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Monday, October 17, 2022

The Stuff of Legends: The Host of the Dragon Emperor

Good morning gamers,

If you've followed this blog for any period of time, you've probably picked up on something: I don't like Easterlings. I don't - I just don't. Or more appropriately, I didn't like Easterlings. I've heard others (like Matt from the Green Dragon Podcast) protest that Easterlings are not "just another version of Minas Tirith but with worse heroes" - but they are. They just are - or more appropriately, they were. With the release of Defence of the North, the Easterlings got three new heroes and two new warrior options - and while their depth chart isn't as developed as Mordor, Minas Tirith, Rohan, or Isengard, they got some key pieces to become a more competitive faction.

The chief among those improvements was the Dragon Emperor and to accompany this new (and very expensive) model was a new Legendary Legion that, in an astounding and brilliant move, didn't invalidate a "normal" Easterlings list. Yes, he'll probably show up in a lot of Easterling lists (and if you're running him, you probably take a good look at his Legion), but allying with Mordor or Khand (or just running them pure) isn't off the table.

The international community has seen this Legion run to deadly effect - especially in the hands of US-renowned player Matt Iverson - and so I've decided to set my personal biases aside, interview guys who love Easterlings (TMAT's own Centaur and Zorro, TMAT friend MinutemanKirk, and the aforementioned Matt Iverson), and give a fair shake to the Host of the Dragon Emperor Legendary Legion.

I will say that this self-proclaimed Easterling hater doesn't hate them anymore - and this Legion has single-handedly done that. Before anyone thinks I'm going to buy these guys, I will cite the $200 price tag on the Dragon Emperor as my primary deterrent to adding Easterlings to my already copious collection of models. Still, the Legion fascinates me - let's dig into what it does!

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Photo credit: Tumblr
Legion Tax: 170pts

In this Legion, you need to include the Dragon Emperor of Rhun, who comes in at a bargain 170pts. Heroes of Legend are usually not cheap (Theoden, Dalamyr, Suladan, and some builds for the Witch-King aside) and 170pts might seem like a lot, but considering that he comes with a banner and basically has a chariot mount, he's actually quite cost-effective. In the Legion, he doesn't pick up that many buffs - he gets a reroll on one of his dueling dice (two with his banner if his palanquin is still on the board) and gets to upgrade warriors in his warband to Black Dragon for free (nothing wrong with that at all - and when you factor the 36pts saved on the Black Dragon upgrades and the 25pt+ banner, he's closer to 110pts for everything else). Despite not gaining that much, he's the perfect centerpiece to your army and while slow and on a big base, he is integral to the success of (I'll go out on a limb here) any Easterling force.

What you ACTUALLY need to bring in your army is at least 1 Easterling Kataphrakt with war drum in the Dragon Emperor's warband and the other 17 slots should include Easterling Warriors and any Easterling Kataphrakts that aren't fielded by Dragon Knights. Yes, you could bring Rhunish War Drakes or Dragon Cult Acolytes in the Dragon Emperor's warband, but each model you bring that can't upgrade to a Black Dragon is 2 points of free upgrades you're foregoing - just do it.

Legion Bonuses

Unless you're playing at 350pts or below (more on that at the end of the article), you probably want a second hero - and most of the time, that's probably Rutabi. Rutabi is the next closest thing to Amdur this list has and while she might not be as punchy as a mounted Dragon Knight on the charge (who are scary in this Legion), she's your most resilient hero who can be embedded in your phalanx and can roll an outrageous amount of dueling dice (and reroll all failed To Wound rolls if her opponent is trapped).

In Rutabi's warband, you should take any Dragon Cult Acolytes you intend to have in your army (and if you want to assume their base size is 40mm, you could add Rhunish War Drakes too) - and any Easterling Warriors she brings in your army probably don't need to be upgraded to Black Dragons (as you can have Black Dragons from the Emperor's warband supporting with pikes to lend the higher Fight Value to their fights). Don't field Kataphrakts with her - you want them to get the free upgrade to Black Dragon Kataphrakts for sure.

If the points level allows, it's at this point that you need to decide between a Dragon Knight or Brorgir - the age-old decision between a budget beater hero or an augmenting caster. Brorgir is a great hero but won't be doing much damage himself to the enemy (unless you get a really lucky Tremor - or unless you credit kills made by a Bladewrath-boosted ally to him). Matt Iverson was quick to remind me, though, that the THREAT of a Tremor against mounted troops or bomb teams is real and can cause those kinds of units to play more carefully - so there's that. 

Dragon Knights are fragile (2 Wounds/no Fate with D6-7 depending on whether they're benefitting from the Gleaming Horde), but with 4 Attacks on the charge and 1-2 rerolls from the Legion bonuses and potentially the banner of the Dragon Emperor's palanquin, these guys can win fights and kill a lot of stuff - and are cheap enough that you could have two (or even three) of these guys running around. Minor heroes though they be, they're quite strong offensively if you can keep them alive until the fighting starts.

I make no mention of Captains or War Priests in this list . . . honestly, I haven't had a single list that fields them that competes with lists that omit them. I like Marching with a War Drum, so if you want to do that, do it - but I wouldn't (not in this Legion, at any rate).

Part 2: Why Take This Legion Over "Normal" Allied Forces?

Players across the world have loved the Easterlings for years - mostly for their aesthetics or for their lore and less so for their game play. With Defence of the North, you now have +3 hero choices (all great) and +2 warrior choices (as well as "official" sculpts for Black Dragons - though color scheme changes have been fine in years past) if you're running the normal Easterlings army OR you can reduce your profile list slightly to get some cool bonuses. Let's look at the "trades" you need to make.

Weakness #1: Lost Two Good Heroes
Prior to Defence of the North, the big heroes for the Easterlings were Amdur (a F6/3A hero who is mounted on an armored horse and has Blood and Glory) and Khamul (who can be mounted on a Fell Beast and cast magic, regaining Will for every model he kills). Both were solid heroes, though expensive and kind of underwhelming compared to other big-beater man-sized heroes (like any number of Men, Elves, and Dwarves) or to other Ringwraiths (like the Witch-King or the Shadow Lord). By running the Easterlings list normally, you can run the Dragon Emperor with Amdur (and maybe Brorgir to buff Amdur out) for devastating damage - but in this Legion, Amdur is assumed to be at the Pelennor Fields and so will be absent from your list. Khamul is also assumed to be away (in the films, he'd be at the Pelennor too, but in the books, he actually led the assault on Mirkwood). Either way, the Legion is accurate to the books and doesn't give you access to either of them.

Strength #1: Not Much Love Lost
The fact is you probably don't need the two heroes you lost. Amdur is great - he's basically an upgraded Dragon Knight who has a banner rule (that can be better if he kills the enemy army leader) and more resilience. The banner boost is unnecessary since you've got a 12" banner radius from the Royal Palanquin - unless Amdur was WAY out of range, his banner radius would be superfluous. Yes, he has more resilience than Dragon Knights, but Dragon Knights don't lose as many fights in this list because a) that 12" banner will probably affect them, and b) they get to innately reroll a die when dueling - so they're getting anywhere between 4-6 dice depending on whether you're mounted and on the charge and within 12" of the Dragon Emperor's ride. You're able to get roughly 2 Dragon Knights for the cost of Amdur - I think you'll be okay.

Of course, fielding 2 Dragon Knights is quite hard in this Legion since you have access to Rutabi - an infantry commander that was introduced in Defence of the North and is basically an infantry-only counterpoint to Amdur. While Amdur has a mount, a banner radius, and Blood and Glory, Rutabi is infantry, rerolls all failed To Wounds against trapped models, and has Master of Battle (3+). Together, they're great - but if you're down Amdur, you can probably get some good work out of Rutabi (who comes in cheaper than Amdur too).

There is no replacing a spell-caster on a Fell Beast (though Khamul's spell-casting is harder than most) - but with the brute force of high-Fight, high-Defense troops and solid combat hero options, you can probably weather whatever storm comes your way without the Fell Beast. I'm not EXACTLY sure that it's true, but it probably is.

Weakness #2: No Allies = No Punch
Easterlings have long been critiqued as not being able to punch through enemy lines (especially those of the D6+ variety - of which there are many). This critique isn't unique to Easterlings - it's also a common critique of Elves, Minas Tirith, Arnor, and basically anyone that's capped at S3. The Easterlings got some new units in Defence of the North, but only War Drakes (who don't have a model yet - and more importantly don't have a known base size yet, though 40mm is a pretty good guess) are good at punching through high-Defense lines. Without Amdur, your heroes are all S4 without the ability to two-hand (unless you run Easterling Captains on foot - more on them in a bit). Wounding on 5s is fine (D5-6 models), but against most combat-oriented heroes and monsters who you will wound on 6s (D7-8), these guys are going to struggle to kill things. Nothing new, perhaps, but at least if you were running Amdur and/or Khamul (or allying in Morannon Orcs, Mordor Uruk-Hai, or Khandish chariots), you'd have some options.

Strength #2: Loss Avoidance
While killing things is important, winning fights is a good way to make sure you don't die. There are generally speaking two ways to "make sure" (as much as you can in a dice game where nothing is sure) you don't lose a lot of fights: roll more dice and up your Fight Value. This Legion does both - not just on their heroes, but on their warriors too. A 12" banner is huge - basically everyone you have fighting is going to be within range of the banner of the Dragon Emperor (unless you're playing Maelstrom) and with the ability to get two models supporting, these guys can roll 4 dice in each fight easily (or 3 dice if you have a single model shielding). If you're sitting at F4-5, you've got a good chance of at least tying (if not beating) your opponent's Fight Value - and with more dice and a tied/higher Fight Value, you should win most of your fights.

Even if you can't convert these wins to kills (though with 3 dice, you have a roughly 40% chance of killing a D6-7 model), you aren't coughing up kills in return - so your opponent might be able to beat you in some fights, but you should have a solid block of guys at the end of the round ready to spread out and kill whoever comes. Over time, you should be able to kill a few models each turn - and so long as you only cough up a few losses, you should be fine.

One unconventional way to avoid losing fights is to cast Tremor with Brorgir. While Tremor may kill a model, anyone who survives will be prone, so if you can charge them, they'll die more easily if you win and won't get to Strike you if they lose. This may count as increasing the "punch" on the Legion/Easterlings in general (as would Bladewrath), but not enough in my book to invalidate the previous point.

Those are basically the trades - I think both lists are good, depending on how you want to play. Let's dig into a few changes that would be good for the Legion (at least in my book).

Part 3: Legendary Legion Improvements

I think the most glaring omission in the Legion is that Rutabi, while designated as the "General of the Dragon Legion" doesn't get to upgrade Easterling Warriors or Easterling Kataphrakts in her warband to Black Dragons for free. It's a little nonsensical to me to see her leading "normal" Easterlings when the unnamed Dragon Knights are leading Black Dragons around her. I can imagine the game balance issues of allowing up to 15 MORE models to be upgraded to F4/C4, but the boost makes them on-par in stats with Black Numenoreans (-1pt and no Terror), so getting these upgrades "for free" isn't that big of a deal. Most Easterling Warriors are paying extra for their Phalanx rule - and that means they're already a bit outclassed UNLESS they're getting 2 pikes supporting them (which a good chunk of the time they can in this Legion).

I'd also really wished that there was a reason to take Dragon Cult Acolytes and Easterling Captains more in this list. Acolytes have 2 Attacks each - and that SHOULD make them really good - but without Phalanx, they will get either 1 supporting model, 0 supporting models, or 2 supporting models in a loose Phalanx like I've recommended for Isengard, Lorien, or the Fiefdoms. Acolytes also have throwing daggers (which I love), but for 11pts each, they're +3pts over a Black Dragon Warrior with shield and are suffering from -2 Defense (which makes them glass cannons in the list instead of the highly-durable front line that most Easterling players want). In a normal list, paying 10pts for a Black Dragon or 11pts for a Dragon Cult Acolyte makes some sense, but here, it just doesn't.

And Easterling Captains - I mean, where to begin? Do you really need 2 Might for March when you can get a F5/3A Minor Hero for slightly more points and get up to 12 free points in Black Dragon upgrades (which offsets the increased cost quite a bit)? I mean, seriously, unless you REALLY want to move 12" in a single turn (which has its uses), you really don't need Captains in this list.

I think it would be useful if Acolytes were S4 when fielded in an Easterling Captain's warband - they're "beefy dudes" and being S4 would let them contribute to something that Easterling phalanxes can struggle with: killing someone when they win. Both Dragon Cult Acolytes and Easterling Captains would at least be contenders for a slot in your lists if this were the case, so I'm gonna recommend it.

Part 4: Army Strategies

There is no better place to begin with a discussion on strategy than the Dragon Emperor. To start with, we need to address my good mate Zorro's big take-away from running this list at the 2022 NOVA tournament (where I think he came in low-20s out of nearly 100 competitors): 27" of rerolls covers a multitude of sins. Yes, a 12" banner isn't unique to Easterlings, but anytime you have rerolls wherever you are fighting, you can have an advantage over your opponent. Furthermore, if you can bring 2-3 dice to the fight BEFORE the reroll, your ability to win fights goes up even more (especially if you have a higher Fight Value).

The Dragon Emperor gives you all these things in this Legion: first, he gives you a 12" banner radius on an 80mm model (which is slightly more than 3" wide), which means there's a 27" diameter of rerolls that will cover a good chunk of the board (~565 sq. inches of usable coverage - and a 4'x4' board has ~2300 sq. inches of space, so you're giving rerolls to any fight on almost 25% of the board).

The second thing the Dragon Emperor gives you is +1 FV to any friendly Warrior models within 6" of him (and can see him) - and since this is on a roughly 3" base model, you've got almost 170 sq. inches of Fight Value boosting area - that's a LOT of space. Since only one friendly Warrior needs to be in that range for the whole fight to be able to use the boosted Fight value, you can actually have your army spread out quite far and STILL have at least one warrior boosted to F4 (or more commonly, F5 if the model has the Black Dragon upgrade).

Both of these boosts are present on the Dragon Emperor regardless of whether you field him in an Easterlings army list or the Host of the Dragon Emperor LL - but the third boost is the kicker: you have 18 slots in the Dragon Emperor's warband that can be upgrade to Black Dragons for free. Yes, that's 36pts of free upgrades to make your Easterling Warriors non-Terror-causing Black Numenoreans for -1pt/model. Heroes like Bard can have a 12" banner (and 12" Fight Value boost), but there's a big difference between F2 Lake-town Militia becoming F3 (or the Master of Lake-town making F3 Lake-town Guard F4) and the Dragon Emperor of Rhun making F4 Black Dragons F5 (within 6") and giving them banner rerolls. Make that boost to F4 (and Courage 4 - which is also really useful) free and you've got some crazy good synergies.

But let's be clear about something: while the Dragon Emperor could field 6 Easterling Warriors with shields and 12 Easterling Warriors with shields and pikes to make a 6-file, 3-rank phalanx, he's far better used to field 2-4 Kataphrakts and 14-16 Warriors with pikes/shields to support friendly models in other warbands that DON'T get the free upgrade to Black Dragon. Heroes like Rutabi and Brorgir (who we'll look at in a minute) are great fun - but the warriors they field will have to pay for their upgrade to Black Dragon. Thankfully, if any model in a fight (Engaged or supporting) has a high Fight Value, it helps. So if the rear-most pikeman happens to be barely within 6" of the Dragon Emperor and has been upgraded to a Black Dragon Warrior, you've got F5 in the fight. There you go - all the benefits from the FV without everyone having to be Black Dragons!

These are the primary support abilities of the Dragon Emperor (and specifically his Palanquin), but we've got to acknowledge that there are some pretty great combat advantages to the Dragon Emperor too. He's F6 with 3-Might-and-Strike and an Elven-made weapon - and that's all independent of the Palanquin. The Palanquin helps him offensively with extra Strikes should he win the duel at S3 (or S6-10 if the model is affected by Bladewrath) and with a defensive barrier (akin to a chariot) against shooting attacks with D7 and 6 Wounds. In combat, your opponent gets to choose who he hits, but since most of the buffs from the Dragon Emperor come from the Palanquin, there's an encouragement for your opponents to devote combat strength against it instead of the Emperor too. He also has access to Heroic Defense with 3 Wounds/3 Fate, if you're worried about taking damage.

He also has an 80mm base . . . which can make charging what you want difficult, it can make it easy to get pinned in place, and it can make you very susceptible to models that debuff you (like Ringbearers and Bat Swarms, as Matt Iverson reminded me). Learning to use big monsters can be hard and the Dragon Emperor may not be a monster, but he certainly qualifies as tricky to use.

Our warrior selection options are larger than they were, but honestly, they only need two profiles: Easterling Warriors and Easterling Kataphrakts. Any Easterling Army probably has an Easterling Kataphrakt with war drum somewhere in the list - the upgrade is cheap, the speed is great (and not very restrictive on your movement), and you want fast units for a number of reasons, so why not include one for 29pts. In this Legion, they become even better, since they can be fielded in a Dragon Knight's warband to help trigger his Gleaming Horde rule (or in the Dragon Emperor's warband if you don't have a Dragon Knight) to get the upgrade to Black Dragon for free. Getting additional Easterling Kataphrakts can be good for triggering Gleaming Horde, so having 3 Kataphrakts OR 5 Kataphrakts and 1 Dragon Knight on armored horse can give you the punch you need to have a "good" cavalry contingent - and at 14pts/model (sans the 15pt drum), it's a pretty inexpensive D7 cavalry division.

You also want a huge pile of Easterling Warriors, since these guys can be F5/S3/D6/C4 warriors for 8-9pts/model if fielded by the Dragon Emperor or Dragon Knights - which is CRAZY good. I mean, it's Elf-level stats (sans the Courage) for sub-Elf-level costs - and very similar to Dwarves! We'll get to Rutabi next, but if she's in your army, her warriors don't have to be upgraded to Black Dragons - so long as she appears near a warband that has them. If your Black Dragons are mostly pike-armed models, you can have your front rank pushed further and further away from the Dragon Emperor and the F5 boost from the back rank will still be there. Yes, there are advantages to having Black Dragons in the front rank, but mostly I think they get their boosts from helping you from the rear (C3 and C4 aren't THAT different).

We now need to talk about Rutabi, because she presents an interesting trade option: Rutabi as a hero is great - she's got good heroic stats and is more resilient in heroic stats than any of the other heroes in this list except the Dragon Emperor (3 Wounds/2 Fate). BUT she's 110pts, which means that for the same cost as one F6/3A hero, you can get almost two F5/3A heroes on foot in the form of Dragon Knights. The Dragon Knights will only be able to field 12 warriors between them vs. Rutabi's 15 warriors, but all of the Dragon Knight's warriors will be upgraded to Black Dragons for free, while Rutabi would need to pay for those upgrades. AND if you were already picking up a Dragon Knight on armored horse, you make up most of the difference in cost between Rutabi and 2 Dragon Knights by dropping the armored horse from the third Dragon Knight . . . so yeah, Master of Battle (3+) and actually having Will/Fate is great, but so is Blood and Glory and being in two different places. So . . . there's a choice to be made - though I'd probably opt for Rutabi most of the time.

Brorgir is in an interesting position as well: for the same cost as a mounted Dragon Knight, he can bring +6 warriors and have magic to augment your army, but he does so without (again) the ability to upgrade units to Black Dragons for free. I like this guy - and I think he's loads better than a normal War Priest (who is very much a free agent except in really niche double-caster lists) - but I think in this Legion, you REALLY need to like Bladewrath (or Tremor) for him to have a place in your army. I could see you swapping him for a Dragon Knight, though.

Finally, we need to talk about bows. Yes, Easterling bowmen are nothing to write home about (4+ shoot value even if upgraded to Black Dragon with 24" range and S2) and this list can certainly be run as a melee-only list (maybe with magical support from Brorgir), but you lose a LOT of your agency against a skirmish force by not having archers. While I am a self-proclaimed NOT-Easterling player, the few times I HAVE dabbled in these black arts (most of the past month), I've been amazed at how useful bowmen in the front rank of your Phalanx can be. I gotta say, being D5 isn't always worse than being D6 - and having bows embedded in your Phalanx can make your opponent come to you. If these guys are standing still and shooting at the oncoming enemy, you can get quite a few bows at 700+ points - and every kill you get is a guy you don't need to try killing in melee. So I put it to you: try having bows in Rutabi's warband (or a few in the Dragon Emperor's warband) and see what happens. At lower points levels (where shooting damage can be game-changing), I wouldn't bother - the Dragon Emperor costs a lot and you'll be hard-pressed to get more than one other hero, so your numbers are going to be tight and your archery is going to be low. But at high points levels . . . well, at least give it a try before you knock my idea. :-)

Part 5: Army Showcase

At 500pts, just filling out the Dragon Emperor's warband is going to eat up most of our points (15 Warriors with shields/pikes and 3 Kataphrakts including a drum runs us 362pts), so once we add Rutabi, we're basically done. While I'd usually encourage some bows, I think at low points levels, you'd be better off skipping them and just relying on throwing F5 pikes into the enemy's face. Rutabi will be leading 4 Easterlings with shields, which requires us to drop 4 pikes from the Dragon Emperor's warband, but we end up with a very respectable 24 models (all of which are D6+):
  • The Dragon Emperor of Rhun [ARMY LEADER]
    • 4 Black Dragon Warriors with shields
    • 11 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 2 Black Dragon Kataphrakts
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt with war drum
  • Rutabi, General of the Dragon Legion
    • 4 Easterling Warriors with shields
At 700 points, if you want to run a Dragon Knight, we can get two Black Dragon Kataphrakts to escort the Dragon Knight and 40 total models (which is pretty good) - note that if you prefer Brorgir, you can transfer the Black Dragon Kataphrakts to the Emperor's warband, swap the 5 archers out of the Emperor's warband for 3 shield/pike guys, and downgrade the pike in Brorgir's new warband to "just a normal Easterling":
  • The Dragon Emperor of Rhun [ARMY LEADER]
    • 13 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 5 Black Dragon Warriors with bows
  • Rutabi, General of the Dragon Legion
    • 5 Easterling Warriors with shields
    • 8 Easterling Warriors with bows
  • Easterling Dragon Knight on armored horse
    • 4 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt with war drum
Alternatively, you could try the "no Rutabi/all Black Dragon" variant, which is not as good from a hero perspective, but makes your warriors as a whole much better. As was mentioned above, running 2 mounted Dragon Knights (with 2 Kataphrakts each) is awkward at 700pts (it fits much better at 600pts), but you can run three dismounted Dragon Knights (who are 3A models with potentially 2 pike supports and 1-2 rerolls depending on how close they are to the Dragon Emperor). This list features 39 models (so -1 model from the previous list), mostly because 3 dismounted Dragon Knights cost 5pts more than Rutabi and a mounted Dragon Knight - so you can drop a model and upgrade an infantry guy to get a third Kataphrakt. Is this going to be "better" than running Rutabi? I don't know - you're getting +1 Might initially (and could get more out of Blood and Glory), but you're losing the Master of Battle (3+) and quite a bit of resiliency across your Dragon Knights. Still, it's a build - and it wouldn't be any more fun to face unless you had a lot of casting/archery:
  • The Dragon Emperor of Rhun [ARMY LEADER]
    • 13 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 4 Black Dragon Warriors with bows
  • Easterling Dragon Knight
    • 3 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 2 Black Dragon Warriors with bows
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt
  • Easterling Dragon Knight
    • 3 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 2 Black Dragon Warriors with bows
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt
  • Easterling Dragon Knight
    • 3 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 2 Black Dragon Warriors with bows
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt
As I've already mentioned, I passed a list of questions on to my good mate MinutemanKirk and in addition to the comments he provided, he also sent along a list that he's been using - as you can see, he doesn't believe in the bows of the Easterlings (and this is probably a more normal Dragon Emperor list that you'd see in competitive play) and does believe in upgrading a few Warriors to Black Dragons in Rutabi's warband. He's also opted for Brorgir over a Dragon Knight and two Rhunish War Drakes (which he loves way more than me):
  • The Dragon Emperor of Rhun [ARMY LEADER]
    • 5 Black Dragon Warriors with shields
    • 10 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 2 Black Dragon Kataphrakts
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt with war drum
  • Rutabi, General of the Dragon Legion
    • 4 Easterling Warriors with shields
    • 4 Easterling Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 4 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 2 Rhunish War Drakes
  • Brorgir the Conjurer
    • 4 Easterling Warriors with shields
    • 4 Easterling Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 3 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
Our final list takes the list to what might be its nastiest extreme: a 350pt list with JUST the Dragon Emperor and his warband. At 350pts, your opponent is VERY UNLIKELY to have a heavy-hitter who can rival the Dragon Emperor (unless he's got Elessar - but even then, I'm not sure). What's more, we can either get 18 models with 3 Kataphrakts OR we can get 19 models with just the war drum Kataphrakt. I've opted for "just the drum", which gives you the flexibility to array your pikes as much as you want with token cavalry support (mostly used to turn off an enemy cavalry bonus) AND gives you one extra model and slightly more pikes. I've opted for no bows here - the points level was awkward and we were never going to get enough bows in the list to make it matter:
  • The Dragon Emperor [ARMY LEADER]
    • 2 Black Dragon Warriors with shields
    • 15 Black Dragon Warriors with shields and pikes
    • 1 Black Dragon Kataphrakt with war drum
Army Summary

And with that, this adamantly NOT Easterling player just tried his hardest to do justice to a very popular list that he very much dislikes. :-) I will say that with the release of this Legion, my dislike of Easterlings has diminished some, but I'm still not ready to take the dive into them - and will continue to take jabs at them as I find them available. If you've had success with the Host of the Dragon Emperor's Legion, let us know in the comments below! Until next time, happy hobbying!

27 comments:

  1. I wonder whether Rhunish War Drakes would look like those sculpts on the Palanquin - I think there is more reason behind it than just DRAGON emperor (and it would justify presumed 40mm bases). And Acolytes should get phalanx for free in any update/errata coming, if not permanent, then at least in the Legion

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    1. Phalanx on Acolytes would be good for game play, but doesn't fit into how they're thematically supposed to play (I guess). I'd find them a bit more appealing in a normal list - in the legion, they're just not doing enough for their higher cost.

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    2. throwing weapons in the second rank is always nice, especially with rerolls/ automatic hit; I wonder if they could jump over the first line a la elves over Iron Hills dwarves straight ito the fight (as their rules make that easier for them)...

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    3. Not a bad idea, though I believe that jump tests as-is only allow you to land in base contact with an enemy on a 6, so they'd need to have an addendum to their special rule that would allow them to land in combat on, say, a 2-6.

      And if they had that they'd be awesome and fill a great need for Easterlings as they could help to crack open an enemy formation.

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  2. "and with a defensive barrier (akin to a chariot) if he loses the fight"

    He doesn't give in the ways against melee strikes, does he? Only for shooting?

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    Replies
    1. Correct it's only shooting - this, complete aside, is part of why I prefer Khamul to the Dragon Emperor, though admittedly having 6 wounds on the palanquin (not to mention the benefits of the palanquin) v. the 3 wounds on the fell beast is quite nice.

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    2. Ah yes, it doesn't grant a chariot-like in-the-way (making an edit now), but what it DOES do is incentivize the attacker to make strikes against it to take away its buffs. Yes, you can try to "just kill the Emperor", but if you don't deal 3 Wounds past 3 Fate in one round, then you're stuck with the FV boost, the 12" banner, and potentially D6 extra strikes if you lose to him the following turn. No, it doesn't work like a chariot - but it does make your opponent think about hitting it instead.

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  3. I wish instead of the Legion-restricted free Black Dragon upgrades they would have just errata'd the Black Dragon upgrade to cost only 1 point. This would've helped the Easterling lists that didn't want to run the Emperor (or that wanted to run Amdur or Khamul with him).

    I don't like how if you want to run pure Easterlings you're very, very heavily incentivized to just run this LL. I can't see how the ability to take Amdur or Khamul could be good enough to pay extra points (no savings on Black Dragon upgrade) and lose an extra reroll on your Heroes.

    Luckily I'm not an Easterling player so I don't have to deal with this dilemma. 😂

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    1. Yeah I agree; having played Easterlings for almost 10 years, having a fell beast is nice and it opens up a lot of targets to danger that wouldn't be in danger from a Dragon Emperor army. That being said, you lose a TON for a hero that costs the same, and I'm not sure it's worth it to make that trade.

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    2. Pure Easterlings could get some benefits from running the Emperor with Amdur, but you're right - in general, you're probably better off with the Legion. Allying in Shagrat or a Khandish King on chariot can get you more hitting power than you'd normally get from the Legion - and the chariots/skirmish cavalry you get from Khand or the Black Numenoreans/Morannons you get from Mordor are comparably priced to Black Dragons in the Legion, so I don't know that the Legion is necessarily better than an alliance because it gets Black Dragons cheaper.

      I personally think the Black Dragon upgrade would be better as a 1pt upgrade to just upgrade the FV (leave the Courage out of it, rely on Fury instead).

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  4. Surprisingly the Legion is not a combined force from different armies (thet e.g. would not normally ally well). I hoped that Khand would get some love in it (and in DotN as a whole), especially that they have some specific roles. Of course Khand plays well with Easterlings normally, but some extra love here and there could be nice: some heroic actions or might points or special rules? One could always hope for a new hero or two ;)

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    1. Khand only got help incidentally - Rutabi is a cheap Phalanx leader and can get you free Heroics with Master of Battle, while Brorgir can level a group of models attempting to flank your cavalry (or Bladewrath your chariots for longer). But yes, it would have been nice for them to actually get something. :-)

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    2. Maybe Khand could get something with an expansion that's more focused in the South (since Khand is south-east of Mordor).

      Since Gondor at War didn't focus THAT much on Gondor (compared to War in Rohan's very clear focus on Rohan), we could get some more LLs for them as well... I can definitely see Khand, Gondor & Harad getting a three-way* supplement at some point in the future.

      *Or more like five-way, since Gondor = Minas Tirith + Fiefdoms and Harad = Serpent Horde + Far Harad.

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    3. Yeah i was also let down that Khand was Not Part at all in the recent Supplement. Since they are so tightly coupled with Easterlings, U fear we wont See them any time soon..

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    4. Given that Khand showed up in the old Shadow in the East sourcebook (and maybe the Harad book, but I don't think so), I expect they're not getting anything. :(

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  5. Low point easterling chaff now gets to f5. Which is the same as Eomer.

    Bang drum, call march, deposit f5 blob on objective. Yawn.

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    1. Drum, yes. Blob on objective, sure. March . . . not so much. :-)

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  6. This is the only Army in the game (LL) that I think is broken, although still not the best Army period. Giving away free Points has never proven to be a good idea in any wargame and the Emperor is much too good for his cost. I'd like to see him go to at least 190, probably 200. He's the biggest force multiplier in the game and can't be turned off/dealt with other than killing him or the Palanquin, both of which are extremely big asks.

    Guy is FV6 with an Elven Weapon, full Hero Stats, and a high Defense. If you lose the Fight you get curb-stomped by 9 Strikes and he's Resistant to Magic with In The Ways as well. It's possible to shoot the Palanquin down but it has 6 Wounds so you either need a very accurate shooting list or Siege Weapons. Very few things are likely to beat him in an actual Fight and because of the models position you can pretty easily reinforce if something scary gets to him.

    The army is Elves that are cheaper but don't shoot as well, with a better Army Bonus for the most part. They throw more dice in Fights, get a "free" Banner, and access to some other fun tech options.

    Easterlings seem far and away the best "Fair" Army, e.g. a list that just wants to fight straight up and not mess with tricks. I've seen people consider bringing Siege Weapons to deal with the Emperor but that doesn't seem like a good play and just weakens you against most other things. Defense of the North simply had too much power-creep in it and resembles a 40K Book more than MESBG. Only Fell Beings and DoE fit in the existing power curve of the game, even a fair few models besides the Emperor don't fit into the game.

    Hopefully the next FAQ pushes back on this quite a bit and the next Book fits into the game better. Beornings invalidating a bunch of armies is also an issue.

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    1. I thought the Emperor would be closer to 200pts as well - and if he were, you'd probably only see him in the Legion. At 170pts (and effectively less than that because of the free upgrades and mega-banner), he's a bargain in the Legion for sure.

      But, he's also only going to be in one place and incentivises his army to stay near him (ideally within 6" and acceptably within 12") and in most games, that kind of tether will mean trouble for scoring points. Armies that try to fight the Dragon Emperor LL on their own turf (rank and smack) are in for it - but armies that harass and evade, then sweep in during a moment of weakness can have a blast.

      One final thought: these guys want to hit F5 - and lots of armies have tricks to get to F5 (Elves innately, Boromir-Minas Tirith, Imrahil-Men-at-arms Fiefdoms, Riders of Theoden, just to name the big ones). While these can all be competitive in the right hands and in certain scenarios, they can also struggle. While there does appear to be some power creep in this book, these armies require a lot of skill to pull off (and can still struggle to beat factions like Angmar, certain Elf lists, and Uruk-Hai spams). Perhaps some changes are necessary, but I don't think it's that bad.

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    2. And I think the Beornings have really only invalidated the Rangers - they play a pretty different game than other factions (and will struggle to kill armies that harass instead of ranking up).

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  7. So one point I keep seeing people missing is that upgrading 18 units to black dragons for free is not saving you 36pts, nor is it adding 36pts worth of value.

    If you look at any easterling pike block, around a third of the warriors will have the black dragon upgrade. And, for the vast majority of engagements, this pike block will fight at F4 (or 5 with the Emperor) just the same as an all-BD pike block will.

    Sure, it gets a bit trickier to say how much value each BD model is adding when the fight devolves in to a scrum and not every model is supported. Same goes for if you get completely outflanked and the BDs get pulled out of fights (although if this is happening to you regularly, you've got bigger problems.) But I would argue that in most games, if I take a third of my warriors as BDs and put them at the back where they will be the last to die, I am very rarely hurting for the higher fight value where it's needed.

    So that is to say, I would be happy to claim that for a maxed out Emperor's warband, you're only getting around 12pts worth of value out of the free upgrades. Perhaps a few more given how important , but certainly nowhere close to 36pts.

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    1. That's fair - though it would be more accurate to credit the front rank guy as well if you a) need to charge a Terror model and you don't have Fury up, and b) if you're fighting a F4-5 model. If charging a Terror model, being C4 has its uses - especially if Harbinger is in play. If your front guy is F3, he'd need to Stab instead of Feinting against a F4 foe, but by being F4 with a F4 supporting model, he can Feint without penalties. So, if the Emperor has his warband on its own, the value is reasonably between 12-24pts for free depending on what you're fighting.

      But as I highlighted here, you could forego paying for the BD upgrade in Rutabi's/Brorgir's warbands, relying on a free Black Dragon from the Emperor's warband to join them and lend F4-5 to them. When this happens, your effective benefit gets closer to 36pts for free.

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  8. Interesting article. Much as I like the look of the Easterlings I'd have no interest in fielding their LL at all, especially given the sheer cost of the models involved, not enough interest return for the $ investment for me, not by a long way.

    I still do like the look of them though but I still no think that they are just crappier MT and, while I would probably pick up a Battlehost if GW ever do one for them, they would only ever feature as an ally in my Mordor list, just for the look, even then, I'd still be thinking there are other troops that do what they do better. Kataphracts or Morgul Knights? Not a hard choice for me.

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    1. I've was never a fan of the Easterlings - until the new Legion dropped. To me, like you mentioned, they seemed to be a more restricted form of Minas Tirith - and I think as an allied contingent into Mordor, they'd be just fine (their Kataphrakts aren't that much more expensive than Warg Riders and get higher Defense and lower Strength).

      The Dragon Emperor does change a lot though - he's got Imrahil's range on Boromir's banner rules, and if you field both of these heroes with a lot of Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth, you can simulate the Dragon Emperor's rules for sure. However, paying for either Imrahil or Boromir is roughly the same (or more) than the Emperor, so while Minas Tirith is trying to make up his value, he's pushing out Rutabi and more models. The Easterlings also get speed not tied to March with a 15pt War Drum, which makes their phalanxes much faster than the shieldwalls/loose phalanxes you'd see from Minas Tirith/Fiefdoms unless you _also_ pay for a March hero.

      All that being said, it's too expensive for me - I'll stick with Minas Tirith for now. :)

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    2. Good point on the Kataphracts, still S3 but D6 (that said, I only use Warg Riders with shield and throwing spear so they are normally D6 for me anyway) and C3. They get their own shield-wall (Gleaming Horde) and, as you say, the cheap banner.

      The baseline for me with Mordor infantry is Morannon Orcs, I suppose a bonus with the Easterling infantry is the ability to use pikes and shields, with a minor bonus that up to 2 can Give Way, not just one, but overall, I still think Morannon Orcs are more flexible. Yes the Easterlings have C3 but I'd still rather handle Courage tests by using heroes with stand fast bonuses (Shaman's etc) than rely on the difference of 1.

      I'll probably pick some up, more for the look than anything but I'm not desperate, as such I'd rather wait and see if they do a Battlehost and pick some up then for the free (and hopefully decent) hero.

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  9. my delivery services aren’t working for some reason. Do you know anywhere to get a good PDF of ‘Defence of the North’?

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