The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/The Misty Mountains

Back to the list

Why Play The Misty Mountains

Pros

• Your whole army consists of flying, terrifying monsters
• high fight value and defense across the board
• When they hit, they hit hard with monstrous charge and S6 (S7 if they're historical allies)
• allies of convenience with literally every other good army outside of Radagast's Alliance, Fellowship and Thorin's merry band of dwarves (which are all historical alliances) make these feathery friends a top choice for good armies looking for some monstrous support that doesn't look like a tree.

Cons

• You have literally two different profiles, one of which is a named hero
• Nothing on this list costs less than 100pts
• Forests and other things that stop you from flying make you waddle around like overgrown ducks at 3".
• It's literally Radagast's Alliance without Radagast and Beorn.

Army Bonus

"The Eagles are coming!": Eagles models from this army list get a bonus of +1 to their Strength on a turn in which they charged.

• • This bonus is more important than it first looks since Eagles have the Monstrous Charge, which means if they charge a Cave Troll they'll knock it prone (and likely shred it) and they can also charge Fell Beasts, which will knock the Ringwraith on it off and instantly earn you 50-70 points. Just be warned that if you lose your Army Bonus you will no longer be able to do this, so be careful with them when you use allies.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Gwaihir: The Windlord is a Hero of Legend, and the mandatory character for you to take if you ever want to use Great Eagles. He's also an absolutely solid combat monster, being as tough as a Nazgûl while having Fight 8 and Heroic Strike, which allows him to win any Duel except against other Monsters, and even then he has a good chance when you remember he has 3 Might and the Monstrous Charge rule. Just remember that he should never be charged himself; if he's not bowling over enemy Heroes then it's going to be very hard for him to earn the 150 points back, and if you take him against an enemy army that has Artillery, always make sure he's near other models. The last thing you need is a rock to splat him out of the sky, causing your 150 points to go down the drain.
  • When using the Misty Mountains as allies, it's generally recommended to ally them to a list with plenty of ranged tools. The reason why is because the enemy is going to wrap up their Heroes with regular models the second Gwaihir gets on the field, and even with Heroic Combat (which you should save some Might for), his base size makes it hard for him to push past the enemy in a way that lets him engage weaker elements. The Barge Brutal Power Attack really helps in this aspect, but bows can also take away some of the bubble-wrap guarding the Heroes you really want to sic him on. Gandalf or Galadriel can also help out Gwaihir a lot thanks to Command, which can force enemy Heroes to walk out from their bodyguard (or force their bodyguard to open up enough so you can Barge your way through), allowing Gwaihir to jump on his victim.

Warriors

• Great Eagle: An oversized bird with all around great stats, though you should be careful with how many you bring. Gwaihir is mandatory, but bringing more than one Eagle is going to heavily eat into your points; two alone are likely going to be half your army, and unfortunately it's going to be much harder for them to earn their points back. You can still have a lot of fun using them, but just be aware that if you're not using allies your eagles are surprisingly easy to encircle and counter-charge, and if that happens a single bad roll will result in the Eagle being trapped, especially since they lack Might. To this end you should make sure to try and control how the enemy engages with them by using Barge and Hurl to keep enemies off their feet and bowling them into each other, and save Rend for the times when you charge into small groups.
  • Just like Gwaihir, it's generally recommended to ally them to a list with plenty of ranged tools. The reason why is because the enemy is going to wrap up their Heroes and other supporting elements with regular models the second the Eagles come, and since they lack Might your generic Eagles can't call Heroic Combats. Even with Barge, their base size makes it hard for them to push past the enemy in a way that lets them engage weaker elements, so if you're going with a mostly pure Misty Mountains army consider charging them in before Gwaihir. They can use Barge to force enemy models back then charge something out of the way to allow Gwaihir to charge in, use Barge, and then finally engage with Wizards/Ringwraiths/supporting Heroes who are hiding behind their own troops. Bows will also take out some of the chaff so that Great Eagles don't have to waste their time on them. Gandalf or Galadriel can also help out the Eagles a lot thanks to Command, which can force enemy Heroes to walk out from their bodyguard (or force their bodyguard to open up enough so you can Barge your way through), allowing Eagles to jump on their victims.
  • If you're going to use a Misty Mountains list with little to no allies, remember that Barge and Hurl can often cause more damage than attacking or using Rend normally (especially since Trapped models don't take double the attacks from Rend) because you can use Barge to push through models and/or line up models with new models. You should always be looking to cause the greatest amount of damage possible, so always be thinking outside the box as far as engagements go. If you play like how your opponent wants you to, where you can only engage one or two models at a time as they're moving to trap you, you'll likely lose. On top of this, always engage supporting elements first and foremost; Shamans, and any other model with Transfix needs to die immediately. After that take care of banners and spears, because at some point you're going to roll poorly with their Duel rolls, and when that happens you do not want them to take a dozen attacks in return (even if they're not Trapped).
  • Like Gwaihir, always keep them by allied models if you're up against Artillery. If you find yourself against a Catapult, the last thing you need is for them to get squashed by a rock, and if you're playing a near full list of Misty Mountains Eagles, you want to deal with Siege Engines ASAP. It doesn't matter how well protected they are, if you don't shut them down, you will lose.

Building your Army

Step 1. Gwaihir, your only possible hero. Step 2. As many great eagles, your only possible troop, that can fit in your list.