Hi everybody,

I've been playing some games with my Minas Morgul army leaded by The Shadow Lord and Grishnak and I felt overwhelmed against my friend's elves lists. I can hold the line against their elf bows thanks ol' Shadow buddy but when they engage to battle It was a difficult task to win a combat (Second row with lances and a Standard Bearer, 3 dice) and when I did it, thier defense 6 with shields makes my Strength 3 attacks almost harmless. The SL held Gil-Galad pretty well, but I couldn't injure him properly with my troops.

I used to play with Orc trackers (they did most of the casualties in the elves armies), Black Numenorean warriors, vanilla orcs with spears and that's it. I feel I need more strength to my army list, but we play only with one legal army alliance (using LoME rules), and then I can't add more varieties to this list because the Shadow Lord (That I feel it's more than necessary) ocuppies my alliance slot. Can anyone give any advices or tips please?

I have another question: The elf profile includes any weapon or you have to buy an elve sword to be armed?

Thank you very much!

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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost."

1) Well you can always put Morannon orcs but you can also ally and take some Mordor Uruks...
2) They have a hand weapon

If the issue is a lack of Defence then plump for Morranon Orcs. If it is a lack of Strength ally in Mordor Uruk Hai and drop the Shadowlord.

Finally if it is an issue of both scrap your Minas Morgul force, get some sword and shield Fighting Uruk Hai then watch as Elves need 6's to wound and you cut them down
with 5's, shield or not. As for Gil Galad use Saruman or ally in a Wraith and make him sit in a corner doing nothing or wasting Will points. Finally some crossbows for taking out pesky archers, not the best solution but the best choice to get the job done

At the end of the day Gil Galad is going to be a bugger to kill, just like Aragorn (Elessar) or Boromir (CotWT) are but enough magic or swamping him will eventually win the day, what is 5-6 Orcs when it brings down a 170+ point model?

'FireKnife'

i think some morgul knights would do good at outflanking: they can get behind the elves and take out the banner/spears.
as for switching to Isegard: I disagree, it's not worth buying a hole new army just to fight a single enemy (unless you already have them off course).

hope you crush some elves mate

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"make me lunch... worthy of Mordor"

First question is why are you hitting an elf shield wall head on? Wy not flank him and get 1 on 1 fights where the higher Fight doesn't have as much effect, o'h, and take Morannon Orcs

Hi again!

First of all, thx for your responses. We play in a very odd way because my friend wanted to go to a championship with rare rules too: 300 points and 25 models maximum. I think Dark side is a bit unbalanced because of that too (I can't overwhelm them with more models because we have the same number!), but I'm not sure because I'm a bit noob
On the other hand, I use to play Minas Morgul because I love Black Numenoreans. I see that Morannon orcs are much efficient warriors, but then I had to drop the Nazgul that works really good holding great Light warriors. However, because I can only ally with another force, I will lhave to drop it if I want to fight with Morannon ones (another alliance not allowed, damn Nazgul separated army list). Anyway. I understand why Uruk-Hai armies are very popular, they have awesome stats and I think they are one of the most efficient Dark armies (Saruman with one cast spell free is wonderful thinking as a RingWraith lover ).

Overall, I'll try antoher things and I'll think about dropping Numenoreans if I want to play in a more competitive way. Perhaps Morannon orcs with a drum to avoid some bow fire until they reach combat.

Thank you for your advices!

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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost."

300 points 25 models max is pretty much the perfect game type for elves. I suggest you play by LoME rules. It makes it well-balanced at around the 750 points' level and the 300 points.

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

I agree with spuds4ever, you have no chance against elves with that kind of limit.

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"make me lunch... worthy of Mordor"

Hi again!

I felt it was a little extreme that kind of rules but now that you clarify me that (and you are more experienced players), then I'm sure he is going to do it well in the championship Then I'll continue with my Morgul army and I'll try to play with other rules I was a bit sad because I was smashed by that elven army twice :S
On the other hand, it's just 750 or 300 points with LoME balanced and why? I think I ask something similar in another thread, so then sorry if it's duplicated. I've seen that in Heroes of Middle-Earth it's going to be 700 points (but they use cool rules about cards and secondary objectives. How lucky are the people that can go there!).

Thank you!

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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost."

I don't know that LOME is balanced at 300 points...you can get Durburz and 48 goblins, which pretty much owns. At 500 is much more even, then 700+