Fall of the Necromancer Inspired Lists: The Dark Denizens of Mirkwood Revisited

Good morning gamers,

Warning: There will be references to Spiders in this post (and a picture below). Mythopoeia, stop reading now - you've been warned!

In our third article in this series on the Fall of the Necromancer, we turn to an army that . . . doesn't have a Legendary Legion: the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood! Yes, we're looking today at an army of beasts - bats, Wargs, and SO many Spiders.

Photo Credit: Fall of the Necromancer 

The Fall of the Necromancer includes several missions that focus on the spiders (and other creatures) that flooded into Mirkwood and were fought off by the Elves who lived there. This means we have a fairly large collection of models to use in Matched Play:

• The Spider Queen (with her Broodlings)
• 2 Bat Swarms
• 6 Giant Spiders
• 6 Mirkwood Spiders
• 6 Fell Wargs
  

Since the Spiders are 240pts cumulatively, the Bat Swarms are 70pts together, the Spider Queen is 115pts, and the Fell Wargs are 48pts, you can get all of these models for 473pts - but I don't think this list wants to go in 27pts down into a 500-point game. So instead, we're going to ally in another army today and up the points level to 700 points - let's look at the list!

The List

The lists we have access to in this sourcebook are Azog's Hunters (with Azog as the only hero), the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood (with the Spider Queen as the only hero), and the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur (which has a ton of heroes in it - but requires the Necromancer or a Nazgul of Dol Guldur to ally with the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood). Because you get a Convenient alliance with Azog's Hunters and are Convenient Impossible Allies (thanks for noting that in the comments!) with the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur list, I initially thought that allying with Azog's Hunters was the way to go - and if we use the White Warg model that we have on hand (one we didn't use last time), we can get a pretty good list at 700 points (fast with plenty of models):

• The Spider Queen
• 3 Giant Spiders
• 3 Mirkwood Spiders
• 1 Bat Swarm
• 5 Fell Wargs
  
• CONVENIENT ALLIANCE - Azog's Hunters: Azog on the White Warg [ARMY LEADER]
• 12 Hunter Orcs
• 5 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 1 Hunter Orc with Orc bow and banner
  

700 points, 32+3 models, 6 Orc bows hitting on a 5+, no D6+ models, 1 cavalry + 13+3 fast infantry, 9 Might points

Do you know what I didn't like about this list? Without it's army bonus . . . why would we take Azog's Hunters? 50% bows with a 4+ shoot value (and potentially Morgul Arrows on everyone if we take Bolg) is really good - but we don't have Bolg, we can have a max of 6 bowmen, and with a convenient alliance, we don't have 50% bows with a 4+ shoot value (we have 33% bows with a 5+ shoot value). So . . . I decided to try my hand at a different ally an Impossible Alliance instead - and I ended up being much happier:

• The Spider Queen [ARMY LEADER?]
  
• 6 Giant Spiders
• 3 Mirkwood Spiders
• 1 Bat Swarm
  
• CONVENIENT ALLIANCE - The Dark Powers of Dol Guldur: Nazgul of Dol Guldur (Abyssal Knight) [ARMY LEADER?]
• 10 Hunter Orcs
• 3 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows
• 1 Hunter Orc with banner
  
• CONVENIENT ALLIANCE - The Dark Powers of Dol Guldur: Nazgul of Dol Guldur (Abyssal Knight) [ARMY LEADER?]
• 10 Hunter Orcs
  

700 points, 37+3 models, 3 Orc bows hitting on a 5+, 2 D6+ models, no cavalry + 11+3 fast infantry, 7 Might points

Azog isn't in this list, but we've picked up two of my most favorite evil heroes in the game: Abyssal Knights. It's taken me a while to come around to these guys, but with Elven-made weapons and F5 (with a bat, they can tie Fight Values with anyone in the game and have no disadvantage to the dueling roll), the ability to return from the dead when they die, and the ability to go from having one model in two places to having two models in one place is amazing.

By going with these guys, we've also done a few more things: first, we've given ourselves options for who our army leader is - do we pick one of the Abyssal Knights (who are unlikely to die if they save their Might)? Or do we pick the Spider Queen? Depending on your scenarios you're going to be playing, the decision might change - today, we'll assume it's the first Abyssal Knight.

What we've lost, however, is the Convenient Alliance. With an Impossible Alliance, we have two factions that can be broken independently in order to cough up VPs. A C4 Spider Queen isn't great, but C6 Nazgul are pretty reliable. The Dark Denizens contingent has 11-14 models in it (broken after they lose 6), but they've all got 2-4 wounds (except the Broodlings, of course), so killing them off can be pretty hard. On the other hand, there are 24 Hunter Orcs and 2 Nazgul in the Dol Guldur force, which means we need to lose 14 models for them to break (probably gonna be Hunter Orcs). Is it possible to break us? Oh, definitely - but it'll be hard - and all of our models are 2-3 Attacks each AND we have a banner. Pretty good, huh? And oh yes, we're actually Convenient - ignore all of this. :)

But we're getting ahead of ourselves - let's see what the list does.

Army Theory

Like our list last time, we have TONS of Attacks in this army. Like last time, we have a ton of Hunter Orcs, but this time we have a banner too (which should make them a bit more reliable in combat). We can also pair these Hunter Orcs with 2A F4 Giant Spiders (we have 6 of them) and 2A F2 Mirkwood Spiders (we have 3 of them), who might be able to Paralyze someone fighting a Hunter Orc. Oh, and we have the Spider Queen and a Bat Swarm to deal with things that are big and aren't Paralyzed - pretty nasty, no?

We also have some incredible shenanigans in this army - for scenarios where we need to get somewhere, we can send our Abyssal Knights to it in two different directions, which will require our opponent to divide his response forces into two - one of which will end up chasing thin air when one of my Abyssal Knights vanishes. We also have three Broodlings that we can spawn to race to objectives and hold them faster than our army normally should be able to. Ignoring the Bat Swarm (which provide a few more shenanigans), these options alone give us some incredible control options.

We're also fast - the Hunter Orcs aren't fast (and can't get faster), but with 10 Spiders (including the Queen), 3 Broodlings to spawn, and a Bat Swarm, we can race to objectives (or run away with objects) quite quickly. The army is fast when it needs to be - and without any reason to rank-up, can spread out wide to make the enemy spread out to fight us if speed isn't needed. Once the enemy prepares to charge us, though, we have fast units to race around the edges of the battle lines if we need it (which can make fighting our 2A Hunter Orc wall pretty terrifying).

Okay, let's dig into the scenarios!

Gameplay Strategy

Maelstrom & Object Missions (Pools 1 & 3)

Maelstrom missions require you to be somewhere at the end of the game - which could be in the middle of the board (Hold Ground), in the four quadrants of the board but away from the middle (Command the Battlefield), or tagging an objective marker and holding onto the one that actually matters (Heirlooms of Ages Past). No matter which scenario we get, we're feeling pretty confident that we can gain an early advantage thanks to our speed.

In Hold Ground, our Hunter Orc warbands can come on first, not really caring where they show up (so long as they are not far from cover if we deploy first or we're close to the enemy if we deploy second). The Spider Queen's warband can race to the center (and all three Broodlings can be within scoring range at the end of the first turn so long as we arrive near the center of any board edge). If we get our Hunter Orcs killed and the Spider Queen's warband hedges the enemy away from the center, we can win by letting the scenario time out. Since we're an Impossible Alliance, we can't rely on our Abyssal Knights keeping our Spiders and such on the board with Stand Fasts, but if we keep Might on the Spider Queen (or if we can just keep the two Abyssal Knights alive), then we have a good chance of keeping enough models in the center to win the game. Thanks to being Convenient Allies, we can count on the Abyssal Knights to keep our C2 warriors from both armies around in the center to win the game.

In Command the Battlefield, it's not hard for us to get models deep into each quadrant, but in order to win, we'll need our Hunter Orc warbands to drive our opponent's army into one quadrant (maybe two). Our Bat Swarm and Spiders (including the Spider Queen) will probably need to support the Hunter Orc assault, but our Broodlings and one Abyssal Knight should focus on getting to the other quadrants, staying near the centerline of each board edge if we can (so we can pop back over to another quadrant if someone flees).

In Heirlooms of Ages Past, we want our objective markers to be deep in the board so our Broodlings can hit them on the first turn no matter where they arrive - and ideally we can dig up other locations with our Spiders or Bat Swarm. Whoever digs up the Heirloom then begins the merry chase and runs like mad for wherever will be free from danger with a few Broodlings (and probably the Spider Queen) racing to rendezvous (to surround it should the carrier flee/be killed). The rest of our army then tries to break the enemy but is actually more interested in getting itself killed off, which should force the game to end.

The object scenarios are not quite as straight-forward, but are still good scenarios for us. We can count on getting to the Prize in Seize the Prize on the first turn with our Broodlings, though the Broodings are likely to get shot to death on the first turn by enemy archery. If possible, we want to dig up the Prize with our Bat Swarm, relying on our Broodlings to cut off enemy charges (or possibly archery, depending on how elevated we can get them). Our Spiders will want to support as quickly as they can, providing a Turn 2 wave of fighters to hedge our attempts. While our Bat Swarm retreats to find cover and later race around whatever flank we can crash, our Abyssal Knights want to run to the enemy's board edge corners as quickly as possible (not really caring if they die since we want the extra movement they get when they resurrect - be sure to save their Might for passing those resurrection rolls). If our Bat Swarm can hand off the Prize to an Abyssal Knight, we have a much lower chance of losing it permanently (since our opponent will have to pursue both in order to keep us from vanishing and appearing where the other is).

Both Destroy the Supplies and Retrieval will be played the same way: our Abyssal Knights guard two of our supply markers (or our flag in Retrieval) with a few Hunter Orcs to support them. Should one supply marker be pressed harder than another, we can at least get an Abyssal Knight over to the supply marker that's under threat quickly. Most of our models, however, should press hard towards the enemy, forcing them to engage with our F4/2A Giant Spiders and F3/2A Hunter Orcs. If we can get our Spider Queen around the enemy flanks and get some Broodlings deployed, we can threaten (or even remove) a supply marker/pick up the enemy flag in an unexpected moment (ideally a Move phase where we don't have Priority). We may have to send Mirkwood Spiders/Giant Spiders to support the Broodling rush and tie down any defenders around the objective markers.

Control Missions (Pools 2 & 5)

Playing the three objective scenarios is going to be the same - whether it's Domination, Capture and Control, or Breakthrough, you have two clear parts to your army: a horde of Hunter Orcs to hold the center and lots of fast spiders to race around to tag objectives. You have two Hunter Orcs with Orc bows who can sit at a rear objective (if you think you need it - their 2 Attacks makes them pretty dangerous to try to overrun with a skeleton crew). Spiders are pretty difficult to shift if they come in a wave and get into 1-on-1 engagements, while a wall of Hunter Orcs can cut up most shieldwalls that get flank-charged to pieces. Don't forget about your Broodlings - they make excellent objective grabbers!

In the get-there missions, you also stand to do quite well - lots of fast troops means you can be careful early on and turn up the speed later to get models where they need to be. In Reconnoitre, you really just need the Spider Queen to get near the edge and get 3 Broodlings off the board, while the Abyssal Knights make their way slowly (escorted by Spiders) up the sides of the board. If the enemy chooses to send troops after both, vanish with one to where the other is and have the spiders who were being used as escorts retreat and draw their would-be pursuers off (or race towards where the Abyssal Knight appeared). You want to get your Army Leader off if possible (though the other Abyssal Knight wouldn't be a bad thing). Thanks having bad Courage, should your army break, you can be relatively sure that you can quarter yourself and win just by getting more models off the board than your opponent did (so long as your Hunter Orcs stall the enemy out in the middle).

Storm the Camp will be played similarly - look for avenues to get your Broodlings and Abyssal Knights into the enemy Camp while stalling out the enemy in the center of the board with a horde of Hunter Orcs and Spiders. You probably don't have to guard your own camp, but you could rely on your Mirkwood Spiders to do that (threatening to Paralyze anyone who gets too close to them).

In Divide and Conquer, you should probably have your Hunter Orcs arrive together and your fast creatures meet them in the middle. You don't have March, but you really don't need it - you've got plenty of fast troops - and with the Broodlings able to be spawned on the first turn after the Spider Queen's movement, it's not impossible to have 3 models around the center objective on the first turn. At that point . . . race for wherever the enemy is!

Killing Missions (Pools 4 & 6)

Do you remember how I said last time that having an army of Hunter Orcs made these missions incredibly difficult? Well, wash-rinse-repeat, I guess. Because our Defense is so low in our army, Lords of Battle is going to be a nightmare for us unless we get locked in quick and win a lot of fights. Similarly, To The Death is likely to be a massacre if we don't get locked in quickly (though without a centerline deployment, we're going to be legging it quite a bit) or use terrain to screen our movements. In the latter, we can at least get VPs by keeping our Army Leader Abyssal Knight, our banner, and 2 Hunter Orcs with Orc bows in the rear to prevent leader-kill VPs and banner-kill VPs (and if we can kill the enemy banner, we're bound to get something). Our near lack of archery and low Defense means we should expect to break against a shooting army of any kind in Clash By Moonlight (use terrain as best you can and grit your teeth, I guess).

Contest of Champions gives us some interesting options, actually - we don't have the Spider Queen as our Leader, so her kills will mostly be used to break the enemy (or to kill enemy heroes). Our Mirkwood Spiders have the potential to Paralyze the enemy army leader - or soften him up to be beaten up by the Spider Queen. We'll want to deploy her warband first (well, after our Army Leader's warband) so we can position our other Abyssal Knight carefully to yank our army leader out of the center of the board and onto a vulnerable flank (somewhere he can tag-team with the other Abyssal Knight and get some early kills with a Heroic Combat). The other Knight can assist by retreating after the first Heroic Combat and drifting away from the action to yank the army leader out of harm's way after he's racked up some kills. Spiders should be all around the army leader to make sure he doesn't go down (though so long as he comes back, you should be okay).

Fog of War and Assassination are interesting missions - our opponent might choose to try to kill our Abyssal Knight in either scenario and we frankly don't care. Save your Might on your non-Army-Leader Abyssal Knight to boost your resurrection rolls and keep him from being overwhelmed - he should be fine. In Assassination, this very same Abyssal Knight would make for a very sneaky assassin piece, since his death could lead to him appearing surprisingly close to his target (though you should probably just go with the Spider Queen). When looking for heroes to kill in either scenario, you want to find heroes with limited Fate so your Mirkwood Spiders can paralyze them. Try to use terrain to keep your army from breaking in both scenarios and get locked in as fast as you can to take advantage of your high number of Attacks.

Conclusion

Impossible Allies aren't always viable in this game, but this one has definite potential. If you have thoughts on how this could have been done better, let us know! Our final article in this series will be looking at an all-hero Legion that doesn't seem to have much love in the community. Want to see something that would be absolutely AWFUL to fight? Tune in next time to learn about one of my favorite Legions in the game - until then, happy hobbying!