Nemesis: How to Fight the Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legendary Legion

Good morning gamers,

The Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legendary Legion has been rocking the meta (or should I say piercing the meta? Bombing the meta?) since its release in War in Rohan. It's a Legion that isn't constructed around a top-tier hero (it's got no named heroes at all), but instead gives greater reliability to its siege engines and allows you to run more Uruk-Hai than you usually would be able to with Heroes of Fortitude/Minor Heroes.

Many competitive players have identified this as a list that's unfun to play against - stand back and shoot at the horde of Uruk-Hai and you get torn up by crossbows and ballista. Try to close with the ranged units? You get blow up with a bomb team (and have to face a pike block with whatever's left). When you as a player feel caught between a rock and a hard place, it's hard to have fun (unless you like a good challenge and don't mind losing . . . like I do . . . most of the time).

I've fielded this list a few times (though I don't run more than 2 ballistas/1 demo team on principle) and one of our resident Isengard enthusiasts here (Red Jacket) has run it at several of our events with different configurations. Having had to play Red Jacket's Assault Upon Helm's Deep list at 623 points at the TMAT 2023 Grand Tournament earlier this year, I have to say the two ballistas backed by nine crossbows was nasty and awful (and naturally, I had to play against it in Lords of Battle where my Orcs and Barrow-Wights needed to close in fast . . . and he killed more with his ballistae once I got within 12" of him than from farther away).

But there's got to be a way to crack the code - how does one beat up a list like this? I mean, the list has been out for ages - surely, there's a proven method for beating them? Well, there are several strategies you can use - but before we get into them, let's break down what about this Legion makes it feared.

What Makes The Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion So Hated?

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

The first thing you'll hear people gripe about are the long-range threats in this list. The list begins with Isengard Assault Ballistas, which are probably too cheap for what they do. When compared to other siege engines, you get a comparable crew size, a comparable Strength/Defense, the Large Siege Engine requirement (which makes you a siege target - very handy when fighting other siege engines, but does place a requirement of 2+ unengaged crew to fire it), and good rules (Accurate/Piercing Shot, 6" minimum range) - for a discount bargain price of 65 points. You can see the full comparison below:

If the ballistae weren't enough to make you gag, each ballista comes with 1 siege veteran (Minor Hero) and 2 crew who don't have shooting weapons, so you can take +1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with crossbow for every ballista you take - that's 76 points for a S9 ballista and a S4 crossbow. Sheesh, that's rough. Add into this that you can field 13 Uruk-Hai Warriors - 8 with pikes/shields, 5 with crossbows - for 135 points, and it's not hard to see why the pairing of crossbows with ballistae would drive people nuts. Sure, you have to field 1 Uruk-Hai Captain (who can lead 18 Uruk-Hai) for every ballista you want to take, but that's not a high tax.

Once you get close to the enemy, however, you have to deal with whatever they decided to bring in melee (Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields backed by Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes are very common), but you might also have to deal with a demolition team - and with an increased chance that the bomb deals 2D6 wounds to any model within 2" of the charge . . . yeah, lots of heroes are afraid of that going off! Get a Shaman near that thing with Fury up and maybe pay 1-2 extra points for the non-Bersekers to carry torches to light the charge - BAM, you've got a nasty bit of kit to ruin someone's day! Bombs aren't fun, ballistas aren't fun, D6 shield guys backed by pikes aren't fun, and crossbows aren't fun - but we're not done yet.

When I run this list, I often have a warband that's got 8 crossbows backed by 8 pikes in it in a loose phalanx, but I usually also have a warband that's got my army leader (who I always give a two-handed axe to - none of this shield or crossbow nonesense) supported by 5 Berserkers and 2 Uruks with shields backed by a loose phalanx of 8 pikes (one also has a banner). Yeah, this is a hard-hitting phalanx, with every-other file being able to be double-pike-supported, which allows the Berserkers to do what no one ever dreamed they could do: two-hand at S4 with two Attacks each (and they can Feint/Stab because the pikes keep them at F4). Whoever doesn't get pike-supported is still rolling 2-3 dice - they just don't two-hand. While Berserkers have fallen out of vogue, they're quite dangerous when backed up by pikes - and they help your army fight against Terror better.

Okay, so that's the Legion - it's a nightmare to face! But face it you might, so let's talk about some strategies you can employ to defeat them.

How Do You Fight Back Against The Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion?

Our first strategy is a bit unconventional - you can try to outshoot them. Naturally, not all armies can, but if you have siege engines of your own that can pummel the Uruk-Hai at least as hard as you're receiving from the ballistas, you can win. This is particularly true if you have Volley Fire siege engines and can get your own troops behind walls or trees.

If you don't run siege engines, having some kind of anti-archery bubble to protect your own troops from their shooting (or at least reduce the number of hits you take) while pumping out as much archery as you can is going to serve you well - the most common lists that can do this include Gandalf-led Shire lists, Gandalf-led Survivors of Lake-town lists, Galadriel-led Lothlorien allied contingents, Cirdan-plus-someone Rivendell lists, or Mordor builds with the Shadow Lord. This is a particularly good strategy now that the ballistas only reroll failed To Hit rolls of 1 instead of all failed To Hit rolls (see Rythbyrt and my articles on the most recent FAQ drop for more).

Tied to this strategy is the ability to use Stalk Unseen to your advantage - spamming out models with this special rule is hard, but the Uruk-Hai can't shoot what they can't see. Any Forces of Good faction can ally in 13-15 Elves from Lothlorien led by Haldir (who can also have an Elven Cloak) as Convenient Allies - and of those models, 5 can be Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows, which paired with Haldir will give you 7 Elf bow shots each turn that can't be shot at so long as there's a piece of horizontal terrain that covers at least one foot of each bowman. Haldir with everything, 5 Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows, and 10 Guards of the Galadhrim Court only costs 260 points, which is affordable for most armies as an allied contingent at most points levels.

Yet another option is to use siege targets to combat the ballistas. Siege targets are rare in SBG, but they exist - most notably in the form of Large Siege Engines (which we breezed past above) and War Mumaks of Harad. Mumaks aren't generally considered to be competitive options in most SBG events, but it's undeniable that having a 10 Wound model (or two if the points level is high enough) that will suffer a single Wound from an Isengard Assault Ballista and won't be automatically killed is huge. The howdah on the Mumak is also a siege target, which means the ballistas will struggle to slam the driver too - and if models in the howdah are targeted, they won't get shoved out of the howdah with Piercing Shot! Having just one of these beasts running in front of your more vulnerable units (a safe distance in front if you're afraid of a Stampede), is a pretty good thing.

But the other siege target I'd like to highlight as useful is the Catapult Troll from Azog's Legion. While this unit is more expensive than two Isengard Ballistas (it's almost as expensive as THREE Isengard Ballistas), a Catapult Troll has 5 Wounds at D7 and is a Large Siege Engine, so he'll only suffer 1 wound at a time. Unlike Mumaks, this guy is probably in a list that can March up the field quickly (and wants to) and if all he does is absorb the damage from the ballistas, you're perfectly happy. Scattering onto him will keep him from being shoved backwards by Piercing Shot (since Piercing Shot only affects Battlefield targets). On top of all that, a Catapult Troll can shoot after performing a full move (hitting on a 6+ instead of a 4+) and can even shoot when engaged in combat - so you can always try to hit the ballista crews (and kill/knock prone the guys manning the siege engine). Reliable this is not - but it's a threat all the same.

While not a reliable answer to all Assault Upon Helm's Deep builds, Terror with the Harbinger of Evil/Ancient Evil special rule can be debilitating to an Assault Upon Helm's Deep force - especially if the Terror-causing models have anti-archery protection to assist them. Since you need to field 1 Uruk-Hai Captain for each Isengard Assault Ballista (or upgrade the siege veteran to an Engineer Captain for slightly cheaper than a full Captain - don't do that!), fielding 2-3 ballistas with 2-3 Captains AND fielding an Uruk-Hai Shaman is pretty rare for these guys - you either choose to max out your ballistas or you choose to auto-pass courage tests. If you chose the former, you'd better have some Berserkers. If you didn't take Berserkers or the shaman, you've got C3 troops at best and C2 troops if there's a courage penalty being applied. . . good luck with that.

Even if you take a Shaman in the Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion, beware Evil terror armies that sport a model with Sap Will (like Black Numenoreans led by a Ringwraith or the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion), since a single cast of Sap Will can see that Fury spell go down and then you're left trying to charge those terrifying models with Harbinger active with C2 models . . . yeah, have fun with that . . . hope you brought lots of pikes so you can at least get some combat mass into the fight.

The final strategy is perhaps the most universal strategy: rush them. Spending 130pts on a Captain with 1 piece of gear and 1 ballista gets you 4 models - and this often means that an Assault Upon Helm's Deep list can probably field 22 models for just over 300pts - so if you're playing in the 600-800pt level, you should expect to see 40-50 Uruk-Hai on the board. 40-50 guys is a lot - it really is - but it's also not that hard to either a) field that many models yourself, b) field fewer models with some kind of archery negation, or c) field fewer models that are fast enough to close on them quickly and batter them down before you can all be shot. And for some lists, you might be able to do more than one of these strategies. This is the most generic strategy - and the most high-risk - but if you can start on the centerline, do so. If you can veto sit-back-and-shoot scenarios, do so. If you can do anything to make the Uruk-Hai have to engage you, do it.

Okay, let's take a look at models you can use to fight this army!

Tiberius's Top 5 Models To Counter The Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion

We'll begin by looking at two models I didn't feel like ranking in the official list - one that's a "nice" way to fight the Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion and one that plays dirtier.

Honorable Mention: The Mumak War Leader (especially in the Grand Army of the South Legendary Legion)

Yep, the siege target to topple all siege targets. The Mumak War Leader has several improvements over a general "Mumak" in that a) the Mumak he's on is F5 (ties or beats the Fight Values of everyone in the Assault Legion except Isengard Trolls . . . which almost nobody fields), b) he can cancel a Heroic Move called by the Isengard army so he's more likely to get the charge/trample that he wants, c) the Mumak and howdah are both siege targets and therefore are hard to kill, d) his Mumak starts with D8 from Gnarled Hide and the 6+ save from the Sigils of Defiance as an off-chance to avoid taking wounds, and e) if taken from the Grand Army of the South, his Mumak picks up Harbinger to make charging the terrifying beast harder. Yeah, he's got a lot working for him.

This guy is pretty expensive (400pts base, gotta pay for the Haradrim in the howdah and possibly Half Trolls/Mahud Raiders on the ground), but the Assault list's only plan is going to be to shoot him - maybe detonate a bomb or something too. Your goal, then, will be to shoot anyone with a flaming brand so the detonation will be harder (anyone without a brand needs to get a 6 on a Desperate Detonation roll). I'm not sure how competitive this would be, but he's not that worried about the ballistas or the crossbows. For a more reliable option (and nastier option), I present . . .

Dishonorable Mention: Assault Upon Helm's Deep or Assault Upon Lothlorien Legendary Legions

Mirror matches aren't fun for this list - I mean, what's our answer to a three-ballista-one-bomb team when you've got three ballistas and one bomb? The funny thing about the Assault Upon Helm's Deep list is that you very well might face an identical list to yourself once you get to the hyper-competitive tournaments . . . and the Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion isn't good at fighting itself.

It's also not great when fighting a Legion that limits its crossbow archery to 12" (and possibly removes the +1 To Wound bonus from the nighttime fighting) and makes their ballistas only hit on a 6 beyond 12" - enter the Assault on Lothlorien Legion. This Legion is bonkers and a lot of people hate it (we'll be covering it next week, actually), but it's a particularly good counter to the Assault Upon Helm's Deep list because it can do good shooting damage against the Uruks and can't receive the same punishment in return (not reliably, at any rate). If they can whittle down the numbers of the Uruks from afar, their horde status (usually 60-70 models) will keep them in the fight after the more elite Uruks arrive for a fight. This may be harder to do than before because of the recent FAQ changes to that Legion, but we'll talk about it more next time. With creatures sailing in and getting buffed to be even stronger, this Legion gets nuts really quickly.

Okay, let's get to the real list!

Pick #5: Spamming models with Stalk Unseen

We've already talked about this, but while you can certainly field Haldir with some Elves from Lothlorien, there are several factions that can do this. You can bring in Wood Elf Sentinels from Lothlorien/The Halls of Thranduil, Mirkwood Rangers from the Halls of Thranduil (which you can get 5-15 of led by Legolas depending on your army choice), Noldorin Exiles led by Gildor Inglorion, Warriors of Druadan led by Ghan-Buri-Ghan (up to 15 if you ally with anyone besides Rohan), and Morgul Stalkers from Mordor (who aren't ranged threats, but can mask their approach with terrain and become untargetable).

A niche way you can also do this is by fielding Mablung from the Minas Tirith list (or in the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion) and a bunch of Rangers of Gondor - allying in him with Denethor isn't very hard and between them you can field 7 Rangers of Gondor to stand near Mablung and they'll all have Stalk Unseen. The rest of your army can rely on high Defense (D7 is wounded by the crossbows on 6s) to reduce their casualties. Denethor will need to be your army leader, but that's fine most of the time.

I'd like to highlight before we leave how good Warriors of Druadan are - if you haven't read our article on the Wildmen of Druadan, you should check it out. In it, American SBG legend Tim Hixon lends some of his thoughts from running Druadan at a variety of points levels over the years. With around 70 models at 700 points, a pure Druadan force can shoot 70 shots at whatever Uruks close with them, present no targets if they hide behind terrain, and can have spear-supports in up to 35 fights once they decide to close - remember how I said there should be about 50 guys on the other side at that points level? Yeah, that's 1-Uruk-versus-2-Woses (or 2-Uruks-versus-4-Woses) all over the place. And if you read our recent math post, that's all the ratio you need to win half the fights . . . and you'll wound these guys on 5s or 4s thanks to Hatred (Uruk-Hai) . . .

Pick #4: The Dead of Dunharrow (or the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion)

Terror and Harbinger are a big threat - and having lots of models that cause Terror with Harbinger present is also a big threat. Models that don't die easily to shooting is an even worse threat - and you get that by fielding either the Dead of Dunharrow (vanilla - not the Return of the King Legion) or the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion (especially if you don't neglect the Castellans). Dunharrow can reach 37 models at 700 points if they field the King of the Dead, 2 Riders of the Dead, 1 banner/spear/shield, 16 shield/spear, and 17 shield guys (not far below what the Uruks will have) and every model will be hard to charge (thanks to Terror/Harbinger), the ballistas will wound everyone on 4s instead of the usual 3s (because D8), and there aren't really any priority targets for you to decimate. Yes, your Might is low - and a bomb could be a big problem - but if he can't charge you and he can't clear out that many through shooting, you'll be wounding on 4s if not 3s against everything - that's pretty sweet.

On the Evil side of the house, you can do something similar with the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion (or a Dark Powers list that runs heavy on Castellans), since the Necromancer isn't worried about being shot to death (functionally 15-20 Will points to use as Fate points - and wounded on 4s by the ballistas and 6s by the crossbows), Castellans aren't that worried about being shot to death (wounded on 5s by the crossbows with functionally 8-11 Will points that can be used as Fate points), and the Nazgul of Dol Guldur aren't that worried about being shot (wounded on 5s by the crossbows, resurrected on a 2+ and getting extra movement from it). The Uruk player will have fun clearing out models and dealing wounds . . . and you'll have fun bringing any dead Nazgul back or blocking the wounds with Will points. Once you get to the enemy, you're all F5+ and the Necromancer can be sniping ballista crewmen (or bomb team members) with a Chill Soul + Compel combo (which can prevent a ballista from shooting because it needs two crew to shoot or can keep the torches from being near the bomb).

Pick #3: Two Iron Hills Ballistas (or Mordor War Catapults with the Severed Heads upgrade)

The Italian player Alessandro Sganzerla said one of the things he fears when running the Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legendary Legion is a double-Iron-Hills-Ballista list - because it's one of the few lists that can sit back and shoot at the Isengard ballistas without worrying. Why? Because those ballistas get free Heroic Shoots (so they're probably going first) and if they can hit (free Heroic Shoot that only affects them, 4+ To Hit, rerolling 1s), they can stop all crossbow shots from crossing the path of the bolt and make the Isengard ballista shots have to roll to see if they can cross the path as well. Oh, and these are ballistas that have volley fire (so no direct line-of-sight issues) and area-of-effect damage when they hit. Ouch.

While the Iron Hills Ballistas do this the best, a close second can be found in Mordor, if you're crazy enough to run two Mordor War Catapults. While these things can't shut down the Isengard archery, the Troll gives you the full rerolls To Hit and To Scatter that the Isengard ballistas used to have in their Legion (with a 4+ shoot value, interestingly enough) AND you can deal either a S5 Area of Effect damage or S3 Area of Effect damage with a required courage test for those hit or they flee (severed heads) if the shot scatters onto a battlefield target. You could also roll two dice and pick the highest if you hit a siege target (so you have a good chance of squishing a ballista in 2-3 turns). Pair this with the Shadow Lord to make hitting your army harder and you've got a winning combination. Speaking of whom . . .

Pick #2: Galadriel with F5-6 Elves and S3 bows (or The Shadow Lord with Black Numenoreans)

I mentioned Haldir with Elves earlier - this is similar except that we've abandoned the Elven Cloaks in favor of anti-archery bubbles. Elven cloaks are great - and sometimes better than Blinding Light - but you have a lot more control over where your Blinding Light is than how much terrain is on the board. Galadriel can ally with anyone and bring 6 bowmen with her, as well as 10-12 F6 pikemen or F5 spearmen - this is a really useful alliance option for countering any number of threats.

But don't think the Forces of Good are the only ones that can do this - the Shadow Lord can be allied with anyone as well and can bring 10 Black Numenoreans and 5 Orc Trackers (on Wargs or on foot) to bulk out any army you want - and is particularly lethal if paired with Suladan and a horde of Haradrim bowmen or with the Dragon Emperor and a horde of Easterlings. Several competitive lists will also add in the Spider Queen who's usually afraid of ballistas, but with the Shadow Lord in tow (and someone within scatter range), you can force the ballistas to get a 6 to Hit and a 6 to scatter to even have a chance at killing her. Allying her in usually replaces Suladan because of the Impossible Alliance penalties that are applied, so pick your favorite of the two.

These are the most reliable ways for "anyone" to have a good shake at fighting the Assault Upon Helm's Deep list, but there's one list that all siege engine forces hate, and that would be . . .

Pick #1: Goblin-town (or other ambushing units)

Oh yes, if you ask Centaur about this, he'll tell you that those cheeky blighters from Goblin-town who sneak up behind your ballistas and threaten to dismantle your siege gear are the worst things in the world. I mean, if you can't see the Goblin Scribe, every turn you should expect at least one Goblin to move into base contact with a ballista - and then you have the awkward decision of sending a siege crew member to tag him (recall you need two guys to shoot it) OR you let the cheeky blighter get reinforced on the following turn. After a few rounds (assuming a big block of Goblin Mercenaries doesn't show up), your ballistas are overwhelmed and all is lost.

The alternative solution for dealing with this is to either a) move up the the siege weapons so they can't be charged (but you can't shoot that turn), or b) leave some of your other troops behind to shoot/charge the Goblins that try to ambush you (which means you have fewer troops to fight elsewhere). Considering that the Goblin horde probably STARTS with 80-100 models at 600-800 points, you can't spare THAT many models to fend off the pestering blighters (or the block of Mercenaries - who are more than "pesky").

And oh by the way, they probably have the Goblin King and Gollum, who we talked about last time - and the Goblin King would LOVE to chew through Uruk-Hai (and a F4 Gollum with the Ring on is besting the Fight Value of any model in the list - except Isengard Trolls, who tie his Fight Value). Yeah, life is good if you're Goblin-town . . . though you may satisfy the Uruk's desire to slay many, many models with their shooting. Still, with lots of March in the list and tons of expendable bodies, just keep advancing and everything should be fine.

Sample Lists

Our first list is a nasty combo that features the Shadow Lord, Suladan, and a Haradrim King - and it features a whopping 51 models at 700 points and packs in 19 poisoned bows alongside 5 Orc bows . . . with anti-archery protection and F4/D6/Terror:

• The Shadow Lord on horse
  
• 10 Black Numenoreans
• 5 Orc Trackers
• HISTORICAL ALLY - The Serpent Horde: Suladan the Serpent Lord on armored horse with bow [ARMY LEADER]
• 3 Watchers of Karna
• 13 Serpent Guard
• 2 Haradrim Warriors with bows
  
• HISTORICAL ALLY - Haradrim King on horse with war spear and bow
• 10 Haradrim Warriors with bows
  
• 5 Haradrim Warriors with bows and spears
  

700 points, 51 models, 19 poisoned bows hitting on a 4+ AND 5 Orc bows hitting on a 4+, 11 D6+ models, 3 cavalry and 5 Might for Heroic March, 7 Might

Our second list really only works at 800 points, but is threatening if you're playing at that points level: a double Iron Hills Ballista list. Led by two Iron Hills Captains (I only got to 34 models with Dain - but you could run that list if you wanted), this list has enough grunts to be able to hold ground while relying on the ballistas to do the work for you. I've foregone the crossbows since our goal is going to be to crisscross our lines with ballista fire, which would make actually shooting with our crossbows very hard. That, and it gets us more models to make Shieldwall work:

• Iron Hills Captain on war goat [ARMY LEADER]
  
• 5 Iron Hills Dwarves
• 5 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
• 1 Iron Hills Dwarf with spear and banner
• 1 Iron Hills Goat Rider
  
• Iron Hills Captain on war goat
  
• 6 Iron Hills Dwarves
• 6 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
• Iron Hills Siege Veteran with Iron Hills Ballista
• 6 Siege Crew
  
• Iron Hills Siege Veteran with Iron Hills Ballista
• 6 Siege Crew
  

800 points, 40 models, 2 S8 Ballistas hitting on a 4+ and rerolling 1s, 40 D6+ models, 3 cavalry and 4 Might for Heroic March, 6 Might

Our last list features the great fear of all siege weapon armies: Goblin-town. At 700 points, this army can begin the game with 92 models and bring more models on as the game progresses! Yep, it's a chore to fight (and it takes a long time to move them, even if you're using trays and know what you're doing), but those Isengard ballistas are afraid, I'll tell you that:

• The Goblin King [ARMY LEADER]
  
• 22 Goblin Warriors
• 1 Goblin Warrior with two-handed axe
  
• INDEPENDENT: Gollum
  
• Grinnah
  
• 18 Goblin Warriors
  
• The Goblin Scribe
  
• 12 Goblin Warriors
  
• Goblin Captain
  
• 18 Goblin Warriors
• Goblin Mercenary Captain
• 15 Goblin Mercenaries
  

700 points, 92 models, 1 thrown Goblin on a 5+, no D6+ models, no fast models but 5 Might for Heroic March, 11 Might

Conclusion

The Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legion is here to stay despite its most recent change - and you should expect to see it show up at competitive events. Hopefully this article helped explore some ways to counter the Legion - and if I missed something, let us know in the comments below! Next week, we're covering "the other Assault Legion" and looking at ways to counter those filthy Orcs and Goblins who attacked Lothlorien. Does this Legion need the nerf bat? Possibly. Is it beatable in the current meta? Absolutely. Find out how next time - and until then, happy hobbying!