Back to Basics: War Beasts in MESBG

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we delved deep into the rules for Monsters in MESBG - and what an iconic part of the books and films they are! Today, we look at yet another well-known facet of the Middle-Earth world - and one that has TONS of rules that can scare off new players (and confuse veterans - like me): war beasts.

In theory, these things should be easy to understand - I mean, they affect two different models (War Mumaks of Harad/Far Harad and Great Beasts of Gorgoroth), but with pages of rules for war beasts in general and several-page spreads for the specific profiles (to say nothing of the price of buying them), most players (new and old alike) are happy to wave a hand at these models and move on to other armies. Well, in this article, my goal is to break down the rules for war beasts into a few simple principles so you can not only feel more confident in bringing these models to the tabletop, but also be more confident about their rules should you see one on the other side of the board. Let's get into it!

War Beasts: Monsters that Aren't Monsters

What dominated most of the last post was an in-depth view of the different Brutal Power Attacks (BPAs) that monsters can use if they win a combat (and what helps them dominate the board as tactical pieces instead of just "big, stupid, high-stat models"). War beasts can't perform brutal power attacks. They can't. I'm sorry.

While monsters are usually a single model (or a single model with both a mount and rider profile), war beasts count as two models: the driver and the war beast aren't treated as a single model like cavalry models are. This is important as a spell cast against the war beast (or shooting attacks against the war beast) won't be testing for mount-or-rider like they would against cavalry models. We'll get into a few more of the interactions between drivers and beasts later in the Move Phase discussion.

The war beast also comes with a howdah - which doesn't count as a third model, but does allow the war beast to carry its driver and some passengers. Each war beast has a list of the number of models that can fit in the howdah (however they're stationed) and the kinds of models that can be in it. This will never include enemy models, despite what they may or may not do in the films. Unless a rule says otherwise, models may not exit the howdah and all models included in the driver's warband must be placed in the howdah.

Finally, there are limitations on the heroic actions declared by the driver of a war beast. The most common heroic actions that will affect a war beast are Heroic Moves (so it moves before your opponent) and Heroic Marches (so it goes farther when it moves). In both of these cases, only Heroic Moves and Marches declared by the driver will affect the Mumak - you can't have someone on the ground shouting, "Go!" for it to do anything. Similarly, a Heroic Combat called by the driver of the Mumak will have no impact on the Mumak since the driver is not engaged in the same fight (what with him being a separate model and all), nor will a Heroic Combat called by another hero in the same fight as the Mumak be able to get the Mumak to perform a move after the Combat resolves. The Grand Army of the South has an exception for this, but in general, war beasts can't utilize heroics besides Move/March.

There are other things that make war beasts weird though - let's look at what they do in the Move phase.

War Beasts: Move Phase Concerns

War beasts are affected by many of the same movement-related rules as monsters, but with the obvious exception of lacking the Fly special rule, because they're so tall, war beasts can walk over anything that is shorter than 2" tall and over gaps that are less than 2" across. Like monsters, they can't perform Jump, Leap, or Climb tests, but otherwise they treat terrain just like any other model (except that all water is treated as open ground to them).

What's different about movement is this: war beasts have to move in a straight line. When a war beast starts its movement, it can pivot on its center (which, if it's surrounded by models is going to be VERY difficult since you can't displace anyone with your pivot - EDIT: you can actually displace models, see the note in the comments below) before you start moving, but once you say, "this is my trajectory," you have to move in a straight line until you a) walk into base contact with a friendly model that you don't want to Trample (more on that in a moment) or b) walk into base contact with an enemy model that doesn't die from Trampling. Because the pivoting is an essential part to how this thing moves, I place a cut-out piece of cardboard underneath the base at all times that I can leave where the original base location was. I can then see pretty easily whether or not my current pivot point has drifted much from the center of where the base was.

While a war beast may not be able to perform BPAs, their big claim to fame is the number of impact hits they can deal with their Trample special rule. Depending on the war beast that you pick (and the upgrades you might be able to take), the number of hits you make and the Strength of those hits changes. Let's look at the breakdown:

• Great Beast of Gorgoroth (150pts): 2 S6 hits
• War Mumak of Harad (275+pts): 3 S9 hits
• War Mumak of Harad with Tusk Weapons (295+pts): 4 S9 hits
  

Now magic is a weird thing when it comes to war beasts: in general, you can't really cast magical powers on the war beast. I mean, you CAN cast magical powers against it, but reducing a war beast's Courage isn't going to do anything until there's no one left in the howdah. It has no heroic stats to deplete or regrow (not that Evil can do that) and it can't be Knocked Prone. Since war beasts cannot be forced to move against their will (which an FAQ for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings clarifies makes it IMMUNE to spells like Paralyze), you have to target the driver with an Immobilize/Transfix if you want to stop it from moving - and a Command/Compel doesn't do anything extra and after digging a little deeper, you can now move War Beasts against their will by targeting the driver. While you CAN do damage to it with Sorcerous Blast and other spells, it will only suffer the damage - other movement/prone-inducing rules are ignored.

Most of the time, you're going to be casting spells against models in the howdah. While the war beast can't be Immobilized, the driver can be and it will keep the war beast from moving (as has already been mentioned). Since the war beast itself wasn't the target, however, it will still make Strikes in combat if it fights and wins. You can also target other models in the howdah with magic, but each will be affected individually (and before you ask, there's an FAQ that clarifies that setting the War Beast ablaze doesn't set anything else ablaze and specifically says the howdah, crew, and War Beast are all treated separately, so you can't set the howdah Ablaze to roast everyone in it . . . but if it breaks, they're all probably dead). Magical powers that knock people down will do that, but you can't shove a model out of the howdah with, say, a Sorcerous Blast or Call Winds. You can force them to spend movement standing up, which will impact their shoot value in the following phase. Magic is one of the best ways to deal with a war beast - and war beasts don't innately have a good way of dealing with casters who can cast Immobilize/Transfix and have limitless/near-limitless Will stores.

Okay, that about covers it for movement - let's dig into the Shoot and Fight phases!

War Beasts: Shoot Phase and Fight Phase Concerns

Since war beasts are separate targets from the howdah, driver, and crew, you only take an in-the-way on the war beast itself if its legs, ears, or body are in-the-way of your intended target - simply being there doesn't make it an automatic mount-or-rider roll akin to what you find with Monstrous Mounts or chariots. Also, if the war beast is the target of your shooting attack, you don't need to take an in-the-way roll for the howdah or any of the crew (unless you have a siege weapon performing a volley fire attack - but more on that next time).

If you want to shoot at the driver or crew, you'll probably always have an in-the-way from the howdah - though again, this is true-line-of-sight, so if the howdah isn't itself in the way, it won't be stopping arrows there's a rule that says the models always get an in-the-way. The howdahs are the hardest things to wound on the war beast and the models in the howdah are often the weakest and easiest to kill, so there is some incentive to target the models in the howdah with arrows (especially if you've used magic to stop the war beast from moving). Given the substantial difference in Defense values between the howdah and the models in it (Great Beasts have D8 howdahs protecting D4-5 Orcs; Mumaks have D9 howdahs protecting D3-6 Men/Half Trolls), there may be a justification for calling Heroic Accuracy to hit the models in the howdah (even though I generally think it's a waste of Might).

If you're a model in the howdah and you're shooting FROM the howdah, the movement of the war beast doesn't count as you moving (though if your models are moving around in the howdah to get line-of-sight to models they wish to target, they will count as moving - as will standing up if you've been Knocked Prone by a magical power/special rule).

If, however, you choose to target the war beast, any wounds dealt to it (with magic, shooting, or in melee) will cause it to take a Stampede check during the following Move phase: at the start of the Move phase, the war beast must pass a Courage test using the driver's Courage stat (or its own if there's no driver) or the war beast is pivoted in the direction the opponent wants it to go and it walks its full movement until it comes into contact with something it can't move (such as terrain or another war beast/immovable model). Any model it hits (friend or foe) takes Trample impact hits per the usual and it will stop early if it doesn't kill it. If it hits an object/model it can't walk through, it will deal its impact hits per normal AND it will take three S9 hits itself.

When it comes to fighting a war beast in melee, there are really only two things we need to cover. First and foremost, a war beast will never count as being trapped, so no matter how many models you have surrounding this thing, you won't get double-dice against it. Still, with only 5-10 Wounds and D7 (possibly more, as we will see later), most models are going to be looking for 6s To Wound, though some may need 5s to wound it. Throw enough wounds onto the thing, and you might get luck and it will stampede away from the action (hopefully not over your guys - leave an avenue of escape for it, if possible - and if you can, you'll want it to rampage right over a bunch of enemy models). There are ways of dealing with being surrounded by lots of Attacks for a Mumak, but it takes some practice to pull off.

Second, all war beasts are susceptible to being insta-killed by models with the Drain Soul special rule (currently only found in the King of the Dead and the Necromancer of Dol Guldur profiles). While the Necromancer of Dol Guldur is not a common occurrence on the tabletop, the King of the Dead (usually in the Return of the King LL) is a pretty staple answer to dealing with rampaging Mumaks: since he wounds against the Courage of the war beast and slays a model if it takes a single unsaved wound, it's pretty easy for him to take one swing at a war beast and kill it. There are some answers to this for Mumak players, but it's REALLY hard to deal with these guys even with a few tricks up your sleeve. Since Great Beasts have been officially clarified as not being siege targets (beast and howdah), Great Beasts are similarly threatened by most siege engines.

Okay, that's it for the rules - with this in mind, let's go into a few distinctions between Great Beasts and Mumaks!

Distinctions: Great Beasts vs. Mumaks

Great Beasts of Gorgoroth: What You See Is What You Get

Though not as iconic as the Mumakil of Haradwaith, the Great Beast of Gorgoroth is the best place to start talking about war beasts. For 150 points, you get some incredible value:

• You start with a full howdah of 9 Orc Warriors with Orc bows that don't count towards your bow limit and 1 Orc Commander/driver (including the beast, you get 11 models for 150pts);
• The Great Beast has a pretty decent profile with F4/S6/3A on offense and D7/5 Wounds on defense;
• The howdah is pretty tough with D8/4 Wounds; and
• You deal 2 S6 hits when you Trample models (with an 8" move - standard for war beasts, slightly better than infantry).
  

If you consider that buying an Orc Captain with no extra gear (40pts) and 9 Orc Warriors with Orc bows (54pts) costs just 56pts less than the Great Beast of Gorgoroth, you only need the Great Beast to contribute 56pts worth of value in order to make the cost worth it. Furthermore, if you're interested in a shooting-heavy Mordor list (either pure Mordor or Historically-allied with the Serpent Horde, which has a 50% bow limit with their army bonus), this is REALLY good value.

Like all war beasts, the archers in the howdah can shoot without movement penalties even if the Great Beast moves (which is good because with a 5+ shoot value, you don't want to move and shoot if you can help it) - and with a D8 howdah likely to obscure line-of-sight to at least the feet of each model, they'll have a D8 in-the-way to protect them from retaliatory archery. Not bad at all.

But the Great Beast does come with some limitations: dealing only 2 S6 hits is our first stop. Yes, this guy could romp through a lot of guys, but very often he'll chew through a few guys and then come to a stop. If your opponent has a D5-6 front line (as most armies do), those impact hits will wound on a 4+ - and while that means he "should" expect to get 1 wound against each model, in one-of-four tries (or to put it colloquially, 25% of the time), he'll fail to wound and stop moving. Against models that are higher than D6 (where he'll wound on 5s - or in rare cases 6s), he's even more likely to stall out. Still, since you wound most mounts on 3s (and most "tough mounts" on 4s), he's still quite likely to dismount whoever he hits, even if he has to stop and fight them.

Our second stop is his combat profile: when a Great Beast gets charged (or when he fails to Trample someone to death), he's "only F4" with 3 Attacks - and while Terror might keep some enemy models from charging you, your base is large enough that getting lots of models in the fight and beating this guy in combat isn't that hard to do. Sure, if you win, you'll be wounding most things on 4s with S6, but if you lose, most things will wound you on 6s (if not 5s) and only have to deal 5 wounds to kill you. Never counting as being trapped is quite helpful here, but it won't save you for long against a sustained attack (especially when most models "just need a 6").

Now lest you think I'm coming down too hard on the Great Beast itself, we also have several issues with the driver. First off, the Orc Commander is low to the ground and has very little of the howdah between him and his opponents - he can be the target of any archer that's ahead of the Great Beast (and elevation could mean there's no howdah in the way at all) and if he goes down, you've only got C2 Orc Warriors to drive the thing (which means Stampeding becomes a real possibility). 

In addition, the driver only has 1 Will point and since he doesn't have Resistant to Magic, a single Immobilize that gets past the Will point of the driver can see the beast come to a screeching halt. Not being able to be Commanded or Compelled against its will is a nice boon, but if it's not running things over, it's become a very expensive (and perhaps vulnerable) terrain piece, albeit one with a bunch of guys who can shoot in it . . . but still not a great investment.

Great Beasts of Gorgoroth are also Battlefield targets, which means that siege weapons will have to roll to see if they scatter off of the Great Beast (more on that next time), but if they hit the Great Beast, they'll insta-kill it (all 5 Wounds gone at once). This is . . . not good. Any siege weapons with volley fire (again, more on that next time) will have to see if they hit the howdah instead of the Great Beast, but your situation doesn't get better if the howdah vaporizes instead (as has already been stated, the Great Beast howdah isn't a siege target either), since you'll have no one controlling the Great Beast (and with C2, he's likely to start walking all over your own troops as much as the enemy's troops). This doesn't always matter, but it CAN matter quite a bit.

Finally, models in the howdah have a low risk of being hurt by Falling damage should the howdah be destroyed, but the crew are also "stuck" in the howdah until the howdah is destroyed. Since they aren't allowed to "just jump out," using one or more Great Beasts of Gorgoroth means you have a lot of models centered in one place. In control-based missions like Breakthrough (heavily rewarded for "controlling" one objective and denying your opponent control of another objective) or in travel scenarios like Storm the Camp (heavily rewarded for securing your opponent's camp as well as retaining control of your own), this can be a good thing - but in other scenarios, it can mean you don't have 9-10 models who could be deployed on the ground and taking up space to deny your opponent room to maneuver. And if the Great Beast has been tagged by a single unit, you can't Heroic Combat with the driver to get into more guys . . . and all those archers need to be killing stuff with their bows or your 150pt investment just isn't doing its job.

War Mumaks of Harad: Customizability At A Hefty Price

While the Great Beast comes fully kitted out with a howdah full of guys and a basic but functional profile, War Mumaks of Harad are physically more imposing, have more impressive stat lines, have tons of customizability options, and come with much heftier price tags (both points-in-game and $$$ - though the monetary cost isn't as drastic a change as you might think). For starts, a War Mumak of Harad begins at 275 points, which buys you "only" a Haradrim Commander (basically a Haradrim Chieftain, cost-equivalence of 45pts) and the War Mumak.

The stats of the Mumak are part of why the cost has gone up. Like the Great Beast, a War Mumak of Harad begins with F4/3 Attacks, but it has a base Strength of 9 (instead of 6). On Defense, it also begins at D7, but has 10 Wounds instead of 5 Wounds, so it takes longer for the enemy to kill. The howdah, similarly, is harder to kill with D9 and 5 Wounds (instead of D8 and 4 Wounds). Getting +3 Strength and +5 Wounds on anything is going to cause a pretty hefty jump in points, with the additions to the Howdah (both in capacity and in Defense/Wounds) being even MORE points.

There are also some special rule changes that increase the cost of the Mumak. Instead of dealing two S6 hits when they Trample, Mumaks deal three S9 hits by default (which is going to wound the vast majority of models on 3s). While some 3 Wound/3 Fate heroes might survive a charge from a Mumak, they still won't feel very good after the fact - and basic troops are all but guaranteed to be turned into a squished jelly donut after an encounter with a charging Mumak. Mumaks also retain Terror but pick up the "Awesome Presence" rule, which allows Haradrim/Mahud models to reroll a die when making a dueling roll (similar to a banner, but also cumulative with a banner reroll). While you don't usually want to have Haradrim buzzing around the base of a Mumak, there are times when hopping out of the howdah (more on this in a minute) can help you tremendously - and when that happens, it's nice to have a reroll.

Finally, War Mumaks of Harad are listed as Siege Targets in the Siege Weapon rules, which means they won't be insta-killed by siege weapons, but siege weapons won't have to roll to scatter off them either (though volley fire weapons will have to see if they hit the howdah instead - and this howdah is listed as a siege target). This makes dealing with Mumaks a lot more difficult for armies that were relying on their siege weapons to take out "whatever the biggest and baddest thing is" - and while you'll need to take a Stampede check for the wound you suffered, you're generally going to be okay.

The biggest downside to a Mumak, however, is that you ALWAYS spend more than 275pts for your Mumak. Since the Mumak comes with an empty howdah (besides the Haradrim Commander), you're looking at 6+ points/model that you place in the howdah (and for Mumaks, that's up to 12 guys). If you want Haradrim Warriors with bows in the howdah (a thematic and strategically sound choice), that's 7 points/model or 84pts total (bringing your total investment up to ~360pts). Put in perspective, a War Mumak of Harad with 9 bowmen in the howdah will provide you with the same number of models as a Great Beast of Gorgoroth (though with slightly better range/Shoot Values), but will do so for ~340 points instead of 150 points (or more than double the price). And that's before you get to any of the SEVEN upgrades you can take on your Mumak.

War Mumaks of Harad: Available Upgrades

The Mumak upgrades are what really set them apart from Great Beasts of Gorgoroth. While these come at an additional cost, basically every problem we mentioned earlier about Great Beasts can be lessened/solved for a Mumak by taking an upgrade. For any of you Shatter fans out there, you should know that there's an FAQ for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings sourcebook that says you can't Shatter these - you can thank me for telling you before you expose your Shaman to a trample and discover it was all for not. Let's look at each one individually and see how it can be best used:

• Rappelling Lines (10pts): Rappelling Lines allows models that are in the howdah to dismount from the Mumak on the roll of a 2+ (on a 1, the model takes Falling damage, which usually results in death, but results in being Prone if they survive). Being able to get out of the howdah solves not only the potential problem of having models "stuck" in the howdah, but also allows you to pull models out of combat with the Mumak if the enemy charged into you first (like models that can insta-kill the Mumak or who might be bringing a lot of Attacks to bear). A Heroic Combat against a buffer guy like this could see the insta-kill model/big hero get back into the Mumak, but at least you're making the enemy hero pay for the Combat instead of using that Might point to boost a roll or just save the Might point for a later use (and if it's a War Mumak of Far Harad and you have a Half-Troll hopping out of the howdah, it's not a given that the Heroic Combat will go off for most heroes). This makes the offensive profile of the Mumak a little better, since you can limit what models at least begin in a fight with it if you're moving second (and chances are, if you were charged by guys, you probably didn't move first). Always at least consider taking this upgrade.
  
• Foul Temperament (15pts): this upgrade boosts the Attacks stat of the Mumak to 4 (more dice is always good), but gives a -1 penalty to your Stampede checks. While most people uniformly agree that the +1 Attack isn't worth the -1 penalty to Stampede checks, there's probably a place for it if you pair it with another upgrade (more on that later). 4 Attacks are more reliable than 3 Attacks at getting a 6 (to put it colloquially, you have a 50% chance of getting a 6 instead of a 40% chance of getting a 6), but your points might be better invested in . . .
• Tusk Weapons (20pts): Tusk weapons increase your Trample damage from three S9 hits to four S9 hits. Like the Foul Temperament upgrade, this is giving you an extra die to an offensive roll you're making, but if you get to Trample over enemy models, you'll make it more likely that you don't fail to wound someone AND more likely that you ram through a big hero (with the normal 3 S9 impact hits, you can stall out against a 3 Wound/1 Fate or 2 Wound/2 Fate hero - it's less likely with 4 impact hits and can be automatic, which is nice). For +5pts over Foul Temperament, most players would recommend this upgrade instead.
• Sigils of Defiance (20pts): This is a defensive upgrade that provides two minor buffs to your Mumak and everyone in the howdah - models in the howdah gain Resistant to Magic and get a 6+ save against wounds they suffer. For those looking at the text of the rule, an FAQ for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings book extends the benefits to the Mumak as well - perfect for at least having a chance at resisting an insta-kill wound (however unlikely). If you're worried that there will be a caster that can Immobilize the driver on a 2+, this is at least an option for keeping you going.
• Rocks (20pts): Okay, this USED to be my favorite upgrade for Mumaks - it gives everyone in the howdah an 8" range S6 shooting attack. YIKES! Since you are a Forces of Evil faction, you can shoot into the Mumak's fight and potentially kill models that are fighting it OR you can kill spear supports/banners that are trying to help models fight the Mumak OR you can attempt to dismount models that are near/fighting the Mumak. All of these are good things . . . except that you measure your 8" range from the base of the model shooting from the howdah. Since the guys at the lowest levels are 3" above the ground, the Pythagorean Theorem tells us that they can target someone within ~7.4" away from the shooter on the side that they're sitting on (which is only slightly less than 7" when you factor the slightly larger extent of the Mumak's base). The guys in the "main level" of the howdah are 4" above the ground and so can target someone within ~7" of the shooter (or 4-5" from the Mumak - most of them on a single side of the Mumak). Finally, the guys in the upper levels of the howdah are 5" above the ground and basically can't shoot with Rocks (6.2" away from the shooter, or roughly 3" away from the Mumak). Still, this COULD be a great upgrade, if you have a lot of models with a 3+ shoot value and if they're stationed on the lower/main levels of the howdah. These include Watchers of Karna in War Mumaks of Harad (who can be given Twin blades for those sweet, sweet 2 Attacks if you also have the Rappelling Lines upgrade, perhaps also paired with some Haradrim Warriors with bows on the main/higher levels) and Mahud Warriors (who also have a 3+ shoot value). You can also get utility out of this if you pair this upgrade with . . .
• Mahud Beastmaster Chieftain (25pts): The Beastmaster Chieftain is required for a War Mumak of Far Harad (which can take Mahud Warriors and Half Trolls in its howdah) and is available as an upgrade for War Mumaks of Harad (which can take Haradrim Warriors, Serpent Guard, and Watchers of Karna in its howdah). The Beastmaster has an improved profile (+1 M/W/F, +1 Courage, and a hardly-ever-matters +1 Strength). With a higher Courage rating (and extra Will), you could use this upgrade to make Foul Tempermant work (C5 with a -1 penalty but 2 Will isn't going to fail very many Courage tests), incentivizing you to use the Mumak as a troop carrier with Rappelling lines too in order to get locked into combat quickly. Since Mahud Warriors have a 3+ shoot value, you could also use a War Mumak of Far Harad with Foul Temperament, Rocks, and Rappelling Lines as a troop carrier that can have set of 3+ S6 shots on models that can also fling themselves out of the howdah to engage in combat. And if the guys at the top of the howdah are Half Trolls . . . All that's to say this is a great upgrade, but isn't necessary I'd say for your Mumaks (though the bonuses you get from the Beastmaster alone are quite good).
• NOTE: This guy, like the Mumak War Leader, is placed on the fork of the howdah instead of the roost on the very top - this often means that models on a hill or building are likely to not have the howdah obstructing their view of him, but it also means the driver is closer to the ground. Why does THAT matter? While it would be risky to have a model like a Haradrim Taskmaster near a War Mumak of Harad (or two), if you're running a War Mumak of Harad with a Haradrim Taskmaster and the driver is on the fork, he's only 3-4" above the ground, which means his base can probably be within 6" of the Taskmaster's base. 3 Might on a Mumak is great - but 3 Might on a Mumak when your Heroic Move/March is free is even better!
  
• Gnarled Hide (30pts): 30 points is a lot - and all this upgrade gives you is D8. At the same time, you're going from D7 (wounded by S3 weapons on 6s) to D8 (wounded by S3 weapons on 6/4+). Is taking half the damage from something that's S3 worth it? Is a not-as-dramatic-but-still-smaller reduction in the damage from S2 weapons worth it (6/5+ instead of a 6/4+)? I don't know - there's no impact on S4 or S10 weapons (which include most heroes, crossbows/great bows, and the most dangerous siege weapons in the game), so it's your call what this is doing for you. I will say that if you're up against a thematic opponent like the Riders of Theoden or the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legions, going to D8 is really hopeful against those S5 Rohan heroes on the charge and those S2 bows from the Gondorian Rangers . . .

And that's about all there is to say about the upgrades. But boy does this give you a lot to think about, huh? Let me close out the discussion on war beasts with four different war beast load-outs that you can try in order to get a feel for how Mumaks work:

• Cheap and Functional: War Mumak of Harad with Rappelling Lines and Sigils of Defiance/Tusk Weapons (305) - this Mumak will come in at about 390pts once you fill the howdah, but whatever models you put in the howdah will be able to get out if you need it and the models in the howdah (and the Mumak) will be slightly more resilient to archery and magic (how most people want to deal with Mumaks). You could swap the Sigils of Defiance for Tusk Weapons if you want to focus more on damage than defense.
• Strong and Tough: War Mumak of Harad with Tusk Weapons and Gnarled Hide (325) - this uses the two most iconic upgrades for the Mumak: the tusk weapons that increase its trample damage and the gnarled hide that increases its Defense. If you wanted to add the Sigils of Defiance to the mix (345pts), you're looking at a Mumak with the same upgrades as the Mumak War Leader from Gondor at War, who clocks in at 400pts (only 30pts more than our Mumak if they also get the Beastmaster Chieftain) and he picks up some SWEET rules. If you don't want to go the Mumak War Leader route, I'd pick two of the three (really four) upgrades to save some cash for other stuff. Otherwise, just get the War Leader.
• Wrecking Ball: War Mumak of Harad/Far Harad with Mahud Beastmaster Chieftain, Rappelling Lines, Tusk Weapons, and Foul Temperament (345) - for only 20pts more than the previous build, we've opted for the Rappelling Lines/Foul Temperament combo over the Gnarled Hide and taken the Beastmaster Chieftain to make us a bit more reliable at passing Stampede checks. So long as we have combat troops (Watchers of Karna with twin blades or Half Trolls) on board, we're not worried about getting charged - and on the turn we do charge and get stuck, they can jump out of the howdah and (if they don't die) help with the slaughter. Yes, this is a lot of points, but it's also really powerful!
  
• Mumak War Leader: War Mumak of Harad with Gnarled Hide, Tusk Weapons, and Sigils of Defiance - oh, and a much better driver (400) - okay, this guy really isn't an upgrade option for a Mumak, but he functionally is "just another Mumak" with D8, four S9 impact hits, and Resistant to Magic/6+ save against wounds. He can also cancel the first enemy Heroic Move called each turn and the Mumak becomes F5, but he's going to do all the same things as another Mumak will do. He's pretty cool - check him out sometime!

Conclusion

So . . . that was a lot! Hopefully you learned a bit more about war beasts and how they worked and the article was helpful in making them a bit more accessible to you. If you haven't checked out the Green Dragon Podcast episode on the Great Beast of Gorgoroth, you should check that out too - those guys always have great thoughts! Next time, we're digging into how siege weapons work and BOY is there a lot to talk about! Until then, happy hobbying!