The New Age Is Begun: the Army of the White Hand Army List

Good morning gamers,

If Ardacon is any indication, then the Army of the White Hand is a good list - all three people who podiumed in the Invitational Masters event were running the list and that probably says more about the view of this list that the highest competitive minds have rather than how good the list is at your local tournament scene. That being said, everyone's talking about "the White Hand" list and whether Crebain are broken because of it. The list is more than just about Crebain - but Crebain are also very important to it working well. Let's see what's up with this list and some thoughts for running it, shall we (and as always in this series, anything related to Legacies will be highlighted in red for whatever players or tournaments don't allow Legacy models)?

Army of the White Hand: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is the closest thing to a "normal Isengard list" from the last edition. You have access to Saruman and Grima, most of the Uruk-Hai profiles, most of the Orc profiles, and all of the Dunland profiles from the last edition (especially if you include the models that moved to Legacies). The primary profiles that you're missing are Lurtz, Ugluk, Mauhur, and Uruk-Hai Drummers from the Uruk-Hai hero side of the house, Uruk-Hai Warriors and Berserkers for the Uruk-Hai warriors, and the ballistas and bombs (which are oddballs, but still Uruk-Hai). You're also missing Snaga and Sharku from the Orc contingent - but that's literally it. Everyone else and their brother shows up in this list - and that means there are a LOT of options.

The list also doesn't have required heroes, so you can technically run whatever you want in it - Centaur used it for the first scenario of our custom Osgiliath campaign because it is LITERALLY the only list where you can get just Orc Captains and Orc Warriors in your army! Now, all the army list bonuses are all tied to Saruman, so you should probably run him, but you don't have to - and that's great. There's also a wide variety of subfactions that are represented in this list - Dunland, Uruk-Hai, Orcs, and of course Saruman and Grima - so depending on the theme you want to run, this list provides a nice canvas for your play (if you have a competitive bent, the options are probably less, but there's still some variety).

Army List Bonuses

Speaking of army list bonuses, it's all about Saruman. The easiest of the rules are that Saruman can draw Line of Sight from any friendly Crebain model on the battlefield, which means you just have to be in range of the model you want to target if you have one or more Crebain around - that's really good and saves you from having to buy a horse unless you want your threat range increased. Additionally, any other friendly models that can draw Line of Sight to Saruman get +1 Courage, which may be redundant with auto-passing Courage rules in this list, but is particularly useful for people like Grima who can't benefit from Fury/Fury-like rules and for anyone who's away from their bubble hero (or if you want to skip on the Shaman heroes altogether).

Finally, the Voice of Saruman special rule allows Saruman to use three weather-related magical powers. Each of them can be used once per game and they have varying levels of efficacy. We'll go through how to use them in the tactics section near the end, but as a preview of what they do, you can halve enemy Move Values for a turn, you can deal a S6 hit to models within 2" of a point on the map, and you can give enemy models the Fearful special rule - more to come on this later (as well as the limitations of each), but I'll say that as a long-time Saruman player, I think these are interesting, fun (for me), and potentially game-changing (though not as point-and-click as you might think).

Profile Adjustments

Some of these profiles have been reviewed already in our Muster of Isengard post, but we've also got a lot of new profiles to look at:

• Saruman's changes have been covered in our First Impressions article already, but to recap his changes in this particular army list, he dropped in cost by 10pts (breaks-even if he takes a mount), he doesn't get any rerolls to his casting/resisting rolls, but he does apply a -1 penalty to a single hero that attempts Resist tests against Saruman's magic (which is bonkers - but 6s are still 6s, so it's not ALWAYS bonkers), he's still got a Palantir (which can now compete with the Pits of Dol Guldur army list special rule - thank goodness!), and his magical powers have changed, many of which got harder to cast. As was covered above, in this list he adds three weather-related magical powers that can be used once per game and he grants units +1 Courage if they can see him (and can use Crebain to draw line of sight). I don't think Saruman needs a horse in this list - especially if he's got a Crebain or six flying around for him.
• Thrydan Wolfsbane costs 110pts mounted now and while I still like the guy (he'sunchanged from the last edition), he also feels REALLY expensive! Paying over 100pts for a F5/D5/2 Attack hero feels . . . like a lot. I get that he's got Mighty Blow and I get that he's still got 3-Might-and-Strike, but Strike is more of a ditch effort in this version of the game unless you're slamming into units with fixed Fight Values (preferably of the F5-6 variety in Thrydan's case) and those tend to not be the kinds of units that Mighty Blow helps with. So . . . I don't know - run him if you like him and Legacies are in play.
• Isengard Orc Captains are cheap and decent with F4/D6/2 Attacks and at only 5pts more than a Wild Man Chieftain, you're losing a Courage to gain a Defense - not a bad option overall if you don't need the Courage.
• Uruk-Hai Scout Captains went down by 5pts but only have a two-handed weapon (instead of a sword and two-handed weapon). Two-handed weapons are more reliable and less penalizing this edition, but I think there's a lot of competition for the third-hero slot with Isengard Orc Captains and . . .
• Wild Man Chieftain are your cheapest Fortitude options at 40pts each - and honestly, you don't need extra gear on these guys! They've got Hatred (Rohan) for free, but otherwise they're reliable at tying down Terror units if they can see Saruman (Courage 5+!), they've got 2-Might-and-March for moving your infantry hordes up, and they can lead a warband of 5 Uruk-Hai Scouts and 5 Wild Men with spears for less than 120pts - sure, you could get an Isengard Orc Captain instead, but there's something about these guys that I really like!
• Dunlending Chieftains cost the same as Uruk-Hai Scout Captains and they have the flexibility of choosing between a hand weapon and a two-handed weapon with F4 instead of F5 . . . yeah, no shield option anymore kinda bites a little. I really liked these guys in the last edition, but honestly, there are better March heroes now and better "rock" heroes now, so I'd pass on these guys.
• Frida Tallspear is still really expensive for what she brings to the table - at 70pts, she's D6 (rare in this list, to be sure), but only has 2 Might and Heroic Defense/Strength. She can still prevent cavalry models from getting their Extra Attack/Knock to the Ground rules and rerolls all failed To Wound rolls against mounts, so if you like what she's bringing and don't mind a pretty expensive hero option (almost the cost of 2 Wild Man Chieftains?), then get her.
• The Wild Man Oathmaker is your best shot for a second hero - he still grants Fearless to Dunland models (including Crebain and Wild Man Chieftains!) within 6" of himself, he's still got 3 Might points (a lot of lesser heroes lost that third one), and he's got Hatred (Rohan) with Heroic Strength and rerolling 1s To Wound if Saruman is on the board . . . which is a potentially devastating array, especially if the target has been Transfixed! For 55pts (same as an Uruk-Hai Scout Captain), he's a cheap and solid add.
• Gorulf Ironskin costs 70pts like Frida, but he's investing it in more generally-useful ways. He can still call a free Heroic Defense when fighting a Hero and he's still got Defense, Strike, and Strength as heroic actions - but with 2 Might now, he's got to be a bit more conservative with his Might spending unless he's stalling out an enemy hero. He's still F5/S5/3 Attacks, which is great for chewing through troops - and if he needs to, he can use Strike to crash a F5-6 battle line. All in all, for 70pts, I think you could do a lot worse (though this is still an expensive hero option).
• Vrasku is also 70pts and . . . golly, if you like crossbows with a 3+ shoot value and two shots per turn, then take the guy. I, however, get very frustrated with crossbows not being where they end up being needed and I'd personally take 2 Wild Man Chieftains (or most of a Wild Man Chieftian warband) over this guy. To each his own though - 2 Might-and-March with the option to shoot isn't terrible (though for his cost, I think you can do better).
• Isengard Orc Shamans are basically unchanged from the last edition, but they picked up Enrage Beast (6" range, 4+ difficulty). This addition is . . . interesting and a better overall "Hail Mary" play than Transfix (which they can still cast on a 5+). Since Fury will only affect Isengard Orcs, the greatest utility for this guy is probably Enrage Beast . . . but since the only Beasts you have are Crebain, you're probably looking to channel once with these guys and either have two 50% chances of getting it off again or a single 75% chance of getting it off again . . . and the Crebain only becomes F4/S4/4 Attacks, which isn't nothing, but also could blunt off of a LOT of things. Also, if you're trying to stop a hero from getting somewhere and you're blunting them with Crebain, you definitely don't want to be chipping off free wounds with this magical power. I wouldn't take these guys in this list - maybe the Wolves of Isengard, but not this one.
• Uruk-Hai Shamans have seen a lot of use in Centaur's lists here at TMAT and I gotta say that the addition of Bladewrath on a 4+ looks a lot better than Enrage Beast. While the Uruk-Hai heroes in this list probably don't want to go from S5 to S6, there are plenty of cheap heroes who wouldn't mind the buff - and if you don't need Fury to keep your Uruks charging things (Courage 6+ if they can see Saruman isn't terrible), three casting attempts (one of which will be channelled in all likelihood) isn't bad as a threat option. Unlike Enrage Beast, you'd definitely want this to go off when there's a Heroic Combat that's going to get multiple uses out of the spell. Note that Bladewrath cannot be doubled to Strength 10 with Heroic Strength due to the wording of the magical power . . . but S6 is definitely fine.
• Grima is basically the same, but is harder to lock down by your opponent because he can't be charged while he's deployed with your enemy - but he's still just as vulnerable to magic and downright difficult to deal with if your opponent doesn't have magical damage options!
• Crebain are the talk of the town right now - 20pts for a fast mover (who can't snag objectives, but can contest them) with 4 Wounds and can't be trapped is pretty great. In this list, of course, they also help Saruman get angles for casting that he probably doesn't want to expose himself to get, which is wild and crazy. Competitive players will tell you to take at least 6 of these guys - I don't own any yet, but I plan to convert a single pack of two Crebain into six, so . . . yeah, I guess that's an endorsement. :)
• Isengard Orc Warriors are completely unchanged from last edition - except that they can't take certain weapon combos that I liked. In this list, they're probably just spearmen and banner-carriers (and Warg Rider dismounts). I usually have at least two spears and a banner in my lists so the banner can be picked up by one of the other guys - by and large, they're not providing anything more than you can get from Wild Men, but if you want D4 instead of D3 (and Courage 8+ instead of Courage 7+ base), take these guys over Wild Men.
• Isengard Trolls got the glow-up that Mordor Trolls got with the increase to 4 Wounds and Dominant (3), but for 10pts more, they're still paying a premium for D8 (trading the hand-and-a-half weapon for a sword-and-board). I know there are people who swear by these guys and say that they're really good - and with Saruman in the list, that might be true - but I've had one too many Warrior Monsters get Transfixed/Compelled all game, so I'm not convinced. This is your only option for a drum, however, so if you've leaned into the Uruk-Hai and Orcs instead of the Dunland side of the house (or if you only have Crebain from Dunland), you COULD take a beater in one of these guys with a Drum . . . for 125pts . . . or the same cost as a whole warband led by a Wild Man Chieftain . . . just for comparison, you know . . .
• Isengard Warg Riders are also unchanged from the last edition, except for what happens when they dismount (your throwing spears become standard spears and you will lose your shield if you took a shield AND a throwing spear). They're fast models that really benefit from a Shaman or having Saruman around - but like Crebain, they're fast models that can't stoop to get objectives that are lying around or dig up objectives that have yet to be found. All in all, if you want fast units . . . consider looking into Crebain.
• Dunlending Horsemen are still the same cost as Warg Riders with shields and they are . . . exactly the same except that they have Courage 7+ instead of Courage 8+ and they can reroll 1s when wounding enemy mounts . . . so if you own some of these guys and Legacies are in play, take them instead of any Warg Riders with shields that you were planning to take. :)
• Uruk-Hai Scouts haven't changed and are still the only source of mobile high-strength bows in the list, so I think they're worth taking - but mostly as archers (some guys with shields are good too, but you should definitely lean into the Uruk-Hai bows).
• Feral Uruk-Hai are still 13pts each but don't compete with Uruk-Hai Berserkers in this list. As a result, these guys are your only 2 Attack warrior options (unless you defend by shielding) and sport a very respectable F4/D4-5/2 Attack profile (with the bonus defense coming from their Light Armor - shooting-only). They're still Oblivious to Pain, which is nice when it happens and completely unrelaible. Still, they're Courage 4+ if they can see Saruman and they're pretty good at chopping through battle lines if you can just win the fight. I think they're a bit pricey though - nearly the same cost as an Uruk-Hai Scout and a Wild Man with spear . . .
• Dunlending Warriors are 1pt cheaper than Uruk-Hai Scouts and have -1 Fight Value . . . and they get standard bows instead of Uruk-Hai bows . . . and they can take two-handed weapons. I defended these guys back when they had Piercing Strike from their axes as a nice alternative to Uruk-Hai Scouts (and even Uruk-Hai Warriors), but I think you're better off with Scouts if you have the points. Taking them is not bad, though, which segues nicely into talking about . . .
• Dunlending Huscarls are still trying to do too much for 11pts per model. They have an axe that can be used as a spear or two-handed weapon - and in a game where two-handed weapons are better than they were and spears are still very good, that's nice to have. If you're charging in, you're F3 with Bodyguard, so you can reliably tie up scary things that aren't War Beasts, but if you spear-support, you're F4 . . . and that's kind of my problem with these guys. The flexibility of the units is great, but you're overpaying because there's something you're not using. By stat, they're a little better than Isengard Orcs with shields and you pay almost double what you pay for an Orc so . . . I'd just rely on Orcs and . . .
• Wild Men of Dunland are REALLY different from before - they're still perfectly good without extra gear if you need to save some points, but they can take spears for 1pt, flaming brands for Terror (Cavalry) and effectively Dominant (2) for 1pt, and bows for 1pt (though you should probably take Uruk-Hai bows if you can). I wouldn't bother with taking light shields (on their own or with flaming brands) - paying 1pt to defend by shielding isn't worth it.

That's a lot of profiles - the list has a lot of options, but as you may have detected from my attempt-to-be-objective commentary, the decision paralysis may not be there for everyone. Let's take a look now at what the list does well and where it can be let down a bit.

Army of the White Hand: Strengths and Weaknesses

Unlike the Muster of Isengard (the "other" Saruman list), this list can be fielded as a horde army quite easily. Whether you include Saruman or not (you should, but you don't have to), this army can get absolutely HUGE model count numbers because it has access to two key units: Isengard Orc Warriors and Wild Men of Dunland. We'll talk about how you want to kit these units out later, but suffice it to say that basically any Army of the White Hand list (unless there's a thematic bent that would dictate otherwise) wants to have some mix of these two units - and at 5-6pts a piece for most unit builds, fielding ~300pts of heroes that give you 42 warrior slots means you can get a very sizable army at 500-600pts (and nearly-full warbands can be added for about 100pts each after that).

The cool thing about this list, however, is that like Ugluk's Scouts, you can build this army as a horde list with elite troops in it - and quite a few of them, at that! Uruk-Hai Scouts are solid units for 9pts each (equipped with a shield or Uruk-Hai bow) and Crebain are fantastic units at 20pts each. The relative cheapness of your Orcs and Wild Men will mean that you can get a banner or two in addition to a good contingent of more expensive Uruks and Crebain, which gives your army teeth against other horde lists (and can be surprisingly dangerous against lists that spam heroes too). I have found this list to be pretty forgiving as well, which is always nice.

The list also has oppressive magic from Saruman and oppressive shenanigan potential from Grima and the Crebain. There's a reason everyone is talking about this list - and part of it is that Saruman in the new edition is able to make sure one critical hero on the enemy side is forced to roll natural 6s to resist channelled spells (even if he's got loads of free dice, you need to get that 6 or you have to cough up Might points). Magic is strong this edition and Saruman is particularly good into a lot of match-ups. Supporting Saruman are both Crebain (who can serve as the source of Saruman's casting line of sight - so useful!) and Grima (who keeps enemies from wanting to call heroic actions near him - like Heroic Resolve for magic resistance, but also Heroic Moves/Combats that might endanger an exposed Saruman or negate the power of the Palantir turn). However you cut it, these three units have the tools to make your opponent's life miserable, unless they spammed troops . . . in which case your other units will help make your opponent's life miserable.

The magical array of Saruman is augmented by the weather effects he can use - we'll talk about this more in the strategies section below, but suffice it to say that halving enemy movement is usually useful in the early game, lightning-striking models that are in strategic areas away from your main battle line is almost always useful, and Fearful is . . . theoretically great as a way of blunting an enemy charge, but only if the Courage of those models is not great. On the whole, this gives Saruman more potent things to do when he's not channelling a magical power (and since it doesn't cost Will, he can save his actual Will store for when he's neither channelling or using these abilities).

This list also has a lot of fast units - Crebain are flyers, but also have the Beast keyword, so they'll be fast but can't be used to swoop down and pick up/dig up objects. For fewer points, you can get Warg Riders or Dunlending Cavalry, which give you the standard cavalry rules, but also don't blunt enemy heroes as well (or help Saruman get better casting angles). Saruman and Thrydan Wolfsbane is/are your only mounted hero option(s), so for the most part, you're looking at Heroic Marches to get your infantry blocks forward (you have a LOT of March options available to you) and warriors operating without hero support for the really fast tasks.

You'll also find that this list has a lot of cheap heroes who give you most of what you want - this helps greatly in the "horde" aspect of the list and also makes the list incredibly streamlined. There's some variation on what kinds of March Captains you might want (Orc Captains who can shield with D6 or slightly-cheaper Wild Man Chieftains who pass Courage tests better) and what kind of hitting heroes you might want (do you jump for an Uruk-Hai Scout Captain or pick a Legacy hero?).

There is one key weakness to this list: it doesn't have any real power heroes. Even if the Legacy profiles, you're really capped for proper smashy heroes - that isn't what this list does. It has some answers to the smashy-hero-lists it might face, but it's not trying to fight fire with fire. If you like a good smashy hero, pick a different list. Similarly, if you want high-defense units (a solid shieldwall that can grind against another one and come out alive), you don't want this list either. There's something to be said about making average Defense units work for you - and this list certainly does that - but if you avoid average defense and want high defense, let me recommend you check out the more-limited-but-still-potent Muster of Isengard list (or even the Assault Upon Helm's Deep list, which we'll look at in a few weeks).

Finally, if you're using the Legacy profiles, you will have additional heroes that might help in niche ways - but by and large, if you didn't gather it from my evaluation of the profiles above, you can leave these guys at home. Dunlending Chieftains aren't better than Orc Captains or Uruk-Hai Scout Captains. Frida and Gorulf are fine, but also very expensive relative to your other options. Dunlending Warriors aren't better than Orcs or Uruk-Hai Scouts anymore. Huscarls are WAY too expensive. Ferals concentrate your mass pretty well, but also cut into your numbers. Vrasku is good if you like crossbows. Thrydan is good but also very, VERY pricey. Take some of these if you like them, but they're also not necessary for your builds.

With all that said, let's get into some strategies for the army . . .

Army of the White Hand: Strategies for the Tabletop

We're going to start with the backbone of this army list: Wild Men of Dunland and Orc Warriors. Why are these the backbones? Because they give you cheap spears. If you want D5-6 Uruks for your front line, you can look at Ugluk's Scouts, Assault Upon Helm's Deep, or the Muster of Isengard - and if you don't want a back rank, you can even add Lurtz's Scouts to the list! If you want cheap spearmen to back up your F4/S4 Uruk front-line, you could choose Ugluk's Scouts over this list if you want to - but as great as Ugluk's Scouts is (and it truly is great this edition), your access to tactical pieces is really limited. If you have to deal with a big hitter or several big hitters, your hope is that your grunts blunt them or they fizzle out of Might before they eat you all alive. The Army of the White Hand has other options to deal with these threats - and once those guys are out of the picture or stunted, your opponent is left with a solid-and-cheap shieldwall.

I think there are exactly two pieces of war gear worth taking on Isengard Orc Warriors: spear and banners. Whether you get 1-2 banners very much depends on your play style, but there's certainly an argument for taking two and there's always an argument for taking at least one. You can take two-handed weapon Orcs, but I'm not sure that it's a great idea. For Wild Men of Dunland, there are three to five equipment options that you should consider taking: flaming brands, spears, sometimes bows, sometimes two-handed weapons, and no extra gear at all. A Wild Man of Dunland with no extra gear costs 5pts and if you find yourself a few points over, just downgrade a few guys to "vanilla Wild Men" and you're golden. I'd take no more than five of these guys in any army, since paying 1pt for a spear or a flaming brand is definitely worth doing over another model. Flaming brands are super good when you have to control an objective (it does not help with scenarios like Recon, so it's not exactly Dominant (2)) and are a decent deterrent against beasts and cavalry with low Courage ratings. Spears are awesome in basically any context - I'd take no more than half your army with spears, but probably closer to one-third if you've leaned hard into both bows and Crebain. You can take bows on these guys - they're fine as archers - but I think the Uruk-Hai Scouts with Uruk-Hai bows are a bit more effective, as they make good front-line models when the going gets tough and S3 makes D5 enemies a bit more hesitant to close with you. Two-handed weapons here and there are quite good - but the strongest arguments against taking these is that you use the same model as a spearman to make a two-handed warrior . . . I think the spear is the clear winner.

In case it wasn't clear above, I'd skip shields on both the Orcs and the Wild Men. For the Orcs, being D5 is fine - but these guys don't have access to the Courage levels/augmenting rules that the other guys have access to, so they're unreliable in the front-rank unless you bring a Fury Shaman . . . which I don't think you want to burn points on. This is partly why I don't think two-handed weapons on Orcs is a great idea - it's fine if your opponent doesn't have Terror, but if you do run into a Terror wall, you could find the spear would have been the FAR better choice. Similarly, paying 1pt/model for Light Shields (that don't boost your Defense but allow you to defend by shielding) is extortion to say the least. One-third of your Corsairs can get a Light Shield for free, but Wild Men and Lake-town Militia have to pay 1pt to defend by shielding . . . it's just wrong. I'd avoid taking the light shields on both the Wild Men of Dunland and the Wild Man Chieftains - you don't need them.

I think this list is best run with Saruman and a few cheap heroes. Saruman gets some GREAT benefits in this list and if your other heroes are cheap (25-55pts), you don't have to worry about having a small model count. The second hero you take is ALWAYS Grima because he helps you tremendously (more on this in a bit). Your third hero should probably be a March captain - it's really a toss-up between Orc Captains, Wild Man Chieftains, and Uruk-Hai Scout Captains, depending on what you want the hero to also do (blunt heroes, save points, or kill things respectively). After that, your fourth pick is probably the Wild Man Oathmaker OR another March captain, depending on how important March is to you.

Saruman's spells augment your army a lot - I usually use the weather power that halves enemy movement on the first or second turn (depending on whether you have priority or not). You have to not only have priority, but Saruman has to be going first in order to make it worthwhile - if your opponent has already moved some or all of his units, there's not much use to your once-per-game slow-down rule. Zapping someone with lightning could be done early in the game OR it could be done late in the game if there's a small team of models holding an objective or a few models racing for your board edge. Because you don't have to use it at the start of any round (just during Saruman's activation), you can usually move your other units first to make sure the spot you want to target is beyond 12" of your models (besides Grima - and in case this needs reiterating, your spot should never be within 2" of Grima!). While Fearful could be really good, it's also fine if you pass on it all game. 

Eventually, you're going to want to be channelling Sorcerous Blast against key figures (banners, army leaders, lone-objective-holders, models you intend to charge and swarm, heroes that hold VPs) - and if you know you need to wound/kill that hero, be sure to pick them at the start of the game as your victim who gets a -1 penalty to all their resist tests (but 6s stay 6s). You can also get good usage out of Compel and Transfix - channelling these is great if it MUST go off, but you're quite likely to get them off on 2 dice without the channel (and you should get a pretty high result if you roll 3 dice). Like the last edition, Saruman doesn't really need his Will points to get spells off - he needs them to get them off with a high result.

And then there's Grima - Saruman does a lot for the list, but Grima can be a real PAIN in your opponent's side. Besides making heroic actions cost extra (stand next to a March Captain on the first turn of the game and see if your opponent burns all his Might to get +3" of movement - and if he does, Saruman can call a Heroic Move if you're not going first and half all the enemy movement to REALLY bring the hurt on the cost of calling March), Grima can start near enemy objectives and contest them. He can walk into a supply marker in Destroy the Supplies on the first turn to remove it from play (yes, he'll be a target for enemy attacks - but chances are good you're up 4VPs for removing it and having removed more supplies than your opponent). He can walk off the enemy board edge at the start of the game in Reconnoitre. He can do an INCREDIBLE number of things - and if your opponent didn't bring magical powers that deal damage, there's not a dang thing they can do about it (especially since you can't charge him this edition and he can move through enemy models). Grima's a pain and augments the hurt that Saruman is already bringing.

And then there's the Crebain - Crebain are difficult to kill at a distance because they're only hit on a natural 6 (though in-the-way shots at your other units behind them will still scatter onto them on a 4+ - so beware of that!), which makes them difficult to pluck off of objectives that you hold in the backfield OR that you take on the wings or behind your opponent's ranks. They've got 4 Wounds each, which makes them good at blunting power heroes for a turn. The Swarm keyword keeps them from being trapped, so they're good at blocking off enemy cavalry (who probably can't chop through them in one go). They allow Saruman to see what they see, though Saruman still needs to be in range to cast the spells - and needs to be seen in order to grant the +1 Courage boost. Because Saruman doesn't need to work as hard to get the angles for his casting in this list, I don't think you need the horse - you might in the Muster of Isengard list, but not in this one. All in all, Crebain are incredibly useful pieces and I wouldn't be surprised if we see their points cost change to bring their costs more in line with their tactical flyer corrollary, Bat Swarms. As someone who has skipped on these guys in the past, I'd definitely take a bunch of these at most points levels.

The last thing I want to cover is a good "initial warband" for Saruman. While you can run this list without Saruman in it, you should take him. The following setup gives you a great starting place for the army - 370pts with lots of tactical options, a decently-large battle line, and 19 models:

• Saruman
• 7 Uruk-Hai Scouts with shields
• 5 Wild Men of Dunland with spears
• 2 Isengard Orc Warriors with spears
• 1 Isengard Orc Warrior with banner
• 2 Crebain
• OPTIONAL: Grima Wormtongue

A seven-file shieldwall backed by a banner is a good starting point for any battle line - you can't have the second-rank extend your battle line as well as you might if you had Warriors of Minas Tirith (where everyone can defend by shielding if they're not supported), but it's still a F4 battle line and it's got banner support for all of the fights (probably). Saruman can hide from danger while the Crebain give him good angles and you have a slot for Grima to hang out in your warband OR hop into an enemy warband (which I would do if Sauron/the Necromancer, Saruman, and maybe Gandalf isn't on the board).

The lists you'll see below start with this basic building block - I think it's a great place to start and you can field it at basically any points level! Let's wrap up this post with some lists!

Sample Lists

Given how expensive my default warband for Saruman is, I think you start playing this army with Saruman (read: you start playing this army) at 500pts. With Saruman in tow, you can have my go-to warband, Grima, and a Wild Man Chieftain with some angry dudes and bowmen for a nice tidy 32 models:

If you don't think the bows are worth taking, I get it - you can swap them for shield-carrying Uruks and even swap out the flaming brands for more spears if you really want a shieldwall, but I like the options for shooting and Dominant (2) from the torches is pretty great.

The next list is a modified version of what I took to THRO 2025 a few weeks ago - I don't own any Crebain yet (as was already noted), but this list has them because they are definitely that useful. I've added another Chieftain, 2 more Crebain (4 total), and a few more Wild Men:

Once you get to 700pts, you're looking less for numbers, I think, and more for options. This list hits 45 models and we've basically paid to get the Oathmaker (to help with Courage a bit more - plus Might points that are better used for Heroic Moves) and piled in on the Crebain:

Conclusion

There are a lot of competitive list builds out there for the Army of the White Hand - I highly recommend you check out the various YouTube channels that have summaries of the Ardacon 2025 Masters final placements for other good ideas (or view the winning lists here), but you won't find too much of a difference between what's there and what's here (there are some Wild Men with bows and two-handed weapons in the mix - some had less emphasis on Uruk-Hai bows than I place in my lists, but mine are a lot closer to what Jakob took and got 3rd place with). All in all, the list is great albeit a bit oppressive when you're maxing out its shenanigans.

Speaking of shenanigans, we're pivoting next week to view the Barad-Dur army list. Sauron has always been a skew character and I think he's super good - but how good is he in the new edition? And what kinds of things should you surround him with? Find out how to use this iconic villain next time - and until then, happy hobbying!