Fog of War, Part 12: Mordor & Barad-Dur

FOG OF WAR

Part 12: Mordor & Barad-Dur

After a bit of a break due to some personal and work-related reasons, I am back with part 12. This time with my guests, we'll be covering the largest and most versatile faction in the game. Because of Mordor's popularity there have been many players who have achieved significant success with its armies, so instead of getting one expert, I decided to ask the Competitive Community Facebook Page to send me their favourite lists. Out of the submissions, I picked my favourite ones and so today I am joined by one of the best players of Poland: Adam Sokol; one of the best players of Germany: Pascal Wibbe; and one of the best players of England: CJ Millar. Additionally featuring a couple of other tournament-winning lists from the new edition... plus my own ramblings! Hope you enjoy it and learn a thing or two. 

Mordor's Main Strengths & Weaknesses

The Witch King of Angmar - The leader of the 9 used to be rarely used in competitive play, but in the new edition he brings 3 key things that make him one of the best Heroes in the game. Firstly, he is a Hero of Legend when taken in a Mordor list. At just 70 points basic, or 90 points in my favourite 3/10/1 configuration (I'll go into detail later on why these stats), he is one of only 5 model in the game under 100 points that can bring 18 troops with them, ensuring that Mordor always has the numbers it needs. Secondly he has access to Heroic Strike, so can be freely thrown into combat when needed. Thirdly at higher points he can use the Crown of Morgul, ensuring he almost never runs out of Will when casting spells. His main strength however is also his weakness - unless we have another Hero of Legend, the Witch King can be quite a vulnerable leader and whether we should mount him on a Fell Beast (which is what most Wraiths want to be doing) is debatable, since its offensive combat prowess is likely to bring doom to our Leader and often lose us the game. 

The Versatility - Between Morannons, Numenoreans, Orcs, Warg Riders, Morgul Knights, Trackers, Catapults and countless Heroes, we have a ton to choose from. This can be good and bad, because we can end up with a very good well-rounded list, but less experienced players may often run into a problem of lack of consistency and lack of a plan of how the army is supposed to play, synergize, and what it wants to achieve in the game. This reminds me of one of my favourite Zen quotes by the Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's there are few". Despite the million choices one could make with this (or many other armies), only a few are actually highly competitive. That's not to say you should make competitive choices, as it's your hobby and you can do whatever you want, but there's a reason many great lists bear similarities to each other. 

The Dark Lord Himself - The Barad-Dur list features the most unique Army Bonus and the most unique play style in the game, relying more on the Army Leader than any other force and often winning or losing games depending how well the player uses Sauron. Naturally, this model is only accessible at high points, making it even harder for new players to learn to play him, as with higher points come more varied enemies and difficult situations throughout the game that we have to deal with, meaning that the entry level for the Barad-Dur forces is somewhat higher than most other armies.

ARMY LISTS

CJ's 500 Points of (Cirith Ungol-themed) Mordor:

Warband 1:

Shagrat with Heavy armour and a Shield

6 Mordor Uruks with Shields

5 Morannon Orcs with Shields and Spears

1 Morannon Orc with a Shield, Spear and a Banner

Warband 2:

Gorbag with a Shield

6 Morannon Orcs with Shields

6 Morannon Orcs with Shields and Spears

Warband 3:

Shelob

Total: 27 Models, 6 Might.

CJ: For those fluffy tournaments this can be a fun hard hitting force. Its main weakness is Courage, which might be a hindrance if someone is packing the army of the dead. 

I absolutely love using Shelob. She is a silent assassin who gets underestimated due to only having the one Attack. She gets Monstrous Charge which can add up to 3 Attacks to win in proximity of a Banner, and thanks to her impressive statline she can overpower most things. Fight Value 7 in an era with rarer Strikes than in the previous edition of the game is valuable, and with her Venom she re-rolls all failed wounds. When she has knocked your opponent down and is throwing 4 Strength 7 Strikes with re-rolls she can comfortably chew through two warriors a turn or, far better, flatten a lesser Hero. For the latter, I like using Barge when she wins a 1v1 fight with a normal soldier who’s just tried to pin her in place, then she can charge and cause more damage with the Cavalry bonuses. It also just feels very thematic to have the giant spider barge in order to ambush the Eomer who didn’t Heroic Strike this turn.

Don’t forget that she can also keep a Wraith on FB (worth twice her points!) in check due to having higher Strength and Monstrous Charge. Even if she gets charged she can still Hurl it. Even when she loses a fight she’s a surprisingly high Defence 7, has 6 Wounds, and despite Hunting Instinct she’s got Courage 4 and 6 Will so it’s odds on she’ll be killed before fleeing.

Her final trick in the new edition is Caught in a Web. Basically, if she gets charged by a multi-wound model and therefore only has one Attack if she wins, you might as well go for this. They get Paralysed if they take a Wound- it’s what you’d be doing anyway but with a scary bonus. This just adds to her role as a deterrent.  

Gorbag’s new rule is very thematic and helps him to chew through opposing troops, whereas Shagrat can bully enemy Heroes all day. He is the lowest tiered Hero with Heroic Challenge which allows him to shut down Heroes of Fortitude upwards. Spending the Might on these Challenges isn’t a big issue as with Blood and Glory he gets it back, and then on top of that he gets D3 Might for killing his prey. Fight 5 (with the option to Heroic Strike), Strength 5, 3s in the right places and knock down on the charge - he’s a low-mid range Hero butcher. Even if he loses the odd combat, he’s Defence 7, with 3 Wounds and 3 Fate. 

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Adam's 650 Points List which won the Polish Doubles Championships:

Warband 1:

Witch King 3/12/3

7 Morannon Orcs with Shields

6 Morannon Orcs with Shields and Spears

1 Orc Warrior with a Banner, Shield and Spear

1 Orc Tracker on a Warg

Warband 2:

The Tainted on a Horse

5 Morannon Orcs with Shields

4 Orc Warriors with Shields and Spears

1 Orc Warrior with a Spear

1 Orc Tracker on a Warg

Warband 3:

1 Khandish Chieftain on a Chariot

Warband 4:

1 Khandish Chieftain on a Chariot

Total: 30 Models, 9 Might

Adam: The Witch King is a strong, sustainable leader with access to Magic and useful Heroic Actions. The Tainted is the 2nd caster with a Special Rule that both quickly diminish opponent's forces after break, as well as block Heroic Moves for non-Heroes. The infantry is made up of a solid block of Morannon Orcs and a couple of Trackers as objective grabbers and key pieces in Reconnoitre. 

The most important aspect of this list are two Chariots driven by the Chieftains. Combined with The Tainted's Special Rule we get 2 models that almost guarantee to get their Trample when they want to, as the Heroic Moves only affect Heroes, so they are unlikely to ever be charged and locked down before trampling, unless there is a hero in the front rank - who risks getting Transfixed by the Wraiths. 

Overall it's a small list, but very interesting and unique in its play style. 

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Pascal's 700 Points of Mordor:

Warband 1:

Witch King 3/17/2 on Fell Beast with a Crown of Morgul

6 Black Numenoreans 

6 Morannon Orcs with Shields and Spears

4 Orc Trackers

Warband 2:

Mouth of Sauron on an Armoured Horse

2 Morgul Knights

5 Black Numenoreans

5 Morannon Orcs with Shields and Spears

Warband 3:

Gorbag with a Shield

3 Black Numenoreans

3 Morannon Orcs with Shields

5 Morannon Orcs with Shields and Spears

Total: 42 Models

Pascal: For my first tournament with the new edition I was looking for a new concept to make my Evil/Mordor army work. I've always been a fan of Ringwraiths/Fell Beasts and with the changes to the Witch King, the Leader of my army was a clear choice. With the access to several Heroic Actions, (especially Heroic Strike) he brings a lot of flexibility to the table and with 4 attacks on the charge he is able to kill most key targets in one combat. 

One of the Heroes on the Good side that was improved the most is Cirdan. He provides Aura of Dismay and is available to most Good armies as a Convenient (Yellow) ally so I thought an army that wants to be successful, must have a way to deal with Terror. Shamans are not that great anymore, and even though Kardush would be a better solution, I'd rather take a hero with more Might Points and use Black Numenorians as my front line. They are Courage 4, with the Mordor Army Bonus in play Courage 5 and cause Terror themselves. With Fight 4 they can keep up with most good armies (except Elves)  and a Defence 6 line of Black Numenorians/Morannon Orcs is though to crack. 

In the new edition of the game Transfix no longer reduces Fight Value on a non-Channelled level. This makes it really hard to deal with all those amazing heroes with all the 3's in the right places like Aragorn, Boromir, Glorfindel, etc. 

They are devestating in combat - but what if they don't reach combat? In an army that mostly causes Terror, Drain Courage is a great spell. It is easy to cast (on a 2+) and gives the opponent a tough trade off between a point of Will or Courage. With the nerfs to Sap Will this is a really useful way to drain Will points. That is the main job for The Mouth of Sauron, 4 will for 4 times Drain Courage and 2 Might with the ability to use Heroic March at relatively low points. Add to that Fight 5 on an Armoured Horse and you have a really solid all-rounder.

The Orc Trackers just add cheap bodies to my model count, which helps with Break Point and Army Bonus. 4 bows cheeky shooting into combat and trying to kill Heroes' horses is also a nice option to have.

In my opinion this is just a well rounded force that makes use of all the flexibility Mordor provides and features all the important key aspects and army should have: strong hero, monster, magic, numbers, might and "bows".

You don't really need allies for Mordor as they feature everything you'd wish for (except Spectres 😥). I might try to get in an Angmar warband consisting of a Barrow Wight and 3 spectres at 800 points in the future 😉 

Another great addition would be the Tainted, I might write an article about this very interesting hero in the future 🙂

That's all from me for now, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts and might have found an idea or two to feature in your next tournament army 🙂

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Mik's 500 Points List for GBHL Masters Tournament 2019

Warband 1:

Suladan, The Serpent Lord on an Armoured Horse

9 Haradrim Warriors with Spears

9 Haradrim Warriors with Spears & Bows

Warband 2:

Witch King 3/10/1

1 Orc with Spear

17 Black Numenoreans

Total: 38 Models

Mik: Although this list is 200 points smaller than Pascal's and so should feature above his in points order, I decided to put it here, as essentially it has been inspired by my conversation with him on this subject. The GBHL Masters Tournament (inviting the 16 best players of GBHL 2018 season) was played at only 500 points, which meant that there would not be very many Shamans and the only high-courage enemies I'd be likely to face would be Elves, so I liked the idea of having good long range firepower to force my opponents to play on my terms and then 17 Terror-causing models with the Witch King's Harbinger of Evil to ensure that once opponent is close, combat becomes difficult for them. The Witch King's Legend status was the primary reason for taking him, as it allowed me numbers far greater than what other heroes would have been able to provide and 1 Fate Point proved to be enough. The list did relatively well at 2-2 in the most fiercely competitive field ever assembled in GBHL, although I had hopes for more!

The 3/10/1 configuration of the Witch King is something a lot of players have asked me about. The natural tendency for a 1-Wound character would be to go with 2 or even 3 Fate, but to me this comes down to your experience and point-efficiency. That plus I'm just greedy. I tend to play my Wizards quite conservatively, so WK is rarely in harm's way, unless I require him to use Heroic Strike, at which point I'll weigh the odds of him dying vs the Strike being potentially game-winning. 1 Fate means that should Legolas decide to snipe him down, I guarantee to save him once (3 Might) and the likelihood of 2 wounds by the time he has used most of his Will is unlikely. Every Might point you have is important, so 3 Might and 1 Fate is better than 2 Might and 2 Fate. In this list making sure I have maximum number of models meant cutting everything down to minimum. He also wasn't my leader here, so I didn't need the extra protection. 

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Jay Clare's 800 Points Barad-Dur list that won the Scouring of Stirlingshire (Good vs Evil) 2018 Tournament

Warband 1:

The Dark Lord Sauron

11 Orc Warriors with Shield

11 Orc Warriors with Spear

1 Orc Drummer

1 Orc Warrior with a Banner

Warband 2:

Orc Captain with a Shield

5 Orc Warriors with Shields

5 Orc Warriors with Spears

Warband 3:

Orc Shaman

4 Warg Riders with Shields

1 Orc Tracker

Total: 42 Models, 6 Might. 

Mik: Mr Clare was happy for me to feature this list and discuss it. Ever since starting to play SBG in 2004, Sauron has been one of those things that I ALWAYS wanted to use in a competitive list, but NEVER did. Every edition of the game I tried figuring out lists with Sauron in them, but always ended up with results along the lines of 'if I take Sauron, the rest of my army will fold to literally everything'. Finally, the special rule allowing Sauron to bring a Warband of 24, plus his smaller cost, plus the incredibly powerful Army Bonus of Barad-Dur means that the Dark Lord is playable. He still requires us to play in a points limit of 800+ however. At 500, the army would still fold to everything, at 600 and 700 it would struggle, so 800 is in my opinion the bare minimum where Sauron begins to compete and 1000 points is where he shines, as we're able to bring a critical mass of models and have the best centre-piece of an army in the entire game. Seeing this list win a 100pt GBHL Tournament made me quite happy and it isn't a surprise, since the numbers are high and the leader is strong, but also the player is of a rather fine quality himself.

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But What About The Flying Circus?!

As many of my readers and long-time players know, the Flying Circus (army made up of purely Ringwraiths on Fell Beasts or sometimes also accompanied by Shelob) used to be an extremely powerful force in the hands of a select few (most notably Ed Ball) extremely good players. Sadly this is no longer the case, as the Monster rules have been changed in this edition not to allow double-hurls during Heroic Combats, Wraiths lost access to Heroic Strike and Magic has had significantly diminished effects, leading to less armies using Fell Beasts in general in my experience - in fact at the 1000 point Throne of Skulls I faced 0 Fell Beasts and saw only a handful, in a field of about 100 players!

The first GBHL tournament of the new edition was still won by the all-Fell Beast army however, consisting of:

Undying on Fell Beast

Khamul on Fell Beast

Ringwraith* (2/14/2) on Fell Beast

Total: 3 Models, 6 Might

*The reason for including a Ringwraith over The Witch King was due to Legend status of the WK, which would have prevented Undying from being the Army Leader.

Personally I am curious to see whether the Flying Circus can still be used to consistently win major competitions, or if it is now gone for good from the top tables. 

Allies, Legendary Legions and all that new stuff...

Mordor has mostly everything it needs, but it can still benefit from allies. Its Army Bonus is very strong, so personally I wouldn't sacrifice it unless I'd be getting something even stronger - perhaps a lone Shade. Because of that, I think Harad is the best ally for Mordor, as the two armies together get to keep their bonuses and Harad provides cheap long range firepower that Mordor lacks. Even if we split the two forces 50/50, we're able to get 25% of all models in the army to be armed with poisoned bows, which will often be good enough to force opponents to play on our terms - something that Mordor cannot often do, as it's generally inclined to charge into combat at the earliest convenience.

An interesting list that I saw used with good results before even the last edition (ie. around 2009/2010) was one featuring the Mordor War Catapult in a Harad army, ensuring one had a big siege weapon for very long range, then a mass of bows for mid-range and a mass of numbers plus a Troll for close combat. Just some food for thought. 

The new Legendary Legions provide a range of new possibilities, but as there hasn't been enough time to figure these out on competitive level, I decided to leave them out from this article for now and hopefully in a few months I'll update this section with more info. 

Good luck at the tables!

BlackMist