The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Barad-Dur

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Why Play Mordor?

Because you always enjoyed pulling the wings off flies as a child and some people just enjoy watching the world burn… Also flying ghosts.

Pros:

• Sensationally powerful heroes who can be taken in different combinations to fulfil virtually any tactical situation. Will always be a competitive choice.
• Orcs (and their lives) are cheap. Spend them quickly
• Best magic offence in the game
• Decent variety of monsters at your beck and call, some of which have might to back up their brawn

Cons

• Low courage for the majority of your army means that a broken Mordor fOrce is usually a defeated Mordor fOrce. This is somewhat mitigated by the army bonus, although when things start to go wrong they will often carry on that way.
• Those competitive heroes? Prepare to pay a fortune for them in points
• Basic Orc does very little very well besides exist in large numbers

Army Bonus

“The power of the ring could not be undone”- Your army is immune to Breaking while Sauron is above 3 wounds. When he reaches 3 wounds, it breaks as normal, and if he dies, your army immediately counts as being broken. Additionally, Sauron increases his warband size to 24.

Not too bad overall, fairly straightforward and easy to remember - big bonus for orc spam as their crappy courage 2 is helped no end by the breaking immunity. However, beware an enemy who focuses all his shooting and all his heroes onto Sauron exclusively; once he’s dead your army falls apart, even if he’s the only model you’ve lost.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Sauron, the Dark Lord: The Big Bad Bastard himself - can kill anything in the game as easily as squashing a bug; overpowered, overpriced and oversized. Seriously, he can outfight Aragon and outcast Gandalf simultaneously. Everything about this big metal dickhead is dialled up to eleven. Interestingly, he represents both your greatest asset and greatest risk - if he lives, you win. If he dies, you lose. Simple as that.

• 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 choose 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. A thoroughly solid leader for Mordor, but though needs to be given as to what exactly he is to be used for, and then tailoring appropriately

• Shelob: A cheap monstrous creature for the armies of Mordor, Shelob is a very situational creature. Charging as a monstrous mount, she can knock down cavalry models and gains an extra attack when charging, she also causes terror and can move her full distance whatever is in her way. However, her paltry 1 attack with no might and a chance to run away after every wound renders her a mediocre choice at best. 90 pts is nice and cheap for a monster, but there are far better ways to spend your cash.

• 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: A 50pt wizard that seems tailor made to sort out the main weakness of the Mordor armies – low courage. Cast their signature 'Fury' spell and all Orcs within 6" pass courage tests automatically and ignore wounds on a 6 (5+ if channelled). His spear also allows him to support Orcs from the middle of a phalanx. An extremely useful character.

• Orc Drummer: 30 points for an orc that lets your orcs move faster. He can basically call a better heroic march each turn without spending might, but it only affects your orcs. Unfortunately he can't bring any warriors. A good support model in the right list, but is probably better in mordor.

• Back Númenórean Marshal: A captain of Minas Tirith (stat wise) that causes terror. He's okay, but there are better choices in the Mordor army.

• Mordor Orc Taskmaster: An Orc captain with one less might, but comes equipped with a 2" range S1 throwing weapon, his strength comes with his ability to grant free heroic move, march and shoot to allied heroes from the same army list (including himself) within 6" on a 4+. 50pts is not that pricey, but his worth is dependent on having other heroes, so in Barad-Dur he should probably be saved for larger games. If you use him, remember to play this at full volume

• Mordor troll Chieftain: Very dangerous terror causing monster with three S7 attacks and a high defence. A steal at 140 points, begin your recruitment drive today.

Troops

• 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.

• Orc Tracker: Worse in combat than other Orcs and with an extremely low defence of 3, the Orc trackers are a slightly better shot with a 4+ value. These are some of the most cost effective shooting evil players have access to. They're more cost effective than crossbow Uruk-hai and Harad with poisoned arrows. Don't bother with normal Orcs with bows or giving these Wargs, just sit them back and pick off a few things.

• Black Númenórean: The men of Mordor swing between very good and very bad. Regrettably, these guys are very bad. Costing 9pts a piece their low strength and lack of options is a pretty bad feature. They do nothing that the Morgul knights do not do far better and even their terror is less effective for guys on foot than the knights. Good as bodyguards for the Mouth of Sauron or a Ringwraith, but then so are Mordor Uruk Hai or Morannon Orcs, who can do more damage.

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 Gothmog, a captain or a shaman mounted on a Warg for additional lolz

• Morgul Knight: Another Gondor analogue, this time using the Knights of Dol Amroth. Their heavy armour and shields give them a good survivability and 18 points prices them competitively as well. Causing terror is a boon, and the ability to take a war horn is great as it makes your cowardly Orcs less likely to turn tail. Damn good and well worth the points

Monsters

• Mordor Troll: High strength, high defence, high fight and three attacks. Now with a full compliment of different weapon upgrades, all hand-and-a-half weapons as well! You get to choose between a hammer, a club and a sword. The bonus from the sword is greatly diminished with the army bonus. Hammer would seem the best, as knocking the target prone is always good. Worth including at least one in every force, although don't bother with the drum upgrade. It's awful.

Siege Weapons

• Mordor Siege Bow: A good source of high strength shots, but with vulnerable crew and less damage output than the catapult, I'm afraid that the siege bow just doesn't cut the mustard. The 5+ shoot is what really kills it, as its conceivable that some unlucky dice means that it could miss every single shot it has in the game and never cause a problem for your enemy. And 50 points before upgrades is a tad pricey for that.

• Mordor War Catapult: Everything the siege bow isn't. Very expensive and highly effective against everything on the battlefield. If the troll is in base contact with catapult, you can re-roll to hit and scatter rolls. With 4+ shoot and Str10 you'll most likely kill what you point it at.

Allies

Historical Allies

·None –

Convenient Allies

·Desolator of the North –

Impossible Allies

·Angmar –

·Azog's Hunter –

·Azog's Legion –

·Barad-Dûr –

·Corsairs of Umbar –

·Dark Denizens of Mirkwood –

·Dark Powers of Dol Guldor –

·The Easterlings –

·Far Harad –

·Goblin Town –

·Isengard –

·Moria –

·The Serpent Horde –

·Sharkey's Rogues –

·Variags of Khand –

·The Trolls –