Nemesis: How to Fight Against Mordor Troll Chieftains

Good morning gamers,

Earlier this year, we were asked if we could write Nemesis articles for the Witch-King of Angmar and Mordor Troll Chieftains. A few weeks ago, we covered the Witch-King (as an extended discussion of Ringwraiths, who have already shown up generally in this series). Today, we're tackling Mordor Troll Chieftains who . . . get a bit of a bad wrap in competitive circles.

Back when I started playing MESBG (back when it was LOTR SBG and Heroic Strike wasn't a thing), Mordor Troll Chieftains were scary - they were generic heroes who had base F7, giving them an edge over basically any hero in the game. After the rise of Heroic Strike (and its proliferation on a ton of units), having a base F7 stat doesn't usually matter until those "Strike heroes" are out of Might. F7 just isn't what it used to be . . .

. . . but Troll Chieftains are still F7/S7 monsters and if you find yourself across the table from one, you could be in for it. As a result, we're going to discuss today how to beat these guys - and while we're at it, we're going to look at an interesting corollary set of units you can beat with similar strategies: most Dwarf Infantry heroes.

What Makes Mordor Troll Chieftains So Hated?

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community (and a really great article, despite its age)

While Mordor Troll Chieftains receive some censure from competitive players, a LOT of Dwarf heroes are touted as being excellent profile-for-cost units and while you may not see these guys crushing all of the top tables, a solid Dwarf list is a good gatekeeper list that will separate the "bad" lists from the "good" lists. A lot of that is tied to how points efficient their heroes (and most of their warriors) are - and if we understand what makes Dwarf heroes so good (and what they lack), we'll learn a lot about what makes Mordor Troll Chieftains good as well.

Regardless of the Dwarf list you're fielding (except Thorin's Company), it's not hard to find at least one named hero profile and at least one generic hero profile that's F5-6, effectively S6 with/without a dueling penalty (and if that's from the Khazad-Dum/Moria army list, you probably have access to Piercing Strike as well), D8-9, 2-3 Attacks, 2-3 Wounds, and either 2-Might-and-Strike or 3-Might-and-Strike (generic heroes from the Hobbit have 2-Might-and-March, but the Master of Battle (5+) on Iron Hills Captains means they CAN call Heroic Strike for free if an enemy hero nearby calls a Heroic Strike). If you went looking for this in other factions (we'll look at "the big four" of Minas Tirith, Rohan, Mordor, and Isengard), you'd be hard-pressed to find any models that meet this description at the 65-120 price point of most Dwarf heroes - even if you drop the D8 requirement that basically no one outside of Dwarves/monsters can reach (Knights of the White Tower check most of those boxes at 60pts each and add Mighty Blow to the mix - but they are quite a bit squishier than Dwarf heroes).

The pairing of high Fight Value (a lot of Dwarf heroes with Heroic Strike start at F6) and high Defense (D8 is pretty standard) means that most big heroes who run up against a Dwarf hero and happen to win are looking at 5s or 6s To Wound . . . which means that some big heroes will be spending their Might on Heroic Strike JUST to have the chance to win - but not to have a good chance of actually clearing out their foe. Most Dwarf heroes have 2 Wounds (a few have 3) and most Dwarf heroes have 1-2 Fate points (a few have 3), so if you can get 3-4 wounds in a round, you could one-shot a Dwarf hero . . . but for most heroes, getting 3-4 wounds is going to take multiple turns of fighting and probably drain them of their Might.

This is what Troll Chieftains do really well - like Mordor Trolls (but more so because they have at least 2 Might and 1 Fate), they drain enemy resources quite quickly and unless they're trapped (there's a formation you can use to keep that from happening), they're probably walking away from a fight that they lose. A Troll Chieftain is base F7, which means most heroes have to call a Heroic Strike just to have a chance at having a higher Fight Value - and they're also base D8, which means most heroes are going to wound them on 6s unless they have invested in some kind of bonus To Wound (and many of THOSE options involve getting a charge or two-handing with a penalty). With 3 Wounds/1 Fate, these guys are pretty resilient to most attackers, be they in melee or at range.

Troll Chieftains have access to two specialized heroic actions: Heroic Strike (which is helped a lot by being F7 - they are more likely to reach F10 than fall short of it) and Heroic Strength (which, with a base Strength of 7, they don't usually need - but there are niche matchups where that might be considered). A good Mordor Troll Chieftain player will know if you're going to call Heroic Strike with one of your heroes who charges a Troll Chieftain - and a great Mordor Troll Chieftain player will determine if he needs to counter-call a Strike or if he can safely endure the round, banking the Might point to boost a 5 to a 6 to force more Might out of the enemy hero . . . or beating a flubbed roll by the opposing hero and dicing them up nicely. While Heroic Moves and Combats are gold as well, Troll Chieftains are masters of calling Heroic Strike (and also, masters of NOT calling Heroic Strike).

Finally, Mordor Troll Chieftains are generic monster hero models, which means they don't get knocked over by cavalry charges (unless there's a VERY high Strength Monstrous Charge model - remember I just said there is a niche use case for calling Heroic Strength?), they can be incredibly hard to trap/double-dice against (if you guard their flanks and limit their exposure), and S7 is great if you have to Rend or Hurl an enemy model - Mordor Troll Chieftains are very solid units if they're employed well. Oh, and since they're generic, you can field more than one of them . . . that's handy.

So if these guys are so good, why all the critique? I think that can be answered quite simply: points level. I know all the competitive players are saying, "no, it's their base size, 6-inch move, and limited heroic stats," but the ACTUAL issue is points level. We'll get to mobility in the next section, but the bigger issue is that they're being fielded at points levels that are too high for what they do.

One of the best things about MESBG is that there isn't a specific points level that it's supposed to be played - and the game functions pretty well anywhere between 350 and 1000 points (if you have good time limits in place). With many competitive events in the 600-800pt range, there's an understood "good" points level for the game, with higher points levels allowing armies to bring more tricks and tools to make them less susceptible to threats and skews.

Mordor Troll Chieftains fit in a particular kind of skew list - they're high Fight/Strength/Defense monster models - and the higher the points level is, the more likely your opponent is to have the tools to outclass these guys. The lower the points level is, the more points they take up - but also the less likely they are to run into something that can beat them (besides your opponent's only big hero trying to tie them up or brow-beat them the hard way). Let's take a look now at what those tools are that can beat Troll Chieftains . . .

How Do You Fight Back Against Mordor Troll Chieftains?

We're going to start this section talking about the primary weakness that both Troll Chieftains and Dwarf heroes face: limited mobility. Most Dwarf heroes are infantry and they have a base movement of 5", which means that you can stand 5.5" away from them, be able to charge them on your terms (with most Infantry models in the game), and they can't charge you back. This "haloing" approach is a common strategy for dealing with infantry heroes in general, but is particularly easy against 5" move infantry.

While Mordor Troll Chieftains have a move value of 6", their large base size (60mm) is incredibly unwieldy and what usually happens with these guys (and Mordor Trolls) is that they will advance towards the enemy in a predictable way, get locked in, and basically be stuck in that one spot until they dice up all the enemies nearby or get killed themselves. If you have units that are not worth a Troll Chieftain's time to kill (basic grunts) and keep your heroes away from them, a Troll Chieftain's excellent profile stats are going to be wasted - and that's a win for you as their opponent.

But this underlies another key strategy for dealing with Troll Chieftains: don't fight them with your big heroes. There are very, VERY few big heroes who can clear out a Mordor Troll Chieftain in one go - something that we're about to see in today's Top 5 counters list - and even the heroes who are S4 with +1 To Wound (who may be the strongest heroes you have in your arsenal) don't want to stick around one of these guys for very long. Since Troll Chieftains are part of the very exclusive F7+ club, most heroes who line up on the other side of the table are going to be F4-6 and a good chunk (but not all) of those heroes will have Heroic Strike . . . and since Troll Chieftains also have Heroic Strike, it's not a guarantee that you're going to beat their Fight Value even if you burn Might to fight them. Unless there's a way of mitigating risk (which we'll get to in a bit), it's a dangerous gambit - don't do it.

If you want to have a grunt who isn't worth a Troll Chieftain's time to kill tackle this guy, it pays to have high Courage or some way of getting Fearless on your grunts. Some factions can do this easily - either because their warriors are hyper-elite when it comes to Courage (like Elves or Berserkers) or because they have easy access to auric auto-passing courage rules (like Shamans or a Legendary Legion bonus). Whatever the rule is, being able to tie up a Troll Chieftain with a single warrior puts the Troll Chieftain in a difficult spot: does he burn one of his precious Might points to call a Heroic Combat (and based on how far he can actually move with that massive base and only 6" movement, that may not get him into more than one more model)? Does he fight the guy and Barge, risking a variable amount of movement to get into a nearby fight (again, probably against just one model)? Or does he Hurl the guy (assuming there are important models in that path)? Or does he just settle for killing one guy? Honestly this last option might be his best move . . . but it's not a particularly good move for a model like him.

While it's difficult for warriors (or heck, even heroes) to reach Defense 8, a D8+ foe is a nightmare for Troll Chieftains to face. Just by getting to D8, the Troll Chieftain wounds on 5s and so long as you're not trapped, he's only expected to get 1 wound each turn . . . but 30% of the time, he's expected to fail to get any natural 5s! Without the ability to fight two-handed (unlike Mordor Trolls - who are situationally awesome), you can't make this number go down any lower, so a D8 road-block is a real nightmare. Rend can get you past this, but ONLY if you a) are fine killing a single D8 Warrior model, and b) don't intend to use any other Brutal Power Attacks this turn (like if you're trying to Heroic Combat off of a single warrior model to get into a big hero).

One other thing that's a nasty curve ball for a Mordor Troll Chieftain is having Strength 8 and Monstrous Charge (or a similar rule like Unstoppable Momentum on Smaug), which can knock over a Troll Chieftain and double dice against him. Because you're going to be at least S8 to pull this off, a Troll Chieftain will be wounded on at least 4s and is certainly going to be in trouble. In this ONE case, it pays dividends to call Heroic Strength to cancel the knock-down, but you're going to be settling for F7 . . . and most foes of this strength are going to be higher than that. While this list is pretty short, we'll see in a bit some sneaky ways of getting this combo a little later.

Finally, there's probably no better answer to Mordor Troll Chieftains than good, old-fashioned magic. Troll Chieftains, like most generic heroes, have very limited Will stores (only 1 Will by default, 2 Will on the Uber-Troll Chieftain in the Black Gate Opens Legendary Legion). Magic is usually costly, which is partly why I recommend running these guys at lower points levels (where getting a long-term/good magic caster is hard). If a Transfix or Immobilize spell is cast on its bare minimum (usually a 3+), an enemy caster can usually spend 1 Will point to get rid of the only Will point on the Troll Chieftain - and since Heroic Resolve is INCREDIBLY limited on Evil models (just the Witch-King, the Dragon Emperor, Durburz, Suladan, the Golden King, and Khandish Kings - some of which you might see allied into a Mordor list, but probably in place of taking a Mordor Troll Chieftain), your Will is all you have . . . so yeah, after that, you're at the mercy of the magic caster (and if they can Might up a casting roll to get the required 3+ or whatever they need, it's probably a good idea to just do that).

While Transfix/Immobilize are excellent spells to just lock down a Troll Chieftain, spells that will knock them over (like Sorcerous Blast, Tremor, or Wrath of Bruinen) are also really good, mostly because it's one of the few ways you can double dice against them. It also guarantees (like Transfix/Immobilize) that the Troll won't be killing anyone this round, which means that running in a hero who can't call Heroic Strike (or who could call it but wants to save Might points) can fight with the lower Fight Value and be just fine. You could also just send in a warrior to tie the Troll down (ideally one that is S4 or can get to S4).

Okay, so let's look at some models that you can use to counter Mordor Troll Chieftains . . .

Tiberius's Top 5 Models To Counter Mordor Troll Chieftains

I'm going to start off this section by saying that if you're looking for Floi . . . you're not going to find him on this list. Sure, he could turn off Terror or Throw Stones if the Troll Chieftain moves first or chooses to stoop for a rock, but on the whole, Troll Chieftains don't have the kinds of special rules that you want to shut down. If Floi's Loremaster rule could turn off Brutal Power Attacks (limiting a Troll Chieftain's effectiveness against D8 Dwarf heroes), that would be one thing - but since BPAs are not Active or Passive rules, he can't do that. As a result, I'll need to forego talking about Floi today and instead we'll start with . . .

Honorable Mention: Any F4+ warrior with C4+/Fearless (especially Clansmen of Lamedon)

The only way that a Mordor Troll Chieftain can increase the reliability of his wounding attempts is to Feint - and at F7, he can Feint against a F3 or lower opponent without risking the loss of having the higher Fight Value. As soon as you cross over to F4, however, a F7 Troll Chieftain who loses D3 Fight Value can end up on a tied Fight Value . . . and the one thing a Mordor Troll Chieftain really doesn't want to do is lose a fight to a grunt (regardless of whether he gets wounded or not - he's not killing anything that round and that's bad).

Getting to C4 is really good because if there's no Harbinger of Evil rule in play (like in the Black Gate Opens LL), a C4 model has a 72.2% chance of charging a Mordor Troll Chieftain successfully. If Harbinger is in play, that gets reduced to 58.3%, but it's still a three-out-of-five proposition and "more likely than not." If we have to draw a baseline somewhere, getting to F4/C4 is pretty good.

If you can get Fearless, though, that's even better - and you can get that with Clansmen of Lamedon near Angbor the Fearless with or without the Fiefdoms army bonus. Clansmen are base C5 (awesome) and gain Fearless from Angbor's profile if they're within 6" of him when they start their move. If they END within 6" of him, they also get a banner reroll, which is good since their two-handed broadswords don't suffer a -1 penalty to their dueling roll if they get a natural 6 . . . so hunting for that natural 6 is really good! With F4 base and S3 with +1 To Wound (wounds D8 on 5/3+), they're not half bad at wounding a Mordor Troll if they can win - and will be wounded like many other things on 3s if they lose, which is fine.

There are other F4 with C4/Fearless models that you could choose (like Khazad Guards), but Clansmen are blissfully cheap at 8pts/model and feel like the kinds of units that a Mordor Troll Chieftain shouldn't square up against. Now for a dishonorable mention . . .

Dishonorable Mention: Siege Engines that auto-kill (especially S10 siege weapons)

In general, shooting a Mordor Troll Chieftain just isn't worth it - there will always be something that's D3-6 around this guy and those are WAY better targets for shooting with arrows and even crossbows. However, a S10 siege engine (Minas Tirith Trebuchets, War Catapults from Mordor/Barad-Dur, Dale Windlances, and Catapult Trolls from Azog's Legion - or put differently, one siege engine from a Good/Evil faction from each of the sourcebooks) wounds these guys on a 3+ (along with pretty much everything else in the game - and likely everything else that's in the Troll Chieftain's army), so if you can peg the Troll Chieftain . . . you should do so. 

Additionally, all of the S10 siege engines have the auto-kill rule against their primary target and will knock him prone if the wound is saved. All told, this is pretty good. Finally, three of the S10 siege engines (not the windlance) have indirect fire, which means they ignore in-the-ways between the Troll Chieftain and themselves and any friendly model can be the "spotter" for line-of-sight. It's . . . pretty easy to see these guys, especially if you have a cavalry model or flyer to run around terrain and see part of the model. Unless the Troll Chieftain is in a forest (slowing down his already slow movement) or under a building's roof/walkway, there's no in-the-way if the scatter works out.

Unfortunately, there are some scenarios (and Black Gate Opens builds) that will get these guys locked into combat quickly - and that makes pegging these guys with siege weapons a bit difficult. As a result, I'll give these guys the dishonorable mention, but they're definitely on the list. Now for the actual list of models to field - and fittingly enough, we'll begin with . . .

Pick #5: Ents (but especially Treebeard and Beechbone)

I grew up playing the Battle for Middle-Earth (original, as well as BFME-2) game on PC and I've gotta say, I always thought the matchup between a Cave Troll or Mordor Troll against an Ent was one-sided. Ents are really hard to kill in that game without fire of some kind and if you have a Troll go up against them, you just kind of get laid out flat. In MESBG, it's a bit closer, but not by much. Ents are base F7 as well (Treebeard and Beechbone are F8), they're S8 (so they wound on 4s), they're D8 (so they're wounded in return on 5s), and they've got great Courage to bypass the Terror on the Trolls (while the Trolls have . . . well, not as great Courage, but fine Courage). With longer range and greater Strength on their Throw Stones rule, they can force an engagement from a Troll Chieftain and might even strip a Fate point or a Wound off before the fighting begins.

Even if a Troll Chieftain calls a Heroic Strike against a generic Ent or Quickbeam, without a trap to double his dice (and some help from S4+ models), he's looking at dealing only 1 wound each turn - and only 2 wounds if he traps the model. That's . . . not great. In return, if he loses the fight, he's losing 1-2 wounds, which could finish him if he's already taken some hits on the approach. While Treebeard costs 50pts base more than a Troll Chieftain, the other Ent models are all +/-20pts off of a Troll Chieftain's cost, so for roughly the same points, you're getting something that punches just a little bit better and takes a punch just a little bit better too.

If the Ents retain their army bonus, they can ADDITIONALLY make it hard to neutralize them with magic (like if you bring the Mouth of Sauron in a Black Gate list) - with full immunity to Transfix and Fearless to make them immune to Drain Courage/Instill Fear . . . I mean, that's really taking the wind out of the Mouth's sails. Since Treebeard (and potentially some friends) can be allied conveniently into any Good faction, this is a pretty great stop for anyone looking for some extra oomph if they're worried about a Troll on the other side of the table.

Alas, Ents struggle with some of the same mobility problems that Trolls do (and cost about the same as well), so I couldn't in good faith put them higher than the other models in this ranking. If you want similar power but more maneuverability, you should check out . . .

Pick #4: Models with S8+ and Monstrous Charge

If you're looking for S8 and Monstrous Charge out of the box, you're pretty much looking at Gulavhar. With base F7 and no Heroic Strike, he probably wants to challenge a Mordor Troll Chieftian ONLY when that Chieftain has been hit by a sneaky Transfix - or even better, a Paralyze. With S8 and Monstrous Charge, a fully-healthy Gulavhar (whose Attack stat is equal to his remaining Wounds) will be rolling 10 dice to wound and wounding on 4s . . . that's instant death for an Uber-Troll Chieftain, not to mention a "normal" Troll Chieftain. It's nasty and bad - and while Gulavhar is a fragile model, he's also got Fly (which contributes to his fragility somewhat), so he can swoop in from a protected location and get an attack in when it suits him - especially if he's using a Heroic Combat to get into the Transfixed Troll.

If you branch out into Legendary Legions, you add Beorn and Grimbeorn, better known as "the bears." In their Legion, they pick up Monstrous Charge - and they can shape-shift at will instead of on a 4+. If one of these F7-8/S8/Fearless heroes gets into a Mordor Troll Chieftain, it's pretty much a "Strike-and-pray" kind of situation, since the Bear is probably Striking too, will knock you over if he wins, and will roll 8 dice that wound on 4s . . . I mean, that's pretty much death as well. I lucked out the other day in a practice game against Rythbyrt with a Troll Chieftain and two Troll friends and was able to charge Beorn and Grimbeorn before they could shape-shift. If they had been able to change into bears . . . yeah, my Trolls would have all been dead. Even without shape-shifting, Man-form Beorn one-shot one of my Mordor Trolls, so that's a data point that's worth considering.

While he doesn't exactly have Monstrous Charge, Smaug has 4 base attacks and knocks down anything that he charges (unless they have a rule that says otherwise), so he too will get 8 dice looking for 4s if he wins the fight - but at base F9, he's guaranteed to reach F10 if he Strikes . . . though he might also just save his Might, let the Troll Strike up and potentially tie/lose in the FV contest, and risk being wounded on 6s with his 20 wounds . . . yeah, that's a thing. Or he could just roast this guy from afar like a siege weapon . . . or Transfix the Troll on the approach . . . those are possible solutions too.

Finally, you can get a cheeky S8/Monstrous Charge combo by allying Shelob (probably with the Mouth of Sauron or a named Ringwraith) with Druzhag (probably with Durburz) OR allying the Spider Queen with Druzhag (and probably Durburz). Both of these "spider gals" have S6-7 base and as spiders, they can be targeted by Druzhag's Enrage Beast magical power. This spell is NUTS and turns the Spider Queen into a F8/S8/5 Attack model with Monstrous Charge and Shelob into a (wait for it) F9/S9/4 Attack model with Monstrous Charge . . . and the Spider Queen can call Heroic Strike if she wants. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend channelling Enrage Beast, you could channel it on Shelob to make her F10/S10/5 Attacks with Monstrous Charge . . . or put a different way, a stronger, faster version, bowl-over-people version of the Balrog. I had to fight BOTH of these Spider heroes and Druzhag (with the Mouth of Sauron and Durburz to boot) at our GT this year - and boy was that a difficult combo to deal with!

The thing about these heroes is that . . . honestly, these are points matchups that a Troll Chieftain wants. And if these heroes flub their rolls (or if the roll-off goes the Troll Chieftain's way), the Troll Chieftain could do some real damage to these characters. Besides Gulavhar (and Smaug), neutralizing magic is likely to be limited if not absent in the list, so it's not a guarantee that it's a safe fight. If you want to go for the tie-him-down approach, I'd instead recommend . . .

Pick #3: Warriors of the Dead with shields and Iron Hills Dwarves (especially with Dain Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills) . . . and Vault Wardens

If you want D8 with good Courage, Warriors of the Dead are an excellent choice - if equipped with shields (basically everyone does this, unless you're in a scenario, right?), these guys are F3/D8, which doesn't quite reach our desired F4, but it does mean they're wounded on 5s - and so long as the King of the Dead is within 12" of the Troll, they'll wound him on 4s if they win . . . that's pretty great. With Terror of their own (and usually Harbinger of Evil on the King of the Dead - again, if the Troll is within 12" of the King), presenting a frontline of Warriors of the Dead is a pretty tough matchup for a Troll Chieftain.

So is a shieldwall (literally) of Iron Hills Dwarves. Young Dain has a 12" auto-pass Courage test rule that will affect these guys - and if they retain shieldwall, they'll be D8 . . . and they're F4 . . . and C4, as it happens - though it's unnecessary here. While the Fearless won't be present if you field these guys from Erebor Reclaimed without Dain (or with Old Dain), having F4/C4/D8 makes them ideal candidates for tying up a Mordor Troll Chieftain - and since they can be brought in Erebor Reclaimed with Young Dain/Thorin with the Armies of the Hobbit-oriented alliance matrix OR with Old Dain/Thorin III with the Armies of the Lord of the Rings-oriented alliance matrix, getting these guys in your lists just requires you to not want your army bonus . . . pretty neat, huh?

Finally, as was mentioned in the comments, I completely blew past Vault Wardens, who have a F4/D9 Foe Shield bearer who cannot be targeted by Brutal Power Attacks (so no Barging/Rending him - gotta wound on 5s) and a F4/D6 spearman who gets +1 To Wound against Monsters (so wounding the Troll back on 5s, with the Foe Shield wounding on 6s). At 25pts for the pair, they're only 2pts more expensive than a pair of Iron Hills Dwarves (shield backed by spear-and-shield) and 6pts cheaper than a pair of Warriors of the Dead (shield backed by spear-and-shield). If you ally them in with a Dwarf King, you've got a pretty hardy anvil unit - and a pretty good matchup against more than just Troll Chieftains.

Of course, the only thing better than tying down a Mordor Troll Chieftain or feeding him a model to Heroic Combat off of (albeit a more difficult proposition with these two units) is to not let the Mordor Troll Chieftain fight at all. For that, you want to look into . . .

Pick #2: Barrow-Wights (and sometimes Mirkwood Spiders)

Barrow-Wights are one of the biggest cheat-codes in the game - and if it weren't for how restrictive their alliance matrix is, we'd probably see these guys everywhere. Paralyze is super powerful and only exists as a castable spell (6" range, 4+ difficulty) on Barrow-Wights. If a Mordor Troll Chieftain finds himself against an Angmar army that has one or more Barrow-Wights, he's risking a lot!

But Barrow-Wights aren't the only units who can Paralyze people - several other units can Paralyze models with special rules. Some of these rules can't be used against Troll Chieftains (like the Save 'Em For Later rule that's on the three Trolls or the Put 'Em In Chains/At 'Em Lads rules that are on most of the models in the Sharkey's Rogues expanded army list - see the Scouring of the Shire supplement for more on that), but Shelob's Caught in a Web Brutal Power Attack (which you'd only want to use if Shelob had been charged - and wasn't being buffed by Enrage Beast) can Paralyze a Troll Chieftain if she can get a wound on a 5+ (and it isn't saved by Fate). This is risky, but no riskier than striking normally (and with potentially higher dividends).

Mirkwood Spiders can make a shooting attack with their Spider Webs special rule, which forces a Fate Save if they can hit a target with a throwing-weapon like shooting attack (base 5+ shoot value). If the hit isn't saved, the model is Paralyzed. Simple, right? With Mirkwood Spiders being available in the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur army list (historical or convenient allies with basically everyone in the Armies of the Hobbit book) and the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood army list (convenient allies with basically everyone in the Armies of the Hobbit book and Mordor) - AND available in one Legendary Legion (the Fell Beings of Mirkwood), these guys don't have to be strangers to the table if you're okay playing Evil.

These Paralyze attempts (even from Barrow-Wights) can be unreliable, so whether you're using Mirkwood spiders or Barrow-Wights, you probably want to bring more than one to have a chance of it working when you need it. If you want a more generic option (for both Good and Evil) of dealing with these guys, there's no better place to look than . . .

Pick #1: Heroes with 6+ Will and Transfix (but especially Galadriel and Saruman)

Yep, Transfix (or Immobilize) takes the day - it's easy to cast, it can usually be cast for a long time, and it means you can ignore a really expensive piece and just tear up his friends. If you run out of things to kill around the Troll Chieftain, you can have your big hero sail in and finish the guy off - but you don't have to worry about him with a good Transfix/Immobilize caster around.

Heroes with unlimited will are the best for this strategy - and some of them (like Saruman or Sauron) can get started neutralizing a Troll from up to 18" away. Whether used before a Troll gets to move or after a Troll has moved, being able to prevent the Troll from moving/making Strikes/calling Heroic Actions or moving him backwards/away from the fighting with Compel/Command is a HUGE boon to you - and it can make all the difference in what would otherwise be a tight game.

Chief among the heroes I want to highlight are Galadriel and Saruman (either version). Galadriel, a 130-point Hero of Legend who can ally historically or conveniently with any Good faction in the game, is crazy good at countering Trolls in general, with a free Will point each turn (not tied to a staff of power, so she can't lose it) and an Immobilize that's cast on a 3+ and Command that's cast on a 4+ (with the ability to reduce enemy archery with Blinding Light and regrow lost Fate points with her mirror or the Blessing of the Valar magical power). Bringing close to 20 models with her at their head isn't hard and boy is she difficult to deal with if all you've got are Trolls.

Saruman works similarly - he's got a free will point each turn (tied to a staff of power this time), gets a reroll to his casting attempts, and casts Immobilize on a 2+ and Command on a 3+ - and Sorcerous Blast on a 4+, which can knock a Troll Chieftain over and every now and again deal some damage. It's particularly useful for clearing out his bodyguards too once the lines get a little closer - but chances are, if you've messed around with him at 12-18" away, the Troll might show up so late to the party, that Saruman just has to knock over all the Troll's cronies with Sorcerous Blast and the game will be won. If fielded by an Evil player, Saruman can also lead 18 models AND stick Grima in the Troll Chieftain's warband to be annoying . . . yeah, that's a good guy.

There are other heroes who are good at fighting Trolls this way too - most Ringwraiths, other wizards, and even utility Immobilize/Transfix casters like the Mouth of Sauron, Gildor Inglorion, or Celeborn can tie up a Troll for a few turns, but the great thing about the heroes we highlighted in this section (and to a lesser degree these other heroes - especially the Ringwraiths) is that they are also good counters to OTHER threats. D8 Warriors of the Dead, Barrow-Wights/Mirkwood Spiders, and the rest of the list CAN be good against other threats, but MOST heroes are going to struggle to beat a long-range Transfix caster, especially if the units brought along with the caster can force an engagement with shooting (which Lorien and Isengard can).

Okay, let's look at some lists and wrap this up!

Sample Lists

I said at the beginning that Trolls are best used as low points levels - so for your edification and delight, here's a 500-point Black Gate Opens list, complete with a triple-Troll threat (and one of my favorite 500pt list ideas):

• Uber-Mordor Troll Chieftain [ARMY LEADER]
• 3 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 3 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll with war drum
• Mordor Troll Chieftain
• 1 Orc Warrior with shield
• 2 Orc Warriors with Orc bows
• 3 Orc Warriors with Orc bows and spears

If you'd prefer to go all-melee with this list, be my guest - but I have 8 shooting attacks coming off of 15 models and my goal is to mostly fight with my Trolls anyway. If you don't like the numbers, you can always swap out the normal Troll Chieftain with the Mouth to save you 55pts - which can get you about 6 Morannon Orcs (with some points left over to upgrade some of those Orc Warriors to Morannons) or 9 Mordor Orcs. With 15-24 models, you have decent numbers considering the monster-heavy nature of the list - and you're not giving your opponent much of an option about what to fight.

To beat this list, we're first going to look at a pure Dunharrow build, which happens to be incredibly strong at 500pts . . . and everything in the enemy army except the Fearless Uber-Troll Chieftain and his C4 Troll buddies are going to have a hard time charging these guys . . .

• The King of the Dead [ARMY LEADER]
• 4 Warriors of the Dead with shields
• 6 Warriors of the Dead with shields and spears
• 1 Warrior of the Dead with shield, spear, and banner
• 1 Rider of the Dead
• 1 Rider of the Dead
• 5 Warriors of the Dead with shields
• 5 Warriors of the Dead with shields and spears

500 points, 24 models, no shooting attacks, 24 D6+ models, 2 cavalry and 1 Might for Heroic March (don't do it, though!), 1 Might

With the same number of models as the 2 Troll/Mouth/Mordor-Orc-heavy list we had theorized above, this army stands to absolutely SHRED the Black Gate list if they can just tie down the Trolls with Warriors of the Dead each turn. The King of the Dead probably doesn't have to do any actual fighting against the big threats - theoretically if he can get into the Mordor Drummer Troll with some helpers, he can probably get a successful fight in, but I would just have him fight Orcs.

If we want to turn to Evil, we've got a few options, but I've chosen a devastating Terror-causing Gulavhar/double Barrow-Wight list (which could be better with an Angmar Orc Captain for March instead of the second Barrow-Wight, but at low points levels, you're looking at some seriously cooked heroes if there are two Barrow-Wights supporting Gully - and that's especially true of Troll Chieftains):

• Gulavhar, the Terror of Arnor [ARMY LEADER]
• 4 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 4 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Wild Warg
• Barrow-Wight
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields
• 4 Angmar Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• Barrow-Wight
• 5 Angmar Orc Warriors with Orc bows
• 1 Angmar Orc Warrior with Orc bow and spear
• 2 Wild Wargs

500 points, 30 models, 6 Orc bows hitting on a 5+, 2 D6+ models, 1 flyer and 3 fast infantry, 3 Might

So far our lists have focused on getting Terror on the board (which wasn't really covered in this post because Terror is only so-so effective against Troll Chieftains, but due to the lack of Fury in the Black Gate Opens LL, it's painfully effective against its C2 Orcs). Let's get a match-up that appears to be a bit more fair, but will still not bode well for the Trolls . . .

• Galadriel [ARMY LEADER]
• 6 Galadhrim Warriors with shields
• 3 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
• 3 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows and spears
• 4 Guards of the Galadhrim Court
• CONVENIENT ALLY - The Fiefdoms: Angbor the Fearless
• 3 Clansmen of Lamedon
• 8 Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth
• 4 Blackroot Vale Archers

500 points, 33 models, 6 Elf bows hitting on a 3+ AND 4 bows hitting on a 3+, 6 D6+ models, no fast models or Heroic March, 5 Might

This list has a LOT of pikes in it - like, a LOT of pikes in it. If you have the 6 Elves with shields, Angbor, and the 3 Clansmen all in a row, you can back up every two files in a "loose phalanx" backed by F4 or F6 pikes and STILL have two pikes left over to support the Blackroot Vale Archers. A 12-file open phalanx takes up a lot of space - and can easily funnel the enemy into the killing pieces of the list and if your clansmen are staggered, you can make sure they always get two pike supports and the Elves can rely on shielding. When it comes to it, this list poses a threat to the Orcs in the list (with potentially F4-6 supports in every fight) but also has plenty of C5 or Fearless options to deal with tying down the Trolls. Oh, and it's got Galadriel to Immobilize them and Angbor to call Strike from F5 . . . with S4 and +1 To Wound. Yeesh, that's nasty.

But it's also potentially devastating to a lot of other lists. It's not fast, true, but it's got a good amount of reliable shooting, a very healthy model count, and answers for things like Terror and moderately-high Fight Value. All told, not a bad list (if I do say so myself).

Conclusion

So yeah, that's Troll Chieftains - and while this has been a Nemesis article on how to beat them, I'm hoping that (on some level), it's also served as an In Defense Of article on these guys (though not a proper one - though I'll commend my post on Mordor Trolls to you as a guide for how that post would go). If you have thoughts on fighting Troll Chieftains, let us know in the comments below! Next time, we're back in scenario pool land - until then, happy hobbying!