position?

Strategy #4: Play to your units' strengths, but especially the Chieftain's. The orcs' strengths are pretty self-explanatory (find areas where you can get 2+ orcs into a single model, pile up supporting spearmen, and kill those enemy models fast), so I'll focus on the Chieftain. If he's your only Troll (and he will be a lot of the time, especially at lower points), you need to think thru how best to take advantage of what he does well. There's a lot of things he does well, by the way, but here are some of the big ones:

• Erasing good-to-very-good heroes: He will absolutely tear through mid-level Captain heroes (anyone F6 or below who either can't Strike or is out of Might), and if they're your stock-standard captain-level heroes (D7, with 2 Wounds / 1 Fate) he can potentially one-shot them (and probably will one-shot them if you can get a friendly Orc and support into the fight, or if the Hero is trapped in the middle of an infantry block.
• Your Chieftain (usually) has to live for you to win, so give him a bodyguard: Your Chieftain can weather most of the chaos of battle pretty well. What he does not like is being trapped, especially by multiple heroes who can Strike and are out of Might. Defense 8 with 3 Wounds / 2 Fate goes far, but only so far. So however you build your force, you want enough Orcs around him to pull enemy heroes out of his combat, and to protect his flanks and rear so he can't be trapped. An Orc Captain 
• Monster rules FTW: part of the reason the Troll Chieftain costs (relatively speaking) a lot of points is that on top of his phenomenal stat line, he's also a Monster which opens up all sorts of special options to him. At Strength 7, he should never need more than a 5 to-wound if you Rend (even against Defense 10 Sauron), and often it'll be closer to 3s. He only moves 6", but you can cheat around that a little with a well-timed Barge, especially if he's been pinned by a random warrior. You also have "Bolging potential," if you Barge into a juicy F6 or under hero nearby who hasn't called Heroic Strike (because you were fighting someone else and the hero was fighting a lowly orc--why would that hero ever call Strike?). Lastly, don't underestimate the disruption that a good Hurl can wreak on an enemy battle-line. A S7 Troll Chieftain will hurl a S4 Uruk-Hai a minimum of four inches (and up to six), which may not sound like much, but that's a lot of real-estate, especially if your forces have been crunching the enemy with their superior numbers. This is much easier to do if you have your Chieftain attacking a flank, of course. Which leads me to...
• Don't be afraid to send your Chieftain against the opponent's flank: There is some potential risk in this (a lot of times, big mounted combat heroes tend to hang out on the flanks because they're easier to attack, and those are the same heroes who tend to be the match of the Troll Chieftain), but a lot of reward as well. With the way the rules for Hurl work now, this is basically the only way to "bowl" over an enemy battle line.
• Controlling real estate: We usually think of a Troll Chieftain in the context of combat, and rightfully so: for the points cost, there's few other models as scary as he is. But part of what makes him so dangerous is that he's incredibly durable: even if he botches a fight, there are very few models who can kill the Chieftain on their own in a single go (which is why we have bodyguards near the Chieftain: to keep multiple heroes off of him).

Army Summary

Tiberius: In our next post, we'll be looking at one of my favorite Legendary Legions: the Depths of Moria. I wasn't convinced that the Balrog was a good model when the new rules dropped (he is 350pts with no actual Might, after all). But practice can change someone's opinions - and boy do I like my Balrog! Join us next time as we see exactly one named hero, find ways to fuel his domination with little green guys, and regret the loss of Warg Marauders. Until next time, happy hobbying!