i was thinking about putting 1 row of heroes and uruks with shield, followed by 2 rows of pikemen, on the flanks 2 trolls and 6 beserkers.
Would the lack of archers be a big downside?
And what heroes should i bring?

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Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu

That would be very many pts in heroes, elites, and monsters

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"I will take it. I will take the Ring to Mordor...though I do not know the way."
—Frodo, at the Council of Elrond

Hmm, I wouldn't put two rows of pikes, and Trolls and bersekers are awesome shock troops, so I won't put them in the flanks, what about:
Pikes
Bersekers (So they're still intact -bows- when they arrive) and Uruks
Heroes, uruks and Trolls (these are automatiqly vieuwable for archers)
Wargs on the flanks for flanking manouvres

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We must forgive our enemies...
But not before they are hanged

What do you mean "I wouldn't put two rows of pikes" if you dont have two rows of pikes then there is no point using the pike and it might aswell be a spear. I find putting beserkers on the flank or behinde your pike block a good thing it allows them not to get shot down easily and they can come out when the fighting starts.

I agree. Shield wall followed by 2 rows of pikes would be great, you get 3 attacks with the front guy and you have a high defense. Beserkers on the flanks is also a good idea, better than trolls I think. As for heroes I would take the basic uruk captain w/ shield and heavy armour, or 2. That should be enough unless you are playing 700 + and then maybe think about taking saruman.

EDIT: I don think the lack of archers is a huge issue, considering that will have more pikes this way, so you will do more damage in the fighting. PLus your high defense front line should keep you from taking too many casualties.

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http://noddwyr.wordpress.com

i am a isengard player (obviously) and i only play isengard so i like to think that i am good at it
and i would say that u r all right, the formation is solid and the berserkers on the flank is a tactic i cant go without, but try
to put them behind your shild wall untill u r realy close to the enemy because i always find that
they attract loads of missile fire, and that if i only have a single wall of shilds then the enemy will fire into a gap in the line (aftert shooting a uruk with shild) down
at your pikes so i always put some uruks with shilds behind the first line, and i always try to put my captain on the oposite side to my berserkers to anchor the flank untill the berserkers sweep acrossthe enemys formation, causing mega carnage

how many points were u thinking about by the way ? TRY THIS !


s= uruk with shild p= uruk with pike b= berserker bb= banner bearer w= warg c= crossbow cp= captain


----W--W--W-------------------s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s--s-------------------------ccccc
-------------------------------s-----s-----s-------s--------s------s------------------------ccccc
--W--W--W--W-----------------p-cp--p---p--bb-- p-- p--p--p---p
-----------------------------------p--p--p--p--p--p--p--p--p
--W--W--W--W-----------------------------------bbbbbbbb

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spare some man flesh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PSeEuu6pW4

Are the 'b's the front or teh back of the formation

_________________
We must forgive our enemies...
But not before they are hanged

what about something like this,

s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-s
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-s
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-s
-----b-b-b-b-b----
so that if they make a gap in the front line the shields on the flanks can fill them, and i would protect my pikes from getting shot from the sides.

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Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu

Yeah i like this one the best seems like a bit 2 big a block for me but still the basic idea of it is good. Also there isnt much point of the last line of pikes as they wont be able to support anyone unless the first line dies. My friend made a good pike block once i cant really draw it on here with P's and S's because it wouldnt work but he made it so it was possible to get 5-7 attacks on one guy while still being in a pike block(and not breaking his formation).

A more effective formation is to alternate between no pike support and 2 pike support along your line, this way you don't get trapped when you lose. The lone shieldsman can then shield if you want, sometimes a banner in the middle can help to. Just watch out for Sorcerous blasts and artillery

they r both ok, but what if i were to fire all of my missile fire at one point in the formation and then keep killing your pikes (less defence)

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spare some man flesh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PSeEuu6pW4

s-s-s-s-S-s-s-s
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-s
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-s

if you shot the big S
the other shields would fill the gap like this

<------ (the front shields would move 1 step to the left)
s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s /\
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-s | (the shields on the flank would move 1 step to the front, this way the frontline stays intact)
s-p-p-p-p-p-p |

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Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu

That sounds like a interesting idea, I might try that sometime.

thats good though

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spare some man flesh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PSeEuu6pW4

IMO, the pikes are not nesessary as you can use spears in the front row anyway.
O=orc with spear

SSSSSSSSSSSS
SOOOOOOOOS
SPPPPPPPPPPS

Obviously there would be more than that many spears but you get the idea. And as protecting the flank, 2 trolls comes in as a lot of points. I would look to ally in some warg riders instead.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

thats what I ment when I said that you don't have to have 2 pike rows. But I would give those orcs maybe some shields, just in case. And allying with some wargs should work well to. I'm on with spuds4ever.

_________________
We must forgive our enemies...
But not before they are hanged

i often find that this formation should work in therie but put into practice usually the middle cant get into the fight the beserkas have to move about another two times to get into combat and ether the formatio fall apart or you get encircled

i woul go for a
s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..ss..ss
.bbbbbb.s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s..s bbbbbb
bbbbbbbppppppppppppppppppppppp bbbbbb
then move the back row of shield into the front row because youve left spaces which allow cover for pikes but can be made into 2 battle lines if say a troll attacked and you dont want pikes injured close the gaps. also the beserkas can break out easily and attack round the flanks. and remember that beserkas defence is good so dont be afraid to charge without a shield wall because lets face it defence 6 thats the same as the shield wall infront

i tried the strategy against a 600 points cav only rohan army.
i used 16 pikes, 12 shields, 2 captains, 6 beserkers, 4 xbows and vrasku
all rohans frontal attacks ended in slaugther on his side. but it didnt take long before he flanked me and started attacking my pikes.
although the beserkers would kill of the flanking calvery, they couldn't stop them from killing a couple of them.
xbows weren't usefull at all and soon ended up in close combat with some royal guards ( yes, i know that was my mistake)
i won the game with 27 / 40 uruks left. i lost 5 beserkers, 4 xbows, 2 pikes and 2 shields.
next batlle i will try to take more beserkers instead of the xbows and vrasku.
or should i take saruman?

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Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu

I don't think Saruman would be a good choice, Isengard suffer enough from being outnumbered already. That said, if your opponents favour uber-heroes he'd be a good choice.

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"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

then i will take more beserkers

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Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu