Hello there everyone! I am new to the Forums and I would like some help with this 650pt army list.
I will be playing against high elves and he will definitely be including Gil-Galad with shield on armoured horse and a Numenorean captain with lance and shield on horse.
(note. In our gaming group we still use the lotr rulebook and follow the lome army guidelines instead of the warbands rules, but we use the warband bow limits and profiles)
And with that in mind here it is!


Heroes
Amdûr, Lord of Blades, on armoured horse
Easterling captain, with shield
Easterling captain, with halberd
Orc Taskmaster,

Troops
12 Easterlings, with shield
12 Easterlings, with bow
9 Easterlings, with pike and shield

1 Mordor Orc, with banner
2 Mordor Orc, with orc bow
2 Mordor Orc, with two-handed weapon
4 Mordor Orc, with spear
4 Mordor Orc, with shield

650pts, 9 might, 50 models, 14 bows.

Can anyone see how this can be improved? Thoughts will be appreciated.

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

By the way, what is better in your opinion, Lome or Warbands

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

Bit the bullet and switched to warbands!

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

first, you remove the points from your post. You cannot post any model's point cost.

to answer your question about LOME and warbands, I like warbands the most: the game is somewhat faster and the warband sistem puts a limit on horde armies (there are still lots of horde armies, but at least is more difficult to find 100 goblins lead by one captain and so on).

as for your army, I'd try to fit in some cavalry. If you know you are playing against high elves and numenor, your opponent will only field infantry and that something to take advantage of. Use Amdur to lead cavalry, Black Dragons cavalry (that will allow your esterling to match at least the numeneoreans fight value, giving them better chances against them). That should be enough to crush the numenoreans.


Drop the mordor orcs with bows and pick trackers.

I'm not a fan of esterling bowfire, but numbers the fact that you don't use the new rulebook will help. (right now is almost useless, with 5+ to hit when moving and 6 to score a wound against almost anything worth shooting)

thanks for a reply, to my understanding you are allowed to post points cost, but not profiles (if a moderator tells me, I will take them down asap, promise ) Thankfully our group has just switched over to warbands
but we are still keeping the lotr rules, as we think they are far superior to the Hobbit rules. By the way, how many trackers do you think would be good for my army?

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

I would suggest to get an easterling war priest since you got alot easterlings, those channeled fury will keep your troops and heroes alive for a bit longer.
Also like Dikey said, you need Cav as Gil Galad is nastier mounted you need something to even remove their cav buffs.

According to what you say you will only fight against 1 numenorian captain?Then the black dragon upgrade will be useless....

I suppose those orcs are cannon fodder cause otherwise they are bad...courage 2 will hardly get a hold on Gil Galad cause he causes terror

Great idea about the warpriest! I will try and get one as soon as possible. Although on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 be useless and 10 being a must) how necessary do you think he is for my force? With the cavalry, do you think I should get khandish cavalry or Kataphrakts?

Yes, the orcs are partly for cannon fodder, but I also like having some cheap models to support my archers when they get into combat, and the extra spears are nice as well.

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

1/10 how much is needed a priest? you got 33 easterlings I would rate it 8/10... the channeled fury that gives em auto pass courage test and ignore wounds on a 5+ seems invaluable.. Your easterlings benefit 1 thing that [word deleted] off elves, having D6 making the elves needing 6s to wound.... a 5+ channeled ignore a wound can prove great to save some lives....

For every 6 easterlings that die you save 2 of em normally.. soo lets say of 18 the enemy will need 24 wounds in average to wipe out the 18 guys...

For this army do you think it would be better to pick up the khandish warriors boxset or the 6 easterling kataphrakts?

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

Youre asking 2 diferent role units.


Khandish warriors are the majority composed of elite fighting units, they all have at least fight 4 and seems pretty decent for the cost since they ain´t much expensive.
Even their King got an impressive Fight value of 6 unlike regular Gondor king´s and even count as a banner as price included so its very nice. They do get acess to a unique unit in the game as well, the chariot. A thing that allow you to gain advantage even vs cavalry seems great, also allows you to shoot even if you move full distance on its also great. The downside of Khand is that they are squishy as the majority goes around the basic orc defence and they are limited somesort of the weapons they can take on the field.
Thx to the FaQ Easterling Kingdoms can take up to half the army with bows meaning yu can take alot easterling bows but this also makes Khand armies playable.

The Easterling kataphrakts got another role. They are your heavy battleshock units, they are nasty to hit on enemy lines and like their foot bretheren, they are very heavily armoured in which makes hard to kill. They have another big advantage, well 2 big advantages unlike most of the other races cavalry.... They got heavy armoured horse in which makes them also highly durable steeds. The other advantage its an unique thing they can get, a drummer. Cav that move 13" to cross around the field although cant charge? It can be interesting and make em highly mobile. (this can prove nasty if you use the drum for example nearby chariots as they move 13" they can still shoot :P
Although at start you might seem Khand warriors are more professional elite warriors, buy the black dragons upgrade and the kataphrakts get at the same rate but with better courage value.

So in all a pure sided force can be interesting, but you gain far more funny combinations if you mix easterlings and Khand.


What I would take to fight the elves?


Easterling Warrior Priest on armoured horse
Amdur lord of Blades on armoured horse
9 easterlings with shield
9 easterlings with shield and pike
9 easterlings with bow
1 easterling with banner and shield
5 easterling kataphrakts
1 easterling kataphrakts with war drum
8 khandish horsemen

models: 44
might: 4

This is prob what I would take, I know its low on might but you got alot of numbers right there....

What my main question is at the moment is if foot khand or Kataphrakts would go better against high elves? Also, do you think it would be worth adding a drummer
or a banner kataphrakt, or even both?

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

If the enemy get the majority on foot get Kataphracts, on the charge they get 2A (advantage) if they knock back stuff its 4x chances to wound an elf, which balance the odds in your favour vs fighting something with higher fight value.
khand wont benefit much as youre paying 8pts (mainly for fight 4 and two handed) - fight 4 its useless vs elves, 2 handed its situational.
Also Kataphracts thrown into Gil galad can nullify his charge bonus vs infantry.

Thanks for all the help you’ve been giving me, I have been persuaded to get some Kataphrakts. With the options that are included in the kataphrakts boxset, what options do you think would be best for my force. Also, do you think it would be worth giving the Black Dragon upgrade? And is there anything that says that you can’t have a dismounted drummer?

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Currently painting: 12 warriors of Minas Tirith, Beregond

Lets see out of the box:

You can make 5 + a captain (a banner and a drummer) easily...
I dont recommend the drummer unless you really need that.
The drummer is an wargear option listed for them (war drum).
This is an exception to other armies drummers where in most cases its an hero that carry it. (in a way can be good as you spend like 29pts rather than 40 although you dont have multiple wounds nor fate point)

Against elves its almost worthless the black dragon upgrade unless to charge terror cause models or when the army breaks as you got courage 4 meaning you got a slight better chances to stick around....
This can be mitigated if you got a priest around with fury though as units within the fury range are immune to courage tests(they are fearless)