MESBG Christmas Lists, List #3: Angmar

Good morning gamers,

Tiberius: Our Christmas list today is from long-time friend of the blog and Aussie-tournament-winning phenomenon Sharbie from the Against All Odds blog (watch for updates from him in the side-bar or just follow his blog). Sharbie's been playing with a lot of nasty things on the table over the past year (mostly of the big, high-powered monster variety) and today he brings us a list featuring Angmar and the dreaded glass-cannon Gûlavhar - whatcha got for us today, Sharbie?

• The Witch-King of Angmar on horse with the Crown of Morgul and 3M/12W/2F [AL]
• 6 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 6 Angmar Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with Orc bow
• 1 Dead Marsh Spectre
• 1 Wild Warg
• Gûlavhar, the Terror of Arnor
• 6 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with spear and banner
• 1 Angmar Warg Rider with throwing spears
• 1 Dead Marsh Spectre
• Barrow-Wight
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Wild Warg
• Orc Captain on Warg
• 1 Wild Warg
• 1 Angmar Warg Rider with shield

750 points, 46 models, 1 Orc bow hitting on a 5+ AND 1 throwing spear hitting on a 5+, 2 D6+ models, 4 cavalry + 1 flyer + 3 fast infantry, 8 Might

Check out Sharbie's articles on Gûlavhar at the end of the post!

Sharbie: This list is hardly unique or original: variants of it have won many a tournament, and it's mostly a particular spin on a standard recipe. However, I wanted to showcase it anyway for three reasons. First, it's been easily my most successful tournament list. I've won a lot of games and several events with variants of it, and it deserves some credit for those.

Second, it's one of the most fantastically versatile and sneaky lists in the game. From Gûlavhar Heroic Combats to Spectre killboxes, to massed magic, and to the terrifying way all of those things come together to make something spookier than the sum of its parts, this list can threaten anywhere on the combat zone at any point, in ways that only the smartest opponents will have fully thought through.

Finally, this is one of the most enjoyable lists I've ever played. Its raw power is insane, but you have to be constantly on your toes to get the most out of it, and there's always the prospect of things going rapidly and disastrously wrong. After all, you're primarily relying on a 200-point D5 model with no Fate, backed by a 1 Wound Army Leader and a swath of D4-5 Orcs. If your opponent gets the chance to hurt you then you're gonna get hurt. In the end, it's the adrenaline rush that comes with playing this list that meant it took out my top spot for what to showcase.

As far as how to play this list, it's far too complex to go into here, so I'll just link this article on how to use Gûlavhar, plus Part 1 of this tournament report (ed. Part 2 is exciting as well ~Tiberius) in which I took out our state GT using this list. You'll also find lots of other Gûlavhar and Angmar content elsewhere on the blog I linked if you're curious about how this kind of build functions on the table.

Tiberius: Thanks for the list, Sharbie! Sharbie's write-ups on this list (and other lists) are excellent - be sure to check out his stuff if you haven't already. While Sharbie loves Gûlavhar, he's also written up an excellent article on how to beat him (if you find him across the table and want to stop him from having a good time). The next article in this series will drop on Thursday - check back soon and in the meantime, happy hobbying!