General tactical force composition on Angmar...

OK a force of say 750-1000pts-ish...

Witch-King
- like him a lot, very powerful, but (a quirk of mine) I rarely take the 'big leader' in my forces, as I still think SBG as a skirmish between small forces and such a leader would only present themselves in the biggest of battles...

So which wraith is best.... Dwimmerlaik or Tainted? And why?

At which point would you bring in the 'big guns'; Ghulavar, Bhurdur? Are they worth the points? You can get an orc captain and a whole warband of orcs for their costs, which also bumps up your break point...

Shade - I like!

Spectres - useful - they can move things about
- artillery crews away from the weapons, spear supports away from the front line fighters etc etc

Barrow Wight ???? 50 pts (10 pts more than an orc captain) are they worth it? 5 goes at 4+ to get a paralyze within 6" ... useful if it works but I am still undecided... I'll try one out in game tonight...

Trolls - hmm, usually get transfixed/immobilised and then cut down.... not sure I am keen on these.

Solid core of orc infantry, with tracker archer missile support, and warg-rider cavalry to protect/exploit flanks...

Any other thoughts / experiences?

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www.scottswargaming.blogspot.com

Well I'v played against Angmar a bit and learned that you need a strong hero in your force or it will get cut down fast.Also, for the question aout Dwimmarlaik or Tainted I would take Tainted because of his ability, so he can pratically run into the middlle of a battle and have a slight chance of killing everything or he will kill at least 2 people. Also you can use him as an asssasin because of his rule.Barrow wights are usefull if your opponent has a big mean hero that just won't go down.Ghulavar is just too much points and hes kind of weak in my oppinion.Budhur can easily crush his point cost and even get more. Trolls in an Angmar army are usually good since Angmar dosnt have that much heavy hitting power(compared to the others). Orcs are a must since they can mass at pretty low points which really helps an Angmar army. Orc trackers are good at orc standards. Wargs will help alot. But you might need some dead marsh scepters because of their special rule. The Witch King is questionabe when you have another ringwraith in your army but does a pretty good job hunting down most units.

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If you don't let me in, Frodo, I shall blow your door right down your hole and out through the hill-Gandalf

The Witch King doesn't have to be fully tooled up, he can be kept the same points as any of the other named wraiths. The idea that he would only be at the biggest battles is not accurate. He was at Weathertop twice with just a few other Nazgul in tow when he fought Gandalf and later when he stabbed Frodo. Those were pretty small skirmishes.

I like the WK, the crown makes him dangerous even when un-horsed (or un-fellbeasted) and he has 'Your Staff Is Broken' which can really ruin a Wizard's game.

I would take the Dwimmerlaik over the Tainted (The Tainted is a much nicer sculpt though) as his ability to make your opponent spend extra might mitigates Angmar's relative lack of might. Shades are expensive and have no might, Wights have no might, Orc captains only have 2 might and the few 3-mighters are expensive.

If I took spectres I wouldn't target powerful heroes with high courage, I'd target the warriors around them. When you have priority move 3 enemy warriors into equidistant base contact with the hero, trapping them (models can't move through bases, not even friendly ones). The -1 courage bubble from your wraith should help with this, especially if it's the Dwimmerlaik making heroic moves with the hero fail.

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Titans Wargames Club

http://s10.zetaboards.com/The_Titans/index/

Any Troll with Might is great, and Burdhur has almost always been worth it, whether I'm using him or on the receiving end.

I've also had fun with Gulavhar. In old LoME games, because he's a bit soft, I used to screen him paired with bats, but with the new deployment rules you tend to be within range of your enemy much more quickly. The last game we played with him he was within range of Faramir's mounted warband right away, and with the help of some wargs distracting the Knights, he ate up Faramir in a couple of turns.

The Shade is great as well, for obvious reasons, and I've been on the receiving end of Barrow-wights...not fun.

The problem here is you almost have too many good choices, but they're all expensive. In 750 points you might take Burdhur (or a lesser Witch King) and the Shade, then you need basic orcs and their captains to round out your numbers. It's hard to fit Gulavhar into anything less than 1000 points, unless he's the leader of an Angmar/Moria alliance.

I'm not a fan of spectres, mostly because any decent army needs a hornblower these days, and that neutralizes the wraith bubble (for a while), but Damian gives good advice on how to use them if you take them.

Many thanks for your thoughts and replies...here's how last nights game went:
http://scottswargaming.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/reconnoitre-lotr-sbg-battle-report.html

Cheers
Scott

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www.scottswargaming.blogspot.com

Nice report, thanks for posting. Seems like a pretty good army. I dare say your opponent picked too small a force to use Aragorn, but...

It's clarified in the FAQ that for Reconnoitre, running the model off the board does not count towards casualties.

Many thanks.
Ah thats interesting, and makes sense too, thanks again.

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www.scottswargaming.blogspot.com