The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Angmar

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Why Play Angmar

Army Bonus

Any Angmar Orcs within 3 of a spirit hero gain the terror special rule, especially effective against low courage armies.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Nazgul/Ringwraiths – One of the most versatile units in the game, there is a Nazgul for every occasion. Each individual entry is covered here, but they all share common rules and features which will be covered first:
• All Nazgul cause terror
• Despite their high defence, Ringwraiths are not durable, with only a single wound each, best to avoid contact and stock up on their fate points
• All Ringwraiths must spend 1 point of will at the end of every fight phase that they are involved in, and disappear from the battlefield if their will reaches 0. Be very careful of this, as a canny opponent will likely manoeuvre your guys into protracted fights that will sap their usefulness and eventually kill them
• Any model wearing the ring does not become invisible to the Ringwraiths as they do to others, and fighting against the ring bearer does not oblige the Ringwraith to spend will to fight
• All Ringwraiths can shoes a Horse, armoured horse, fell beat or armoured fell beast for their mount. All are good choices, with the Fell Beast variants really boosting the combat potential of the wraiths.
• All Ringwraiths are spellcasters and can seriously mess with an opponents fOrce through incapacitating their enemies or causing direct damage with their Black Dart spell.
  • The Witch King: Leader of the Ringwraiths has by far the most number of options. Base cost of 70 points will buy you a potent spellcaster with a reserve of 10 will points. Should never be used in combat in this state as a single bad dice roll can mess you about horribly. You can purchase extra Might, will and fate for 5 pts each making a maxed out Witch-King 150 points. All mounts are effective choices for him and his other close combat options are also decent choices too – the Crown of Morgul bumps his attacks to 3, the Morgul Blade will allow him to kill multi wound enemies with a single unsaved wound and the two handed flail gives him a bit of extra kick in combat. He's the top tier leader for Angmar, being the factions obligatory legendary hero, so if you want a big 18 man warband, take him.
  • The Dwimmerlaik: The Ringwraith most hated in Rohan, comes with no might points to assist him in difficult situations but has a powerful ability to double the cost of every might, will and fate point spent within 12" on the roll of a 4+. Decidedly not a combat guy, but great at harassing enemy heroes and neutralising powerful abilities like Aragorn's 'Mighty Hero' rule.
  • The Tainted: One less might and fate point than standard, the Tainted also denies the stand fast and heroic action benefit for all warriors within 6" both yours and your opponents. Can also cause additional wounds to models in base contact on a 6. Not the most competitive choice, but situationally powerful
  • Note you may not take generic Ringwraiths in this list, only the above 3.
• Gulavhar, The Terror of Arnor:

• Buhrdur, Troll Chieftain:

• Shade:

• Barrow-Wight:

• Orc captain: Standard captain stat line but with low courage of 3. Wins out over named characters in the versatility of the choices available to it. Can be given an Orc bow, Warg or shield, or indeed an combination of the three. Comes with 2 might points which can be very useful in the right places. Cheap at 40 points, useful when you're on a points budget

• Orc Shaman:

• Wild Warg Chieftain:

Troops

• Dead Marsh Spectre

• Orc Warrior: Moderately naff foot troops, their main strength lies in the number of feet that they can put on the ground. Low courage, fight and defence means that these guys are not going to be around for very long but the sheer number of dice that they can roll make them a dangerous threat. Can also be a surprisingly effective speed bump when a blob is paired with an Orc shaman. Also cause terror when nearby a Spirit in an Angmar army, which can make effectively charging them difficult, especially for low courage armies.

• Wild Warg:

Cavalry

• Warg Rider: The reason why you don't want to take Wargs for Orc trackers are the Warg riders themselves. Evil cavalry extraordinaire, the Wargs are brutal, hard hitting and versatile. Low courage and rider defence is bad, but again they are cheaper than their good side equivalents. These are a very good buy with throwing spears and shields, coming to 13 points in total. This paired with the changes to thrown weapons and charges, really makes them quite nasty. Pair up with a captain or a shaman mounted on a Warg for additional lolz

Monsters

• Cave Troll: At 25 points cheaper than a Mordor troll you still get a scary monster that can do most things its big brother can can but he is slightly weaker with having defence 6, strength 6, fight value 6 and courage 3. He has access to a few different weapons though, he comes stock with a spear but can be upgraded to bring a troll chain as well. The chain is classed as a throwing weapon that has a range of 3 and hits at strength 5. Of Course he can be upgraded to bring a good old hand-and-a-half hammer if you really want to make things dead. For the price you can get them for they can work in small games and then you can bring two for the bigger 700 point games.

Allies

Convenient Allies

Moria

Smaug

Impossible Allies

The Serpent Horde

Far Harad

Corsairs of Umbar

Isengard

Sharkey's Rogues

Variags of Khand

Mordor

The Eastern Kingdoms

The Nazgul of Dol Guldur

Azog's Hunters

Azog's Legion

Goblin Town

The Trolls