Fog of War, Part 4: Moria

FOG OF WAR

Part 4: Moria

When I first started writing the series, I imagined that some of the most prolific members of the community would be able to spare some time and chip in with their personal thoughts on their favourite factions. I lit the beacons and indeed my allies have answered! It is with great honour to welcome the 2020 UK Grand Tournament Champion, Jasmine Tetley.

Jasmine: Moria were always great, with lots of diversity and powerful monsters, and the brand new Balrog is the king of them all! There is little that Moria doesn’t have. The basic Goblin is still the staple of every army, but more elite and harder to kill troops can support them. Especially worth noting is the killing power of the Prowlers. Diverse Shamans can bring other beasts (Spiders and Bats) which give more movement to an army that has little speed outside the Warg Marauders.

The new army bonus and Groblog’s special rule can help to make up for the lower fight value, while Durburz is still well worth his points, especially as he can be a rare back line and safe leader in the new hero tiers system. There is a lack of Magic, but with the access to a huge variety of Monsters (cheaper ones like the Dweller and Cave Troll, plus the more expensive Balrog and Dragon), it makes Moria very fun (and powerful) in a game. With the diminished power of Magic, they are now going to be harder to stop.

Whilst the Army Bonus is aimed towards your classic horde army, an all-Monster Moria looks very fun and potentially quite good with the buffs to the Balrog and both Cave Drakes and Dragons with their Monstrous Charge. The below lists steer towards numbers and their bonus which seems to be very effective, but show two different ways of playing. 

List 1: 800 Points - With The Balrog

Warband 1:
The Balrog
7 Moria Goblin Prowlers
6 Moria Goblins with Shield
5 Moria Goblins with Spear

Warband 2:
Durburz
5 Moria Goblin Prowlers
5 Moria Goblins with Shield
5 Moria Goblins with Spear

Warband 3:
Groblog
3 Moria Goblin Prowlers
3 Moria Goblins with Shield
3 Moria Goblins with Spear
3 Warg Marauder

Total: 800 Points, 6 Might, 48 Models

The Balrog is the centre of this list and obviously the most important piece. Yes, the Balrog is slow and can be easy to pin down with one model, but he now has ways to work around that, the first of which is being able call a Heroic Combat for free every turn. The second part is the Flaming Whip, which allows you to potentially pull enemies in during the Shoot Phase, and then Heroic Combat. An additional use for the Whip can be to target back line Heroes and Banners etc. as with some luck on the In The Ways, you can drag them into combat over their own friendly models. 

Finally The Balrog acts as a super Shaman, allowing you to bring along Fearless Goblins, which provide the numbers. The new Army Bonus, alongside Groblog, potentially gives you Fight Value 5 prowlers with +2 To Wound modifier applied against trapped models.

List 2: 750 Points - Without The Balrog

Warband 1:
Durburz
3 Moria Blackshields
4 Moria Goblin Prowlers
2 Moria Goblins with Shield
6 Moria Goblins with Spear

Warband 2:
Moria Blackshield Captain
Moria Blackshield Drummers
3 Moria Blackshields
1 Moria Goblin Prowler
2 Moria Goblins with Shield
4 Moria Goblins with Spear

Warband 3:
Moria Goblin Captain
2 Moria Blackshields
1 Moria Goblin Prowler
5 Moria Goblins with Shield
4 Moria Goblins with Spear

Warband 4:
Moria Goblin Captain
1 Moria Goblin Prowler
6 Moria Goblins with Shield
4 Moria Goblins with Spear

Warband 5:
Cave Drake
2 Warg Marauders

Total: 750 Points, 10 Might, 57 models

The reduction in points to the Goblin Drums (100 in the previous edition) makes them even better than they were before, with the Blackshield one favoured for the Courage and ability to re-position. The increase in courage gives us a Courage 5 Leader and Courage 4 troops with Blackshields. The Re-Rolls are great and the -1 Courage Modifier to the enemy makes it hard for them to charge your Terrifying models and more likely to run when Broken. Captains are favoured for Heroic Marches. Marauders still have their place as they apply pressure and can grab objectives. 

The army is topped off with the now very powerful Cave Drake that has the new Monstrous Charge rule, giving it 5 attacks and the ability to knock over lower Strength Monsters (Fell Beasts!). Combination of a large base, Mountain Dweller and Woodland Creature, all mean that it should not be too hard to get the Drake round the back of your enemy's lines and provide a lot more traps for your Goblins, as well as causing general chaos. A Drake is best used offensively to disrupt and cause the enemy problems early (Due to its low Courage, it is more likely to flee once you are Broken), and allows your goblins more freedom to gain an advantage. 

Mik: My experience with Moria has not been as vast as Jasmine’s. However, I’ve always been a fan of the regular goblins and their sheer numbers, instead of focusing on the elite troops such as Blackshields and Prowlers. Check out this list:

List 3: 500 Points

Warband 1
Durburz, The Goblin King of Moria
6 Goblins with Shields
6 Goblins with Spears
1 Cave Troll

Warband 2
Groblog
6 Goblins with Shields
5 Goblins with Spears
1 Cave Troll

Warband 3
Moria Goblin Captain
6 Goblins with Shields
5 Goblins with Spears
1 Bat Swarm

Total: 500 points, 39 Models, 8 Might Points and “They have 2 Cave Trolls!”

Naturally at 500 it’s difficult to include The Balrog (although… you never know… it wouldn’t surprise me if I saw one!). Instead the list focuses on amassing as many Goblins as it can. 2 Cave Trolls provide an enormous amount of hitting power on top of the large numbers and a Bat Swarm designed to help cutting down the enemy heroes. 

There is an argument that says you generally require some number of fast moving creatures in this game, due to the variety of scenarios you may end up playing, as some of them need you to move quickly off the board or chase an objective. To help with speed, whilst still keeping the high Strength and killing power, here's an alternative 500 Points list with Druzhag and his beasts:

List 4: 500 Points

Warband 1:
Durburz, The Goblin King of Moria
6 Goblins with Shields
6 Goblins with Spears

Warband 2:
Groblog
6 Goblins with Shields
6 Goblins with Spears

Warband 3:
Druzhag, the Beastcaller
1 Bat Swarm
6 Wild Wargs

Warband 4:
Moria Goblin Captain
6 Goblins with Shields
6 Goblins with Spears

Total: 47 Models, 10 Might Points, 0 Bows.

There are just so many ways of building Moria lists. At 500 points you can outnumber pretty much every opponent, with the exception of maybe Shire and Goblin Town. At higher points, you have the biggest and coolest Monsters in the game. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see a Double-Dragon list at 800 built such as:

2 Dragons with Fly
26 Goblins
2 Bat Swarms

Or perhaps with the point reduction and the staggering 6/6/6 (Fight/Strength/Attacks) we should be looking at the Watcher in the Water as the new powerhouse among big threats. It wouldn't be hard for the Watcher to simply appear next to the enemy General, drag him into combat with a Tentacle and outright kill him. It seems quite literally as a sleeper Monster right now that could put a lot of players in major trouble. 

And what about the Dwellers in the Dark? With the significantly lower access to Heroic Strike than in the last edition, perhaps each Warband could have one of these instead of a Cave Troll? 8-inch Movement, very high Fight Value, Magic Resistance and a lot of Strength 5 Attacks are not something anyone can scoff at. Only time will tell what rules the tables!

Just my favourite part of the Moria equation - The Balrog and 6 Dwellers total 800 points. How cool is that?!

With all this excitement about Monsters in mind, we must however remember that despite their sheer combat prowess, they are still not the be-all-end-all models in the game. A well placed Heroic Strike, a Channelled Transfix, or simply one bad roll can bring a Monster on its knees, so no matter how many of them you have, you must be careful not to put them into too much trouble and always protect them the way you would protect your Queen in a game of Chess. For me Monsters are the reason to play Moria, but they can also be the player's downfall, as without them, the rest of the army can crumble. 

Allies 

Jasmine: You can afford to lose the army bonus in most situations, and being convenient allies with most gives you lots of options to explore. 

Mik: I could have added allies, but as they do not have any Historical Allies, I didn’t want to lose the Army Bonus at 500 points. The Fight Value increase can help against armies such as Rohan, Minas Tirith, Mordor, Goblin Town, Hobbits and even other Moria forces if they decide to get tricksy and ally something special! At higher points, it's worth considering losing the bonus, just like Jasmine mentioned - there's a lot more options to explore!

Good luck!
BlackMist & Jasmine