Over the years I have amassed a fairly large Harad force.
I am looking for some advice on final models to purchase to complete my army.
I usually play around 600-1000pts, often about 800pts.

My usual opponents are:
Rohan with Theoden, Erkenbrand, Redshield riders and some WofD
Wood Elves (occasionally) with Glorfindel and Erestor
Dwarves (rarely) with Gimli.

I have around £20-25 to spend.
The options I have been considering are:

Suladan (f+m) - 3 MP to lead cavalry and increased stand fast

Golden King - Bribery rule useful for broken forces (useful for Rohan? My opponent usually takes Theoden, Erkenbrand and a lot of Redshield riders)

Abrakhan guard - Good value, +1 S, +1 F and 2h weapon with no -1 penalty


The models I currently own are:

Suladan (foot only)
Betrayer (f+m)
Khamul (f+m)
Hasharin
King (f+m)
2x Chieftan

48x Warriors w spear
48x Warriors w bow
2x Warriors w banner
12x Serpent guard
9x Watchers of Karna
12 Raiders incl 1x banner
2x Half Trolls

Any army building or tactical advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
BR

Taskmaster and golden king seem like good options to me, you can just convert a taskmaster from one of your chieftains. However black numenorians with the fight 5 upgrade/Reavers also sound like a great option since dwarves+rohan elites are fight 4, and elves are fight 5.

Personally I love using the Golden King as he's a great for getting rid of characters that can cause Harad problems. As long as you keep him safe (ideally away from anything F5 with a lot of attacks) until you break the opponent one average courage test roll can see the likes of Aragorn or Gandalf fleeing the battle.

As far as breaking the enemy goes the best troops I've found are backed up Abrakhan Guard. The S4 with +1 to wound and F4 are excellent. They are easy enough to kill if they lose the fight with only D4 but all Harad suffer from that problem so it's something you'll need to get used to. I also quite like having a few Corsairs with shields on the flanks to use their shielding and high fight to hold up enemies while the Abrakhan do the damage.

Another Harad army I've seen work and one which can be very scary to play is the Harad gunline of 50% archers with the Betrayer to allow re-roll poision on 1's and 2's. The amount of shooting that this army can put out makes it one of the best ranged forces in the game and any D3 or D4 army like Wood Elves will struggle against it.

A great thing about Harad though is that they have the ability to take a lot of different models and almost all of their list is useful. Any of the following can be used to make a strong enough list Warriors (spears or bows), Abrakhan Guard, Corsairs, Reavers, F5 Numenoreans, Watchers, Serpent Guard, Raiders, Serpent Riders.

As for characters just be careful not to spend too much on them (i.e. 2 100+ points characters max) as your low D means you'll want high numbers. But the Knight of Umbar, Betrayer, Golden King, Suladan, Chieftans and Taskmasters are all very good choices. I'd usually play with two of the first four (preferably at least 1 Wraith) and then use Chieftans and one Taskmaster as cheap characters to provide might for heroic actions.

I don't own the Golden King but I can speak to the effectiveness of Suldan, and the Hasharin. Personally I like pairing Suldan with Khamul, both on horse-back leading a mixed group of Serpent Riders and Easterling Kataphracts (spelling? ) if used properly its very deadly. I also have to echo theabove sentiments about fielding swarms. It is essential for Harad.

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