The New Age Is Begun: the Thorin's Company Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our last post of all-Dwarves in "Dwarf month" and we're looking at what is mostly an all-hero list: Thorin's Company. I played this list some last edition (never in a tournament) and I've got to say, it's got a lot of rules to keep track of (even more now), but it's FUN to play! The models work together better now and I kinda feel like our recommendation to fix Thorin's Company was heard by GW - but let's see what this list has to offer and what you have to think about when bringing it to the table.

Thorin's Company: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has the fifteen members of Thorin's Company, as you'd expect. For about $60 (less on eBay), you can get that whole list of models - and now that they can't take ponies (sadness), that's a good 1000-points worth of this list for an insanely small amount of money (relative to what 1000pts requires in most other lists). These units are all infantry and carry the bulk of the rules - and if you choose to just play with these guys, you'll have a jolly time for sure.

That said, the list now includes Radagast the Brown (with access to his sleigh, but it isn't required) and Gwaihir (who can bring Great Eagles, but not Fledgling Eagles). Bringing Gwaihir requires you to also bring Gandalf, which makes the investment kind of hefty - but one could argue that Gwaihir is worth it. Interestingly enough, Radagast has the Thorin's Company faction keyword, so anything that's said below about "Thorin's Company" models can affect him too . . . we'll talk about that a bit in the strategy section below.

Army List Bonuses

This list has a few restrictions in it - but they're not hard to remember. You have to take Thorin and he has to be your General. If you want to take any of the Dwarves, Wizards, or Biblo, they have to be in Thorin's warband (which is great in maelstrom missions, but also gives up a lot of deployment advantages to your opponent in virtually all other scenarios). If you want to take Gwaihir in your list, you have to have Gandalf in your list (fair enough). If you want to take Great Eagles, you have to bring them with Gwaihir. Simple, right? Everyone who isn't a bird with Thorin, get birds by taking Gandalf.

The New Age Is Begun: the Army of Erebor Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our third list in our cruise through lists that feature the Iron Hills Dwarf Warrior profile and while we've looked at Erebor Reclaimed (where the heroes were necessary to get the warriors where they wanted to go on the quick side) and the Defenders of Erebor (where we got a mix of light and heavy warriors to support some budget heroes), this list features all-Dwarves but with a more limited array of them compared to Erebor Reclaimed . . . but with some very interesting hitting power. Let's see if this list is any good - and what the potential traps are in it!

The Army of Erebor: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has very similar participants to our last list (the Defenders of Erebor), but we've traded the three Dale heroes (Brand, Bard, and a Captain) for Gimli and Dwarf Kings - which I kind of feel is a trade up! Additionally, we've lost access to the Dale warriors, but haven't lost Goat Riders (so we just have to make up for the spear-carrying, banner-carrying, and bow-carrying Dale guys with Iron Hills Warriors . . . done). 

As with the Defenders of Erebor list we looked at last time, everyone in this list gains the Erebor keyword (I assume as a replacement for the Iron Hills keyword? Or do they have both?), which is good because it means more people can be affected by Bofur's Steadfast rule. All in all, we've still got lots of Champs with solid profiles, we still have good warrior profiles, and we have some new kids on the block to shake things up. Thanks to losing the Dale guys, our numbers will be smaller . . . but we'll also be more durable, so that may end up being fine in the end.

The New Age Is Begun: The Defenders of Erebor Army List

Good morning gamers,

Last edition, one of my favorite Legendary Legions that I never took to an event was the Defenders of Erebor - I played a LOT of practice games with them, but never actually locked in with them as my list for any of the events I attended. I plan to rectify this in the coming months (maybe a year) because I think there's a lot that you can do with this particular list. The heroes are great, the warriors are great, and the rules are tricky - let's see how this Dwarf-plus-Men list squares up in the new edition!

The Defenders of Erebor: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

Our available profiles haven't changed since last edition - you can still get the four royals (Dain, Thorin III, Brand, and Bard II), the six mobile members of Thorin's Company who were still at Erebor during the War of the Ring (Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, and Gloin when he got back from Rivendell - Bombur was too fat, still think there was a missed opportunity to put him in, though!), your stock-standard generic captains, and two warrior profiles for each side (Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors/Goat Riders and Warriors/Knights of Dale). 

All in all, this both is and isn't a deep bench - it's deep because it has twelve hero choices and four warrior choices and between them all, you get a nice spread of possibilities. However, you're unlikely to be able to afford more than four of them in any given game, not only because of the relative expense of the heroes we have (many are in the 70-100pt range), but also because the warriors we have (unless we REALLY focus on the Dale contingent) are pricey. All that being true, this list doesn't have a problem getting to a healthy model count and it will do it with solid Dale archery, the occasional Dale melee guy, and lots of doughty Dwarves.

There are some list constraints, but nothing that's weird for these kinds of lists. Your Dwarf Warrior models can only be led by Dwarf Heroes and your Man Warrior models can only be led by your Man Heroes. As a result, the more you want Dwarves, the more you'll need Dwarf Heroes in the mix. Additionally, any unit with the Iron Hills keyword (Iron Hills Captains/Dwarf Warriors/Goat Riders) pick up the Erebor keyword, which is really nice.

The New Age Is Begun: The Erebor Reclaimed Army List

Good morning gamers,

This post was supposed to kick off our April series, but Centaur got busy, so you get this article either a day late or six days early, depending on your perspective. Today and through April, we're back with Dwarves - but this time, we're plowing through the Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors from the Armies of the Hobbit and the Armies of Middle-Earth! My son has used these guys a ton - they're a bit expensive for 1 Attack infantry, but they're incredibly durable and if you can manage to get good numbers with them, you can find yourself with the numbers advantage pretty quickly and then the battle swings hard in your favor.

The list that I think showcases these guys the best is Erebor Reclaimed. When I first read the updated rules for the Champs (three in particular) and saw the army list special rules, I was absolutely flabbergasted that they weren't the meta. I think there's a lot going for this list - so let's see what we have to work with and how it's changed from previous editions of the game.

Erebor Reclaimed: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has only lost one profile technically speaking from the previous edition of the game: Iron Hills Goat Riders. This list has actually lost another profile (the "champ chariot") and has effectively lost six other profiles (King Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Dain, and Iron Hills Captains on their mounts). While the mounted heroes are still available in their infantry forms, they function quite differently than they did before - and without warrior cavalry options, this list faces the perennial problem of all Dwarves: how do we make up for being slow and getting where we need to go when we need to be there? Thankfully, one of our army list bonuses helps us with this . . .

Army List Bonuses

The glamor rule of this army list is that everyone in your list has Heroic March and while this isn't great for Iron Hills Captains finding a place in the list, this list goes the extra mile and allows the Dwarves who are benefitting from a Heroic March to ALSO charge . . . which means if you have enough Might in the list, you can basically have 8" move infantry. Now it should be noted that the standard rules of ending within 6" of the March hero still apply, so that 8" move is going to be highly predictable, but considering that anyone can trigger it means you have a lot of flexibility with where and with whom you move 8".

The New Age Is Begun: The Expedition to the East Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our second army list that comes to us from the Legacies document (we'll be back with non-Legacy stuff next time for all you who go to GW-official events and can't take these) and we're still looking at Dwarves . . . but this time with Minas Tirith guys thrown in! Yes, it's the army list that harkens back to the old "Shadow in the East" sourcebook that features our favorite wandering Dwarves (Murin and Drar), their unlikely acquaintance (Cirion), and a bunch of cheap plastic core troops for Khazad-Dum and Minas Tirith. Yes, we're diving into the Expedition to the East army list - a list that I think has a lot of play and one that I'm interested in fielding. Let's see what this list has to offer!

Expedition to the East: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is really lean on the units - you have four heroes (three of which are unique) and five warriors (two Dwarf-based, two Man-based). The good news about collecting this list is that all of the warriors come in big plastic boxes and while the heroes can be hard to find, you really just need a Minas Tirith command blister (or convert your own Captain), Cirion, and Murin and Drar. All told, it's a very light bench, but it's also everything I'd expect (though I wouldn't have missed putting Knights of the White Tower in this list - it would probably be a little out of place for them to be here, but golly would it have been fun).

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.

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 . . .

First Impressions, Dwarves of the Hobbit, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Back in 2019, I wrote an article that compared the Dwarves of Thorin's Company and their Erebor Reclaimed "future selves", looking at which version of the two was better (hint: it was basically always the Champs). While there may have been slight changes to the Dwarves over time, the difference between the book-released profiles and their ending state was pretty negligible. This led to a common critique of Thorin's Company in particular (and to a lesser extent the all-Dwarf-hero Erebor Reclaimed list) when new all-hero Legendary Legions were being released and the lack of synergy between the Dwarves made Thorin's Company and Erebor Reclaimed look like a poor all-hero army choice.

Now we have a new edition and we'll be looking at nearly thirty profiles today as we consider how the profiles for all thirteen Dwarves of Thorin's Company (and their Hobbit companion Bilbo) have changed - and boy do we have some interesting changes today! Let's start off with the two that are not related to each other . . .

Thorin and Bilbo: How Have They "Changed?"

Thorin has always been a bargain deal for less than 150pts - and he was such a good deal, that I considered an Impossible Alliance with Thorin's Company Thorin and Balin, King of Moria for our GT last year and ended up taking Thorin King Under the Mountain with Balin, King of Moria instead. Dwarf heroes tend to pile in a lot of stats into a small points package and golly is that still true of Thorin in this new edition of the game. 

Thorin's Company Thorin is still 100pts base but he picked up Heroic March as a heroic action (which matters less in the Thorin's Company list since everyone gains March and can use Will to call it, but it matters a lot more in the Rangers of Mirkwood list where he is the only Dwarf hero that can declare a March). His stats remain the same as they ever were and the rerolling-1s element of the old Thorin's Company army bonus got rolled into his profile, which is really good for him and particularly good for his S4 buddies. Additionally, friendly models can benefit from Thorin's Stand Fast, which is good to have in the same way that it's good to have Stand Fasts in Elf lists.

Photo Credit: Giphy

King Thorin went up in price by 15pts (130pts base) and picked up F7, Fearless (which he never had), Hatred (Gundabad), and the old Du Bekar army bonus - though it applies to all Dwarf models now instead of just the Champions of Erebor, but also only has a radius of 3" instead of 6". Ancestral Fury was modified to only give him a free Heroic Combat on a turn in which he Charges, but it's still a free Heroic Combat, which makes Thorin an excellent choice for carving through troops.

He traded Heroic Resolve for Heroic March (which doesn't matter in Erebor Reclaimed since everyone has March in that list too, but matters a lot in the Ravenhill and Battle of Five Armies lists) and he lost access to the war goat - which hurts A LOT - but retained access to Orcrist and if you build your list in a particular way, this can make him very, very deadly. I do fear that he may fall into the "Durin problem" a bit in the Ravenhill/Battle of Five Armies lists since a 5" move hero isn't hard to stay away from, but in the Erebor Reclaimed list, he can declare a Heroic March and still charge after using the 8" movement from it - that's the same maneuverability of a goat on a straight-away, but might actually be better than the movement of a goat in a congested area.

Turning now to Bilbo, Bilbo got a 5pt-reduction in cost (55pts base) and still has Strike/Defense/Resolve like he did before (which is a good suite of options, especially on a Ringbearer/support piece). His profile didn't otherwise change - and honestly, with all the other changes that are happening (and the fact that the Ring doesn't half Fight Value if there's someone other than the Ringbearer in combat), I'm not sure how high Bilbo is on my to-take list anymore. Still, he was overpriced before, so I'm glad he got a slight points drop.

Burglar Baggins also got a points drop and is 75pts now (-15pts!). Despite this steep decline in cost, he got boosted to 2 Attacks, his Mithril Coat protects against Rend now and allows him to reroll Fate rolls of 1. Like his Thorin's Company version, he still has Strike/Defense/Resolve, which gives him some good options in a Lake-town list, but he seems kind of expensive for a Battle of Five Armies list (so expect to see him a lot more in Assault on Ravenhill and possibly Survivors of Lake-town lists).

MESBG Christmas Lists, List #11: The Kingdom of Moria . . . and Friends?

Good morning gamers,

Tiberius: Merry Christmas to all! I hope you've been enjoying this series - it's always great when content creators from across the international community contribute to a project like this (and I feel very blessed that anyone out there who generates good content wants to even be involved with our work here)! Today's "Christmas list" comes to you from . . . me! I've hinted at this list several times this year and it has got to be one of the most FUN lists I've ever played - and it's a throw-back to the way I originally built my Kingdom of Moria lists for MESBG (which was actually the "Erebor" list in the LOTR SBG days). So stroll with me down memory lane as we look at the most awesome Dwarf list I ever made (while most of the posts in this series have been short . . . this article will only be short compared to some of my other work . . . and maybe Rythbyrt's article)!

Oh, and I'm going to cheat and provide multiple lists, but they nest together, okay?

The Evolution of a Crazy Impossible Alliance

It's no secret - I'm a huge fan of the Kingdom of Moria: the heroes are excellent (Balin, King's Champions, and Dwarf Kings are/can be all budget F6/D8+ combat heroes - and two of them give you Heroic March, which is always nice to have as an option), the warriors are excellent (their core troops are 9pts each with 1 piece of gear, while their elite units get stronger and more expensive), and as a whole, they're incredibly forgiving as a faction. You can also splurge on two plastic boxes of core troops (two boxes of Dwarf Warriors, two boxes of Dwarf Rangers, or a box of each like I did), the Balin/Floi pack, and a King's Champion pack (with an optional Dwarf King pack, if you can find it), and you can get started with the army quickly and easily.

No matter how competitive you want to be, this is a great starting foundation for MESBG - good, resilient heroes and solid, resilient troops. What more could you want . . . besides cavalry . . . and spears . . . and maybe some magic . . . yeah, there's some to be desired in this list, but hey, you gotta give something, right?

Like most new players to the game, I stuck to pure lists for a while - I mean, I was slowly collecting models and we were playing at low points levels, so allying just wasn't on my mind at the time. I allied Gandalf into some Wood Elf lists (before getting Galadriel), and I allied Legolas into everything (including Dwarf lists), but I eventually got around to looking at the profile for Radagast the Brown . . . and boy did I have a crazy idea. 

You see, back in the day, you were able to do "volley fire" with 10+ bows of the same type, so if you had 10 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows, you could shoot at targets that were within 18" normally and at models that were 18-36" away from you by hitting on a 6. The trick was, only one model in your army needed to be able to see the target . . . and Radagast could (and still can) "see" everyone thanks to the Master of Birds special rule. 

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: The Kingdom of Moria in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

And they say Gimli wasn't in Moria...

Photo credit: Quora.com

Something something something BALIN!!!

So there's more to this list than just Balin, of course (FLOI!!!). But if you're opting for the Kingdom of Moria instead of a generic Khazad-Dum list, you're by definition opting for Balin (and his mates) instead of Durin (and his mate). As we'll discuss in the rest of this write-up, that's not a bad thing (Balin is good, and a couple of his mates are great). But that's the trade-off.

Having said that, apart from the changes to the hero suite (two subtractions, five additions) and alliance matrix (which is all Red), you don't lose really any of the options in Khazad-Dum... which means that if you came over here after reading our army summary of Khazad-Dum, you're going to see a lot of repetition. I've tried to front-load some of the differences to save you time... but as much as I love you guys, I wasn't going to re-write everything I've already rewritten.

Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!

Army Quick(ish) Hits

• Strength: A solid (though restricted) suite of heroes. Believe it or not, Moria actually has a better suite of heroes than Khazad-Dum does. Yes, your top-end talent is limited (Kingdom of Moria has no power-curve equivalent to Durin), but apart from Durin, the only other model you absolutely can't take is Mardin... and let's be honest, even most Khazad-Dum players weren't going to take Mardin unless the points level is very high. Every other hero, however, is on the table. Dwarf Captains provide that all-important Heroic March, which you will usually want because (a) dwarves move only 5" base, (b) this particular dwarf army has no cavalry options, and (c) Durin, unlike Balin, doesn't have access to Heroic March for some reason. At Fight 5, Strength 4, and Defense 7 base (8 with shield), they're also reliable tanks when they aren't pushing your army from place to place. If you'd like to double-down on your support role to get both speed and magic defense, Dwarf Kings have access to Heroic March and Heroic Resolve, with an extra point of Will (2/2/1 Heroic Stats), higher Fight (F6), and base Defense 8. Plus, with the errata, they're now Heroes of Valour, with the ability to bring up to 15 warriors (and ally with other yellow/red factions... which is all of them). The Dwarf Shieldbearer offers a way to buff your force's global courage in the absence of Bodyguard, while also offering a buff to some of your combat pieces with his ability to call free Heroic Combats sometimes (In Defense of the King). Last but not least, the King's Champion is one of the best generic heroes in the game, capable of slaying heroes or troops (F6, S5, 3 Attacks, and Heroic Strike with 2/1/1 Heroic Stats) or tanking something really nasty (2 Wounds, D7-9, and 1-5 Fate, depending on where his supporting Heralds are). Oh, and he comes with two heralds with two 3" banners included in his points cost, for fewer points than a Great Beast of Gorgoroth. Finally, Kingdom of Moria gets access to four additional heroes to help take the "sting" out of losing Durin (and Mardin): 

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: Khazad-Dum in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Something wicked this way comes...

Photo credit: Brrokk Barrowbane

So if you showed up this week hoping for our wrap-up on countering Angmar... sorry. My hands stopped working.

Instead, I've got a more traditional "Armies of Middle-Earth" for you, on the OG tanks in MESBG: the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum. So hopefully all is forgiven.

Cards on the table: when it comes to elves vs. dwarves, I'm solidly on Team Dwarves. I don't remember if dwarves were the first faction I played when Tiberius and Centaur finally persuaded me to play MESBG (shortly before it became MESBG), but it was definitely one of the first. And at the time, the only way to play dwarves (at least in our gaming group) was Khazad-Dum. So this list has always had some sentimental value for me, and I expect it will always be so (although that does not explain my snail's pace when it comes to painting their models). 

I'm splitting this review up into two parts because the new edition of the rules split this faction up into two: Khazad-Dum (today) and Kingdom of Moria (next time). I'm doing this even though those of us who play know they're really the same faction differentiated by a single (albeit, important) hero choice: to Balin (and Floi) or not to Balin (and Floi)? As such, if you stumbled on this review after reading the Kingdom of Moria review, you'll see some overlap (and vice versa). I've tried to front-load the differences (so you can gloss over the rest), but apologies on the front end if you find this repetitive (It's not my fault!).

As always, you'll find a list of handy community resources at the end, but I want to flag the 4.5 hour gem that is the Green Dragon Podcast on Khazad-Dum--way more than you'll ever need to know about what makes Khazad-Dum amazing... so definitely read this first (otherwise, you won't need it).

Army Quick(ish) Hits

• Strength: Dwarves = TOUGHNESS. Stat-wise, there's two things that make dwarves "dwarves" in MESBG: they move 5" instead of your "standard" 6" (more on that shortly), and they have ready access to D7 warriors (or better), and even more defense on their heroes. Add these excellent defensive stats to very good combat stats overall (Fight 4, with ready access to shields and banners), and generally access to axes and/or Strength 4 on their warriors (if not both), and dwarf armies become tough to engage, tough to wound, tough to shift, and they're tough to rout. The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum is no different, with Courage 4 standard on all your core units and Defense 7 on most models (the notable exception are your skirmishing Dwarf Rangers, Dwarf Warriors with bows, and Iron Guard--all of which make up for the lack of D7 with other stats / shenanigans). Add in Bodyguard on your Khazad Guard, Courage rerolls from the Shieldbearer, banners aplenty, and shields everywhere (for both more attacks and an option for non-lethal strikes), and you have a force that can perform well at all stages in the game.

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: The Army of Thror in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Something something something GRIMHAMMERS!!!

Just kidding. There's more to this list, of course, but what can I say? I just love these models (even if I think they're about 20% too slim when standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their cousins from the Iron Hills). 

Azanulbizar, in all its... ferocity

(Don't sleep on Dwalin's head-bash in the foreground)

Photo credit: Rogue Prince on tumblr

The Bare Necessities, Part XLIII: Radagast's Alliance

Good morning gamers,

We recently looked at both the Misty Mountains and Fangorn factions and today we wrap up the last of the Good all-monster armies (and the last of the participants in the Battle of Five Armies): Radagast's Alliance. Shockingly, this army isn't historical allies with the forces that were at the Battle of Five Armies - maybe because allying in Gwaihir historically into these armies would be broken, maybe because they didn't "officially" work with Erebor, Dale, or the Halls of Thranduil but arrived as an "enemy of my enemy." If you thought, though, that this army would just be a repeat of the discussion on the Misty Mountains, think again (well, sort of).

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Radagast's Alliance: More Than Just Eagles

The Misty Mountains faction is historical allies with a few factions (the Fellowship, Thorin's Company, and Radagast's Alliance) and convenient allies with everyone else in the game. This makes dropping a model like Gwaihir easy for virtually every army in the game (armies like the Fiefdoms or the Rangers probably want to keep their army bonuses, which is the only reason you'd want to forego allying in a F8/S6, nigh-unkillable-without-a-lot-of-effort monster into your force).

Radagast's Alliance may have the same lineup of models (and adds two more), but it doesn't have the same alliance structure. Instead, it can only ally with the Misty Mountains historically and can conveniently ally with the Elven factions (Rivendell, Lothlorien, and the Halls of Thranduil), a few all-hero/monster factions (Thorin's Company, Fangorn, the Wanderers in the Wild, the White Council, and the Rangers oddly enough), the men from the Armies of the Hobbit (the Army of Lake-town, the Survivors of Lake-town, and also oddly the Garrison of Dale), and some of the Dwarves from the Battle of Five Armies (the Iron Hills and Erebor Reclaimed). So basically . . . you gotta be from the Armies of the Hobbit (or Fangorn or the Rangers - who, as I've already said, probably don't want your help).

That's really limited as a set - and when looking for a balanced list to feature these guys, you have very few options that have a) actual banners (Elves, Dwarves, and Dale), b) fast troops besides Radagast's Alliance itself (Elves and Dwarves), and 30+ models (not the all-hero/monster lists). That made picking our list for today incredibly difficult.

And yet, the biggest question about this list is this: what kind of big hero (or maybe two) do you want to add to another faction to deepen its bench? Some of the factions listed above have a good selection of beater heroes (most notably Rivendell and Erebor Reclaimed, arguable case for Thorin's Company, the Iron Hills, and the Halls of Thranduil), but wouldn't mind having a F8 monster hero (or F7 monster warrior) to back up a hero or two of their own if they have the points for it.

When it comes down to it, this faction becomes more than just "another army of Eagles" - it gives you options. Not only do you have the ability to "just get Gwaihir," but you can also add in heroes like Beorn (who might be the most dangerous model against a single hero in the game) and Radagast (who has several tricks for shutting down heroes brought by your opponent - and can be dangerous in combat if he's equipped properly). While I could have talked about a faction that ran a handful of monster models, I felt like the list below showcases something this faction does well: gives you a better killing hero than what you have in your own list. To see how this works, let's look at today's list:

Dwarf Formations: The Tiberius King's Champion Specials

Good morning gamers,

I recently played with my "beared fellows" (Khazad-Dum Dwarves) at a 550-point tournament, and at it, I got to run one of my favorite formations: the "King's Champion Special." Or at least, I used a variant of one of my "KC-Special" formations. I've been running Khazad-Dum Dwarves since I got started in the game back in 2010 and I've been running the King's Champion for most of that time. While I am a huge fan of the core troops available to Khazad-Dum (Dwarf Warriors and Dwarf Rangers - the units you can get en masse in plastic), the three formations we're going to look at today are formations you can run that lean more heavily into the elite troops that Khazad-Dum has to offer. Why? Because there are few force multipliers that compare to the King's Champion. Let's see why that is.

Understanding the King's Champion "Model"

The King's Champion is a 140-point trio of models, containing the King's Champion himself and two "Heralds." Heralds are basically Dwarf Warriors with shields and banners (F4, D7, 1A, 1H, C4, with axe/shield/banner/Dwarf armor) and get +1 Strength (S4), +1 Will, +2 Fate, and special rules that boost their Defense when in base contact with each other or the King's Champion (up to Defense 9) and the ability for the King's Champion to use the Fate points of a Herald that is in base contact with him. Since a Dwarf Warrior costs 34 points with a banner and shield, it would be generous to say that they are valued at 35 points each (though the Will/Fate should make this closer to 50 points each).

IF you consider these guys to be 35-points in value, the King's Champion costs "only" 70 points (40 points if you bump up the cost of the Heralds to 50 points each) and has a stellar profile. With F6, S5, D7 (which can be up to D9 if in base contact with both Heralds), 3A, 2H, C5, 2M/1W/1F and Heroic Strike/Strength, he's basically a cheaper Dwarf King with better Strength and Attacks, potentially better Defense, and lower Courage and Will (and a different set of heroic actions - both sets are quite useful). With at least one banner at his back, the King's Champion will be rolling an absurd number of dice to win the fight (as will friendly models around him).

The King's Champion set of models is one of the best values for points in the game and the low Will and low movement (no mount) are really the only things detracting from the profile (3 Might would be welcome too, but I can't think of any generic, non-monster heroes that have 3 Might). As far as generic heroes go, this is about the best you can get and for Khazad-Dum, he's commonly viewed as a staple before the likes of Durin or Balin. Paired with a hero who can March him around (Dwarf Kings, Dwarf Captains, or Balin), he's a force to be reckoned with. But with 10 warrior slots in this Hero of Fortitude's warband (since the Heralds take up two of the twelve slots), what do you bring alongside this guy to get the most out of him? Well, let's take a look at a few of them, shall we?

The Bare Necessities, Part XXXVI: The Iron Hills

Good morning gamers,

We've already looked at the Iron Hills a little when we reviewed the Army of Thror - they make great allies for basically anyone in the Armies of the Hobbit book (Historical allies with the Army of Thror, the Halls of Thranduil, and the Survivors of Lake-town; Convenient allies with everyone else). With D7 infantry that can be D8 in shieldwall, D6 infantry who can wield either crossbows or two-handed pick-hammers, D6 cavalry that can knock enemy models over BEFORE fighting, chariots that deal three S6 impact hits, and those nasty ballistas that can deny enemy archery. While the list doesn't have a lot of hero options, the heroes it DOES have are very good. So where do we begin when looking to build a balanced list with this army? Well, we should probably begin with this guy . . .

Photo Credit: Rebloggy.com

The Iron Hills: What Do You Leave At Home (And What Can You NOT Leave At Home)?

All pure Iron Hills lists begin with Dain Ironfoot - and in most cases, he will be mounted on his war boar (though an article from Dwarf aficionado Ali King indicates that may not be necessary). Regardless of whether you have a pure Iron Hills army or a Historical Alliance, the addition of Master of Battle (4+) is great for Dain - so unless you're bringing a bigger hero than Dain (not many are), you probably want Dain in your army. For 160 points when mounted, he's expensive for a Hero of Legend, but not as expensive as two Heroes of Fortitude, so you won't suffer too much from bringing him.

With the exception of the mattocks (unfortunate, since they look really cool), all of the gear options for Iron Hills Warriors are amazing - shields by default, the option to trade the shield for a crossbow, a banner on anyone (maybe two banners?), and spears for shield-carrying or crossbow-carrying Dwarves is good. These infantry models form a good core for any army - and make a great anvil for this force in particular. Adding a few Goat Riders to support this army gives you slightly more speed (especially if you March them) - not necessary en masse, but a very dangerous pocket of power.

I don't think you leave home without a good block of infantry and some Goat Riders. The question becomes whether the siege weapons are important to your strategy. On the one hand, bringing a ballista can force almost any shooting army to come to you and engage you in melee (exactly what you want with your block of Dwarf heavy infantry), but similarly, ballista require you to be in a particular place (giving you less deployment flexibility and very little maneuvering once you've deployed). Sure, some scenarios may not require you to move, but if you need to get somewhere, a ballista could be a liability.

The Iron Hills Chariots are very expensive - and while they can do lots of damage, I'm not sure how useful they are without someone like Gandalf the Grey to knock everyone who has engaged the chariot over with a Sorcerous Blast. Chariots are even more expensive when equipped on an Iron Hills Captain (or in an Erebor Reclaimed list with the Champions of Erebor on it). They're powerful, but oh so very expensive. I know people like these things, but I just don't see them fitting in our list today - they cost too much.

Without further ado, let's look and see what we're doing with the Iron Hills in a balanced list . . .

The Bare Necessities, Part XXIX: Erebor Reclaimed

Good morning gamers,

We've come to yet-another-army that I have no intention of buying: Erebor Reclaimed. Tied for the greatest number of profiles with access to Heroic Strike (eight total - Thorin, Dain, Kili, Fili, Dwalin, Bofur, Nori, and Gloin; tied with Thorin's Company which trades Dain and Bofur's Strike for Gandalf and Bilbo) paired with the ability to regrow Might points by killing enemy heroes/monsters (if you pay the 55-point tax to get Ori), this army has the potential to bash in the smirking heads of any hero-oriented force it faces (unless it's got a lot of magic in it - in which case, you will wish you had more Will). While I love Dwarves (been a long-time player of Khazad-Dum, looking into getting the Army of Thror), these guys hold no appeal for me: their heroes are great, their warriors are great, but the investment cost to buy them is simply too much.

"I'm finally here - and I'm coming for you!!!!"

Thankfully, our resident Iron Hills/Erebor Reclaimed player Rythbryt agreed to help me out with reviewing this faction. In his typical way, he's provided an in-depth treat for us today - take it away Rythbryt!

The Bare Necessities, Part XXV: Arnor

Good morning gamers,

Today we cover a faction I don't really have an interest in collecting: Arnor. I certainly am not interested in buying the GW Warriors of Arnor, who make up the core of the list - $5/model in three-model increments is steep (but if you're just going to use this army in casual games, you could get Roman Auxiliaries or Early Imperial Legionnaires from Warlord Games as Warriors of Arnor if you wanted).

Thankfully, my fellow TMAT admin Centaur has been using Arnor for a while (converted a bunch of Warriors of Minas Tirith into Warriors of Arnor a while back - the conversion is pretty easy). I've played against him a lot with it (though not in a while and not under the new rules) and Arnor probably has a special place for him, because it not only allows him to run his favorite Good Support Hero (Malbeth the Seer), but also allows him to get his beloved Hobbit Archers into yet-another-army. :-)

Arnor is commonly derided in the community groups as a poor choice in large-points-match games. At/below 500 points, they're considered very strong because of their relatively-cheap F4/D6 spear-armed troops with a 5+ save to keep anyone who does get wounded from actually dying. No cavalry, lack of killer heroes, and limited warrior choices are often cited for their inability to be competitive at higher points levels. This sounds like a proper challenge for the TMAT team. :-)

So today, we'll be reviewing a 700-point list for Arnor that tries to meet all of our normal list building requirements. Before we dive into the list, here are Centaur's thoughts on the five elements of list building for Arnor and some interview questions I gave to Centaur to answer.

Arnor List Building Principles with Centaur

• Fast Models: Naturally, you don't have any of these - there should be a medal for "zero mountable models," but alas, here we are, :-P I will say this: you can forego this by 1) using Heroic March, or 2) compensate for speed with range attacks if you choose not to ally with a faction that has fast models. It's not as effective, but it will do the job: you can dismount/remove a good number of enemies with archery, as you have a lot of solid 3+ Shoot models in the army. If you do choose to ally, any of the Elf factions can provide you with excellent cavalry support.
• Banners: Arnor has cheap banners, so you can get away with 1-2 in your army easily. I personally don't run two, but that has more to do with my philosophy of spamming Arnor warriors - more on that in a bit.
• Models: Since your warriors cost 5-9pts each, getting to 30+ models is easy to do even at lower point levels. I recommend taking both of your named heroes (as Arvedui and Malbeth both provide useful bonuses for the army), but you could even get away with 55pt captains if you needed to, as they are very good as-is.
• Ways to Neutralize Enemy Heroes: Truthfully, you have almost nothing to neutralize heroes. The big tool you have, though, is Malbeth's Foresight rolls, as they can (with relative ease) make a Heroic Combat unsuccessful by keeping your men alive, reducing casualties, protecting weak units by keeping D6 models on the table and preventing wounds to D3-4 models, and mitigating enemy archery (so the Legolas/Bard/etc. characters suddenly don't do nearly as much as they thought they would). (Ed: I'd also include a mention of Arvedui's Heroic Defense option here, should your opponent try to take a big hero and squish him. ~Tiberius)
• Ways to Augment Your Models: basically the only way you can do this is a massive Stand Fast from Arvedui and the same Foresight save from Malbeth, so yeah...that's all you have, :-P I'm sorry, :-P

Interview with Centaur on Arnor

T: When building an Arnor force, what's the balance that you choose between Rangers of Arnor and Hobbit Archers?

C: So, they provide two different things for your force. Hobbit archers provide the exact same level of ranged capability for half the cost of a ranger, but it 1) has a lower FV, and 2) cannot take a spear, so they are less useful in melee. So I recommend taking a 2:1 ratio of hobbits to rangers. You are primarily bringing hobbits for shooting (so this maximizes your shooting).

T: Is there ever a reason to take Captains of Arnor with bows?

C: No. Unless you're guaranteed to be defending in a fight so you don't ever move and shoot, the 4+ Shoot makes it so that you'll rarely use the bow for anything in the match. If you cost less than 50pts that would be one thing, but since you cost 55 pts, you're on the more expensive side for captains, and that means I tend to find the shield more useful, as you'll need them for holding down big foes.

T: Do you need allies with this list?

C: No, though allies are very useful. Your special rule is okay but not great, and you can live without it. So my recommendation is scratch it and choose another army to complement you well to round yourself out. Personally I'd go with Khazad Dum (F4 D7 front line of Khazad Guards backed up by D6 spearmen with ballista support? That's a tough nut to crack, especially when the front line are D7 and the second rank is D6 with a 5+ save) or Rivendell (supporting magic, cavalry, and a F5 D6 frontline with D6 spearmen who have a 5+ Save), but you have a decently wide set of options including, ironically, Fangorn - not a bad choice if you need some anti-hero breaking power. Personally, though, I don't think you need to ally in allied forces. You have cheap ranged attacks to pick off enemies, and with incentives to take captains you will have a lot of deployable warbands, allowing you to counter the deployment of your enemies if you have a Reconnoiter or similar match where speed is victory. You have a solid fighting line that is hard to kill combined with large numbers, making it hard to break you, which does two things for you. First, you don't give up VPs for being broken, and you don't see the effects of the low Courage on your army nearly as much as you would otherwise. Naturally high terror armies will cause trouble, but that just means shooting them to death before they come. And heck, worst case scenario, you Schiltrom and let them charge you. No high-Terror model has good ranged attacks (save Smaug), and even if you do get hit you have a 5+ chance of shrugging off the damage if you play it right. So screw terror models, :P And with lots of ranged attacks, high numbers, and a lot of F4, you'll have a lot of chances to deal damage and won't actually suffer as much as you'd think.

Thanks for the insights Centaur - we won't be getting into Fangorn today, but we'll see what we can do with the other allied factions later in the post. :-) For now, let's see what Centaur cooked up for us today.

The Bare Necessities, Part XXII: The Army of Thror

Good morning gamers,

We've been looking at armies that I'm hoping to start collecting in the coming months/years. If you've followed this blog for any period of time, you know that I've been a fan of Dwarves since I got started in the hobby in 2010. My beloved bearded fellows from Khazad-Dum are a shooting army (using Dwarf bows, normal bows, and throwing axes) that also sports high Defense. Today, we look at the Army of Thror, which lacks the bows/Dwarf bows, but retains that iconic high Defense that we expect from Dwarves. When trying to build a balanced list, however, the question becomes "How do we compensate for the innate limitations of this list?"

The Army of Thror: How Important is Archery and Mobility?

The Army of Thror has one of the most limited army selections for a Force of Good in the game (and certainly is one of the most limited forces in the Armies of the Hobbit). With two warrior options, two generic heroes, and five named heroes, you've got more options than some factions (like my beloved Numenor or the Garrison of Dale), but the weird thing about these profiles is that the profiles we've been given basically all do the same thing! Yes, you've got two-handed weapon options on your throwing-axe warriors, but all of our warriors are infantry who are likely to be D7 and have to do the majority of their killing in melee. Yes, you've got heroes who kill things in different ways, but they're all melee infantry heroes who are trying to kill things with whatever they have. So the question is, how important is the lack of archery and lack of mobility in this list?

The Army of Thror has a great army bonus (Thror being treated as a banner to friendly Erebor models within 6" of him). The way I see it, you have a few options to build your army:

• Pure Army of Thror with lots of Heroic March: we've covered in our post on cavalry that 7/12 of the scenarios in the main rulebook require you to get somewhere. If you're going to run a pure Army of Thror list, you want to bring 1-2 captains in your list for up to 4 Heroic Marches in the game to propel your army across the board. Pairing these guys with Thror means you've probably got room for about 1 more hero in the army (Thrain to save money, Thorin gives nice auric buffs, Dwalin is about the same cost as a captain and has REALLY good damage potential).
• Army of Thror allied with the Garrison of Dale: you can get good archery from Dale (Elf archers with lower Fight/Defense/Courage/cost), but unless you supplement them with lots of Grim hammers/Guardians of the King with throwing axes, you still won't have a lot of archery. Because Dale doesn't have any cavalry, you still want 1-2 Captains in your army to help you March up the field. That extra hero we talked about above is probably taken up by Girion (who is an excellent archer, even if you don't take his Windlance).
• Army of Thror allied with the Iron Hills: here you merge the option for fast troops (Goat Riders and Dain) with an option for shooting models (crossbows and ballistae). The downside to this army, of course, is the expense in $$$$ of actually buying the models. If you're looking for the best overall list of options, this appears to me to be the best option.

I don't have any of these models right now, so here's what I'm looking at collecting (and it'll be long time before I do this - it's going to be EXPENSIVE)!

The Bare Necessities, Part XIV: The Kingdom of Moria

Good morning gamers,

In our series on list-building, we’ve covered eight armies so far that showcase ways you can optimize your list to do well in five potential scoring areas: a) having fast models, b) having at least one banner, c) having “enough numbers,” d) having ways of neutralizing enemy heroes, and e) having ways to augment your own heroes. We’ve looked at different army builds that you can do for Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Lothlorien, and Numenor from the Forces of Good, as well as Isengard, Mordor, Angmar, and Moria from the Forces of Evil.

But before we begin discussing one of my favorite factions in the game, I feel a need to make note of a recent acquisition...

Four hobbits, ready for an adventure!

I'm calling him Samwise - more of a Hobbit than a Dwarf, but the lil' tyke decided to surprise us a week early. Looks like we're going to keep him. :)

Anyway, today we turn to my beloved bearded fellows, the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum/Moria, and see how you can take this army (which has no cavalry options to speak of – and only has access to cavalry through a Yellow alliance, which causes you to lose a REALLY big army bonus) and tailor it to play better in these five areas. One of the best decisions I’ve made on this blog in a long time, I think, was waiting to cover this army until I ironed out all my thoughts on it, so here’s to three months of mulling over Dwarves!