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 Ringwraiths

Good morning gamers,

So far in this series, we've looked at specific monster models (that usually show up in a single list, maybe two) or specific Legendary Legions that everyone seems to hate fighting. Today, we're turning to a model type that's pretty ubiquitous across the forces of Evil and units that don't look all that dangerous until they're neutralizing your heroes and chewing them up. Yep, it's time to turn to the Witch-King of Angmar and all his Ringwraith friends! I love these models (and have written quite a bit about them), so let's go in-depth today (fair warning, this post is LONG) and look at all the grisly bits about Ringwraiths, shall we?

What Makes Ringwraiths So Hated

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Part 1: An Overly Pedantic Study of Ringwraiths

You can't start talking about Ringwraiths without going over a brief taxonomy of the ten Ringwraith profiles that we have and how they're usually fielded. Despite there being nine Ringwraiths in total, the generic "Ringwraith" profile (which you can actually take nine of - you don't have to run the Witch-King!) provides a nice "blank slate" version of a Ringwraith for you to customize to your liking. These guys have decent-not-good combat stats (F5/S4/1A with 0-2 Might) and decent-not-good defense stats (D8/1 Wound/0-2 Fate). As far as Heroes of Fortitude for Evil go, they are great for keeping your army in the field should you break with Courage 6 and with 7-14 Will points, they have the potential to cast magic and/or fight for a long time (but don't think this means they have a lot of Will - read my post on Multi-Purpose Will Casters for more information on this). Though they look fragile, the Terror-Harbinger-of-Evil combo (something we've talked about before) can make charging them particularly difficult.

Besides the Might/Will/Fate on these guys, you can also take mounts for your Ringwraiths in the form of horses (10 points - a good cheap option for increased speed, slightly increased damage when you charge, and an easier time getting the casting direction/look-angle you want on a target), Fell Beasts (50 points - slightly more speed with more maneuverability options, greatly increased damage when you charge, and opportunities to get casting directions/look-angles that are not present when you're on a horse), and Armored Fell Beasts (70 points, which just seems like too much to pay for +1 Defense on your Fell Beast . . .). While you "can" field these guys for 55 points each, I think it would be unwise to leave home without adding 2 Might points, at least 1 Fate point, and a horse (which brings these guys up to 80 points). Personally, I normally throw in 2 extra Will points (9 total) for a tidy 90 points, but 7 Will can be just fine (it just means you're casting for one fewer turns).

When you compare these basic Ringwraiths to the "named" Ringwraiths, there are some differences. First and foremost, each of the named Ringwraiths is a Hero of Valour (or Hero of Legend in the case of the Witch-King in the Mordor/Angmar army lists, as well as in the Black Riders Legendary Legion). While generic Ringwraiths have both Heroic March and Heroic Channelling for their specialized Heroic Actions, most of the named Ringwraiths just have Heroic Channelling. The Witch-King and Khamul are exceptions to this - both have Heroic Strike, and the Witch-King also has Heroic Resolve, Heroic Strength, and Heroic Challenge. For most players . . . yeah, you're probably sticking to Heroic Strike/March and the occasional Channel.

Throwing Weapon Theory: How to Make Them Work, Revisited

Good morning gamers!

In our last post, we looked at how shooting has changed in the new rules of the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game and what kinds of considerations you should think about when it comes to including archery in your army. In general, I think all armies benefit from having some kind of archery presence, but some definitely benefit more than others. While most armies have a limit of 33% of their models being able to carry bows, you can allow more of your army to contribute to shooting damage by including throwing weapons in your army (especially on your non-bow-armed models). That’s what we’ll be looking at today. This post revisits a topic we covered back in July 2015, for those who want to see what was written there . . .

How have throwing weapons changed?

There are three big changes that have come to throwing weapons since I got started playing the game back in September 2010. The first and foremost change is that the number of “throwing weapon types” has grown. While whips existed as a special rule and not a fully-fledged piece of gear, all other kinds of thrown weapons (be they daggers, axes, or spears) were the same – 6” range, Strength 3 hit. With the Hobbit Strategy Battle Game, a distinction between throwing spears (8” range) and all other kinds of throwing weapons (6” range) was added. This has been retained in the new rules, with some other throwing weapons (like whips) being canonized as gear items as well.

The second change is that unless you’re shooting your throwing weapon on the charge, you suffer the “scoot-and-shoot” penalty (see our last post for what this is). While only a small change to your To Hit roll, it makes running away from an assaulting force a bit less effective (which, in a game where 1 pip of difference a die can have huge consequences, is no small thing). Still, throwing weapons are still quite valuable despite this reduction – and the fact that you don’t suffer it when you charge means you should be charging into combat with these guys (because you might just get a lucky wound in!).

The third change (and perhaps the most nuanced of them) is the addition of Heroic March. When I did my last post, the Hobbit rules were introduced and Heroic March became a thing (but we didn’t adopt it in our gaming group until the new release). Heroic March allows infantry models to overcome the greatest problem with throwing weapons: getting extra movement to start the next round as close as possible to the enemy throwing weapon models. While Heroic March doesn’t allow you to charge anyone, the extra 3-5” of movement (which stacks with movement gained from a Drum, if your team can get one) is invaluable. Where Dwarf and Goblin teams were at a distinct disadvantage with 5” move against 6” throwing weapons, now they can clear 8” of ground in a single turn (which should be enough to stand just outside someone’s control zone OR make up ground if your opponent ran like mad away from you to buy himself more space). While this doesn’t make your soldiers more resilient against throwing weapons, it might take a turn or two less to close with them (which can be huge).

With these changes in mind, we’ll dive into what makes throwing weapons so great (and probably my favorite aspect of the MESBG game).