This year's THRO tournament is our first siege tournament - oh sure, we've had maps with walls before (once), but this is the first time we've used the siege scenarios and equipment provided in the War in Rohan supplement. Walls change a lot, though only half the boards will have them - and with this being a team event, it looks like it will be a good opportunity for newer/less competitive players to come out of the woodwork and try out one of our events.
Because it was a team event, I decided to submit my list last - because I had several lists for Good and Evil that I liked, I wanted to have the ability to choose which side I was on based on how everyone else's preferences were stacking up. In talking with Rythbyrt and Centaur, we were like, "You know, we could stack one team and all play together . . . that would be fun." Well, that didn't pan out . . . but it's probably for the best. :)
But because I had to prepare to play on BOTH sides (and we have the Rule of One in play, so no repeat heroes or Legions), I had - wait for it - TEN lists that I wanted to try out for this tournament. Yes, ten - I know, I'm obsessive. Many of the models I needed for these lists were ones I was in the process of painting, so deciding that I might play with them was very much intended to give myself a kick in the pants to push through my backlog of models and get them done. I ended up playing on the Evil team, so here's the lists I considered for Good:
Candidate #5: The Defenders of Helm's Deep Legendary Legion
It's no secret - if you know you need to defend a wall from attack, this Legion is probably a good first stop. At 1000 points, if you don't take Aragorn (which I was pretty sure my son was going to take, so I built the list without him), you can actually get quite a few guys. Theoden, Haldir, and Legolas are very cheap heroes of Valour/Legend and this allows you to spend points on Galadhrim instead of just buying Rohan guys. I happen to like the Warrior of Rohan profile a lot and having a 1:1 ratio of spears to not-spears (and 33% of the army + 4 heroes having bows makes this list a powerhouse of shooting):
- Theoden, King of Rohan with heavy armor and shield [ARMY LEADER]
- 9 Warriors of Rohan with shields
- 9 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows and spears
- Legolas Greenleaf with armor
- 7 Warriors of Rohan with shields
- 1 Warrior of Rohan with shield and throwing spears
- 1 Rohan Royal Guard with throwing spears
- 6 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows and spears
- Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
- 7 Warriors of Rohan with shields
- 1 Warrior of Rohan with shield and throwing spears
- 1 Rohan Royal Guard with throwing spears
- 6 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows and spears
- Galadhrim Captain with Elf bow
- 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields
- 1 Warrior of Rohan with shield and throwing spears
- 5 Rohan Royal Guards with throwing spears
- King's Huntsman
- 3 Rohan Royal Guards with throwing spears
1000 points, 67 models, 25-27 Elf bow/longbow shots on a 3+ AND 13 throwing spears hitting on a 4+, 13 D6+ models, no fast troops but 5 Might for Heroic March, 13 Might
Not taking this list was an easy decision - my good mate The Black Prince is a die-hard Rohan player and he brought Theoden and Legolas in his list. Thanks to the Rule of One, this list bit the bin even before I got around to playing with it (I was expecting to not be able to use it anyway). Though this list had double the models of the Black Prince's all-mounted Rohan force, it didn't have as much shooting, interestingly enough - so I very heartily wished the Black Prince luck with his list and moved on to . . .
I love a good Last Alliance list and I've been playing some with Glorfindel, Isildur, and Cirdan over the past year. I also have a soft spot for Gildor, who gives you some much-needed speed and a utility caster (which is great for helping you tie down threats without having to sacrifice Glorfindel). The list got above 50 models (which was my benchmark for a "good" list - though I was willing to sacrifice a little on model count, as you'll see later) and sported a good mix of Elves and men:
- Glorfindel, Lord of the West on Asfaloth with the Armor of Gondolin [ARMY LEADER]
- 7 High Elf Warriors with shields
- 6 High Elf Warriors with shields and spears
- 1 High Elf Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
- 1 High Elf Warrior with Elf bows and spear
- Gildor Inglorion
- 4 Noldorin Exiles with throwing daggers and Wood Elf Spears
- 2 High Elf Warriors with shields
- 2 High Elf Warriors with shields and spears
- 4 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows
- Cirdan
- 3 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows
- 3 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows and spears
- HISTORICAL ALLY - Numenor: Isildur with shield and the One Ring
- 7 Warriors of Numenor with shields
- 2 Warriors of Numenor with shields and spears
- 1 Warrior of Numenor with shield, spear, and banner
- 5 Warriors of Numenor with spears and bows
1000 points, 52 models, 11 Elf bows hitting on a 3+ (rerolling failed To hits if they stand still near Glorfindel) AND 4 throwing daggers hitting on a 3+ AND 5 bows hitting on a 4+, 20 D6+ models, 1 cavalry and 5 fast infantry and 1 Might for Heroic March, 8 Might
I was very happy when I saw a list from my friend Red Jacket for Rivendell that didn't have my heroes in it - but then one of my nephews submitted a list with Glorfindel in it. Into the bin goes another list - which was fine, since I also had . . .
Candidate #3: War of the Ring Era Erebor Reclaimed
I've been painting a lot of Dwarves this year and it occurred to me that I could run a TON of high Defense Iron Hills Dwarves supported by a TON of heroes if I leaned hard into these new models. With King Dain (and his sweet, sweet 6" banner) leading the likes of Thorin III (who is way better in his Legion, but still punches pretty hard), Champ Dwalin, Champ Gloin, Champ Bifur, and an Iron Hills Captain for Heroic March, I don't think there's an Evil army in the game that feels good about shifting us from the walls (or defending a village from our relentless advance).
- Dain Ironfoot, King Under the Mountain [ARMY LEADER]
- 1 Iron Hills Dwarf with spear
- 9 Iron Hills Dwarves with crossbows
- Dwalin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
- 2 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 3 Iron Hills Dwarves with crossbows
- Thorin III Stonehelm
- 2 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 3 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
- Gloin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
- 2 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 3 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
- Bifur the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
- 2 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 3 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
- Iron Hills Captain with mattock
- 2 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 3 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
1000 points, 41 models, 12 crossbows hitting on a 4+ AND 1 Thrown Stone hitting on a 3+, 41 D6+ models, no fast units but 2 Might for Heroic March, 16+ Might points
The problem with this list is that . . . I also bought 20 Warriors of Dale this year, so while I COULD field all these models, I could instead field . . .
Candidate #2: The Defenders of Erebor Legendary Legion
Do you know what's better than having a 40-model army that's packed full of high-Defense Dwarves? Running an almost 60-model army with more flexible archers and 40 D6+ models! I not only had all of the models listed below in my collection (though painting them all in time was going to be a chore - and it ultimately didn't happen), but I'd be able to field some very unloved models (namely Iron Hills Dwarves with mattocks):
- Thorin III Stonehelm [ARMY LEADER]
- 6 Iron Hills Dwarves with mattocks
- 5 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
- 1 Iron Hills Dwarf with crossbow
- Bard II, Prince of Dale
- 3 Warriors of Dale with shields and spears
- 7 Warriors of Dale with Esgaroth bows
- Bifur the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
- 6 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 5 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
- 1 Iron Hills Dwarf with crossbow
- Gloin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
- 6 Iron Hills Dwarves
- 5 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears
- 1 Iron Hills Dwarf with crossbow
- Captain of Dale with Esgaroth bow
- 8 Warriors of Dale with Esgaroth bows
1000 points, 59 models, 3 crossbows hitting on a 4+ AND 18 Esgaroth bows hitting on a 3+ AND 1 Thrown Stone hitting on a 2+, 40 D6+ models, no fast models but 2 Might for Heroic March, 13+ Might
This list was awesome - and I do hope to run a list like it below 1000 points sometime - but the primary reason for not taking it was that my son started playing with my new converted Iron Hills Dwarves . . . and many of these models are in use for his army. :) That left me with the list I ACTUALLY wanted to play with if I was playing for the Good team (and boy am I stupidly happy with this list) . . .
Candidate #1: Kingdom of Moria, Thorin's Company, and Radagast's Alliance Impossible Alliance
I've been calling this list my "absurd soup list" - and for good reason! It's an Impossible alliance that takes my favorite Dwarf faction (the Kingdom of Moria), the wizard I used to run with them back when I got started playing the game (Radagast), and brings in Thorin and Bombur from Thorin's Company to give me a resilient brawler hero and a way to get my Will back without having to kill big things with my heroes!
- Balin the Dwarf, King of Moria
- 6 Dwarf Warriors with shields
- 6 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows
- 6 Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes
- Floi Stonehand
- 6 Dwarf Warriors with shields
- 6 Dwarf Rangers with bows
- King's Champion
- INDEPENDENT: 2 Heralds
- 8 Dwarf Warriors with shields
- 1 Dwarf Warrior with Dwarf bow
- 1 Dwarf Ranger with bow
- IMPOSSIBLE ALLY - Thorin's Company: Thorin Oakenshield with Orcrist and the Oakenshield
- Bombur the Dwarf
- IMPOSSIBLE ALLY - Radagast's Alliance: Radagast the Brown with Sebastian [ARMY LEADER]
1000 points, 48 models, 7 Dwarf bows hitting on a 4+ AND 7 bows hitting on a 3+ AND 6 throwing axes hitting on a 3+, 33 D6+ models, no fast units but 3 Might for Heroic March, 14 Might points
This list has a lot going on - it's got Floi, who can find those nasty rules that make you cringe in fear and suspend them for a turn. It's got Radagast for healing, Immobilizing, making our Dwarves cause Terror, and knocking foes prone. It's got Balin as our heavy-hitting third-string brawler who can also help us win priority. All three of these heroes could benefit from more Will, so we have Bombur in the mix. To get Bombur, we needed Thorin or Dwalin (since Balin was already in the list) - so we went with the tougher guy. Also, having Orcrist in a Good vs. Evil tournament just seemed like a good idea (and boy has it saved my bacon in practice games).
Dropping this list down to 800pts requires us to drop Radagast (Thorin becomes the army leader) and 5 Dwarves (1 Ranger with bow, 1 Warrior with Dwarf bow, and 3 Rangers with throwing axes), which isn't that much of a drop. Going from 48 models to 42 models isn't much of a change and we still have a lot going for us. It's a fun list and there are lots of ways to deal with threats of various kinds.
This would have been a fun list to play, but I wasn't playing on that side - let's look at the lists I considered on the other end of the house (and what I ultimately decided to take) . . .
Candidate #5a: The Black Gate Opens LL
I've spent the better part of the last two years painting a LOT of Mordor units for Fantasy Fellowships. For more on this (and some so-so paint jobs), check out the Quest of the Ringbearer collection updates on our Quest of the Ringbearer page. If you want to have fun with lots of monsters at basically any points level north of 400pts, your first stop should probably be the Black Gate Opens Legendary Legion. Naturally, when you get to 1000 points, you can get quite a bit of stuff with this Legion:
- Uber-Mordor Troll Chieftain [ARMY LEADER]
- 3 Morannon Orcs
- 4 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 3 Morannon Orcs with spears
- 3 Morannon Orcs with spears and shields
- 1 Morannon Orc with shield, spear, and banner
- 1 Mordor Troll with war drum
- The Mouth of Sauron on armored horse
- 5 Morannon Orcs
- 2 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 5 Morannon Orcs with spears
- 2 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
- Mordor Troll Chieftain
- 3 Morannon Orcs
- 3 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 3 Morannon Orcs with spears
- 3 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
- Morannon Orc Captain with shield
- 7 Orc Warriors with Orc bows
- 2 Orc Warriors with Orc bows and spears
- 1 Morannon Orc with shield
- 2 Morannon Orcs with spears and shields
1000 points, 57 models, 9 Orc bows hitting on a 5+ AND 3 Thrown Stones hitting on a 5+, 26 D6+ models, 1 cavalry and 4 Might for Heroic March and a war drum, 9 Might
This is a triple Troll list and sports a ton of models (almost 60). There are two March heroes in it and one of them is even mounted. This list also sports some of my favorite Mordor units (including Morannon Orc Captains - who are great - and a Mordor Troll with war drum). This army moves up fast and hits hard with its host of Morannon Orcs (nearly all I own) and big, beefy monsters.
But it's predominately Courage 2. And has very low Will. In a Good vs. Evil format, this army can really struggle - and while there aren't any Dunharrow or Cirdan lists in the mix (I lucked out there, since my son play-tested with Dunharrow for a while against this list), in general, I don't think this list is good in a Good vs. Evil format (and before anyone asks, I have no shaman in my list because there IS no shaman option in the Legion). I also couldn't run this list because one of my nephews is bringing the Mouth of Sauron for his list, so there's that as well. If you want to run less Trolls but have a shaman option, might I recommend . . .
Candidate #4a: The Army of Gothmog LL
I'm on record for saying that, in most situations, it's better to just run a vanilla Mordor list over this Legion. I'm also on record for saying that the only way I like to run this Legion is with two Mordor War Catapults (because the F7 Trolls that accompany those siege engines are great for getting free Heroic Strikes from Gothmog). With siege scenarios in play and a Good vs. Evil format, it was clearly time to dust off this army and see if it could do alright:
- Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron on Warg with shield [ARMY LEADER]
- 4 Morannon Orcs
- 4 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 4 Morannon Orcs with spears
- 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
- Guritz, Master of Reserves
- 1 Morannon Orc
- 2 Morannon Orcs with spears
- 7 Orc Warriors with Orc bows
- 2 Orc Warriors with Orc bows and spears
- Zagdush
- 2 Morannon Orcs
- 3 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 2 Morannon Orcs with spears
- 3 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
- 1 Morannon Orc with shield, spear, and banner
- Orc Shaman
- 1 Morannon Orc
- 1 Morannon Orc with shield
- 1 Morannon Orc with shield and spear
- Orc Siege Veteran with Mordor War Catapult
- 2 Siege Crew
- 1 Siege Troll
- Orc Siege Veteran with Mordor War Catapult
- 2 Siege Crew
- 1 Siege Troll
1000 points, 55 models, 9 Orc bows hitting on a 5+ AND 2 Catapults hitting on a 4+ rerollable, 22 D6+ models, 1 cavalry and 6 Might for Heroic March, 12+ Might
This list had only two Trolls in it, but they came with catapults and basically got me to the same number of models! I don't have Goroth in the list, but otherwise I'm quite happy with it - it shoots pretty well (considering I have Orc Warriors and catapults to work with . . . and siege bows, but I don't believe in those things). The biggest problem with it is that despite having catapults and Trolls in the mix . . . the rest of the army is pretty meh. It's not that fun to play with. When I'm attacking the city, I'm sure I would have fun - and if I was playing in any village scenario, it would probably be fun too - but defending the city was distinctly unfun. So I canned the idea (though it made me sad). I then decided to try something absolutely ludicrous and SO much fun . . .
Candidate #3a: The Serpent Horde
I know what you're thinking - this is going to be Suladan leading a spam horde that gets tons of shooting and TONS of infantry. Well, you'd be nearly right - it DOES have a lot of infantry (all Haradrim Warriors, nothing fancy) and it has Suladan leading it, but it also has two budget Mumaks in it . . . so the numbers are "high," but not that high:
- Suladan the Serpent Lord on armored horse [ARMY LEADER]
- 5 Haradrim Warriors
- 11 Haradrim Warriors with spears
- Haradrim Mumak Commander on War Mumak of Harad with rappelling lines and tusk weapons
- 10 Haradrim Warriors with bows
- 2 Haradrim Warriors with spears
- Haradrim Mumak Commander on War Mumak of Harad with rappelling lines and tusk weapons
- 10 Haradrim Warriors with bows
- 2 Haradrim Warriors with spears
1000 points, 45 models, 20 bows hitting on a 4+, 2 D6+ models (the Mumaks), 1 cavalry and 2 war beasts and 7 Might for Heroic March, 7 Might
Swap two Trolls for two Mumaks? YES PLEASE! Mumaks are, in fact, quite hard to use - but they are also quite fun to use and quite hard to stop from getting places. Attacking or defending the walls of a city is not what we want to do at all, but if we're on a village map, stopping us from getting where we want to go (or getting past us into the village if we're defending it) is all but impossible. I read in an article from Mumak aficionado Dan Entwhistle a while back that having two Mumaks on the board is better than having one because you can't avoid two nearly as easily - and I've found that to be true.
As fun as this list is, there's a new player to our gaming group that fell in love with the aesthetics of the Haradrim and is borrowing my Mumak . . . so I won't be running this list at this tournament. That's fine with me, since most of my time preparing for this tournament was spent fine-tuning a different list . . .
Candidate #2a: Mordor (but really a "Tiberius Special" Mordor list)
This army list features a BUNCH of models or upgrades that I've defended in our In Defense Of series (or that are coming up in our next wave of In Defense Of articles) - Morannon Orc Captains, Mordor Uruk-Hai, and two-handed weapons (on a few Mordor Uruk-Hai, as well as on the Witch-King). Centaur has Isengard lists that, when you see them, you're like, "Yeah, that's Centaur's list." This list . . . yeah, this list smacks Tiberius when you read it. I've got a bunch of my favorite models - cheap, efficient heroes in Shagrat, Gorbag, and a Morannon Orc Captain, I've got cheap F4/S4 (essential to cracking through the inevitable D6-8 that I expect to see on the Good side of the house) with Mordor Uruk-Hai backed by Morannon Orcs, a Drummer Troll for moving the army quickly (really quickly if we March as well), a healthy amount of archery (14 Orc bows hitting on a 4+), and one BIG monster-magic-caster (who has the obligatory mount, Crown, at least 3M/15W/2F, and some of the extra add-ons including the Morgul Blade and the two-handed flail . . . yeah, I'm going to get crucified for that choice, I'm sure, but after having to crack through Iron Hills Dwarves and Warriors of the Dead for the past few months in practice games, I can tell you that the flail CAN be worth it). With a healthy 50 models and LOTS of options baked into it, I'm pretty happy with it.
- The Witch-King of Angmar on Fell Beast with the Crown of Morgul, Morgul Blade, two-handed flail, 3M/17W/3F [ARMY LEADER]
- 3 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows
- 3 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows and two-handed maces
- 3 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 1 Morannon Orc with spear
- 8 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
- Shagrat, Warleader with heavy armor and the Shield of Cirith Ungol
- 4 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows
- 4 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
- 1 Morannon Orc with shield, spear, and banner
- 1 Mordor Troll with war drum
- Gorbag, Orc Captain with shield
- 4 Morannon Orcs with shields
- 5 Morannon Orcs with spears
- Morannon Orc Captain with shield
- 4 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows
- 5 Morannon Orcs with spears
1000 points, 50 models, 14 Orc bows hitting on a 4+ AND 1 Thrown Stones hitting on a 5+, 24 D6+ models, 1 flier and a war drum, 11+ Might
This list does most things - but it doesn't fight Terror very well (or stick around once its heroes go down). I also would have needed to swap out Shagrat, since he's being used by one of my nephews. It also turns out that this list hates facing Iron Hills Dwarves or anything that's going to be D7+ (since you have problems wounding them - especially if your Mordor Uruk-Hai go down), so I ended up favoring . . .
Candidate #1a (and Tiberius's List): The Depths of Moria Legendary Legion
I mean, is anyone surprised at this? No Balrogs were taken by anyone else, so yeah, I took the Balrog. I've said for several of the armies listed above that Terror was a big threat - this army isn't afraid of a little Terror. I was able to basically empty everything out of my Moria box (the Watcher, a Bat Swarm, some converted named heroes, a Warg Marauder, and a handful of Goblin models stayed in) and the rest of it was arrayed in all their glorious majesty before me - a real treasure to behold!
- The Balrog [ARMY LEADER]
- 8 Moria Goblin Prowlers
- 8 Moria Goblin Warriors with spears
- Moria Goblin Captain
- 3 Moria Goblin Warriors with shields
- 4 Moria Goblin Warriors with spears
- 3 Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows
- Moria Goblin Captain
- 3 Moria Goblin Warriors with shields
- 4 Moria Goblin Warriors with spears
- 3 Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows
- Moria Blackshield Captain
- 2 Moria Goblin Prowlers
- 2 Moria Goblin Warriors with shields
- 5 Moria Goblin Warriors with spears
- 1 Cave Troll with Troll chain and hand-and-a-half hammer
- Moria Goblin Shaman
- 3 Moria Goblin Warriors with shields
- 2 Moria Goblin Warriors with spears
- Moria Blackshield Shaman
- 2 Moria Goblin Warriors with Orc bows
- 2 Moria Goblin Drummers with Moria Goblin Drum
1000 points, 61 models, 8 Orc bows hitting on a 5+ AND 10 throwing daggers hitting on a 4+ AND 1 Thrown Stone/Troll Chain hitting on a 5+ AND 1 Fiery Lash hitting on a 3+, 3 D6+ models, no fast units but 4-6 Might for Heroic March, 8 Might
I have 10 Prowlers (who can be F4 near the Balrog), a Cave Troll, the Balrog, and a HOST of Goblins (who can all benefit from the global banner boost from the Moria Goblin Drum) and I've also got the surprise entry of a Moria Blackshield Captain (who I actually think is pretty great - but more on that in a future post). I've opted for the Troll chain on the Cave Troll because I believe in throwing weapons and I'm super pumped with how well this army has performed in the practice games I've played. The army not counting as breaking until the Balrog suffers 5 wounds CAN be a liability if I'm defending the village, but it can also secure me a lot of VPs in the city scenario if I can just break the other guy. We'll see how it does, but I'm pretty excited to bring these guys back to the table!
Conclusion
So there you have it - I'll be joining the Evil players on my team for some good-old-fashioned brawling this weekend (I'll try to get some photos up on my instagram @tmat_tiberius). Good has two Rivendell lists (one with a Galadhrim contingent), one Dwarf list, one Rohan/Fellowship list, and one Minas Tirith list, while Evil has two Legendary Legions (my Balrog list and the Grand Army of the South), a Moria/Mordor Spider list, an Easterling/Mordor alliance, and Rythbyrt's Mordor/Corsairs/Far Harad "soup" list. Hopefully I'll have something up for you all to see! Until next time, happy hobbying!
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