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The New Age Is Begun: The Army of Thror Army List

Good morning gamers, We occasionally get requests for army lists to review - and at the start of last month, we got a request for the Army o...

Friday, November 9, 2018

New Rules - Part III: Angmar and Moria

Good morning gamers,

In our first post, we discussed some of the rules changes that I thought were good/not-so-good with the new rules set. We then looked at Mordor to see a few different lists you can run with their army bonuses (and whether keeping the army bonuses are worth it). Today we're going to look at the armies that used to be included in the Moria and Angmar warbands book (which are conveniently still Moria and Angmar), but both of these army lists have been reviewed already on Mik's Veni Vidi Vici blog, so take a look at that for other takes by great players of the hobby.

Unlike Mordor, Moria and Angmar rely heavily on the old army structures that we found in the Legions of Middle-Earth book. As such, there are some big changes for Moria (less so for Angmar) from the Warbands book (one of which I don't like), but ultimately I think it drifted towards where it always should have been.

1) The New Lists: Moria and Angmar

Back in the Legions days, there were two Moria lists - the "Moria" army list and the "Dwellers Below" army list (which was basically generic Goblin heroes, Wild Warg Chieftains, Moria Goblin Warriors, Wild Wargs, Bat Swarms, and Giant Spiders). Between the two lists, you could ally with basically anyone, but if you wanted Durburz in your army (he was the only named hero back then), you needed to run Moria proper (not the other one). In the new version, they've basically eliminated the second list altogether, distributing the wild beasts of Middle-Earth in the Angmar list (for Wargs) and the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood list (for spiders), though thanks to Druzhag the Beastcaller you can include bats, spiders, and wargs in your army (Ashrak also allows you to get spiders), so if you WANT those creatures, you can still get them.

Not much to say about Angmar - they've remained mostly unchanged from release to release. The one major change that I found is this: back in the Legions era, Spectres were D5. In Warbands, they were D6. Now they're D5 again. Coupled with the fact that spears don't augment the front-line guy like they used to in Legions, Spectres have become a lot less powerful than they used to be. Still, they are Terror-causing warriors who can move low-Courage models with ease wherever they want, so having a few in your army isn't bad (though having a lot is probably a waste).

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

New Rules - Part II: Mordor

Good morning gamers,

In our last post, we discussed some of the rules changes that I thought were good/not-so-good with the new rules set. Today we're transitioning from a rules-based discussion to army-based discussions. I'm not going to try to share my all-powerful wisdom on each army - if you want experts discussing the lists, check out Mik's Veni Vidi Vici blog, since he's doing a series with the champions of each army list to talk about the changes and propose lists. It's good stuff (and I'm learning a lot).

What I AM going to talk about is instead how the lists have changed and provide some sample lists (600pts) that either use or don't use the army bonus provided by the new rules. As I've poured over the various army bonuses, I've often asked myself, "So do I really need this?" The answer to some armies (creating some surprise on my part occasionally) is "Sometimes...but not always." With that, the structure of this series is going to be going through the Warbands Supplements by book and highlighting how the armies have changed from there (with references to Legions of Middle-Earth as that's where it all began).

1) The New Lists: Barad-Dur and Mordor

The new army lists reflect the two different eras of Mordor armies - the Second Age army (Barad-Dur) led by the Dark Lord Sauron (*insert reverent awe here*) and the Third Age armies (Mordor) led by various captains of the Dark Lord, not least of which is the Witch-King of Angmar. Splitting the list into different ages solves all kinds of alliance problems that existed in the Warbands books - The Dark Lord Sauron didn't exist at the same time as Shagrat, so there should be a disincentive to bring them both in the same army. The unit choices don't differ greatly in your warrior choices (though you can only get Morannon Orcs and Mordor Uruk-Hai in the Mordor list), but the big difference is the named hero options.

Barad-Dur can only take a handful of named heroes (The Dark Lord Sauron, The Witch-King of Angmar, and Shelob), while there are a TON of named heroes for Mordor (named Nazgul, named Orc/Uruk heroes, ). While there's nothing wrong with generic hero options, Barad-Dur will be limited in the heroic actions it can call if it only has generic heroes. Thanks to Heroic March being primarily limited to generic hero choices, you're not without options, but Heroic Strikes will be hard to come by with the Barad-Dur list. Mordor has far more versatility for heroic actions, profile choices, and special rules, making them (in my mind) the go-to for Mordor armies (unless you REALLY want to play with Sauron - more on that in a bit).

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

The New Rules - Part I

Good morning gamers,

So as we prepare for the THRO 2018 tournament (trying out the new rules!), I'm taking some time to pen some thoughts on changes from the original rules (as laid out in the One Rulebook or ORB) since that's what we've played with here at TMAT (didn't go all-in on the Hobbit SBG rules). I've limited my thoughts to 10 topics, some of which I think are good improvements (especially over the Hobbit SBG version), and some of which aren't necessarily "bad" improvements but might not have been necessary. Without further ado, here we go:

Monday, October 1, 2018

Announcing TMAT's THRO 2018 tournament!

Good morning gamers,

With the new books out and lots of new rules changes (for us at least), it's time for another tournament! The purpose of this tournament, like previous THROs, is to try new things and this year we'll be using the new rules set (in its entirety). The tournament will be held at Patrick Henry College on November 10, 2017. For this year's tournament, we'll be running fairly small armies, allowing for a focus on the new rules and what they do. Without further ado, here are (in my typical style) the Ten Commandments of the Tournament (Rules):

Friday, December 8, 2017

Numenor: Army painting and theory

Hello again gamers!

After a long time of collecting and planning, I am happy to announce that my Numenor list is nearly complete! Here's what the army looks like: