MESBG Christmas Lists, List #2: Isengard

Good morning gamers,

Tiberius: One of my favorite blogs to read (both when they post new things and when I need inspiration from their older content) is the Drawn Combat blog - those guys over there are amazing and I've really enjoyed their "500 under 50" series, as well as the lovely conversion work they do. If you haven't found their blog yet - you should read what they have (it's all awesome) and if possible, attend their Valourbowl tournaments that they run (proceeds go to charity). It is my great pleasure to share with you today a list from Drawn Combat's Dan Stu - take it away, Dan!

Dan: My favourite list from this year was the list I took to Harry Parkhill’s ‘Lord of the Imps’ 805pt tournament in Lincoln. It was my second time attending, and I’ll be sure to go back again next year.

The tournament brings a particular list-building quirk; at the end of the first day, your army’s leader dies along with their warband, to be replaced your nominated Lieutenant who becomes the leader for day 2. This leaves a points gap which can be filled by adding in warbands or warriors. The format shakes things up and encourages a strong emphasis on theme, with lots of people – myself included – bringing armies they’d never normally consider.

I didn’t have a huge amount of time to paint new models, so I’d planned to pivot out from one of my existing armies. I spitballed a few ideas and the one I landed on was to add a sizeable Isengard contingent to my Army of Dunland, have them led by Saruman as a non-LL Isengard list. On Day 2, Dunland reinforcements would arrive and Thrydan would step up to lead the Dunland Legendary Legion.

With Saruman and Thrydan set in stone , Gorulf was the logical pick for my third threat, with the option to become a roadblock for big heroes if necessary. I also liked the theme of Saruman’s warband being almost all Uruks, with the remainder being your typical ‘Dunland salad’. That left me with the following: 

• Saruman on horse [ARMY LEADER]
• 1 Uruk-Hai Berserker
• 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
• 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with pike and banner
• 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows
• 2 Wild Men of Dunland
• 2 Dunlending Warriors with bows
• Gorulf Ironskin
• 5 Dunlending Warriors with shields
• 2 Dunlending Warriors with bows
• 3 Dunlending Huscarls
• 1 Dunlending Horseman
• 1 Crebain
• Thrydan Wolfsbane on horse
• 5 Dunlending Warriors with shields
• 3 Dunlending Huscarls
• 3 Dunlending Horsemen
• 1 Crebain

805 points, 45 models, 4 bows hitting on a 4+ AND 4 crossbows hitting on a 4+, 4 D6+ models, 5 cavalry + 2 flyers, 9 Might

In terms of performance, I only had the first day to gauge how good the list was – and I’d also never run a Wizard before in the entirety of my SBG career. And I’ve got to say, Wizards are really, really good. Having a 200pt hero who is as sturdy as a wet flannel in combat really forced me to approach games in a cautious, problem solving way. I gradually built up confidence with him through out the day, but I’ve always been more of an aggressive player, so I gravitated more towards using him as a Sorcerous Blast machine gun with the option to switch to Transfix towards the end of the game. I prefer to shake things up than to simply nullify my opponent’s big hitters for a whole game.

Having said that, Saruman takes heroes off horses like nobody’s business - when he’s mounted, his threat range is enormous. No matter how careful your opponent is, there will almost certainly be a unit somewhere that can be blasted to dismount an important model, and I found myself getting quite creative with this by the third game. And aside from dismounting heroes, Saruman had no problem earning his points in each game due to pure disruption. Even without dipping in to his will store, he has a 75% chance to cast a free Sorcerous Blast, which is terrifying.

Crossbows were another thing that was brand new to me – I’ve never taken a list with any focus on archery before, and I was shocked at just how much control a game’s momentum a small amount of S4 archery can give you.

Gorulf and Thrydan both having 3 might and access to Strike also made them an extremely threatening one-two punch, especially with a channeled Transfix thrown in. The weak link in the list really is the fairly lackluster Dunland infantry, who are a bit sad when they don’t have their Legendary Legion’s big 6” banners to back them up.

This list took me to 2 wins and 1 draw out of its 3 trips to the table – far better than the 1-2 performance that the pure Dunland LL would put in the next day. The MOV in Saruman’s games was very narrow – a 0-0 draw, a 6-3 and a 1-0 win reflects just how cagey I was while learning how to use him – but it was easy to see the level of agency a Wizard can give you over the game.

In fact, I’m so keen on this combo, and such is my desire to explore a bit more of Saruman and non-LL Isengard, that I’ve distilled what I liked about this list in to a 700pt ‘proof of concept’ list that I’ll be running shortly!

• Saruman on horse [ARMY LEADER]
• 1 Uruk-Hai Berserker
• 5 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
• 5 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with pike and banner
• Gorulf Ironskin
• 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 5 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows
• 2 Dunlending Horsemen
• Vrasku
• 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 6 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows

Tiberius: I always love a good bonus list - thanks so much Dan for the lists and I hope you enjoy running them soon! Hopefully you enjoyed this article - and show the guys over at Drawn Combat some love and check out their stuff (as well as their affiliate links with Rebel Base Gaming). Until next time, happy hobbying!