Still evil! Still spooky! Still mine!
Photo Credit: The author, himself
Editor's Note: This article is part of a larger series on dealing with Angmar. Click the links for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
If you're just joining us, this is an ongoing series about how to build forces that would feel reasonably comfortable countering Angmar. While there are definitely certain lists that have advantages against Angmar (more to come on that score in parts 5-8), my goal with this particular series is to help identify the tools that every faction (or at least almost every faction) has to deal with Angmar. Some have more tools than others, certainly; but when you dig in and drill down, it's surprising how many factions actually have multiple tools they can draw upon.
In Part 1, we talked about how to get around the Terror that Angmar generally brings to the table (as it turns out, there are a lot of strategies we could try). This time, we're turning to what may be the most oppressive aspect of an Angmar list: it's ability to shut down or take out your army's key pieces. We're focusing primarily on the non-magic ways Angmar does this, but don't worry: we still have plenty to talk about (plus, countering the magic is coming next time, so I've got you).
If you have a model that's essential to your army, Angmar can probably affect it, shut it down, or take it out before it does what you need it to do.
One of the many practical problems that players face when facing Angmar (especially if it's your first time playing against Angmar) is that if you have something essential to your army, Angmar can probably take it out (and usually quickly). Exactly how it does this takes many different forms (depending on what exactly is in Angmar's list, and how many of a given profile are in it), but here's some of the many ways Angmar can mitigate / take out / depower your key models:
- Terror front line / Harbinger of Evil / Drain Courage against low-courage heroes (so they cannot charge without burning Might or Will);
- Magical spells like Transfix / Paralyze to incapacitate a hero;
- Compel / Spectres to pull targets out of position / into dangerous positions;
- Monsters (often flying monsters) to challenge enemy heroes, deal huge damage, and / or disrupt the opponent's battle lines; and
- Heroes who either neuter your heroic actions (the Tainted) or drain your resources (the Dwimmerlaik, Shades, and Barrow Wights)
Fortunately, Angmar can't take all of these things in a single list unless you're playing at absurdly high points levels. But Angmar can take most of these things at most points levels, and therein lies the problem. Most army lists have some sort of way to avoid, incapacitate, or assassinate at least one priority target in the opponent's army (even if that way is "Strike and hope"). If Angmar can take this model out of the equation through one (or multiple) of these mitigation tactics, however, your force may not be able to deal with everything else that Angmar has.
In the same vein, if you over-build your force to address one particular problem posed by Angmar, you may not have enough in your force to address other problems Angmar poses. By way of example, Terror is the primary problem that most opponents need to solve against Angmar. But if your entire game-plan is keyed around charging Terror models (especially if your solution rests on a single model sticking around), you may not have the tools you need to keep Angmar from assassinating that target (thereby depriving you of the tools you need). By the same token, most armies' solution to dealing with big enemy heroes is to have their own big hero deal with them. But if Angmar can tie up your own big hero with one or two of their smaller ones (i.e., a couple of Barrow Wights spend four turns casting two Paralyze spells a turn at your Aragorn), you may find yourself without any answers to Angmar's own big heroes (and there are some big heroes in Angmar which, left unchecked, will wreak havoc on most opponents).
