The New Age Is Begun: The Legions of Mordor Army List

Good morning gamers,

In the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, there are some army lists that have only a few available profiles (like the Harad list we looked at last time or the Depths of Moria list we looked at the week before). The list we're looking at today is not like those lists. There are other army lists that have quite a few profiles to pick from, but they're all limited to a single faction (like the Minas Tirith or Kingdom of Rohan lists). This list is . . . not like those either.

There are a few army lists that serve as a union of what would otherwise be two different army lists, preserving most of their unit choices and hence giving you a really solid list of profiles for both heroes and warriors (like the Defenders of Erebor or the Men of the West). This list . . . isn't like those lists either. There are, finally, a few - very, VERY few - lists that serve as a melting pot of three or more army lists . . . and standing at the very top of all of those lists is the Legions of Mordor army list. That's the one we're talking about today - and frankly, I thought about tackling it AFTER I talked about all of its component parts, but I also think this is a really strong list and so I wanted to give it attention ahead of the other Mordor, Harad, and Easterling lists.

This is one of the few Mordor lists that has really captured my imagination - and that shouldn't be very surprising, since it has such a wide variety of options. I also think this is one of the few Mordor lists that's actually competitive that few people appear to be playing (as of today, September 8,  2025, there were only 102 games logged in Tabletop Admiral with this list and it had a 41.2% win rate with 42 wins and 60 losses - which is higher than the 37.8% win rate back in mid-June when I originally wrote this article). Like the Mordor army lists of yore, part of the reason for this sad win/loss ratio might just be that there is an incredible amount of variability in how these list can be built. As a result, this post will be less of a deep-dive into the army list itself (now that we have several Easterling lists, every unit will have a deep-dive of its own in a different article in this series), but will rather look at the trade space we have to work with and what different units are bringing to the table.

Take a deep breath, guys - I tried to keep this short-ish . . . and I failed miserably.

The New Age Is Begun: The Harad Army List

Good morning gamers,

I don't think there are too many army lists that, after the release of the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement, have as few profiles as the Harad army list. We looked at the Depths of Moria last time and that list was incredibly constrained, but at least the Balrog was doing a lot to help that list compete with its limited bench. Today, we're looking a list that has two ways to play - and honestly, I'm not sure either are bad (though one is DEFINITELY going to be board-dependent for its ability to be competitive). Let's dive in and see what's up in the southlands (Editor's Note: I failed to add the Legacy profiles when I uploaded this page - it was written after the Armies of Middle-Earth dropped and before the Legacies document was provided. The profiles have been added now.)!

Harad: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

As was mentioned in the First Impressions article for Harad (and Umbar - Part II of that series will be coming out either late this year or early next year), I mentioned that there were basically no profiles in this army list: the Mumak War Leader, normal Mumaks, Haradrim Chieftains, and Haradrim Warriors. The addition of the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement have grown our options slightly - Haradrim Taskmasters and Haradrim Raiders are also available - but by and large, you can summarize this list simply: you get the basic guys, the command blister, and the Mumaks. That's it.

If you want expanded options for Harad, the Legions of Mordor should be your next stop (more on them next week) - which not only gives you more Harad units to play with, but will also give you a host of Mordor and Easterling units to pick from as well (supplementing Harad's low Defense stat and slotting them into the weak archery slots that both Mordor and Easterling armies have). It's a match made in heaven - but that's enough thunder-stealing for now. :) You can also look at several other alliance options for Harad in the Grand Army of the South (which is now a Corsair/Easterling/Harad alliance instead of what it used to be) or the Umbar army list (for some spicy Harad/Corsair alliance shenanigans). Whatever your preferred Haradrim flavor is, there's probably a Harad list for you now - but today, we're focusing on what basically was the Grand Army of the South LL of yester-year.

Army List Bonuses

Last edition, the Serpent Horde army bonus gave the Haradrim a 50% bow limit and Haradrim Warriors/Raiders "Poisoned Weapons" so all of their weapons got to reroll 1s To Wound instead of just their bows. Whether it was their daggers, weapon-swapped hand weapons, spears/war spears, or bows, they were rerolling 1s - which isn't great at the micro-level, but in aggregate, it was quite strong. The list has basically retained both of these rules, but now all friendly models with Poisoned Attacks (bow) get Poisoned Attacks on everything - so if all of your Haradrim Raiders have bows, then they'll have poisoned war spears as well. If your Haradrim Chieftains have bows, they'll have poisoned melee weapons too. If your Haradrim Warriors have poisoned bows, they'll have poisoned hand weapons. BUT your Haradrim Raiders/Chieftains/Warriors without bows will all be fighting normally. Oh well.

Mumaks in this list picked up two special rules - they have Harbinger of Evil (12") like they had in the Grand Army of the South army list (and which the Grand Army of the South does not have now . . . that list is very, very different now). Additionally, any Mumak commanders (including the Mumak War Leader) may declare a Heroic Combat for free once per game, which allows the Mumak to execute the Heroic Combat (though there's no pivoting if the Mumak wins). While a free heroic action once per game may not normally tip the scales, this does give the Mumaks some tactical options to deal with being pinned down - more on that later in the tactical section.

First Impressions: Harad and Umbar, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Today we're combining the factions of Umbar and Harad from the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement. When the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement arrives, we should have a lot more to talk about, but right now, we've got four profiles for each faction . . . that didn't seem like enough to justify two posts. As a result, we're lumping the "evil men who aren't Easterlings or Dunlendings or have big mouths" into one post today - but expect Parts 2 and 3 to come out when the new book hits the market.

Umbar Profiles: How Have They "Changed?"

We're starting off with Umbar which . . . really need some updating. :) In a way, the Corsairs can still play the game they've always been able to play - spam a bunch of cheapish F4 guys. Each Corsair unit isn't "cheap" exactly, but when you factor in the sub-60pt cost for their Heroes of Fortitude, you can get a full warband of guys for just 158-163pts. Copy/paste that a few times and you've got a horde list (52 models at 650pts).

The Corsairs of Umbar are only available in one list - the Corsair Fleets - which I assume is because they never actually made it to the Pelennor. We'll see if they're integrated into the new "Army of the Red Eye" list from the Armies of Middle-Earth, but I'm only a little optimistic. Their faction also got paired down in this supplement to four models which are . . . possibly still competent.

Nemesis: How to Fight Against Mumakil

Good morning gamers,

One of the great things about collecting the models I need for the Quest of the Ringbearer sourcebook is that I "need" to buy not one but TWO Mumaks. After having gotten a second-hand Mumak from Centaur (a kingly gift, indeed), I decided to play around with them this year. Our gaming group has actually had a Mumak or two in the mix for a while, but they rarely show up on the table - and the fear of them showing up is often enough to get into the heads of even the most veteran players. So what can you do against such beasts if you see them (especially if there's more than one of them on the table)? Well, these things might not be viewed as competitive options, but they certainly do pose problems to unprepared players - so join us today as we walk through why these things can be deadly (and how to beat them). Let's dig in!

What Makes Mumaks So Hated?

For a refresher on what Mumaks do, you should check out our article from earlier this year on how War Beasts work - it was informative for me to write and hopefully will be informative for you to read. It's no secret - the most dangerous thing about a Mumak is that it Tramples. The Trample rule for Mumaks in particular is nasty - at least three Strength 9 hits to everyone it comes into contact with! If you pay 20pts for the Tusk Weapon upgrade (or have the Mumak War Leader, who begins with the Tusk Weapons upgrade), you increase this to four Strength 9 hits - which may seem like overkill, but it's surprising just how many times not getting that elusive 3+ crops up. 

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Since both the rider and the mount take these hits if it's a cavalry model, it's not hard for most heroes in the game to be killed or very much crippled after a Mumak runs into them. There are some monsters who are less worried about being outright killed (like Sauron, the Balrog, or Smaug), but even THESE guys don't want to be battered by a Mumak over multiple turns - and if it's the Mumak War Leader doing the trampling in the Grand Army of the South Legion, he's quite likely against these specific monsters to be able to call a free Heroic Strike . . . that may not be a guarantee of tying/beating their Fight Values, but it's certainly possible for that Mumak to be higher than F5.

The second complicating factor of Mumaks is that the Mumak itself and its howdah are listed as Siege Targets. Great Beasts of Gorgoroth have been clarified to be battlefield targets, so any siege weapon that can get a direct hit on them and scores a single wound will kill it in one go - OUCH! Mumaks . . . not so much. A 10-wound Mumak will require 10 wounds in order for it to die (for most siege engines this is an expected 22.5-60 turns, depending on the siege weapon being used - the Minas Tirith Bolt Thrower is the only one that can do it in less than 10 turns, but it also has the shortest possible range) - most siege engines aren't going to have that kind of time on their hands. While siege targets aren't harder for normal bows to wound, any D7-8 target (depending on whether the Mumak has the Tough Hide upgrade or not) is going to be hard to bring down with shooting - and if it's good shooting, you can't target the darn thing once it's Engaged with a friendly unit.

Unexpected Military Formations: 3 Formations for Fighting Against War Beasts

Good morning gamers,

Today we've got a very special formations post for you - different formations you can use to fight against war beasts (and particularly Mumaks)! War beasts are a special kind of unit in MESBG (see my Back to Basics article from a few months ago for what makes these guys special) and it's often daunting to fight them, since you know they could walk all over your army (quite literally!) and wreck your day.

In preparation for our recent The Hunter's Red October (THRO) tournament, I very strongly considered borrowing a Mumak and running two of these things - and BOY was that fun (and scary for my poor testing buddy, Gorgoroth). But as scary as being stepped on is, there are actually some very simple formations you can employ to defeat them - and they're primarily based on the following principle: manage how many models can be stepped on. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Formation #1: The Scattered Triangles

I've referenced an article about running "skirmish triangles" a lot this year - and it's because I love shooting and I love not having my shooting be constricted by the way I deploy/maneuver my models. Any three shooting models that are standing base-to-base in a triangle have 360 degrees of visibility (since you can "look over the shoulder" of a friendly model that you're in base contact with) and so skirmish triangles are a great starting point for whatever archers you want to run to harass a Mumak.

Having three models standing together and moving around the Mumak does a few things for you. First and foremost, they present enough of a threat that the Mumak has to deal with them (either with the guys in the howdah or by moving the Mumak itself). Having a lone warrior here or there isn't going to pose much of a threat, but having two or three triangles (6-9 shots) coming from a single direction can force a Mumak to actually do something (and this is especially true if the war beast is a Great Beast of Gorgoroth, since it has fewer wounds and its shorter height could mean that elevated archers don't have the howdah in-the-way for the Orc archers on its back - I was wrong, the howdah is always counted as in-the-way).

Back to Basics: War Beasts in MESBG

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we delved deep into the rules for Monsters in MESBG - and what an iconic part of the books and films they are! Today, we look at yet another well-known facet of the Middle-Earth world - and one that has TONS of rules that can scare off new players (and confuse veterans - like me): war beasts.

In theory, these things should be easy to understand - I mean, they affect two different models (War Mumaks of Harad/Far Harad and Great Beasts of Gorgoroth), but with pages of rules for war beasts in general and several-page spreads for the specific profiles (to say nothing of the price of buying them), most players (new and old alike) are happy to wave a hand at these models and move on to other armies. Well, in this article, my goal is to break down the rules for war beasts into a few simple principles so you can not only feel more confident in bringing these models to the tabletop, but also be more confident about their rules should you see one on the other side of the board. Let's get into it!

War Beasts: Monsters that Aren't Monsters

What dominated most of the last post was an in-depth view of the different Brutal Power Attacks (BPAs) that monsters can use if they win a combat (and what helps them dominate the board as tactical pieces instead of just "big, stupid, high-stat models"). War beasts can't perform brutal power attacks. They can't. I'm sorry.

While monsters are usually a single model (or a single model with both a mount and rider profile), war beasts count as two models: the driver and the war beast aren't treated as a single model like cavalry models are. This is important as a spell cast against the war beast (or shooting attacks against the war beast) won't be testing for mount-or-rider like they would against cavalry models. We'll get into a few more of the interactions between drivers and beasts later in the Move Phase discussion.

The war beast also comes with a howdah - which doesn't count as a third model, but does allow the war beast to carry its driver and some passengers. Each war beast has a list of the number of models that can fit in the howdah (however they're stationed) and the kinds of models that can be in it. This will never include enemy models, despite what they may or may not do in the films. Unless a rule says otherwise, models may not exit the howdah and all models included in the driver's warband must be placed in the howdah.

Finally, there are limitations on the heroic actions declared by the driver of a war beast. The most common heroic actions that will affect a war beast are Heroic Moves (so it moves before your opponent) and Heroic Marches (so it goes farther when it moves). In both of these cases, only Heroic Moves and Marches declared by the driver will affect the Mumak - you can't have someone on the ground shouting, "Go!" for it to do anything. Similarly, a Heroic Combat called by the driver of the Mumak will have no impact on the Mumak since the driver is not engaged in the same fight (what with him being a separate model and all), nor will a Heroic Combat called by another hero in the same fight as the Mumak be able to get the Mumak to perform a move after the Combat resolves. The Grand Army of the South has an exception for this, but in general, war beasts can't utilize heroics besides Move/March.

There are other things that make war beasts weird though - let's look at what they do in the Move phase.

The Bare Necessities, Part XXXIV: The Serpent Horde

Good morning gamers,

We've looked recently at the Fiefdoms (renowned for their elite troops with average Defense and average Cost) and the Rangers (renowned for their ability to spam cheap mini-heroes to flood the board with Might). Today, we look at one of the most competitive armies in the game - and a long-time dominant army here at TMAT: the Serpent Horde. While I haven't played with this army, 50% bow limit (and lots of practice fighting it) makes it an army that I should begin playing soon. Thanks to the Quest of the Ringbearer sourcebook requiring two Mumaks, I know I'll be diving into the Serpent Horde eventually, but travel with me through my ever-entangled thoughts about what to pursue with this army. Let's dig in!

The Serpent Horde: Spam Vs. Troop Carriers?

Photo Credit: Tumblr

The Serpent Horde has the ability to spam pretty good troops - their Haradrim Warriors with bows, spears, or weapon-swapped axes are 7 points each, which means you can throw out a lot of these guys if you want to. The down-side to them is that they can't get shields, so your army is going to be vulnerable to archery of any kind (D4). To compensate for this, the army is flush with models who have poison (rerolling 1s to Wound) and you can take 50% of your models with bows (so you can outshoot most armies before they shoot you to death). With pretty cheap light cavalry that hit hard and a few non-poison models who can chop through enemy models with burly two-handed swords or multiple attacks, the army has no limit to good models you can spam out.

And it has Mumaks. Mumaks are some of the most iconic and coolest models in the game - complete with four pages of rules (two for the Mumak itself and two for war beasts), lots of impact hits, and good resilience against siege weapons (since it is explicitly called out as a siege target instead of a battlefield target - no auto-kills here, baby!).

Mumaks are incredibly expensive and often get in the way of spamming out warriors (though it will provide high Defense in-the-ways for those low-Defense troops standing in the howdah). So is it worth it to add a Mumak to your list or just buy a hero and a whole warband of troops? Most competitive players say leave the Mumak at home, but we'll delve into some Mumak lists later in the post. For now, let's look at a spammable Serpent Horde army that emphasizes one thing above all others: poisoned weapons.

The Stuff of Legends: The Grand Army of the South

Good morning gamers,  

This is the last Legion from Gondor at War - and one of those Legions that looks great on the tabletop (but really restricts your model count). If you like Mumakil, this Legion is probably your first stop (either running a War Mumak of Harad with Suladan OR running the Mumak War Leader with Suladan OR running the Mumak War Leader and ANOTHER Mumak). But how do you make this list work (and since it has the largest Legion tax to date, what's your most important follow-up purchases)? Rythbyrt joins us again to provide his thoughts on this Legion (a Legion that sports a hero that Rythbyrt likes a lot).

Legion Tax: 375-400pts (realistically, much higher than that)

Rythbryt: We come to it at last... the greatest legendary legion tax of our time. Until Sauron gets one (and maybe that's coming), this is it, and it's hard to imagine it'll be topped by any other kind of list. On top of that, it's also the legion that sports the largest model in the range (other than Smaug, of course... but I'd be very surprised if he gets a legion--wouldn't you?). Finally, while it may not be the legion that requires the largest points limit to play (my vote would be for the Grey Company), if you're playing a small points level, building this legion will probably give you the most fits.

So with that ringing endorsement, let's dig in!

The Bare Necessities, Part XXXI: Far Harad

Good morning gamers,

Today we look at the last faction for our Bare Necessities series (at least for now): Far Harad. One of the most expensive armies in the MESBG game (and not currently available in the GW store), Far Harad features an all-Strength 4 faction (or higher!), paired with terrifying infantry (Half Trolls), decent spear-support models (Mahud Warriors), and line-breaking cavalry (Impaling camel riders with war spears). While F3 is pretty standard across the army (and only one named hero), their profile selection is quite small, but their customizability and flexibility is fantastic.

Since the models aren't in the GW store at the moment (and the models themselves are GW creations), those on a budget can get historical Camels and Zulu Warriors for not as much money...

While I don't play Far Harad, Rythbryt does (he faced me in Battle Companies with them, it was very eye-opening), so he volunteered to help me cover this faction - take it away Rythbryt!

The Bare Necessities, Part XXIII: The Corsairs of Umbar

Good morning gamers,

This is the final post for this volume of our series on list building - and we're ending it with an army that I've wanted to collect from the very beginning (just haven't settled on what I wanted it to look like): the Corsairs of Umbar. Corsairs are great troops - F4/4+ for most of their troops with throwing weapons on their most basic troops (Corsairs of Umbar) and their most basic captains (Corsair Captains and Corsair Bo'suns) AND their most killy captains (Dalamyr, Delgamar, and Hasharin). Throwing weapons are my thing - so naturally, I should own some of these guys. So what's the hold up, you ask?

The Corsairs of Umbar: Do You Need Allies (and how important is Heroic Strike when you have lots of throwing weapons)?

Corsairs have a pretty good army: 

• They've got options for cheap heroes (Captains/Bosuns cost under 60 points);
• They've got 3 Attack heroes (Dalamyr and Hasharin - who are Heroes of Valor in this list);
• They've got heavily-armored heroes (Black Numenorean Marshals - who can also be mounted on horses with lances);
• They've got crossbows/normal bows to supplement their throwing weapons; and
• They've got average-cost troops (8-10 points all-around).

What they don't have is what makes the list challenging:

• Most of their models don't have great Defense, capping out at D4 for warriros and D5 for heroes (if you don't include the Knight of Umbar, Black Numenoreans, Black Numenorean Marshals, and the pavises);
• Their 3 Attack heroes are strapped for Might (Hasharin have 1 Might, Dalamyr has 2 Might);
• Their heavily-armored troops can't take spears, so you're likely to have light troops in your army regardless of how you try to run it;
• Black Numenorean Marshals are the only fast/mounted models in this list;
• Your crossbows are great, but unlike crossbows in other armies, the models who carry them are only D3 when they finally get engaged;
• Their troops might be average cost, but that's because they predominantly have average stats (Strength 3 and Courage 3).

While I think having throwing weapons makes up for a lot of these weaknesses (of course I do, right?), not having fast troops is a big problem. Sure, you can March (Corsair Captains, Black Numenorean Marshals, and Corsair Bosuns can all March), but with as little Might as the Corsairs have in their list, I'm not inclined to rely on Marching. 

The question then becomes: how important is it to have fast troops? If that's important, then you need to look for allies (the Serpent Horde is a Historical Ally and has great cavalry options; Mordor is a Convenient Ally and has good cavalry options too).

But there's another question: since you only have Heroic Strike on two models (Dalamyr and Hasharin), how important is it to be able to call Heroic Strike? Most players use Strike as a means of contesting an enemy mega hero who has a higher Fight Value than you have - but if you can use your throwing daggers to shoot a friendly model that's been charged by a big hero (your Mega-Boromirs, King Aragorns, Gil-Galads, you get the picture), do you really need to have it in your army? I'm not convinced you do. Ergo, here's the list we have for today - it has exactly one specialized Heroic Action (and personally, I think it's the most important Heroic Action of all).

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: Far Harad in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

                              

Photo Credit: MattThrelkeld on Imagr

Updated February 2024: We come at last to the final participants in the Battle of Pelennor Fields: the mysterious Mahud from Far Harad. While their fleeting limits of film glory are limited almost exclusively to running down Rohirrim astride their Mumakil, the Mahud in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle game have more up their sleeves than giant elephants.

I try to flag excellent community resources up here whenever I can, and Far Mahud happens to have a great one: DCHL Devin's video on How to Play and Buy Far Harad (Mahud) is a fantastic introduction to the different units, strengths, weaknesses, and playstyles of this faction (updated for the new rules set, too!), so be sure to check that out. If you still want to know what we think, carry on...

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: The Serpent Horde in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

With the Easterlings and Khand behind us, we're moving down south to the land of the Haradrim. We'll begin with traditional Harad (rebranded the Serpent Horde in the new edition of the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game), before moving on to Far Harad and all their camels (so, so many camels) next time. Like any serpent, these guys move fast and strike fast, with venom dripping from their fangs. There may also be mumakil involved...

Photo Credit: upabovetodownunder.blogspot.com

Using/Fight Spellcasters: Multi-Purpose Will Mages, Revisited

Good morning gamers,

Today we continue our series of revisiting old posts and updating them for the new rules set. We recently revisited discussions on Combat Mages and Auxiliary Mages. In this post, we turn our discussion towards mages who use Will both for casting magic and for fighting/staying alive/other things. As a reminder, here’s our magic taxonomy:

• Multi-Purpose Will Mages: Anyone with the Will of Evil rule (or a similar rule) and has spells (who uses Will to cast magic AND stay alive…and possibly other things);
• Unlimited Mages: Anyone who gets "free Will," has spells that can be cast, and does not fall in the previous category;
• Combat Mages: Anyone with 2+ Attacks, has spells that can be cast, and does not fall in either of the previous two categories;
• Auxiliary Mages: Catch-all for everyone else, usually limited casting with some kind of immediate/lasting benefit to the army.

Multi-Purpose Will Mages: What’s New?

While we looked at Ringwraiths in the original version of this post, the actual list of magical users who qualify is much larger. Behold, 13 profiles that fit this taxonomy:

• Tom Bombadil & Goldberry (available in the Wanderers in the Wild list)
• The Witch-King of Angmar (available to Angmar, Barad-Dur, and Mordor)
• The Tainted/Dwimmerlaik (available to Angmar and Mordor)
• The Knight of Umbar (available to the Corsairs of Umbar and Mordor)
• Khamul the Easterling (available to the Easterlings and Mordor)
• The Betrayer (available to the Serpent Horde and Mordor)
• The Dark Marshal/Shadow Lord/Undying (available to Mordor)
• Ringwraiths (available to Barad-Dur and Mordor)
• The Necromancer of Dol Guldur (available to the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur)

While most of these models are Ringwraiths, there are several different spells that are available to some of these wraiths (and how difficult it is to cast said spells varies). So let’s get into it and start cracking on their strategy. For those who are keeping score at home, we’re also updating an old post I did during Riders in Black month where I went through each Ringwraith spell and talked about how to use it. Much of what was written there is still accurate today.

Before we dive into the spells themselves, let’s take a quick stop and talk about one other preliminary topic: apportioning your Will when there’s so much it can be used for.

New Rules - Part IV: The Fallen Realms, Part I

Good morning gamers,

In our previous posts, we’ve talked about the general rules changes, and then walked through a few thoughts on the Mordor and Angmar/Moria army lists. Wrapping up our discussion of the armies of evil is the old Fallen Realms book, which include the armies from Isengard, Harad/Umbar, and the Eastern Kingdoms (now seven different lists). I’ve decided that trying to tackle seven armies in one go was going to be too overwhelming, so instead, we’re breaking the Fallen Realms up into two different discussions. Today we’ll focus on the Southron armies (Serpent Horde, Far Harad, Corsairs of Umbar), and next time we’ll conclude our discussion of Armies of Evil by tackling Isengard and the East. As mentioned in our previous posts, you should also check out Mik's Veni Vidi Vici blog for thoughts from the “experts” – though at the time of this writing, none of these lists have been reviewed yet.

1) The New Lists: The Serpent Horde, Far Harad, Corsairs of Umbar

Back in the Legions of Middle-Earth days, there were many different Harad lists – three of which were very similar to what we see in the book today. But there were other lists – a generic Umbar list that allowed you to run generic heroes crossing the Serpent Horde and Corsair armies, allowing for great pairings of cheap spears and high-Fight value skirmish troops.

With the new rules, while the lists have been broken out, the Serpent Horde gives you the unique benefit of being able to ally easily with more civs than any other evil faction. With three historical allies (Corsairs of Umbar, Far Harad, Mordor), the Serpent Horde has the greatest possibility for force diversity of any Army of Evil (and rivals most of the Armies of Good).

The draw-back is that while the Serpent Horde can ally with any one of these factions and retain their army bonus, none of these other nations can ally with the others, so getting a three or four faction alliance will result in none of your beloved army rules lasting. Still, if you’re planning on playing any of these civilizations, you don’t HAVE to be mono-focused in your army creation.

As far as Far Harad and the Corsairs are concerned, they’re not much changed and both can basically be run either mono-focused or with the Serpent Horde. As we’ll see in a bit, taking convenient allies with these civs is not a big deal, since their army bonuses are nice but not necessary for the team’s survival.

WARGS!

Happy work-off-the-tryptophan-and-carbs Day!

after a much too-long hiatus, I figured it was time to dust off the blogger log-in to post some updates from Karningul. Tiberius and Glenstorm have been working hard at keeping the blog alive, but with a lull for the holidays (and a now-functional camera) I'm hoping to have some down time to draft up some filler to display some of the projects I've been working on for the past... far too long.

my busy hobby table

Experiment in Soft Lists in LOTR SBG

Dear Reader,

Greetings from the Forge!  After a few weeks of heavy travel for work and moving friends into new houses, I'm finally finding time to give you all an update on the projects we have been working on here at the How.  In this post, and somewhat as a reflection on the TMAT GT Tournament, I want to highlight some of the ways that you can use "soft lists" instead of "hard lists" in an LOTR tournament, and what you can expect from running such a list.  Before moving into that discussion, though (which will be centered around the army list I took), a few definitions should be laid out.

For those unfamiliar with the terms, a "soft list" usually refers to a list that will be weaker in combat, and usually receives a handicap in randomly drawn battles, or will face units with a similar score under a comp system in order to compensate for this.  A "hard list" usually refers to a list that runs very powerful units, and usually aims toward a very set strategy - you will rarely see a surprise in the tactics and choices of a general with a hard list.  These are painting in very broad strokes, and there are a number of tournaments that don't even use the Swedish Comp System or other system to determine the hardness or softness of a list (especially in the 40k gaming community).

TMAT GT13 - Round 3 and parting thoughts

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! As we return for one last recap post on TMAT Grand Tournament 2013. Round three of the tournament was as yet more bloody as, by now, players had settled into the format a bit better and were now jockeying for that one final push to the end.

Round 3, Board A: The Dwarves are for the Dwarves! vs: Fire from the East

Exhausted after their long travels, the dwarves return home to find enemies wandering their very halls! After enduring the mocking of Dol Amroth and the sting of the desert, by this point the dwarves had had their fill of haughty men. For their part, the Easterlings were looking to top off their haul of loot with mithril from the deeps. Balin swore to end the life of the easterling captain, and Shagrat was determined to test the mettle of the old  dwarf in battle. The clash of blade against heavy armor rang throughout the halls and both armies struggled around the arkenstone. While dwarven steel is legendary for its resilience, the armorers of the east proved to be of the highest caliber as well - neither army was able to find a significant advantage over the other. In the midst of the melee, Shagrat met Balin on the battlefield. As sword crossed with ancient axe, each recognized that the other had some hidden agenda at work. [Shagrat's oath succeeded, Balin's failed]. Grabbing a few crates of mithril armor, the Easterlings vanished into the darkness as the dwarves rallied around the banner of Erebor.

TMAT GT13 - Rounds 1 & 2

Welcome back for part two of our TMAT GT2013 recap (played Sat, Mar 9). All eight participants were assigned a number, reported to their respective boards and we kicked things off with:

Round 1, Board A: Isengard’s Outriders vs: Defenders of the Forest

The animosity between elves and dwarves is second only for their hatred of orc-folk. So much so that the elves of Lorien found need to abandon the sunlight for the darkness of dwarvern halls in order to face off against the pillaging Vrasku and his uruk horde. As both sides closed upon the chamber room that holds the Arkenstone, Vrasku claimed he would live to fight another day, and Celeborn swore to kill more than the foul uruk could. The dank air was filled with elven arrows and crossbow bolts, ricocheting off pillars and causing carnage on both sides. While the elves defended the Arkenstone mightily and prevented it from falling to enemy hands, it was at a very great cost. Celeborn himself had to be carried from the field of battle, grievously wounded, with his army decimated - the taunts of Vrasku and his army ringing in his ears [Isengard oath passed], and with the bodies of far too many of his elven kin pierced by crossbow bolts [Elven oath failed].

TMAT GT13: Tournament Recap

This past weekend the TMAT crew got together with a few other people we were able to rope in (after a flurry of practice games to get them up to speed) for our second annual TMAT Grand Tournament.

I'd have to say, I think this tournament probably had the most formidable series of armies to date. In any game setting, you get armies that your particular build is stronger against, and others you just hope to avoid. I think this year, most of us took a look around and just went "ick." We each had a list of opponents (containing most of the field) that we were really hoping not to draw against.  For a quick recap, we had the following participants for our third TMAT tournament:

Serpent Guard conversions

Time for one more (likely final?) update on Harad before next weekend's TMAT GT. My own force is basically complete, and considering that 2 of my other armies (Easterlings and Isengard) are being loaned out and will also make a showing at the tourney, I do have a couple items to touch up to make sure those forces are ready for primetime. Hmm... I wonder if I can earn bonus points if my armies sweep the top slots...

As you have seen from my last few posts (here and here), the last couple months have been a flurry of conversions to add a bunch of new models to my force, including Corsair Reavers and Harad warriors with both bows and spears. The last component in my list is the elite Serpent Guard of harad. For a mere point more than their spear-toting warrior brethren, Serpent Guard get a fight value boost and the "Poisoned Blades" special rule. Both are very handy when you are going to be facing above average fight value, high def armies of KoDAs, Uruks, and Dwarves, or when you need that slight edge over mob armies of orcs or Rohan.