Heya all,

my buddy and I are going to do a series of escalating battles fought between Dale and Easterlings, based on the history of Dale before Smaug showed up.

Our first battle is this Saturday, and I'm running 300 points of Dale. It's a scouting scenario. I know my buddy is taking some archers so I want to keep my guys armored from long distance shooting.

I own Girion, a Captain of Dale, and three sets of Warriors of Dale, giving me 12 Spear/shield, 9 bow, 9 sword/shield.

Thematically, it doesn't seem to make sense to have Girion in a scouting force, so I was thinking two warbands, each led by a Captain.

I hope posting the point value is okay as the Dale points were publicly released.

Warband 1
Captain of Dale (w/ shield) (finecast)
5 x Warriors of Dale w/ bow
3 x Warriors of Dale w/ spear & shield
1 x Warriors of Dale w/ sword & shield
2 x Warriors of Dale w/ sword

Warband 2
Captain of Dale (w/ shield) (plastic "leader" model)
2 x Warrior of Dale w/ bow
5 x Warriors of Dale w/ spear & shield
5 x Warriors of Dale w/ sword & shield

300 points, 2 Heroes, 23 infantry (7 bow), 4 Might

My plan would be to deploy the bow-heavy warband 1 on my flank with the least amount of terrain to give the archers a lot of shots, with the spear and shield guys serving as a reserve. Warband 2 would deploy as my center and the 2 archers would take shots of opportunity (perhaps trying for lucky shots to reduce enemy character Fate) before the captain and main bulk of my army engaged. I'll try to keep the reserves from Warband 1 close enough so that if my Warband 2 is charged first, the Warband 1 captain can charge w/ reserves to peel off multiple combatants.

Any opinions? I know Dale is a bit limited so there's probably not much I can do, especially keeping it "historically accurate/themed" to the scenario we're going to play.

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"Special thanks to Judgedoug!"-Alessio Cavatore
"Now you've gone too far Doug! Too far... "-Rick Priestley

Given the limited forces available to dale, and the limited number of models available to you, I think you have a good variety.

To add some more variety to your games (if you want), speak with your friend and see if he is willing to permit you to "build" a hero using the battle company rules.

Hey there JudgeDoug first things first. The moderators have forbidden us from posting points totals for anything smaller then a single warband for legal reasons. Something about it being copyrighted information by GW or something to give out points values for individual models. So if you could edit your post accordingly before an admin spots it you'll save yourself some trouble.

Now about the list. I guess it looks good but as you said there is not much to do with so few troop options. I would advise against relying on bow fire to carry the day for you though since the easterlings have better armor then you they are likely to win a shootout if you start with similar numbers of guys. I think your best bet would be to form a wedge and run right at them from the start to make the most of your higher fight.

On a theme note I would like to point out that the models and stats we got are for a Dalish town guards or a city watch of some sort and are not likely to be the really righting force of dale itself. To that end you might consider using allies to represent the better armed and more diverse sort of military they should have at their disposal, the fiefs of Gondor perhaps. Just a thought.

Also the above guy is wrong about the 33% spread per warband; its for your entire contingent of a given faction.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Dale its similar to Numenor with less heroe flexibility, so think of Numenorian tactics with medium/low rohan heroe capacity (all on foot)

Heya guys, I edited the points out. Thought it'd be okay since Dale stats and points were released online by GW, no problem.

Not a bad idea about mixing some Gondor Feifdom stats in there, but what I was planning to do for expanding the list was add Erebor (warriors & grim hammers lead by Erebor captain & grim hammer captain) as Erebor and Dale fought extensively together.

So you guys think I should swap out a bow or two for sword/shield guys? (same points)

_________________
"Special thanks to Judgedoug!"-Alessio Cavatore
"Now you've gone too far Doug! Too far... "-Rick Priestley

You also never go wrong with spears. Shield and spear is a great tactic, and one you for sure will face if you're fighting easterlings.

he will win more combats than the easterlings (if they dont purchase the black dragon upgrade) but he will habe extremely hard time to pierce easterling armour where majority relie on D6, the archers you will hardly get em cause you got no cav, but you can try out to pop some shoots at them.

Make sure to use all the Dale weapons avail if possible.
Also if you wish, converting some Dale´s swordmen to wield axes ain´t all out of question as Dale garrison has been geared with dwarven weaponry and armour I wouldn´t see far 2 odd to take axes and therefore helping your infantry piercing strike easterling heavy armours allowing you to fight em off in a more even killing rate.

Okay, so with your suggestions in mind - less bow, more spear, what do you think of

Warband 1
Captain of Dale (w/ shield) (finecast)
4 x Warriors of Dale w/ bow
6 x Warriors of Dale w/ spear & shield


Warband 2
Captain of Dale (w/ shield) (plastic "leader" model)
2 x Warrior of Dale w/ bow
6 x Warriors of Dale w/ spear & shield
4 x Warriors of Dale w/ sword & shield

298 points, 2 Heroes, 22 infantry (6 bow), 4 Might

That uses all 12 of my spear/shield models, still gives me a couple bow shots, but overall a little more armored/defensive.

_________________
"Special thanks to Judgedoug!"-Alessio Cavatore
"Now you've gone too far Doug! Too far... "-Rick Priestley

Personally, I think that is a better spread.

So that begs the question... do you all think Dale is worth expanding to 500 points? With the addition of another box of guys and Girion? Or are they too limited to make 500 exciting?

I bought Erebor allies: a box of Grim Hammers, Warriors of Erebor, Grim Hammer captain, Thrain, and young Dwalin to add to the Dale garrison to bring it to at least 750 level, but I'm torn between leaving my Dale force at it's current level or adding a bit more.

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"Special thanks to Judgedoug!"-Alessio Cavatore
"Now you've gone too far Doug! Too far... "-Rick Priestley

There is nothing wrong with expanding Dale. You may have to modify the minis though. As mentioned earlier, you could do some weapon swaps. Make an axe regiment, a club regiment, a staff regiment. Dale in and of itself has no special abilities with very few exceptions (Girion). With that being the case, if you want to expand it you have 2 options:
1. include Battle companies so you can make your own captains
2. perform a variety of weapon swaps on your dalish warriors so the army has more options during the match.

If you expand by adding allies, another viable choice, you gain a third option:
3. Dwarves of Erebor.

You are also hinting at a problem which also plagues numenor, there isn't enough variety within the culture. Numenor and Dale played cameo roles in the films therefore the amount of usable source material (the films) is limited. With that being said, both Numenor and Dale were blank canvases for GW. GW's license included the right to expand underdeveloped cultures as they did with the Haradrim and Easterlings. In my opinion, they missed some real profit potential there. Cavalry, for example, was never developed for Numenor or Dale.

So maybe adding an allied Erebor Warband...

Warband 3
Grim Hammer Captain
4 x Grim Hammers
2 x Warriors of Erebor w/ Shield
6 x Warriors of Erebor w/ Spear
186 points, 1 Hero, 12 infantry, 2 Might

to my existing Dale force would be a good way to buff it with some high Defense and Courage. Plus with the extra points, I can add two Archers back into Warband 1, giving me 8 bows in 500 points (36 infantry models), or swap out a Captain of Dale for Girion.

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"Special thanks to Judgedoug!"-Alessio Cavatore
"Now you've gone too far Doug! Too far... "-Rick Priestley

For those interested in how the battle fared for my 300 pt list, my opponent posted a batrep: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31995

_________________
"Special thanks to Judgedoug!"-Alessio Cavatore
"Now you've gone too far Doug! Too far... "-Rick Priestley