Grand Army of Angmar (WoTR)

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:36 am

PS, I JUST got the Ruin of Arnor book and it made me hate Gulhavar all the more. Decent concept, silly execution...

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:52 pm

Lord Hurin wrote:

Xelee wrote:

FWIW, I really like 20pt bow. I think they are good troops for their cost and fit easily neatly into the Angmar list. That stated, since I have no Goblins, I converted up some Siegebows with Carn Dum crew...

Yeah, I've always had a "you get what you pay for" outlook on most things (though I wish the game designers did too...) so for a 60pt formation, I'm not expecting devastation. I'd just rather have Goblin archers than, say, Haradrim ones or crossbowmen.

I admire your dedication to a theme while trying to maximize the playability of the list.

I really believe that Angmar can be a formidable WotR force when built around the Battlehost featuring the spirit forces. You can still pack in as many other Angmar forces as you want, but the ability to leverage the Shade's special rule without risk to your Battlehost-included forces can really put the hurt on someone. Epic Strike only works for you now, so you can bring along lowly Captains with far less fear of duels (in fact, that Captain becomes a formidable Dueler now), and even your basic troops will have a number of extra dice to use against your foes due to your higher Fight value.

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:54 pm

Damn, I guess I'm gonna have to get that book now eh? The way things are looking now, it seems I may have more Wargames Factory minis in the army than GW ones! So far I have enough for:

-2 Ringwraiths
-3 Companies of Ghostly Legion
-2 or 3 Companies of Spectres
and when my WGF minis come in
-2x 6 Companies of Barbarians of Carn Dum
-6 Companies of Orcs (should I do shields or 2-handed?)

Xelee · **Posted:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:15 am

Lord Hurin, that battlehost really helps a unit mix that struggled without it.

However, Ringwraiths, Carn Dum Barbarians, and 2HW Orcs (these are brilliant with WOT and Strength from Corruption), along with a bit of missile fire, make for a solid army. Even with the battlehost, I prefer that model over the battlehost one.

Hydraface · **Joined:** Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:23 pm **Posts:** 63

I ave much experience playing against Angmar! I've found that the lack of units is their serious downfall, along with the conditional effectiveness of a lot of units. If the other guy's got a lot of hig C units, all that spirit grasping's not going to amount to much.

If you wanna use Gulavhar and Buhrdur (A great idea really, since they hit hard and are both very cheap for what they can do in the game) but don't like the models, some simple convertin' should do the trick. Make an Isengard Troll look a bit more rugged and bad-ass, and you have Buhrdur (must admit, I always found the actual model for The uber-troll to be too short). Maybe Gulavhhar could be a twisted and demented Great Eagle? It's just going with what the 40k (I think) book suggests, which is that, if you like the model and fluff for a hero, cool. If not, get creative and convert a model to suit you.I doubt anyone would mind. Just a thought if you really do wanna field either of 'em.

For Warewolves, Genestealers (40k), modified with Warg heads, with stippled modelling putty for fur and torn shirts on their back looks AMAZING! I'll try to get a pic soon. If you go for this, you need a custom base 'cos they won't fit in a normal one. Having said that, I've faced these things twice, and haven't had too much trouble sending them packing with tail between legs. They do seem great on paper, but I dunno, haven't seemed to do so well on the field in my experience.

The Carn Dum are easy as anything to paint up (Battlehosts shows Ghostly legion painted differently!), or could be a cool conversion project (If I remember from the books, they're the undead, corporeal but eternally living Humans who are becoming ghosts. Could be wrong). Again, I'[ve faced them and found them a bit lacking in competitiveness.

I wrote a batrep recently that expressed some of my thoughts about Angmar as I pitted my Mordor against the scary undead hordes. I certainly hope you can pull it off! I'd love to know how your Angmar force fares. They're a cool army for a lot of reasons (if you do field ghosts, it's like having two armies; with a bit of tweaking, they can be Gondor!), generally considered a bit underpowered. I hope your spooky horde kicks butt!

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 5:16 pm

Regarding the comments about Spirit Grasp not amounting to much against High Courage models, I would argue that for most of those High Courage models, they have an equal or even higher Defense value. So Spirit grasp does in fact let you attack them easier than normally. There are also a lot of relatively accessible ways for Evil to bring down the Courage of a key formation before attacking it.

My Dol Guldur army is a mix of Mordor allied with Angmar for spirits (can't quite get it they way I think it should be due to the 25% rule but at least it's close). I've taken it against Galadrhim and Dwarves, each high Courage and high Defense units. I assure you the Spirit Grasp forces did well against their foes. If they didn't get any negative Courage modifiers they were still hitting a Courage value a couple points less than their Defense, and if I was able to bring some evil magic to bear in advance then I'd get a few more kills in there. Top it off with the fact that they are all Terror causing and yes, even Elves can occasionally fail a Terror roll, and you can get some extra advantages.

I think sometimes people look for the BIG bonuses and advantages. Spirit Grasp isn't that. What it is though is a reasonable advantage that, if played well, can have big results.

I like the idea of converting up one of the plastic Trolls to serve as a Buhrdur replacement. I've been thinking about how to make him look more unique and menacing and I think that's a great idea. Likewise with the Gulavhar thought. A long time ago I looked up some references to Vampires in Middle Earth and it did talk about "bat like" or something like that. But I'm not too sure about Gulavhar model. I'd have to give some thought to a "corrupted eagle" or such but it's an interesting thing to consider. I think I'd have to wait for a Finecast Eagle to give that a try though. Doing that much work on a metal model to rough him up and make him look suitably "evil" would take an eternity (for me).

gaarew · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 5:21 pm

Beowulf03809 wrote:

Likewise with the Gulavhar thought. A long time ago I looked up some references to Vampires in Middle Earth and it did talk about "bat like" or something like that. But I'm not too sure about Gulavhar model. I'd have to give some thought to a "corrupted eagle" or such but it's an interesting thing to consider. I think I'd have to wait for a Finecast Eagle to give that a try though. Doing that much work on a metal model to rough him up and make him look suitably "evil" would take an eternity (for me).

Heresy do a Vampire in bat form, granted, it might look small on a 60mm base, but it could make a nice pseudo diorama for a centrepiece model

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:32 pm

Sweet. I can see that as a little more in line with PJ's interpretations of the works than GWs. I like some of the alternate paint schemes on him. If you work on a diorama-style base for him with suitable terrain and/or victim model he could be a very good stand in. I'm not familiar with their model line personally. Would he be about the same size as a GW man figure (not counting the wings)?

gaarew · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:03 pm

Yeah, pretty much. Putting him on a 60mm base would obviously stop the wings from hanging out over the edge, and create a much more stable platform for him.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:34 pm

On the archers front, why not use orc archers as they have a greater range, you don't need a higher movement/prowlers etc on archers. Unless you don't have models for them of course.

Grand Army of Angmar (WoTR)

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