The First Army Lists of 2020

So for both Rohan and Mordor, with the contents of the Starter box (see my previous post), I could just assemble the lot a call it a start. It would look something like this:

Rohan - Total: 456pts*

• Theoden, with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour and Shield - 100pts
• 8 Riders of Rohan - 112pts
• 4 Riders of Rohan, with Throwing Spears - 64pts
• 6 Warriors of the Dead, with Shields - 90pts
• 6 Warriors of the Dead, with Spears - 90pts

Mordor - Total: 496pts

• The Witch King, with Armoured Fell Beast - 140pts**
• Mordor Troll - 100pts
• 16 Morannon Orcs, with Shields - 128pts
• 16 Morannon Orcs, with Spears - 128pts

* The Warriors included in the box are not in the list as they would be required should the Riders get unhorsed.

**This is the minimum points version of the Witch King for simplicity, he has a tonne of upgrades in reality.

Now these lists are fine enough, at least for casual games, or narrative games like recreating the Pelennor Fields. However, these lists are imbalanced, come to odd points values in the case of Rohan, and in the current set of rules, illegal. The new rules are built around Hero-led Warbands, with hard limits on the maximum number of standard warriors that can accompany each hero (varying between heroes). Additionally, the Warriors of the Dead are not part of the Rohan Army list, and could only ally in with one of their own Heroes leading them, in this case The King of the Dead, and both forces would lose their army bonuses unless Aragorn was present also, as they would count as "Impossible Allies".

Of course, I could fluff it. Proxy in some of the Warriors or Orcs to act as the King or Orc Captains...

That would be the boring way to do it.

I need customisation, I need to cut up some plastic and bend it to my will... also, I could probably do with some structure. To this end, I've decided to put together simple 300pt value lists that will force me to do a little remodelling, include some new stuff I've never used before, and importantly give me an achievable goal that doesn't require me assembling and painting nearly 100 models. Once this batch is complete, I will up the points value to 500, and build upon each force. But here are what I've decided on for now.

Rohan - Total: 298pts

    Warband 1 - 224pts

• Theoden, with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour and Shield - 100pts
• 4 Rohan Royal Guard, with Horses and Throwing Spears - 68pts
• 4 Riders of Rohan - 56pts

    Warband 2 - 74pts

• King's Huntsman - 50pts
• 3 Outriders - 24pts

A Rohirrim Army in MESBG will almost virtually be entirely mounted, with the exception of when you're recreating Helm's Deep. This is fairly natural, they are the Horse Lords after all, and nobody can forget the iconic charge at Pelennor! In the books however, Rohan's military does include a number of foot soldiers, so whilst the rules encourage cavalry play, there is some attention paid to Rohan's unmounted forces in the Army List.

So Theoden will be leading a mixed group of Riders and Royal Guard. The Army bonus couples really well with the Riders and mounted Royal Guard get from being around Theoden really well here, granting them all +1 to their Fight Value and Strength whenever they charge. Cavalry is already powerful, but these bonuses elevate the rather average Rider's stats to the points where they will beat most Orcs and tie with Uruk-Hai. These didn't exist under old rules, but suddenly the Charge of the Rohirrim becomes a reality on the tabletop. The Royal Guard, who are already Fight 4, become able to beat Uruk-hai and Orc Captains outright.

I will be needing to convert the Royal Guard if I intend to use the models I already own, which I will cover another time.

The King's Huntsman and Outriders are new entries for me also. The Huntsman is a weaker Rohan Captain, but he comes with an improved Shoot value of 3+ and a Strength 3 Longbow (normal Rohan bows are Strength 2), as well as the ability to regain Might for slaying Heroes and Monsters. Accompanying him with Outriders, essentially standard Warriors with a similarly improved 3+ Shoot Value, gives me a solid firebase that can sit back and snipe out the threats my cavalry can't handle.

Mordor - Total: 300pts

Warband 1 - 160pts

• Kardush the Firecaller - 60pts
• 6 Morannon Orcs, with Shields - 48pts
• 4 Morannon Orcs, with Spears and Shields - 36pts
• 2 Morannon Orcs, with Spears - 16pts

Warband 2 - 140pts

• Troll Chieftain - 140pts

It was rare that a Mordor Army does not outnumber it's opponent, these days Mordor is one of the most diverse lists out there, with a number of elite options and a tonne of powerful Heroes and Monster units. So whilst this list is low on number, it is deceptively powerful. 

Kardush is another new unit for me. He's a Shaman with the spells Fury and Flameburst. Fury is a buff for standard Mordor Orcs that unfortunately won't help me in this list, though I will include them later. Flameburst is cool though, as it allows me to target single enemies with a Strength 6 hit (providing they don't resist). Theoden will not be happy to be on the receiving end of that. His other abilities will be useful in future lists; firstly, sacrificing Orcs to regain Will to cast more spells, and secondly, sacrificing himself to restore the Will of an Allied Ringwraith. The Witch King will be most pleased.

The Morannon Orcs are fun, essentially heavily armoured Orcs with a Strength of 4. They can form a shield wall that would even give the heavier armoured Royal Guard a pause, as although the Riders may be able to outfight the Orcs (who are Fight 3), unfriendly dice may see multiple Strength 4 hits coming in.

Finally, the Troll Chieftain. This Monster's stat-line was designed to represent the Troll that beat up Aragorn at the Black Gates in Return of the King. There's a good chance he could solo most of the Rohirrim list, who will need to hope they can kite him around and shoot him down. A tricky prospect when he has a Defence of 8 (requiring a roll of 6 followed by a roll of 5+ for most of the archers), and can also toss Strength 8 boulders at a decent range.

So that's the initial lists. 

I will need to be convert 4 Royal Guard, and Kardush fully, and the Outriders are another smaller conversion also. All in all, it gives me 26 models to assemble and paint (and a further 9 for the unmounted Rohirrim). It'll keep me busy enough for the next few weeks and will stop me spending any more money before the next payday rolls around (excepting paints of course!).

Catch you all next time!