Good morning gamers,
This article is special for us here at TMAT as it's our first look at a Legacy army list - you can't run this list at an event that doesn't allow for Legacy profiles. The irony, of course, is that half of the heroes in this army list (and all of the warriors in this army list) are not Legacy profiles - and you could actually run a list very much like it using the Khazad-Dum army list that we looked at last time. Your army list bonuses would change, of course, but the profiles on the whole would be the same.
What makes this list different (and interesting) is that you have to take Balin in it - and the King Balin profile has been one of the best Dwarf hero profiles that we've had since it was first released. So let's see what happens when we get a "beater hero" who costs 60pts less than Durin, change a bunch of rules, add a bunch of hero options, and lose one warrior option, shall we?
The Reclamation of Moria: Changes for 2025
Profile Selection
In the last edition of the game, the primary difference between the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum (with Durin and Mardin) and the Kingdom of Moria (with Balin, Floi, Gimli, Oin, and Ori) was the named heroes. Everything else was the same. In this edition of the game, we have all of the generic heroes from the Khazad-Dum list (King's Champions, Shieldbearers, Dwarf Kings, and Dwarf Captains), plus a few named heroes (King Balin, Champ-Ori, Champ-Oin, and Floi). Sans Gimli, this is the same hero corps we had last time.
Except we don't have ballistas in this list anymore. As for warriors, we basically have the same guys as last time, but we don't have Vault Warden Teams. If you liked these last edition, run them in Khazad-Dum (they're still very good). If you liked Dwarf Warriors, Dwarf Rangers, Iron Guard, or Khazad Guards, they're still available to you and they're very, VERY good.
Army List Bonuses
To start off with, there's no overlap between the army list bonuses from the Khazad-Dum faction and the Reclamation of Moria faction. This is good in that there isn't a Dominant (2) consideration to drive us towards the cheaper warriors/March heroes, but on the other hand makes us have to be a bit more intentional about what we need in units because . . . well, what we see is what we get.
The most generic rule of the army is that at the start of the Fight Phase, any of your heroes who would be considered Trapped can declare a Heroic Defense for free (even if they don't have it naturally). This is good, but what makes you "considered Trapped" is a bit of a difficult question to answer. This certainly applies to any hero who starts the Fight Phase Prone and it would also include any hero who starts the Fight Phase with two models that would need to make way for him. However, if a Dwarf hero has been charged by a cavalry model, he WILL be Prone and hence Trapped IF he loses . . . but he won't be Trapped if he wins. So . . . does any Dwarf hero who has been charged by a cavalry model get to declare a free Heroic Defense? I don't think so.
Additionally, if your army Breaks, all of your models get +1 To Wound when making Strikes. This won't affect their archery, but it will certainly make them hack their way through the enemy faster. If this stacks with a two-handed weapon, you could see those S3 models absolutely cleaving through the enemy (especially if they're Dwarf Rangers fighting someone in difficult terrain . . . +3 To Wound anyone?).
Finally, if you're playing a scenario that has objectives that you need to control or pick up, you can score 2 additional VPs if you control/hold more of them than your opponent. This won't always matter, but a lot of scenarios have objectives that are either fixed locations or mobile tokens - and so there's certainly some value to this army bonus. It would be better if you were able to place two tokens on the map like the mirrors of the Khazad-Dum list, but I'm not picky.
When you look at the army list bonuses as a whole, I think this list is worse than the Khazad-Dum one. Let's see how the profiles change things.
We have slightly more profiles to cover this time than last time - though many of the entries are going to be the same:
- King Balin is . . . basically unchanged from the last edition. He picked up Leader (Khazad Guards), but he could lead Khazad Guards in the last edition (heck, everyone could). He's still got 3-Might-and-March/Strike/
Defense/Resolve, which is really awesome and he's one of the cheapest Heroes of Legend in the game. With F6/2A and D8/2 Wounds, he's not as durable as Durin, but for 60pts less, I sure hope he's not as good as Durin! He also retained the Longbeard special rule, which is kind of like having 3 Rings of Durin if you don't have anything else to do with your Will points. All in all, he's still a bargain hero, especially at low points levels where you can get a proper pile of Dwarves into your list for cheap. - You still have access to Dwarf Kings, who saw a slight points increase, but in this list, comes with throwing axes by default (so it's kind of like paying for the two-handed weapon and the throwing axes of yesteryear for the same amount of points). Instead of having to buy two-handed axes, they start with hand-and-a-half weapons, which is a really nice change. Additionally, they picked up a second Fate point, which is effectively free - kinda like Gimli's third Fate point this edition. All in all, this is still a very solid profile and in many ways is better than the Dwarf Captain profile in this list.
- Without Dominant (2) in this list, Dwarf Captains cost 20pts less than Dwarf Kings and they have -1 Fight Value, -1 Will, -1 Fate, and can defend by shielding instead of having the option to two-hand and having throwing weapons. You might choose to take these guys if you can't find the 20pts for a King, but in general, I think taking the King is well worth it over these guys. Nothing new about that in the Moria list, though . . .
- Floi Stonehand is back, but he plays very differently than he did before. His Loremaster ability doesn't shut off abilities your opponent has (which was oppressive, I know) but instead allows you to pick an enemy model within 12" and line of sight of Floi and your units get +1 To Wound against it. That . . . can be incredibly good in a world where Piercing Strike no longer exists. It's also a great way to get extra damage out of units like Iron Guard when they've piled in with Balin or a King's Champion to go hacking through something big! With 3 Will points and the ability to get them back if you're killing enemy heroes/monsters, Floi might just give you a little extra oomph, but I'm not sure he's worth 75pts for a +1 To Wound bonus . . . sad . . .
- Oin the Dwarf . . . really needs a fix in this list. On the one hand, he has a poor man's version of Master of Battle (5+) in that he can copy enemy heroics within 6", but on a 1 he loses a Will point (or can't move if he's out of Will). This is a good thing. He can't benefit from Sworn Protector because there's nothing that transfers his Sworn Protector away from Thorin. His Healing Herbs and Reading the Portents rules are great, but no one in the list (including Balin, Ori, and Oin himself) have the Erebor keyword because Ori and Oin trade their Erebor keywords for the Khazad-Dum keyword. Which means . . . he's just not a great hero unless you think Master of Battle (5+) is worthwhile. For 60pts, I think he's worse than a Captain unless he really get work out of Master of Battle (5+), so take him if you want, but I don't think you want him.
- Ori the Dwarf is in a similarly bad boat. On the one hand, allowing friendly models to not suffer a -1 penalty to their two-handed weapons would be slick in this list . . . but this rule is similarly limited to Erebor keyword Heroes. And we don't have any of those. So . . . yeah, the only thing Ori is bringing to the table is a 50pt hero with throwing weapons because all of his rules don't work. I'd tell GW to fix this, but this is in the Legacy documents, which they said they aren't fixing. If you're a tournament organizer and you allow Legacy profiles, you should make a ruling in your tournament pack about this if you think this is wrong.
- King's Champions are probably the greatest example of getting the most bang for your buck in all of MESBG. It's always been that way - three models for less than 150pts, two of them are carrying banners, and the other guy is INSANELY high in combat stats! There's nuances to using these teams well, but for most of last edition, I often only had one herald touching the KC (making them both D8 - often good enough) and the other nearby but behind another beater hero (like Balin, who we'll talk about next week) so there would be a second banner radius that covered more of the battle line. If I used up the Fate points on one banner, I'd swap them around so I could later use the Fate on the other one - it worked pretty well . . . most of the time. If you can take these guys, take them.
- Dwarf Shieldbearers, on the other hand, have not aged as well. They're the same cost as last edition (60pts), but lost the rerolling failed Courage tests bubble (12"!) that they had. Yes, they still get free Heroic Combats if your General is in trouble nearby (6" radius now), but the free Combats were always worse than the we-pass-courage-tests-without-
paying-for-Khazad-Guards buff that they had last edition. In a list that really wants to lean into the Dwarf Warriors/Rangers, that radius sure would have been useful . . . oh well . . . - Dwarf Warriors are still the great value they've always been - D7 for 9pts/model and unlike the Warriors of Erebor, these guys don't get to pay (don't have to pay?) for Mountain Dwellers. They can't use Piercing Strike to get to S4 this edition, but as a solid wall of guys who can be D6 with bows/banners/maybe a war horn or D7 with shields (don't get the two-handed weapons - more on that shortly), they're super good and reliable. Buy them in droves (even without Dominant (2))!
- Dwarf Rangers got a nice boost this edition - their base profile has changed very slightly in that their "Dwarf long bows" are finally "long bows" in that they're 24" and S3 (instead of being a fancy named version of standard bows) and they picked up a cool special rule that gives them +1 To Wound against models that are in terrain features (like woods or rocky ground). They're arguably better archers across the board this edition compared to the Dwarf Warrior with Dwarf bow (who have a 4+ SV with 18" range, instead of the Rangers' 3+ SV with 24" range) but having D6 archers still helps sometimes. Still, D5 archers are plenty good and just as resilient against S2/S4 attacks. They can still take throwing weapons (which might soften up the enemy a bit before charging someone in difficult terrain to get +1 To Wound), which is great, and I think there may be something to taking some of these guys with two-handed weapons (despite the potential for +2 To Wound from two-handing against someone in rocky terrain). Of course, you also have two-handed damage dealers in . . .
- Khazad Guards went up by 1pt/model to 12pts each and got +1 Fight Value to help them out! As base S4 models with two-handed weapons (and Burly to remove the two-handing penalty), they can certainly chop through enemy battle lines and are even more dangerous than before because they may get a reroll on their dueling roll if they're outdiced by their foes! Beware the Khazad Guards . . . if you want to bring them with Balin. Unlike in the Khazad-Dum list, there isn't a Dominant (2) consideration for why not to bring these guys. If you choose not to spam them, it's probably because you a) don't have the numbers you want, or b) you're looking into . . .
- Iron Guards are basically unchanged from the last edition - they're still your only 2 Attack warrior option, but they added Mountain Dwellers for free, which makes them very interesting alternatives to Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes (admittedly for nearly double the price). While I find it hard to bring these guys in Khazad-Dum lists because of how good Dominant (2) is, I think in this list, these guys are excellent harassers and can absolutely tear through a battle line . . . if you have the numbers to afford them.
If you stick to Balin, Dwarf Kings, a King's Champion, and any/all of your warrior options, I think this is a very solid list (though I think it's another strike against the list compared to Khazad-Dum)! Let's look and see what the strengths and weaknesses of this list are (especially when compared to their Khazad-Dum cousins).
The Reclamation of Moria: Strengths and Weaknesses
Like most Khazad-Dum list builds, you're going to have high defense models. In any dice game, it's good to have some way to make your army forgiving so you can learn the game and make mistakes without being penalized for a single error. Defense 6+ Dwarves certainly qualify and having F4+ on all of their guys (and decent Courage across the lot), these guys are about as forgiving as they come (at least for their price point - you will find more forgiving, more expensive units in the Erebor Reclaimed army list, among other Iron Hills Warrior-based lists). Unlike the Khazad-Dum list from last time, you probably don't want to lean almost entirely on Dwarf Warriors/Rangers, but you could certainly have a skew list that takes a 1:1:1 ratio of Dwarf Rangers with two-handed weapons (+2 To Wound against people who hide in terrain against your shooting units, +3 To Wound once you're broken), Dwarf Rangers with longbows, and Dwarf Rangers with throwing weapons so you can a) get an insanely good model count, b) get loads of shooting, and c) have tons of mobility. That said, I think Dwarf Warriors with shields are still worth taking as the anchors of your battle line, I think Khazad Guards are still good value sprinkled in here and there, and I think Iron Guard are very solid options if you can afford them. Having a few Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows is also not a bad idea, though I think they've mostly been eclipsed by the Dwarf Ranger with longbow.
Your units are also slow - they have no access to cavalry, everyone has 5" move, and while Heroic March isn't THAT limited in the list, you don't want to have Balin declaring a Heroic March every turn. While not as limited as the Khazad-Dum list, you're still choosing between units who can get above F6 and units that will help you get where you're going (except sort of with Balin). In most of the scenarios in the game, movement is the most important resource. Heroic March is a common strategy for most infantry-heavy (or infantry-only) lists to get where they want to go - and while a 1" reduction in speed compared to most lists doesn't seem like that big of a set-back, anyone who can start 12" away from an objective and moves 9" forward while you move 8" forward (7" difference between you all) will be able to move 6" forward and get right up in your face while hedging off the objective well, while a 5" move from you will put people just barely in front of the center objective. Now your units might be able to live for a while in a contest, but if they lose any fights, you're going to lose your buffer after you Back Away, while an opposing player might still have some wiggle room. This isn't a game-ending penalty necessarily, but make sure you understand how important movement is when building your lists!
While not as great at the shooting game as Khazad-Dum, this list still has great skirmishing options in it. You certainly don't have to play to the throwing weapon side of the house, but you certainly can - and whether that's with Dwarf Rangers or Iron Guard (and it should certainly include Dwarf Kings), there's no reason why you can't have tons of shooting! Also, Dwarf Rangers with longbows are super good - take as many of those (or Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows) as you can!
You have a light bench of heroes, but the choices you have are excellent. While you technically have more heroes at your disposal than Khazad-Dum, there are really only three that are good: Balin, Dwarf Kings, and King's Champions. If you want to take Floi (who I still love, but I don't think is as good as a Dwarf King), take him. If you want to save some points and take a Captain, take a Captain. Steer clear of Oin/Ori and the Shieldbearer, but make sure you've got enough March in your list before you settle on your heroes!
Finally, you have great special rules . . . when they are available to you. When you have to control objectives, really go for the objectives (even if they're not worth as much as other ones), as a single 3:2 or 3:1 control situation will see you get more VPs than your opponent! When you have to pick up objectives, you're really in a strong position if you can grab a bunch (and if you can shoot off your opponent's objective carriers). If you happen to be broken, you hit harder. If you happen to be Trapped (whatever conditions that actually applies in), then you can use Heroic Defense to stay alive. All in all, these are good insurance rules . . . but you won't always have them.
Okay, let's talk strategies . . .
The Reclamation of Moria: Strategies for the Tabletop
Just like last time, our first strategy has to do with list building: figure out how much you want to lean into shooting. I'll spoil it and say that there's only one list in the sample list section that leans all the way into shooting - because in general, I think this army doesn't want to do that. I think you want maximum bows all the time, but the throwing weapons are very much optional. At lower points, you're probably better off spamming guys with Balin and a King instead of trying to get Iron Guard, but as the points levels increase, those Iron Guard sure look good (especially because your access to banner rerolls is lower than in other lists)!
Next, you're going to want to figure out when you take a King's Champion. Without Heroic March and with only 10 warrior slots, he's a great choice when you a) already have a March hero besides Balin, b) were planning on getting two banners anyway, and c) need a little extra oomph to get the killing going. I'll say from experience that a King's Champion that's brought Iron Guard with Dwarf Warriors with shields guarding the flanks is an absolute TERROR to deal with - everyone kills everything, no matter how tough! Also, losses on that warband feel particularly bad, so don't be crazy with it. Still, I wouldn't field this guy at low points, but I'd definitely look into him once you hit the 650+ zone.
Next, we need to talk about shieldwalls that are designed to be Heroic Marched. I discussed this last time, but I have several formations articles that address Marching shieldwalls around and my go-to with any Dwarf faction is the Pac-Man/Millenium Falcon formation (there are three formations discussed in that article - the relevant formation is the third one). This formation is pretty straightforward - you want your March hero set up 2-3" beyond your deployment zone upper limit and leave a path (either a straight path in the Millenium Falcon formation or in a V-shapped path in the Pac-Man formation) for the March hero to walk. Setting the hero back a bit means he won't be moving up as far as everyone else (which is fine for Dwarf Captains), but the radius of units he's affecting (and in the Pac-Man formation, the variety of direction he can move) is greatly improved. While you probably can't March 40 Dwarves across the board easily with a single Captain if you make a battle line, you can move a very flexible formation of Dwarves even as high as 50 models in total with a single Pac-Man formation. Give it a try if you haven't already!
Once you're engaging with the enemy, remember that this Dwarf list has absolutely NO spears, so you want to wrap-and-trap your foes. Dwarf Warriors with shields and Iron Guard are great shock-troops for protecting your flanks where you don't have banner support because they can roll 2 dueling dice each (the Dwarf Warriors by defending by shielding, the Iron Guard because they have 2 Attacks base), while your Khazad Guards benefit from anchoring the center of your battle line where you have banner support (and probably heroes). Ideally, however, you're able to get around the enemy, trap them to make the most of your numbers (and hopefully to get some punch out of your S3 warriors who can't Piercing Strike anymore), and give your opponent no place to hide strategic units, like banners and magic casters! I've always loved how the warriors in this list do the hard work of slaughtering your foes - though the heroes can certainly help them out - and so make sure you're doing your best to get them good matchups that can convert staying alive into winning fights and killing your foes!
Finally, don't give up - Dwarves are stubborn and if you're playing a list that's faster than you, don't quit. If you're playing a list with F5+ across its ranks, don't give up. If you're facing a list that doesn't want to be caught and is dancing away with shooting weapons, don't give up. Your Dwarves are tough and when they eventually reach the enemy, they can win if they get their dice volume working for them. Your heroes and warriors are incredibly forgiving and you can rely on them to stick with it when the going gets tough - so don't give up, fight on, and bring those axes of the Dwarves to bear against your foes! BARUK KHAZAD!
Sample Lists
We're starting out with Balin and a King in a 500pt list. I've fallen shy of the 30-model mark by taking two banners (which I do not regret) and I also have 7 Khazad Guards. There are 9 bows in the list (maximum we can take), split between D6 Dwarf Warriors and D5 Dwarf Rangers. We also have 8 Dwarf Warriors with shields, bringing us to 28 models total:
As we scale up to 650pts, we can drop the banners and take a King's Champion, which frees us up to bring a few more guys:
At 750pts, we can lean into elite troops, since we don't need more heroes in our mix - and boy does this list look like a pain to deal with!
Our last list is a silly one at 750pts: it's the mostly-all-Rangers list! If you fill every single warrior slot with Dwarf Rangers, you get a list that hits 722pts - which means you could drop 3 guys and run under a bit if you wanted to run all-Rangers at 700pts. That said, at 750pts, you can upgrade some of your Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes to be Iron Guard (we have four of those in the King's Champion's warband again) and you can upgrade one Dwarf Ranger with two-handed axe to a Khazad Guard. The end result is a 48-model list that has 15 bows, 15 throwing weapons, and a TON of damage up close. Is this better than running Dwarf Warriors with shields instead of Dwarf Rangers with two-handed weapons? I don't know, but it sure looks fun:
Conclusion
This list isn't as good, I think, as the Khazad-Dum list is now, but I think it's still interesting and the units in it are so similar to the other list, that if you want insane bonuses To Wound, you could get a lot of work out of this list. If you like this list and enjoy using it in Legacy-allowed events, let us know in the comments below! Next time, we're continuing our walk through legacy Dwarf lists with a walk back in time to a really cool old sourcebook! Find out about a list that I think might be one of the finest horde lists in the game next time - and until then, happy hobbying!
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