Hey peeps,

Just got the rulebook yesterday and had a bit of a look through it today. One of the formations that looks and sounds pretty cool is "The Nine are abroad". It seems pretty cheap to have all nine wraiths for only xxx points including all their special skills. I'm not clear on a lot of the rules as I just skimmed over that part but having mastery of x does that mean they can cast x spells per turn? If so they seem like a pretty sweet deal and I was just curious as to what other people think. Also what do people think of an army with this formation and Sauron for 1000 points? Competitively and for fun. I think it would be a fun game just to see how much devastation you could deal with them and Sauron is the coolest looking model IMO.

Cheers,
Pinky.

I left out the numbers so I don't bring the wrath of GW down on our heads!!!

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Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
Ash Nazg Thrakatulûk Agh Burzum-ishi Krimpatul.

They are a single level 10 spellcaster, so yes you could cast all 10 spells but you have to roll focus after every spell and usually focuses are on 3+ or 4+, so if you fail that you're either burning Might or not casting anymore.

As for their combat ability - they get extremely slaughtered by heroes duelling them with Epic Strike (because The 9 don't have Epic Strike).

Also, their rules are better for normal formations. In fact it is usually a far better idea to just have 4 of them (for example Khamul, Betrayer, Dark Marshal and Knight of Umbar) than have all 9 wasted inside 1 formation. So competitively they're not very good (and neither is Sauron because Legolas can shoot him down in a turn... stupid GW ).

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Coordinator of the Great British Hobbit League

Thanks for the clarification. So, good for looks but not much else!
Pity about Sauron, he should be the hardest one to kill in the game but if he can be killed in one turn that sucks big time!

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Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
Ash Nazg Thrakatulûk Agh Burzum-ishi Krimpatul.

Something else - Sauron and the 9 Are Abroad are both Legendary formations. You need at least one Common to make a legal list.

I guess it pays to read the rules properly before posting

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Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
Ash Nazg Thrakatulûk Agh Burzum-ishi Krimpatul.

Legendary Formations are rarely better than taking the Hero as an Epic (if available) and putting it in the best Rare or Common Formation you have available. It's one of the sadder aspects of balance I hope GW addresses in time. Likewise with various single-model Legendaries. Sauron, Necromancer, Glorfindel, Treebeard, pretty much all of them. They SHOULD be very powerful and stacked against Common Formations probably are, but there are so many cheap (point wise) ways of tearing thru these that they just aren't that competitive to play. Legolas, Strength From Corruption, Epic Strike, probably others I'm just not thinking of right now can all take out an H2K/VH2K very quick.

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Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

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