Nemesis: How to Fight Against the Witch-King of Angmar

Good morning gamers,

I wasn't planning on writing this article this year, but a reader asked if we could do an article on the Witch-King of Angmar. Instead of waiting until next year to do that, I decided to write this one early and delay some content I had planned instead - so if you have questions or thoughts on articles we should write, take this as your cue to tell us in the comments. :)

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

The Witch-King of Angmar is a really powerful piece - and he's probably the most flexible hero you can take in the game with lots of options for his mount, war gear, and his heroic resources (Might, Will, and Fate). With several builds that have been deemed competitive options over the years and an ever-emerging meta surrounding this guy, it makes sense that we'd want to talk about how to beat him. So join in as we pile on my favorite Ringwraith and learn how to fight this fearsome foe!

What Makes The Witch-King of Angmar So Hated?

I have to start off by pointing out that we had an in-depth article on how to beat Ringwraiths at a high level already in this series - many of the principles we talked about at length in that article apply to the Witch-King, but since releasing the article, we've had some FAQs that directly affect him and some build styles that used to be very common have gone out of vogue. As a result . . . go read the previous article if you haven't already, then come back to this one . . . I'll wait.

Dum, dum, carn-dum-dum-dum . . . bam-bam . . . ba-da-bam-bam . . . random screech . . . flappity-flap-flappy-flap . . . crownity-crown-crown . . . dramatic pause​​​ . . . KNIFE! . . . another dramatic pause​ . . . Oh, you're back? Great - let's talk about the Witch-King. :)

As was mentioned above (and in the previous article on Ringwraiths, which you have already read - clearly . . . I waited for you, after all), the Witch-King has a bunch of customization options which can make him a really cheap Hero of Valour/Legend (always valuable - for both leading a healthy number of warriors and for allying with any Evil faction you want) or a very expensive Hero of Valour/Legend (mostly so you can make him a punchier combat piece). He's also available in three factions and one legendary legion, which theoretically means there are lots of ways he can play.

Functionally, however, you'll see the Witch-King in three lists: Mordor, Angmar, and the Black Riders Legendary Legion. Within these lists, you'll probably see him built in one of two (possibly three) archetypes (more on those shortly). I don't have any additional thoughts on the Black Riders Legion than what I covered in the previous article - mostly because his customization options are limited to how much Might/Will/Fate you want to give him and whether he has a Morgul blade or not. Frankly, he's pretty much just a better version of one of the other dudes he leads . . . and as a result, you counter him the same as you do all the other Ringwraiths.

In Angmar, the Witch-King is providing the Angmar and Spirit keywords, which grants Terror to nearby Orcs, as well as providing the all-too-absent Harbinger of Evil that makes that Terror rule sing. In these lists, the Witch-King should always have the Crown of Morgul, a mount of some kind, and at least 3 Might/1 Fate. At 70pts base, if you just take a horse (10pts), the Crown of Morgul (25pts), 3 Might (15pts), and 1 Fate (5pts), you'll have a flexible caster who can sail into a very managed (and tactically valuable) fight for a turn or two for the low-low price of 125pts - that's hard to beat with any other hero in the game.

In Mordor, you can run the same support-oriented Witch-King, leading more elite troops than the Angmar Orcs that you are probably fielding in an Angmar list. The current competitive build is to bring Black Numenoreans backed by Morannon Orcs with shields/spears (9pts/model, 18pts/file), which gives you a very resilient D6 list, which sports F4/Terror models in the front and S4 models behind. It's a pretty good battle line and the Witch-King is a clear choice to lead it (well, him or the Shadow Lord - possibly other wraiths). Depending on your points level, you might opt to take some extra Will on the Witch-King and possibly an extra Fate point (a lot of people like to take 3 Fate, but honestly I don't take the third Fate point until I've cleared 16 Will . . . which is never).

The Legion and these two army lists present the first two archetypes of the Witch-King: a mounted support caster with (Mordor/Angmar) and without (the Black Riders LL) the Crown of Morgul. While the Crown gives you 3 Attacks instead of 1, the reroll to your casting/resisting rolls is what you're really after. For 25pts, you only have to cast 5 spells and it's paid for itself by saving you 5 Will points. If you're throwing 1-die Transfixes, you'll have a very reliable casting probability and you won't deplete your Will reserves (which we've throttled back in order to save points). If you're trying to get off more difficult spells (like the 4+ Compel or 5+ Black Dart), rolling two dice and rerolling the lower die (unless you got a 6 on one of them to start with) is a great way to hunt for the 6-high, which makes resist tests difficult, even for models with Fortify Spirit.

But the third archetype - probably used more in Angmar lists than in Mordor lists nowadays - is to put the Witch-King of Angmar on a Fell Beast, giving him at least 3 Might/14 Will/2 Fate, slap on the Crown of Morgul, and have a proper beat stick power piece. This build for the Witch-King has gone out of vogue since the rules for Fly were updates to limit what counted as in-the-ways for you and enemy shooting. You don't want all of the enemy's archery to be able to shoot at a model that is likely to be your army leader, but a Fell Beast increases the Strength of the Witch-King's attacks, it allows him to knock over cavalry models, it gives a TON of maneuvering flexibility, and it provides a far more durable mount than the horse options he has. Still, for 50pts instead of 10-15pts, it's a hard sell for many competitive players. In my mind, this is probably best employed in an Angmar list where you might have a second flying monster that you need to support (Gulavhar) and a lot of cheap infantry who can balance out the cost investment. That said, many competitive Angmar players are favoring the horse right now, so . . . to each his own.

I don't see the Witch-King of Angmar being included in any reasonable Barad-Dur list - and with that being the case, the Witch-King is going to be a Hero of Legend in a Mordor/Angmar list and unless you ally, he's going to be your army leader. If he's playing the supporting caster in the back, that's probably a safe call. However, you can ally historically with Suladan or the Dragon Emperor of Rhun (doubtful, but possible) and make one of them your army leader OR ally conveniently with Dalamyr, the Mumak War Leader (doubtful, but possible), Saruman, or the Balrog (also doubtful, but possible) and make one of them your leader. I think in all of these cases (maybe not Saruman - though he might be a better assassin in Assassination than the Witch-King . . . maybe), I'd take the Witch-King as the leader and leave the other hero open to be my "grenade" hero who isn't worth any VPs in most scenarios and can deal damage/support my main battle line from closer to the front.

The final thing we need to talk about is how the Witch-King's build changes how you try to counter him. In the last article when I talked about how to counter Ringwraiths, I mentioned that models with Bodyguard/Fearless were really good to have - and if your opponent brought a Witch-King on a Fell Beast (or even a Witch-King on a horse who intends to use at least some of his Will for fighting), this is certainly good to have. However, a third-rank Witch-King who's manipulating your heroes with magic and fighting once or twice is unlikely to be chargeable for much of the game (if at all), so the need for these rules goes down a lot.

Okay, so let's look at how to fight back against this guy (and more importantly, how this has changed from the topic of countering Ringwraiths in general) . . .

How Do You Fight Back Against the Witch-King of Angmar?

From our previous article on Ringwraiths, the following strategies very much still work: shooting, anti-magic abilities, and magical powers that force a resist test. Shooting is probably the easiest strategy to employ if your opponent has taken the tactical Witch-King approach, since a hit even on his D4-5 horse is incredibly valuable and a stray arrow might, however improbably, manage to force a Fate point or two off of the hero. Once the Witch-King has 0-1 Fate points left, he has to be very, VERY conscious of his positioning and that can force him to avoid aggressive plays.

A tactically-minded Witch-King (as well as a combat-oriented Witch-King) wants to keep models with Fortify Spirit (and to a lesser degree, Resistant to Magic) away from himself, mostly because he can't just throw a ditch-effort Transfix at the model to prevent being charged. Whether the model has Fortify Spirit baked into their profile (like Elendil and Glorfindel) or has it from a friend (Galadriel, Lady of Light and Gandalf the White), getting 2 free dice to resist a spell gives a high likelihood of resisting a Transfix/Compel that was just barely cast on a 3 or a 4.

Resistant to Magic is better than nothing - and can shut down a Drain Courage or Transfix that was just barely cast on a 2 or 3 - but isn't THAT dangerous without actual Will points aiding in the attempt if the cast was higher than that. There are some heroes that might take a long time to burn through their Will stores (like the King of the Dead, Shelob, or the Balrog), but if they only have Resistant to Magic and their Will, the reroll from the Crown of Morgul will eventually see the Witch-King getting the dominance unless those actual Will points get some 6s.

But of all the magical defenses, we can't sleep on the Protection of the Valar spell available to Gandalf the Grey or the Refreshing Song spell available to Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. Protection of the Valar is cast on a 4+ and will either affect a single model OR a cluster of units (if channelled) and makes them immune to the effects of magical powers for the round. If you have an Anduril-wielding Aragorn or an Orcrist-wielding King Thorin rushing the enemy lines, a well-timed Protection of the Valar spell is a sure-fire way to make sure that Aragorn doesn't get shut down by a hail of Transfixes. Casting this requires Gandalf to go before the Witch-King and his magical friends, so the timing is key (and might require winning a Heroic Move roll-off in order to pull it off successfully).

If you want to be more reactive, Refreshing Song from Tom or Goldberry can remove the effects of a magical power from a friendly model - so if your power hero has been Transfixed, Tom or Goldberry can say, "nah, you're good" on a 2+ . . . that's pretty bonkers. You'll also get a Might, Will, Fate, AND Wound back, so if you spent resources to resist a spell, you'll be back where you started. Tom adds the double-threat of having a short-range Banishment spell as well, which leads us nicely into a third way to counter the Witch-King . . .

There are LOTS of magical powers that are nasty for the Witch-King - but chief among them are Banishment and Chill Soul. Any spell that can do a wound (not a Strength-X hit) against the Witch-King means that he's gotta pass his Fate rolls or he's gone. With the exception of Tom Bombadil's 6" range, these spells have decently long range and only require seeing a part of the Witch-King's model and no one can take in-the-ways for him (not even his mount).

Transfix/Compel and their cousins Immobilize/Command are equally devastating if the Witch-King hasn't cast yet (or has charged into combat), since they will remove his ability to exert control over the board for the turn. While its range is incredibly short on the one profile that has the spell, Paralyze has a similar impact on the Witch-King - except that it's effects might last for more than one turn (and it's especially bad if the Witch-King paid for a Fell Beast and charged into combat, as he'll be forcibly dismounted AND still engaged in whatever fight he was in . . . and will automatically lose the fight to boot).

We talked in the previous article about how nasty Sap Will is - and on a 14-15 Will Witch-King, it's probably not that devastating to "just take it," but for a 10-12 Will Witch-King who probably needs to get a 5-high or 6-high on whatever he rolls, he needs to count on Will AND Might being spent to block it, unless luck favors his roll/reroll. "Just taking it" could still be the right answer, but a 10-Will Witch-King that loses 2-4 Will this way is going to be exerting very, VERY little control over the board - and heaven forbid there's more than one model on the other side of the board with access to Sap Will . . .

Finally, if the Witch-King took a mount (which is generally recommended in this game), there are some spells that are particularly nasty for him. Panic Steed (cast on a 2+ by Radagast) is an obvious one - and since most of Radagast's spells are easy to cast, he might throw 2 Will at the spell instead of the usual free Will point only just to see if he can get a 5-high or a 6-high. If you invested in a Fell Beast and he gets a 6 on that cast . . . you're burning a LOT of resources to keep that spell from going off. Even if you just took a horse, getting thrown and losing all that mobility isn't good for you (especially if you charged and you don't get a 6 on your Thrown Rider test).

The big nasty of the knock-prone spells, however, is Sorcerous Blast - especially if the Witch-King forsook the Fell Beast. The rules for Sorcerous Blast say that everyone in the target model's fight and everyone in the same fight as the model that stops the movement of the target are knocked Prone UNLESS the model that the target runs into is S6+ - so if you blast a warrior into the Witch-King (engaged or unengaged) and he's on a horse, he gets knocked Prone and his mount runs off; if you blast a warrior into a S6 Fell Beast, the Fell Beast stays standing and the Witch-King keeps his mount. Depriving the Witch-King of his mount - and putting him on the ground for a turn - can be really devastating and buys you some time to have your Combat-oriented heroes do work. If you're planning to optimize the Witch-King's survivability by giving him a horse and a few more friends instead of a Fell Beast, be mindful of how close he is to other models . . .

Finally - and we didn't talk about this much last time - having a saturation of threatening heroes is good against Ringwraiths generally, but you want those to be F6 heroes if you're planning to counter the Witch-King. Having a bunch of F5 Rohan or Isengard heroes is all well and good, but if any of those guys Heroic Combat into the Witch-King, he might be okay with the matchup - especially if he's got more base Attacks than they do with the Crown of Morgul. A F6 hero who calls a Heroic Combat is a very different story - does the Witch-King call a Heroic Strike (allowing the hero to go somewhere else and waste a Might point on the Witch-King)? Or does he risk the combatting hero ramming into him with a higher Fight Value? Neither decision is good - but you likely need a few of these guys to make sure at least one (if not two) of them can actually call heroic actions after the Witch-King and his magical cronies are done throwing around spells.

Okay, so this is all well and good in theory - let's look at how to apply these practically . . .

Tiberius's Top 5 Models To Counter the Witch-King of Angmar

Many of the models showcased here showed up in our discussion of models to counter Ringwraiths, but some have faded from the list - and others have claimed their own spots. Let's start off with . . .

Honorable Mention: The Watcher in the Water (ideally with a Bat Swarm)

The Watcher is a nasty model to have to fight (at some point, I need to write a Nemesis article on him . . . maybe next year) - mostly because avoiding his arrival is impossible. If there's space for his base to fit under or beside you, he's gonna show up and mess with your day. If he happens to be able to lash you into combat with one of his tentacles on the turn he arrives - and if the shortest possible distance to him happens to be in base contact with a Bat Swarm - the F6 on the Watcher paired with the Blinding Swarm special rule (which is a passive rule, so it can't be turned off by Transfix) will mean the Watcher has the Fight Value advantage AND the dice advantage. Even if he doesn't have a Bat Swarm nearby, 6 dice and a Might point that can be used to boost rolls makes him very likely to get a 6-high against the Witch-King, who will need to burn a Might point for Heroic Strike to tie/beat the Watcher's Fight Value . . . that Witch-King could be out of Might by the time a single round of combat is over.

The Watcher also has some other anti-Witch-King utilities baked into his profile - Resistant to Magic with 5 Will points and basically NOTHING else to spend the Will points on is a really good anti-magic option (and if he doesn't use his Might point for a Heroic Move or boosting a combat roll, he can certainly use it to boost a Resist roll to stop a Transfix from going off). The Will points also help in passing courage tests to charge the Witch-King, something that many Evil Monsters can struggle to do.

The Bat Swarm will benefit greatly from having Druzhag in the same army, as his Fury can help the Bat Swarm charge the Witch-King if Druzhag is within 6" of the Bat, but his base Courage (C4 before any war horns/Goblin Drums make it C5) can be borrowed from up to 12" away, which makes charging Terror models a lot more reliable. This combo is one of the nastiest in the game - and the Witch-King is not going to be immune to it. Now on for some despicable Dwarf action . . .

Dishonorable Mention: Floi Stonehand

Yes, it's my boy - Floi Stonehand. I had him as the "honorable mention" in the Ringwraiths post, but I'm going to put him in the dishonorable category this time. Why? Because there are three rules (possibly five, depending on the mount that was chosen) that the Witch-King is likely bringing to the party that only Floi can shut off. If fielded in Angmar, the Witch-King is one of only a few sources of Harbinger of Evil, which makes charging the Orcs (and Trolls/Spirits) in his army a lot harder. With line of sight to the target at the start of Floi's move being the only requirement, Floi can hide behind a low wall and look across the battlespace at the Witch-King and say, "Yep, no Harbinger this round." And if he manages to have a way to get back Will points that doesn't require killing heroes/monsters, that's going to happen more than three times.

Second, Floi can turn off Fly or Monstrous Charge from the Witch-King's Fell Beast - if the Fell Beast was taken. For all those combat-oriented Witch-Kings, the Fell Beast gives incredible maneuverability control and a much more devastating combat profile. However, if the Fell Beast is limited to a 3" move along the ground or has already charged into something but doesn't gain a bonus attack or knock things over . . . I mean, that's just mean, right? Yes, it is - deal with it, you filthy servant of the Dark Lord!

Third, if the Witch-King is the only dangerous piece near a cluster of your models (especially those who are good at passing Courage tests), taking away the Witch-King's Terror rule is a great way to ensure that everyone can pile in - and if you're worried about passing Courage tests to charge nearby Terror-causing units, this is a great way to ensure that everyone fights - and that your opponent will need to peel models off of the Witch-King in order to increase his chances of winning his fight . . . though he won't get Monstrous Charge if he hasn't gone yet.

Finally, if the Witch-King hasn't gone yet, you can always ignore the benefits of the Crown of Morgul. Not only does this reduce him to his normal Attack stat of 1 (2 if he's on a Fell Beast), but it also removes his reroll for casting/resisting tests. This is incredibly useful and a bit cheap - but hey, this is our dishonorable slot, right? You can't expect us to play fair here . . .

I love this guy - and even when his tricks don't work out, he makes any list a lot more fun (and you always feel like you've got a chance to pull a fast one on your opponent). As we kick off the actual list (and I was tickled to see that Dan Entwhistle put together a Top 5 list a few years ago . . . some of whom will show up on this list), we'll start by looking at one of the most underrated tag-teams in the game . . .

Pick #5: Galadriel, Lady of Light with Saruman the White on horse

The 310-point price tag is probably enough to scare most players away from this tag-team, but if you're bringing Ringwraiths (or Nazgul of Dol Guldur) to a fight, these are pretty much the last two models you want to see on the table. I mentioned above that there are three spells that spell certain doom (see what I did there?) for Ringwraiths: Banishment, Fortify Spirit, and Sorcerous Blast. If you want these three spells, you can turn to Galadriel and Saruman, who can ally conveniently into basically any Good list in the game.

Galadriel has lots of Will points and spells that don't really require her to use more than her free Will point, but with Banishment and Fortify Spirit (both cast on a 3+) in her arsenal, there's very little that Spirit spellcasters can do against her onslaught. If Banishment is cast on a 5-high or a 6-high, it's quite likely to chew through Will points as well as either Might points or Fate points - any of which makes for a bad day for the Witch-King. Any retaliatory acts the Witch-King might want to do (against Galadriel or one of her friends) can be stifled with Fortify Spirit - or at least force him to get a high casting result.

Saruman brings two excellent tools to the table when fighting the Witch-King: Aura of Command (so nearby models auto-pass their Courage tests) and Sorcerous Blast (cast on a 4+ with a reroll to his casting/resist tests). While Saruman is technically vulnerable to Your Staff is Broken!, his innate reroll to any Resist tests he needs to make, plus the low casting values of his spells that reduces the need to cast them with more than his free Will point, makes resisting a spell like that quite easy (especially if he's got Fortify Spirit up). With both casters able to harass the Witch-King from 12" away (though Saruman can start the party from 18" away with a 2+ Immobilize or a 3+ Command), the Witch-King will be hard pressed to do anything. If he's out of threat range, you can instead turn these heroes towards the enemy ranks, using Instill Fear on Galadriel to scatter nearby enemy models and Sorcerous Blast to knock over/kill enemies in a specific area with Saruman.

Of course, if you'd like to save over 50 points and distill most of these capabilities into a single model who can also bring troops, you probably want to look at . . .

Pick #4: Gandalf the White on Shadowfax (and to a slightly lesser degree, Gandalf the Grey on horse)

It's my (other) boy, Gandalf the White. Yes, he's super expensive relative to the Witch-King, but golly is he expected to do great things against him. Gandalf is one of those characters that, if given enough time to prepare, can basically challenge any other threat in the game. If his list is designed to protect him while he gets the buffs in place and works the enemy down, you're in a REALLY good place.

Gandalf the White has much of the same tools as Saruman and Galadriel do - Fortify Spirit on a 4+, Sorcerous Blast on a 4+, Banishment on a 4+, and the ability to bring troops from Minas Tirith with him (which is awesome). He'd be even better if you could take Pippin as a passenger on Shadowfax, which would give him Fortify Spirit AND Resistant to Magic. Alas . . .

Gandalf the Grey has many of the same tools as Gandalf the White, though he lacks Banishment (still has Sorcerous Blast on a 5+) and Fortify Spirit (trades it for Protection of the Valar - which is, in some situations, much better than Fortify Spirit). Like Gandalf the White, he can lead troops if he's taken from the Survivors of Lake-town or Shire lists, though depending on the alliance you're trying to make, the White Council, Thorin's Company, or the Fellowship of the Ring might be a better call. Gandalf the Grey will save you some points and if you can use that to get more troops (either in his warband or in someone else's), that's a win.

So far our choices in the actual list have been Good models that give us answers to the Witch-King - so how about we turn back to Evil for a change by looking at . . .

Pick #3: Ringwraiths (and to a much lesser degree, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur and the Dark Lord Sauron)

I had these guys as the dishonorable mention in the Ringwraiths post - and I stand by that. If you can spam out Sap Wills against the Witch-King, you can decimate his Will store (if not kill him) in a single turn. You just can - and especially so if he only starts with 10-12 Will. On average, you're supposed to clear out a 10-Will Witch-King after 5 successful casts/nine 2-Will-point casting attempts (if he spends NO Will points to cast spells of his own) - but when he gets down to about 4 Will, he might be tempted to throw 2 dice with a reroll to stop a Sap Will . . . at which point, the spell basically worked and he's toast on the next one.

Generic Ringwraiths are probably the best at this strategy - especially if they're taken from the Black Riders Legendary Legion, where they are not only fielded in abundance, but also have a once-per-game auto-cast-on-a-6 channelled Transfix, which will allow you to root the Witch-King (or one of his friends) in place for the round and half their Fight Value and Attacks. It's mean, it's efficient, and it's not how the Witch-King wants to play. If he doesn't have a lot of caster support (specifically with Sap Will) to help him, the Witch-King can try to hit you back with the same strategy, but that's a costly spell to get off (even with a reroll) and at some point in the game, you'll be winning.

It would be nice if we could reach out and touch the Witch-King before he can touch us - and if you want to do that with a heavy price tag, look no further than the Dark Lord Sauron. I helped my son in his first TMAT tournament and he got to play Rythbyrt's Witch-King/triple-Barrow-Wight Angmar list (joy). Sauron with a supporting Ringwraith can force some very interesting decisions out of the Witch-King - especially if he's hoping to jump on something with a Fell Beast. Even if he's playing more of a support role, the Witch-King can't outclass Sauron or lock him down for long - and with Resistant to Magic, lots of Will, 18" range on Chill Soul/Sap Will that are cast on a 4+, and Defense 10 (you gotta be on a Fell Beast to wound him on a single die) . . . I mean, he's pretty much a death sentence for any Ringwraith character that hangs around him for long.

He's also 400 points - which is double what the most expensive viable Fell Beast builds of the Witch-King are. For slightly more than a Fell Beast build, you can run the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, who lacks the 18" spell range of Sauron, but also has access to Curse to take away the Witch-King's Fate points (generally not worth doing over just throwing a Chill Soul unless it's channelled), retains Sap Will/Chill Soul on a 5+, and has 25 Will points with the ability to get a free casting die if he spends at least one die - which is awesome!

Okay, enough with the magic - let's get back to a more traditional way of dealing with the Witch-King, which means we have to look at . . .

Pick #2: Either version of Legolas with Elven cloak

Elven cloaks truly are amazing things - they can prevent you from being attacked by enemy magic attacks beyond 6" (which a tactical Witch-King is likely to be) so long as your foot is blocked by a piece of terrain. Hate it if you like, but it's really good. The cool thing about Legolas is that with his S3 bow, he can either spam shots out at whoever is blocking for the Witch-King (like D4-5 Angmar Orcs) OR he can pass all in-the-ways to hit the Witch-King so long as he can see part of him on a 2+ . . . crazy, right? His S3 bow will only wound on a 6/4+ (or he can choose to wound his horse on a 5+), but if you're willing to spend a Might point to get a wound in, you can actually wound on a 5/3+. Our previous attempts all had ways of drilling down the Witch-King's Will (sometimes to prevent wounds), but this approach is just focused on smashing out his 1 Wound/1-3 Fate.

But perhaps the best thing about fielding Legolas is that he's a threat to the Witch-King's cast of supporting characters too. Normally if you charge into a Forces of Good army, they can't shoot you . . . but Legolas can. That shiny stallion that you're counting on to get you an extra attack die and a knock-down bonus? Boy, would it be a shame if it suddenly expired beneath you . . . you know, while you're fighting someone? Yeah, Legolas is gross and ever so effective.

His price point - especially on his Halls of Thranduil version - is incredibly good and if fielded from the Halls of Thranduil, you can also bring up to 15 elite warriors with you (including cost-efficient Mirkwood Cavalry with shields or Mirkwood Elves with shields or Elf bows). Whatever your game plan, Legolas can certainly give you options against this guy (and a lot of other guys - which is why I've written a Nemesis post on him already).

But alas, when it comes to scaring away mid-tier combat casters, there is only one who can reign supreme - though admittedly, his faction roster and alliance matrix are incredibly limited . . .

Pick #1: Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor on horse with shield (and sort of Glorfindel on Asfaloth with the Armor of Gondolin)

Yep, it's Elendil - Mr. I-don't-care-about-enemy-spells-or-bows-or-melee-attacks. If there's any hero who is likely to keep his horse safe during a magical barrage AND be able to rampage through a host of bodyguards to get to an important power piece, it's probably this guy . . . or Smaug. :)

Elendil's built-in Fortify Spirit rule AND the ability to pass Resistant to Magic to his fellow Numenoreans AND the ability to reach Defense 8 AND having Fight 7 with S5/+1 To Wound (though you'll drop to D7 if you take the bonus) AND free Heroic Combats makes slowing this guy down RIDICULOUSLY hard . . . especially for the Witch-King. Against Gil-Galad, Elrond, and to a slightly lesser degree Isildur, taking out their horse isn't that hard . . . but Elendil's horse has 2 free Will points to resist magical powers, which means a Black Dart MIGHT get through, but it also might not. Do you really have time to mess around trying to kill his horse before he gets to you? Better just start packing . . .

While Glorfindel is in much the same boat (and if he's within 12" of Lindir, he can have Fortify Spirit AND Resistant to Magic active), the limitation to S4 without suffering the dueling penalty for two-handing makes wounding the Witch-King very difficult. True, Glorfindel could settle for just romping on the Witch-King's bodyguards (likely to be D4-6) and leave the Witch-King alone, but if we're comparing the threat level of Glorfindel and Elendil . . . I'm sorry, I don't think it's particularly close.

Okay, let's wrap this thing up and talk about some lists!

Sample Lists

Since Sharbie seems to be having success with the Witch-King down under, I'm shamelessly stealing a list that he built at 750 points that seems to be doing well at tournaments these days:

• The Witch-King of Angmar on horse with the Crown of Morgul and 3M/10W/2F [ARMY LEADER]
• 7 Black Numenoreans
• 7 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Orc Tracker
• Mouth of Sauron on armored horse
• 6 Black Numenoreans
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• Zagdush
• 6 Black Numenoreans
• 6 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• HISTORICAL ALLY - Suladan the Serpent Lord on armored horse
• 1 Serpent Rider

I'm not sure if the first list we're going to look at can actually BEAT the 44-model, 750-point list that Sharbie has showcased on this blog, but I'd love to see if it can. In it, we have a convenient alliance variant of the Floi-soup lists I've been playing with, featuring Floi Stonehand in a Khazad-Dum list (Dwarf King plus King's Champion) aided by Gandalf the Grey on horse (to give Floi back Will points and blast those heroes off their horses - not to mention be a very resilient army leader who is leading from behind):

• Dwarf King
• 3 Khazad Guards
• 7 Dwarf Warriors with shields
• King's Champion
• 2 Heralds
• 2 Dwarf Warriors with shields
• 4 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows
• 2Khazad Guards
• Floi Stonehand
• 6 Dwarf Warriors with shields
• 1 Dwarf Warrior with Dwarf bow
• 5 Dwarf Rangers with bows
• CONVENIENT ALLY - The White Council: Gandalf the Grey on horse [ARMY LEADER]

750 points, 36 models, 5 bows hitting on a 3+ AND 5 Dwarf bows hitting on a 4+, 30 D6+ models, 1 cavalry and 2 Might for Heroic March, 8 Might

I could have gone with an Impossible Alliance with Balin/Bombur and a Shieldbearer with some extra Dwarves if I wanted to - and it's entirely possible that a list like that would be better than this one - but if you want speed and magical protection, that's probably not the right list. Gandalf is only one caster against two, but he can probably work the table and dismount the enemy heroes, which will greatly reduce their effectiveness (and if he doesn't have to move during the turn, don't sleep on his Heroic Resolve to boost the resistance of the Dwarves around him - or a channelled Protection of the Valar spell if your Dwarf heroes are clumped together). The 6" banner radius and the no-penalty-to-wield would be a shame for Floi to take away from Suladan (though it will still count as a banner for VPs - and might keep its 3" radius?).

Now if we wanted to diversify our threats a bit, we could field a convenient alliance between Elendil (who has great anti-magic rules) and Legolas (who, like Floi, can really mess up someone's day):

• Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor on horse with shield [ARMY LEADER]
• 3 Warriors of Numenor with shields
• 2 Warriors of Numenor with shields and spears
• 1 Warrior of Numenor with shield, spear, and banner
• 3 Warriors of Numenor with spears and bows
• Captain of Numenor on horse with heavy armor, shield, and lance
• 6 Warriors of Numenor with shields and spears
• 4 Warriors of Numenor with spears and bows
• CONVENIENT ALLY - Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood with Elven Cloak
• 6 Mirkwood Elves with shields
• 4 Mirkwood Elves with Elf bows
• 2 Mirkwood Cavalry
• 1 Wood Elf Sentinel

750 points, 35 models, 8-10 Elf bows* hitting on a 3+ AND 7 bows hitting on a 4+, 10 D6+ models, 4 cavalry and 2 Might for Heroic March, 8 Might

We've got quite the hailstorm of bows if we want it, but we've also got two hard-hitting heroes with decent magical resilience and Legolas on foot for pot-shotting. If you'd prefer him on a horse, you're welcome to downgrade a Mirkwood Cavalry to a Mirkwood Elf with shield (and drop a few spears from the Numenoreans) for a mount. The list has enough Elves to form a good F5/C5 front line and lots of S4 spearmen to back them up (very much like the Mordor battle line in our sample list). With many threats to harass the Witch-King (and his friends), we've got the tools for the job to keep him hiding while we smash up his infantry.

Our final list is an Evil list that basically fights fire with fire - and has only 5 profiles in it . . .

• The Undying on horse [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Black Numenoreans
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Orc Tracker
• Ringwraith on horse with 2M/8W/1F
• 5 Black Numenoreans
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• Ringwraith on horse with 2M/8W/1F
• 5 Black Numenoreans
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• Ringwraith on horse with 2M/8W/1F
• 5 Black Numenoreans
• 5 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears

750 points, 45 models, 1 Orc bows hitting on a 4+, 44 D6+ models, 4 cavalry and 6 Might for Heroic March, 8 Might

I guess I have a thing for 8-Might-point-armies, eh? This army looks surprisingly like the sample army we're working off of, but it uses an old army theory that I used to play back when I got started collecting Mordor models: run the Undying with three Ringwraiths friends, use those guys to cast one-die spells (Transfix and Drain Courage especially, occasionally throwing a 2-die Compel/Sap Will) and then use them to feed Will points back to the Undying who does 3-die casts of Sap Will/Black Dart to ruin the days of enemy heroes. If required, these guys can throw FOUR Sap Wills at 12" range against the Witch-King and that's probably enough to cripple him. We have no banner, but we can use Compel to move the 6" banner from Suladan around (or just Black Dart his horse/his body, I guess). Black Darts with the Undying have to be up close (he only has 6" range on that spell), so be careful who your targets are.

The rest of the list is . . . well . . . exactly the same as the opposing list - Black Numenoreans backed by Morannon Orcs (though I have 20 files instead of 19 - HA!). If you wanted to get a banner in there, you could drop 2 models (still 19 files) and 7 shields from some of the Morannons to get it. Honestly, there's probably a case for doing that, but I don't know - most opposing banners are solved by using Compel (especially if you have Black Darts/Compels to deal with any friends that try to block the banner from being moved). The Might in this army is a bit deceptive - they're really intended to make sure spells work - but golly can the magic in this list (and its numbers) be oppressive!

Conclusion

Apparently there was a lot left to say about the Witch-King - hopefully you all didn't find this to be too repetitive. If you have experience (or go-to models for) dealing with the Witch-King, let us know in the comments below! When we return to this series, we'll be answering another readership fan mail request - but before then, we're back in the scenario world and breaking down how to win in yet another pool. Until next time, happy hobbying!