Fog of War, Part 3: Númenor

FOG OF WAR

Part 3: Númenor

Following on from Rivendell and Easterlings, I thought it would be cool to finish off the week on the Númenor / Last Alliance theme, as it’s another one of the armies that hasn’t seen much play in the last decade and has not really had any great tournament results in the past editions of the game. So here we are!

The first thing that jumps out from the faction list is Elendil. With Strength 5, Narsil, good choice of Heroic Actions, magic protection and an ability to ride a Horse, he is truly the High King worthy of the Legendary status he possesses. His son, Isildur is also a worthy fighter, although compared to the old rules, he cannot take The Ring if Elendil is present (as naturally Elendil died before Isildur claimed it), adding a bit of a thematic dilemma for those wanting to build an army out of Númenor.

Another good thing about Númenor is that all of its warriors have Fight Value and Strength at level 4, making it easier to chop through whatever is thrown at them and between Elendil and their Army Bonus it is unlikely they will be running away from the table very often.

500 Points:

Warband 1:
Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor with a Shield on a Horse
3 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
3 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with Bows
1 Warrior of Númenor with a Spear and a Bow

Warband 2:
Isildur on a Horse
3 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
3 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with Bows
1 Warrior of Númenor with a Spear and a Bow

Total: 500 Points, 20 Models, 6 Might, 6 Bows.

Although it doesn’t look like much, with only 20 Models, the sheer strength of Elendil and Isildur makes up for the lack of numbers, as they are both easily capable of cutting down 4 models per turn each, this being especially true with Elendil’s Heroic Combats. 

Lack of a Banner is a weakness for some scenarios, but not all armies have Banners at 500 points. This army’s primary focus is to correctly navigate their heroes into spots where they cause large amount of damage, whilst ensuring the rest of the army is there to support them. Naturally what this means is that your mission will be to achieve the most possible amount of damage with your heroes, whilst using your warriors for claiming objectives and protecting their leaders from getting swamped and overworked. 

Some armies in the game struggle at certain points levels but excel at others. Númenor may just be one of them. Whereas at 500 we lack the numbers to really support the two generals, at 600 we are able to bring 10+ extra models at no additional cost (other than their own points), due to the Heroic Tier that Elendil at Isildur possess:

600 Points:

Warband 1:
Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor with a Shield on a Horse
4 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
4 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
3 Warriors of Númenor with Bows
2 Warrior of Númenor with a Spear and a Bow

Warband 2:
Isildur on a Horse
4 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
4 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
1 Warrior of Numenor with a Banner
2 Warriors of Númenor with Bows
2 Warrior of Númenor with a Spear and a Bow

Total: 600 Points, 6 Might, 28 Models, 9 Bows.

And the Heroic Tier still allows us to get a total of 7 more models if we were to go up to 650 or 700 points!

Another way of building Númenor at 500 points could be to skip the superheroes and go for generic captains, for a sort of an elite Cavalry formation, like here:

500 Points:

Warband 1:
Captain of Númenor with Shield, Heavy Armour, Lance and Horse
3 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
1 Warriors of Númenor with a Bow
1 Warrior of Númenor with a Bow and Spear

Warband 2:
Captain of Númenor with Shield, Heavy Armour, Lance and Horse
3 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with a Bow
1 Warrior of Númenor with a Bow and Spear

Warband 3:
Captain of Númenor with Shield, Heavy Armour, Lance and Horse
2 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
2 Warriors of Númenor with a Bow
1 Warrior of Númenor with a Bow and Spear

Warband 4:
Captain of Númenor with Shield, Heavy Armour, Lance and Horse

Total: 500 Points, 26 Models, 8 Might, 8 Bows

Although this list lacks the flavour of the other one, the 4 Captains of Númenor riding horses with Lances are not something I’d be looking forward taking head on. 

Perhaps the right answer lies somewhere in between the two?

ALLIES:

Moving onto 800 points and above I think it’s fair to say that the Númenoreans will be looking for some allies. Their friends aren’t many if we want to stay within either Historic of Convenient alliance levels – A bunch of monsters and or Elves of all variety. Naturally the Last Alliance theme seems like something out of a book ;)

800 Points:

Warband 1:
Elendil, High King of Gondor and Arnor with a Shield on a Horse
6 Warriors of Númenor with Shields
5 Warriors of Númenor with Spears and Shields
1 Warrior of Númenor with a Spear, Shield and a Banner
3 Warriors of Númenor with Bows
3 Warriors of Númenor with Bows and Spears

Warband 2:
Gil-Galad, High King of the Elves, with a Shield on a Horse
6 High Elf Warriors with Shields
5 High Elf Warriors with Shields and Spears
1 High Elf Warrior with a Spear and a Banner
3 High Elf Warriors with Bows
3 High Elf Warriors with Bows and Spears

Total: 800 points, 6 Might, 38 Models, 12 Bows and 2 Banners

Of course, TWO banners might be an overkill, but if the two warbands end up being deployed separately on two opposite board edges, like they could be in Hold Ground, or Heirlooms of Ages Past, you at least ensure that all of your warriors will be getting additional dice in combat. Also, as the Banner bearers also carry Spears, you will want to keep them close to the fighting lines, and especially close to Gil-Galad and Elendil, providing them with extra re-rolls to win combats. Besides, they just look awesome!

Lastly, a thing worth considering is mixing up the two factions together into one combat line. If you were to invest into less Spears on the High Elves and more spears on the Númenoreans, you will be able to create a battle line that has the front rank of Elves and the back rank of Men (or vice versa!), providing you with Fight Value 5, Defence 6 front rank alongside Strength 4 support – and if you are facing Strength 4 opponents, you will probably want to swap this to have the Defence 5 Men at the front, to preserve the higher Defence troops for later. Perhaps the correct thing would be to arm every model in the army with a Spear, instead of having a second Banner? Or perhaps that’s an overkill… I’ll leave it to you to figure out!

Join me next week as we venture into some of the more popular armies with some guest writers from all across GBHL! 

Good Luck!
BlackMist