How shall I make my opponents fear the oncoming doom? I play evil, Mordor primarily with some Harad and Moria. Even have some Easterlings. As the servants of The Eye are generally more numerous than the weak and disorganized "Free Peoples" they tend to have rather good armour and/or fight. I primarily fight against the accursed elves and the failing men of Gondor and so you can see where I am often outclassed on a one on one basis. They will often take up the basic tactic of Thermopylæ and stick themselves between terrain and dare me to break through. This obviously proves problematic. Of course, were I to sweep around and attack the rear I could crush them. This would be made even easier with the pike wielding Gondorians as I believe pikes get a -1 to fights like a two handed weapon? Even if they don't they cannot carry both pikes and shields so it would be easier all around.
How shall I accomplish this? Do I unleash wargs? They are fight 3 but the wargs get to fight too and they are strength 4! They are also pretty cheap at 12 points for an body and mount. Sadly, no option for lance. What about the Morgul Knights? They are fight 4 and so have a better chance of winning the fight and come with lances so the turn they charge they get a bonus on the dice! If there is a counter attack their terror will help mitigate that. Sadly, they are are 20pts. Lastly I have Haradrim Raiders. While the costs went up I can field them with or without bows so they don't automatically count against my limit. They are also cheap and can be fielded with lances! The stats they have are the weakest of the three. Their fight is like the wargs and so is their defense. They also have low strength like the Knights, though can also have lances. The thing they have going for them is they are cheap and can have lances. Any counter charge will eat them up though.
I am open to buying other cavalry as I do love them.
I also am wondering what kind of a hero I should bring. Should I leave them to attack alone and hope they do well or should I invest some points in having somebody to lead and lend their might to. I do love the Nazgûl and those are the only mounted heroes I have, but again, I am open to acquiring others. I have a basic mounted ringwraith that I could upgrade with some might and bring out powers for pretty cheap. I also have the Dark Marshall and his long range banner effect. It will likely affect the fights on either side of the mêlée. Lastly I have possibly my favorite one of all. The Dwimmerlaik, because I like screwing up people's plans and not having friends!
So...as my first post, I implore you, what would be best? It is probably relevant to point out we generally play rather large games.

Lithium, welcome to the One Ring!

If you are using the Fallen Realms Sourcebook (providing you are using sourcebooks at all) then I would personally go with a semi-elite cavalry of evil men. Morgul knights for the hard-hitters, Easterling Kataphracts (sp?) for the 'generic troops,' and Haradrim Raiders or Khandish Variags for bow-equipped nuisances. If you feel like using bow-armed troops.

As for the hero, personally, I would get a few dragon knights or equivalent caliber heroes in there for the actual fighting, while using Wraiths for the "commander" equivalents of the troops, to call heroic moves and such. The Knight of Umbar, Khamul, and the Witch King are all capable of taking care of themselves in combat, but the Dwimmerlaik might benefit you by minimizing enemy countercharge. Particularly if you team him up with Gothmog on warg (which, if you are using warg riders, I personally think you should use) because it could be very painful for the enemy to call a heroic move at that rate. Also, War Priests could be good if you decide to use Easterlings (providing they can have horses- sadly, I don't remember off the top of my head). The Mouth of Sauron is a nifty addition of a little extra hitting power, with a few transfixes to boot.

My cavalry experience has always been mostly with Dol Amroth and Rohan, where I have found that a mix of heavy cavalry and light cavalry can work well- but have a plan in case they go Thermopylae on you. Playing evil by way of Isengard, I know the usefulness of forming the pincushion of death.

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

Gondorians don't have pikes, they have spears so they can fight two ranks deep not three and pikemen don't get a -1 in their dice to win a fight.

Hello and welcome
I should state that I am no expert on that area and I am just telling you my opinion on your problem and what I would probably do if I were you.
1)Taking a mumak or two and fill them with bowmen will help you a bit.The trample ability will destroy your opponents and it will force them to scatter.With these you will be the bully of the battle and you will just move the beasts But on the downside they are a nightmare every time they get wounded if you dont pass the courage test.
2)If you want something more sturdy i would really consider the Easterlings kataphrakts.They have the same strength/defence stats like most of the good cavalry(only the knights of dol amroth have one defence point more than them) and they are 14 points a piece(dol amroth knights are 19).They have armored horses too so you can have better chances to save your horses(like the dol amroth knights) and thus your cavalry.So you can make a pretty good force with them. Also if you combine them with the dwimmerlaik(you said you like playing with him) then every time you charge with the cavalry and him you have a lot of chances to drain your enemies from might/will/fate points very easily since you will be moving constantly and attacking their weak points and you will try to make them spend those points to save their troops.


I hope I helped you a bit Tell me what you think of these solutions.

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éala éarendel engla beorhtast, ofer middangeard monnum sended

True, but fiefdoms have pikes, maybe he was using "Gondor" in the broadest sense.

I like wargriders because they're cheap and effective and the warg might stick around if the rider is slain, but a lance is better than S4. Really, any of the suggestions are viable, it just depends on what flavour you want. Gothmog can be effective, but I'm not sure he's worth his points, and you really have to keep him away from Good heroes. For leading wargs I'm partial to Sharku, but maybe that's because he was the first evil hero I bought

If you take Easterling Kataphrakts, I would always give them the Black Dragon upgrade. It lets you min more fights against Gondor and tie against elite Gondorians and dwarves. It also gives you a much better chance of sticking around if something bad happens.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

If you want fear then I would say go for morgul knights. Quite intimidating models and lots of armour for some unstoppable indestructability. Also lances and FV4 for hitting power.

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'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Thank you. I think I will try some games with my warg riders first as they are the cheapest points wise. I'm thinking that 2 points for throwing spears might be helpful. I'm going to hold off, for at least a few games, from fielding my Morgul Knights or purchasing the Easterling cavalry.

I knew there was a downside for using pikes but it was the inabity to use shields not any dice penalty. I was thinking "Gondor" in a broad sense of Kingdoms of Men. Dol Amroth, correct?

The Mumak would be a great addition but definitely not one I will be getting just yet. Still pretty awesome.

I think for my purposes the Warg riders will serve my purpose of getting behind the lines the best. They are cheap enough that I will not cry about any deaths that incur unless they fail to complete their mission.

I wouldn't use throwing spears on warg riders, they never pay back their pts.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Consider Serpent Riders; at only 13 points, you get F4 and lances, and a handy little poison rule. Easy to convert from Haradrim Raiders. With the shorter distances of Warbands, all that expensive armor against arrows is not as vital as under LOME.

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"make me lunch... worthy of Mordor"