The New Age Is Begun: The Reclamation of Moria Army List

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.

Back to Basics, Revisited: The Fight Phase

Good morning gamers,

Well, today is our fourth post in this how-to-play-MESBG series and we're covering the Fight phase. We've already talked about building an army, the Priority and Move phases, and the Shoot phase. While maneuvering your troops is an important part of the game, most of the action (and removing of models) happens in the Fight phase - so for most armies, it's kind of important to know how it works (and often times, you're maneuvering your army to either get a better combat match-up - or trying to avoid combat entirely). Let's get stuck in!

The New Age Is Begun: The Khazad-Dum Army List

Good morning gamers,

I got started in my MESBG journey with the Mines of Moria starter set in September 2010. That got me collecting Goblins and the Fellowship. That Christmas, I picked up a box of Wood Elf Warriors and some Dwarf Warriors and Centaur and I started playing (he was running Rohan and Isengard at the time - I would branch into Isengard shortly after Christmas). My "bearded fellows" - the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum (who at the time were the Erebor army list) quickly became "my main faction" and I took them to the first GT we threw here at TMAT. I went 1-2 but had a really great time with them (and have always had a good time with them).

Last edition, the faction was cleanly split between the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum and the Kingdom of Moria (though there was a lot of overlapping profiles) and in this edition, we still have that distinction. Today, we're tackling the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum list and next time, we'll be looking at the Legacy-only Reclamation of Moria (I'll be foregoing the legacy-in-red text there to save all of our eyesight). The traditional Khazad-Dum list wasn't my first love last edition, but I like what they've done to it this time. Let's see how things have changed - and why these Dwarves have the potential to be a dominant force on the tabletop, despite their less-than-average speed (that oh so important resource in MESBG).

The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list includes everyone you'd expect to find. It has Durin and Mardin as your named heroes (as of yore), it has Dwarf Kings/Captains and Siege Veterans (for those pesky ballista crews) by default as your generic heroes (and King's Champions and Dwarf Shieldbearers if you play with Legacy profiles), and Dwarf Warriors, Dwarf Rangers, Khazad Guards, Iron Guards, and Vault Wardens (besides the obligatory ballista crewmen) for your warriors. If you're a Khazad-Dum player from the last edition (and especially if you have access to Legacy profiles), not much will feel that different.

Army List Bonuses

The old Khazad-Dum army bonus from the last edition was preserved in this edition: Dwarves get to reroll To Wound rolls of a natural 1 when making Strikes - and as had to be clarified in the old edition (and I don't think is needed in this edition, thanks to changes in the rulebook), even if you're using a two-handed weapon and you get a 1 that would promote to a 2, you still get the reroll if you want it (since . . . you know, wounding on 2s is in fact quite hard to do now).

The Dwarves of Khazad-Dum picked up three new rules: first, before using any rerolls, if your Dwarves are rolling fewer dice than their opponents, one Dwarf in each fight can reroll one D6 just as if they had a banner in range (but if they also have a banner, they can reroll a second die). This is GREAT when you don't have a banner near your units and like the Depths of Moria banner rules, this is battlefield wide and can't be taken away from you! Additionally, if you really like Dwarf Warriors (which I do), Dwarf Rangers (which I do), and Dwarf Captains (which I do now), they all get Dominant (2). Remember what I said about spamming models with Dominant (2) in the Men of the West and Defenders of the Hornburg lists? Well, all those D5-9 Dwarves have Dominant (2) as well . . . slick, slick, slick . . .

The New Age Is Begun: The Battle of Bywater List

Image Courtesy of GamesWorkshop

Hey Reader!

Welcome back to the blog! Today we're looking at the Battle of Bywater list from the Armies of Middle Earth book, aka "The Defenders of the Shire legendary legion" but with a few new twists.

In my last article we talked about The Shire army list, and while some of the models here are the same, you'd be surprised how differently this one plays from both that list and the old Defenders of the Shire legendary legion.

The Battle of Bywater: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The list of models you have in this army list hasn't changed much from the previous edition: you still get access to the Four Travelers (Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and Sam), all of the old hobbit sculpts (with Maggot and Lobelia, ironically, being the big two here), and the new hobbit sculpts we got from Scouring of the Shire (except Lotho Sackville-Baggins, so no F5 shenanigans with Shirriffs in this list). And of course, a horde of peasants ready to do their best to defend their cabbages (or whatever it is you put on your table).

FAQ Time: Unpacking the February 2026 FAQ

Good morning gamers,

It took a week longer than I'd hoped, but the GW development team has spoken and we have some balance updates! This FAQ changed a few things that had to do with the "big lists" that we see talked about (or bemoaned playing against) on top tables - some of whom got hit harder than others. There was one profile that appears to have gone unscathed though, so there will be a discussion about that at the end.

Photo Credit: Reddit

What Didn't Have Changes

Amazingly, everything had changes - though not everything had significant changes. I decided this time around to mostly save the erratas for the end, as the changes there seemed a bit more interesting to me than the FAQs themselves. We're going to begin first, though, with the clarifications that seemed to be pretty close to what we assumed from before . . .

Rules That Worked Like We Thought

The first change is simple: to account for the new Shelob model, Shelob's base size has been upped to 80mm:

Page 146 – Shelob – Base Size Change to 80mm. 

Thankfully, Shelob is fast enough that she can probably make due with a larger base size - but golly 80mm is a bit bigger than it was before! I've been playing with Mumaks a lot recently and I've got to say, having big bases can be great, but you have to not want to be too precise to make your plays happen. Having a base that is the same as two cavalry next to each other can maneuver through most places, but not in all places - and those heroes who are embedded in their battle lines are gonna feel pretty safe against Shelob while their mates are everywhere.